164 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



all be observed, that few of the old buildings of Holland 

 are of more ancient date than the 15th or 16th centuries*. 

 These, though sometimes ruinous enough, having been built 

 of brick, are destitute of that air of grandeur and antiquity 

 which distinguish the remains of our Scottish strongholds 

 of the same period, whose hoary and frowning walls have 

 been constructed of undressed masses of refractory rock. 



The Old Rhine passes through the city by various chan- 

 nels or canals, and indeed is lost among them. To explain 

 this assertion, it may be remarked, that the several large 

 rivers of Holland may all be traced to the Rhine. When 

 this noble river, after having traversed a great part of Ger- 

 many, enters the Low Countries, it is divided into a variety 

 of branches ; and, by the intersections thus produced, are 

 formed several of those islands which constitute no incon- 

 siderable part of the Dutch territory. At Fort Schenken, 

 the Rhine is first divided into two branches ; the largest of 

 which takes the name of the Waal, and, turning aside by a 

 winding course to the south-west, falls into the Maese above 

 the island of Bommel ; while the other branch, retaining the 

 name of Rhine, proceeds to the north-west. Above Arnheim, 

 this last again splits into two ; one branch, under the name 

 of Yssel, proceeding north, and falling into the Zuyder Zee, 

 while the other, retaining the name of Rhine, flows west- 

 ward towards Utrecht. Here the unfortunate Rhine is for 

 the third time divided : by much the larger branch, under 

 the name of the Leek, joins the Maese near Ysselmonde, 

 (thus forming a direct navigable communication from the 

 Rhine to Rotterdam, most favourable to the commerce of 

 that port) ; while the proper Rhine, now very greatly di- 



■ Many of those, in the state in which they appeared in the middle of the 

 17th century, are neatly represented in Lc Long's Kabinet van Nidtr'and- 

 ~t kleeftcht Ontfutfltn^ 4 to. 



