THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



SUBMARINE OROGRAPHY. 



1. The Plummet — Brooke's Deep-sea Sounding Apparatus. 



In these days of great acliievemeiit, when a voyage 

 roiiDd the world has become a lioliday trip, the 

 youngest boy who is capable of construing Horace 

 may wonder that a time ever existed when it was 

 thongiit to be an act of impious daring to cross the 

 Ocean. Nevertheless, it may be worth a moment's 

 reflection" to realise the actual position of a ship 

 which has spread sail for some distant port, and 

 left familiar coasts far behind. What shall we 

 call a vessel under these circumstances? A house 

 floating in mid-ocean, on a shoreless sea, with nothing 

 visible around but the heavens, overarching every- 

 where the monotonous waste of waters. The ship 

 suils on, with the drifting clouds above, and the 



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