SUBMARINE SCENERY. 10 



indicate the depth by pressure, as suggested in the 

 foregoing section. 



The submarine soil in its configurations boars m 

 close resemblance to tlie subaerial surface. The geo- 

 graphical accidents, so to speak, are the same. There 

 are plains, valleys, ravines, hills, escarpments, deserts 

 of sand, immense deposits of mud, rolled stones, pic- 

 turesque rocks, and even water-springs and vol- 

 canoes. 



But while the bones of the earth beneath the 

 waters, or the framework of the picture, so closely 

 resembles that of the soil above, the picture itself 

 presents a very different aspect to the observer. In 

 the first place, there is but scant light a little distance 

 below the surface ; then, the vegetation is of a totally 

 different character : the various al^rae float their long: 

 and brilliantly-coloured ribbons in the most graceful 

 curves and modulations, or display their elegant 

 tracery in fine and clearly-cut relief, like our 

 mountain-trees. Animals, strange to our eyes, move 

 slowly in an element which may be called gross when 

 compared with our atmosphere. Springs of fresh 

 water, instead of running upon the soil, are dispersed 

 in vapour ; volcanic eruptions assume a peculiar 

 character. Yet, with all these differences, the basin 

 of the sea, in the eyes of the geometer, is in all 

 essential respects similaj to its shores. 



