Of Dutch Ways

Ellen Pilon is a library assistant in the Patrick Power Library at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax.

Although a resident of the United States since World War II, Helen Colijn, granddaughter of Dr. Hendrikus Colijn, five times prime minister of The Netherlands, is an expert on Holland. Of Dutch Ways, her first book, records her intensive knowledge and love of the country.

Her book is a combination history, travelogue, and social history: in short, it is a detailed handbook with a few pictures, a rough map of the provinces, a list of useful addresses, a bibliography, and an index. Except for Bangladesh, The Netherlands is the most densely populated country in the world. The country is small, yet 70 per cent of it is under cultivation or grass. Much of the land has been claimed from the sea using dikes. Old buildings in Amsterdam have foundations built of poles sunk at least 30 feet into the soggy soil. The poles must be kept wet or they will rot. “The largest pile-supported building — 13,659 piles to be exact — is the palace on Dam Square.” The Dutch export quality cheese and butter; their cows are the top milk producers in the world. Colijn’s descriptions of the Dutch people, which permeate the book, are particularly interesting. She portrays them as tolerant, permissive, thrifty, meticulous homebodies. Some of Colijn’s observations, however, must be blanket generalizations of individual characteristics: for example, “The Dutch remind themselves of birthdays by hanging a birthday calendar in a conspicuous place, usually near the toilet when it is a separate room from the bath.” Is this really a national habit?

Colijn has organized her information well so that each section is distinct but not unconnected from other chapters; for example, comments of interest to the tourist appear in chapters discussing history; the development and importance of dikes are discussed throughout. The reader learns about Holland’s complex government, growing tulips, Dutch art, government subsidies, windmills, Dutch food (some recipes are included), national planning, the pulley beams on houses, the school system, the language, international trade, holidays, traditional dress, festivals, earthenware factories, national hikes, skating, and fishing. There is a “Tips for Travellers” section, but the information, although useful, is sketchy. The traveller would need to refer to other sources for things to do and see.

The book offers a wealth of fascinating information in a lively, readable style. The typeface suggests that this is a revision of a previously published edition, although no reference to this appears in the book.