HELIGOLAND ISLAND.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 135, 29 September 1871, Page 3

HELIGOLAND ISLAND.

As Heligoland, the smallest colony in the world, and from its geographical position, near Denmark, and only 30 miles from the mouth of the Elbe, may become an object of interest, our readers may like to know something about it. This little island is about a mile long, one-third of a mile broad, less than one-fifth of a square mile in area, and about two miles in circumference. It takes its name (Holy Land) from the Temple of Hertha (the Earth), the goddess worshipped by the tribe of the Angli, who lived opposite, and had ere '.ted a temple there in which they sometimes performed religious rites in her honor. At one time, as an ancient map shows, Heligoland was considerably larger than at present, containing towns, temples, and larger districts,

most of which the sea swallowed up between a.d. 700 and a.d. 1200, accordI ing to D'Anville, the famous French 1 geographer. By the end of the seventeenth century there remained only about the double the present extent of the island. Its contraction during the last thirty years has been caused by the immense number of rabbits which infest it, and have so much loosened the sandy soil by burrowing through it, that whenever the sea gets in, which often occurs in the high spring tides, the land crumbles away. On the Oberland, a rock 200 feet high and 4200 paces in circumference, stands a town of 350 houses and 2800 inhabitants. Lower down, but communicating with it by a flight of 173 steps, is Sandy Island, on which are 60 houses. There are two good ports, north and south, and a lighthouse. When Napoleon excluded England from Continental commerce Heligoland was important as a war station, and, from its situation near the mouths of the rivers Kibe and Weser, became a considerable smuggling depot. It was taken by England from Denmark in 1807, and fortifications, including four batteries were immediately erected upon it. In 1.914 Denmark was compelled to cede it to England. This Lilliput territory has a Governor appointed by England at a yearly salary of £ISOO, and a Government Secretary at £6OO, and its internal affairs are managed by an Executive Council of the islanders." The inhabitants are two distinct races—the natives, of Frisian race, true to the habits of their ancestors, the Sea-Kings of old, despise manual labor and trade, but are bold and skilful sailors and adventurous fishermen, living by their sale of oysters, lobsters, and haddocks, which realise about £SOOO a year, and very contemptuously regarding the merchans, storekeepers, and cultivators, chiefly consisting of immigrants from Hamburg, or their descendants. These Frisians call themselves Englishmen, but will not allow that title to the other class. Heligoland is not self-supporting as a colony. In 1868 its expenditure was £GS33 against a revenue of £4769. It exported nothing to England m 1862, and its imports from that country in the same year, amounted to only £458. Its supplies are obtained from Hamburg, with which it has a steamboat communication. It will be seen from these facts that Heligoland is of no importance per se, but from its position it certainly ought to belong to Germany rather than to England.