CHAP. V.J 



DEEP-SEA SOUNDING. 



the level of the plateau a height of 10,200 feet (2,701 

 fathoms), a little more than the height of Mont 

 Blanc ahove the sea-level. 



Accurate soundings are as yet much too distant 



to justify anything like a detailed contour map of the 



bed of the Atlantic, and such a sketch as the one 



here given can only be regarded as a first rough 



draft. Nothing, however, can give a more erroneous 



or exaggerated conception of its outline than the 



, ideal section in Captain Maury's c Physical Geo- 



i graphy of the Sea,' although it is in a certain sense 



correct. 



According to our present information, we must 

 regard the Atlantic Ocean as covering a vast region 

 of wide shallow valleys and undulating plains, with 

 a few groups of volcanic mountains, insignificant 

 both in height and extent, when we consider the 

 enormous aiva of the ocean bed. 



