HOLLAND, a country in Europe with great possessions in the Eastern Archipelago, which are designated Netherland India, also the Dutch Possessions in India; and Holland formerly held parts of Ceylon, also parts of what is now British India, and likewise Malacca in the Malay Peninsula. Holland is situated along the south eastern coast of the North Sea, and extends in its greatest length, from N.E. to S.W., about 190 English miles. Its greatest breadth, from E. to W., is about 123 English miles. The superficial area is 7,614,252 English acres, cr 11,897 English square miles. Holland has had a severe contest with the ocean, which has ended in the country being brought into a high state of cultivation and comparative safety. The canals are very numerous, and of the greatest utility in draining off the waters, and in facilitating the internal trade. They are lined with trees, which tend greatly to improve tho country, in itself so fiat, that to those approaching it along the rivers and some part of the coast the trees and spires seem to rise out of the water. Along the coast of the North Sea there is a fine of broad sand hills and downs, in some parts so very high as to shut out the view of the sea even from the tops of the spires. In some parts of Zealand and of
North Holland the defensive war against the encroachments of the sea is kept up with great difficulty and at an immense expense. The pro vince of Friesland, which has no sandhills, is protected against the sea by stupendous dykes and palisadoes, the repair of which costs upwards of half a million sterling yearly. The industry of the people has multiplied cattle and pasture grounds. Laws passed in 1857 and 1863, and based on a system of religious equality, and a total separation of church and state, ensure for every child in the country an education in the simple branches of secular knowledge. The three universities of Leyden, Utrecht, and Groningen contain upwards of 1400 students. The population in 1865 was 3,529,108. Protestants, 1,942,387 ; Catholics, 1,234,486 ; the remainder are Jews. Several dialects are spoken in Holland. The Dutch, which is an offspring of the Low German or Nieder Deutsch, is the language of two-thirds of the inhabitants. Flemish is spoken on the Belgian frontier. See Dutch.