238 THREE CRUISES OF THE “ BLAKE.” 
its way north between the Bahamas and the Bermudas, and 
that there is a deep hole in which the enormous depth of 
4,561 fathoms has been sounded by Lieutenant - Commander 
Brownson, with a temperature of 36°. The same temperature 
(between 36° and 37°) is found to be the bottom temperature in 
the sections taken to the northward, the only exceptions being a 
few colder soundings (a temperature of 35°) met within the lines 
off Norfolk, off Cape May, and off Nantucket, at a distance of 
about three hundred miles from the coast. Ata depth of 600 
Bermuda Ids. 
2675 
, 2678 
„4 Uff Montauk Pr. 
2850 
-j 2835 
4 2600 
---5 2520 fms. 
--------/ 2175 
2200 
Г 
ТОО E Lanta 
je 
2900 jr 
Fig. 167. 
fathoms, off San Domingo, the temperature is 42°; at 500 fath- 
oms, 16 is 45°. Off the northern extremity of the Bahamas it was 
about the same. Owing to the abruptness of the slope and the 
absence of serial soundings, we have no data regarding the thick- 
ness of this body of cold water, with a temperature of about 36°, 
which covers the bottom. Farther north this temperature begins 
at a depth of about 1,500 fathoms. In the sections taken off 
the Middle States, the temperature falls very rapidly, being 75° 
at the surface, while at а depth of 1,000 fathoms it is not more 
than 38°; and judging from the single section to the eastward 
