G. It is hopeless to think of succeeding, and the attempt has been
known to produce internal rupture. The Dutchman appears to keep his
G in his stomach, and to haul it up when wanted. Myself, I find the
ordinary G, preceded by a hiccough and followed by a sob, the nearest
I can get to it. But they tell me it is not quite right, yet.

One needs to save up beforehand if one desires to spend any length of
time in Holland. One talks of dear old England, but the dearest land
in all the world is little Holland. The florin there is equal to the
franc in France and to the shilling in England. They tell you that
cigars are cheap in Holland. A cheap Dutch cigar will last you a
day. It is not until you have forgotten the taste of it that you
feel you ever want to smoke again. I knew a man who reckoned that he
had saved hundreds of pounds by smoking Dutch cigars for a month
steadily. It was years before he again ventured on tobacco.

Watching building operations in Holland brings home to you forcibly,
what previously you have regarded as a meaningless formula--namely,
that the country is built upon piles. A dozen feet below the level
of the street one sees the labourers working in fishermen's boots up
to their knees in water, driving the great wooden blocks into the
mud. Many of the older houses slope forward at such an angle that
you almost fear to pass beneath them. I should be as nervous as a
kitten, living in one of the upper storeys. But the Dutchman leans
out of a window that is hanging above the street six feet beyond the
perpendicular, and smokes contentedly.

They have a merry custom in Holland of keeping the railway time
twenty minutes ahead of the town time--or is it twenty minutes
behind? I never can remember when I'm there, and I am not sure now.