46 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



are navigated to Dortrecht (Dort), and sold. These 

 machines have the appearance of a floating village, 

 composed of twelve or fifteen little wooden huts, on a 

 large platform of oak and deal timber. They are fre- 

 quently eight or nine hundred feet long, and sixty or 

 seventy in breadth. The rowers and workmen some- 

 times amount to seven or eight hundred, superin- 

 tended by pilots, and a proprietor, whose habitation 

 is superior in size and elegance to the rest. The 

 raft is composed of several layers of trees, placed 

 one on the other, and tied together; a large raft 

 draws not less than six or seven feet of water. Se- 

 veral smaller ones are attached to it, by way of pro- 

 tection, besides a string of boats, loaded with an- 

 chors and cables, and used for the purpose of sound- 

 ing the river, and going on shore. The domestic 

 economy of an East Indiaman is hardly more com- 

 plete. Poultry, pigs, and other animals, are to be 

 found on board, and several butchers are attached to 

 the suite. A well-supplied boiler is at work night 

 and day in the kitchen ; the dinner hour is announced 

 by a basket stuck on a pole, at which signal the pilot 

 gives the word of command, and the workmen run 

 from all quarters to receive their messes. The con- 

 sumption of provisions in the voyage to Holland is 

 almost incredible, sometimes amounting to forty or 

 fifty thousand pounds of bread, eighteen or twenty 

 thousand of fresh, besides a quantity of salted, meat, 

 and butter, vegetables, &c., in proportion. The 

 expenses are so great, that a capital of three or four 

 hundred thousand florins (about 35,000/.) is con- 

 sidered necessary to undertake a raft. Their navi- 

 gation is a matter of considerable skill, owing to the 

 abrupt windings, the rocks, and shallows of the river; 

 and some years ago the secret was thought to be 

 monopolized by a boatman of Riidesheim and his 

 son." 



These rafts are not of modern invention, and are 



