64 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [CHAP. 11. 



held together by their connecting ligament. A some 

 what peculiar variety of Echinus sphcera, O.F.MuLLER, 

 was met with in one of the Fjords associated with a 

 large form of E.flemingii, BALL ; and what appears to 

 be a small form of Cucumariafrondosa, GUNNER, was 

 very common in shallow water on the tangles. 



While we were lying in Thorshavn harbour the 

 Danish gunboat 6 Fylla ' and the French steam trans 

 port * L' Orient ' came in on their way from Iceland. 

 Both of the vessels from the north had come through 

 bad weather, and were glad to run into shelter. During 

 the stay of the three war-ships the little capital was 

 quite gay, and the Governor had abundant opportunity 

 of exercising his genial hospitality. On the 26th of 

 August, as the barometer rose a little and there 

 seemed to be some slight sign of improvement, we 

 left Thorshavn and steamed southward to dredge if 

 possible in the deep channel between Eseroe and Shet 

 land ; but the same evening wild weather set in again 

 with a strong gale of wind from the north-westward, 

 and the barometer down to 29*08. The hook and 

 screw-jack fastenings of the main rigging went one 

 after another, and we narrowly escaped losing the 

 mast. The gale lasted till the 29th, when there was 

 rather better weather ; and after lying-to and drifting 

 to the north-east for nearly three days, we took a 

 sounding in lat. 60 45' N., long. 4 49' W. (Station 6). 

 This gave a depth of 510 fathoms and a bottom tem 

 perature of C. On the evening of the 29th and 

 on the 30th the weather was sufficiently moderate to 

 allow us to work our dredging gear, and the first 

 trials were of great interest, as it was our first oppor 

 tunity of making the attempt in so great a depth of 



