124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



country, Holsteiu is of later date than Holland ; which fact 

 will appear the more prominent, after some account has been 

 given of the oldest inhabitants of Holland and their pursuits. 



For this purpose I at once direct the attention of the reader to 

 the coming of the Friesians and Batavians. The former were 

 the oldest inhabitants of Holland, and were known as herds- 

 men, hunters and fishermen. Their history in this country 

 goes as far back as 300 years before Christ. The Batavians 

 came 200 years later (100 years before Christ), down the 

 Rhine ; and although they were likewise herdsmen, they 

 occupied themselves more particularly with hunting and 

 fishing. 



The lands of the Friesians comprised the whole country to 

 the north of the Rhine, as far as the shores of the North Sea, 

 to which West and East Friesland belonged, composing the 

 present Dutch provinces of Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe 

 and North Holland, besides the provinces of Utrecht, 

 Overyssel, and a part of Gulderland and South Holland. 

 Of all these provinces, Groningen alone appertained to East 

 Friesland. 



Tacitus says of the Friesians and Batavians : " They owned 

 cattle, not excelling in beauty, but in number." He further 

 states, as does also Julius Ctesar, that the Friesians and Bata- 

 vians paid each other in cows, sheep and goats, and gave 

 likewise to their children as dowry, oxen adapted to the yoke 

 and plough, cattle and horses. When they were subdued by 

 the Romans in the first centuries of our era, the conquerors 

 derived much advantage from this wealth in cattle, and im- 

 posed upon the Friesians an annual tribute, consisting of 

 cow-hides and meat ; while they chose their most valiant 

 warriors from among the Batavians. 



The Friesians and Batavians applied themselves to the 

 draining of their marshy lauds and their islands, created 

 meadows on the reclaimed soil, which they first protected 

 against inundations by raising hills, breakers and dikes, of 

 which the traces are everywhere discernible along the coast 

 throuofhout West Friesland and Groninjren. Something is 

 even known regarding the color of their cattle, namely, that 

 they held those of a white color in religious veneration. 



It is a very plausible theory that the Friesians, who, at as 



