"Doubtless the whole region now included in the Netherlands was once a mere swamp, a wild and useless morass, unfit for the habitation of man. Three great rivers, you perceive on the map, have their course, in whole or in part, through Holland and Belgium—the Rhine, the Maas, or Meuse, and the Scheldt.
"By a reference to your navigation charts, young gentlemen, you will often find banks and bars thrown up at the mouths of rivers. At the mouth of the Scheldt, several miles from the shore, there are Thornton's Ridge, The Rabs, Schouwen Bank, Steen Banks, and others of similar formation. At the mouth of the Mississippi, in our own country, you are aware that large vessels find great difficulty in getting over the bar. If we take a tumbler full of Mississippi water, after heavy rains in the north-west, and let it stand a few moments, a thick sediment settles at the bottom. This sediment forms the bar at the mouth of the river. The sand and mud are carried down by the current, and when the water has a chance to rest, it deposits its burden upon the bottom."
"But why in that particular place?" asked an interested student.
"Because the current of the river comes to a halt where it meets the inflowing tide of the gulf, or when it has spent its force. These bars are sometimes formed by currents resulting from the combined action of the sea and the flow of the river, or by winds. A heavy gale has been known to change the aspect of a coast, to shut up a harbor, or to open one where there had before been no inlet. Cape Cod presents some remarkable instances of these physical revolutions.
"The great rivers of the Netherlands, in like manner, have brought down their sands and mud, and deposited them on what now forms the shore of the country. The forces of the ocean, against which the Dutchman of to-day has to contend for the preservation of his life and property, assisted in making this country a habitable region. Certain westerly and south-westerly winds drive the waters of the Atlantic into the German Ocean. The coast of the country, you see by the map, is exposed to the longest sweep of the wind from the north-west, and the most violent tempests to which Holland is exposed come from that direction. Now, what is the effect of these storms?"
"They pile up the sand-bars," replied Captain Kendall.
"Precisely so; the dunes and ridges of sand which border the country from the straits of Dover to the Texel are caused by these violent winds from the north-west. The effect of this piling up of the sands was eventually to limit, in a measure, the boundary of the sea. The dunes and ridges formed the foundation for the dikes which the industrious and persevering Dutchman has erected upon them, and by which he has made his country. For the want of time, I shall defer the physical features of Holland, and a more particular description of its dikes and ditches, to a future occasion. In what country are we now?"
"In Belgium, sir," replied McLeish, who always answered when he could, though in general knowledge he was far behind his American classmates.
"What is the French name?"
"La Belgique."