It was recently announced that the committee sitting under the presidency of Minister Lely, at the Hague, had determined to reclaim the Zuider Sea, and that for this purpose a dam is to be constructed from the peninsula of North Holland to the opposite coast of Friesland.

This announcement brings back to recollection the proud old Dutch proverb: "God created the sea, the Hollander the coast."

The proposal is to construct a dam from Ewyk, on the northeastern point of North Holland, to the island of Wieringen, and then from the eastern point of this island another dam, 18½ miles long, to the coast of Friesland, by the shortest route.

The Hollanders, in their great reclamation works, the Sea of Harlem, for instance, prepare the entire foundation first and then gradually raise the dam on it. The watercourse is not narrowed during the progress of the work, as the dam is raised uniformly throughout the whole length; the current therefore passes slowly over it, and the dam is not subject to damage from flood waters. These deposit enormous quantities of sand and mud within the intercepted area, and after a few years the land shows above the surface of the water; the land while still in course of formation is locally known as "Heller," and the reclaimed land as "Polder."

As soon as the land has attained the required height, the dam is built sufficiently high, and also strong enough, to answer the purposes of a dike and to withstand the force of the largest tidal waves.

In constructing these dams, enormous rafts are made on the shore and then floated to the works, where they are weighted by stones and sunk in the required position. Within a few weeks large quantities of silt and mud accumulate, and the whole forms an exceedingly tough and strong elevation under the water; the currents grow weaker, and deposits are lodged also outside the dam, the base of which is of course of great width.

The Zuider Sea is one of the strongest evidences we have of the power of the sea over the land. Its formation commenced as far back as the twelfth century, prior to which it was only an inland lake. On December 14, 1287, during a terrific storm, the sea broke through the dividing shore line and widened the lake into a wide bay (Southern Sea, Dutch, Zuider Sea) of the North Sea; 80,000 persons lost their lives on that occasion. The same storm also did enormous damages in other localities.

This was, however, not the first occasion on which the sea had made inroads into the coast lands. Before the works of destruction commenced a narrow isthmus connected Great Britain with the Continent. The North Sea was then - comparatively speaking - calm; vast chains of sandy downs ran parallel to the coast, and stretched from this isthmus to the coast of Jutland; they were of considerable height, those on the west coast of Schleswig attaining an altitude of 200 feet. Behind these downs enormous swamps are formed, in which the rivers, with few exceptions, disappeared; but the deposits they brought down formed those rich agricultural lands now known locally as "Marschland."

The destruction of the shores commenced from the date that the narrow isthmus above referred to was carried away by the tidal waves which broke the English Channel during westerly gales. Traces, found far inland, show that this catastrophe occurred when the locality was inhabited, in fact a legend, in circulation to this day, relates that an English queen, to revenge herself on a Danish king, had the dam which connected England with France pierced, and so destroyed Denmark. When the Romans appeared on the scene the work of destruction was in progress, the chain of downs had been broken, and its place taken by many islands, far larger and more numerous than at present.

The first historical accounts of the storm tidal waves is referred to by Strabo as having occurred in 113 B.C., this, he relates, drove the Cimbers and Teutons from their homes and was the cause of their threatening Rome. Many other floods occurred which are known as "Manntranke" (man drowning). In the flood of 1216, for instance, 10,000 persons lost their lives, and three years later the "Marcellus" flood caused similar destruction. In 1300 the second "Marcellus" flood broke 12 feet over the highest dikes and Schleswig alone lost 7,600 persons in the waves.

Heligoland was at that time a large island, 46 miles long and 24 miles wide, it contained a monastery, many churches, large villages, extensive cultivations and forests; the island was all but destroyed by this inundation. Before that disastrous occurrence the island could be seen from the shores of Friesland, which in the days of Charles the Great was twice as large as now. The Friesland of to-day is only the southern and poorest remnant of the magnificent lands which were completely destroyed on October 11, 1684; 20 parishes and 150,000 persons disappeared beneath the waves, which broke through the dikes simultaneously in twenty-four places.

To relate all inundations would lead too far, but the most serious may be mentioned as showing the struggles in which the inhabitants of the North Sea coast are engaged. That of 1421, which swallowed 21 parishes and 100,000 persons; then the most terrible of which there is any record, and which is known as the "All Saints' Day" flood of 1570; the sea raged along the whole of the coast from Holland to Jutland for forty-eight hours, carried away all the dikes and caused the loss of 400,000 lives; the whole country lay waste for years, for the want of population to rebuild the dikes.

The Christmas flood of 1717 also visited the whole coast and 15,000 lives were lost.

During the present century the destruction by the sea has been minimized, as the dikes are now built strong and high enough to withstand the heaviest seas. The various islands along the coast act as breakwaters and protect, to a great extent, the coast line; the various governments are endeavoring to strengthen the islands by vegetation, but it appears to be only a question of time when they will disappear altogether.

Although the sea has, during the past 1,000 years, robbed the Dutch of great tracts of land, yet they have, by enduring perseverance, recovered a great deal, and there appears no doubt that they will succeed to form the Zuider Sea into rich agricultural lands, just as they have already dried up the Harlem Sea and converted it into waving cornfields.

Ground is also gained yearly in other directions, by continually extending the dikes; the richest lands on the coasts of Holland and Germany have thus been reclaimed from the ocean, and they are protected by means which secure the coasts against future encroachment.

[Continued from Supplement, No. 1080, page 17263.]