Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/72

60 60 HOLLAND [COASTS. that it consists (1) of coasts still protected by dunes or fringed with sandbanks and islands indicating the direc tion of ancient lines of dunes ; (2) of low coasts of sea- clay provided with dykes which in more than one quartet- have been repeatedly extended so as to enclose land con quered from the sea (the sea-polders); and finally (3) of some high diluvial strata which rise far enough above the level of the sea to make dykes unnecessary. The dunes fol low the west and north-west coast almost without a break, except in a few quarters where they have been removed and their place supplied by dykes or rubble, as in North Holland between Huisduinen and Nieuwe Diep and be tween Kamp and Petten, in South Holland on Voorne, and in Zealand on Schouwen and Walcheren, where the famous Westkappel dyke unites the village of Westkappel with the watering-place of Dornburg. The breadth of the line of dunes naturally varies greatly from GOO to 7000 feet ; and there is a similar variety in the height of the individual dunes proper, callei dune-hills (duinkeuvels) as compared with the dune pans (duinpannen) or depres sions. The elevation of the High Blinkert near Haarlem (196 feet) is an extreme exception, for the average is not more than 50 or GO feet even in the case of the high dunes which lie nearest the shore and are known as &quot; sea-runners&quot; (zeelooper) or the &quot; shore-ridge &quot; (strandreeks). The dunes show a tendency, except where the Dutch prevent it by planting wood or sand-oats, to wear away on the side towards the sea, and to &quot; overstuiven &quot; or drift off on the landward side. There is, indeed, a general degradation of the coast, and a recession towards the east, corresponding to the subsidence which may be observed along the German seaboard, and probably traceable also, in part at least, to the Channel current, which at mean tide lias a velocity of 14 or 15 inches per second, and especially during strong west or north-west winds carries off large quantities of material. This alteration of coast-line appears at Loosduinen, where the moor or fenland formerly developed behind the dunes now crops out on the shore amid the sand, being pressed to the compactness of lignite by the weight of the sand drifted over it. Again, the remains of the Roman camp at Brittenburg or Huis te Britten, which originally lay within the dunes and, after being covered by them, emerged again in 1520, were, in 1694, 1600 paces out to sea, opposite Katwijk; while, besides Katwijk itself, several other villages of the west coast, as Domburg, Scheveningen, Egmond, have continually to be removed farther inland. Two things special to Holland are worthy of particular notice, the artificial formation of dunes, as at Koegras, Callantsoog, Petten, Katwijk, Scheveningen, and Zandvoort, and the carrying away of the sand (afzan- derij, &quot; offsanding &quot;) by ship or rail, as in the &quot;Westland,&quot; for example, to the south of the Hague, to serve elsewhere for engineering operations and the improving of the soil. Mingled with marsh-earth the sand forms a soil suited to the culture of flower-bulbs; with clay it produces that excellent soil for vegetable gardens for which the Westland is so famous. It must be further remarked that both the &quot; dune pans,&quot; which are naturally marshy through their defective drainage, and the &quot; geest &quot; grounds- that is, the grounds along the foot of the downs have been in various places either planted with wood or turned into arable and pasture land ; while the numerous springs at the base of the dunes rise at such a height above the ordinary level of the country that the water is conveyed by canals to the great cities, and an improvement is thus effected at once in the agricultural condition of the coast-land and in the sanitary condition of the cities. Sea- The sea-dykes are found along the northern coasts, the dykes, coasts of the provinces which border on the Zuyder Zee, and the coasts of the islands of Zealand and South Holland so far as they are not protected by dunes. Only in a few places, it will be seen, are the sea-dykes unnecessary ; as for example, in Friesland between Stavoren and Olde Mirdum (the bold and steep Koude and Mirrhuu cliti s) and near Doornspijk, 3 miles south of Elburg, where there are high grounds which stretch 6 miles to the south-west of Harderwijk. The earthen dykes are protected by stone- slopes and by piles, and at the more dangerous points also by &quot; zinkstukken &quot; (sinking pieces), artificial structures of bulrushes, reeds, and branches, laden with stones, and measuring some 400 yards in circuit, by means of which the current is to some extent turned aside. The West kappel dyke already mentioned is 12,468ft. long and 23 high 3 has a seaward slope of 300 ft., and is protected by rows of piles and basalt blocks. On its ridge, 39 ft. broad, there is not only a roadway but a service railway. When it is remembered that the woodwork is infested by the pile worm ( Teredo n&amp;lt;ivalis), the ravages of which were discovered in 1731, the enormous expense incurred in the construction and maintenance of the 1550 miles of sea-dykes now exist ing may be imagined. The co^ of construction is not over estimated at 150,000,000 guilders or 12,500,000. The Dutch islands may be divided into two main classes Islan;&quot; (1) those surrounded on all sides by the German Ocean or its inlets, and (2) those surrounded entirely or in great part by river arms, and separated by these from the main land or from each other. The first division again comprises two groups (a) the islands Texel, Ylieland, Terschelling, Amel ind, Schiermonnikoog, and Rottum, which stretch in a long arc from the north point of North Holland to the mouth of the Ems, and indicate the old coast-line, so that they belong to the same physico-geographical group with the islands along the German coast; and (6) the islands Wieringen, Marken, Urk, and Schokland, which are the relics of the stretch of country formerly comprising the present bed of the Zuyder Zee. In the second class are to be reckoned the delta of the river Y&sel (Camper Island) and the islands belonging to the contiguous deltas of the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, including tha island of Betuwe between the Rhine and the Waal and the archipelago of South Holland and Zealand. As the river mouths of Holland must also be regarded as Rivoi gulfs or inlets of the sea, they may be noticed here. The iouu average breadth of the Haringvliet at Helvoetslnys is 8860 ft. and at Goedereede 1^,045; that of the West Scheldt at Ter Neuzen 15,420 ft., and at Flushing (Ylissingen) 13,7SO; that of the East Scheldt at the harbour of Goes 13,780, and at the harbour of Zierikzee 13,450; and that of the Roompot 21,650 to 29,530 ft. The varying characteristics of the coasts in different places Influ- give rise to correspondingly different industries. As re- eilce gards trade and navigation, the west coasts with their shal- lows and sandbanks can be approached only by small vessels i,, ( i us . of light draught (visscherspinken) unless where access is try. afforded by the inlets of the sea, especially the mouth of the West Scheldt at Flushing, that of the East Scheldt at Zierikzee, the Brouwershaven inlet between the islands of Schouwen and Goeree, the Goeree inlet at Helvoetsluys, the Marsdiep at the Helder, and the mouth of the Ems at Delfzijl, or where a way has been opened up by engineering works as at Rotterdam and Amsterdam (by the new water way to the sea and the canal to Ymuiden). As we proceed from south-west to north-east the places along the coast become less and less important : in the provinces of Groningen and Friesland the approach to the mainland is obstructed by the Wadden or Shallows ; and en the coast of the Zuyder Zee are those harbours, for the most part rendered useless by alluvial accretions, which have been so well described by Havard in his Villes Mortcs du Zuyderzee. Along the greater part of these coasts the