The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

CHAPTER VIII.
THE BASIN OF THE WASH.
(Bedfordshire, Cambhidgeshike, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Ri'Tland, Lincolnshire.)
General Features.
HESE are the English Netherlands, and one of the districts even
bears the name of Holland—and that with perfect justice. The
aspect of the two countries is precisely the same. As in Holland,
so in the district of the Fens, the country forms a perfect level,
and a traveller sees trees, houses, windmills, and other elevated
objects rise gradually above the horizon, like ships on the ocean. The country of
the Fens occu|)ies an area of nearly 1,200 square miles, and it is intersected by
innumerable artificial water channels—some of them broad like rivers, and capable
of bearing large vessels, others mere drains, whose direction is indicated from afar
by a fringe of reeds. The waters would flood nearly the whole of this region if
artificial means were not employed to get rid of the excess. The coast, the rivers,
and the canals are lined by embankments, which prevent the water from invading
the adjoining fields and meadows. Trees are scarce ; only willows are reflected in
the sluggish waters, and here and there clumps of verdure surround the isolated
homesteads. The soil of English Holland is also the same as that of the Nether-
lands. In a few localities clayey soil of exceeding fertility slightly rises above
the surrounding plain, and here the most ancient villages of the country are
found. As a rule, the soil consists of peat, which has gradually been trans-
formed by cultivation. The district of the Fens lies, moreover, at a higher
level than the greater part of veritable Holland. It has been raised by warp-
ing, and as there are no " polders " whose level is inferior to that of the sea,
the danger from inundation is very much less. In 1613, however, several villages
were overwhelmed by a flood, and an extensive tract of productive land converted
temporarily into a marsh, but since that time the sea has not again broken through
the embankments which form its bounds. The rainfall is less considerable than in
the Netherlands,* and the floods of the small rivers which Intersect the lowlands
Average rainfall in the basin of the Wash
Holland .
22 inches.
27 „