458 



THE NETHEELANDS. 



however, an arm to the north, which enters the sea 20 miles below Rotterdam, 

 at the Hoek van Holland. 



Whilst most of the rivers on the northern hemisphere press upon their right 

 bank, in consequence of the earth's rotation, and deviate to the east, those of 

 the Netherlands move in a contrary direction. 13oth the Rhine and the Maas, 

 as far as they are bounded by hills, flow to the northward, but no sooner have 

 they entered the yielding plains of the Netherlands than they swerve round to 

 the west. There is reason to suppose that in a time now very remote these rivers 

 flowed northward through the plains of Gelderland, but their present course is 



Fig. 253. — SciriKRMoxKiKOOG. 

 Scale 1 : 86,000. 



2 Miles. 



west, and they exhibit a tendency to diverge even to the south-west. This abnormal 

 direction of the Dutch rivers is due to the action of the tides. At the Holder the 

 difference between high and low water amounts to 4*9 feet ; but it increases as we 

 travel southward, and at the mouth of the Scheldeit is 16-6 feet. Thus the level of 

 the sea is higher at ebb at the Holder than on the coast of Zealand, and the rivers 

 naturally seek an outlet in the direction of the latter. The tidal wave rushes up 

 the estuaries of Zealand with great force, and in ebbing its scour deepens the bed 

 of the rivers. The sea, in fact, is both the friend and the enemy of the Dutch — 

 Protector el hostis, as we read on an old Zealand coin. It bears their ships, forms 

 a protecting boundary, and throws fecund alluvium upon their shores, but at the 



