Miscellaneous Intelligence. 443 
with electric telegraphs, but in these utilitarian days the speculative must 
give way to the practical, and the writer will be well satisfied if the 
paper now produced assists and encourages the enterprise even in a small 
degree. 
The Asiatic Plateau—The Asiatic Plateau or “ Bank of Soundings” 
hundred miles in a direct line towards Australia. It is bounded to the 
west and southwest by the islands of Sumatra and Java, the outer coasts 
of which are steep-to, shelving off rapidly to a depth which is unfathom- 
able by the ordinary sounding apparatus in use on board ships, eo 
and the southwestern limb of the island of Celebes lie on its eastern verge, 
and the extremity nearest to Australia is occupied by a group of islands 
extending from the southern limb o ebes, of which Salayer and 
reefs is form re deeply submerged portion of the plateau, an 
assumption which is favored by the fact that the southern boundary of 
the plateau, which extends from the east end of Java to the island of 
i i fs, which probably would have formed 
he Pacifi 
that are met with near the northeastern verge in the China Sea, and 
towards its extremity at Kalatoa, will have been produced by the volcanic 
convulsions that have taken place in the immediate vicinity. 
The extreme length of the submarine plateau, measuring from the head 
of the Gulf of Siam is 1,700 miles, and its greatest breadth about 800 
mil. 
. The Australian Plateau.—The submarine plateau which extends from 
the north and northwest coasts of Australia, although covering a space 
