The North Carolina Standard

HOW HOLLAND WAS GATHERED and IS KEPT TOGETHER. No description can convey the slightest notion of the way in which Holland has been gathered, particle by particle, out of the waste of waters, of the strange aspect of the country, and the incessant vigilance and wondrous precautions by which it is preserved. Holland is in the fullest sense, an alluvion of the sea. It consists of sand and mud, rescued from the ocean, and banked up on all sides. Produced by the most dexterous and indefatigable exertions, it can be maintained only by artificial means. If the efforts by which it was redeemed from the waters were to be relaxed the ocean would reassert its right, and the whole kingdom would be submerged. The slightest accident might sweep Holland into the deep. It was once nearly undermined by an insect: Indeed the necessity of destroying insects is so urgent, that the stork, a great feeder upon them, is actually held in veneration, and almost every species of bird is religiously protected from injury. Bird-nesting is strictly prohibited by law. The drift of all this is palpable enough; but it is curious that the very existence of a great country should depend upon such guarantees.

Bentley's Miscellany.