CHAPTER lY. 



THE WATEKS. 



Land Artificially won from the Waters — Great Works of Material Improve- 

 ment — Draining of Lincolnshire Fens — Incursions of the Sea in the 

 Netherlands — Origin of Sea-dikes — Gain and Loss of Land in the Nether- 

 lands — Marine Deposits on the Coast of Netherlands — Draining of Lake 

 of Haarlem — Draining of the Zuiderzee — Geographical Effects of Im- 

 provements in the Netherlands — Ancient Hydraulic Works — Draining of 

 Lake Celano by Prince Torlonia — Incidental Consequences of draining 

 Lakes — Draining of Marshes — Agricultural Draining — Meteorological 

 Effects of Draining — Geographical Effects of Draining — Geographical 

 Effects of Aqueducts and Canals — Antiquity of Irrigation — Irrigation in 

 Palestine, India and Egypt — Irrigation in Europe — Meteorological Effects 

 of Irrigation — Water withdrawn from Elvers for Irrigation — Injurious 

 Effects of Eice-culture — Salts Deposited by Water of Irrigation — Subter- 

 ranean Waters — Artesian Wells — Artificial Springs — Economizing Pre- 

 cipitation — Inundations in France — Basins of Reception — Diversion of 

 Rivers — Glacier Lakes — River Embankments — Other Remedies against 

 Inundations — Dikes of the Nile — Deposits of Tuscan Rivex's — Improve- 

 ments in Tuscan Maremma — Improvements in Val di Chiana — Coast of 

 the Netherlands. 



Lcmd a/rtificially won from the Waters. 



Man, as we have seen, has done much to revolutionize the solid 

 surface of the globe, and to change the distribution and propor- 

 tions, if not the essential character, of the organisms which in- 

 habit the land and even the waters. Besides the influence thus 

 exerted upon the Hfe which peoples the sea, his action upon the 

 land has involved a certain amount of indirect encroachment 

 upon the territorial jurisdiction of the ocean. So far as he has 

 increased the erosion of running waters by the destruction of the 

 forest or by other operations which lessen the cohesion of the 

 soil, he has promoted the deposit of solid matter in the sea, thus 

 reducing the depth of marine estuaries, advancing the coast-hne, 

 and diminishing the area covered by the waters. He has gone- 



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