We devoted the greater part of the next day to examining the city of Amsterdam, which is so intersected with streets, canals, and bridges, bearing a strong similarity to each other, that it is not an easy matter to gain an accurate knowledge of it. It takes its name from the river _Amstel_, and _Dam_, signifying a mound, raised to prevent this river from overflowing the surrounding country. The city is principally built upon piles, driven into the morass to form a solid foundation, and of which it is said, that no less than thirteen thousand are fixed under the Stadt-house alone. We visited the Exchange, one of the finest buildings of the kind in Europe. After this, we entered a Jew’s synagogue, the noisy and discordant devotion of which, soon tired us, so that we were glad to take our departure, particularly as we had no expectation of being permitted to bid for the key of the sanctum sanctorum. We regretted this day, parting from our new and agreeable acquaintance, Mr. W⸺ and his family, who left us for Utrecht. On the following morning, one of the partners of the bank of Messrs. Melvil and Co. with whom I had done business the day before, called to rectify some trifling error in the discounts, and understanding that I was proceeding alone, kindly gave me a letter of introduction to a friend at the Hague. The time was now approaching, when my friend C⸺ felt compelled to separate from me; he had from day to day deferred his departure for St. Petersburg, in hopes of effecting a more agreeable arrangement for his journey, than had previously offered itself; for he would have been obliged to have pursued his journey partly by canal, and partly by land, and the latter night and day, for nearly a week unremittingly, through a wild country, and along dreadful roads. He had, however, some prospect, as far as Hamburg, of the company of the Swiss clergyman, who travelled with us from Nimeguen to Utrecht, but here he was disappointed, for this gentleman was uncertain when he could depart, and on account of the advanced state of the summer, and possibility of the winter setting in early, my friend thought it imprudent to delay any longer; he therefore concluded upon setting out in the evening of Sunday the 19th, by a vessel which crosses the Zuyder sea to Lemner, from whence he was to proceed by diligence or canal to Groningen, where he would find a conveyance to Bremen and Hamburg.