"And this is the only street in Rotterdam," said he, "which has not a canal in its centre."
[Illustration: The Queen of Holland.--Page 61.]
When they had gone the length of High Street, they came to street after street, each having a canal in the middle, lined with trees on both sides, and exhibiting a medley of high gable fronts of houses, trees, and masts of shipping.
"Dear me!" cried Nettie; "I wouldn't live in such a place for the world. It's pretty to look at; but think of having those ships going by right under the drawing-room windows. They make me giddy."
"How many canals!" cried Allan. "They go lengthwise and crosswise through every street but the High."
"And these clumsy bridges," said Nettie again, pointing to the drawbridges of white painted wood which they saw at every little distance; they were made of large, heavy beams overhead, and lifted by chains for the vessels to pass through.
Under the trees, beside the canals, were yellow brick "sidewalks," as Nettie called them; but they were really quays, for the landing of goods.
Between the trees and the houses, on a coarse, rough pavement, among carts, drays, and carriages, walked the foot passengers quite frequently. For though there were sidewalks close to the houses, little outbuildings and flights of steps to doorways were continually in the way, and it was "impossible for one to walk straight along, or at all fast, on any of them," as the children said.
"Mamma," said Nettie, "I should think they would break their necks every minute. Just look at those canals, right in the street, and nothing to keep people from falling into them. What do they do in dark nights?"
"How do they light the streets, papa?" asked Eric.
"By oil lamps, hung on ropes from the houses to the trees," said Mr. Hyde. "They have gas on the High Street."
Allan's attention had been attracted by some curious little structures outside the lower windows of several of the houses.
"Looking-glasses, papa! _Outside_ their windows?" exclaimed Nettie.
"Yes, dear; they are hung so as to reflect the passing objects to the people inside."
"Then they can see whatever is going on in the streets below, without coming to the windows," said Eric.
"What a funny custom!" exclaimed Nettie, again.