IN THE ECONOMY OF NATURE. 183 



a mile across. The low shores along this line of coast are 

 washed by the waters of the Gulf of Dantzig, and in the 

 middle ages its Dunes, or hills of blown sand, which stretch 

 almost from Dantzig to Pillan, were covered with a thick 

 pine forest and an undergrowth of heath*. 



" King Frederick William, of Prussia, wanted money. 

 One of liis noblemen, wishing to secure his favor, promised 

 to procure it him without loan or tax, if he would permit 

 these forests to be removed. The King not only allowed 

 the forests in Prussia to be cleared, which, at that time, 

 were certainly of little value, but he also permitted the 

 whole of the woods on the Frische-Nehrung to be felled, 

 so far as they were Prussian. The financial operation was 

 perfectly prosperous ; the King had money. But in the 

 elementary operations which followed therefrom, the State 

 received such an injury that its effects remain even to this 

 day. The sea- winds can now sweep unimpeded over the 

 denuded hills, the Frische-Haff is already half- filled with 

 sand, its depth being now in no place more than twelve 

 feet, and sedges grow for some distance in its shallowing 

 waters, threatening to convert it into a monstrous swamp; 

 the anchorage extending between Elbing, the sea, and 

 Konigsberg is endangered, and the fishing in the Haff 

 injured. In vain have all possible efforts been made, 

 through sand-heaps and pastures of coarse sea-grass, to 

 cover again these hills with matted roots. The wind 

 mocks at every exertion. The operation of the Prussian 

 nobleman brought the King two hundred thousand thalers ; 

 now the people would give millions if they had the woods 

 back again."* 



The woods, in their united might, are truly a natural 

 fascine or fortification, which serves to withstand the per- 

 petual encroachments of the sand-hills on low, exposed 

 shores ; growing on the side of the mountains, they stay 

 the further progress of glaciers, and protect the inhabitants 

 of the valleys against the avalanche or mountain snow-ball, 



* Das Buck der pflanzenwelt, von Dr. Karl Muller. Leipzig, 1857. 



