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 1,700 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
waggon all the way from Valentia, on the west coast of Ireland, to
Trinity Bay in Newfoundland. And, except upon one sharp incline about
200 miles from Valentia, I am not quite sure that it would even be
necessary to put the skid on, so gentle are the ascents and descents
upon that long route. From Valentia the road would lie down-hill for
about 200 miles to the point at which the bottom is now covered by 1,700
fathoms of sea-water. Then would come the central plain, more than a
thousand miles wide, the inequalities of the surface of which would be
hardly perceptible, though the depth of water upon it now varies from
10,000 to 15,000 feet; and there are places in which Mont Blanc might
be sunk without showing its peak above water. Beyond this, the ascent on
the American side commences, and gradually leads, for about 300 miles,
to the Newfoundland shore.