THE RHINE, A. [IN ITS COURSE THROUGH HOLLAND] FROM ROTTERDAM TO NYMEGEN. Many travellers, unacquainted with the country over which they are about to pass, entertain the erroneous notion that, in making an excursion up the Rhine, they ought to embark on that river at Rotterdam, and trace it patiently upwards. Our advice (and it is founded on experience), both to those in search of amusement and pressed for time, is, that they will do wisely in avoiding the voyage the lower part of the Rhine, below Cologne, because there are two other very interesting routes from England to Cologne; one by Rotterdam, Hague, Amsterdam, and Utrecht UP (Routes II. and V.), which, however, is somewhat circuitous; the other by Ostend, or Antwerp, and Brussels (Routes XVII., XXI. and XXIII.), which is decidedly the shortest way from London. Another reason for this recommendation is, that the Rhine below Cologne is a most uninteresting river, with high dykes on each side, which protect the flat country from inundations and intercept all view, save of a few villages, church steeples, and farm houses, painted of various colours, which are seen peering above them. The steam-vessels, too, are neither so commodious, clean, nor well-managed as those higher up in the Prussian territories, and they proceed at the tedious rate of about 3 or 4 miles an hour. The sleeping berths are not sufficient to accommodate half the number of passengers usually on board; and ladies' cabins are not provided with beds, a very serious deficiency, considering that one night at least must be passed on board. is said that 3 new steam-boats are in progress to run between Rotterdam and Cologne, more roomy, better fitted up, and provided with more powerful engines than those previously on this station. Still the disadvantage of flat scenery and a slow voyage is not to be got over. It It would be possible to reach Cologne direct from Rotterdam posting, or even by the diligence (provided it travel by night), in much shorter time than by the steamer. With post horses, and not including stoppages, the journey might be made in 24 or 30 hours. The most direct line of route from Rotterdam to Nymegen is by Dort, Gorcum, Thuil, and Thiel, about 88 English miles; but it runs almost all the way upon high and narrow dykes: it is not provided with post horses; it is interrupted by ferries, and is so badly kept at most seasons of the year, that it is far preferable to take the more circuitous route by Gouda and Utrecht (Route IX.), and proceed thence to Nymegen (Route V.). In point of distance this road is not shorter than the River; but it will take less time than the voyage by steam upwards, and is far less monotonous. the right or left hand of a person turnBesides, it is worth while to make a slight detour, were it only to see the painted glass at Gouda. Between Nymegen and Cologne the post road is very good, and owing to the winding of the Rhine, about one third shorter than the passage by the river; so that it is decidedly preferable. It must be understood that these remarks apply to the upward voyage from England; in descending the river, the Rhine is the most expeditious, as well as the cheapest course of travelling. STEAM BOATS leave Rotterdam every morning in the summer, and every other morning in the latter part of the season. The hour of departure varies with the tide. They reach Nymegen in about 12 hours. The steamer resumes its voyage upwards on the following morning, and continues through the night; but, as there are no beds on board, and the vessel is sometimes so crammed as to leave hardly room to lie down upon deck, it can easily be imagined that the voyage must be irksome for gentlemen, and hardly endurable for ladies. They who have their own carriages on board will find it most convenient to sleep in them. Add to this, there is the risk of grounding on sand-banks when the water is low, and the inconvenience of delays at the Prussian custom-house. The vessel does not reach Cologne till the middle of the third day after leaving Rotterdam. The Fares from Rotterdam to Cologne. Second ditto 8 £1 16 1 7 6 The state cabin has no advantage over the first cabin, except that it is private; is, therefore, often convenient to secure it for a party in which there are several ladies. A carriage, not accompanied by passengers, costs 31. Es. 8d.; with three or more persons, only 17. 6s. 8d. N. B. If the traveller's passport has not received a Prussian signature in England, it ought to be signed by the Prussian consul in Rotterdam. The Rhine, flowing out of Germany into Holland, descends in an undivided stream as far as the point of the Delta (the Insula Batavorum of the Romans). At a place called Pannerden it splits into two branches. From this division of its stream, Virgil applies the epithet bicornis to the Rhine (Æn. viii. 727.). The left-hand branch, called the Waal or Vahal, directing its course south, passes Nymegen, joins the Meuse, and, in conjunction with it, assumes the name of Merwe. The other branch, which after the first separation retains the name of Rhine, turns northward; a league above Arnhem, it throws out an arm called Yssel, known to the ancients as Fossa Drusi, because it was formed by Drusus in the reign of Augustus: it falls into the Zuyder Zee, after passing Zutphen, Deventer, and Campen. The river after this continues on past Arnhem to Wyk de Duurstede, and there again divides, throwing off to the left an arm called the Lek, which falls into the Maas a little above Rotterdam. The other arm, still retaining the original name of Rhine, after this separation, divides for the last time at Utrecht; the offset is called the Vecht, and flows into the Zuyder Zee. The old Rhine, the sole remnant of the once mighty river which carries its name to the sea, assumes the appearance of a canal; and, after passing sluggishly the town of Leyden, enters the ocean through the sluice-gates of Katwyk. The voyage from Rotterdam to Cologne may be made by two of these branches. The steamer commonly ascends the Waal branch; but when the river is full, it sometimes takes its course through the Lek branch. THE WAAL. The right (r) and left (1) banks of a river are those which would be on 1. DORDRECHT or DORT. Inns: Bellevue; Wapen van America; and Valk. Dort, one of the oldest towns in Holland, has 20,000 inhabitants, and considerable trade. It stands on an island formed by a terrible inundation in 1421, when the tide in the estuary of the Rhine, excited by a violent tempest, burst through a dyke, overwhelming a populous and productive district, which it at once converted into a waste of waters, called the Bies Bosch (i. e. rushwood, from bies rush, whence the English besom), part of which still exists. 72 villages and 100,000 human beings were swallowed up by the waves. Many maps, as well as guidebooks, represent this district as still under water; but a large part of it has been recovered, and the river here spreading out bears the aspect of a lake interspersed with numerous islands, uninhabited, but producing hay in abundance. 35 of the villages were irretrievably lost, so that no vestige, even of the ruins, could afterwards be discovered. The first assembly of the States of Holland, held after their revolt from the yoke of Spain, met at Dort in 1572; and declared the Prince of Orange, Stadholder, and the only lawful Governor of the country. The famous assembly of Protestant Divines, known as the Synod of Dort, was held in the building called Kloveniers Doelen, 1618-19. It lasted six months, during which there were 152 sittings, unprofitably occupied, for the most part, in discussing the unintelligible questions of predestination and grace. At the conclusion, the president declared that "its miraculous labours had made hell tremble." The principal result of its deliberations was, the decision against the doctrines of Arminius. Dort serves as a haven for the gigantic floats of wood, the produce of the remote forests of Switzerland, and the Schwarzwald, which are brought down the Rhine by crews of from 400 to 500 men each, and are here broken up and sold. A single raft sometimes produces 30,000l. A description of them will be found in the route from Cologne to Mayence. The celebrated brothers De Witt were born here; also Cuyp and Schalken, the painters, and Vossius. After a general survey of the town, which is truly Dutch in its combin ation of sluices and canals, and a visit to the old church, the timber-ponds where the raft-wood is collected, the windmills where it is sawn into planks, and the ship-builders' yards, there is nothing to detain a traveller here. A constant communication is kept up by steam-boats with Rotterdam and Moerdyk, the first post on the road from Rotterdam to Antwerp. There are numerous and intricate sandbanks between Dort and r. GORCUM, or GORINCHEM, a fortress at the junction of the Merwe and Linge, and one of the first places taken by the Water Gueux from the Spaniards in 1572; but they sullied their victory with the murder of 19 Catholic priests, for which their commander, Lumey, was disgraced by the States General. The anniversary of the Holy Martyrs of Gorcum is still observed in the Catholic calendar. The canal of Zederick connects Gorcum on the Merwe with Vianen on the Lek. Nearly opposite Gorcum is (1.) Woudrichem, or Worcum. 1. LOEVESTEIN. The castle of Loevestein, situated on the west point of the island of Bommel, formed by the united streams of the Meuse and the Waal, was the prison of Grotius in 1619. The history of his escape in E "He beguiled the tedious hours of confinement by study; relieving his mind by varying its objects. Ancient and modern literature equally engaged his attention: Sundays he wholly dedicated to prayer and the study of theology. He composed the greater part of the Jus Belli et Pacis' here. "Twenty months of imprisonment thus passed away. His wife now began to devise projects for his liberty. She had observed that he was not so strictly watched as at first; that the guards, who examined the chest used for the conveyance of his books and linen, being accustomed to see nothing in it but books and linen, began to examine them loosely: at length, they permitted the chest to pass without any examination. Upon this, she formed her project for her husband's release." She She accommodated the chest to her purpose by boring some holes in it, to let in air. She entrusted her maid with the secret, and the chest was conveyed to Grotius's apartment. then revealed her project to him, and, after much entreaty, prevailed on him to get into the chest, and leave her in the prison. The books, which Grotius borrowed, were usually sent to Gorcum; and the chest, which contained them, passed in a boat from the prison at Loevestein to that town. Big with the fate of Grotius, the chest, as soon as he was enclosed in it, was moved into the boat, accompanied by the maid. One of the soldiers observing that it was uncommonly heavy, the maid answered, "It is the Arminian books which are so heavy." The soldier replied, apparently in joke, "Perhaps it is the Arminian himself;" and then, without more ado, the chest was lodged in the boat. The maid accompanied it to Gorcum, and when fairly afloat made a signal with a handkerchief to her mistress that all was right. The window where Grotius's wife stood is still pointed out in Loevestein. The passage from Loevestein to Gorcum took a considerable time. At length it reached Gorcum, and was deposited at the house of Jacob Daatzelaar, an Arminian friend of Grotius. The maid flew instantly to him, and told him that her master was in the box; but Daatzelaar, terrified for the consequences, declared he would have nothing to do with so dangerous a matter. Luckily his wife had more courage; she sent away the servants on different errands, opened the chest, and set Grotius free. He declared, that while he was in the chest, which was not more than 34 ft. long, he had felt a little faintness and much anxiety, but had suffered no other inconvenience. Having dressed himself as a mason, with a rule and trowel, he went, through the back door of Daatzelaar's house, accompanied by Daatzelaar's wife's brother, a mason by trade, along the market-place, to a boat engaged for the purpose. It conveyed them to Waalwyk, in Brabant, where he was safe. In the meantime every precaution had been taken by Madame de Groot to conceal her husband's departure from the governor and his jailors. She took particular care to light the lamp in the room where Grotius was in the habit of studying; and the governor, upon his return home in the evening, remarking the light in Grotius's window, concluded that his prisoner was quite safe. Madame de Groot was not detained long in prison, and rejoined her husband soon after in Paris. There is usually a frigate in the Dutch navy bearing the name of Grotius's wife Marie van Reigersberch: history has rescued from oblivion the name of the trusty maid servant also; it was Elsje van Houwening. In the beginning of the Spanish war, a butcher of Bois-le-duc, with about 20 others, made himself master of the castle of Loevestein. They were soon after besieged by an overwhelming force of Spaniards, who carried the fort by storm. The gallant butcher made a desperate resistance with a two-handed sword: he retreated gradually to a chamber where he had caused a quantity of powder to be deposited, and when he found his enemies pressing hard upon him, and his strength ebbing fast, he set fire to the gunpowder and perished with friends and foes. The Spaniards picked up the mangled limbs of the hero among the ruins, and nailed them to the gallows at Bois-le-duc. 7. BOMMEL. Inn, Hof van Guelderland. Its fortifications were destroyed in 1629. The island of Bommel, between the Waal and the Meuse, which here unite their waters, is defended at one end by Fort St. André, and at the other by Fort Loevestein. 7. Thiel, a pretty town of 3500 inhabitants, and birth-place of General Chassé, the defender of Antwerp citadel. 1. NYMEGEN. In Route V. p. 64. In the height of summer, when travellers are numerous, much bustle and confusion attend the arrival of a Rhenish steamer at its place of destination. The inns soon overflow with guests; it often becomes necessary to go from one to another in search of a bed; and it is sometimes difficult to procure accommodation of any kind. It is better, therefore, for ladies to avoid the scramble, and to send on some one to secure rooms before they or the baggage move out of the steamer. Those who are successful have, on the whole, little cause for congratulation; as the accommodation in the inns at Nymegen is not good, and the charges are high. It sometimes happens that the steam-boat does not reach Nymegen until the gates are shut; in which case the passengers are compelled to pass the night on board. Nymegen being a frontier town and a fortress, passports are demanded from strangers as they quit the steamer, and must be visé here. The traveller who intends to proceed, either by land or water, early in the morning, should take special care to have his passport visé, and returned into his own keeping, over night. A diligence sets out every day for Cologne, after the steamer from Rotterdam has arrived; so that passengers who do not wish to stop here for the night, may proceed without delay, by way of Cleves and Crefeld on the left bank of the Rhine, a journey of about 18 hours, and a distance of about 88 miles. See Route XXXV. The voyage from Nymegen to Cologne by water, about 125 miles, is described in Route XXXIV. THE LEK FROM ROTTERDAM TO ARNHEIM. The steamer takes this course only once or twice a week; and the water in the Lek is often so low as to preclude the passage of a steamer altogether. r. Lekker Kerk. r. Krimpen. r. SCHOONHOVEN, about 20 miles above Rotterdam, is famous for its salmon fisheries. One Albert Beiling, during the wars of the Hoekschen and Kabiljauschen (Hooks and Codfish), defended the castle of Schoonhoven against the forces of Jacqueline of Bavaria. Being at length compelled to surrender, he was condemned by his enemies to be buried alive. He heard his sentence unmoved, and asked for no mitigation of it; but he begged a respite of one month, to enable him to take leave of his wife and children at Gouda. At the expiration of the time he reappeared to suffer his doom with all the fortitude of the Roman Regulus. 7. Nieuwport, about a mile from Schoonhoven. r. Vreeswyk. Here carriages are in readiness to convey passengers, for 70 cents, to Utrecht, in time to meet the diligence going to Amsterdam. |