A DESCENT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 421, 24 December 1859, Page 7

A DESCENT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.

(■From (Castles in #c SSeta t in ' All the Year Round.'

Our destination is 60 feet below the surface, or twice the depth of the street eeen from the top of an ordinary house ; and very slowly we proceed to reach it. The thick water below us is now stationary, and we have no guide by which to measure our progress, except the different gradations of light. lam first made aware of the whole bell being under water by

having my attention drawn by my fellowmerman, who wears a cap, and looks like Robinson Crusoe, to a few pinches of sand that are washed about on the top of the bull's-eye windows. There is a calm silence, only broken by the flapping of a chain against the? outside of the bell ; the glittering sunlight, toned down as it has been by the thick gfass, immediately changes to a bright green twilight ; and the water casts off its milky thickness, and looks like green lamp oil. This green colour was caused by the yellow sand still mixing with the blue water, as we are not far enough out from the land to pet into the deep blue sea. At this moment I felt a sharp pain shooting through my bead, which, scientifically speaking, was caused by the pressure of condensed air in the hell, but which, popularly explained, to use the words of an old writer on the subject, was like having a couple of sharp quills thrust forcibly into each ear. 4t Rinse 'em out with a little sea water," said Robinson Crusoe, who sat opposite to me, and whose face became more swarthy every foot we sank : " it did me good when 1 first went down, some two years ago." I followed Robinson Crusoe's advice, paddled in the water belween my legs, and poked my wet forefingers into my ears ; but I cannot recommend the remedy as a perfect cure. As we got a few feet lower (we sank about two feet a miinlte) the twilight deepened, and looking upwards through the green bull's eyes into the sea above us it reminded me of watching a large space through a very email window that was covered with an impenetrable fog. Robinson Crusoe now began to provide for contingencies by hauling in a candle with the endless chain. When it came at last through the water at the bottom of the bell— a messenger of light from above— it was a small composite dip, that did not seem much injured by its passage down the tube. # A few feet deeper, and the water became clearer—more like glass, and less like green lamp oil— while the pain in my ears went off to a great extent, as Robinson had predicted it would. Tlie The twilight in the bell-chamber deepened, and the water beneath us became even more clear, until we at length sighted our promised land — the bottom of the sea. The water being calm, we had no occasion to light our candle (a light being a very common necessity), and we saw the lumps of chalk and flint lying side by side, like atoms that were magnified in a large microscope. The sea was as clear as some spirit thrice refined, and it swayed to and fro over its stony bed, like a pond of liquid quicksilver. Another foot lower, and we slipped off our muddy seats to stand fairly at the bottom of the sea. Here Robinson, very kindly, went through a variety of performances, with the view of enlightening me as to the manners and customs of mcrmen° stonemasons while at work in building under the sea. lie took the loose plunk upon which I had been sitting, and placed it against the other piauk upon which he had been sitting, in a horizontal but upright position ; he then reached a couple of wedges from a small ledge at the side, with which he made this structure firm, until it was turned into a perfect trough. He then took the pickaxe and dug out a lew stones at the bottom of the sea, which he shovelled into this trough, and then we stood upon the lower centre plank while he gave the sign to those above to move us. " Now," he said, pulling the signal-handle, which was like a syringe-handle, a preconcerted number of times, "we'll go over the mud-box." In a few seconds, with a slight roar as we left the bottom, we found ourselves rising slowly, like a very heavy balloon. The chalk and flint, after shaking about in the liquid glassy microscope for some little time, grew by degrees more misty, and at last disappeared. " Now, said Robinson, giving another preconcerted number of pulls at the signal-handle, " we'll hold hard ;" and in a few seconds the bell was motionless. "Now," said Robinson, acting as before, except with regard to the number of pulls, "we'll go to France;" and in a few seconds more we were moving in a forward direction away from the English coast. A lew paces brought us to the spot where Crusoe knew the muJ-box to be, and other series of pulls caused the bell to stop, and assume a downward direction. Casting my eyes in the water, I soon saw the dim outlines of an oblon^ shape, which gradually developed into a long open iron coffin, with heavy chains stretehe(l°lWitly across its surface, and secured in the middle with a large iron ring. A few more seconds ot descent, during which this chest of water seemed to rise slowly towards us, and I found that it was full of flint and chalk. The trough in our bell was soon knocked to pieces, by taking out the side wedges, and the rubbish which it contained was swept clown into the mud-box beneath. This box, when full, is attached to chains communicating with the machinery above, and is hauled up to any position that the work may require. As a rule, it is drawn up full on the Ranngate side of the pier, and emptied on the Folkestone side, as a protective embankment against the constant and partial washing of the sea. These operations, with the block-raising and blockplacing before alluded to, constitute the chief work of Robinson Cruso* and all his merman mates. Occasionally, to save time, excursions are made with the protection of the dmn«* helmet, under the edge of the bell, out into the deep sea. The air is then supplied to the labourer under water, from the chamber of the bell, by means of a tube; and he looks, as he walks upon the flinty uneven pathway, in heavily-weighted clogs,' to keep him steady and to keep him down, like some curious halfhuman monster employed in smokin^ a «igantic hookah, the bowl of which is the bell, and the pipe of which is the elastic communicating tube. " This here is divin'," as my old friend at the Polytechnic would have said, " and this is the sea." Robinson, having put the bell through all the paces of which it is capable, lifting and dropping, backwards, and right and left, at last give 3 the signal— according to ray desire— that we shall be raised once more to the upper world ; and five men, as I am informed, now work the windlass which took two men to let us safely down. We rise even more slowly and imperceptibly than we descended, because of the pressing weight of water above our heads; the light gradually changes from the black twilight of the bottom, through the green fog of the centre, up to the yellow sunlight higher still. The water over the bull's-eye windows becomes thinner and thinner, until it dashes backwards and forwards, like molten silver. The face of Robinson (who still sits opposite to me, the mud trough having been broken up and once more distributed at the two end seats) participates in all the changes of light, until it passes from a dark shadow to a bright, open, copper teakettle countenance. A thiu white mist, or steam, has floated between us all through the upward journey, which the learned tell us, somewhat obscurely, is generated by the water having overcome some portion of the air, in consequence of a slight tilting; of the bell while we were at the bottom. No practical merman, or landman, can give any common-sense explanations of the mysterious vapour. The water got thicker and thicker as we drew near the surface, until it assumed the appearance of a thin white paint; and all the way up my ears were musical with a cracking buzzing noise, as if a couple of bees had taken possession of my brain, and were trying to converse with each other across the passages. At last I saw the silvery water fall off from the bull'a eye, and in a few minutes our wet glistening icon chamber released its hold upon the sea. The fresb air rushed upward, tingling in my head, like a sniff of smelling salts; the boat came under us ouce more, containing another merman to take my place, provided with a tin bottle of tea (the chief refreshment the djvers» are allowed to carry down), aud after wishing Robiusou good day, I went on shore amongst a gang of mermen, who were still sitting"

patiently on the, pyramid of dripping 9teps> awaiting- the arrival of the slow and "heavy carriages that were to take them to their" building at the bottom of the ocean.