The Mighty Deep 



bringing up from the ocean - bed materials 

 whereby to judge of the state of that dark 

 nether-world, hidden from our eyes by interven- 

 ing miles of water. 



Three and a half years of steady work ; 

 hundreds upon hundreds of soundings; thou- 

 sands upon thousands of miles traversed; tens 

 of thousands of specimens hauled up ; days and 

 weeks and months devoted to unremitting study 

 of those specimens ! This is what the Chal- 

 lenger Expedition meant. No wonder our 

 knowledge of the Under-Ocean has grown by 

 leaps. 



And yet no wonder it is still confined within 

 narrow limits. So enormous is the extent of 

 the Ocean, so few comparatively are the parts 

 which have been under close examination ! 



Imagine a monster giant striding with vast 

 steps over the sea, and at intervals of a mile or 

 two dipping a long arm into the depth, to bring 

 away a handful of whatever might lie upon the 

 bed below. No doubt he might and would thus 

 learn a good deal that he had not known before. 

 Still, at the best, tens of thousands of square 

 miles would lie around in all directions, untouched 

 by his searching fingers. 



This is very much what the Expedition was 



186 



