f tremendous weight. To what depth must the
daring workmen who undertook the Cyclopean task have gone in
search of a stable standpoint, on which to lay the foundation
of such a mass! In what subterranean layer could they have had
such confidence, in this country where the earth sinks in, all of
a sudden, where islands disappear without leaving a trace--that
they ventured to build upon it so mighty an edifice! And observe
that not only one dam is thus built; in the two islands of Zuid
Beveland and Walcheren a dozen have been constructed. There are
two at Wormeldingen. In the presence of these achievements, of
problems faced with such courage and solved with such success,
one is almost bewildered."

Elsewhere, in speaking of Kampveer, one of the towns which suffered
an inundation, he says, "Poor little port! once so famous, lively,
populous, and noisy, and now so solitary and still! Traces of
its former military and mercantile character are yet to be seen.
On the left stands a majestic building with thick walls and few
apertures, terminating on the sea in a crenelated round tower;
and these elegant houses, with their arched and trefoiled windows,
and their decorated gables, on the right, once formed the ancient
Scotschhuis. Every detail of the building recalls the great trade
in wool done by the city at that period. Far off, at the entrance
of the port, stands a tower, the last remnant of the ramparts,
formerly a fortification; it is now a tavern. In vain do we look
for the companion tower; it has disappeared with the earth on
which its foundations stood deep and strong for ages. If, from
the summit of the surviving tower, you search for that mysterious
town upon the opposite bank, you will look for it in vain where
it formerly stood and mirrored its houses and steeples in the
limpid waters. Kampen also has been swallowed up forever, leaving
no trace that it ever existed in this world. The land that stretches
out before us is all affected by that subtle, cancerous disease,
the _val_, whose ravages are so terrible. Two centuries ago this
great bay was so filled up with sand that it was expected the
two islands would in a short time be reunited and thenceforth
form but one. Then, on a sudden, the gulf yawned anew. That huge
rent, the Veer Gat, opened once again, more deeply than before;
whole towns were buried, and their inhabitants drowned. Then the
water retired, the earth rose, shaking off its humid winding
sheet, and