ROMANCE OF DEPTHS OF THE SEA 105 

 that occurs the noise must be somewhat muffled : 



" There is no sound, no echo of sound, in the deserts of the 

 deep." 



Down there all is dark, and all is silent. It is 

 also persistently cold. The temperature of even 

 the surface waters of the sea varies comparatively 

 little compared with the fluctuations of heat and 

 cold on land. On land, temperatures as low as 

 -90 C. and as high as 65 C. have been registered, 

 showing a range of 155 C. At sea the range is 

 only 33-8 C., lying between -2-8 C. and 31 C. 

 As a rule at the bottom of the deep sea there is 

 a uniform low temperature. Whether in the 

 Tropics or in the Polar regions the bottom of the 

 ocean registers a temperature of between 2 C. 

 and zero, though in many places it falls below 

 the freezing point of fresh water. 



These cold waters are, further, very still ; at 

 the bottom of the ocean there is a great calm. 

 The waves that churn the surface overhead are 

 unfelt at the depth of a few fathoms ; even th e 

 great surface currents which stream along the 

 upper waters of the ocean are hardly perceptible 

 below some 200 fathoms. There are of course 

 as the wear and tear of cables teach us places 

 where deep-sea currents are strong ; but on the 



