140 HORTICULTURAL TOUK. 



flocks of these birds were commonly to be seen perched on 

 the mills. We observed several milk-carts going to town 

 at a round trot, along the high-road, which skirts the canal, 

 each containing three or four huge brass flaggons, bright 

 as burnished gold. On the margin of the canal, reeds 

 (Arundo phragmites) grew luxuriantly : we remarked 

 that in many places, these had been more than once cut 

 over, and we learned that a kind of coarse hay is in this 

 way made of them. When allowed to attain their full size, 

 they are used for thatching barns and mills, and are said to 

 form very durable roofs. As we approached Delft, neat 

 country-houses, surrounded by gardens and shrubberies, be- 

 came common. The name of the villa is usually painted on a 

 board presented to passengers on the canal ; the proprietor 

 seldom misses this opportunity of quaintly intimating the 

 complacency and happiness he enjoys in retiring to his 

 pigmy domain ; and not unfrequently he betrays his cha- 

 racteristic attachment to quiet repose. Some of the in- 

 scriptions which we observed, were, Lust tot Rust, De- 

 light with Rest ; Buiten Rust, Country retiring-place ; 

 Nut by Vreugde, Benefit with Joy ; Otis Genoeghe, Our 

 Sufficiency or Content, — the heads of the family being 

 supposed to speak; Noit gcdagt, Never thought, — in- 

 timating that | the owner had unexpectedly realised his 

 hopes of rural retirement. Roden-Rys appeared in one 

 place ; and as this is good Scotch for " Roan-tree branches,'" 

 we presume that the place has been so named from some 

 mountain-ashes existing there. The terminations lust, <\v- 

 light, z?gt, prospect, arc very common; as Kerk-hist, dmrch- 

 delight, LaruLzigty country-view. 



When within a short mile of Delft, we came to a large 



public building, situated near to the canal, and surround- 



(1 by water, which our skipper explained, by dumb show, 



