ZUIDER ZEE, or SOUTH SEA, is ao called by the Dutch in contradistinction from the North Sea, though it is only a wide bay of the North Sea, from which it is separated by a seriea of islands which extend iu the form of a aegment of a circle along the north-west border of the Zuider Zee. These islands are called Texel, Ylicland, Ter Schelling, and Ameland.
The Zuider Zee lies between 52° 15' and 53° 30' N. lat., 4° 15' and 6° E. long., and covers about 12,000 'square miles. Near the middle it ia narrowed by a projectiog peninsula, on the east point of which the town of Enkhuizeu is built. South of this the sea is generally from 25 to 36 miles wide. At its south-weateru extremity an inlet branches off to the west, which extends about 15 milea into the pro vince of Holland. It is from one to two miles wide, and called Hot Y. This inlet is deep enough for vessels of considerable size, and conati tutca the harbour of Amsterdam, which is built on its aouthern ahoro. The entrance to this inlet is between shoals, and is called the Pampus. The 'shores of the Zuider Zee are generally low. On ita eastern aide they are well defined, and on the south-east, iu the province of Guelder land, they rise several feet above the level of the sea. But the western shores are very low, so that a great portion of the adjacent countries is defended from the encroachments of the sea by dykes. Along the eastern shores the sea has sufficient depth for vessels of moderate size, and in general also for large vessels. But along the western shores
several shoals occur, the most extensive of which are near the Texel and at the entrance of the Y ; and at low tides there is so little water in them that the larger merchantmen were formerly obliged to dis charge a portion of their cargo at the Texel before they could sail to Amsterdam. It was to obviate this disadvantage that the Helder Canal was cut. [HOLLAND, North.] In ancient times the site of the Zuider Zee was a low swampy marsh drained by the Yssel, which was not then, as now, an arm of the Rhine. But after the Roman general Claudins Drusus. about }Lc. 12, had caused a canal to be made from the Rhine to the Yssel, a portion of the water brought down by the Rhine was discharged by this canal into the YaseL In A.D. 1219 a great portion of the low country was inundated by the sea, after continued north-western gales, which broke down the dykes that protected it against the water. The last great inundation took place in 1282, and gave to the Zuider Zee the form and depth which it still preserves. Since the completion of the drain age of the sea of Haarlem it has been recently proposed to attempt the drainage of the Zuider Zee by means of steam-engines.