THE PENINSULA OF JYLLAND. 51 



the muddy beds of many are laid bare with the change of seasons and the 

 storms, while navigable channels, winding between the shoals like the Arcachon 

 crassats, give ingress to light craft. Although differing widely from the deep 

 Norwegian' inlets, these lagoons are still called fiords by the natives. The 

 Ringkjobing- fiord, one of the largest, with an area of 110 square miles, is inacces- 

 sible to vessels drawing over 6 feet of water, nor can these always pass the 

 dangerous bar of Nymindegab, which is often shifted for hundreds and even 

 thousands of yards. The Stadel-fiord, north of the Pangkjobing, is fed by a 

 few shallow streams, and communicates through a labyrinth of lakes and rivulets 

 with a third lagoon, the Nissum-fiord, separated from the sea by a narrow strip 

 pierced with one opening. 



Still farther north is the Lim-fiord, at once a marine and lacustrine basin, with 

 a geological history more complicated than that of the neighbouring lagoons. It 

 crosses the whole peninsula from sea to sea, and comprises three distinct sections, 

 with a total area of 450 square miles. The western section, like the Ringkjobing, 

 is cut off from the sea by a slight sandy strip, in many places scarcely half a mile 

 wide. It communicates through a narrow channel eastwards with a lacustrine 

 district abounding in fish, and enclosing the large island of Mors, besides a 

 numerous group of islets, beyond which it merges in an inland sea over 180 square 

 miles in extent, branching southward into gulfs and bays, and sej)arated from the 

 Skager Rak by a simple line of dunes. East of this central basin the lacustrine 

 region is continued as far as Aalborg Strait, where a long navigable fiord begins, 

 nowhere much over a mile in width, and opening seawards through a mouth 

 10 feet deep. A study of the geological chart shows that the water system known 

 as the Lim-fiord follows, on the whole, the contours of the miocène and chalk 

 formations. Beyond the limits of these more solid strata the less- resisting 

 diluvium of the surrounding country was more readily undermined by the action 

 of water. 



The strip of coast on the west side of the Lim-fiord hus been frequently burst 

 through by storms, as in 1624, 1720, and 1760. On November 28th, 1825, when 

 all the low-lying coasts of the North Sea were laid waste by tremendous floodings, 

 the shore-line of the Lim yielded to the pressure of the waves, and the lagoon 

 became connected with the sea by one of those numerous nyminde, or " new 

 mouths," which have been so often formed on the Jylland seaboard. Before the 

 formation of the Agger channel the Lim was a fresh-water lagoon, but since then 

 it has become saline, and now teems with salt-water fish. This channel, which 

 was first utilised for navigation in 1834, is constantly shifting its place and 

 changing its form and depth with the action of the waves and storms, the bar 

 varying from 4 to 10 feet in depth. The Ron, a fresh channel, was opened in 

 1863, and since 1875 the Agger has been almost completely blocked by silting 

 sands. Altogether the whole coast-line has receded about 1^ miles farther 

 east. 



The northern portion of the Danish peninsula shares in the gradual upheaval 

 going on along the rock-bound shores of Norway and Sweden. The line of 



