314 THYSICAL GEOGBAPHY OP THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



of the English navy for much valuable information touching this 

 interesting subject. Certain officers in that service have taken 

 up the problem of deep-sea soundings with the most praise- 

 worthy zeal, energy, and intelligence. Dayman in the Atlantic, 

 Captains Spratt and JMansell in the Mediterranean, with Captain 

 Pullen in the Eed Sea, have all made valuable contributions 

 to the stock of human knowledge concerning the depths and 

 bottom of the sea. To Mansell and Spratt we are indebted 

 for all we know about deep-sea soundings in the Mediterranean, 

 as w^e are to Pullen for those in the Red Sea. By their lines 

 of soundings, their maps and profiles, they have enabled physical 

 geogi-aphers to form, with some approach towards correctness, an 

 idea as to the orography of the basins which hold the water 

 for these two seas. We are also indebted to the French for 

 deep-sea soundings in the MediteiTanean. That sea aj^pears 

 to be about two miles deep in the deepest part^, which are 

 in the isleless spaces to the west of Sardinia and to the east of 

 Malta. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



§ 580-619. THE BASIN AND BED OF THE ATLANTIC. 



580. The wonders of the sea. — The wonders of the sea are as 

 marvellous as the glories of the heavens ; and they proclaim, in 

 songs divine, that they too are the work of holy fingers. Among 

 the revelations which scientific research has lately made con- 

 cerning the crust of our planet, none are more interesting to 

 the student of nature, or more suggestive to the Christian 

 philosopher, than those which relate to the bed and bottom of the 

 ocean. 



581. Its bottom and Chimhorazo. — The basin of the Atlantic, 

 according to the deep-sea soundings made by the American and 

 English navies, is shown on Plate XI. This plate refers chiefly 

 to that part of the Atlantic which is included vdthin our 

 hemisphere. In its entire length, the basin of this sea is a 

 long trough separating the Old AVorld from tlie Xew, and 

 extending probably from pole to pole. As to breadth, it 

 contrasts strongly with the Pacific Ocean. From the top of 

 Chimborazo to the bottom of the Atlantic, at the deepest place 



