The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

THE PENINSULA OF JYLLAND. 51the muddy beds of many are laid bare with the change of seasons and thestorms, while navigable channels, winding between the shoals like the Arcaehoncrassafs, give ingress to light craft. Although differing widely from the deepNorwegian inlets, these lagoons are still called fiords by the natives. TheBingkjobing- fiord, one of the largest, with an area of 110 square miles, is inaccessibleto vessels drawing over 6 feet of water, nor can these always pass thedangerous bar of Nymindegab, which is often shifted for hundreds and eventhousands of yards. The Stadel-fiord, north of the Bingkjobing, is fed by afew shallow streams, and communicates through a labyrinth of lakes and rivuletswith a third lagoon, the Nissum-fiord, separated from the sea by a narrow strippierced with one opening.Still farther north is the Lim-fiord, at once a marine and lacustrine basin, witha geological history more complicated than that of the neighbouring lagoons.crosses the whole peninsula from sea to sea, and comprises three distinct sections,with a total area of 450 square miles.The western section, like the Eingkjobing,is cut off from the sea by a slight sandy strip, in many places scarcely half a milewide. It communicates through a narrow channel eastwards with a lacustrinedistrict abounding in fish, and enclosing the large island of Mors, besides anumerous group of islets, beyond which it merges in an inland sea over 180 squaremiles in extent, branching southward into gulfs and bays, and separated from theSkager Bak by a simple line of dunes. East of thifc-eentral basin the lacustrineregion is continued as far as Aalborg Strait, where a long navigable fiord begins,nowhere much over a mile in width, and opening seawards through a mouth10 feet deep. A study of the geological chart shows that the water system knownas the Lim-fiord follows, on the whole, the contours of the miocene and chalkformations. Beyond the limits of these more solid strata the less-resistingdiluvium of the surrounding country was more readily undermined by the actionof water.The strip of coast on the west side of the Lim-fiord has been frequently burstthrough by storms, as in 1624, 1720, and 1760. On November 28th, 1825, whenall the low-lying coasts of the North Sea were laid waste by tremendous floodings,the shore-line of the Lim yielded to the pressure of the waves, and the lagoonbecame connected with the sea by one of those numerous nyminde, or " newmouths," which have been so often formed on the Jylland seaboard. Before theformation of the Agger channel the Lim was a fresh-water lagoon, but since thenit has become saline, and now teems with salt-water fish. This channel, whichwas first utilised for navigation in 1834, is constant!}- shifting its place andchanging its form and depth with the action of the waves and storms, the barvarying from 4 to 10 feet in depth. The Eon, a fresh channel, was opened in1863, and since 1875 the Agger has been almost completely blocked by siltingsands. Altogether the whole coast-line has r%ceded about 1| miles farthereast.The northern portion of the Danish peninsula shares in the gradual upheavalgoing on along the rock-bound shores of Norway and Sweden. The line ofIt