1936 On the Continent

distant lands. To those who have seen the famous cheese market in Alkmaar these cheese globes recall pictures of farmers dressed in their Sunday best with brightly painted clogs arriving in carts on the cheese market every Friday morning. There the cheese is sold in much the same way as centuries ago, and shipped to almost every part of the world.
Alkmaar
    Alkmaar itself, with its many old buildings, old walls and narrow canals spanned by the typical old drawbridges, recalls memories of olden times, when Alkmaar was surrounded by large lakes, connected with the sea. Then Alkmaar was a far-famed commercial town.
    The last stronghold of erstwhile “big business” is now the cheese market. Every year thousands of people flock to Alkmaar to see the lively spectacle of the cheese market, which is a feast of colour against the background of the old Weigh House, in front of which are the cheese carriers in the quaint costume of their corporation, the farmers and their wives, and the crowd of spectators. The preparations start the night before. From barge and wagon the cheeses are rapidly thrown, by twos, into the outstretched hands of men that pass them on to others who, resting on their knees, deftly arrange them in rectangular piles. Here and there you see a man giving the bright globes another polish with a cloth steeped in linseed oil. The large piles have come from dairy works, the smaller ones from farms. They are all covered with sackcloth and athick layer of fresh grass for the night. Early on Friday morning the preparations are continued. Newly arrived barges in the adjacent canal, brightly painted farmers’ wagons of all shapes and descriptions, including the high-wheeled “Tin Lizzy,” discharge their cargoes in the market place, which is soon covered with thousands of round cheeses.
    Meanwhile, in the Weigh House, the “trays” for carrying the cheese are piled up high. Over the door of the Weigh House, which contains four pairs of huge scales, is inscribed Solomon’s admonition: “A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” As soon as the market, surrounded by many casual visitors and tourists, has been opened, buyers and sellers start slapping each other’s palms in a seemingly mysterious ritual while bargaining over the price. Then the chief actors of the day come to the fore. They are the guild of cheese bearers appointed by the municipality, powerful, clean-shaven fellows, decked out in snow-white clothes, their heads covered with broad-brimmed straw hats lacquered in green, blue, red or yellow shades, matching the “trays” they are handling.
    After the ceremonious weighing the “trays” are quickly carried to barges lying near and rolled through a wooden trough into the holds. So the cheeses start on their rolling tour round the world. And at the first stroke of noon all eyes are fastened on the dial of the Weigh House clock, because at that moment a mechanical trumpeter appears under the dial sounding a merry tune. Little mechanical horsemen gallop to the charge and the carillon of bells begins to peal out its music, playing first the national anthem, then some folk-songs, and finally the latest music-hall tunes, the whole lasting almost uninterruptedly for an hour.
Seaside Resorts
    In sixteen minutes the electric train brings you from Amsterdam to the busy, popular seaside town of Zandvoort. Near Leyden is the fashionable seaside resort of Noordwyk, while the world-famous Scheveningen is almost one with The Hague, the seat of the World Court, the InternationalPermanent Court of Justice, housed in Carnegie’s gift to the world—the magnificent Peace Palace.
    To the east of Amsterdam lie Bussum, Hilversum and Baarn, garden cities in the real sense of the word; not far away, on the erstwhile Zuiderzee, you will find the typical fishing villages of Bunschoten and Spakenburg, and, further along, in the most beautiful surroundings, Utrecht, one of the oldest towns in Holland, which boasts a “Ratskeller” (Town Hall cellar) dating back to the ninth century. Here you can have an excellent lunch or dinner.
    The tourist should not miss paying a visit to Arnhem and Nimeguen; or, alternatively, to Leeuwarden and Groningen. Zeeland (Flushing, Middelburg, Veere, Goes) still remains the most picturesque province of Holland, where the old, elegant national costumes have been best preserved. Brabant (the capital of which is Bois-le-Duc) and Limburg (capital