H. W.Pearson — Oscillations of 8ea-lcvcl. 257 



jumped out of bed into water up to her knees. Now the tide 

 does not come within three miles of this place. At Castle Hotel, 

 Harlech, a picture of Harlech Castle (printed by Alex. Bogg, 

 16, Paternoster Eow) is exhibited, showing the sea reaching to 

 the base of the castle. Sea is now one mile distant. It would be 

 interesting to learn the date of this picture. 



The Zuyder Zee was opened at the expense of the land in the 

 first years of the thirteenth century, "and never ceased to enlarge 

 itself during 200 years " (Reclus, " The Ocean," p. 154). In 1230 

 occurred the terrible inundation of Friesland, costing the lives of 

 100,000 people ; ia 1231 the lakes of Haarlem overflowed, and 

 gradually increasing united with each other toward 1650. In 

 1277 the Gulf of Dollart began to be hollowed out. It was only 

 in 1537 that the invasion of the sea, which had devoured the town 

 of Torum and fifty villages, could be arrested ; in 1287 the Zuyder 

 Zee drowned 60,000 persons ; in 1421 seventy-two villages were 

 submerged at once (" The Ocean," p. 154). The island of Wieringer, 

 part of the mainland in 1205, was detached by floods in 1219, 1220, 

 1221, 1246, 1251. The Biesbosch, Holland, formed in 1421, twenty- 

 two villages drowned. Inundations of the Gulf of Dollart, 1277, 

 1278, 1280, and 1287. The western coast of Schleswig swallowed 

 up in 1240. Fourteen villages in Isle of Cadsand, Zealand, sub- 

 merged in 1337. Kortgene Island engulfed in 1530 ("The Gallery 

 of Nature," p. 389). 



The record above given of the devastation wrought by the sea iu 

 Holland between the years 1200 and 1500 is but partial ; it might 

 be extended tenfold, but it is sufficient to show exactly what 

 occurred on these shores during the period named. The history is 

 plain to read ; about the year 1200 the rising sea-level began to 

 overtop the barriers erected by the people of the lowlands for the 

 protection of their homes. Those barriers which yesterday were 

 found ample will to-morrow be found deficient in height. The 

 progressive rising of the sea exceeding the ability of man to elevate 

 the embankments. The result is that during the 250 years or more 

 which elapsed before these waters reached their highest level, the 

 history of Holland forms one long chapter of horrors. We can see 

 also that during the pex'iod when Holland was sinking beneath 

 the waves the English coast was undergoing the same ordeal, as 

 illustrated in the history of Rye, Norwich, Winchelsea, Ravenser, 

 and the Fens, only, more fortunate than Holland, she had little 

 low-lying lands along her borders liable to submergence ; her 

 losses, therefore, during the epoch of the advancing sea were less 

 extensive. 



The haven in which the Chinese Admiral anchored his fleet 

 (in Formosa, 1661) "is now a dry, arid plain, over which there 

 is a road and several canals cut to communicate with the old port 

 of Tai-wau-fu " (Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc, vol. xliii, p. 99). "The 

 Dutch fort of 1624, originally built on au islet at some distance from 

 the shore, now forms part of Formosa, and under its ruins the water 

 is so shallow that passengers laud with much difficulty where was 



DECADE IV. — VOL. VIII. — NO. VI. 17 



