HE'LIGOLAND, or HELGOLAND (Holy Land), a small island in the North sea, belonging to Great Britain, is situated about 35 or 40 m. n.w. of the mouth of the Elbe, in lat. 54 11' n., and long. 7° 53' east. It is about a m. long from n. to s., and one-third of a m. from e. to w., one-fifth of a sq.m. in superficial area, and about 21- m. in circumference. The island consists of an upper and a lower quarter; the former, "The Oberland," is a rock 200 feet. in height, and 4,200 paces in circumference, on which stands a town of 350 houses, and 1913 inhabitants; the latter, " Sandy Island," is a patch of shore with 60 houses s.e. of the cliff, and communicating with it by a flight of 173 steps. The surging of the sea, which has already greatly diminished the size of the island, is fast consuming its shores, and will probably, at no great distance of time, reduce it to a mere sand-bank. Heligoland has two good ports, one on its n. and another on its s. side. The inhabitants are supported chiefly by fishing and commerce, by serving as pilots, and by the strangers who visit Heligoland for the excellent sea bathing Sandy island affords. A light-house stands on the cliff near the village. There is also a prison, but it is never occupied. The annual value of the fisheries is about £5,000, and the chief products are lobsters and haddocks. Heligoland is an important place in time of war, and commands the German trade in the North sea. The island, which was taken by the English from the Danes in 1807, and was formally ceded to them in 1814, has an English governor, but the internal affairs are managed by a council of the islanders. Four batteries, manned by a garrison of British soldiers, are mounted
on the cliff. The British establishment maintained on Heligoland costs about £1000 a year. Steam-boats run between this and Hamburg. Heligoland was anciently sacred to the goddess Hertha, and was the island to which the tribe of the Angli who inhabited the mainland opposite, went to perform religious rites in her honor. On a map discovered by sir William Gell, the situation of many temples, villages, and large tracts of country, are delineated, all of which were swallowed up by the sea, between 700 A.D. and 1200 A.D., according to D'Anville. The sea continued its encroachments, and, before the end of the 17th c., had submerged several churches and monastic establishments. Christianity was first preached here by St. Willibrod in the 7th c., after whose time the island received its present name. Before this, it was called Fosetisland, fronf the Frisian goddess; Foseta, who had a temple here. The inhabitants of Heligoland are divided into two classes, differing both in race and occupation—the one being fishers, the other merchants, cultivators, etc. The first are Frisians, a tall and muscular race of hardy seaman, simple and primitive in their habits and holding land-labor in contempt. The merchant class consists of immigrants from Hamburg and other places on the mainland, or their descendants.