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Show 284. LOSS OF J..AND ON TilE COAST OF FRANCE. 'd · to an extraord m. at·y hei g ht , is the constant prde y of the t1 es rise In the n.m t h cen t ury many villages and woo . s are re-wavte sd. to have b een carn.e d a way ' the coast undehr gdo mf g gre1a t por e h h ·n f St Michael was detac e rom t 1e change, wherebhy t e . 1 h 0 f B~urgneuf and several others in in land 'I' e pans 0 ' 1500 I ma . . ·hood were overflowed in the year . n that neJgh?om ' t t m the ruins of Palnel were seen 1735 durmo· a grea s or ' . . } ' . 5 uncovered m t h e sea *· A romantic traditiOn, more· overf, 1ha s descended f rom t h e ~.~ a bu lous a<oT es, of the destructbio bnl o . t£ e south-western part of B n: tta ny ' whence we m. ady t pro a y mer some grea t 1• nroad of the sea at a remote perw • * Hoff, Geschichte, &c., vol. i., P· 49• t Ibid., p. 48. CHAPTER XVI. Action of Tides and Currents, continued-Inroads of the sea upon the delta of the Rhine in Holland-Changes in the arms of the Rhine-Estuary of the Bies Bosch, formed in 1421-Forrnation of the Zuydcr Zec, in the 13th century-Islands destroyed-Delta of the Ems converted into a bayEstuary of the Dollart formed-Encroachment of the sea on the coast of Sleswick-Inroads on the eastern shores of North America-Tidal wave, called the Bore-Influence of tides and currents on the mean level of seasAction of currents on inland lakes and seas-Baltic-Cirnbri:m delugeStraits of Gibralta1·-Under-currents-Shores of Mediterranean-Rocks transported ou floating icebergs-Dunes of blown sand-Sands of the Libyan Desert-De Luc's natural chronometers. THE line of British coast considered in the preceding chapter offered no example of the conflict of two antagonist forces; the entrance, on the one hand, of a river draining a large continent, and on the other, the flux and reflux of the tide, aided by a strong current setting across a river's mouth. But when we pass over by the Straits of Dover to the continent, and proceed northwards, we find an admirable illustration of such a contest, where the Rhine and the ocean are opposed to each other, each disputing the ground now occupied by Holland; the one striving to shape out an estuary, the other to form a delta. There was evidently a period when the river obtained the ascendency, but for the last two thousand years, during which man has witnessed and actively participated in the struggle, the result has been in favour of the ocean, the· area of the whole territory having become more and more circumscribed ; natural and artificial barriers having given way, one after another, and many hundred thousand human beings having perished in the waves. The Rhine, after flowing from the Grison Alps, copiously charged with sediment, first purges itself in the Lake of Constance, where a large delta is formed : then, swelled by the Aar and numerous other tributaries, it flows for more than six: h~~dre~ miles towards the north; when) entering a low tract, it dlVldes mto two armsJ not far north of Cleves-a point which |