Earth's Vast Ocean 



would share in this change. The Continents 

 of Asia and North America would be united 

 at the Behring Straits ; Ceylon would find itself 

 a part of India ; Papua and Tasmania would 

 be one with Australia ; and all places hitherto 

 on the coasts of different countries would find 

 themselves six hundred feet above the sea. 



Such a change in the position of the British 

 Isles, transforming them into a Continental 

 Country, would mean far-reaching consequences 

 to ourselves as a People. One such consequence 

 may be briefly given in the words of a recent 

 newspaper article : " Dry up the Atlantic to the 

 lOO-fathom line, and in six months we should 

 bear the load of Conscription as cheerfully and 

 more efficiently than any nation in Europe." 



Suppose that another great fall in the ocean- 

 surface could follow. Not this time to six 

 hundred feet, but to three thousand feet, below 

 its present level. The resulting alterations would 

 be still more sweeping. Not only Iceland and 

 the Faroe Islands, but Greenland also — and not 

 only Greenland, but the Continent of North 

 America itself — would become one with the 

 Continent of Europe, no longer cut off from the 

 Old World. 



A word as to measurements. Two kinds of 



25 



