EVEREST POLYGOXAL AREAS. OU 



may be traced all the way, nearly in a southerly direction, at a depth 

 of 70 to 80 ftithoms, having on its eastern side the bank of 60 to 70 

 fathoms, which separates it from the Norway Sea. At about lat. 

 58° 40', where the soundings are more regularly given on the charts, 

 we find again the deep channel of from 80 to 100 fathoms, running 

 in a dii'ection nearly south, with a slight incKnation to the east, 

 having on either side a depth of 70 to 80 fathoms, and outside of that 

 again a depth of 60 to 70 fathoms. Here we observe that it must 

 have divided into two, after passing the northern point of the 

 Shetlands, though the soundings are too imperfect to enable us to 

 say where the di\-ision took place. We find, however, two channels 

 of 70 to 80 fathoms in depth, with a bank between them. The 

 easternmost or principal channel is continued to below lat. 58° at 

 the depth of above 80 fathoms, and a little farther at the depth of 

 above 70 fathoms. It continues at a depth of 50 to 60 fathoms to 

 below 56° 30', and there merges into a broad expanse of 40 fathoms 

 depth. The westernmost or side channel appears to conform more to 

 the line of the coast than the other. It gives oif a branch into the 

 Moray Fii'th, and another into the Firth of Forth. Lower down it 

 runs conformably to the line of coast, and ends in about 54° 10' lat. 

 in a rounded point at the depth of 30 fathoms, — unless indeed we 

 suppose the detached pits, the " Silver Pit," the '' Sole Pit," the 

 " Cole Pit," and the '' Outer Silver Pit," to be continuations of it, 

 which is probable. The first appears to branch aside in the direction 

 of the " Wash;" the second and third to continue in the direction 

 of the channel which, as we saw, ends in lat. 54° 10' ; and the last 

 runs in a direction west to east, whence it may be traced in the chart 

 all the way to the mouth of the Elbe. 



Now, take a central point, at the end of the principal or eastern 

 channel, which we saw was in about lat. 56° 26', and draw a straight 

 line from that to the point which we have before taken in lat. 52° ; 

 then produce the straight line so formed until it meets the line drawn 

 from the projecting angle of the 100 -fathom line, west of the He- 

 brides, towards the projecting angle of the same line which lies to 

 the north-east of the Shetlands ; from the first point di-aw a 

 straight line to the next projecting point of the 100-fathom line in a 

 S.W. direction, which Hes between lat. 53° and 54° N., off the west 

 coast of Ireland ; from this last point draw a straight line to the 

 point we have before taken at the entrance of the British Channel, 

 in lat. 48° 20' N. and long. 8° 30' W. : we have now completed an 

 unequal-sided hexagonal figure, which may be said very nearly to 

 represent the Hncs of deepest water round the British Isles. It is 

 obvious, on referring to the Map, that, starting from the last-named 

 point, in lat. 48° 20' N., a similar process may be repeated for 

 Ireland ; and we then get a pentagonal figure, the third side of which, 

 running between the coasts of Ireland and Scotland, passes along a 

 remarkable pit, 30 to 40 miles long, 3 to 4 miles broad, and 100 to 

 150 fathoms deep, or as much as 70 to 80 fathoms (420 to 480 feet) 

 deeper than the water at its edges. See the Admiralty Charts. 



It may be objected, that in these two figures we have taken, on 



