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GEXERAL REPORT OF THE JUDGES OF GROUP XXVI. high sand-dunes along the coast; and a canal fully sufficient for the largest commerce, reaching from the sea for a length of over sixteen miles to the city of Amsterdam. This work, which is now nearly completed, has included the draining of the large arm of the Zuyder- Zee, known as the Ij, whereby 5000 hectares have been reclaimed. More than half of this has already been sold for an average of 2000 guilders per hectare (about $160 per acre), and is now in cultivation. The maps and plans show the condition when completed; the con dition in December, 1874; the location and form of the harbor; a cross-section of the breakwater; a section of the dikes of the canal; a plan of the locks near the coast; of the locks near the Zuyder-Zee (with ten chambers for vessels of different sizes); of the iron lock- gates ; and sections of the two largest locks. This improvement was also illustrated by a relief-map of the whole country between Amsterdam and the North Sea, indicating the depths of its polders, the subdivision of the land, etc. 9- The dams across the Schelde and the Sloe. These are railway dams on the line from Flushing to Bergen. They are chiefly remark able for their great size and depth, and the necessity for completing each one within a single season, so far as to protect it against the storms of the succeeding winter. The drawings leave nothing to be desired in the way of executive detail. 10. The harbor of Haarlingen. Here were five maps, and several cross-sections, showing the forms of the dikes and docks, the material of which they are constructed, and especially the facing of basalt blocks, by which they are protected against the action of the waves. Models were also shown of the piers, which gave every detail of con struction. The most interesting item of this exhibit is a submerged dam built in the Zuyder-Zee, some distance from the shore, for the purpose of guiding the tidal current in such a way as to prevent the deposit of silt in the channel leading from Haarlingen to the ocean. This dam, founded on fascine mattresses 20 metres wide, is covered and filled with heavy stone, and protected by two rows of oak-piles. It rises but little above low-water mark. 11. A crane-bridge over the Linge,— curious rather than important. 12. A swing railway bridge over the North Holland Canal. This is a good specimen of a short, secure, and easily-worked swing- bridge. 13. A picture and detailed drawings of the great bridge over the Holandsch-Diep and its dry-dock. This work was executed between 1868 and 1871. The width between the dikes at high-water mark is over 2y 2 kilometres. The minimum rise and fall of tide is two metres-