40 THE LAND OF PLUCK

 

A WATER-BARGE.

are half water and half street), is laden with— what do
you think?) What should you suppose these people would,
least of all, need to buy? You see these canals, following
and crossing the streets in every direction; you see the
mastheads and sails rising everywhere, in among the
trees and steeples, showing that river or sea always is
close at hand; you know that all Holland is a kind of
wet sponge; and the guide-books will tell you that every
house is built wpon long wooden piles driven deep into the
marsh, or it could not stand there at all. Now, what do
you think these barges contain? What but water !—
water for the people to drink. It is brought for the
purpose from Utrecht, or the river Vecht, or from some
favored inland spot. All along the coast, just where Hol-
land is wettest, our poor Dutchmen must go without any
drinking-water, for there is none fit to swallow, unless
they buy from the barges, or catch the rain almost as
soon as it falls.