DEPTH OF THE OCEAN 25 



per cent, of the surface of the globe consists 

 of land and 71 per cent, is covered by water. 

 The depth-soundings which have up to the 

 present time been taken in the ocean are ex- 

 tremely numerous, more especially in the shal- 

 low water close to land. It is not practicable 

 to estimate the number of soundings in depths 

 less than 1000 fathoms (6000 feet), but the 

 numbers recorded from depths exceeding 1000 

 fathoms in the annual blue-books published 

 by the British Admiralty between 1888 

 and 1910 are as follows : — 



Total exceeding 1000 fathoms 9570 „ 



To this must be added a very large number 

 of soundings taken by other ships not re- 

 corded at the Admiralty. The Prince of 

 Monaco, the Berlin Institut fiir Meereskunde, 

 and the writer have published maps showing 

 practically all the deep-sea soundings known 

 up to the present time. 



From these data the estimated areas within 

 the different zones of depth are given in the 

 following table : — 



