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HOLDBRNESa 



HOLLAND. 



21< 



of a Look] Board of Health. Tho living ii a rioange in the arch- 

 deaooniy and diooete of Lincoln. 



The town of Holbeach conaiste of a long street, which fonns part 

 of the coach-road from Spalding to Kiug'a L;nn, and of a few sborter 

 ■troeta. The church i* a large and very beautiful structure, chiefly of 

 the decorated atyla, consulting of a nave, chancel, aisles, aud square 

 tower 85 feet high, which is surmounted by an octangular spire 

 100 feet high. There are chapels for Wesleyan and Primitive 

 Methodists and Baptists. A murket-bouse and court-house have been 

 built within a few yean. A county court and petty sessions are held 

 iu the town. The town has a public library and news-roomi, Natioual 

 schools, and a Free Grammar school, established in 1669, which has 

 an income of about 300<. a year from endowment, and had 20U scholars 

 in 1853. 



The inhabitants of Holbeach are engaged chiefly in agriculture. 

 The land in the neighbourhood is level and extremely fertile ; besides 

 huge quantities of wheat and other common kinds of grain, cauary, 

 carraway, muitard, and coriander seeds are p.artiaUy grown. Cliicory 

 is also grown and prepared for use. A market is held on Thursday ; 

 three faira are held in the year. 



HOLDEllNESS. [Yorkshxbb] 



HOLLAND, tlie leading province of the kingdom of the Netherlands 

 (which is sometimes also called Holland), is situated between 51° 45' 

 and 53* 30' N. lat, 8" 45' and 6° 20' E. long., and is bounded N. and 

 W. by the German Ocean, E. by the Zuyder-zee and the provinces of 

 Utrecht and Oucldorland, and S. by those of Zeeland and Brabant. 

 The surface is flat, and in many places below the level of the sea. 

 aii^ainst which it is protected by stupendous dykes built along the 

 Zuyder-zee and the bauks of the rivei-s. The sea of Haarlem also, 

 which has been lately drained [Haarlem], was surrounded by dykes. 

 To these dykes the country is indebted not merely for safety, but for 

 existence. But the dykes are not the only defence against the 

 encroachments of the sea : on tho west coast is a triple row of sand- 

 hills or downs, which form a barrier thrown up by the ocean itself. 

 The country is traversed by canals in all directiona A railroad 

 passing from Rotterdam through the Hague, Leyden, Haarlem, 

 Anuterdam, Utrecht, and thence to Rotterdam, traverses a very 

 important fiart of the province. From Rotterdam a line is in course 

 of construction to Antwerp. Electro-telegraphic wires ore laid down 

 alon:; both lines. 



The soil of the province of Holland, like that of Groningen, is 

 marshy, aud produces rich pastures, which support a remarkably fine 

 breed of cattle, to the number of nearly a million, and large flocks of 

 sheep : very little com is grown, except in some parts of South 

 Holland. Flax is cultivated more than hemp, and is of excellent 

 quality. Gardens and orchards are carefully cultivated ; some barley, 

 oats, peas, beans, mustard, and other seeds are the chief crops iu the 

 northern part of the province ; in the southern part more com is pro- 

 duced. But pasturage prevails much more than arable cultivation, 

 the produce of the dairy farms, butter, and cheese, constituting the 

 chief wealth of the landholder. A remarkable feature of the country 

 are the ' polders,' a name given to lands that are below the level of the 

 aea or adjacent river, and, having once formed a lake or marsh, liave 

 been surrounded by dykes, and cleared of water by means of pumps 

 worked by windmills or steam-engines. The lands thtu reclaimed are 

 very fertile, and some of them of great extent, as the Beemster polders, 

 near E^om, in the northern part of the province, which are 15 miles 

 in circumference, and the lands recovered from the sea of Haarlem. 

 A large portion also of tho Biesbosch, a marshy lake formed by the 

 terrible mundation of 1421, has been recovered and converted into 

 meadow land. The Sietboteh, so called from its being overgrown with 

 nishes (Ries) lies south-east of Dort, on the confines of Holland and 

 North Brabant, to which latter a portion of it belongs. The recovered 

 lands have tho appearance of islands rising out of the lake. At the 

 time of the inundation 72 villages and 100,000 inhabitauts were 

 destroyed. The waters of the Haas after flowing between the islands 

 of the Biesbosch form the channel called HoUonds-diep. [MsusE.] The 

 grain sown in the polders is sometimes destroyed by water, but 

 rarely, for the milU are always at work, when there is any wind, 

 lifting up tho water to such a height as eives it a tail into the nearest 

 river, canal, or sea. Tho efi°ect produced on foreigners who visit the 

 polders for tho first time is one of surprise, not unmingled with alarm, 

 at the apparent inversion of the natural order of things ; luxuriant 

 com and rich grass crops growing, and fat cattle aud sheep pasturing 

 where water should lie ; while the large sails of the canal barges flit 

 past high above dykes, houses, and trees. Flowers are cultivated iu 

 the tract between Alkmanr and the Hague, but especially about 

 Haarlem. [Haarleu.] Hemp, flax, and madder are grown. Wood, 

 both for construction and for fuel, is scarce. The manidiacturcs, which 

 are chiefly carried on in the towns, are important ; they are linen, 

 paper, woollen cloths (for which Leyden is famous), silk, leather, 

 tobacco, sugar, &c. The gin dislillvnts of Schiedam are very exten- 

 sive, and have been long celebrated. Large quantities of flue lime 

 are made from the shells gathered on the coast of tho North Sea. 

 The flaberiee on the coasts are important, and most indudtriouKly 

 plied. The aleekness of the cows and horses, and the clcauliuess of 

 the dairies in Holland, ore proverbial. The horses are all tender in 

 the hoof, owing to the softness of the soil on which they are bred. 



The province is divided into two governments : North Holland 

 (Noord'HolUnd) au<l .South HolUnd (Zuid-HoUaud). 



A'uWA Holland extends north of the Haarlem-meer, an<l the mouth 

 of the Old Rliine. It has an area of 955 square miles, and tho )x)pu- 

 lation on the Slst December 1852 numbered £06,006. The Amstel 

 and the Vecht flow through the south-east of the countiy, the 

 Zaan through its centre. The Holder Caual, by which tho largest 

 merchant-vessels reach Amsterdam direct from the German Ocean 

 without encountering tho diSicult navigation of the Zuider-zee, runs 

 from Amsterdam to the Hars-diep, or strait timt separates the Tazel 

 from the main land. It is 120 feet wide, 25 feet deep, and above 50 

 miles in length. North Holland is sometimes called West-Friesland. 

 The chief towns are Ai.khaar; Austerdam; Haabluc Among the 

 other more important )>laoe8 we give the following : — 



Anutelvte* is a well-built town or rather village with 5600 inhabit- 

 ants, situated between the Amstel and the Haarlem-meer, and 6 miles 

 S. by W. from Amsterdam. 



Broei, a village of 1500 inhabitants, composed chiefly of retired 

 merchants and their families, is the much bepraiaed model of the 

 precise neatness and punctilious cleanliness of the Dutch. The narrow 

 lanes that intersect it are ]>aved with bricks, strewed with sand or 

 shell, and always clean. No horse or vehicle of any kind is allowed 

 to pass along them. The houses are of wood, painted white and 

 green, aud roofed with glazed tiles of different colours. The front 

 doors and windows are never opened except on great occasions, such 

 as a funeral, a wedding, or a christening. The interiors of the houses 

 correspond to the exterior in onler, cleanliness, and tidiness ; but have 

 more the appeai'ouce of large baby-houses than the dwellings of men. 

 The cow-houses here are curiosities in their way ; they are washed 

 out, walls aud floors, several times a day; the cows' tails are fastened 

 to hooks in the ceiling, lest they might by accident besmear their sides 

 with them. Broek is 6 miles N. by E. from Amsterdam ; it is famous 

 for its sweet-milk cheeses. 



Edam, a town of 4200 inhabitants, stands south-east of the Beemster 

 polders, aud near the Zuider-zee, in which it has a good harbour. The 

 export trade in sweet-milk cheese from this port is important ; the 

 chief industrial products are salt and fish oil. 



Enkhuizen, or Enkhuyzen, situated on a peninsula in the Zuider-zee, 

 28 miles N. by £. from Amsterdam, is a well-built fortified tuwu with 

 about 5000 inhabitauts. It was formerly the centre of the great 

 deep-sea herring fishery ; 400 large vessels used annually to sail from 

 its harbour, which is now nearly choked up with sand. The town 

 possesses 9 churches, an hospital, salt-refineries, and a cannon foundry ; 

 the town-house with its lofty tower is the most imposing structure. 

 Its commerce is composed chiefly of butter, cheese, timber, aud 

 herrings ; ship-building is carried on. This place has declined greatly 

 from its former commercial and industrial activity. In 1853 only 

 1 1 vessels were engaged in the herring-fishery. 



Udder, a small fortified town of 2800 inhabitants, stands on the 

 Mars-diep, at the extremity of the spit of land in which North Hol- 

 land terminates, opposite the TexeL A little east of Helder is the 

 fine harbour of Nieuwe-diep, formed by piers and jetties, and admit- 

 ting the largest merchantmen aud men-of-war close to the quays, 

 where they are sheltered from every wind ; by this harbour the great 

 Helder Canal entera the North Sea. The (reat Udder Dyke, which 

 protects the extremity of North Holland from the fury of the storms 

 to which it is exposed, is one of the most astonishing monuments of 

 Dutch industry, perseverance, and skill. It is nearly 6 miles in length, 

 and 40 feet broad on the summit, along which there is a good 

 road ; it presents to the sea a slant side of 200 feet, inclined at an angle 

 of M", the whole constructed of granite blocks brought from Norway. 



Jlihenum, a small town 15 mUes S.E. from Amsterdam, has 5000 

 inhabitants, who manufacture carpets aud calicoes. 



I/oom, a city and sea-port, on the Zuider-zee, eastward of Alkmaar, 

 with which it is connected by a caual, is well built, surrounded by 

 old ramparts, and has about 9000 inhabitants. The great fleet of 

 Admiral De Ruyter was built in Uoorn; but the importance of tho 

 place has vanuhed; the present trade consists chiefly in exports of 

 butter, cheese, provisions, and fish. There is a naval college at lloom. 

 The manufactures of woollen stuffs, carpets, &o. ; the ship-Luilding 

 and the herring fishery, though still important, are insignificant com- 

 pared to their foimer magnitude. Schouten, who first doubled Cape 

 Uoom or Horn, in 1616, and Taaman, the discoverer of Van-Dicmen's 

 Land and New Zealand, were natives of Hoom. 



Medemblik, north-west of Enkhuizen, on the Zuider-zee, had for- 

 merly an extensive foreign commerce ; it has now scarcely any foreign 

 trade, and its population is only about 3000. It contains a royal naval 

 academy, and its chief commerce is in timber and cheese. The harbour 

 is largo and good. 



Naarden,a, fortress, on the south shore of the Zuider-zee, 12 miles 

 E. from Amsterdam, has 3000 inhabitants, who manufacture silk and 

 velvet. It forms the key of all the water communication of Holland, 

 and is important for the defence of Amsterdam, with which it is con- 

 nected by a fine canal. 



^aanoam (commonly corruptod into Saardam), a town of 12,000 

 inhabitants, on the north shore of tho Y, and at the mouth of the 

 Zaan, which divides it into Oost-Zaandam and West-Zaandam. The 

 houses are mostly constructed of wood and painted ; each of them is 



