h iron, moored with heavy anchors, and secured by gravel and
granite, was snapped to pieces like thread; how fishing boats and bulky
vessels floating up into the country became entangled among the trees
or beat in the roofs and walls of dwellings, and how, at last, all
Friesland was converted into an angry sea. "Multitudes of men, women,
children, of horses, oxen, sheep, and every domestic animal, were
struggling in the waves in every direction. Every boat and every article
which could serve as a boat was eagerly seized upon. Every house was
inundated; even the graveyards gave up their dead. The living infant
in his cradle and the long-buried corpse in his coffin floated side by
side. The ancient flood seemed about to be renewed. Everywhere, upon
the tops of trees, upon the steeples of churches, human beings were
clustered, praying to God for mercy and to their fellow men for
assistance. As the storm at last was subsiding, boats began to ply in
every direction, saving those who were struggling in the water, picking
fugitives from roofs and treetops, and collecting the bodies of those
already drowned." No less than one hundred thousand human beings had
perished in a few hours. Thousands upon thousands of dumb creatures lay
dead upon the waters, and the damage to property was beyond calculation.

Robles, the Spanish governor, was foremost in noble efforts to save life
and lessen the horrors of the catastrophe. He had previously been hated
by the Dutch because of his Spanish or Portuguese blood, but by his
goodness and activity in their hour of disaster, he won all hearts to
gratitude. He soon introduced an improved method of constructing the
dikes and passed a law that they should in future be kept up by the
owners of the soil. There were fewer heavy floods from this time, though
within less than three hundred years, six fearful inundations swept over
the land.

In the spring there is always great danger of inland freshets,
especially in times of thaw, because the rivers, choked with blocks of
ice, overflow before they can discharge their rapidly rising waters into
the ocean. Adding to this that the sea chafes and presses against the
dikes, it is no wonder that Holland is often in a state of alarm. The
greatest care is taken to prevent accidents. Engineers and workmen are
stationed all along in threatened places, and a close watch is kept up
night and day. When a general signal of danger is given, the inhabitants
all rus