CHAPTER XII.

HOLLAND AND THE DUTCH.

THE cordon militaire is at length cleared, and we find ourselves in the mouth of the Scheldt, sailing between the islands of Zealand and the main in a fishing-cutter. Passing Berg-op-Zoom on our right, with its ramparts extending for a league in circumference, we steer many hours in a tortuous channel, presenting every where the same features, till we reach Helvoetsluys, in the island of Voorn. Nothing is seen at first but masts of vessels, and a single lofty tower, rising from the green banks of the sluice; but, by and by, some small low houses appear, which form part of the town. Here we are struck with astonishment at the industry and daring of the almost amphibious inhabitants. The vast embankments which every where surround them are raised, not to resist the encroachments of the sea, but to wrest from it a portion of its actual territory. The waters are higher than the land, which the overthrow of the dykes, or the opening of the sluices,