bend of the Meuse. The Yssel connects with the Drenthe the Orange and the
Reitdiep canals, which convey to the Rhine the produce of remote Groningen
and Friesland. The Rhine represents the destination of the bulk of the
permanent canal population of Holland, whose floating habitations furnish
one of the most interesting sights to be met with on the waters of the
country, but which represent one of the secret phases of the people's
life, into which few tourists or visitors have the opportunity of peering.

The canal population of Holland is fixed on a moderate computation at
50,000 persons. For this number of persons the barge represents the only
fixed home, and the year passes in ceaseless movement across the inland
waters of the country or on the great German river, excepting for the
brief interval when the canals are frozen over in the depth of winter.
Even during these periods of enforced idleness the barge does not the less
continue to be their home, for the simple reason that the canal population
possesses no other. Their whole life for generations, the bringing up and
education of the children, the years of toil from youth to old age, are
passed on these barges, which, varying in size and still more in
condition, are as closely identified with the name of home in their
owners' minds as if they were built of brick and stone on firm land. The
ambition of the youth who tugs at the rope is to possess a tjalk of his
own, and he diligently looks out for the maiden whose dowry will assist
him, with his own savings, to make the purchase. This he may hope to
procure for five or six hundred gulden, if he will be content with one of
limited dimensions, and somewhat marked by time. When a family comes he
will want a larger and more commodious boat, but by that time the profits
which his first tjalk will have earned as a carrier will go far towards
buying a second.

The tjalks are all built in the same form and from a common model. They