In former days, such a command as this might have sounded
very much like one of the impossible things which the young prince in
the Fairy Tales is ordered to do before he can obtain the hand of the
Princess. However, in the months of June and July, 1857, my friend
performed the task assigned to him with great expedition and precision
without, so far as I know, having met with any reward of that kind.
The specimens of Atlantic mud which he procured were sent to me to be
examined and reported upon.*
* See Appendix to Captain Dayman's "Deep-sea Soundings in
the North Atlantic Ocean, between Ireland and Newfoundland,
made in H.M.S. Cyclops. Published by order of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, 1858." They have since
formed the subject of an elaborate Memoir by Messrs. Parker
and Jones, published in the Philosophical Transactions for
1865.
The result of all these operations is, that we know the contours and the
nature of the surface-soil covered by the North Atlantic, for a distance
of seventeen hundred miles from east to west, as well as we know that of
any part of the dry land.
It is a prodigious plain--one of the widest and most even plains in the
world. If the sea were drained off, you might drive a wagon all the
way from Valentia, on the west coast of Ireland, to Trinity Bay, in
Newfoundland.
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