The hallig: or, The sheepfold in the waters. A tale of humble life on the coast of Schleswig

Front matter

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Chapter I. The Island Home

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COAST OF SCHLESWIG — ^LARGER ISLANDS — HOW PROTECTED— FLATS —

EBB- WALKERS — H ALLIGS — EXTENT — ^HABITATIONS— ABSENCE OF VEG- ETATION — FRESH WATER, HOW OBTAINED — FISHERIES — INUNDA- TIONS — ATTACHMENT OF INHABITANTS TO THE HALLIG — ^MEANS OF KNOWLEDGE — THE FRISIC TONGUE — THE HALLIG OP THE TALE. ... 25

Chapter II. The Betrothed

MARIA AND HER MOTHER — THEIR COTTAGE DESCRIBED — GODBER EX- PECTED — CONVERSATION — THE DOG — OMENS OF A STORM — GATHER- ING OP THE SHEEP — ^THE STORM — THE SHIP — THE ANCHOR CAST — ANXIETY RELIEVED — ^HYMN, “WHEN TEMPESTS RAGE, 0 GODI”... 36

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Chapter III

THE S H I P Yf E E C K ..

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THE SHIP IN THE STORM — GODBER AS PILOT — ^THE PASSENGERS —

THE LEAK — THE CHAIN-CABLE BROKEN — BREAKING OF THE MASTS —

THE WRECK — PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING THE SHIP — DANGER OF TAKING BOAT — ID ALIA OVERBOARD — RESCUED BY GODBER— PARTING FROM CAPTAIN AND CREW — GODBER PILOTS MANDER, OSWALD, AND IDALIA TO. THE HALLIG — ON THE WHARF — ^IDALIA AS A HALLIG MAIDEN — HER GRATITUDE TOWARD GODBER 43

Chapter IV

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THE CITY BELLE.

GODBER IN HIS HALLIG HOME — MARIA — ^DISTURBING VISIONS — GODBER CONSCIENCE-SMITTEN — ^MEETING OF GODBER AND MARIA — MARIA’S JOY — IDALIA IN HALLIG COSTUME — HER RECEPTION OF GODBER — maria’s EMBARRASSMENT — GODBER FAILS TO ACKNOWLEDGE HER AS HIS BETROTHED — MARIA ALONE IN HER SORROW — THE WRECK VISITED — CAPTAIN AND SAILORS LOST — THE ORANGES AND WINE — CONFESSIONS OF LOVE — IDALIA’S LOSS OF DELICACY — HURTFULNESS OF NOVEL-READING — CULTURE OF WOMEN 64

Chapter V. The Great World

PASTOR HOLD — GODBER’s HOUSE — IDALIA AS MISTRESS — CHARACTER OP OSWALD — ^FASHIONABLE LIFE DEPICTED — ^PASTOR HOLD’S ‘‘SIGHTS”

— THE LITTLE GIRL — THE LABORER AND WIFE — SCENERY — THE MAN- SION — AT THE PIANO — THE FATHER AND HIS CHILD — “THEY ARE CONDEMNED ALREADY” *71

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Chapter VI. Consolation

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SAVING THE CARGO — MARIA’S DISTRESS — HOLD’S ATTEMPTS AT CONSO- LATION — maria’s want of SUBMISSION — ^EOLD’S REPROOF — MA- RIA’S PRAYER OF SUBMISSION — POWER OP THE THORN-CROWNED CHRIST — NECESSITY OF A VISIBLE MANIFESTATION OP DEITY — HYMN, “SAVIOUR, THE GRIEFS THAT WERE THY PART.” 82

Chapter VII. The Policy Of Nations

MANDER AND OSWALD — THE PASTOR’S WIFE — OSWALD’S SURPRISE —

A HOME-QUESTION — ^MRS. HOLD’S VIEW OP THE POSITION OF HER SEX — POSITION OP THE PASTOR ON THE HALLIG — WANT OP CULTI- VATED SOCIETY — ^WANT OF BOOKS — SCHOOL-TEACHING— DISCUSSIONS — HOLD AND MANDER — HOLD’S VIEWS — ^POLITICS — THE INTRIGUING STATESMAN — PRIVATE AND PUBLIC MORALITY — CONDITION OF EU- ROPE — BALANCE OP POWER — WAR AGAINST NAPOLEON — ^HIGHER LAW — ^INFLUENCE OF WARS — MANDER’S IMPRESSIONS OF HOLD — ONLY ONE TRUE SOURCE OP LIGHT 90

Chapter VIII. Conscience

IDALIA IN LOVE — ^HER EFFORTS TO PLEASE GODBER — ^HER SUCCESS — MARIA FORGOTTEN — GODBER’s CONSCIENCE WON OVER — ^DANGER OP SELF-DELUSION — THE LAW, NOT CONSCIENCE, IS THE TRUE GUIDE — SOURCE OP WORLDLINESS AMONG SO-CALLED “GOOD MEN” — CONSCIENCE BUT A FABLE WITH MOST — TRUE CONSCIENCE NOT A LAW-GIVER BUT AN EYE OPEN TO A GIVEN LAW — NEED OF THE LAW AS A FIXED POLAR-STAR WITHOUT 107

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Chapter IX. Remorse

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BODIES OF THE CAPTAIN AND SAILORS FOUND — COFFINS A PART OP NECESSARY HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE — A HALLIO BURIAL — HOLD’S SERMON — GODBER’S FEELINGS — ^IDALIA’S PIQUE:— WATCHING WITH THE DEAD — MEMORY — MARIA — REPENTANCE CHECKED — GODBER AT THE GRAVE 118

Chapter X. Resignation

maria’s sorrow and SUBMISSION — OSWALD’S NOVELS — THE FORGET- ME-NOT — HOLD AND OSWALD — HOLD’S REPROOF — ^DANGER FROM NOVELS — ^IDALIA — FRIENDSHIP PROFFERED 129.

Chapter XI. Earthly Love And Christian Faith

GODBER’s illness — ^IDALIA’s devotion — ^LOVE — ITS EFFECTS ON THE CHARACTERS OF GODBER AND IDALIA — SONG, “ MY FORMER SELF, truly” — IDALIA BY GODBER’S COUCH — ^UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE

OF MARIA — THE BETROTHAL RING COUNSEL IN AFFLICTION — ^DEATH

OF maria’s MOTHER 136

Chapter XII. Philosophy Falsely So Called

MANDER — DISAPPOINTED BY PHILOSOPHY — CONVERSATION WITH HOLD — GROWER OP WORDS — FAITH — ERROR OF PHILOSOPHY — PHILOSOPHY NOT A PRE-REQUISITE OF FAITH — MANDER’S CONFESSION — HOLD’S ADVICE — MISTAKE ABOUT ‘‘RELIGIOUS PEELING” CORRECTED SU-

PERNATURAL REVELATION VINDICATED — RELIGION OP REASON — OSWALD SILENCED 14S xin

Chapter XIII. The Disappointment

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SONG, “WOULDST THOU RECEIVE ME,” ETC. — GODBER — ID ALIA — DIFFERENT ESTIMATES OF HALLIG LIFE — ATTACHMENT OF THE IN- HABITANTS TO THE HALLIG — ^DISCLOSURES — OSWALD’S RAILLERY — MANDER’S view — DISTANCE BETWEEN THE LOVERS — ^INTERVIEW BETWEEN GODBER AND MARIA — GODBER MISSES HIS BETROTHAL-RING 162

Chapter XIV. The Search Eor Truth

MANDER — SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE — GREATNESS OP GOD’S LOVE FOR MAN — hold’s spiritual DIRECTIONS TO MANDER — THE THORNY PATH — ^PHILOSOPHICAL CHRISTIANITY — FAITH AND REASON — LINES “ TO POSITIVE divinity” — FAITH EVERY THING OR NOTHING — SAV- ING GRACE MAKES CLEAR THE MEANING OF THE BIBLE 1*74

Chapter XV. Poetry Akd Prose

A BOAT-EXCURSION — HOLD AND OSWALD— THE SEA AND MAN COM- PARED — OSWALD’S PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE — HIS SENSATIONS IN VIEW OP IMPENDING DEATH — ^HOLD’S ADMONITION — ^POETRY — GENUINE- NESS OP OSSIAN — OSWALD’S POETIC TASTE — ^POEM, “LIFE.” 184

Chapter XVI. The Ebb - Walkers

ISLAND DIKES — ^RETURN TO THE HALLIG ^VESSEL AGROUND — ^EBB-

WALKING — SINGULAR PHENOMENA OP SEA-FOG HOLD AND OSWALD

LOST IN THE FOG OVERTAKEN BY THE RETURNING TIDE — HELP-

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LESSNESS — hold’s SELF FORGETFULNESS — OSWALD OVERWHELMED ' BY THE TERRORS OF DEATH — HOLD’S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH — HIS PRAYER AMID THE WAVES — EFFECT ON HIS COMPANIONS — THE TIDE ADVANCING 192

Chapter XVII. The Warning And The Rescue

MYSTERIOUS INFLUENCE OF MIND ON MIND — HOLD’S EXPLANATION — GODBER AND IDALIA — THE PASTOR’S WIFE — PRETERNATURAL WARN- ING OP HER husband’s DANGER — HER ENTREATIES — GODBER IN SEARCH OP THE LOST — OSWALD’S SHRIEK HEARD — SITUATION OP the' lost — CHARACTER OF OSWALD HOLD AND HIS PARTY RES- CUED FROM DEATH 204

CHAPTER XYiri.

THE NEW BIRTH.

RECEPTION ON THE IIALLIG EXHAUSTION OF THE SUFFERERS — OS-

WALD’S CONVALESCENCE — ^MANDER’s ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD — CONVERSATION WITH IIIS SON — “WHEN I AM GRAY-HEADED” — OSWALD’S INWARD STRUGGLE — A NIGHT OF WEEPING — OSWALD’S

NEW BIRTH — HOLD AND OSWALD — OSWALD’S ZEAL — HUMILITY

hold’s IDEA OP A MISSIONARY — INFLUENCE OF COMMERCE— ITS RELATION TO MISSIONS — HOLD’S ADVICE TO OSWALD — HALF VIC- TORIES 214

Chapter XIX. The Parting

SEPARATING FROM FRIENDS — THE HALLIG PASTOR AND WIFE — COM- PARISON — author’s EXPERIENCE — IDALIA’S CHANGE OP FEELING TOWARD GODBER — HIS POSITION PORTRAYED BY HOLD — GODBER’s

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BITTER REFLECTIONS — BETROTHAL OF GODBER AND IDALIA BROKEN — IDALIA’S HEARTLESSNESS — GODBER’S AGITATION — IDALIA IN AFTER LIFE — SONG, ‘‘every LIFE HATH ONE MAY MORNING.” 230

Chapter XX. ‘ The Communion

FALSE REVERENCE — HOLD’S VIEW OF THE EUCHARIST — UNDERSTAND- ING ITS CHARACTER NOT NECESSARY TO ITS EFFICACY — THE SUPPER . RENEWS NOT MERELY THE MEMORY OP THE FACT OF EXPIATION,

BUT THE FACT ITSELF — CONSUBSTANTIATION — DOCTRINE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH — CALVINISTIC VIEW — MANDER’S VIEW OP “DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE,” ETC. — HOLD’S REPLY — INTERPRETATION OP PAUL’S LANGUAGE — CASE OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES — CELEBRA- TION OF THE SUPPER ON THE IIALLIG MANDER AND OSWALD

PARTAKE OF IT 244

Chapter XXI

T II E . F A R E W E L L .

PARTING VISITS — MANDER’S GIFT — THE CASK OP WINE — DEPARTURE

FROM THE HALLIG IDALIA’S EMOTION — ^HOLD’S YOUTHFUL DREAMS

REVIVED — SONG, “FLOAT AWAY, OH MOURNFUL MEASURE I” 25t

Chapter XXII. Repentance

GODBER ALONE — THE PASTOR AND GODBER — ^DISCLOSURE OP HIS FEEL- INGS — GODBER INSTRUCTED BY THE PASTOR — DIRECTED IN THE WAY OF PEACE — HIS CALMNESS RESTORED — GODBER’S WORLDLY AFFAIRS * — hold’s PROTEST AGAINST FALSE HUMILITY — THE BETROTHAL NOT TO BE RENEWED 263

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Chapter XXIII. The Flood

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HISTORICAL FACTS — THE STORM — THE HALLIG UNDER WATER — MA- RIA’S ALARM — DAMAGE TO GODBER’S HOUSE — MARIA IN THE WAVES — GODBER’S attempt to RESCUE HER — GODBER AND MARIA ON THE WHARF — IIOLD’S DWELLING IN DANGER — THE LOST CHILD — DEMOLITION OF THE HOUSE — THE WINE-CASK — THE CHURCH SWEPT AWAY — ^DEATH OP GODBER AND MARIA — RECOVERY OP THE LOST CHILD — hold’s family SAVED 212

Chapter XXIV. Sights

THE DESOLATED HALLIG — SITUATION OF HOLD AND FAMILY — THE RE- COVERED MANUSCRIPT — “sights” — THE HEAVENLY LADDER — THE ANGEL — THE SUPERNATURAL JOURNEY — THE CITY — THE CHURCH —

THE SPARROW — THE RUINED HUT — THE DYING MAN — THE SPAR- ROW A SYMBOL — “behold THE FOWLS OP THE AIR.” 283

CHAPTER XXY.

Conclusion

GATHERING OP THE ISLANDERS — THE CHILD OP THE PLOOD — CONSO- LATION ADMINISTERED BY THE PASTOR — THE CASK OP WINE AND GODBER’S corpse — ^hold’s “REQUIESCAT in pace” — LUTHER’S HYMN, “ AND SHOULD MY GRIEP LAST TILL THE NIGHT” — ^MARIA’S BODY POUND — ^hold’s APOSTROPHE TO HER — THE GOLDEN COM- MUNION CUP — TABLEAU — THE PASTOR’S ADDRESS TO HIS PEOPLE. 290

BIOaRAPHICAL

SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.

The family of Biernatzki originated in Poland, His grandfather, a Polish nobleman, of the Protestant religion, whose estates had been confiscated, emigrated to Breslau, then passed into Hanover, and finally fixed himself at Altona, in the duchy of Holstein. He there established a school, which he conducted with ability and success, and thus supported his family in comfort and respectability until his death. His youngest son, the father of J. G. Biernatzki, was educated to the medical profession at Copenhagen, obtained the favor of Privy-coimsellor Brandt, and was attached to the Royal Guards in the capacity of surgeon. He soon after married, and the author of “The Hallig,” the second child of this union, was born at Elmshorn on the 17th of October, 1795. The death of Biernatzki’s mother, a woman of excellent heart and superior intellect, which took place in 1801, appears to have affected him more deeply and permanently than is usual with children of so tender an age, and this affliction, so peculiarly felt, doubtless had some influence in

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modifying his character through life. With i^rematurely developed mental powers, he had a slender constitution, and suifered from a variety of maladies, and especially from an affection of the eyes, which often interrupted his studies for weeks together. During these intervals, his father devoted much time to the instruction and amusement of his son, by reading to him, and assisting him to get by heart short poems, and other matter worthy of being committed to memory.

At the age of twelve, young Biernatzki was attacked by a disease of the chest, which brought him near the grave, and kept him long hovering between life and death. After the crisis was thought to have passed, he fell into a stupor, and soon sunk into a state of suspended animation, in which condition he lay for four and twenty hours. At the expiration of this period consciousness suddenly returned, but with a nearly total loss of all recollection of previous events, except of the sufferings of his deceased mother, and he never regained a distinct remembrance of his former life. Health was very gradually restored, though never afterward firmly established, and it was not until the following year that Biernatzki was able to enter the gymnasium at Alton a. He was here respected as much for his frank, manly, and truthful character, as for his diligence in study ; his progress in the acquisition of learning was highly creditable, and he was particularly distinguished for his knowledge of Latin. He had been accustomed from childhood to look upon theology as his chosen vocation, and he therefore lost no time from uncertainty or indecision with respect to the course of study most likely to be useful to him in his future professional life. Both his poetical temperament^ which was rapidly developing itself, and his intended calling, gave, in his eyes, a special interest to oriental literature, and he was already far advanced in the study of

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

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Hebrew while still at the gymnasium. The glowing poesy, the highly figurative style, the deep religious solemnity, and the mystic tone of the projDhetic books were particularly attractive to him. The Hebrew tongue introduced him to the Arabic, which language and its literature now became his favorite pursuit, and would doubtless have quite absorbed him, had not the claims of the profession he had chosen required him to devote himself to othei studies.

His first sermon, an eminently successful effort, was preached in 1814, when he was still a gymnasiast; and upon leaving the school at Altona to repair to the university at Kiel, he delivered a discourse ‘‘ on some of the leading virtues of Luther,” which was much commended for the classic elegance of its Latinity. At the university he pursued his studies with his usual diligence, and returned with renewed zeal to the cultivation of Arabic literature. “ It is,” wrote he enthusiastically to a friend, ‘‘ one of the noblest of tongues. The Arab speaks with the blaze of the word as with the lightning of his cimeter, with the dart of his acuteness as with the arrow of his bow. His poetry is a wild daughter of the desert. Whosoever has looked into her flashing eye is hers to death. Thus is it with me. How dull in comparison are all my other professional studies ! This is their sunny side, and I will never abandon it. She hurries me through the thirsty sands of the wilderness to the cool oases, but her path is a hurricane, and knows no rest.”

During his university life, Biernatzki occupied himself much in poetical composition, and seems to have projected many plans of this nature, few of which were executed, and fewer still saw the light. Among them was a tragedy, the subject of which was probably suggested by the history of his own family, -and, as he says in a letter to a

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SKETCH.

friend, was sufficiently inspiring for me, as you will infer from the following extract :

“ Erom a Polish stock descended,

Yet a German bj my birthright,

Equal is my love and longing Por the Patherland and Poland.

But to both I am an alien I When I seek my father’s homestead,

Seek the tombs where sleep our grandsires,

None the stranger’s sorrow heedeth.

And the soil that was my birthplace,

Where, a happy child, I sported.

Crowns with oak-leaf wreaths and roses Every son born of her people ;

Por the offspring of the Polack Thorns she plats to bind his temples.

As the pine, whose roots the water Washeth bare and undermineth,

• Leaving naught to hold or nourish,

O’er it, ’neath it, dance the billows ;

Billows sport with its green branches :

So he sinketh in life’s river,

Who no country hath to greet him.

Hath no home to love him fondly.

Hath no soil his life to cherish.

Prom his mother earth uprooted,

Orphaned through the world he wanders.

Homeless always, always alien.”

Biernatzki probably never completed his tragedy, and, with other similar projects, it was forgotten as soon as he fully realized that graver occupations than poetry and literature must be the business of his life.

He left the university of Kiel in 1818 , after having made good progress in oriental learning, and consequently in biblical exegesis, as well as in most branches of theological

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

XXI knowledge, but lie had paid little attention to mathematics or intellectual philosophy; a neglect for which, as to the former at least, he atoned by laborious study at a later period of life. From Kiel he went to Jena, and arrived at that city on the lYth of October, 1818 , the evening before the celebration of the Feast of the Wartburg. He thus describes the ceremonies of the occasion :

“On the 18 th of the month of victory, we celebrated the festival. At nine in the morning, the Burschenschaft assembled. The chiefs, standard-bearers, aids, and marshals were dressed in black, with old ‘German coats, trunk hose, and hats with black plumes. Over the shoulder and across the breast was thrown a red scarf, to which hung a sword. The procession first marched to the market, where a spirited address was delivered, then, with banners flying, and in close order, to the church. After the sermon, which dwelt exclusively on the triumphs of liberty, the association dined on Oak-square, and then proceeded to the Turn-square. In the evening, fires were lighted on all the mountains which surround the valley of Jena. We marched with six hundred torches to the summit of one of the highest, and a mighty pile of wood, prepared for the occasion, was soon kindled. Then a student stepped forth, and spoke in words more glowing and heart-stirring than the flames which blazed to heaven beside us. Hymns to God, liberty, and the fatherland, mingled with the rustling of the oaks that clothe the slopes of the mountain. You should have witnessed it. The lofty peak, the whispering oaks, the crackling fire, the wild songs, and the strange garb of the officers of the Burschenschaft, who seemed as if they had come forth from their ancestral graves — all these conspired to fill me with the most singular emotions.”

Sand, the murderer of Kotzebue, was then a member of

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the university of Jena, and was the first student whose ac^ quaintance Biernatzki made. Festivals like this no doubt contributed much to heighten both Sand’s enthusiasm, and that of the political associations among the students, and thus in some measure to stimulate him to the commission of the crime, which cost his life as well as that of his victim. At Jena, Biernatzki continued his oriental studies, under the direction of Kosegarten. He occupied himself with the careful perusal of the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the prophets ; and his Arabic partialities went so far, that he wrote a defense of Mohammed against the imputation of feigning the performance of miracles. This essay was afterward submitted to his examiners, as one of the two dissertations required on such occasions. After a year at Jena he went to Halle, attended the lectures of Gesenius, and sedulously practiced disputation in Latin, in the Anhaltina, a club which met for that purpose, and he attained such facility in this exercise, that he was able to give plausibility to the most palpable paradoxes, and to disconcert if not to confute his opponent by sportive repartee and verbal wit.

Early in 1821 he returned to Kiel, but left that university after a few months’ residence, and then devoted himself for some time to special preparation for his theological examination. At the commencement of the year 1822, he entered upon his professional career as pastor of the church on the Hallig of Kordstrandischmoor (a ‘Congregation of about fifty souls), and teacher of a school on the island of Kordstrand, which lies about a German mile to the south of the hallig. The discharge of this double duty required frequent passages between the hallig and the island proper. These were made by water, on foot across the flats, or upon the ice, according to the tide and the season, and were often performed under circumstances of great hardship and

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

xxin danger. Both as a pastor and as a teacher, he rendered himself very acceptable to those under his charge, and he soon became reconciled to the life of isolation and self-denial which his position necessarily imposed upon him.

In 1823, he was married to Henrietta de Vries, a woman of cultivated intellect and affectionate temper, and the union appears to have been in all respects a happy one.

The terrible inundation of February, 1825, so ably described in the twenty-third chapter of “The Hallig,” deprived his flock not only of all their personal property, but almost of the very soil on which their humble habitations were reared. Biernatzki exerted himself most zealously in stimulating and promoting measures for their relief, among others by contributing the proceeds of a work entitled “ Faith, a religious didactic poem,” which he had written some time before, and which now went through two editions. So successful were his efforts, that his people were furnished with the means of rebuilding their church, their wharves, and their houses, and of replacing their furniture and sheep ; and the whole congregation, with the exception of a single couple, returned to the hallig, though it had been within a very few years thrice laid waste by the waves.

In the autumn of 1825, Biernatzki was transferred to a somewhat wider sphere of labor as pastor of a church in the city of Friedrichstadt in Schleswig, a town founded in 1624 by Arminians from Holland, who had been compelled to emigrate from their native country, by the resolutions of the Synod of Dort. In this charge he was as successful as he had been in his former humble parish, and was always conspicuous for his zeal in the cause of education and of philanthropy. His leisure hours were devoted to literary pursuits both general and professional, but all his

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printed works were theological, or at least of a decidedly religious tendency. The first of his tales, “ The way to Faith,” appeared in 1835, “The Hallig,” on which his reputation as a writer mainly rests, in 1836, and a revised and enlarged edition of this work was his last literary labor. His other productions consist of w^orks of imagination in poetry and in prose, sermons, and occasional essays ; and though none of them have been so well received as “ The Hallig,” they are in general characterized by the same excellences as that remarkable work.

Biernatzki continued in charge of his church at Friedrichstadt until his death, which took place in May, 1840, just after he had been nominated to the pastorate of Siiderau. This was a much more desirable position than those he had before occupied, and he had the dying consolation of knowing that his merits were at length recognized, though it was not the will of Providence, that he should enjoy an earthly reward for his faithful devotion to the responsibilities and duties of a life of toil, of suffering, and of privation.

THE HALLia.

Chapter 1. The Island Home

“The eye’s first upward glancing at the day,

The first faiot footprints on life’s dusty way,

The mother’s name lisped feebly at her knees.

Can time steal from us memories like these?”

Along the western coast of the Duchy of Schleswig, embosomed in the waves of the North Sea, lie several islands which are the remains of a portion of the neighboring shore that has fallen a prey to the ocean, and serve as a continual warning to the inhabitants of the mainland to resist the encroachments of the waves by every means at their command.

The larger islands are protected, partly by dykes (artificial sea-waUs), and partly by downs (natural hillocks of sand), against the waves, which daily advancing and retreating with the tide, seem to be incessantly making renewed efforts to sweep into the greedy abyss of the ocean the last fragments of their mighty spoil. At ebb-tide the sea retires so far as to expose a soft slimy flat, miles in width, whose rippled surface repeats the forms of the waves that were roll- 2

THE HALLia.

ing over it a few hours before. But small runs, and other depressions, which furrow this waste, are not left dry even at low tide ; and the now visible channels,'' as they are called, which communicate with each other as well as with the ocean, entangle the islands in the serpent embrace of their giant enemy, which, though now invading other shores, still holds fast his prey, and never suffers it to hope for a moment that he has renounced his conquest. These channels, even at the lowest ebb, form impassable barriers to the solitary wanderer who traverses the soft bottom left bare for an hour, in search of crabs, or rays, or perhaps a seal left stranded by the sudden retreat of the waves, and they intercept the communication between the islands by land, even when it seems most practicable. It is only a few of the smaller islands that, during the retreat of the sea, enjoy a brief intercourse with each other or with the mainland, without recourse to boats ; but woe to the loiterer who trusts the treacherous giant too far ! The enemy often returns with unexpected haste, bringing thick mists in his train, and the ehb~walker — so they call those who venture excursions upon the flats at low tide — sees his home fading from his view, he feels the returning current playing around his feet, and seized with terror he rushes on in agony. The swelling runs obstruct his path, he makes a circuit to avoid them, loses his course, turns hither and thither, and at length finds himself quite surrounded by the advancing waves. The tide creeps higher and higher at every breath, his cry is lost in the waste of waters, and at last is choked by the rushing surge which now

THE island home.

engulfs liis corpse ; and dee]3-rolling billows flow over the ground just now marked by the footprints of the victim.

By way of distinction from the larger islands^ which . are protected by dykes and downs, the smaller ones are called lialligs, A hallig is a flat grass-plot, scarcely two or three feet higher than the level of ordinary tides, and consequently, being protected neither by nature nor by art, is often overflowed by the rolling sea, especially in the winter months, and sometimes twice in a day. The largest of these halligs are less than half a German square mile in extent ; the smaller, often inhabited only by a single family, are barely a couple of thousand feet in length and breadth ; the smallest halligs are uninhabited, and only produce a little short thin hay, which is often swept off* by the waves before it can be secured. The hay is stored in stacks, over which is thrown a covering of platted straw loaded at the ends with stones, and it becomes so solid, in consequence, that the supply for daily use must be cut with a hay-knife ; and the stacks near the dwelling often serve as a secure retreat, w^hen the walls of the house yield to the violence of the waves. The habitations are erected on artificial mounds of earth, or wharves, seldom leaving more space than is required for a narrow walk around the house, on the sloping side of the wharf. On most of the halligs, therefore, there is no patch of garden ground for any kitchen vegetable, not a bush to yield refreshing berries, or a tree to afford a resting-place in its shade. For such enjoyments the wharves must be larger, but small as they are, their erection and main-

THE IIALLia.

tenance involve a greater exj)enditure than the cost of the simple dwellings which crown them. On the jdain helow^ the frequent overflows forbid the growth of every pleasant shrub or nutritious fruit. It is a waste whose pale green sod^ often interrupted by patches of gray slime^ shows that the frugal sheep may find here a scanty sustenance, but nowhere aftbrds the fresh and fragrant pasture where the thriving cow revels, and the spirited horse prances. No bubbling springs offer a refreshing draught on these thin meadows burned by the direct rays of the sun, which no shady foliage intercepts. You find indeed shores torn by the waves, deep sea-creeks penetrating with winding course ’ far into the land, as if seeking to divide it into smaller portions, in order to master it the more easily, many standing pools left behind by the last inundation, as a token that the land already belongs half to the ocean, and will soon be Avholly his own ; but fresh water is found only in reservoirs excavated upon the wharves, and lined with sods. Into these the rainwater falls and leaches through their sides, and this water serves for the sheep and the tea-kettles of their owners, though it derives from the salt earth a nauseously brackish taste, which renders it altogether undrinkable to the stranger. Sometimes a boat brings off a keg of fresh water from the mainland, and in seasons of drought it becomes necessary to fetch thence the whole supply.

But doubtless the inhabitant of the hallig enjoys the advantage of a constant and abundant fishery ? No ; he has not even the view of a clear green sea. A repulsive turbid yellowish gray is the usual color of the

THE ISLAND HOM.E.

waters around him. The fish shun a shallow sea^ that at ebb leaves bare a wide expanse of slimy bottom^ and wilhngiy relinquish to the seal and the ugly ray so uninviting an abode. And this sea which surrounds^ and so often inundates the halligs^ and which at different points is named after the districts it has swallowed up — this sea so poor in gifts, and so rich in plunder, is still forever a spoiler, which now with gradual destructive steps, and now with impetuous fury, is undermining the island piece by piece, so that the inhabitant of the hallig can calculate the period when it will ravish the last foothold from his flocks and sap the foundations of his dwelling. Yet happy were the hallig if the picture of its miseries were now complete. But there still remains a fearful page. Inundations that overflov/ the level surface, and roll their billows against the wharf, dashing their spray upon the walls and windows, are of frequent occurrence. The habitations then show only their thatched roofs above the tossing waters, and one would never imagine that they are sheltering human beings, hoary grandsires, strong men and women, and playful children perhaps gathered carelessly about the tea-table, and scarcely casting a glance at the threedening ocean. Many a stranger vessel driven out of its course by night has on such occasions sailed over a hallig, and the astonished seamen have thought it a delusion of witchcraft when they have suddenly seen, alongside, a cheerful candle shining through the window of a dwelling, which, half buried in the waves, seemed to rest only on their bosom. But sometimes tempest and tide together break upon the trembling hallig. The sea rises