

The Mediterranean Sea 217 



Bosphorus, with the Black Sea. The entrance to the western 

 basin and to the sea generally from the ocean is through the 

 Straits of Gibraltar in 36 X. latitude. If this parallel be drawn 

 out through the sea it will be found that the western basin lies 

 almost wholly to the northward, and the main body of the 

 eastern one to the southward of it, the mean latitude of the 

 ern basin being about 39 30', and that of the eastern 



in 35. They communicate with each other by the channels 

 separating Sicily from Italy and from Africa. The former is 

 known as the Strait of Messina, and is of insignificant size, 



latter is a wide channel apparently without any distinctive 

 name, and generally shallow. The greatest depth on the 

 shallowest ridge reaching from the African to the Sicilian 

 coast is under 200 fathoms, and agrees very closely with the 



-sponding depth at the entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar. 



Depth. So far as is at present known, the maximum depth 

 i- pretty nearly alike in the two basins, being 2040 fathoms in 

 the western and 2150 fathoms in the eastern. Many lines of 

 soundings have been run in the Mediterranean for telegraph 

 purposes, and they afford a very good idea of the general 

 configuration of the bottom. Between Marseilles and Algiers 

 the depth ranges generally from 1200 to 1600 fathoms ; between 



les and Sardinia from 1500 to 2000; between Alexandria 

 and Rhodes from 1200 to 1600; and between Alexandria and 



:us from 900 to noo. The basin of the Mediterranean 



ly begins about 50 miles to the westward of Gibraltar. It 



re that tin- shallowest ridge stretches across from Ai 

 to Spain; tlu- maximum depth on it is probably not more 

 than 180, and certainly less than 200 fathoms. From this 

 ridge the bottom slopes cjuirkly westward iiit<> the depths of 

 the Atlantic, and gently eastward into the Mediterranean. 

 The depth nowhere reaches 1000 fathoms until l>r\<>n<l Alh 



1. I jo miles east of (".il.raltar. Thi- is a -mall 1.\\ i-land 



rated from the mainland on all sides !>v \\.it-i <>t more than 



400 lath-mi-; it mn-t t ; be considered an ooeani 



.1 i-l:m<P. l-nithcr t<> tin- 



1 Contn mds are those separated fn>m the m.unl.md by 



".is, generallv umlrr io<> f.ithnms. 



