On the wall isa mip of nearly two centuries ago, sh-wing the configuration of the coxst and the disposition of the polders at that period. Successive maps compiled with elaborate detail bring the record down to niodern times. Every yard of gain or loss tu the coast is duly recorded, together with the variations of the sea bottom from time to time, and the lines' described by unusually high tides. I had the good fortune to be shown all these things the Yonkheer P. Van Foreest, of Haile, the Djkraaf, or president, of the Hoogheemraadschap of the. Hondsbossche, who was accompanied' by M.-Manu, the official inspector of that authority. As Mr. Blo-feld and Mr. 'Cuddon Fletcher xre to the Sea' Breach missioners, so are Foreest and M. Mann to the Hoogheemraadschap of the Hondsbossche, the only difference being that the two Intter wentlemen hold their office by State nomination. It' will be necessary in a future article to explain the status and powers of the local defence authorities. Suflice it for the present that the Hoogheemraadschap in question is one of the Jargest and most important of them, that Hondsbossche is the name of the district concerned, and that, subject to a certain amount of Go: vernment: tion and control, the board has jurisdiction over an area of about. 160,000 xeres, including several miles: of frontage to the sea.
The dyke is two miles and three-quarters long, its height is twenty-two and a half feet above the water line, ind 206 feet is the breadth of its base. From the summit of the bank, where there runs a service railway used for the carriage of the material required for repairing purposes, the chimney pots of the village lie literally beneath one's feet. There appears to be not a grain of sand save what is accumulated about the zroynes. The dyke is all the more interesting froma specialist point of view in that it, represents various styles and theo-ties of sea defence. The southern part of it belongs to the Hondsbossche. authority the northern part is under direct Government supervision. From end to end'the dyke is made internally of sand covered with about " metre of clay, but the Hondsbossche authority and the Government seem tobe at variance in their views of what should be done to' strengthen and defend the seaward slope.- After centuries of hard experience, the Dutch are still in a state of controversy as to the best means of lessening the onset of the sea.. The Hondsbossche has committed itself to the policy of " long gentle slope faced with basalt, and extending from the summit to below the water line at a uniform inclination. Says M. Foreest, whose father reconstructed the dyke in 1872: The theory held by the' Hoogheemraadschap over which T preside is that to break the water unnecessarily" is not only useless, but may have erected no piling: or anything else having that object in view."
RIVAL METHODS, On the Government portion of the dyke quite the opposite' theory has been put in practice. In recent years the Government: offered a prize for the best essay on coast defence applicable to the circumstances of Petten; the reward was gained by an engineer named Conrad, and his are the methods which have been adopted: at this Some to the low-water level there is a ticular spot. For two-thirds of the way
gentle. slope. paved with ordinary. Dutch bricks.. Thenceforward the brick work gives place to basalt, which is continued at a much steeper inclination down to low water level, and out of which protrudes a formidable chevaux' de fuse of creosoted piles. Still further along the' dyke the Government; though otherwise adhering to the methods of M Conrad, have used thick plaiting' of stret instead of the brick pavement. Straw is a somewhat costly material, inasmuch as it requires to be renewed every year at an. expense of threepence a square yard. "M. Forest expresses the view thnt, as indicated by vernment Officials tend more; ant more to the repairs they are undertaking, the Go-
the simplicity of the'Hondsbossché method—an unbroken flag Of basalt. extending a uniform inclination to a point well below the water line. It was evident that, braning oe sope ce straw, the se in Scene line) prams ti aft lee laces: being steadily eaten away.."ho idea serve as a bed-forthe growth of binding grasses has not been realised and there seems to be nothing in favour of it, except that it partially protects, the, clay till such time as stone can by afforded. - For the entire length of the dyke greyness of basalt jut out to sea, the furthermost ends being continued for a few feet below low water level. The Hondsbossche authority abjures projections.of all kind, and'con+ tents itself with simple greyness, whose black ridges are only just observable in a heavy sea; whereas' the ends of the groymes within the Government area are defended by projecting lines of creosoted piles. The difference of' effect is obvious at a glance. The piled ends are in a tremendous wash of seething broken water, much more so than the ends of the greyness not so protected. 'My own view," said M. Foreest,'* is that the projecting piles are worse than useless. Our experience on this coast," he added,' is all in favour of long greyness, kept down as low as possible at the sea end; and it is a remarkable fact that where the greyness are long we nccumulate sand, and where they are short we lose it."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.