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282 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUCH GERMANY.
the Elbe; throughout all this diftrié there is no folid ground; and as to the rocks and
hills, nobody thinks of them. i
The fea forms boundaries to herfelf, which fhe never paffes, but in cafes of extreme
neceflity. | Her playful-waves have made the downs which reach from Calais to the
‘Texel, and which protect the land, which is in fome cafe lower than the horizontal fur-
face of the fea, from her devaftations; but, when a north or north-weft wind turns her
from her natural good humour, into a fit of anger, fhe overthrows in an inftant, what,
with the help of the neighbouring rivers, fhe has been building for many centuries.
Even in the time of the Romans, the Y, which reaches from Amfterdam to the
Texel, was {till folid land, watered to the eaft by the Yflel, and to the welt, as fome
imagine, by the Rhine. In fome tempeft, the fea demolifhed the downs, which extend
from the northern coaft of Friezeland, to the country of the ‘Texel; the rivers, in the
mean time, having extended their mouths in the fand, which was their works, there
came at length an extraordinary flood, which raifed the rivers, and united with them to
deftroy the whole country. Since that time, but particularly fince the independance of
the country, it has been the conftant care to re-unite thefe {mall {trips of land, which
the flood left behind it, with the folid land. ’Thefe {trips are commonly only fand banks,
fome of which have been fenced with dykes, and joined to North Holland ; others are
embanking every day, as every {trip of land, let it be ever fo barren, is of infinite value
to the inhabitants. A fimilar procefs has taken place betwixt Groningen and Eatt
Friezeland, by the mouth of the Ems. The great bay of Dollar was originally formed
by a powerful flood, fince which, a great part of the fea fwamp has been dammed in,
and wonderfully cultivated. But as faft as they recover land on one fide, the fea re-
venges itfelf by fpreading on the other. The fea of Haerlem grows wider every day,
and threatens to break the dykes betwixt Leyden and Haerlem, and make a perfect
ifland of North Holland. In the lait century the fea demolifhed a great part of the
land in which Dordrecht is fituated, and fixty thoufand men perifhed by this acci-
dent.
Dreadful as the fea is to the main land of the Republic, fhe is ftill a more formi-
dable enemy to the iflands which conftitute the province of Zeeland; but what fhe
executes on the continent by violent ftorms, fhe undertakes here by craft and cunning :
moft of thefe iflands are lower than the furface of the fea ;- the inhabitants have in con-
fequence attempted to fecure themfelves by very expenfive dykes; thefe dykes confit
of large trees, which are joined together with large needles to prevent the kakerlak.
The fea is perpetually undermining them, and wafhing the earth away from them by
degrees ; in many places they are already quite naked. ‘This compels the inhabitants
to build other walls behind their dams, which, expecting the fame fate, muft in time
leave the whole at the mercy of their enemy.
Norare the inhabitants of the middle of the country in a better fituation. The ter-
ritories about Nimeguen and Arnheim, the moft beautiful and moft fruitful in all Hol-
land, will in time be fubdued by the Rhine. As it depofits immenfe fand banks in the
middle of the country, in time it will be reftrained by them in its courfe, and compelled
to open itfelf new ways. In many diftri€ts about Betuve, the fand is already fo high,
that at every fwell the river is driven with a terrible hurricane to the oppofite fhore ;
this will happen till it has finally broke itfelf a new bed, and covered with its waters all
that is now ploughed land, or the fite of villages and hamlets.—Nune Rhenus eft ubi
Trya fuit —The many canals which have been made to receive part of the waters of
thefe rivers, are by no means fufficient to break their force. Their fand, particularly
that of the Maefe, accumulates at their mouths and ftops them up ; nor does the di-
vifion
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