250 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



in that unexplorable region into which man is for- 

 bidden to penetrate, we know nothing about it ; nor 

 does it cause, except in a very small degree, and in 

 3nly a few places, even inconvenience to mankind by 

 the loss of the fisheries. For such is the recuperative 

 and revivifying power of the sea, that these gigantic 

 destructions do not leave traces of their power for any 

 length of time that is appreciable, the teeming life 

 of the ocean asserts its tenant-rights again at the 

 earliest possible moment, and all is as it was before 

 the catastrophe. 



Still, it must be gratefully admitted that certain 

 parts of the sea-bed, and notably those where such 

 paroxysms of our planet would cause the greatest 

 possible amount of suffering and loss to man, are 

 remarkably free from these terrific visitations. I 

 have often thought of the possible effect of a sub- 

 marine upheaval beneath the banks of Newfoundland, 

 for instance, or indeed anywhere within the extra- 

 tropical regions of the North Atlantic. We need not, 

 however, speculate upon these palpable possibilities, 

 but be humbly thankful that they do not occur. 



And now, leaving the Atlantic for awhile, let us take 

 a brief glance at the Indian Ocean. The principal 

 feature of the Indian Ocean bed, until we get away 

 east to the Archipelago, is the absence of volcanoes 

 and the presence of the coral reef. Not, however, 

 in any great numbers ; these, wonderful evidences of 

 animal activity in secreting from the water the solid 

 material of which the dry land is made are not, so 

 to speak, very abundant. I passed them over when 

 they occurred in the North Atlantic, or, to speak more 

 particularly, in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, 



