The kingdom extends from 53° 32' 2Γ ’ (Groningen Cape on Rottum Island) to 50° 45' 49" N. lat. (Mesch in the province of Limburg), and from 3° 23' 27" (Sluis in the province of Zealand) to 7° 12' 20" E. long. (Langak-kerschans in the province of Groningen). The greatest length from north to south, viz,, that from Rottum Island to Eysden near Maestricht is estimated at 164 miles, and the greatest breadth from south-west to north-east, or from Zwin near Sluis to Losser in Overyssel at 144 miles. If the Zuyder Zee, the parts of Prussia which encroach on the eastern side, and the projecting portions of Limburg and Zealand are disregarded, the general form is almost an oblong. With the exception of Greece and Great Britain, no country of Europe has so many inlets of the sea as Holland.

The Netherlands are bounded on the E. by the Prussian provinces of Hanover, Westphalia, and the province of the Rhine, and on the S. by the Belgian provinces of Liége, Limburg, Antwerp, and East and West Flanders. A purely geographical boundary is formed to the W. and the N. by the North Sea, at the N.E. corner by the Dollart, and from Stevensweert southward to the extreme corner of Limburg (near Eysden) by the Maas or Meuse. Natural ethnographic frontiers, such as occur where two neighbouring peoples of different origin, race, character, customs, and language are sharply marked off from each other, do not exist in the case of the Netherlands. The Low German element, indeed, of which the Netherlands form as it were the kernel, spreads beyond Dutch limits both north-east along the coast of the German Ocean and south-west into Belgium.

As regards the seaward boundary—the coasts, rivermouths, and islands—it is necessary, for a just comprehension of its character and of its influence on the formation of the soil, to bear in mind that the coasts of the Netherlands shared in the general vicissitudes of the southern shores of the German Ocean at the time when the English Channel was still closed. Three periods may be distinguished in the history of these changes. During the first a row of dunes was formed on the sandy tongue of land which, beginning at Ostend, cut off and formed into an inland lake a portion of the German Ocean, at that time washing the diluvial strata; these are still indicated along the Dutch and the German coasts by a series of dune-formations, sandbanks, and islands. In the second period the separation between ocean and lake was still maintained, the river-water gained the upper hand over the sea-water in the lake, the matter brought down by the river began to settle, and the morasses and beds of marsh-plants, reeds, and rushes {derrie) were formed which are now found above the old sand beds and below the present clay beds. When in the third period the coasts subsided, the dunes were here and there carried away by the rise of the waters, portions of the land were submerged, and, mud being extensively piled up by the sea, the fertile clay (zeekleι) of the maritime provinces was formed, and at the same time the mouths of the rivers were changed in position. And all this took place on a still greater scale when the limestone rocks which united Calais and Dover at last gave way and the great ocean with its heavier incidence of billows and tides drove into the smaller sea. According to Dr Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen, 150,000 hectares (370,670 acres) of land were lost on the coast of the German Ocean, 385,000 hectares (951,390 acres) on the Zuyder Zee and the Wadden, 8432 hectares (20,836 acres) in the Dollart, 10,000 hectares (24,711 acres) in the Biesbosch, and about 27,000 hectares (66,720 acres) more in other parts. According to Dr Staring, the province of Groningen, even during the 18th and 19th centuries, has been harassed with inundations once in every 155 years, Utrecht and North Holland south of the Y once in 83 years, South Holland once in 55 years, Friesland, Overyssel, North Holland north of the Y, and the coast of North Brabant every 40 years; while the Netherlands in general have been visited by such disasters in 1702, 1715, 1717, 1741, 1755, 1756, 1791, 1808, 1809, and 1825, or on an average once in every eleven years. In this last period, however, of the history of the land the lordship of man ultimately began to make itself felt. The formation of the first dykes to prevent inundations was quickly followed by the construction of a connected system of earthen ramparts, behind which the country lies secure, while at the same time hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land have been recovered from the sea. The area gamed from 1833 to 1877 has been already stated. The following table shows the amount reclaimed by endyking down to the dates given :— [table]

To return to the present condition of the seaboard of the Netherlands,—it follows from what has been said that it consists (1) of coasts still protected by dunes or fringed with sandbanks and islands indicating the direction of ancient lines of dunes; (2) of low coasts of seaclay provided with dykes which in more than one quarter have been repeatedly extended so as to enclose land conquered from the sea (the sea-polders); and finally (3) of some high diluvial strata which rise far enough above the level of the sea to make dykes unnecessary. The dunes follow the west and north-west coast almost without a break, except in a few quarters where they have been removed and their place supplied by dykes or rubble, as in North Holland between Huisduinen and Nieuwe Diep and between Kamp and Fetten, in South Holland on Voorne, and in Zealand on Schouwen and Walcheren, where the famous Westkappel dyke unites the village of Westkappel with the watering-place of Dornburg. The breadth of the line of dunes naturally varies greatly—from 600 to 7000 feet; and there is a similar variety in the height of the individual dunes proper, called dune-hills (duinheuvels) as compared with the dune pans (dιdnpanιιen) or depressions. The elevation of the High Blinkert near Haarlem (196 feet) is an extreme exception, for the average is not more than 50 or 60 feet even in the case of the high dunes which lie nearest the shore and are known as “sea-runners” (zeelooper) or the “shore-ridge” (strandreeks). The dunes show a tendency, except where the Dutch prevent it by planting wood or sand-oats, to wear away on the side towards the sea, and to “overstuiven” or drift off on the landward side. There is, indeed, a general degradation of the coast, and à recession towards the east, corresponding to the subsidence which may be observed along the German seaboard, and probably traceable also, in part at least, to the Channel current, which at mean tide has a velocity of 14 or 15 inches per second, and especially during strong west or north-west winds carries off large quantities of material. This alteration of coast-line appears at Loosduinen, where the moor or fenland formerly developed behind the dunes now crops out on the shore amid the sand, being pressed to the compactness of lignite by the weight of the sand drifted over it. Again, the remains of the Roman camp at Brittenburg or Huis te Britten, which originally lay within the dunes and, after being covered by them, emerged again in 1520, were, in 1694, 1600 paces out to sea, opposite Katwijk; while, besides Katwijk itself, several other villages of the west coast, as Dornburg, Scheveningen, Egmond, have continually to be removed further inland. Two things special to Holland are worthy of particular notice, the artificial formation of dunes, as at Koegras, Callantsoog, Petten, Katwijk, Scheveningen, and Zandvoort, and the carrying away of the sand (afzan-derij, “offsanding ,1 ) by ship or rail, as in the “Westland,” for example, to the south of the Hague, to serve elsewhere for engineering operations and the improving of the soil. Mingled with marsh-earth the sand forms a soil suited to the culture of flower-bulbs; with clay it produces that excellent soil for vegetable gardens for which the Westland is so famous. It must be further remarked that both the “dune pans,” which are naturally marshy through their defective drainage, and the “geest” grounds—that is, the grounds along the foot of the downs—have been in various places either planted with wood or turned into arable and pasture land; while the numerous springs at the base of the dunes rise at such a height above the ordinary level of the country that the water is conveyed by canals to the great cities, and an improvement is thus effected at once in the agricultural condition of the coast-land and in the sanitary condition of the cities.

The sea-dykes are found along the northern coasts, the coasts of the provinces which border on the Zuyder Zee, and the coasts of the islands of Zealand and South Holland so far as they are not protected by dunes. Only in a few places, it will be seen, are the sea-dykes unnecessary; as for example, in Friesland between Stavoren and Olde Mirdum (the bold and steep Roυde and Mirduιn cliffs) and near Doornspijk, 3 miles south of Elburg, where there are high grounds which stretch 6 miles to the south-west of Harderwijk. The earthen dykes are protected by stoneslopes and by piles, and at the more dangerous points also by “zinkstukken” (sinking pieces), artificial structures of bulrushes, reeds, and branches, laden with stones, and measuring some 400 yards in circuit, by means of which the current is to some extent turned aside. The Westkappel dyke already mentioned is 12,468 ft. long and 23 high, has a seaward slope of 300 ft., and is protected by rows of piles and basalt blocks. On its ridge, 39 ft. broad, there is not only a roadway but a service railway. When it is remembered that the woodwork is infested by the pile worm (Teredo navalis), tlιe ravages of which were discovered in 1731, the enormous expense incurred in the construction and maintenance of the 1550 miles of sea-dykes now existing may be imagined. The cost of construction is not overestimated at 150,000,000 guilders or £12,500,000.

The Dutch islands may be divided into two main classes —(1) those surrounded on all sides by the German Ocean or its inlets, and (2) those surrounded entirely or in great part by river arms, and separated by these from the mainland or from each other. The first division again comprises two groups—(a) the islands Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Amelιnd, Schiermonnikoog, and Rottum, which stretch in a long arc from the north point of North Holland to the mouth of the Ems, and indicate the old coast-line, so that they belong to the same physico-geographical group with the islands along the German coast; and (5) the islands Wieringen, Marken, Urk, and Schokland, which are the relics of the stretch of country formerly comprising the present bed of the Zuyder Zee. In the second class are to be reckoned the delta of the river Yssel (Camper Island) and the islands belonging to the contiguous deltas of the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, including the island of Betuwe between the Rhine and the Waal and the archipelago of South Holland and Zealand.

As the river mouths of Holland must also be regarded as gulfs or inlets of the sea, they may be noticed here. The average breadth of the Haringvliet at Helvoetsluys is 8860 ft. and at Goedereede 18,045; that of the West Scheldt at Ter Neuzen 15,420 ft., and at Flushing (Vlissingen) 13,780; that of the East Scheldt at the harbour of Goes 13,780, and at the harbour of Zierikzee 13,450; and that of the Roompot 21,650 to 29,530 ft.

The varying characteristics of the coasts in different places give rise to correspondingly different industries. As regards trade and navigation, the west coasts with their shallows and sandbanks can be approached only by small vessels of light draught (visscherspinken) unless where access is afforded by the inlets of the sea, especially the mouth of the West Scheldt at Flushing, that of the East Scheldt at Zierikzee, the Brouwershaven inlet between the islands of Schouwen and Goeree, the Goeree inlet at Helvoetsluys, the Marsdiep at the Helder, and the mouth of the Ems at Delfzijl, or where a way has been opened up by engineering works as at Rotterdam and Amsterdam (by the new waterway to the sea and the canal to Ymuiden). As we proceed from south-west to north-east the places along the coast become less and less important: in the provinces of Groningen and Friesland the approach to the mainland is obstructed by the Wadden or Shallows; and on the coast of the Zuyder Zee are those harbours, for the most part rendered useless by alluvial accretions, which have been so well described by Havard in his Villes Mortes du Zuyderzee. Along the greater part of these coasts the population is engaged in the fisheries rather than in trade, especially when the neighbourhood of a great town (as Alkmaar for Egmond, Haarlem for Zandvoort, Leyden for Katwijk, the Hague for Scheveningen) secures a good market or a ready means of exportation. Many fishing villages on the west coast, e.g., Scheveningen, Dornburg, and Zandvoort, have in recent years acquired repute as watering-places with both natives and foreigners.

The availability of the flat coasts for trade and navigation is to a large extent dependent on the range of the rise and fall of the tides. As shown in the following table, this steadily decreases from south-west to north-east. In the Zuyder Zee it is naturally very small. [table]

The Shallows (Wadden) of the German Ocean between Groningen and Friesland and the islands Rottum, Schiermonnikoog, and Ameland are usually left in great measure dry at ebb-tide.

The elevation of the surface of the country ranges from about 650 ft. above to 16 or 20 ft. below the Amsterdam zero, which marks the mean high-water level in the Y in front of the city. The circumstance that so much of it is below the sea-level necessarily exercises a very important influence on the drainage, the climate, and the sanitary condition of the country, as well as on its defence by means of inundation. From the history of the formation of the soil already given, and from the course of the rivers, it may be gathered that the low grounds are in the west, and the higher in the south and east. According to the relief map published by the minister of war (scale 1: 600,000), the provinces of North and South Holland, the western portion of Utrecht as far as the Vaart Rhine, Zealand, except the southern part of Zealand-Flanders, and also the north west corner of North Brabant, all lie, with the exception of the dunes, below the Amsterdam zero; while the eastern portion of the country, except a small strip along the Zuyder Zee in the provinces of Guelderland, Overyssel, and Friesland, as well as the lands in the neighbourhood of the Dollart, is situated above it. The regular slope of the ground from south-east to north west, and the position of the highest and the lowest points, are indicated by the same authority. At Vaals, in the extreme south-east, the altitude is 656 ft., at Valkenberg 525, at St Pietersberg near Maestricht

403, at the Imbosch near Dieren and the Hettenheuvel near Heerenberg respectively 360 and 345, at Meerwijk near Nimeguen 318, at Apeldoorn 233, at Zeist 164, at Oldenzaal 154, at Wageningschenberg and Grebsσhenberg respectively 151 and 131, at Hoenderloo and Kootwijk in the Veluwe 118 and 98, at Groenlo 78, in the “high fens” of Drenthe near Barge 85, at Lochen and Almelo 39, at Coevorden 31, at Steenwijk and Boertange 19, at Groningen 18, at Heerenveen 0 - 65. Below the Amsterdam zero lie naturally many impoldered districts, especially the marshes and meres which have been drained dry, as for example the Schermer and Purmer polders and the Haarlem lake, which are respectively — 10’66, — 12’46, — 13'61, the Schieveen polder near Schiedam — 16’27, the polders at Wo ’ ''rugge, the Bergschenhoek, and the Zuidplas - 16’86, — 17’58, and — 18’49.

Of equal importance with the relief of the country is the geological composition of the soil. It is evident from the history of the origin of the land that Quaternary formations—alluvium and diluvium—must be well represented. In fact they constitute no less than 99’9 per cent, of the surface of the Netherlands, only ’ 1 per cent, thus remaining for all the older formations—the Tertiary and the Secondary, including the extremely limited Jurassic.

To the alluvial strata belong, in the first place, the fen (veen) strata, which are subdivided into low fens, high fens, marsh fens, and the “dalgronden” or “reclaimed high fens.” The low fens, which are found in Groningen, Friesland, Overyssel, North and South Holland, and North Brabant (about the Langstraat), have been formed of aquatic plants, and, in the upper layers, of moss; their elevation is that of the mean sea-level; from them the “short turf,” the best quality of peat, is obtained by dredging, and, when the standing water which collects after the peat has been dug out has been drained off, they may be turned into very productive arable land. The subsoil, on which the fertility then depends, consists usually of clays and alluvial sand or dune strata, rarely of diluvial sand strata. These low fens extend to no less than 904,597 acres, or about 11 per cent, of the surface. The high fens, of which the greater part have been “disfenned” or stripped of peat, are found in Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overyssel, and the “Peel” or Marsh of North Brabant, in the more elevated plains or valleys. They have been formed of trees, heath-plants, and moss, and furnish the softer, inferior kind of peat, the “long turf.” As the removal of the peat has been followed by the construction of canals to carry off the standing water, the high fens are of course free from marshes, but, resting as they do almost everywhere on diluvial gravel and sand, they do not furnish so fertile a soil as the low fens. They comprise 226,107 acres, or only about 2‘8 per cent, of the surface of the country. The marsh fens are composed almost exclusively of a few species of sedge or carex, and constitute, not only in their method of formation, but also in their character and situation, the transition between the high and the low fens. They are widely scattered, especially along small streams which carry off water mingled with fenny materials, and are nowhere more numerously represented than in Drenthe, wher , e all the drainage is of this character. The marsh fens occupy 168,551 acres, considerably less than the high fens. The “dalgronden” are formed where regular peat-fields are laid out along specially constructed canals, and the denuded surface is usually grubbed up for arable or pasture land, or on rare occasions planted with wood. They comprise about 207,576 acres, and naturally increase in proportion to the decrease of the high fens. We shall return to these “dalgronden” in connexion...