8UBMA TilNE SCENER V 2 1 



near neighbours to each other. The Himalayan 

 peaks are not far from the deepest part of the ludian 

 Ocean ; the Eocky Mountains have for their near 

 neighbour the deep gulf of the Northern Pacific; 

 the Alleghanies are contiguous to the lowest depths 

 of the North Atlantic ; and the towering bulk of Mont 

 Blanc may be said to rise out of the deepest part of 

 the westerf Mediterranean basin. This remark is of 

 general application, and we may add, that if on any 

 coast the highest point of the upheaved surface almost 

 equals the depth of the depression, that of the op- 

 posite coast will be as far removed from it; as if 

 the doublings and upliftings to which the actual 

 configuration of the earth's crust is due were 

 unsym metrical, and had produced on the one coast 

 a gentle declivity, on the other a steep hill. 



On the subaerial part of the earth there are vast 

 plateaux or table-lands, and elevations of considerable 

 altitude. Submarine plateaux are in like manner 

 of frequent occurrence; they separate two basins, 

 the rocky edges of which are not sufficiently high to 

 appear above the waters. In the Northern Atlantic 

 Ocean, for example, a vast plateau stretches from 

 Iceland to the Azores, and thence, southward and 

 westward, to the Antilles or West Indies. The Azores 

 correspond to volcanic peaks, rising from that chain 

 of' submarine mountains. Another plateau extends 



