THE BASIN OF THE ATLANTIC 251 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE BASIN OF THE ATLANTIC. 



Its Shape, ^ 704.— Plate XL, 709.— The deepest Part of the Atlantic, 710.— The Use 

 of Deep-sea Soundings, 713. — The telegraphic Plateau, 714. — It extends around 

 the Earth as a Ridge, 715. — The first Specimens with Brooke's Lead, 717. — The 

 Bottom of the Sea a Burial-place, 724. — The leveling Agencies at work there, 730. 

 — ^Marine Insects presented in a new Light, 734. — Conservators of the Sea, 739. — 

 Calcareous Shells, 742. — Tallying marine Currents, 745. — A Cast of 7000 Fathoms 

 in the Indian Ocean, 750. — Bottom from the Coral Sea, 751. — Microscopic Exam- 

 ination of, 753.— The Bed of the Ocean, 761. 



703. The Basin of the Atlantic, according to the deep-sea 

 soundings made by the American Navy, in the manner described 

 in the foregoing chapter, is shown on Plate XI. This plate refers 

 chiefly to that part of the Atlantic which is included within our 

 hemisphere. 



704. In its entire length, the basin of this sea is a long trough, 

 separating the Old World from the Xew, and extending probably, 

 from pole to pole. 



705. This ocean-furrow was scored into the solid crust of our 

 planet by the Almighty hand, that there the waters which "he 

 called seas" might be gathered together, so as to " let the dry land 

 appear," and fit the earth for the habitation of man. 



706. From the top of Chimborazo to the bottom of the Atlan- 

 tic, at the deepest place yet reached by the plummet in the North 

 Atlantic, the distance, in a vertical line, is nine miles. 



707. Could the waters of the Atlantic be drawn oif, so as to ex- 

 pose to view this great sea-gash, which separates continents, and 

 extends from the Arctic to the Antarctic, it would present a scene 

 the most rugged, grand, and imposing. The very ribs of the solid 

 earth, with the foundations of the sea, would be brought to light, 

 and we should have presented to us at one view, in the empty 

 cradle of the ocean, " a thousand fearful wrecks," with that dread- 

 ful array of dead men's skulls, great anchors, heaps of pearl and 



