Rollo in Holland Part 17

"Yes, sir," said James. "You will like to see a little of the ca.n.a.l."

"I shall, indeed," said Mr. George.

The great ca.n.a.l of which James here spoke is the grandest work of the kind in Holland, and perhaps in the world. If you look at the map you will see that Amsterdam stands somewhat in the interior of the country, and that the only approach to it, by sea, is through a great gulf called the Zuyder Zee. Now, the water in the Zuyder Zee is shallow. There are channels, it is true, that are tolerably deep; but they are very winding and intricate, and they are so surrounded with shoals and sand banks as to make the navigation very difficult, especially for ships of large size.

The people, accordingly, conceived the plan of digging a ca.n.a.l across the country; from Amsterdam to the nearest place where there was deep water on the sea. This was at a point of land called the Helder.

The reason why there was deep water there, was, that that was the outlet for the Zuyder Zee, and the water rushing in there when the tide is rising, and out again when it goes down, keeps the channel deep and clear.

So it was determined to make a ca.n.a.l from the Helder to Amsterdam. But the land was lower, almost all the way, than the sea. This rendered it impossible to construct the ca.n.a.l so as to make it of the same level with the sea, without building up the banks of it to an inconvenient height. Besides, it was just as well to make the ca.n.a.l lower than the sea, and then to build gates at each end of it, to prevent the sea water from coming in.

"Then how were the ships to get in?" asked Rollo, when Mr. George explained this to him.

"Why, there were two ways," replied Mr. George, "by which ships might get in. You see, although the ca.n.a.l is lower than the sea is generally, there is an hour or two every day when the tide goes down, in which the two are about on a level. Accordingly, by opening the gates when the tide is low, a communication would be made by which the vessels could sail in and out."

"But that would be inconvenient, I should think," said Rollo, "not to have the gates open but twice a day."

"Yes," said Mr. George; "and so, to enable them to admit ships at any time, they have built _locks_ at each end."

"Like the locks in a common ca.n.a.l in America?" said Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George; "and by means of these locks, ships can be taken in and out at any time."

"I don't exactly understand how they do it," said Rollo.

"Let me explain it to you, then," replied Mr. George. "Listen attentively, and picture to your mind precisely what I describe, and see if you understand.

"First," continued Mr. George, "imagine that you are down by the sea sh.o.r.e, where the ca.n.a.l ends. The water in the sea is higher than it is in the ca.n.a.l, and there are two sets of gates, at a little distance from each other, near the mouth of the ca.n.a.l, which keep the water of the sea from flowing in."

"Yes," said Rollo, "I can picture that to my mind. But how far apart are the two sets of gates?"

"A little farther apart," said Mr. George, "than the length of the longest ship. Of course one pair of these locks is towards the sea, and the other towards the ca.n.a.l. I will call the first the sea gates, and the other the ca.n.a.l gates. The s.p.a.ce between the two gates is called the lock."

"Yes," said Rollo, "I understand all that."

"Now," continued Mr. George, "a ship comes in, we will suppose, and is to be taken into the ca.n.a.l. First, the men open the sea gates. The sea can now flow into the lock, but it cannot get into the ca.n.a.l, because the ca.n.a.l gates are still shut."

"Yes," said Rollo.

"And, now you see," continued Mr. George, "that as the water in the lock is high, and on a level with the sea, the ship can sail into the lock."

"But it can't get down into the ca.n.a.l," said Rollo.

"No," replied Mr. George, "not yet. But now the men shut the sea gates, and thus shut the ship in. They then open the pa.s.sages through the ca.n.a.l gates, and this lets the water out of the lock until it subsides to the level of that in the ca.n.a.l, and the ship settles down with it. But the sea cannot come in, for the sea gates, that are now behind the ship, are shut. When the water in the lock has gone down to the ca.n.a.l level, then they can open the gates, and the ship can sail along out of the lock into the ca.n.a.l.

"Thus they lock the ship down into the ca.n.a.l at one end, and when she has pa.s.sed through the ca.n.a.l, they lock her up into the Y again at the other."

"Yes," said Rollo. "I understand it now. And shall we go into the ca.n.a.l through the locks in this way?"

"I don't know," said Mr. George. "I'll ask James."

So Mr. George beckoned to James to come to him, and asked him whether they should enter the ca.n.a.l through the lock.

"No," said James. "The ferry boat does not go into the ca.n.a.l at all. We go into a little dock or harbor by the side of it, and the pa.s.sengers walk over the dike, and down to the ca.n.a.l, where they find the boats ready for them that they are to take."

"Why don't they pa.s.s from those boats through the locks, and let them come across to Amsterdam?" asked Rollo, "and then we might get on board them there, and so not have to change from one boat to the other."

"Because it takes some time, and some trouble," said James, "to pa.s.s any thing through the locks, and it is not worth while to do it, except in case of large and valuable ships. So the boats and steamers that ply along the ca.n.a.l are left inside the lock, and the pa.s.sengers are taken to and from them by the ferry boat."

The ferry boat, by this time, began to approach the sh.o.r.e. It entered into a little opening in the land, which formed a sort of harbor. Here the pa.s.sengers were landed at a wharf, which was surrounded by small buildings. Thence they ascended what was evidently a large dike. When they reached the top of the dike they saw below them, on the other side of it, the beginning of the ca.n.a.l. It lay several feet lower than the water of the harbor in which they had left the ferry boat; but it was quite wide, and it was bordered by broad dikes with avenues of trees upon them, on either side. On one side, under the trees, was a tow path, and on the other a broad and smoothly gravelled road.

Two boats were lying moored to the wharves at the side of the ca.n.a.l. One was a long, sharp, and narrow steamer, which was going through the whole length of the ca.n.a.l to the Helder. The other was a trekschuyt, or ca.n.a.l boat, which was going only a short way, to the nearest village.

The pa.s.sengers that came in the ferry boat divided into two parties, as they came down the dike. One party went to the steamer, the other to the trekschuyt. Mr. George and Rollo, of course, went with the last.

The trekschuyt was a curious sort of boat. It was built like the Noah's ark made for children to play with; that is, it was a broad boat, with a house in it. The roof of the house, which formed the deck of the boat, was flat, and there were seats along the sides of it, and a railing behind them on the margin, to keep people from falling off. At each end of the house were two flights of steps, leading up to the roof or deck, and below them another flight, which led down to the little cabins below.

As soon as Rollo got on board, he first ran up on the deck. He sat down on the seat upon one side, and then, after looking about a moment, he ran over to the other side, and sat down there. Then he got up, and said that he was going below to look at the cabins.

Mr. George, all the time, stood quietly on the deck, looking at the ca.n.a.l, and at the country around. He could see the ca.n.a.l extending, in a winding direction, across the country; but the view of it was soon lost, as the winding of its course brought the dikes on the sides of it in the way so that they concealed the water. He could, however, trace its course for some distance, by the masts and sails of vessels which he saw at different distances rising among the green trees. Along the dike, on one side, was a high road, and on the other, a tow path. Different boats were coming and going in the part of the ca.n.a.l that was near. They were drawn by long and slender lines, that were fastened to a tall mast set up near the bows of the boat. Some were drawn by men, and some by horses.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TREKSCHUYT.]

Before the trekschuyt had gone far, after it commenced its voyage, a great ship was seen coming on the ca.n.a.l. She was coming from the Helder.

It was a ship that had come from the West Indies, and was going to Amsterdam. The wind was contrary for her, and they could not use their sails, and so they were drawing her along by horses. There were two teams of horses, eight in each team. The view of these teams, walking along the tow path, with the immense ship following them in the ca.n.a.l, presented a very imposing spectacle.

The trekschuyt started before the Helder steamer; but it had not gone far before Rollo, who had now ascended to the deck again, saw her coming up behind very rapidly.

"I tell you what it is, uncle George," said he, "I wish you and I were on board that steamer, and were going along the whole length of the ca.n.a.l."

"So do I," said Mr. George.

"Could not we get on board?" asked Rollo.

"No," said Mr. George. "We cannot change our plan to-day very well. But now that we have found the way, we can come over here any morning we please, and take the Helder steamer."

"Let's come," said Rollo, eagerly. "Let's come to-morrow."

"We'll see about that," said Mr. George. "See, here comes a market boat."

"Yes," said Rollo. "The man is towing it, and his wife is steering."

"Now we will see how they pa.s.s," said Rollo.

There was no difficulty about pa.s.sing, for as soon as the man who was towing the market boat found that the trekschuyt had come up to his line, he stopped suddenly, and the advance of his boat caused his line to drop into the water. The trekschuyt then sailed right over it. By this simple manoeuvre, boats and vessels could pa.s.s each other very easily, and generally the manoeuvre was executed in a prompt and very skilful manner. But once, when they were pa.s.sing a boat, the woman who was steering it put the helm the wrong way, and though the captain of the trekschuyt, and also the husband of the woman, who was on the sh.o.r.e, shouted to her repeatedly in a loud and angry manner, she could not get it right again in time to avoid a collision. The trekschuyt gave the boat a dreadful b.u.mp as it went by. Fortunately, however, it did no harm, except to frighten the poor woman, and break their tow line.

After going on in this way for fifteen or twenty minutes along the ca.n.a.l, the trekschuyt arrived at its place of destination, and Mr.

George and Rollo disembarked at a little village of very neat and pretty houses, built along the dike on one side of the ca.n.a.l.