CHAPTER V. 

 IN OCEAN DEPTHS 



My soul is full of longing 



For the secret of the Sea."— Longfellow. 



' Of the old Sea some reverential fear 

 Is with me."— Wordsworth. 



'T^H ROUGH ages of the world's history, man 

 ■^ knew nothing of the Ocean beyond its 

 surface. 



He could sail on the sea ; he could bathe in 

 the shallow waters near land. If a good swim- 

 mer, he might go farther out, and might even 

 dive for one or two minutes out of sight. In 

 more recent times, with the help of a diving-bell, 

 he could descend thirty or forty feet ; and in 

 a diving-dress he might even, if experienced, 

 get from one to two hundred feet down. 



But that was all. Of the vast depths beyond 

 he was sublimely ignorant. He did not so much 

 as know of their existence. Until the late 

 scientific expedition made in the vessel Chal- 

 lenger, that great world of the Under-Ocean 

 was swathed in mystery. 



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