

Oh. XXI.] 



FORMATION OF THE ZUYDER ZEE. 



553 



even of their ruins, was afterwards seen. The rest were re- 

 deemed, and the site of the others, though still very gene- 

 rally represented on maps as an estuary, has in fact been 

 gradually tilled up by alluvial deposits, and had become in 

 1885 as I was informed by Professor Moll, an immense 

 plain, yielding abundant crops of hay, though still uninha- 



bited. 



Meuse is a long line of shore 



oachments have 



taken place from time to time, in consequence chiefly of the 



prevalen 



ce 



of south-easterly winds, which blow down the 



sands towards the sea. The church of Scheveningen, not far 



H 



"r> 



now stands on the shore, half the place having^ been over- 

 whelmed by the waves in 1570. 



om 



sea, is now upon the shore ; two of its streets having been 

 overflowed, and land torn away to the extent of 200 yards in 

 1719. It is only by aid of embankments that Petten, and 

 several other places farther north, have been defended 



against the sea. 



>/ the Zuyder Zee and Straits of 



Staveren. — Still 

 more important are the changes which have taken place on 

 the coast opposite the right arm of the Ehine, or the Yssel, 



'_ ' " isthmus, and en- 



tered the inland lake Flevo, which, in ancient times, was, 

 according to Pomponius Mela, formed by the overflowing of 

 the Ehine over certain lowlands. It appears that, in the 

 time of Tacitus, there were several lakes on the present site 

 of the Zuyder Zee, between Friesland and Holland. The 

 successive inroads by which these, and a great part of the 

 adjoining territory, were transformed into a great gulf, began 

 about the commencement, and were completed towards the 

 close, of the thirteenth century. Alting gives the following 



relation of the 



from 



ments of contemporary inhabitants of the neighbouring pro- 



vmces. 



Wierin 



m 



but during several high floods, of which the dates are given, 

 ending in December 1251, it was separated from the conti- 

 nent." By subsequent incursions, the sea consumed great 



