The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita386recl Year: 1883 458 THE NETHEELANDS. however, an arm to the north, which enters the sea 20 miles below Rotterdam, at the Hoek van Holland. Whilst most of the rivers on the northern hemisphere press upon their right bank, in consequence of the earth's rotation, and deviate to the east, those of the Netherlands move in a contrary direction. 13oth the Rhine and the Maas, as far as they are bounded by hills, flow to the northward, but no sooner have they entered the yielding plains of the Netherlands than they swer
The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita386recl Year: 1883 458 THE NETHEELANDS. however, an arm to the north, which enters the sea 20 miles below Rotterdam, at the Hoek van Holland. Whilst most of the rivers on the northern hemisphere press upon their right bank, in consequence of the earth's rotation, and deviate to the east, those of the Netherlands move in a contrary direction. 13oth the Rhine and the Maas, as far as they are bounded by hills, flow to the northward, but no sooner have they entered the yielding plains of the Netherlands than they swerve round to the west. There is reason to suppose that in a time now very remote these rivers flowed northward through the plains of Gelderland, but their present course is Fig. 253.—SciriKRMoxKiKOOG. Scale 1 : 86,000. 2 Miles. west, and they exhibit a tendency to diverge even to the south-west. This abnormal direction of the Dutch rivers is due to the action of the tides. At the Holder the difference between high and low water amounts to 4*9 feet ; but it increases as we travel southward, and at the mouth of the Scheldeit is 16-6 feet. Thus the level of the sea is higher at ebb at the Holder than on the coast of Zealand, and the rivers naturally seek an outlet in the direction of the latter. The tidal wave rushes up the estuaries of Zealand with great force, and in ebbing its scour deepens the bed of the rivers. The sea, in fact, is both the friend and the enemy of the Dutch— Protector el hostis, as we read on an old Zealand coin. It bears their ships, forms a protecting boundary, and throws fecund alluvium upon their shores, but at the
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