UP THE GREAT RIVER 3

place of rest or of punishment for the sailors. At
the tip of the beakhead is the figurehead, a red
lion with a golden mane. The ship's bow is green,
with ornaments of sailors' heads painted red and
yellow. Both forecastle and poop are high, the
latter painted a blue mottled with white clouds.
The stern below is rich in color and carving. Its
upper panels show a blue ground picked out with
stars and set in it a crescent holding a profile of the
traditional Man in the Moon. The panel below
bears the arms of the City of Amsterdam and the
letters V. 0. C. forming the monogram of the
Dutch East India Company — Vereenigde Oost-
Indische Compagnie.

Five carved heads uphold the stern, above
which hangs one of those ornate lanterns which
the Dutch love so well. To add to all this wealth
of color, flags are flying from every masthead.
At the foretop flutters the tricolor of red, white,
and black, with the arms of Amsterdam in a field
of white. At the maintop flames the flag of the
seven provinces of the Netherlands, emblazoned
with a red lion rampant, bearing in his paws a
sword and seven arrows. The bowsprit bears a
small flag of orange, white, and blue, while from
the stern flies the Dutch East India Company's