The commissioner knocked at Mr. George's door at the time appointed. Mr. George and Rollo were both ready. Mr. George counted out the fifteen guilders on the table, and James put them in his pocket. The party then set out.

Mr. George wished to stop by the way to put a letter in the post office, and to pay the postage of it. He desired to do this personally, for he wished to inquire whether the letter would go direct. So James led them by the way of the post office, and conducted Mr. George into the office where foreign letters were received, and the payment of postage taken for them. Here James served as interpreter. Indeed, it is one of the most important duties of a commissioner to serve as an interpreter to his employer, whenever his services are required in this capacity.

When the letter was put in, the party resumed their walk. The commissioner went on before, carrying Mr. George's travelling shawl and the umbrella, and Mr. George and Rollo followed. The way lay along a narrow street, by the side of a canal. There were a thousand curious sights to be seen, both among the boats on the canal and along the road; but Rollo could not stop to examine them, for the commissioner walked pretty fast.

"I wish he would not walk so fast," said Rollo.

"Ah, yes," said Mr. George, "he is right this morning, for we want to get to the pier in time for the boat. But in walking about the town to see it, it would be a great trouble to us."

"To-morrow we will go about by ourselves," said Rollo, "and stop when and where we please."

"We will," said Mr. George.

At last the party came out to what may be called the front of the city, where they could look off upon the harbor. This harbor is a sheet of water called the Y, which has been before referred to. The morning was bright and beautiful, and the water was covered with ships, steamers, barges, boats, and vessels of every form and size, going to and fro. The steamers passed swiftly, but the sailing vessels scarcely moved, so calm and still was the morning air. The sun was shining, and the whole scene presented to Mr. George's and Rollo's view, as they looked out over the water, was extremely brilliant and beautiful.

The commissioner led the way out over a long pier supported by piles, to a sort of landing platform at a distance from the shore. This place was quite large. It had a tavern upon it, and a great many different offices belonging to the different lines of steamers, and piers projecting in different directions for the different boats and steamers to land at. It stood at some distance from the shore, and the whole had the appearance of a little village on an island. It would have been an island indeed, if there had been any land about it; but there was not. It was built wholly on piles.

Here were crowds of people going and coming on this stage, some having just landed from the different steamers that had just arrived, and some about to embark in others that were going away. Small boats were coming, too, over the water, with passengers in them, among whom were many peasant girls, whose foreheads and temples were adorned with a profusion of golden ornaments, such as are worn by the ladies of North Holland. Rollo looked this way and that as he passed along the stage, and he wished for time to stop and examine what he saw; but the commissioner walked rapidly on, and led the way to the ferry boat.

"You will walk on board," said James, "while I get the tickets."

So Mr. George and Rollo went over the plank on board the boat, while James turned to a little office that stood near to get the tickets.

There was a man standing at the end of the plank to collect the tickets as the passengers came on board. Mr. George, as he passed, pointed back to the office where James had gone. The man bowed, and he and Rollo passed on.

"How independent we are!" said Mr. George. "I shall have nothing to do with making any payments all day to-day, and it will seem as if we were travelling free."

The ferry boat was of a very singular construction, and most singular looking people they were who were on board of it. It had a great flat deck, which was of an oval form, and was spreading out very wide at the sides. There were seats here and there in different places, but no awning or shelter of any kind overhead. Rollo was glad of this, for the morning was so fine, and the view on every side was so magnificent, that he was very much pleased to have it so wholly unobstructed.

As soon as the chimes of the city clocks began to strike for nine, the various steamboats began to shoot out in different directions from the piers of the landing, and soon the ferry boat began to move, too. She moved, however, very slowly.

"What a slow and clumsy boat!" said Rollo.

"I'm glad she is slow," replied Mr. George, "for I want to look about. I should be willing to be an hour in going across this ferry."

The prospect on every side was, indeed, very fine. On looking back they could see the buildings of the town extending far and wide for miles, with domes, and towers, and spires, and tops of trees, and masts of ships rising together every where above the tops of the houses. The water of the harbor was covered with ships and steamers passing to and fro—those near glittering in the sun, while the distant ones were half lost in a smoky haze that every where softened and concealed the horizon. Mr. George and Rollo gazed earnestly on this scene, looking now in this direction, and now in that, but not speaking a word.

When they were about half across the Y, James came to Mr. George, and said,—

"This ferry boat connects with a steamer on the canal, which goes to the Helder, and also with various trekschuyts. We shall take a trekschuyt to go for a short distance?—as far as to the place where we shall get a carriage."

"Very well," said Mr. George. "Arrange it as you think best. Then we shall go a short distance on the great canal."

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

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

The great canal 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 canal 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 canal from the Helder to Amsterdam. But the land was lower, almost all the way, than the sea. This rendered it impossible to construct the canal 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 canal 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 canal 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 canal 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 shore, where the canal ends. The water in the sea is higher than it is in the canal, and there are two sets of gates, at a little distance from each other, near the mouth of the canal, 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 canal. I will call the first the sea gates, and the other the canal gates. The space 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 canal. First, the men open the sea gates. The sea can now flow into the lock, but it cannot get into the canal, because the canal 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 canal," 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 passages through the canal gates, and this lets the water out of the lock until it subsides to the level of that in the canal, 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 canal level, then they can open the gates, and the ship can sail along out of the lock into the canal.

"Thus they lock the ship down into the canal at one end, and when she has passed through the canal, they lock her up into the Y again at the other."

"Yes," said Rollo. "I understand it now. And shall we go into the canal 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 canal through the lock.

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

"Why don't they pass 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 pass 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 canal are left inside the lock, and the passengers are taken to and from them by the ferry boat."

The ferry boat, by this time, began to approach the shore. It entered into a little opening in the land, which formed a sort of harbor. Here the passengers 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 canal. 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 canal. One was a long, sharp, and narrow steamer, which was going through the whole length of the canal to the Helder. The other was a trekschuyt, or canal boat, which was going only a short way, to the nearest village.

The passengers 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 canal, and at the country around. He could see the canal 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 canal 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.

Before the trekschuyt had gone far, after it commenced its voyage, a great ship was seen coming on the canal. 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 canal, 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 canal."

"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 pass," said Rollo.

There was no difficulty about passing, 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 pass each other very easily, and generally the manoeuvre was executed in a prompt and very skilful manner. But once, when they were passing 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 shore, 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 bump 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 canal, 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 canal.