3 1 G THE DEPTHS OF THE SEJ. [CHAP. vii. 



of the ocean for the parallel of latitude. At a 

 depth of 200 fathoms, however, the divergence be 

 tween the curves of the warm and cold areas is most 

 remarkable. The curve of the warm area, No. 87, 

 shows a fall of scarcely half a degree at 500 fathoms, 

 and less than one degree more at 767 fathoms at 

 the bottom. Between 200 and 300 fathoms the cold 

 area curves run down from 8 C. to C., leaving 

 only one degree more of gradual descent for the 

 next 300 fathoms. The temperature of the ' hump ' 

 on the curves of the ' cold area ' between 50 and 

 200 fathoms corresponds so nearly with that of the 

 long gradual sinking of the curve of the warm area 

 from the surface nearly to the bottom, that it seems 

 natural to traca it to the same source. We there 

 fore conclude that a shallow layer of Gulf-stream 

 water drifting slowlv northwards overlies in the cold 



O v 



area an indraught of cold water represented by the 

 sudden and great depression of the curves, while in 

 the warm area this cold indraught is absent, the 

 Gulf-stream water reaching to the bottom. 



Tracing the ' warm area ' southwards from the 

 mouth of the Fseroe Channel along the coast of Scot 

 land, we find that the area between Eseroe, the Lews, 

 and Rockall, is a kind of plateau with a depth of 

 from 700 to 800 fathoms ; and we may be certain from 

 analogy, although this region has not yet been actu 

 ally examined, with a bottom temperature not lower 

 than 4'5 C. Commencing opposite Eockall, and ex 

 tending between the great shoal which culminates 

 in the Hockall fishing banks and the singular isolated 



o o 



rock, and the west coast of Ireland, there is a wide 

 trough deepening gradually southwards, and at length 



