DELFT. 15

House, the Stadt House, and the office for regulating the affairs of the canals and dykes in the surrounding district, are deserving of inspection to any stranger that may visit Delft. The road I had hitherto travelled was on the top of the dykes, which confine within the canals the whole water of the country. As far as my eye could determine, these dykes are on the side towards the fields, about thirteen or fourteen feet in height, but varying according to the elevation or depression of the land. The slope from the top to the bottom forms an angle of about forty-five degrees. I thought them about twenty-four feet wide at the top, and if both sides sloped equally, they would be somewhat more than double that width at the bottom. The inner side, however, borders a canal, which is usually from four to six feet in depth. The bottom of the canal must, consequently, be from six to eight feet higher than the level of the surrounding fields. From this situation of the water above the land, it will be readily conceived, that great solicitude must exist to maintain the dykes in good condition; and that the expense of clearing the fields of the floods, by pumping the water to such a height must be enormous. The dykes are formed, and kept in repair, by bundles of willows interlaced, so as to form a slanting wall, and the interstices are filled with earth well puddled, and thereby rendered compact. The expense of maintaining the dykes, is supported by a tax laid on the sur- rounding lands, which is levied by commissioners, according to long established usage, in such à manner as to create little discontent, and scarcely any suspicion of" unfairness. The expenditure in human labour is great, but is much exceeded by the cost of the willows, though they grow near the places where they are wanted, in very extensive plantations. c2