22 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



to the north, the east, and a little to the south of 

 Newfoundland, terminating abruptly about the lati- 

 tude of New York in a steep shore, along the escarp- 

 jp.ent of which flows the celebrated Gulf Stream. Near 

 it, the orographic chart shows the centre of a basin 

 where the sea is about five miles deep, compared with 

 less than a third of that depth on the plateau. Tlie 

 now familiar Telegraphic Plateau i?? thp latest dis- 

 covery of this kind. It is a remarKauie steppe, ex- 

 tending from Cape Clear in Ireland to Cape Race in 

 Newfoundland, and upon it the mystic chain which 

 unites the intelligence of the Old and the New World 

 reposes in perfect security. 



Sometimes from the submarine plateau there spring 

 numerous mountain-peaks, which lift their heads 

 above the ocean, and rise to a considerable height in 

 the atmosphere. Thus, an archipelago or cluster of 

 islands consists of the culminating-points of mountain- 

 chains, the bases of which are planted on submerged 

 plains. If the Americas were covered with water to 

 the depth of a mile, more or less, we should find in their 

 places groups of islands corresponding to the Rocky 

 Mountains, the Andes, the Brazilian Mountains, and 

 to some peaks of the Alleghanies and Antilles. The 

 plummet would indicate the existence beneath the 

 waters of great valleys separated by hills, by plateaux, 

 or by mountains, for the most part with easy declivities ; 



