THE EARTH. 239 



Godwin, and forms now that bank called the 

 Goodwin-sands. In the year 1546 a similar ir- 

 ruption of the sea destroyed a hundred thousand 

 persons in the territory of Dort, and yet a greater 

 number round Dullart. In Friezland and Zea- 

 land, there were more than three hundred villages 

 overwhelmed ; and their ruins continue still visi- 

 ble at the bottom of the water in a clear day. 

 The Baltic Sea has, by slow degrees^ covered a 

 large part of Pomerania ; and, among others, 

 destroyed and overwhelmed the famous port of 

 Vineta. In the same manner, the Norwegian 

 Sea has formed several little islands from the 

 main land, and still daily advances upon the con- 

 tinent. The German Sea has advanced upon the 

 shores of Holland, near Catt ; so that the ruins 

 of an ancient citadel of the Romans, which was 

 formerly built upon this coast, are now actually 

 under water. To these accidents several more 

 might be added ; our own historians, and those 

 of other countries, abound with them ; almost 

 every flat shore of any extent being able to shew 

 something that it has lost, or something that it 

 has gained from the sea. 



There are some shores on which the sea has 

 made temporary depredations ; where it has over- 

 flowed, and after remaining perhaps some ages, 

 it has again retired of its own accord, or been 

 driven back by the industry of man.* There are 

 many lands in Norway, Scotland, and the Mal- 

 divia islands, that are at one time covered with 



Buffbn, vol. ii. p. 425. 



