After finishing their breakfast, Mr. George and Rollo entered the carriage again, and returned by the same way that they came, for some miles towards Amsterdam, until they came to the place where the road turned off to go to Saandam. After proceeding for some distance upon one of the inland dikes, they came at length to the margin of the sea, and then for several miles the road lay along the great sea dike, which here defends the land from the ingress of the ocean.

"Ah," said Mr. George, as soon as they entered upon this portion of the road, "here we come to one of the great sea dikes. How glad I am."

"So am I," said Rollo. "I wanted to see one of the sea dikes."

"It is very much like the others," said Mr. George, "only it is much larger."

"Yes," said Rollo, "and see how it winds about along the shore."

In looking forward in the direction in which Rollo pointed, the dike could be traced for a long distance in its course, like an immense railroad embankment, winding in and out in a most remarkable manner, in conformity to the indentations of the shore. In one respect it differed from a railroad embankment, namely, in being bordered and overshadowed by avenues of immense trees, which showed how many ages ago the dike had been built. There is not a railroad embankment in the world that has been built long enough for such immense trees to have had time to grow.

The carriage road lay along the top of the dike, which was very broad, and the slopes of it, towards the water on one side, and towards the low meadow lands on the other, were very gradual. Men were at work every where along these slopes, cutting the second crop of grass, and making it into hay. Where the hay was ready to be got in, the men were at work loading it into boats that lay in the little canals that extend along the sides of the dike at the foot of the slopes.

Wind mills were to be seen every where, all about the horizon. As the road approached Saandam, these mills became more and more numerous.

"I mean to see if I can count them," said Rollo.

"You cannot count them, I am sure," said Mr. George.

Rollo began; but when he got up to a hundred, he gave up the undertaking in despair. Mr. George told him that he read in the guide book that there were four thousand wind mills in that region.

Some of these wind mills were very small indeed; and there were two or three which looked so "cunning," as Rollo said, that he wished very much that he had one of them to take with him to America.

The use of these very small wind mills was to pump up the water from some very limited tract of land, which, for some reason or other, happened to lie a few inches lower than the rest.

At last, after an infinite number of turnings and windings, by means of which every part of the surrounding country was brought in succession into view before Mr. George and Rollo as they sat in their carriage, they arrived at the town of Saandam.

The town consists of two streets, one on each embankment of a great canal. The streets are closely built up for many miles along the canal, but the town does not extend laterally at all, on account of the ground falling off immediately to very low polders.

After entering the street the commissioner left the carriage, in order that the horses might rest, and led Mr. George and Rollo on a walk through the prettiest part of the town. They walked about half a mile along the canal on one side, and then, crossing by a ferry, they came back on the other side.

In the course of this walk they went to see the hut where Peter the Great lived while he was in Holland engaged in studying ship building in the ship yards of Saandam. The hut itself was old and dilapidated; but it was covered and protected by a good, substantial building of brick, with open arches all around, which allowed the hut to be seen, while the roof and walls of the building protected it from the rain. The hut was situated in a very pretty little garden.

There were two rooms in the hut, and one of them—the one shown in the engraving—had a very curious-looking Dutch fireplace in one corner of it, and a ladder to go up to the loft above. The chairs were very curious indeed; the seats being three-cornered, and the back and arms being constructed in a very singular manner.

The walls of the rooms were perfectly covered, in every part, with the names of visitors, who had come from all countries to see the rooms. Besides these, there were a great many volumes of books filled with names. These books lay on a great table, which stood at one side of the room. There was one of the books which was not yet full, and this one lay open on the table, with a pen and ink near it, in order that fresh visitors, as fast as they came, might enter their names.

After looking at this cabin as long as they wished, and entering their names in the book, Mr. George and Rollo left the hut and returned through one of the main streets of the town to the place where they had left their carriage. The carriage was soon ready for them, and they set out to go back to Amsterdam.

They had a delightful drive back, going as they came, on the top of the great sea dike. On one side they could look off over a wide expanse of water, with boats, and steamers, and ships moving to and fro in every direction over it. On the other side they overlooked a still wider expanse of low and level green fields, intersected every where with canals of water and avenues of trees, and with a perfect forest of wind mills in the horizon.

As they were riding quietly along upon this dike on the return to Amsterdam, Rollo had the opportunity of imparting to Mr. George some valuable information in respect to Peter the Great.

"I am glad that I have had an opportunity to see the workshop of Peter the Great," said Mr. George. "It is very curious indeed. But I don't know much about Peter the Great. The first opportunity I get I mean to read an account of his life, and I advise you to do the same."

"I have read about him," said Rollo. "I found a book about him in a steamboat that we came in, and I read all about his coming to Holland."

"Then tell me about it," said Mr. George.

"Why, you see," said Rollo, "he was at war with the Turks, and he fought them and drove them off to the southward, until at last he came to the Sea of Asoph. Then he could not fight them any more, unless he could get some ships. So he made a law for all the great boyars of his kingdom, that every one of them must build or buy him a ship. What are boyars, uncle George?"

"Nobles," said Mr. George.

"I thought it must be something like that," replied Rollo.

"The old nobility of those Russian countries are called boyars," said Mr. George; "but I don't know why. Most of the common people are slaves to them."

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