BUILDING OF DIKES. 203 



spread, that it was not adopted in Nord Strand and in Ey- 

 derstede, till about the years 1610 and 1612. 



Before that time, however, the safety of the exten- 

 sive soil of the latter marsch had been provided for in a 

 different manner. I have said above, that, when the 

 isles of Everschop and Utholm had been united to it, 

 the whole together still formed but one large island; 

 now, in this state, it was in as great danger on the side 

 towards the continent, as on that open to the sea ; be- 

 cause two small rivers, the Trene and the Nord Eyder, 

 discharging themselves into the interval between it and 

 the land, and by preserving their course to the sea, this 

 interval was thus kept open to the tempests, sometimes 

 from the side of the Hever ; sometimes from that of the 

 Eyder; and the waves, beating against ' the geest, were 

 thence repelled upon the marsch. The inhabitants, see- 

 ing that the expense of remedying these evils would be 

 greater than they could afford, while at the same time 

 it was indispensable to their safety, addressed themselves 

 to their bishops and to their prefect, of whom they re- 

 quested pecuniary assistance ; and having obtained it, 

 they first undertook the great enterprise of carrying 

 the Trene and the Nord^Eyder higher up into the Ey- 

 der ; keeping their waters, however, still separate for a 

 certain space, by a dam with a sluice, in order to form 

 there a reservoir of fresh water: the tides ascending up 

 the Eyder above Frederichstadt. They were thus en- 

 abled to carry on the extremities of the dike on both 

 sides to join the geest; and the interval between the lat- 

 ter and the marsch was then soon filled up, there being 

 only left, at their junction, the canal above described, 

 which receives the waters of the geest, and, at low water, 

 discharges them from both its extremities by sluices. 

 At the same time, the islands of Pelhvorm and Nord 



