"It is done and the design carried out, though not completed; prudence
forbids a further expenditure just now. It has cost five times as much
as was contemplated, and is not worth a tenth part of the outlay,
still it is very beautiful. Strangers go to see it, and every one
pronounces it the prettiest thing in the Lower provinces. There have
been some little drawbacks, but they are to be expected in a colony,
and among the Goths and Vandals who live there. The contractors have
repudiated their agreement on account of the extensive alterations
made in the design and the nature of the work, and he has found there
is law in the country if not justice. The servants find it too lonely,
they have no taste for the beauties of nature, and remain without
work, or quit without notice. If he refuses to pay he is sued, if he
pays he is cheated. The house leaks, for the materials are green; the
chimneys smoke, for the drafts are in the wrong place. The children
are tormented by black flies and musquitoes, and their eyes are so
swelled they can't see. The bears make love to his sheep, and the
minks and foxes devour his poultry. The Indians who come to beg are
supposed to come to murder, and the negroes who come to sell wild
berries are suspected of coming to steal. He has no neighbours, he did
not desire any, and if a heavy weight has to be lifted, it is a
little, but not much, inconvenience to send to the town for
assistance; and the people go cheerfully, for they have only five
miles to come, and five to return, and they are not detained more than
five minutes, for he never asks them into his house.
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