DRAINESTG OF THE ZUIDERZEE. 409 



lands were valued at more than £6,000 or nearly $30,000, and aa 

 the total cost was £^64,500 or about $3,Y00,000, the direct losa 

 to the state, exclusive of interest on the capital expended, may 

 be set at £100,000 or something less that $500,000. 



The success of this operation has encouraged others of like 

 nature in Holland. The Zuid Plas, which covered 11,500 acres 

 and was two feet deeper than the Lake of Haarlem, has been 

 drained, and a similar work now in course of execution on an 

 arm of the Schelde, will recover about 35,000 acres. 



In a country like the United States, of almost boundless extent 

 of sparsely inhabited territory, such an expenditure for such an 

 object would be poor economy. But HoUand has a narrow do- 

 main, great pecuniary resources, an excessively crowded popula- 

 tion, and a consequent need of enlarged room and opportunity 

 for the exercise of industry. Under such circumstances, and 

 especially with an exposure to dangers so formidable, there is no 

 question of the wisdom of the measure. It has already provided 

 homes and occupation for more than five thousand citizens, and 

 furnished a profitable investment for a private capital of not less 

 than £400,000 sterling or $2,000,000, which has been expended 

 in improvements over and above the purchase money of the soil ; 

 and the greater part of this sum, as well as of the cost of drain- 

 age, has been paid as a compensation for labor. The excess of 

 governmental expenditure over the receipts, if employed in con- 

 structing ships of war or fortifications, would have added httle to 

 the miHtary strength of the kingdom ; but the increase of terri- 

 tory, the multiphcation of homes and firesides which the people 

 have an interest in defending, and the augmentation of agricul- 

 tural resources, constitute a stronger bulwark against foreign 

 invasion than a ship of the line or a fortress armed with a hun- 

 dred cannon. 



DroMiing of the Zuiderzee., 



I have referred to the draining of the Lake of Haarlem as an 

 operation of great geographical as well as economical and me- 

 chanical interest. A much more gigantic project, of a similar 



undulate at every step, and a man's house sometimes, during a squall, changes 

 front to every point of the compass. Some of these islands ai'c so large as to 

 afford space for three or four cottages." 

 18 



