Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-08-17
THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.
Earth-It In barren al 1ts Greatest
Oeptha.

ocencry Incre Way SufpooO th0t OF the
Earth-It Ii barren at Its Greatest
Depths.
Who Is there among US thai has never
seen "a lake, n pond or a river bed laid
dry that has not felt an almost childish
interest and curiosity in the aspect of a
portion of the car+h's surface hitherto
concealed from our gaze? rho feeling IL
probably universal, arising. from the nat
nral desire TO penetrate the unknown,
and also from u primitive al xiety to
know what sort of an abode the inhabit-
ants of the water posses, since We al
most always consider the water folk to
live as do the birds, really on land with
the water for an atmosphere.
But II this curiosity be SO general with
regard to the petty depths mentioned
above how greatly Is 1t increased in re-
spect of the rccesscs nf the sea. FOR
there is truly the great unknown, the un-
~discovsrable country OF which, in spite
NJ the constant efforts Of deep-sea expo
ditions. we know next TO nothing. Here
Imagination may land docs) run riot, at
tempting the impossible task OF reproduce
ing to our minds the state of things IT.
the lightless, silent depths, where life,
according to our ideas of 1t, Is Impossible
the true valley of the shadow of death.
suppose that II were possible for some
commissions Of nature to lay bare, let
US say. the entire bed Of the north ATTAIN
tic ocean. With one bound tho fancy
leaps at the prospect of q r~edisccvery of
The lost continent, the failed Atlantic,
whose wonders have had so powerful M
inject upon the imaginations OF mankind.
Should we be ablo to roam through those.
s~tupcndous halls. climb those towering
temple heights reared by the giants of
an elder world, or gaze with stopefed
wonder upon the majestic ruins of cities
to which Pobylon or Palmyra with all
their mountains cdifices were bit rs a
suburban townlet? Who knows? Yet
maybe the natural wonders apparent ir
the foundations of such soaring masses
as the Azores, the Cape Verde islands or
the Canarics, or, greater still the altitude
of such remote and lonely pinnacles az
those of the ST. Paul's rocks, would
strike Us as more mavclous yet.
TOPOGRAPHY or OCEAN BED.
To tread the cool intricacies of tho
still Ncxt BcrmOOthes' at their base.
nients and seek out their caves where
the sea monsters dwell who never saw
the light of day, to wander at will among
the windinSs of that strange maze of
rcefs that cramp up the outpouring of
the beneiicent gulf stream and make It
issue from its source with that turbulent
energy that carries it, laden with bless
ihss, to our shores; what IL pilgrimage
that would be! Imagine the vision OF
that great chain of Islands which we call
the west Indies soring up from the vast
plain 800 feet below, with all ,he di-
versity of form and c~oloring belonging to
the lovely homes of the coral insects, who
build ceaselessly for themselves. yet all
unconscoously rear stable alodcs for
mankind.
1t would be an awful country to view.
this suddenly exposed floor of the sea. A
barren aar Of weird outline. OF almost
u~nimaginable completely of contour. but
without n beauty such as is bestowed
upon the dry earth by the kindly sun.
For its beauty depends upon the sea.
whose prolific waters are peopled with
life SO abundantly that ever the teen,nr
earth is barren as compared with the
ocen. Hut at its greatest depth all the
researches that man has been able to
~ w IpONc tIldt tucTe ~ IlItI0
life. The most that goes on there il the
steady accumulation OF the dead husks
OF once living organisms settling SLOWLY
down to form who knows what new gran
ITS. marbles. %porphyries, against the ti,no
when another race on u reOrCanizeI earth
shall nea ID them.
Here there is nothing fanciful, for if
we Know anything at all Of prehistoric
lines 1t Is that what is now nigh land.
not to say merely dry land, was once w.
ing cod and at the bottom of
the sea, being prepared through, who
can say what anrealizable periods of
time, for the ,0e and endowment OF its
present lorls. Not until we leave tho
iaSless gloom. the incalculablc pressurca
and universal cold Of those tremendous
depths do we find the sea floor beginning
to abound with life. 1t nay even he
doubted whether anything Of mans
handiwork, such as there is about a shin
Laundering in mldocean, would ever
reach in u recognizable form the bottom,
OF the sea at a depth OF more than 1000
fthoms.
DERELICTS OF THE DEEP.
There Is an idea popularity current
among seafarers that sunken ships in
the deep sea only go down a certain dis
lance. no matter what their hu,ld or how
ronderous their cargo. Having reached
u certain stratum. they then drift about
SLOWLY di~stirtegrating, derlicts of I'M.
depths, swarming with strange denizens.
the shadowy fleets Of the lost and loved
ma nttrnn L. e--