Rotterdam is a characteristic Dutch town. Nowadays, thanks to railways and modern improvements, you enter Rotterdam on a higher level than the housetops amid the usual maze of rail tracks, stacks of coal and sooty warehouses. Near the station you gain the impression that the city is very modern and very dirty. The truth is that there are very many quaint old sights, and the people are remarkable for their tidiness. First of all there is the ever picturesque windmill and wherever you turn you find a labyrinth (lb´-rnth) of canals crowded with water craft and bordered with trees and boulevards, or with houses set close to the banks. The city is such a network of streets, quays (ks), canals, and bridges that you hardly feel sure whether it is a dockyard or a town, whether there is more land than water, and more ships than houses, for each canal is crowded with ships of all sizes and kinds, except in the middle where there remains a dark green channel through which they move in and out. Notice the sailing vessel in the foreground loaded with brick. On the streets you meet crowds of tranquil people with their broad faces and blond hair. The streets are full of life, for Rotterdam is one of the greatest ports of the world. It is on the Meuse (mûz) River and has ship canals connecting it with the ocean, so most of the trade of the Netherlands is centered here. The Netherlands is about the size of Maryland. Small as the country is, it contains over six million people. This is a great army of workers, for every one in Holland works. The result is that the people prosper. Before the war the exports from the Netherlands amounted to $1,225,000,000 annually. Keystone ID: 12203 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.