282 RIESBECK’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY 1 .

the Elbe ; throughout all this diftridt there is no folid ground $ and as to the rocks andhills, nobody thinks of them.

The fea forms boundaries to’herfelf, which file never paflfes, but in cafes of extremeneceffity. Her playful waves have made the downs which reach from Calais to theTexel, and which proted the land, which is in fome cafe lower than the horizontal fur-face of the fea, from her devaluations; but, when a north or north-weft wind turns herfrom her natural good humour, into a fit of anger, Ihe overthrows in an inftant, what,with the help of the neighbouring rivers, file has been building for many centuries.

Even in the time of the Romans, the Y, which reaches from Amfterdam to theTexel, was ftill folid land, watered to the eaft by the Yffel, and to the weft, as fomeimagine, by the Rhine . In fome tempeft, the fea demolilhed the downs, which extendfrom the northern coaft of Friezeland, to the country of the Texel; the rivers, in themean time, having extended their mouths in the fand, which was their works, therecame at length an extraordinary flood, which raifed the rivers, and united with them todeftroy the whole country. Since that time, but particularly fince the independance ofthe country, it has been the conftant care to re-unite thefe fmall ftrips of land, whichthe flood left behind it, with the folid land. Thefe ftrips are commonly only fand banks,fome of which have been fenced with dykes, and joined to North Holland ; others areembanking every day, as every ftrip of land, let it be ever fo barren, is of infinite valueto the inhabitants. A fimilar procefs has taken place betwixt Groningen and EaftFriezeland, by the mouth of the Ems. The great bay of Dollar was originally formedby a powerful flood, fince whidfi^a great part of the fea fwamp has been dammed, in,and wonderfully cultivated. Beit 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 perfectifland of North Holland . In the laft century the fea demolilhed a great part of theifland in which Dordrecht is fituated, and fixty thoufand men perilhed by this acci-dent. 1

Dreadful as the fea is to the main land of the Republic , Ihe is ftill a more formi-dable enemy to the iflands which conftitute the province of Zeeland ; but what iheexecutes on the continent by violent ftorms, Ihe undertakes here by craft and cunning :molt 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 confiftof large trees, which are joined together with large needles to prevent the kakerlak.

The fea is perpetually undermining them, and walhing the earth away from them bydegrees ; in many places they are already quite naked. This compels the inhabitantsto build other walls behind their dams, which, expecting the fame fate, mull in timeleave the whole at the mercy of their enemy.

Nor are 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 themiddle of the country, in time it will be reftrained by them in its courfe^and compelledto open itfelf new ways. In many diftridts 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 allthat is now ploughed land, or-the fite of villages and hamlets .—Nunc Rhenus eft ubiTrcja fuit —The many canals which have been made to receive part of the waters ofthefe rivers, are by no means fufficient to break their force. Their fand, particularlythat of the Maefe,. accumulates at their mouths and ftops them up ; nor does the di-

vifion