HOLLAND is the most usual English name of the country which is nationally designated the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Koningrijk der °Nederlanden). The word, which is popularly explained as if it were Hollow-land, and referred to the same physical fact which has given rise to the terms Netherlands and the Low Countries, appears in an older form as Holtland, and is thus evidently equivalent to Wood-land. In French the usual expression is Pays-Bas, and in German Niederlande.

There is no country in Europe in which the character of the territory has exercised so great an influence on the inhabitants as in the Netherlands; and, on the other hand, no people has so extensively modified the condition of its territory as the Dutch. In a description of Holland, consequently, the greatest importance must be attached to the physical conformation of the country as it was and is ; and most of the peculiarities of the political and social condition of the people must be considered in connexion with this conformation.

The size of Holland, being subject to perpetual diminution and increase, cannot be indicated by a definite figure except as at some definite period ; on the one hand, there is loss of area still going on in consequence of the erosion of the coasts, and, on the other hand, this is more than counterbalanced by a continual acquisition of new ground due more especially to " impoldering "and draining operations. In 1833 the surface of the Netherlands was only 2,270,959 hectares (5,611,860 acres, 8768 square miles) ; on the 20th Oct. 1877, at the time of the conclusion of the cadastral survey, it was 3,207,268 hectares (8,148,020 acres, 12,731 square miles).

The kingdom extends from 53' 32' 21" (Groningen Cape on Rottum Island) to 50' 45' 49" N. lat. (Mesch in the province of Limburg), and from 3° 23' 27" (Sluis in the province of Zealand) to 7° 12' 20" E. long. (Langakkerschaus in the province of Groningen). The greatest length from north to south, viz., that from Bottum Island to Eysden near Maestricht is estimated at 164 miles, and the greatest breadth from south-west to north-east, or from Zwin near Sluis to Losser in Overyssel at 141 miles. If the Zuyder Zee, the parts of Prussia which encroach on the eastern side, and the projecting portions of Limburg and Zeal mr1 are disregarded, the general form is almost an oblong. With the exception of Greece and Great Britain, no country of Europe has so many inlets of the sea as Holland.

The Netherlands are bounded on the E. by the Prussian provinces of Hanover, Westphalia, and the province of the Rhine, and on the S. by the Belgian provinces of Li6r,e, Limburg, Antwerp, and East and West Flanders. A purely geographical boundary is formed to the W. and the N. by the North Sea, at the N.E. corner by the Dollart, and from Stevensweert southward to the extreme corner of Limburg (near Eysden) by the Maas or Meuse.' Natural ethnographic frontiers, such as occur where two neighbouring peoples of different origin, race, character, customs, and langu ige are sharply marked off from each other, do not exist in the case of the Netherlands. The Low German element, indeed, of which the Netherlands form as it were the kernel, spreads beyond Dutch limits both north-east along the coast of the German Ocean and south-west into Belgium.

As regards the seaward boundary - the coasts, river-mouths, and islands - it is necessary, for a just comprehen- 1 sion of its character and of its influence on the formation of the soil, to bear in mind that the coasts of the Netherlands shared in the general vicissitudes of the southern shores of the German Ocean at the time when the English Channel was still closed. Three periods may be distinguished in the history of these changes. During the first a row of dunes was formed on the sandy tongue of land which, beginning at Ostend, cut off and formed into an inland lake a portion of the German Ocean, at that time washing the diluvial strata ; these are still indicated along the Dutch and the German coasts by a series of dune-formations, sandbanks, and islands. In the second period the separation between ocean and lake was still maintained, the river-water gained the upper hand over the sea-water in the lake, the matter brought down by the river began to settle, and the morasses and beds of marsh-plants, reeds, and rushes (clerrie) were formed which are now found above the old sand beds and below the present clay beds. When in the third period the coasts subsided, the dunes were here and there carried away by the rise of the waters, portions of the land were 'submerged, and, mud being extensively piled up by the sea, the fertile clay (zeeklei) of the maritime provinces was formed, and at the same time the mouths of the rivers were changed in position. And all this took place on a still greater scale when the limestone rocks which united Calais and Dover at last gave way and the great ocean with its heavier incidence of billows and tides drove into the smaller sea. According to Dr Hartogli Heys van Zouteveen,2 150,000 hectares (370,670 acres) of land were lost on the coast of the German Ocean, 385,000 hectares (951,390 acres) on the Zuyder Zee and the Wadden, 8432 hectares (20,836 acres) in the Dollart, 10,000 hectares (2-1,711 acres) in the Biesbosch, and about 27,000 hectares (66,720 acres) more in other parts. According to Dr Staring, the province of Groningen, even during the 1Sth and 19th centuries, has been harassed with inundations once in every 155 years, Utrecht and North Holland south of the V once in 83 years, South Holland once in 55 years, Friesland, Overyssel, North Holland north of the Y, and the coast of North Brabant every 40 years ; while the Netherlands in general have been visited by such disasters in 1702, 1715, 1717, 1741, 1755, 1756, 1791, 1808, 1809, and 1825, or on an average once in every eleven years. In this last period, however, of the history of the land the lordship of man ultimately began to make itself felt. The formation of the first dykes to prevent inundations was quickly followed by the construction of a connected system of earthen ramparts, behind which the country lies secure, while at the same time hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land have been recovered from the sea. The area gained from 1833 to 1877 has been already stated. The following table shows the amount reclaimed by- endyking down to the dates given :- In North Holland, to 1864 72,283 acres.

„ South Holland Islands, to 1850 168,302 „ „ North Brabant, to 1843 95,391 „ „ Zealand, to 1859 220,411 „ To return to the present condition of the seaboard of the Netherlands, - it follows from what has been said that it consists (1) of coasts still protected by dunes or fringed with sandbanks and islands indicating the direction of ancient lines of dunes ; (2) of low coasts of sea-clay provided with dykes which in more than one quarter have been repeatedly extended so as to enclose land conquered from the sea (the sea-polders); and finally (3) of some high diluvial strata which rise far enough above the level of the sex to make dykes unnecessary. The dunes follow the west and north-west coast almost without a break, except in a few quarters where they have been removed and their place supplied by dykes or rubble, as in North Holland between Huisduinen and Nieuwe Diep and between Kamp and Petten, in South Holland on Voorue, and in Zealand on Schouwen and Walcheren, where the famous Westkappel dyke unites the village of Westkappel with the watering-place of Domburg. The breadth of the line of dunes naturally varies greatly - from 600 to 7000 feet ; and there is a similar variety in the height of the individual dunes proper, called dune-hills (duinkeuvels) as compared with the dune pans (duinpannen) or depressions. The elevation of the High Blinkert near Haarlem (196 feet) is an extreme exception, for the average is not more than 50 or 60 feet even in the case of the high dunes which lie nearest the shore and are known as "sea-runners" (zeelooper) or the "shore-ridge" (strandreeks). The dunes show a tendency, except where the Dutch prevent it by planting wood or sand-oats, to wear away on the side towards the sea, and to " overstuiven " or drift off on the landward side. There is, indeed, a general degradation of the coast, and a recession towards the cast, corresponding to the subsidence which may be observed along the German seaboard, and probably traceable also, in part at least, to the Channel current, which at mean tide has a velocity of 14 or 15 inches per second, and especially during strong west or north-west winds carries off large quantities of material. This alteration of coast-line appears at Loosdninen, where the moor or fenland formerly developed behind the dunes now crops out on the shore amid the sand, being pressed to the compactness of lignite by the weight of the sand drifted over it. Again, the remains of the Roman camp at Brittenburg or Huis to Britten, which originally lay within the dunes and, after being covered by them, emerged again in 1520, were, in 1694, 1600 paces out to sea, opposite Katwijk ; while, besides Katwijk itself, several other villages of the west coast, as Domburg, Scheveningen, Edmond, have continually to be removed further inland, Two things special to Holland are worthy of particular notice, the artificial formation of dunes, as at Koegras, Callantsoog, Petten, Katwijk, Scheveningen, and Zandvoort, and the carrying away of the sand ((limnderij, " offsanding '1) by ship or rail, as in the "Westland," for example, to the south of the Hague, to serve elsewhere for engineering operations and the improving of the soil. Mingled with marsh-earth the sand forms a soil suited to the culture of flower-bulbs; with clay it produces that excellent soil for vegetable gardens for which the Westland is so famous. It must be further remarked that both the " dune pans," which are naturally marshy through their defective drainage, and the " geest" grounds - that is, the grounds along the foot of the downs - have been in various places either planted with wood or turned into arable and pasture land; while the numerous springs at the base of the dunes rise at such a height above the ordinary level of the country that the water is conveyed by canals to the great cities, and an improvement is thus effected at once in the agricultural condition of the coast-land and in the sanitary condition of the cities.

The sea-dykes are found along the northern coasts, the coasts of the provinces which border on the Zuyder Zee, and the coasts of the islands of Zealand and South Holland so far as they are not protected by dunes. Only in a few places, it will be seen, are the sea-dykes unnecessary ; as for example, in Friesland between Stavoren and Olrle Mirdum (the bold and steep Roode and Mirth= cliffs) and near Doornspijk, 3 miles south of Elburg, where there are high grounds which stretch G miles to the south-west of Harderwijk. The earthen dykes are protected by stone-slopes and by piles, and at the inure dangerous points also by "zinkstukken " (sinking pieces), artificial structures of bulrushes, reeds, and branches, laden with stones, and measuring some 400 yards in circuit, by means of which the current is to some extent turned aside. The Westkappel dyke already mentioned is 12,468 ft. long and 23 high, has a seaward slope of 300 tt., and is protected by rows of piles and basalt blocks. On its ridge, 39 ft. broad, there is not only a roadway but a service railway. When it is remembered that the woodwork is infested by the pile worm (Teredo lUlvol is), the ravages of which were discovered in 1731, the enormous expense incurred in the construction and maintenance of the 1550 miles of sea-dykes now existing may be imagined. The cost of construction is not overestimated at 150,000,000 guilders or £12,500,000.

The Dutch islands may be divided into two main classes - (1) those surrounded on all sides by the German Ocean or its inlets, and (2) those surrounded entirely or in great part by river arms, and separated by these from the mainland or from each other. The first division again comprises two groups - (a) the islands Texel, Vineland, Terschelling, Amel tnd, Schiermonnikoog, and Rot tum, which stretch in a long arc from the north point of North Holland to the mouth of the Ems, and indicate the old coast-line, so that they belong to the same physico-geographical group with the islands along the German coast ; and (b) the islands Wieringen, Marken, Urk, and Schokland, «hich are the relics of the stretch of country formerly comprising the present bed of the Zuyder Zee. In the second class are to be reckoned the delta of the river Yssel (Camper Island) and the islands belonging to the contiguous deltas of the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt., including the island of Betuwe between the Rhine and the Waal and the archipelago of South Holland and Zealand.

As the river mouths of Holland must also be regarded as gulfs or inlets of the sea, they may be noticed here. The average breadth of the Haringvlict at Helvoetslnys is 8860 ft. and at Goedereede ; that of the West Scheldt at Ter Neuzen 15,420 ft., and at Flushing (Vlissingen) 13,780 ; that of the East Scheldt at the harbour of Goes 13,780, and at the harbour of Zierikzee 13,450 ; and that of the Roompot 21,650 to 29,530 ft.

The varying characteristics of the coasts in different places give rise to correspondingly different industries. As regards trade and navigation, the west coasts with their shallows and sandbanks can be approached only by small vessels of light draught (visscherspiuken) unless where access is afforded by the inlets of the sea, especially the mouth of the West Scheldt at Flushing, that of the East Scheldt at Zierikzee, the Brnuwershaven inlet between the islands of Schouwen and Coerce, the Coerce inlet at Helvoetsluys, the Marsdiep at the Helder, and the month of the Ems at Delfzijl, or where a way has been opened up by engineering works as at Rotterdam and Amsterdam (by the new waterway to the sea and the canal to Ymuiden). As we proceed from south-west to north-east the places along the coast become less and less important ; in the provinces of Groningen and Friesland the approach to the mainland is obstructed by the Wadden or Shallows; and on the coast of the Zuyder Zee are those harbours, for the most part rendered useless by alluvial accretions, which have been so well described by Havard in his Villes Moles du Zuyderzee. Along the greater part of these coasts the population is engaged in the fisheries rather than in trade, especially when the neighbourhood of a great town (as Alkmaar for Egmond, Haarlem for Zandvoort, Leyden for Katwijk, the Hague for Scheveningen) secures a good market or a ready means of exportation. Many fishing vill tges on the west coast, e.g., Scheveningen, Domburg, and Zandvoort, have in recent years acquired repute as watering-places with both natives and foreigners.

The availability of the flat coasts for trade and navigation is to a large extent dependent on the range of the rise and fall of the tides. As shown in the following table, this ste idily decreases from south-west to north-east. In the Zuyder Zee it is naturally very small.

The Shallows (Wadden) of the German Ocean between Groninn and Friesland and the islands Rottum, Schier monnikoog, and Ameland are usually left in great measure dry at ebb-tide.

The elevation of the surface of the country ranges from I about 650 ft. above to 16 or 20 ft. below the Amsterdam zero, which marks the mean high-water level in the Y in front of the city. The circumstance that so much of it is below the sea-level necessarily exercises a very important influence on the drainage, the climate, and the sanitary condition of the country, as well as on its defence by means of inundation. From the history of the formation of the soil already given, and from the course of the rivers, it may be gathered that the low grounds are in the west, and the higher in the south and east. According to the relief map published by the minister of war (scale 1 : 600,000), the provinces of North and South Holland, the western portion of Utrecht as far as the Vaart Rhine, Zealand, except the southern part of Zealand-Flanders, and also the north-west corner of North Brabant, all lie, with the exception of the dunes, below the Amsterdam zero ; while the eastern portion of the country, except a small strip along the Zuyder Zee in the provinces of Guelderland, Overyssel, and Friesland, as well as the lands in the neighbourhood of the Dollart, is situated above it. The regular slope of the ground from south-east to north-west, and the position of the highest and the lowest points, are indicated by the same authority. At Veals, in the extreme south-east, the altitude is 656 ft., at Valkenberg 525, at St Pietersberg near Maestricht

Of equal importance with the relief of the country is the geological composition of the soil. It is evident from the history of the origin of the land that Quaternary formasurface of the Netherlands, only •1 per cent. thus remaining for all the older formations - the Tertiary and the Secondary, including the extremely limited Jurassic.

To the alluvial strata belong, in the first place, the fen (wen/ strata, which are subdivided into low fens, high fens, marsh fens, and the " dalgronden" or "reclaimed high fens." The low fens, which are found in Groningen, Friesland, Overyssel, North and South Holland, and North Brabant (about the Langstraat), have been formed of aquatic plants, and, in the upper layers, of moss; their elevation is that of the mean sea-level ; from them the "short turf," the best quality of peat, is obtained by dredging, and, when the standing water which collects after the peat has been dug out has been drained off, they may be turned into very productive arable land. The subsoil, on which the fertility then depends, consists usually of clays and alluvial sand or dune, strata, rarely of diluvial sand strata. These low fens extend to no less than 904,597 acres, or about 11 per cent. of the surface. The high fens, of which the greater part have been " disfenned" or stripped of peat, are found in Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overyssel, and the " Peel " or Marsh of North Brabant, in the more elevated plains or valleys. They have been formed of trees, heath-plants, and moss, and furnish the softer, inferior kind of peat, the "long turf." As the removal of the peat has been followed by the construction of canals to carry off the standing water, the high fens are of course free from marshes, but, resting as they do almost everywhere on diluvial gravel and sand, they do not furnish so fertile a soil as the low fens. They comprise 226,107 acres, or only about 2.8 per cent. of the surface of the country. The marsh fens are composed almost exclusively of a few species of sedge or carex, and constitute, not only in their method of formation, but also in their character and situation, the transition between the high and the low fens. They are widely scattered, especially along small streams which carry off water mingled with fenny materials, and are nowhere more numerously represented than in Drenthe, where all the drainage is of this character. The marsh fens occupy 168,551 acres, considerably less than the high fens. The " dalgronden" are formed where regular peat-fields are laid out along specially constructed canals, and the denuded surface is usually grubbed up for arable or pasture land, or on rare occasions planted with wood. They comprise about 207,576 acres, and naturally increase in proportion to the decrease of the high fens. We shall return to these " dalgronden" in connexion with the canals. Besides the fens, the clay lands and certain of the sand-strata belong to the alluvium. The clays - which furnish the richest arable soils, the most luxuriant meadowland, and in some places the material for bricks and earthenware - may be divided into the sea-clay, the river-clay, the stream-clay or green earth, and the old sea-clay of the districts recovered from the water. The exceptionally fertile sea-clay in the provinces of Groningen, Friesland, North and South Holland, and Zealand occupies no less than 1,676,860, or about 20 per cent. of the surface, while the river-clay, naturally situated along the banks of the larger rivers, takes up 851,284 acres, or about 10 per cent. The boundary between the sea-clay and the river-clay is formed in the case of these rivers by the maximum high-water line. The stream-clay or green earth, which is found, as the former name implies, on the banks of the smaller rivers or streams, is formed of course on a much smaller scale, and consists of a stratum on an average from 3 to 5 feet thick, resting almost exclusively on the sand diluvium, from which it is occasionally- separated by a fenny stratum. It occurs in the east of Drenthe, Overyssel, and Guelderland, along the small tributaries of the Vecht, along the Vecht, Regge, and Schipbeek in Overyssel, and in like manner in North Brabant along the Dommel, Aa, Mark, and other unimportant streams. The green earth not unfrequently contains iron ore ; from this the metal is extracted in Overyssel and Guelderland, and it is asserted that in thirty years the natural processes replace the excavated mineral. The stream deposits occupy about 2 per cent. of the surface-157,187 acres. Finally the old sea-clay of the reclaimed districts covers 127,518 acres, or 1 per cent. of the surface. As already stated, the subsoil of the low fens is not everywhere clay. It is so in the main in the provinces of North and South Holland, where the drainage operations were consequently much more remunerative than in Friesland, and in the east of Utrecht, where the fens rested upon sand. Estimating the total area of the recovered districts at 197,690 acres, about five-eighths of this con sists of old sea-clay; and these portions, such as the Haarlem lake grounds, the Beemster and Fulmer polders in North Holland, and the Nieuwkoop and Zuidplas polders in South Holland, are reckoned among the richest and most fertile. How these low-lying areas have been endyked and drained, surrounded by canals and kept dry by gigantic steam-pumps, has been explained under the heading The alluvial sand-strata (to be distinguished from the diluvial sand) may be divided into (1) sand-drifts, (2) river-sand, river-downs, and " heiba-nen," and (3) old sea-sand and the sea-dunes with the geest-grounds. The last of these classes has already been considered in dealing with the sea-coast. The rivers bring down their sand as well as their gravel, not so much from the more elevated districts as from the diluvial valleys in which they have excavated their channels. The beds of the rivers themselves consist likewise of sand, mingled here and there with gravel or rolled and polished pebbles, and, where the current is not too strong, covered with a layer of clay. If sand has been accumulated on the shore, the wind soon transforms it after the retreat of the river into hillocks or river-dunes. When these contain a proportion of clay they are more fertile than the sea-dunes. They occur on both sides of the Guelderland Yssel (between Zalk and Oest), and on the Waal below Hulhuizen and opposite Rossum ; and various eminences in other parts of the country, such as Agnietenberg near Zwolle, and the heights near Deventer, near Graftlioi.st opposite Kampen, and along the Meuse between Venlo and Mook, must be considered as of similar origin. " Heibanen," i.e., heath-tracks, so called on account of their sterility, are beds of river gravel easily distinguished from the diluvial gravel by the smooth, worn, and uniform appearance produced ages ago by the action of the current. They are found, for example, in the Betuwe, about Avezaat, and between Menden and Waddenoijen. Sand-drifts are dune formations originated by the action of the wind on the diluvial sand, where in one way or other it has been stripped of the heath-crust. They extend to 179,220 acres, or about 21 per cent, of the surface. The fen strata occupy in all 1,508,300 acres, or 18z per cent. ; the clay strata 2,815,850 acres, or about 35 per cent. ; the alluvial sand strata 475,477 acres, or about 6 per cent. ; and the whole alluvium 4,799,627 acres, or 59 per cent.

The diluvial or sand and gravel strata of the Netherlands are far from being of such economic importance as the alluvial strata. The agricultural products - mainly- buckwheat and rye - are neither so abundant nor so valuable as the wheat and rape-seed of the clay soils; and neither stock-breeder nor dairy-farmer obtains so satisfactory results. The boundary of the diluvial strata may be roughly indicated by a line running through Winsehoten, Groningen, Dokkuni, Leeuwarden, Heerenveen, Steenwijk, Zwolle, Elbmg, the coast of the Zuyder Zee, Naarden, Utrecht, Rhenen, Bois-le-Duc, Breda, Bergen-op-Zoom, and Antwerp. South and east of this line lies the diluvium, for the most part on the surface, except in the places already mentioned where the fens, the river-clay, the stream deposits, and the sand-drifts are situated, or in the extreme south and east where the older strata make their appearance. To the north and west of the line the only diluvial strata are those of the Zuyder Zee islands : in Texel, Wieringen, and Urk the soil is of diluvial origin ; and this probably holds true also in whole or in part in Vlieland, Ameland, and Terschelling.

The diluvial formations are subdivided into gravel-strata and sand-strata. To the former belong (1) the Scandinavian diluvium, in which occur granites and chalk flints derived from Scandinavia, situated to the north of the Overyssel Vecht (that is, in Groningen, Drenthe, the south-west of Friesland, and the islands); (2) the mixed diluvium, which, besides the Scandinavian gravel contains stone-grit from Munster, the Teutoburger Wald, and the districts along the Rhine (it is situated between the Veda and the Rhine, in Overyssel, Utrecht, the Gooiland,1 and Guelderland); (3) the Rhine diluvium, destitute of granite, but with many fragments of white quartz, basalt, and other kinds of stone from the mountains along the river between Bonn and Coblentz (it lies between the Waal and the Meuse) ; (4) the Meuse diluvium, containing materials brought from the mountains higher up the stream; and finally (5) the Limburg flint diluvium, like the preceding variety destitute of any plutonic or volcanic rocks, but nevertheless consisting almost exclusively of flints occurring in the neighbouring chalk formation.

The sand-diluvium, which is of later date than the gravel, is found in great level stretches at the foot of the hills of diluvial gravel, and contains no pebbles or coarse gravel. It also occurs in the maritime provinces nnder all the marine and fluvial formations. According to some authorities it owes its origin to the influence of rain, or frost, or wind ; according to others it has been formed by the sea like the Kempen sand and that of the dunes, and then transported by the south-westerly currents, In the diluvium must also be included the loess, which occupies a large proportion of the province of Limburg. The whole diluvmm comprises 3,308,330 acres, or about 401 per cent. of the country, distributed thus: - Scandinavian 41 per cent., mixed diluvitun 41, Rhine and Meuse diluvimn and Limburg flint diluvium 1, loess 11, and lastly the sand diluvium, which includes the diluvial riverbanks, 2,376,770 acres, or about 29 per cent.

The older formations, which occupy a very limited area, occur in the east of Guelderland and Overyssel, in the south of Limburg, and in Zealand-Flanders. That they also form the substratum elsewhere, e.g., in Zealand and Brabant, is not improbable. The area of the Tertiary strata is 3425, and of the Secondary 3746 acres.

As regards the capabilities of the soil, Holland does not hold an exceptionally favourable position,-34 per cent. of the country consisting of good and about 2 per cent. of inferior clay land, while more than 45 per cent. is poor and partially reclaimed sand, and fully 18.5 per cent. is covered with fens. The following figures show the account to which the soil is actually turned :-643 per cent. consists of arable and pasture land, gardens, hay-fields, and orchards; 6 per cent. is occupied by water and roads ; 7 per cent. is woodland ; 0.7 is covered with buildings ; and the rest, or 22 per cent., must consequently be assigned to the waste lands, shores, and dunes, the reed•beds, heaths, and fens. The extent of this uncultivated area is of course being gradually diminished by the more general employment of improved methods of drainage, by prevention of the progress of the sand-drifts, by reclamation of the fens, by the extension of facilities for the carriage of manures, and by the parcelling out of the mark-lands or commons which are now used only as public pastures or for the digging of turf (plaggen). The distribution of the cultivated lands in the several provinces is considered below in connexion with the density of the population.

The Netherlands are watered by three main rivers - the Rhine, the Meuse or Maas, and the Scheldt or Schelde, besides a great number of smaller streams, How the Rhine breaks up into Rhine and Waal, Rhine and Yssel, Crooked Rhine and Lek, Old Rhine and Vecht, and finally reaches the sea at Katwijk, may be seen from the map ; • and also how the Meuse at Gorcum forms a junction with the Waal, flowing on to Dort under the name of the Merwede, and thence continuing to the sea between the South Holland Islands and South Holland, under the names of the North, the Old, and the New Meuse. There too may be traced the course of the Scheldt, with its broad mouths bounding the Zealand Islands and separating them from the mainland of Flanders, or that of the Yssel by Deventer, Zutphen, and Kampen to the Zuyder Zee. These great rivers render very important service as water-ways, as the following statistics may show : -

Lower Rhine and Lek, from Pannerden to Krimpcn 38'827 and 32.638 Waal and Merwede, from Pannerden to Hardinxveld 33.479 „ 81'585 Guelderland Yssel, from Westervoort to Bond Ganzediep 31.06 „ 31.00 Meuse, from Grave to Woudrichem 13.97 „ 12.56 The fall iu the Meuse from Maestricht to Venlo is 107.05 feet.

The total length of the navigable channels is '1135 miles, but in certain places sand-banks and shallows not unfrequently impede the shipping traffic at low water during the summer. As a drawback to the services rendered by the rivers must be mentioned the damage inflicted by their inundations and ice-drifts, for protection against which river-dykes were constructed as early as the days of the Romans, and, in the lower reaches, more especially in the course of the 11th, 12th, and 18th centuries. It is only in a few places - for example, on the right-hand side of the Rhine - that elevated banks are found. Elsewhere between the dykes and the stream lie "forelands" or " outwerders," which are usually submerged in winter. That the rivers cannot at all times, any mole than the sea, be kept under control by the dykes is shown by the floods of 1775, 1776, 1784, 1799, 1809, 1820, 1861, Sze.

The smaller streams are often of great importance. Except where they rise in the fens, they call into life a strip of fruitful verdure in the midst of the barren sand, and thus lead to the existence of many villages. The low-lying spaces at the confluences, being readily laid tinder water, have been not 'infrequently chosen as sites for fortresses. As a matter of course, the streams are also turned to account in connexion with the canal system, - the Holland Yssel, the Gouwe, the Rotte, the &hie, the Spaarnc, the Zaan, the Amsted, the Dieze, the Amer, the Mark, the Vecht, the Zwarte Water (Black-water), the Kuinder, and the munerous Aas in Drenthe and Groningen being the most important in this respect. Largely by means of these natural water-ways the Dutch have formed for themselves a network of canals, small and great, the united length of which amounts to 1522 miles. The canals differ greatly in character in the different provinces. In North Brabant and Limburg the Zuid Willemsvaart (South William's canal) unites Maestrieht via Weert and Helmond with Bois he Due ('s Hertogenbosch), communicates by a side branch with Eindhoven, and has a connexion with the canal from Maestrieht to Liege. In Zealand the canals give the towns of the interior communication with the sea or the river mouths ; for example, canals lead respectively from Terncuzen to Sas van Gent and to Ghent, from Middleburg to Veere and from Middleburg to Flushing, from Goes to the Eastern Scheldt, and from Zierikzee also to the Eastern Scheldt. The canal from Hansweert to Wenieldinge has been cut to allow ships to pass between the East and the West Scheldt. In South Holland many canals serve the like purpose ; thus the Voorn canal unites the Haringvliet with the New Meuse, which does not allow the passage of large vessels above Brie' ; and similarly on account of the many banks and shallows in front of Helvoetsluys a new waterway has been opened up to Rotterdam by widening the channel of the Scheur north of Rozenburg, and cutting across the Hoek van Holland. The Goeree inlet unites that place with the Haringvlict. Of a different character is the Zederik canal, which unites the principal river of central Holland - the Lek - (at Vianen) by means of the Linge with the Merwede (at Gorcum). As Rotterdam has its new water-way, so in North Holland Amsterdam is connected with Nienwe Diep by the canal via l'urmerend and Alkmaar ; and, this canal being too shallow for the largest class of vessels in cargo, the canal to Ymuiden has been constructed across Holland-op-zynsmalst Holland at its narrowest). Amsterdam is further connected with the Veeht by the Keulsche Vaart, and with the Lek and the Zederik canal via Utrecht by the Vaart Rhine. In the province of Guelderland Nijkerk inlet unites that town with the sea, and Apeldoorn communicates with Hattem north-east through the Grift canal and south-east with the Yssel through the Dieren canal. A totally different character belongs to the canals in the east and north-east of the country, where, in the absence of greatrivers, they form the only water-ways which render possible the drainage of the fens and the export of peat, and unite the lesser streams with each other. Thus in Overyssel the Willemsvaart connects Zwolle and the Zwarte Water with the Yssel, the Dedemsvaart connects the Veeht with the Zwarte Water near Hasselt, and a canal connects Almelo with Zwolle. In Drenthe the Smildervaart

The climate of Holland' is such as might be conjectured from its geographical position and its generally low level. Situated in the temperate zone between 50° and 53° N. lat., it shows a difference in the lengths of day and night extending in the north to nine hours, and there is a correspondingly wide range of temperature ; it also belongs to the region of variable winds. The following table, from the observations of Professor C. D. Buys Ballot, the well-known director of the Meteorological Institute at Utrecht, shows the average temperatures and the barometric heights recorded there during 1849-1878:- The mean annual temperature was 9.91° C., or 49.83° Fahr.

How largely the westerly winds predominate is shown by the following statistics. On an average of ten years 5 per cent. of the winds were N., 5 N.N.W., 7 N.W., 6 W. N. W., 7 W., 10 W. S. W., 12 S. W., 7 S. S. W. (total 59 per cent.), and 7 S., 5 S.S.E., 5 S.E., 2 E S.E., 3 E., 6 E.N.E., 8 N.E., 5 N.N.E. (total 41 per cent.). The west winds of course increase the moisture, and moderate both the winter cold and the summer heat, while the east winds blowing over the Continent have an opposite influence. The following table, derived from observations taken at Utrecht, shows that, as might be expected, the rainfall is large : - It cannot be said that the climate is particularly good ; indeed to strangers it is rather the reverse of pleasant. Fevers, colds, and, when proper precautions are not taken, chest disease and consumption, are results of the changeableness of the weather, which may alter completely within a single day. The heavy atmosphere likewise, and the necessity of living within doors or in confined localities, cannot but exercise an influence on the character and temperament of the inhabitants. Only of certain districts, however, can it be said that they are positively unhealthy ; to this category belong some parts of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, where the inhabitants are exposed to the exhalations from the marshy ground, and the atmosphere is burdened with the sea-fogs. To what extent the healthiness of the different pro.. v'nces varies may be seen from the following table of the annual death-rate for the twenty-five years from 1840 to 1865 : - For the whole kingdom the animal death-rate was 1 in 36.73 - that for the males being 1 in 35.49, and for the females 1 in 38-14.

That the density of the population must, apart from other causes, increase through the acquisition and cultivation of new land, and that it visibly differs very greatly according to the difference of tlie soil in the different provinces, may be seen from the following table, wherein the increase of the percentage of cultivable land and of the population is indicated : - The greater density of population in the Holland provinces as compared with Drenthe cannot be explained, however, merely by the character of the soil ; the variety of industries and the great number of large towns contribute to the inequality. All the towns with 100,000 inhabitants and upwards (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague) are situated in the provinces of Holland ; of the 36-communes with more than 10,000, 9 are in Holland, none in Drenthe of the 35 communes between 10,000 and 4000, 9 are in Holland and 2 in Drenthe. The reason why in the west, and especially in the district between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, there is such a clustering of large towns, only surpassed in a few parts of England and Belgium, is to be found in the facilities there afforded for earning a subsistence. Holland is emphatically a country of large towns. According to the census of 1869 there were forty-four which had a population of upwards of 5000. The greatest of all was Amsterdam, with 256,154 inhabitants ; and next in order came Rotterdam, with 113,734. Two others had upwards of 50,000, the Hague and Utrecht, respectively 81,881 and 57,085.. Arnheim, Leyden, Haarlem, Groningen, and Maestricht were all above 25,000; and Bois-le-due, Delft, Dort, and Leer.warden above 20,000. The five towns of Nimeguen, Gouda, Helder, Deventer, and Zwolle had each between 15,000 and 20,000; and Breda, Zutphen, Zaandam, Amersfoort, and Kempen were all above 10,000, though less than 15,000. Since that date many of these have considerably increased in size. In 1879 Amsterdam had about 300,000 inhabitants, Rotterdam 140,000, the Hague 100,000, and Utrecht 70,000.

As the density of the population varies within the narrow limits of the Netherlands, so varies likewise the origin of the people. Although ethnographically the whole population belongs to the Indo-Germanie family, or more definitely to the Teutonic branch of it, the descendants of the Frisians may be clearly distinguished in the north-west. The mouths of the Meuse separate these from the descendants of the Franks, who pushed eastward across the Meuse but never settled beyond the Waal, while the territory of the Saxons, who came later from the east, extends no further than to the Utrecht Yacht. The descendants of the Saxons consequently lie between those of the two first-named peoples, although naturally much commingling has taken place between Frisians and Saxons, and Saxons and Franks, especially in the towns and on the newly-acquired lands. The representatives of the Semitic stock (Portuguese or German Jews), though their influence is not unimportant, number only 50,000 or 60,000, of whom about 40,000 reside at Amsterdam. The descendants of the three Teutonic peoples above named are very slightly distinguished from each other by their physical, intellectual, and moral characteristics, and all the less so because the Dutch type is not itself strongly marked and bears the traces of foreign commixture ; for many Flemings and Brabanters settled in the country at the time of the revolt against Spain, many Germans, Englishmen, and Scandinavians during the prosperity of the republic, and many Frenchmen after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. The differences most clearly discernible are in the old local laws, in the peculiar customs, and above all in the dialects. Among these last must be distinguished the Holland dialect (Hollandscli) spoken in the provinces of Holland and part of Utrecht ; the Zealand dialect (Zeeuwseh, in Staats Flanders inclining towards Flemish) ; the Brabantine (modified), also spoken in a part of Limburg and the south of Guelderland ; the Lower Rhenish, which is again subdivided into the Guelderlaud, the Overyssel, and the Drenthe dialects ; and, finally, the Groningen dialect. The peasant or country Frisian forms a completely separate language ■Vith a literature of its own. It has not been at all satisfactorily determined in what parts of the Netherlands the remains of a pre-German population are to be found, nor to what extent they are to be distinguished from the Germans by the form of the skull ; but investigations are being carried on in this department of inquiry, and a map is being prepared to indicate the boundaries of the various dialects.

The government of the Netherlands-is regulated by the constitution of 1815, revised in 1848, under which the king's person is in- n violable mid the ministers are responsible. The crown is hereditary in both the male and the female line according to primogeniture ; but it is only on the complete extinction of the male line that females can come to the throne. The crown prince or heir apparent is the first subject of the king, and bears the title of the Prince of Orange. The king alone has executive authority. To him belong the ultimate direction of foreign affairs, the power to declare war and peace and to make treaties and alliances, the supreme command of the army and navy, the supreme administration of the finances and of the colonies and other possessions of the kingdom, and the prerogative of mercy. By the provisions of the same constitution he establishes the ministerial departments, and shares the legislative power with the first and second chambers. The heads of the departments to whom the especial executive functions are entrusted are eight in munber, - ministers respectively of the interior, of public works (the " witterstaat," including trade and industry, railways, post-office, &c.), of justice, of finance, of war, of marine, of the colonies, and of foreign affairs. They are appointed and dismissed at the pleasure of the king, usually determined, however, as in all constitutional states, by time will of the nation as indicated by its representatives. The members of the first chamber are chosen by the provincial states from among those W110 bear the greatest burden of direct taxation in each province, the proportion of persons thus eligible being 1 to every 3000 of the palmlation. North Brabant sends 5, Cuelderland 5, South Holland 7, North Holland 6, Zealand 2, Utrecht 2, Friesland 3, Overyssel 3, Groningen 2, Drenthe 1, Limburg 3 - or altogether 39. The duration of parliament is nine years, a third of the members retiring every three years. 'the retiring members are eligible for re-election. The members of the seeond chamber are chosen in the electoral districts by all citizens of full age who pay direct taxes varying according to local eireninstances from 20 to 160 guilders. One member is elected for every 45,000 of the population. At present (1880) there are eighty-six; they must be at least thirty years old, and they cease to be members if they take a salaried Government appointment. They discuss all laws, and have the right of proposing amendments. Their term is four years, hut they are re-eligible. All communications from the king to the states-general and from the states to the king, as well as all general measures relating to internal administration or to foreign possessions, are first submitted to the consideration of the council of state, which also has the right of making suggestions to the king in regard to subjects of legislation and administration. The king appoints the vice-president of the council, which consists of fourteen members; he is himself the president, and can name councillors, to the number of not more than fifteen, for special service.

The provincial administration is entrusted to the provincial states, which are returned by direct election by the same electors as vote for the second chamber. The term is for six years, but 1 part of the members retire every three years. president of the assembly is the loyal commissioner for the province. As the provincial states only meet a few times in the year, they name a committee of deputy-states to which the management of current general business is entrusted, and which at the same time administers the affairs of the communes. At the head of every commune stands a communal council, whose members are chosen by the inhabitants for a definite number of years. The president of the communal council, the burgomaster, is named by the king in every instance for six years, and along with the magistrate to be chosen by and from the members of the council is charged with the ordinary administration. The provinces, as already stated, are eleven in number (the grand-duchy of Luxembourg, over which the king has eontrol, is not incorporated with the kingdom); the number of communes at 31st December 1878 was 1128.

The administration of justice is entrusted (1) to the high council, J the supreme court of the whole kingdom, which holds its sessions at the Hague, and is the tribunal for all high Government officials and for time members of the states-general ; (2) to the live courts of justice for criminal eases, and for appeal in more important police and civil cases ; (3) to courts established in each arrondisement ; (4) to cantonal judges appointed over a group of communes, whose jurisdiction is restricted to claims of small amount (under 200 guilders), and to breaches of police regulations, and who at the same time look after the interests of minors.

The following statement of the revenue for the year ending the middle of 1S78, and of the expenditure for 1877, is taken from the Staats Courant for 1879, No. 6 : - Rev, nwe. Expenditure.

Direct- taxation £2,000,748 I Royal househaf £72,916 Export and import duties ... 381,94'i oupenor authoritiesof the state 49,112 Excise 3,248,293 Department of foreign affairs... 50,511 Gold and silver wares 30,445justice 349,201 State domains 131.231., marine._ ....... 1,176.317 Post-office . 302,583 National debt.... ..... ... ............ 2,187.631 Government telegraphs 69,290 Department of finance 1,411,162 State lotteries 36.146a war 1,895,563 Game and fisheries 12.534„ waterstaat.......2,043,588 Pilot dues 76,746 ., colonies... ..... ... 124,724 Unanticipated expenses 3,163 The following table shows the revenue and expenditure for the provinces and communes, and the contributions received from the Dutch Indies : - We ap )end the total receipts of the ten years 1868-77, including, the ordinary revenue, the Indian contributions, balances from previous budgets, proceeds of sale of domains, &c., and the total expenditnre for the same, years, including, besides the ordinary budget, the outlays in payment of annuities, in funding and discharging debt, in railway extension, &T.: - The amount expended on the war and marine departments is given above. The standing army consists of infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, and gendarmerie, forming together a force of 60,000 men, with 3000 horses. Less than half, however, is kept in arms the whole year. The soldiers are raised partly by voluntary enlistment, and partly by conscription. In 1876, 1877, and 1878 the conscripts amounted to 10,808, 10,878, and 10,772 respectively. They are selected from the males who have entered their twentieth year and are not exempted for special reasons. The term of set-vice in time of peace is five years, but may be extended in time of war; the consdipt recruits, however, so far as the number of volunteers permits, are kept under arms for a few months only. A portion of the annual contingent is appropriated to the marine service. In the communes there are " schutterijen," militia " trainbands," which in time of war serve for the defence of the country, and at all times for the maintenance of order. Their actual term of service lasts only five years, but every male inhabitant from his twenty-filth to his thirty-fourth year is liable to be called out. On the 1st of January 1879 there were of these on duty, in 88 communes, 212 companies, or 41,714 men, including 573 officers.

The strength of the navy in 1879 was - home service, 17 ships with 3162 men ; Indian military marine, 23 ships with 1793 hands; auxiliary squadron, 4 ships with 900 hands; in the West Indies, 2 ships with 206 men. The fleet for the protection of the "sea-gates," or estuaries, coasts, roadsteads, and rivers on the 1st August 1878 amounted to 61 ships, of which 23 were armour-plated; 21 ships for general service, of which 2 were armour-plated; besides 7 gnardships and tenders and 7 training vessels. The strength of the marine corps was in July 1878 returned at 2055, and the number of guns carried by the navy at about 500.

In accordance with the law of April 18, 1874, the military and naval defences are supported by a system of fortification which embraces the following lines : - the Nieuwe Hollandsche water-line from the Zuyler Zee by Utrecht, the Lek, and the Merwede, through the district of Altena to the New Merwede ; the line of the Guelders valley and the Lower Iletuwe; the lines of the Hollandsche Diep and the Yolkerak, of the mouth of the Meuse and the Haringvliet, and of the Helder; the works for the protection of the river-crossings and the reception of troops on the Yssel, the Waal, and the Meuse; the Amste -dam line ft Om the German Ocean near Ymuiden, to the Znyder Zee and the Nicuwe Hollandsche water-line ; the southern water-line from the Meuse abm e St Andr'es to the Amer below Geertruidenberg ; and the works on the 'Western Scheldt. As already mentioned, in many cases the fortifications can be supplemented by extensive inundations.

The inhabitants of Holland enjoy full religious as well as political Reli8 liberty. Not only is the free profession of his religious opinions guaranteed to every one by the constitution ; the same protection is accorded to all the various ecclesiastical bodies; all the adherents of the different creeds have equal civil and political rights, and equal claims to public offices, dignities, and appointments ; and all denominations possess perfect freedom of administration in everything relating to their religion and its exercise.

At the census of 1869 the population was classified thus as regards religion :- Congregations.

Low-DUtell Reformed 1,956,852 with 1,343 Scotch Church 84 „ Unknown 5,161 „ Altogether there are about 2800 churches and chapels. The following table shows the percentage of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in the several provinces: - From this it appears that in the no •-east tl e Protestant creed greatly preponderates, and that the majority of tie Roman Catholics are found in the south, while both are fairly represented in the central provinces. That in the last fifty years t iere be been over the whole population a steady increase in the pro )ortion of Protestants and Jews, and a corresponding decrease of Roman Catholics, is evident from the following table: - The government of each of the Protestant bodies (with the exception of the Baptists, who have no central authority) is in the hands of an assembly or "synod” of deputies from the provincial judicatures. In the case of the Reformed Church the affairs of the community are entrusted to the provincial synods. The provinces are subdivided into "classes," and the classes again into "circles" (ringen), each circle comprising from 5 to 25 congregations, and each congregation being governed by a "church council" or session. The provincial synods are composed of ministers and elders deputed by the classes ; and these are composed of the ministers belonging to the particular class and an equal number of elders appointed by the local sessions. The meetings of the circles have no administrative character, but are mere brotherly conferences. The financial management in each congregation is entrusted to a special court (kerk-voogdij) composed of " notables" and church 1, artlens, In every province there is besides, in the case of the Reformed Church, a provincial committee of supervision fir the ecclesiastical administration. For the whole kingdom this supervision is entrusted to a coin on "eollegium " or committee of supervision, which meets at the Hague, and consists of 11 members named by the provincial committee and 3 named by the synod. Some congregations have within recent years withdrawn from provincial supervision, and have thus free control of their own financial affairs. As a Roman Catholic province Holland is divided into 5 dioceses-the archbishopric of Utrecht, and the suffragan bishoprics of Haarlem, Bois le Due, Breda, and Roermund, which are severally divided into deaneries (mlekauaten).

The various denominations are subsidized by the state. The total thus expended in 1S77 was £65,654.

Primary education is being more widely diffused year after year, and at the same time receiving increased support from the state. While in 1868 there were 3675 schools, attended by 137,311 pupils, and conducted by 10,375 teachers, the corresponding figures for 1877 were respectively 3813, 522,S61, and 12,292; and while in 1858 the state, the provinces, and the communes expended only 1,278,894 guilders (= Is. 8d. sterling) on the schools, the expenditure for education in 1877 was 7,271,484 guilders. In 1875, 1876, and 1877 there were 841, 343, and 847 in every thousand boys between six and eight years of age at school, and 786, 796, and 803 out of every thousand girls; and from nine to eleven years of age 881, 890, and 910 out of every thousand boys, and 812, 815, and 827 out of every thousand girls. There is this a steady decrease of non-attendance. The improvement of primary education is shown by the growing decrease in the proportion of conscripts who could neither read nor write: from 1846 to 1858 this was 22-82 per cent.; 1859-62, 19-79; 1863-67, 17.74; 1868-71, 15'46; 1872-76, 13-13; and in 1876 only 11'99 per cent. There are no bilingual schools in Holland, and teachers discourage the use of the dialects.' For secondary education there were in 1877 39 "burgher schools" (partly day schools, partly night schools), with 372 teachers and 4319 pupils; 43 industrial art and technical schools, with 203 teachers and 1145 pupils ; 53 higher class "burgher schools," having courses of 5 or 6, of 4, and of 3 years, with 620 teachers and 4000 pupils; the polytechnic school, with 12 professors and 13 toachers, and attended by 319 pupils; and the national school of agriculture at Wageningen, with 100 pupils. Schools of navigation were maintained at Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Helder, Tersehelling, Vlieland, Harlingen, Schie•monnikoogi Groningen, Denzil], and Veendain, with a total of 516 pupils and 26 instructors. The secondary school for girls (with courses of 5 and of 4 or 3 years) were 12 in nninher, and had about 900 pupils and a teaching staff of 140. For secondary education in 1876 the state expended 933,721 guilders, the provinces 24,329, and the communes 906,618, making a total of 1,864,668, or £155,389 sterling.

The higher education is provided for in the four universities of Leyden (founded in 1575), Utrecht (1636), Groningen (1614), and Amsterdam (1877), with 45, 34, 31, and 41 professors, and 627, 401, 189, and 389 students respectively. Instruction is also given by about 100 teachers to 1400 pupils in various seminaries and theological schools; the number of Latin or grammar schools and gymnasia in 1877-78 was 51, with 240 teachers and 1503 pupils. The total cost of the higher education amounted to 1,057,694 guilders.

A national institution at Leyden for time study of time languages, geography, and ethnology of the Dutch Indies has given place to communal institutions of the same nature at Delft and at Leyden, founded in 1864 and 1877. Military and naval instruction are provided for by corps schools, by a training battalion at Kampen, an artillery I raining companyat Schoonhoven, and scientific courses for the seve al corps, by the royal military academy (founded 1828), the "school of war" for officers, the royal navy institute at Willemsoord (1856), and by training ships at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Helvoetslnys for apprentice boatswains, sailors, cabin-boys, pilots, and engineers. For the education of medical practitioners, civil and military, the more important institutions arc the national obstetrical college at Amsterdam, the national veterinary school at Utrecht, the national college. for military physicians at Amsterdam, and the establishment at Utrecht for the training of military apothecaries for the Rust and West Indies.

c Of the numerous institutions in Holland for the encouragement of the sciences and the fine arts, the following are strictly national -the royal academy of sciences (1855), the royal Netherlands meteorological institute (1854), the national academy of the plastic arts, the royal school of music, the national archives, the royal picture gallery at the Hague, and the national gallery of modern masters in the Pavilion at Haarlem, the national museum of antiquities, the national museum of ethnography at Leyden, the royal collection of curiosities at the Hague, &c. Provincial scientific societies exist at Middelburg, Utrecht, Bois le Duc, and Leeuwarden, and there are private and munieipal associatii,ns, institutions, and collections in a large number of the smaller towns. Among others of general utility are the society for the service of the community (Muatschapp( lot nut van't nlyentren, 1784), and the geographical society at Amsterdam (1873), Teyler's Stiehting or foundation, and the society of industry at Haarlem, the loyal institute of languages, geography, and ethnology of the Dutch Indies (1851) and the Indian society at the Hague, the royal institute of engineers at Delft (1848), the association for the encouragement of music at Amsterdam, &c.

The agricultural methods vary according as the soils are sandy or clay. In the first the " three-crop " system (two crops of rye and one of buckwheat) differs widely from the careful Flemish method of cultivation, in which even the pastures are manured. On the clay there is still greater variety both in the modes of treatment and in the amount of care bestowed on weeding and draining. The produce of the land is thus very different in the various provinces for the same soil. The general value of the crops is gradually rising, as may be seen from the following statistics, in which the higher figures cannot be altogether ascribed to the greater extent of laud brought under cultivation : improved education and the influence of local associations for the advancement of the interests of agriculture have contributed to the result. In 1851-60 there was under cultivation ingrain and other marketable crops 1,637,512 acres, in 1861-70 1,770,590 acres, and in 1871-75 1,860,850 acres. The total value of the crops was £8,311,666 in 1851, £13,445,672 in 1862, £15,870,566 in 1871, and £19,001,598 in 1875. Of the total acreage just mentioned about 25'9 per cent. was devoted to rye, 17-3 to potatoes, 135 to oats, 8.6 to buckwheat, 7 to beans and pease, 7.1 to barley, 5 to rape seed, 3 to flax and lump, 0.8 to madder, 0'6 to garden seeds, 0.2 to tobacco ; while the rest is set apart for the special cultivation of chicory, hops, beetroot, mangold wurzel, market-garden produce, dowers, pharmaceutical plants, grapes, &c. The woods or rather the plantations, covering 6 per cent., consist-of (1) the so-called forest timber (opgaandliont; French, arbres de haute futaie),-including the beech, oak, elm, poplar, birch, ash, willow, and coniferms trees • and (2) the copse wood (akkernmal or hakhout),-embracing the alder, willow, beech, oak, &c. This forms no unimportant branch of the national wealth.

Stock-breeding varies in the different provinces. For cattle, Friesland and North and South Holland take the lead as regards both quality and numbers ; sheep are best in Texel and North Holland, and most numerous in Drenthe, where their preponderance is due to the number of commons which still remain unbroken up. Pigs, for which the low lands are peculiarly favourable, are reared in all the provinces. Goats, mainly kept for their milk, are most numerous in Guelderland and North Brabant. Guelderland, Friesland, Zealand, and Groningen possess the greatest number of horses. Poultry, especially fowls, are generally kept. Bee culture is mainly carried on 111 buckwheat and heath districts (Guelderland, Overyssel, Drenthe, the Gooiland, and Utrecht). A bee market is held at Veenendaal in Utrecht. Stock breeding is mainly carried on along with dairy-farming and hay-making on the alluvial soils ; and there the cereal crops give way to fodder plants. The permanent pasture in recent years extends to some 24 millions of acres, and clover, artificial meadows, &c., occupy about 400,000. The production of milk, butter, and cheese amounts to the value of 90 millions of guilders (1s.' 8d. each); butcher meat produces 35 millions, and wool, hides, fowls, and game 10 millions; while horse-breeding also yields a total of 10 millions. In 1870 the number of horses was 252,200 ; cattle, 1,410,800; sheep, 900,200 ; goats, 156,900 ; and pigs, 329,100 ; whereas in 1876 the horses numbered 268,000 ; cattle, 1,439,257; sheep, 891,090; goats, 150,000; and pigs, 352,00n. The value of this live stock in 1870 was £22,087,375, and in 1876 £29,799,905.

In the densely peopled Netherlands, with no extensive forests, hunting forms rather an amusement than a means of subsistence, the only exception being time pursuit of wild-fowl (ducks, geese, and snipes). Hares, partridges, wood-snipes, finches, and thrushes are the only form of game ; a few roebucks and deer are found in Overyssel and Guelderland ; rabbits are numerous in the dunes, and sea-gulls' eggs are gathered in the north of Texel, which consequently bears the name of Eijerland (i.e., Egglaild).

Much more important as a means of subsistence are the fisheries, which, however, are not at present in a flonrishing state. They are divided into the "deep-sea fishery " (buitengainseh) in the German Ocean, and the "inner" fisheries (binnengaatsch) in the Zuyaler Zee, the rivers of Zealand, and the inland waters. The deep-sea fishery may lie further divided into the great (the "salt-herring") fishery, mainly carried on from Vlaardingen and Maassluis, and the "fresh-herring" fishery, chiefly pursued at Scheveningen, Katwijk, and NoordWijk. The deep-sea fisheries also yield cod and flat fish. In the Znyder Zee flat fish, herrings, anchovies, and shrimps are caught off the islands of Urk and Marken and the coast towns of Vollenhove, Kampen, Harderwijk, Hnizen, and Vollendain; and there are oyster banks near Texel. In the Zealand rivers oysters and mussels are obtained at Bruinisse, Philippine, and Graauw, and anchovies at Bergen-op-Zoom ; while salmon, perch, and pike are caught in the Meuse, the Lek, and the Merwede, and eels in the Frisian lakes. The fisheries not only supply the great local demand, but allow exports to the value of £250,000.

The numbers of men and vessels employed are as follows: - vessels Men.

In 1877 the produce (in cwfs.) amounted to - Consumption.

Herrings, cured and salted 10,64s 274,670 Red herring; 291 97,757 Various fresh sea-fish 72,941 83,546 Salt cod 2,020 19,957 Shrimps. 15,174 Other smoked, salted, or dried fish 1,231 102,522 Oysters, lobsters, and crabs 405 13.694 Mussels 2,015 161,813 Stock fish 56,100 31.790 River-fish 2,518 29,471 Anchovies 384 21,253 148,613 851,557 To obtain a correct idea of the trade of the Netherlands greater attention than would be requisite in the case of other countries must be paid to the inland traffic. It is impossible to state the value of this in definite figures, but an estimate may be formed of its extent from the number of ships which it employs in the rivers and canals, and from the quantity of produce brought to the public markets or daily transported by thousands of carts and delivered by the peasant direct to the salesman. Of the market traffic, even in places of secondary rank, the following facts may give some idea. There are yearly brought to market at Gorcum and Hoorn from 10,000 to 13,000 head of cattle ; at Ba•neveld, more than 20,000 sheep ; at Alkmaar about 10 million and at Hoorn 51 million lb cheese ; at Delft 11 million lb butter and 2 million lb cheese ; at Meppel 3 million lb butter; at Leeuwarden 9 to 11 million lb butter, 2 million lb cheese, and 7& million lb of grain and seeds; at the Overyssel markets Zwolle, Deventer, and Kampen, and at Steeuwijk and Almelo, 71 million lb butter ; at Utrecht 770,000 and at Groningen 330,000 bushels of grain and seeds. The turn-over at the cattle market at Leyden in 1877 was £639,278. In 1877 there were 700 steamboats afloat on the livers and canals in the service of the inland traffic.

The foreign trade, although less than it was formerly, still continues to be considerable in proportion to the size of the country. In 1878 the merchant marine consisted of 1277 vessels of 958,652 cubic metres (the register ton is equal to 2.83 cubic metres); of which 79 were steamships of about 200,000 cubic metres. In 1877 there entered 8166 vessels with 3,000,000 tons, and cleared 4936 vessels with 1,800,000 tons ; to which must be added 20,500 vessels with 2,400,000 tons, which cams down the rivers in cargo hem foreign countries, and 11,850 vessels, with 1,500,000 tons, s ]rich passed the frontier upward bound.

The extent of the trade and its increase or decrease from year to year is shown approximately in the following table:1 - The six ports which take the largest share in the foreign trade arc Amsterdam, Rotterdam, lIelder, Dort, Schiedam, and Harlingen ; at a considerable distance follow Groningen, Middelburg, Ylaardingen, Purmerend, Zaandam, Edam, Zwolle, Kampen, and Delfziil. The returns of recent years show best in the case of the South Holland towns ; but it must be kept in view that the direct imports, the so-called "proper trade," are most important at Amsterdam, while a great part of the commercial business at Rotterdam belongs to the commission and transit trade. For exports Rotterdam is by far the most important, sending out nearly thrice as much as Amsterdam.

An examination of its lists of exports and imports will show that Hal laud receives from its colonies its spiceries, coffee, sugar, tobacco, indigo, cinnamon ; from England, Prussia, and Belgium its manufactured goods and coals ; grain from the Baltic provinces, Archangel, and the ports of the Black Sea ; pease and beans from Prussia, timber from Norway and the hasin of the Rhine, yarn flow England, wine from France, hops from Bavaria and Alsace ; while in its turn it sends its colonial wares to Germany, its agricultural produce to the London market, its fish to Belgium and Germany, and its cheese to France, Belgium, and Hamburg, as well as England. The briskest trade is carried on with Germany and England ; thin follow Java, France, Russia, the United States, &e.

The mineral resources of Holland give no encouragement to industrial activity, with the exception of the coal mining in Limburg, the smelting of iron ore in four furnaces in Overyssel and Guelderland, the use of stone and gravel ill the making of dykes and roads and of clay in brick works and potter ies, the quarrying of stone at St Pietersberg, &c. Still the industry of the country has developed itself iu a remarkable manner since the separation of Belgium, and that in spite of the lack of iron and coal, and the rivalry of other productive forms of labour. The greatest activity is shown in the cotton industry, which especially flourishes in Twenthe (in Overyssel) and also at Haarlem and Veenendaal. In the manufacture of woollen goods Tilburg ranks first, followed by Leyden, Utrecht, and Eindhoven ; that of half woollens is best developed at Roermond and Helmond. The cotton and woollen mannfactures together furnish employment to 20,000 hands. The linen manufacture is carried on especially in INleierij van den Bosch, Helmond, Boxtel, Woensel, &c. Even iron works and machine factories have greatly increased since the free importation of the raw material was permitted - for example, at Amsterdam and at Fijenoord opposite Rotterdam ; and in this department more than 6000 workers are employed throughout the country. It need hardly be said that shipbuilding is of no small importance in the Netherlands, not only in the greater but also ill the smaller towns along the rivers and canals ; and it is naturally associated with rope-spinning and other auxiliary crafts. Among the less noteworthy branches of industry- are the making of cigars and snuff, especially at Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Kampen ; diamond-cutting at Amsterdam ; beetroot-suga• refining at AmMerdam ; paper-making ill the Veluwe, on the Zaan, and in Limburg ; shoemaking and leather•tanning in Brabant (Langstraat); mat-plaiting and broom-making at Genemuiden and Blokzijl ; the manufacture of glass, crystal, and earthenware at Maestricht ; carpet-weaving at Deventer ; working in gold and silver in North and South Holland and on a smaller scale at Schoonhoven ; and the distillation of brandy, gin, and liqueurs at Schiedam, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. The number of hands occupied in the manufactories throughout the whole of the Netherlands is estimated at about 100,000, of whom three-fourths are settled in North and South Holland, North Brabant, and Overyssel. The following table shows how great has been the industrial development of the last thirty yeas: - As the development of trade and industry and agriculture was I promoted by the improvement of education and the abolition of i transit and export dues and the lessening of import dues, so also has it been advanced by the improvement of the means of communication, and of the postal and telegraph systems. The waterways of the country have been already considered. The roads are divided into national or royal roads, placed directly under the control of the " waterstaat" and supported by the state ; provincial roads, ender the direct control of the states of the provinces, and almost all supported by the provincial treasuries ; communal and polder roads, maintained by the communal authorities and the polder boards; and finally, private roads. The system of national roads, mainly constructed between 1S21 and 1827, but still in process of extension, brings into connexion nearly all the towns. The construction of railways was long deferred and slowly accomplished: the " Holland Railway " was laid down in 1839-47, the Rhine Railway in 1843-56, the Aix-Maestricht-Landen line in 1853-56, and the Dutch-Belgian in 1853-54. All the other lines, e.g., that from Maestrieht to Li6ge, the Central Railway, the Nimeguen line, the Almelo-Salzberg line, the State Railway system, Re., have been constructed since 1861, a large number of them having been opened about 1863 and 1864. A groat improvement has in consequence been effected in the communication. The town of Utrecht, which is the centre both of the country and of the railway system, may be approached by six different lines. From Amersfoort, Zutphen, Zwolle, Hengelo' Boxtel, Rosendaal, Yenlo, and Maestricht lines stretch out in four directions, while Groningen, Leeuwarden, Meppel, Enschede, Hilversum, Amsterdam, llaarlem, Uitgeest, the Hague, Rotterdam, lloerdijk, Breda, Tilburg, and Eindhoven are each the meeting place of three lines. With foreigncountries the Netherlands communicate from Groningen by the Winsehoten and Nieuwe Sehans line ; tram Overyssel by the Almelo-Salzbero lino ; from Gnelderland by the Arnhem- Emmerik and Nimeguenf'Cleves from Limburg by the Gennep-Goch, Venlo-Gladbach, and Maestricht-Aix-la-Chapelle lines ; and in the south with 14,1ginin by the Terneuzen-Ghent, lirdst-St-Nikolaas, Rosendaal-Antwerp, Tilburg-Turnhout, Eindhoven - lasselt, aestricht - Liege, &c. Among the lines at present projected or in construction tiny be mentioned the works at Amsterdam by which the Holland Railway along the 1 is to be brought into connexion with the Eastern Rail-Way and the Rhine Railway • the line between Zaandam and Enkhuizen via Purmerend and l'Ioorn; the Groningen-DellzijI line; and those front Zwolle to Almelo, and from Rotterdam or Schiedam by Vlaardingen to Maassluis and the mouth of the New Waterway, The extent of the mail service routes was 26,898 miles in 1873, and 29,773 miles in 1877; and in the same years the post-office - staff numbered 3026 and 3525 respectively. The number of letters (exclusive of newspapers, printed matter, and official letters), which in 1850 was only 7,000,000, had increased by 1877 to 50,000,000. The number of inland post-cards rose from 4,000,000 in 1871 to about 10,000,000 in 1877 ; the number of inland newspapers was in 1860 about 5,000,000, and in 1877 about 27,000,000. The following are the statistics for 1853 and 1877 of the national telegraph system, originated in 1852 : - dllcslaiue. Miles Wire. Messages. Receipts. E0penditurc.