CHAPTER IX. 



Green ooze, or mud. From time immemorial it 

 has been, and still continues to be a custom with 

 mariners, to regard the soundings (so called) which 

 they obtain, as indicative of a particular part or por- 

 tion, or even a whole range of coast to which they are 

 advancing qr along which they may be coasting. It is 

 mentioned in the journals of most navigators, and by 

 some historians ; and it will be found in, by far, the 

 greatest number of cases, that at the depth of sixty 

 fathoms, the bottom of the sea is composed of mud, or 

 by some, ooze. 



Herodotus makes particular mention of this circum- 

 stance, and observes, "Of this fact there exists 

 another proof : if from a vessel bound to Egypt, the 

 lead be thrown, at the distance of a day's sailing from 

 the shore, it will come up at the depth of eleven 

 fathoms covered with mud, plainly indicating that it 

 was brought there by the water. 7 ' Book %, Chap. 5. 



Pocock observes that i( For seven or eight leagues 

 from the land, they know by the sounding plummet if 

 they are near Egypt, as within that distance it brings 

 up the black slimy mud of the Nile, that settles at the 



