In our account of the progressive geography of the Zuy der Zee, we have partly noticed the changes which have taken place in the course of the Rhine. At the same time that the lake Flevo gained its increase, the northern branch of this river was weakened by the division of its waters ; and even the canal of Drusus was afterwards almost oblite rated by the deposition of mud in a low country. The Rhine seems to have been farther divided and weakened by a canal cut by Civilis, which, according to Cluverius, is the present Leck; though Pinkerton thinks the deviation of the Rhine into the Leck was the work of natural causes. The same author regards the Leck, which joins the estua ry of the Meuse between Dort and Rotterdam, as the northern mouth of the Rhine ; which, according to him, the Waal continues to be the southern, both being lost in a comparatively small stream, the AIeuse. According to other geographers, what falls into the sea near Catwyk is not the Rhine, but a canal bearing the name of that river. In the sea at low tides, are to be seen, near this village, the foundations of an ancient Roman castle, that commanded the mouths of the Rhine. The Maese, running by Dort and Rotterdam, fell, as it now does, into the sea, at Briel, with a powerful flow of water ; but the sands, which are gathered for three or four leagues upon this coast, having obstructed the exit of the river, have caused or increased those inundations, out of which so many islands have been recovered, and of which that part of South Holland is so much composed. Towards the formation of these islands, the Scheldt seems also to have contributed. This river anciently formed a mere Delta, with four or five small islands. At what time the irruptions of this river took place, by which the islands of Zealand, and the most south ern of those of Holland, were formed, is not accurately known. Pinkerton is of opinion that they happened at the time that the Godwin sands arose : other authors assign them to violent tempests in the years 860 and 1170. A Zealandie chronicler, quoted by Cluverius, says, that the islands of Zealand were formed by violent tempests in the year 938. It is more probable, however, that these great changes made a slow and gradual progress: none of them being so ancient as the time of Charlemagne, and some of them as recent as the fifteenth century.
Of the most recent changes in the geography of Hol Land, besides the enlargement or the Zuyder Zee already mentioned, that which took place in the year 1421, to the south-east of Dort, is the most remarkable. Dort is the capital of a bailiwick of the same name. In 1421, this Bailiwick was made an island by a violent tempest, which drove the waters up the Maesc and the Mereune with such violence, that they overflowed their banks, and swallowed up a large tract of land, with 70 villages, and 100,000 peo ple ; a vast lake between Dort and Brabant was also form ed. The name of Dordrecht signifies a ferry,on the river Dort, but that river is now swallowed up by the channel of the Macse. The isle of Rugenhil, on which Willenstedt stands, was covered by the sea for some time ; it was re covered so late as the year 1654. Naerden is the capital of a district called Goyland : it lies upon the Zuyder Zee, 13 miles to the cast of Amsterdam, and 14 to the north of Utrecht. The old town, which stood more to the north, was swallowed up by the sea. The ruins are still to be seen at low water, 200 perches from the present town.
The drained lands in North Holland deserve particular notice under the head of Progressive Geography ; they consist of the Zype, the Beenister, and Purmer, the War »leer, and Schermecr. The Zype was first drained and encompassed by banks, by William Lord of Schagen, and secured by stronger fences in 1552 ; but the sea broke them down in 1570. After this it was drained again, and
secured by a mole of prodigious height and bulk, proof against all attacks of the sea ; and it is now, like all the other drained lands, very fruitful soil. The noise made by the waves which break upon it, sounds like the barking of a pack of hounds, from which circumstance it is called the Hounds-wood. It is supported by large beams of timber, firmly placed in the ground, and strongly fastened toge ther, the distances between them being filled with very large stones ; and the mole is strengthened by a vast bank cast up against it.
Purmer, or Purmeren, and the Beenister, are both drain ed lakes : the latter is encompassed by a channel from 4 to 8 rods broad, and is joined to the former by a bridge at the south end. Purmer is about 5 miles long, and above 2 broad. The Beenister contains 7090 acres besides the highways, dikes, and canals, which surround and cross it in several places. It lies between Purmer and Edam, and was a lake till the year 1610, when, after four years labour, and vast expellee, (the banks, by which the water thrown out by the mills was confined, having been broken, after the work was half done,) it was made dry land ; and is now so planted with gardens, orchards, rows of trees, and fer tile inclosures, that Sir NVilliam Temple says it is the pleasantest summer landscape he ever saw. There were no fewer than thirty mills employed to drain the Beenister.
Vie come now to the consideration of the agriculture, fisheries, manufactures, and commerce of the province of Holland. The agriculture of such a -country, where the soil and climate arc so very moist, cannot be expected to be considerable, or to present many instructive or inter esting topics : in some respects, however, it deserves no tice, particularly in what regards the pasturage of New Holland, and most especially of the drained lands.
In this province, few lands are held in fief, or by homage, and the women being very fruitful of child•ep, and the men generally dividing their landed property among them, estates are for the most part small. The farms are also small : the farm houses are neat, sheltered and concealed by small clusters of trees, and included, together with their gardens and orchards, in a perfect green fence. The fields are separated from each other, and from the road, neither by hedges or walls, but by deep ditches filled with water, over which are laid small bridges, that may be opened in the middle by a sort of trap door, raised and locked to a post, to prevent the intrusion of strangers. The roads, in many places, are made on the dike of the canal, the fields being frequently between five and six feet below the level of the road ; but the communication between most of the farm houses and the villages and towns, and also between the several parts of the same Tarn), is often en tirely by means of small canals. The most magnificent public roads • in Holland are those in the vicinity of the Hague. The road from this place to Scheveling is point ed out by the Dutch as an object of admiration to stran gers : the length of this avenue, for it can hardly be called a road, is nearly two miles, and its breadth rather more than 20 paces : it is a perfectly straight line, so that the entrance of the road commands a view of the whole ; and the church of Scheveling, a picturesque object, terminates the prospect. It is shaded on each side by beeches, limes, and oaks, of an astonishing growth, which are so closely and skilfully planted, that they form to appearance an im pervious forest. From Delft to the Hague, the road is magnificently grand. It is of sufficient breadth to admit four or five carriages abreast, shaded on both sides by lofty rows of trees, kept in excellent repair, and so level, that not the least inequality of ground is to be perceived.