Multitudinous Life 



able to do. A handful here and a handful there 

 was brought up, as a specimen of what might 

 be found below. But tens of thousands of square 

 miles, to north and south and east and west, 

 remained untouched. 



None the less, from these occasional "dips," 

 however few by comparison with reaches not 

 examined, we know far more than our forefathers 

 could have dreamt of as within the bounds of 

 possibility. 



Instruments, many and complicated, are used 

 in deep-sea researches far too many and too 

 complicated to be described here. Two or three 

 may be mentioned. 



Sounding-machines proper are largely em- 

 ployed, sometimes carrying water-bottles, and 

 always brass tubes, weighed down by "sinkers," 

 which remain behind when the tubes are drawn 

 up full of mud or ooze. 



Small dredges are dragged along the sea- 

 bottom, gathering whatever may lie there loosely, 

 and bringing it to the surface. 



Trawls also are necessary, with beams from 

 ten to seventeen feet in length. Such trawls, 

 held by strong steel cables thousands of fathoms 

 long, can often lift seven tons of material. 



Into the bottom of a dredge-bag and of a trawl- 

 187 



