Dr Brown on Marine Denudation of the Friesian Islands. 265 



north by means of Ylieland, Noordvaander, Ter Schelling, 

 Ameland, Sclieermounik Oog, Bosch, and Eottum, as the 

 connecting links of the chain. Along the German coast lie 

 in a line, only broken by narrow, intervening straits, Borkum, 

 Juist, Xorderney, Baltriim, Langeoog, Spiekeroog, and ^Yan- 

 geroog. Then comes a break in the chain, at the Jahde and 

 the estuary of the Weser, until seaward, and nearly opposite 

 the mouth of the Elbe lies one of the smallest of them all, 

 viz., Heligoland, which flies the English flag. There are no 

 more of them until we reach the Schleswig coast at Husum. 

 Here commences a region of broken islands, the line of con- 

 tinuity being, however, continued northward in Eohr, Sylt, 

 Komo, Mano, Sonderho, and Fano, off the Jutland shores. 

 North of the Eider and south of Jutland, the islands are 

 known as the Xorth Friesian group ; those off the shores of 

 East Friesland are the East Friesian Islands, while the Dutch 

 ones are sometimes called the West Friesian Islands. All are 

 more or less inhabited by the same race, those ancient Fries- 

 ians, whose name bulks so largely in early German and 

 Dutch history, and who seem to have had a peculiar 

 liking for settling on the ^dldest, least accessible, and most 

 maritime regions they could seize. It is only recently that 

 they were agriculturists to any extent, but they have been 

 always seafaring men, and at an earlier date pirates, and, 

 some will even hint yet, when a favourable opportunity 

 occurs " strandlaiifers " — i.e. shore-loafers, or wreckers. In- 

 deed, a brilliant law, passed during the Danish regime, gave a 

 considerable impetus to knocking the unfortunate castaway 

 mariners on the head. It was ordained that nobody was to 

 possess any right in wreck washed ashore, so long as the 

 owner appeared to claim it. As a matter of course, the owner 

 did not often appear on the scene ! From time immemorial 

 these islands have been little by little, and sometimes by 

 huge pieces, decreasing in size. The sea is daily nibbling at 

 them, and tossing acre after acre into the ocean from whence 

 they arose. When the tide goes out, far as the eye can see 

 there is laid bare extensive mud flats, at high water only 

 covered by a few inches or at most a foot or two of sea. 

 These flats, which, roughly speaking, represent the land which 



