AMSTERDAM. 237 



have to depend on their veenen* or peat-mosses for fuel. 

 There are two kinds of these, the higher and the lower. 

 The high mosses afford a layer of what is called grey or 

 dry peat, and the subsoil afterwards forms arable land. 

 The low mosses afford what are called mud-peats, and 

 these are often taken from the second or inferior layer of 

 such moss ; when this is the case, the excavation speedily 

 becomes covered with water. When the under stratum of 

 moss is firm and contains wood, it is called derry. Many 

 trunks of trees are found in it ; and these uniformly lie 

 with their heads pointing eastward, showing that the storm 

 or debacle which overwhelmed them had come from the 

 west. Some of the timber, oak in particular, remains 

 sound, so that it can be used in carpentry ; but it is of a 

 dark colour, as if stained with ink. There is a law against 

 digging through this derry in the lowest parts of the coun- 

 try, much water being found to ooze in the sand below, 

 and to be repressed by the compact layer of wood-moss, 

 Metelerkamp, in his Statistics of Holland, estimates, that 

 eight millions of tons of grey or dry peats are annually 

 prepared, and half that quantity of the muddy kind. In 

 genteel houses, billets of wood are frequently added to the 

 fire ; and coals are used on particular occasions. 



Dutch Ashes 



are in great request by the industrious farmers around 

 Ghent, and in other parts of Flanders, proving to them 

 a very useful manure. So far as we could learn, they 

 are little used in Holland itself; but they are careful- 

 ly collected and sent by water to the Flemish agricul- 

 turists, and at very reasonable prices. As might be ex- 



* Veen is pronounced like /en, and is evidently the same word. 



