THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 



The Atlantic is much better knoAvn to us than 

 any other of the great divisions of the Ocean, be- 

 cause, washing the shores of the principal commercial 

 nations, it has been more traversed and explored. 

 Its edges, on each side, are, in a greater degree than 

 those of any other, hollowed into bays and harbours, 

 and it is connected with the chief inland seas, such 

 as the Baltic, ]\Iediterranean and Black Seas on the 

 one hand, and the Gulf of Mexico and the Bays, 

 or rather Seas, of Hudson and Baffin on the other. 

 If, then, the importance of an Ocean is estimated by 

 the length of the line of coast which borders it, the 

 Atlantic takes precedency of all, exceeding even the 

 Pacific in this respect, in the proportion of about 

 four to three. It is remarkable that it is the north- 

 ern half which has so winding a coast, and to which, 

 also, are confined the inland seas : and it is this part 

 that is bordered with nations celebrated for naviga- 

 tion and commerce, the maritime nations of Europe 

 and the United States. Unlike the Pacific, whose 

 vast solitudes are rarely broken by the presence of a 

 ship,* the Atlantic is continually ploughed by the 

 keels, and spangled with the banners of powerful 

 empires, conveying from shore to shore those diver- 

 sified commodities, the interchange of which so greatly 



* Since this was written the discovery of the gold-fields of 

 California, Australia, and British Columbia has immensely increased 

 the nautical traverse of the Pacific. (Ed. 1860.) 



