HYDËOGEAPHY. 



457 



its water to tlie Zuider Zee. At Wyk-by-Duurstede tlie main branch assumes the 

 name of Leh, whilst the veritable Rhine, reduced to an insignificant stream, flows 

 to the north-west, past Utrecht and Leyden, into the North Sea. It is known as 

 the Kromme E.yn (Crooked Pthine), or Old Rhine, and sends several branches 

 to the Zuider Zee, the most important being the Veeht and Amstel. When the 

 Romans held the territory the Rhine flooded the country behind the dunes, and 

 they cut a canal to drain off the swamps into the Meuse. The existing Oude 

 V/iet (Old Canal) is supposed to occupy the site of tlie Roman work. More 

 recently, in 1806, a passage for the Rhine was cut through the dunes. It is 



Fig. 252— The Biesbosch in 18.50. 

 Scale 1 : 200,000. 



4-40 Eof G. 



2 Miles. 



defended by gigantic flood-gates. The discharge of the river at its mouth only 

 amounts to 140 cubic feet per second. 



As to the Lek, it is in a great measure an artificial water-way, flowing along a 

 cnnal cut by Civilis in 71 a.d. It joins that arm of the Meuse which flows past 

 Rotterdam. The Hollandsche Yssel is alternately a tributary and an emissary of 

 the latter, carefully regulated by locks, and a great fertiliser of the fat meadows 

 around Gouda. 



If volume is to have weight in the nomenclature of our rivers, then the Waal 

 is the veritable Lower Rhine. At Woudrichem it is joined by the Maas (Meuse), 

 and thenceforth it is known by the name of its tributary. The united river passes 

 through the island labyrinth known as the Biesbosch (Rush-wood), and thence 

 through the Hollandsche Diep and Haringvliet into the North Sea. It sends, 

 104 



