DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPEDITION. 31 
to show that, while the greater part is 30 to 40 fathoms deep, there are considerable 
areas both north and south within the 20-fathom line. The average breadth of the bank 
is about 50 miles, and it would appear to be steeper to the west than to the east, though 
it is possible that some of the soundings may be wrongly placed in longitude. Our 
soundings varied down to 2062 fathoms, a singular feature being that in more than half 
of them we failed to secure any bottom-samples. Almost midway between Nazareth and 
Saya de Malha we found 222 fathoms, the bottom being covered with broken shell, but 
there may have been still shallower water to the east. To the south of the Saya de 
Malha we then got intoa considerable area having a depth between 100 and 150 fathoms, 
on which we dredged for portions of two days, making seven hauls. We used several 
kinds of nets, but perhaps got the best results with our modified Agassiz trawls. Here we 
unfortunately lost our biggest frame together with 300 fathoms of wire, which was cut 
by the propeller. The area was to some degree a difficult one to work, on account of the 
strong current running between 60 and 120 fathoms, necessitating specially weighted 
instruments. The bottom was hard, with patches covered by a white rubble, composed 
principally of lamellibranch shells, echinoderm tests, dead coral, polyzoa, &c., all of it of a 
facies which belongs to shallower water and which undoubtedly had been swept off the 
shoal-banks of the Saya de Malha. In most places it seemed loose with little or 
no sand, but to the west it was mixed to some degree with casts of Foraminifera, similar 
to those of greensand but of lighter colour, like those we had found previously in the 
lagoon of Suvadiva Atoll *. Most groups of animals were represented, noticeably several 
species of solitary corals, a clump of the only brachiopod obtained on the cruise, a large 
pennatulid (Anthophyllum grandiflorwm)—a rare group in our collection,—and about 
half a dozen new fish, among them a form which Mr. Regan has named Halieutea 
gardineri, a kind of fishing-frog interesting for tentacles in front of its mouth, set in 
bony depressions for protection. 
We continued the dredgings on to the main bank of Saya de Malha, finding no marked 
steep, but a gradual slope to the south. The bottom from 100 to 70 fathoms was 
evidently quite smooth, very hard, and swept absolutely bare of sedentary life by the 
currents, which almost prevented our dredges from reaching it and which seemed to 
increase in strength down to about 100 fathoms. The name Saya de Malha really 
includes three banks, enclosed in separate 100-fathom lines, about 250, 14,000, and 1200 
square miles in extent. The south bank is a flat shoal, and the north one a basin with 
40 fathoms in the centre, the rim having less than 15 fathoms. ‘The central bank is 
about 500 miles round by 120 across in any direction, with a marked rim less than 
20 fathoms deep to the north-east for 200 miles, with upwards of 65 fathoms on the bank. 
It is separated from the south bank by a depth of 1380 fathoms, and was the only 
one dredged by us. 
In order to arrive in the north-east part of the bank in the morning we steamed during 
the first night due north, sounding continually on the way. This being more or less 
enclosed and protected ground, the dredgings were expected to give an interesting 
* «+ JTjacoon Deposits,” Fauna and Geogr. Maldives and Laccadives vol ii. p 481 
