20 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



travelling by boat a boat not so much bigger 

 than a barge, which carried a miscellaneous cargo, 

 and a captain and crew two souls inclusive. 

 Captain was clean, crew rather dirty, for a 

 Dutchman, but both very polite. They raised 

 their hats on the slightest provocation, it would 

 really have saved trouble if they had kept them 

 off altogether while I was about, and shook hands 

 most formally with all quayside friends before 

 casting off. There was one other passenger, an 

 old peasant woman, with a beautiful head-dress 

 with spiral gold wires standing out over her ears. 

 She hugged a small goat all the voyage, as if she 

 were afraid of its jumping overboard, or eating the 

 green stuff which was part of her luggage, though, 

 since she sat on that and she was a voluminous 

 person, it is difficult to see how it could have 

 managed to do so. There was not much to sit 

 on besides one's luggage if one had any, or that 

 part of the cargo which was smooth enough and 

 firm enough to provide a seat. It is possible den 

 Heer Karel did not quite like the expedition. He 

 had a feeling that it "was singular," and if there 

 is one thing a Dutchman does not like, it is to 

 look singular. Maybe it is this clinging to the 

 conventionalities, which we have rather lost, which 



