A thousand vessels
were thought sufficient, and with despatch finished: some were short,
sharp at both ends, and wide in the middle, the easier to endure the
agitations of the waves; some had flat bottoms, that without damage they
might bear to run aground; several had helms at each end, that by suddenly
turning the oars only they might work either way. Many were arched over,
for carrying the engines of war. They were fitted for holding horses and
provisions, to fly with sails, to run with oars, and the spirit and
alacrity of the soldiers heightened the show and terror of the fleet. They
were to meet at the Isle of Batavia, which was chosen for its easy
landing, for its convenience to receive the forces, and thence to
transport them to the war. For the Rhine, flowing in one continual
channel, or only broken by small islands, is, at the extremity of Batavia,
divided as it were into two rivers; one running still through Germany, and
retaining the same name and violent current, till it mixes with the ocean;
the other, washing the Gallic shore, with a broader and more gentle
stream, is by the inhabitants called by another name, the Wahal, which it
soon after changes for that of the river Meuse, by whose immense mouth it
is discharged into the same ocean.
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