THE SUBMAHINE BANK 147 



so deep in colour that the brilliant bottom is lost. In 

 places this transition is somewhat sudden, and soundings 

 taken a quarter of a mile from the shore show twenty-five 

 or thirty fathoms, whilst before half a mile is reached, 

 towards the south and south-west, seventy and one hundred 

 and ninety fathoms are recorded. It will be easily imagined 

 that the sudden ending of the brightly coloured barrier rocks 

 in the deep blue water outside gives the impression that the 

 visible shore on which you live falls suddenly into the invisible 

 depths of the ocean. 



This is, however, not the case, for it is only into these 

 trivial depths that the fall is abrupt; it is not a fall from 

 shallows to great depths ; and in many cases the varied 

 coloured bottom of the boulder- strewn reef may be seen 

 several hundred yards to seaward, gradually losing itself in 

 the deepening blue waters. 



Soundings taken a mile from the shore show a depth 

 varying from one hundred and ninety to three hundred and 

 thirty fathoms. On the route towards Perth, Australia, six 

 fathoms were found at 0*95 miles from the atoll and at 1*45 

 miles the bottom had fallen to two hundred fathoms. On the 

 route towards Rodriguez thirty fathoms were found at 0'90 miles, 

 and two hundred at 1*05 miles. This then is the sudden 

 drop, the descent within the limits of a mile or so into some 

 two hundred fathoms. Two and a half miles from the atoll 

 ring the bottom has fallen to a depth of from four hundred and 

 fifty to five hundred and fifteen, or, roughly, an average of 

 five hundred fathoms at two and a half miles. At five miles 

 a depth of seven hundred and fifty fathoms is registered, but 

 on the cable route to Java the five-mile limit gives a sounding 

 of a thousand fathoms. In other directions one thousand 

 fathoms are not found till six miles away — the old sounding 

 of twelve hundred fathoms a mile and a quarter from the south- 

 east shore being, perhaps, safely neglected. Upon the actual 

 cable route to Australia, the bottom has only fallen to one 

 thousand six hundred and thirty fathoms at a distance of 

 6 3" 71 miles from the atoll. 



