For miles we marched between the files of our escort of pikemen, and we had ample opportunities of studying the nature of the land, which in no small measure well deserves the name of the Low Countries.  The road was bordered with an avenue of trees that served to break the monotony that the broad expanse of flat country affords.  There were scores of windmills all busily engaged, not in grinding wheat, but in pumping water from the drains and throwing it over the dykes.