286 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



the orchis of the sands of Zeeland were consolation, ay, 

 and wealth. Harder wyk calmed his mind it was in 

 harmony with his poverty ; but he could not remain there 

 making no money. His talent now confirmed by his 

 doctor's hat, he must display it to the world and see 

 what price the world would pay for the article it symbo- 

 lised. It were easier to live upon the hat than upon 

 talent such as he had displayed at Hamburg. After a 

 breakfast of bread and raw eggs, as they love them in 

 Holland, and coffee sipped from egg-shell china, such as 

 the Dutch learnt early to encourage the making of, in 

 imitation of the fine imported Oriental ware, the learned 

 young Swedes set out on foot for Amsterdam. 



Linnaeus had already walked out Zwolle way, through 

 a desolate country of white sand-hillocks with sparse fir 

 trees, where he might well expect the vegetation to have 

 a character of its own, as none but the fittest could 

 survive. Here he admitted the truth of what a patriotic 

 Dutchman told him, one who conceded that there are 

 no mountains in Holland, but hills, he declared, there 

 were in plenty. Here are, indeed, sand-hillocks where 

 the dunes have spread in from the sea, extending for 

 miles inland and along the coast of the Zuyder Zee. 

 Inland the ground we travel over gradually rises, and is 

 sprinkled with fir trees, brooms, and newly-set beeches. 

 The land being in process of creation, the fir-crested 

 dunes impinge upon the old chaos of black waste with 

 dark tussocky grass, like evil heather ; by degrees the 

 sand will fill and dry the pits of bog and reclaim the 



