On Dutch Water-Ways. By G. Christopher Davies. (Jerrold and Sons.)—Mr.
Davies, who will be known to many of our readers for his "Norfolk Broads and Rivers," planned and executed an expedi- tion through Holland. His first idea was to transport a Norfolk. wherry ; but when it was found that the monstrous sum of 245 was charged for towing it across from Lowestoft to Flushing and back, this was abandoned, and a steam-yacht was hired. This, the Atalanta ' by name, was of twenty-three tons, and gave fair accom- modation to three passengers (with room for a fourth), and the crew, consisting, with the pilot, of four. The hire was 250 for a month. The wages of the crew amounted to about 230 more, including their keep, and reckoning also the occasional services of a pilot, and there was an item of 29 38. for insurance, and some small sums for harbour dues. Altogether, the trip, though not cheap, was not very costly ; and it seems, from Mr. Davies's lively account of the travellers' ex- periences, to have been very pleasant. Novel it certainly was, and the people quite unspoiled by contact with visitors. Of the simplicity and kindness of the Dutch, Mr. Davies speaks highly. Once only were the travellers annoyed by any rudeness, and in this case the offender was marched off to gaol by the summary justice of a paternal Government. Mr. Davies has illustrated his book with a number of photographs, which seem to have been taken, for the most part, with success. Unfor- tunately, one of the most interesting—giving the only two peasant- girls that the travellers saw in Holland with waists—is much blurred. The photographs are capitally engraved. Much valuable information is also supplied, and the book is likely to be as useful as it is cer- tainly ornamental. Mr. Davies makes a perfectly just complaint, couched, indeed, in very mild language, of the vexations conduct of the Custom-House officers at Lowestoft, who insisted on opening the boxes of photographic plates. They might have been destroyed but for the kindness of a local artist, who lent his dark-room for the pur- pose. It is an unfortunate consequence of our Free-trade system that an active-minded Custom-House officer, having very little to do, is tempted to make himself disagreeable. What in the world did he expect to find in the boxes ?
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