460 



THE NETHEELANDS. 



liejo-lit. When a gale blows the waves invade the island, and onl}' the seven 



artificial mounds upon which the inhabitants have erected their dwellings rise 

 above the waters. 



The floods caused by rivers are almost as formidable as those resulting from 



irruptions of the sea. When the rivers are in flood they rise high above the 



Fig. 2-J5. — The Peninsula of Holland. 

 Scale 1 : 600,000. 



10 Miles. 



fields which extend on either side of the dykes that confine them. At Utrecht, 

 after continual westerly winds, the Lek rises 18 feet above the pavement of the 

 streets. In winter, when the ice breaks up, the dykes sometimes yield to the 

 pressure to which they are exposed, and extensive tracts are flooded. 



Amongst the geological agencies operative in the Netherlands the subsidence 

 of the land appears to be one of the most formidable. Peat bogs have been dis- 



