242 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



exploring by far the larger portion of the earth's crust. 

 Nature has been jealously careful to remove it from 

 our sight, to preserve it from our unappeasable curi- 

 osity. Should we not congratulate ourselves on this 

 fact ? And does not this water, which hides so many 

 marvels, serve now, and has it not always served, to 

 human need, as one of our most powerful auxiliaries ? 

 It is water which most facilitates the relations that 

 are established between the inhabitants of different 

 countries, which invites to exchanges and transactions 

 of all kinds, and is in fact the soul of commerce, of 

 which civilisation is the offspring. 

 • Though flourishing on the coasts, civilisation pe- 

 netrates but slowly into the interior of continents. 

 By the sea it is speedily transmitted from shore to 

 shore of neighbouring islands, and so on to the re- 

 motest. On the continent it spreads slowly, step 

 by step, and its progress is almost invariably paral- 

 lel with the course of rivers and streams. Ee- 

 move the water, and civilisation would disappear; 

 the desert would again reign supreme ; one waste of 

 sand would cover everything with a moveable shroud, 

 like the waves of the sea, but even more terrible. 

 How many have paid with their lives for the 

 audacity which impelled them to penetrate the 

 secrets of the desert ! 



To all who have the courage to confide in her. the 



