270 SAND-PLAINS OF BELGIUM. [Feb. 



SAND-PLAINS OF BELGIUM AND SAND-DUNES OF 

 HOLLAND, AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 



BY THE KEY. J. C. BliOAVN, LL.D. 



II. — Sclieveningcn and its Fcoplc, vAth an Epilogue on Sand. 



THERE are those who may be more interested in hfe than in dead 

 dunes. It being so, I avail myself of information embodied 

 in the account given by Signor Edmondo de Amicis, to meet the 

 requirements of such : — 



" The village of Scheveningeu is situated upon the dunes, which 

 shelter it from the sea, and conceal it so eifectually that from the 

 beach nothing of it is to be seen except its sugar-loaf church-steeple, 

 towering lilce an obelisk in the midst of the sandy plain. The 

 village is divided into two parts — one consists of smart little cottages, 

 of every imaginable Dutch shape and hue, built expressly for the 

 accommodation of strangers, with a slip of paper inscribed with the 

 words " To Let " in different languages posted npon them ; the other 

 part, inhabited by the aborigines, contains nothing but dingy huts 

 and narrow alleys which foreigners never set foot in. 



" The inhabitants, numbering a few thousands, are nearlj' all 

 fishermen, and mostly very poor. The village is stUl one of the 

 principal stations of the herring fisheries to which Holland is 

 indebted for [much of] her wealth and power; but the profits of 

 this trade almost all go to enrich the owners of the fishing craft, 

 while Scheveningeu fishermen, who only hire themselves out to 

 man them, can scarcely earn enough to live upon. On the beach 

 near the village, several of their stout-looking one-masted vessels 

 with their one square sail apiece, may always be seen ranged side 

 by side upon the sand — like the Greek galleys upon the Trojan 

 roast — to prevent their being swept away by a sudden gust of Avind. 

 The flotilla start for the herring fisheries at the beginning of June, 

 escorted by a steam-sloop, and steer for the coast of Scotland. . . The 

 first herrings caught are immediately sent to Holland and conveyed, 

 in a triumphal car gaily decked out with bunting, to the king, who in 

 his turn presents the fishermen with five himdred florins. The 

 inhabitants of Scheveningen, by their outward appearance, their 

 bent of mind, their habits and customs, form quite a separate 

 family, and are almost strangers in their own country. They are 

 only two miles' distance from a large town, and yet they have pre- 

 served the stamp of a primitive race that has always lived apart 

 from the rest of the world. Just as they were centuries ago, such 



