Arizona republican., 1919-07-02
NORTH SEA KNOLL JEWELLERS

The traveller by steamer from Bremerhaven to the island of Sylt will see a strange sight at high water after Helgoland has been left behind. He will see buildings standing without dykes or other protection, amid the waves, and he will be told that it is a "hallig' at which he is looking.
 There are number of these "halli- Igen" south of the islands of Amrum and Fohr, and they are one of the re- ISults of the great ''manndranke" of | 1884, says the London Times There was in that year large and prosper ous island province, called Nordstrand | off the coast of Schleswig- -Holstein, | but on Sunday October Il, the church | bells of the wealthy town of Rungholt | and of seven other parishes rang to call the people to prayer for the last | time. In the evening of that day a | great storm arose, accompanied it is said, by an earthquake, and in ten hours time all that was left of the | provinces were the two small most | southely islands of the North Frisian group-Pellworm and Nordstrand Churches, houses and mills, of which there were many, sank into the sea, and Rungholt is now commemorated by the Rungholter Sand. Seven thous- and six hundred people were drowned.
 Here and there high mound emerged from the waters, and in the course of time F'risians from Holland came and built their cottages on the summits of these mounds, terming then "halligen." Except on Oland the largest "hallig," there are no sheep on the "halligen," no trees, no fuel, except that obtained from submerged beds of nn nd +0- t. water collected in butts.
 Thousands of Wild Fowl
 There is, therefore, nothing in the ''halligen" themselves to attract the Adventurous fisherfolk who live on them, and the inducement that has drawn them lies in their surroundings Round about stretch vast expanses of sand dunes and mud flats, most of which are exposed at low water. These are the home of countless thousands of wild fowl. So numerous are the
 birds that at one time-before the law forbade it-a dweller on "hallig" could make a living merely by collect ing the eggs Of gulls and ducks.
 Oysters, also abouned, and seals are not uncommon. Just before the war the price realized by the fishermen for collecting oysters-considered to be a high one-amounted to 40 marks a thousand One man alone on the ''hallig" Of Hoogs is said to have shot eighty seals in 1891.
 But the wild fowl, captured and sent alive to the markets-they are rarely killed-constitute the main industry.
 Wild geese, wild duck widgeon and teal predominate Shortly before the war no fewer than 56O00 wild ducks were dispatched in one year from three of the islands to the markets of Der
 lin, Paris and London. Each wild
 duck realizes about mark and a half
 for it's captor, wigdeon being worth rather less and teal only about one
 third of this sum.
 ''De will nich aiken. nut wiken" Of you will not dyke, you must go) runs
 a local proverb, and the Prussian gov
 ernment of late years took in hand
 the protection of the "halligen" against the sea. The largest "hallig," Oland, which possesses a church, is now fairly , well protected, but the risks encount- cred in the smaller "halligen" are still very great.
 In summer there are pastures, GOV cred with coarse grass. upon which cattle thrive. round some of them, but for many months these pastures lie under water, while the cattle shelter in sheds by the houses, and all the build ings are in imminent danger from the sea- Sometimes all is swept away and the inmates with difficulty save their lives. Even then the dweller on "hallig" has been known to return, rebuild his house and recommence his existence in these dreary wastes. -o--