. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 351 deposition are going on continually and on a vast scale. No greater contrast can there be than that presented by the rocky coasts of Norway and the flat, undefined shore of Schleswig, though both face the same sea. No other district in Europe has sufi'ered more from irruptions of the sea than this " Uthland," or outlying land, of Schleswig. Only fragments of the ancient coast-line survive in some of the islands which originally formed a portion of the mainland. It was one of these invasions of the sea which caused
. The earth and its inhabitants ... Geography. SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 351 deposition are going on continually and on a vast scale. No greater contrast can there be than that presented by the rocky coasts of Norway and the flat, undefined shore of Schleswig, though both face the same sea. No other district in Europe has sufi'ered more from irruptions of the sea than this " Uthland," or outlying land, of Schleswig. Only fragments of the ancient coast-line survive in some of the islands which originally formed a portion of the mainland. It was one of these invasions of the sea which caused the Cimbri to flee the country, and to begin their march across Europe which terminated on the fatal field of Yercellœ. Forchhammer believes that the large boulders found along the whole of the valley of the Eider, at an elevation of 66 feet above the sea-level, mark the height of this fearful flood, which extended even to the east coast. Six Fig. 203.—The Basin of the Eider. 16- 30- Paris. Sandbanks w/ilc/t uncorer Dcitih cloioii tunFathu hundred years ago the JFaftcn, or sand-banks, now covered at high water, were fertile fields. Towards the middle of the thirteenth century many villages and islands were inundated, and numerous floods are recorded as having taken place since then, one of the most disastrous having been that of 1634, which swept away several islands around Nordstrand. ISordstrand itself was left a desert for eighteen years, when it was repeopled by Flemish colonists. Since then the floods have not been of so calamitous a nature, the archipelago being protected by the dunes of the outlying islands of Sylt and Amrum. If man had not undertaken to resist the encroachments of the sea, a great portion of the littoral region of Schleswig would long ere this have disappeared beneath the waves. The islands have been protected by double and treble lines of dykes, and portions of the mainland have been drained and rendered Please note that these images
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectgeography, bookyear1883
