466 



THE NETHERLANDS. 



tumble into the sea, zinkstukken, or huge rafts of rushes weighted with stone, are 

 sunk in front of it, and where this last resource proves unavailing, the dyke has 

 to be left to its fate, and a new one must be raised in its rear. About the middle 

 of this century the total length of the main dykes was 1,550 miles, and they had 

 cost £11,200,000 to construct. 



Nowhere have the efforts of engineers been greater than in the archipelago 

 of Zealand. Each of its islands consists of a congeries of polygons, enclosing 

 within their ring-dyke a polder and its verdant fields. The water-ways are 

 bounded by lofty dykes, and make the traveller fancy that he is navigating the 



Fig. 261. — The Mere of Haarlem. 

 Scale 1 : 250,000. 



2 Miles. 



ditches of a fortress. The coat of arms of Zealand — a lion struggling against 

 the flood — truly symbolizes the nature of the country and the moral energy of its 

 inhabitants, whilst the motto attached — " Luctor et emerge ! " — is even more 

 beautiful than that adopted by the city of Paris. 



Amongst all the dykes of Holland, that of Westkappel, defending the west 

 coast of Walcheren (Fig. 257), is probably the strongest. Originally constructed 

 in the ninth century, it has repeatedly given way, and as lately as 1808 the whole 

 island was inundated. Since that time the dyke has been greatly strengthened. 

 It is 12,500 feet long, and rises 23 feet above the mean level of the sea, towards 

 which it slopes down very gently for 295 feet. The upper part of this slope is 



