+-----------+----------+-----------+----------+-----------+----------+ | | Fall of | | Fall of | | Fall of | | | surface | | surface | | surface | | Latitude. | in forty | Latitude. | in forty | Latitude. | in forty | | | years. | | years. | | years. | +-----------+----------+-----------+----------+-----------+----------+ |East Coast.| Feet. |East Coast.| Feet. |East Coast.| Feet. | | 63° 59′ | 1.50 | 59° 17′ | 2.17 | 56° 10′ | 0.00 | | ... ... | 2.50 | 58 44 | 1.00 | 56 11 | 0.00 | | ... ... | 0.50 | 58 42 | 1.08 | 55 53 | 0.00 | | 61 43 | 2.50 | 58 45 | 1.17 | | | 61 37 | 2.83 | 58 35 | 2.00 | South-West Coast. | | 61 32 | 2.50 | 58 28 | 0.07 | 55 23 | 0.00 | | 61 45 | 2.50 | 58 11 | 0.83 | 55 22 | 0.00 | | 60 11 | 2.33 | 58 8 | 1.00 | 57 21 | 0.00 | | 59 46 | 0.17 | 57 50 | 1.00 | 57 53 | 1.00 | | 59 46 | 2.00 | 56 41 | 0.41 | | +-----------+----------+-----------+----------+-----------+----------+ Of the facts collected in the course of this investigation, the following may be mentioned as tending to support the opinion of a fall of level. _1st_, It is generally believed among the pilots of the Baltic, that the sea has become shallower along the course which vessels ordinarily follow; but, it is added, that this alteration is more sensible in the places where the tide collects sand, detached pebbles, and sea-weeds, or in those where the bottom is composed of rocks. The same observation has been made in the neighbourhood of some large towns and fisheries; for example, a hydrographic chart made in 1771, gives six fathoms for the mean depth of the sea opposite the harbour of Landskrona, whereas, in 1817, the sounding line scarcely gave five fathoms at the same point. _2d_, According to the oldest and most experienced pilots, the straits which separate the numerous islets scattered along the coast of Sweden, from Haarparanda to the frontiers of Norway, received vessels that drew ten feet of water; now they are not practicable for boats that draw more than two or three feet. _3d_, The pilots further affirm, that, along the whole coast of Bahusia, the bottom undergoes a diminution, which becomes sensible every ten years in certain places, where it is composed of rocks. Several other parts of the Baltic may be cited, in which a similar change has been remarked. M. C. P. Hallstrom, in an Appendix to Mr Bruncrona’s Memoir, gives the following table of the diminution observed in the depth of the waters of the Gulf of Bothnia.