THE DIKES AND POLDERS. 509 



describe the present circumstances and appearance. The facility 

 of this improvement is so obvious, that it is only surprising it 

 should have remained so long unexecuted j the banks of more 

 ancient polders, which nearly surrounded this, having rendered 

 it unnecessary to do more than to shut out the sea at one point 

 of influx, about fourteen hundred and fifty feet in extent.&quot; Let 

 us look next at the pecuniary result of this improvement. &quot;The 

 land which has been reclaimed by it was let for a sheep-pasture. 

 at twenty-five pounds sterling, or about one hundred and twenty- 

 five dollars, and was thrown up by the farmer as untenable. 

 Upon being dried by this summary improvement, the lots, of 

 which there are one hundred, of thirteen acres each, were sold 

 by auction at an average of 291 13s. 4 d. each, or about 1458 

 dollars, and would now bring nearly double that sum.&quot;* 



A great work of this same kind is now going on, which is no 

 other than to drain the Harlaem Lake, and lay the bottom dry 

 for cultivation. This great work has been some time in progress 

 by means of powerful steam-engines, and when completed will 

 lay dry about 50,000 acres.f The extent proposed to be drained 

 is said to be seventy square miles. Another tract which has 

 been laid bare contains 18,000 acres. It is impossible to con 

 template these mighty and beneficent achievements but with the 

 most profound admiration. But if an immense labor and expense 

 have been devoted to their creation, a corresponding vigilance, a 

 vigilance most laborious, indefatigable, and unceasing, is required 

 to maintain them. The inhabitants of this great country sleep 

 always in the immediate neighborhood of an enemy s camp, and 

 are exposed to irruptions and invasions, against which all human 

 power may be unavailing. The recollection of the floods, which 

 have occasionally broken away these barriers, and swept the 

 country, is perfectly terrific. In the course of thirteen centuries { 

 no less than one hundred and ninety great floods are said to have 

 occurred in Holland ; so that a destructive inundation may be 



* Radcliffe s Flanders. 



} It is stated, that in order to exhaust the lake, 3000 millions of tons of water 

 must be raised ; and in order to keep it dry, 54,000,000 of tons must be raised 

 annually ; and sometimes 20,000,000 of this in one or two months. What a 

 gigantic project! 



t From 516 to 1825. 



43* 



