578 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



length of time required for the operations of sounding and 

 dredging in it. When the heavy sounding weight is dropped 

 overboard, with the line attached, it takes about an hour and a 

 quarter to fall to the depth of 4,500 fathoms, and thirty-five 

 minutes to reach the bottom in the average depth of 2,500 

 fathoms. 



The winding in of the line again, is a much slower process. 

 It used to take us all day to dredge or trawl in any considerable 

 depth, and the net usually was got in only at nightfall, which 

 was a serious inconvenience, since we could not then, in the 

 absence of daylight, make with success the necessary examina- 

 tions of the structure of perishable animals. 



The ship, when deep-sea operations were going on, used to lie 

 rolling about all day, drifting along with the wind, and dragging 

 the dredge over the bottom. From daybreak to night the 

 winding-in engine was heard grinding away with a painful noise, 

 as the sounding-line and thermometers were being reeled in. 



At last, in the afternoon, the dredge-rope was placed on the 

 drum, and wound in for three or four hours, sometimes longer. 

 Often the rope or net, heavily weighted with mud, hung on the 

 bottom, and there was great excitement as the strain gradually 

 increased on the line. On several occasions the rope broke, and 

 the end disappeared overboard ; three or four miles of rope and 

 the dredge being thus lost. 



At first, when the dredge came up, every man and boy in the 

 ship who could possibly slip away, crowded round it, to see what 

 had been fished up. Gradually, as the novelty of the thing 

 wore off, the crowd became smaller and smaller, until at last 

 only the scientific staff, and usually Staff Surgeon Crosbie, and 

 perhaps one or two other officers besides the one on duty, awaited 

 the arrival of the net on the dredging bridge, and as the same 

 tedious animals kept appearing from the depths in all parts of 

 the world, the ardour of the scientific staff even, abated some- 

 what, and on some occasions the members were not all present 

 at the critical moment, especially when this occurred in the 

 middle of dinner-time, as it had an unfortunate propensity of 

 doing. It is possible even for a naturalist to get weary even of 

 deep-sea dredging. Sir Wyville Thomson's enthusiasm never 



