ed soundings were taken, which Blake, the
geological surveyor, was to plot on the chart of the island which he had
almost completed.

Some idea of the steepness of the submarine mountain of which Macquarie
Island forms the crest may be gathered from a sounding, taken ten and a
half miles east of the island, which gave two thousand seven hundred and
forty-five fathoms and no bottom. In other words, if the sea were to dry
up, there would be a lofty mountain rising from the plain of the ocean's
bed to a height of nearly eighteen thousand feet.

A great deal of work still required to be done off Macquarie Island,
but, as the uneven and rocky nature of the bottom prevented dredging, I
decided to sail on the 25th, continuing the voyage towards the Auckland
Islands.

Several people had expressed belief in a submarine ridge connecting
Macquarie Island with the Auckland group. Three soundings which we
obtained on this voyage did not support the suggestion, ranging as they
did from one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five to two thousand four
hundred and thirty fathoms, eighty-five miles south-west of the Auckland
group. We were the more glad to obtain these soundings, as, during the
winter cruise, in the same waters, the weather had forced us to abandon
the attempt.

On November 28 we took several soundings on the eastern side of
the Auckland Islands, but did not prolong our stay as we wished to
investigate the ridge south of Tasmania--the Mill Rise. The course was
therefore directed westward with a view to outlining the eastern edge of
this submarine elevation.

The first sounding to indicate that we were once more approaching the
Mill Rise was in one thousand and seventy-six fathoms. Continuing
west we secured the next record in one thousand three hundred fathoms,
limiting the southern extremity of the ridge which extends northward for
nearly one hundred miles. From this sounding the water shoaled quickly
as we steered north. Thus, on the same day, we were in eight hundred and
thirty-five fathoms at noon, in seven hundred and thirty-five fathoms
at 3.40 P.M. and in seven hundred and ten fathoms at 7.30 P.M. After the
last sounding we lowered the rock-gripper. On the first trial, however,
it failed to shut and, on the second, only a little fine sand was
recovered. As it was blowing hard most of the time, we were very
fortunate in being able to do this piece of work.

An inspection of the chart reveals the fact that the