Rotterdam

Rotterdam, which takes its name from a dam at the mouth of the Rotte, which flows through the town, is in the province of South Holland, 36 miles west of Amsterdam, next to which it ranks in size and commercial importance, on the right bank of the navigable Nieuvv.e Maas, but having a quicker communication with the sea by a canal - the Nieuwe Waterweg. The Maas is crossed by two bridges, one of which is a railway bridge. The town is intersected by canals, crossed by drawbridges, and lined with trees. Some of these canals, which are tidal, are deep, and allow the ships to come alongside the warehouses. The river, which is from 30 feet to 40 feet deep, has a fine quay, the Boompjes, 1J miles long, and edged by elms planted in 1615. There are many quaint gabled houses, and in the Groote Markt is a statue of Erasmus, who is also commemorated by a Latin school. The fifteenth-century Groote Kerke has monuments'bt De Witt, Kartenaar, and De Brakel, and a very fine organ, said to be better even than that of Haarlem. Other places of interest are the old East India House, the Government dockyard and arsenal, and the schools of medicine and navigation. There is much commerce with the East and West Indies, and to Great Britain are exported cheese, butter, ducks, gin, sheep, cattle, and flax; besides much other foreign trade, especially the inland Rhine trade. The chief industries are distilling, brewing, dyeing, tanning, and the manufacture of sugar, vinegar, and candles, and shot. There is much ship-building.