May 24 , 1858 .] 
ADMIRALTY SURVEYS— MEDITERRANEAN. 
263 
work of tlie late Commander Church, has been published during 
the past year, and gives a graphic representation of that remarkable 
region, interesting both to the geologist and geographer. 
The coast of Kerry has just now another and a deeper interest, as 
Yalentia has been fixed upon as the Eastern or European terminus 
of the Atlantic Electric Telegraph cable, which it is proposed to sub- 
merge in the course of the next month, and on this occasion, we 
heartily trust, with complete success, as the first experiment afforded 
many useful hints which will now be taken advantage of. The pre- 
paratory line of soundings, to which I referred last year as about to 
be undertaken by Commander Dayman, was most successfully 
completed in H. M. S. Cyclops , which carried a line of deep-sea 
soundings across the Atlantic from Yalentia to Newfoundland, the 
detailed account of which has been published and largely circulated, 
and therefore is probably familiar to many of my hearers. As I shall, 
in the sequel, treat of the natural history results of this survey, 
under the head of Physical Geography, I will only say that the 
shelf or bank on which the British Isles repose was found to extend 
to the westward as far as the meridian of 15°, or about 180 miles 
off shore, when it suddenly dropped from a depth of 500 to 1500 
fathoms. From the foot of this submarine cliff the bed of the ocean 
held an undulating course, varying from 1500 to 2400 fathoms, 
which depth was reached in long. 26° W. From this point of 
greatest depth the bed of the ocean gradually rises until, in long. 
50° W., it reaches the outskirts of the bank on which the island of 
Newfoundland rests ; it is round to the north of this shoal that the 
telegraph cable is destined to pass into Bull Harbour, near the 
south-western angle of Trinity Bay. Fully appreciating the value 
of Commander Dayman’s soundings, and experience as a pilot, the 
directors of the Company have made it a special request to the 
Admiralty that this officer, now in command of H. M. S. Gorgon , 
may be allowed to accompany and precede the U. S. ship Niagara , 
with the western portion of the cable (after the junction has been 
made in the mid- Atlantic), and pilot her to her destination. You 
will doubtless all join with me in heartily bidding them God speed. 
Mediterranean . — Gf foreign surveys the Mediterranean claims pre- 
cedence, as its shores were the earliest seat of civilisation, and must 
interest alike the antiquarian, the scholar, and the geographer. 
Notwithstanding the classic works of Beaufort, Smyth, and their 
successors, we have yet only imperfect surveys and vague accounts 
of a large portion of this region. In last year’s Address I had 
YOL. II, y 
