THE EARTH AS IT IS. 83 



so small compared with the whole earth, as was shown 

 by Fig. 31, yet it is much greater than the mountainous 

 projections on its surface, for the amount of this projec- 

 tion is 13^ miles, while the height of the highest of the 

 mountains is 5^ miles. It is to be observed, also, that the 

 depressions are much greater than the elevations, with 

 the exception of the grand equatorial one, for in some 

 cases they probably reach, as already stated, a depth of 

 50,000 feet ; and, if the ocean were laid bare, we should 

 see irregularities like those on the land, but on a much 

 larger scale. Between the so-called Banks of Newfound- 

 land and Newfoundland itself there is one of those deep 

 submarine valleys, while at the Banks there is a plateau 

 of rock that comes within about 250 feet of the surface. 

 The water on this plateau abounds in fish, which choose 

 such shallow places rather than the deep ocean valleys. 

 South of the Banks the Atlantic Ocean reaches the im- 

 mense depth of 30,000 feet. 



161. Arrangement of the Land. There are some pecul- 

 iarities in the arrangement of the land of the earth that 

 are worthy of notice. The great bulk of it is in the 

 northern hemisphere, up about the arctic region, there 

 being nearly three times as much land north of the equa- 

 tor as there is south of it. As it extends from the north 

 down into the southern hemisphere it narrows very 

 much, as seen in the shape of North America and Africa, 

 which is triangular. The same disposition of the land 

 is essentially carried out in Hindostan and other exten- 

 sions southward of the continent of Asia. Notice, be- 

 sides this, that the land is really divided into two great 

 parcels, the Eastern and Western Continents, for Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa may be regarded as one; and that there 

 are two great oceans between them, one of them being 

 much larger than the other. It may be remarked here 

 that, in the present state of the world, it is a very great 

 advantage and convenience to have the narrower ocean, 

 the Atlantic, lying between those portions of the world 



