EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY WATER TRAVEL
is so gentle that a person is all the way as if he were in a house."[1]
Even minor towns were well served. Note a single instance: "The boat that passes between Brussels and Villebroeck is extremely commodious: the passengers may be accommodated with meat and drink."[2]
For going from Amsterdam to Antwerp and Brussels three or four gentlemen accompanied by ladies might hire a yacht at Rotterdam for from seven to ten guilders a day and see the country with entire independence. They could take servants with them to cook their food and look after the baggage; they could sleep in good beds on the boat, and be more comfortable than at an inn. "If they have a mind, they may stop by the way to see Dort or Bergen-op-Zoom, or some of the towns of Zealand."[3] The chief inconvenience from this sort of travel arose in hot weather, when the nearly stagnant water in the canals became covered with green scum and exhaled a noisome stench.
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