88 THE BIRTH OF THE BATHYSPHERE 



mals, who has trapped a small collection of rats and mice 

 but is still wholly unaware of antelope, elephants, lions, 

 and rhinos. 



The hundreds of nets I have drawn through the depths 

 of the sea, from one-half to two miles down, have yielded 

 a harvest which has served only to increase my desire 

 actually to descend into this no-man's zone. 



When I mapped out a quarter of a square mile in the 

 British Guiana jungle for intensive study my activities 

 were more or less confined to the two planes of space on 

 the jungle floor. I could go ahead or backward or to either 

 side, but upward I could only look through my glasses, 

 or send shot hurtling through the branches to bring down 

 a bird or some creature of the trees. Occasionally I climbed 

 laboriously up a tree-trunk on a ladder of driven spikes, 

 or shot an arrow carrying a line over a lofty limb, later 

 to be hauled up with a pulley and tackle for a brief period 

 of observation. 



In our present deep-sea work off Nonsuch, the condi- 

 tions are much the same but inverted. The tug Gladisfen 

 can steam toward any point of the compass, but to gain 

 knowledge and obtain specimens of the little-known life- 

 zones beneath our keel, we can only lower weights on a 

 wire and record the depth of the bottom; or reversing 

 thermometers and automatically closing bottles for tem- 

 peratures and tiny samples of water from deep down; or 

 finally we can send down dredges and nets and bring up 

 a modicum of life from bottom or mid-water. 



