1936 On the Continent

the attics and start a regular feast of cleaning and oiling and varnishing. The tyres are pumped up and, if necessary, repaired and tried, and everything is put in order, for you never can tell—next Sunday may be Bulb Sunday!
Gay Exodus
    Then, one bright Sunday morning, as if obeying a mysterious command given out on the previous Saturday evening to all men, women and children, members of the honourable order of the steel steed, all mount their shining bicycles and make for the bulb fields. It is an ever-growing happy-faced and brightly-attired procession of cyclists that comes pouring out of towns on to roads and cyclists’ paths. They are all out for the same purpose, all animated by the same desire, the joyous annual pilgrimage to King Tulip and Queen Hyacinth, holding a festive reception in Tulip Land. And as the guests reach the glorious fields, they disperse all over them, trudging along narrow paths, carrying away huge bundles of flowers for a few pence, or garlands to hang round their necks and adorn their bicycles and motor-cars. And then towards evening the procession of hundreds of thousands of Dutchmen—and many thousand of tourists from everypart of Europe, too—who have performed their annual joyous pilgrimage to the bulbs, start off in the opposite direction, carrying the sweet scents and tender colours of spring right back to the very heart of the town, bringing sunshine and fragrance to even the humblest dwellings.
    And now, what about speeding across the sea at 60 miles an hour in a motor-car—or somewhat slower in a motorbus—to the northern provinces of Friesland and Groningen? This may be safely done over the 20-mile long and 300-feet wide dam across the Zuiderzee. This dam is part of the Zuiderzee reclaiming scheme which involves a total cost of some £120,000,000, and by which 550,000 acres of new territory is to be won. The first of four polders covering an area of 50,000 acres is already under cultivation, so that you can also drive on the bottom of the sea, really quite a thrilling and absolutely novel sensation. It is an unusual experience to drive along this barrier dam on a fine morning, when after a few miles the coast of North Holland grows dimmer and dimmer, until it is finally swallowed up in a haze. Speeding on along the green, sometimes tempestuous waters, the faint coastline of the other side is soon discerned, in much the same manner as when you approach a coast by sea. But of course it is absolutely worth while making a trip along the coasts of the Zuiderzee in a leisurely manner in the course of a few days, visiting all the characteristic old fishing villages where people very often have preserved their national costumes.
Picturesque Zeeland
    As the Dutch southern province of Zeeland, situated between the West Scheldt and East Scheldt rivers and comprising a set of small islands, is more or less isolated from the rest of Holland, in spite of the fact that the huge Scheldt dyke connects them with the mainland, the inhabitants of these beautiful islands have retained more than anywhere else in the Netherlands their remarkable costumes and customs. In spring the islands fully deserve the name of “the flower gardens of Zeeland,” because the old, intensely cultivated orchards behind neatly trimmed green hedges, amidst the most picturesque architecture one can imagine, are then all gloriously in bloom, providinga source of pure delight for the visitor. Zeeland has the very appropriate motto “I struggle and keep my head above water” inscribed on its coat of arms. For nowhere in the Netherlands can one see more easily the methods by which the water has been driven off the land and held at bay than in this province. Every island of Zeeland has its own traditions of costumes and customs. Those in the know can easily tell by the shape of the bonnet or cap, or by the shawl or the coat, on which island the wearer lives. Thursday is market day at Middelburg, in the centre of the island of Walcheren, 4 miles from the seaport of Flushing. On that day, as in a well planned Easter procession, the Zeelanders even from the remotest islands come to the market-place in carriages or on bicycles. There, in front of the old Town Hall, they buy and sell in their picturesque costumes, providing a scene of unusual charm and beauty. By the way, this market-place is always the busiest spot in Middelburg. It is here that on Sunday afternoons the sturdy old men, in their typical suits and with