The name of Holland, (the hollow land,) sufficiently in dicates the nature of the country. The level of a great part of it is, indeed, below the level of the sea, which is kept out only by means of dykes, or natural sand banks. In many parts, the dyke, or mound, is 30 feet above the adjoining land ; the width at top is enough to permit the passage of two carriages ; and there is a sort of imperfect road along it. In its descent, the breadth increases so much, that it is not very difficult to walk down either side. On the land side, it is strengthened by stone and timber, and covered by earth and grass; towards the sea, some what above, and considerably below water•wark, a strong matting of flags prevents the surge from carrying away the surface of the mound. This kind of defence appears to have been discovered in the 17th century ; for Sir William Temple, in his observations on the Netherlands, expressly says, it was lately found out. This matting is held to the shore by bandages of twisted flags running horizontally, at the distance of three or four yards from each other, and staked to the ground by strong wooden pins. As this matting is worn by every tide, a survey of it is frequently made. Farther in the sea, it is held down by stones. Above, there are posts at every 40 yards, which arc numbered, that the spot may be exactly de scribed where repairs are necessary. The impost, for the maintenance of these banks, amounts to nearly as much as the land-tax. Sir William Temple asserts, that these dykes employ annually more men than all the corn of the province of Holland could maintain. In the time of De \Vitt, the making of one rood's length of sea-dyke some times cost 600 guilders. Besides these sea-dykes, there are other dykes to keep out the waters of the rivers. In the time of De Witt, the annual charges of the district of Rhineland, which contains about 8000 morgens, and has not much communication with the sea, nor with running but only with standing watet s, paid as acredgc money and inland charges, at least two guilders for every acre ; be sides for drawing out of the rain water by mills each acre 30 buyers, and towards foot paths, highways, and ditches, at least 20 slivers more. The banks or dykes near Me denblick, in North Holland, near the Zuyder Zee, are stronger, broader, and higher, than any others in the coun try ; for there being nothing to break the violence of time sea from the islands of Schelling and Vlieland to this shore, the water beats most furiously upon it when the northerly winds blow, and at spring-tides the sea rises sometimes as high as the dykes, and would even overflow and break them down, did not the inhabitants stop its futy by laying sails over the dykes, which preserve them in a tempest. Whenever the water of the sea, or the lot oaks over upon the lands, they are drained by means of wind-mills, of which there arc immense numbers for this put-pose. Ft-am what has been already said, it may well be imagined, that the general face of the country is that of a large marsh that has been drained, the canals, and even the sea, looking pale, and even discoloured by mud ; yet the eye is not (infrequently relieved and delighted by the groves, gardens, and meadows, while the great rivers, and the immense number of canals in this province, leading not only to every great town, but to evet y village, and almost to every farm-house, present an infinite number of vessels everywhere coursing up and down upon them.
The principal rivers in Holland arc, the Rhine. When we come to treat of the progressive geography of this pro vince, the changes in the course of the Rhine, so far as they are connected with it, will be mentioned ; at present, we. shall confine ourselves to its present state in Holland. Ac cording to some geographers, the northern mouth of this river must be sought in the Leek, which joins the estuary of the Meuse, between Dort and Rotterdam ; according to others, it runs through Leyden, where it divides itself into two canals, one of which runs into the lake of Haerlem, and the other loses itself, four miles beyond Leyden, in the sand hills between Catwyk on the Rhine, and Catwyk on the sea, where was anciently the mouth by which it emptied itself into the ocean. The Leek, if it be not the ancient
Rhine, must be regarded as another river in Holland ; its course has been already mentioned. There is another small branch of the Rhine called the Vaert, or Vccht, which falls into the Zuyder Zcc at Muyden, about eight miles to the east of Amsterdam. The little Yssel falls into the Macs, a short way to the east of Rotterdam. The Maes, passing before Gorcum, runs to Dort, where it di vides itself into two large branches, forming an island call ed Ysselmonde. The most northern branch runs to Rot terdam; it is called the New Macs, to distinguish it from the southern branch, which is called the Old Macs. They reunite a little before they reach Vlardingen, and enter the ocean, by a wide mouth, a little below Briel. The Am stel is not properly a river, but rather a collection of wa ters from the Drecht, the Miert, and other rivulets, the waters of which are swelled by their communication with lakes and rivers, by means of canals. The Y, called by some a river, is more properly a branch of the Zuyder Zee, from which it begins, at a sand bank called the Pampus. Its channel here is half a mile broad, which breadth it continues to Amsterdam, but grows soon after wards twice as broad. It receives the waters from the lake of IlacrIem by a large canal, called the Sparen, and from several lakes in North Holland. It afterwards passes northwards to Beverwyk, without discharging itself again into the sea.
From the town of Hactlem, the great lake called the Haerlem Meer, or Sea of Haerlem, derives its name. It is situated between Haerlcm, Amsterdam, and Leyden; and is formed by the waters of several rivulets, and of the sea, with which, as has just been noticed, it has a commu nication by means of the Y, which enters it by a sluice, strongly built with brick-work. From its communication with the sea, the waters of the Meer arc brackish. There are canals from its several gulfs to the cities of Amster dam, Leyden, and Hamden,. On the east side, there is a gulf or brunch called the New Meer, from which a canal leads to the suburbs of Amsterdam. Here there is a dyke, over which loaded boats arc carried, by means of a wheel and rollers, into another canal. On the north of the lake there is another gulf, where there is a sluice, which opens and shuts itself by the weight of the water. This is the sluice by which the lake communicates with the Y. In one place, the neck of land which separates the Ilaerlena Meer and the is so narrow, that a canal cannot be drawn through it. Both these waters have gained considerably on their respective shores, and if united would be irresisti ble. At the narrowest part, the neck of land consists of pile-work and masonry to the thickness of about 40 feet. On the south and south-west, Haerlem Meer communi cates with several small branches of the Rhine, one of which conies from Leyden. Tne Haerlem lake is about 12 miles long, and nine broad ; and as ground is very dear and valuable in Holland, it has often been proposed tc drain it: but the draining of it would probably be produc tive of great mischief, for it receives the waters when the violent north winds drive them from the German Ocean into the Zuyder Zee and the Y ; whereas if, by the draining of the lake, they were confined within the banks of the Y, the city of Amsterdam would be in great danger of being overflowed. Besides this, the lake of Haerlem affords a vast quantity of fish, and the conveniency of navigation not only to the adjoining villages, but also to Leyden, Haerlem, and Amsterdam. There are some small lakes in North Holland, but none deserving of particular notice.