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Land Artificially won from the Waters Great Works of Material Improvement Draining of Lincolnshire Fens Incursions of the Sea in the Netherlands Origin of Sea-dikes Gain and Loss of Land in the Netherlands Marine Deposits on the Coast of Netherlands Draining of Lake of Haarlem Draining of the Zuiderzee Geographical Effects of Improvements in the Netherlands Ancient Hydraulic Works Draining of Lake Celano by Prince Torlonia Incidental Consequences of draining Lakes Draining of Marshes Agricultural Draining Meteorological Effects of Draining Geographical Effects of Draining Geographical Effects of Aqueducts and Canals Antiquity of Irrigation Irrigation in Palestine, India, and Egypt Irrigation in Europe Meteorological Effects of Irrigation Water withdrawn from Rivers for Irrigation Injurious Effects of Rice-culture Salts Deposited by Water of Irrigation Subterranean Waters Artesian Wells Artificial Springs Economizing Precipitation Inundations in France Basins of Reception Diversion of Rivers Glacier Lakes River Embankments Other Remedies against Inundations Dikes of the Nile Deposits of Tuscan Rivers Improvements in Tuscan Maremma Improvements in Val di Chiana Coast of the Netherlands.

By means of the Ij, it communicated with the Zuiderzee, the Mediterranean of the Netherlands, and its surface was little above the mean elevation of that of the sea.

The felling of the trees, and the extirpation of the shrubbery upon the fens by domestic cattle, deprived the surface of its cohesion and consistence, and the cutting of peat for fuel opened cavities in it, which, filling at once with water, rapidly extended themselves by abrasion of their borders, and finally enlarged to pools, lakes, and gulfs, like the Lake of Haarlem and the northern part of the Zuiderzee.

On the coast of Zeeland and the islands of South Holland, the tides, and of course the surface of the lands deposited by them, are so high that the polders can be drained by ditching and sluices, but at other points, as in the enclosed grounds of North Holland on the Zuiderzee, where the tide rises but three feet or even less, pumping is necessary from the beginning.

The Zuiderzee communicates with the sea by at least six considerable channels, separated from each other by low islands, and the tide rises within the basin to the height of three feet. To drain the Zuiderzee, these channels must first be closed and the passage of the tidal flood through them cut off.

The first thing I did in Holland was to buy a little sail yacht. It was anchored at Amsterdam, as from there I could sail on the Zuiderzee. One day I had made an engagement with a colleague from the Austrian legation, a clever, strong, young Hungarian to sail to E , the little town, then still unknown to me, where I now write these pages.