AN ISLAND MOVES INLAND

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 90, 10 January 1931, Page 19

AN ISLAND MOVES INLAND

» • » Most people who go to Holland pay a visit to the very attractive island of Marken in the Zuyder Zee. There the old Dutch costumes may still be seen, and there the old traditions and customs still linger. It is sad, therefore, to think that it will not be long before this delightful little island ceases to be what it is to-day. The Dutch scheme for draining the Zuyder Zee is proceeding apace. Enormous dams are being built across this stretch of water, and as soon as a dam is finished the water Within is pumped out and the drained sea-bed turned into arable land. The Island of Marken will in a few years be changed into a village on a hilltop, and cows will graze where the tides are rolling now. The inhabitants, who are mostly fishermen, are unhappy at the thought of turning their fishing-nets into ploughs, and perhaps 1 the little boys, in their turn, will also be sorry to part with their petticoats. For the little boys of Marken do not dress like the boys in most other European countries. They seem to pass through many stages, like tadpoles before they become their real selves. First they dress like girls, even wearing long hair which they let loose down their backs; and the only sign by which one can recognise a boy is a small circle Of coloured stuff sewn on the top of his cap. ‘They keep this girlish appearance till they are seven; then they get a pair of wide dark trousers instead of the skirt, but the bodice, the cap, and the long hair remain the same till they reach the age of ten. Only then can it be said in Marken that boys Will be boys.