16 DELFT,.

The excellence of the roads has been already noticed. They are of two kinds, one paved with the small hard bricks, deno- minated clinkers, and covered with sea sand; these are fitted so exactly to each other, that scarcely a crevice is to be seen, and they are but little subject to injury. The other kind of road is made of sea-shells and the common soil, well com- pounded together; it is soft, and yet not much cut by the wheels of carriages. Both these kinds of roads are formed on the dykes, which restrain the canals within their due limits. As an embankment against the water they are necessarily well puddled, so as to become a solid impermeable substance, and rendered more capable of supporting the roads which are car- ried along their tops. In a country where water conveyance is so abundant, it may be easily supposed that few or no heavy carriages Will travel on roads burdened with tolls, so high as to amount to nearly as much expense as the post-horses. The roads are thus less subject to excessive wear than in England or Germany; but yet these tolls are insufficient to keep them in repair, and taxes for that purpose are levied on the houses and lands that abut upon them. The bridges over the canals are admirably constructed, and the various drawbridges, of diver- sified forms, connecting the roads with the numerous gentle- mens seats and large farm-houses, give a lively and cheerful appearance to a country which, however, in spite of all these works of human art, soon appears dull, uniform, and unin- teresting to the eye. It is indeed picturesque, but of so peculiar a character, that one picture might serve for almost the whole district.

The canals are cleaned by means of baskets fixed to the ends of long poles, which are emptied into boats. Much of this deposit is converted into manure; but where the bottomis of a