194 
NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 
Holland 
canals. 
The country 
canals. 
every broken wall and water-worn step, from 
post and stunted tree and marshy shore, are 
thrown off those indescribable tints that seem 
always identified with decay. Everything about 
Venice seems to reek withcolor. It is the hee- 
tic flush of the dying. But how very beautiful 
it is ! 
The canals of Holland are quite as artificial 
as those of Venice, but they are different in 
appearance. They have a more even surface, 
little or no motion, and are often foul in their 
stagnation. Nor has the local color of the water 
the life about it of the Venetian blue-green. 
It is dull, dark, often brownish in hue, and 
perhaps for that reason makes an excellent re- 
flector, throwing back the houses, the trees, 
the great white clouds, and the blue sky with 
superb effect. Again, the Holland canal land- 
scapes in their arrangement are not so varied 
as those of Venice, and the waters of the back 
country are quite different from those in Am- 
sterdam. The country canals, with their low 
banks and their rows of willows, the slow-mov- 
ing boats with lazy sails, the ditched meadow- 
Jands, the groups of cattle, the long-armed 
windmills, lend to a quiet pastoral effect and 
make Holland one of the most restful places in 
