DORT—WILLIAMSTADT.

23

returning to Rotterdam , took my passagein a boat to Dort —a pleasant sail of twohours.

Dort is a large town intersected by ca-nals, and formerly celebrated for its silvercoinage, but now, owing to the total stag-nation of every species of trade, its onlytraffic is in receiving the large rafts of tim-ber which come down the Rhine , andwhich the numerous sawing mills in the vi-cinity are employed in converting. TheBelle-vue is an excellent hotel, well situat-ed upon the edge of the river, and thelandlord an amusing and very communica-tive fellow in his way. Here I passed aday, and then hiring a boat, proceededtowards Williamstadt. Passing down theriver, we entered the Bies-bos, an immensetract of country destroyed by an inunda-tion about a century ago, and now a vastexpanse of water, broken here and thereby the remains of the higher grounds peep-m g above its surface: many villages werehere swept away, and many unfortunatevictims suffered. After a passage, rendered