Transcriber's note: Italic font is indicated by _underscores_. Bold font is indicated by the =equals= symbol. THE MIGHTY DEEP [Illustration: _By permission of the Apothecaries’ Co., Ceylon_ BURST OF THE SOUTH-WEST MONSOON AGAINST THE COLOMBO BREAKWATER _Frontispiece_ ] THE MIGHTY DEEP AND WHAT WE KNOW OF IT BY AGNES GIBERNE AUTHOR OF “SUN, MOON, AND STARS”; “RADIANT SUNS”; “ROY, A TALE OF THE DAYS OF SIR JOHN MOORE”; ETC., ETC. “If I had asked thee, saying, How many dwellings are there in the heart of the Sea? ... peradventure thou wouldst say unto me, I never went down into the Deep.” _2 Esdras_ iv. 7. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS London C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. Henrietta Street 1902 DEDICATED TO THE REVERED MEMORY OF VICTORIA THE GREAT, R.I. SOVEREIGN LADY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE QUEEN OF THE OCEAN AND MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE BY THE SAME AUTHOR =ROY A STORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR= _Crown 8vo, cloth, with illustrations, price 5s._ _PRESS NOTICES_ “An interesting and well-studied romance of military adventure.”--_Scotsman._ “The illustrations are good, the writing is pithy, and the tone well calculated to inspire youthful readers with lofty ambitions.”--_Morning Advertiser._ LONDON: C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED HENRIETTA STREET, W.C. PREFACE This little book makes no profession to be a systematic text-book of Oceanography, or to contain exhaustive discussions of the latest discoveries and theories. The subject is far too vast to be so dealt with in one small volume. A library would almost be needed for the purpose. Much information has been gained within the last decade or two of years about the Ocean, its make, the laws which govern its movements, its dark and mysterious depths, the various deposits upon its bed, and the innumerable living creatures by which it is inhabited. All that I have attempted has been to cull a certain number of leading facts from the great storehouse of knowledge, and to put them in order, for the many who love sea-breezes and ocean-waves, and who may like to know a little more about the friend whom they so often visit.