, 1890-07-03
Little Heligoland, the North
Sea Gibralter.
SHALL GERMANY HAVE lT2
A Description of Lord Salisbury's
Proposed Concession to
That Nation.

cessions in the vilds of Africa
would give rise to a clainor of pro-
test was to DO expected. Heligoland
-Holyland-is an island, or rather
group of islands, in the North sea,
or German ocean, of the mouths of
the rivers Elbe and Weser, aud due
northeast of the German naval sta-
tion Of CuNhaven. II is los miles
distant from Hamburg, somewhat
further oil from Bremen, and
thirty-five In n direct line from
tho German coast. IL Is i'm
portant AS IA naval station
and rendezvous for British war ves-
sells In case of an attempted blockade
OF the Baltic In the event of war
with Russia. In such case its
value to England IL great, and would
De greater on account Of its near
position To the North German coast
line, in case that country were
drawn into the conflict. This latter
fact has on several occasions given
rise to uneasiuess in Berlin, and an
angry discussion respecting It's own
ership arose between the two gov
ernments at the time of the Franco
Prusslan war OF lS70-'7l. Ten years
later there was another discussion us
to the cession of the island to Ger
many, but, although Count Won
Munster, then German ambassador
ut London, publicly expressed the
opinion that England would have
no serious objection to its transfer,
nothing came of the negotiation.
"The island Is OF IA triangular
form, about n mile in length from
north TO south, and one-thisd of II
mile broad from east to west Its
extent was formerly much greater,
but the erosion of the waves on the
reddish brown sandstone of which
Ii is formed has much reduced its
size. The process Is still going on,
and ut the rate mt which the island
is diminishing in size II will soon
be useless to any nation, except per
haps to the Dutch, before whose en-
crgy and industry the sea Itself rolls
back. lt Is now less than u mile In
superficial extent, but i'm 1919 1t was
four miles in circumference, in 1900
forty-dve miles, and in 500 one hun
dred and twenty miles. The en-
croachment Of the sea, which i
thus sending Heligoland the way
of the islands which formed the
Tristan archipelago, has been cl-
fectcd almost entirely in one direc-
tiOn---that IL, from the northeast,
the Island having lost only one
mile OH the opposite side from the
date of the earliest records, to be
accounted for, no doubt, hy the set
of the currents and the direction of
the prevailing winds.
Through this process of disiuto-
grafton the original island was dl-
Vidcd into two parts in l72N, the
smaller of which, u sand bank re-
nnwned for its sea bathing, lies to
the east and II now known rs Sandy
islnnd, or, hy the iuh hbilauts. ns
"The Dune.u The channel between
the island and the bank Is about IL
half mile In width and from twenty
to thirty icct deep. The nluiulund
rises on all sides, except where there
are stretches OF beach, In sheer cliffs
from the sea, and nj distance looks
like u huge rock, the highcst point
OF which, the Nordhorn, Is 2l2
feet from the sea line. From it,
form IL IL admirably adapted for
fortifications. There are two small
and but slightly protected harbors.
Indeed, II Is said that during gales
all the shipping lying In them must
take to the open sea. The crum-
bling away of the country rock un-
der the wave and wind action has
formed numherlcss caves along the
coast and left many picturesque and
strange rock forms and dangerous
reefs of the gradually rccceding
shores.
Heligoland is thought to have
been the Actinla of the ancicnts. II
was formerly the chief seat of the
worship of the Scandinavian god
dess lord, daughter of Annar and
Night, sister of Dngur or
Day (Friggh), wife OF Odin.
This goddess ,Jord) was called by
the Germans Hcrtha or Nerlhus,
the goddess OF the earth and Of fer
tility. Tacitus tells of her visits to
the island, of her worship, nnd that
her chariot was kept there. she
had a chapel on the island aud Il sa-
cred well. At the beginning OF the
eighth century 81. Willibrod, apos-
tie of Christianity to the Germans,
preached to the Inhabitants, de
stroyed the chapel, and established
"A monastery, whence the name,
"Das Holligc Land (the Holy
Land. Coming down TO modern
DAYS, It was part OF tine domain OF
the dukes Of ilolstein-Gottorp until
ITl2, when IL was ceded by
the then duke to Denmark.
The English took 1t in 1907, and
used it us n station for their fleets
during the war with France. y
large smuggling trade was devei-
oped on the island between England
and Germany as u result of the Ber-
lin dscrccs oil Napoleon. England
was confirmed in her title To the
captured possession by the peace of
lsil. The fleets of Germany and
France came in conflict in the neigh
barring waters In lsI0 and again In
1894. The headquarters of the Cri-
mean Foreign Legion were estab-
llshed there by England In 1873,
with the idea Of facilitating the re-
cruiting of Germans.
There are two towns ON the island,
called the Upper and the. Lower,
oI.e on the tablc-land and the other
ON the shore. connected by long
flight of steps. The inhabitants,
WHO number 2,OOl by the census of
1881. are of Tristan origin, and nre n
hardy, good d-nalurcd lot, the men
being chiefly fishermen and pilots,
III II,n ,rnInnn inilprs OF tho barren