ATLANTIS — TERMIER. 223 



esting onl.y from the impression that they leave us of the wide cir- 

 culation of the legend among the peoples along the Mediterranean 

 shores. On the whole, down to very nearly our own era, there was 

 a general belief, all about the Mediterranean, in the ancient inva- 

 sion hj the Atlantians, come from a large island or a continent — 

 come at all events from beyond the Pillars of Hercules, an invasion 

 abruptly checked by the instantaneous or at least very sudden sub- 

 mergence of the country from which these invaders came. 



Now, let us see wdiat science teaches as to the possibility or the 

 probability of such a collapsing, so recent, so sudden, so extended 

 superficially, and so colossal in depth. But we must as a preliminary 

 recall the facts of geography as to the region of the Atlantic Ocean 

 where the phenomenon must hiixa occurred. 



For a ship sailing due west the distance across the Atlantic Ocean 

 from the Strait of Gibraltar is about 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles). 

 Such a ship would touch the American coast in the locality of Cape 

 Hatteras. She would not in her voyage meet any land. She w^ould 

 pass, A^'ithout seeing them, between Madeira and the Azores, and she 

 would leave the Bermudas very far to the south, though these coral 

 islands, very small and low, might to the eyes of the crew have 

 emerged from the marine horiz(m. Her passengers would have no 

 suspicion of the relief of the ocean depths, so irregular notwithstand- 

 ing, and none of the mysteries of the " sea of darkness " would have 

 risen before them. 



But had the ship lengthened her route a little by making a detour, 

 first toward the southwest, then toward the northwest, then again 

 tow^ard the soutliAvest, it would have been enough, successively, to 

 bring in view Madeira, the more southern Azores, and finally the 

 Bermudas. And if the travelers, whom we are supposing embarked 

 on our vessel, had possessed a perfected instrument for sounding, and 

 had known how^ to use it, they might have ascertained, not without 

 surprise, that the marine depths over which they were passsing are 

 strangely unequal. Very near Gibraltar the bottom of the ocean is 

 4,000 meters down; it rises again abruptly to form a very narrow 

 socle, which bears Madeira ; it drops again to 5,000 meters between 

 Madeira and the southern Azores; reascends at least 1,000 meters in 

 the neighborhood of these latter islands ; remains for a long distance 

 between 1,000 and 4,000 to the south and southwest of the Azores, 

 with very abrupt projections, some of Avhich approach very nearly to 

 the surface of the sea ; then plunges to more than 5,000 meters, and 

 for a short distance even to more than 6,000 ; rises again suddenly in a 

 bound which corresponds to the socle of the Bermudas; remains 

 buried under 4,000 meters of water to within a short distance of the 

 American coast, and finally rises again in a steep acclivity toward 

 the shore. 



