So far from courtesy being the rule of the street, it is now, as I have hinted in the next chapter, impossible for an English-woman whose clothes chance to differ in any particular from those of the Dutch to escape embarrassing notice.

Staring is carried to a point where it becomes almost a blow, and laughter and humorous sallies resound.

I am told that the Boer war to a large extent broke down old habits of politeness to the English stranger.
When one thinks of it, the Dutch habit of staring at the visitor until he almost wishes the sea would roll in and submerge him, argues a want of confidence in their country, tantamount to a confession of failure.

Had they a little more trust in the attractive qualities of their land, a little more imagination to realise that in other eyes its flatness and quaintness might be even alluring, they would accept and acknowledge the compliment by doing as little as possible to make their country's admirers uncomfortable.
"Dutch courage," to which I refer below, is not our only use of Dutch as a contemptuous adjective.

We say "Dutch Gold" for pinchbeck, "Dutch Myrtle" for a weed.