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-Project Gutenberg's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
-(slightly abridged), by Jules Verne
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (slightly abridged)
-
-Author: Jules Verne
-
-Release Date: Sep 1, 1994 [EBook #164]
-Last Updated: December 13, 2016
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 20000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA ***
-
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-This etext was done by a number of anonymous volunteers of the
-Gutenberg Project, to whom we owe a great deal of thanks and to
-whom we dedicate this book.
-
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-
-
-
-
-TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
-
-
-by
-
-JULES VERNE
-
-
-
-
-
-PART ONE
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-A SHIFTING REEF
-
-The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and
-puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.  Not to
-mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the
-public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were
-particularly excited.  Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels,
-skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries,
-and the Governments of several States on the two continents, were
-deeply interested in the matter.
-
-For some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing," a long
-object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely
-larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
-
-The facts relating to this apparition (entered in various log-books)
-agreed in most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in
-question, the untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power
-of locomotion, and the peculiar life with which it seemed endowed.  If
-it was a whale, it surpassed in size all those hitherto classified in
-science.  Taking into consideration the mean of observations made at
-divers times--rejecting the timid estimate of those who assigned to
-this object a length of two hundred feet, equally with the exaggerated
-opinions which set it down as a mile in width and three in length--we
-might fairly conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly all
-dimensions admitted by the learned ones of the day, if it existed at
-all.  And that it DID exist was an undeniable fact; and, with that
-tendency which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvellous, we
-can understand the excitement produced in the entire world by this
-supernatural apparition.  As to classing it in the list of fables, the
-idea was out of the question.
-
-On the 20th of July, 1866, the steamer Governor Higginson, of the
-Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had met this moving mass
-five miles off the east coast of Australia.  Captain Baker thought at
-first that he was in the presence of an unknown sandbank; he even
-prepared to determine its exact position when two columns of water,
-projected by the mysterious object, shot with a hissing noise a hundred
-and fifty feet up into the air.  Now, unless the sandbank had been
-submitted to the intermittent eruption of a geyser, the Governor
-Higginson had to do neither more nor less than with an aquatic mammal,
-unknown till then, which threw up from its blow-holes columns of water
-mixed with air and vapour.
-
-Similar facts were observed on the 23rd of July in the same year, in
-the Pacific Ocean, by the Columbus, of the West India and Pacific Steam
-Navigation Company.  But this extraordinary creature could transport
-itself from one place to another with surprising velocity; as, in an
-interval of three days, the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had
-observed it at two different points of the chart, separated by a
-distance of more than seven hundred nautical leagues.
-
-Fifteen days later, two thousand miles farther off, the Helvetia, of
-the Compagnie-Nationale, and the Shannon, of the Royal Mail Steamship
-Company, sailing to windward in that portion of the Atlantic lying
-between the United States and Europe, respectively signalled the
-monster to each other in 42° 15' N. lat. and 60° 35' W. long.
-In these simultaneous observations they thought themselves justified in
-estimating the minimum length of the mammal at more than three hundred
-and fifty feet, as the Shannon and Helvetia were of smaller dimensions
-than it, though they measured three hundred feet over all.
-
-Now the largest whales, those which frequent those parts of the sea
-round the Aleutian, Kulammak, and Umgullich islands, have never
-exceeded the length of sixty yards, if they attain that.
-
-In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion.  They sang
-of it in the cafes, ridiculed it in the papers, and represented it on
-the stage.  All kinds of stories were circulated regarding it.  There
-appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary
-creature, from the white whale, the terrible "Moby Dick" of sub-arctic
-regions, to the immense kraken, whose tentacles could entangle a ship
-of five hundred tons and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean.  The
-legends of ancient times were even revived.
-
-Then burst forth the unending argument between the believers and the
-unbelievers in the societies of the wise and the scientific journals.
-"The question of the monster" inflamed all minds.  Editors of
-scientific journals, quarrelling with believers in the supernatural,
-spilled seas of ink during this memorable campaign, some even drawing
-blood; for from the sea-serpent they came to direct personalities.
-
-During the first months of the year 1867 the question seemed buried,
-never to revive, when new facts were brought before the public.  It was
-then no longer a scientific problem to be solved, but a real danger
-seriously to be avoided.  The question took quite another shape.  The
-monster became a small island, a rock, a reef, but a reef of indefinite
-and shifting proportions.
-
-On the 5th of March, 1867, the Moravian, of the Montreal Ocean Company,
-finding herself during the night in 27° 30' lat. and 72° 15'
-long., struck on her starboard quarter a rock, marked in no chart for
-that part of the sea.  Under the combined efforts of the wind and its
-four hundred horse power, it was going at the rate of thirteen knots.
-Had it not been for the superior strength of the hull of the Moravian,
-she would have been broken by the shock and gone down with the 237
-passengers she was bringing home from Canada.
-
-The accident happened about five o'clock in the morning, as the day was
-breaking.  The officers of the quarter-deck hurried to the after-part
-of the vessel.  They examined the sea with the most careful attention.
-They saw nothing but a strong eddy about three cables' length distant,
-as if the surface had been violently agitated.  The bearings of the
-place were taken exactly, and the Moravian continued its route without
-apparent damage.  Had it struck on a submerged rock, or on an enormous
-wreck?  They could not tell; but, on examination of the ship's bottom
-when undergoing repairs, it was found that part of her keel was broken.
-
-This fact, so grave in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten like
-many others if, three weeks after, it had not been re-enacted under
-similar circumstances.  But, thanks to the nationality of the victim of
-the shock, thanks to the reputation of the company to which the vessel
-belonged, the circumstance became extensively circulated.
-
-The 13th of April, 1867, the sea being beautiful, the breeze
-favourable, the Scotia, of the Cunard Company's line, found herself in
-15° 12' long. and 45° 37' lat.  She was going at the speed of
-thirteen knots and a half.
-
-At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, whilst the passengers
-were assembled at lunch in the great saloon, a slight shock was felt on
-the hull of the Scotia, on her quarter, a little aft of the port-paddle.
-
-The Scotia had not struck, but she had been struck, and seemingly by
-something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt.  The shock had been
-so slight that no one had been alarmed, had it not been for the shouts
-of the carpenter's watch, who rushed on to the bridge, exclaiming, "We
-are sinking! we are sinking!"  At first the passengers were much
-frightened, but Captain Anderson hastened to reassure them.  The danger
-could not be imminent.  The Scotia, divided into seven compartments by
-strong partitions, could brave with impunity any leak.  Captain
-Anderson went down immediately into the hold.  He found that the sea
-was pouring into the fifth compartment; and the rapidity of the influx
-proved that the force of the water was considerable.  Fortunately this
-compartment did not hold the boilers, or the fires would have been
-immediately extinguished.  Captain Anderson ordered the engines to be
-stopped at once, and one of the men went down to ascertain the extent
-of the injury.  Some minutes afterwards they discovered the existence
-of a large hole, two yards in diameter, in the ship's bottom.  Such a
-leak could not be stopped; and the Scotia, her paddles half submerged,
-was obliged to continue her course.  She was then three hundred miles
-from Cape Clear, and, after three days' delay, which caused great
-uneasiness in Liverpool, she entered the basin of the company.
-
-The engineers visited the Scotia, which was put in dry dock.  They
-could scarcely believe it possible; at two yards and a half below
-water-mark was a regular rent, in the form of an isosceles triangle.
-The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined that it
-could not have been more neatly done by a punch.  It was clear, then,
-that the instrument producing the perforation was not of a common stamp
-and, after having been driven with prodigious strength, and piercing an
-iron plate 1 3/8 inches thick, had withdrawn itself by a backward
-motion.
-
-Such was the last fact, which resulted in exciting once more the
-torrent of public opinion.  From this moment all unlucky casualties
-which could not be otherwise accounted for were put down to the monster.
-
-Upon this imaginary creature rested the responsibility of all these
-shipwrecks, which unfortunately were considerable; for of three
-thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded at Lloyd's, the number
-of sailing and steam-ships supposed to be totally lost, from the
-absence of all news, amounted to not less than two hundred!
-
-Now, it was the "monster" who, justly or unjustly, was accused of their
-disappearance, and, thanks to it, communication between the different
-continents became more and more dangerous.  The public demanded sharply
-that the seas should at any price be relieved from this formidable
-cetacean.[1]
-
-
-[1] Member of the whale family.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-PRO AND CON
-
-At the period when these events took place, I had just returned from a
-scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the
-United States.  In virtue of my office as Assistant Professor in the
-Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French Government had attached
-me to that expedition.  After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New
-York towards the end of March, laden with a precious collection.  My
-departure for France was fixed for the first days in May.  Meanwhile I
-was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and
-zoological riches, when the accident happened to the Scotia.
-
-I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day.
-How could I be otherwise?  I had read and reread all the American and
-European papers without being any nearer a conclusion.  This mystery
-puzzled me.  Under the impossibility of forming an opinion, I jumped
-from one extreme to the other.  That there really was something could
-not be doubted, and the incredulous were invited to put their finger on
-the wound of the Scotia.
-
-On my arrival at New York the question was at its height.  The theory
-of the floating island, and the unapproachable sandbank, supported by
-minds little competent to form a judgment, was abandoned.  And, indeed,
-unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach, how could it change its
-position with such astonishing rapidity?
-
-From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enormous wreck
-was given up.
-
-There remained, then, only two possible solutions of the question,
-which created two distinct parties:  on one side, those who were for a
-monster of colossal strength; on the other, those who were for a
-submarine vessel of enormous motive power.
-
-But this last theory, plausible as it was, could not stand against
-inquiries made in both worlds.  That a private gentleman should have
-such a machine at his command was not likely.  Where, when, and how was
-it built? and how could its construction have been kept secret?
-Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine.  And
-in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the
-power of weapons of war, it was possible that, without the knowledge of
-others, a State might try to work such a formidable engine.
-
-But the idea of a war machine fell before the declaration of
-Governments.  As public interest was in question, and transatlantic
-communications suffered, their veracity could not be doubted.  But how
-admit that the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the
-public eye?  For a private gentleman to keep the secret under such
-circumstances would be very difficult, and for a State whose every act
-is persistently watched by powerful rivals, certainly impossible.
-
-Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honour of
-consulting me on the phenomenon in question.  I had published in France
-a work in quarto, in two volumes, entitled Mysteries of the Great
-Submarine Grounds.  This book, highly approved of in the learned world,
-gained for me a special reputation in this rather obscure branch of
-Natural History.  My advice was asked.  As long as I could deny the
-reality of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative.  But
-soon, finding myself driven into a corner, I was obliged to explain
-myself point by point.  I discussed the question in all its forms,
-politically and scientifically; and I give here an extract from a
-carefully-studied article which I published in the number of the 30th
-of April.  It ran as follows:
-
-"After examining one by one the different theories, rejecting all other
-suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence of a marine
-animal of enormous power.
-
-"The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us.  Soundings
-cannot reach them.  What passes in those remote depths--what beings
-live, or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the
-waters--what is the organisation of these animals, we can scarcely
-conjecture.  However, the solution of the problem submitted to me may
-modify the form of the dilemma.  Either we do know all the varieties of
-beings which people our planet, or we do not.  If we do NOT know them
-all--if Nature has still secrets in the deeps for us, nothing is more
-conformable to reason than to admit the existence of fishes, or
-cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species, of an organisation
-formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings, and which an
-accident of some sort has brought at long intervals to the upper level
-of the ocean.
-
-"If, on the contrary, we DO know all living kinds, we must necessarily
-seek for the animal in question amongst those marine beings already
-classed; and, in that case, I should be disposed to admit the existence
-of a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of
-sixty feet.  Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength
-proportionate to its size, lengthen its destructive weapons, and you
-obtain the animal required.  It will have the proportions determined by
-the officers of the Shannon, the instrument required by the perforation
-of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull of the
-steamer.
-
-"Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword, a halberd,
-according to the expression of certain naturalists.  The principal tusk
-has the hardness of steel.  Some of these tusks have been found buried
-in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn always attacks with success.
-Others have been drawn out, not without trouble, from the bottoms of
-ships, which they had pierced through and through, as a gimlet pierces
-a barrel.  The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one
-of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length, and
-fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
-
-"Very well! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger and the animal
-ten times more powerful; launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
-and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required.
-Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be a
-sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with
-a real spur, as the armoured frigates, or the `rams' of war, whose
-massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time.  Thus
-may this puzzling phenomenon be explained, unless there be something
-over and above all that one has ever conjectured, seen, perceived, or
-experienced; which is just within the bounds of possibility."
-
-These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a certain point,
-I wished to shelter my dignity as professor, and not give too much
-cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well when they do laugh.
-I reserved for myself a way of escape.  In effect, however, I admitted
-the existence of the "monster." My article was warmly discussed, which
-procured it a high reputation.  It rallied round it a certain number of
-partisans.  The solution it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to
-the imagination.  The human mind delights in grand conceptions of
-supernatural beings.  And the sea is precisely their best vehicle, the
-only medium through which these giants (against which terrestrial
-animals, such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as nothing) can be
-produced or developed.
-
-The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from
-this point of view.  The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd's
-List, the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial Review, all papers
-devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of
-premium, were unanimous on this point.  Public opinion had been
-pronounced.  The United States were the first in the field; and in New
-York they made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this
-narwhal.  A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in
-commission as soon as possible.  The arsenals were opened to Commander
-Farragut, who hastened the arming of his frigate; but, as it always
-happens, the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster
-did not appear.  For two months no one heard it spoken of.  No ship met
-with it.  It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around
-it.  It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable,
-that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on
-its passage and was making the most of it.
-
-So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided
-with formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to
-pursue.  Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned
-that a steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to
-Shanghai, had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific
-Ocean.  The excitement caused by this news was extreme.  The ship was
-revictualled and well stocked with coal.
-
-Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier, I received a
-letter worded as follows:
-
-To M. ARONNAX, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel,
-New York.
-
-SIR,--If you will consent to join the Abraham Lincoln in this
-expedition, the Government of the United States will with pleasure see
-France represented in the enterprise.  Commander Farragut has a cabin
-at your disposal.
-
-Very cordially yours, J.B. HOBSON, Secretary of Marine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-I FORM MY RESOLUTION
-
-Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson's letter I no more
-thought of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the
-North Sea.  Three seconds after reading the letter of the honourable
-Secretary of Marine, I felt that my true vocation, the sole end of my
-life, was to chase this disturbing monster and purge it from the world.
-
-But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey, weary and longing for
-repose.  I aspired to nothing more than again seeing my country, my
-friends, my little lodging by the Jardin des Plantes, my dear and
-precious collections--but nothing could keep me back!  I forgot
-all--fatigue, friends and collections--and accepted without hesitation
-the offer of the American Government.
-
-"Besides," thought I, "all roads lead back to Europe; and the unicorn
-may be amiable enough to hurry me towards the coast of France.  This
-worthy animal may allow itself to be caught in the seas of Europe (for
-my particular benefit), and I will not bring back less than half a yard
-of his ivory halberd to the Museum of Natural History." But in the
-meanwhile I must seek this narwhal in the North Pacific Ocean, which,
-to return to France, was taking the road to the antipodes.
-
-"Conseil," I called in an impatient voice.
-
-Conseil was my servant, a true, devoted Flemish boy, who had
-accompanied me in all my travels.  I liked him, and he returned the
-liking well.  He was quiet by nature, regular from principle, zealous
-from habit, evincing little disturbance at the different surprises of
-life, very quick with his hands, and apt at any service required of
-him; and, despite his name, never giving advice--even when asked for it.
-
-Conseil had followed me for the last ten years wherever science led.
-Never once did he complain of the length or fatigue of a journey, never
-make an objection to pack his portmanteau for whatever country it might
-be, or however far away, whether China or Congo.  Besides all this, he
-had good health, which defied all sickness, and solid muscles, but no
-nerves; good morals are understood.  This boy was thirty years old, and
-his age to that of his master as fifteen to twenty.  May I be excused
-for saying that I was forty years old?
-
-But Conseil had one fault:  he was ceremonious to a degree, and would
-never speak to me but in the third person, which was sometimes
-provoking.
-
-"Conseil," said I again, beginning with feverish hands to make
-preparations for my departure.
-
-Certainly I was sure of this devoted boy.  As a rule, I never asked him
-if it were convenient for him or not to follow me in my travels; but
-this time the expedition in question might be prolonged, and the
-enterprise might be hazardous in pursuit of an animal capable of
-sinking a frigate as easily as a nutshell.  Here there was matter for
-reflection even to the most impassive man in the world.  What would
-Conseil say?
-
-"Conseil," I called a third time.
-
-Conseil appeared.
-
-"Did you call, sir?" said he, entering.
-
-"Yes, my boy; make preparations for me and yourself too.  We leave in
-two hours."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied Conseil, quietly.
-
-"Not an instant to lose; lock in my trunk all travelling utensils,
-coats, shirts, and stockings--without counting, as many as you can, and
-make haste."
-
-"And your collections, sir?" observed Conseil.
-
-"They will keep them at the hotel."
-
-"We are not returning to Paris, then?" said Conseil.
-
-"Oh! certainly," I answered, evasively, "by making a curve."
-
-"Will the curve please you, sir?"
-
-"Oh! it will be nothing; not quite so direct a road, that is all.  We
-take our passage in the Abraham, Lincoln."
-
-"As you think proper, sir," coolly replied Conseil.
-
-"You see, my friend, it has to do with the monster--the famous narwhal.
-We are going to purge it from the seas.  A glorious mission, but a
-dangerous one!  We cannot tell where we may go; these animals can be
-very capricious.  But we will go whether or no; we have got a captain
-who is pretty wide-awake."
-
-Our luggage was transported to the deck of the frigate immediately.  I
-hastened on board and asked for Commander Farragut.  One of the sailors
-conducted me to the poop, where I found myself in the presence of a
-good-looking officer, who held out his hand to me.
-
-"Monsieur Pierre Aronnax?" said he.
-
-"Himself," replied I. "Commander Farragut?"
-
-"You are welcome, Professor; your cabin is ready for you."
-
-I bowed, and desired to be conducted to the cabin destined for me.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln had been well chosen and equipped for her new
-destination.  She was a frigate of great speed, fitted with
-high-pressure engines which admitted a pressure of seven atmospheres.
-Under this the Abraham Lincoln attained the mean speed of nearly
-eighteen knots and a third an hour--a considerable speed, but,
-nevertheless, insufficient to grapple with this gigantic cetacean.
-
-The interior arrangements of the frigate corresponded to its nautical
-qualities.  I was well satisfied with my cabin, which was in the after
-part, opening upon the gunroom.
-
-"We shall be well off here," said I to Conseil.
-
-"As well, by your honour's leave, as a hermit-crab in the shell of a
-whelk," said Conseil.
-
-I left Conseil to stow our trunks conveniently away, and remounted the
-poop in order to survey the preparations for departure.
-
-At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings to be
-cast loose which held the Abraham Lincoln to the pier of Brooklyn.  So
-in a quarter of an hour, perhaps less, the frigate would have sailed
-without me.  I should have missed this extraordinary, supernatural, and
-incredible expedition, the recital of which may well meet with some
-suspicion.
-
-But Commander Farragut would not lose a day nor an hour in scouring the
-seas in which the animal had been sighted.  He sent for the engineer.
-
-"Is the steam full on?" asked he.
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-"Go ahead," cried Commander Farragut.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-NED LAND
-
-Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded.
-His vessel and he were one.  He was the soul of it.  On the question of
-the monster there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow the
-existence of the animal to be disputed on board.  He believed in it, as
-certain good women believe in the leviathan--by faith, not by reason.
-The monster did exist, and he had sworn to rid the seas of it.  Either
-Captain Farragut would kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the
-captain.  There was no third course.
-
-The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief.  They were
-ever chatting, discussing, and calculating the various chances of a
-meeting, watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean.  More than
-one took up his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees, who would have
-cursed such a berth under any other circumstances.  As long as the sun
-described its daily course, the rigging was crowded with sailors, whose
-feet were burnt to such an extent by the heat of the deck as to render
-it unbearable; still the Abraham Lincoln had not yet breasted the
-suspected waters of the Pacific.  As to the ship's company, they
-desired nothing better than to meet the unicorn, to harpoon it, hoist
-it on board, and despatch it.  They watched the sea with eager
-attention.
-
-Besides, Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand
-dollars, set apart for whoever should first sight the monster, were he
-cabin-boy, common seaman, or officer.
-
-I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the Abraham Lincoln.
-
-For my own part I was not behind the others, and, left to no one my
-share of daily observations.  The frigate might have been called the
-Argus, for a hundred reasons.  Only one amongst us, Conseil, seemed to
-protest by his indifference against the question which so interested us
-all, and seemed to be out of keeping with the general enthusiasm on
-board.
-
-I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his ship with
-every apparatus for catching the gigantic cetacean.  No whaler had ever
-been better armed.  We possessed every known engine, from the harpoon
-thrown by the hand to the barbed arrows of the blunderbuss, and the
-explosive balls of the duck-gun.  On the forecastle lay the perfection
-of a breech-loading gun, very thick at the breech, and very narrow in
-the bore, the model of which had been in the Exhibition of 1867.  This
-precious weapon of American origin could throw with ease a conical
-projectile of nine pounds to a mean distance of ten miles.
-
-Thus the Abraham Lincoln wanted for no means of destruction; and, what
-was better still she had on board Ned Land, the prince of harpooners.
-
-Ned Land was a Canadian, with an uncommon quickness of hand, and who
-knew no equal in his dangerous occupation.  Skill, coolness, audacity,
-and cunning he possessed in a superior degree, and it must be a cunning
-whale to escape the stroke of his harpoon.
-
-Ned Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man (more than six
-feet high), strongly built, grave and taciturn, occasionally violent,
-and very passionate when contradicted.  His person attracted attention,
-but above all the boldness of his look, which gave a singular
-expression to his face.
-
-Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French; and, little
-communicative as Ned Land was, I must admit that he took a certain
-liking for me.  My nationality drew him to me, no doubt.  It was an
-opportunity for him to talk, and for me to hear, that old language of
-Rabelais, which is still in use in some Canadian provinces.  The
-harpooner's family was originally from Quebec, and was already a tribe
-of hardy fishermen when this town belonged to France.
-
-Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I loved
-to hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas.  He related
-his fishing, and his combats, with natural poetry of expression; his
-recital took the form of an epic poem, and I seemed to be listening to
-a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad of the regions of the North.
-
-I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him.  We are old
-friends now, united in that unchangeable friendship which is born and
-cemented amidst extreme dangers.  Ah, brave Ned!  I ask no more than to
-live a hundred years longer, that I may have more time to dwell the
-longer on your memory.
-
-Now, what was Ned Land's opinion upon the question of the marine
-monster?  I must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn, and was
-the only one on board who did not share that universal conviction.  He
-even avoided the subject, which I one day thought it my duty to press
-upon him.  One magnificent evening, the 30th July (that is to say,
-three weeks after our departure), the frigate was abreast of Cape
-Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia.  We had
-crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and the Straits of Magellan opened
-less than seven hundred miles to the south.  Before eight days were
-over the Abraham Lincoln would be ploughing the waters of the Pacific.
-
-Seated on the poop, Ned Land and I were chatting of one thing and
-another as we looked at this mysterious sea, whose great depths had up
-to this time been inaccessible to the eye of man.  I naturally led up
-the conversation to the giant unicorn, and examined the various chances
-of success or failure of the expedition.  But, seeing that Ned Land let
-me speak without saying too much himself, I pressed him more closely.
-
-"Well, Ned," said I, "is it possible that you are not convinced of the
-existence of this cetacean that we are following?  Have you any
-particular reason for being so incredulous?"
-
-The harpooner looked at me fixedly for some moments before answering,
-struck his broad forehead with his hand (a habit of his), as if to
-collect himself, and said at last, "Perhaps I have, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"But, Ned, you, a whaler by profession, familiarised with all the great
-marine mammalia--YOU ought to be the last to doubt under such
-circumstances!"
-
-"That is just what deceives you, Professor," replied Ned.  "As a whaler
-I have followed many a cetacean, harpooned a great number, and killed
-several; but, however strong or well-armed they may have been, neither
-their tails nor their weapons would have been able even to scratch the
-iron plates of a steamer."
-
-"But, Ned, they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal have
-pierced through and through."
-
-"Wooden ships--that is possible," replied the Canadian, "but I have
-never seen it done; and, until further proof, I deny that whales,
-cetaceans, or sea-unicorns could ever produce the effect you describe."
-
-"Well, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction resting on the logic of
-facts.  I believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised,
-belonging to the branch of vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots,
-or the dolphins, and furnished with a horn of defence of great
-penetrating power."
-
-"Hum!" said the harpooner, shaking his head with the air of a man who
-would not be convinced.
-
-"Notice one thing, my worthy Canadian," I resumed.  "If such an animal
-is in existence, if it inhabits the depths of the ocean, if it
-frequents the strata lying miles below the surface of the water, it
-must necessarily possess an organisation the strength of which would
-defy all comparison."
-
-"And why this powerful organisation?" demanded Ned.
-
-"Because it requires incalculable strength to keep one's self in these
-strata and resist their pressure.  Listen to me.  Let us admit that the
-pressure of the atmosphere is represented by the weight of a column of
-water thirty-two feet high.  In reality the column of water would be
-shorter, as we are speaking of sea water, the density of which is
-greater than that of fresh water.  Very well, when you dive, Ned, as
-many times 32 feet of water as there are above you, so many times does
-your body bear a pressure equal to that of the atmosphere, that is to
-say, 15 lb. for each square inch of its surface.  It follows, then,
-that at 320 feet this pressure equals that of 10 atmospheres, of 100
-atmospheres at 3,200 feet, and of 1,000 atmospheres at 32,000 feet,
-that is, about 6 miles; which is equivalent to saying that if you could
-attain this depth in the ocean, each square three-eighths of an inch of
-the surface of your body would bear a pressure of 5,600 lb.  Ah! my
-brave Ned, do you know how many square inches you carry on the surface
-of your body?"
-
-"I have no idea, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"About 6,500; and as in reality the atmospheric pressure is about 15
-lb.  to the square inch, your 6,500 square inches bear at this moment a
-pressure of 97,500 lb."
-
-"Without my perceiving it?"
-
-"Without your perceiving it.  And if you are not crushed by such a
-pressure, it is because the air penetrates the interior of your body
-with equal pressure.  Hence perfect equilibrium between the interior
-and exterior pressure, which thus neutralise each other, and which
-allows you to bear it without inconvenience.  But in the water it is
-another thing."
-
-"Yes, I understand," replied Ned, becoming more attentive; "because the
-water surrounds me, but does not penetrate."
-
-"Precisely, Ned:  so that at 32 feet beneath the surface of the sea you
-would undergo a pressure of 97,500 lb.; at 320 feet, ten times that
-pressure; at 3,200 feet, a hundred times that pressure; lastly, at
-32,000 feet, a thousand times that pressure would be 97,500,000
-lb.--that is to say, that you would be flattened as if you had been
-drawn from the plates of a hydraulic machine!"
-
-"The devil!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"Very well, my worthy harpooner, if some vertebrate, several hundred
-yards long, and large in proportion, can maintain itself in such
-depths--of those whose surface is represented by millions of square
-inches, that is by tens of millions of pounds, we must estimate the
-pressure they undergo.  Consider, then, what must be the resistance of
-their bony structure, and the strength of their organisation to
-withstand such pressure!"
-
-"Why!" exclaimed Ned Land, "they must be made of iron plates eight
-inches thick, like the armoured frigates."
-
-"As you say, Ned.  And think what destruction such a mass would cause,
-if hurled with the speed of an express train against the hull of a
-vessel."
-
-"Yes--certainly--perhaps," replied the Canadian, shaken by these
-figures, but not yet willing to give in.
-
-"Well, have I convinced you?"
-
-"You have convinced me of one thing, sir, which is that, if such
-animals do exist at the bottom of the seas, they must necessarily be as
-strong as you say."
-
-"But if they do not exist, mine obstinate harpooner, how explain the
-accident to the Scotia?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-AT A VENTURE
-
-The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was for a long time marked by no
-special incident.  But one circumstance happened which showed the
-wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence we might
-place in him.
-
-The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers, from whom we
-learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal.  But one of them, the
-captain of the Monroe, knowing that Ned Land had shipped on board the
-Abraham Lincoln, begged for his help in chasing a whale they had in
-sight.  Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing Ned Land at work, gave
-him permission to go on board the Monroe.  And fate served our Canadian
-so well that, instead of one whale, he harpooned two with a double
-blow, striking one straight to the heart, and catching the other after
-some minutes' pursuit.
-
-Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land's harpoon, I
-would not bet in its favour.
-
-The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great
-rapidity.  The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of
-Magellan, level with Cape Vierges.  But Commander Farragut would not
-take a tortuous passage, but doubled Cape Horn.
-
-The ship's crew agreed with him.  And certainly it was possible that
-they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.  Many of the sailors
-affirmed that the monster could not pass there, "that he was too big
-for that!"
-
-The 6th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Abraham
-Lincoln, at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island,
-this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which
-some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn.  The
-course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw of
-the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
-
-"Keep your eyes open!" called out the sailors.
-
-And they were opened widely.  Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled,
-it is true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not an
-instant's repose.
-
-I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least attentive on
-board.  Giving but few minutes to my meals, but a few hours to sleep,
-indifferent to either rain or sunshine, I did not leave the poop of the
-vessel.  Now leaning on the netting of the forecastle, now on the
-taffrail, I devoured with eagerness the soft foam which whitened the
-sea as far as the eye could reach; and how often have I shared the
-emotion of the majority of the crew, when some capricious whale raised
-its black back above the waves!  The poop of the vessel was crowded on
-a moment.  The cabins poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers,
-each with heaving breast and troubled eye watching the course of the
-cetacean.  I looked and looked till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil
-kept repeating in a calm voice:
-
-"If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!"
-
-But vain excitement!  The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made
-for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot, which
-soon disappeared amidst a storm of abuse.
-
-But the weather was good.  The voyage was being accomplished under the
-most favourable auspices.  It was then the bad season in Australia, the
-July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe, but the sea
-was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.
-
-The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105d of longitude,
-and the 27th of the same month we crossed the Equator on the 110th
-meridian.  This passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly
-direction, and scoured the central waters of the Pacific.  Commander
-Farragut thought, and with reason, that it was better to remain in deep
-water, and keep clear of continents or islands, which the beast itself
-seemed to shun (perhaps because there was not enough water for him!
-suggested the greater part of the crew). The frigate passed at some
-distance from the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the
-tropic of Cancer, and made for the China Seas.  We were on the theatre
-of the last diversions of the monster:  and, to say truth, we no longer
-LIVED on board.  The entire ship's crew were undergoing a nervous
-excitement, of which I can give no idea:  they could not eat, they
-could not sleep--twenty times a day, a misconception or an optical
-illusion of some sailor seated on the taffrail, would cause dreadful
-perspirations, and these emotions, twenty times repeated, kept us in a
-state of excitement so violent that a reaction was unavoidable.
-
-And truly, reaction soon showed itself.  For three months, during which
-a day seemed an age, the Abraham Lincoln furrowed all the waters of the
-Northern Pacific, running at whales, making sharp deviations from her
-course, veering suddenly from one tack to another, stopping suddenly,
-putting on steam, and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging
-her machinery, and not one point of the Japanese or American coast was
-left unexplored.
-
-The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most ardent
-detractors.  Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself, and
-certainly, had it not been for the resolute determination on the part
-of Captain Farragut, the frigate would have headed due southward.  This
-useless search could not last much longer.  The Abraham Lincoln had
-nothing to reproach herself with, she had done her best to succeed.
-Never had an American ship's crew shown more zeal or patience; its
-failure could not be placed to their charge--there remained nothing but
-to return.
-
-This was represented to the commander.  The sailors could not hide
-their discontent, and the service suffered.  I will not say there was a
-mutiny on board, but after a reasonable period of obstinacy, Captain
-Farragut (as Columbus did) asked for three days' patience.  If in three
-days the monster did not appear, the man at the helm should give three
-turns of the wheel, and the Abraham Lincoln would make for the European
-seas.
-
-This promise was made on the 2nd of November.  It had the effect of
-rallying the ship's crew.  The ocean was watched with renewed
-attention.  Each one wished for a last glance in which to sum up his
-remembrance.  Glasses were used with feverish activity.  It was a grand
-defiance given to the giant narwhal, and he could scarcely fail to
-answer the summons and "appear."
-
-Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure; a thousand schemes
-were tried to attract the attention and stimulate the apathy of the
-animal in case it should be met in those parts.  Large quantities of
-bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship, to the great satisfaction
-(I must say) of the sharks.  Small craft radiated in all directions
-round the Abraham Lincoln as she lay to, and did not leave a spot of
-the sea unexplored.  But the night of the 4th of November arrived
-without the unveiling of this submarine mystery.
-
-The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would (morally
-speaking) expire; after that time, Commander Farragut, faithful to his
-promise, was to turn the course to the south-east and abandon for ever
-the northern regions of the Pacific.
-
-The frigate was then in 31° 15' N. lat. and 136° 42' E. long.
-The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles to
-leeward.  Night was approaching.  They had just struck eight bells;
-large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter.
-The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
-
-At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting.
-Conseil, standing near me, was looking straight before him.  The crew,
-perched in the ratlines, examined the horizon which contracted and
-darkened by degrees.  Officers with their night glasses scoured the
-growing darkness:  sometimes the ocean sparkled under the rays of the
-moon, which darted between two clouds, then all trace of light was lost
-in the darkness.
-
-In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little of the
-general influence.  At least I thought so.  Perhaps for the first time
-his nerves vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
-
-"Come, Conseil," said I, "this is the last chance of pocketing the two
-thousand dollars."
-
-"May I be permitted to say, sir," replied Conseil, "that I never
-reckoned on getting the prize; and, had the government of the Union
-offered a hundred thousand dollars, it would have been none the poorer."
-
-"You are right, Conseil.  It is a foolish affair after all, and one
-upon which we entered too lightly.  What time lost, what useless
-emotions!  We should have been back in France six months ago."
-
-"In your little room, sir," replied Conseil, "and in your museum, sir;
-and I should have already classed all your fossils, sir.  And the
-Babiroussa would have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des
-Plantes, and have drawn all the curious people of the capital!"
-
-"As you say, Conseil.  I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being
-laughed at for our pains."
-
-"That's tolerably certain," replied Conseil, quietly; "I think they
-will make fun of you, sir.  And, must I say it----?"
-
-"Go on, my good friend."
-
-"Well, sir, you will only get your deserts."
-
-"Indeed!"
-
-"When one has the honour of being a _savant_ as you are, sir, one should
-not expose one's self to----"
-
-Conseil had not time to finish his compliment.  In the midst of general
-silence a voice had just been heard.  It was the voice of Ned Land
-shouting:
-
-"Look out there!  The very thing we are looking for--on our weather
-beam!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-AT FULL STEAM
-
-At this cry the whole ship's crew hurried towards the
-harpooner--commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the
-engineers left their engines, and the stokers their furnaces.
-
-The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went
-on by her own momentum.  The darkness was then profound, and, however
-good the Canadian's eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to
-see, and what he had been able to see.  My heart beat as if it would
-break.  But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all perceived the object
-he pointed to.  At two cables' length from the Abraham Lincoln, on the
-starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be illuminated all over.  It was
-not a mere phosphoric phenomenon.  The monster emerged some fathoms
-from the water, and then threw out that very intense but mysterious
-light mentioned in the report of several captains.  This magnificent
-irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great SHINING power.
-The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval, much elongated,
-the centre of which condensed a burning heat, whose overpowering
-brilliancy died out by successive gradations.
-
-"It is only a massing of phosphoric particles," cried one of the
-officers.
-
-"No, sir, certainly not," I replied.  "That brightness is of an
-essentially electrical nature.  Besides, see, see! it moves; it is
-moving forwards, backwards; it is darting towards us!"
-
-A general cry arose from the frigate.
-
-"Silence!" said the captain.  "Up with the helm, reverse the engines."
-
-The steam was shut off, and the Abraham Lincoln, beating to port,
-described a semicircle.
-
-"Right the helm, go ahead," cried the captain.
-
-These orders were executed, and the frigate moved rapidly from the
-burning light.
-
-I was mistaken.  She tried to sheer off, but the supernatural animal
-approached with a velocity double her own.
-
-We gasped for breath.  Stupefaction more than fear made us dumb and
-motionless.  The animal gained on us, sporting with the waves.  It made
-the round of the frigate, which was then making fourteen knots, and
-enveloped it with its electric rings like luminous dust.
-
-Then it moved away two or three miles, leaving a phosphorescent track,
-like those volumes of steam that the express trains leave behind.  All
-at once from the dark line of the horizon whither it retired to gain
-its momentum, the monster rushed suddenly towards the Abraham Lincoln
-with alarming rapidity, stopped suddenly about twenty feet from the
-hull, and died out--not diving under the water, for its brilliancy did
-not abate--but suddenly, and as if the source of this brilliant
-emanation was exhausted.  Then it reappeared on the other side of the
-vessel, as if it had turned and slid under the hull.  Any moment a
-collision might have occurred which would have been fatal to us.
-However, I was astonished at the manoeuvres of the frigate.  She fled
-and did not attack.
-
-On the captain's face, generally so impassive, was an expression of
-unaccountable astonishment.
-
-"Mr. Aronnax," he said, "I do not know with what formidable being I
-have to deal, and I will not imprudently risk my frigate in the midst
-of this darkness.  Besides, how attack this unknown thing, how defend
-one's self from it?  Wait for daylight, and the scene will change."
-
-"You have no further doubt, captain, of the nature of the animal?"
-
-"No, sir; it is evidently a gigantic narwhal, and an electric one."
-
-"Perhaps," added I, "one can only approach it with a torpedo."
-
-"Undoubtedly," replied the captain, "if it possesses such dreadful
-power, it is the most terrible animal that ever was created.  That is
-why, sir, I must be on my guard."
-
-The crew were on their feet all night.  No one thought of sleep.  The
-Abraham Lincoln, not being able to struggle with such velocity, had
-moderated its pace, and sailed at half speed.  For its part, the
-narwhal, imitating the frigate, let the waves rock it at will, and
-seemed decided not to leave the scene of the struggle.  Towards
-midnight, however, it disappeared, or, to use a more appropriate term,
-it "died out" like a large glow-worm. Had it fled?  One could only
-fear, not hope it.  But at seven minutes to one o'clock in the morning
-a deafening whistling was heard, like that produced by a body of water
-rushing with great violence.
-
-The captain, Ned Land, and I were then on the poop, eagerly peering
-through the profound darkness.
-
-"Ned Land," asked the commander, "you have often heard the roaring of
-whales?"
-
-"Often, sir; but never such whales the sight of which brought me in two
-thousand dollars.  If I can only approach within four harpoons' length
-of it!"
-
-"But to approach it," said the commander, "I ought to put a whaler at
-your disposal?"
-
-"Certainly, sir."
-
-"That will be trifling with the lives of my men."
-
-"And mine too," simply said the harpooner.
-
-Towards two o'clock in the morning, the burning light reappeared, not
-less intense, about five miles to windward of the Abraham Lincoln.
-Notwithstanding the distance, and the noise of the wind and sea, one
-heard distinctly the loud strokes of the animal's tail, and even its
-panting breath.  It seemed that, at the moment that the enormous
-narwhal had come to take breath at the surface of the water, the air
-was engulfed in its lungs, like the steam in the vast cylinders of a
-machine of two thousand horse-power.
-
-"Hum!" thought I, "a whale with the strength of a cavalry regiment
-would be a pretty whale!"
-
-We were on the qui vive till daylight, and prepared for the combat.
-The fishing implements were laid along the hammock nettings.  The
-second lieutenant loaded the blunder busses, which could throw harpoons
-to the distance of a mile, and long duck-guns, with explosive bullets,
-which inflicted mortal wounds even to the most terrible animals.  Ned
-Land contented himself with sharpening his harpoon--a terrible weapon
-in his hands.
-
-At six o'clock day began to break; and, with the first glimmer of
-light, the electric light of the narwhal disappeared.  At seven o'clock
-the day was sufficiently advanced, but a very thick sea fog obscured
-our view, and the best spy glasses could not pierce it.  That caused
-disappointment and anger.
-
-I climbed the mizzen-mast. Some officers were already perched on the
-mast-heads. At eight o'clock the fog lay heavily on the waves, and its
-thick scrolls rose little by little.  The horizon grew wider and
-clearer at the same time.  Suddenly, just as on the day before, Ned
-Land's voice was heard:
-
-"The thing itself on the port quarter!" cried the harpooner.
-
-Every eye was turned towards the point indicated.  There, a mile and a
-half from the frigate, a long blackish body emerged a yard above the
-waves.  Its tail, violently agitated, produced a considerable eddy.
-Never did a tail beat the sea with such violence.  An immense track, of
-dazzling whiteness, marked the passage of the animal, and described a
-long curve.
-
-The frigate approached the cetacean.  I examined it thoroughly.
-
-The reports of the Shannon and of the Helvetia had rather exaggerated
-its size, and I estimated its length at only two hundred and fifty
-feet.  As to its dimensions, I could only conjecture them to be
-admirably proportioned.  While I watched this phenomenon, two jets of
-steam and water were ejected from its vents, and rose to the height of
-120 feet; thus I ascertained its way of breathing.  I concluded
-definitely that it belonged to the vertebrate branch, class mammalia.
-
-The crew waited impatiently for their chief's orders.  The latter,
-after having observed the animal attentively, called the engineer.  The
-engineer ran to him.
-
-"Sir," said the commander, "you have steam up?"
-
-"Yes, sir," answered the engineer.
-
-"Well, make up your fires and put on all steam."
-
-Three hurrahs greeted this order.  The time for the struggle had
-arrived.  Some moments after, the two funnels of the frigate vomited
-torrents of black smoke, and the bridge quaked under the trembling of
-the boilers.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln, propelled by her wonderful screw, went straight at
-the animal.  The latter allowed it to come within half a cable's
-length; then, as if disdaining to dive, it took a little turn, and
-stopped a short distance off.
-
-This pursuit lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour, without the
-frigate gaining two yards on the cetacean.  It was quite evident that
-at that rate we should never come up with it.
-
-"Well, Mr. Land," asked the captain, "do you advise me to put the boats
-out to sea?"
-
-"No, sir," replied Ned Land; "because we shall not take that beast
-easily."
-
-"What shall we do then?"
-
-"Put on more steam if you can, sir.  With your leave, I mean to post
-myself under the bowsprit, and, if we get within harpooning distance, I
-shall throw my harpoon."
-
-"Go, Ned," said the captain.  "Engineer, put on more pressure."
-
-Ned Land went to his post.  The fires were increased, the screw
-revolved forty-three times a minute, and the steam poured out of the
-valves.  We heaved the log, and calculated that the Abraham Lincoln was
-going at the rate of 18 1/2 miles an hour.
-
-But the accursed animal swam at the same speed.
-
-For a whole hour the frigate kept up this pace, without gaining six
-feet.  It was humiliating for one of the swiftest sailers in the
-American navy.  A stubborn anger seized the crew; the sailors abused
-the monster, who, as before, disdained to answer them; the captain no
-longer contented himself with twisting his beard--he gnawed it.
-
-The engineer was called again.
-
-"You have turned full steam on?"
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-The speed of the Abraham Lincoln increased.  Its masts trembled down to
-their stepping holes, and the clouds of smoke could hardly find way out
-of the narrow funnels.
-
-They heaved the log a second time.
-
-"Well?" asked the captain of the man at the wheel.
-
-"Nineteen miles and three-tenths, sir."
-
-"Clap on more steam."
-
-The engineer obeyed.  The manometer showed ten degrees.  But the
-cetacean grew warm itself, no doubt; for without straining itself, it
-made 19 3/10 miles.
-
-What a pursuit!  No, I cannot describe the emotion that vibrated
-through me.  Ned Land kept his post, harpoon in hand.  Several times
-the animal let us gain upon it.--"We shall catch it! we shall catch
-it!" cried the Canadian.  But just as he was going to strike, the
-cetacean stole away with a rapidity that could not be estimated at less
-than thirty miles an hour, and even during our maximum of speed, it
-bullied the frigate, going round and round it.  A cry of fury broke
-from everyone!
-
-At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o'clock in the
-morning.
-
-The captain then decided to take more direct means.
-
-"Ah!" said he, "that animal goes quicker than the Abraham Lincoln.
-Very well! we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets.
-Send your men to the forecastle, sir."
-
-The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round.  But the
-shot passed some feet above the cetacean, which was half a mile off.
-
-"Another, more to the right," cried the commander, "and five dollars to
-whoever will hit that infernal beast."
-
-An old gunner with a grey beard--that I can see now--with steady eye
-and grave face, went up to the gun and took a long aim.  A loud report
-was heard, with which were mingled the cheers of the crew.
-
-The bullet did its work; it hit the animal, and, sliding off the
-rounded surface, was lost in two miles depth of sea.
-
-The chase began again, and the captain, leaning towards me, said:
-
-"I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up."
-
-"Yes," answered I; "and you will be quite right to do it."
-
-I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible to
-fatigue like a steam engine.  But it was of no use.  Hours passed,
-without its showing any signs of exhaustion.
-
-However, it must be said in praise of the Abraham Lincoln that she
-struggled on indefatigably.  I cannot reckon the distance she made
-under three hundred miles during this unlucky day, November the 6th.
-But night came on, and overshadowed the rough ocean.
-
-Now I thought our expedition was at an end, and that we should never
-again see the extraordinary animal.  I was mistaken.  At ten minutes to
-eleven in the evening, the electric light reappeared three miles to
-windward of the frigate, as pure, as intense as during the preceding
-night.
-
-The narwhal seemed motionless; perhaps, tired with its day's work, it
-slept, letting itself float with the undulation of the waves.  Now was
-a chance of which the captain resolved to take advantage.
-
-He gave his orders.  The Abraham Lincoln kept up half steam, and
-advanced cautiously so as not to awake its adversary.  It is no rare
-thing to meet in the middle of the ocean whales so sound asleep that
-they can be successfully attacked, and Ned Land had harpooned more than
-one during its sleep.  The Canadian went to take his place again under
-the bowsprit.
-
-The frigate approached noiselessly, stopped at two cables' lengths from
-the animal, and following its track.  No one breathed; a deep silence
-reigned on the bridge.  We were not a hundred feet from the burning
-focus, the light of which increased and dazzled our eyes.
-
-At this moment, leaning on the forecastle bulwark, I saw below me Ned
-Land grappling the martingale in one hand, brandishing his terrible
-harpoon in the other, scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal.
-Suddenly his arm straightened, and the harpoon was thrown; I heard the
-sonorous stroke of the weapon, which seemed to have struck a hard body.
-The electric light went out suddenly, and two enormous waterspouts
-broke over the bridge of the frigate, rushing like a torrent from stem
-to stern, overthrowing men, and breaking the lashings of the spars.  A
-fearful shock followed, and, thrown over the rail without having time
-to stop myself, I fell into the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE
-
-This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of
-my sensations at the time.  I was at first drawn down to a depth of
-about twenty feet.  I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to
-rival Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art), and in that
-plunge I did not lose my presence of mind.  Two vigorous strokes
-brought me to the surface of the water.  My first care was to look for
-the frigate.  Had the crew seen me disappear?  Had the Abraham Lincoln
-veered round?  Would the captain put out a boat?  Might I hope to be
-saved?
-
-The darkness was intense.  I caught a glimpse of a black mass
-disappearing in the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance.
-It was the frigate!  I was lost.
-
-"Help, help!"  I shouted, swimming towards the Abraham Lincoln in
-desperation.
-
-My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed
-my movements.
-
-I was sinking!  I was suffocating!
-
-"Help!"
-
-This was my last cry.  My mouth filled with water; I struggled against
-being drawn down the abyss.  Suddenly my clothes were seized by a
-strong hand, and I felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the
-sea; and I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear:
-
-"If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would
-swim with much greater ease."
-
-I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil's arm.
-
-"Is it you?" said I, "you?"
-
-"Myself," answered Conseil; "and waiting master's orders."
-
-"That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?"
-
-"No; but, being in my master's service, I followed him."
-
-The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
-
-"And the frigate?"  I asked.
-
-"The frigate?" replied Conseil, turning on his back; "I think that
-master had better not count too much on her."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men
-at the wheel say, `The screw and the rudder are broken.'
-
-"Broken?"
-
-"Yes, broken by the monster's teeth.  It is the only injury the Abraham
-Lincoln has sustained.  But it is a bad look-out for us--she no longer
-answers her helm."
-
-"Then we are lost!"
-
-"Perhaps so," calmly answered Conseil.  "However, we have still several
-hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours."
-
-Conseil's imperturbable coolness set me up again.  I swam more
-vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck to me like a leaden
-weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up.  Conseil saw this.
-
-"Will master let me make a slit?" said he; and, slipping an open knife
-under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly.
-Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
-
-Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near to each
-other.
-
-Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible.  Perhaps our
-disappearance had not been noticed; and, if it had been, the frigate
-could not tack, being without its helm.  Conseil argued on this
-supposition, and laid his plans accordingly.  This quiet boy was
-perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that, as our only chance of
-safety was being picked up by the Abraham Lincoln's boats, we ought to
-manage so as to wait for them as long as possible.  I resolved then to
-husband our strength, so that both should not be exhausted at the same
-time; and this is how we managed:  while one of us lay on our back,
-quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out, the other would
-swim and push the other on in front.  This towing business did not last
-more than ten minutes each; and relieving each other thus, we could
-swim on for some hours, perhaps till day-break. Poor chance! but hope
-is so firmly rooted in the heart of man!  Moreover, there were two of
-us.  Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable) if I sought to
-destroy all hope--if I wished to despair, I could not.
-
-The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had occurred about
-eleven o'clock in the evening before.  I reckoned then we should have
-eight hours to swim before sunrise, an operation quite practicable if
-we relieved each other.  The sea, very calm, was in our favour.
-Sometimes I tried to pierce the intense darkness that was only
-dispelled by the phosphorescence caused by our movements.  I watched
-the luminous waves that broke over my hand, whose mirror-like surface
-was spotted with silvery rings.  One might have said that we were in a
-bath of quicksilver.
-
-Near one o'clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue.
-My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp.  Conseil was
-obliged to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone.  I
-heard the poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried.  I
-found that he could not keep up much longer.
-
-"Leave me! leave me!"  I said to him.
-
-"Leave my master?  Never!" replied he.  "I would drown first."
-
-Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that
-the wind was driving to the east.  The surface of the sea glittered
-with its rays.  This kindly light reanimated us.  My head got better
-again.  I looked at all points of the horizon.  I saw the frigate!  She
-was five miles from us, and looked like a dark mass, hardly
-discernible.  But no boats!
-
-I would have cried out.  But what good would it have been at such a
-distance!  My swollen lips could utter no sounds.  Conseil could
-articulate some words, and I heard him repeat at intervals, "Help!
-help!"
-
-Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened.  It might be
-only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the
-cry from Conseil.
-
-"Did you hear?"  I murmured.
-
-"Yes!  Yes!"
-
-And Conseil gave one more despairing cry.
-
-This time there was no mistake!  A human voice responded to ours!  Was
-it the voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle
-of the ocean, some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel?
-Or rather was it a boat from the frigate, that was hailing us in the
-darkness?
-
-Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck
-out in a desperate effort, he raised himself half out of the water,
-then fell back exhausted.
-
-"What did you see?"
-
-"I saw----" murmured he; "I saw--but do not talk--reserve all your
-strength!"
-
-What had he seen?  Then, I know not why, the thought of the monster
-came into my head for the first time!  But that voice!  The time is
-past for Jonahs to take refuge in whales' bellies!  However, Conseil
-was towing me again.  He raised his head sometimes, looked before us,
-and uttered a cry of recognition, which was responded to by a voice
-that came nearer and nearer.  I scarcely heard it.  My strength was
-exhausted; my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer;
-my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water.  Cold crept
-over me.  I raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
-
-At this moment a hard body struck me.  I clung to it: then I felt that
-I was being drawn up, that I was brought to the surface of the water,
-that my chest collapsed--I fainted.
-
-It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings that
-I received.  I half opened my eyes.
-
-"Conseil!"  I murmured.
-
-"Does master call me?" asked Conseil.
-
-Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down to
-the horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil's and which I
-immediately recognised.
-
-"Ned!"  I cried.
-
-"The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!" replied the Canadian.
-
-"Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?"
-
-"Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find a
-footing almost directly upon a floating island."
-
-"An island?"
-
-"Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal."
-
-"Explain yourself, Ned!"
-
-"Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin and was
-blunted."
-
-"Why, Ned, why?"
-
-"Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron."
-
-The Canadian's last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain.  I
-wriggled myself quickly to the top of the being, or object, half out of
-the water, which served us for a refuge.  I kicked it.  It was
-evidently a hard, impenetrable body, and not the soft substance that
-forms the bodies of the great marine mammalia.  But this hard body
-might be a bony covering, like that of the antediluvian animals; and I
-should be free to class this monster among amphibious reptiles, such as
-tortoises or alligators.
-
-Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth, polished,
-without scales.  The blow produced a metallic sound; and, incredible
-though it may be, it seemed, I might say, as if it was made of riveted
-plates.
-
-There was no doubt about it!  This monster, this natural phenomenon
-that had puzzled the learned world, and over thrown and misled the
-imagination of seamen of both hemispheres, it must be owned was a still
-more astonishing phenomenon, inasmuch as it was a simply human
-construction.
-
-We had no time to lose, however.  We were lying upon the back of a sort
-of submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge) like a huge
-fish of steel.  Ned Land's mind was made up on this point.  Conseil and
-I could only agree with him.
-
-Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was
-evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move.  We had only
-just time to seize hold of the upper part, which rose about seven feet
-out of the water, and happily its speed was not great.
-
-"As long as it sails horizontally," muttered Ned Land, "I do not mind;
-but, if it takes a fancy to dive, I would not give two straws for my
-life."
-
-The Canadian might have said still less.  It became really necessary to
-communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the
-machine.  I searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or
-a manhole, to use a technical expression; but the lines of the iron
-rivets, solidly driven into the joints of the iron plates, were clear
-and uniform.  Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total
-darkness.
-
-At last this long night passed.  My indistinct remembrance prevents my
-describing all the impressions it made.  I can only recall one
-circumstance.  During some lulls of the wind and sea, I fancied I heard
-several times vague sounds, a sort of fugitive harmony produced by
-words of command.  What was, then, the mystery of this submarine craft,
-of which the whole world vainly sought an explanation?  What kind of
-beings existed in this strange boat?  What mechanical agent caused its
-prodigious speed?
-
-Daybreak appeared.  The morning mists surrounded us, but they soon
-cleared off.  I was about to examine the hull, which formed on deck a
-kind of horizontal platform, when I felt it gradually sinking.
-
-"Oh! confound it!" cried Ned Land, kicking the resounding plate.
-"Open, you inhospitable rascals!"
-
-Happily the sinking movement ceased.  Suddenly a noise, like iron works
-violently pushed aside, came from the interior of the boat.  One iron
-plate was moved, a man appeared, uttered an odd cry, and disappeared
-immediately.
-
-Some moments after, eight strong men, with masked faces, appeared
-noiselessly, and drew us down into their formidable machine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI
-
-This forcible abduction, so roughly carried out, was accomplished with
-the rapidity of lightning.  I shivered all over.  Whom had we to deal
-with?  No doubt some new sort of pirates, who explored the sea in their
-own way.  Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me, when I was
-enveloped in darkness.  My eyes, dazzled with the outer light, could
-distinguish nothing.  I felt my naked feet cling to the rungs of an
-iron ladder.  Ned Land and Conseil, firmly seized, followed me.  At the
-bottom of the ladder, a door opened, and shut after us immediately with
-a bang.
-
-We were alone.  Where, I could not say, hardly imagine.  All was black,
-and such a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes had not been
-able to discern even the faintest glimmer.
-
-Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at these proceedings, gave free vent to
-his indignation.
-
-"Confound it!" cried he, "here are people who come up to the Scotch for
-hospitality.  They only just miss being cannibals.  I should not be
-surprised at it, but I declare that they shall not eat me without my
-protesting."
-
-"Calm yourself, friend Ned, calm yourself," replied Conseil, quietly.
-"Do not cry out before you are hurt.  We are not quite done for yet."
-
-"Not quite," sharply replied the Canadian, "but pretty near, at all
-events.  Things look black.  Happily, my bowie knife I have still, and
-I can always see well enough to use it.  The first of these pirates who
-lays a hand on me----"
-
-"Do not excite yourself, Ned," I said to the harpooner, "and do not
-compromise us by useless violence.  Who knows that they will not listen
-to us?  Let us rather try to find out where we are."
-
-I groped about.  In five steps I came to an iron wall, made of plates
-bolted together.  Then turning back I struck against a wooden table,
-near which were ranged several stools.  The boards of this prison were
-concealed under a thick mat, which deadened the noise of the feet.  The
-bare walls revealed no trace of window or door.  Conseil, going round
-the reverse way, met me, and we went back to the middle of the cabin,
-which measured about twenty feet by ten.  As to its height, Ned Land,
-in spite of his own great height, could not measure it.
-
-Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered,
-when the dense darkness suddenly gave way to extreme light.  Our prison
-was suddenly lighted, that is to say, it became filled with a luminous
-matter, so strong that I could not bear it at first.  In its whiteness
-and intensity I recognised that electric light which played round the
-submarine boat like a magnificent phenomenon of phosphorescence.  After
-shutting my eyes involuntarily, I opened them, and saw that this
-luminous agent came from a half globe, unpolished, placed in the roof
-of the cabin.
-
-"At last one can see," cried Ned Land, who, knife in hand, stood on the
-defensive.
-
-"Yes," said I; "but we are still in the dark about ourselves."
-
-"Let master have patience," said the imperturbable Conseil.
-
-The sudden lighting of the cabin enabled me to examine it minutely.  It
-only contained a table and five stools.  The invisible door might be
-hermetically sealed.  No noise was heard.  All seemed dead in the
-interior of this boat.  Did it move, did it float on the surface of the
-ocean, or did it dive into its depths?  I could not guess.
-
-A noise of bolts was now heard, the door opened, and two men appeared.
-
-One was short, very muscular, broad-shouldered, with robust limbs,
-strong head, an abundance of black hair, thick moustache, a quick
-penetrating look, and the vivacity which characterises the population
-of Southern France.
-
-The second stranger merits a more detailed description.  I made out his
-prevailing qualities directly:  self-confidence--because his head was
-well set on his shoulders, and his black eyes looked around with cold
-assurance; calmness--for his skin, rather pale, showed his coolness of
-blood; energy--evinced by the rapid contraction of his lofty brows; and
-courage--because his deep breathing denoted great power of lungs.
-
-Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years of age, I could not
-say.  He was tall, had a large forehead, straight nose, a clearly cut
-mouth, beautiful teeth, with fine taper hands, indicative of a highly
-nervous temperament.  This man was certainly the most admirable
-specimen I had ever met.  One particular feature was his eyes, rather
-far from each other, and which could take in nearly a quarter of the
-horizon at once.
-
-This faculty--(I verified it later)--gave him a range of vision far
-superior to Ned Land's. When this stranger fixed upon an object, his
-eyebrows met, his large eyelids closed around so as to contract the
-range of his vision, and he looked as if he magnified the objects
-lessened by distance, as if he pierced those sheets of water so opaque
-to our eyes, and as if he read the very depths of the seas.
-
-The two strangers, with caps made from the fur of the sea otter, and
-shod with sea boots of seal's skin, were dressed in clothes of a
-particular texture, which allowed free movement of the limbs.  The
-taller of the two, evidently the chief on board, examined us with great
-attention, without saying a word; then, turning to his companion,
-talked with him in an unknown tongue.  It was a sonorous, harmonious,
-and flexible dialect, the vowels seeming to admit of very varied
-accentuation.
-
-The other replied by a shake of the head, and added two or three
-perfectly incomprehensible words.  Then he seemed to question me by a
-look.
-
-I replied in good French that I did not know his language; but he
-seemed not to understand me, and my situation became more embarrassing.
-
-"If master were to tell our story," said Conseil, "perhaps these
-gentlemen may understand some words."
-
-I began to tell our adventures, articulating each syllable clearly, and
-without omitting one single detail.  I announced our names and rank,
-introducing in person Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and
-master Ned Land, the harpooner.
-
-The man with the soft calm eyes listened to me quietly, even politely,
-and with extreme attention; but nothing in his countenance indicated
-that he had understood my story.  When I finished, he said not a word.
-
-There remained one resource, to speak English.  Perhaps they would know
-this almost universal language.  I knew it--as well as the German
-language--well enough to read it fluently, but not to speak it
-correctly.  But, anyhow, we must make ourselves understood.
-
-"Go on in your turn," I said to the harpooner; "speak your best
-Anglo-Saxon, and try to do better than I."
-
-Ned did not beg off, and recommenced our story.
-
-To his great disgust, the harpooner did not seem to have made himself
-more intelligible than I had.  Our visitors did not stir.  They
-evidently understood neither the language of England nor of France.
-
-Very much embarrassed, after having vainly exhausted our speaking
-resources, I knew not what part to take, when Conseil said:
-
-"If master will permit me, I will relate it in German."
-
-But in spite of the elegant terms and good accent of the narrator, the
-German language had no success.  At last, nonplussed, I tried to
-remember my first lessons, and to narrate our adventures in Latin, but
-with no better success.  This last attempt being of no avail, the two
-strangers exchanged some words in their unknown language, and retired.
-
-The door shut.
-
-"It is an infamous shame," cried Ned Land, who broke out for the
-twentieth time.  "We speak to those rogues in French, English, German,
-and Latin, and not one of them has the politeness to answer!"
-
-"Calm yourself," I said to the impetuous Ned; "anger will do no good."
-
-"But do you see, Professor," replied our irascible companion, "that we
-shall absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?"
-
-"Bah!" said Conseil, philosophically; "we can hold out some time yet."
-
-"My friends," I said, "we must not despair.  We have been worse off
-than this.  Do me the favour to wait a little before forming an opinion
-upon the commander and crew of this boat."
-
-"My opinion is formed," replied Ned Land, sharply.  "They are rascals."
-
-"Good! and from what country?"
-
-"From the land of rogues!"
-
-"My brave Ned, that country is not clearly indicated on the map of the
-world; but I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard to
-determine.  Neither English, French, nor German, that is quite certain.
-However, I am inclined to think that the commander and his companion
-were born in low latitudes.  There is southern blood in them.  But I
-cannot decide by their appearance whether they are Spaniards, Turks,
-Arabians, or Indians.  As to their language, it is quite
-incomprehensible."
-
-"There is the disadvantage of not knowing all languages," said Conseil,
-"or the disadvantage of not having one universal language."
-
-As he said these words, the door opened.  A steward entered.  He
-brought us clothes, coats and trousers, made of a stuff I did not know.
-I hastened to dress myself, and my companions followed my example.
-During that time, the steward--dumb, perhaps deaf--had arranged the
-table, and laid three plates.
-
-"This is something like!" said Conseil.
-
-"Bah!" said the angry harpooner, "what do you suppose they eat here?
-Tortoise liver, filleted shark, and beef steaks from seadogs."
-
-"We shall see," said Conseil.
-
-The dishes, of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we took our
-places.  Undoubtedly we had to do with civilised people, and, had it
-not been for the electric light which flooded us, I could have fancied
-I was in the dining-room of the Adelphi Hotel at Liverpool, or at the
-Grand Hotel in Paris.  I must say, however, that there was neither
-bread nor wine.  The water was fresh and clear, but it was water and
-did not suit Ned Land's taste.  Amongst the dishes which were brought
-to us, I recognised several fish delicately dressed; but of some,
-although excellent, I could give no opinion, neither could I tell to
-what kingdom they belonged, whether animal or vegetable.  As to the
-dinner-service, it was elegant, and in perfect taste.  Each
-utensil--spoon, fork, knife, plate--had a letter engraved on it, with a
-motto above it, of which this is an exact facsimile:
-
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI N
-
-The letter N was no doubt the initial of the name of the enigmatical
-person who commanded at the bottom of the seas.
-
-Ned and Conseil did not reflect much.  They devoured the food, and I
-did likewise.  I was, besides, reassured as to our fate; and it seemed
-evident that our hosts would not let us die of want.
-
-However, everything has an end, everything passes away, even the hunger
-of people who have not eaten for fifteen hours.  Our appetites
-satisfied, we felt overcome with sleep.
-
-"Faith!  I shall sleep well," said Conseil.
-
-"So shall I," replied Ned Land.
-
-My two companions stretched themselves on the cabin carpet, and were
-soon sound asleep.  For my own part, too many thoughts crowded my
-brain, too many insoluble questions pressed upon me, too many fancies
-kept my eyes half open.  Where were we?  What strange power carried us
-on?  I felt--or rather fancied I felt--the machine sinking down to the
-lowest beds of the sea.  Dreadful nightmares beset me; I saw in these
-mysterious asylums a world of unknown animals, amongst which this
-submarine boat seemed to be of the same kind, living, moving, and
-formidable as they.  Then my brain grew calmer, my imagination wandered
-into vague unconsciousness, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-NED LAND'S TEMPERS
-
-How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long,
-for it rested us completely from our fatigues.  I woke first.  My
-companions had not moved, and were still stretched in their corner.
-
-Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch, I felt my brain freed, my
-mind clear.  I then began an attentive examination of our cell.
-Nothing was changed inside.  The prison was still a prison--the
-prisoners, prisoners.  However, the steward, during our sleep, had
-cleared the table.  I breathed with difficulty.  The heavy air seemed
-to oppress my lungs.  Although the cell was large, we had evidently
-consumed a great part of the oxygen that it contained.  Indeed, each
-man consumes, in one hour, the oxygen contained in more than 176 pints
-of air, and this air, charged (as then) with a nearly equal quantity of
-carbonic acid, becomes unbreathable.
-
-It became necessary to renew the atmosphere of our prison, and no doubt
-the whole in the submarine boat.  That gave rise to a question in my
-mind.  How would the commander of this floating dwelling-place proceed?
-Would he obtain air by chemical means, in getting by heat the oxygen
-contained in chlorate of potash, and in absorbing carbonic acid by
-caustic potash?  Or--a more convenient, economical, and consequently
-more probable alternative--would he be satisfied to rise and take
-breath at the surface of the water, like a whale, and so renew for
-twenty-four hours the atmospheric provision?
-
-In fact, I was already obliged to increase my respirations to eke out
-of this cell the little oxygen it contained, when suddenly I was
-refreshed by a current of pure air, and perfumed with saline
-emanations.  It was an invigorating sea breeze, charged with iodine.  I
-opened my mouth wide, and my lungs saturated themselves with fresh
-particles.
-
-At the same time I felt the boat rolling.  The iron-plated monster had
-evidently just risen to the surface of the ocean to breathe, after the
-fashion of whales.  I found out from that the mode of ventilating the
-boat.
-
-When I had inhaled this air freely, I sought the conduit pipe, which
-conveyed to us the beneficial whiff, and I was not long in finding it.
-Above the door was a ventilator, through which volumes of fresh air
-renewed the impoverished atmosphere of the cell.
-
-I was making my observations, when Ned and Conseil awoke almost at the
-same time, under the influence of this reviving air.  They rubbed their
-eyes, stretched themselves, and were on their feet in an instant.
-
-"Did master sleep well?" asked Conseil, with his usual politeness.
-
-"Very well, my brave boy.  And you, Mr. Land?"
-
-"Soundly, Professor.  But, I don't know if I am right or not, there
-seems to be a sea breeze!"
-
-A seaman could not be mistaken, and I told the Canadian all that had
-passed during his sleep.
-
-"Good!" said he.  "That accounts for those roarings we heard, when the
-supposed narwhal sighted the Abraham Lincoln."
-
-"Quite so, Master Land; it was taking breath."
-
-"Only, Mr. Aronnax, I have no idea what o'clock it is, unless it is
-dinner-time."
-
-"Dinner-time! my good fellow?  Say rather breakfast-time, for we
-certainly have begun another day."
-
-"So," said Conseil, "we have slept twenty-four hours?"
-
-"That is my opinion."
-
-"I will not contradict you," replied Ned Land.  "But, dinner or
-breakfast, the steward will be welcome, whichever he brings."
-
-"Master Land, we must conform to the rules on board, and I suppose our
-appetites are in advance of the dinner hour."
-
-"That is just like you, friend Conseil," said Ned, impatiently.  "You
-are never out of temper, always calm; you would return thanks before
-grace, and die of hunger rather than complain!"
-
-Time was getting on, and we were fearfully hungry; and this time the
-steward did not appear.  It was rather too long to leave us, if they
-really had good intentions towards us.  Ned Land, tormented by the
-cravings of hunger, got still more angry; and, notwithstanding his
-promise, I dreaded an explosion when he found himself with one of the
-crew.
-
-For two hours more Ned Land's temper increased; he cried, he shouted,
-but in vain.  The walls were deaf.  There was no sound to be heard in
-the boat; all was still as death.  It did not move, for I should have
-felt the trembling motion of the hull under the influence of the screw.
-Plunged in the depths of the waters, it belonged no longer to earth:
-this silence was dreadful.
-
-I felt terrified, Conseil was calm, Ned Land roared.
-
-Just then a noise was heard outside.  Steps sounded on the metal flags.
-The locks were turned, the door opened, and the steward appeared.
-
-Before I could rush forward to stop him, the Canadian had thrown him
-down, and held him by the throat.  The steward was choking under the
-grip of his powerful hand.
-
-Conseil was already trying to unclasp the harpooner's hand from his
-half-suffocated victim, and I was going to fly to the rescue, when
-suddenly I was nailed to the spot by hearing these words in French:
-
-"Be quiet, Master Land; and you, Professor, will you be so good as to
-listen to me?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE MAN OF THE SEAS
-
-It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.
-
-At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly.  The steward, nearly strangled,
-tottered out on a sign from his master.  But such was the power of the
-commander on board, that not a gesture betrayed the resentment which
-this man must have felt towards the Canadian.  Conseil interested in
-spite of himself, I stupefied, awaited in silence the result of this
-scene.
-
-The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms
-folded, scanned us with profound attention.  Did he hesitate to speak?
-Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French?  One might
-almost think so.
-
-After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed of breaking,
-"Gentlemen," said he, in a calm and penetrating voice, "I speak French,
-English, German, and Latin equally well.  I could, therefore, have
-answered you at our first interview, but I wished to know you first,
-then to reflect.  The story told by each one, entirely agreeing in the
-main points, convinced me of your identity.  I know now that chance has
-brought before me M. Pierre Aronnax, Professor of Natural History at
-the Museum of Paris, entrusted with a scientific mission abroad,
-Conseil, his servant, and Ned Land, of Canadian origin, harpooner on
-board the frigate Abraham Lincoln of the navy of the United States of
-America."
-
-I bowed assent.  It was not a question that the commander put to me.
-Therefore there was no answer to be made.  This man expressed himself
-with perfect ease, without any accent.  His sentences were well turned,
-his words clear, and his fluency of speech remarkable.  Yet, I did not
-recognise in him a fellow-countryman.
-
-He continued the conversation in these terms:
-
-"You have doubtless thought, sir, that I have delayed long in paying
-you this second visit.  The reason is that, your identity recognised, I
-wished to weigh maturely what part to act towards you.  I have
-hesitated much.  Most annoying circumstances have brought you into the
-presence of a man who has broken all the ties of humanity.  You have
-come to trouble my existence."
-
-"Unintentionally!" said I.
-
-"Unintentionally?" replied the stranger, raising his voice a little.
-"Was it unintentionally that the Abraham Lincoln pursued me all over
-the seas?  Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this
-frigate?  Was it unintentionally that your cannon-balls rebounded off
-the plating of my vessel?  Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land
-struck me with his harpoon?"
-
-I detected a restrained irritation in these words.  But to these
-recriminations I had a very natural answer to make, and I made it.
-
-"Sir," said I, "no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions which have
-taken place concerning you in America and Europe.  You do not know that
-divers accidents, caused by collisions with your submarine machine,
-have excited public feeling in the two continents.  I omit the theories
-without number by which it was sought to explain that of which you
-alone possess the secret.  But you must understand that, in pursuing
-you over the high seas of the Pacific, the Abraham Lincoln believed
-itself to be chasing some powerful sea-monster, of which it was
-necessary to rid the ocean at any price."
-
-A half-smile curled the lips of the commander:  then, in a calmer tone:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he replied, "dare you affirm that your frigate would not
-as soon have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat as a monster?"
-
-This question embarrassed me, for certainly Captain Farragut might not
-have hesitated.  He might have thought it his duty to destroy a
-contrivance of this kind, as he would a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"You understand then, sir," continued the stranger, "that I have the
-right to treat you as enemies?"
-
-I answered nothing, purposely.  For what good would it be to discuss
-such a proposition, when force could destroy the best arguments?
-
-"I have hesitated some time," continued the commander; "nothing obliged
-me to show you hospitality.  If I chose to separate myself from you, I
-should have no interest in seeing you again; I could place you upon the
-deck of this vessel which has served you as a refuge, I could sink
-beneath the waters, and forget that you had ever existed.  Would not
-that be my right?"
-
-"It might be the right of a savage," I answered, "but not that of a
-civilised man."
-
-"Professor," replied the commander, quickly, "I am not what you call a
-civilised man!  I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I
-alone have the right of appreciating.  I do not, therefore, obey its
-laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!"
-
-This was said plainly.  A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the
-eyes of the Unknown, and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life
-of this man.  Not only had he put himself beyond the pale of human
-laws, but he had made himself independent of them, free in the
-strictest acceptation of the word, quite beyond their reach!  Who then
-would dare to pursue him at the bottom of the sea, when, on its
-surface, he defied all attempts made against him?
-
-What vessel could resist the shock of his submarine monitor?  What
-cuirass, however thick, could withstand the blows of his spur?  No man
-could demand from him an account of his actions; God, if he believed in
-one--his conscience, if he had one--were the sole judges to whom he was
-answerable.
-
-These reflections crossed my mind rapidly, whilst the stranger
-personage was silent, absorbed, and as if wrapped up in himself.  I
-regarded him with fear mingled with interest, as, doubtless, OEdiphus
-regarded the Sphinx.
-
-After rather a long silence, the commander resumed the conversation.
-
-"I have hesitated," said he, "but I have thought that my interest might
-be reconciled with that pity to which every human being has a right.
-You will remain on board my vessel, since fate has cast you there.  You
-will be free; and, in exchange for this liberty, I shall only impose
-one single condition.  Your word of honour to submit to it will
-suffice."
-
-"Speak, sir," I answered.  "I suppose this condition is one which a man
-of honour may accept?"
-
-"Yes, sir; it is this:  It is possible that certain events, unforeseen,
-may oblige me to consign you to your cabins for some hours or some
-days, as the case may be.  As I desire never to use violence, I expect
-from you, more than all the others, a passive obedience.  In thus
-acting, I take all the responsibility:  I acquit you entirely, for I
-make it an impossibility for you to see what ought not to be seen.  Do
-you accept this condition?"
-
-Then things took place on board which, to say the least, were singular,
-and which ought not to be seen by people who were not placed beyond the
-pale of social laws.  Amongst the surprises which the future was
-preparing for me, this might not be the least.
-
-"We accept," I answered; "only I will ask your permission, sir, to
-address one question to you--one only."
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"You said that we should be free on board."
-
-"Entirely."
-
-"I ask you, then, what you mean by this liberty?"
-
-"Just the liberty to go, to come, to see, to observe even all that
-passes here save under rare circumstances--the liberty, in short, which
-we enjoy ourselves, my companions and I."
-
-It was evident that we did not understand one another.
-
-"Pardon me, sir," I resumed, "but this liberty is only what every
-prisoner has of pacing his prison.  It cannot suffice us."
-
-"It must suffice you, however."
-
-"What! we must renounce for ever seeing our country, our friends, our
-relations again?"
-
-"Yes, sir.  But to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men
-believe to be liberty is not perhaps so painful as you think."
-
-"Well," exclaimed Ned Land, "never will I give my word of honour not to
-try to escape."
-
-"I did not ask you for your word of honour, Master Land," answered the
-commander, coldly.
-
-"Sir," I replied, beginning to get angry in spite of my self, "you
-abuse your situation towards us; it is cruelty."
-
-"No, sir, it is clemency.  You are my prisoners of war.  I keep you,
-when I could, by a word, plunge you into the depths of the ocean.  You
-attacked me.  You came to surprise a secret which no man in the world
-must penetrate--the secret of my whole existence.  And you think that I
-am going to send you back to that world which must know me no more?
-Never!  In retaining you, it is not you whom I guard--it is myself."
-
-These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander,
-against which no arguments would prevail.
-
-"So, sir," I rejoined, "you give us simply the choice between life and
-death?"
-
-"Simply."
-
-"My friends," said I, "to a question thus put, there is nothing to
-answer.  But no word of honour binds us to the master of this vessel."
-
-"None, sir," answered the Unknown.
-
-Then, in a gentler tone, he continued:
-
-"Now, permit me to finish what I have to say to you.  I know you, M.
-Aronnax.  You and your companions will not, perhaps, have so much to
-complain of in the chance which has bound you to my fate.  You will
-find amongst the books which are my favourite study the work which you
-have published on `the depths of the sea.'  I have often read it.  You
-have carried out your work as far as terrestrial science permitted you.
-But you do not know all--you have not seen all.  Let me tell you then,
-Professor, that you will not regret the time passed on board my vessel.
-You are going to visit the land of marvels."
-
-These words of the commander had a great effect upon me.  I cannot deny
-it.  My weak point was touched; and I forgot, for a moment, that the
-contemplation of these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of
-liberty.  Besides, I trusted to the future to decide this grave
-question.  So I contented myself with saying:
-
-"By what name ought I to address you?"
-
-"Sir," replied the commander, "I am nothing to you but Captain Nemo;
-and you and your companions are nothing to me but the passengers of the
-Nautilus."
-
-Captain Nemo called.  A steward appeared.  The captain gave him his
-orders in that strange language which I did not understand.  Then,
-turning towards the Canadian and Conseil:
-
-"A repast awaits you in your cabin," said he.  "Be so good as to follow
-this man.
-
-"And now, M. Aronnax, our breakfast is ready.  Permit me to lead the
-way."
-
-"I am at your service, Captain."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo; and as soon as I had passed through the door,
-I found myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity, similar to
-the waist of a ship.  After we had proceeded a dozen yards, a second
-door opened before me.
-
-I then entered a dining-room, decorated and furnished in severe taste.
-High oaken sideboards, inlaid with ebony, stood at the two extremities
-of the room, and upon their shelves glittered china, porcelain, and
-glass of inestimable value.  The plate on the table sparkled in the
-rays which the luminous ceiling shed around, while the light was
-tempered and softened by exquisite paintings.
-
-In the centre of the room was a table richly laid out.  Captain Nemo
-indicated the place I was to occupy.
-
-The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes, the contents of
-which were furnished by the sea alone; and I was ignorant of the nature
-and mode of preparation of some of them.  I acknowledged that they were
-good, but they had a peculiar flavour, which I easily became accustomed
-to.  These different aliments appeared to me to be rich in phosphorus,
-and I thought they must have a marine origin.
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me.  I asked him no questions, but he guessed my
-thoughts, and answered of his own accord the questions which I was
-burning to address to him.
-
-"The greater part of these dishes are unknown to you," he said to me.
-"However, you may partake of them without fear.  They are wholesome and
-nourishing.  For a long time I have renounced the food of the earth,
-and I am never ill now.  My crew, who are healthy, are fed on the same
-food."
-
-"So," said I, "all these eatables are the produce of the sea?"
-
-"Yes, Professor, the sea supplies all my wants.  Sometimes I cast my
-nets in tow, and I draw them in ready to break.  Sometimes I hunt in
-the midst of this element, which appears to be inaccessible to man, and
-quarry the game which dwells in my submarine forests.  My flocks, like
-those of Neptune's old shepherds, graze fearlessly in the immense
-prairies of the ocean.  I have a vast property there, which I cultivate
-myself, and which is always sown by the hand of the Creator of all
-things."
-
-"I can understand perfectly, sir, that your nets furnish excellent fish
-for your table; I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in
-your submarine forests; but I cannot understand at all how a particle
-of meat, no matter how small, can figure in your bill of fare."
-
-"This, which you believe to be meat, Professor, is nothing else than
-fillet of turtle.  Here are also some dolphins' livers, which you take
-to be ragout of pork.  My cook is a clever fellow, who excels in
-dressing these various products of the ocean.  Taste all these dishes.
-Here is a preserve of sea-cucumber, which a Malay would declare to be
-unrivalled in the world; here is a cream, of which the milk has been
-furnished by the cetacea, and the sugar by the great fucus of the North
-Sea; and, lastly, permit me to offer you some preserve of anemones,
-which is equal to that of the most delicious fruits."
-
-I tasted, more from curiosity than as a connoisseur, whilst Captain
-Nemo enchanted me with his extraordinary stories.
-
-"You like the sea, Captain?"
-
-"Yes; I love it!  The sea is everything.  It covers seven tenths of the
-terrestrial globe.  Its breath is pure and healthy.  It is an immense
-desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all
-sides.  The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful
-existence.  It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the `Living
-Infinite,' as one of your poets has said.  In fact, Professor, Nature
-manifests herself in it by her three kingdoms--mineral, vegetable, and
-animal.  The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature.  The globe began with
-sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it?  In it is
-supreme tranquillity.  The sea does not belong to despots.  Upon its
-surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to
-pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors.  But at thirty
-feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched,
-and their power disappears.  Ah! sir, live--live in the bosom of the
-waters!  There only is independence!  There I recognise no masters!
-There I am free!"
-
-Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of this enthusiasm, by
-which he was quite carried away.  For a few moments he paced up and
-down, much agitated.  Then he became more calm, regained his accustomed
-coldness of expression, and turning towards me:
-
-"Now, Professor," said he, "if you wish to go over the Nautilus, I am
-at your service."
-
-Captain Nemo rose.  I followed him.  A double door, contrived at the
-back of the dining-room, opened, and I entered a room equal in
-dimensions to that which I had just quitted.
-
-It was a library.  High pieces of furniture, of black violet ebony
-inlaid with brass, supported upon their wide shelves a great number of
-books uniformly bound.  They followed the shape of the room,
-terminating at the lower part in huge divans, covered with brown
-leather, which were curved, to afford the greatest comfort.  Light
-movable desks, made to slide in and out at will, allowed one to rest
-one's book while reading.  In the centre stood an immense table,
-covered with pamphlets, amongst which were some newspapers, already of
-old date.  The electric light flooded everything; it was shed from four
-unpolished globes half sunk in the volutes of the ceiling.  I looked
-with real admiration at this room, so ingeniously fitted up, and I
-could scarcely believe my eyes.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I to my host, who had just thrown himself on one
-of the divans, "this is a library which would do honour to more than
-one of the continental palaces, and I am absolutely astounded when I
-consider that it can follow you to the bottom of the seas."
-
-"Where could one find greater solitude or silence, Professor?" replied
-Captain Nemo.  "Did your study in the Museum afford you such perfect
-quiet?"
-
-"No, sir; and I must confess that it is a very poor one after yours.
-You must have six or seven thousand volumes here."
-
-"Twelve thousand, M. Aronnax.  These are the only ties which bind me to
-the earth.  But I had done with the world on the day when my Nautilus
-plunged for the first time beneath the waters.  That day I bought my
-last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last papers, and from that time I
-wish to think that men no longer think or write.  These books,
-Professor, are at your service besides, and you can make use of them
-freely."
-
-I thanked Captain Nemo, and went up to the shelves of the library.
-Works on science, morals, and literature abounded in every language;
-but I did not see one single work on political economy; that subject
-appeared to be strictly proscribed.  Strange to say, all these books
-were irregularly arranged, in whatever language they were written; and
-this medley proved that the Captain of the Nautilus must have read
-indiscriminately the books which he took up by chance.
-
-"Sir," said I to the Captain, "I thank you for having placed this
-library at my disposal.  It contains treasures of science, and I shall
-profit by them."
-
-"This room is not only a library," said Captain Nemo, "it is also a
-smoking-room."
-
-"A smoking-room!" I cried.  "Then one may smoke on board?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"Then, sir, I am forced to believe that you have kept up a
-communication with Havannah."
-
-"Not any," answered the Captain.  "Accept this cigar, M. Aronnax; and,
-though it does not come from Havannah, you will be pleased with it, if
-you are a connoisseur."
-
-I took the cigar which was offered me; its shape recalled the London
-ones, but it seemed to be made of leaves of gold.  I lighted it at a
-little brazier, which was supported upon an elegant bronze stem, and
-drew the first whiffs with the delight of a lover of smoking who has
-not smoked for two days.
-
-"It is excellent, but it is not tobacco."
-
-"No!" answered the Captain, "this tobacco comes neither from Havannah
-nor from the East.  It is a kind of sea-weed, rich in nicotine, with
-which the sea provides me, but somewhat sparingly."
-
-At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite to that
-by which I had entered the library, and I passed into an immense
-drawing-room splendidly lighted.
-
-It was a vast, four-sided room, thirty feet long, eighteen wide, and
-fifteen high.  A luminous ceiling, decorated with light arabesques,
-shed a soft clear light over all the marvels accumulated in this
-museum.  For it was in fact a museum, in which an intelligent and
-prodigal hand had gathered all the treasures of nature and art, with
-the artistic confusion which distinguishes a painter's studio.
-
-Thirty first-rate pictures, uniformly framed, separated by bright
-drapery, ornamented the walls, which were hung with tapestry of severe
-design. I saw works of great value, the greater part of which I had
-admired in the special collections of Europe, and in the exhibitions of
-paintings. The several schools of the old masters were represented by a
-Madonna of Raphael, a Virgin of Leonardo da Vinci, a nymph of Corregio,
-a woman of Titan, an Adoration of Veronese, an Assumption of Murillo, a
-portrait of Holbein, a monk of Velasquez, a martyr of Ribera, a fair of
-Rubens, two Flemish landscapes of Teniers, three little "genre"
-pictures of Gerard Dow, Metsu, and Paul Potter, two specimens of
-Gericault and Prudhon, and some sea-pieces of Backhuysen and Vernet.
-Amongst the works of modern painters were pictures with the signatures
-of Delacroix, Ingres, Decamps, Troyon, Meissonier, Daubigny, etc.; and
-some admirable statues in marble and bronze, after the finest antique
-models, stood upon pedestals in the corners of this magnificent museum.
-Amazement, as the Captain of the Nautilus had predicted, had already
-begun to take possession of me.
-
-"Professor," said this strange man, "you must excuse the unceremonious
-way in which I receive you, and the disorder of this room."
-
-"Sir," I answered, "without seeking to know who you are, I recognise in
-you an artist."
-
-"An amateur, nothing more, sir.  Formerly I loved to collect these
-beautiful works created by the hand of man.  I sought them greedily,
-and ferreted them out indefatigably, and I have been able to bring
-together some objects of great value.  These are my last souvenirs of
-that world which is dead to me.  In my eyes, your modern artists are
-already old; they have two or three thousand years of existence; I
-confound them in my own mind.  Masters have no age."
-
-"And these musicians?" said I, pointing out some works of Weber,
-Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, Herold, Wagner, Auber,
-Gounod, and a number of others, scattered over a large model
-piano-organ which occupied one of the panels of the drawing-room.
-
-"These musicians," replied Captain Nemo, "are the contemporaries of
-Orpheus; for in the memory of the dead all chronological differences
-are effaced; and I am dead, Professor; as much dead as those of your
-friends who are sleeping six feet under the earth!"
-
-Captain Nemo was silent, and seemed lost in a profound reverie. I
-contemplated him with deep interest, analysing in silence the strange
-expression of his countenance. Leaning on his elbow against an angle of
-a costly mosaic table, he no longer saw me,--he had forgotten my
-presence.
-
-I did not disturb this reverie, and continued my observation of the
-curiosities which enriched this drawing-room.
-
-Under elegant glass cases, fixed by copper rivets, were classed and
-labelled the most precious productions of the sea which had ever been
-presented to the eye of a naturalist.  My delight as a professor may be
-conceived.
-
-The division containing the zoophytes presented the most curious
-specimens of the two groups of polypi and echinodermes. In the first
-group, the tubipores, were gorgones arranged like a fan, soft sponges
-of Syria, ises of the Moluccas, pennatules, an admirable virgularia of
-the Norwegian seas, variegated unbellulairae, alcyonariae, a whole
-series of madrepores, which my master Milne Edwards has so cleverly
-classified, amongst which I remarked some wonderful flabellinae
-oculinae of the Island of Bourbon, the "Neptune's car" of the Antilles,
-superb varieties of corals--in short, every species of those curious
-polypi of which entire islands are formed, which will one day become
-continents. Of the echinodermes, remarkable for their coating of
-spines, asteri, sea-stars, pantacrinae, comatules, asterophons, echini,
-holothuri, etc., represented individually a complete collection of this
-group.
-
-A somewhat nervous conchyliologist would certainly have fainted before
-other more numerous cases, in which were classified the specimens of
-molluscs. It was a collection of inestimable value, which time fails me
-to describe minutely. Amongst these specimens I will quote from memory
-only the elegant royal hammer-fish of the Indian Ocean, whose regular
-white spots stood out brightly on a red and brown ground, an imperial
-spondyle, bright-coloured, bristling with spines, a rare specimen in
-the European museums--(I estimated its value at not less than L1000); a
-common hammer-fish of the seas of New Holland, which is only procured
-with difficulty; exotic buccardia of Senegal; fragile white bivalve
-shells, which a breath might shatter like a soap-bubble; several
-varieties of the aspirgillum of Java, a kind of calcareous tube, edged
-with leafy folds, and much debated by amateurs; a whole series of
-trochi, some a greenish-yellow, found in the American seas, others a
-reddish-brown, natives of Australian waters; others from the Gulf of
-Mexico, remarkable for their imbricated shell; stellari found in the
-Southern Seas; and last, the rarest of all, the magnificent spur of New
-Zealand; and every description of delicate and fragile shells to which
-science has given appropriate names.
-
-Apart, in separate compartments, were spread out chaplets of pearls of
-the greatest beauty, which reflected the electric light in little
-sparks of fire; pink pearls, torn from the pinna-marina of the Red Sea;
-green pearls of the haliotyde iris; yellow, blue and black pearls, the
-curious productions of the divers molluscs of every ocean, and certain
-mussels of the water-courses of the North; lastly, several specimens of
-inestimable value which had been gathered from the rarest pintadines.
-Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon's egg, and were worth as
-much, and more than that which the traveller Tavernier sold to the Shah
-of Persia for three millions, and surpassed the one in the possession
-of the Imaum of Muscat, which I had believed to be unrivalled in the
-world.
-
-Therefore, to estimate the value of this collection was simply
-impossible.  Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the
-acquirement of these various specimens, and I was thinking what source
-he could have drawn from, to have been able thus to gratify his fancy
-for collecting, when I was interrupted by these words:
-
-"You are examining my shells, Professor?  Unquestionably they must be
-interesting to a naturalist; but for me they have a far greater charm,
-for I have collected them all with my own hand, and there is not a sea
-on the face of the globe which has escaped my researches."
-
-"I can understand, Captain, the delight of wandering about in the midst
-of such riches.  You are one of those who have collected their
-treasures themselves.  No museum in Europe possesses such a collection
-of the produce of the ocean.  But if I exhaust all my admiration upon
-it, I shall have none left for the vessel which carries it.  I do not
-wish to pry into your secrets:  but I must confess that this Nautilus,
-with the motive power which is confined in it, the contrivances which
-enable it to be worked, the powerful agent which propels it, all excite
-my curiosity to the highest pitch.  I see suspended on the walls of
-this room instruments of whose use I am ignorant."
-
-"You will find these same instruments in my own room, Professor, where
-I shall have much pleasure in explaining their use to you.  But first
-come and inspect the cabin which is set apart for your own use.  You
-must see how you will be accommodated on board the Nautilus."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo who, by one of the doors opening from each
-panel of the drawing-room, regained the waist.  He conducted me towards
-the bow, and there I found, not a cabin, but an elegant room, with a
-bed, dressing-table, and several other pieces of excellent furniture.
-
-I could only thank my host.
-
-"Your room adjoins mine," said he, opening a door, "and mine opens into
-the drawing-room that we have just quitted."
-
-I entered the Captain's room:  it had a severe, almost a monkish
-aspect.  A small iron bedstead, a table, some articles for the toilet;
-the whole lighted by a skylight.  No comforts, the strictest
-necessaries only.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed to a seat.
-
-"Be so good as to sit down," he said.  I seated myself, and he began
-thus:
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-ALL BY ELECTRICITY
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, showing me the instruments hanging on the
-walls of his room, "here are the contrivances required for the
-navigation of the Nautilus.  Here, as in the drawing-room, I have them
-always under my eyes, and they indicate my position and exact direction
-in the middle of the ocean.  Some are known to you, such as the
-thermometer, which gives the internal temperature of the Nautilus; the
-barometer, which indicates the weight of the air and foretells the
-changes of the weather; the hygrometer, which marks the dryness of the
-atmosphere; the storm-glass, the contents of which, by decomposing,
-announce the approach of tempests; the compass, which guides my course;
-the sextant, which shows the latitude by the altitude of the sun;
-chronometers, by which I calculate the longitude; and glasses for day
-and night, which I use to examine the points of the horizon, when the
-Nautilus rises to the surface of the waves."
-
-"These are the usual nautical instruments," I replied, "and I know the
-use of them.  But these others, no doubt, answer to the particular
-requirements of the Nautilus.  This dial with movable needle is a
-manometer, is it not?"
-
-"It is actually a manometer.  But by communication with the water,
-whose external pressure it indicates, it gives our depth at the same
-time."
-
-"And these other instruments, the use of which I cannot guess?"
-
-"Here, Professor, I ought to give you some explanations.  Will you be
-kind enough to listen to me?"
-
-He was silent for a few moments, then he said:
-
-"There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to
-every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel.  Everything is done
-by means of it.  It lights, warms it, and is the soul of my mechanical
-apparatus.  This agent is electricity."
-
-"Electricity?"  I cried in surprise.
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement,
-which does not agree well with the power of electricity.  Until now,
-its dynamic force has remained under restraint, and has only been able
-to produce a small amount of power."
-
-"Professor," said Captain Nemo, "my electricity is not everybody's.
-You know what sea-water is composed of.  In a thousand grammes are
-found 96 1/2 per cent. of water, and about 2 2/3 per cent.  of chloride
-of sodium; then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of magnesium and of
-potassium, bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and
-carbonate of lime.  You see, then, that chloride of sodium forms a
-large part of it.  So it is this sodium that I extract from the
-sea-water, and of which I compose my ingredients.  I owe all to the
-ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity gives heat, light,
-motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus."
-
-"But not the air you breathe?"
-
-"Oh!  I could manufacture the air necessary for my consumption, but it
-is useless, because I go up to the surface of the water when I please.
-However, if electricity does not furnish me with air to breathe, it
-works at least the powerful pumps that are stored in spacious
-reservoirs, and which enable me to prolong at need, and as long as I
-will, my stay in the depths of the sea.  It gives a uniform and
-unintermittent light, which the sun does not.  Now look at this clock;
-it is electrical, and goes with a regularity that defies the best
-chronometers.  I have divided it into twenty-four hours, like the
-Italian clocks, because for me there is neither night nor day, sun nor
-moon, but only that factitious light that I take with me to the bottom
-of the sea.  Look! just now, it is ten o'clock in the morning."
-
-"Exactly."
-
-"Another application of electricity.  This dial hanging in front of us
-indicates the speed of the Nautilus.  An electric thread puts it in
-communication with the screw, and the needle indicates the real speed.
-Look! now we are spinning along with a uniform speed of fifteen miles
-an hour."
-
-"It is marvelous!  And I see, Captain, you were right to make use of
-this agent that takes the place of wind, water, and steam."
-
-"We have not finished, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo, rising.  "If you
-will allow me, we will examine the stern of the Nautilus."
-
-Really, I knew already the anterior part of this submarine boat, of
-which this is the exact division, starting from the ship's head: the
-dining-room, five yards long, separated from the library by a
-water-tight partition; the library, five yards long; the large
-drawing-room, ten yards long, separated from the Captain's room by a
-second water-tight partition; the said room, five yards in length;
-mine, two and a half yards; and, lastly a reservoir of air, seven and a
-half yards, that extended to the bows.  Total length thirty five yards,
-or one hundred and five feet.  The partitions had doors that were shut
-hermetically by means of india-rubber instruments, and they ensured the
-safety of the Nautilus in case of a leak.
-
-I followed Captain Nemo through the waist, and arrived at the centre of
-the boat.  There was a sort of well that opened between two partitions.
-An iron ladder, fastened with an iron hook to the partition, led to the
-upper end.  I asked the Captain what the ladder was used for.
-
-"It leads to the small boat," he said.
-
-"What! have you a boat?"  I exclaimed, in surprise.
-
-"Of course; an excellent vessel, light and insubmersible, that serves
-either as a fishing or as a pleasure boat."
-
-"But then, when you wish to embark, you are obliged to come to the
-surface of the water?"
-
-"Not at all.  This boat is attached to the upper part of the hull of
-the Nautilus, and occupies a cavity made for it.  It is decked, quite
-water-tight, and held together by solid bolts.  This ladder leads to a
-man-hole made in the hull of the Nautilus, that corresponds with a
-similar hole made in the side of the boat.  By this double opening I
-get into the small vessel.  They shut the one belonging to the
-Nautilus; I shut the other by means of screw pressure.  I undo the
-bolts, and the little boat goes up to the surface of the sea with
-prodigious rapidity.  I then open the panel of the bridge, carefully
-shut till then; I mast it, hoist my sail, take my oars, and I'm off."
-
-"But how do you get back on board?"
-
-"I do not come back, M. Aronnax; the Nautilus comes to me."
-
-"By your orders?"
-
-"By my orders.  An electric thread connects us.  I telegraph to it, and
-that is enough."
-
-"Really," I said, astonished at these marvels, "nothing can be more
-simple."
-
-After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led to the
-platform, I saw a cabin six feet long, in which Conseil and Ned Land,
-enchanted with their repast, were devouring it with avidity.  Then a
-door opened into a kitchen nine feet long, situated between the large
-store-rooms. There electricity, better than gas itself, did all the
-cooking.  The streams under the furnaces gave out to the sponges of
-platina a heat which was regularly kept up and distributed.  They also
-heated a distilling apparatus, which, by evaporation, furnished
-excellent drinkable water.  Near this kitchen was a bathroom
-comfortably furnished, with hot and cold water taps.
-
-Next to the kitchen was the berth-room of the vessel, sixteen feet
-long.  But the door was shut, and I could not see the management of it,
-which might have given me an idea of the number of men employed on
-board the Nautilus.
-
-At the bottom was a fourth partition that separated this office from
-the engine-room. A door opened, and I found myself in the compartment
-where Captain Nemo--certainly an engineer of a very high order--had
-arranged his locomotive machinery.  This engine-room, clearly lighted,
-did not measure less than sixty-five feet in length.  It was divided
-into two parts; the first contained the materials for producing
-electricity, and the second the machinery that connected it with the
-screw.  I examined it with great interest, in order to understand the
-machinery of the Nautilus.
-
-"You see," said the Captain, "I use Bunsen's contrivances, not
-Ruhmkorff's. Those would not have been powerful enough.  Bunsen's are
-fewer in number, but strong and large, which experience proves to be
-the best.  The electricity produced passes forward, where it works, by
-electro-magnets of great size, on a system of levers and cog-wheels
-that transmit the movement to the axle of the screw.  This one, the
-diameter of which is nineteen feet, and the thread twenty-three feet,
-performs about 120 revolutions in a second."
-
-"And you get then?"
-
-"A speed of fifty miles an hour."
-
-"I have seen the Nautilus manoeuvre before the Abraham Lincoln, and I
-have my own ideas as to its speed.  But this is not enough.  We must
-see where we go.  We must be able to direct it to the right, to the
-left, above, below.  How do you get to the great depths, where you find
-an increasing resistance, which is rated by hundreds of atmospheres?
-How do you return to the surface of the ocean?  And how do you maintain
-yourselves in the requisite medium?  Am I asking too much?"
-
-"Not at all, Professor," replied the Captain, with some hesitation;
-"since you may never leave this submarine boat.  Come into the saloon,
-it is our usual study, and there you will learn all you want to know
-about the Nautilus."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-SOME FIGURES
-
-A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking.  The
-Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation
-of the Nautilus.  Then he began his description in these words:
-
-"Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat you are in.
-It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends.  It is very like a cigar
-in shape, a shape already adopted in London in several constructions of
-the same sort.  The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is
-exactly 232 feet, and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet.  It is
-not built quite like your long-voyage steamers, but its lines are
-sufficiently long, and its curves prolonged enough, to allow the water
-to slide off easily, and oppose no obstacle to its passage.  These two
-dimensions enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the surface and
-cubic contents of the Nautilus.  Its area measures 6,032 feet; and its
-contents about 1,500 cubic yards; that is to say, when completely
-immersed it displaces 50,000 feet of water, or weighs 1,500 tons.
-
-"When I made the plans for this submarine vessel, I meant that
-nine-tenths should be submerged:  consequently it ought only to
-displace nine-tenths of its bulk, that is to say, only to weigh that
-number of tons.  I ought not, therefore, to have exceeded that weight,
-constructing it on the aforesaid dimensions.
-
-"The Nautilus is composed of two hulls, one inside, the other outside,
-joined by T-shaped irons, which render it very strong.  Indeed, owing
-to this cellular arrangement it resists like a block, as if it were
-solid.  Its sides cannot yield; it coheres spontaneously, and not by
-the closeness of its rivets; and its perfect union of the materials
-enables it to defy the roughest seas.
-
-"These two hulls are composed of steel plates, whose density is from .7
-to .8 that of water.  The first is not less than two inches and a half
-thick and weighs 394 tons.  The second envelope, the keel, twenty
-inches high and ten thick, weighs only sixty-two tons.  The engine, the
-ballast, the several accessories and apparatus appendages, the
-partitions and bulkheads, weigh 961.62 tons.  Do you follow all this?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Then, when the Nautilus is afloat under these circumstances, one-tenth
-is out of the water.  Now, if I have made reservoirs of a size equal to
-this tenth, or capable of holding 150 tons, and if I fill them with
-water, the boat, weighing then 1,507 tons, will be completely immersed.
-That would happen, Professor.  These reservoirs are in the lower part
-of the Nautilus.  I turn on taps and they fill, and the vessel sinks
-that had just been level with the surface."
-
-"Well, Captain, but now we come to the real difficulty.  I can
-understand your rising to the surface; but, diving below the surface,
-does not your submarine contrivance encounter a pressure, and
-consequently undergo an upward thrust of one atmosphere for every
-thirty feet of water, just about fifteen pounds per square inch?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"Then, unless you quite fill the Nautilus, I do not see how you can
-draw it down to those depths."
-
-"Professor, you must not confound statics with dynamics or you will be
-exposed to grave errors.  There is very little labour spent in
-attaining the lower regions of the ocean, for all bodies have a
-tendency to sink.  When I wanted to find out the necessary increase of
-weight required to sink the Nautilus, I had only to calculate the
-reduction of volume that sea-water acquires according to the depth."
-
-"That is evident."
-
-"Now, if water is not absolutely incompressible, it is at least capable
-of very slight compression.  Indeed, after the most recent calculations
-this reduction is only .000436 of an atmosphere for each thirty feet of
-depth.  If we want to sink 3,000 feet, I should keep account of the
-reduction of bulk under a pressure equal to that of a column of water
-of a thousand feet.  The calculation is easily verified.  Now, I have
-supplementary reservoirs capable of holding a hundred tons.  Therefore
-I can sink to a considerable depth.  When I wish to rise to the level
-of the sea, I only let off the water, and empty all the reservoirs if I
-want the Nautilus to emerge from the tenth part of her total capacity."
-
-I had nothing to object to these reasonings.
-
-"I admit your calculations, Captain," I replied; "I should be wrong to
-dispute them since daily experience confirms them; but I foresee a real
-difficulty in the way."
-
-"What, sir?"
-
-"When you are about 1,000 feet deep, the walls of the Nautilus bear a
-pressure of 100 atmospheres.  If, then, just now you were to empty the
-supplementary reservoirs, to lighten the vessel, and to go up to the
-surface, the pumps must overcome the pressure of 100 atmospheres, which
-is 1,500 lbs.  per square inch.  From that a power----"
-
-"That electricity alone can give," said the Captain, hastily.  "I
-repeat, sir, that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite.
-The pumps of the Nautilus have an enormous power, as you must have
-observed when their jets of water burst like a torrent upon the Abraham
-Lincoln.  Besides, I use subsidiary reservoirs only to attain a mean
-depth of 750 to 1,000 fathoms, and that with a view of managing my
-machines.  Also, when I have a mind to visit the depths of the ocean
-five or six mlles below the surface, I make use of slower but not less
-infallible means."
-
-"What are they, Captain?"
-
-"That involves my telling you how the Nautilus is worked."
-
-"I am impatient to learn."
-
-"To steer this boat to starboard or port, to turn, in a word, following
-a horizontal plan, I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back of the
-stern-post, and with one wheel and some tackle to steer by.  But I can
-also make the Nautilus rise and sink, and sink and rise, by a vertical
-movement by means of two inclined planes fastened to its sides,
-opposite the centre of flotation, planes that move in every direction,
-and that are worked by powerful levers from the interior.  If the
-planes are kept parallel with the boat, it moves horizontally.  If
-slanted, the Nautilus, according to this inclination, and under the
-influence of the screw, either sinks diagonally or rises diagonally as
-it suits me.  And even if I wish to rise more quickly to the surface, I
-ship the screw, and the pressure of the water causes the Nautilus to
-rise vertically like a balloon filled with hydrogen."
-
-"Bravo, Captain!  But how can the steersman follow the route in the
-middle of the waters?"
-
-"The steersman is placed in a glazed box, that is raised about the hull
-of the Nautilus, and furnished with lenses."
-
-"Are these lenses capable of resisting such pressure?"
-
-"Perfectly.  Glass, which breaks at a blow, is, nevertheless, capable
-of offering considerable resistance.  During some experiments of
-fishing by electric light in 1864 in the Northern Seas, we saw plates
-less than a third of an inch thick resist a pressure of sixteen
-atmospheres.  Now, the glass that I use is not less than thirty times
-thicker."
-
-"Granted.  But, after all, in order to see, the light must exceed the
-darkness, and in the midst of the darkness in the water, how can you
-see?"
-
-"Behind the steersman's cage is placed a powerful electric reflector,
-the rays from which light up the sea for half a mile in front."
-
-"Ah! bravo, bravo, Captain!  Now I can account for this phosphorescence
-in the supposed narwhal that puzzled us so.  I now ask you if the
-boarding of the Nautilus and of the Scotia, that has made such a noise,
-has been the result of a chance rencontre?"
-
-"Quite accidental, sir.  I was sailing only one fathom below the
-surface of the water when the shock came.  It had no bad result."
-
-"None, sir.  But now, about your rencontre with the Abraham Lincoln?"
-
-"Professor, I am sorry for one of the best vessels in the American
-navy; but they attacked me, and I was bound to defend myself.  I
-contented myself, however, with putting the frigate hors de combat; she
-will not have any difficulty in getting repaired at the next port."
-
-"Ah, Commander! your Nautilus is certainly a marvellous boat."
-
-"Yes, Professor; and I love it as if it were part of myself.  If danger
-threatens one of your vessels on the ocean, the first impression is the
-feeling of an abyss above and below.  On the Nautilus men's hearts
-never fail them.  No defects to be afraid of, for the double shell is
-as firm as iron; no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to
-carry away; no boilers to burst; no fire to fear, for the vessel is
-made of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity is the
-only mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for it alone swims in deep
-water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the water it
-reaches absolute tranquillity.  There, sir! that is the perfection of
-vessels!  And if it is true that the engineer has more confidence in
-the vessel than the builder, and the builder than the captain himself,
-you understand the trust I repose in my Nautilus; for I am at once
-captain, builder, and engineer."
-
-"But how could you construct this wonderful Nautilus in secret?"
-
-"Each separate portion, M. Aronnax, was brought from different parts of
-the globe."
-
-"But these parts had to be put together and arranged?"
-
-"Professor, I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the
-ocean.  There my workmen, that is to say, the brave men that I
-instructed and educated, and myself have put together our Nautilus.
-Then, when the work was finished, fire destroyed all trace of our
-proceedings on this island, that I could have jumped over if I had
-liked."
-
-"Then the cost of this vessel is great?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, an iron vessel costs L145 per ton.  Now the Nautilus
-weighed 1,500. It came therefore to L67,500, and L80,000 more for
-fitting it up, and about L200,000, with the works of art and the
-collections it contains."
-
-"One last question, Captain Nemo."
-
-"Ask it, Professor."
-
-"You are rich?"
-
-"Immensely rich, sir; and I could, without missing it, pay the national
-debt of France."
-
-I stared at the singular person who spoke thus.  Was he playing upon my
-credulity?  The future would decide that.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE BLACK RIVER
-
-The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is
-estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres.  This fluid mass
-comprises two billions two hundred and fifty millions of cubic miles,
-forming a spherical body of a diameter of sixty leagues, the weight of
-which would be three quintillions of tons.  To comprehend the meaning
-of these figures, it is necessary to observe that a quintillion is to a
-billion as a billion is to unity; in other words, there are as many
-billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.  This mass
-of fluid is equal to about the quantity of water which would be
-discharged by all the rivers of the earth in forty thousand years.
-
-During the geological epochs the ocean originally prevailed everywhere.
-Then by degrees, in the silurian period, the tops of the mountains
-began to appear, the islands emerged, then disappeared in partial
-deluges, reappeared, became settled, formed continents, till at length
-the earth became geographically arranged, as we see in the present day.
-The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred
-and fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billions nine hundred and
-sixty millions of acres.
-
-The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five great
-portions:  the Arctic or Frozen Ocean, the Antarctic, or Frozen Ocean,
-the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.
-
-The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two Polar
-Circles, and from east to west between Asia and America, over an extent
-of 145 degrees of longitude.  It is the quietest of seas; its currents
-are broad and slow, it has medium tides, and abundant rain.  Such was
-the ocean that my fate destined me first to travel over under these
-strange conditions.
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, "we will, if you please, take our bearings
-and fix the starting-point of this voyage.  It is a quarter to twelve;
-I will go up again to the surface."
-
-The Captain pressed an electric clock three times.  The pumps began to
-drive the water from the tanks; the needle of the manometer marked by a
-different pressure the ascent of the Nautilus, then it stopped.
-
-"We have arrived," said the Captain.
-
-I went to the central staircase which opened on to the platform,
-clambered up the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part of the
-Nautilus.
-
-The platform was only three feet out of water.  The front and back of
-the Nautilus was of that spindle-shape which caused it justly to be
-compared to a cigar.  I noticed that its iron plates, slightly
-overlaying each other, resembled the shell which clothes the bodies of
-our large terrestrial reptiles.  It explained to me how natural it was,
-in spite of all glasses, that this boat should have been taken for a
-marine animal.
-
-Toward the middle of the platform the longboat, half buried in the hull
-of the vessel, formed a slight excrescence.  Fore and aft rose two
-cages of medium height with inclined sides, and partly closed by thick
-lenticular glasses; one destined for the steersman who directed the
-Nautilus, the other containing a brilliant lantern to give light on the
-road.
-
-The sea was beautiful, the sky pure.  Scarcely could the long vehicle
-feel the broad undulations of the ocean.  A light breeze from the east
-rippled the surface of the waters.  The horizon, free from fog, made
-observation easy.  Nothing was in sight.  Not a quicksand, not an
-island.  A vast desert.
-
-Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude of the sun,
-which ought also to give the latitude.  He waited for some moments till
-its disc touched the horizon.  Whilst taking observations not a muscle
-moved, the instrument could not have been more motionless in a hand of
-marble.
-
-"Twelve o'clock, sir," said he.  "When you like----"
-
-I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese
-coast, and descended to the saloon.
-
-"And now, sir, I leave you to your studies," added the Captain; "our
-course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms.  Here are maps on a
-large scale by which you may follow it.  The saloon is at your
-disposal, and, with your permission, I will retire."  Captain Nemo
-bowed, and I remained alone, lost in thoughts all bearing on the
-commander of the Nautilus.
-
-For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce
-this mystery so interesting to me.  Then my eyes fell upon the vast
-planisphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very
-spot where the given latitude and longitude crossed.
-
-The sea has its large rivers like the continents.  They are special
-currents known by their temperature and their colour.  The most
-remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream.  Science
-has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents: one
-in the North Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North
-Pacific, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian
-Ocean.  It is even probable that a sixth current existed at one time or
-another in the Northern Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas
-formed but one vast sheet of water.
-
-At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was
-rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which,
-leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular
-rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast
-of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands, carrying
-with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions, and
-edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.
-It was this current that the Nautilus was to follow.  I followed it
-with my eye; saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific, and
-felt myself drawn with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the
-door of the saloon.
-
-My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
-spread before them.
-
-"Where are we, where are we?" exclaimed the Canadian.  "In the museum
-at Quebec?"
-
-"My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter, "you are not
-in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards below the level of
-the sea."
-
-"But, M. Aronnax," said Ned Land, "can you tell me how many men there
-are on board?  Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?"
-
-"I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a time all
-idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it.  This ship is a
-masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be sorry not to have seen
-it.  Many people would accept the situation forced upon us, if only to
-move amongst such wonders.  So be quiet and let us try and see what
-passes around us."
-
-"See!" exclaimed the harpooner, "but we can see nothing in this iron
-prison!  We are walking--we are sailing--blindly."
-
-Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly
-darkness.  The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes
-received a painful impression.
-
-We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited
-us, whether agreeable or disagreeable.  A sliding noise was heard: one
-would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-"It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.
-
-Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong
-openings.  The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric
-gleam.  Two crystal plates separated us from the sea.  At first I
-trembled at the thought that this frail partition might break, but
-strong bands of copper bound them, giving an almost infinite power of
-resistance.
-
-The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the Nautilus.  What
-a spectacle!  What pen can describe it?  Who could paint the effects of
-the light through those transparent sheets of water, and the softness
-of the successive gradations from the lower to the superior strata of
-the ocean?
-
-We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
-beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances which it
-holds in suspension heightens its transparency.  In certain parts of
-the ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five fathoms of water, can be
-seen with surprising clearness a bed of sand.  The penetrating power of
-the solar rays does not seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and
-fifty fathoms.  But in this middle fluid travelled over by the
-Nautilus, the electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the
-waves.  It was no longer luminous water, but liquid light.
-
-On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss.  The obscurity
-of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside, and we looked
-out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium.
-
-"You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now."
-
-"Curious! curious!" muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
-ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction; "and one
-would come further than this to admire such a sight!"
-
-"Ah!" thought I to myself, "I understand the life of this man; he has
-made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all his greatest
-wonders."
-
-For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus.  During
-their games, their bounds, while rivalling each other in beauty,
-brightness, and velocity, I distinguished the green labre; the banded
-mullet, marked by a double line of black; the round-tailed goby, of a
-white colour, with violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus, a
-beautiful mackerel of these seas, with a blue body and silvery head;
-the brilliant azurors, whose name alone defies description; some banded
-spares, with variegated fins of blue and yellow; the woodcocks of the
-seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in length; Japanese
-salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents six feet long, with eyes small
-and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth; with many other
-species.
-
-Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
-on each other.  Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them.  I was in
-ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their
-forms.  Never had it been given to me to surprise these animals, alive
-and at liberty, in their natural element.  I will not mention all the
-varieties which passed before my dazzled eyes, all the collection of
-the seas of China and Japan.  These fish, more numerous than the birds
-of the air, came, attracted, no doubt, by the brilliant focus of the
-electric light.
-
-Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed
-again, and the enchanting vision disappeared.  But for a long time I
-dreamt on, till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the
-partition.  The compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the
-manometer indicated a pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a
-depth of twenty five fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of
-fifteen miles an hour.  I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear.
-The clock marked the hour of five.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my
-chamber.  My dinner was ready.  It was composed of turtle soup made of
-the most delicate hawks bills, of a surmullet served with puff paste
-(the liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and
-fillets of the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me
-superior even to salmon.
-
-I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking.  Then sleep
-overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch of zostera, and
-slept profoundly, whilst the Nautilus was gliding rapidly through the
-current of the Black River.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-A NOTE OF INVITATION
-
-The next day was the 9th of November.  I awoke after a long sleep of
-twelve hours.  Conseil came, according to custom, to know "how I passed
-the night," and to offer his services.  He had left his friend the
-Canadian sleeping like a man who had never done anything else all his
-life.  I let the worthy fellow chatter as he pleased, without caring to
-answer him.  I was preoccupied by the absence of the Captain during our
-sitting of the day before, and hoping to see him to-day.
-
-As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon.  It was deserted.  I
-plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses.
-
-The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain
-Nemo.  The panels of the saloon did not open.  Perhaps they did not
-wish us to tire of these beautiful things.
-
-The course of the Nautilus was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots, the
-depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
-
-The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion, the same solitude.
-I did not see one of the ship's crew: Ned and Conseil spent the greater
-part of the day with me.  They were astonished at the puzzling absence
-of the Captain.  Was this singular man ill?--had he altered his
-intentions with regard to us?
-
-After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were
-delicately and abundantly fed.  Our host kept to his terms of the
-treaty.  We could not complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our
-fate reserved such wonderful compensation for us that we had no right
-to accuse it as yet.
-
-That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled
-me to relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail.
-
-11th November, early in the morning.  The fresh air spreading over the
-interior of the Nautilus told me that we had come to the surface of the
-ocean to renew our supply of oxygen.  I directed my steps to the
-central staircase, and mounted the platform.
-
-It was six o'clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey, but calm.
-Scarcely a billow.  Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be
-there?  I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage.
-Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled
-the salt breeze with delight.
-
-By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun's rays, the
-radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon.  The sea flamed under
-its glance like a train of gunpowder.  The clouds scattered in the
-heights were coloured with lively tints of beautiful shades, and
-numerous "mare's tails," which betokened wind for that day.  But what
-was wind to this Nautilus, which tempests could not frighten!
-
-I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay, and so
-life-giving, when I heard steps approaching the platform.  I was
-prepared to salute Captain Nemo, but it was his second (whom I had
-already seen on the Captain's first visit) who appeared.  He advanced
-on the platform, not seeming to see me.  With his powerful glass to his
-eye, he scanned every point of the horizon with great attention.  This
-examination over, he approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in
-exactly these terms.  I have remembered it, for every morning it was
-repeated under exactly the same conditions.  It was thus worded:
-
-"Nautron respoc lorni virch."
-
-What it meant I could not say.
-
-These words pronounced, the second descended.  I thought that the
-Nautilus was about to return to its submarine navigation.  I regained
-the panel and returned to my chamber.
-
-Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation.  Every
-morning I mounted the platform.  The same phrase was pronounced by the
-same individual.  But Captain Nemo did not appear.
-
-I had made up my mind that I should never see him again, when, on the
-16th November, on returning to my room with Ned and Conseil, I found
-upon my table a note addressed to me.  I opened it impatiently.  It was
-written in a bold, clear hand, the characters rather pointed, recalling
-the German type.  The note was worded as follows:
-
-
-TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus.  16th of November, 1867.
-
-Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
-take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo.
-He hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present,
-and he will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.
-
-
-"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.
-
-"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.
-
-"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I, reading the letter
-once more.
-
-"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian.  "But once more on dry
-ground, we shall know what to do.  Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat
-a piece of fresh venison."
-
-Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
-Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation
-to hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:
-
-"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."
-
-I consulted the planisphere, and in 32° 40' N. lat. and 157°
-50' W. long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801 by Captain
-Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata,
-the meaning of which is The Silver Rock.  We were then about eighteen
-hundred miles from our starting-point, and the course of the Nautilus,
-a little changed, was bringing it back towards the southeast.
-
-I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific, to
-my companions.
-
-"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I, "he at least
-chooses desert islands."
-
-Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil and he
-left me.
-
-After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive, I
-went to bed, not without some anxiety.
-
-The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt that the
-Nautilus was perfectly still.  I dressed quickly and entered the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me.  He rose, bowed, and asked me
-if it was convenient for me to accompany him.  As he made no allusion
-to his absence during the last eight days, I did not mention it, and
-simply answered that my companions and myself were ready to follow him.
-
-We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said the Captain, "pray, share my breakfast without
-ceremony; we will chat as we eat.  For, though I promised you a walk in
-the forest, I did not undertake to find hotels there.  So breakfast as
-a man who will most likely not have his dinner till very late."
-
-I did honour to the repast.  It was composed of several kinds of fish,
-and slices of sea-cucumber, and different sorts of seaweed.  Our drink
-consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added some drops of a
-fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha method from a seaweed
-known under the name of Rhodomenia palmata.  Captain Nemo ate at first
-without saying a word.  Then he began:
-
-"Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
-you evidently thought me mad.  Sir, you should never judge lightly of
-any man."
-
-"But Captain, believe me----"
-
-"Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you have any
-cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction."
-
-"I listen."
-
-"You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
-providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air.
-In submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress, with his
-head in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means of forcing
-pumps and regulators."
-
-"That is a diving apparatus," said I.
-
-"Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty; he is
-attached to the pump which sends him air through an india-rubber tube,
-and if we were obliged to be thus held to the Nautilus, we could not go
-far."
-
-"And the means of getting free?"  I asked.
-
-"It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your own
-countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use, and
-which will allow you to risk yourself under these new physiological
-conditions without any organ whatever suffering.  It consists of a
-reservoir of thick iron plates, in which I store the air under a
-pressure of fifty atmospheres.  This reservoir is fixed on the back by
-means of braces, like a soldier's knapsack.  Its upper part forms a box
-in which the air is kept by means of a bellows, and therefore cannot
-escape unless at its normal tension.  In the Rouquayrol apparatus such
-as we use, two india rubber pipes leave this box and join a sort of
-tent which holds the nose and mouth; one is to introduce fresh air, the
-other to let out the foul, and the tongue closes one or the other
-according to the wants of the respirator.  But I, in encountering great
-pressures at the bottom of the sea, was obliged to shut my head, like
-that of a diver in a ball of copper; and it is to this ball of copper
-that the two pipes, the inspirator and the expirator, open."
-
-"Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you must soon
-be used; when it only contains fifteen per cent.  of oxygen it is no
-longer fit to breathe."
-
-"Right!  But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the Nautilus
-allow me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those
-conditions the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air
-for nine or ten hours."
-
-"I have no further objections to make," I answered.  "I will only ask
-you one thing, Captain--how can you light your road at the bottom of
-the sea?"
-
-"With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back,
-the other is fastened to the waist.  It is composed of a Bunsen pile,
-which I do not work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium.  A wire
-is introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs it
-towards a particularly made lantern.  In this lantern is a spiral glass
-which contains a small quantity of carbonic gas.  When the apparatus is
-at work this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous
-light.  Thus provided, I can breathe and I can see."
-
-"Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers that
-I dare no longer doubt.  But, if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol
-and Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with
-regard to the gun I am to carry."
-
-"But it is not a gun for powder," answered the Captain.
-
-"Then it is an air-gun."
-
-"Doubtless!  How would you have me manufacture gun powder on board,
-without either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?"
-
-"Besides," I added, "to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and
-fifty-five times denser than the air, we must conquer very considerable
-resistance."
-
-"That would be no difficulty.  There exist guns, according to Fulton,
-perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy,
-and in Italy by Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar system of
-closing, which can fire under these conditions.  But I repeat, having
-no powder, I use air under great pressure, which the pumps of the
-Nautilus furnish abundantly."
-
-"But this air must be rapidly used?"
-
-"Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at
-need?  A tap is all that is required.  Besides M. Aronnax, you must see
-yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air
-and but few balls."
-
-"But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this
-fluid, which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could
-not go far, nor easily prove mortal."
-
-"Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal; and, however
-lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt."
-
-"Why?"
-
-"Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little
-cases of glass.  These glass cases are covered with a case of steel,
-and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles, into
-which the electricity is forced to a very high tension.  With the
-slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal, however strong it
-may be, falls dead.  I must tell you that these cases are size number
-four, and that the charge for an ordinary gun would be ten."
-
-"I will argue no longer," I replied, rising from the table.  "I have
-nothing left me but to take my gun.  At all events, I will go where you
-go."
-
-Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned's and Conseil's
-cabin, I called my two companions, who followed promptly.  We then came
-to a cell near the machinery-room, in which we put on our walking-dress.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
-
-This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the
-Nautilus.  A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting
-our use.
-
-Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress himself in
-one.
-
-"But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
-but submarine forests."
-
-"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams of fresh
-meat fade away.  "And you, M. Aronnax, are you going to dress yourself
-in those clothes?"
-
-"There is no alternative, Master Ned."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
-"but, as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one."
-
-"No one will force you, Master Ned," said Captain Nemo.
-
-"Is Conseil going to risk it?" asked Ned.
-
-"I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.
-
-At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came to help us dress in
-these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam,
-and constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure.  One would
-have thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting.  This suit
-formed trousers and waistcoat.  The trousers were finished off with
-thick boots, weighted with heavy leaden soles.  The texture of the
-waistcoat was held together by bands of copper, which crossed the
-chest, protecting it from the great pressure of the water, and leaving
-the lungs free to act; the sleeves ended in gloves, which in no way
-restrained the movement of the hands.  There was a vast difference
-noticeable between these consummate apparatuses and the old cork
-breastplates, jackets, and other contrivances in vogue during the
-eighteenth century.
-
-Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules, who must
-have possessed great strength), Conseil and myself were soon enveloped
-in the dresses.  There remained nothing more to be done but to enclose
-our heads in the metal box.  But, before proceeding to this operation,
-I asked the Captain's permission to examine the guns.
-
-One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which,
-made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large.  It served as a
-reservoir for compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring,
-allowed to escape into a metal tube.  A box of projectiles in a groove
-in the thickness of the butt end contained about twenty of these
-electric balls, which, by means of a spring, were forced into the
-barrel of the gun.  As soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I, "this arm is perfect, and easily handled: I
-only ask to be allowed to try it.  But how shall we gain the bottom of
-the sea?"
-
-"At this moment, Professor, the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
-and we have nothing to do but to start."
-
-"But how shall we get off?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the
-same, not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian.
-The upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which
-was screwed the metal helmet.  Three holes, protected by thick glass,
-allowed us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head in the
-interior of the head-dress. As soon as it was in position, the
-Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began to act; and, for my part, I
-could breathe with ease.
-
-With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand, I
-was ready to set out.  But to speak the truth, imprisoned in these
-heavy garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles, it was
-impossible for me to take a step.
-
-But this state of things was provided for.  I felt myself being pushed
-into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe room.  My companions
-followed, towed along in the same way.  I heard a water-tight door,
-furnished with stopper plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in
-profound darkness.
-
-After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard.  I felt the cold mount
-from my feet to my chest.  Evidently from some part of the vessel they
-had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading
-us, and with which the room was soon filled.  A second door cut in the
-side of the Nautilus then opened.  We saw a faint light.  In another
-instant our feet trod the bottom of the sea.
-
-And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
-under the waters?  Words are impotent to relate such wonders!  Captain
-Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind.
-Conseil and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words had
-been possible through our metallic cases.  I no longer felt the weight
-of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir of air, or my thick
-helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond in its
-shell.
-
-The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the
-ocean, astonished me by its power.  The solar rays shone through the
-watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly
-distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.
-Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine, and
-faded into vague obscurity.  Truly this water which surrounded me was
-but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere, but almost as
-transparent.  Above me was the calm surface of the sea.  We were
-walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore, which
-retains the impression of the billows.  This dazzling carpet, really a
-reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity, which
-accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid.
-Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet, I
-could see as if I was in broad daylight?
-
-For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
-dust of shells.  The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
-disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake
-us in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
-
-Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible.  I
-recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the
-most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect
-of this medium.
-
-It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
-of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their
-light, decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks,
-plants, shells, and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar
-colours.  It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of
-coloured tints, a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange,
-violet, indigo, and blue; in one word, the whole palette of an
-enthusiastic colourist!  Why could I not communicate to Conseil the
-lively sensations which were mounting to my brain, and rival him in
-expressions of admiration?  For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his
-companion might be able to exchange thoughts by means of signs
-previously agreed upon.  So, for want of better, I talked to myself; I
-declaimed in the copper box which covered my head, thereby expending
-more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
-
-Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi, and
-anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
-collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom.  It
-was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens
-of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammerheads,
-donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases, and red
-helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this
-inexhaustible ocean.  But we were bound to walk, so we went on, whilst
-above our heads waved medusae whose umbrellas of opal or rose-pink,
-escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from the rays of the sun
-and fiery pelagiae, which, in the darkness, would have strewn our path
-with phosphorescent light.
-
-All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely
-stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs.
-Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an
-extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze," composed of equal
-parts of silicious and calcareous shells.  We then travelled over a
-plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation.  This sward was of
-close texture, and soft to the feet, and rivalled the softest carpet
-woven by the hand of man.  But whilst verdure was spread at our feet,
-it did not abandon our heads.  A light network of marine plants, of
-that inexhaustible family of seaweeds of which more than two thousand
-kinds are known, grew on the surface of the water.
-
-I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea, whilst
-the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black or brown the care
-of forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
-
-We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half.  It was near
-noon; I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays, which were no
-longer refracted.  The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the
-shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced.  We walked with a regular
-step, which rang upon the ground with astonishing intensity; the
-slightest noise was transmitted with a quickness to which the ear is
-unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water is a better conductor of sound
-than air, in the ratio of four to one.  At this period the earth sloped
-downwards; the light took a uniform tint.  We were at a depth of a
-hundred and five yards and twenty inches, undergoing a pressure of six
-atmospheres.
-
-At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to
-their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
-state between day and night; but we could still see well enough; it was
-not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet.  At this
-moment Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him, and then
-pointed to an obscure mass, looming in the shadow, at a short distance.
-
-"It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I; and I was not
-mistaken.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-A SUBMARINE FOREST
-
-We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of
-the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains.  He looked upon it as his
-own, and considered he had the same right over it that the first men
-had in the first days of the world.  And, indeed, who would have
-disputed with him the possession of this submarine property?  What
-other hardier pioneer would come, hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark
-copses?
-
-This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we
-penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular
-position of their branches--a position I had not yet observed.
-
-Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the
-trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally; all
-stretched up to the surface of the ocean.  Not a filament, not a
-ribbon, however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of
-iron.  The fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to
-the density of the element which had produced them.  Motionless yet,
-when bent to one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former
-position.  Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!
-
-I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the
-comparative darkness which surrounded us.  The soil of the forest
-seemed covered with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid.  The submarine
-flora struck me as being very perfect, and richer even than it would
-have been in the arctic or tropical zones, where these productions are
-not so plentiful.  But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the
-genera, taking animals for plants; and who would not have been
-mistaken?  The fauna and the flora are too closely allied in this
-submarine world.
-
-These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their existence
-is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them.  The greater number,
-instead of leaves, shoot forth blades of capricious shapes, comprised
-within a scale of colours pink, carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown.
-
-"Curious anomaly, fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist, "in
-which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!"
-
-In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt; I, for my part,
-was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae,
-the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.
-
-This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing wanting but
-the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak, impossible to
-answer, I only put my great copper head to Conseil's.  I saw the worthy
-fellow's eyes glistening with delight, and, to show his satisfaction,
-he shook himself in his breastplate of air, in the most comical way in
-the world.
-
-After four hours of this walking, I was surprised not to find myself
-dreadfully hungry.  How to account for this state of the stomach I
-could not tell.  But instead I felt an insurmountable desire to sleep,
-which happens to all divers.  And my eyes soon closed behind the thick
-glasses, and I fell into a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had
-prevented before.  Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in
-the clear crystal, set us the example.
-
-How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge, but, when
-I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon.  Captain Nemo had
-already risen, and I was beginning to stretch my limbs, when an
-unexpected apparition brought me briskly to my feet.
-
-A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches
-high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me.
-Though my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite of
-this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror.  Conseil and the
-sailor of the Nautilus awoke at this moment.  Captain Nemo pointed out
-the hideous crustacean, which a blow from the butt end of the gun
-knocked over, and I saw the horrible claws of the monster writhe in
-terrible convulsions.  This incident reminded me that other animals
-more to be feared might haunt these obscure depths, against whose
-attacks my diving-dress would not protect me.  I had never thought of
-it before, but I now resolved to be upon my guard.  Indeed, I thought
-that this halt would mark the termination of our walk; but I was
-mistaken, for, instead of returning to the Nautilus, Captain Nemo
-continued his bold excursion.  The ground was still on the incline, its
-declivity seemed to be getting greater, and to be leading us to greater
-depths.  It must have been about three o'clock when we reached a narrow
-valley, between high perpendicular walls, situated about seventy-five
-fathoms deep.  Thanks to the perfection of our apparatus, we were
-forty-five fathoms below the limit which nature seems to have imposed
-on man as to his submarine excursions.
-
-I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to
-judge the distance.  But I knew that even in the clearest waters the
-solar rays could not penetrate further.  And accordingly the darkness
-deepened.  At ten paces not an object was visible.  I was groping my
-way, when I suddenly saw a brilliant white light.  Captain Nemo had
-just put his electric apparatus into use; his companion did the same,
-and Conseil and I followed their example.  By turning a screw I
-established a communication between the wire and the spiral glass, and
-the sea, lit by our four lanterns, was illuminated for a circle of
-thirty-six yards.
-
-As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus could not
-fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch.  But if they did
-approach us, they at least kept at a respectful distance from the
-hunters.  Several times I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his
-shoulder, and after some moments drop it and walk on.  At last, after
-about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end.  A wall of
-superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of gigantic
-blocks, an enormous, steep granite shore, forming dark grottos, but
-which presented no practicable slope; it was the prop of the Island of
-Crespo.  It was the earth!  Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.  A gesture
-of his brought us all to a halt; and, however desirous I might be to
-scale the wall, I was obliged to stop.  Here ended Captain Nemo's
-domains.  And he would not go beyond them.  Further on was a portion of
-the globe he might not trample upon.
-
-The return began.  Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little
-band, directing their course without hesitation.  I thought we were not
-following the same road to return to the Nautilus.  The new road was
-very steep, and consequently very painful.  We approached the surface
-of the sea rapidly.  But this return to the upper strata was not so
-sudden as to cause relief from the pressure too rapidly, which might
-have produced serious disorder in our organisation, and brought on
-internal lesions, so fatal to divers.  Very soon light reappeared and
-grew, and, the sun being low on the horizon, the refraction edged the
-different objects with a spectral ring.  At ten yards and a half deep,
-we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes of all kinds, more numerous
-than the birds of the air, and also more agile; but no aquatic game
-worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze, when at that moment I saw the
-Captain shoulder his gun quickly, and follow a moving object into the
-shrubs.  He fired; I heard a slight hissing, and a creature fell
-stunned at some distance from us.  It was a magnificent sea-otter, an
-enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped.  This otter was five
-feet long, and must have been very valuable.  Its skin, chestnut-brown
-above and silvery underneath, would have made one of those beautiful
-furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets: the fineness
-and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch L80.  I admired this
-curious mammal, with its rounded head ornamented with short ears, its
-round eyes, and white whiskers like those of a cat, with webbed feet
-and nails, and tufted tail.  This precious animal, hunted and tracked
-by fishermen, has now become very rare, and taken refuge chiefly in the
-northern parts of the Pacific, or probably its race would soon become
-extinct.
-
-Captain Nemo's companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder,
-and we continued our journey.  For one hour a plain of sand lay
-stretched before us.  Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some
-inches of the surface of the water.  I then saw our image clearly
-reflected, drawn inversely, and above us appeared an identical group
-reflecting our movements and our actions; in a word, like us in every
-point, except that they walked with their heads downward and their feet
-in the air.
-
-Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which
-formed and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these
-seeming clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the
-bottom, and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops
-multiplied on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above
-our heads, whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.
-
-On this occasion I was witness to one of the finest gun shots which
-ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill.  A large bird of great breadth
-of wing, clearly visible, approached, hovering over us.  Captain Nemo's
-companion shouldered his gun and fired, when it was only a few yards
-above the waves.  The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall
-brought it within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp.  It was an
-albatross of the finest kind.
-
-Our march had not been interrupted by this incident.  For two hours we
-followed these sandy plains, then fields of algae very disagreeable to
-cross.  Candidly, I could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light,
-which, for a half mile, broke the darkness of the waters.  It was the
-lantern of the Nautilus.  Before twenty minutes were over we should be
-on board, and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed that
-my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen.  But I did not
-reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our arrival for some time.
-
-I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain Nemo
-coming hurriedly towards me.  With his strong hand he bent me to the
-ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil.  At first I knew not
-what to think of this sudden attack, but I was soon reassured by seeing
-the Captain lie down beside me, and remain immovable.
-
-I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of
-algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass, casting
-phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
-
-My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which
-threatened us.  It was a couple of tintoreas, terrible creatures, with
-enormous tails and a dull glassy stare, the phosphorescent matter
-ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle.  Monstrous brutes! which
-would crush a whole man in their iron jaws.  I did not know whether
-Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part, I noticed their silver
-bellies, and their huge mouths bristling with teeth, from a very
-unscientific point of view, and more as a possible victim than as a
-naturalist.
-
-Happily the voracious creatures do not see well.  They passed without
-seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a
-miracle from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face
-in the forest.  Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we
-reached the Nautilus.  The outside door had been left open, and Captain
-Nemo closed it as soon as we had entered the first cell.  He then
-pressed a knob.  I heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel,
-I felt the water sinking from around me, and in a few moments the cell
-was entirely empty.  The inside door then opened, and we entered the
-vestry.
-
-There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and,
-fairly worn out from want of food and sleep, I returned to my room, in
-great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
-
-The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my
-fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform, just as
-the second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
-
-I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo
-appeared.  He did not seem to be aware of my presence, and began a
-series of astronomical observations.  Then, when he had finished, he
-went and leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly
-on the ocean.  In the meantime, a number of the sailors of the
-Nautilus, all strong and healthy men, had come up onto the platform.
-They came to draw up the nets that had been laid all night.  These
-sailors were evidently of different nations, although the European type
-was visible in all of them.  I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen,
-Frenchmen, some Sclaves, and a Greek, or a Candiote.  They were civil,
-and only used that odd language among themselves, the origin of which I
-could not guess, neither could I question them.
-
-The nets were hauled in.  They were a large kind of "chaluts," like
-those on the Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain
-fixed in the smaller meshes kept open.  These pockets, drawn by iron
-poles, swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their
-way.  That day they brought up curious specimens from those productive
-coasts.
-
-I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of
-fish.  It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at.  Indeed, the nets
-are let down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite
-variety.  We had no lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the
-Nautilus and the attraction of the electric light could always renew
-our supply.  These several productions of the sea were immediately
-lowered through the panel to the steward's room, some to be eaten
-fresh, and others pickled.
-
-The fishing ended, the provision of air renewed, I thought that the
-Nautilus was about to continue its submarine excursion, and was
-preparing to return to my room, when, without further preamble, the
-Captain turned to me, saying:
-
-"Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life?  It has its
-tempers and its gentle moods.  Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it
-has woke after a quiet night.  Look!" he continued, "it wakes under the
-caresses of the sun.  It is going to renew its diurnal existence.  It
-is an interesting study to watch the play of its organisation.  It has
-a pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with the learned Maury, who
-discovered in it a circulation as real as the circulation of blood in
-animals.
-
-"Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator
-has caused things to multiply in it--caloric, salt, and animalculae."
-
-When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed, and aroused
-an extraordinary emotion in me.
-
-"Also," he added, "true existence is there; and I can imagine the
-foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses, which,
-like the Nautilus, would ascend every morning to breathe at the surface
-of the water, free towns, independent cities.  Yet who knows whether
-some despot----"
-
-Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture.  Then,
-addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he asked, "do you know the depth of the ocean?"
-
-"I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings have taught us."
-
-"Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to my purpose?"
-
-"These are some," I replied, "that I remember.  If I am not mistaken, a
-depth of 8,000 yards has been found in the North Atlantic, and 2,500
-yards in the Mediterranean.  The most remarkable soundings have been
-made in the South Atlantic, near the thirty-fifth parallel, and they
-gave 12,000 yards, 14,000 yards, and 15,000 yards.  To sum up all, it
-is reckoned that if the bottom of the sea were levelled, its mean depth
-would be about one and three-quarter leagues."
-
-"Well, Professor," replied the Captain, "we shall show you better than
-that I hope.  As to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific, I tell
-you it is only 4,000 yards."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo went towards the panel, and disappeared
-down the ladder.  I followed him, and went into the large drawing-room.
-The screw was immediately put in motion, and the log gave twenty miles
-an hour.
-
-During the days and weeks that passed, Captain Nemo was very sparing of
-his visits.  I seldom saw him.  The lieutenant pricked the ship's
-course regularly on the chart, so I could always tell exactly the route
-of the Nautilus.
-
-Nearly every day, for some time, the panels of the drawing-room were
-opened, and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the
-submarine world.
-
-The general direction of the Nautilus was south-east, and it kept
-between 100 and 150 yards of depth.  One day, however, I do not know
-why, being drawn diagonally by means of the inclined planes, it touched
-the bed of the sea.  The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25
-(cent.): a temperature that at this depth seemed common to all
-latitudes.
-
-At three o'clock in the morning of the 26th of November the Nautilus
-crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172° long.  On 27th instant it
-sighted the Sandwich Islands, where Cook died, February 14, 1779.  We
-had then gone 4,860 leagues from our starting-point. In the morning,
-when I went on the platform, I saw two miles to windward, Hawaii, the
-largest of the seven islands that form the group.  I saw clearly the
-cultivated ranges, and the several mountain-chains that run parallel
-with the side, and the volcanoes that overtop Mouna-Rea, which rise
-5,000 yards above the level of the sea.  Besides other things the nets
-brought up, were several flabellariae and graceful polypi, that are
-peculiar to that part of the ocean.  The direction of the Nautilus was
-still to the south-east. It crossed the equator December 1, in 142°
-long.; and on the 4th of the same month, after crossing rapidly and
-without anything in particular occurring, we sighted the Marquesas
-group.  I saw, three miles off, Martin's peak in Nouka-Hiva, the
-largest of the group that belongs to France.  I only saw the woody
-mountains against the horizon, because Captain Nemo did not wish to
-bring the ship to the wind.  There the nets brought up beautiful
-specimens of fish:  some with azure fins and tails like gold, the flesh
-of which is unrivalled; some nearly destitute of scales, but of
-exquisite flavour; others, with bony jaws, and yellow-tinged gills, as
-good as bonitos; all fish that would be of use to us.  After leaving
-these charming islands protected by the French flag, from the 4th to
-the 11th of December the Nautilus sailed over about 2,000 miles.
-
-During the daytime of the 11th of December I was busy reading in the
-large drawing-room. Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous water
-through the half-open panels.  The Nautilus was immovable.  While its
-reservoirs were filled, it kept at a depth of 1,000 yards, a region
-rarely visited in the ocean, and in which large fish were seldom seen.
-
-I was then reading a charming book by Jean Mace, The Slaves of the
-Stomach, and I was learning some valuable lessons from it, when Conseil
-interrupted me.
-
-"Will master come here a moment?" he said, in a curious voice.
-
-"What is the matter, Conseil?"
-
-"I want master to look."
-
-I rose, went, and leaned on my elbows before the panes and watched.
-
-In a full electric light, an enormous black mass, quite immovable, was
-suspended in the midst of the waters.  I watched it attentively,
-seeking to find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean.  But a sudden
-thought crossed my mind.  "A vessel!" I said, half aloud.
-
-"Yes," replied the Canadian, "a disabled ship that has sunk
-perpendicularly."
-
-Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the tattered
-shrouds still hung from their chains.  The keel seemed to be in good
-order, and it had been wrecked at most some few hours.  Three stumps of
-masts, broken off about two feet above the bridge, showed that the
-vessel had had to sacrifice its masts.  But, lying on its side, it had
-filled, and it was heeling over to port.  This skeleton of what it had
-once been was a sad spectacle as it lay lost under the waves, but
-sadder still was the sight of the bridge, where some corpses, bound
-with ropes, were still lying.  I counted five--four men, one of whom
-was standing at the helm, and a woman standing by the poop, holding an
-infant in her arms.  She was quite young.  I could distinguish her
-features, which the water had not decomposed, by the brilliant light
-from the Nautilus.  In one despairing effort, she had raised her infant
-above her head--poor little thing!--whose arms encircled its mother's
-neck.  The attitude of the four sailors was frightful, distorted as
-they were by their convulsive movements, whilst making a last effort to
-free themselves from the cords that bound them to the vessel.  The
-steersman alone, calm, with a grave, clear face, his grey hair glued to
-his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the helm, seemed even
-then to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths of the
-ocean.
-
-What a scene!  We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before this
-shipwreck, taken as it were from life and photographed in its last
-moments.  And I saw already, coming towards it with hungry eyes,
-enormous sharks, attracted by the human flesh.
-
-However, the Nautilus, turning, went round the submerged vessel, and in
-one instant I read on the stern--"The Florida, Sunderland."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-VANIKORO
-
-This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime
-catastrophes that the Nautilus was destined to meet with in its route.
-As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw the
-hulls of shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths, and
-deeper down cannons, bullets, anchors, chains, and a thousand other
-iron materials eaten up by rust.  However, on the 11th of December we
-sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old "dangerous group" of Bougainville,
-that extend over a space of 500 leagues at E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the
-Island Ducie to that of Lazareff.  This group covers an area of 370
-square leagues, and it is formed of sixty groups of islands, among
-which the Gambier group is remarkable, over which France exercises
-sway.  These are coral islands, slowly raised, but continuous, created
-by the daily work of polypi.  Then this new island will be joined later
-on to the neighboring groups, and a fifth continent will stretch from
-New Zealand and New Caledonia, and from thence to the Marquesas.
-
-One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain Nemo, he replied
-coldly:
-
-"The earth does not want new continents, but new men."
-
-Chance had conducted the Nautilus towards the Island of
-Clermont-Tonnere, one of the most curious of the group, that was
-discovered in 1822 by Captain Bell of the Minerva. I could study now
-the madreporal system, to which are due the islands in this ocean.
-
-Madrepores (which must not be mistaken for corals) have a tissue lined
-with a calcareous crust, and the modifications of its structure have
-induced M. Milne Edwards, my worthy master, to class them into five
-sections. The animalcule that the marine polypus secretes live by
-millions at the bottom of their cells. Their calcareous deposits become
-rocks, reefs, and large and small islands. Here they form a ring,
-surrounding a little inland lake, that communicates with the sea by
-means of gaps. There they make barriers of reefs like those on the
-coasts of New Caledonia and the various Pomoton islands. In other
-places, like those at Reunion and at Maurice, they raise fringed reefs,
-high, straight walls, near which the depth of the ocean is considerable.
-
-Some cable-lengths off the shores of the Island of Clermont I admired
-the gigantic work accomplished by these microscopical workers. These
-walls are specially the work of those madrepores known as milleporas,
-porites, madrepores, and astraeas. These polypi are found particularly
-in the rough beds of the sea, near the surface; and consequently it is
-from the upper part that they begin their operations, in which they
-bury themselves by degrees with the debris of the secretions that
-support them. Such is, at least, Darwin's theory, who thus explains the
-formation of the _atolls_, a superior theory (to my mind) to that given
-of the foundation of the madreporical works, summits of mountains or
-volcanoes, that are submerged some feet below the level of the sea.
-
-I could observe closely these curious walls, for perpendicularly they
-were more than 300 yards deep, and our electric sheets lighted up this
-calcareous matter brilliantly. Replying to a question Conseil asked me
-as to the time these colossal barriers took to be raised, I astonished
-him much by telling him that learned men reckoned it about the eighth
-of an inch in a hundred years.
-
-Towards evening Clermont-Tonnerre was lost in the distance, and the
-route of the Nautilus was sensibly changed. After having crossed the
-tropic of Capricorn in 135° longitude, it sailed W.N.W., making
-again for the tropical zone. Although the summer sun was very strong,
-we did not suffer from heat, for at fifteen or twenty fathoms below the
-surface, the temperature did not rise above from ten to twelve degrees.
-
-On 15th of December, we left to the east the bewitching group of the
-Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific.  I saw in the
-morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated summits of the
-island.  These waters furnished our table with excellent fish,
-mackerel, bonitos, and some varieties of a sea-serpent.
-
-On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed into the midst of the New
-Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville explored
-in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773.  This group
-is composed principally of nine large islands, that form a band of 120
-leagues N.N.S. to S.S.W., between 15° and 2° S. lat., and 164
-deg. and 168° long.  We passed tolerably near to the Island of
-Aurou, that at noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a
-peak of great height.
-
-That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely the
-non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fete of which Protestants
-are so fond.  I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week, when, on the
-morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room, always
-seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before.  I was busily
-tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere.  The Captain came
-up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart, and said this single
-word.
-
-"Vanikoro."
-
-The effect was magical!  It was the name of the islands on which La
-Perouse had been lost!  I rose suddenly.
-
-"The Nautilus has brought us to Vanikoro?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, Professor," said the Captain.
-
-"And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole and the
-Astrolabe struck?"
-
-"If you like, Professor."
-
-"When shall we be there?"
-
-"We are there now."
-
-Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform, and greedily
-scanned the horizon.
-
-To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size, surrounded by
-a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference.  We were close
-to Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d'Urville gave the name of
-Isle de la Recherche, and exactly facing the little harbour of Vanou,
-situated in 16° 4' S. lat., and 164° 32' E. long.  The earth
-seemed covered with verdure from the shore to the summits in the
-interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high.  The
-Nautilus, having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait,
-found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty to forty
-fathoms deep.  Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived
-some savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach.  In the
-long black body, moving between wind and water, did they not see some
-formidable cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
-
-Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La
-Perouse.
-
-"Only what everyone knows, Captain," I replied.
-
-"And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?" he inquired,
-ironically.
-
-"Easily."
-
-I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d'Urville had made
-known--works from which the following is a brief account.
-
-La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent by Louis XVI,
-in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation.  They embarked in the
-corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe, neither of which were again heard
-of.  In 1791, the French Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of
-these two sloops, manned two large merchantmen, the Recherche and the
-Esperance, which left Brest the 28th of September under the command of
-Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
-
-Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle,
-that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts of
-New Georgia.  But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication--rather
-uncertain, besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
-mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La
-Perouse was wrecked.
-
-They sought in vain.  The Esperance and the Recherche passed before
-Vanikoro without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most
-disastrous, as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of
-his lieutenants, besides several of his crew.
-
-Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find
-unmistakable traces of the wrecks.  On the 15th of May, 1824, his
-vessel, the St. Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New
-Hebrides.  There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the
-handle of a sword in silver that bore the print of characters engraved
-on the hilt.  The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay
-at Vanikoro, he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels
-that had run aground on the reefs some years ago.
-
-Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had
-troubled the whole world.  He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
-according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
-but winds and tides prevented him.
-
-Dillon returned to Calcutta.  There he interested the Asiatic Society
-and the Indian Company in his discovery.  A vessel, to which was given
-the name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out,
-23rd January, 1827, accompanied by a French agent.
-
-The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific, cast
-anchor before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour of Vanou
-where the Nautilus was at this time.
-
-There it collected numerous relics of the wreck--iron utensils,
-anchors, pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lb. shot, fragments of
-astronomical instruments, a piece of crown work, and a bronze clock,
-bearing this inscription--"Bazin m'a fait," the mark of the foundry of
-the arsenal at Brest about 1785.  There could be no further doubt.
-
-Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till
-October.  Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New
-Zealand; put into Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France,
-where he was warmly welcomed by Charles X.
-
-But at the same time, without knowing Dillon's movements, Dumont
-d'Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck.  And they
-had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis had
-been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.
-Dumont d'Urville, commander of the Astrolabe, had then sailed, and two
-months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put into Hobart Town.  There
-he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries, and found that a certain
-James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing
-on an island situated 8° 18' S. lat., and 156° 30' E. long.,
-had seen some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these
-parts.  Dumont d'Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit
-the reports of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon's track.
-
-On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia, and
-took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island; made his
-way to Vanikoro, sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among the reefs
-until the 14th, and not until the 20th did he cast anchor within the
-barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
-
-On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought back
-some unimportant trifles.  The natives, adopting a system of denials
-and evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place.  This
-ambiguous conduct led them to believe that the natives had ill-treated
-the castaways, and indeed they seemed to fear that Dumont d'Urville had
-come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
-
-However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that
-they had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of
-the wreck.
-
-There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs of Pacou
-and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron, embedded in the
-limy concretions.  The large boat and the whaler belonging to the
-Astrolabe were sent to this place, and, not without some difficulty,
-their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800 lbs., a brass gun, some
-pigs of iron, and two copper swivel-guns.
-
-Dumont d'Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse,
-after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island, had
-constructed a smaller boat, only to be lost a second time.  Where, no
-one knew.
-
-But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d'Urville was not
-acquainted with Dillon's movements, had sent the sloop Bayonnaise,
-commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro, which had been
-stationed on the west coast of America.  The Bayonnaise cast her anchor
-before Vanikoro some months after the departure of the Astrolabe, but
-found no new document; but stated that the savages had respected the
-monument to La Perouse.  That is the substance of what I told Captain
-Nemo.
-
-"So," he said, "no one knows now where the third vessel perished that
-was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?"
-
-"No one knows."
-
-Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into the
-large saloon.  The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves, and the
-panels were opened.
-
-I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral, covered
-with fungi, syphonules, alcyons, madrepores, through myriads of
-charming fish--girelles, glyphisidri, pompherides, diacopes, and
-holocentres--I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been
-able to tear up--iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan
-fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck of
-some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers. While I was looking
-on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a sad voice:
-
-"Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels La
-Boussole and the Astrolabe.  He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
-visited the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course
-towards Santa Cruz, and put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group.  Then
-his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro.  The Boussole,
-which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast.  The Astrolabe
-went to its help, and ran aground too.  The first vessel was destroyed
-almost immediately.  The second, stranded under the wind, resisted some
-days.  The natives made the castaways welcome.  They installed
-themselves in the island, and constructed a smaller boat with the
-debris of the two large ones.  Some sailors stayed willingly at
-Vanikoro; the others, weak and ill, set out with La Perouse.  They
-directed their course towards the Solomon Islands, and there perished,
-with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island of the
-group, between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."
-
-"How do you know that?"
-
-"By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck."
-
-Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms,
-and corroded by the salt water.  He opened it, and I saw a bundle of
-papers, yellow but still readable.
-
-They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La
-Perouse, annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
-
-"Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!" said Captain Nemo, at last.  "A
-coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades will
-find no other."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-TORRES STRAITS
-
-During the night of the 27th or 28th of December, the Nautilus left the
-shores of Vanikoro with great speed.  Her course was south-westerly,
-and in three days she had gone over the 750 leagues that separated it
-from La Perouse's group and the south-east point of Papua.
-
-Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
-
-"Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?"
-
-"What!  Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study at the Jardin
-des Plantes?  Well, I accept your good wishes, and thank you for them.
-Only, I will ask you what you mean by a `Happy New Year' under our
-circumstances?  Do you mean the year that will bring us to the end of
-our imprisonment, or the year that sees us continue this strange
-voyage?"
-
-"Really, I do not know how to answer, master.  We are sure to see
-curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time for
-dullness.  The last marvel is always the most astonishing; and, if we
-continue this progression, I do not know how it will end.  It is my
-opinion that we shall never again see the like.  I think then, with no
-offence to master, that a happy year would be one in which we could see
-everything."
-
-On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250 French leagues, since
-our starting-point in the Japan Seas.  Before the ship's head stretched
-the dangerous shores of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of
-Australia.  Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank on
-which Cook's vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770.  The boat in which Cook
-was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink, it was owing to a piece
-of coral that was broken by the shock, and fixed itself in the broken
-keel.
-
-I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the
-sea, always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like
-thunder.  But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a
-great depth, and I could see nothing of the high coral walls.  I had to
-content myself with the different specimens of fish brought up by the
-nets.  I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel as
-large as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands,
-that disappear with the animal's life.
-
-These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with very delicate
-food. We took also a large number of gilt-heads, about one and a half
-inches long, tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine
-swallows, which, in dark nights, light alternately the air and water
-with their phosphorescent light. Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I
-found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini,
-hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented
-by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and macrocystes,
-impregnated with the mucilage that transudes through their pores; and
-among which I gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois, that was
-classed among the natural curiosities of the museum.
-
-Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted the
-Papuan coasts.  On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his
-intention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.
-His communication ended there.
-
-The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are
-obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers, and
-rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable; so that Captain
-Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them.  The Nautilus,
-floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace.  Her screw,
-like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.
-
-Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the deserted
-platform.  Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expected that
-Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus.  I had
-before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and I
-consulted them attentively.  Round the Nautilus the sea dashed
-furiously.  The course of the waves, that went from south-east to
-north-west at the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that
-showed itself here and there.
-
-"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.
-
-"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the
-Nautilus."
-
-"The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of
-coral that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly."
-
-Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus seemed to slide
-like magic off these rocks.  It did not follow the routes of the
-Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont
-d'Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray, and
-came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage.  I thought it
-was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west, it went
-through a large quantity of islands and islets little known, towards
-the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
-
-I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his vessel
-into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched; when,
-swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west, he steered
-for the Island of Gilboa.
-
-It was then three in the afternoon.  The tide began to recede, being
-quite full.  The Nautilus approached the island, that I still saw, with
-its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off it at about two
-miles distant.  Suddenly a shock overthrew me.  The Nautilus just
-touched a rock, and stayed immovable, laying lightly to port side.
-
-When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the
-platform.  They were examining the situation of the vessel, and
-exchanging words in their incomprehensible dialect.
-
-She was situated thus:  Two miles, on the starboard side, appeared
-Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm.  Towards the
-south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb.  We had run
-aground, and in one of those seas where the tides are middling--a sorry
-matter for the floating of the Nautilus.  However, the vessel had not
-suffered, for her keel was solidly joined.  But, if she could neither
-glide off nor move, she ran the risk of being for ever fastened to
-these rocks, and then Captain Nemo's submarine vessel would be done for.
-
-I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm, always master
-of himself, approached me.
-
-"An accident?"  I asked.
-
-"No; an incident."
-
-"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
-of this land from which you flee?"
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as
-much as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma
-again.  Then he said:
-
-"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it will carry you yet
-into the midst of the marvels of the ocean.  Our voyage is only begun,
-and I do not wish to be deprived so soon of the honour of your company."
-
-"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironical turn
-of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.  Now the tides
-are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot lighten the Nautilus,
-I do not see how it will be reinflated."
-
-"The tides are not strong in the Pacific:  you are right there,
-Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference of a yard
-and a half between the level of high and low seas.  To-day is 4th
-January, and in five days the moon will be full.  Now, I shall be very
-much astonished if that satellite does not raise these masses of water
-sufficiently, and render me a service that I should be indebted to her
-for."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, redescended
-to the interior of the Nautilus.  As to the vessel, it moved not, and
-was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had already walled it up with
-their in destructible cement.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure of
-the Captain.
-
-"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th
-instant; for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it
-off again."
-
-"Really?"
-
-"Really."
-
-"And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide
-will suffice?" said Conseil, simply.
-
-The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will
-navigate neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold
-for its weight.  I think, therefore, that the time has come to part
-company with Captain Nemo."
-
-"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus, as you do; and in
-four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides.  Besides,
-flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English or
-Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing; and it
-will be time enough to come to that extremity if the Nautilus does not
-recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event."
-
-"But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly?  There is an
-island; on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial
-animals, bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly
-give a trial."
-
-"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil, "and I agree with him.
-Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put
-us on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the
-solid parts of our planet?"
-
-"I can ask him, but he will refuse."
-
-"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and we shall know how to rely
-upon the Captain's amiability."
-
-To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
-and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise
-to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be very
-perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.
-Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than to fall into the
-hands of the natives.
-
-At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the
-Nautilus.  The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.
-Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered in the
-straight passage that the breakers left between them.  The boat was
-well handled, and moved rapidly.
-
-Ned Land could not restrain his joy.  He was like a prisoner that had
-escaped from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
-
-"Meat!  We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!" he replied.
-"Real game! no, bread, indeed."
-
-"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it; but a piece
-of fresh venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably vary our
-ordinary course."
-
-"Glutton!" said Conseil, "he makes my mouth water."
-
-"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these forests are full of game,
-and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."
-
-"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed
-sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger--loin of
-tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."
-
-"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.
-
-"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land, "every animal with four paws
-without feathers, or with two paws without feathers, will be saluted by
-my first shot."
-
-"Very well!  Master Land's imprudences are beginning."
-
-"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian; "I do not want
-twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort."
-
-At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly aground on a heavy
-sand, after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the
-Island of Gilboa.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-A FEW DAYS ON LAND
-
-I was much impressed on touching land.  Ned Land tried the soil with
-his feet, as if to take possession of it.  However, it was only two
-months before that we had become, according to Captain Nemo,
-"passengers on board the Nautilus," but, in reality, prisoners of its
-commander.
-
-In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast.  The whole
-horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests.  Enormous
-trees, the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet, were tied to
-each other by garlands of bindweed, real natural hammocks, which a
-light breeze rocked.  They were mimosas, figs, hibisci, and palm trees,
-mingled together in profusion; and under the shelter of their verdant
-vault grew orchids, leguminous plants, and ferns.
-
-But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
-the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful.  He discovered a
-coco-tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them, and we drunk the
-milk and ate the nut with a satisfaction that protested against the
-ordinary food on the Nautilus.
-
-"Excellent!" said Ned Land.
-
-"Exquisite!" replied Conseil.
-
-"And I do not think," said the Canadian, "that he would object to our
-introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board."
-
-"I do not think he would, but he would not taste them."
-
-"So much the worse for him," said Conseil.
-
-"And so much the better for us," replied Ned Land.  "There will be more
-for us."
-
-"One word only, Master Land," I said to the harpooner, who was
-beginning to ravage another coco-nut tree.  "Coco-nuts are good things,
-but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre
-and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.
-Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the Nautilus."
-
-"Master is right," replied Conseil; "and I propose to reserve three
-places in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the
-third for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest
-specimen."
-
-"Conseil, we must not despair," said the Canadian.
-
-"Let us continue," I returned, "and lie in wait.  Although the island
-seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would
-be less hard than we on the nature of game."
-
-"Ho! ho!" said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
-
-"Well, Ned!" said Conseil.
-
-"My word!" returned the Canadian, "I begin to understand the charms of
-anthropophagy."
-
-"Ned!  Ned! what are you saying?  You, a man-eater? I should not feel
-safe with you, especially as I share your cabin.  I might perhaps wake
-one day to find myself half devoured."
-
-"Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you
-unnecessarily."
-
-"I would not trust you," replied Conseil.  "But enough.  We must
-absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal, or else one
-of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces of his servant to
-serve him."
-
-While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches of
-the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
-
-Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables, and one of the most
-useful products of the tropical zones furnished us with precious food
-that we missed on board.  I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very
-abundant in the island of Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety
-destitute of seeds, which bears in Malaya the name of "rima."
-
-Ned Land knew these fruits well.  He had already eaten many during his
-numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance.
-Moreover, the sight of them excited him, and he could contain himself
-no longer.
-
-"Master," he said, "I shall die if I do not taste a little of this
-bread-fruit pie."
-
-"Taste it, friend Ned--taste it as you want.  We are here to make
-experiments--make them."
-
-"It won't take long," said the Canadian.
-
-And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that
-crackled joyously.  During this time, Conseil and I chose the best
-fruits of the bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient
-degree of maturity; and their thick skin covered a white but rather
-fibrous pulp.  Others, the greater number yellow and gelatinous, waited
-only to be picked.
-
-These fruits enclosed no kernel.  Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land,
-who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices,
-and while doing this repeating:
-
-"You will see, master, how good this bread is.  More so when one has
-been deprived of it so long.  It is not even bread," added he, "but a
-delicate pastry.  You have eaten none, master?"
-
-"No, Ned."
-
-"Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing.  If you do not come for
-more, I am no longer the king of harpooners."
-
-After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire
-was completely roasted.  The interior looked like a white pasty, a sort
-of soft crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
-
-It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it with
-great relish.
-
-"What time is it now?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil.
-
-"How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned Land.
-
-"Let us be off," replied Conseil.
-
-We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid
-upon the cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
-little beans that I recognised as the "abrou" of the Malays, and yams
-of a superior quality.
-
-We were loaded when we reached the boat.  But Ned Land did not find his
-provisions sufficient.  Fate, however, favoured us.  Just as we were
-pushing off, he perceived several trees, from twenty-five to thirty
-feet high, a species of palm-tree.
-
-At last, at five o'clock in the evening, loaded with our riches, we
-quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus.  No
-one appeared on our arrival.  The enormous iron-plated cylinder seemed
-deserted.  The provisions embarked, I descended to my chamber, and
-after supper slept soundly.
-
-The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board.  Not a sound inside,
-not a sign of life.  The boat rested along the edge, in the same place
-in which we had left it.  We resolved to return to the island.  Ned
-Land hoped to be more fortunate than on the day before with regard to
-the hunt, and wished to visit another part of the forest.
-
-At dawn we set off.  The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to
-shore, reached the island in a few minutes.
-
-We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian,
-we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us.  He
-wound up the coast towards the west:  then, fording some torrents, he
-gained the high plain that was bordered with admirable forests.  Some
-kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses, but they would not
-let themselves be approached.  Their circumspection proved to me that
-these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I
-concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings
-occasionally frequented it.
-
-After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a
-little wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large
-number of birds.
-
-"There are only birds," said Conseil.
-
-"But they are eatable," replied the harpooner.
-
-"I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there."
-
-"Friend Conseil," said Ned, gravely, "the parrot is like pheasant to
-those who have nothing else."
-
-"And," I added, "this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and fork."
-
-Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots were
-flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful education to speak
-the human language.  For the moment, they were chattering with parrots
-of all colours, and grave cockatoos, who seemed to meditate upon some
-philosophical problem, whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece
-of bunting carried away by the breeze, papuans, with the finest azure
-colours, and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold,
-but few eatable.
-
-However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed the
-limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
-But fortune reserved it for me before long.
-
-After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain
-obstructed with bushes.  I saw then those magnificent birds, the
-disposition of whose long feathers obliges them to fly against the
-wind.  Their undulating flight, graceful aerial curves, and the shading
-of their colours, attracted and charmed one's looks.  I had no trouble
-in recognising them.
-
-"Birds of paradise!"  I exclaimed.
-
-The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese,
-have several means that we could not employ for taking them.  Sometimes
-they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds of paradise
-prefer to frequent.  Sometimes they catch them with a viscous birdlime
-that paralyses their movements.  They even go so far as to poison the
-fountains that the birds generally drink from.  But we were obliged to
-fire at them during flight, which gave us few chances to bring them
-down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one half our ammunition.
-
-About eleven o'clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that
-form the centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
-Hunger drove us on.  The hunters had relied on the products of the
-chase, and they were wrong.  Happily Conseil, to his great surprise,
-made a double shot and secured breakfast.  He brought down a white
-pigeon and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended from a
-skewer, was roasted before a red fire of dead wood.  While these
-interesting birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the
-bread-tree. Then the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and
-declared excellent.  The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of
-stuffing their crops, flavours their flesh and renders it delicious
-eating.
-
-"Now, Ned, what do you miss now?"
-
-"Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax.  All these pigeons are only
-side-dishes and trifles; and until I have killed an animal with cutlets
-I shall not be content."
-
-"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise."
-
-"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil.  "Let us go towards the
-sea.  We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I
-think we had better regain the region of forests."
-
-That was sensible advice, and was followed out.  After walking for one
-hour we had attained a forest of sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents
-glided away from us.  The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and
-truly I despaired of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in
-front, suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
-bringing a magnificent specimen.
-
-"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"
-
-"Master is very good."
-
-"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke.  Take one of these
-living birds, and carry it in your hand."
-
-"If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great
-merit."
-
-"Why, Conseil?"
-
-"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."
-
-"Drunk!"
-
-"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under the
-nutmeg-tree, under which I found it.  See, friend Ned, see the
-monstrous effects of intemperance!"
-
-"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because I have drunk gin for two
-months, you must needs reproach me!"
-
-However, I examined the curious bird.  Conseil was right.  The bird,
-drunk with the juice, was quite powerless.  It could not fly; it could
-hardly walk.
-
-This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species that are
-found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands.  It was the "large
-emerald bird, the most rare kind." It measured three feet in length.
-Its head was comparatively small, its eyes placed near the opening of
-the beak, and also small.  But the shades of colour were beautiful,
-having a yellow beak, brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with
-purple tips, pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
-colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly.  Two horned,
-downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged the long light
-feathers of admirable fineness, and they completed the whole of this
-marvellous bird, that the natives have poetically named the "bird of
-the sun."
-
-But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird of
-paradise, the Canadian's were not yet.  Happily, about two o'clock, Ned
-Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood of those the
-natives call "bari-outang." The animal came in time for us to procure
-real quadruped meat, and he was well received.  Ned Land was very proud
-of his shot.  The hog, hit by the electric ball, fell stone dead.  The
-Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly, after having taken half a
-dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us with a grilled repast in the
-evening.  Then the hunt was resumed, which was still more marked by Ned
-and Conseil's exploits.
-
-Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd of kangaroos
-that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws.  But these animals
-did not take to flight so rapidly but what the electric capsule could
-stop their course.
-
-"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the delights
-of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed, too!  What a supply for
-the Nautilus!  Two! three! five down!  And to think that we shall eat
-that flesh, and that the idiots on board shall not have a crumb!"
-
-I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian, if he had not
-talked so much, would have killed them all.  But he contented himself
-with a single dozen of these interesting marsupians.  These animals
-were small.  They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live
-habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme; but
-they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food.  We
-were very satisfied with the results of the hunt.  Happy Ned proposed
-to return to this enchanting island the next day, for he wished to
-depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds.  But he had reckoned
-without his host.
-
-At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore; our boat was
-moored to the usual place.  The Nautilus, like a long rock, emerged
-from the waves two miles from the beach.  Ned Land, without waiting,
-occupied himself about the important dinner business.  He understood
-all about cooking well.  The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon
-scented the air with a delicious odour.
-
-Indeed, the dinner was excellent.  Two wood-pigeons completed this
-extraordinary menu.  The sago pasty, the artocarpus bread, some
-mangoes, half a dozen pineapples, and the liquor fermented from some
-coco-nuts, overjoyed us.  I even think that my worthy companions' ideas
-had not all the plainness desirable.
-
-"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this evening?" said Conseil.
-
-"Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land.
-
-Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's
-proposition.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO'S THUNDERBOLT
-
-We looked at the edge of the forest without rising, my hand stopping in
-the action of putting it to my mouth, Ned Land's completing its office.
-
-"Stones do not fall from the sky," remarked Conseil, "or they would
-merit the name aerolites."
-
-A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon's leg fall
-from Conseil's hand, gave still more weight to his observation.  We all
-three arose, shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply to any attack.
-
-"Are they apes?" cried Ned Land.
-
-"Very nearly--they are savages."
-
-"To the boat!"  I said, hurrying to the sea.
-
-It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives
-armed with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that
-masked the horizon to the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
-
-Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us.  The savages approached
-us, not running, but making hostile demonstrations.  Stones and arrows
-fell thickly.
-
-Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his
-imminent danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other, he
-went tolerably fast.  In two minutes we were on the shore.  To load the
-boat with provisions and arms, to push it out to sea, and ship the
-oars, was the work of an instant.  We had not gone two cable-lengths,
-when a hundred savages, howling and gesticulating, entered the water up
-to their waists.  I watched to see if their apparition would attract
-some men from the Nautilus on to the platform.  But no.  The enormous
-machine, lying off, was absolutely deserted.
-
-Twenty minutes later we were on board.  The panels were open.  After
-making the boat fast, we entered into the interior of the Nautilus.
-
-I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords.
-Captain Nemo was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in a
-musical ecstasy.
-
-"Captain!"
-
-He did not hear me.
-
-"Captain!"  I said, touching his hand.
-
-He shuddered, and, turning round, said, "Ah! it is you, Professor?
-Well, have you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?"
-
-"Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
-whose vicinity troubles me."
-
-"What bipeds?"
-
-"Savages."
-
-"Savages!" he echoed, ironically.  "So you are astonished, Professor,
-at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages?  Savages!
-where are there not any?  Besides, are they worse than others, these
-whom you call savages?"
-
-"But Captain----"
-
-"How many have you counted?"
-
-"A hundred at least."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ
-stops, "when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the
-Nautilus will have nothing to fear from their attacks."
-
-The Captain's fingers were then running over the keys of the
-instrument, and I remarked that he touched only the black keys, which
-gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character.  Soon he had
-forgotten my presence, and had plunged into a reverie that I did not
-disturb.  I went up again on to the platform: night had already fallen;
-for, in this low latitude, the sun sets rapidly and without twilight.
-I could only see the island indistinctly; but the numerous fires,
-lighted on the beach, showed that the natives did not think of leaving
-it.  I was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the
-natives--but without any dread of them, for the imperturbable
-confidence of the Captain was catching--sometimes forgetting them to
-admire the splendours of the night in the tropics.  My remembrances
-went to France in the train of those zodiacal stars that would shine in
-some hours' time.  The moon shone in the midst of the constellations of
-the zenith.
-
-The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders frightened
-no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay.  The panels were
-open, and would have offered an easy access to the interior of the
-Nautilus.
-
-At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up on to the
-platform.  The dawn was breaking.  The island soon showed itself
-through the dissipating fogs, first the shore, then the summits.
-
-The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before--five or
-six hundred perhaps--some of them, profiting by the low water, had come
-on to the coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus.  I
-distinguished them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic
-figures, men of good race, large high foreheads, large, but not broad
-and flat, and white teeth.  Their woolly hair, with a reddish tinge,
-showed off on their black shining bodies like those of the Nubians.
-From the lobes of their ears, cut and distended, hung chaplets of
-bones.  Most of these savages were naked.  Amongst them, I remarked
-some women, dressed from the hips to knees in quite a crinoline of
-herbs, that sustained a vegetable waistband.  Some chiefs had
-ornamented their necks with a crescent and collars of glass beads, red
-and white; nearly all were armed with bows, arrows, and shields and
-carried on their shoulders a sort of net containing those round stones
-which they cast from their slings with great skill.  One of these
-chiefs, rather near to the Nautilus, examined it attentively.  He was,
-perhaps, a "mado" of high rank, for he was draped in a mat of
-banana-leaves, notched round the edges, and set off with brilliant
-colours.
-
-I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short
-length; but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile
-demonstrations.  Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the
-Europeans to parry sharply, not to attack.
-
-During low water the natives roamed about near the Nautilus, but were
-not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word "Assai," and
-by their gestures I understood that they invited me to go on land, an
-invitation that I declined.
-
-So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great
-displeasure of Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
-
-This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands and meat
-that he had brought off the island.  As for the savages, they returned
-to the shore about eleven o'clock in the morning, as soon as the coral
-tops began to disappear under the rising tide; but I saw their numbers
-had increased considerably on the shore.  Probably they came from the
-neighbouring islands, or very likely from Papua.  However, I had not
-seen a single native canoe.  Having nothing better to do, I thought of
-dragging these beautiful limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion
-of shells, zoophytes, and marine plants.  Moreover, it was the last day
-that the Nautilus would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea
-the next day, according to Captain Nemo's promise.
-
-I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag, very
-like those for the oyster fishery.  Now to work!  For two hours we
-fished unceasingly, but without bringing up any rarities.  The drag was
-filled with midas-ears, harps, melames, and particularly the most
-beautiful hammers I have ever seen.  We also brought up some sea-slugs,
-pearl-oysters, and a dozen little turtles that were reserved for the
-pantry on board.
-
-But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder, I might
-say a natural deformity, very rarely met with.  Conseil was just
-dragging, and his net came up filled with divers ordinary shells, when,
-all at once, he saw me plunge my arm quickly into the net, to draw out
-a shell, and heard me utter a cry.
-
-"What is the matter, sir?" he asked in surprise.  "Has master been
-bitten?"
-
-"No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my
-discovery."
-
-"What discovery?"
-
-"This shell," I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
-
-"It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the
-pectinibranchidae, class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca."
-
-"Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left, this
-olive turns from left to right."
-
-"Is it possible?"
-
-"Yes, my boy; it is a left shell."
-
-Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
-their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
-
-Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure, and I
-was promising myself to enrich the museum with it, when a stone
-unfortunately thrown by a native struck against, and broke, the
-precious object in Conseil's hand.  I uttered a cry of despair!
-Conseil took up his gun, and aimed at a savage who was poising his
-sling at ten yards from him.  I would have stopped him, but his blow
-took effect and broke the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm
-of the savage.
-
-"Conseil!" cried I. "Conseil!"
-
-"Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?"
-
-"A shell is not worth the life of a man," said I.
-
-"Ah! the scoundrel!" cried Conseil; "I would rather he had broken my
-shoulder!"
-
-Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion.  However, the
-situation had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived.  A
-score of canoes surrounded the Nautilus.  These canoes, scooped out of
-the trunk of a tree, long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were
-balanced by means of a long bamboo pole, which floated on the water.
-They were managed by skilful, half-naked paddlers, and I watched their
-advance with some uneasiness.  It was evident that these Papuans had
-already had dealings with the Europeans and knew their ships.  But this
-long iron cylinder anchored in the bay, without masts or chimneys, what
-could they think of it?  Nothing good, for at first they kept at a
-respectful distance.  However, seeing it motionless, by degrees they
-took courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it.  Now this
-familiarity was precisely what it was necessary to avoid.  Our arms,
-which were noiseless, could only produce a moderate effect on the
-savages, who have little respect for aught but blustering things.  The
-thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man
-but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise.
-
-At this moment the canoes approached the Nautilus, and a shower of
-arrows alighted on her.
-
-I went down to the saloon, but found no one there.  I ventured to knock
-at the door that opened into the Captain's room.  "Come in," was the
-answer.
-
-I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations of
-_x_ and other quantities.
-
-"I am disturbing you," said I, for courtesy's sake.
-
-"That is true, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain; "but I think you have
-serious reasons for wishing to see me?"
-
-"Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes, and
-in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many hundreds of
-savages."
-
-"Ah!" said Captain Nemo quietly, "they are come with their canoes?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Well, sir, we must close the hatches."
-
-"Exactly, and I came to say to you----"
-
-"Nothing can be more simple," said Captain Nemo.  And, pressing an
-electric button, he transmitted an order to the ship's crew.
-
-"It is all done, sir," said he, after some moments.  "The pinnace is
-ready, and the hatches are closed.  You do not fear, I imagine, that
-these gentlemen could stave in walls on which the balls of your frigate
-have had no effect?"
-
-"No, Captain; but a danger still exists."
-
-"What is that, sir?"
-
-"It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches to
-renew the air of the Nautilus.  Now, if, at this moment, the Papuans
-should occupy the platform, I do not see how you could prevent them
-from entering."
-
-"Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?"
-
-"I am certain of it."
-
-"Well, sir, let them come.  I see no reason for hindering them.  After
-all, these Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling that my visit
-to the island should cost the life of a single one of these wretches."
-
-Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me, and asked me
-to sit down by him.  He questioned me with interest about our
-excursions on shore, and our hunting; and seemed not to understand the
-craving for meat that possessed the Canadian.  Then the conversation
-turned on various subjects, and, without being more communicative,
-Captain Nemo showed himself more amiable.
-
-Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation of the
-Nautilus, run aground in exactly the same spot in this strait where
-Dumont d'Urville was nearly lost.  Apropos of this:
-
-"This D'Urville was one of your great sailors," said the Captain to me,
-"one of your most intelligent navigators.  He is the Captain Cook of
-you Frenchmen.  Unfortunate man of science, after having braved the
-icebergs of the South Pole, the coral reefs of Oceania, the cannibals
-of the Pacific, to perish miserably in a railway train!  If this
-energetic man could have reflected during the last moments of his life,
-what must have been uppermost in his last thoughts, do you suppose?"
-
-So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion gave me a
-better opinion of him.  Then, chart in hand, we reviewed the travels of
-the French navigator, his voyages of circumnavigation, his double
-detention at the South Pole, which led to the discovery of Adelaide and
-Louis Philippe, and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal
-islands of Oceania.
-
-"That which your D'Urville has done on the surface of the seas," said
-Captain Nemo, "that have I done under them, and more easily, more
-completely than he.  The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed
-about by the hurricane, could not be worth the Nautilus, quiet
-repository of labour that she is, truly motionless in the midst of the
-waters.
-
-"To-morrow," added the Captain, rising, "to-morrow, at twenty minutes
-to three p.m., the Nautilus shall float, and leave the Strait of Torres
-uninjured."
-
-Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly.
-This was to dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
-
-There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview
-with the Captain.
-
-"My boy," said I, "when I feigned to believe that his Nautilus was
-threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered me very
-sarcastically.  I have but one thing to say to you: Have confidence in
-him, and go to sleep in peace."
-
-"Have you no need of my services, sir?"
-
-"No, my friend.  What is Ned Land doing?"
-
-"If you will excuse me, sir," answered Conseil, "friend Ned is busy
-making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel."
-
-I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently.  I heard the
-noise of the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening
-cries.  The night passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose
-of the crew.  The presence of these cannibals affected them no more
-than the soldiers of a masked battery care for the ants that crawl over
-its front.
-
-At six in the morning I rose.  The hatches had not been opened.  The
-inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready for any
-emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several cubic feet of
-oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the Nautilus.
-
-I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo, even
-for an instant.  On board no preparations for departure were visible.
-
-I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon.  The clock
-marked half-past two.  In ten minutes it would be high-tide: and, if
-Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise, the Nautilus would be
-immediately detached.  If not, many months would pass ere she could
-leave her bed of coral.
-
-However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel.  I
-heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of the coral
-reef.
-
-At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the
-saloon.
-
-"We are going to start," said he.
-
-"Ah!" replied I.
-
-"I have given the order to open the hatches."
-
-"And the Papuans?"
-
-"The Papuans?" answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
-
-"Will they not come inside the Nautilus?"
-
-"How?"
-
-"Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened."
-
-"M. Aronnax," quietly answered Captain Nemo, "they will not enter the
-hatches of the Nautilus in that way, even if they were open."
-
-I looked at the Captain.
-
-"You do not understand?" said he.
-
-"Hardly."
-
-"Well, come and you will see."
-
-I directed my steps towards the central staircase.  There Ned Land and
-Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship's crew, who were opening
-the hatches, while cries of rage and fearful vociferations resounded
-outside.
-
-The port lids were pulled down outside.  Twenty horrible faces
-appeared.  But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail,
-struck from behind by some invisible force, I know not what, fled,
-uttering the most fearful cries and making the wildest contortions.
-
-Ten of his companions followed him.  They met with the same fate.
-
-Conseil was in ecstasy.  Ned Land, carried away by his violent
-instincts, rushed on to the staircase.  But the moment he seized the
-rail with both hands, he, in his turn, was overthrown.
-
-"I am struck by a thunderbolt," cried he, with an oath.
-
-This explained all.  It was no rail; but a metallic cable charged with
-electricity from the deck communicating with the platform.  Whoever
-touched it felt a powerful shock--and this shock would have been mortal
-if Captain Nemo had discharged into the conductor the whole force of
-the current.  It might truly be said that between his assailants and
-himself he had stretched a network of electricity which none could pass
-with impunity.
-
-Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed with
-terror.  As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed the
-unfortunate Ned Land, who swore like one possessed.
-
-But at this moment the Nautilus, raised by the last waves of the tide,
-quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by the
-Captain.  Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically.  Her
-speed increased gradually, and, sailing on the surface of the ocean,
-she quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of
-Torres.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-"AEGRI SOMNIA"
-
-The following day 10th January, the Nautilus continued her course
-between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I could not
-estimate it at less than thirty-five miles an hour.  The rapidity of
-her screw was such that I could neither follow nor count its
-revolutions.  When I reflected that this marvellous electric agent,
-after having afforded motion, heat, and light to the Nautilus, still
-protected her from outward attack, and transformed her into an ark of
-safety which no profane hand might touch without being thunderstricken,
-my admiration was unbounded, and from the structure it extended to the
-engineer who had called it into existence.
-
-Our course was directed to the west, and on the 11th of January we
-doubled Cape Wessel, situation in 135° long. and 10° S. lat.,
-which forms the east point of the Gulf of Carpentaria.  The reefs were
-still numerous, but more equalised, and marked on the chart with
-extreme precision.  The Nautilus easily avoided the breakers of Money
-to port and the Victoria reefs to starboard, placed at 130° long.
-and on the 10th parallel, which we strictly followed.
-
-On the 13th of January, Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor, and
-recognised the island of that name in 122° long.
-
-From this point the direction of the Nautilus inclined towards the
-south-west. Her head was set for the Indian Ocean.  Where would the
-fancy of Captain Nemo carry us next?  Would he return to the coast of
-Asia or would he approach again the shores of Europe?  Improbable
-conjectures both, to a man who fled from inhabited continents.  Then
-would he descend to the south?  Was he going to double the Cape of Good
-Hope, then Cape Horn, and finally go as far as the Antarctic pole?
-Would he come back at last to the Pacific, where his Nautilus could
-sail free and independently?  Time would show.
-
-After having skirted the sands of Cartier, of Hibernia, Seringapatam,
-and Scott, last efforts of the solid against the liquid element, on the
-14th of January we lost sight of land altogether.  The speed of the
-Nautilus was considerably abated, and with irregular course she
-sometimes swam in the bosom of the waters, sometimes floated on their
-surface.
-
-During this period of the voyage, Captain Nemo made some interesting
-experiments on the varied temperature of the sea, in different beds.
-Under ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of
-rather complicated instruments, and with somewhat doubtful results, by
-means of thermometrical sounding-leads, the glasses often breaking
-under the pressure of the water, or an apparatus grounded on the
-variations of the resistance of metals to the electric currents.
-Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated.  On the
-contrary, Captain Nemo went himself to test the temperature in the
-depths of the sea, and his thermometer, placed in communication with
-the different sheets of water, gave him the required degree immediately
-and accurately.
-
-It was thus that, either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending
-obliquely by means of her inclined planes, the Nautilus successively
-attained the depth of three, four, five, seven, nine, and ten thousand
-yards, and the definite result of this experience was that the sea
-preserved an average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth
-of five thousand fathoms under all latitudes.
-
-On the 16th of January, the Nautilus seemed becalmed only a few yards
-beneath the surface of the waves.  Her electric apparatus remained
-inactive and her motionless screw left her to drift at the mercy of the
-currents.  I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs,
-rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements of the
-machine.
-
-My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle.  The hatches of
-the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light of the Nautilus was not
-in action, a dim obscurity reigned in the midst of the waters.  I
-observed the state of the sea, under these conditions, and the largest
-fish appeared to me no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the
-Nautilus found herself suddenly transported into full light.  I thought
-at first that the beacon had been lighted, and was casting its electric
-radiance into the liquid mass.  I was mistaken, and after a rapid
-survey perceived my error.
-
-The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which, in
-this obscurity, became quite dazzling.  It was produced by myriads of
-luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was increased as they glided
-over the metallic hull of the vessel.  I was surprised by lightning in
-the midst of these luminous sheets, as though they had been rivulets of
-lead melted in an ardent furnace or metallic masses brought to a white
-heat, so that, by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared
-to cast a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all
-shade seemed banished.  No; this was not the calm irradiation of our
-ordinary lightning.  There was unusual life and vigour: this was truly
-living light!
-
-In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria, of
-veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle, and
-of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less than
-two cubic half-inches of water.
-
-During several hours the Nautilus floated in these brilliant waves, and
-our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters disporting
-themselves like salamanders.  I saw there in the midst of this fire
-that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise (the indefatigable clown
-of the ocean), and some swordfish ten feet long, those prophetic
-heralds of the hurricane whose formidable sword would now and then
-strike the glass of the saloon.  Then appeared the smaller fish, the
-balista, the leaping mackerel, wolf-thorn-tails, and a hundred others
-which striped the luminous atmosphere as they swam.  This dazzling
-spectacle was enchanting!  Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased
-the intensity of this phenomenon.  Perhaps some storm agitated the
-surface of the waves.  But at this depth of some yards, the Nautilus
-was unmoved by its fury and reposed peacefully in still water.
-
-So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel.  The days
-passed rapidly away, and I took no account of them.  Ned, according to
-habit, tried to vary the diet on board.  Like snails, we were fixed to
-our shells, and I declare it is easy to lead a snail's life.
-
-Thus this life seemed easy and natural, and we thought no longer of the
-life we led on land; but something happened to recall us to the
-strangeness of our situation.
-
-On the 18th of January, the Nautilus was in 105° long. and 15°
-S. lat.  The weather was threatening, the sea rough and rolling.  There
-was a strong east wind.  The barometer, which had been going down for
-some days, foreboded a coming storm.  I went up on to the platform just
-as the second lieutenant was taking the measure of the horary angles,
-and waited, according to habit till the daily phrase was said.  But on
-this day it was exchanged for another phrase not less incomprehensible.
-Almost directly, I saw Captain Nemo appear with a glass, looking
-towards the horizon.
-
-For some minutes he was immovable, without taking his eye off the point
-of observation.  Then he lowered his glass and exchanged a few words
-with his lieutenant.  The latter seemed to be a victim to some emotion
-that he tried in vain to repress.  Captain Nemo, having more command
-over himself, was cool.  He seemed, too, to be making some objections
-to which the lieutenant replied by formal assurances.  At least I
-concluded so by the difference of their tones and gestures.  For
-myself, I had looked carefully in the direction indicated without
-seeing anything.  The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the
-horizon.
-
-However, Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform to the other,
-without looking at me, perhaps without seeing me.  His step was firm,
-but less regular than usual.  He stopped sometimes, crossed his arms,
-and observed the sea.  What could he be looking for on that immense
-expanse?
-
-The Nautilus was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.
-
-The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon
-steadfastly, going and coming, stamping his foot and showing more
-nervous agitation than his superior officer.  Besides, this mystery
-must necessarily be solved, and before long; for, upon an order from
-Captain Nemo, the engine, increasing its propelling power, made the
-screw turn more rapidly.
-
-Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain's attention again.  The
-latter stopped walking and directed his glass towards the place
-indicated.  He looked long.  I felt very much puzzled, and descended to
-the drawing-room, and took out an excellent telescope that I generally
-used.  Then, leaning on the cage of the watch-light that jutted out
-from the front of the platform, set myself to look over all the line of
-the sky and sea.
-
-But my eye was no sooner applied to the glass than it was quickly
-snatched out of my hands.
-
-I turned round.  Captain Nemo was before me, but I did not know him.
-His face was transfigured.  His eyes flashed sullenly; his teeth were
-set; his stiff body, clenched fists, and head shrunk between his
-shoulders, betrayed the violent agitation that pervaded his whole
-frame.  He did not move.  My glass, fallen from his hands, had rolled
-at his feet.
-
-Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger?  Did this
-incomprehensible person imagine that I had discovered some forbidden
-secret?  No; I was not the object of this hatred, for he was not
-looking at me; his eye was steadily fixed upon the impenetrable point
-of the horizon.  At last Captain Nemo recovered himself.  His agitation
-subsided.  He addressed some words in a foreign language to his
-lieutenant, then turned to me.  "M. Aronnax," he said, in rather an
-imperious tone, "I require you to keep one of the conditions that bind
-you to me."
-
-"What is it, Captain?"
-
-"You must be confined, with your companions, until I think fit to
-release you."
-
-"You are the master," I replied, looking steadily at him.  "But may I
-ask you one question?"
-
-"None, sir."
-
-There was no resisting this imperious command, it would have been
-useless.  I went down to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil,
-and told them the Captain's determination.  You may judge how this
-communication was received by the Canadian.
-
-But there was not time for altercation.  Four of the crew waited at the
-door, and conducted us to that cell where we had passed our first night
-on board the Nautilus.
-
-Ned Land would have remonstrated, but the door was shut upon him.
-
-"Will master tell me what this means?" asked Conseil.
-
-I told my companions what had passed.  They were as much astonished as
-I, and equally at a loss how to account for it.
-
-Meanwhile, I was absorbed in my own reflections, and could think of
-nothing but the strange fear depicted in the Captain's countenance.  I
-was utterly at a loss to account for it, when my cogitations were
-disturbed by these words from Ned Land:
-
-"Hallo! breakfast is ready."
-
-And indeed the table was laid.  Evidently Captain Nemo had given this
-order at the same time that he had hastened the speed of the Nautilus.
-
-"Will master permit me to make a recommendation?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy."
-
-"Well, it is that master breakfasts.  It is prudent, for we do not know
-what may happen."
-
-"You are right, Conseil."
-
-"Unfortunately," said Ned Land, "they have only given us the ship's
-fare."
-
-"Friend Ned," asked Conseil, "what would you have said if the breakfast
-had been entirely forgotten?"
-
-This argument cut short the harpooner's recriminations.
-
-We sat down to table.  The meal was eaten in silence.
-
-Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left
-us in total darkness.  Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me
-was that Conseil went off into a heavy slumber.  I was thinking what
-could have caused his irresistible drowsiness, when I felt my brain
-becoming stupefied.  In spite of my efforts to keep my eyes open, they
-would close.  A painful suspicion seized me.  Evidently soporific
-substances had been mixed with the food we had just taken.
-Imprisonment was not enough to conceal Captain Nemo's projects from us,
-sleep was more necessary.  I then heard the panels shut.  The
-undulations of the sea, which caused a slight rolling motion, ceased.
-Had the Nautilus quitted the surface of the ocean?  Had it gone back to
-the motionless bed of water?  I tried to resist sleep.  It was
-impossible.  My breathing grew weak.  I felt a mortal cold freeze my
-stiffened and half-paralysed limbs.  My eye lids, like leaden caps,
-fell over my eyes.  I could not raise them; a morbid sleep, full of
-hallucinations, bereft me of my being.  Then the visions disappeared,
-and left me in complete insensibility.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-THE CORAL KINGDOM
-
-The next day I woke with my head singularly clear.  To my great
-surprise, I was in my own room.  My companions, no doubt, had been
-reinstated in their cabin, without having perceived it any more than I.
-Of what had passed during the night they were as ignorant as I was, and
-to penetrate this mystery I only reckoned upon the chances of the
-future.
-
-I then thought of quitting my room.  Was I free again or a prisoner?
-Quite free.  I opened the door, went to the half-deck, went up the
-central stairs.  The panels, shut the evening before, were open.  I
-went on to the platform.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil waited there for me.  I questioned them; they knew
-nothing.  Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had been totally
-unconscious, they had been astonished at finding themselves in their
-cabin.
-
-As for the Nautilus, it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever.  It
-floated on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace.  Nothing seemed
-changed on board.
-
-The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave the usual
-order below.
-
-As for Captain Nemo, he did not appear.
-
-Of the people on board, I only saw the impassive steward, who served me
-with his usual dumb regularity.
-
-About two o'clock, I was in the drawing-room, busied in arranging my
-notes, when the Captain opened the door and appeared.  I bowed.  He
-made a slight inclination in return, without speaking.  I resumed my
-work, hoping that he would perhaps give me some explanation of the
-events of the preceding night.  He made none.  I looked at him.  He
-seemed fatigued; his heavy eyes had not been refreshed by sleep; his
-face looked very sorrowful.  He walked to and fro, sat down and got up
-again, took a chance book, put it down, consulted his instruments
-without taking his habitual notes, and seemed restless and uneasy.  At
-last, he came up to me, and said:
-
-"Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?"
-
-I so little expected such a question that I stared some time at him
-without answering.
-
-"Are you a doctor?" he repeated.  "Several of your colleagues have
-studied medicine."
-
-"Well," said I, "I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital.  I
-practised several years before entering the museum."
-
-"Very well, sir."
-
-My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain.  But, not knowing what
-he would say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my answers
-according to circumstances.
-
-"M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?" he asked.
-
-"Is he ill?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"I am ready to follow you."
-
-"Come, then."
-
-I own my heart beat, I do not know why.  I saw certain connection
-between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day
-before; and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick man.
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the Nautilus, and took me into
-a cabin situated near the sailors' quarters.
-
-There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute
-expression of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
-
-I leant over him.  He was not only ill, he was wounded.  His head,
-swathed in bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow.  I undid the
-bandages, and the wounded man looked at me with his large eyes and gave
-no sign of pain as I did it.  It was a horrible wound.  The skull,
-shattered by some deadly weapon, left the brain exposed, which was much
-injured.  Clots of blood had formed in the bruised and broken mass, in
-colour like the dregs of wine.
-
-There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain.  His breathing was
-slow, and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face.  I
-felt his pulse.  It was intermittent.  The extremities of the body were
-growing cold already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue.  After
-dressing the unfortunate man's wounds, I readjusted the bandages on his
-head, and turned to Captain Nemo.
-
-"What caused this wound?"  I asked.
-
-"What does it signify?" he replied, evasively.  "A shock has broken one
-of the levers of the engine, which struck myself.  But your opinion as
-to his state?"
-
-I hesitated before giving it.
-
-"You may speak," said the Captain.  "This man does not understand
-French."
-
-I gave a last look at the wounded man.
-
-"He will be dead in two hours."
-
-"Can nothing save him?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-Captain Nemo's hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes,
-which I thought incapable of shedding any.
-
-For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed
-slowly.  His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed
-over his death-bed. I looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with
-premature wrinkles, produced probably by misfortune and sorrow.  I
-tried to learn the secret of his life from the last words that escaped
-his lips.
-
-"You can go now, M. Aronnax," said the Captain.
-
-I left him in the dying man's cabin, and returned to my room much
-affected by this scene.  During the whole day, I was haunted by
-uncomfortable suspicions, and at night I slept badly, and between my
-broken dreams I fancied I heard distant sighs like the notes of a
-funeral psalm.  Were they the prayers of the dead, murmured in that
-language that I could not understand?
-
-The next morning I went on to the bridge.  Captain Nemo was there
-before me.  As soon as he perceived me he came to me.
-
-"Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion
-to-day?"
-
-"With my companions?"  I asked.
-
-"If they like."
-
-"We obey your orders, Captain."
-
-"Will you be so good then as to put on your cork jackets?"
-
-It was not a question of dead or dying.  I rejoined Ned Land and
-Conseil, and told them of Captain Nemo's proposition.  Conseil hastened
-to accept it, and this time the Canadian seemed quite willing to follow
-our example.
-
-It was eight o'clock in the morning.  At half-past eight we were
-equipped for this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for
-light and breathing.  The double door was open; and, accompanied by
-Captain Nemo, who was followed by a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at
-a depth of about thirty feet, on the solid bottom on which the Nautilus
-rested.
-
-A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth.
-This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first
-excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean.  Here, there was no
-fine sand, no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately
-recognised that marvellous region in which, on that day, the Captain
-did the honours to us.  It was the coral kingdom.
-
-The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in the midst
-of the branches that were so vividly coloured.  I seemed to see the
-membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble beneath the undulation of the
-waters.  I was tempted to gather their fresh petals, ornamented with
-delicate tentacles, some just blown, the others budding, while a small
-fish, swimming swiftly, touched them slightly, like flights of birds.
-But if my hand approached these living flowers, these animated,
-sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm.  The white petals
-re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked, and the bush
-changed into a block of stony knobs.
-
-Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the
-zoophyte.  This coral was more valuable than that found in the
-Mediterranean, on the coasts of France, Italy and Barbary.  Its tints
-justified the poetical names of "Flower of Blood," and "Froth of
-Blood," that trade has given to its most beautiful productions.  Coral
-is sold for L20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds would make
-the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter, often
-confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots called
-"macciota," and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens of pink
-coral.
-
-But soon the bushes contract, and the arborisations increase. Real
-petrified thickets, long joints of fantastic architecture, were
-disclosed before us. Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery,
-where by a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards. The
-light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects, following the
-rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants disposed like
-lustres, that were tipped with points of fire.
-
-At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth of about
-three hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit on which coral
-begins to form.  But there was no isolated bush, nor modest brushwood,
-at the bottom of lofty trees.  It was an immense forest of large
-mineral vegetations, enormous petrified trees, united by garlands of
-elegant sea-bindweed, all adorned with clouds and reflections.  We
-passed freely under their high branches, lost in the shade of the waves.
-
-Captain Nemo had stopped.  I and my companions halted, and, turning
-round, I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief.
-Watching attentively, I observed that four of them carried on their
-shoulders an object of an oblong shape.
-
-We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade surrounded by
-the lofty foliage of the submarine forest.  Our lamps threw over this
-place a sort of clear twilight that singularly elongated the shadows on
-the ground.  At the end of the glade the darkness increased, and was
-only relieved by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil were near me.  We watched, and I thought I was
-going to witness a strange scene.  On observing the ground, I saw that
-it was raised in certain places by slight excrescences encrusted with
-limy deposits, and disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of
-man.
-
-In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly piled up,
-stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms that one might have
-thought were made of petrified blood.  Upon a sign from Captain Nemo
-one of the men advanced; and at some feet from the cross he began to
-dig a hole with a pickaxe that he took from his belt.  I understood
-all!  This glade was a cemetery, this hole a tomb, this oblong object
-the body of the man who had died in the night!  The Captain and his men
-had come to bury their companion in this general resting-place, at the
-bottom of this inaccessible ocean!
-
-The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their
-retreat was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe,
-which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the
-waters.  The hole was soon large and deep enough to receive the body.
-Then the bearers approached; the body, enveloped in a tissue of white
-linen, was lowered into the damp grave.  Captain Nemo, with his arms
-crossed on his breast, and all the friends of him who had loved them,
-knelt in prayer.
-
-The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground,
-which formed a slight mound.  When this was done, Captain Nemo and his
-men rose; then, approaching the grave, they knelt again, and all
-extended their hands in sign of a last adieu.  Then the funeral
-procession returned to the Nautilus, passing under the arches of the
-forest, in the midst of thickets, along the coral bushes, and still on
-the ascent.  At last the light of the ship appeared, and its luminous
-track guided us to the Nautilus.  At one o'clock we had returned.
-
-As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform, and,
-a prey to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle.  Captain
-Nemo joined me.  I rose and said to him:
-
-"So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?"
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax."
-
-"And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?"
-
-"Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us.  We dug the grave, and the
-polypi undertake to seal our dead for eternity." And, burying his face
-quickly in his hands, he tried in vain to suppress a sob.  Then he
-added:  "Our peaceful cemetery is there, some hundred feet below the
-surface of the waves."
-
-"Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of
-sharks."
-
-"Yes, sir, of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.
-
-
-
-PART TWO
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-THE INDIAN OCEAN
-
-We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea.  The first
-ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a
-deep impression on my mind.  Thus, in the midst of this great sea,
-Captain Nemo's life was passing, even to his grave, which he had
-prepared in one of its deepest abysses.  There, not one of the ocean's
-monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus, of
-those friends riveted to each other in death as in life.  "Nor any man,
-either," had added the Captain.  Still the same fierce, implacable
-defiance towards human society!
-
-I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied
-Conseil.
-
-That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of the Nautilus
-one of those unknown _savants_ who return mankind contempt for
-indifference.  For him, he was a misunderstood genius who, tired of
-earth's deceptions, had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium, where
-he might follow his instincts freely.  To my mind, this explains but
-one side of Captain Nemo's character.  Indeed, the mystery of that last
-night during which we had been chained in prison, the sleep, and the
-precaution so violently taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes
-the glass I had raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the
-man, due to an unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a new
-track.  No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man.  His
-formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom, but
-perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.
-
-At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse of light
-amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself to writing as events
-shall dictate.
-
-That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came
-to take the altitude of the sun.  I mounted the platform, lit a cigar,
-and watched the operation.  It seemed to me that the man did not
-understand French; for several times I made remarks in a loud voice,
-which must have drawn from him some involuntary sign of attention, if
-he had understood them; but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
-
-As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the sailors of
-the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first
-submarine excursion to the Island of Crespo) came to clean the glasses
-of the lantern.  I examined the fittings of the apparatus, the strength
-of which was increased a hundredfold by lenticular rings, placed
-similar to those in a lighthouse, and which projected their brilliance
-in a horizontal plane.  The electric lamp was combined in such a way as
-to give its most powerful light.  Indeed, it was produced in vacuo,
-which insured both its steadiness and its intensity.  This vacuum
-economised the graphite points between which the luminous arc was
-developed--an important point of economy for Captain Nemo, who could
-not easily have replaced them; and under these conditions their waste
-was imperceptible.  When the Nautilus was ready to continue its
-submarine journey, I went down to the saloon.  The panel was closed,
-and the course marked direct west.
-
-We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
-with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
-and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy.  The
-Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep.  We
-went on so for some days.  To anyone but myself, who had a great love
-for the sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous; but the
-daily walks on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving air
-of the ocean, the sight of the rich waters through the windows of the
-saloon, the books in the library, the compiling of my memoirs, took up
-all my time, and left me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
-
-For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or
-gulls.  Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made
-very acceptable water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long
-distance from all lands and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of
-their flight, I saw some magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant
-cries like the braying of an ass, and birds belonging to the family of
-the long-wings.
-
-As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
-the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels.  I saw many
-kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
-
-I shall notice chiefly ostracions peculiar to the Red Sea, the Indian
-Ocean, and that part which washes the coast of tropical America. These
-fishes, like the tortoise, the armadillo, the sea-hedgehog, and the
-Crustacea, are protected by a breastplate which is neither chalky nor
-stony, but real bone. In some it takes the form of a solid triangle, in
-others of a solid quadrangle. Amongst the triangular I saw some an inch
-and a half in length, with wholesome flesh and a delicious flavour;
-they are brown at the tail, and yellow at the fins, and I recommend
-their introduction into fresh water, to which a certain number of
-sea-fish easily accustom themselves. I would also mention quadrangular
-ostracions, having on the back four large tubercles; some dotted over
-with white spots on the lower part of the body, and which may be tamed
-like birds; trigons provided with spikes formed by the lengthening of
-their bony shell, and which, from their strange gruntings, are called
-"seapigs"; also dromedaries with large humps in the shape of a cone,
-whose flesh is very tough and leathery.
-
-I now borrow from the daily notes of Master Conseil. "Certain fish of
-the genus petrodon peculiar to those seas, with red backs and white
-chests, which are distinguished by three rows of longitudinal
-filaments; and some electrical, seven inches long, decked in the
-liveliest colours.  Then, as specimens of other kinds, some ovoides,
-resembling an egg of a dark brown colour, marked with white bands, and
-without tails; diodons, real sea-porcupines, furnished with spikes, and
-capable of swelling in such a way as to look like cushions bristling
-with darts; hippocampi, common to every ocean; some pegasi with
-lengthened snouts, which their pectoral fins, being much elongated and
-formed in the shape of wings, allow, if not to fly, at least to shoot
-into the air; pigeon spatulae, with tails covered with many rings of
-shell; macrognathi with long jaws, an excellent fish, nine inches long,
-and bright with most agreeable colours; pale-coloured calliomores, with
-rugged heads; and plenty of chaetpdons, with long and tubular muzzles,
-which kill insects by shooting them, as from an air-gun, with a single
-drop of water. These we may call the flycatchers of the seas.
-
-"In the eighty-ninth genus of fishes, classed by Lacepede, belonging to
-the second lower class of bony, characterised by opercules and
-bronchial membranes, I remarked the scorpaena, the head of which is
-furnished with spikes, and which has but one dorsal fin; these
-creatures are covered, or not, with little shells, according to the
-sub-class to which they belong. The second sub-class gives us specimens
-of didactyles fourteen or fifteen inches in length, with yellow rays,
-and heads of a most fantastic appearance. As to the first sub-class, it
-gives several specimens of that singular looking fish appropriately
-called a 'seafrog,' with large head, sometimes pierced with holes,
-sometimes swollen with protuberances, bristling with spikes, and
-covered with tubercles; it has irregular and hideous horns; its body
-and tail are covered with callosities; its sting makes a dangerous
-wound; it is both repugnant and horrible to look at."
-
-From the 21st to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went at the rate of
-two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours, being five hundred
-and forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour.  If we recognised so many
-different varieties of fish, it was because, attracted by the electric
-light, they tried to follow us; the greater part, however, were soon
-distanced by our speed, though some kept their place in the waters of
-the Nautilus for a time.  The morning of the 24th, in 12° 5' S.
-lat., and 94° 33' long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral
-formation, planted with magnificent cocos, and which had been visited
-by Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy.  The Nautilus skirted the shores of
-this desert island for a little distance.  Its nets brought up numerous
-specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca.  Some precious
-productions of the species of delphinulae enriched the treasures of
-Captain Nemo, to which I added an astraea punctifera, a kind of
-parasite polypus often found fixed to a shell.
-
-Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was
-directed to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often
-taking us into great depths.  Several times they made use of the
-inclined planes, which certain internal levers placed obliquely to the
-waterline.  In that way we went about two miles, but without ever
-obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea, which soundings of
-seven thousand fathoms have never reached.  As to the temperature of
-the lower strata, the thermometer invariably indicated 4° above
-zero.  I only observed that in the upper regions the water was always
-colder in the high levels than at the surface of the sea.
-
-On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus
-passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful
-screw and making them rebound to a great height.  Who under such
-circumstances would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean?  Three
-parts of this day I spent on the platform.  I watched the sea.  Nothing
-on the horizon, till about four o'clock a steamer running west on our
-counter.  Her masts were visible for an instant, but she could not see
-the Nautilus, being too low in the water.  I fancied this steamboat
-belonged to the P.O. Company, which runs from Ceylon to Sydney,
-touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.
-
-At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight which
-binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by
-a curious spectacle.
-
-It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the
-ocean.  We could count several hundreds.  They belonged to the tubercle
-kind which are peculiar to the Indian seas.
-
-These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their locomotive
-tube, through which they propelled the water already drawn in.  Of
-their eight tentacles, six were elongated, and stretched out floating
-on the water, whilst the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the
-wing like a light sail.  I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells,
-which Cuvier justly compares to an elegant skiff.  A boat indeed!  It
-bears the creature which secretes it without its adhering to it.
-
-For nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of this shoal of
-molluscs.  Then I know not what sudden fright they took.  But as if at
-a signal every sail was furled, the arms folded, the body drawn in, the
-shells turned over, changing their centre of gravity, and the whole
-fleet disappeared under the waves.  Never did the ships of a squadron
-manoeuvre with more unity.
-
-At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised by
-the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the eighty-second
-meridian and entered the northern hemisphere.  During the day a
-formidable troop of sharks accompanied us, terrible creatures, which
-multiply in these seas and make them very dangerous.  They were
-"cestracio philippi" sharks, with brown backs and whitish bellies,
-armed with eleven rows of teeth--eyed sharks--their throat being marked
-with a large black spot surrounded with white like an eye.  There were
-also some Isabella sharks, with rounded snouts marked with dark spots.
-These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at the windows of the
-saloon with such violence as to make us feel very insecure.  At such
-times Ned Land was no longer master of himself.  He wanted to go to the
-surface and harpoon the monsters, particularly certain smooth-hound
-sharks, whose mouth is studded with teeth like a mosaic; and large
-tiger-sharks nearly six yards long, the last named of which seemed to
-excite him more particularly.  But the Nautilus, accelerating her
-speed, easily left the most rapid of them behind.
-
-The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal, we met
-repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on the surface
-of the water.  They were the dead of the Indian villages, carried by
-the Ganges to the level of the sea, and which the vultures, the only
-undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour.  But the
-sharks did not fail to help them at their funeral work.
-
-About seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus, half-immersed, was
-sailing in a sea of milk.  At first sight the ocean seemed lactified.
-Was it the effect of the lunar rays?  No; for the moon, scarcely two
-days old, was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the
-sun.  The whole sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by
-contrast with the whiteness of the waters.
-
-Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause
-of this strange phenomenon.  Happily I was able to answer him.
-
-"It is called a milk sea," I explained.  "A large extent of white
-wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna, and in these parts
-of the sea."
-
-"But, sir," said Conseil, "can you tell me what causes such an effect?
-for I suppose the water is not really turned into milk."
-
-"No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by
-the presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm,
-gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair, and whose
-length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch.  These insects
-adhere to one another sometimes for several leagues."
-
-"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these
-infusoria.  You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have
-floated on these milk seas for more than forty miles."
-
-Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind
-us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected the whitened
-waves, and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague
-glimmerings of an aurora borealis.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO'S
-
-On the 28th of February, when at noon the Nautilus came to the surface
-of the sea, in 9° 4' N. lat., there was land in sight about eight
-miles to westward.  The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains
-about two thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious.
-On taking the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of
-Ceylon, the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment.  The Captain
-glanced at the map.  Then turning to me, said:
-
-"The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you like to
-visit one of them, M. Aronnax?"
-
-"Certainly, Captain."
-
-"Well, the thing is easy.  Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall
-not see the fishermen.  The annual exportation has not yet begun.
-Never mind, I will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar, where we
-shall arrive in the night."
-
-The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out.
-Soon the Nautilus returned to her native element, and the manometer
-showed that she was about thirty feet deep.
-
-"Well, sir," said Captain Nemo, "you and your companions shall visit
-the Bank of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there, we
-shall see him at work."
-
-"Agreed, Captain!"
-
-"By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?"
-
-"Sharks!" exclaimed I.
-
-This question seemed a very hard one.
-
-"Well?" continued Captain Nemo.
-
-"I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of
-fish."
-
-"We are accustomed to them," replied Captain Nemo, "and in time you
-will be too.  However, we shall be armed, and on the road we may be
-able to hunt some of the tribe.  It is interesting.  So, till
-to-morrow, sir, and early."
-
-This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon.  Now, if
-you were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland, what
-would you say?
-
-"Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear." If you were asked
-to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas, or the tiger in the Indian
-jungles, what would you say?
-
-"Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!" But when
-you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element, you would
-perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation.  As for myself, I
-passed my hand over my forehead, on which stood large drops of cold
-perspiration.  "Let us reflect," said I, "and take our time.  Hunting
-otters in submarine forests, as we did in the Island of Crespo, will
-pass; but going up and down at the bottom of the sea, where one is
-almost certain to meet sharks, is quite another thing!  I know well
-that in certain countries, particularly in the Andaman Islands, the
-negroes never hesitate to attack them with a dagger in one hand and a
-running noose in the other; but I also know that few who affront those
-creatures ever return alive.  However, I am not a negro, and if I were
-I think a little hesitation in this case would not be ill-timed."
-
-At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed, and
-even joyous.  They knew not what awaited them.
-
-"Faith, sir," said Ned Land, "your Captain Nemo--the devil take
-him!--has just made us a very pleasant offer."
-
-"Ah!" said I, "you know?"
-
-"If agreeable to you, sir," interrupted Conseil, "the commander of the
-Nautilus has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon fisheries
-to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly, and behaved like a real
-gentleman."
-
-"He said nothing more?"
-
-"Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you of this
-little walk."
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "would you give us some details of the pearl
-fishery?"
-
-"As to the fishing itself," I asked, "or the incidents, which?"
-
-"On the fishing," replied the Canadian; "before entering upon the
-ground, it is as well to know something about it."
-
-"Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you."
-
-Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing
-the Canadian asked was:
-
-"Sir, what is a pearl?"
-
-"My worthy Ned," I answered, "to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the
-sea; to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies,
-it is a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl
-substance, which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their
-ears; for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of
-lime, with a little gelatine; and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply
-a morbid secretion of the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl
-amongst certain bivalves."
-
-"Branch of molluscs," said Conseil.
-
-"Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea the
-earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those which
-secrete mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet, or white
-substance which lines the interior of their shells, are capable of
-producing pearls."
-
-"Mussels too?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Saxony,
-Bohemia, and France."
-
-"Good!  For the future I shall pay attention," replied the Canadian.
-
-"But," I continued, "the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl is
-the pearl-oyster, the meleagrina margaritiferct, that precious
-pintadine. The pearl is nothing but a nacreous formation, deposited in
-a globular form, either adhering to the oyster shell, or buried in the
-folds of the creature. On the shell it is fast; in the flesh it is
-loose; but always has for a kernel a small hard substance, may be a
-barren egg, may be a grain of sand, around which the pearly matter
-deposits itself year after year successively, and by thin concentric
-layers."
-
-"Are many pearls found in the same oyster?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy.  Some are a perfect casket.  One oyster has been
-mentioned, though I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no
-less than a hundred and fifty sharks."
-
-"A hundred and fifty sharks!" exclaimed Ned Land.
-
-"Did I say sharks?" said I hurriedly.  "I meant to say a hundred and
-fifty pearls.  Sharks would not be sense."
-
-"Certainly not," said Conseil; "but will you tell us now by what means
-they extract these pearls?"
-
-"They proceed in various ways.  When they adhere to the shell, the
-fishermen often pull them off with pincers; but the most common way is
-to lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers the banks.  Thus
-they die in the open air; and at the end of ten days they are in a
-forward state of decomposition.  They are then plunged into large
-reservoirs of sea-water; then they are opened and washed."
-
-"The price of these pearls varies according to their size?" asked
-Conseil.
-
-"Not only according to their size," I answered, "but also according to
-their shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre:
-that is, that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming
-to the eye.  The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons.
-They are formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc, are white, often
-opaque, and sometimes have the transparency of an opal; they are
-generally round or oval.  The round are made into bracelets, the oval
-into pendants, and, being more precious, are sold singly.  Those
-adhering to the shell of the oyster are more irregular in shape, and
-are sold by weight.  Lastly, in a lower order are classed those small
-pearls known under the name of seed-pearls; they are sold by measure,
-and are especially used in embroidery for church ornaments."
-
-"But," said Conseil, "is this pearl-fishery dangerous?"
-
-"No," I answered, quickly; "particularly if certain precautions are
-taken."
-
-"What does one risk in such a calling?" said Ned Land, "the swallowing
-of some mouthfuls of sea-water?"
-
-"As you say, Ned.  By the bye," said I, trying to take Captain Nemo's
-careless tone, "are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?"
-
-"I!" replied the Canadian; "a harpooner by profession?  It is my trade
-to make light of them."
-
-"But," said I, "it is not a question of fishing for them with an
-iron-swivel, hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off their tails
-with a blow of a chopper, ripping them up, and throwing their heart
-into the sea!"
-
-"Then, it is a question of----"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"In the water?"
-
-"In the water."
-
-"Faith, with a good harpoon!  You know, sir, these sharks are
-ill-fashioned beasts.  They turn on their bellies to seize you, and in
-that time----"
-
-Ned Land had a way of saying "seize" which made my blood run cold.
-
-"Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?"
-
-"Me!" said Conseil.  "I will be frank, sir."
-
-"So much the better," thought I.
-
-"If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful
-servant should not face them with you."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS
-
-The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by the steward whom
-Captain Nemo had placed at my service.  I rose hurriedly, dressed, and
-went into the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said he, "are you ready to start?"
-
-"I am ready."
-
-"Then please to follow me."
-
-"And my companions, Captain?"
-
-"They have been told and are waiting."
-
-"Are we not to put on our diver's dresses?" asked I.
-
-"Not yet.  I have not allowed the Nautilus to come too near this coast,
-and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready,
-and will take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us
-a long way.  It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when
-we begin our submarine journey."
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase, which led on the
-platform.  Ned and Conseil were already there, delighted at the idea of
-the "pleasure party" which was preparing.  Five sailors from the
-Nautilus, with their oars, waited in the boat, which had been made fast
-against the side.
-
-The night was still dark.  Layers of clouds covered the sky, allowing
-but few stars to be seen.  I looked on the side where the land lay, and
-saw nothing but a dark line enclosing three parts of the horizon, from
-south-west to north west.  The Nautilus, having returned during the
-night up the western coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or
-rather gulf, formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar.  There,
-under the dark waters, stretched the pintadine bank, an inexhaustible
-field of pearls, the length of which is more than twenty miles.
-
-Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places in the stern of
-the boat.  The master went to the tiller; his four companions leaned on
-their oars, the painter was cast off, and we sheered off.
-
-The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry.  I noticed
-that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every
-ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy.
-Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops
-struck the dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead.
-A little billow, spreading wide, gave a slight roll to the boat, and
-some samphire reeds flapped before it.
-
-We were silent.  What was Captain Nemo thinking of?  Perhaps of the
-land he was approaching, and which he found too near to him, contrary
-to the Canadian's opinion, who thought it too far off.  As to Conseil,
-he was merely there from curiosity.
-
-About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed the upper
-line of coast more distinctly.  Flat enough in the east, it rose a
-little to the south.  Five miles still lay between us, and it was
-indistinct owing to the mist on the water.  At six o'clock it became
-suddenly daylight, with that rapidity peculiar to tropical regions,
-which know neither dawn nor twilight.  The solar rays pierced the
-curtain of clouds, piled up on the eastern horizon, and the radiant orb
-rose rapidly.  I saw land distinctly, with a few trees scattered here
-and there.  The boat neared Manaar Island, which was rounded to the
-south.  Captain Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea.
-
-At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran,
-for it was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the
-highest points of the bank of pintadines.
-
-"Here we are, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.  "You see that enclosed
-bay?  Here, in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of
-the exporters, and these are the waters their divers will ransack so
-boldly.  Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing.
-It is sheltered from the strongest winds; the sea is never very rough
-here, which makes it favourable for the diver's work.  We will now put
-on our dresses, and begin our walk."
-
-I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves, began with
-the help of the sailors to put on my heavy sea-dress. Captain Nemo and
-my companions were also dressing.  None of the Nautilus men were to
-accompany us on this new excursion.
-
-Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing; the air
-apparatus fixed to our backs by braces.  As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus,
-there was no necessity for it.  Before putting my head into the copper
-cap, I had asked the question of the Captain.
-
-"They would be useless," he replied.  "We are going to no great depth,
-and the solar rays will be enough to light our walk.  Besides, it would
-not be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters; its
-brilliancy might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast
-most inopportunely."
-
-As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned
-Land.  But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal
-cap, and they could neither hear nor answer.
-
-One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
-
-"And our arms?" asked I; "our guns?"
-
-"Guns!  What for?  Do not mountaineers attack the bear with a dagger in
-their hand, and is not steel surer than lead?  Here is a strong blade;
-put it in your belt, and we start."
-
-I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than
-that, Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed
-in the boat before leaving the Nautilus.
-
-Then, following the Captain's example, I allowed myself to be dressed
-in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air were at once in
-activity.  An instant after we were landed, one after the other, in
-about two yards of water upon an even sand.  Captain Nemo made a sign
-with his hand, and we followed him by a gentle declivity till we
-disappeared under the waves.
-
-Over our feet, like coveys of snipe in a bog, rose shoals of fish, of
-the genus monoptera, which have no other fins but their tail. I
-recognized the Javanese, a real serpent two and a half feet long, of a
-livid colour underneath, and which might easily be mistaken for a
-conger eel if it were not for the golden stripes on its side. In the
-genus stromateus, whose bodies are very flat and oval, I saw some of
-the most brilliant colours, carrying their dorsal fin like a scythe; an
-excellent eating fish, which, dried and pickled, is known by the name
-of Karawade; then some tranquebars, belonging to the genus
-apsiphoroides, whose body is covered with a shell cuirass of eight
-longitudinal plates.
-
-The heightening sun lit the mass of waters more and more. The soil
-changed by degrees. To the fine sand succeeded a perfect causeway of
-boulders, covered with a carpet of molluscs and zoophytes. Amongst the
-specimens of these branches I noticed some placenae, with thin unequal
-shells, a kind of ostracion peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian
-Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded shells; rockfish three feet and
-a half long, which raised themselves under the waves like hands ready
-to seize one. There were also some panopyres, slightly luminous; and
-lastly, some oculines, like magnificent fans, forming one of the
-richest vegetations of these seas.
-
-In the midst of these living plants, and under the arbours of the
-hydrophytes, were layers of clumsy articulates, particularly some
-raninae, whose carapace formed a slightly rounded triangle; and some
-horrible looking parthenopes.
-
-At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the
-oyster-banks on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters; and
-I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for Nature's
-creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction.  Ned Land,
-faithful to his instinct, hastened to fill a net which he carried by
-his side with some of the finest specimens.  But we could not stop.  We
-must follow the Captain, who seemed to guide him self by paths known
-only to himself.  The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes, on
-holding up my arm, it was above the surface of the sea.  Then the level
-of the bank would sink capriciously.  Often we rounded high rocks
-scarped into pyramids.  In their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched
-upon their high claws like some war-machine, watched us with fixed
-eyes, and under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.
-
-At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a
-picturesque heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the
-submarine flora.  At first it seemed very dark to me.  The solar rays
-seemed to be extinguished by successive gradations, until its vague
-transparency became nothing more than drowned light.  Captain Nemo
-entered; we followed.  My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this
-relative state of darkness.  I could distinguish the arches springing
-capriciously from natural pillars, standing broad upon their granite
-base, like the heavy columns of Tuscan architecture.  Why had our
-incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of this submarine crypt?  I
-was soon to know.  After descending a rather sharp declivity, our feet
-trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit.  There Captain Nemo stopped,
-and with his hand indicated an object I had not yet perceived.  It was
-an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a gigantic tridacne, a goblet
-which could have contained a whole lake of holy-water, a basin the
-breadth of which was more than two yards and a half, and consequently
-larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus.  I approached
-this extraordinary mollusc.  It adhered by its filaments to a table of
-granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in the calm waters of
-the grotto.  I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lb.  Such
-an oyster would contain 30 lb. of meat; and one must have the stomach
-of a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
-
-Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this
-bivalve, and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual
-state of this tridacne.  The shells were a little open; the Captain
-came near and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing; then
-with his hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges, which
-formed a cloak for the creature.  There, between the folded plaits, I
-saw a loose pearl, whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular
-shape, perfect clearness, and admirable lustre made it altogether a
-jewel of inestimable value.  Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched
-out my hand to seize it, weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain
-stopped me, made a sign of refusal, and quickly withdrew his dagger,
-and the two shells closed suddenly.  I then understood Captain Nemo's
-intention.  In leaving this pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne
-he was allowing it to grow slowly.  Each year the secretions of the
-mollusc would add new concentric circles.  I estimated its value at
-L500,000 at least.
-
-After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.  I thought he had
-halted previously to returning.  No; by a gesture he bade us crouch
-beside him in a deep fracture of the rock, his hand pointed to one part
-of the liquid mass, which I watched attentively.
-
-About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground.
-The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was
-mistaken; and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had
-anything to do with.
-
-It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor devil who, I
-suppose, had come to glean before the harvest.  I could see the bottom
-of his canoe anchored some feet above his head.  He dived and went up
-successively.  A stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a
-sugar loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat, helped him to
-descend more rapidly.  This was all his apparatus.  Reaching the
-bottom, about five yards deep, he went on his knees and filled his bag
-with oysters picked up at random.  Then he went up, emptied it, pulled
-up his stone, and began the operation once more, which lasted thirty
-seconds.
-
-The diver did not see us.  The shadow of the rock hid us from sight.
-And how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like
-himself, should be there under the water watching his movements and
-losing no detail of the fishing?  Several times he went up in this way,
-and dived again.  He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge,
-for he was obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by
-means of their strong byssus.  And how many of those oysters for which
-he risked his life had no pearl in them!  I watched him closely; his
-manoeuvres were regular; and for the space of half an hour no danger
-appeared to threaten him.
-
-I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting
-fishing, when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make
-a gesture of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface
-of the sea.
-
-I understood his dread.  A gigantic shadow appeared just above the
-unfortunate diver.  It was a shark of enormous size advancing
-diagonally, his eyes on fire, and his jaws open.  I was mute with
-horror and unable to move.
-
-The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw himself on
-one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its tail, for it struck his
-chest and stretched him on the ground.
-
-This scene lasted but a few seconds:  the shark returned, and, turning
-on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two, when I saw
-Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to
-the monster, ready to fight face to face with him.  The very moment the
-shark was going to snap the unhappy fisherman in two, he perceived his
-new adversary, and, turning over, made straight towards him.
-
-I can still see Captain Nemo's position.  Holding himself well
-together, he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it
-rushed at him, threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness,
-avoiding the shock, and burying his dagger deep into its side.  But it
-was not all over.  A terrible combat ensued.
-
-The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so.  The blood rushed in
-torrents from its wound.  The sea was dyed red, and through the opaque
-liquid I could distinguish nothing more.  Nothing more until the moment
-when, like lightning, I saw the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of
-the creature's fins, struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the
-monster, and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to
-give a decisive one.
-
-The shark's struggles agitated the water with such fury that the
-rocking threatened to upset me.
-
-I wanted to go to the Captain's assistance, but, nailed to the spot
-with horror, I could not stir.
-
-I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight.  The
-Captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant upon
-him.  The shark's jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and
-it would have been all over with the Captain; but, quick as thought,
-harpoon in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with
-its sharp point.
-
-The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood.  They rocked under the
-shark's movements, which beat them with indescribable fury.  Ned Land
-had not missed his aim.  It was the monster's death-rattle.  Struck to
-the heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock of which
-overthrew Conseil.
-
-But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any
-wound, went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him
-to his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel,
-mounted to the surface.
-
-We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle, and reached
-the fisherman's boat.
-
-Captain Nemo's first care was to recall the unfortunate man to life
-again.  I did not think he could succeed.  I hoped so, for the poor
-creature's immersion was not long; but the blow from the shark's tail
-might have been his death-blow.
-
-Happily, with the Captain's and Conseil's sharp friction, I saw
-consciousness return by degrees.  He opened his eyes.  What was his
-surprise, his terror even, at seeing four great copper heads leaning
-over him!  And, above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo,
-drawing from the pocket of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his
-hand!  This munificent charity from the man of the waters to the poor
-Cingalese was accepted with a trembling hand.  His wondering eyes
-showed that he knew not to what super-human beings he owed both fortune
-and life.
-
-At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the
-road already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which
-held the canoe of the Nautilus to the earth.
-
-Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid of the
-heavy copper helmet.
-
-Captain Nemo's first word was to the Canadian.
-
-"Thank you, Master Land," said he.
-
-"It was in revenge, Captain," replied Ned Land.  "I owed you that."
-
-A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips, and that was all.
-
-"To the Nautilus," said he.
-
-The boat flew over the waves.  Some minutes after we met the shark's
-dead body floating.  By the black marking of the extremity of its fins,
-I recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the
-species of shark so properly called.  It was more than twenty-five feet
-long; its enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body.  It was an
-adult, as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles
-triangle in the upper jaw.
-
-Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
-beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw
-themselves upon the dead body and fought with one another for the
-pieces.
-
-At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus.  There I
-reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our excursion to
-the Manaar Bank.
-
-Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it--one bearing upon the
-unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon his devotion to a
-human being, a representative of that race from which he fled beneath
-the sea.  Whatever he might say, this strange man had not yet succeeded
-in entirely crushing his heart.
-
-When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved
-tone:
-
-"That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country; and I am
-still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-THE RED SEA
-
-In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon
-disappeared under the horizon, and the Nautilus, at a speed of twenty
-miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth of canals which separate the
-Maldives from the Laccadives.  It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a
-land originally coraline, discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one
-of the nineteen principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago,
-situated between 10° and 14° 30' N. lat., and 69° 50' 72"
-E. long.
-
-We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our
-starting-point in the Japanese Seas.
-
-The next day (30th January), when the Nautilus went to the surface of
-the ocean there was no land in sight.  Its course was N.N.E., in the
-direction of the Sea of Oman, between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula,
-which serves as an outlet to the Persian Gulf.  It was evidently a
-block without any possible egress.  Where was Captain Nemo taking us
-to?  I could not say.  This, however, did not satisfy the Canadian, who
-that day came to me asking where we were going.
-
-"We are going where our Captain's fancy takes us, Master Ned."
-
-"His fancy cannot take us far, then," said the Canadian.  "The Persian
-Gulf has no outlet:  and, if we do go in, it will not be long before we
-are out again."
-
-"Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if, after
-the Persian Gulf, the Nautilus would like to visit the Red Sea, the
-Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance."
-
-"I need not tell you, sir," said Ned Land, "that the Red Sea is as much
-closed as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it
-was, a boat as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut
-with sluices.  And again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back
-to Europe."
-
-"But I never said we were going back to Europe."
-
-"What do you suppose, then?"
-
-"I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt,
-the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again, perhaps cross the
-Channel of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas, so as to gain the
-Cape of Good Hope."
-
-"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?" asked the Canadian, with peculiar
-emphasis.
-
-"Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know.
-Ah! friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea;
-you are surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine
-wonders.  For my part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage
-which it is given to so few men to make."
-
-For four days, till the 3rd of February, the Nautilus scoured the Sea
-of Oman, at various speeds and at various depths.  It seemed to go at
-random, as if hesitating as to which road it should follow, but we
-never passed the Tropic of Cancer.
-
-In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant, one of the most
-important towns of the country of Oman.  I admired its strange aspect,
-surrounded by black rocks upon which its white houses and forts stood
-in relief.  I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points
-of its minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces.  But it was only a
-vision!  The Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part of the sea.
-
-We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut, for a
-distance of six miles, its undulating line of mountains being
-occasionally relieved by some ancient ruin.  The 5th of February we at
-last entered the Gulf of Aden, a perfect funnel introduced into the
-neck of Bab-el-mandeb, through which the Indian waters entered the Red
-Sea.
-
-The 6th of February, the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden, perched
-upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland, a kind
-of inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which were rebuilt by
-the English after taking possession in 1839.  I caught a glimpse of the
-octagon minarets of this town, which was at one time the richest
-commercial magazine on the coast.
-
-I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point, would
-back out again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing, much to
-my surprise.
-
-The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits of
-Bab-el-mandeb, the name of which, in the Arab tongue, means The Gate of
-Tears.
-
-To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length.  And for
-the Nautilus, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely the
-work of an hour.  But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim, with
-which the British Government has fortified the position of Aden.  There
-were too many English or French steamers of the line of Suez to Bombay,
-Calcutta to Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius, furrowing
-this narrow passage, for the Nautilus to venture to show itself.  So it
-remained prudently below.  At last about noon, we were in the waters of
-the Red Sea.
-
-I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided
-Captain Nemo upon entering the gulf.  But I quite approved of the
-Nautilus entering it.  Its speed was lessened:  sometimes it kept on
-the surface, sometimes it dived to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able
-to observe the upper and lower parts of this curious sea.
-
-The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came in sight,
-now a ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot, yet which
-shelters here and there some verdant date-trees; once an important
-city, containing six public markets, and twenty-six mosques, and whose
-walls, defended by fourteen forts, formed a girdle of two miles in
-circumference.
-
-The Nautilus then approached the African shore, where the depth of the
-sea was greater.  There, between two waters clear as crystal, through
-the open panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful bushes of
-brilliant coral and large blocks of rock clothed with a splendid fur of
-green variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and algae
-and fuci.  What an indescribable spectacle, and what variety of sites
-and landscapes along these sandbanks and volcanic islands which bound
-the Libyan coast!  But where these shrubs appeared in all their beauty
-was on the eastern coast, which the Nautilus soon gained.  It was on
-the coast of Tehama, for there not only did this display of zoophytes
-flourish beneath the level of the sea, but they also formed picturesque
-interlacings which unfolded themselves about sixty feet above the
-surface, more capricious but less highly coloured than those whose
-freshness was kept up by the vital power of the waters.
-
-What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon!  What
-new specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under the
-brightness of our electric lantern!
-
-The 9th of February the Nautilus floated in the broadest part of the
-Red Sea, which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and
-Komfidah, on the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
-
-That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted
-the platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let
-him go down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior
-projects.  As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me
-a cigar.
-
-"Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you?  Have you sufficiently
-observed the wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes, its
-parterres of sponges, and its forests of coral?  Did you catch a
-glimpse of the towns on its borders?"
-
-"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied; "and the Nautilus is wonderfully fitted
-for such a study.  Ah! it is an intelligent boat!"
-
-"Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable.  It fears neither the terrible
-tempests of the Red Sea, nor its currents, nor its sandbanks."
-
-"Certainly," said I, "this sea is quoted as one of the worst, and in
-the time of the ancients, if I am not mistaken, its reputation was
-detestable."
-
-"Detestable, M. Aronnax.  The Greek and Latin historians do not speak
-favourably of it, and Strabo says it is very dangerous during the
-Etesian winds and in the rainy season.  The Arabian Edrisi portrays it
-under the name of the Gulf of Colzoum, and relates that vessels
-perished there in great numbers on the sandbanks and that no one would
-risk sailing in the night.  It is, he pretends, a sea subject to
-fearful hurricanes, strewn with inhospitable islands, and `which offers
-nothing good either on its surface or in its depths.'"
-
-"One may see," I replied, "that these historians never sailed on board
-the Nautilus."
-
-"Just so," replied the Captain, smiling; "and in that respect moderns
-are not more advanced than the ancients.  It required many ages to find
-out the mechanical power of steam.  Who knows if, in another hundred
-years, we may not see a second Nautilus?  Progress is slow, M. Aronnax."
-
-"It is true," I answered; "your boat is at least a century before its
-time, perhaps an era.  What a misfortune that the secret of such an
-invention should die with its inventor!"
-
-Captain Nemo did not reply.  After some minutes' silence he continued:
-
-"You were speaking of the opinions of ancient historians upon the
-dangerous navigation of the Red Sea."
-
-"It is true," said I; "but were not their fears exaggerated?"
-
-"Yes and no, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, who seemed to know the
-Red Sea by heart.  "That which is no longer dangerous for a modern
-vessel, well rigged, strongly built, and master of its own course,
-thanks to obedient steam, offered all sorts of perils to the ships of
-the ancients.  Picture to yourself those first navigators venturing in
-ships made of planks sewn with the cords of the palmtree, saturated
-with the grease of the seadog, and covered with powdered resin!  They
-had not even instruments wherewith to take their bearings, and they
-went by guess amongst currents of which they scarcely knew anything.
-Under such conditions shipwrecks were, and must have been, numerous.
-But in our time, steamers running between Suez and the South Seas have
-nothing more to fear from the fury of this gulf, in spite of contrary
-trade-winds. The captain and passengers do not prepare for their
-departure by offering propitiatory sacrifices; and, on their return,
-they no longer go ornamented with wreaths and gilt fillets to thank the
-gods in the neighbouring temple."
-
-"I agree with you," said I; "and steam seems to have killed all
-gratitude in the hearts of sailors.  But, Captain, since you seem to
-have especially studied this sea, can you tell me the origin of its
-name?"
-
-"There exist several explanations on the subject, M. Aronnax.  Would
-you like to know the opinion of a chronicler of the fourteenth century?"
-
-"Willingly."
-
-"This fanciful writer pretends that its name was given to it after the
-passage of the Israelites, when Pharaoh perished in the waves which
-closed at the voice of Moses."
-
-"A poet's explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied; "but I cannot content
-myself with that.  I ask you for your personal opinion."
-
-"Here it is, M. Aronnax.  According to my idea, we must see in this
-appellation of the Red Sea a translation of the Hebrew word `Edom'; and
-if the ancients gave it that name, it was on account of the particular
-colour of its waters."
-
-"But up to this time I have seen nothing but transparent waves and
-without any particular colour."
-
-"Very likely; but as we advance to the bottom of the gulf, you will see
-this singular appearance.  I remember seeing the Bay of Tor entirely
-red, like a sea of blood."
-
-"And you attribute this colour to the presence of a microscopic
-seaweed?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"So, Captain Nemo, it is not the first time you have overrun the Red
-Sea on board the Nautilus?"
-
-"No, sir."
-
-"As you spoke a while ago of the passage of the Israelites and of the
-catastrophe to the Egyptians, I will ask whether you have met with the
-traces under the water of this great historical fact?"
-
-"No, sir; and for a good reason."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"It is that the spot where Moses and his people passed is now so
-blocked up with sand that the camels can barely bathe their legs there.
-You can well understand that there would not be water enough for my
-Nautilus."
-
-"And the spot?"  I asked.
-
-"The spot is situated a little above the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm
-which formerly made a deep estuary, when the Red Sea extended to the
-Salt Lakes.  Now, whether this passage were miraculous or not, the
-Israelites, nevertheless, crossed there to reach the Promised Land, and
-Pharaoh's army perished precisely on that spot; and I think that
-excavations made in the middle of the sand would bring to light a large
-number of arms and instruments of Egyptian origin."
-
-"That is evident," I replied; "and for the sake of archaeologists let
-us hope that these excavations will be made sooner or later, when new
-towns are established on the isthmus, after the construction of the
-Suez Canal; a canal, however, very useless to a vessel like the
-Nautilus."
-
-"Very likely; but useful to the whole world," said Captain Nemo.  "The
-ancients well understood the utility of a communication between the Red
-Sea and the Mediterranean for their commercial affairs: but they did
-not think of digging a canal direct, and took the Nile as an
-intermediate.  Very probably the canal which united the Nile to the Red
-Sea was begun by Sesostris, if we may believe tradition.  One thing is
-certain, that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ, Necos undertook the
-works of an alimentary canal to the waters of the Nile across the plain
-of Egypt, looking towards Arabia.  It took four days to go up this
-canal, and it was so wide that two triremes could go abreast.  It was
-carried on by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and probably finished by
-Ptolemy II.  Strabo saw it navigated:  but its decline from the point
-of departure, near Bubastes, to the Red Sea was so slight that it was
-only navigable for a few months in the year.  This canal answered all
-commercial purposes to the age of Antonius, when it was abandoned and
-blocked up with sand.  Restored by order of the Caliph Omar, it was
-definitely destroyed in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor, who wished to
-prevent the arrival of provisions to Mohammed-ben-Abdallah, who had
-revolted against him.  During the expedition into Egypt, your General
-Bonaparte discovered traces of the works in the Desert of Suez; and,
-surprised by the tide, he nearly perished before regaining Hadjaroth,
-at the very place where Moses had encamped three thousand years before
-him."
-
-"Well, Captain, what the ancients dared not undertake, this junction
-between the two seas, which will shorten the road from Cadiz to India,
-M. Lesseps has succeeded in doing; and before long he will have changed
-Africa into an immense island."
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax; you have the right to be proud of your countryman.
-Such a man brings more honour to a nation than great captains.  He
-began, like so many others, with disgust and rebuffs; but he has
-triumphed, for he has the genius of will.  And it is sad to think that
-a work like that, which ought to have been an international work and
-which would have sufficed to make a reign illustrious, should have
-succeeded by the energy of one man.  All honour to M. Lesseps!"
-
-"Yes! honour to the great citizen," I replied, surprised by the manner
-in which Captain Nemo had just spoken.
-
-"Unfortunately," he continued, "I cannot take you through the Suez
-Canal; but you will be able to see the long jetty of Port Said after
-to-morrow, when we shall be in the Mediterranean."
-
-"The Mediterranean!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir; does that astonish you?"
-
-"What astonishes me is to think that we shall be there the day after
-to-morrow."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, although by this time I ought to have accustomed myself
-to be surprised at nothing since I have been on board your boat."
-
-"But the cause of this surprise?"
-
-"Well! it is the fearful speed you will have to put on the Nautilus, if
-the day after to-morrow she is to be in the Mediterranean, having made
-the round of Africa, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope!"
-
-"Who told you that she would make the round of Africa and double the
-Cape of Good Hope, sir?"
-
-"Well, unless the Nautilus sails on dry land, and passes above the
-isthmus----"
-
-"Or beneath it, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Beneath it?"
-
-"Certainly," replied Captain Nemo quietly.  "A long time ago Nature
-made under this tongue of land what man has this day made on its
-surface."
-
-"What! such a passage exists?"
-
-"Yes; a subterranean passage, which I have named the Arabian Tunnel.
-It takes us beneath Suez and opens into the Gulf of Pelusium."
-
-"But this isthmus is composed of nothing but quick sands?"
-
-"To a certain depth.  But at fifty-five yards only there is a solid
-layer of rock."
-
-"Did you discover this passage by chance?"  I asked more and more
-surprised.
-
-"Chance and reasoning, sir; and by reasoning even more than by chance.
-Not only does this passage exist, but I have profited by it several
-times.  Without that I should not have ventured this day into the
-impassable Red Sea.  I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the
-Mediterranean there existed a certain number of fishes of a kind
-perfectly identical.  Certain of the fact, I asked myself was it
-possible that there was no communication between the two seas?  If
-there was, the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red
-Sea to the Mediterranean, from the sole cause of difference of level.
-I caught a large number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez.  I
-passed a copper ring through their tails, and threw them back into the
-sea.  Some months later, on the coast of Syria, I caught some of my
-fish ornamented with the ring.  Thus the communication between the two
-was proved.  I then sought for it with my Nautilus; I discovered it,
-ventured into it, and before long, sir, you too will have passed
-through my Arabian tunnel!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE ARABIAN TUNNEL
-
-That same evening, in 21° 30' N. lat., the Nautilus floated on the
-surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast.  I saw Djeddah, the
-most important counting-house of Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and India.  I
-distinguished clearly enough its buildings, the vessels anchored at the
-quays, and those whose draught of water obliged them to anchor in the
-roads.  The sun, rather low on the horizon, struck full on the houses
-of the town, bringing out their whiteness.  Outside, some wooden
-cabins, and some made of reeds, showed the quarter inhabited by the
-Bedouins.  Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the shadows of night,
-and the Nautilus found herself under water slightly phosphorescent.
-
-The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running to
-windward.  The Nautilus returned to its submarine navigation; but at
-noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted, she rose
-again to her waterline.
-
-Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform.  The
-coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon a
-damp fog.
-
-We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and
-another, when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the
-sea, said:
-
-"Do you see anything there, sir?"
-
-"No, Ned," I replied; "but I have not your eyes, you know."
-
-"Look well," said Ned, "there, on the starboard beam, about the height
-of the lantern!  Do you not see a mass which seems to move?"
-
-"Certainly," said I, after close attention; "I see something like a
-long black body on the top of the water."
-
-And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile
-from us.  It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea.
-It was a gigantic dugong!
-
-Ned Land looked eagerly.  His eyes shone with covetousness at the sight
-of the animal.  His hand seemed ready to harpoon it.  One would have
-thought he was awaiting the moment to throw himself into the sea and
-attack it in its element.
-
-At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform.  He saw the
-dugong, understood the Canadian's attitude, and, addressing him, said:
-
-"If you held a harpoon just now, Master Land, would it not burn your
-hand?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"And you would not be sorry to go back, for one day, to your trade of a
-fisherman and to add this cetacean to the list of those you have
-already killed?"
-
-"I should not, sir."
-
-"Well, you can try."
-
-"Thank you, sir," said Ned Land, his eyes flaming.
-
-"Only," continued the Captain, "I advise you for your own sake not to
-miss the creature."
-
-"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?"  I asked, in spite of the
-Canadian's shrug of the shoulders.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain; "sometimes the animal turns upon its
-assailants and overturns their boat.  But for Master Land this danger
-is not to be feared.  His eye is prompt, his arm sure."
-
-At this moment seven men of the crew, mute and immovable as ever,
-mounted the platform.  One carried a harpoon and a line similar to
-those employed in catching whales.  The pinnace was lifted from the
-bridge, pulled from its socket, and let down into the sea.  Six oarsmen
-took their seats, and the coxswain went to the tiller.  Ned, Conseil,
-and I went to the back of the boat.
-
-"You are not coming, Captain?"  I asked.
-
-"No, sir; but I wish you good sport."
-
-The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards
-the dugong, which floated about two miles from the Nautilus.
-
-Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened, and
-the oars dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters.  Ned Land, harpoon
-in hand, stood in the fore part of the boat.  The harpoon used for
-striking the whale is generally attached to a very long cord which runs
-out rapidly as the wounded creature draws it after him.  But here the
-cord was not more than ten fathoms long, and the extremity was attached
-to a small barrel which, by floating, was to show the course the dugong
-took under the water.
-
-I stood and carefully watched the Canadian's adversary.  This dugong,
-which also bears the name of the halicore, closely resembles the
-manatee; its oblong body terminated in a lengthened tail, and its
-lateral fins in perfect fingers.  Its difference from the manatee
-consisted in its upper jaw, which was armed with two long and pointed
-teeth which formed on each side diverging tusks.
-
-This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was of colossal
-dimensions; it was more than seven yards long.  It did not move, and
-seemed to be sleeping on the waves, which circumstance made it easier
-to capture.
-
-The boat approached within six yards of the animal.  The oars rested on
-the rowlocks.  I half rose.  Ned Land, his body thrown a little back,
-brandished the harpoon in his experienced hand.
-
-Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared.  The
-harpoon, although thrown with great force; had apparently only struck
-the water.
-
-"Curse it!" exclaimed the Canadian furiously; "I have missed it!"
-
-"No," said I; "the creature is wounded--look at the blood; but your
-weapon has not stuck in his body."
-
-"My harpoon! my harpoon!" cried Ned Land.
-
-The sailors rowed on, and the coxswain made for the floating barrel.
-The harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal.
-
-The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe.  Its wound had
-not weakened it, for it shot onwards with great rapidity.
-
-The boat, rowed by strong arms, flew on its track.  Several times it
-approached within some few yards, and the Canadian was ready to strike,
-but the dugong made off with a sudden plunge, and it was impossible to
-reach it.
-
-Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land!  He hurled at the
-unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English
-tongue.  For my part, I was only vexed to see the dugong escape all our
-attacks.
-
-We pursued it without relaxation for an hour, and I began to think it
-would prove difficult to capture, when the animal, possessed with the
-perverse idea of vengeance of which he had cause to repent, turned upon
-the pinnace and assailed us in its turn.
-
-This manoeuvre did not escape the Canadian.
-
-"Look out!" he cried.
-
-The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue, doubtless
-warning the men to keep on their guard.
-
-The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat, stopped, sniffed the
-air briskly with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity, but
-in the upper part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring, he threw
-himself upon us.
-
-The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least
-two tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the
-coxswain, we caught it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite
-overturned.  While Ned Land, clinging to the bows, belaboured the
-gigantic animal with blows from his harpoon, the creature's teeth were
-buried in the gunwale, and it lifted the whole thing out of the water,
-as a lion does a roebuck.  We were upset over one another, and I know
-not how the adventure would have ended, if the Canadian, still enraged
-with the beast, had not struck it to the heart.
-
-I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate, and the dugong disappeared,
-carrying the harpoon with him.  But the barrel soon returned to the
-surface, and shortly after the body of the animal, turned on its back.
-The boat came up with it, took it in tow, and made straight for the
-Nautilus.
-
-It required tackle of enormous strength to hoist the dugong on to the
-platform.  It weighed 10,000 lb.
-
-The next day, 11th February, the larder of the Nautilus was enriched by
-some more delicate game.  A flight of sea-swallows rested on the
-Nautilus.  It was a species of the Sterna nilotica, peculiar to Egypt;
-its beak is black, head grey and pointed, the eye surrounded by white
-spots, the back, wings, and tail of a greyish colour, the belly and
-throat white, and claws red.  They also took some dozen of Nile ducks,
-a wild bird of high flavour, its throat and upper part of the head
-white with black spots.
-
-About five o'clock in the evening we sighted to the north the Cape of
-Ras-Mohammed. This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea,
-comprised between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.
-
-The Nautilus penetrated into the Straits of Jubal, which leads to the
-Gulf of Suez.  I distinctly saw a high mountain, towering between the
-two gulfs of Ras-Mohammed. It was Mount Horeb, that Sinai at the top of
-which Moses saw God face to face.
-
-At six o'clock the Nautilus, sometimes floating, sometimes immersed,
-passed some distance from Tor, situated at the end of the bay, the
-waters of which seemed tinted with red, an observation already made by
-Captain Nemo.  Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence,
-sometimes broken by the cries of the pelican and other night-birds, and
-the noise of the waves breaking upon the shore, chafing against the
-rocks, or the panting of some far-off steamer beating the waters of the
-Gulf with its noisy paddles.
-
-From eight to nine o'clock the Nautilus remained some fathoms under the
-water.  According to my calculation we must have been very near Suez.
-Through the panel of the saloon I saw the bottom of the rocks
-brilliantly lit up by our electric lamp.  We seemed to be leaving the
-Straits behind us more and more.
-
-At a quarter-past nine, the vessel having returned to the surface, I
-mounted the platform.  Most impatient to pass through Captain Nemo's
-tunnel, I could not stay in one place, so came to breathe the fresh
-night air.
-
-Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light, half discoloured by the fog,
-shining about a mile from us.
-
-"A floating lighthouse!" said someone near me.
-
-I turned, and saw the Captain.
-
-"It is the floating light of Suez," he continued.  "It will not be long
-before we gain the entrance of the tunnel."
-
-"The entrance cannot be easy?"
-
-"No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman's
-cage and myself direct our course.  And now, if you will go down, M.
-Aronnax, the Nautilus is going under the waves, and will not return to
-the surface until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel."
-
-Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he
-opened a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot's
-cage, which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.
-It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied
-by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson.  In the
-midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught to the tiller-rope,
-which ran to the back of the Nautilus.  Four light-ports with
-lenticular glasses, let in a groove in the partition of the cabin,
-allowed the man at the wheel to see in all directions.
-
-This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the
-obscurity, and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands
-resting on the spokes of the wheel.  Outside, the sea appeared vividly
-lit up by the lantern, which shed its rays from the back of the cabin
-to the other extremity of the platform.
-
-"Now," said Captain Nemo, "let us try to make our passage."
-
-Electric wires connected the pilot's cage with the machinery room, and
-from there the Captain could communicate simultaneously to his Nautilus
-the direction and the speed.  He pressed a metal knob, and at once the
-speed of the screw diminished.
-
-I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running by at
-this moment, the immovable base of a massive sandy coast.  We followed
-it thus for an hour only some few yards off.
-
-Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob, suspended by its two
-concentric circles in the cabin.  At a simple gesture, the pilot
-modified the course of the Nautilus every instant.
-
-I had placed myself at the port-scuttle, and saw some magnificent
-substructures of coral, zoophytes, seaweed, and fucus, agitating their
-enormous claws, which stretched out from the fissures of the rock.
-
-At a quarter-past ten, the Captain himself took the helm.  A large
-gallery, black and deep, opened before us.  The Nautilus went boldly
-into it.  A strange roaring was heard round its sides.  It was the
-waters of the Red Sea, which the incline of the tunnel precipitated
-violently towards the Mediterranean.  The Nautilus went with the
-torrent, rapid as an arrow, in spite of the efforts of the machinery,
-which, in order to offer more effective resistance, beat the waves with
-reversed screw.
-
-On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing but brilliant
-rays, straight lines, furrows of fire, traced by the great speed, under
-the brilliant electric light.  My heart beat fast.
-
-At thirty-five minutes past ten, Captain Nemo quitted the helm, and,
-turning to me, said:
-
-"The Mediterranean!"
-
-In less than twenty minutes, the Nautilus, carried along by the
-torrent, had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
-
-The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day, the Nautilus
-rose to the surface.  I hastened on to the platform.  Three miles to
-the south the dim outline of Pelusium was to be seen.  A torrent had
-carried us from one sea to another.  About seven o'clock Ned and
-Conseil joined me.
-
-"Well, Sir Naturalist," said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone,
-"and the Mediterranean?"
-
-"We are floating on its surface, friend Ned."
-
-"What!" said Conseil, "this very night."
-
-"Yes, this very night; in a few minutes we have passed this impassable
-isthmus."
-
-"I do not believe it," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Then you are wrong, Master Land," I continued; "this low coast which
-rounds off to the south is the Egyptian coast.  And you who have such
-good eyes, Ned, you can see the jetty of Port Said stretching into the
-sea."
-
-The Canadian looked attentively.
-
-"Certainly you are right, sir, and your Captain is a first-rate man.
-We are in the Mediterranean.  Good!  Now, if you please, let us talk of
-our own little affair, but so that no one hears us."
-
-I saw what the Canadian wanted, and, in any case, I thought it better
-to let him talk, as he wished it; so we all three went and sat down
-near the lantern, where we were less exposed to the spray of the blades.
-
-"Now, Ned, we listen; what have you to tell us?"
-
-"What I have to tell you is very simple.  We are in Europe; and before
-Captain Nemo's caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar
-Seas, or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the Nautilus."
-
-I wished in no way to shackle the liberty of my companions, but I
-certainly felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
-
-Thanks to him, and thanks to his apparatus, I was each day nearer the
-completion of my submarine studies; and I was rewriting my book of
-submarine depths in its very element.  Should I ever again have such an
-opportunity of observing the wonders of the ocean?  No, certainly not!
-And I could not bring myself to the idea of abandoning the Nautilus
-before the cycle of investigation was accomplished.
-
-"Friend Ned, answer me frankly, are you tired of being on board?  Are
-you sorry that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo's hands?"
-
-The Canadian remained some moments without answering.  Then, crossing
-his arms, he said:
-
-"Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas.  I shall be glad
-to have made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it.
-That is my idea."
-
-"It will come to an end, Ned."
-
-"Where and when?"
-
-"Where I do not know--when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose it will
-end when these seas have nothing more to teach us."
-
-"Then what do you hope for?" demanded the Canadian.
-
-"That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which
-we may and ought to profit."
-
-"Oh!" said Ned Land, "and where shall we be in six months, if you
-please, Sir Naturalist?"
-
-"Perhaps in China; you know the Nautilus is a rapid traveller.  It goes
-through water as swallows through the air, or as an express on the
-land.  It does not fear frequented seas; who can say that it may not
-beat the coasts of France, England, or America, on which flight may be
-attempted as advantageously as here."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are rotten at the
-foundation.  You speak in the future, `We shall be there!  we shall be
-here!'  I speak in the present, `We are here, and we must profit by
-it.'"
-
-Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that
-ground.  I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.
-
-"Sir," continued Ned, "let us suppose an impossibility: if Captain Nemo
-should this day offer you your liberty; would you accept it?"
-
-"I do not know," I answered.
-
-"And if," he added, "the offer made you this day was never to be
-renewed, would you accept it?"
-
-"Friend Ned, this is my answer.  Your reasoning is against me.  We must
-not rely on Captain Nemo's good-will. Common prudence forbids him to
-set us at liberty.  On the other side, prudence bids us profit by the
-first opportunity to leave the Nautilus."
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said."
-
-"Only one observation--just one.  The occasion must be serious, and our
-first attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never find another,
-and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."
-
-"All that is true," replied the Canadian.  "But your observation
-applies equally to all attempts at flight, whether in two years' time,
-or in two days'. But the question is still this: If a favourable
-opportunity presents itself, it must be seized."
-
-"Agreed!  And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by a favourable
-opportunity?"
-
-"It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the Nautilus a
-short distance from some European coast."
-
-"And you will try and save yourself by swimming?"
-
-"Yes, if we were near enough to the bank, and if the vessel was
-floating at the time.  Not if the bank was far away, and the boat was
-under the water."
-
-"And in that case?"
-
-"In that case, I should seek to make myself master of the pinnace.  I
-know how it is worked.  We must get inside, and the bolts once drawn,
-we shall come to the surface of the water, without even the pilot, who
-is in the bows, perceiving our flight."
-
-"Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity; but do not forget that a hitch
-will ruin us."
-
-"I will not forget, sir."
-
-"And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your project?"
-
-"Certainly, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Well, I think--I do not say I hope--I think that this favourable
-opportunity will never present itself."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given
-up all hope of regaining our liberty, and he will be on his guard,
-above all, in the seas and in the sight of European coasts."
-
-"We shall see," replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly.
-
-"And now, Ned Land," I added, "let us stop here.  Not another word on
-the subject.  The day that you are ready, come and let us know, and we
-will follow you.  I rely entirely upon you."
-
-Thus ended a conversation which, at no very distant time, led to such
-grave results.  I must say here that facts seemed to confirm my
-foresight, to the Canadian's great despair.  Did Captain Nemo distrust
-us in these frequented seas? or did he only wish to hide himself from
-the numerous vessels, of all nations, which ploughed the Mediterranean?
-I could not tell; but we were oftener between waters and far from the
-coast.  Or, if the Nautilus did emerge, nothing was to be seen but the
-pilot's cage; and sometimes it went to great depths, for, between the
-Grecian Archipelago and Asia Minor we could not touch the bottom by
-more than a thousand fathoms.
-
-Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the
-Sporades, by Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
-
-    "Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates,
-     Caeruleus Proteus,"
-
-as he pointed to a spot on the planisphere.
-
-It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of
-Neptune's flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, situated between Rhodes
-and Crete.  I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels
-of the saloon.
-
-The next day, the 14th of February, I resolved to employ some hours in
-studying the fishes of the Archipelago; but for some reason or other
-the panels remained hermetically sealed.  Upon taking the course of the
-Nautilus, I found that we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle
-of Crete.  At the time I embarked on the Abraham Lincoln, the whole of
-this island had risen in insurrection against the despotism of the
-Turks.  But how the insurgents had fared since that time I was
-absolutely ignorant, and it was not Captain Nemo, deprived of all land
-communications, who could tell me.
-
-I made no allusion to this event when that night I found myself alone
-with him in the saloon.  Besides, he seemed to be taciturn and
-preoccupied.  Then, contrary to his custom, he ordered both panels to
-be opened, and, going from one to the other, observed the mass of
-waters attentively.  To what end I could not guess; so, on my side, I
-employed my time in studying the fish passing before my eyes.
-
-In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his
-belt a leathern purse.  It was not a body abandoned to the waves; it
-was a living man, swimming with a strong hand, disappearing
-occasionally to take breath at the surface.
-
-I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
-
-"A man shipwrecked!  He must be saved at any price!"
-
-The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
-
-The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass,
-was looking at us.
-
-To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him.  The diver answered
-with his hand, mounted immediately to the surface of the water, and did
-not appear again.
-
-"Do not be uncomfortable," said Captain Nemo.  "It is Nicholas of Cape
-Matapan, surnamed Pesca.  He is well known in all the Cyclades.  A bold
-diver! water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land,
-going continually from one island to another, even as far as Crete."
-
-"You know him, Captain?"
-
-"Why not, M. Aronnax?"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing
-near the left panel of the saloon.  Near this piece of furniture, I saw
-a chest bound with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate,
-bearing the cypher of the Nautilus with its device.
-
-At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence, opened the
-piece of furniture, a sort of strong box, which held a great many
-ingots.
-
-They were ingots of gold.  From whence came this precious metal, which
-represented an enormous sum?  Where did the Captain gather this gold
-from? and what was he going to do with it?
-
-I did not say one word.  I looked.  Captain Nemo took the ingots one by
-one, and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled
-entirely.  I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lb. weight of
-gold, that is to say, nearly L200,000.
-
-The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on
-the lid, in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.
-
-This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated
-with the quarters of the crew.  Four men appeared, and, not without
-some trouble, pushed the chest out of the saloon.  Then I heard them
-hoisting it up the iron staircase by means of pulleys.
-
-At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
-
-"And you were saying, sir?" said he.
-
-"I was saying nothing, Captain."
-
-"Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night."
-
-Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.
-
-I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe.  I vainly
-tried to sleep--I sought the connecting link between the apparition of
-the diver and the chest filled with gold.  Soon, I felt by certain
-movements of pitching and tossing that the Nautilus was leaving the
-depths and returning to the surface.
-
-Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were unfastening
-the pinnace and launching it upon the waves.  For one instant it struck
-the side of the Nautilus, then all noise ceased.
-
-Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed;
-the boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the Nautilus
-again plunged under the waves.
-
-So these millions had been transported to their address.  To what point
-of the continent?  Who was Captain Nemo's correspondent?
-
-The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events of the
-night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree.  My
-companions were not less surprised than myself.
-
-"But where does he take his millions to?" asked Ned Land.
-
-To that there was no possible answer.  I returned to the saloon after
-having breakfast and set to work.  Till five o'clock in the evening I
-employed myself in arranging my notes.  At that moment--(ought I to
-attribute it to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)--I felt so great a heat
-that I was obliged to take off my coat.  It was strange, for we were
-under low latitudes; and even then the Nautilus, submerged as it was,
-ought to experience no change of temperature.  I looked at the
-manometer; it showed a depth of sixty feet, to which atmospheric heat
-could never attain.
-
-I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a pitch as to be
-intolerable.
-
-"Could there be fire on board?"  I asked myself.
-
-I was leaving the saloon, when Captain Nemo entered; he approached the
-thermometer, consulted it, and, turning to me, said:
-
-"Forty-two degrees."
-
-"I have noticed it, Captain," I replied; "and if it gets much hotter we
-cannot bear it."
-
-"Oh, sir, it will not get better if we do not wish it."
-
-"You can reduce it as you please, then?"
-
-"No; but I can go farther from the stove which produces it."
-
-"It is outward, then!"
-
-"Certainly; we are floating in a current of boiling water."
-
-"Is it possible!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Look."
-
-The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round.  A
-sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like water in
-a copper.  I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass, but the heat
-was so great that I quickly took it off again.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"Near the Island of Santorin, sir," replied the Captain.  "I wished to
-give you a sight of the curious spectacle of a submarine eruption."
-
-"I thought," said I, "that the formation of these new islands was
-ended."
-
-"Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea," replied
-Captain Nemo; "and the globe is always being worked by subterranean
-fires.  Already, in the nineteenth year of our era, according to
-Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia (the divine), appeared in
-the very place where these islets have recently been formed.  Then they
-sank under the waves, to rise again in the year 69, when they again
-subsided.  Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been
-suspended.  But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they
-named George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour
-near Nea Kamenni, and settled again the 6th of the same month.  Seven
-days after, the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa appeared,
-leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten yards broad.  I was
-in these seas when the phenomenon occurred, and I was able therefore to
-observe all the different phases.  The Island of Aphroessa, of round
-form, measured 300 feet in diameter, and 30 feet in height.  It was
-composed of black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of felspar.
-And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka, showed
-itself near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have joined
-together, forming but one and the same island."
-
-"And the canal in which we are at this moment?"  I asked.
-
-"Here it is," replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the
-Archipelago.  "You see, I have marked the new islands."
-
-I returned to the glass.  The Nautilus was no longer moving, the heat
-was becoming unbearable.  The sea, which till now had been white, was
-red, owing to the presence of salts of iron.  In spite of the ship's
-being hermetically sealed, an insupportable smell of sulphur filled the
-saloon, and the brilliancy of the electricity was entirely extinguished
-by bright scarlet flames.  I was in a bath, I was choking, I was
-broiled.
-
-"We can remain no longer in this boiling water," said I to the Captain.
-
-"It would not be prudent," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.
-
-An order was given; the Nautilus tacked about and left the furnace it
-could not brave with impunity.  A quarter of an hour after we were
-breathing fresh air on the surface.  The thought then struck me that,
-if Ned Land had chosen this part of the sea for our flight, we should
-never have come alive out of this sea of fire.
-
-The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which, between
-Rhodes and Alexandria, is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms in depth, and
-the Nautilus, passing some distance from Cerigo, quitted the Grecian
-Archipelago after having doubled Cape Matapan.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
-
-The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, "the great sea" of the
-Hebrews, "the sea" of the Greeks, the "mare nostrum" of the Romans,
-bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with
-the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with
-pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires;
-a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the
-empire of the world!
-
-It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man is
-renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe.  But,
-beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at the basin
-whose superficial area is two million of square yards.  Even Captain
-Nemo's knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling person did not
-appear once during our passage at full speed.  I estimated the course
-which the Nautilus took under the waves of the sea at about six hundred
-leagues, and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours.  Starting on the
-morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece, we had
-crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
-
-It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of
-those countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain
-Nemo.  Those waves and those breezes brought back too many
-remembrances, if not too many regrets.  Here he had no longer that
-independence and that liberty of gait which he had when in the open
-seas, and his Nautilus felt itself cramped between the close shores of
-Africa and Europe.
-
-Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour.  It may be well understood
-that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged to renounce his
-intended flight.  He could not launch the pinnace, going at the rate of
-twelve or thirteen yards every second.  To quit the Nautilus under such
-conditions would be as bad as jumping from a train going at full
-speed--an imprudent thing, to say the least of it.  Besides, our vessel
-only mounted to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of
-air; it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.
-
-I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by
-express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
-that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which
-pass like a flash of lightning.
-
-We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis.  In the
-narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of
-the sea rose almost suddenly.  There was a perfect bank, on which there
-was not more than nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the
-depth was ninety fathoms.
-
-The Nautilus had to manoeuvre very carefully so as not to strike
-against this submarine barrier.
-
-I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied by
-this reef.
-
-"But if you please, sir," observed Conseil, "it is like a real isthmus
-joining Europe to Africa."
-
-"Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia, and the
-soundings of Smith have proved that in former times the continents
-between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined."
-
-"I can well believe it," said Conseil.
-
-"I will add," I continued, "that a similar barrier exists between
-Gibraltar and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire
-Mediterranean."
-
-"What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers
-above the waves?"
-
-"It is not probable, Conseil."
-
-"Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon should
-take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps, who has taken so
-much pains to pierce the isthmus."
-
-"I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will never
-happen.  The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.
-Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world, are being
-extinguished by degrees; the internal heat is weakened, the temperature
-of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a perceptible quantity
-every century to the detriment of our globe, for its heat is its life."
-
-"But the sun?"
-
-"The sun is not sufficient, Conseil.  Can it give heat to a dead body?"
-
-"Not that I know of."
-
-"Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse; it will
-become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon, which has long
-since lost all its vital heat."
-
-"In how many centuries?"
-
-"In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy."
-
-"Then," said Conseil, "we shall have time to finish our journey--that
-is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it."
-
-And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank, which the
-Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.
-
-During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the
-second Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450
-fathoms.  The Nautilus, by the action of its crew, slid down the
-inclined planes and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
-
-On the 18th of February, about three o'clock in the morning, we were at
-the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar.  There once existed two
-currents: an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters
-of the ocean into the basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower
-counter-current, which reasoning has now shown to exist.  Indeed, the
-volume of water in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves
-of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise
-the level of this sea, for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore
-the equilibrium.  As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the
-existence of an under-current, which empties into the basin of the
-Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the
-Mediterranean.  A fact indeed; and it was this counter-current by which
-the Nautilus profited.  It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass.  For
-one instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of
-Hercules, buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low
-island which supports it; and a few minutes later we were floating on
-the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-VIGO BAY
-
-The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers
-twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine
-thousand miles, with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred--an
-ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
-watered by the largest rivers of the world, the St. Lawrence, the
-Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco, the Niger, the
-Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water from the
-most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries!
-Magnificent field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels of every
-nation, sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which terminates in
-those two terrible points so dreaded by mariners, Cape Horn and the
-Cape of Tempests.
-
-The Nautilus was piercing the water with its sharp spur, after having
-accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half, a
-distance greater than the great circle of the earth.  Where were we
-going now, and what was reserved for the future?  The Nautilus, leaving
-the Straits of Gibraltar, had gone far out.  It returned to the surface
-of the waves, and our daily walks on the platform were restored to us.
-
-I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil.  At a distance
-of about twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent was dimly to be seen, forming
-the south-western point of the Spanish peninsula.  A strong southerly
-gale was blowing.  The sea was swollen and billowy; it made the
-Nautilus rock violently.  It was almost impossible to keep one's foot
-on the platform, which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every
-instant.  So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.
-
-I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian, with a
-preoccupied air, followed me.  Our rapid passage across the
-Mediterranean had not allowed him to put his project into execution,
-and he could not help showing his disappointment.  When the door of my
-room was shut, he sat down and looked at me silently.
-
-"Friend Ned," said I, "I understand you; but you cannot reproach
-yourself.  To have attempted to leave the Nautilus under the
-circumstances would have been folly."
-
-Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
-with him the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind.
-
-"Let us see," I continued; "we need not despair yet.  We are going up
-the coast of Portugal again; France and England are not far off, where
-we can easily find refuge.  Now if the Nautilus, on leaving the Straits
-of Gibraltar, had gone to the south, if it had carried us towards
-regions where there were no continents, I should share your uneasiness.
-But we know now that Captain Nemo does not fly from civilised seas, and
-in some days I think you can act with security."
-
-Ned Land still looked at me fixedly; at length his fixed lips parted,
-and he said, "It is for to-night."
-
-I drew myself up suddenly.  I was, I admit, little prepared for this
-communication.  I wanted to answer the Canadian, but words would not
-come.
-
-"We agreed to wait for an opportunity," continued Ned Land, "and the
-opportunity has arrived.  This night we shall be but a few miles from
-the Spanish coast.  It is cloudy.  The wind blows freely.  I have your
-word, M. Aronnax, and I rely upon you."
-
-As I was silent, the Canadian approached me.
-
-"To-night, at nine o'clock," said he.  "I have warned Conseil.  At that
-moment Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room, probably in bed.
-Neither the engineers nor the ship's crew can see us.  Conseil and I
-will gain the central staircase, and you, M. Aronnax, will remain in
-the library, two steps from us, waiting my signal.  The oars, the mast,
-and the sail are in the canoe.  I have even succeeded in getting some
-provisions.  I have procured an English wrench, to unfasten the bolts
-which attach it to the shell of the Nautilus.  So all is ready, till
-to-night."
-
-"The sea is bad."
-
-"That I allow," replied the Canadian; "but we must risk that.  Liberty
-is worth paying for; besides, the boat is strong, and a few miles with
-a fair wind to carry us is no great thing.  Who knows but by to-morrow
-we may be a hundred leagues away?  Let circumstances only favour us,
-and by ten or eleven o'clock we shall have landed on some spot of terra
-firma, alive or dead.  But adieu now till to-night."
-
-With these words the Canadian withdrew, leaving me almost dumb.  I had
-imagined that, the chance gone, I should have time to reflect and
-discuss the matter.  My obstinate companion had given me no time; and,
-after all, what could I have said to him?  Ned Land was perfectly
-right.  There was almost the opportunity to profit by.  Could I retract
-my word, and take upon myself the responsibility of compromising the
-future of my companions?  To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us far from
-all land.
-
-At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs
-were filling, and that the Nautilus was sinking under the waves of the
-Atlantic.
-
-A sad day I passed, between the desire of regaining my liberty of
-action and of abandoning the wonderful Nautilus, and leaving my
-submarine studies incomplete.
-
-What dreadful hours I passed thus!  Sometimes seeing myself and
-companions safely landed, sometimes wishing, in spite of my reason,
-that some unforeseen circumstance, would prevent the realisation of Ned
-Land's project.
-
-Twice I went to the saloon.  I wished to consult the compass.  I wished
-to see if the direction the Nautilus was taking was bringing us nearer
-or taking us farther from the coast.  But no; the Nautilus kept in
-Portuguese waters.
-
-I must therefore take my part and prepare for flight.  My luggage was
-not heavy; my notes, nothing more.
-
-As to Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he would think of our escape;
-what trouble, what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in
-case of its discovery or failure.  Certainly I had no cause to complain
-of him; on the contrary, never was hospitality freer than his.  In
-leaving him I could not be taxed with ingratitude.  No oath bound us to
-him.  It was on the strength of circumstances he relied, and not upon
-our word, to fix us for ever.
-
-I had not seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin.
-Would chance bring me to his presence before our departure?  I wished
-it, and I feared it at the same time.  I listened if I could hear him
-walking the room contiguous to mine.  No sound reached my ear.  I felt
-an unbearable uneasiness.  This day of waiting seemed eternal.  Hours
-struck too slowly to keep pace with my impatience.
-
-My dinner was served in my room as usual.  I ate but little; I was too
-preoccupied.  I left the table at seven o'clock. A hundred and twenty
-minutes (I counted them) still separated me from the moment in which I
-was to join Ned Land.  My agitation redoubled.  My pulse beat
-violently.  I could not remain quiet.  I went and came, hoping to calm
-my troubled spirit by constant movement.  The idea of failure in our
-bold enterprise was the least painful of my anxieties; but the thought
-of seeing our project discovered before leaving the Nautilus, of being
-brought before Captain Nemo, irritated, or (what was worse) saddened,
-at my desertion, made my heart beat.
-
-I wanted to see the saloon for the last time.  I descended the stairs
-and arrived in the museum, where I had passed so many useful and
-agreeable hours.  I looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a
-man on the eve of an eternal exile, who was leaving never to return.
-
-These wonders of Nature, these masterpieces of art, amongst which for
-so many days my life had been concentrated, I was going to abandon them
-for ever!  I should like to have taken a last look through the windows
-of the saloon into the waters of the Atlantic:  but the panels were
-hermetically closed, and a cloak of steel separated me from that ocean
-which I had not yet explored.
-
-In passing through the saloon, I came near the door let into the angle
-which opened into the Captain's room.  To my great surprise, this door
-was ajar.  I drew back involuntarily.  If Captain Nemo should be in his
-room, he could see me.  But, hearing no sound, I drew nearer.  The room
-was deserted.  I pushed open the door and took some steps forward.
-Still the same monklike severity of aspect.
-
-Suddenly the clock struck eight.  The first beat of the hammer on the
-bell awoke me from my dreams.  I trembled as if an invisible eye had
-plunged into my most secret thoughts, and I hurried from the room.
-
-There my eye fell upon the compass.  Our course was still north.  The
-log indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.
-
-I returned to my room, clothed myself warmly--sea boots, an otterskin
-cap, a great coat of byssus, lined with sealskin; I was ready, I was
-waiting.  The vibration of the screw alone broke the deep silence which
-reigned on board.  I listened attentively.  Would no loud voice
-suddenly inform me that Ned Land had been surprised in his projected
-flight.  A mortal dread hung over me, and I vainly tried to regain my
-accustomed coolness.
-
-At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain's door.  No
-noise.  I left my room and returned to the saloon, which was half in
-obscurity, but deserted.
-
-I opened the door communicating with the library.  The same
-insufficient light, the same solitude.  I placed myself near the door
-leading to the central staircase, and there waited for Ned Land's
-signal.
-
-At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished, then it
-stopped entirely.  The silence was now only disturbed by the beatings
-of my own heart.  Suddenly a slight shock was felt; and I knew that the
-Nautilus had stopped at the bottom of the ocean.  My uneasiness
-increased.  The Canadian's signal did not come.  I felt inclined to
-join Ned Land and beg of him to put off his attempt.  I felt that we
-were not sailing under our usual conditions.
-
-At this moment the door of the large saloon opened, and Captain Nemo
-appeared.  He saw me, and without further preamble began in an amiable
-tone of voice:
-
-"Ah, sir!  I have been looking for you.  Do you know the history of
-Spain?"
-
-Now, one might know the history of one's own country by heart; but in
-the condition I was at the time, with troubled mind and head quite
-lost, I could not have said a word of it.
-
-"Well," continued Captain Nemo, "you heard my question!  Do you know
-the history of Spain?"
-
-"Very slightly," I answered.
-
-"Well, here are learned men having to learn," said the Captain.  "Come,
-sit down, and I will tell you a curious episode in this history.  Sir,
-listen well," said he; "this history will interest you on one side, for
-it will answer a question which doubtless you have not been able to
-solve."
-
-"I listen, Captain," said I, not knowing what my interlocutor was
-driving at, and asking myself if this incident was bearing on our
-projected flight.
-
-"Sir, if you have no objection, we will go back to 1702.  You cannot be
-ignorant that your king, Louis XIV, thinking that the gesture of a
-potentate was sufficient to bring the Pyrenees under his yoke, had
-imposed the Duke of Anjou, his grandson, on the Spaniards.  This prince
-reigned more or less badly under the name of Philip V, and had a strong
-party against him abroad.  Indeed, the preceding year, the royal houses
-of Holland, Austria, and England had concluded a treaty of alliance at
-the Hague, with the intention of plucking the crown of Spain from the
-head of Philip V, and placing it on that of an archduke to whom they
-prematurely gave the title of Charles III.
-
-"Spain must resist this coalition; but she was almost entirely
-unprovided with either soldiers or sailors.  However, money would not
-fail them, provided that their galleons, laden with gold and silver
-from America, once entered their ports.  And about the end of 1702 they
-expected a rich convoy which France was escorting with a fleet of
-twenty-three vessels, commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud, for the
-ships of the coalition were already beating the Atlantic.  This convoy
-was to go to Cadiz, but the Admiral, hearing that an English fleet was
-cruising in those waters, resolved to make for a French port.
-
-"The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision.  They
-wanted to be taken to a Spanish port, and, if not to Cadiz, into Vigo
-Bay, situated on the northwest coast of Spain, and which was not
-blocked.
-
-"Admiral Chateau-Renaud had the rashness to obey this injunction, and
-the galleons entered Vigo Bay.
-
-"Unfortunately, it formed an open road which could not be defended in
-any way.  They must therefore hasten to unload the galleons before the
-arrival of the combined fleet; and time would not have failed them had
-not a miserable question of rivalry suddenly arisen.
-
-"You are following the chain of events?" asked Captain Nemo.
-
-"Perfectly," said I, not knowing the end proposed by this historical
-lesson.
-
-"I will continue.  This is what passed.  The merchants of Cadiz had a
-privilege by which they had the right of receiving all merchandise
-coming from the West Indies.  Now, to disembark these ingots at the
-port of Vigo was depriving them of their rights.  They complained at
-Madrid, and obtained the consent of the weak-minded Philip that the
-convoy, without discharging its cargo, should remain sequestered in the
-roads of Vigo until the enemy had disappeared.
-
-"But whilst coming to this decision, on the 22nd of October, 1702, the
-English vessels arrived in Vigo Bay, when Admiral Chateau-Renaud, in
-spite of inferior forces, fought bravely.  But, seeing that the
-treasure must fall into the enemy's hands, he burnt and scuttled every
-galleon, which went to the bottom with their immense riches."
-
-Captain Nemo stopped.  I admit I could not see yet why this history
-should interest me.
-
-"Well?"  I asked.
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, "we are in that Vigo Bay; and
-it rests with yourself whether you will penetrate its mysteries."
-
-The Captain rose, telling me to follow him.  I had had time to recover.
-I obeyed.  The saloon was dark, but through the transparent glass the
-waves were sparkling.  I looked.
-
-For half a mile around the Nautilus, the waters seemed bathed in
-electric light.  The sandy bottom was clean and bright.  Some of the
-ship's crew in their diving-dresses were clearing away half-rotten
-barrels and empty cases from the midst of the blackened wrecks.  From
-these cases and from these barrels escaped ingots of gold and silver,
-cascades of piastres and jewels.  The sand was heaped up with them.
-Laden with their precious booty, the men returned to the Nautilus,
-disposed of their burden, and went back to this inexhaustible fishery
-of gold and silver.
-
-I understood now.  This was the scene of the battle of the 22nd of
-October, 1702.  Here on this very spot the galleons laden for the
-Spanish Government had sunk.  Here Captain Nemo came, according to his
-wants, to pack up those millions with which he burdened the Nautilus.
-It was for him and him alone America had given up her precious metals.
-He was heir direct, without anyone to share, in those treasures torn
-from the Incas and from the conquered of Ferdinand Cortez.
-
-"Did you know, sir," he asked, smiling, "that the sea contained such
-riches?"
-
-"I knew," I answered, "that they value money held in suspension in
-these waters at two millions."
-
-"Doubtless; but to extract this money the expense would be greater than
-the profit.  Here, on the contrary, I have but to pick up what man has
-lost--and not only in Vigo Bay, but in a thousand other ports where
-shipwrecks have happened, and which are marked on my submarine map.
-Can you understand now the source of the millions I am worth?"
-
-"I understand, Captain.  But allow me to tell you that in exploring
-Vigo Bay you have only been beforehand with a rival society."
-
-"And which?"
-
-"A society which has received from the Spanish Government the privilege
-of seeking those buried galleons.  The shareholders are led on by the
-allurement of an enormous bounty, for they value these rich shipwrecks
-at five hundred millions."
-
-"Five hundred millions they were," answered Captain Nemo, "but they are
-so no longer."
-
-"Just so," said I; "and a warning to those shareholders would be an act
-of charity.  But who knows if it would be well received?  What gamblers
-usually regret above all is less the loss of their money than of their
-foolish hopes.  After all, I pity them less than the thousands of
-unfortunates to whom so much riches well-distributed would have been
-profitable, whilst for them they will be for ever barren."
-
-I had no sooner expressed this regret than I felt that it must have
-wounded Captain Nemo.
-
-"Barren!" he exclaimed, with animation.  "Do you think then, sir, that
-these riches are lost because I gather them?  Is it for myself alone,
-according to your idea, that I take the trouble to collect these
-treasures?  Who told you that I did not make a good use of it?  Do you
-think I am ignorant that there are suffering beings and oppressed races
-on this earth, miserable creatures to console, victims to avenge?  Do
-you not understand?"
-
-Captain Nemo stopped at these last words, regretting perhaps that he
-had spoken so much.  But I had guessed that, whatever the motive which
-had forced him to seek independence under the sea, it had left him
-still a man, that his heart still beat for the sufferings of humanity,
-and that his immense charity was for oppressed races as well as
-individuals.  And I then understood for whom those millions were
-destined which were forwarded by Captain Nemo when the Nautilus was
-cruising in the waters of Crete.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-A VANISHED CONTINENT
-
-The next morning, the 19th of February, I saw the Canadian enter my
-room.  I expected this visit.  He looked very disappointed.
-
-"Well, sir?" said he.
-
-"Well, Ned, fortune was against us yesterday."
-
-"Yes; that Captain must needs stop exactly at the hour we intended
-leaving his vessel."
-
-"Yes, Ned, he had business at his bankers."
-
-"His bankers!"
-
-"Or rather his banking-house; by that I mean the ocean, where his
-riches are safer than in the chests of the State."
-
-I then related to the Canadian the incidents of the preceding night,
-hoping to bring him back to the idea of not abandoning the Captain; but
-my recital had no other result than an energetically expressed regret
-from Ned that he had not been able to take a walk on the battlefield of
-Vigo on his own account.
-
-"However," said he, "all is not ended.  It is only a blow of the
-harpoon lost.  Another time we must succeed; and to-night, if
-necessary----"
-
-"In what direction is the Nautilus going?"  I asked.
-
-"I do not know," replied Ned.
-
-"Well, at noon we shall see the point."
-
-The Canadian returned to Conseil.  As soon as I was dressed, I went
-into the saloon.  The compass was not reassuring.  The course of the
-Nautilus was S.S.W. We were turning our backs on Europe.
-
-I waited with some impatience till the ship's place was pricked on the
-chart.  At about half-past eleven the reservoirs were emptied, and our
-vessel rose to the surface of the ocean.  I rushed towards the
-platform.  Ned Land had preceded me.  No more land in sight.  Nothing
-but an immense sea.  Some sails on the horizon, doubtless those going
-to San Roque in search of favourable winds for doubling the Cape of
-Good Hope.  The weather was cloudy.  A gale of wind was preparing.  Ned
-raved, and tried to pierce the cloudy horizon.  He still hoped that
-behind all that fog stretched the land he so longed for.
-
-At noon the sun showed itself for an instant.  The second profited by
-this brightness to take its height.  Then, the sea becoming more
-billowy, we descended, and the panel closed.
-
-An hour after, upon consulting the chart, I saw the position of the
-Nautilus was marked at 16° 17' long., and 33° 22' lat., at 150
-leagues from the nearest coast.  There was no means of flight, and I
-leave you to imagine the rage of the Canadian when I informed him of
-our situation.
-
-For myself, I was not particularly sorry.  I felt lightened of the load
-which had oppressed me, and was able to return with some degree of
-calmness to my accustomed work.
-
-That night, about eleven o'clock, I received a most unexpected visit
-from Captain Nemo.  He asked me very graciously if I felt fatigued from
-my watch of the preceding night.  I answered in the negative.
-
-"Then, M. Aronnax, I propose a curious excursion."
-
-"Propose, Captain?"
-
-"You have hitherto only visited the submarine depths by daylight, under
-the brightness of the sun.  Would it suit you to see them in the
-darkness of the night?"
-
-"Most willingly."
-
-"I warn you, the way will be tiring.  We shall have far to walk, and
-must climb a mountain.  The roads are not well kept."
-
-"What you say, Captain, only heightens my curiosity; I am ready to
-follow you."
-
-"Come then, sir, we will put on our diving-dresses."
-
-Arrived at the robing-room, I saw that neither of my companions nor any
-of the ship's crew were to follow us on this excursion.  Captain Nemo
-had not even proposed my taking with me either Ned or Conseil.
-
-In a few moments we had put on our diving-dresses; they placed on our
-backs the reservoirs, abundantly filled with air, but no electric lamps
-were prepared.  I called the Captain's attention to the fact.
-
-"They will be useless," he replied.
-
-I thought I had not heard aright, but I could not repeat my
-observation, for the Captain's head had already disappeared in its
-metal case.  I finished harnessing myself.  I felt them put an
-iron-pointed stick into my hand, and some minutes later, after going
-through the usual form, we set foot on the bottom of the Atlantic at a
-depth of 150 fathoms.  Midnight was near.  The waters were profoundly
-dark, but Captain Nemo pointed out in the distance a reddish spot, a
-sort of large light shining brilliantly about two miles from the
-Nautilus.  What this fire might be, what could feed it, why and how it
-lit up the liquid mass, I could not say.  In any case, it did light our
-way, vaguely, it is true, but I soon accustomed myself to the peculiar
-darkness, and I understood, under such circumstances, the uselessness
-of the Ruhmkorff apparatus.
-
-As we advanced, I heard a kind of pattering above my head.  The noise
-redoubling, sometimes producing a continual shower, I soon understood
-the cause.  It was rain falling violently, and crisping the surface of
-the waves.  Instinctively the thought flashed across my mind that I
-should be wet through!  By the water! in the midst of the water!  I
-could not help laughing at the odd idea.  But, indeed, in the thick
-diving-dress, the liquid element is no longer felt, and one only seems
-to be in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the terrestrial atmosphere.
-Nothing more.
-
-After half an hour's walk the soil became stony.  Medusae, microscopic
-crustacea, and pennatules lit it slightly with their phosphorescent
-gleam.  I caught a glimpse of pieces of stone covered with millions of
-zoophytes and masses of sea weed.  My feet often slipped upon this
-sticky carpet of sea weed, and without my iron-tipped stick I should
-have fallen more than once.  In turning round, I could still see the
-whitish lantern of the Nautilus beginning to pale in the distance.
-
-But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon.
-The presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree.
-Was I going towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown to the _savants_
-of the earth?  Or even (for this thought crossed my brain) had the hand
-of man aught to do with this conflagration?  Had he fanned this flame?
-Was I to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo
-whom he was going to visit, and who, like him, led this strange
-existence?  Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who,
-weary of the miseries of this earth, had sought and found independence
-in the deep ocean?  All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued
-me.  And in this condition of mind, over-excited by the succession of
-wonders continually passing before my eyes, I should not have been
-surprised to meet at the bottom of the sea one of those submarine towns
-of which Captain Nemo dreamed.
-
-Our road grew lighter and lighter.  The white glimmer came in rays from
-the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high.  But what I saw was
-simply a reflection, developed by the clearness of the waters.  The
-source of this inexplicable light was a fire on the opposite side of
-the mountain.
-
-In the midst of this stony maze furrowing the bottom of the Atlantic,
-Captain Nemo advanced without hesitation.  He knew this dreary road.
-Doubtless he had often travelled over it, and could not lose himself.
-I followed him with unshaken confidence.  He seemed to me like a genie
-of the sea; and, as he walked before me, I could not help admiring his
-stature, which was outlined in black on the luminous horizon.
-
-It was one in the morning when we arrived at the first slopes of the
-mountain; but to gain access to them we must venture through the
-difficult paths of a vast copse.
-
-Yes; a copse of dead trees, without leaves, without sap, trees
-petrified by the action of the water and here and there overtopped by
-gigantic pines.  It was like a coal-pit still standing, holding by the
-roots to the broken soil, and whose branches, like fine black paper
-cuttings, showed distinctly on the watery ceiling.  Picture to yourself
-a forest in the Hartz hanging on to the sides of the mountain, but a
-forest swallowed up.  The paths were encumbered with seaweed and fucus,
-between which grovelled a whole world of crustacea.  I went along,
-climbing the rocks, striding over extended trunks, breaking the sea
-bind-weed which hung from one tree to the other; and frightening the
-fishes, which flew from branch to branch.  Pressing onward, I felt no
-fatigue.  I followed my guide, who was never tired.  What a spectacle!
-How can I express it? how paint the aspect of those woods and rocks in
-this medium--their under parts dark and wild, the upper coloured with
-red tints, by that light which the reflecting powers of the waters
-doubled?  We climbed rocks which fell directly after with gigantic
-bounds and the low growling of an avalanche.  To right and left ran
-long, dark galleries, where sight was lost.  Here opened vast glades
-which the hand of man seemed to have worked; and I sometimes asked
-myself if some inhabitant of these submarine regions would not suddenly
-appear to me.
-
-But Captain Nemo was still mounting.  I could not stay behind.  I
-followed boldly.  My stick gave me good help.  A false step would have
-been dangerous on the narrow passes sloping down to the sides of the
-gulfs; but I walked with firm step, without feeling any giddiness.  Now
-I jumped a crevice, the depth of which would have made me hesitate had
-it been among the glaciers on the land; now I ventured on the unsteady
-trunk of a tree thrown across from one abyss to the other, without
-looking under my feet, having only eyes to admire the wild sites of
-this region.
-
-There, monumental rocks, leaning on their regularly-cut bases, seemed
-to defy all laws of equilibrium.  From between their stony knees trees
-sprang, like a jet under heavy pressure, and upheld others which upheld
-them.  Natural towers, large scarps, cut perpendicularly, like a
-"curtain," inclined at an angle which the laws of gravitation could
-never have tolerated in terrestrial regions.
-
-Two hours after quitting the Nautilus we had crossed the line of trees,
-and a hundred feet above our heads rose the top of the mountain, which
-cast a shadow on the brilliant irradiation of the opposite slope.  Some
-petrified shrubs ran fantastically here and there.  Fishes got up under
-our feet like birds in the long grass.  The massive rocks were rent
-with impenetrable fractures, deep grottos, and unfathomable holes, at
-the bottom of which formidable creatures might be heard moving.  My
-blood curdled when I saw enormous antennae blocking my road, or some
-frightful claw closing with a noise in the shadow of some cavity.
-Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the midst of the darkness.
-They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their holes; giant
-lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers, and moving their claws
-with the clicking sound of pincers; titanic crabs, pointed like a gun
-on its carriage; and frightful-looking poulps, interweaving their
-tentacles like a living nest of serpents.
-
-We had now arrived on the first platform, where other surprises awaited
-me.  Before us lay some picturesque ruins, which betrayed the hand of
-man and not that of the Creator.  There were vast heaps of stone,
-amongst which might be traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles
-and temples, clothed with a world of blossoming zoophytes, and over
-which, instead of ivy, sea-weed and fucus threw a thick vegetable
-mantle.  But what was this portion of the globe which had been
-swallowed by cataclysms?  Who had placed those rocks and stones like
-cromlechs of prehistoric times?  Where was I?  Whither had Captain
-Nemo's fancy hurried me?
-
-I would fain have asked him; not being able to, I stopped him--I seized
-his arm.  But, shaking his head, and pointing to the highest point of
-the mountain, he seemed to say:
-
-"Come, come along; come higher!"
-
-I followed, and in a few minutes I had climbed to the top, which for a
-circle of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock.
-
-I looked down the side we had just climbed.  The mountain did not rise
-more than seven or eight hundred feet above the level of the plain; but
-on the opposite side it commanded from twice that height the depths of
-this part of the Atlantic.  My eyes ranged far over a large space lit
-by a violent fulguration.  In fact, the mountain was a volcano.
-
-At fifty feet above the peak, in the midst of a rain of stones and
-scoriae, a large crater was vomiting forth torrents of lava which fell
-in a cascade of fire into the bosom of the liquid mass.  Thus situated,
-this volcano lit the lower plain like an immense torch, even to the
-extreme limits of the horizon.  I said that the submarine crater threw
-up lava, but no flames.  Flames require the oxygen of the air to feed
-upon and cannot be developed under water; but streams of lava, having
-in themselves the principles of their incandescence, can attain a white
-heat, fight vigorously against the liquid element, and turn it to
-vapour by contact.
-
-Rapid currents bearing all these gases in diffusion and torrents of
-lava slid to the bottom of the mountain like an eruption of Vesuvius on
-another Terra del Greco.
-
-There indeed under my eyes, ruined, destroyed, lay a town--its roofs
-open to the sky, its temples fallen, its arches dislocated, its columns
-lying on the ground, from which one would still recognise the massive
-character of Tuscan architecture.  Further on, some remains of a
-gigantic aqueduct; here the high base of an Acropolis, with the
-floating outline of a Parthenon; there traces of a quay, as if an
-ancient port had formerly abutted on the borders of the ocean, and
-disappeared with its merchant vessels and its war-galleys. Farther on
-again, long lines of sunken walls and broad, deserted streets--a
-perfect Pompeii escaped beneath the waters.  Such was the sight that
-Captain Nemo brought before my eyes!
-
-Where was I?  Where was I?  I must know at any cost.  I tried to speak,
-but Captain Nemo stopped me by a gesture, and, picking up a piece of
-chalk-stone, advanced to a rock of black basalt, and traced the one
-word:
-
-
-ATLANTIS
-
-
-What a light shot through my mind!  Atlantis! the Atlantis of Plato,
-that continent denied by Origen and Humbolt, who placed its
-disappearance amongst the legendary tales.  I had it there now before
-my eyes, bearing upon it the unexceptionable testimony of its
-catastrophe.  The region thus engulfed was beyond Europe, Asia, and
-Lybia, beyond the columns of Hercules, where those powerful people, the
-Atlantides, lived, against whom the first wars of ancient Greeks were
-waged.
-
-Thus, led by the strangest destiny, I was treading under foot the
-mountains of this continent, touching with my hand those ruins a
-thousand generations old and contemporary with the geological epochs.
-I was walking on the very spot where the contemporaries of the first
-man had walked.
-
-Whilst I was trying to fix in my mind every detail of this grand
-landscape, Captain Nemo remained motionless, as if petrified in mute
-ecstasy, leaning on a mossy stone.  Was he dreaming of those
-generations long since disappeared?  Was he asking them the secret of
-human destiny?  Was it here this strange man came to steep himself in
-historical recollections, and live again this ancient life--he who
-wanted no modern one?  What would I not have given to know his
-thoughts, to share them, to understand them!  We remained for an hour
-at this place, contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of
-the lava, which was some times wonderfully intense.  Rapid tremblings
-ran along the mountain caused by internal bubblings, deep noise,
-distinctly transmitted through the liquid medium were echoed with
-majestic grandeur.  At this moment the moon appeared through the mass
-of waters and threw her pale rays on the buried continent.  It was but
-a gleam, but what an indescribable effect!  The Captain rose, cast one
-last look on the immense plain, and then bade me follow him.
-
-We descended the mountain rapidly, and, the mineral forest once passed,
-I saw the lantern of the Nautilus shining like a star.  The Captain
-walked straight to it, and we got on board as the first rays of light
-whitened the surface of the ocean.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES
-
-The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late:  the fatigues of
-the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o'clock. I
-dressed quickly, and hastened to find the course the Nautilus was
-taking.  The instruments showed it to be still toward the south, with a
-speed of twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoms.
-
-The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already
-noticed.  There were rays of giant size, five yards long, and endowed
-with great muscular strength, which enabled them to shoot above the
-waves; sharks of many kinds; amongst others, one fifteen feet long,
-with triangular sharp teeth, and whose transparency rendered it almost
-invisible in the water.
-
-Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long, armed at
-the upper jaw with a piercing sword; other bright-coloured creatures,
-known in the time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon, which are
-dangerous to capture on account of the spikes on their back.
-
-About four o'clock, the soil, generally composed of a thick mud mixed
-with petrified wood, changed by degrees, and it became more stony, and
-seemed strewn with conglomerate and pieces of basalt, with a sprinkling
-of lava.  I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long
-plains; and accordingly, after a few evolutions of the Nautilus, I saw
-the southerly horizon blocked by a high wall which seemed to close all
-exit.  Its summit evidently passed the level of the ocean.  It must be
-a continent, or at least an island--one of the Canaries, or of the Cape
-Verde Islands.  The bearings not being yet taken, perhaps designedly, I
-was ignorant of our exact position.  In any case, such a wall seemed to
-me to mark the limits of that Atlantis, of which we had in reality
-passed over only the smallest part.
-
-Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring the beauties
-of sea and sky, but the panels closed.  At this moment the Nautilus
-arrived at the side of this high, perpendicular wall.  What it would
-do, I could not guess.  I returned to my room; it no longer moved.  I
-laid myself down with the full intention of waking after a few hours'
-sleep; but it was eight o'clock the next day when I entered the saloon.
-I looked at the manometer.  It told me that the Nautilus was floating
-on the surface of the ocean.  Besides, I heard steps on the platform.
-I went to the panel.  It was open; but, instead of broad daylight, as I
-expected, I was surrounded by profound darkness.  Where were we?  Was I
-mistaken?  Was it still night?  No; not a star was shining and night
-has not that utter darkness.
-
-I knew not what to think, when a voice near me said:
-
-"Is that you, Professor?"
-
-"Ah!  Captain," I answered, "where are we?"
-
-"Underground, sir."
-
-"Underground!"  I exclaimed.  "And the Nautilus floating still?"
-
-"It always floats."
-
-"But I do not understand."
-
-"Wait a few minutes, our lantern will be lit, and, if you like light
-places, you will be satisfied."
-
-I stood on the platform and waited.  The darkness was so complete that
-I could not even see Captain Nemo; but, looking to the zenith, exactly
-above my head, I seemed to catch an undecided gleam, a kind of twilight
-filling a circular hole.  At this instant the lantern was lit, and its
-vividness dispelled the faint light.  I closed my dazzled eyes for an
-instant, and then looked again.  The Nautilus was stationary, floating
-near a mountain which formed a sort of quay.  The lake, then,
-supporting it was a lake imprisoned by a circle of walls, measuring two
-miles in diameter and six in circumference.  Its level (the manometer
-showed) could only be the same as the outside level, for there must
-necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea.  The high
-partitions, leaning forward on their base, grew into a vaulted roof
-bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned upside down, the height
-being about five or six hundred yards.  At the summit was a circular
-orifice, by which I had caught the slight gleam of light, evidently
-daylight.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has
-been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth.
-Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the Nautilus penetrated to this
-lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards beneath the
-surface of the ocean.  This is its harbour of refuge, a sure,
-commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from all gales.  Show me, if
-you can, on the coasts of any of your continents or islands, a road
-which can give such perfect refuge from all storms."
-
-"Certainly," I replied, "you are in safety here, Captain Nemo.  Who
-could reach you in the heart of a volcano?  But did I not see an
-opening at its summit?"
-
-"Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames, and
-which now gives entrance to the life-giving air we breathe."
-
-"But what is this volcanic mountain?"
-
-"It belongs to one of the numerous islands with which this sea is
-strewn--to vessels a simple sandbank--to us an immense cavern.  Chance
-led me to discover it, and chance served me well."
-
-"But of what use is this refuge, Captain?  The Nautilus wants no port."
-
-"No, sir; but it wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal
-to make the electricity--sodium to feed the elements, coal from which
-to get the sodium, and a coal-mine to supply the coal.  And exactly on
-this spot the sea covers entire forests embedded during the geological
-periods, now mineralised and transformed into coal; for me they are an
-inexhaustible mine."
-
-"Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?"
-
-"Exactly so.  These mines extend under the waves like the mines of
-Newcastle.  Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand,
-my men extract the coal, which I do not even ask from the mines of the
-earth.  When I burn this combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the
-smoke, escaping from the crater of the mountain, gives it the
-appearance of a still-active volcano."
-
-"And we shall see your companions at work?"
-
-"No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue our
-submarine tour of the earth.  So I shall content myself with drawing
-from the reserve of sodium I already possess.  The time for loading is
-one day only, and we continue our voyage.  So, if you wish to go over
-the cavern and make the round of the lagoon, you must take advantage of
-to-day, M. Aronnax."
-
-I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not
-yet left their cabin.  I invited them to follow me without saying where
-we were.  They mounted the platform.  Conseil, who was astonished at
-nothing, seemed to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake
-under a mountain, after having fallen asleep under the waves.  But Ned
-Land thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit.
-After breakfast, about ten o'clock, we went down on to the mountain.
-
-"Here we are, once more on land," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not call this land," said the Canadian.  "And besides, we are not
-on it, but beneath it."
-
-Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a
-sandy shore which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet.
-On this soil one might easily make the tour of the lake.  But the base
-of the high partitions was stony ground, with volcanic locks and
-enormous pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps.  All these detached
-masses, covered with enamel, polished by the action of the
-subterraneous fires, shone resplendent by the light of our electric
-lantern.  The mica dust from the shore, rising under our feet, flew
-like a cloud of sparks.  The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon
-arrived at long circuitous slopes, or inclined planes, which took us
-higher by degrees; but we were obliged to walk carefully among these
-conglomerates, bound by no cement, the feet slipping on the glassy
-crystal, felspar, and quartz.
-
-The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all
-sides, and I pointed it out to my companions.
-
-"Picture to yourselves," said I, "what this crater must have been when
-filled with boiling lava, and when the level of the incandescent liquid
-rose to the orifice of the mountain, as though melted on the top of a
-hot plate."
-
-"I can picture it perfectly," said Conseil.  "But, sir, will you tell
-me why the Great Architect has suspended operations, and how it is that
-the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters of the lake?"
-
-"Most probably, Conseil, because some convulsion beneath the ocean
-produced that very opening which has served as a passage for the
-Nautilus.  Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed into the interior of
-the mountain.  There must have been a terrible struggle between the two
-elements, a struggle which ended in the victory of Neptune.  But many
-ages have run out since then, and the submerged volcano is now a
-peaceable grotto."
-
-"Very well," replied Ned Land; "I accept the explanation, sir; but, in
-our own interests, I regret that the opening of which you speak was not
-made above the level of the sea."
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "if the passage had not been under the
-sea, the Nautilus could not have gone through it."
-
-We continued ascending.  The steps became more and more perpendicular
-and narrow.  Deep excavations, which we were obliged to cross, cut them
-here and there; sloping masses had to be turned.  We slid upon our
-knees and crawled along.  But Conseil's dexterity and the Canadian's
-strength surmounted all obstacles.  At a height of about 31 feet the
-nature of the ground changed without becoming more practicable.  To the
-conglomerate and trachyte succeeded black basalt, the first dispread in
-layers full of bubbles, the latter forming regular prisms, placed like
-a colonnade supporting the spring of the immense vault, an admirable
-specimen of natural architecture.  Between the blocks of basalt wound
-long streams of lava, long since grown cold, encrusted with bituminous
-rays; and in some places there were spread large carpets of sulphur.  A
-more powerful light shone through the upper crater, shedding a vague
-glimmer over these volcanic depressions for ever buried in the bosom of
-this extinguished mountain.  But our upward march was soon stopped at a
-height of about two hundred and fifty feet by impassable obstacles.
-There was a complete vaulted arch overhanging us, and our ascent was
-changed to a circular walk.  At the last change vegetable life began to
-struggle with the mineral.  Some shrubs, and even some trees, grew from
-the fractures of the walls.  I recognised some euphorbias, with the
-caustic sugar coming from them; heliotropes, quite incapable of
-justifying their name, sadly drooped their clusters of flowers, both
-their colour and perfume half gone.  Here and there some chrysanthemums
-grew timidly at the foot of an aloe with long, sickly-looking leaves.
-But between the streams of lava, I saw some little violets still
-slightly perfumed, and I admit that I smelt them with delight.  Perfume
-is the soul of the flower, and sea-flowers have no soul.
-
-We had arrived at the foot of some sturdy dragon-trees, which had
-pushed aside the rocks with their strong roots, when Ned Land exclaimed:
-
-"Ah! sir, a hive! a hive!"
-
-"A hive!"  I replied, with a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes, a hive," repeated the Canadian, "and bees humming round it."
-
-I approached, and was bound to believe my own eyes.  There at a hole
-bored in one of the dragon-trees were some thousands of these ingenious
-insects, so common in all the Canaries, and whose produce is so much
-esteemed.  Naturally enough, the Canadian wished to gather the honey,
-and I could not well oppose his wish.  A quantity of dry leaves, mixed
-with sulphur, he lit with a spark from his flint, and he began to smoke
-out the bees.  The humming ceased by degrees, and the hive eventually
-yielded several pounds of the sweetest honey, with which Ned Land
-filled his haversack.
-
-"When I have mixed this honey with the paste of the bread-fruit," said
-he, "I shall be able to offer you a succulent cake."
-
-[Transcriber's Note: 'bread-fruit' has been substituted for
-'artocarpus' in this ed.]
-
-"'Pon my word," said Conseil, "it will be gingerbread."
-
-"Never mind the gingerbread," said I; "let us continue our interesting
-walk."
-
-At every turn of the path we were following, the lake appeared in all
-its length and breadth.  The lantern lit up the whole of its peaceable
-surface, which knew neither ripple nor wave.  The Nautilus remained
-perfectly immovable.  On the platform, and on the mountain, the ship's
-crew were working like black shadows clearly carved against the
-luminous atmosphere.  We were now going round the highest crest of the
-first layers of rock which upheld the roof.  I then saw that bees were
-not the only representatives of the animal kingdom in the interior of
-this volcano.  Birds of prey hovered here and there in the shadows, or
-fled from their nests on the top of the rocks.  There were sparrow
-hawks, with white breasts, and kestrels, and down the slopes scampered,
-with their long legs, several fine fat bustards.  I leave anyone to
-imagine the covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this savoury
-game, and whether he did not regret having no gun.  But he did his best
-to replace the lead by stones, and, after several fruitless attempts,
-he succeeded in wounding a magnificent bird.  To say that he risked his
-life twenty times before reaching it is but the truth; but he managed
-so well that the creature joined the honey-cakes in his bag.  We were
-now obliged to descend toward the shore, the crest becoming
-impracticable.  Above us the crater seemed to gape like the mouth of a
-well.  From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
-dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit of
-the mountain, their misty remnants--certain proof that they were only
-moderately high, for the volcano did not rise more than eight hundred
-feet above the level of the ocean.  Half an hour after the Canadian's
-last exploit we had regained the inner shore.  Here the flora was
-represented by large carpets of marine crystal, a little umbelliferous
-plant very good to pickle, which also bears the name of pierce-stone
-and sea-fennel. Conseil gathered some bundles of it.  As to the fauna,
-it might be counted by thousands of crustacea of all sorts, lobsters,
-crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps, and a large number of shells,
-rockfish, and limpets.  Three-quarters of an hour later we had finished
-our circuitous walk and were on board.  The crew had just finished
-loading the sodium, and the Nautilus could have left that instant.  But
-Captain Nemo gave no order.  Did he wish to wait until night, and leave
-the submarine passage secretly?  Perhaps so.  Whatever it might be, the
-next day, the Nautilus, having left its port, steered clear of all land
-at a few yards beneath the waves of the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-THE SARGASSO SEA
-
-That day the Nautilus crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean.
-No one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm water
-known by the name of the Gulf Stream.  After leaving the Gulf of
-Florida, we went in the direction of Spitzbergen.  But before entering
-the Gulf of Mexico, about 45° of N. lat., this current divides into
-two arms, the principal one going towards the coast of Ireland and
-Norway, whilst the second bends to the south about the height of the
-Azores; then, touching the African shore, and describing a lengthened
-oval, returns to the Antilles.  This second arm--it is rather a collar
-than an arm--surrounds with its circles of warm water that portion of
-the cold, quiet, immovable ocean called the Sargasso Sea, a perfect
-lake in the open Atlantic: it takes no less than three years for the
-great current to pass round it.  Such was the region the Nautilus was
-now visiting, a perfect meadow, a close carpet of seaweed, fucus, and
-tropical berries, so thick and so compact that the stem of a vessel
-could hardly tear its way through it.  And Captain Nemo, not wishing to
-entangle his screw in this herbaceous mass, kept some yards beneath the
-surface of the waves.  The name Sargasso comes from the Spanish word
-"sargazzo" which signifies kelp.  This kelp, or berry-plant, is the
-principal formation of this immense bank.  And this is the reason why
-these plants unite in the peaceful basin of the Atlantic.  The only
-explanation which can be given, he says, seems to me to result from the
-experience known to all the world.  Place in a vase some fragments of
-cork or other floating body, and give to the water in the vase a
-circular movement, the scattered fragments will unite in a group in the
-centre of the liquid surface, that is to say, in the part least
-agitated.  In the phenomenon we are considering, the Atlantic is the
-vase, the Gulf Stream the circular current, and the Sargasso Sea the
-central point at which the floating bodies unite.
-
-I share Maury's opinion, and I was able to study the phenomenon in the
-very midst, where vessels rarely penetrate.  Above us floated products
-of all kinds, heaped up among these brownish plants; trunks of trees
-torn from the Andes or the Rocky Mountains, and floated by the Amazon
-or the Mississippi; numerous wrecks, remains of keels, or ships'
-bottoms, side-planks stove in, and so weighted with shells and
-barnacles that they could not again rise to the surface.  And time will
-one day justify Maury's other opinion, that these substances thus
-accumulated for ages will become petrified by the action of the water
-and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines--a precious reserve
-prepared by far-seeing Nature for the moment when men shall have
-exhausted the mines of continents.
-
-In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed, I
-noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long
-tentacles trailing after them, and medusae, green, red, and blue.
-
-All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea,
-where such fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant
-nourishment.  The next, the ocean had returned to its accustomed
-aspect.  From this time for nineteen days, from the 23rd of February to
-the 12th of March, the Nautilus kept in the middle of the Atlantic,
-carrying us at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four
-hours.  Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine
-programme, and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn,
-to return to the Australian seas of the Pacific.  Ned Land had cause
-for fear.  In these large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt
-to leave the boat.  Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo's
-will.  Our only course was to submit; but what we could neither gain by
-force nor cunning, I liked to think might be obtained by persuasion.
-This voyage ended, would he not consent to restore our liberty, under
-an oath never to reveal his existence?--an oath of honour which we
-should have religiously kept.  But we must consider that delicate
-question with the Captain.  But was I free to claim this liberty?  Had
-he not himself said from the beginning, in the firmest manner, that the
-secret of his life exacted from him our lasting imprisonment on board
-the Nautilus?  And would not my four months' silence appear to him a
-tacit acceptance of our situation?  And would not a return to the
-subject result in raising suspicions which might be hurtful to our
-projects, if at some future time a favourable opportunity offered to
-return to them?
-
-During the nineteen days mentioned above, no incident of any kind
-happened to signalise our voyage.  I saw little of the Captain; he was
-at work.  In the library I often found his books left open, especially
-those on natural history.  My work on submarine depths, conned over by
-him, was covered with marginal notes, often contradicting my theories
-and systems; but the Captain contented himself with thus purging my
-work; it was very rare for him to discuss it with me.  Sometimes I
-heard the melancholy tones of his organ; but only at night, in the
-midst of the deepest obscurity, when the Nautilus slept upon the
-deserted ocean.  During this part of our voyage we sailed whole days on
-the surface of the waves.  The sea seemed abandoned.  A few
-sailing-vessels, on the road to India, were making for the Cape of Good
-Hope.  One day we were followed by the boats of a whaler, who, no
-doubt, took us for some enormous whale of great price; but Captain Nemo
-did not wish the worthy fellows to lose their time and trouble, so
-ended the chase by plunging under the water.  Our navigation continued
-until the 13th of March; that day the Nautilus was employed in taking
-soundings, which greatly interested me.  We had then made about 13,000
-leagues since our departure from the high seas of the Pacific.  The
-bearings gave us 45° 37' S. lat., and 37° 53' W. long.  It was
-the same water in which Captain Denham of the Herald sounded 7,000
-fathoms without finding the bottom.  There, too, Lieutenant Parker, of
-the American frigate Congress, could not touch the bottom with 15,140
-fathoms.  Captain Nemo intended seeking the bottom of the ocean by a
-diagonal sufficiently lengthened by means of lateral planes placed at
-an angle of 45° with the water-line of the Nautilus.  Then the
-screw set to work at its maximum speed, its four blades beating the
-waves with in describable force.  Under this powerful pressure, the
-hull of the Nautilus quivered like a sonorous chord and sank regularly
-under the water.
-
-At 7,000 fathoms I saw some blackish tops rising from the midst of the
-waters; but these summits might belong to high mountains like the
-Himalayas or Mont Blanc, even higher; and the depth of the abyss
-remained incalculable.  The Nautilus descended still lower, in spite of
-the great pressure.  I felt the steel plates tremble at the fastenings
-of the bolts; its bars bent, its partitions groaned; the windows of the
-saloon seemed to curve under the pressure of the waters.  And this firm
-structure would doubtless have yielded, if, as its Captain had said, it
-had not been capable of resistance like a solid block.  We had attained
-a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues), and the sides of the Nautilus
-then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, that is to say, 3,200 lb.
-to each square two-fifths of an inch of its surface.
-
-"What a situation to be in!"  I exclaimed.  "To overrun these deep
-regions where man has never trod!  Look, Captain, look at these
-magnificent rocks, these uninhabited grottoes, these lowest receptacles
-of the globe, where life is no longer possible!  What unknown sights
-are here!  Why should we be unable to preserve a remembrance of them?"
-
-"Would you like to carry away more than the remembrance?" said Captain
-Nemo.
-
-"What do you mean by those words?"
-
-"I mean to say that nothing is easier than to make a photographic view
-of this submarine region."
-
-I had not time to express my surprise at this new proposition, when, at
-Captain Nemo's call, an objective was brought into the saloon.  Through
-the widely-opened panel, the liquid mass was bright with electricity,
-which was distributed with such uniformity that not a shadow, not a
-gradation, was to be seen in our manufactured light.  The Nautilus
-remained motionless, the force of its screw subdued by the inclination
-of its planes: the instrument was propped on the bottom of the oceanic
-site, and in a few seconds we had obtained a perfect negative.
-
-But, the operation being over, Captain Nemo said, "Let us go up; we
-must not abuse our position, nor expose the Nautilus too long to such
-great pressure."
-
-"Go up again!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Hold well on."
-
-I had not time to understand why the Captain cautioned me thus, when I
-was thrown forward on to the carpet.  At a signal from the Captain, its
-screw was shipped, and its blades raised vertically; the Nautilus shot
-into the air like a balloon, rising with stunning rapidity, and cutting
-the mass of waters with a sonorous agitation.  Nothing was visible; and
-in four minutes it had shot through the four leagues which separated it
-from the ocean, and, after emerging like a flying-fish, fell, making
-the waves rebound to an enormous height.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-CACHALOTS AND WHALES
-
-During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March, the Nautilus returned
-to its southerly course.  I fancied that, when on a level with Cape
-Horn, he would turn the helm westward, in order to beat the Pacific
-seas, and so complete the tour of the world.  He did nothing of the
-kind, but continued on his way to the southern regions.  Where was he
-going to?  To the pole?  It was madness!  I began to think that the
-Captain's temerity justified Ned Land's fears.  For some time past the
-Canadian had not spoken to me of his projects of flight; he was less
-communicative, almost silent.  I could see that this lengthened
-imprisonment was weighing upon him, and I felt that rage was burning
-within him.  When he met the Captain, his eyes lit up with suppressed
-anger; and I feared that his natural violence would lead him into some
-extreme.  That day, the 14th of March, Conseil and he came to me in my
-room.  I inquired the cause of their visit.
-
-"A simple question to ask you, sir," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Speak, Ned."
-
-"How many men are there on board the Nautilus, do you think?"
-
-"I cannot tell, my friend."
-
-"I should say that its working does not require a large crew."
-
-"Certainly, under existing conditions, ten men, at the most, ought to
-be enough."
-
-"Well, why should there be any more?"
-
-"Why?"  I replied, looking fixedly at Ned Land, whose meaning was easy
-to guess.  "Because," I added, "if my surmises are correct, and if I
-have well understood the Captain's existence, the Nautilus is not only
-a vessel: it is also a place of refuge for those who, like its
-commander, have broken every tie upon earth."
-
-"Perhaps so," said Conseil; "but, in any case, the Nautilus can only
-contain a certain number of men.  Could not you, sir, estimate their
-maximum?"
-
-"How, Conseil?"
-
-"By calculation; given the size of the vessel, which you know, sir, and
-consequently the quantity of air it contains, knowing also how much
-each man expends at a breath, and comparing these results with the fact
-that the Nautilus is obliged to go to the surface every twenty-four
-hours."
-
-Conseil had not finished the sentence before I saw what he was driving
-at.
-
-"I understand," said I; "but that calculation, though simple enough,
-can give but a very uncertain result."
-
-"Never mind," said Ned Land urgently.
-
-"Here it is, then," said I. "In one hour each man consumes the oxygen
-contained in twenty gallons of air; and in twenty-four, that contained
-in 480 gallons.  We must, therefore find how many times 480 gallons of
-air the Nautilus contains."
-
-"Just so," said Conseil.
-
-"Or," I continued, "the size of the Nautilus being 1,500 tons; and one
-ton holding 200 gallons, it contains 300,000 gallons of air, which,
-divided by 480, gives a quotient of 625.  Which means to say, strictly
-speaking, that the air contained in the Nautilus would suffice for 625
-men for twenty-four hours."
-
-"Six hundred and twenty-five!" repeated Ned.
-
-"But remember that all of us, passengers, sailors, and officers
-included, would not form a tenth part of that number."
-
-"Still too many for three men," murmured Conseil.
-
-The Canadian shook his head, passed his hand across his forehead, and
-left the room without answering.
-
-"Will you allow me to make one observation, sir?" said Conseil.  "Poor
-Ned is longing for everything that he can not have.  His past life is
-always present to him; everything that we are forbidden he regrets.
-His head is full of old recollections.  And we must understand him.
-What has he to do here?  Nothing; he is not learned like you, sir; and
-has not the same taste for the beauties of the sea that we have.  He
-would risk everything to be able to go once more into a tavern in his
-own country."
-
-Certainly the monotony on board must seem intolerable to the Canadian,
-accustomed as he was to a life of liberty and activity.  Events were
-rare which could rouse him to any show of spirit; but that day an event
-did happen which recalled the bright days of the harpooner.  About
-eleven in the morning, being on the surface of the ocean, the Nautilus
-fell in with a troop of whales--an encounter which did not astonish me,
-knowing that these creatures, hunted to death, had taken refuge in high
-latitudes.
-
-We were seated on the platform, with a quiet sea.  The month of October
-in those latitudes gave us some lovely autumnal days.  It was the
-Canadian--he could not be mistaken--who signalled a whale on the
-eastern horizon.  Looking attentively, one might see its black back
-rise and fall with the waves five miles from the Nautilus.
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed Ned Land, "if I was on board a whaler, now such a
-meeting would give me pleasure.  It is one of large size.  See with
-what strength its blow-holes throw up columns of air an steam!
-Confound it, why am I bound to these steel plates?"
-
-"What, Ned," said I, "you have not forgotten your old ideas of fishing?"
-
-"Can a whale-fisher ever forget his old trade, sir?  Can he ever tire
-of the emotions caused by such a chase?"
-
-"You have never fished in these seas, Ned?"
-
-"Never, sir; in the northern only, and as much in Behring as in Davis
-Straits."
-
-"Then the southern whale is still unknown to you.  It is the Greenland
-whale you have hunted up to this time, and that would not risk passing
-through the warm waters of the equator.  Whales are localised,
-according to their kinds, in certain seas which they never leave.  And
-if one of these creatures went from Behring to Davis Straits, it must
-be simply because there is a passage from one sea to the other, either
-on the American or the Asiatic side."
-
-"In that case, as I have never fished in these seas, I do not know the
-kind of whale frequenting them!"
-
-"I have told you, Ned."
-
-"A greater reason for making their acquaintance," said Conseil.
-
-"Look! look!" exclaimed the Canadian, "they approach: they aggravate
-me; they know that I cannot get at them!"
-
-Ned stamped his feet.  His hand trembled, as he grasped an imaginary
-harpoon.
-
-"Are these cetaceans as large as those of the northern seas?" asked he.
-
-"Very nearly, Ned."
-
-"Because I have seen large whales, sir, whales measuring a hundred
-feet.  I have even been told that those of Hullamoch and Umgallick, of
-the Aleutian Islands, are sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long."
-
-"That seems to me exaggeration. These creatures are only
-balaeaopterons, provided with dorsal fins; and, like the cachalots, are
-generally much smaller than the Greenland whale."
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes had never left the ocean,
-"they are coming nearer; they are in the same water as the Nautilus."
-
-Then, returning to the conversation, he said:
-
-"You spoke of the cachalot as a small creature.  I have heard of
-gigantic ones.  They are intelligent cetacea.  It is said of some that
-they cover themselves with seaweed and fucus, and then are taken for
-islands.  People encamp upon them, and settle there; lights a fire----"
-
-"And build houses," said Conseil.
-
-"Yes, joker," said Ned Land.  "And one fine day the creature plunges,
-carrying with it all the inhabitants to the bottom of the sea."
-
-"Something like the travels of Sinbad the Sailor," I replied, laughing.
-
-"Ah!" suddenly exclaimed Ned Land, "it is not one whale; there are
-ten--there are twenty--it is a whole troop!  And I not able to do
-anything! hands and feet tied!"
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "why do you not ask Captain Nemo's
-permission to chase them?"
-
-Conseil had not finished his sentence when Ned Land had lowered himself
-through the panel to seek the Captain.  A few minutes afterwards the
-two appeared together on the platform.
-
-Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea playing on the waters about a
-mile from the Nautilus.
-
-"They are southern whales," said he; "there goes the fortune of a whole
-fleet of whalers."
-
-"Well, sir," asked the Canadian, "can I not chase them, if only to
-remind me of my old trade of harpooner?"
-
-"And to what purpose?" replied Captain Nemo; "only to destroy!  We have
-nothing to do with the whale-oil on board."
-
-"But, sir," continued the Canadian, "in the Red Sea you allowed us to
-follow the dugong."
-
-"Then it was to procure fresh meat for my crew.  Here it would be
-killing for killing's sake.  I know that is a privilege reserved for
-man, but I do not approve of such murderous pastime.  In destroying the
-southern whale (like the Greenland whale, an inoffensive creature),
-your traders do a culpable action, Master Land.  They have already
-depopulated the whole of Baffin's Bay, and are annihilating a class of
-useful animals.  Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone.  They have plenty
-of natural enemies--cachalots, swordfish, and sawfish--without you
-troubling them."
-
-The Captain was right.  The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these
-fishermen will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale in the
-ocean.  Ned Land whistled "Yankee-doodle" between his teeth, thrust his
-hands into his pockets, and turned his back upon us.  But Captain Nemo
-watched the troop of cetacea, and, addressing me, said:
-
-"I was right in saying that whales had natural enemies enough, without
-counting man.  These will have plenty to do before long.  Do you see,
-M. Aronnax, about eight miles to leeward, those blackish moving points?"
-
-"Yes, Captain," I replied.
-
-"Those are cachalots--terrible animals, which I have met in troops of
-two or three hundred.  As to those, they are cruel, mischievous
-creatures; they would be right in exterminating them."
-
-The Canadian turned quickly at the last words.
-
-"Well, Captain," said he, "it is still time, in the interest of the
-whales."
-
-"It is useless to expose one's self, Professor.  The Nautilus will
-disperse them.  It is armed with a steel spur as good as Master Land's
-harpoon, I imagine."
-
-The Canadian did not put himself out enough to shrug his shoulders.
-Attack cetacea with blows of a spur!  Who had ever heard of such a
-thing?
-
-"Wait, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.  "We will show you something you
-have never yet seen.  We have no pity for these ferocious creatures.
-They are nothing but mouth and teeth."
-
-Mouth and teeth!  No one could better describe the macrocephalous
-cachalot, which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long.  Its
-enormous head occupies one-third of its entire body.  Better armed than
-the whale, whose upper jaw is furnished only with whalebone, it is
-supplied with twenty-five large tusks, about eight inches long,
-cylindrical and conical at the top, each weighing two pounds.  It is in
-the upper part of this enormous head, in great cavities divided by
-cartilages, that is to be found from six to eight hundred pounds of
-that precious oil called spermaceti.  The cachalot is a disagreeable
-creature, more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol's description.
-It is badly formed, the whole of its left side being (if we may say
-it), a "failure," and being only able to see with its right eye.  But
-the formidable troop was nearing us.  They had seen the whales and were
-preparing to attack them.  One could judge beforehand that the
-cachalots would be victorious, not only because they were better built
-for attack than their inoffensive adversaries, but also because they
-could remain longer under water without coming to the surface.  There
-was only just time to go to the help of the whales.  The Nautilus went
-under water.  Conseil, Ned Land, and I took our places before the
-window in the saloon, and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage to
-work his apparatus as an engine of destruction.  Soon I felt the
-beatings of the screw quicken, and our speed increased.  The battle
-between the cachalots and the whales had already begun when the
-Nautilus arrived.  They did not at first show any fear at the sight of
-this new monster joining in the conflict.  But they soon had to guard
-against its blows.  What a battle!  The Nautilus was nothing but a
-formidable harpoon, brandished by the hand of its Captain.  It hurled
-itself against the fleshy mass, passing through from one part to the
-other, leaving behind it two quivering halves of the animal.  It could
-not feel the formidable blows from their tails upon its sides, nor the
-shock which it produced itself, much more.  One cachalot killed, it ran
-at the next, tacked on the spot that it might not miss its prey, going
-forwards and backwards, answering to its helm, plunging when the
-cetacean dived into the deep waters, coming up with it when it returned
-to the surface, striking it front or sideways, cutting or tearing in
-all directions and at any pace, piercing it with its terrible spur.
-What carnage!  What a noise on the surface of the waves!  What sharp
-hissing, and what snorting peculiar to these enraged animals!  In the
-midst of these waters, generally so peaceful, their tails made perfect
-billows.  For one hour this wholesale massacre continued, from which
-the cachalots could not escape.  Several times ten or twelve united
-tried to crush the Nautilus by their weight.  From the window we could
-see their enormous mouths, studded with tusks, and their formidable
-eyes.  Ned Land could not contain himself; he threatened and swore at
-them.  We could feel them clinging to our vessel like dogs worrying a
-wild boar in a copse.  But the Nautilus, working its screw, carried
-them here and there, or to the upper levels of the ocean, without
-caring for their enormous weight, nor the powerful strain on the
-vessel.  At length the mass of cachalots broke up, the waves became
-quiet, and I felt that we were rising to the surface.  The panel
-opened, and we hurried on to the platform.  The sea was covered with
-mutilated bodies.  A formidable explosion could not have divided and
-torn this fleshy mass with more violence.  We were floating amid
-gigantic bodies, bluish on the back and white underneath, covered with
-enormous protuberances.  Some terrified cachalots were flying towards
-the horizon.  The waves were dyed red for several miles, and the
-Nautilus floated in a sea of blood:  Captain Nemo joined us.
-
-"Well, Master Land?" said he.
-
-"Well, sir," replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had somewhat
-calmed; "it is a terrible spectacle, certainly.  But I am not a
-butcher.  I am a hunter, and I call this a butchery."
-
-"It is a massacre of mischievous creatures," replied the Captain; "and
-the Nautilus is not a butcher's knife."
-
-"I like my harpoon better," said the Canadian.
-
-"Every one to his own," answered the Captain, looking fixedly at Ned
-Land.
-
-I feared he would commit some act of violence, which would end in sad
-consequences.  But his anger was turned by the sight of a whale which
-the Nautilus had just come up with.  The creature had not quite escaped
-from the cachalot's teeth.  I recognised the southern whale by its flat
-head, which is entirely black.  Anatomically, it is distinguished from
-the white whale and the North Cape whale by the seven cervical
-vertebrae, and it has two more ribs than its congeners.  The
-unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side, riddled with holes from the
-bites, and quite dead.  From its mutilated fin still hung a young whale
-which it could not save from the massacre.  Its open mouth let the
-water flow in and out, murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore.
-Captain Nemo steered close to the corpse of the creature.  Two of his
-men mounted its side, and I saw, not without surprise, that they were
-drawing from its breasts all the milk which they contained, that is to
-say, about two or three tons.  The Captain offered me a cup of the
-milk, which was still warm.  I could not help showing my repugnance to
-the drink; but he assured me that it was excellent, and not to be
-distinguished from cow's milk.  I tasted it, and was of his opinion.
-It was a useful reserve to us, for in the shape of salt butter or
-cheese it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food.  From
-that day I noticed with uneasiness that Ned Land's ill-will towards
-Captain Nemo increased, and I resolved to watch the Canadian's gestures
-closely.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE ICEBERG
-
-The Nautilus was steadily pursuing its southerly course, following the
-fiftieth meridian with considerable speed.  Did he wish to reach the
-pole?  I did not think so, for every attempt to reach that point had
-hitherto failed.  Again, the season was far advanced, for in the
-Antarctic regions the 13th of March corresponds with the 13th of
-September of northern regions, which begin at the equinoctial season.
-On the 14th of March I saw floating ice in latitude 55°, merely
-pale bits of debris from twenty to twenty-five feet long, forming banks
-over which the sea curled.  The Nautilus remained on the surface of the
-ocean.  Ned Land, who had fished in the Arctic Seas, was familiar with
-its icebergs; but Conseil and I admired them for the first time.  In
-the atmosphere towards the southern horizon stretched a white dazzling
-band.  English whalers have given it the name of "ice blink."  However
-thick the clouds may be, it is always visible, and announces the
-presence of an ice pack or bank.  Accordingly, larger blocks soon
-appeared, whose brilliancy changed with the caprices of the fog.  Some
-of these masses showed green veins, as if long undulating lines had
-been traced with sulphate of copper; others resembled enormous
-amethysts with the light shining through them.  Some reflected the
-light of day upon a thousand crystal facets.  Others shaded with vivid
-calcareous reflections resembled a perfect town of marble.  The more we
-neared the south the more these floating islands increased both in
-number and importance.
-
-At 60° lat. every pass had disappeared.  But, seeking carefully,
-Captain Nemo soon found a narrow opening, through which he boldly
-slipped, knowing, however, that it would close behind him.  Thus,
-guided by this clever hand, the Nautilus passed through all the ice
-with a precision which quite charmed Conseil; icebergs or mountains,
-ice-fields or smooth plains, seeming to have no limits, drift-ice or
-floating ice-packs, plains broken up, called palchs when they are
-circular, and streams when they are made up of long strips.  The
-temperature was very low; the thermometer exposed to the air marked 2
-deg. or 3° below zero, but we were warmly clad with fur, at the
-expense of the sea-bear and seal.  The interior of the Nautilus, warmed
-regularly by its electric apparatus, defied the most intense cold.
-Besides, it would only have been necessary to go some yards beneath the
-waves to find a more bearable temperature.  Two months earlier we
-should have had perpetual daylight in these latitudes; but already we
-had had three or four hours of night, and by and by there would be six
-months of darkness in these circumpolar regions.  On the 15th of March
-we were in the latitude of New Shetland and South Orkney.  The Captain
-told me that formerly numerous tribes of seals inhabited them; but that
-English and American whalers, in their rage for destruction, massacred
-both old and young; thus, where there was once life and animation, they
-had left silence and death.
-
-About eight o'clock on the morning of the 16th of March the Nautilus,
-following the fifty-fifth meridian, cut the Antarctic polar circle.
-Ice surrounded us on all sides, and closed the horizon.  But Captain
-Nemo went from one opening to another, still going higher.  I cannot
-express my astonishment at the beauties of these new regions.  The ice
-took most surprising forms.  Here the grouping formed an oriental town,
-with innumerable mosques and minarets; there a fallen city thrown to
-the earth, as it were, by some convulsion of nature.  The whole aspect
-was constantly changed by the oblique rays of the sun, or lost in the
-greyish fog amidst hurricanes of snow.  Detonations and falls were
-heard on all sides, great overthrows of icebergs, which altered the
-whole landscape like a diorama.  Often seeing no exit, I thought we
-were definitely prisoners; but, instinct guiding him at the slightest
-indication, Captain Nemo would discover a new pass.  He was never
-mistaken when he saw the thin threads of bluish water trickling along
-the ice-fields; and I had no doubt that he had already ventured into
-the midst of these Antarctic seas before.  On the 16th of March,
-however, the ice-fields absolutely blocked our road.  It was not the
-iceberg itself, as yet, but vast fields cemented by the cold.  But this
-obstacle could not stop Captain Nemo: he hurled himself against it with
-frightful violence.  The Nautilus entered the brittle mass like a
-wedge, and split it with frightful crackings.  It was the battering ram
-of the ancients hurled by infinite strength.  The ice, thrown high in
-the air, fell like hail around us.  By its own power of impulsion our
-apparatus made a canal for itself; some times carried away by its own
-impetus, it lodged on the ice-field, crushing it with its weight, and
-sometimes buried beneath it, dividing it by a simple pitching movement,
-producing large rents in it.  Violent gales assailed us at this time,
-accompanied by thick fogs, through which, from one end of the platform
-to the other, we could see nothing.  The wind blew sharply from all
-parts of the compass, and the snow lay in such hard heaps that we had
-to break it with blows of a pickaxe.  The temperature was always at 5
-deg. below zero; every outward part of the Nautilus was covered with
-ice.  A rigged vessel would have been entangled in the blocked up
-gorges.  A vessel without sails, with electricity for its motive power,
-and wanting no coal, could alone brave such high latitudes.  At length,
-on the 18th of March, after many useless assaults, the Nautilus was
-positively blocked.  It was no longer either streams, packs, or
-ice-fields, but an interminable and immovable barrier, formed by
-mountains soldered together.
-
-"An iceberg!" said the Canadian to me.
-
-I knew that to Ned Land, as well as to all other navigators who had
-preceded us, this was an inevitable obstacle.  The sun appearing for an
-instant at noon, Captain Nemo took an observation as near as possible,
-which gave our situation at 51° 30' long. and 67° 39' of S.
-lat.  We had advanced one degree more in this Antarctic region.  Of the
-liquid surface of the sea there was no longer a glimpse.  Under the
-spur of the Nautilus lay stretched a vast plain, entangled with
-confused blocks.  Here and there sharp points and slender needles
-rising to a height of 200 feet; further on a steep shore, hewn as it
-were with an axe and clothed with greyish tints; huge mirrors,
-reflecting a few rays of sunshine, half drowned in the fog.  And over
-this desolate face of nature a stern silence reigned, scarcely broken
-by the flapping of the wings of petrels and puffins.  Everything was
-frozen--even the noise.  The Nautilus was then obliged to stop in its
-adventurous course amid these fields of ice.  In spite of our efforts,
-in spite of the powerful means employed to break up the ice, the
-Nautilus remained immovable.  Generally, when we can proceed no
-further, we have return still open to us; but here return was as
-impossible as advance, for every pass had closed behind us; and for the
-few moments when we were stationary, we were likely to be entirely
-blocked, which did indeed happen about two o'clock in the afternoon,
-the fresh ice forming around its sides with astonishing rapidity.  I
-was obliged to admit that Captain Nemo was more than imprudent.  I was
-on the platform at that moment.  The Captain had been observing our
-situation for some time past, when he said to me:
-
-"Well, sir, what do you think of this?"
-
-"I think that we are caught, Captain."
-
-"So, M. Aronnax, you really think that the Nautilus cannot disengage
-itself?"
-
-"With difficulty, Captain; for the season is already too far advanced
-for you to reckon on the breaking of the ice."
-
-"Ah! sir," said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, "you will always be
-the same.  You see nothing but difficulties and obstacles.  I affirm
-that not only can the Nautilus disengage itself, but also that it can
-go further still."
-
-"Further to the South?"  I asked, looking at the Captain.
-
-"Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole."
-
-"To the pole!"  I exclaimed, unable to repress a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain, coldly, "to the Antarctic pole--to that
-unknown point from whence springs every meridian of the globe.  You
-know whether I can do as I please with the Nautilus!"
-
-Yes, I knew that.  I knew that this man was bold, even to rashness.
-But to conquer those obstacles which bristled round the South Pole,
-rendering it more inaccessible than the North, which had not yet been
-reached by the boldest navigators--was it not a mad enterprise, one
-which only a maniac would have conceived?  It then came into my head to
-ask Captain Nemo if he had ever discovered that pole which had never
-yet been trodden by a human creature?
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "but we will discover it together.  Where others
-have failed, I will not fail.  I have never yet led my Nautilus so far
-into southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall go further yet."
-
-"I can well believe you, Captain," said I, in a slightly ironical tone.
-"I believe you!  Let us go ahead!  There are no obstacles for us!  Let
-us smash this iceberg!  Let us blow it up; and, if it resists, let us
-give the Nautilus wings to fly over it!"
-
-"Over it, sir!" said Captain Nemo, quietly; "no, not over it, but under
-it!"
-
-"Under it!"  I exclaimed, a sudden idea of the Captain's projects
-flashing upon my mind.  I understood; the wonderful qualities of the
-Nautilus were going to serve us in this superhuman enterprise.
-
-"I see we are beginning to understand one another, sir," said the
-Captain, half smiling.  "You begin to see the possibility--I should say
-the success--of this attempt.  That which is impossible for an ordinary
-vessel is easy to the Nautilus.  If a continent lies before the pole,
-it must stop before the continent; but if, on the contrary, the pole is
-washed by open sea, it will go even to the pole."
-
-"Certainly," said I, carried away by the Captain's reasoning; "if the
-surface of the sea is solidified by the ice, the lower depths are free
-by the Providential law which has placed the maximum of density of the
-waters of the ocean one degree higher than freezing-point; and, if I am
-not mistaken, the portion of this iceberg which is above the water is
-as one to four to that which is below."
-
-"Very nearly, sir; for one foot of iceberg above the sea there are
-three below it.  If these ice mountains are not more than 300 feet
-above the surface, they are not more than 900 beneath.  And what are
-900 feet to the Nautilus?"
-
-"Nothing, sir."
-
-"It could even seek at greater depths that uniform temperature of
-sea-water, and there brave with impunity the thirty or forty degrees of
-surface cold."
-
-"Just so, sir--just so," I replied, getting animated.
-
-"The only difficulty," continued Captain Nemo, "is that of remaining
-several days without renewing our provision of air."
-
-"Is that all?  The Nautilus has vast reservoirs; we can fill them, and
-they will supply us with all the oxygen we want."
-
-"Well thought of, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain, smiling.  "But, not
-wishing you to accuse me of rashness, I will first give you all my
-objections."
-
-"Have you any more to make?"
-
-"Only one.  It is possible, if the sea exists at the South Pole, that
-it may be covered; and, consequently, we shall be unable to come to the
-surface."
-
-"Good, sir! but do you forget that the Nautilus is armed with a
-powerful spur, and could we not send it diagonally against these fields
-of ice, which would open at the shocks."
-
-"Ah! sir, you are full of ideas to-day."
-
-"Besides, Captain," I added, enthusiastically, "why should we not find
-the sea open at the South Pole as well as at the North?  The frozen
-poles of the earth do not coincide, either in the southern or in the
-northern regions; and, until it is proved to the contrary, we may
-suppose either a continent or an ocean free from ice at these two
-points of the globe."
-
-"I think so too, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo.  "I only wish you
-to observe that, after having made so many objections to my project,
-you are now crushing me with arguments in its favour!"
-
-The preparations for this audacious attempt now began.  The powerful
-pumps of the Nautilus were working air into the reservoirs and storing
-it at high pressure.  About four o'clock, Captain Nemo announced the
-closing of the panels on the platform.  I threw one last look at the
-massive iceberg which we were going to cross.  The weather was clear,
-the atmosphere pure enough, the cold very great, being 12° below
-zero; but, the wind having gone down, this temperature was not so
-unbearable.  About ten men mounted the sides of the Nautilus, armed
-with pickaxes to break the ice around the vessel, which was soon free.
-The operation was quickly performed, for the fresh ice was still very
-thin.  We all went below.  The usual reservoirs were filled with the
-newly-liberated water, and the Nautilus soon descended.  I had taken my
-place with Conseil in the saloon; through the open window we could see
-the lower beds of the Southern Ocean.  The thermometer went up, the
-needle of the compass deviated on the dial.  At about 900 feet, as
-Captain Nemo had foreseen, we were floating beneath the undulating
-bottom of the iceberg.  But the Nautilus went lower still--it went to
-the depth of four hundred fathoms.  The temperature of the water at the
-surface showed twelve degrees, it was now only ten; we had gained two.
-I need not say the temperature of the Nautilus was raised by its
-heating apparatus to a much higher degree; every manoeuvre was
-accomplished with wonderful precision.
-
-"We shall pass it, if you please, sir," said Conseil.
-
-"I believe we shall," I said, in a tone of firm conviction.
-
-In this open sea, the Nautilus had taken its course direct to the pole,
-without leaving the fifty-second meridian.  From 67° 30' to 90
-deg., twenty-two degrees and a half of latitude remained to travel;
-that is, about five hundred leagues.  The Nautilus kept up a mean speed
-of twenty-six miles an hour--the speed of an express train.  If that
-was kept up, in forty hours we should reach the pole.
-
-For a part of the night the novelty of the situation kept us at the
-window.  The sea was lit with the electric lantern; but it was
-deserted; fishes did not sojourn in these imprisoned waters; they only
-found there a passage to take them from the Antarctic Ocean to the open
-polar sea.  Our pace was rapid; we could feel it by the quivering of
-the long steel body.  About two in the morning I took some hours'
-repose, and Conseil did the same.  In crossing the waist I did not meet
-Captain Nemo: I supposed him to be in the pilot's cage.  The next
-morning, the 19th of March, I took my post once more in the saloon.
-The electric log told me that the speed of the Nautilus had been
-slackened.  It was then going towards the surface; but prudently
-emptying its reservoirs very slowly.  My heart beat fast.  Were we
-going to emerge and regain the open polar atmosphere?  No!  A shock
-told me that the Nautilus had struck the bottom of the iceberg, still
-very thick, judging from the deadened sound.  We had in deed "struck,"
-to use a sea expression, but in an inverse sense, and at a thousand
-feet deep.  This would give three thousand feet of ice above us; one
-thousand being above the water-mark. The iceberg was then higher than
-at its borders--not a very reassuring fact.  Several times that day the
-Nautilus tried again, and every time it struck the wall which lay like
-a ceiling above it.  Sometimes it met with but 900 yards, only 200 of
-which rose above the surface.  It was twice the height it was when the
-Nautilus had gone under the waves.  I carefully noted the different
-depths, and thus obtained a submarine profile of the chain as it was
-developed under the water.  That night no change had taken place in our
-situation.  Still ice between four and five hundred yards in depth!  It
-was evidently diminishing, but, still, what a thickness between us and
-the surface of the ocean!  It was then eight.  According to the daily
-custom on board the Nautilus, its air should have been renewed four
-hours ago; but I did not suffer much, although Captain Nemo had not yet
-made any demand upon his reserve of oxygen.  My sleep was painful that
-night; hope and fear besieged me by turns: I rose several times.  The
-groping of the Nautilus continued.  About three in the morning, I
-noticed that the lower surface of the iceberg was only about fifty feet
-deep.  One hundred and fifty feet now separated us from the surface of
-the waters.  The iceberg was by degrees becoming an ice-field, the
-mountain a plain.  My eyes never left the manometer.  We were still
-rising diagonally to the surface, which sparkled under the electric
-rays.  The iceberg was stretching both above and beneath into
-lengthening slopes; mile after mile it was getting thinner.  At length,
-at six in the morning of that memorable day, the 19th of March, the
-door of the saloon opened, and Captain Nemo appeared.
-
-"The sea is open!!" was all he said.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-THE SOUTH POLE
-
-I rushed on to the platform.  Yes! the open sea, with but a few
-scattered pieces of ice and moving icebergs--a long stretch of sea; a
-world of birds in the air, and myriads of fishes under those waters,
-which varied from intense blue to olive green, according to the bottom.
-The thermometer marked 3° C. above zero.  It was comparatively
-spring, shut up as we were behind this iceberg, whose lengthened mass
-was dimly seen on our northern horizon.
-
-"Are we at the pole?"  I asked the Captain, with a beating heart.
-
-"I do not know," he replied.  "At noon I will take our bearings."
-
-"But will the sun show himself through this fog?" said I, looking at
-the leaden sky.
-
-"However little it shows, it will be enough," replied the Captain.
-
-About ten miles south a solitary island rose to a height of one hundred
-and four yards.  We made for it, but carefully, for the sea might be
-strewn with banks.  One hour afterwards we had reached it, two hours
-later we had made the round of it.  It measured four or five miles in
-circumference.  A narrow canal separated it from a considerable stretch
-of land, perhaps a continent, for we could not see its limits.  The
-existence of this land seemed to give some colour to Maury's theory.
-The ingenious American has remarked that, between the South Pole and
-the sixtieth parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice of enormous
-size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic.  From this fact he
-has drawn the conclusion that the Antarctic Circle encloses
-considerable continents, as icebergs cannot form in open sea, but only
-on the coasts.  According to these calculations, the mass of ice
-surrounding the southern pole forms a vast cap, the circumference of
-which must be, at least, 2,500 miles.  But the Nautilus, for fear of
-running aground, had stopped about three cable-lengths from a strand
-over which reared a superb heap of rocks.  The boat was launched; the
-Captain, two of his men, bearing instruments, Conseil, and myself were
-in it.  It was ten in the morning.  I had not seen Ned Land.  Doubtless
-the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of the South Pole.  A
-few strokes of the oar brought us to the sand, where we ran ashore.
-Conseil was going to jump on to the land, when I held him back.
-
-"Sir," said I to Captain Nemo, "to you belongs the honour of first
-setting foot on this land."
-
-"Yes, sir," said the Captain, "and if I do not hesitate to tread this
-South Pole, it is because, up to this time, no human being has left a
-trace there."
-
-Saying this, he jumped lightly on to the sand.  His heart beat with
-emotion.  He climbed a rock, sloping to a little promontory, and there,
-with his arms crossed, mute and motionless, and with an eager look, he
-seemed to take possession of these southern regions.  After five
-minutes passed in this ecstasy, he turned to us.
-
-"When you like, sir."
-
-I landed, followed by Conseil, leaving the two men in the boat.  For a
-long way the soil was composed of a reddish sandy stone, something like
-crushed brick, scoriae, streams of lava, and pumice-stones. One could
-not mistake its volcanic origin.  In some parts, slight curls of smoke
-emitted a sulphurous smell, proving that the internal fires had lost
-nothing of their expansive powers, though, having climbed a high
-acclivity, I could see no volcano for a radius of several miles.  We
-know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found two craters,
-the Erebus and Terror, in full activity, on the 167th meridian,
-latitude 77° 32'. The vegetation of this desolate continent seemed
-to me much restricted.  Some lichens lay upon the black rocks; some
-microscopic plants, rudimentary diatomas, a kind of cells placed
-between two quartz shells; long purple and scarlet weed, supported on
-little swimming bladders, which the breaking of the waves brought to
-the shore.  These constituted the meagre flora of this region.  The
-shore was strewn with molluscs, little mussels, and limpets.  I also
-saw myriads of northern clios, one-and-a-quarter inches long, of which
-a whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful; and some perfect
-sea-butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts of the shore.
-
-There appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs, of the kind
-which, according to James Ross, live in the Antarctic seas to the depth
-of more than 1,000 yards.  Then there were little kingfishers and
-starfish studding the soil.  But where life abounded most was in the
-air.  There thousands of birds fluttered and flew of all kinds,
-deafening us with their cries; others crowded the rock, looking at us
-as we passed by without fear, and pressing familiarly close by our
-feet.  There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward as
-they are on the ground; they were uttering harsh cries, a large
-assembly, sober in gesture, but extravagant in clamour.  Albatrosses
-passed in the air, the expanse of their wings being at least four yards
-and a half, and justly called the vultures of the ocean; some gigantic
-petrels, and some damiers, a kind of small duck, the underpart of whose
-body is black and white; then there were a whole series of petrels,
-some whitish, with brown-bordered wings, others blue, peculiar to the
-Antarctic seas, and so oily, as I told Conseil, that the inhabitants of
-the Ferroe Islands had nothing to do before lighting them but to put a
-wick in.
-
-"A little more," said Conseil, "and they would be perfect lamps!  After
-that, we cannot expect Nature to have previously furnished them with
-wicks!"
-
-About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with ruffs' nests, a
-sort of laying-ground, out of which many birds were issuing.  Captain
-Nemo had some hundreds hunted.  They uttered a cry like the braying of
-an ass, were about the size of a goose, slate-colour on the body, white
-beneath, with a yellow line round their throats; they allowed
-themselves to be killed with a stone, never trying to escape.  But the
-fog did not lift, and at eleven the sun had not yet shown itself.  Its
-absence made me uneasy.  Without it no observations were possible.
-How, then, could we decide whether we had reached the pole?  When I
-rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of rock, silently
-watching the sky.  He seemed impatient and vexed.  But what was to be
-done?  This rash and powerful man could not command the sun as he did
-the sea.  Noon arrived without the orb of day showing itself for an
-instant.  We could not even tell its position behind the curtain of
-fog; and soon the fog turned to snow.
-
-"Till to-morrow," said the Captain, quietly, and we returned to the
-Nautilus amid these atmospheric disturbances.
-
-The tempest of snow continued till the next day.  It was impossible to
-remain on the platform.  From the saloon, where I was taking notes of
-incidents happening during this excursion to the polar continent, I
-could hear the cries of petrels and albatrosses sporting in the midst
-of this violent storm.  The Nautilus did not remain motionless, but
-skirted the coast, advancing ten miles more to the south in the
-half-light left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon.  The
-next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased.  The cold was a
-little greater, the thermometer showing 2° below zero.  The fog
-was rising, and I hoped that that day our observations might be taken.
-Captain Nemo not having yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and myself
-to land.  The soil was still of the same volcanic nature; everywhere
-were traces of lava, scoriae, and basalt; but the crater which had
-vomited them I could not see.  Here, as lower down, this continent was
-alive with myriads of birds.  But their rule was now divided with large
-troops of sea-mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes.  There were
-several kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth, some on flakes of
-ice, many going in and out of the sea.  They did not flee at our
-approach, never having had anything to do with man; and I reckoned that
-there were provisions there for hundreds of vessels.
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "will you tell me the names of these creatures?"
-
-"They are seals and morses."
-
-It was now eight in the morning.  Four hours remained to us before the
-sun could be observed with advantage.  I directed our steps towards a
-vast bay cut in the steep granite shore.  There, I can aver that earth
-and ice were lost to sight by the numbers of sea-mammals covering them,
-and I involuntarily sought for old Proteus, the mythological shepherd
-who watched these immense flocks of Neptune.  There were more seals
-than anything else, forming distinct groups, male and female, the
-father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones,
-some already strong enough to go a few steps.  When they wished to
-change their place, they took little jumps, made by the contraction of
-their bodies, and helped awkwardly enough by their imperfect fin,
-which, as with the lamantin, their cousins, forms a perfect forearm.  I
-should say that, in the water, which is their element--the spine of
-these creatures is flexible; with smooth and close skin and webbed
-feet--they swim admirably.  In resting on the earth they take the most
-graceful attitudes.  Thus the ancients, observing their soft and
-expressive looks, which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look
-a woman can give, their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming
-positions, and the poetry of their manners, metamorphosed them, the
-male into a triton and the female into a mermaid.  I made Conseil
-notice the considerable development of the lobes of the brain in these
-interesting cetaceans.  No mammal, except man, has such a quantity of
-brain matter; they are also capable of receiving a certain amount of
-education, are easily domesticated, and I think, with other
-naturalists, that if properly taught they would be of great service as
-fishing-dogs.  The greater part of them slept on the rocks or on the
-sand.  Amongst these seals, properly so called, which have no external
-ears (in which they differ from the otter, whose ears are prominent), I
-noticed several varieties of seals about three yards long, with a white
-coat, bulldog heads, armed with teeth in both jaws, four incisors at
-the top and four at the bottom, and two large canine teeth in the shape
-of a fleur-de-lis. Amongst them glided sea-elephants, a kind of seal,
-with short, flexible trunks.  The giants of this species measured
-twenty feet round and ten yards and a half in length; but they did not
-move as we approached.
-
-"These creatures are not dangerous?" asked Conseil.
-
-"No; not unless you attack them.  When they have to defend their young
-their rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon for them to break the
-fishing-boats to pieces."
-
-"They are quite right," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not say they are not."
-
-Two miles farther on we were stopped by the promontory which shelters
-the bay from the southerly winds.  Beyond it we heard loud bellowings
-such as a troop of ruminants would produce.
-
-"Good!" said Conseil; "a concert of bulls!"
-
-"No; a concert of morses."
-
-"They are fighting!"
-
-"They are either fighting or playing."
-
-We now began to climb the blackish rocks, amid unforeseen stumbles, and
-over stones which the ice made slippery.  More than once I rolled over
-at the expense of my loins.  Conseil, more prudent or more steady, did
-not stumble, and helped me up, saying:
-
-"If, sir, you would have the kindness to take wider steps, you would
-preserve your equilibrium better."
-
-Arrived at the upper ridge of the promontory, I saw a vast white plain
-covered with morses.  They were playing amongst themselves, and what we
-heard were bellowings of pleasure, not of anger.
-
-As I passed these curious animals I could examine them leisurely, for
-they did not move.  Their skins were thick and rugged, of a yellowish
-tint, approaching to red; their hair was short and scant.  Some of them
-were four yards and a quarter long.  Quieter and less timid than their
-cousins of the north, they did not, like them, place sentinels round
-the outskirts of their encampment.  After examining this city of
-morses, I began to think of returning.  It was eleven o'clock, and, if
-Captain Nemo found the conditions favourable for observations, I wished
-to be present at the operation.  We followed a narrow pathway running
-along the summit of the steep shore.  At half-past eleven we had
-reached the place where we landed.  The boat had run aground, bringing
-the Captain.  I saw him standing on a block of basalt, his instruments
-near him, his eyes fixed on the northern horizon, near which the sun
-was then describing a lengthened curve.  I took my place beside him,
-and waited without speaking.  Noon arrived, and, as before, the sun did
-not appear.  It was a fatality.  Observations were still wanting.  If
-not accomplished to-morrow, we must give up all idea of taking any.  We
-were indeed exactly at the 20th of March.  To-morrow, the 21st, would
-be the equinox; the sun would disappear behind the horizon for six
-months, and with its disappearance the long polar night would begin.
-Since the September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon,
-rising by lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December.  At this
-period, the summer solstice of the northern regions, it had begun to
-descend; and to-morrow was to shed its last rays upon them.  I
-communicated my fears and observations to Captain Nemo.
-
-"You are right, M. Aronnax," said he; "if to-morrow I cannot take the
-altitude of the sun, I shall not be able to do it for six months.  But
-precisely because chance has led me into these seas on the 21st of
-March, my bearings will be easy to take, if at twelve we can see the
-sun."
-
-"Why, Captain?"
-
-"Because then the orb of day described such lengthened curves that it
-is difficult to measure exactly its height above the horizon, and grave
-errors may be made with instruments."
-
-"What will you do then?"
-
-"I shall only use my chronometer," replied Captain Nemo.  "If
-to-morrow, the 21st of March, the disc of the sun, allowing for
-refraction, is exactly cut by the northern horizon, it will show that I
-am at the South Pole."
-
-"Just so," said I. "But this statement is not mathematically correct,
-because the equinox does not necessarily begin at noon."
-
-"Very likely, sir; but the error will not be a hundred yards and we do
-not want more.  Till to-morrow, then!"
-
-Captain Nemo returned on board.  Conseil and I remained to survey the
-shore, observing and studying until five o'clock. Then I went to bed,
-not, however, without invoking, like the Indian, the favour of the
-radiant orb.  The next day, the 21st of March, at five in the morning,
-I mounted the platform.  I found Captain Nemo there.
-
-"The weather is lightening a little," said he.  "I have some hope.
-After breakfast we will go on shore and choose a post for observation."
-
-That point settled, I sought Ned Land.  I wanted to take him with me.
-But the obstinate Canadian refused, and I saw that his taciturnity and
-his bad humour grew day by day.  After all, I was not sorry for his
-obstinacy under the circumstances.  Indeed, there were too many seals
-on shore, and we ought not to lay such temptation in this unreflecting
-fisherman's way.  Breakfast over, we went on shore.  The Nautilus had
-gone some miles further up in the night.  It was a whole league from
-the coast, above which reared a sharp peak about five hundred yards
-high.  The boat took with me Captain Nemo, two men of the crew, and the
-instruments, which consisted of a chronometer, a telescope, and a
-barometer.  While crossing, I saw numerous whales belonging to the
-three kinds peculiar to the southern seas; the whale, or the English
-"right whale," which has no dorsal fin; the "humpback," with reeved
-chest and large, whitish fins, which, in spite of its name, do not form
-wings; and the fin-back, of a yellowish brown, the liveliest of all the
-cetacea.  This powerful creature is heard a long way off when he throws
-to a great height columns of air and vapour, which look like whirlwinds
-of smoke.  These different mammals were disporting themselves in troops
-in the quiet waters; and I could see that this basin of the Antarctic
-Pole serves as a place of refuge to the cetacea too closely tracked by
-the hunters.  I also noticed large medusae floating between the reeds.
-
-At nine we landed; the sky was brightening, the clouds were flying to
-the south, and the fog seemed to be leaving the cold surface of the
-waters.  Captain Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant
-to be his observatory.  It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava and
-the pumice-stones, in an atmosphere often impregnated with a sulphurous
-smell from the smoking cracks.  For a man unaccustomed to walk on land,
-the Captain climbed the steep slopes with an agility I never saw
-equalled and which a hunter would have envied.  We were two hours
-getting to the summit of this peak, which was half porphyry and half
-basalt.  From thence we looked upon a vast sea which, towards the
-north, distinctly traced its boundary line upon the sky.  At our feet
-lay fields of dazzling whiteness.  Over our heads a pale azure, free
-from fog.  To the north the disc of the sun seemed like a ball of fire,
-already horned by the cutting of the horizon.  From the bosom of the
-water rose sheaves of liquid jets by hundreds.  In the distance lay the
-Nautilus like a cetacean asleep on the water.  Behind us, to the south
-and east, an immense country and a chaotic heap of rocks and ice, the
-limits of which were not visible.  On arriving at the summit Captain
-Nemo carefully took the mean height of the barometer, for he would have
-to consider that in taking his observations.  At a quarter to twelve
-the sun, then seen only by refraction, looked like a golden disc
-shedding its last rays upon this deserted continent and seas which
-never man had yet ploughed.  Captain Nemo, furnished with a lenticular
-glass which, by means of a mirror, corrected the refraction, watched
-the orb sinking below the horizon by degrees, following a lengthened
-diagonal.  I held the chronometer.  My heart beat fast.  If the
-disappearance of the half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve o'clock
-on the chronometer, we were at the pole itself.
-
-"Twelve!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"The South Pole!" replied Captain Nemo, in a grave voice, handing me
-the glass, which showed the orb cut in exactly equal parts by the
-horizon.
-
-I looked at the last rays crowning the peak, and the shadows mounting
-by degrees up its slopes.  At that moment Captain Nemo, resting with
-his hand on my shoulder, said:
-
-"I, Captain Nemo, on this 21st day of March, 1868, have reached the
-South Pole on the ninetieth degree; and I take possession of this part
-of the globe, equal to one-sixth of the known continents."
-
-"In whose name, Captain?"
-
-"In my own, sir!"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an "N" in
-gold quartered on its bunting.  Then, turning towards the orb of day,
-whose last rays lapped the horizon of the sea, he exclaimed:
-
-"Adieu, sun!  Disappear, thou radiant orb! rest beneath this open sea,
-and let a night of six months spread its shadows over my new domains!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?
-
-The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning, preparations
-for departure were begun.  The last gleams of twilight were melting
-into night.  The cold was great, the constellations shone with
-wonderful intensity.  In the zenith glittered that wondrous Southern
-Cross--the polar bear of Antarctic regions.  The thermometer showed 120
-below zero, and when the wind freshened it was most biting.  Flakes of
-ice increased on the open water.  The sea seemed everywhere alike.
-Numerous blackish patches spread on the surface, showing the formation
-of fresh ice.  Evidently the southern basin, frozen during the six
-winter months, was absolutely inaccessible.  What became of the whales
-in that time?  Doubtless they went beneath the icebergs, seeking more
-practicable seas.  As to the seals and morses, accustomed to live in a
-hard climate, they remained on these icy shores.  These creatures have
-the instinct to break holes in the ice-field and to keep them open.  To
-these holes they come for breath; when the birds, driven away by the
-cold, have emigrated to the north, these sea mammals remain sole
-masters of the polar continent.  But the reservoirs were filling with
-water, and the Nautilus was slowly descending.  At 1,000 feet deep it
-stopped; its screw beat the waves, and it advanced straight towards the
-north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour.  Towards night it was
-already floating under the immense body of the iceberg.  At three in
-the morning I was awakened by a violent shock.  I sat up in my bed and
-listened in the darkness, when I was thrown into the middle of the
-room.  The Nautilus, after having struck, had rebounded violently.  I
-groped along the partition, and by the staircase to the saloon, which
-was lit by the luminous ceiling.  The furniture was upset.  Fortunately
-the windows were firmly set, and had held fast.  The pictures on the
-starboard side, from being no longer vertical, were clinging to the
-paper, whilst those of the port side were hanging at least a foot from
-the wall.  The Nautilus was lying on its starboard side perfectly
-motionless.  I heard footsteps, and a confusion of voices; but Captain
-Nemo did not appear.  As I was leaving the saloon, Ned Land and Conseil
-entered.
-
-"What is the matter?" said I, at once.
-
-"I came to ask you, sir," replied Conseil.
-
-"Confound it!" exclaimed the Canadian, "I know well enough!  The
-Nautilus has struck; and, judging by the way she lies, I do not think
-she will right herself as she did the first time in Torres Straits."
-
-"But," I asked, "has she at least come to the surface of the sea?"
-
-"We do not know," said Conseil.
-
-"It is easy to decide," I answered.  I consulted the manometer.  To my
-great surprise, it showed a depth of more than 180 fathoms.  "What does
-that mean?"  I exclaimed.
-
-"We must ask Captain Nemo," said Conseil.
-
-"But where shall we find him?" said Ned Land.
-
-"Follow me," said I, to my companions.
-
-We left the saloon.  There was no one in the library.  At the centre
-staircase, by the berths of the ship's crew, there was no one.  I
-thought that Captain Nemo must be in the pilot's cage.  It was best to
-wait.  We all returned to the saloon.  For twenty minutes we remained
-thus, trying to hear the slightest noise which might be made on board
-the Nautilus, when Captain Nemo entered.  He seemed not to see us; his
-face, generally so impassive, showed signs of uneasiness.  He watched
-the compass silently, then the manometer; and, going to the
-planisphere, placed his finger on a spot representing the southern
-seas.  I would not interrupt him; but, some minutes later, when he
-turned towards me, I said, using one of his own expressions in the
-Torres Straits:
-
-"An incident, Captain?"
-
-"No, sir; an accident this time."
-
-"Serious?"
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Is the danger immediate?"
-
-"No."
-
-"The Nautilus has stranded?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And this has happened--how?"
-
-"From a caprice of nature, not from the ignorance of man.  Not a
-mistake has been made in the working.  But we cannot prevent
-equilibrium from producing its effects.  We may brave human laws, but
-we cannot resist natural ones."
-
-Captain Nemo had chosen a strange moment for uttering this
-philosophical reflection.  On the whole, his answer helped me little.
-
-"May I ask, sir, the cause of this accident?"
-
-"An enormous block of ice, a whole mountain, has turned over," he
-replied.  "When icebergs are undermined at their base by warmer water
-or reiterated shocks their centre of gravity rises, and the whole thing
-turns over.  This is what has happened; one of these blocks, as it
-fell, struck the Nautilus, then, gliding under its hull, raised it with
-irresistible force, bringing it into beds which are not so thick, where
-it is lying on its side."
-
-"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that
-it might regain its equilibrium?"
-
-"That, sir, is being done at this moment.  You can hear the pump
-working.  Look at the needle of the manometer; it shows that the
-Nautilus is rising, but the block of ice is floating with it; and,
-until some obstacle stops its ascending motion, our position cannot be
-altered."
-
-Indeed, the Nautilus still held the same position to starboard;
-doubtless it would right itself when the block stopped.  But at this
-moment who knows if we may not be frightfully crushed between the two
-glassy surfaces?  I reflected on all the consequences of our position.
-Captain Nemo never took his eyes off the manometer.  Since the fall of
-the iceberg, the Nautilus had risen about a hundred and fifty feet, but
-it still made the same angle with the perpendicular.  Suddenly a slight
-movement was felt in the hold.  Evidently it was righting a little.
-Things hanging in the saloon were sensibly returning to their normal
-position.  The partitions were nearing the upright.  No one spoke.
-With beating hearts we watched and felt the straightening.  The boards
-became horizontal under our feet.  Ten minutes passed.
-
-"At last we have righted!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes," said Captain Nemo, going to the door of the saloon.
-
-"But are we floating?"  I asked.
-
-"Certainly," he replied; "since the reservoirs are not empty; and, when
-empty, the Nautilus must rise to the surface of the sea."
-
-We were in open sea; but at a distance of about ten yards, on either
-side of the Nautilus, rose a dazzling wall of ice.  Above and beneath
-the same wall.  Above, because the lower surface of the iceberg
-stretched over us like an immense ceiling.  Beneath, because the
-overturned block, having slid by degrees, had found a resting-place on
-the lateral walls, which kept it in that position.  The Nautilus was
-really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice more than twenty yards in
-breadth, filled with quiet water.  It was easy to get out of it by
-going either forward or backward, and then make a free passage under
-the iceberg, some hundreds of yards deeper.  The luminous ceiling had
-been extinguished, but the saloon was still resplendent with intense
-light.  It was the powerful reflection from the glass partition sent
-violently back to the sheets of the lantern.  I cannot describe the
-effect of the voltaic rays upon the great blocks so capriciously cut;
-upon every angle, every ridge, every facet was thrown a different
-light, according to the nature of the veins running through the ice; a
-dazzling mine of gems, particularly of sapphires, their blue rays
-crossing with the green of the emerald.  Here and there were opal
-shades of wonderful softness, running through bright spots like
-diamonds of fire, the brilliancy of which the eye could not bear.  The
-power of the lantern seemed increased a hundredfold, like a lamp
-through the lenticular plates of a first-class lighthouse.
-
-"How beautiful! how beautiful!" cried Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I said, "it is a wonderful sight.  Is it not, Ned?"
-
-"Yes, confound it!  Yes," answered Ned Land, "it is superb!  I am mad
-at being obliged to admit it.  No one has ever seen anything like it;
-but the sight may cost us dear.  And, if I must say all, I think we are
-seeing here things which God never intended man to see."
-
-Ned was right, it was too beautiful.  Suddenly a cry from Conseil made
-me turn.
-
-"What is it?"  I asked.
-
-"Shut your eyes, sir!  Do not look, sir!"  Saying which, Conseil
-clapped his hands over his eyes.
-
-"But what is the matter, my boy?"
-
-"I am dazzled, blinded."
-
-My eyes turned involuntarily towards the glass, but I could not stand
-the fire which seemed to devour them.  I understood what had happened.
-The Nautilus had put on full speed.  All the quiet lustre of the
-ice-walls was at once changed into flashes of lightning.  The fire from
-these myriads of diamonds was blinding.  It required some time to calm
-our troubled looks.  At last the hands were taken down.
-
-"Faith, I should never have believed it," said Conseil.
-
-It was then five in the morning; and at that moment a shock was felt at
-the bows of the Nautilus.  I knew that its spur had struck a block of
-ice.  It must have been a false manoeuvre, for this submarine tunnel,
-obstructed by blocks, was not very easy navigation.  I thought that
-Captain Nemo, by changing his course, would either turn these obstacles
-or else follow the windings of the tunnel.  In any case, the road
-before us could not be entirely blocked.  But, contrary to my
-expectations, the Nautilus took a decided retrograde motion.
-
-"We are going backwards?" said Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I replied.  "This end of the tunnel can have no egress."
-
-"And then?"
-
-"Then," said I, "the working is easy.  We must go back again, and go
-out at the southern opening.  That is all."
-
-In speaking thus, I wished to appear more confident than I really was.
-But the retrograde motion of the Nautilus was increasing; and,
-reversing the screw, it carried us at great speed.
-
-"It will be a hindrance," said Ned.
-
-"What does it matter, some hours more or less, provided we get out at
-last?"
-
-"Yes," repeated Ned Land, "provided we do get out at last!"
-
-For a short time I walked from the saloon to the library.  My
-companions were silent.  I soon threw myself on an ottoman, and took a
-book, which my eyes overran mechanically.  A quarter of an hour after,
-Conseil, approaching me, said, "Is what you are reading very
-interesting, sir?"
-
-"Very interesting!"  I replied.
-
-"I should think so, sir.  It is your own book you are reading."
-
-"My book?"
-
-And indeed I was holding in my hand the work on the Great Submarine
-Depths.  I did not even dream of it.  I closed the book and returned to
-my walk.  Ned and Conseil rose to go.
-
-"Stay here, my friends," said I, detaining them.  "Let us remain
-together until we are out of this block."
-
-"As you please, sir," Conseil replied.
-
-Some hours passed.  I often looked at the instruments hanging from the
-partition.  The manometer showed that the Nautilus kept at a constant
-depth of more than three hundred yards; the compass still pointed to
-south; the log indicated a speed of twenty miles an hour, which, in
-such a cramped space, was very great.  But Captain Nemo knew that he
-could not hasten too much, and that minutes were worth ages to us.  At
-twenty-five minutes past eight a second shock took place, this time
-from behind.  I turned pale.  My companions were close by my side.  I
-seized Conseil's hand.  Our looks expressed our feelings better than
-words.  At this moment the Captain entered the saloon.  I went up to
-him.
-
-"Our course is barred southward?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The iceberg has shifted and closed every outlet."
-
-"We are blocked up then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-WANT OF AIR
-
-Thus around the Nautilus, above and below, was an impenetrable wall of
-ice.  We were prisoners to the iceberg.  I watched the Captain.  His
-countenance had resumed its habitual imperturbability.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said calmly, "there are two ways of dying in the
-circumstances in which we are placed."  (This puzzling person had the
-air of a mathematical professor lecturing to his pupils.) "The first is
-to be crushed; the second is to die of suffocation.  I do not speak of
-the possibility of dying of hunger, for the supply of provisions in the
-Nautilus will certainly last longer than we shall.  Let us, then,
-calculate our chances."
-
-"As to suffocation, Captain," I replied, "that is not to be feared,
-because our reservoirs are full."
-
-"Just so; but they will only yield two days' supply of air.  Now, for
-thirty-six hours we have been hidden under the water, and already the
-heavy atmosphere of the Nautilus requires renewal.  In forty-eight
-hours our reserve will be exhausted."
-
-"Well, Captain, can we be delivered before forty-eight hours?"
-
-"We will attempt it, at least, by piercing the wall that surrounds us."
-
-"On which side?"
-
-"Sound will tell us.  I am going to run the Nautilus aground on the
-lower bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side that is
-least thick."
-
-Captain Nemo went out.  Soon I discovered by a hissing noise that the
-water was entering the reservoirs.  The Nautilus sank slowly, and
-rested on the ice at a depth of 350 yards, the depth at which the lower
-bank was immersed.
-
-"My friends," I said, "our situation is serious, but I rely on your
-courage and energy."
-
-"Sir," replied the Canadian, "I am ready to do anything for the general
-safety."
-
-"Good!  Ned," and I held out my hand to the Canadian.
-
-"I will add," he continued, "that, being as handy with the pickaxe as
-with the harpoon, if I can be useful to the Captain, he can command my
-services."
-
-"He will not refuse your help.  Come, Ned!"
-
-I led him to the room where the crew of the Nautilus were putting on
-their cork-jackets. I told the Captain of Ned's proposal, which he
-accepted.  The Canadian put on his sea-costume, and was ready as soon
-as his companions.  When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the
-drawing-room, where the panes of glass were open, and, posted near
-Conseil, I examined the ambient beds that supported the Nautilus.  Some
-instants after, we saw a dozen of the crew set foot on the bank of ice,
-and among them Ned Land, easily known by his stature.  Captain Nemo was
-with them.  Before proceeding to dig the walls, he took the soundings,
-to be sure of working in the right direction.  Long sounding lines were
-sunk in the side walls, but after fifteen yards they were again stopped
-by the thick wall.  It was useless to attack it on the ceiling-like
-surface, since the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in
-height.  Captain Nemo then sounded the lower surface.  There ten yards
-of wall separated us from the water, so great was the thickness of the
-ice-field. It was necessary, therefore, to cut from it a piece equal in
-extent to the waterline of the Nautilus.  There were about 6,000 cubic
-yards to detach, so as to dig a hole by which we could descend to the
-ice-field. The work had begun immediately and carried on with
-indefatigable energy.  Instead of digging round the Nautilus which
-would have involved greater difficulty, Captain Nemo had an immense
-trench made at eight yards from the port-quarter. Then the men set to
-work simultaneously with their screws on several points of its
-circumference.  Presently the pickaxe attacked this compact matter
-vigorously, and large blocks were detached from the mass.  By a curious
-effect of specific gravity, these blocks, lighter than water, fled, so
-to speak, to the vault of the tunnel, that increased in thickness at
-the top in proportion as it diminished at the base.  But that mattered
-little, so long as the lower part grew thinner.  After two hours' hard
-work, Ned Land came in exhausted.  He and his comrades were replaced by
-new workers, whom Conseil and I joined.  The second lieutenant of the
-Nautilus superintended us.  The water seemed singularly cold, but I
-soon got warm handling the pickaxe.  My movements were free enough,
-although they were made under a pressure of thirty atmospheres.  When I
-re-entered, after working two hours, to take some food and rest, I
-found a perceptible difference between the pure fluid with which the
-Rouquayrol engine supplied me and the atmosphere of the Nautilus,
-already charged with carbonic acid.  The air had not been renewed for
-forty-eight hours, and its vivifying qualities were considerably
-enfeebled.  However, after a lapse of twelve hours, we had only raised
-a block of ice one yard thick, on the marked surface, which was about
-600 cubic yards!  Reckoning that it took twelve hours to accomplish
-this much it would take five nights and four days to bring this
-enterprise to a satisfactory conclusion.  Five nights and four days!
-And we have only air enough for two days in the reservoirs!  "Without
-taking into account," said Ned, "that, even if we get out of this
-infernal prison, we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg, shut
-out from all possible communication with the atmosphere." True enough!
-Who could then foresee the minimum of time necessary for our
-deliverance?  We might be suffocated before the Nautilus could regain
-the surface of the waves?  Was it destined to perish in this ice-tomb,
-with all those it enclosed?  The situation was terrible.  But everyone
-had looked the danger in the face, and each was determined to do his
-duty to the last.
-
-As I expected, during the night a new block a yard square was carried
-away, and still further sank the immense hollow.  But in the morning
-when, dressed in my cork-jacket, I traversed the slushy mass at a
-temperature of six or seven degrees below zero, I remarked that the
-side walls were gradually closing in.  The beds of water farthest from
-the trench, that were not warmed by the men's work, showed a tendency
-to solidification.  In presence of this new and imminent danger, what
-would become of our chances of safety, and how hinder the
-solidification of this liquid medium, that would burst the partitions
-of the Nautilus like glass?
-
-I did not tell my companions of this new danger.  What was the good of
-damping the energy they displayed in the painful work of escape?  But
-when I went on board again, I told Captain Nemo of this grave
-complication.
-
-"I know it," he said, in that calm tone which could counteract the most
-terrible apprehensions.  "It is one danger more; but I see no way of
-escaping it; the only chance of safety is to go quicker than
-solidification.  We must be beforehand with it, that is all."
-
-On this day for several hours I used my pickaxe vigorously.  The work
-kept me up.  Besides, to work was to quit the Nautilus, and breathe
-directly the pure air drawn from the reservoirs, and supplied by our
-apparatus, and to quit the impoverished and vitiated atmosphere.
-Towards evening the trench was dug one yard deeper.  When I returned on
-board, I was nearly suffocated by the carbonic acid with which the air
-was filled--ah! if we had only the chemical means to drive away this
-deleterious gas.  We had plenty of oxygen; all this water contained a
-considerable quantity, and by dissolving it with our powerful piles, it
-would restore the vivifying fluid.  I had thought well over it; but of
-what good was that, since the carbonic acid produced by our respiration
-had invaded every part of the vessel?  To absorb it, it was necessary
-to fill some jars with caustic potash, and to shake them incessantly.
-Now this substance was wanting on board, and nothing could replace it.
-On that evening, Captain Nemo ought to open the taps of his reservoirs,
-and let some pure air into the interior of the Nautilus; without this
-precaution we could not get rid of the sense of suffocation.  The next
-day, March 26th, I resumed my miner's work in beginning the fifth yard.
-The side walls and the lower surface of the iceberg thickened visibly.
-It was evident that they would meet before the Nautilus was able to
-disengage itself.  Despair seized me for an instant; my pickaxe nearly
-fell from my hands.  What was the good of digging if I must be
-suffocated, crushed by the water that was turning into stone?--a
-punishment that the ferocity of the savages even would not have
-invented!  Just then Captain Nemo passed near me.  I touched his hand
-and showed him the walls of our prison.  The wall to port had advanced
-to at least four yards from the hull of the Nautilus.  The Captain
-understood me, and signed me to follow him.  We went on board.  I took
-off my cork-jacket and accompanied him into the drawing-room.
-
-"M. Aronnax, we must attempt some desperate means, or we shall be
-sealed up in this solidified water as in cement."
-
-"Yes; but what is to be done?"
-
-"Ah! if my Nautilus were strong enough to bear this pressure without
-being crushed!"
-
-"Well?"  I asked, not catching the Captain's idea.
-
-"Do you not understand," he replied, "that this congelation of water
-will help us?  Do you not see that by its solidification, it would
-burst through this field of ice that imprisons us, as, when it freezes,
-it bursts the hardest stones?  Do you not perceive that it would be an
-agent of safety instead of destruction?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, perhaps.  But, whatever resistance to crushing the
-Nautilus possesses, it could not support this terrible pressure, and
-would be flattened like an iron plate."
-
-"I know it, sir.  Therefore we must not reckon on the aid of nature,
-but on our own exertions.  We must stop this solidification.  Not only
-will the side walls be pressed together; but there is not ten feet of
-water before or behind the Nautilus.  The congelation gains on us on
-all sides."
-
-"How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on
-board?"
-
-The Captain looked in my face.  "After to-morrow they will be empty!"
-
-A cold sweat came over me.  However, ought I to have been astonished at
-the answer?  On March 22, the Nautilus was in the open polar seas.  We
-were at 26°. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board.
-And what was left of the respirable air must be kept for the workers.
-Even now, as I write, my recollection is still so vivid that an
-involuntary terror seizes me and my lungs seem to be without air.
-Meanwhile, Captain Nemo reflected silently, and evidently an idea had
-struck him; but he seemed to reject it.  At last, these words escaped
-his lips:
-
-"Boiling water!" he muttered.
-
-"Boiling water?"  I cried.
-
-"Yes, sir.  We are enclosed in a space that is relatively confined.
-Would not jets of boiling water, constantly injected by the pumps,
-raise the temperature in this part and stay the congelation?"
-
-"Let us try it," I said resolutely.
-
-"Let us try it, Professor."
-
-The thermometer then stood at 7° outside.  Captain Nemo took me to
-the galleys, where the vast distillatory machines stood that furnished
-the drinkable water by evaporation.  They filled these with water, and
-all the electric heat from the piles was thrown through the worms
-bathed in the liquid.  In a few minutes this water reached 100°. It
-was directed towards the pumps, while fresh water replaced it in
-proportion.  The heat developed by the troughs was such that cold
-water, drawn up from the sea after only having gone through the
-machines, came boiling into the body of the pump.  The injection was
-begun, and three hours after the thermometer marked 6° below zero
-outside.  One degree was gained.  Two hours later the thermometer only
-marked 4°.
-
-"We shall succeed," I said to the Captain, after having anxiously
-watched the result of the operation.
-
-"I think," he answered, "that we shall not be crushed.  We have no more
-suffocation to fear."
-
-During the night the temperature of the water rose to 1° below
-zero.  The injections could not carry it to a higher point.  But, as
-the congelation of the sea-water produces at least 2°, I was at
-least reassured against the dangers of solidification.
-
-The next day, March 27th, six yards of ice had been cleared, twelve
-feet only remaining to be cleared away.  There was yet forty-eight
-hours' work.  The air could not be renewed in the interior of the
-Nautilus.  And this day would make it worse.  An intolerable weight
-oppressed me.  Towards three o'clock in the evening this feeling rose
-to a violent degree.  Yawns dislocated my jaws.  My lungs panted as
-they inhaled this burning fluid, which became rarefied more and more.
-A moral torpor took hold of me.  I was powerless, almost unconscious.
-My brave Conseil, though exhibiting the same symptoms and suffering in
-the same manner, never left me.  He took my hand and encouraged me, and
-I heard him murmur, "Oh! if I could only not breathe, so as to leave
-more air for my master!"
-
-Tears came into my eyes on hearing him speak thus.  If our situation to
-all was intolerable in the interior, with what haste and gladness would
-we put on our cork-jackets to work in our turn!  Pickaxes sounded on
-the frozen ice-beds. Our arms ached, the skin was torn off our hands.
-But what were these fatigues, what did the wounds matter?  Vital air
-came to the lungs!  We breathed! we breathed!
-
-All this time no one prolonged his voluntary task beyond the prescribed
-time.  His task accomplished, each one handed in turn to his panting
-companions the apparatus that supplied him with life.  Captain Nemo set
-the example, and submitted first to this severe discipline.  When the
-time came, he gave up his apparatus to another and returned to the
-vitiated air on board, calm, unflinching, unmurmuring.
-
-On that day the ordinary work was accomplished with unusual vigour.
-Only two yards remained to be raised from the surface.  Two yards only
-separated us from the open sea.  But the reservoirs were nearly emptied
-of air.  The little that remained ought to be kept for the workers; not
-a particle for the Nautilus.  When I went back on board, I was half
-suffocated.  What a night!  I know not how to describe it.  The next
-day my breathing was oppressed.  Dizziness accompanied the pain in my
-head and made me like a drunken man.  My companions showed the same
-symptoms.  Some of the crew had rattling in the throat.
-
-On that day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo, finding the
-pickaxes work too slowly, resolved to crush the ice-bed that still
-separated us from the liquid sheet.  This man's coolness and energy
-never forsook him.  He subdued his physical pains by moral force.
-
-By his orders the vessel was lightened, that is to say, raised from the
-ice-bed by a change of specific gravity.  When it floated they towed it
-so as to bring it above the immense trench made on the level of the
-water-line. Then, filling his reservoirs of water, he descended and
-shut himself up in the hole.
-
-Just then all the crew came on board, and the double door of
-communication was shut.  The Nautilus then rested on the bed of ice,
-which was not one yard thick, and which the sounding leads had
-perforated in a thousand places.  The taps of the reservoirs were then
-opened, and a hundred cubic yards of water was let in, increasing the
-weight of the Nautilus to 1,800 tons.  We waited, we listened,
-forgetting our sufferings in hope.  Our safety depended on this last
-chance.  Notwithstanding the buzzing in my head, I soon heard the
-humming sound under the hull of the Nautilus.  The ice cracked with a
-singular noise, like tearing paper, and the Nautilus sank.
-
-"We are off!" murmured Conseil in my ear.
-
-I could not answer him.  I seized his hand, and pressed it
-convulsively.  All at once, carried away by its frightful overcharge,
-the Nautilus sank like a bullet under the waters, that is to say, it
-fell as if it was in a vacuum.  Then all the electric force was put on
-the pumps, that soon began to let the water out of the reservoirs.
-After some minutes, our fall was stopped.  Soon, too, the manometer
-indicated an ascending movement.  The screw, going at full speed, made
-the iron hull tremble to its very bolts and drew us towards the north.
-But if this floating under the iceberg is to last another day before we
-reach the open sea, I shall be dead first.
-
-Half stretched upon a divan in the library, I was suffocating.  My face
-was purple, my lips blue, my faculties suspended.  I neither saw nor
-heard.  All notion of time had gone from my mind.  My muscles could not
-contract.  I do not know how many hours passed thus, but I was
-conscious of the agony that was coming over me.  I felt as if I was
-going to die.  Suddenly I came to.  Some breaths of air penetrated my
-lungs.  Had we risen to the surface of the waves?  Were we free of the
-iceberg?  No!  Ned and Conseil, my two brave friends, were sacrificing
-themselves to save me.  Some particles of air still remained at the
-bottom of one apparatus.  Instead of using it, they had kept it for me,
-and, while they were being suffocated, they gave me life, drop by drop.
-I wanted to push back the thing; they held my hands, and for some
-moments I breathed freely.  I looked at the clock; it was eleven in the
-morning.  It ought to be the 28th of March.  The Nautilus went at a
-frightful pace, forty miles an hour.  It literally tore through the
-water.  Where was Captain Nemo?  Had he succumbed?  Were his companions
-dead with him?  At the moment the manometer indicated that we were not
-more than twenty feet from the surface.  A mere plate of ice separated
-us from the atmosphere.  Could we not break it?  Perhaps.  In any case
-the Nautilus was going to attempt it.  I felt that it was in an oblique
-position, lowering the stern, and raising the bows.  The introduction
-of water had been the means of disturbing its equilibrium.  Then,
-impelled by its powerful screw, it attacked the ice-field from beneath
-like a formidable battering-ram.  It broke it by backing and then
-rushing forward against the field, which gradually gave way; and at
-last, dashing suddenly against it, shot forwards on the ice-field, that
-crushed beneath its weight.  The panel was opened--one might say torn
-off--and the pure air came in in abundance to all parts of the Nautilus.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON
-
-How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian had
-carried me there.  But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air.  My
-two companions were getting drunk with the fresh particles.  The other
-unhappy men had been so long without food, that they could not with
-impunity indulge in the simplest aliments that were given them.  We, on
-the contrary, had no end to restrain ourselves; we could draw this air
-freely into our lungs, and it was the breeze, the breeze alone, that
-filled us with this keen enjoyment.
-
-"Ah!" said Conseil, "how delightful this oxygen is!  Master need not
-fear to breathe it.  There is enough for everybody."
-
-Ned Land did not speak, but he opened his jaws wide enough to frighten
-a shark.  Our strength soon returned, and, when I looked round me, I
-saw we were alone on the platform.  The foreign seamen in the Nautilus
-were contented with the air that circulated in the interior; none of
-them had come to drink in the open air.
-
-The first words I spoke were words of gratitude and thankfulness to my
-two companions.  Ned and Conseil had prolonged my life during the last
-hours of this long agony.  All my gratitude could not repay such
-devotion.
-
-"My friends," said I, "we are bound one to the other for ever, and I am
-under infinite obligations to you."
-
-"Which I shall take advantage of," exclaimed the Canadian.
-
-"What do you mean?" said Conseil.
-
-"I mean that I shall take you with me when I leave this infernal
-Nautilus."
-
-"Well," said Conseil, "after all this, are we going right?"
-
-"Yes," I replied, "for we are going the way of the sun, and here the
-sun is in the north."
-
-"No doubt," said Ned Land; "but it remains to be seen whether he will
-bring the ship into the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean, that is, into
-frequented or deserted seas."
-
-I could not answer that question, and I feared that Captain Nemo would
-rather take us to the vast ocean that touches the coasts of Asia and
-America at the same time.  He would thus complete the tour round the
-submarine world, and return to those waters in which the Nautilus could
-sail freely.  We ought, before long, to settle this important point.
-The Nautilus went at a rapid pace.  The polar circle was soon passed,
-and the course shaped for Cape Horn.  We were off the American point,
-March 31st, at seven o'clock in the evening.  Then all our past
-sufferings were forgotten.  The remembrance of that imprisonment in the
-ice was effaced from our minds.  We only thought of the future.
-Captain Nemo did not appear again either in the drawing-room or on the
-platform.  The point shown each day on the planisphere, and, marked by
-the lieutenant, showed me the exact direction of the Nautilus.  Now, on
-that evening, it was evident, to, my great satisfaction, that we were
-going back to the North by the Atlantic.  The next day, April 1st, when
-the Nautilus ascended to the surface some minutes before noon, we
-sighted land to the west.  It was Terra del Fuego, which the first
-navigators named thus from seeing the quantity of smoke that rose from
-the natives' huts.  The coast seemed low to me, but in the distance
-rose high mountains.  I even thought I had a glimpse of Mount
-Sarmiento, that rises 2,070 yards above the level of the sea, with a
-very pointed summit, which, according as it is misty or clear, is a
-sign of fine or of wet weather.  At this moment the peak was clearly
-defined against the sky.  The Nautilus, diving again under the water,
-approached the coast, which was only some few miles off.  From the
-glass windows in the drawing-room, I saw long seaweeds and gigantic
-fuci and varech, of which the open polar sea contains so many
-specimens, with their sharp polished filaments; they measured about 300
-yards in length--real cables, thicker than one's thumb; and, having
-great tenacity, they are often used as ropes for vessels.  Another weed
-known as velp, with leaves four feet long, buried in the coral
-concretions, hung at the bottom.  It served as nest and food for
-myriads of crustacea and molluscs, crabs, and cuttlefish.  There seals
-and otters had splendid repasts, eating the flesh of fish with
-sea-vegetables, according to the English fashion.  Over this fertile
-and luxuriant ground the Nautilus passed with great rapidity.  Towards
-evening it approached the Falkland group, the rough summits of which I
-recognised the following day.  The depth of the sea was moderate.  On
-the shores our nets brought in beautiful specimens of sea weed, and
-particularly a certain fucus, the roots of which were filled with the
-best mussels in the world.  Geese and ducks fell by dozens on the
-platform, and soon took their places in the pantry on board.
-
-When the last heights of the Falklands had disappeared from the
-horizon, the Nautilus sank to between twenty and twenty-five yards, and
-followed the American coast.  Captain Nemo did not show himself.  Until
-the 3rd of April we did not quit the shores of Patagonia, sometimes
-under the ocean, sometimes at the surface.  The Nautilus passed beyond
-the large estuary formed by the Uraguay.  Its direction was northwards,
-and followed the long windings of the coast of South America.  We had
-then made 1,600 miles since our embarkation in the seas of Japan.
-About eleven o'clock in the morning the Tropic of Capricorn was crossed
-on the thirty-seventh meridian, and we passed Cape Frio standing out to
-sea.  Captain Nemo, to Ned Land's great displeasure, did not like the
-neighbourhood of the inhabited coasts of Brazil, for we went at a giddy
-speed.  Not a fish, not a bird of the swiftest kind could follow us,
-and the natural curiosities of these seas escaped all observation.
-
-This speed was kept up for several days, and in the evening of the 9th
-of April we sighted the most westerly point of South America that forms
-Cape San Roque.  But then the Nautilus swerved again, and sought the
-lowest depth of a submarine valley which is between this Cape and
-Sierra Leone on the African coast.  This valley bifurcates to the
-parallel of the Antilles, and terminates at the mouth by the enormous
-depression of 9,000 yards.  In this place, the geological basin of the
-ocean forms, as far as the Lesser Antilles, a cliff to three and a half
-miles perpendicular in height, and, at the parallel of the Cape Verde
-Islands, an other wall not less considerable, that encloses thus all
-the sunk continent of the Atlantic.  The bottom of this immense valley
-is dotted with some mountains, that give to these submarine places a
-picturesque aspect.  I speak, moreover, from the manuscript charts that
-were in the library of the Nautilus--charts evidently due to Captain
-Nemo's hand, and made after his personal observations.  For two days
-the desert and deep waters were visited by means of the inclined
-planes.  The Nautilus was furnished with long diagonal broadsides which
-carried it to all elevations.  But on the 11th of April it rose
-suddenly, and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast
-estuary, the embouchure of which is so considerable that it freshens
-the sea-water for the distance of several leagues.
-
-The equator was crossed. Twenty miles to the west were the Guianas, a
-French territory, on which we could have found an easy refuge; but a
-stiff breeze was blowing, and the furious waves would not have allowed
-a single boat to face them. Ned Land understood that, no doubt, for he
-spoke not a word about it. For my part, I made no allusion to his
-schemes of flight, for I would not urge him to make an attempt that
-must inevitably fail. I made the time pass pleasantly by interesting
-studies.  During the days of April 11th and 12th, the Nautilus did not
-leave the surface of the sea, and the net brought in a marvellous haul
-of Zoophytes, fish and reptiles. Some zoophytes had been fished up by
-the chain of the nets; they were for the most part beautiful
-phyctallines, belonging to the actinidian family, and among other
-species the phyctalis protexta, peculiar to that part of the ocean,
-with a little cylindrical trunk, ornamented With vertical lines,
-speckled with red dots, crowning a marvellous blossoming of tentacles.
-As to the molluscs, they consisted of some I had already
-observed--turritellas, olive porphyras, with regular lines
-intercrossed, with red spots standing out plainly against the flesh;
-odd pteroceras, like petrified scorpions; translucid hyaleas,
-argonauts, cuttle-fish (excellent eating), and certain species of
-calmars that naturalists of antiquity have classed amongst the
-flying-fish, and that serve principally for bait for cod-fishing. I had
-now an opportunity of studying several species of fish on these shores.
-Amongst the cartilaginous ones, petromyzons-pricka, a sort of eel,
-fifteen inches long, with a greenish head, violet fins, grey-blue back,
-brown belly, silvered and sown with bright spots, the pupil of the eye
-encircled with gold--a curious animal, that the current of the Amazon
-had drawn to the sea, for they inhabit fresh waters--tuberculated
-streaks, with pointed snouts, and a long loose tail, armed with a long
-jagged sting; little sharks, a yard long, grey and whitish skin, and
-several rows of teeth, bent back, that are generally known by the name
-of pantouffles; vespertilios, a kind of red isosceles triangle, half a
-yard long, to which pectorals are attached by fleshy prolongations that
-make them look like bats, but that their horny appendage, situated near
-the nostrils, has given them the name of sea-unicorns; lastly, some
-species of balistae, the curassavian, whose spots were of a brilliant
-gold colour, and the capriscus of clear violet, and with varying shades
-like a pigeon's throat.
-
-I end here this catalogue, which is somewhat dry perhaps, but very
-exact, with a series of bony fish that I observed in passing belonging
-to the apteronotes, and whose snout is white as snow, the body of a
-beautiful black, marked with a very long loose fleshy strip;
-odontognathes, armed with spikes; sardines nine inches long, glittering
-with a bright silver light; a species of mackerel provided with two
-anal fins; centronotes of a blackish tint, that are fished for with
-torches, long fish, two yards in length, with fat flesh, white and
-firm, which, when they arc fresh, taste like eel, and when dry, like
-smoked salmon; labres, half red, covered with scales only at the bottom
-of the dorsal and anal fins; chrysoptera, on which gold and silver
-blend their brightness with that of the ruby and topaz; golden-tailed
-spares, the flesh of which is extremely delicate, and whose
-phosphorescent properties betray them in the midst of the waters;
-orange-coloured spares with long tongues; maigres, with gold caudal
-fins, dark thorn-tails, anableps of Surinam, etc.
-
-Notwithstanding this "et cetera," I must not omit to mention fish that
-Conseil will long remember, and with good reason. One of our nets had
-hauled up a sort of very flat ray fish, which, with the tail cut off,
-formed a perfect disc, and weighed twenty ounces. It was white
-underneath, red above, with large round spots of dark blue encircled
-with black, very glossy skin, terminating in a bilobed fin. Laid out on
-the platform, it struggled, tried to turn itself by convulsive
-movements, and made so many efforts, that one last turn had nearly sent
-it into the sea. But Conseil, not wishing to let the fish go, rushed to
-it, and, before I could prevent him, had seized it with both hands. In
-a moment he was overthrown, his legs in the air, and half his body
-paralysed, crying--
-
-"Oh! master, master! help me!"
-
-It was the first time the poor boy had spoken to me so familiarly.  The
-Canadian and I took him up, and rubbed his contracted arms till he
-became sensible. The unfortunate Conseil had attacked a cramp-fish of
-the most dangerous kind, the cumana. This odd animal, in a medium
-conductor like water, strikes fish at several yards' distance, so great
-is the power of its electric organ, the two principal surfaces of which
-do not measure less than twenty-seven square feet. The next day, April
-12th, the Nautilus approached the Dutch coast, near the mouth of the
-Maroni. There several groups of sea-cows herded together; they were
-manatees, that, like the dugong and the stellera, belong to the skenian
-order. These beautiful animals, peaceable and inoffensive, from
-eighteen to twenty-one feet in length, weigh at least sixteen
-hundredweight. I told Ned Land and Conseil that provident nature had
-assigned an important role to these mammalia. Indeed, they, like the
-seals, are designed to graze on the submarine prairies, and thus
-destroy the accumulation of weed that obstructs the tropical rivers.
-
-"And do you know," I added, "what has been the result since men have
-almost entirely annihilated this useful race? That the putrefied weeds
-have poisoned the air, and the poisoned air causes the yellow fever,
-that desolates these beautiful countries. Enormous vegetations are
-multiplied under the torrid seas, and the evil is irresistibly
-developed from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to Florida. If we are
-to believe Toussenel, this plague is nothing to what it would be if the
-seas were cleaned of whales and seals. Then, infested with poulps,
-medusae, and cuttle-fish, they would become immense centres of
-infection, since their waves would not possess 'these vast stomachs
-that God had charged to infest the surface of the seas.'"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-THE POULPS
-
-For several days the Nautilus kept off from the American coast.
-Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of Mexico or of
-the sea of the Antilles.  April 16th, we sighted Martinique and
-Guadaloupe from a distance of about thirty miles.  I saw their tall
-peaks for an instant.  The Canadian, who counted on carrying out his
-projects in the Gulf, by either landing or hailing one of the numerous
-boats that coast from one island to another, was quite disheartened.
-Flight would have been quite practicable, if Ned Land had been able to
-take possession of the boat without the Captain's knowledge.  But in
-the open sea it could not be thought of.  The Canadian, Conseil, and I
-had a long conversation on this subject.  For six months we had been
-prisoners on board the Nautilus.  We had travelled 17,000 leagues; and,
-as Ned Land said, there was no reason why it should come to an end.  We
-could hope nothing from the Captain of the Nautilus, but only from
-ourselves.  Besides, for some time past he had become graver, more
-retired, less sociable.  He seemed to shun me.  I met him rarely.
-Formerly he was pleased to explain the submarine marvels to me; now he
-left me to my studies, and came no more to the saloon.  What change had
-come over him?  For what cause?  For my part, I did not wish to bury
-with me my curious and novel studies.  I had now the power to write the
-true book of the sea; and this book, sooner or later, I wished to see
-daylight.  The land nearest us was the archipelago of the Bahamas.
-There rose high submarine cliffs covered with large weeds.  It was
-about eleven o'clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable
-pricking, like the sting of an ant, which was produced by means of
-large seaweeds.
-
-"Well," I said, "these are proper caverns for poulps, and I should not
-be astonished to see some of these monsters."
-
-"What!" said Conseil; "cuttlefish, real cuttlefish of the cephalopod
-class?"
-
-"No," I said, "poulps of huge dimensions."
-
-"I will never believe that such animals exist," said Ned.
-
-"Well," said Conseil, with the most serious air in the world, "I
-remember perfectly to have seen a large vessel drawn under the waves by
-an octopus's arm."
-
-"You saw that?" said the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, Ned."
-
-"With your own eyes?"
-
-"With my own eyes."
-
-"Where, pray, might that be?"
-
-"At St. Malo," answered Conseil.
-
-"In the port?" said Ned, ironically.
-
-"No; in a church," replied Conseil.
-
-"In a church!" cried the Canadian.
-
-"Yes; friend Ned.  In a picture representing the poulp in question."
-
-"Good!" said Ned Land, bursting out laughing.
-
-"He is quite right," I said.  "I have heard of this picture; but the
-subject represented is taken from a legend, and you know what to think
-of legends in the matter of natural history.  Besides, when it is a
-question of monsters, the imagination is apt to run wild.  Not only is
-it supposed that these poulps can draw down vessels, but a certain
-Olaus Magnus speaks of an octopus a mile long that is more like an
-island than an animal.  It is also said that the Bishop of Nidros was
-building an altar on an immense rock.  Mass finished, the rock began to
-walk, and returned to the sea.  The rock was a poulp.  Another Bishop,
-Pontoppidan, speaks also of a poulp on which a regiment of cavalry
-could manoeuvre.  Lastly, the ancient naturalists speak of monsters
-whose mouths were like gulfs, and which were too large to pass through
-the Straits of Gibraltar."
-
-"But how much is true of these stories?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth
-to get to fable or legend.  Nevertheless, there must be some ground for
-the imagination of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps and
-cuttlefish exist of a large species, inferior, however, to the
-cetaceans.  Aristotle has stated the dimensions of a cuttlefish as five
-cubits, or nine feet two inches.  Our fishermen frequently see some
-that are more than four feet long.  Some skeletons of poulps are
-preserved in the museums of Trieste and Montpelier, that measure two
-yards in length.  Besides, according to the calculations of some
-naturalists, one of these animals only six feet long would have
-tentacles twenty-seven feet long.  That would suffice to make a
-formidable monster."
-
-"Do they fish for them in these days?" asked Ned.
-
-"If they do not fish for them, sailors see them at least.  One of my
-friends, Captain Paul Bos of Havre, has often affirmed that he met one
-of these monsters of colossal dimensions in the Indian seas.  But the
-most astonishing fact, and which does not permit of the denial of the
-existence of these gigantic animals, happened some years ago, in 1861."
-
-"What is the fact?" asked Ned Land.
-
-"This is it.  In 1861, to the north-east of Teneriffe, very nearly in
-the same latitude we are in now, the crew of the despatch-boat Alector
-perceived a monstrous cuttlefish swimming in the waters.  Captain
-Bouguer went near to the animal, and attacked it with harpoon and guns,
-without much success, for balls and harpoons glided over the soft
-flesh.  After several fruitless attempts the crew tried to pass a
-slip-knot round the body of the mollusc.  The noose slipped as far as
-the tail fins and there stopped.  They tried then to haul it on board,
-but its weight was so considerable that the tightness of the cord
-separated the tail from the body, and, deprived of this ornament, he
-disappeared under the water."
-
-"Indeed! is that a fact?"
-
-"An indisputable fact, my good Ned.  They proposed to name this poulp
-`Bouguer's cuttlefish.'"
-
-"What length was it?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Did it not measure about six yards?" said Conseil, who, posted at the
-window, was examining again the irregular windings of the cliff.
-
-"Precisely," I replied.
-
-"Its head," rejoined Conseil, "was it not crowned with eight tentacles,
-that beat the water like a nest of serpents?"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"Had not its eyes, placed at the back of its head, considerable
-development?"
-
-"Yes, Conseil."
-
-"And was not its mouth like a parrot's beak?"
-
-"Exactly, Conseil."
-
-"Very well! no offence to master," he replied, quietly; "if this is not
-Bouguer's cuttlefish, it is, at least, one of its brothers."
-
-I looked at Conseil.  Ned Land hurried to the window.
-
-"What a horrible beast!" he cried.
-
-I looked in my turn, and could not repress a gesture of disgust.
-Before my eyes was a horrible monster worthy to figure in the legends
-of the marvellous.  It was an immense cuttlefish, being eight yards
-long.  It swam crossways in the direction of the Nautilus with great
-speed, watching us with its enormous staring green eyes.  Its eight
-arms, or rather feet, fixed to its head, that have given the name of
-cephalopod to these animals, were twice as long as its body, and were
-twisted like the furies' hair.  One could see the 250 air holes on the
-inner side of the tentacles.  The monster's mouth, a horned beak like a
-parrot's, opened and shut vertically.  Its tongue, a horned substance,
-furnished with several rows of pointed teeth, came out quivering from
-this veritable pair of shears.  What a freak of nature, a bird's beak
-on a mollusc!  Its spindle-like body formed a fleshy mass that might
-weigh 4,000 to 5,000 lb.; the, varying colour changing with great
-rapidity, according to the irritation of the animal, passed
-successively from livid grey to reddish brown.  What irritated this
-mollusc?  No doubt the presence of the Nautilus, more formidable than
-itself, and on which its suckers or its jaws had no hold.  Yet, what
-monsters these poulps are! what vitality the Creator has given them!
-what vigour in their movements! and they possess three hearts!  Chance
-had brought us in presence of this cuttlefish, and I did not wish to
-lose the opportunity of carefully studying this specimen of
-cephalopods.  I overcame the horror that inspired me, and, taking a
-pencil, began to draw it.
-
-"Perhaps this is the same which the Alector saw," said Conseil.
-
-"No," replied the Canadian; "for this is whole, and the other had lost
-its tail."
-
-"That is no reason," I replied.  "The arms and tails of these animals
-are re-formed by renewal; and in seven years the tail of Bouguer's
-cuttlefish has no doubt had time to grow."
-
-By this time other poulps appeared at the port light.  I counted seven.
-They formed a procession after the Nautilus, and I heard their beaks
-gnashing against the iron hull.  I continued my work.  These monsters
-kept in the water with such precision that they seemed immovable.
-Suddenly the Nautilus stopped.  A shock made it tremble in every plate.
-
-"Have we struck anything?"  I asked.
-
-"In any case," replied the Canadian, "we shall be free, for we are
-floating."
-
-The Nautilus was floating, no doubt, but it did not move.  A minute
-passed.  Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, entered the
-drawing-room. I had not seen him for some time.  He seemed dull.
-Without noticing or speaking to us, he went to the panel, looked at the
-poulps, and said something to his lieutenant.  The latter went out.
-Soon the panels were shut.  The ceiling was lighted.  I went towards
-the Captain.
-
-"A curious collection of poulps?"  I said.
-
-"Yes, indeed, Mr. Naturalist," he replied; "and we are going to fight
-them, man to beast."
-
-I looked at him.  I thought I had not heard aright.
-
-"Man to beast?"  I repeated.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The screw is stopped.  I think that the horny jaws of one
-of the cuttlefish is entangled in the blades.  That is what prevents
-our moving."
-
-"What are you going to do?"
-
-"Rise to the surface, and slaughter this vermin."
-
-"A difficult enterprise."
-
-"Yes, indeed.  The electric bullets are powerless against the soft
-flesh, where they do not find resistance enough to go off.  But we
-shall attack them with the hatchet."
-
-"And the harpoon, sir," said the Canadian, "if you do not refuse my
-help."
-
-"I will accept it, Master Land."
-
-"We will follow you," I said, and, following Captain Nemo, we went
-towards the central staircase.
-
-There, about ten men with boarding-hatchets were ready for the attack.
-Conseil and I took two hatchets; Ned Land seized a harpoon.  The
-Nautilus had then risen to the surface.  One of the sailors, posted on
-the top ladderstep, unscrewed the bolts of the panels.  But hardly were
-the screws loosed, when the panel rose with great violence, evidently
-drawn by the suckers of a poulp's arm.  Immediately one of these arms
-slid like a serpent down the opening and twenty others were above.
-With one blow of the axe, Captain Nemo cut this formidable tentacle,
-that slid wriggling down the ladder.  Just as we were pressing one on
-the other to reach the platform, two other arms, lashing the air, came
-down on the seaman placed before Captain Nemo, and lifted him up with
-irresistible power.  Captain Nemo uttered a cry, and rushed out.  We
-hurried after him.
-
-What a scene!  The unhappy man, seized by the tentacle and fixed to the
-suckers, was balanced in the air at the caprice of this enormous trunk.
-He rattled in his throat, he was stifled, he cried, "Help! help!"
-These words, spoken in French, startled me!  I had a fellow-countryman
-on board, perhaps several!  That heart-rending cry!  I shall hear it
-all my life.  The unfortunate man was lost.  Who could rescue him from
-that powerful pressure?  However, Captain Nemo had rushed to the poulp,
-and with one blow of the axe had cut through one arm.  His lieutenant
-struggled furiously against other monsters that crept on the flanks of
-the Nautilus.  The crew fought with their axes.  The Canadian, Conseil,
-and I buried our weapons in the fleshy masses; a strong smell of musk
-penetrated the atmosphere.  It was horrible!
-
-For one instant, I thought the unhappy man, entangled with the poulp,
-would be torn from its powerful suction.  Seven of the eight arms had
-been cut off.  One only wriggled in the air, brandishing the victim
-like a feather.  But just as Captain Nemo and his lieutenant threw
-themselves on it, the animal ejected a stream of black liquid.  We were
-blinded with it.  When the cloud dispersed, the cuttlefish had
-disappeared, and my unfortunate countryman with it.  Ten or twelve
-poulps now invaded the platform and sides of the Nautilus.  We rolled
-pell-mell into the midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled on the
-platform in the waves of blood and ink.  It seemed as though these
-slimy tentacles sprang up like the hydra's heads.  Ned Land's harpoon,
-at each stroke, was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish.
-But my bold companion was suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a
-monster he had not been able to avoid.
-
-Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror!  The formidable beak of
-a cuttlefish was open over Ned Land.  The unhappy man would be cut in
-two.  I rushed to his succour.  But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe
-disappeared between the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the
-Canadian, rising, plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart of the
-poulp.
-
-"I owed myself this revenge!" said the Captain to the Canadian.
-
-Ned bowed without replying.  The combat had lasted a quarter of an
-hour.  The monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and
-disappeared under the waves.  Captain Nemo, covered with blood, nearly
-exhausted, gazed upon the sea that had swallowed up one of his
-companions, and great tears gathered in his eyes.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-THE GULF STREAM
-
-This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget.  I
-have written it under the influence of violent emotion.  Since then I
-have revised the recital; I have read it to Conseil and to the
-Canadian.  They found it exact as to facts, but insufficient as to
-effect.  To paint such pictures, one must have the pen of the most
-illustrious of our poets, the author of The Toilers of the Deep.
-
-I have said that Captain Nemo wept while watching the waves; his grief
-was great.  It was the second companion he had lost since our arrival
-on board, and what a death!  That friend, crushed, stifled, bruised by
-the dreadful arms of a poulp, pounded by his iron jaws, would not rest
-with his comrades in the peaceful coral cemetery!  In the midst of the
-struggle, it was the despairing cry uttered by the unfortunate man that
-had torn my heart.  The poor Frenchman, forgetting his conventional
-language, had taken to his own mother tongue, to utter a last appeal!
-Amongst the crew of the Nautilus, associated with the body and soul of
-the Captain, recoiling like him from all contact with men, I had a
-fellow-countryman. Did he alone represent France in this mysterious
-association, evidently composed of individuals of divers nationalities?
-It was one of these insoluble problems that rose up unceasingly before
-my mind!
-
-Captain Nemo entered his room, and I saw him no more for some time.
-But that he was sad and irresolute I could see by the vessel, of which
-he was the soul, and which received all his impressions.  The Nautilus
-did not keep on in its settled course; it floated about like a corpse
-at the will of the waves.  It went at random.  He could not tear
-himself away from the scene of the last struggle, from this sea that
-had devoured one of his men.  Ten days passed thus.  It was not till
-the 1st of May that the Nautilus resumed its northerly course, after
-having sighted the Bahamas at the mouth of the Bahama Canal.  We were
-then following the current from the largest river to the sea, that has
-its banks, its fish, and its proper temperatures.  I mean the Gulf
-Stream.  It is really a river, that flows freely to the middle of the
-Atlantic, and whose waters do not mix with the ocean waters.  It is a
-salt river, salter than the surrounding sea.  Its mean depth is 1,500
-fathoms, its mean breadth ten miles.  In certain places the current
-flows with the speed of two miles and a half an hour.  The body of its
-waters is more considerable than that of all the rivers in the globe.
-It was on this ocean river that the Nautilus then sailed.
-
-I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters of the
-Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light, especially
-in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently.  May 8th, we
-were still crossing Cape Hatteras, at the height of the North Caroline.
-The width of the Gulf Stream there is seventy-five miles, and its depth
-210 yards.  The Nautilus still went at random; all supervision seemed
-abandoned.  I thought that, under these circumstances, escape would be
-possible.  Indeed, the inhabited shores offered anywhere an easy
-refuge.  The sea was incessantly ploughed by the steamers that ply
-between New York or Boston and the Gulf of Mexico, and overrun day and
-night by the little schooners coasting about the several parts of the
-American coast.  We could hope to be picked up.  It was a favourable
-opportunity, notwithstanding the thirty miles that separated the
-Nautilus from the coasts of the Union.  One unfortunate circumstance
-thwarted the Canadian's plans.  The weather was very bad.  We were
-nearing those shores where tempests are so frequent, that country of
-waterspouts and cyclones actually engendered by the current of the Gulf
-Stream.  To tempt the sea in a frail boat was certain destruction.  Ned
-Land owned this himself.  He fretted, seized with nostalgia that flight
-only could cure.
-
-"Master," he said that day to me, "this must come to an end.  I must
-make a clean breast of it.  This Nemo is leaving land and going up to
-the north.  But I declare to you that I have had enough of the South
-Pole, and I will not follow him to the North."
-
-"What is to be done, Ned, since flight is impracticable just now?"
-
-"We must speak to the Captain," said he; "you said nothing when we were
-in your native seas.  I will speak, now we are in mine.  When I think
-that before long the Nautilus will be by Nova Scotia, and that there
-near New foundland is a large bay, and into that bay the St. Lawrence
-empties itself, and that the St. Lawrence is my river, the river by
-Quebec, my native town--when I think of this, I feel furious, it makes
-my hair stand on end.  Sir, I would rather throw myself into the sea!
-I will not stay here!  I am stifled!"
-
-The Canadian was evidently losing all patience.  His vigorous nature
-could not stand this prolonged imprisonment.  His face altered daily;
-his temper became more surly.  I knew what he must suffer, for I was
-seized with home-sickness myself.  Nearly seven months had passed
-without our having had any news from land; Captain Nemo's isolation,
-his altered spirits, especially since the fight with the poulps, his
-taciturnity, all made me view things in a different light.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned, seeing I did not reply.
-
-"Well, Ned, do you wish me to ask Captain Nemo his intentions
-concerning us?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Although he has already made them known?"
-
-"Yes; I wish it settled finally.  Speak for me, in my name only, if you
-like."
-
-"But I so seldom meet him.  He avoids me."
-
-"That is all the more reason for you to go to see him."
-
-I went to my room.  From thence I meant to go to Captain Nemo's.  It
-would not do to let this opportunity of meeting him slip.  I knocked at
-the door.  No answer.  I knocked again, then turned the handle.  The
-door opened, I went in.  The Captain was there.  Bending over his
-work-table, he had not heard me.  Resolved not to go without having
-spoken, I approached him.  He raised his head quickly, frowned, and
-said roughly, "You here!  What do you want?"
-
-"To speak to you, Captain."
-
-"But I am busy, sir; I am working.  I leave you at liberty to shut
-yourself up; cannot I be allowed the same?"
-
-This reception was not encouraging; but I was determined to hear and
-answer everything.
-
-"Sir," I said coldly, "I have to speak to you on a matter that admits
-of no delay."
-
-"What is that, sir?" he replied, ironically.  "Have you discovered
-something that has escaped me, or has the sea delivered up any new
-secrets?"
-
-We were at cross-purposes. But, before I could reply, he showed me an
-open manuscript on his table, and said, in a more serious tone, "Here,
-M. Aronnax, is a manuscript written in several languages.  It contains
-the sum of my studies of the sea; and, if it please God, it shall not
-perish with me.  This manuscript, signed with my name, complete with
-the history of my life, will be shut up in a little floating case.  The
-last survivor of all of us on board the Nautilus will throw this case
-into the sea, and it will go whither it is borne by the waves."
-
-This man's name! his history written by himself!  His mystery would
-then be revealed some day.
-
-"Captain," I said, "I can but approve of the idea that makes you act
-thus.  The result of your studies must not be lost.  But the means you
-employ seem to me to be primitive.  Who knows where the winds will
-carry this case, and in whose hands it will fall?  Could you not use
-some other means?  Could not you, or one of yours----"
-
-"Never, sir!" he said, hastily interrupting me.
-
-"But I and my companions are ready to keep this manuscript in store;
-and, if you will put us at liberty----"
-
-"At liberty?" said the Captain, rising.
-
-"Yes, sir; that is the subject on which I wish to question you.  For
-seven months we have been here on board, and I ask you to-day, in the
-name of my companions and in my own, if your intention is to keep us
-here always?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, I will answer you to-day as I did seven months ago:
-Whoever enters the Nautilus, must never quit it."
-
-"You impose actual slavery upon us!"
-
-"Give it what name you please."
-
-"But everywhere the slave has the right to regain his liberty."
-
-"Who denies you this right?  Have I ever tried to chain you with an
-oath?"
-
-He looked at me with his arms crossed.
-
-"Sir," I said, "to return a second time to this subject will be neither
-to your nor to my taste; but, as we have entered upon it, let us go
-through with it.  I repeat, it is not only myself whom it concerns.
-Study is to me a relief, a diversion, a passion that could make me
-forget everything.  Like you, I am willing to live obscure, in the
-frail hope of bequeathing one day, to future time, the result of my
-labours.  But it is otherwise with Ned Land.  Every man, worthy of the
-name, deserves some consideration.  Have you thought that love of
-liberty, hatred of slavery, can give rise to schemes of revenge in a
-nature like the Canadian's; that he could think, attempt, and try----"
-
-I was silenced; Captain Nemo rose.
-
-"Whatever Ned Land thinks of, attempts, or tries, what does it matter
-to me?  I did not seek him!  It is not for my pleasure that I keep him
-on board!  As for you, M. Aronnax, you are one of those who can
-understand everything, even silence.  I have nothing more to say to
-you.  Let this first time you have come to treat of this subject be the
-last, for a second time I will not listen to you."
-
-I retired.  Our situation was critical.  I related my conversation to
-my two companions.
-
-"We know now," said Ned, "that we can expect nothing from this man.
-The Nautilus is nearing Long Island.  We will escape, whatever the
-weather may be."
-
-But the sky became more and more threatening.  Symptoms of a hurricane
-became manifest.  The atmosphere was becoming white and misty.  On the
-horizon fine streaks of cirrhous clouds were succeeded by masses of
-cumuli.  Other low clouds passed swiftly by.  The swollen sea rose in
-huge billows.  The birds disappeared with the exception of the petrels,
-those friends of the storm.  The barometer fell sensibly, and indicated
-an extreme extension of the vapours.  The mixture of the storm glass
-was decomposed under the influence of the electricity that pervaded the
-atmosphere.  The tempest burst on the 18th of May, just as the Nautilus
-was floating off Long Island, some miles from the port of New York.  I
-can describe this strife of the elements! for, instead of fleeing to
-the depths of the sea, Captain Nemo, by an unaccountable caprice, would
-brave it at the surface.  The wind blew from the south-west at first.
-Captain Nemo, during the squalls, had taken his place on the platform.
-He had made himself fast, to prevent being washed overboard by the
-monstrous waves.  I had hoisted myself up, and made myself fast also,
-dividing my admiration between the tempest and this extraordinary man
-who was coping with it.  The raging sea was swept by huge cloud-drifts,
-which were actually saturated with the waves.  The Nautilus, sometimes
-lying on its side, sometimes standing up like a mast, rolled and
-pitched terribly.  About five o'clock a torrent of rain fell, that
-lulled neither sea nor wind.  The hurri cane blew nearly forty leagues
-an hour.  It is under these conditions that it overturns houses, breaks
-iron gates, displaces twenty-four pounders.  However, the Nautilus, in
-the midst of the tempest, confirmed the words of a clever engineer,
-"There is no well-constructed hull that cannot defy the sea." This was
-not a resisting rock; it was a steel spindle, obedient and movable,
-without rigging or masts, that braved its fury with impunity.  However,
-I watched these raging waves attentively.  They measured fifteen feet
-in height, and 150 to 175 yards long, and their speed of propagation
-was thirty feet per second.  Their bulk and power increased with the
-depth of the water.  Such waves as these, at the Hebrides, have
-displaced a mass weighing 8,400 lb.  They are they which, in the
-tempest of December 23rd, 1864, after destroying the town of Yeddo, in
-Japan, broke the same day on the shores of America.  The intensity of
-the tempest increased with the night.  The barometer, as in 1860 at
-Reunion during a cyclone, fell seven-tenths at the close of day.  I saw
-a large vessel pass the horizon struggling painfully.  She was trying
-to lie to under half steam, to keep up above the waves.  It was
-probably one of the steamers of the line from New York to Liverpool, or
-Havre.  It soon disappeared in the gloom.  At ten o'clock in the
-evening the sky was on fire.  The atmosphere was streaked with vivid
-lightning.  I could not bear the brightness of it; while the captain,
-looking at it, seemed to envy the spirit of the tempest.  A terrible
-noise filled the air, a complex noise, made up of the howls of the
-crushed waves, the roaring of the wind, and the claps of thunder.  The
-wind veered suddenly to all points of the horizon; and the cyclone,
-rising in the east, returned after passing by the north, west, and
-south, in the inverse course pursued by the circular storm of the
-southern hemisphere.  Ah, that Gulf Stream!  It deserves its name of
-the King of Tempests.  It is that which causes those formidable
-cyclones, by the difference of temperature between its air and its
-currents.  A shower of fire had succeeded the rain.  The drops of water
-were changed to sharp spikes.  One would have thought that Captain Nemo
-was courting a death worthy of himself, a death by lightning.  As the
-Nautilus, pitching dreadfully, raised its steel spur in the air, it
-seemed to act as a conductor, and I saw long sparks burst from it.
-Crushed and without strength I crawled to the panel, opened it, and
-descended to the saloon.  The storm was then at its height.  It was
-impossible to stand upright in the interior of the Nautilus.  Captain
-Nemo came down about twelve.  I heard the reservoirs filling by
-degrees, and the Nautilus sank slowly beneath the waves.  Through the
-open windows in the saloon I saw large fish terrified, passing like
-phantoms in the water.  Some were struck before my eyes.  The Nautilus
-was still descending.  I thought that at about eight fathoms deep we
-should find a calm.  But no! the upper beds were too violently agitated
-for that.  We had to seek repose at more than twenty-five fathoms in
-the bowels of the deep.  But there, what quiet, what silence, what
-peace!  Who could have told that such a hurricane had been let loose on
-the surface of that ocean?
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-FROM LATITUDE 47° 24' TO LONGITUDE 17° 28'
-
-In consequence of the storm, we had been thrown eastward once more.
-All hope of escape on the shores of New York or St. Lawrence had faded
-away; and poor Ned, in despair, had isolated himself like Captain Nemo.
-Conseil and I, however, never left each other.  I said that the
-Nautilus had gone aside to the east.  I should have said (to be more
-exact) the north-east. For some days, it wandered first on the surface,
-and then beneath it, amid those fogs so dreaded by sailors.  What
-accidents are due to these thick fogs!  What shocks upon these reefs
-when the wind drowns the breaking of the waves!  What collisions
-between vessels, in spite of their warning lights, whistles, and alarm
-bells!  And the bottoms of these seas look like a field of battle,
-where still lie all the conquered of the ocean; some old and already
-encrusted, others fresh and reflecting from their iron bands and copper
-plates the brilliancy of our lantern.
-
-On the 15th of May we were at the extreme south of the Bank of
-Newfoundland.  This bank consists of alluvia, or large heaps of organic
-matter, brought either from the Equator by the Gulf Stream, or from the
-North Pole by the counter-current of cold water which skirts the
-American coast.  There also are heaped up those erratic blocks which
-are carried along by the broken ice; and close by, a vast charnel-house
-of molluscs, which perish here by millions.  The depth of the sea is
-not great at Newfoundland--not more than some hundreds of fathoms; but
-towards the south is a depression of 1,500 fathoms.  There the Gulf
-Stream widens.  It loses some of its speed and some of its temperature,
-but it becomes a sea.
-
-It was on the 17th of May, about 500 miles from Heart's Content, at a
-depth of more than 1,400 fathoms, that I saw the electric cable lying
-on the bottom.  Conseil, to whom I had not mentioned it, thought at
-first that it was a gigantic sea-serpent. But I undeceived the worthy
-fellow, and by way of consolation related several particulars in the
-laying of this cable.  The first one was laid in the years 1857 and
-1858; but, after transmitting about 400 telegrams, would not act any
-longer.  In 1863 the engineers constructed an other one, measuring
-2,000 miles in length, and weighing 4,500 tons, which was embarked on
-the Great Eastern.  This attempt also failed.
-
-On the 25th of May the Nautilus, being at a depth of more than 1,918
-fathoms, was on the precise spot where the rupture occurred which
-ruined the enterprise.  It was within 638 miles of the coast of
-Ireland; and at half-past two in the afternoon they discovered that
-communication with Europe had ceased.  The electricians on board
-resolved to cut the cable before fishing it up, and at eleven o'clock
-at night they had recovered the damaged part.  They made another point
-and spliced it, and it was once more submerged.  But some days after it
-broke again, and in the depths of the ocean could not be recaptured.
-The Americans, however, were not discouraged.  Cyrus Field, the bold
-promoter of the enterprise, as he had sunk all his own fortune, set a
-new subscription on foot, which was at once answered, and another cable
-was constructed on better principles.  The bundles of conducting wires
-were each enveloped in gutta-percha, and protected by a wadding of
-hemp, contained in a metallic covering.  The Great Eastern sailed on
-the 13th of July, 1866.  The operation worked well.  But one incident
-occurred.  Several times in unrolling the cable they observed that
-nails had recently been forced into it, evidently with the motive of
-destroying it.  Captain Anderson, the officers, and engineers consulted
-together, and had it posted up that, if the offender was surprised on
-board, he would be thrown without further trial into the sea.  From
-that time the criminal attempt was never repeated.
-
-On the 23rd of July the Great Eastern was not more than 500 miles from
-Newfoundland, when they telegraphed from Ireland the news of the
-armistice concluded between Prussia and Austria after Sadowa.  On the
-27th, in the midst of heavy fogs, they reached the port of Heart's
-Content.  The enterprise was successfully terminated; and for its first
-despatch, young America addressed old Europe in these words of wisdom,
-so rarely understood:  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-peace, goodwill towards men."
-
-I did not expect to find the electric cable in its primitive state,
-such as it was on leaving the manufactory.  The long serpent, covered
-with the remains of shells, bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted
-with a strong coating which served as a protection against all boring
-molluscs.  It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and
-under a favourable pressure for the transmission of the electric spark
-which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second.  Doubtless this
-cable will last for a great length of time, for they find that the
-gutta-percha covering is improved by the sea-water. Besides, on this
-level, so well chosen, the cable is never so deeply submerged as to
-cause it to break.  The Nautilus followed it to the lowest depth, which
-was more than 2,212 fathoms, and there it lay without any anchorage;
-and then we reached the spot where the accident had taken place in
-1863.  The bottom of the ocean then formed a valley about 100 miles
-broad, in which Mont Blanc might have been placed without its summit
-appearing above the waves.  This valley is closed at the east by a
-perpendicular wall more than 2,000 yards high.  We arrived there on the
-28th of May, and the Nautilus was then not more than 120 miles from
-Ireland.
-
-Was Captain Nemo going to land on the British Isles?  No. To my great
-surprise he made for the south, once more coming back towards European
-seas.  In rounding the Emerald Isle, for one instant I caught sight of
-Cape Clear, and the light which guides the thousands of vessels leaving
-Glasgow or Liverpool.  An important question then arose in my mind.
-Did the Nautilus dare entangle itself in the Manche?  Ned Land, who had
-re-appeared since we had been nearing land, did not cease to question
-me.  How could I answer?  Captain Nemo remained invisible.  After
-having shown the Canadian a glimpse of American shores, was he going to
-show me the coast of France?
-
-But the Nautilus was still going southward.  On the 30th of May, it
-passed in sight of Land's End, between the extreme point of England and
-the Scilly Isles, which were left to starboard.  If we wished to enter
-the Manche, he must go straight to the east.  He did not do so.
-
-During the whole of the 31st of May, the Nautilus described a series of
-circles on the water, which greatly interested me.  It seemed to be
-seeking a spot it had some trouble in finding.  At noon, Captain Nemo
-himself came to work the ship's log.  He spoke no word to me, but
-seemed gloomier than ever.  What could sadden him thus?  Was it his
-proxim ity to European shores?  Had he some recollections of his
-abandoned country?  If not, what did he feel?  Remorse or regret?  For
-a long while this thought haunted my mind, and I had a kind of
-presentiment that before long chance would betray the captain's secrets.
-
-The next day, the 1st of June, the Nautilus continued the same process.
-It was evidently seeking some particular spot in the ocean.  Captain
-Nemo took the sun's altitude as he had done the day before.  The sea
-was beautiful, the sky clear.  About eight miles to the east, a large
-steam vessel could be discerned on the horizon.  No flag fluttered from
-its mast, and I could not discover its nationality.  Some minutes
-before the sun passed the meridian, Captain Nemo took his sextant, and
-watched with great attention.  The perfect rest of the water greatly
-helped the operation.  The Nautilus was motionless; it neither rolled
-nor pitched.
-
-I was on the platform when the altitude was taken, and the Captain
-pronounced these words:  "It is here."
-
-He turned and went below.  Had he seen the vessel which was changing
-its course and seemed to be nearing us?  I could not tell.  I returned
-to the saloon.  The panels closed, I heard the hissing of the water in
-the reservoirs.  The Nautilus began to sink, following a vertical line,
-for its screw communicated no motion to it.  Some minutes later it
-stopped at a depth of more than 420 fathoms, resting on the ground.
-The luminous ceiling was darkened, then the panels were opened, and
-through the glass I saw the sea brilliantly illuminated by the rays of
-our lantern for at least half a mile round us.
-
-I looked to the port side, and saw nothing but an immensity of quiet
-waters.  But to starboard, on the bottom appeared a large protuberance,
-which at once attracted my attention.  One would have thought it a ruin
-buried under a coating of white shells, much resembling a covering of
-snow.  Upon examining the mass attentively, I could recognise the
-ever-thickening form of a vessel bare of its masts, which must have
-sunk.  It certainly belonged to past times.  This wreck, to be thus
-encrusted with the lime of the water, must already be able to count
-many years passed at the bottom of the ocean.
-
-What was this vessel?  Why did the Nautilus visit its tomb?  Could it
-have been aught but a shipwreck which had drawn it under the water?  I
-knew not what to think, when near me in a slow voice I heard Captain
-Nemo say:
-
-"At one time this ship was called the Marseillais.  It carried
-seventy-four guns, and was launched in 1762.  In 1778, the 13th of
-August, commanded by La Poype-Ver trieux, it fought boldly against the
-Preston.  In 1779, on the 4th of July, it was at the taking of Grenada,
-with the squadron of Admiral Estaing.  In 1781, on the 5th of
-September, it took part in the battle of Comte de Grasse, in Chesapeake
-Bay.  In 1794, the French Republic changed its name.  On the 16th of
-April, in the same year, it joined the squadron of Villaret Joyeuse, at
-Brest, being entrusted with the escort of a cargo of corn coming from
-America, under the command of Admiral Van Stebel.  On the 11th and 12th
-Prairal of the second year, this squadron fell in with an English
-vessel.  Sir, to-day is the 13th Prairal, the first of June, 1868.  It
-is now seventy-four years ago, day for day on this very spot, in
-latitude 47° 24', longitude 17° 28', that this vessel, after
-fighting heroically, losing its three masts, with the water in its
-hold, and the third of its crew disabled, preferred sinking with its
-356 sailors to surrendering; and, nailing its colours to the poop,
-disappeared under the waves to the cry of `Long live the Republic!'"
-
-"The Avenger!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir, the Avenger!  A good name!" muttered Captain Nemo, crossing
-his arms.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-A HECATOMB
-
-The way of describing this unlooked-for scene, the history of the
-patriot ship, told at first so coldly, and the emotion with which this
-strange man pronounced the last words, the name of the Avenger, the
-significance of which could not escape me, all impressed itself deeply
-on my mind.  My eyes did not leave the Captain, who, with his hand
-stretched out to sea, was watching with a glowing eye the glorious
-wreck.  Perhaps I was never to know who he was, from whence he came, or
-where he was going to, but I saw the man move, and apart from the
-_savant_.  It was no common misanthropy which had shut Captain Nemo and
-his companions within the Nautilus, but a hatred, either monstrous or
-sublime, which time could never weaken.  Did this hatred still seek for
-vengeance?  The future would soon teach me that.  But the Nautilus was
-rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the form of the Avenger
-disappeared by degrees from my sight.  Soon a slight rolling told me
-that we were in the open air.  At that moment a dull boom was heard.  I
-looked at the Captain.  He did not move.
-
-"Captain?" said I.
-
-He did not answer.  I left him and mounted the platform.  Conseil and
-the Canadian were already there.
-
-"Where did that sound come from?"  I asked.
-
-"It was a gunshot," replied Ned Land.
-
-I looked in the direction of the vessel I had already seen.  It was
-nearing the Nautilus, and we could see that it was putting on steam.
-It was within six miles of us.
-
-"What is that ship, Ned?"
-
-"By its rigging, and the height of its lower masts," said the Canadian,
-"I bet she is a ship-of-war. May it reach us; and, if necessary, sink
-this cursed Nautilus."
-
-"Friend Ned," replied Conseil, "what harm can it do to the Nautilus?
-Can it attack it beneath the waves?  Can its cannonade us at the bottom
-of the sea?"
-
-"Tell me, Ned," said I, "can you recognise what country she belongs to?"
-
-The Canadian knitted his eyebrows, dropped his eyelids, and screwed up
-the corners of his eyes, and for a few moments fixed a piercing look
-upon the vessel.
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "I cannot tell what nation she belongs to, for
-she shows no colours.  But I can declare she is a man-of-war, for a
-long pennant flutters from her main mast."
-
-For a quarter of an hour we watched the ship which was steaming towards
-us.  I could not, however, believe that she could see the Nautilus from
-that distance; and still less that she could know what this submarine
-engine was.  Soon the Canadian informed me that she was a large,
-armoured, two-decker ram.  A thick black smoke was pouring from her two
-funnels.  Her closely-furled sails were stopped to her yards.  She
-hoisted no flag at her mizzen-peak. The distance prevented us from
-distinguishing the colours of her pennant, which floated like a thin
-ribbon.  She advanced rapidly.  If Captain Nemo allowed her to
-approach, there was a chance of salvation for us.
-
-"Sir," said Ned Land, "if that vessel passes within a mile of us I
-shall throw myself into the sea, and I should advise you to do the
-same."
-
-I did not reply to the Canadian's suggestion, but continued watching
-the ship.  Whether English, French, American, or Russian, she would be
-sure to take us in if we could only reach her.  Presently a white smoke
-burst from the fore part of the vessel; some seconds after, the water,
-agitated by the fall of a heavy body, splashed the stern of the
-Nautilus, and shortly afterwards a loud explosion struck my ear.
-
-"What! they are firing at us!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"So please you, sir," said Ned, "they have recognised the unicorn, and
-they are firing at us."
-
-"But," I exclaimed, "surely they can see that there are men in the
-case?"
-
-"It is, perhaps, because of that," replied Ned Land, looking at me.
-
-A whole flood of light burst upon my mind.  Doubtless they knew now how
-to believe the stories of the pretended monster.  No doubt, on board
-the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian struck it with the harpoon,
-Commander Farragut had recognised in the supposed narwhal a submarine
-vessel, more dangerous than a supernatural cetacean.  Yes, it must have
-been so; and on every sea they were now seeking this engine of
-destruction.  Terrible indeed! if, as we supposed, Captain Nemo
-employed the Nautilus in works of vengeance.  On the night when we were
-imprisoned in that cell, in the midst of the Indian Ocean, had he not
-attacked some vessel?  The man buried in the coral cemetery, had he not
-been a victim to the shock caused by the Nautilus?  Yes, I repeat it,
-it must be so.  One part of the mysterious existence of Captain Nemo
-had been unveiled; and, if his identity had not been recognised, at
-least, the nations united against him were no longer hunting a
-chimerical creature, but a man who had vowed a deadly hatred against
-them.  All the formidable past rose before me.  Instead of meeting
-friends on board the approaching ship, we could only expect pitiless
-enemies.  But the shot rattled about us.  Some of them struck the sea
-and ricochetted, losing themselves in the distance.  But none touched
-the Nautilus.  The vessel was not more than three miles from us.  In
-spite of the serious cannonade, Captain Nemo did not appear on the
-platform; but, if one of the conical projectiles had struck the shell
-of the Nautilus, it would have been fatal.  The Canadian then said,
-"Sir, we must do all we can to get out of this dilemma.  Let us signal
-them.  They will then, perhaps, understand that we are honest folks."
-
-Ned Land took his handkerchief to wave in the air; but he had scarcely
-displayed it, when he was struck down by an iron hand, and fell, in
-spite of his great strength, upon the deck.
-
-"Fool!" exclaimed the Captain, "do you wish to be pierced by the spur
-of the Nautilus before it is hurled at this vessel?"
-
-Captain Nemo was terrible to hear; he was still more terrible to see.
-His face was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart.  For an instant it
-must have ceased to beat.  His pupils were fearfully contracted.  He
-did not speak, he roared, as, with his body thrown forward, he wrung
-the Canadian's shoulders.  Then, leaving him, and turning to the ship
-of war, whose shot was still raining around him, he exclaimed, with a
-powerful voice, "Ah, ship of an accursed nation, you know who I am!  I
-do not want your colours to know you by!  Look! and I will show you
-mine!"
-
-And on the fore part of the platform Captain Nemo unfurled a black
-flag, similar to the one he had placed at the South Pole.  At that
-moment a shot struck the shell of the Nautilus obliquely, without
-piercing it; and, rebounding near the Captain, was lost in the sea.  He
-shrugged his shoulders; and, addressing me, said shortly, "Go down, you
-and your companions, go down!"
-
-"Sir," I cried, "are you going to attack this vessel?"
-
-"Sir, I am going to sink it."
-
-"You will not do that?"
-
-"I shall do it," he replied coldly.  "And I advise you not to judge me,
-sir.  Fate has shown you what you ought not to have seen.  The attack
-has begun; go down."
-
-"What is this vessel?"
-
-"You do not know?  Very well! so much the better!  Its nationality to
-you, at least, will be a secret.  Go down!"
-
-We could but obey.  About fifteen of the sailors surrounded the
-Captain, looking with implacable hatred at the vessel nearing them.
-One could feel that the same desire of vengeance animated every soul.
-I went down at the moment another projectile struck the Nautilus, and I
-heard the Captain exclaim:
-
-"Strike, mad vessel!  Shower your useless shot!  And then, you will not
-escape the spur of the Nautilus.  But it is not here that you shall
-perish!  I would not have your ruins mingle with those of the Avenger!"
-
-I reached my room.  The Captain and his second had remained on the
-platform.  The screw was set in motion, and the Nautilus, moving with
-speed, was soon beyond the reach of the ship's guns.  But the pursuit
-continued, and Captain Nemo contented himself with keeping his distance.
-
-About four in the afternoon, being no longer able to contain my
-impatience, I went to the central staircase.  The panel was open, and I
-ventured on to the platform.  The Captain was still walking up and down
-with an agitated step.  He was looking at the ship, which was five or
-six miles to leeward.
-
-He was going round it like a wild beast, and, drawing it eastward, he
-allowed them to pursue.  But he did not attack.  Perhaps he still
-hesitated?  I wished to mediate once more.  But I had scarcely spoken,
-when Captain Nemo imposed silence, saying:
-
-"I am the law, and I am the judge!  I am the oppressed, and there is
-the oppressor!  Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished,
-and venerated--country, wife, children, father, and mother.  I saw all
-perish!  All that I hate is there!  Say no more!"
-
-I cast a last look at the man-of-war, which was putting on steam, and
-rejoined Ned and Conseil.
-
-"We will fly!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Good!" said Ned.  "What is this vessel?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, it will be sunk before night.  In
-any case, it is better to perish with it, than be made accomplices in a
-retaliation the justice of which we cannot judge."
-
-"That is my opinion too," said Ned Land, coolly.  "Let us wait for
-night."
-
-Night arrived.  Deep silence reigned on board.  The compass showed that
-the Nautilus had not altered its course.  It was on the surface,
-rolling slightly.  My companions and I resolved to fly when the vessel
-should be near enough either to hear us or to see us; for the moon,
-which would be full in two or three days, shone brightly.  Once on
-board the ship, if we could not prevent the blow which threatened it,
-we could, at least we would, do all that circumstances would allow.
-Several times I thought the Nautilus was preparing for attack; but
-Captain Nemo contented himself with allowing his adversary to approach,
-and then fled once more before it.
-
-Part of the night passed without any incident.  We watched the
-opportunity for action.  We spoke little, for we were too much moved.
-Ned Land would have thrown himself into the sea, but I forced him to
-wait.  According to my idea, the Nautilus would attack the ship at her
-waterline, and then it would not only be possible, but easy to fly.
-
-At three in the morning, full of uneasiness, I mounted the platform.
-Captain Nemo had not left it.  He was standing at the fore part near
-his flag, which a slight breeze displayed above his head.  He did not
-take his eyes from the vessel.  The intensity of his look seemed to
-attract, and fascinate, and draw it onward more surely than if he had
-been towing it.  The moon was then passing the meridian.  Jupiter was
-rising in the east.  Amid this peaceful scene of nature, sky and ocean
-rivalled each other in tranquillity, the sea offering to the orbs of
-night the finest mirror they could ever have in which to reflect their
-image.  As I thought of the deep calm of these elements, compared with
-all those passions brooding imperceptibly within the Nautilus, I
-shuddered.
-
-The vessel was within two miles of us.  It was ever nearing that
-phosphorescent light which showed the presence of the Nautilus.  I
-could see its green and red lights, and its white lantern hanging from
-the large foremast.  An indistinct vibration quivered through its
-rigging, showing that the furnaces were heated to the uttermost.
-Sheaves of sparks and red ashes flew from the funnels, shining in the
-atmosphere like stars.
-
-I remained thus until six in the morning, without Captain Nemo noticing
-me.  The ship stood about a mile and a half from us, and with the first
-dawn of day the firing began afresh.  The moment could not be far off
-when, the Nautilus attacking its adversary, my companions and myself
-should for ever leave this man.  I was preparing to go down to remind
-them, when the second mounted the platform, accompanied by several
-sailors.  Captain Nemo either did not or would not see them.  Some
-steps were taken which might be called the signal for action.  They
-were very simple.  The iron balustrade around the platform was lowered,
-and the lantern and pilot cages were pushed within the shell until they
-were flush with the deck.  The long surface of the steel cigar no
-longer offered a single point to check its manoeuvres.  I returned to
-the saloon.  The Nautilus still floated; some streaks of light were
-filtering through the liquid beds.  With the undulations of the waves
-the windows were brightened by the red streaks of the rising sun, and
-this dreadful day of the 2nd of June had dawned.
-
-At five o'clock, the log showed that the speed of the Nautilus was
-slackening, and I knew that it was allowing them to draw nearer.
-Besides, the reports were heard more distinctly, and the projectiles,
-labouring through the ambient water, were extinguished with a strange
-hissing noise.
-
-"My friends," said I, "the moment is come.  One grasp of the hand, and
-may God protect us!"
-
-Ned Land was resolute, Conseil calm, myself so nervous that I knew not
-how to contain myself.  We all passed into the library; but the moment
-I pushed the door opening on to the central staircase, I heard the
-upper panel close sharply.  The Canadian rushed on to the stairs, but I
-stopped him.  A well-known hissing noise told me that the water was
-running into the reservoirs, and in a few minutes the Nautilus was some
-yards beneath the surface of the waves.  I understood the manoeuvre.
-It was too late to act.  The Nautilus did not wish to strike at the
-impenetrable cuirass, but below the water-line, where the metallic
-covering no longer protected it.
-
-We were again imprisoned, unwilling witnesses of the dreadful drama
-that was preparing.  We had scarcely time to reflect; taking refuge in
-my room, we looked at each other without speaking.  A deep stupor had
-taken hold of my mind:  thought seemed to stand still.  I was in that
-painful state of expectation preceding a dreadful report.  I waited, I
-listened, every sense was merged in that of hearing!  The speed of the
-Nautilus was accelerated.  It was preparing to rush.  The whole ship
-trembled.  Suddenly I screamed.  I felt the shock, but comparatively
-light.  I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur.  I heard
-rattlings and scrapings.  But the Nautilus, carried along by its
-propelling power, passed through the mass of the vessel like a needle
-through sailcloth!
-
-I could stand it no longer.  Mad, out of my mind, I rushed from my room
-into the saloon.  Captain Nemo was there, mute, gloomy, implacable; he
-was looking through the port panel.  A large mass cast a shadow on the
-water; and, that it might lose nothing of her agony, the Nautilus was
-going down into the abyss with her.  Ten yards from me I saw the open
-shell, through which the water was rushing with the noise of thunder,
-then the double line of guns and the netting.  The bridge was covered
-with black, agitated shadows.
-
-The water was rising.  The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines,
-clinging to the masts, struggling under the water.  It was a human
-ant-heap overtaken by the sea.  Paralysed, stiffened with anguish, my
-hair standing on end, with eyes wide open, panting, without breath, and
-without voice, I too was watching!  An irresistible attraction glued me
-to the glass!  Suddenly an explosion took place.  The compressed air
-blew up her decks, as if the magazines had caught fire.  Then the
-unfortunate vessel sank more rapidly.  Her topmast, laden with victims,
-now appeared; then her spars, bending under the weight of men; and,
-last of all, the top of her mainmast.  Then the dark mass disappeared,
-and with it the dead crew, drawn down by the strong eddy.
-
-I turned to Captain Nemo.  That terrible avenger, a perfect archangel
-of hatred, was still looking.  When all was over, he turned to his
-room, opened the door, and entered.  I followed him with my eyes.  On
-the end wall beneath his heroes, I saw the portrait of a woman, still
-young, and two little children.  Captain Nemo looked at them for some
-moments, stretched his arms towards them, and, kneeling down, burst
-into deep sobs.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
-
-The panels had closed on this dreadful vision, but light had not
-returned to the saloon:  all was silence and darkness within the
-Nautilus.  At wonderful speed, a hundred feet beneath the water, it was
-leaving this desolate spot.  Whither was it going?  To the north or
-south?  Where was the man flying to after such dreadful retaliation?  I
-had returned to my room, where Ned and Conseil had remained silent
-enough.  I felt an insurmountable horror for Captain Nemo.  Whatever he
-had suffered at the hands of these men, he had no right to punish thus.
-He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least a witness of his
-vengeance.  At eleven the electric light reappeared.  I passed into the
-saloon.  It was deserted.  I consulted the different instruments.  The
-Nautilus was flying northward at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour,
-now on the surface, and now thirty feet below it.  On taking the
-bearings by the chart, I saw that we were passing the mouth of the
-Manche, and that our course was hurrying us towards the northern seas
-at a frightful speed.  That night we had crossed two hundred leagues of
-the Atlantic.  The shadows fell, and the sea was covered with darkness
-until the rising of the moon.  I went to my room, but could not sleep.
-I was troubled with dreadful nightmare.  The horrible scene of
-destruction was continually before my eyes.  From that day, who could
-tell into what part of the North Atlantic basin the Nautilus would take
-us?  Still with unaccountable speed.  Still in the midst of these
-northern fogs.  Would it touch at Spitzbergen, or on the shores of Nova
-Zembla?  Should we explore those unknown seas, the White Sea, the Sea
-of Kara, the Gulf of Obi, the Archipelago of Liarrov, and the unknown
-coast of Asia?  I could not say.  I could no longer judge of the time
-that was passing.  The clocks had been stopped on board.  It seemed, as
-in polar countries, that night and day no longer followed their regular
-course.  I felt myself being drawn into that strange region where the
-foundered imagination of Edgar Poe roamed at will.  Like the fabulous
-Gordon Pym, at every moment I expected to see "that veiled human
-figure, of larger proportions than those of any inhabitant of the
-earth, thrown across the cataract which defends the approach to the
-pole." I estimated (though, perhaps, I may be mistaken)--I estimated
-this adventurous course of the Nautilus to have lasted fifteen or
-twenty days.  And I know not how much longer it might have lasted, had
-it not been for the catastrophe which ended this voyage.  Of Captain
-Nemo I saw nothing whatever now, nor of his second.  Not a man of the
-crew was visible for an instant.  The Nautilus was almost incessantly
-under water.  When we came to the surface to renew the air, the panels
-opened and shut mechanically.  There were no more marks on the
-planisphere.  I knew not where we were.  And the Canadian, too, his
-strength and patience at an end, appeared no more.  Conseil could not
-draw a word from him; and, fearing that, in a dreadful fit of madness,
-he might kill himself, watched him with constant devotion.  One morning
-(what date it was I could not say) I had fallen into a heavy sleep
-towards the early hours, a sleep both painful and unhealthy, when I
-suddenly awoke.  Ned Land was leaning over me, saying, in a low voice,
-"We are going to fly."  I sat up.
-
-"When shall we go?"  I asked.
-
-"To-night. All inspection on board the Nautilus seems to have ceased.
-All appear to be stupefied.  You will be ready, sir?"
-
-"Yes; where are we?"
-
-"In sight of land.  I took the reckoning this morning in the
-fog--twenty miles to the east."
-
-"What country is it?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, we will take refuge there."
-
-"Yes, Ned, yes.  We will fly to-night, even if the sea should swallow
-us up."
-
-"The sea is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light boat
-of the Nautilus does not frighten me.  Unknown to the crew, I have been
-able to procure food and some bottles of water."
-
-"I will follow you."
-
-"But," continued the Canadian, "if I am surprised, I will defend
-myself; I will force them to kill me."
-
-"We will die together, friend Ned."
-
-I had made up my mind to all.  The Canadian left me.  I reached the
-platform, on which I could with difficulty support myself against the
-shock of the waves.  The sky was threatening; but, as land was in those
-thick brown shadows, we must fly.  I returned to the saloon, fearing
-and yet hoping to see Captain Nemo, wishing and yet not wishing to see
-him.  What could I have said to him?  Could I hide the involuntary
-horror with which he inspired me?  No. It was better that I should not
-meet him face to face; better to forget him.  And yet----  How long
-seemed that day, the last that I should pass in the Nautilus.  I
-remained alone.  Ned Land and Conseil avoided speaking, for fear of
-betraying themselves.  At six I dined, but I was not hungry; I forced
-myself to eat in spite of my disgust, that I might not weaken myself.
-At half-past six Ned Land came to my room, saying, "We shall not see
-each other again before our departure.  At ten the moon will not be
-risen.  We will profit by the darkness.  Come to the boat; Conseil and
-I will wait for you."
-
-The Canadian went out without giving me time to answer.  Wishing to
-verify the course of the Nautilus, I went to the saloon.  We were
-running N.N.E. at frightful speed, and more than fifty yards deep.  I
-cast a last look on these wonders of nature, on the riches of art
-heaped up in this museum, upon the unrivalled collection destined to
-perish at the bottom of the sea, with him who had formed it.  I wished
-to fix an indelible impression of it in my mind.  I remained an hour
-thus, bathed in the light of that luminous ceiling, and passing in
-review those treasures shining under their glasses.  Then I returned to
-my room.
-
-I dressed myself in strong sea clothing.  I collected my notes, placing
-them carefully about me.  My heart beat loudly.  I could not check its
-pulsations.  Certainly my trouble and agitation would have betrayed me
-to Captain Nemo's eyes.  What was he doing at this moment?  I listened
-at the door of his room.  I heard steps.  Captain Nemo was there.  He
-had not gone to rest.  At every moment I expected to see him appear,
-and ask me why I wished to fly.  I was constantly on the alert.  My
-imagination magnified everything.  The impression became at last so
-poignant that I asked myself if it would not be better to go to the
-Captain's room, see him face to face, and brave him with look and
-gesture.
-
-It was the inspiration of a madman; fortunately I resisted the desire,
-and stretched myself on my bed to quiet my bodily agitation.  My nerves
-were somewhat calmer, but in my excited brain I saw over again all my
-existence on board the Nautilus; every incident, either happy or
-unfortunate, which had happened since my disappearance from the Abraham
-Lincoln--the submarine hunt, the Torres Straits, the savages of Papua,
-the running ashore, the coral cemetery, the passage of Suez, the Island
-of Santorin, the Cretan diver, Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the iceberg, the
-South Pole, the imprisonment in the ice, the fight among the poulps,
-the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, and the horrible scene of
-the vessel sunk with all her crew.  All these events passed before my
-eyes like scenes in a drama.  Then Captain Nemo seemed to grow
-enormously, his features to assume superhuman proportions.  He was no
-longer my equal, but a man of the waters, the genie of the sea.
-
-It was then half-past nine.  I held my head between my hands to keep it
-from bursting.  I closed my eyes; I would not think any longer.  There
-was another half-hour to wait, another half-hour of a nightmare, which
-might drive me mad.
-
-At that moment I heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony
-to an undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break these
-earthly bonds.  I listened with every sense, scarcely breathing;
-plunged, like Captain Nemo, in that musical ecstasy, which was drawing
-him in spirit to the end of life.
-
-Then a sudden thought terrified me.  Captain Nemo had left his room.
-He was in the saloon, which I must cross to fly.  There I should meet
-him for the last time.  He would see me, perhaps speak to me.  A
-gesture of his might destroy me, a single word chain me on board.
-
-But ten was about to strike.  The moment had come for me to leave my
-room, and join my companions.
-
-I must not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himself should rise before
-me.  I opened my door carefully; and even then, as it turned on its
-hinges, it seemed to me to make a dreadful noise.  Perhaps it only
-existed in my own imagination.
-
-I crept along the dark stairs of the Nautilus, stopping at each step to
-check the beating of my heart.  I reached the door of the saloon, and
-opened it gently.  It was plunged in profound darkness.  The strains of
-the organ sounded faintly.  Captain Nemo was there.  He did not see me.
-In the full light I do not think he would have noticed me, so entirely
-was he absorbed in the ecstasy.
-
-I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound which might
-betray my presence.  I was at least five minutes reaching the door, at
-the opposite side, opening into the library.
-
-I was going to open it, when a sigh from Captain Nemo nailed me to the
-spot.  I knew that he was rising.  I could even see him, for the light
-from the library came through to the saloon.  He came towards me
-silently, with his arms crossed, gliding like a spectre rather than
-walking.  His breast was swelling with sobs; and I heard him murmur
-these words (the last which ever struck my ear):
-
-"Almighty God! enough! enough!"
-
-Was it a confession of remorse which thus escaped from this man's
-conscience?
-
-In desperation, I rushed through the library, mounted the central
-staircase, and, following the upper flight, reached the boat.  I crept
-through the opening, which had already admitted my two companions.
-
-"Let us go! let us go!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Directly!" replied the Canadian.
-
-The orifice in the plates of the Nautilus was first closed, and
-fastened down by means of a false key, with which Ned Land had provided
-himself; the opening in the boat was also closed.  The Canadian began
-to loosen the bolts which still held us to the submarine boat.
-
-Suddenly a noise was heard.  Voices were answering each other loudly.
-What was the matter?  Had they discovered our flight?  I felt Ned Land
-slipping a dagger into my hand.
-
-"Yes," I murmured, "we know how to die!"
-
-The Canadian had stopped in his work.  But one word many times
-repeated, a dreadful word, revealed the cause of the agitation
-spreading on board the Nautilus.  It was not we the crew were looking
-after!
-
-"The maelstrom! the maelstrom!"  Could a more dreadful word in a more
-dreadful situation have sounded in our ears!  We were then upon the
-dangerous coast of Norway.  Was the Nautilus being drawn into this gulf
-at the moment our boat was going to leave its sides?  We knew that at
-the tide the pent-up waters between the islands of Ferroe and Loffoden
-rush with irresistible violence, forming a whirlpool from which no
-vessel ever escapes.  From every point of the horizon enormous waves
-were meeting, forming a gulf justly called the "Navel of the Ocean,"
-whose power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve miles.
-There, not only vessels, but whales are sacrificed, as well as white
-bears from the northern regions.
-
-It is thither that the Nautilus, voluntarily or involuntarily, had been
-run by the Captain.
-
-It was describing a spiral, the circumference of which was lessening by
-degrees, and the boat, which was still fastened to its side, was
-carried along with giddy speed.  I felt that sickly giddiness which
-arises from long-continued whirling round.
-
-We were in dread.  Our horror was at its height, circulation had
-stopped, all nervous influence was annihilated, and we were covered
-with cold sweat, like a sweat of agony!  And what noise around our
-frail bark!  What roarings repeated by the echo miles away!  What an
-uproar was that of the waters broken on the sharp rocks at the bottom,
-where the hardest bodies are crushed, and trees worn away, "with all
-the fur rubbed off," according to the Norwegian phrase!
-
-What a situation to be in!  We rocked frightfully.  The Nautilus
-defended itself like a human being.  Its steel muscles cracked.
-Sometimes it seemed to stand upright, and we with it!
-
-"We must hold on," said Ned, "and look after the bolts.  We may still
-be saved if we stick to the Nautilus."
-
-He had not finished the words, when we heard a crashing noise, the
-bolts gave way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was hurled like a
-stone from a sling into the midst of the whirlpool.
-
-My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock I lost
-all consciousness.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-CONCLUSION
-
-Thus ends the voyage under the seas.  What passed during that
-night--how the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom--how Ned
-Land, Conseil, and myself ever came out of the gulf, I cannot tell.
-
-But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman's hut,
-on the Loffoden Isles.  My two companions, safe and sound, were near me
-holding my hands.  We embraced each other heartily.
-
-At that moment we could not think of returning to France.  The means of
-communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare.  And
-I am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly from
-Cape North.
-
-And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us, I revise
-my record of these adventures once more.  Not a fact has been omitted,
-not a detail exaggerated.  It is a faithful narrative of this
-incredible expedition in an element inaccessible to man, but to which
-Progress will one day open a road.
-
-Shall I be believed?  I do not know.  And it matters little, after all.
-What I now affirm is, that I have a right to speak of these seas, under
-which, in less than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that
-submarine tour of the world, which has revealed so many wonders.
-
-But what has become of the Nautilus?  Did it resist the pressure of the
-maelstrom?  Does Captain Nemo still live?  And does he still follow
-under the ocean those frightful retaliations?  Or, did he stop after
-the last hecatomb?
-
-Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing the
-history of his life?  Shall I ever know the name of this man?  Will the
-missing vessel tell us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo?
-
-I hope so.  And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered the
-sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the Nautilus has survived where
-so many other vessels have been lost!  If it be so--if Captain Nemo
-still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be appeased
-in that savage heart!  May the contemplation of so many wonders
-extinguish for ever the spirit of vengeance!  May the judge disappear,
-and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea!  If
-his destiny be strange, it is also sublime.  Have I not understood it
-myself?  Have I not lived ten months of this unnatural life?  And to
-the question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago, "That
-which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?" two men
-alone of all now living have the right to give an answer----
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-Project Gutenberg's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
-(slightly abridged), by Jules Verne
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
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-Title: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (slightly abridged)
-
-Author: Jules Verne
-
-Release Date: Sep 1, 1994 [EBook #164]
-Last Updated: December 13, 2016
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 20000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA ***
-
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-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-This etext was done by a number of anonymous volunteers of the
-Gutenberg Project, to whom we owe a great deal of thanks and to
-whom we dedicate this book.
-
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-
-
-
-
-TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
-
-
-by
-
-JULES VERNE
-
-
-
-
-
-PART ONE
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-A SHIFTING REEF
-
-The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and
-puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.  Not to
-mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the
-public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were
-particularly excited.  Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels,
-skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries,
-and the Governments of several States on the two continents, were
-deeply interested in the matter.
-
-For some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing," a long
-object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely
-larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
-
-The facts relating to this apparition (entered in various log-books)
-agreed in most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in
-question, the untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power
-of locomotion, and the peculiar life with which it seemed endowed.  If
-it was a whale, it surpassed in size all those hitherto classified in
-science.  Taking into consideration the mean of observations made at
-divers times--rejecting the timid estimate of those who assigned to
-this object a length of two hundred feet, equally with the exaggerated
-opinions which set it down as a mile in width and three in length--we
-might fairly conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly all
-dimensions admitted by the learned ones of the day, if it existed at
-all.  And that it DID exist was an undeniable fact; and, with that
-tendency which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvellous, we
-can understand the excitement produced in the entire world by this
-supernatural apparition.  As to classing it in the list of fables, the
-idea was out of the question.
-
-On the 20th of July, 1866, the steamer Governor Higginson, of the
-Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had met this moving mass
-five miles off the east coast of Australia.  Captain Baker thought at
-first that he was in the presence of an unknown sandbank; he even
-prepared to determine its exact position when two columns of water,
-projected by the mysterious object, shot with a hissing noise a hundred
-and fifty feet up into the air.  Now, unless the sandbank had been
-submitted to the intermittent eruption of a geyser, the Governor
-Higginson had to do neither more nor less than with an aquatic mammal,
-unknown till then, which threw up from its blow-holes columns of water
-mixed with air and vapour.
-
-Similar facts were observed on the 23rd of July in the same year, in
-the Pacific Ocean, by the Columbus, of the West India and Pacific Steam
-Navigation Company.  But this extraordinary creature could transport
-itself from one place to another with surprising velocity; as, in an
-interval of three days, the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had
-observed it at two different points of the chart, separated by a
-distance of more than seven hundred nautical leagues.
-
-Fifteen days later, two thousand miles farther off, the Helvetia, of
-the Compagnie-Nationale, and the Shannon, of the Royal Mail Steamship
-Company, sailing to windward in that portion of the Atlantic lying
-between the United States and Europe, respectively signalled the
-monster to each other in 42 deg. 15' N. lat. and 60 deg. 35' W. long.
-In these simultaneous observations they thought themselves justified in
-estimating the minimum length of the mammal at more than three hundred
-and fifty feet, as the Shannon and Helvetia were of smaller dimensions
-than it, though they measured three hundred feet over all.
-
-Now the largest whales, those which frequent those parts of the sea
-round the Aleutian, Kulammak, and Umgullich islands, have never
-exceeded the length of sixty yards, if they attain that.
-
-In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion.  They sang
-of it in the cafes, ridiculed it in the papers, and represented it on
-the stage.  All kinds of stories were circulated regarding it.  There
-appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary
-creature, from the white whale, the terrible "Moby Dick" of sub-arctic
-regions, to the immense kraken, whose tentacles could entangle a ship
-of five hundred tons and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean.  The
-legends of ancient times were even revived.
-
-Then burst forth the unending argument between the believers and the
-unbelievers in the societies of the wise and the scientific journals.
-"The question of the monster" inflamed all minds.  Editors of
-scientific journals, quarrelling with believers in the supernatural,
-spilled seas of ink during this memorable campaign, some even drawing
-blood; for from the sea-serpent they came to direct personalities.
-
-During the first months of the year 1867 the question seemed buried,
-never to revive, when new facts were brought before the public.  It was
-then no longer a scientific problem to be solved, but a real danger
-seriously to be avoided.  The question took quite another shape.  The
-monster became a small island, a rock, a reef, but a reef of indefinite
-and shifting proportions.
-
-On the 5th of March, 1867, the Moravian, of the Montreal Ocean Company,
-finding herself during the night in 27 deg. 30' lat. and 72 deg. 15'
-long., struck on her starboard quarter a rock, marked in no chart for
-that part of the sea.  Under the combined efforts of the wind and its
-four hundred horse power, it was going at the rate of thirteen knots.
-Had it not been for the superior strength of the hull of the Moravian,
-she would have been broken by the shock and gone down with the 237
-passengers she was bringing home from Canada.
-
-The accident happened about five o'clock in the morning, as the day was
-breaking.  The officers of the quarter-deck hurried to the after-part
-of the vessel.  They examined the sea with the most careful attention.
-They saw nothing but a strong eddy about three cables' length distant,
-as if the surface had been violently agitated.  The bearings of the
-place were taken exactly, and the Moravian continued its route without
-apparent damage.  Had it struck on a submerged rock, or on an enormous
-wreck?  They could not tell; but, on examination of the ship's bottom
-when undergoing repairs, it was found that part of her keel was broken.
-
-This fact, so grave in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten like
-many others if, three weeks after, it had not been re-enacted under
-similar circumstances.  But, thanks to the nationality of the victim of
-the shock, thanks to the reputation of the company to which the vessel
-belonged, the circumstance became extensively circulated.
-
-The 13th of April, 1867, the sea being beautiful, the breeze
-favourable, the Scotia, of the Cunard Company's line, found herself in
-15 deg. 12' long. and 45 deg. 37' lat.  She was going at the speed of
-thirteen knots and a half.
-
-At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, whilst the passengers
-were assembled at lunch in the great saloon, a slight shock was felt on
-the hull of the Scotia, on her quarter, a little aft of the port-paddle.
-
-The Scotia had not struck, but she had been struck, and seemingly by
-something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt.  The shock had been
-so slight that no one had been alarmed, had it not been for the shouts
-of the carpenter's watch, who rushed on to the bridge, exclaiming, "We
-are sinking! we are sinking!"  At first the passengers were much
-frightened, but Captain Anderson hastened to reassure them.  The danger
-could not be imminent.  The Scotia, divided into seven compartments by
-strong partitions, could brave with impunity any leak.  Captain
-Anderson went down immediately into the hold.  He found that the sea
-was pouring into the fifth compartment; and the rapidity of the influx
-proved that the force of the water was considerable.  Fortunately this
-compartment did not hold the boilers, or the fires would have been
-immediately extinguished.  Captain Anderson ordered the engines to be
-stopped at once, and one of the men went down to ascertain the extent
-of the injury.  Some minutes afterwards they discovered the existence
-of a large hole, two yards in diameter, in the ship's bottom.  Such a
-leak could not be stopped; and the Scotia, her paddles half submerged,
-was obliged to continue her course.  She was then three hundred miles
-from Cape Clear, and, after three days' delay, which caused great
-uneasiness in Liverpool, she entered the basin of the company.
-
-The engineers visited the Scotia, which was put in dry dock.  They
-could scarcely believe it possible; at two yards and a half below
-water-mark was a regular rent, in the form of an isosceles triangle.
-The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined that it
-could not have been more neatly done by a punch.  It was clear, then,
-that the instrument producing the perforation was not of a common stamp
-and, after having been driven with prodigious strength, and piercing an
-iron plate 1 3/8 inches thick, had withdrawn itself by a backward
-motion.
-
-Such was the last fact, which resulted in exciting once more the
-torrent of public opinion.  From this moment all unlucky casualties
-which could not be otherwise accounted for were put down to the monster.
-
-Upon this imaginary creature rested the responsibility of all these
-shipwrecks, which unfortunately were considerable; for of three
-thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded at Lloyd's, the number
-of sailing and steam-ships supposed to be totally lost, from the
-absence of all news, amounted to not less than two hundred!
-
-Now, it was the "monster" who, justly or unjustly, was accused of their
-disappearance, and, thanks to it, communication between the different
-continents became more and more dangerous.  The public demanded sharply
-that the seas should at any price be relieved from this formidable
-cetacean.[1]
-
-
-[1] Member of the whale family.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-PRO AND CON
-
-At the period when these events took place, I had just returned from a
-scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the
-United States.  In virtue of my office as Assistant Professor in the
-Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French Government had attached
-me to that expedition.  After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New
-York towards the end of March, laden with a precious collection.  My
-departure for France was fixed for the first days in May.  Meanwhile I
-was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and
-zoological riches, when the accident happened to the Scotia.
-
-I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day.
-How could I be otherwise?  I had read and reread all the American and
-European papers without being any nearer a conclusion.  This mystery
-puzzled me.  Under the impossibility of forming an opinion, I jumped
-from one extreme to the other.  That there really was something could
-not be doubted, and the incredulous were invited to put their finger on
-the wound of the Scotia.
-
-On my arrival at New York the question was at its height.  The theory
-of the floating island, and the unapproachable sandbank, supported by
-minds little competent to form a judgment, was abandoned.  And, indeed,
-unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach, how could it change its
-position with such astonishing rapidity?
-
-From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enormous wreck
-was given up.
-
-There remained, then, only two possible solutions of the question,
-which created two distinct parties:  on one side, those who were for a
-monster of colossal strength; on the other, those who were for a
-submarine vessel of enormous motive power.
-
-But this last theory, plausible as it was, could not stand against
-inquiries made in both worlds.  That a private gentleman should have
-such a machine at his command was not likely.  Where, when, and how was
-it built? and how could its construction have been kept secret?
-Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine.  And
-in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the
-power of weapons of war, it was possible that, without the knowledge of
-others, a State might try to work such a formidable engine.
-
-But the idea of a war machine fell before the declaration of
-Governments.  As public interest was in question, and transatlantic
-communications suffered, their veracity could not be doubted.  But how
-admit that the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the
-public eye?  For a private gentleman to keep the secret under such
-circumstances would be very difficult, and for a State whose every act
-is persistently watched by powerful rivals, certainly impossible.
-
-Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honour of
-consulting me on the phenomenon in question.  I had published in France
-a work in quarto, in two volumes, entitled Mysteries of the Great
-Submarine Grounds.  This book, highly approved of in the learned world,
-gained for me a special reputation in this rather obscure branch of
-Natural History.  My advice was asked.  As long as I could deny the
-reality of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative.  But
-soon, finding myself driven into a corner, I was obliged to explain
-myself point by point.  I discussed the question in all its forms,
-politically and scientifically; and I give here an extract from a
-carefully-studied article which I published in the number of the 30th
-of April.  It ran as follows:
-
-"After examining one by one the different theories, rejecting all other
-suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence of a marine
-animal of enormous power.
-
-"The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us.  Soundings
-cannot reach them.  What passes in those remote depths--what beings
-live, or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the
-waters--what is the organisation of these animals, we can scarcely
-conjecture.  However, the solution of the problem submitted to me may
-modify the form of the dilemma.  Either we do know all the varieties of
-beings which people our planet, or we do not.  If we do NOT know them
-all--if Nature has still secrets in the deeps for us, nothing is more
-conformable to reason than to admit the existence of fishes, or
-cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species, of an organisation
-formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings, and which an
-accident of some sort has brought at long intervals to the upper level
-of the ocean.
-
-"If, on the contrary, we DO know all living kinds, we must necessarily
-seek for the animal in question amongst those marine beings already
-classed; and, in that case, I should be disposed to admit the existence
-of a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of
-sixty feet.  Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength
-proportionate to its size, lengthen its destructive weapons, and you
-obtain the animal required.  It will have the proportions determined by
-the officers of the Shannon, the instrument required by the perforation
-of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull of the
-steamer.
-
-"Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword, a halberd,
-according to the expression of certain naturalists.  The principal tusk
-has the hardness of steel.  Some of these tusks have been found buried
-in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn always attacks with success.
-Others have been drawn out, not without trouble, from the bottoms of
-ships, which they had pierced through and through, as a gimlet pierces
-a barrel.  The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one
-of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length, and
-fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
-
-"Very well! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger and the animal
-ten times more powerful; launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
-and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required.
-Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be a
-sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with
-a real spur, as the armoured frigates, or the `rams' of war, whose
-massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time.  Thus
-may this puzzling phenomenon be explained, unless there be something
-over and above all that one has ever conjectured, seen, perceived, or
-experienced; which is just within the bounds of possibility."
-
-These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a certain point,
-I wished to shelter my dignity as professor, and not give too much
-cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well when they do laugh.
-I reserved for myself a way of escape.  In effect, however, I admitted
-the existence of the "monster." My article was warmly discussed, which
-procured it a high reputation.  It rallied round it a certain number of
-partisans.  The solution it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to
-the imagination.  The human mind delights in grand conceptions of
-supernatural beings.  And the sea is precisely their best vehicle, the
-only medium through which these giants (against which terrestrial
-animals, such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as nothing) can be
-produced or developed.
-
-The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from
-this point of view.  The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd's
-List, the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial Review, all papers
-devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of
-premium, were unanimous on this point.  Public opinion had been
-pronounced.  The United States were the first in the field; and in New
-York they made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this
-narwhal.  A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in
-commission as soon as possible.  The arsenals were opened to Commander
-Farragut, who hastened the arming of his frigate; but, as it always
-happens, the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster
-did not appear.  For two months no one heard it spoken of.  No ship met
-with it.  It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around
-it.  It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable,
-that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on
-its passage and was making the most of it.
-
-So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided
-with formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to
-pursue.  Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned
-that a steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to
-Shanghai, had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific
-Ocean.  The excitement caused by this news was extreme.  The ship was
-revictualled and well stocked with coal.
-
-Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier, I received a
-letter worded as follows:
-
-To M. ARONNAX, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel,
-New York.
-
-SIR,--If you will consent to join the Abraham Lincoln in this
-expedition, the Government of the United States will with pleasure see
-France represented in the enterprise.  Commander Farragut has a cabin
-at your disposal.
-
-Very cordially yours, J.B. HOBSON, Secretary of Marine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-I FORM MY RESOLUTION
-
-Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson's letter I no more
-thought of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the
-North Sea.  Three seconds after reading the letter of the honourable
-Secretary of Marine, I felt that my true vocation, the sole end of my
-life, was to chase this disturbing monster and purge it from the world.
-
-But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey, weary and longing for
-repose.  I aspired to nothing more than again seeing my country, my
-friends, my little lodging by the Jardin des Plantes, my dear and
-precious collections--but nothing could keep me back!  I forgot
-all--fatigue, friends and collections--and accepted without hesitation
-the offer of the American Government.
-
-"Besides," thought I, "all roads lead back to Europe; and the unicorn
-may be amiable enough to hurry me towards the coast of France.  This
-worthy animal may allow itself to be caught in the seas of Europe (for
-my particular benefit), and I will not bring back less than half a yard
-of his ivory halberd to the Museum of Natural History." But in the
-meanwhile I must seek this narwhal in the North Pacific Ocean, which,
-to return to France, was taking the road to the antipodes.
-
-"Conseil," I called in an impatient voice.
-
-Conseil was my servant, a true, devoted Flemish boy, who had
-accompanied me in all my travels.  I liked him, and he returned the
-liking well.  He was quiet by nature, regular from principle, zealous
-from habit, evincing little disturbance at the different surprises of
-life, very quick with his hands, and apt at any service required of
-him; and, despite his name, never giving advice--even when asked for it.
-
-Conseil had followed me for the last ten years wherever science led.
-Never once did he complain of the length or fatigue of a journey, never
-make an objection to pack his portmanteau for whatever country it might
-be, or however far away, whether China or Congo.  Besides all this, he
-had good health, which defied all sickness, and solid muscles, but no
-nerves; good morals are understood.  This boy was thirty years old, and
-his age to that of his master as fifteen to twenty.  May I be excused
-for saying that I was forty years old?
-
-But Conseil had one fault:  he was ceremonious to a degree, and would
-never speak to me but in the third person, which was sometimes
-provoking.
-
-"Conseil," said I again, beginning with feverish hands to make
-preparations for my departure.
-
-Certainly I was sure of this devoted boy.  As a rule, I never asked him
-if it were convenient for him or not to follow me in my travels; but
-this time the expedition in question might be prolonged, and the
-enterprise might be hazardous in pursuit of an animal capable of
-sinking a frigate as easily as a nutshell.  Here there was matter for
-reflection even to the most impassive man in the world.  What would
-Conseil say?
-
-"Conseil," I called a third time.
-
-Conseil appeared.
-
-"Did you call, sir?" said he, entering.
-
-"Yes, my boy; make preparations for me and yourself too.  We leave in
-two hours."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied Conseil, quietly.
-
-"Not an instant to lose; lock in my trunk all travelling utensils,
-coats, shirts, and stockings--without counting, as many as you can, and
-make haste."
-
-"And your collections, sir?" observed Conseil.
-
-"They will keep them at the hotel."
-
-"We are not returning to Paris, then?" said Conseil.
-
-"Oh! certainly," I answered, evasively, "by making a curve."
-
-"Will the curve please you, sir?"
-
-"Oh! it will be nothing; not quite so direct a road, that is all.  We
-take our passage in the Abraham, Lincoln."
-
-"As you think proper, sir," coolly replied Conseil.
-
-"You see, my friend, it has to do with the monster--the famous narwhal.
-We are going to purge it from the seas.  A glorious mission, but a
-dangerous one!  We cannot tell where we may go; these animals can be
-very capricious.  But we will go whether or no; we have got a captain
-who is pretty wide-awake."
-
-Our luggage was transported to the deck of the frigate immediately.  I
-hastened on board and asked for Commander Farragut.  One of the sailors
-conducted me to the poop, where I found myself in the presence of a
-good-looking officer, who held out his hand to me.
-
-"Monsieur Pierre Aronnax?" said he.
-
-"Himself," replied I. "Commander Farragut?"
-
-"You are welcome, Professor; your cabin is ready for you."
-
-I bowed, and desired to be conducted to the cabin destined for me.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln had been well chosen and equipped for her new
-destination.  She was a frigate of great speed, fitted with
-high-pressure engines which admitted a pressure of seven atmospheres.
-Under this the Abraham Lincoln attained the mean speed of nearly
-eighteen knots and a third an hour--a considerable speed, but,
-nevertheless, insufficient to grapple with this gigantic cetacean.
-
-The interior arrangements of the frigate corresponded to its nautical
-qualities.  I was well satisfied with my cabin, which was in the after
-part, opening upon the gunroom.
-
-"We shall be well off here," said I to Conseil.
-
-"As well, by your honour's leave, as a hermit-crab in the shell of a
-whelk," said Conseil.
-
-I left Conseil to stow our trunks conveniently away, and remounted the
-poop in order to survey the preparations for departure.
-
-At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings to be
-cast loose which held the Abraham Lincoln to the pier of Brooklyn.  So
-in a quarter of an hour, perhaps less, the frigate would have sailed
-without me.  I should have missed this extraordinary, supernatural, and
-incredible expedition, the recital of which may well meet with some
-suspicion.
-
-But Commander Farragut would not lose a day nor an hour in scouring the
-seas in which the animal had been sighted.  He sent for the engineer.
-
-"Is the steam full on?" asked he.
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-"Go ahead," cried Commander Farragut.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-NED LAND
-
-Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded.
-His vessel and he were one.  He was the soul of it.  On the question of
-the monster there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow the
-existence of the animal to be disputed on board.  He believed in it, as
-certain good women believe in the leviathan--by faith, not by reason.
-The monster did exist, and he had sworn to rid the seas of it.  Either
-Captain Farragut would kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the
-captain.  There was no third course.
-
-The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief.  They were
-ever chatting, discussing, and calculating the various chances of a
-meeting, watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean.  More than
-one took up his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees, who would have
-cursed such a berth under any other circumstances.  As long as the sun
-described its daily course, the rigging was crowded with sailors, whose
-feet were burnt to such an extent by the heat of the deck as to render
-it unbearable; still the Abraham Lincoln had not yet breasted the
-suspected waters of the Pacific.  As to the ship's company, they
-desired nothing better than to meet the unicorn, to harpoon it, hoist
-it on board, and despatch it.  They watched the sea with eager
-attention.
-
-Besides, Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand
-dollars, set apart for whoever should first sight the monster, were he
-cabin-boy, common seaman, or officer.
-
-I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the Abraham Lincoln.
-
-For my own part I was not behind the others, and, left to no one my
-share of daily observations.  The frigate might have been called the
-Argus, for a hundred reasons.  Only one amongst us, Conseil, seemed to
-protest by his indifference against the question which so interested us
-all, and seemed to be out of keeping with the general enthusiasm on
-board.
-
-I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his ship with
-every apparatus for catching the gigantic cetacean.  No whaler had ever
-been better armed.  We possessed every known engine, from the harpoon
-thrown by the hand to the barbed arrows of the blunderbuss, and the
-explosive balls of the duck-gun.  On the forecastle lay the perfection
-of a breech-loading gun, very thick at the breech, and very narrow in
-the bore, the model of which had been in the Exhibition of 1867.  This
-precious weapon of American origin could throw with ease a conical
-projectile of nine pounds to a mean distance of ten miles.
-
-Thus the Abraham Lincoln wanted for no means of destruction; and, what
-was better still she had on board Ned Land, the prince of harpooners.
-
-Ned Land was a Canadian, with an uncommon quickness of hand, and who
-knew no equal in his dangerous occupation.  Skill, coolness, audacity,
-and cunning he possessed in a superior degree, and it must be a cunning
-whale to escape the stroke of his harpoon.
-
-Ned Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man (more than six
-feet high), strongly built, grave and taciturn, occasionally violent,
-and very passionate when contradicted.  His person attracted attention,
-but above all the boldness of his look, which gave a singular
-expression to his face.
-
-Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French; and, little
-communicative as Ned Land was, I must admit that he took a certain
-liking for me.  My nationality drew him to me, no doubt.  It was an
-opportunity for him to talk, and for me to hear, that old language of
-Rabelais, which is still in use in some Canadian provinces.  The
-harpooner's family was originally from Quebec, and was already a tribe
-of hardy fishermen when this town belonged to France.
-
-Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I loved
-to hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas.  He related
-his fishing, and his combats, with natural poetry of expression; his
-recital took the form of an epic poem, and I seemed to be listening to
-a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad of the regions of the North.
-
-I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him.  We are old
-friends now, united in that unchangeable friendship which is born and
-cemented amidst extreme dangers.  Ah, brave Ned!  I ask no more than to
-live a hundred years longer, that I may have more time to dwell the
-longer on your memory.
-
-Now, what was Ned Land's opinion upon the question of the marine
-monster?  I must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn, and was
-the only one on board who did not share that universal conviction.  He
-even avoided the subject, which I one day thought it my duty to press
-upon him.  One magnificent evening, the 30th July (that is to say,
-three weeks after our departure), the frigate was abreast of Cape
-Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia.  We had
-crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and the Straits of Magellan opened
-less than seven hundred miles to the south.  Before eight days were
-over the Abraham Lincoln would be ploughing the waters of the Pacific.
-
-Seated on the poop, Ned Land and I were chatting of one thing and
-another as we looked at this mysterious sea, whose great depths had up
-to this time been inaccessible to the eye of man.  I naturally led up
-the conversation to the giant unicorn, and examined the various chances
-of success or failure of the expedition.  But, seeing that Ned Land let
-me speak without saying too much himself, I pressed him more closely.
-
-"Well, Ned," said I, "is it possible that you are not convinced of the
-existence of this cetacean that we are following?  Have you any
-particular reason for being so incredulous?"
-
-The harpooner looked at me fixedly for some moments before answering,
-struck his broad forehead with his hand (a habit of his), as if to
-collect himself, and said at last, "Perhaps I have, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"But, Ned, you, a whaler by profession, familiarised with all the great
-marine mammalia--YOU ought to be the last to doubt under such
-circumstances!"
-
-"That is just what deceives you, Professor," replied Ned.  "As a whaler
-I have followed many a cetacean, harpooned a great number, and killed
-several; but, however strong or well-armed they may have been, neither
-their tails nor their weapons would have been able even to scratch the
-iron plates of a steamer."
-
-"But, Ned, they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal have
-pierced through and through."
-
-"Wooden ships--that is possible," replied the Canadian, "but I have
-never seen it done; and, until further proof, I deny that whales,
-cetaceans, or sea-unicorns could ever produce the effect you describe."
-
-"Well, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction resting on the logic of
-facts.  I believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised,
-belonging to the branch of vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots,
-or the dolphins, and furnished with a horn of defence of great
-penetrating power."
-
-"Hum!" said the harpooner, shaking his head with the air of a man who
-would not be convinced.
-
-"Notice one thing, my worthy Canadian," I resumed.  "If such an animal
-is in existence, if it inhabits the depths of the ocean, if it
-frequents the strata lying miles below the surface of the water, it
-must necessarily possess an organisation the strength of which would
-defy all comparison."
-
-"And why this powerful organisation?" demanded Ned.
-
-"Because it requires incalculable strength to keep one's self in these
-strata and resist their pressure.  Listen to me.  Let us admit that the
-pressure of the atmosphere is represented by the weight of a column of
-water thirty-two feet high.  In reality the column of water would be
-shorter, as we are speaking of sea water, the density of which is
-greater than that of fresh water.  Very well, when you dive, Ned, as
-many times 32 feet of water as there are above you, so many times does
-your body bear a pressure equal to that of the atmosphere, that is to
-say, 15 lb. for each square inch of its surface.  It follows, then,
-that at 320 feet this pressure equals that of 10 atmospheres, of 100
-atmospheres at 3,200 feet, and of 1,000 atmospheres at 32,000 feet,
-that is, about 6 miles; which is equivalent to saying that if you could
-attain this depth in the ocean, each square three-eighths of an inch of
-the surface of your body would bear a pressure of 5,600 lb.  Ah! my
-brave Ned, do you know how many square inches you carry on the surface
-of your body?"
-
-"I have no idea, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"About 6,500; and as in reality the atmospheric pressure is about 15
-lb.  to the square inch, your 6,500 square inches bear at this moment a
-pressure of 97,500 lb."
-
-"Without my perceiving it?"
-
-"Without your perceiving it.  And if you are not crushed by such a
-pressure, it is because the air penetrates the interior of your body
-with equal pressure.  Hence perfect equilibrium between the interior
-and exterior pressure, which thus neutralise each other, and which
-allows you to bear it without inconvenience.  But in the water it is
-another thing."
-
-"Yes, I understand," replied Ned, becoming more attentive; "because the
-water surrounds me, but does not penetrate."
-
-"Precisely, Ned:  so that at 32 feet beneath the surface of the sea you
-would undergo a pressure of 97,500 lb.; at 320 feet, ten times that
-pressure; at 3,200 feet, a hundred times that pressure; lastly, at
-32,000 feet, a thousand times that pressure would be 97,500,000
-lb.--that is to say, that you would be flattened as if you had been
-drawn from the plates of a hydraulic machine!"
-
-"The devil!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"Very well, my worthy harpooner, if some vertebrate, several hundred
-yards long, and large in proportion, can maintain itself in such
-depths--of those whose surface is represented by millions of square
-inches, that is by tens of millions of pounds, we must estimate the
-pressure they undergo.  Consider, then, what must be the resistance of
-their bony structure, and the strength of their organisation to
-withstand such pressure!"
-
-"Why!" exclaimed Ned Land, "they must be made of iron plates eight
-inches thick, like the armoured frigates."
-
-"As you say, Ned.  And think what destruction such a mass would cause,
-if hurled with the speed of an express train against the hull of a
-vessel."
-
-"Yes--certainly--perhaps," replied the Canadian, shaken by these
-figures, but not yet willing to give in.
-
-"Well, have I convinced you?"
-
-"You have convinced me of one thing, sir, which is that, if such
-animals do exist at the bottom of the seas, they must necessarily be as
-strong as you say."
-
-"But if they do not exist, mine obstinate harpooner, how explain the
-accident to the Scotia?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-AT A VENTURE
-
-The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was for a long time marked by no
-special incident.  But one circumstance happened which showed the
-wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence we might
-place in him.
-
-The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers, from whom we
-learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal.  But one of them, the
-captain of the Monroe, knowing that Ned Land had shipped on board the
-Abraham Lincoln, begged for his help in chasing a whale they had in
-sight.  Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing Ned Land at work, gave
-him permission to go on board the Monroe.  And fate served our Canadian
-so well that, instead of one whale, he harpooned two with a double
-blow, striking one straight to the heart, and catching the other after
-some minutes' pursuit.
-
-Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land's harpoon, I
-would not bet in its favour.
-
-The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great
-rapidity.  The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of
-Magellan, level with Cape Vierges.  But Commander Farragut would not
-take a tortuous passage, but doubled Cape Horn.
-
-The ship's crew agreed with him.  And certainly it was possible that
-they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.  Many of the sailors
-affirmed that the monster could not pass there, "that he was too big
-for that!"
-
-The 6th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Abraham
-Lincoln, at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island,
-this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which
-some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn.  The
-course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw of
-the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
-
-"Keep your eyes open!" called out the sailors.
-
-And they were opened widely.  Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled,
-it is true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not an
-instant's repose.
-
-I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least attentive on
-board.  Giving but few minutes to my meals, but a few hours to sleep,
-indifferent to either rain or sunshine, I did not leave the poop of the
-vessel.  Now leaning on the netting of the forecastle, now on the
-taffrail, I devoured with eagerness the soft foam which whitened the
-sea as far as the eye could reach; and how often have I shared the
-emotion of the majority of the crew, when some capricious whale raised
-its black back above the waves!  The poop of the vessel was crowded on
-a moment.  The cabins poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers,
-each with heaving breast and troubled eye watching the course of the
-cetacean.  I looked and looked till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil
-kept repeating in a calm voice:
-
-"If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!"
-
-But vain excitement!  The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made
-for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot, which
-soon disappeared amidst a storm of abuse.
-
-But the weather was good.  The voyage was being accomplished under the
-most favourable auspices.  It was then the bad season in Australia, the
-July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe, but the sea
-was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.
-
-The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105d of longitude,
-and the 27th of the same month we crossed the Equator on the 110th
-meridian.  This passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly
-direction, and scoured the central waters of the Pacific.  Commander
-Farragut thought, and with reason, that it was better to remain in deep
-water, and keep clear of continents or islands, which the beast itself
-seemed to shun (perhaps because there was not enough water for him!
-suggested the greater part of the crew). The frigate passed at some
-distance from the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the
-tropic of Cancer, and made for the China Seas.  We were on the theatre
-of the last diversions of the monster:  and, to say truth, we no longer
-LIVED on board.  The entire ship's crew were undergoing a nervous
-excitement, of which I can give no idea:  they could not eat, they
-could not sleep--twenty times a day, a misconception or an optical
-illusion of some sailor seated on the taffrail, would cause dreadful
-perspirations, and these emotions, twenty times repeated, kept us in a
-state of excitement so violent that a reaction was unavoidable.
-
-And truly, reaction soon showed itself.  For three months, during which
-a day seemed an age, the Abraham Lincoln furrowed all the waters of the
-Northern Pacific, running at whales, making sharp deviations from her
-course, veering suddenly from one tack to another, stopping suddenly,
-putting on steam, and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging
-her machinery, and not one point of the Japanese or American coast was
-left unexplored.
-
-The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most ardent
-detractors.  Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself, and
-certainly, had it not been for the resolute determination on the part
-of Captain Farragut, the frigate would have headed due southward.  This
-useless search could not last much longer.  The Abraham Lincoln had
-nothing to reproach herself with, she had done her best to succeed.
-Never had an American ship's crew shown more zeal or patience; its
-failure could not be placed to their charge--there remained nothing but
-to return.
-
-This was represented to the commander.  The sailors could not hide
-their discontent, and the service suffered.  I will not say there was a
-mutiny on board, but after a reasonable period of obstinacy, Captain
-Farragut (as Columbus did) asked for three days' patience.  If in three
-days the monster did not appear, the man at the helm should give three
-turns of the wheel, and the Abraham Lincoln would make for the European
-seas.
-
-This promise was made on the 2nd of November.  It had the effect of
-rallying the ship's crew.  The ocean was watched with renewed
-attention.  Each one wished for a last glance in which to sum up his
-remembrance.  Glasses were used with feverish activity.  It was a grand
-defiance given to the giant narwhal, and he could scarcely fail to
-answer the summons and "appear."
-
-Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure; a thousand schemes
-were tried to attract the attention and stimulate the apathy of the
-animal in case it should be met in those parts.  Large quantities of
-bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship, to the great satisfaction
-(I must say) of the sharks.  Small craft radiated in all directions
-round the Abraham Lincoln as she lay to, and did not leave a spot of
-the sea unexplored.  But the night of the 4th of November arrived
-without the unveiling of this submarine mystery.
-
-The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would (morally
-speaking) expire; after that time, Commander Farragut, faithful to his
-promise, was to turn the course to the south-east and abandon for ever
-the northern regions of the Pacific.
-
-The frigate was then in 31 deg. 15' N. lat. and 136 deg. 42' E. long.
-The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles to
-leeward.  Night was approaching.  They had just struck eight bells;
-large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter.
-The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
-
-At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting.
-Conseil, standing near me, was looking straight before him.  The crew,
-perched in the ratlines, examined the horizon which contracted and
-darkened by degrees.  Officers with their night glasses scoured the
-growing darkness:  sometimes the ocean sparkled under the rays of the
-moon, which darted between two clouds, then all trace of light was lost
-in the darkness.
-
-In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little of the
-general influence.  At least I thought so.  Perhaps for the first time
-his nerves vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
-
-"Come, Conseil," said I, "this is the last chance of pocketing the two
-thousand dollars."
-
-"May I be permitted to say, sir," replied Conseil, "that I never
-reckoned on getting the prize; and, had the government of the Union
-offered a hundred thousand dollars, it would have been none the poorer."
-
-"You are right, Conseil.  It is a foolish affair after all, and one
-upon which we entered too lightly.  What time lost, what useless
-emotions!  We should have been back in France six months ago."
-
-"In your little room, sir," replied Conseil, "and in your museum, sir;
-and I should have already classed all your fossils, sir.  And the
-Babiroussa would have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des
-Plantes, and have drawn all the curious people of the capital!"
-
-"As you say, Conseil.  I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being
-laughed at for our pains."
-
-"That's tolerably certain," replied Conseil, quietly; "I think they
-will make fun of you, sir.  And, must I say it----?"
-
-"Go on, my good friend."
-
-"Well, sir, you will only get your deserts."
-
-"Indeed!"
-
-"When one has the honour of being a _savant_ as you are, sir, one should
-not expose one's self to----"
-
-Conseil had not time to finish his compliment.  In the midst of general
-silence a voice had just been heard.  It was the voice of Ned Land
-shouting:
-
-"Look out there!  The very thing we are looking for--on our weather
-beam!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-AT FULL STEAM
-
-At this cry the whole ship's crew hurried towards the
-harpooner--commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the
-engineers left their engines, and the stokers their furnaces.
-
-The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went
-on by her own momentum.  The darkness was then profound, and, however
-good the Canadian's eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to
-see, and what he had been able to see.  My heart beat as if it would
-break.  But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all perceived the object
-he pointed to.  At two cables' length from the Abraham Lincoln, on the
-starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be illuminated all over.  It was
-not a mere phosphoric phenomenon.  The monster emerged some fathoms
-from the water, and then threw out that very intense but mysterious
-light mentioned in the report of several captains.  This magnificent
-irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great SHINING power.
-The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval, much elongated,
-the centre of which condensed a burning heat, whose overpowering
-brilliancy died out by successive gradations.
-
-"It is only a massing of phosphoric particles," cried one of the
-officers.
-
-"No, sir, certainly not," I replied.  "That brightness is of an
-essentially electrical nature.  Besides, see, see! it moves; it is
-moving forwards, backwards; it is darting towards us!"
-
-A general cry arose from the frigate.
-
-"Silence!" said the captain.  "Up with the helm, reverse the engines."
-
-The steam was shut off, and the Abraham Lincoln, beating to port,
-described a semicircle.
-
-"Right the helm, go ahead," cried the captain.
-
-These orders were executed, and the frigate moved rapidly from the
-burning light.
-
-I was mistaken.  She tried to sheer off, but the supernatural animal
-approached with a velocity double her own.
-
-We gasped for breath.  Stupefaction more than fear made us dumb and
-motionless.  The animal gained on us, sporting with the waves.  It made
-the round of the frigate, which was then making fourteen knots, and
-enveloped it with its electric rings like luminous dust.
-
-Then it moved away two or three miles, leaving a phosphorescent track,
-like those volumes of steam that the express trains leave behind.  All
-at once from the dark line of the horizon whither it retired to gain
-its momentum, the monster rushed suddenly towards the Abraham Lincoln
-with alarming rapidity, stopped suddenly about twenty feet from the
-hull, and died out--not diving under the water, for its brilliancy did
-not abate--but suddenly, and as if the source of this brilliant
-emanation was exhausted.  Then it reappeared on the other side of the
-vessel, as if it had turned and slid under the hull.  Any moment a
-collision might have occurred which would have been fatal to us.
-However, I was astonished at the manoeuvres of the frigate.  She fled
-and did not attack.
-
-On the captain's face, generally so impassive, was an expression of
-unaccountable astonishment.
-
-"Mr. Aronnax," he said, "I do not know with what formidable being I
-have to deal, and I will not imprudently risk my frigate in the midst
-of this darkness.  Besides, how attack this unknown thing, how defend
-one's self from it?  Wait for daylight, and the scene will change."
-
-"You have no further doubt, captain, of the nature of the animal?"
-
-"No, sir; it is evidently a gigantic narwhal, and an electric one."
-
-"Perhaps," added I, "one can only approach it with a torpedo."
-
-"Undoubtedly," replied the captain, "if it possesses such dreadful
-power, it is the most terrible animal that ever was created.  That is
-why, sir, I must be on my guard."
-
-The crew were on their feet all night.  No one thought of sleep.  The
-Abraham Lincoln, not being able to struggle with such velocity, had
-moderated its pace, and sailed at half speed.  For its part, the
-narwhal, imitating the frigate, let the waves rock it at will, and
-seemed decided not to leave the scene of the struggle.  Towards
-midnight, however, it disappeared, or, to use a more appropriate term,
-it "died out" like a large glow-worm. Had it fled?  One could only
-fear, not hope it.  But at seven minutes to one o'clock in the morning
-a deafening whistling was heard, like that produced by a body of water
-rushing with great violence.
-
-The captain, Ned Land, and I were then on the poop, eagerly peering
-through the profound darkness.
-
-"Ned Land," asked the commander, "you have often heard the roaring of
-whales?"
-
-"Often, sir; but never such whales the sight of which brought me in two
-thousand dollars.  If I can only approach within four harpoons' length
-of it!"
-
-"But to approach it," said the commander, "I ought to put a whaler at
-your disposal?"
-
-"Certainly, sir."
-
-"That will be trifling with the lives of my men."
-
-"And mine too," simply said the harpooner.
-
-Towards two o'clock in the morning, the burning light reappeared, not
-less intense, about five miles to windward of the Abraham Lincoln.
-Notwithstanding the distance, and the noise of the wind and sea, one
-heard distinctly the loud strokes of the animal's tail, and even its
-panting breath.  It seemed that, at the moment that the enormous
-narwhal had come to take breath at the surface of the water, the air
-was engulfed in its lungs, like the steam in the vast cylinders of a
-machine of two thousand horse-power.
-
-"Hum!" thought I, "a whale with the strength of a cavalry regiment
-would be a pretty whale!"
-
-We were on the qui vive till daylight, and prepared for the combat.
-The fishing implements were laid along the hammock nettings.  The
-second lieutenant loaded the blunder busses, which could throw harpoons
-to the distance of a mile, and long duck-guns, with explosive bullets,
-which inflicted mortal wounds even to the most terrible animals.  Ned
-Land contented himself with sharpening his harpoon--a terrible weapon
-in his hands.
-
-At six o'clock day began to break; and, with the first glimmer of
-light, the electric light of the narwhal disappeared.  At seven o'clock
-the day was sufficiently advanced, but a very thick sea fog obscured
-our view, and the best spy glasses could not pierce it.  That caused
-disappointment and anger.
-
-I climbed the mizzen-mast. Some officers were already perched on the
-mast-heads. At eight o'clock the fog lay heavily on the waves, and its
-thick scrolls rose little by little.  The horizon grew wider and
-clearer at the same time.  Suddenly, just as on the day before, Ned
-Land's voice was heard:
-
-"The thing itself on the port quarter!" cried the harpooner.
-
-Every eye was turned towards the point indicated.  There, a mile and a
-half from the frigate, a long blackish body emerged a yard above the
-waves.  Its tail, violently agitated, produced a considerable eddy.
-Never did a tail beat the sea with such violence.  An immense track, of
-dazzling whiteness, marked the passage of the animal, and described a
-long curve.
-
-The frigate approached the cetacean.  I examined it thoroughly.
-
-The reports of the Shannon and of the Helvetia had rather exaggerated
-its size, and I estimated its length at only two hundred and fifty
-feet.  As to its dimensions, I could only conjecture them to be
-admirably proportioned.  While I watched this phenomenon, two jets of
-steam and water were ejected from its vents, and rose to the height of
-120 feet; thus I ascertained its way of breathing.  I concluded
-definitely that it belonged to the vertebrate branch, class mammalia.
-
-The crew waited impatiently for their chief's orders.  The latter,
-after having observed the animal attentively, called the engineer.  The
-engineer ran to him.
-
-"Sir," said the commander, "you have steam up?"
-
-"Yes, sir," answered the engineer.
-
-"Well, make up your fires and put on all steam."
-
-Three hurrahs greeted this order.  The time for the struggle had
-arrived.  Some moments after, the two funnels of the frigate vomited
-torrents of black smoke, and the bridge quaked under the trembling of
-the boilers.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln, propelled by her wonderful screw, went straight at
-the animal.  The latter allowed it to come within half a cable's
-length; then, as if disdaining to dive, it took a little turn, and
-stopped a short distance off.
-
-This pursuit lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour, without the
-frigate gaining two yards on the cetacean.  It was quite evident that
-at that rate we should never come up with it.
-
-"Well, Mr. Land," asked the captain, "do you advise me to put the boats
-out to sea?"
-
-"No, sir," replied Ned Land; "because we shall not take that beast
-easily."
-
-"What shall we do then?"
-
-"Put on more steam if you can, sir.  With your leave, I mean to post
-myself under the bowsprit, and, if we get within harpooning distance, I
-shall throw my harpoon."
-
-"Go, Ned," said the captain.  "Engineer, put on more pressure."
-
-Ned Land went to his post.  The fires were increased, the screw
-revolved forty-three times a minute, and the steam poured out of the
-valves.  We heaved the log, and calculated that the Abraham Lincoln was
-going at the rate of 18 1/2 miles an hour.
-
-But the accursed animal swam at the same speed.
-
-For a whole hour the frigate kept up this pace, without gaining six
-feet.  It was humiliating for one of the swiftest sailers in the
-American navy.  A stubborn anger seized the crew; the sailors abused
-the monster, who, as before, disdained to answer them; the captain no
-longer contented himself with twisting his beard--he gnawed it.
-
-The engineer was called again.
-
-"You have turned full steam on?"
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-The speed of the Abraham Lincoln increased.  Its masts trembled down to
-their stepping holes, and the clouds of smoke could hardly find way out
-of the narrow funnels.
-
-They heaved the log a second time.
-
-"Well?" asked the captain of the man at the wheel.
-
-"Nineteen miles and three-tenths, sir."
-
-"Clap on more steam."
-
-The engineer obeyed.  The manometer showed ten degrees.  But the
-cetacean grew warm itself, no doubt; for without straining itself, it
-made 19 3/10 miles.
-
-What a pursuit!  No, I cannot describe the emotion that vibrated
-through me.  Ned Land kept his post, harpoon in hand.  Several times
-the animal let us gain upon it.--"We shall catch it! we shall catch
-it!" cried the Canadian.  But just as he was going to strike, the
-cetacean stole away with a rapidity that could not be estimated at less
-than thirty miles an hour, and even during our maximum of speed, it
-bullied the frigate, going round and round it.  A cry of fury broke
-from everyone!
-
-At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o'clock in the
-morning.
-
-The captain then decided to take more direct means.
-
-"Ah!" said he, "that animal goes quicker than the Abraham Lincoln.
-Very well! we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets.
-Send your men to the forecastle, sir."
-
-The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round.  But the
-shot passed some feet above the cetacean, which was half a mile off.
-
-"Another, more to the right," cried the commander, "and five dollars to
-whoever will hit that infernal beast."
-
-An old gunner with a grey beard--that I can see now--with steady eye
-and grave face, went up to the gun and took a long aim.  A loud report
-was heard, with which were mingled the cheers of the crew.
-
-The bullet did its work; it hit the animal, and, sliding off the
-rounded surface, was lost in two miles depth of sea.
-
-The chase began again, and the captain, leaning towards me, said:
-
-"I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up."
-
-"Yes," answered I; "and you will be quite right to do it."
-
-I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible to
-fatigue like a steam engine.  But it was of no use.  Hours passed,
-without its showing any signs of exhaustion.
-
-However, it must be said in praise of the Abraham Lincoln that she
-struggled on indefatigably.  I cannot reckon the distance she made
-under three hundred miles during this unlucky day, November the 6th.
-But night came on, and overshadowed the rough ocean.
-
-Now I thought our expedition was at an end, and that we should never
-again see the extraordinary animal.  I was mistaken.  At ten minutes to
-eleven in the evening, the electric light reappeared three miles to
-windward of the frigate, as pure, as intense as during the preceding
-night.
-
-The narwhal seemed motionless; perhaps, tired with its day's work, it
-slept, letting itself float with the undulation of the waves.  Now was
-a chance of which the captain resolved to take advantage.
-
-He gave his orders.  The Abraham Lincoln kept up half steam, and
-advanced cautiously so as not to awake its adversary.  It is no rare
-thing to meet in the middle of the ocean whales so sound asleep that
-they can be successfully attacked, and Ned Land had harpooned more than
-one during its sleep.  The Canadian went to take his place again under
-the bowsprit.
-
-The frigate approached noiselessly, stopped at two cables' lengths from
-the animal, and following its track.  No one breathed; a deep silence
-reigned on the bridge.  We were not a hundred feet from the burning
-focus, the light of which increased and dazzled our eyes.
-
-At this moment, leaning on the forecastle bulwark, I saw below me Ned
-Land grappling the martingale in one hand, brandishing his terrible
-harpoon in the other, scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal.
-Suddenly his arm straightened, and the harpoon was thrown; I heard the
-sonorous stroke of the weapon, which seemed to have struck a hard body.
-The electric light went out suddenly, and two enormous waterspouts
-broke over the bridge of the frigate, rushing like a torrent from stem
-to stern, overthrowing men, and breaking the lashings of the spars.  A
-fearful shock followed, and, thrown over the rail without having time
-to stop myself, I fell into the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE
-
-This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of
-my sensations at the time.  I was at first drawn down to a depth of
-about twenty feet.  I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to
-rival Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art), and in that
-plunge I did not lose my presence of mind.  Two vigorous strokes
-brought me to the surface of the water.  My first care was to look for
-the frigate.  Had the crew seen me disappear?  Had the Abraham Lincoln
-veered round?  Would the captain put out a boat?  Might I hope to be
-saved?
-
-The darkness was intense.  I caught a glimpse of a black mass
-disappearing in the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance.
-It was the frigate!  I was lost.
-
-"Help, help!"  I shouted, swimming towards the Abraham Lincoln in
-desperation.
-
-My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed
-my movements.
-
-I was sinking!  I was suffocating!
-
-"Help!"
-
-This was my last cry.  My mouth filled with water; I struggled against
-being drawn down the abyss.  Suddenly my clothes were seized by a
-strong hand, and I felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the
-sea; and I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear:
-
-"If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would
-swim with much greater ease."
-
-I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil's arm.
-
-"Is it you?" said I, "you?"
-
-"Myself," answered Conseil; "and waiting master's orders."
-
-"That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?"
-
-"No; but, being in my master's service, I followed him."
-
-The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
-
-"And the frigate?"  I asked.
-
-"The frigate?" replied Conseil, turning on his back; "I think that
-master had better not count too much on her."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men
-at the wheel say, `The screw and the rudder are broken.'
-
-"Broken?"
-
-"Yes, broken by the monster's teeth.  It is the only injury the Abraham
-Lincoln has sustained.  But it is a bad look-out for us--she no longer
-answers her helm."
-
-"Then we are lost!"
-
-"Perhaps so," calmly answered Conseil.  "However, we have still several
-hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours."
-
-Conseil's imperturbable coolness set me up again.  I swam more
-vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck to me like a leaden
-weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up.  Conseil saw this.
-
-"Will master let me make a slit?" said he; and, slipping an open knife
-under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly.
-Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
-
-Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near to each
-other.
-
-Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible.  Perhaps our
-disappearance had not been noticed; and, if it had been, the frigate
-could not tack, being without its helm.  Conseil argued on this
-supposition, and laid his plans accordingly.  This quiet boy was
-perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that, as our only chance of
-safety was being picked up by the Abraham Lincoln's boats, we ought to
-manage so as to wait for them as long as possible.  I resolved then to
-husband our strength, so that both should not be exhausted at the same
-time; and this is how we managed:  while one of us lay on our back,
-quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out, the other would
-swim and push the other on in front.  This towing business did not last
-more than ten minutes each; and relieving each other thus, we could
-swim on for some hours, perhaps till day-break. Poor chance! but hope
-is so firmly rooted in the heart of man!  Moreover, there were two of
-us.  Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable) if I sought to
-destroy all hope--if I wished to despair, I could not.
-
-The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had occurred about
-eleven o'clock in the evening before.  I reckoned then we should have
-eight hours to swim before sunrise, an operation quite practicable if
-we relieved each other.  The sea, very calm, was in our favour.
-Sometimes I tried to pierce the intense darkness that was only
-dispelled by the phosphorescence caused by our movements.  I watched
-the luminous waves that broke over my hand, whose mirror-like surface
-was spotted with silvery rings.  One might have said that we were in a
-bath of quicksilver.
-
-Near one o'clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue.
-My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp.  Conseil was
-obliged to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone.  I
-heard the poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried.  I
-found that he could not keep up much longer.
-
-"Leave me! leave me!"  I said to him.
-
-"Leave my master?  Never!" replied he.  "I would drown first."
-
-Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that
-the wind was driving to the east.  The surface of the sea glittered
-with its rays.  This kindly light reanimated us.  My head got better
-again.  I looked at all points of the horizon.  I saw the frigate!  She
-was five miles from us, and looked like a dark mass, hardly
-discernible.  But no boats!
-
-I would have cried out.  But what good would it have been at such a
-distance!  My swollen lips could utter no sounds.  Conseil could
-articulate some words, and I heard him repeat at intervals, "Help!
-help!"
-
-Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened.  It might be
-only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the
-cry from Conseil.
-
-"Did you hear?"  I murmured.
-
-"Yes!  Yes!"
-
-And Conseil gave one more despairing cry.
-
-This time there was no mistake!  A human voice responded to ours!  Was
-it the voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle
-of the ocean, some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel?
-Or rather was it a boat from the frigate, that was hailing us in the
-darkness?
-
-Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck
-out in a desperate effort, he raised himself half out of the water,
-then fell back exhausted.
-
-"What did you see?"
-
-"I saw----" murmured he; "I saw--but do not talk--reserve all your
-strength!"
-
-What had he seen?  Then, I know not why, the thought of the monster
-came into my head for the first time!  But that voice!  The time is
-past for Jonahs to take refuge in whales' bellies!  However, Conseil
-was towing me again.  He raised his head sometimes, looked before us,
-and uttered a cry of recognition, which was responded to by a voice
-that came nearer and nearer.  I scarcely heard it.  My strength was
-exhausted; my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer;
-my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water.  Cold crept
-over me.  I raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
-
-At this moment a hard body struck me.  I clung to it: then I felt that
-I was being drawn up, that I was brought to the surface of the water,
-that my chest collapsed--I fainted.
-
-It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings that
-I received.  I half opened my eyes.
-
-"Conseil!"  I murmured.
-
-"Does master call me?" asked Conseil.
-
-Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down to
-the horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil's and which I
-immediately recognised.
-
-"Ned!"  I cried.
-
-"The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!" replied the Canadian.
-
-"Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?"
-
-"Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find a
-footing almost directly upon a floating island."
-
-"An island?"
-
-"Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal."
-
-"Explain yourself, Ned!"
-
-"Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin and was
-blunted."
-
-"Why, Ned, why?"
-
-"Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron."
-
-The Canadian's last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain.  I
-wriggled myself quickly to the top of the being, or object, half out of
-the water, which served us for a refuge.  I kicked it.  It was
-evidently a hard, impenetrable body, and not the soft substance that
-forms the bodies of the great marine mammalia.  But this hard body
-might be a bony covering, like that of the antediluvian animals; and I
-should be free to class this monster among amphibious reptiles, such as
-tortoises or alligators.
-
-Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth, polished,
-without scales.  The blow produced a metallic sound; and, incredible
-though it may be, it seemed, I might say, as if it was made of riveted
-plates.
-
-There was no doubt about it!  This monster, this natural phenomenon
-that had puzzled the learned world, and over thrown and misled the
-imagination of seamen of both hemispheres, it must be owned was a still
-more astonishing phenomenon, inasmuch as it was a simply human
-construction.
-
-We had no time to lose, however.  We were lying upon the back of a sort
-of submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge) like a huge
-fish of steel.  Ned Land's mind was made up on this point.  Conseil and
-I could only agree with him.
-
-Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was
-evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move.  We had only
-just time to seize hold of the upper part, which rose about seven feet
-out of the water, and happily its speed was not great.
-
-"As long as it sails horizontally," muttered Ned Land, "I do not mind;
-but, if it takes a fancy to dive, I would not give two straws for my
-life."
-
-The Canadian might have said still less.  It became really necessary to
-communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the
-machine.  I searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or
-a manhole, to use a technical expression; but the lines of the iron
-rivets, solidly driven into the joints of the iron plates, were clear
-and uniform.  Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total
-darkness.
-
-At last this long night passed.  My indistinct remembrance prevents my
-describing all the impressions it made.  I can only recall one
-circumstance.  During some lulls of the wind and sea, I fancied I heard
-several times vague sounds, a sort of fugitive harmony produced by
-words of command.  What was, then, the mystery of this submarine craft,
-of which the whole world vainly sought an explanation?  What kind of
-beings existed in this strange boat?  What mechanical agent caused its
-prodigious speed?
-
-Daybreak appeared.  The morning mists surrounded us, but they soon
-cleared off.  I was about to examine the hull, which formed on deck a
-kind of horizontal platform, when I felt it gradually sinking.
-
-"Oh! confound it!" cried Ned Land, kicking the resounding plate.
-"Open, you inhospitable rascals!"
-
-Happily the sinking movement ceased.  Suddenly a noise, like iron works
-violently pushed aside, came from the interior of the boat.  One iron
-plate was moved, a man appeared, uttered an odd cry, and disappeared
-immediately.
-
-Some moments after, eight strong men, with masked faces, appeared
-noiselessly, and drew us down into their formidable machine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI
-
-This forcible abduction, so roughly carried out, was accomplished with
-the rapidity of lightning.  I shivered all over.  Whom had we to deal
-with?  No doubt some new sort of pirates, who explored the sea in their
-own way.  Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me, when I was
-enveloped in darkness.  My eyes, dazzled with the outer light, could
-distinguish nothing.  I felt my naked feet cling to the rungs of an
-iron ladder.  Ned Land and Conseil, firmly seized, followed me.  At the
-bottom of the ladder, a door opened, and shut after us immediately with
-a bang.
-
-We were alone.  Where, I could not say, hardly imagine.  All was black,
-and such a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes had not been
-able to discern even the faintest glimmer.
-
-Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at these proceedings, gave free vent to
-his indignation.
-
-"Confound it!" cried he, "here are people who come up to the Scotch for
-hospitality.  They only just miss being cannibals.  I should not be
-surprised at it, but I declare that they shall not eat me without my
-protesting."
-
-"Calm yourself, friend Ned, calm yourself," replied Conseil, quietly.
-"Do not cry out before you are hurt.  We are not quite done for yet."
-
-"Not quite," sharply replied the Canadian, "but pretty near, at all
-events.  Things look black.  Happily, my bowie knife I have still, and
-I can always see well enough to use it.  The first of these pirates who
-lays a hand on me----"
-
-"Do not excite yourself, Ned," I said to the harpooner, "and do not
-compromise us by useless violence.  Who knows that they will not listen
-to us?  Let us rather try to find out where we are."
-
-I groped about.  In five steps I came to an iron wall, made of plates
-bolted together.  Then turning back I struck against a wooden table,
-near which were ranged several stools.  The boards of this prison were
-concealed under a thick mat, which deadened the noise of the feet.  The
-bare walls revealed no trace of window or door.  Conseil, going round
-the reverse way, met me, and we went back to the middle of the cabin,
-which measured about twenty feet by ten.  As to its height, Ned Land,
-in spite of his own great height, could not measure it.
-
-Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered,
-when the dense darkness suddenly gave way to extreme light.  Our prison
-was suddenly lighted, that is to say, it became filled with a luminous
-matter, so strong that I could not bear it at first.  In its whiteness
-and intensity I recognised that electric light which played round the
-submarine boat like a magnificent phenomenon of phosphorescence.  After
-shutting my eyes involuntarily, I opened them, and saw that this
-luminous agent came from a half globe, unpolished, placed in the roof
-of the cabin.
-
-"At last one can see," cried Ned Land, who, knife in hand, stood on the
-defensive.
-
-"Yes," said I; "but we are still in the dark about ourselves."
-
-"Let master have patience," said the imperturbable Conseil.
-
-The sudden lighting of the cabin enabled me to examine it minutely.  It
-only contained a table and five stools.  The invisible door might be
-hermetically sealed.  No noise was heard.  All seemed dead in the
-interior of this boat.  Did it move, did it float on the surface of the
-ocean, or did it dive into its depths?  I could not guess.
-
-A noise of bolts was now heard, the door opened, and two men appeared.
-
-One was short, very muscular, broad-shouldered, with robust limbs,
-strong head, an abundance of black hair, thick moustache, a quick
-penetrating look, and the vivacity which characterises the population
-of Southern France.
-
-The second stranger merits a more detailed description.  I made out his
-prevailing qualities directly:  self-confidence--because his head was
-well set on his shoulders, and his black eyes looked around with cold
-assurance; calmness--for his skin, rather pale, showed his coolness of
-blood; energy--evinced by the rapid contraction of his lofty brows; and
-courage--because his deep breathing denoted great power of lungs.
-
-Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years of age, I could not
-say.  He was tall, had a large forehead, straight nose, a clearly cut
-mouth, beautiful teeth, with fine taper hands, indicative of a highly
-nervous temperament.  This man was certainly the most admirable
-specimen I had ever met.  One particular feature was his eyes, rather
-far from each other, and which could take in nearly a quarter of the
-horizon at once.
-
-This faculty--(I verified it later)--gave him a range of vision far
-superior to Ned Land's. When this stranger fixed upon an object, his
-eyebrows met, his large eyelids closed around so as to contract the
-range of his vision, and he looked as if he magnified the objects
-lessened by distance, as if he pierced those sheets of water so opaque
-to our eyes, and as if he read the very depths of the seas.
-
-The two strangers, with caps made from the fur of the sea otter, and
-shod with sea boots of seal's skin, were dressed in clothes of a
-particular texture, which allowed free movement of the limbs.  The
-taller of the two, evidently the chief on board, examined us with great
-attention, without saying a word; then, turning to his companion,
-talked with him in an unknown tongue.  It was a sonorous, harmonious,
-and flexible dialect, the vowels seeming to admit of very varied
-accentuation.
-
-The other replied by a shake of the head, and added two or three
-perfectly incomprehensible words.  Then he seemed to question me by a
-look.
-
-I replied in good French that I did not know his language; but he
-seemed not to understand me, and my situation became more embarrassing.
-
-"If master were to tell our story," said Conseil, "perhaps these
-gentlemen may understand some words."
-
-I began to tell our adventures, articulating each syllable clearly, and
-without omitting one single detail.  I announced our names and rank,
-introducing in person Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and
-master Ned Land, the harpooner.
-
-The man with the soft calm eyes listened to me quietly, even politely,
-and with extreme attention; but nothing in his countenance indicated
-that he had understood my story.  When I finished, he said not a word.
-
-There remained one resource, to speak English.  Perhaps they would know
-this almost universal language.  I knew it--as well as the German
-language--well enough to read it fluently, but not to speak it
-correctly.  But, anyhow, we must make ourselves understood.
-
-"Go on in your turn," I said to the harpooner; "speak your best
-Anglo-Saxon, and try to do better than I."
-
-Ned did not beg off, and recommenced our story.
-
-To his great disgust, the harpooner did not seem to have made himself
-more intelligible than I had.  Our visitors did not stir.  They
-evidently understood neither the language of England nor of France.
-
-Very much embarrassed, after having vainly exhausted our speaking
-resources, I knew not what part to take, when Conseil said:
-
-"If master will permit me, I will relate it in German."
-
-But in spite of the elegant terms and good accent of the narrator, the
-German language had no success.  At last, nonplussed, I tried to
-remember my first lessons, and to narrate our adventures in Latin, but
-with no better success.  This last attempt being of no avail, the two
-strangers exchanged some words in their unknown language, and retired.
-
-The door shut.
-
-"It is an infamous shame," cried Ned Land, who broke out for the
-twentieth time.  "We speak to those rogues in French, English, German,
-and Latin, and not one of them has the politeness to answer!"
-
-"Calm yourself," I said to the impetuous Ned; "anger will do no good."
-
-"But do you see, Professor," replied our irascible companion, "that we
-shall absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?"
-
-"Bah!" said Conseil, philosophically; "we can hold out some time yet."
-
-"My friends," I said, "we must not despair.  We have been worse off
-than this.  Do me the favour to wait a little before forming an opinion
-upon the commander and crew of this boat."
-
-"My opinion is formed," replied Ned Land, sharply.  "They are rascals."
-
-"Good! and from what country?"
-
-"From the land of rogues!"
-
-"My brave Ned, that country is not clearly indicated on the map of the
-world; but I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard to
-determine.  Neither English, French, nor German, that is quite certain.
-However, I am inclined to think that the commander and his companion
-were born in low latitudes.  There is southern blood in them.  But I
-cannot decide by their appearance whether they are Spaniards, Turks,
-Arabians, or Indians.  As to their language, it is quite
-incomprehensible."
-
-"There is the disadvantage of not knowing all languages," said Conseil,
-"or the disadvantage of not having one universal language."
-
-As he said these words, the door opened.  A steward entered.  He
-brought us clothes, coats and trousers, made of a stuff I did not know.
-I hastened to dress myself, and my companions followed my example.
-During that time, the steward--dumb, perhaps deaf--had arranged the
-table, and laid three plates.
-
-"This is something like!" said Conseil.
-
-"Bah!" said the angry harpooner, "what do you suppose they eat here?
-Tortoise liver, filleted shark, and beef steaks from seadogs."
-
-"We shall see," said Conseil.
-
-The dishes, of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we took our
-places.  Undoubtedly we had to do with civilised people, and, had it
-not been for the electric light which flooded us, I could have fancied
-I was in the dining-room of the Adelphi Hotel at Liverpool, or at the
-Grand Hotel in Paris.  I must say, however, that there was neither
-bread nor wine.  The water was fresh and clear, but it was water and
-did not suit Ned Land's taste.  Amongst the dishes which were brought
-to us, I recognised several fish delicately dressed; but of some,
-although excellent, I could give no opinion, neither could I tell to
-what kingdom they belonged, whether animal or vegetable.  As to the
-dinner-service, it was elegant, and in perfect taste.  Each
-utensil--spoon, fork, knife, plate--had a letter engraved on it, with a
-motto above it, of which this is an exact facsimile:
-
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI N
-
-The letter N was no doubt the initial of the name of the enigmatical
-person who commanded at the bottom of the seas.
-
-Ned and Conseil did not reflect much.  They devoured the food, and I
-did likewise.  I was, besides, reassured as to our fate; and it seemed
-evident that our hosts would not let us die of want.
-
-However, everything has an end, everything passes away, even the hunger
-of people who have not eaten for fifteen hours.  Our appetites
-satisfied, we felt overcome with sleep.
-
-"Faith!  I shall sleep well," said Conseil.
-
-"So shall I," replied Ned Land.
-
-My two companions stretched themselves on the cabin carpet, and were
-soon sound asleep.  For my own part, too many thoughts crowded my
-brain, too many insoluble questions pressed upon me, too many fancies
-kept my eyes half open.  Where were we?  What strange power carried us
-on?  I felt--or rather fancied I felt--the machine sinking down to the
-lowest beds of the sea.  Dreadful nightmares beset me; I saw in these
-mysterious asylums a world of unknown animals, amongst which this
-submarine boat seemed to be of the same kind, living, moving, and
-formidable as they.  Then my brain grew calmer, my imagination wandered
-into vague unconsciousness, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-NED LAND'S TEMPERS
-
-How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long,
-for it rested us completely from our fatigues.  I woke first.  My
-companions had not moved, and were still stretched in their corner.
-
-Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch, I felt my brain freed, my
-mind clear.  I then began an attentive examination of our cell.
-Nothing was changed inside.  The prison was still a prison--the
-prisoners, prisoners.  However, the steward, during our sleep, had
-cleared the table.  I breathed with difficulty.  The heavy air seemed
-to oppress my lungs.  Although the cell was large, we had evidently
-consumed a great part of the oxygen that it contained.  Indeed, each
-man consumes, in one hour, the oxygen contained in more than 176 pints
-of air, and this air, charged (as then) with a nearly equal quantity of
-carbonic acid, becomes unbreathable.
-
-It became necessary to renew the atmosphere of our prison, and no doubt
-the whole in the submarine boat.  That gave rise to a question in my
-mind.  How would the commander of this floating dwelling-place proceed?
-Would he obtain air by chemical means, in getting by heat the oxygen
-contained in chlorate of potash, and in absorbing carbonic acid by
-caustic potash?  Or--a more convenient, economical, and consequently
-more probable alternative--would he be satisfied to rise and take
-breath at the surface of the water, like a whale, and so renew for
-twenty-four hours the atmospheric provision?
-
-In fact, I was already obliged to increase my respirations to eke out
-of this cell the little oxygen it contained, when suddenly I was
-refreshed by a current of pure air, and perfumed with saline
-emanations.  It was an invigorating sea breeze, charged with iodine.  I
-opened my mouth wide, and my lungs saturated themselves with fresh
-particles.
-
-At the same time I felt the boat rolling.  The iron-plated monster had
-evidently just risen to the surface of the ocean to breathe, after the
-fashion of whales.  I found out from that the mode of ventilating the
-boat.
-
-When I had inhaled this air freely, I sought the conduit pipe, which
-conveyed to us the beneficial whiff, and I was not long in finding it.
-Above the door was a ventilator, through which volumes of fresh air
-renewed the impoverished atmosphere of the cell.
-
-I was making my observations, when Ned and Conseil awoke almost at the
-same time, under the influence of this reviving air.  They rubbed their
-eyes, stretched themselves, and were on their feet in an instant.
-
-"Did master sleep well?" asked Conseil, with his usual politeness.
-
-"Very well, my brave boy.  And you, Mr. Land?"
-
-"Soundly, Professor.  But, I don't know if I am right or not, there
-seems to be a sea breeze!"
-
-A seaman could not be mistaken, and I told the Canadian all that had
-passed during his sleep.
-
-"Good!" said he.  "That accounts for those roarings we heard, when the
-supposed narwhal sighted the Abraham Lincoln."
-
-"Quite so, Master Land; it was taking breath."
-
-"Only, Mr. Aronnax, I have no idea what o'clock it is, unless it is
-dinner-time."
-
-"Dinner-time! my good fellow?  Say rather breakfast-time, for we
-certainly have begun another day."
-
-"So," said Conseil, "we have slept twenty-four hours?"
-
-"That is my opinion."
-
-"I will not contradict you," replied Ned Land.  "But, dinner or
-breakfast, the steward will be welcome, whichever he brings."
-
-"Master Land, we must conform to the rules on board, and I suppose our
-appetites are in advance of the dinner hour."
-
-"That is just like you, friend Conseil," said Ned, impatiently.  "You
-are never out of temper, always calm; you would return thanks before
-grace, and die of hunger rather than complain!"
-
-Time was getting on, and we were fearfully hungry; and this time the
-steward did not appear.  It was rather too long to leave us, if they
-really had good intentions towards us.  Ned Land, tormented by the
-cravings of hunger, got still more angry; and, notwithstanding his
-promise, I dreaded an explosion when he found himself with one of the
-crew.
-
-For two hours more Ned Land's temper increased; he cried, he shouted,
-but in vain.  The walls were deaf.  There was no sound to be heard in
-the boat; all was still as death.  It did not move, for I should have
-felt the trembling motion of the hull under the influence of the screw.
-Plunged in the depths of the waters, it belonged no longer to earth:
-this silence was dreadful.
-
-I felt terrified, Conseil was calm, Ned Land roared.
-
-Just then a noise was heard outside.  Steps sounded on the metal flags.
-The locks were turned, the door opened, and the steward appeared.
-
-Before I could rush forward to stop him, the Canadian had thrown him
-down, and held him by the throat.  The steward was choking under the
-grip of his powerful hand.
-
-Conseil was already trying to unclasp the harpooner's hand from his
-half-suffocated victim, and I was going to fly to the rescue, when
-suddenly I was nailed to the spot by hearing these words in French:
-
-"Be quiet, Master Land; and you, Professor, will you be so good as to
-listen to me?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE MAN OF THE SEAS
-
-It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.
-
-At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly.  The steward, nearly strangled,
-tottered out on a sign from his master.  But such was the power of the
-commander on board, that not a gesture betrayed the resentment which
-this man must have felt towards the Canadian.  Conseil interested in
-spite of himself, I stupefied, awaited in silence the result of this
-scene.
-
-The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms
-folded, scanned us with profound attention.  Did he hesitate to speak?
-Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French?  One might
-almost think so.
-
-After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed of breaking,
-"Gentlemen," said he, in a calm and penetrating voice, "I speak French,
-English, German, and Latin equally well.  I could, therefore, have
-answered you at our first interview, but I wished to know you first,
-then to reflect.  The story told by each one, entirely agreeing in the
-main points, convinced me of your identity.  I know now that chance has
-brought before me M. Pierre Aronnax, Professor of Natural History at
-the Museum of Paris, entrusted with a scientific mission abroad,
-Conseil, his servant, and Ned Land, of Canadian origin, harpooner on
-board the frigate Abraham Lincoln of the navy of the United States of
-America."
-
-I bowed assent.  It was not a question that the commander put to me.
-Therefore there was no answer to be made.  This man expressed himself
-with perfect ease, without any accent.  His sentences were well turned,
-his words clear, and his fluency of speech remarkable.  Yet, I did not
-recognise in him a fellow-countryman.
-
-He continued the conversation in these terms:
-
-"You have doubtless thought, sir, that I have delayed long in paying
-you this second visit.  The reason is that, your identity recognised, I
-wished to weigh maturely what part to act towards you.  I have
-hesitated much.  Most annoying circumstances have brought you into the
-presence of a man who has broken all the ties of humanity.  You have
-come to trouble my existence."
-
-"Unintentionally!" said I.
-
-"Unintentionally?" replied the stranger, raising his voice a little.
-"Was it unintentionally that the Abraham Lincoln pursued me all over
-the seas?  Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this
-frigate?  Was it unintentionally that your cannon-balls rebounded off
-the plating of my vessel?  Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land
-struck me with his harpoon?"
-
-I detected a restrained irritation in these words.  But to these
-recriminations I had a very natural answer to make, and I made it.
-
-"Sir," said I, "no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions which have
-taken place concerning you in America and Europe.  You do not know that
-divers accidents, caused by collisions with your submarine machine,
-have excited public feeling in the two continents.  I omit the theories
-without number by which it was sought to explain that of which you
-alone possess the secret.  But you must understand that, in pursuing
-you over the high seas of the Pacific, the Abraham Lincoln believed
-itself to be chasing some powerful sea-monster, of which it was
-necessary to rid the ocean at any price."
-
-A half-smile curled the lips of the commander:  then, in a calmer tone:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he replied, "dare you affirm that your frigate would not
-as soon have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat as a monster?"
-
-This question embarrassed me, for certainly Captain Farragut might not
-have hesitated.  He might have thought it his duty to destroy a
-contrivance of this kind, as he would a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"You understand then, sir," continued the stranger, "that I have the
-right to treat you as enemies?"
-
-I answered nothing, purposely.  For what good would it be to discuss
-such a proposition, when force could destroy the best arguments?
-
-"I have hesitated some time," continued the commander; "nothing obliged
-me to show you hospitality.  If I chose to separate myself from you, I
-should have no interest in seeing you again; I could place you upon the
-deck of this vessel which has served you as a refuge, I could sink
-beneath the waters, and forget that you had ever existed.  Would not
-that be my right?"
-
-"It might be the right of a savage," I answered, "but not that of a
-civilised man."
-
-"Professor," replied the commander, quickly, "I am not what you call a
-civilised man!  I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I
-alone have the right of appreciating.  I do not, therefore, obey its
-laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!"
-
-This was said plainly.  A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the
-eyes of the Unknown, and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life
-of this man.  Not only had he put himself beyond the pale of human
-laws, but he had made himself independent of them, free in the
-strictest acceptation of the word, quite beyond their reach!  Who then
-would dare to pursue him at the bottom of the sea, when, on its
-surface, he defied all attempts made against him?
-
-What vessel could resist the shock of his submarine monitor?  What
-cuirass, however thick, could withstand the blows of his spur?  No man
-could demand from him an account of his actions; God, if he believed in
-one--his conscience, if he had one--were the sole judges to whom he was
-answerable.
-
-These reflections crossed my mind rapidly, whilst the stranger
-personage was silent, absorbed, and as if wrapped up in himself.  I
-regarded him with fear mingled with interest, as, doubtless, OEdiphus
-regarded the Sphinx.
-
-After rather a long silence, the commander resumed the conversation.
-
-"I have hesitated," said he, "but I have thought that my interest might
-be reconciled with that pity to which every human being has a right.
-You will remain on board my vessel, since fate has cast you there.  You
-will be free; and, in exchange for this liberty, I shall only impose
-one single condition.  Your word of honour to submit to it will
-suffice."
-
-"Speak, sir," I answered.  "I suppose this condition is one which a man
-of honour may accept?"
-
-"Yes, sir; it is this:  It is possible that certain events, unforeseen,
-may oblige me to consign you to your cabins for some hours or some
-days, as the case may be.  As I desire never to use violence, I expect
-from you, more than all the others, a passive obedience.  In thus
-acting, I take all the responsibility:  I acquit you entirely, for I
-make it an impossibility for you to see what ought not to be seen.  Do
-you accept this condition?"
-
-Then things took place on board which, to say the least, were singular,
-and which ought not to be seen by people who were not placed beyond the
-pale of social laws.  Amongst the surprises which the future was
-preparing for me, this might not be the least.
-
-"We accept," I answered; "only I will ask your permission, sir, to
-address one question to you--one only."
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"You said that we should be free on board."
-
-"Entirely."
-
-"I ask you, then, what you mean by this liberty?"
-
-"Just the liberty to go, to come, to see, to observe even all that
-passes here save under rare circumstances--the liberty, in short, which
-we enjoy ourselves, my companions and I."
-
-It was evident that we did not understand one another.
-
-"Pardon me, sir," I resumed, "but this liberty is only what every
-prisoner has of pacing his prison.  It cannot suffice us."
-
-"It must suffice you, however."
-
-"What! we must renounce for ever seeing our country, our friends, our
-relations again?"
-
-"Yes, sir.  But to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men
-believe to be liberty is not perhaps so painful as you think."
-
-"Well," exclaimed Ned Land, "never will I give my word of honour not to
-try to escape."
-
-"I did not ask you for your word of honour, Master Land," answered the
-commander, coldly.
-
-"Sir," I replied, beginning to get angry in spite of my self, "you
-abuse your situation towards us; it is cruelty."
-
-"No, sir, it is clemency.  You are my prisoners of war.  I keep you,
-when I could, by a word, plunge you into the depths of the ocean.  You
-attacked me.  You came to surprise a secret which no man in the world
-must penetrate--the secret of my whole existence.  And you think that I
-am going to send you back to that world which must know me no more?
-Never!  In retaining you, it is not you whom I guard--it is myself."
-
-These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander,
-against which no arguments would prevail.
-
-"So, sir," I rejoined, "you give us simply the choice between life and
-death?"
-
-"Simply."
-
-"My friends," said I, "to a question thus put, there is nothing to
-answer.  But no word of honour binds us to the master of this vessel."
-
-"None, sir," answered the Unknown.
-
-Then, in a gentler tone, he continued:
-
-"Now, permit me to finish what I have to say to you.  I know you, M.
-Aronnax.  You and your companions will not, perhaps, have so much to
-complain of in the chance which has bound you to my fate.  You will
-find amongst the books which are my favourite study the work which you
-have published on `the depths of the sea.'  I have often read it.  You
-have carried out your work as far as terrestrial science permitted you.
-But you do not know all--you have not seen all.  Let me tell you then,
-Professor, that you will not regret the time passed on board my vessel.
-You are going to visit the land of marvels."
-
-These words of the commander had a great effect upon me.  I cannot deny
-it.  My weak point was touched; and I forgot, for a moment, that the
-contemplation of these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of
-liberty.  Besides, I trusted to the future to decide this grave
-question.  So I contented myself with saying:
-
-"By what name ought I to address you?"
-
-"Sir," replied the commander, "I am nothing to you but Captain Nemo;
-and you and your companions are nothing to me but the passengers of the
-Nautilus."
-
-Captain Nemo called.  A steward appeared.  The captain gave him his
-orders in that strange language which I did not understand.  Then,
-turning towards the Canadian and Conseil:
-
-"A repast awaits you in your cabin," said he.  "Be so good as to follow
-this man.
-
-"And now, M. Aronnax, our breakfast is ready.  Permit me to lead the
-way."
-
-"I am at your service, Captain."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo; and as soon as I had passed through the door,
-I found myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity, similar to
-the waist of a ship.  After we had proceeded a dozen yards, a second
-door opened before me.
-
-I then entered a dining-room, decorated and furnished in severe taste.
-High oaken sideboards, inlaid with ebony, stood at the two extremities
-of the room, and upon their shelves glittered china, porcelain, and
-glass of inestimable value.  The plate on the table sparkled in the
-rays which the luminous ceiling shed around, while the light was
-tempered and softened by exquisite paintings.
-
-In the centre of the room was a table richly laid out.  Captain Nemo
-indicated the place I was to occupy.
-
-The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes, the contents of
-which were furnished by the sea alone; and I was ignorant of the nature
-and mode of preparation of some of them.  I acknowledged that they were
-good, but they had a peculiar flavour, which I easily became accustomed
-to.  These different aliments appeared to me to be rich in phosphorus,
-and I thought they must have a marine origin.
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me.  I asked him no questions, but he guessed my
-thoughts, and answered of his own accord the questions which I was
-burning to address to him.
-
-"The greater part of these dishes are unknown to you," he said to me.
-"However, you may partake of them without fear.  They are wholesome and
-nourishing.  For a long time I have renounced the food of the earth,
-and I am never ill now.  My crew, who are healthy, are fed on the same
-food."
-
-"So," said I, "all these eatables are the produce of the sea?"
-
-"Yes, Professor, the sea supplies all my wants.  Sometimes I cast my
-nets in tow, and I draw them in ready to break.  Sometimes I hunt in
-the midst of this element, which appears to be inaccessible to man, and
-quarry the game which dwells in my submarine forests.  My flocks, like
-those of Neptune's old shepherds, graze fearlessly in the immense
-prairies of the ocean.  I have a vast property there, which I cultivate
-myself, and which is always sown by the hand of the Creator of all
-things."
-
-"I can understand perfectly, sir, that your nets furnish excellent fish
-for your table; I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in
-your submarine forests; but I cannot understand at all how a particle
-of meat, no matter how small, can figure in your bill of fare."
-
-"This, which you believe to be meat, Professor, is nothing else than
-fillet of turtle.  Here are also some dolphins' livers, which you take
-to be ragout of pork.  My cook is a clever fellow, who excels in
-dressing these various products of the ocean.  Taste all these dishes.
-Here is a preserve of sea-cucumber, which a Malay would declare to be
-unrivalled in the world; here is a cream, of which the milk has been
-furnished by the cetacea, and the sugar by the great fucus of the North
-Sea; and, lastly, permit me to offer you some preserve of anemones,
-which is equal to that of the most delicious fruits."
-
-I tasted, more from curiosity than as a connoisseur, whilst Captain
-Nemo enchanted me with his extraordinary stories.
-
-"You like the sea, Captain?"
-
-"Yes; I love it!  The sea is everything.  It covers seven tenths of the
-terrestrial globe.  Its breath is pure and healthy.  It is an immense
-desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all
-sides.  The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful
-existence.  It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the `Living
-Infinite,' as one of your poets has said.  In fact, Professor, Nature
-manifests herself in it by her three kingdoms--mineral, vegetable, and
-animal.  The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature.  The globe began with
-sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it?  In it is
-supreme tranquillity.  The sea does not belong to despots.  Upon its
-surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to
-pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors.  But at thirty
-feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched,
-and their power disappears.  Ah! sir, live--live in the bosom of the
-waters!  There only is independence!  There I recognise no masters!
-There I am free!"
-
-Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of this enthusiasm, by
-which he was quite carried away.  For a few moments he paced up and
-down, much agitated.  Then he became more calm, regained his accustomed
-coldness of expression, and turning towards me:
-
-"Now, Professor," said he, "if you wish to go over the Nautilus, I am
-at your service."
-
-Captain Nemo rose.  I followed him.  A double door, contrived at the
-back of the dining-room, opened, and I entered a room equal in
-dimensions to that which I had just quitted.
-
-It was a library.  High pieces of furniture, of black violet ebony
-inlaid with brass, supported upon their wide shelves a great number of
-books uniformly bound.  They followed the shape of the room,
-terminating at the lower part in huge divans, covered with brown
-leather, which were curved, to afford the greatest comfort.  Light
-movable desks, made to slide in and out at will, allowed one to rest
-one's book while reading.  In the centre stood an immense table,
-covered with pamphlets, amongst which were some newspapers, already of
-old date.  The electric light flooded everything; it was shed from four
-unpolished globes half sunk in the volutes of the ceiling.  I looked
-with real admiration at this room, so ingeniously fitted up, and I
-could scarcely believe my eyes.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I to my host, who had just thrown himself on one
-of the divans, "this is a library which would do honour to more than
-one of the continental palaces, and I am absolutely astounded when I
-consider that it can follow you to the bottom of the seas."
-
-"Where could one find greater solitude or silence, Professor?" replied
-Captain Nemo.  "Did your study in the Museum afford you such perfect
-quiet?"
-
-"No, sir; and I must confess that it is a very poor one after yours.
-You must have six or seven thousand volumes here."
-
-"Twelve thousand, M. Aronnax.  These are the only ties which bind me to
-the earth.  But I had done with the world on the day when my Nautilus
-plunged for the first time beneath the waters.  That day I bought my
-last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last papers, and from that time I
-wish to think that men no longer think or write.  These books,
-Professor, are at your service besides, and you can make use of them
-freely."
-
-I thanked Captain Nemo, and went up to the shelves of the library.
-Works on science, morals, and literature abounded in every language;
-but I did not see one single work on political economy; that subject
-appeared to be strictly proscribed.  Strange to say, all these books
-were irregularly arranged, in whatever language they were written; and
-this medley proved that the Captain of the Nautilus must have read
-indiscriminately the books which he took up by chance.
-
-"Sir," said I to the Captain, "I thank you for having placed this
-library at my disposal.  It contains treasures of science, and I shall
-profit by them."
-
-"This room is not only a library," said Captain Nemo, "it is also a
-smoking-room."
-
-"A smoking-room!" I cried.  "Then one may smoke on board?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"Then, sir, I am forced to believe that you have kept up a
-communication with Havannah."
-
-"Not any," answered the Captain.  "Accept this cigar, M. Aronnax; and,
-though it does not come from Havannah, you will be pleased with it, if
-you are a connoisseur."
-
-I took the cigar which was offered me; its shape recalled the London
-ones, but it seemed to be made of leaves of gold.  I lighted it at a
-little brazier, which was supported upon an elegant bronze stem, and
-drew the first whiffs with the delight of a lover of smoking who has
-not smoked for two days.
-
-"It is excellent, but it is not tobacco."
-
-"No!" answered the Captain, "this tobacco comes neither from Havannah
-nor from the East.  It is a kind of sea-weed, rich in nicotine, with
-which the sea provides me, but somewhat sparingly."
-
-At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite to that
-by which I had entered the library, and I passed into an immense
-drawing-room splendidly lighted.
-
-It was a vast, four-sided room, thirty feet long, eighteen wide, and
-fifteen high.  A luminous ceiling, decorated with light arabesques,
-shed a soft clear light over all the marvels accumulated in this
-museum.  For it was in fact a museum, in which an intelligent and
-prodigal hand had gathered all the treasures of nature and art, with
-the artistic confusion which distinguishes a painter's studio.
-
-Thirty first-rate pictures, uniformly framed, separated by bright
-drapery, ornamented the walls, which were hung with tapestry of severe
-design. I saw works of great value, the greater part of which I had
-admired in the special collections of Europe, and in the exhibitions of
-paintings. The several schools of the old masters were represented by a
-Madonna of Raphael, a Virgin of Leonardo da Vinci, a nymph of Corregio,
-a woman of Titan, an Adoration of Veronese, an Assumption of Murillo, a
-portrait of Holbein, a monk of Velasquez, a martyr of Ribera, a fair of
-Rubens, two Flemish landscapes of Teniers, three little "genre"
-pictures of Gerard Dow, Metsu, and Paul Potter, two specimens of
-Gericault and Prudhon, and some sea-pieces of Backhuysen and Vernet.
-Amongst the works of modern painters were pictures with the signatures
-of Delacroix, Ingres, Decamps, Troyon, Meissonier, Daubigny, etc.; and
-some admirable statues in marble and bronze, after the finest antique
-models, stood upon pedestals in the corners of this magnificent museum.
-Amazement, as the Captain of the Nautilus had predicted, had already
-begun to take possession of me.
-
-"Professor," said this strange man, "you must excuse the unceremonious
-way in which I receive you, and the disorder of this room."
-
-"Sir," I answered, "without seeking to know who you are, I recognise in
-you an artist."
-
-"An amateur, nothing more, sir.  Formerly I loved to collect these
-beautiful works created by the hand of man.  I sought them greedily,
-and ferreted them out indefatigably, and I have been able to bring
-together some objects of great value.  These are my last souvenirs of
-that world which is dead to me.  In my eyes, your modern artists are
-already old; they have two or three thousand years of existence; I
-confound them in my own mind.  Masters have no age."
-
-"And these musicians?" said I, pointing out some works of Weber,
-Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, Herold, Wagner, Auber,
-Gounod, and a number of others, scattered over a large model
-piano-organ which occupied one of the panels of the drawing-room.
-
-"These musicians," replied Captain Nemo, "are the contemporaries of
-Orpheus; for in the memory of the dead all chronological differences
-are effaced; and I am dead, Professor; as much dead as those of your
-friends who are sleeping six feet under the earth!"
-
-Captain Nemo was silent, and seemed lost in a profound reverie. I
-contemplated him with deep interest, analysing in silence the strange
-expression of his countenance. Leaning on his elbow against an angle of
-a costly mosaic table, he no longer saw me,--he had forgotten my
-presence.
-
-I did not disturb this reverie, and continued my observation of the
-curiosities which enriched this drawing-room.
-
-Under elegant glass cases, fixed by copper rivets, were classed and
-labelled the most precious productions of the sea which had ever been
-presented to the eye of a naturalist.  My delight as a professor may be
-conceived.
-
-The division containing the zoophytes presented the most curious
-specimens of the two groups of polypi and echinodermes. In the first
-group, the tubipores, were gorgones arranged like a fan, soft sponges
-of Syria, ises of the Moluccas, pennatules, an admirable virgularia of
-the Norwegian seas, variegated unbellulairae, alcyonariae, a whole
-series of madrepores, which my master Milne Edwards has so cleverly
-classified, amongst which I remarked some wonderful flabellinae
-oculinae of the Island of Bourbon, the "Neptune's car" of the Antilles,
-superb varieties of corals--in short, every species of those curious
-polypi of which entire islands are formed, which will one day become
-continents. Of the echinodermes, remarkable for their coating of
-spines, asteri, sea-stars, pantacrinae, comatules, asterophons, echini,
-holothuri, etc., represented individually a complete collection of this
-group.
-
-A somewhat nervous conchyliologist would certainly have fainted before
-other more numerous cases, in which were classified the specimens of
-molluscs. It was a collection of inestimable value, which time fails me
-to describe minutely. Amongst these specimens I will quote from memory
-only the elegant royal hammer-fish of the Indian Ocean, whose regular
-white spots stood out brightly on a red and brown ground, an imperial
-spondyle, bright-coloured, bristling with spines, a rare specimen in
-the European museums--(I estimated its value at not less than L1000); a
-common hammer-fish of the seas of New Holland, which is only procured
-with difficulty; exotic buccardia of Senegal; fragile white bivalve
-shells, which a breath might shatter like a soap-bubble; several
-varieties of the aspirgillum of Java, a kind of calcareous tube, edged
-with leafy folds, and much debated by amateurs; a whole series of
-trochi, some a greenish-yellow, found in the American seas, others a
-reddish-brown, natives of Australian waters; others from the Gulf of
-Mexico, remarkable for their imbricated shell; stellari found in the
-Southern Seas; and last, the rarest of all, the magnificent spur of New
-Zealand; and every description of delicate and fragile shells to which
-science has given appropriate names.
-
-Apart, in separate compartments, were spread out chaplets of pearls of
-the greatest beauty, which reflected the electric light in little
-sparks of fire; pink pearls, torn from the pinna-marina of the Red Sea;
-green pearls of the haliotyde iris; yellow, blue and black pearls, the
-curious productions of the divers molluscs of every ocean, and certain
-mussels of the water-courses of the North; lastly, several specimens of
-inestimable value which had been gathered from the rarest pintadines.
-Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon's egg, and were worth as
-much, and more than that which the traveller Tavernier sold to the Shah
-of Persia for three millions, and surpassed the one in the possession
-of the Imaum of Muscat, which I had believed to be unrivalled in the
-world.
-
-Therefore, to estimate the value of this collection was simply
-impossible.  Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the
-acquirement of these various specimens, and I was thinking what source
-he could have drawn from, to have been able thus to gratify his fancy
-for collecting, when I was interrupted by these words:
-
-"You are examining my shells, Professor?  Unquestionably they must be
-interesting to a naturalist; but for me they have a far greater charm,
-for I have collected them all with my own hand, and there is not a sea
-on the face of the globe which has escaped my researches."
-
-"I can understand, Captain, the delight of wandering about in the midst
-of such riches.  You are one of those who have collected their
-treasures themselves.  No museum in Europe possesses such a collection
-of the produce of the ocean.  But if I exhaust all my admiration upon
-it, I shall have none left for the vessel which carries it.  I do not
-wish to pry into your secrets:  but I must confess that this Nautilus,
-with the motive power which is confined in it, the contrivances which
-enable it to be worked, the powerful agent which propels it, all excite
-my curiosity to the highest pitch.  I see suspended on the walls of
-this room instruments of whose use I am ignorant."
-
-"You will find these same instruments in my own room, Professor, where
-I shall have much pleasure in explaining their use to you.  But first
-come and inspect the cabin which is set apart for your own use.  You
-must see how you will be accommodated on board the Nautilus."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo who, by one of the doors opening from each
-panel of the drawing-room, regained the waist.  He conducted me towards
-the bow, and there I found, not a cabin, but an elegant room, with a
-bed, dressing-table, and several other pieces of excellent furniture.
-
-I could only thank my host.
-
-"Your room adjoins mine," said he, opening a door, "and mine opens into
-the drawing-room that we have just quitted."
-
-I entered the Captain's room:  it had a severe, almost a monkish
-aspect.  A small iron bedstead, a table, some articles for the toilet;
-the whole lighted by a skylight.  No comforts, the strictest
-necessaries only.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed to a seat.
-
-"Be so good as to sit down," he said.  I seated myself, and he began
-thus:
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-ALL BY ELECTRICITY
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, showing me the instruments hanging on the
-walls of his room, "here are the contrivances required for the
-navigation of the Nautilus.  Here, as in the drawing-room, I have them
-always under my eyes, and they indicate my position and exact direction
-in the middle of the ocean.  Some are known to you, such as the
-thermometer, which gives the internal temperature of the Nautilus; the
-barometer, which indicates the weight of the air and foretells the
-changes of the weather; the hygrometer, which marks the dryness of the
-atmosphere; the storm-glass, the contents of which, by decomposing,
-announce the approach of tempests; the compass, which guides my course;
-the sextant, which shows the latitude by the altitude of the sun;
-chronometers, by which I calculate the longitude; and glasses for day
-and night, which I use to examine the points of the horizon, when the
-Nautilus rises to the surface of the waves."
-
-"These are the usual nautical instruments," I replied, "and I know the
-use of them.  But these others, no doubt, answer to the particular
-requirements of the Nautilus.  This dial with movable needle is a
-manometer, is it not?"
-
-"It is actually a manometer.  But by communication with the water,
-whose external pressure it indicates, it gives our depth at the same
-time."
-
-"And these other instruments, the use of which I cannot guess?"
-
-"Here, Professor, I ought to give you some explanations.  Will you be
-kind enough to listen to me?"
-
-He was silent for a few moments, then he said:
-
-"There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to
-every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel.  Everything is done
-by means of it.  It lights, warms it, and is the soul of my mechanical
-apparatus.  This agent is electricity."
-
-"Electricity?"  I cried in surprise.
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement,
-which does not agree well with the power of electricity.  Until now,
-its dynamic force has remained under restraint, and has only been able
-to produce a small amount of power."
-
-"Professor," said Captain Nemo, "my electricity is not everybody's.
-You know what sea-water is composed of.  In a thousand grammes are
-found 96 1/2 per cent. of water, and about 2 2/3 per cent.  of chloride
-of sodium; then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of magnesium and of
-potassium, bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and
-carbonate of lime.  You see, then, that chloride of sodium forms a
-large part of it.  So it is this sodium that I extract from the
-sea-water, and of which I compose my ingredients.  I owe all to the
-ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity gives heat, light,
-motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus."
-
-"But not the air you breathe?"
-
-"Oh!  I could manufacture the air necessary for my consumption, but it
-is useless, because I go up to the surface of the water when I please.
-However, if electricity does not furnish me with air to breathe, it
-works at least the powerful pumps that are stored in spacious
-reservoirs, and which enable me to prolong at need, and as long as I
-will, my stay in the depths of the sea.  It gives a uniform and
-unintermittent light, which the sun does not.  Now look at this clock;
-it is electrical, and goes with a regularity that defies the best
-chronometers.  I have divided it into twenty-four hours, like the
-Italian clocks, because for me there is neither night nor day, sun nor
-moon, but only that factitious light that I take with me to the bottom
-of the sea.  Look! just now, it is ten o'clock in the morning."
-
-"Exactly."
-
-"Another application of electricity.  This dial hanging in front of us
-indicates the speed of the Nautilus.  An electric thread puts it in
-communication with the screw, and the needle indicates the real speed.
-Look! now we are spinning along with a uniform speed of fifteen miles
-an hour."
-
-"It is marvelous!  And I see, Captain, you were right to make use of
-this agent that takes the place of wind, water, and steam."
-
-"We have not finished, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo, rising.  "If you
-will allow me, we will examine the stern of the Nautilus."
-
-Really, I knew already the anterior part of this submarine boat, of
-which this is the exact division, starting from the ship's head: the
-dining-room, five yards long, separated from the library by a
-water-tight partition; the library, five yards long; the large
-drawing-room, ten yards long, separated from the Captain's room by a
-second water-tight partition; the said room, five yards in length;
-mine, two and a half yards; and, lastly a reservoir of air, seven and a
-half yards, that extended to the bows.  Total length thirty five yards,
-or one hundred and five feet.  The partitions had doors that were shut
-hermetically by means of india-rubber instruments, and they ensured the
-safety of the Nautilus in case of a leak.
-
-I followed Captain Nemo through the waist, and arrived at the centre of
-the boat.  There was a sort of well that opened between two partitions.
-An iron ladder, fastened with an iron hook to the partition, led to the
-upper end.  I asked the Captain what the ladder was used for.
-
-"It leads to the small boat," he said.
-
-"What! have you a boat?"  I exclaimed, in surprise.
-
-"Of course; an excellent vessel, light and insubmersible, that serves
-either as a fishing or as a pleasure boat."
-
-"But then, when you wish to embark, you are obliged to come to the
-surface of the water?"
-
-"Not at all.  This boat is attached to the upper part of the hull of
-the Nautilus, and occupies a cavity made for it.  It is decked, quite
-water-tight, and held together by solid bolts.  This ladder leads to a
-man-hole made in the hull of the Nautilus, that corresponds with a
-similar hole made in the side of the boat.  By this double opening I
-get into the small vessel.  They shut the one belonging to the
-Nautilus; I shut the other by means of screw pressure.  I undo the
-bolts, and the little boat goes up to the surface of the sea with
-prodigious rapidity.  I then open the panel of the bridge, carefully
-shut till then; I mast it, hoist my sail, take my oars, and I'm off."
-
-"But how do you get back on board?"
-
-"I do not come back, M. Aronnax; the Nautilus comes to me."
-
-"By your orders?"
-
-"By my orders.  An electric thread connects us.  I telegraph to it, and
-that is enough."
-
-"Really," I said, astonished at these marvels, "nothing can be more
-simple."
-
-After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led to the
-platform, I saw a cabin six feet long, in which Conseil and Ned Land,
-enchanted with their repast, were devouring it with avidity.  Then a
-door opened into a kitchen nine feet long, situated between the large
-store-rooms. There electricity, better than gas itself, did all the
-cooking.  The streams under the furnaces gave out to the sponges of
-platina a heat which was regularly kept up and distributed.  They also
-heated a distilling apparatus, which, by evaporation, furnished
-excellent drinkable water.  Near this kitchen was a bathroom
-comfortably furnished, with hot and cold water taps.
-
-Next to the kitchen was the berth-room of the vessel, sixteen feet
-long.  But the door was shut, and I could not see the management of it,
-which might have given me an idea of the number of men employed on
-board the Nautilus.
-
-At the bottom was a fourth partition that separated this office from
-the engine-room. A door opened, and I found myself in the compartment
-where Captain Nemo--certainly an engineer of a very high order--had
-arranged his locomotive machinery.  This engine-room, clearly lighted,
-did not measure less than sixty-five feet in length.  It was divided
-into two parts; the first contained the materials for producing
-electricity, and the second the machinery that connected it with the
-screw.  I examined it with great interest, in order to understand the
-machinery of the Nautilus.
-
-"You see," said the Captain, "I use Bunsen's contrivances, not
-Ruhmkorff's. Those would not have been powerful enough.  Bunsen's are
-fewer in number, but strong and large, which experience proves to be
-the best.  The electricity produced passes forward, where it works, by
-electro-magnets of great size, on a system of levers and cog-wheels
-that transmit the movement to the axle of the screw.  This one, the
-diameter of which is nineteen feet, and the thread twenty-three feet,
-performs about 120 revolutions in a second."
-
-"And you get then?"
-
-"A speed of fifty miles an hour."
-
-"I have seen the Nautilus manoeuvre before the Abraham Lincoln, and I
-have my own ideas as to its speed.  But this is not enough.  We must
-see where we go.  We must be able to direct it to the right, to the
-left, above, below.  How do you get to the great depths, where you find
-an increasing resistance, which is rated by hundreds of atmospheres?
-How do you return to the surface of the ocean?  And how do you maintain
-yourselves in the requisite medium?  Am I asking too much?"
-
-"Not at all, Professor," replied the Captain, with some hesitation;
-"since you may never leave this submarine boat.  Come into the saloon,
-it is our usual study, and there you will learn all you want to know
-about the Nautilus."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-SOME FIGURES
-
-A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking.  The
-Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation
-of the Nautilus.  Then he began his description in these words:
-
-"Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat you are in.
-It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends.  It is very like a cigar
-in shape, a shape already adopted in London in several constructions of
-the same sort.  The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is
-exactly 232 feet, and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet.  It is
-not built quite like your long-voyage steamers, but its lines are
-sufficiently long, and its curves prolonged enough, to allow the water
-to slide off easily, and oppose no obstacle to its passage.  These two
-dimensions enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the surface and
-cubic contents of the Nautilus.  Its area measures 6,032 feet; and its
-contents about 1,500 cubic yards; that is to say, when completely
-immersed it displaces 50,000 feet of water, or weighs 1,500 tons.
-
-"When I made the plans for this submarine vessel, I meant that
-nine-tenths should be submerged:  consequently it ought only to
-displace nine-tenths of its bulk, that is to say, only to weigh that
-number of tons.  I ought not, therefore, to have exceeded that weight,
-constructing it on the aforesaid dimensions.
-
-"The Nautilus is composed of two hulls, one inside, the other outside,
-joined by T-shaped irons, which render it very strong.  Indeed, owing
-to this cellular arrangement it resists like a block, as if it were
-solid.  Its sides cannot yield; it coheres spontaneously, and not by
-the closeness of its rivets; and its perfect union of the materials
-enables it to defy the roughest seas.
-
-"These two hulls are composed of steel plates, whose density is from .7
-to .8 that of water.  The first is not less than two inches and a half
-thick and weighs 394 tons.  The second envelope, the keel, twenty
-inches high and ten thick, weighs only sixty-two tons.  The engine, the
-ballast, the several accessories and apparatus appendages, the
-partitions and bulkheads, weigh 961.62 tons.  Do you follow all this?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Then, when the Nautilus is afloat under these circumstances, one-tenth
-is out of the water.  Now, if I have made reservoirs of a size equal to
-this tenth, or capable of holding 150 tons, and if I fill them with
-water, the boat, weighing then 1,507 tons, will be completely immersed.
-That would happen, Professor.  These reservoirs are in the lower part
-of the Nautilus.  I turn on taps and they fill, and the vessel sinks
-that had just been level with the surface."
-
-"Well, Captain, but now we come to the real difficulty.  I can
-understand your rising to the surface; but, diving below the surface,
-does not your submarine contrivance encounter a pressure, and
-consequently undergo an upward thrust of one atmosphere for every
-thirty feet of water, just about fifteen pounds per square inch?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"Then, unless you quite fill the Nautilus, I do not see how you can
-draw it down to those depths."
-
-"Professor, you must not confound statics with dynamics or you will be
-exposed to grave errors.  There is very little labour spent in
-attaining the lower regions of the ocean, for all bodies have a
-tendency to sink.  When I wanted to find out the necessary increase of
-weight required to sink the Nautilus, I had only to calculate the
-reduction of volume that sea-water acquires according to the depth."
-
-"That is evident."
-
-"Now, if water is not absolutely incompressible, it is at least capable
-of very slight compression.  Indeed, after the most recent calculations
-this reduction is only .000436 of an atmosphere for each thirty feet of
-depth.  If we want to sink 3,000 feet, I should keep account of the
-reduction of bulk under a pressure equal to that of a column of water
-of a thousand feet.  The calculation is easily verified.  Now, I have
-supplementary reservoirs capable of holding a hundred tons.  Therefore
-I can sink to a considerable depth.  When I wish to rise to the level
-of the sea, I only let off the water, and empty all the reservoirs if I
-want the Nautilus to emerge from the tenth part of her total capacity."
-
-I had nothing to object to these reasonings.
-
-"I admit your calculations, Captain," I replied; "I should be wrong to
-dispute them since daily experience confirms them; but I foresee a real
-difficulty in the way."
-
-"What, sir?"
-
-"When you are about 1,000 feet deep, the walls of the Nautilus bear a
-pressure of 100 atmospheres.  If, then, just now you were to empty the
-supplementary reservoirs, to lighten the vessel, and to go up to the
-surface, the pumps must overcome the pressure of 100 atmospheres, which
-is 1,500 lbs.  per square inch.  From that a power----"
-
-"That electricity alone can give," said the Captain, hastily.  "I
-repeat, sir, that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite.
-The pumps of the Nautilus have an enormous power, as you must have
-observed when their jets of water burst like a torrent upon the Abraham
-Lincoln.  Besides, I use subsidiary reservoirs only to attain a mean
-depth of 750 to 1,000 fathoms, and that with a view of managing my
-machines.  Also, when I have a mind to visit the depths of the ocean
-five or six mlles below the surface, I make use of slower but not less
-infallible means."
-
-"What are they, Captain?"
-
-"That involves my telling you how the Nautilus is worked."
-
-"I am impatient to learn."
-
-"To steer this boat to starboard or port, to turn, in a word, following
-a horizontal plan, I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back of the
-stern-post, and with one wheel and some tackle to steer by.  But I can
-also make the Nautilus rise and sink, and sink and rise, by a vertical
-movement by means of two inclined planes fastened to its sides,
-opposite the centre of flotation, planes that move in every direction,
-and that are worked by powerful levers from the interior.  If the
-planes are kept parallel with the boat, it moves horizontally.  If
-slanted, the Nautilus, according to this inclination, and under the
-influence of the screw, either sinks diagonally or rises diagonally as
-it suits me.  And even if I wish to rise more quickly to the surface, I
-ship the screw, and the pressure of the water causes the Nautilus to
-rise vertically like a balloon filled with hydrogen."
-
-"Bravo, Captain!  But how can the steersman follow the route in the
-middle of the waters?"
-
-"The steersman is placed in a glazed box, that is raised about the hull
-of the Nautilus, and furnished with lenses."
-
-"Are these lenses capable of resisting such pressure?"
-
-"Perfectly.  Glass, which breaks at a blow, is, nevertheless, capable
-of offering considerable resistance.  During some experiments of
-fishing by electric light in 1864 in the Northern Seas, we saw plates
-less than a third of an inch thick resist a pressure of sixteen
-atmospheres.  Now, the glass that I use is not less than thirty times
-thicker."
-
-"Granted.  But, after all, in order to see, the light must exceed the
-darkness, and in the midst of the darkness in the water, how can you
-see?"
-
-"Behind the steersman's cage is placed a powerful electric reflector,
-the rays from which light up the sea for half a mile in front."
-
-"Ah! bravo, bravo, Captain!  Now I can account for this phosphorescence
-in the supposed narwhal that puzzled us so.  I now ask you if the
-boarding of the Nautilus and of the Scotia, that has made such a noise,
-has been the result of a chance rencontre?"
-
-"Quite accidental, sir.  I was sailing only one fathom below the
-surface of the water when the shock came.  It had no bad result."
-
-"None, sir.  But now, about your rencontre with the Abraham Lincoln?"
-
-"Professor, I am sorry for one of the best vessels in the American
-navy; but they attacked me, and I was bound to defend myself.  I
-contented myself, however, with putting the frigate hors de combat; she
-will not have any difficulty in getting repaired at the next port."
-
-"Ah, Commander! your Nautilus is certainly a marvellous boat."
-
-"Yes, Professor; and I love it as if it were part of myself.  If danger
-threatens one of your vessels on the ocean, the first impression is the
-feeling of an abyss above and below.  On the Nautilus men's hearts
-never fail them.  No defects to be afraid of, for the double shell is
-as firm as iron; no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to
-carry away; no boilers to burst; no fire to fear, for the vessel is
-made of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity is the
-only mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for it alone swims in deep
-water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the water it
-reaches absolute tranquillity.  There, sir! that is the perfection of
-vessels!  And if it is true that the engineer has more confidence in
-the vessel than the builder, and the builder than the captain himself,
-you understand the trust I repose in my Nautilus; for I am at once
-captain, builder, and engineer."
-
-"But how could you construct this wonderful Nautilus in secret?"
-
-"Each separate portion, M. Aronnax, was brought from different parts of
-the globe."
-
-"But these parts had to be put together and arranged?"
-
-"Professor, I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the
-ocean.  There my workmen, that is to say, the brave men that I
-instructed and educated, and myself have put together our Nautilus.
-Then, when the work was finished, fire destroyed all trace of our
-proceedings on this island, that I could have jumped over if I had
-liked."
-
-"Then the cost of this vessel is great?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, an iron vessel costs L145 per ton.  Now the Nautilus
-weighed 1,500. It came therefore to L67,500, and L80,000 more for
-fitting it up, and about L200,000, with the works of art and the
-collections it contains."
-
-"One last question, Captain Nemo."
-
-"Ask it, Professor."
-
-"You are rich?"
-
-"Immensely rich, sir; and I could, without missing it, pay the national
-debt of France."
-
-I stared at the singular person who spoke thus.  Was he playing upon my
-credulity?  The future would decide that.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE BLACK RIVER
-
-The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is
-estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres.  This fluid mass
-comprises two billions two hundred and fifty millions of cubic miles,
-forming a spherical body of a diameter of sixty leagues, the weight of
-which would be three quintillions of tons.  To comprehend the meaning
-of these figures, it is necessary to observe that a quintillion is to a
-billion as a billion is to unity; in other words, there are as many
-billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.  This mass
-of fluid is equal to about the quantity of water which would be
-discharged by all the rivers of the earth in forty thousand years.
-
-During the geological epochs the ocean originally prevailed everywhere.
-Then by degrees, in the silurian period, the tops of the mountains
-began to appear, the islands emerged, then disappeared in partial
-deluges, reappeared, became settled, formed continents, till at length
-the earth became geographically arranged, as we see in the present day.
-The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred
-and fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billions nine hundred and
-sixty millions of acres.
-
-The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five great
-portions:  the Arctic or Frozen Ocean, the Antarctic, or Frozen Ocean,
-the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.
-
-The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two Polar
-Circles, and from east to west between Asia and America, over an extent
-of 145 degrees of longitude.  It is the quietest of seas; its currents
-are broad and slow, it has medium tides, and abundant rain.  Such was
-the ocean that my fate destined me first to travel over under these
-strange conditions.
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, "we will, if you please, take our bearings
-and fix the starting-point of this voyage.  It is a quarter to twelve;
-I will go up again to the surface."
-
-The Captain pressed an electric clock three times.  The pumps began to
-drive the water from the tanks; the needle of the manometer marked by a
-different pressure the ascent of the Nautilus, then it stopped.
-
-"We have arrived," said the Captain.
-
-I went to the central staircase which opened on to the platform,
-clambered up the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part of the
-Nautilus.
-
-The platform was only three feet out of water.  The front and back of
-the Nautilus was of that spindle-shape which caused it justly to be
-compared to a cigar.  I noticed that its iron plates, slightly
-overlaying each other, resembled the shell which clothes the bodies of
-our large terrestrial reptiles.  It explained to me how natural it was,
-in spite of all glasses, that this boat should have been taken for a
-marine animal.
-
-Toward the middle of the platform the longboat, half buried in the hull
-of the vessel, formed a slight excrescence.  Fore and aft rose two
-cages of medium height with inclined sides, and partly closed by thick
-lenticular glasses; one destined for the steersman who directed the
-Nautilus, the other containing a brilliant lantern to give light on the
-road.
-
-The sea was beautiful, the sky pure.  Scarcely could the long vehicle
-feel the broad undulations of the ocean.  A light breeze from the east
-rippled the surface of the waters.  The horizon, free from fog, made
-observation easy.  Nothing was in sight.  Not a quicksand, not an
-island.  A vast desert.
-
-Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude of the sun,
-which ought also to give the latitude.  He waited for some moments till
-its disc touched the horizon.  Whilst taking observations not a muscle
-moved, the instrument could not have been more motionless in a hand of
-marble.
-
-"Twelve o'clock, sir," said he.  "When you like----"
-
-I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese
-coast, and descended to the saloon.
-
-"And now, sir, I leave you to your studies," added the Captain; "our
-course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms.  Here are maps on a
-large scale by which you may follow it.  The saloon is at your
-disposal, and, with your permission, I will retire."  Captain Nemo
-bowed, and I remained alone, lost in thoughts all bearing on the
-commander of the Nautilus.
-
-For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce
-this mystery so interesting to me.  Then my eyes fell upon the vast
-planisphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very
-spot where the given latitude and longitude crossed.
-
-The sea has its large rivers like the continents.  They are special
-currents known by their temperature and their colour.  The most
-remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream.  Science
-has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents: one
-in the North Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North
-Pacific, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian
-Ocean.  It is even probable that a sixth current existed at one time or
-another in the Northern Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas
-formed but one vast sheet of water.
-
-At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was
-rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which,
-leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular
-rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast
-of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands, carrying
-with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions, and
-edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.
-It was this current that the Nautilus was to follow.  I followed it
-with my eye; saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific, and
-felt myself drawn with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the
-door of the saloon.
-
-My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
-spread before them.
-
-"Where are we, where are we?" exclaimed the Canadian.  "In the museum
-at Quebec?"
-
-"My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter, "you are not
-in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards below the level of
-the sea."
-
-"But, M. Aronnax," said Ned Land, "can you tell me how many men there
-are on board?  Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?"
-
-"I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a time all
-idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it.  This ship is a
-masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be sorry not to have seen
-it.  Many people would accept the situation forced upon us, if only to
-move amongst such wonders.  So be quiet and let us try and see what
-passes around us."
-
-"See!" exclaimed the harpooner, "but we can see nothing in this iron
-prison!  We are walking--we are sailing--blindly."
-
-Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly
-darkness.  The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes
-received a painful impression.
-
-We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited
-us, whether agreeable or disagreeable.  A sliding noise was heard: one
-would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-"It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.
-
-Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong
-openings.  The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric
-gleam.  Two crystal plates separated us from the sea.  At first I
-trembled at the thought that this frail partition might break, but
-strong bands of copper bound them, giving an almost infinite power of
-resistance.
-
-The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the Nautilus.  What
-a spectacle!  What pen can describe it?  Who could paint the effects of
-the light through those transparent sheets of water, and the softness
-of the successive gradations from the lower to the superior strata of
-the ocean?
-
-We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
-beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances which it
-holds in suspension heightens its transparency.  In certain parts of
-the ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five fathoms of water, can be
-seen with surprising clearness a bed of sand.  The penetrating power of
-the solar rays does not seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and
-fifty fathoms.  But in this middle fluid travelled over by the
-Nautilus, the electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the
-waves.  It was no longer luminous water, but liquid light.
-
-On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss.  The obscurity
-of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside, and we looked
-out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium.
-
-"You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now."
-
-"Curious! curious!" muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
-ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction; "and one
-would come further than this to admire such a sight!"
-
-"Ah!" thought I to myself, "I understand the life of this man; he has
-made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all his greatest
-wonders."
-
-For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus.  During
-their games, their bounds, while rivalling each other in beauty,
-brightness, and velocity, I distinguished the green labre; the banded
-mullet, marked by a double line of black; the round-tailed goby, of a
-white colour, with violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus, a
-beautiful mackerel of these seas, with a blue body and silvery head;
-the brilliant azurors, whose name alone defies description; some banded
-spares, with variegated fins of blue and yellow; the woodcocks of the
-seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in length; Japanese
-salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents six feet long, with eyes small
-and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth; with many other
-species.
-
-Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
-on each other.  Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them.  I was in
-ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their
-forms.  Never had it been given to me to surprise these animals, alive
-and at liberty, in their natural element.  I will not mention all the
-varieties which passed before my dazzled eyes, all the collection of
-the seas of China and Japan.  These fish, more numerous than the birds
-of the air, came, attracted, no doubt, by the brilliant focus of the
-electric light.
-
-Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed
-again, and the enchanting vision disappeared.  But for a long time I
-dreamt on, till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the
-partition.  The compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the
-manometer indicated a pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a
-depth of twenty five fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of
-fifteen miles an hour.  I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear.
-The clock marked the hour of five.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my
-chamber.  My dinner was ready.  It was composed of turtle soup made of
-the most delicate hawks bills, of a surmullet served with puff paste
-(the liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and
-fillets of the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me
-superior even to salmon.
-
-I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking.  Then sleep
-overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch of zostera, and
-slept profoundly, whilst the Nautilus was gliding rapidly through the
-current of the Black River.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-A NOTE OF INVITATION
-
-The next day was the 9th of November.  I awoke after a long sleep of
-twelve hours.  Conseil came, according to custom, to know "how I passed
-the night," and to offer his services.  He had left his friend the
-Canadian sleeping like a man who had never done anything else all his
-life.  I let the worthy fellow chatter as he pleased, without caring to
-answer him.  I was preoccupied by the absence of the Captain during our
-sitting of the day before, and hoping to see him to-day.
-
-As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon.  It was deserted.  I
-plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses.
-
-The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain
-Nemo.  The panels of the saloon did not open.  Perhaps they did not
-wish us to tire of these beautiful things.
-
-The course of the Nautilus was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots, the
-depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
-
-The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion, the same solitude.
-I did not see one of the ship's crew: Ned and Conseil spent the greater
-part of the day with me.  They were astonished at the puzzling absence
-of the Captain.  Was this singular man ill?--had he altered his
-intentions with regard to us?
-
-After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were
-delicately and abundantly fed.  Our host kept to his terms of the
-treaty.  We could not complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our
-fate reserved such wonderful compensation for us that we had no right
-to accuse it as yet.
-
-That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled
-me to relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail.
-
-11th November, early in the morning.  The fresh air spreading over the
-interior of the Nautilus told me that we had come to the surface of the
-ocean to renew our supply of oxygen.  I directed my steps to the
-central staircase, and mounted the platform.
-
-It was six o'clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey, but calm.
-Scarcely a billow.  Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be
-there?  I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage.
-Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled
-the salt breeze with delight.
-
-By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun's rays, the
-radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon.  The sea flamed under
-its glance like a train of gunpowder.  The clouds scattered in the
-heights were coloured with lively tints of beautiful shades, and
-numerous "mare's tails," which betokened wind for that day.  But what
-was wind to this Nautilus, which tempests could not frighten!
-
-I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay, and so
-life-giving, when I heard steps approaching the platform.  I was
-prepared to salute Captain Nemo, but it was his second (whom I had
-already seen on the Captain's first visit) who appeared.  He advanced
-on the platform, not seeming to see me.  With his powerful glass to his
-eye, he scanned every point of the horizon with great attention.  This
-examination over, he approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in
-exactly these terms.  I have remembered it, for every morning it was
-repeated under exactly the same conditions.  It was thus worded:
-
-"Nautron respoc lorni virch."
-
-What it meant I could not say.
-
-These words pronounced, the second descended.  I thought that the
-Nautilus was about to return to its submarine navigation.  I regained
-the panel and returned to my chamber.
-
-Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation.  Every
-morning I mounted the platform.  The same phrase was pronounced by the
-same individual.  But Captain Nemo did not appear.
-
-I had made up my mind that I should never see him again, when, on the
-16th November, on returning to my room with Ned and Conseil, I found
-upon my table a note addressed to me.  I opened it impatiently.  It was
-written in a bold, clear hand, the characters rather pointed, recalling
-the German type.  The note was worded as follows:
-
-
-TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus.  16th of November, 1867.
-
-Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
-take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo.
-He hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present,
-and he will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.
-
-
-"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.
-
-"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.
-
-"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I, reading the letter
-once more.
-
-"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian.  "But once more on dry
-ground, we shall know what to do.  Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat
-a piece of fresh venison."
-
-Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
-Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation
-to hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:
-
-"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."
-
-I consulted the planisphere, and in 32 deg. 40' N. lat. and 157 deg.
-50' W. long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801 by Captain
-Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata,
-the meaning of which is The Silver Rock.  We were then about eighteen
-hundred miles from our starting-point, and the course of the Nautilus,
-a little changed, was bringing it back towards the southeast.
-
-I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific, to
-my companions.
-
-"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I, "he at least
-chooses desert islands."
-
-Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil and he
-left me.
-
-After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive, I
-went to bed, not without some anxiety.
-
-The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt that the
-Nautilus was perfectly still.  I dressed quickly and entered the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me.  He rose, bowed, and asked me
-if it was convenient for me to accompany him.  As he made no allusion
-to his absence during the last eight days, I did not mention it, and
-simply answered that my companions and myself were ready to follow him.
-
-We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said the Captain, "pray, share my breakfast without
-ceremony; we will chat as we eat.  For, though I promised you a walk in
-the forest, I did not undertake to find hotels there.  So breakfast as
-a man who will most likely not have his dinner till very late."
-
-I did honour to the repast.  It was composed of several kinds of fish,
-and slices of sea-cucumber, and different sorts of seaweed.  Our drink
-consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added some drops of a
-fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha method from a seaweed
-known under the name of Rhodomenia palmata.  Captain Nemo ate at first
-without saying a word.  Then he began:
-
-"Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
-you evidently thought me mad.  Sir, you should never judge lightly of
-any man."
-
-"But Captain, believe me----"
-
-"Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you have any
-cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction."
-
-"I listen."
-
-"You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
-providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air.
-In submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress, with his
-head in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means of forcing
-pumps and regulators."
-
-"That is a diving apparatus," said I.
-
-"Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty; he is
-attached to the pump which sends him air through an india-rubber tube,
-and if we were obliged to be thus held to the Nautilus, we could not go
-far."
-
-"And the means of getting free?"  I asked.
-
-"It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your own
-countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use, and
-which will allow you to risk yourself under these new physiological
-conditions without any organ whatever suffering.  It consists of a
-reservoir of thick iron plates, in which I store the air under a
-pressure of fifty atmospheres.  This reservoir is fixed on the back by
-means of braces, like a soldier's knapsack.  Its upper part forms a box
-in which the air is kept by means of a bellows, and therefore cannot
-escape unless at its normal tension.  In the Rouquayrol apparatus such
-as we use, two india rubber pipes leave this box and join a sort of
-tent which holds the nose and mouth; one is to introduce fresh air, the
-other to let out the foul, and the tongue closes one or the other
-according to the wants of the respirator.  But I, in encountering great
-pressures at the bottom of the sea, was obliged to shut my head, like
-that of a diver in a ball of copper; and it is to this ball of copper
-that the two pipes, the inspirator and the expirator, open."
-
-"Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you must soon
-be used; when it only contains fifteen per cent.  of oxygen it is no
-longer fit to breathe."
-
-"Right!  But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the Nautilus
-allow me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those
-conditions the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air
-for nine or ten hours."
-
-"I have no further objections to make," I answered.  "I will only ask
-you one thing, Captain--how can you light your road at the bottom of
-the sea?"
-
-"With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back,
-the other is fastened to the waist.  It is composed of a Bunsen pile,
-which I do not work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium.  A wire
-is introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs it
-towards a particularly made lantern.  In this lantern is a spiral glass
-which contains a small quantity of carbonic gas.  When the apparatus is
-at work this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous
-light.  Thus provided, I can breathe and I can see."
-
-"Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers that
-I dare no longer doubt.  But, if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol
-and Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with
-regard to the gun I am to carry."
-
-"But it is not a gun for powder," answered the Captain.
-
-"Then it is an air-gun."
-
-"Doubtless!  How would you have me manufacture gun powder on board,
-without either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?"
-
-"Besides," I added, "to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and
-fifty-five times denser than the air, we must conquer very considerable
-resistance."
-
-"That would be no difficulty.  There exist guns, according to Fulton,
-perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy,
-and in Italy by Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar system of
-closing, which can fire under these conditions.  But I repeat, having
-no powder, I use air under great pressure, which the pumps of the
-Nautilus furnish abundantly."
-
-"But this air must be rapidly used?"
-
-"Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at
-need?  A tap is all that is required.  Besides M. Aronnax, you must see
-yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air
-and but few balls."
-
-"But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this
-fluid, which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could
-not go far, nor easily prove mortal."
-
-"Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal; and, however
-lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt."
-
-"Why?"
-
-"Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little
-cases of glass.  These glass cases are covered with a case of steel,
-and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles, into
-which the electricity is forced to a very high tension.  With the
-slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal, however strong it
-may be, falls dead.  I must tell you that these cases are size number
-four, and that the charge for an ordinary gun would be ten."
-
-"I will argue no longer," I replied, rising from the table.  "I have
-nothing left me but to take my gun.  At all events, I will go where you
-go."
-
-Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned's and Conseil's
-cabin, I called my two companions, who followed promptly.  We then came
-to a cell near the machinery-room, in which we put on our walking-dress.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
-
-This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the
-Nautilus.  A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting
-our use.
-
-Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress himself in
-one.
-
-"But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
-but submarine forests."
-
-"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams of fresh
-meat fade away.  "And you, M. Aronnax, are you going to dress yourself
-in those clothes?"
-
-"There is no alternative, Master Ned."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
-"but, as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one."
-
-"No one will force you, Master Ned," said Captain Nemo.
-
-"Is Conseil going to risk it?" asked Ned.
-
-"I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.
-
-At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came to help us dress in
-these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam,
-and constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure.  One would
-have thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting.  This suit
-formed trousers and waistcoat.  The trousers were finished off with
-thick boots, weighted with heavy leaden soles.  The texture of the
-waistcoat was held together by bands of copper, which crossed the
-chest, protecting it from the great pressure of the water, and leaving
-the lungs free to act; the sleeves ended in gloves, which in no way
-restrained the movement of the hands.  There was a vast difference
-noticeable between these consummate apparatuses and the old cork
-breastplates, jackets, and other contrivances in vogue during the
-eighteenth century.
-
-Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules, who must
-have possessed great strength), Conseil and myself were soon enveloped
-in the dresses.  There remained nothing more to be done but to enclose
-our heads in the metal box.  But, before proceeding to this operation,
-I asked the Captain's permission to examine the guns.
-
-One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which,
-made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large.  It served as a
-reservoir for compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring,
-allowed to escape into a metal tube.  A box of projectiles in a groove
-in the thickness of the butt end contained about twenty of these
-electric balls, which, by means of a spring, were forced into the
-barrel of the gun.  As soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I, "this arm is perfect, and easily handled: I
-only ask to be allowed to try it.  But how shall we gain the bottom of
-the sea?"
-
-"At this moment, Professor, the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
-and we have nothing to do but to start."
-
-"But how shall we get off?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the
-same, not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian.
-The upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which
-was screwed the metal helmet.  Three holes, protected by thick glass,
-allowed us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head in the
-interior of the head-dress. As soon as it was in position, the
-Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began to act; and, for my part, I
-could breathe with ease.
-
-With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand, I
-was ready to set out.  But to speak the truth, imprisoned in these
-heavy garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles, it was
-impossible for me to take a step.
-
-But this state of things was provided for.  I felt myself being pushed
-into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe room.  My companions
-followed, towed along in the same way.  I heard a water-tight door,
-furnished with stopper plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in
-profound darkness.
-
-After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard.  I felt the cold mount
-from my feet to my chest.  Evidently from some part of the vessel they
-had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading
-us, and with which the room was soon filled.  A second door cut in the
-side of the Nautilus then opened.  We saw a faint light.  In another
-instant our feet trod the bottom of the sea.
-
-And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
-under the waters?  Words are impotent to relate such wonders!  Captain
-Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind.
-Conseil and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words had
-been possible through our metallic cases.  I no longer felt the weight
-of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir of air, or my thick
-helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond in its
-shell.
-
-The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the
-ocean, astonished me by its power.  The solar rays shone through the
-watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly
-distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.
-Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine, and
-faded into vague obscurity.  Truly this water which surrounded me was
-but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere, but almost as
-transparent.  Above me was the calm surface of the sea.  We were
-walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore, which
-retains the impression of the billows.  This dazzling carpet, really a
-reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity, which
-accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid.
-Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet, I
-could see as if I was in broad daylight?
-
-For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
-dust of shells.  The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
-disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake
-us in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
-
-Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible.  I
-recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the
-most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect
-of this medium.
-
-It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
-of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their
-light, decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks,
-plants, shells, and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar
-colours.  It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of
-coloured tints, a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange,
-violet, indigo, and blue; in one word, the whole palette of an
-enthusiastic colourist!  Why could I not communicate to Conseil the
-lively sensations which were mounting to my brain, and rival him in
-expressions of admiration?  For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his
-companion might be able to exchange thoughts by means of signs
-previously agreed upon.  So, for want of better, I talked to myself; I
-declaimed in the copper box which covered my head, thereby expending
-more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
-
-Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi, and
-anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
-collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom.  It
-was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens
-of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammerheads,
-donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases, and red
-helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this
-inexhaustible ocean.  But we were bound to walk, so we went on, whilst
-above our heads waved medusae whose umbrellas of opal or rose-pink,
-escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from the rays of the sun
-and fiery pelagiae, which, in the darkness, would have strewn our path
-with phosphorescent light.
-
-All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely
-stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs.
-Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an
-extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze," composed of equal
-parts of silicious and calcareous shells.  We then travelled over a
-plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation.  This sward was of
-close texture, and soft to the feet, and rivalled the softest carpet
-woven by the hand of man.  But whilst verdure was spread at our feet,
-it did not abandon our heads.  A light network of marine plants, of
-that inexhaustible family of seaweeds of which more than two thousand
-kinds are known, grew on the surface of the water.
-
-I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea, whilst
-the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black or brown the care
-of forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
-
-We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half.  It was near
-noon; I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays, which were no
-longer refracted.  The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the
-shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced.  We walked with a regular
-step, which rang upon the ground with astonishing intensity; the
-slightest noise was transmitted with a quickness to which the ear is
-unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water is a better conductor of sound
-than air, in the ratio of four to one.  At this period the earth sloped
-downwards; the light took a uniform tint.  We were at a depth of a
-hundred and five yards and twenty inches, undergoing a pressure of six
-atmospheres.
-
-At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to
-their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
-state between day and night; but we could still see well enough; it was
-not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet.  At this
-moment Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him, and then
-pointed to an obscure mass, looming in the shadow, at a short distance.
-
-"It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I; and I was not
-mistaken.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-A SUBMARINE FOREST
-
-We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of
-the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains.  He looked upon it as his
-own, and considered he had the same right over it that the first men
-had in the first days of the world.  And, indeed, who would have
-disputed with him the possession of this submarine property?  What
-other hardier pioneer would come, hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark
-copses?
-
-This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we
-penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular
-position of their branches--a position I had not yet observed.
-
-Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the
-trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally; all
-stretched up to the surface of the ocean.  Not a filament, not a
-ribbon, however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of
-iron.  The fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to
-the density of the element which had produced them.  Motionless yet,
-when bent to one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former
-position.  Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!
-
-I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the
-comparative darkness which surrounded us.  The soil of the forest
-seemed covered with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid.  The submarine
-flora struck me as being very perfect, and richer even than it would
-have been in the arctic or tropical zones, where these productions are
-not so plentiful.  But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the
-genera, taking animals for plants; and who would not have been
-mistaken?  The fauna and the flora are too closely allied in this
-submarine world.
-
-These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their existence
-is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them.  The greater number,
-instead of leaves, shoot forth blades of capricious shapes, comprised
-within a scale of colours pink, carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown.
-
-"Curious anomaly, fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist, "in
-which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!"
-
-In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt; I, for my part,
-was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae,
-the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.
-
-This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing wanting but
-the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak, impossible to
-answer, I only put my great copper head to Conseil's.  I saw the worthy
-fellow's eyes glistening with delight, and, to show his satisfaction,
-he shook himself in his breastplate of air, in the most comical way in
-the world.
-
-After four hours of this walking, I was surprised not to find myself
-dreadfully hungry.  How to account for this state of the stomach I
-could not tell.  But instead I felt an insurmountable desire to sleep,
-which happens to all divers.  And my eyes soon closed behind the thick
-glasses, and I fell into a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had
-prevented before.  Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in
-the clear crystal, set us the example.
-
-How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge, but, when
-I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon.  Captain Nemo had
-already risen, and I was beginning to stretch my limbs, when an
-unexpected apparition brought me briskly to my feet.
-
-A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches
-high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me.
-Though my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite of
-this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror.  Conseil and the
-sailor of the Nautilus awoke at this moment.  Captain Nemo pointed out
-the hideous crustacean, which a blow from the butt end of the gun
-knocked over, and I saw the horrible claws of the monster writhe in
-terrible convulsions.  This incident reminded me that other animals
-more to be feared might haunt these obscure depths, against whose
-attacks my diving-dress would not protect me.  I had never thought of
-it before, but I now resolved to be upon my guard.  Indeed, I thought
-that this halt would mark the termination of our walk; but I was
-mistaken, for, instead of returning to the Nautilus, Captain Nemo
-continued his bold excursion.  The ground was still on the incline, its
-declivity seemed to be getting greater, and to be leading us to greater
-depths.  It must have been about three o'clock when we reached a narrow
-valley, between high perpendicular walls, situated about seventy-five
-fathoms deep.  Thanks to the perfection of our apparatus, we were
-forty-five fathoms below the limit which nature seems to have imposed
-on man as to his submarine excursions.
-
-I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to
-judge the distance.  But I knew that even in the clearest waters the
-solar rays could not penetrate further.  And accordingly the darkness
-deepened.  At ten paces not an object was visible.  I was groping my
-way, when I suddenly saw a brilliant white light.  Captain Nemo had
-just put his electric apparatus into use; his companion did the same,
-and Conseil and I followed their example.  By turning a screw I
-established a communication between the wire and the spiral glass, and
-the sea, lit by our four lanterns, was illuminated for a circle of
-thirty-six yards.
-
-As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus could not
-fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch.  But if they did
-approach us, they at least kept at a respectful distance from the
-hunters.  Several times I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his
-shoulder, and after some moments drop it and walk on.  At last, after
-about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end.  A wall of
-superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of gigantic
-blocks, an enormous, steep granite shore, forming dark grottos, but
-which presented no practicable slope; it was the prop of the Island of
-Crespo.  It was the earth!  Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.  A gesture
-of his brought us all to a halt; and, however desirous I might be to
-scale the wall, I was obliged to stop.  Here ended Captain Nemo's
-domains.  And he would not go beyond them.  Further on was a portion of
-the globe he might not trample upon.
-
-The return began.  Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little
-band, directing their course without hesitation.  I thought we were not
-following the same road to return to the Nautilus.  The new road was
-very steep, and consequently very painful.  We approached the surface
-of the sea rapidly.  But this return to the upper strata was not so
-sudden as to cause relief from the pressure too rapidly, which might
-have produced serious disorder in our organisation, and brought on
-internal lesions, so fatal to divers.  Very soon light reappeared and
-grew, and, the sun being low on the horizon, the refraction edged the
-different objects with a spectral ring.  At ten yards and a half deep,
-we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes of all kinds, more numerous
-than the birds of the air, and also more agile; but no aquatic game
-worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze, when at that moment I saw the
-Captain shoulder his gun quickly, and follow a moving object into the
-shrubs.  He fired; I heard a slight hissing, and a creature fell
-stunned at some distance from us.  It was a magnificent sea-otter, an
-enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped.  This otter was five
-feet long, and must have been very valuable.  Its skin, chestnut-brown
-above and silvery underneath, would have made one of those beautiful
-furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets: the fineness
-and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch L80.  I admired this
-curious mammal, with its rounded head ornamented with short ears, its
-round eyes, and white whiskers like those of a cat, with webbed feet
-and nails, and tufted tail.  This precious animal, hunted and tracked
-by fishermen, has now become very rare, and taken refuge chiefly in the
-northern parts of the Pacific, or probably its race would soon become
-extinct.
-
-Captain Nemo's companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder,
-and we continued our journey.  For one hour a plain of sand lay
-stretched before us.  Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some
-inches of the surface of the water.  I then saw our image clearly
-reflected, drawn inversely, and above us appeared an identical group
-reflecting our movements and our actions; in a word, like us in every
-point, except that they walked with their heads downward and their feet
-in the air.
-
-Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which
-formed and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these
-seeming clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the
-bottom, and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops
-multiplied on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above
-our heads, whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.
-
-On this occasion I was witness to one of the finest gun shots which
-ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill.  A large bird of great breadth
-of wing, clearly visible, approached, hovering over us.  Captain Nemo's
-companion shouldered his gun and fired, when it was only a few yards
-above the waves.  The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall
-brought it within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp.  It was an
-albatross of the finest kind.
-
-Our march had not been interrupted by this incident.  For two hours we
-followed these sandy plains, then fields of algae very disagreeable to
-cross.  Candidly, I could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light,
-which, for a half mile, broke the darkness of the waters.  It was the
-lantern of the Nautilus.  Before twenty minutes were over we should be
-on board, and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed that
-my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen.  But I did not
-reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our arrival for some time.
-
-I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain Nemo
-coming hurriedly towards me.  With his strong hand he bent me to the
-ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil.  At first I knew not
-what to think of this sudden attack, but I was soon reassured by seeing
-the Captain lie down beside me, and remain immovable.
-
-I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of
-algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass, casting
-phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
-
-My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which
-threatened us.  It was a couple of tintoreas, terrible creatures, with
-enormous tails and a dull glassy stare, the phosphorescent matter
-ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle.  Monstrous brutes! which
-would crush a whole man in their iron jaws.  I did not know whether
-Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part, I noticed their silver
-bellies, and their huge mouths bristling with teeth, from a very
-unscientific point of view, and more as a possible victim than as a
-naturalist.
-
-Happily the voracious creatures do not see well.  They passed without
-seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a
-miracle from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face
-in the forest.  Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we
-reached the Nautilus.  The outside door had been left open, and Captain
-Nemo closed it as soon as we had entered the first cell.  He then
-pressed a knob.  I heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel,
-I felt the water sinking from around me, and in a few moments the cell
-was entirely empty.  The inside door then opened, and we entered the
-vestry.
-
-There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and,
-fairly worn out from want of food and sleep, I returned to my room, in
-great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
-
-The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my
-fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform, just as
-the second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
-
-I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo
-appeared.  He did not seem to be aware of my presence, and began a
-series of astronomical observations.  Then, when he had finished, he
-went and leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly
-on the ocean.  In the meantime, a number of the sailors of the
-Nautilus, all strong and healthy men, had come up onto the platform.
-They came to draw up the nets that had been laid all night.  These
-sailors were evidently of different nations, although the European type
-was visible in all of them.  I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen,
-Frenchmen, some Sclaves, and a Greek, or a Candiote.  They were civil,
-and only used that odd language among themselves, the origin of which I
-could not guess, neither could I question them.
-
-The nets were hauled in.  They were a large kind of "chaluts," like
-those on the Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain
-fixed in the smaller meshes kept open.  These pockets, drawn by iron
-poles, swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their
-way.  That day they brought up curious specimens from those productive
-coasts.
-
-I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of
-fish.  It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at.  Indeed, the nets
-are let down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite
-variety.  We had no lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the
-Nautilus and the attraction of the electric light could always renew
-our supply.  These several productions of the sea were immediately
-lowered through the panel to the steward's room, some to be eaten
-fresh, and others pickled.
-
-The fishing ended, the provision of air renewed, I thought that the
-Nautilus was about to continue its submarine excursion, and was
-preparing to return to my room, when, without further preamble, the
-Captain turned to me, saying:
-
-"Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life?  It has its
-tempers and its gentle moods.  Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it
-has woke after a quiet night.  Look!" he continued, "it wakes under the
-caresses of the sun.  It is going to renew its diurnal existence.  It
-is an interesting study to watch the play of its organisation.  It has
-a pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with the learned Maury, who
-discovered in it a circulation as real as the circulation of blood in
-animals.
-
-"Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator
-has caused things to multiply in it--caloric, salt, and animalculae."
-
-When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed, and aroused
-an extraordinary emotion in me.
-
-"Also," he added, "true existence is there; and I can imagine the
-foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses, which,
-like the Nautilus, would ascend every morning to breathe at the surface
-of the water, free towns, independent cities.  Yet who knows whether
-some despot----"
-
-Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture.  Then,
-addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he asked, "do you know the depth of the ocean?"
-
-"I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings have taught us."
-
-"Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to my purpose?"
-
-"These are some," I replied, "that I remember.  If I am not mistaken, a
-depth of 8,000 yards has been found in the North Atlantic, and 2,500
-yards in the Mediterranean.  The most remarkable soundings have been
-made in the South Atlantic, near the thirty-fifth parallel, and they
-gave 12,000 yards, 14,000 yards, and 15,000 yards.  To sum up all, it
-is reckoned that if the bottom of the sea were levelled, its mean depth
-would be about one and three-quarter leagues."
-
-"Well, Professor," replied the Captain, "we shall show you better than
-that I hope.  As to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific, I tell
-you it is only 4,000 yards."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo went towards the panel, and disappeared
-down the ladder.  I followed him, and went into the large drawing-room.
-The screw was immediately put in motion, and the log gave twenty miles
-an hour.
-
-During the days and weeks that passed, Captain Nemo was very sparing of
-his visits.  I seldom saw him.  The lieutenant pricked the ship's
-course regularly on the chart, so I could always tell exactly the route
-of the Nautilus.
-
-Nearly every day, for some time, the panels of the drawing-room were
-opened, and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the
-submarine world.
-
-The general direction of the Nautilus was south-east, and it kept
-between 100 and 150 yards of depth.  One day, however, I do not know
-why, being drawn diagonally by means of the inclined planes, it touched
-the bed of the sea.  The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25
-(cent.): a temperature that at this depth seemed common to all
-latitudes.
-
-At three o'clock in the morning of the 26th of November the Nautilus
-crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172 deg. long.  On 27th instant it
-sighted the Sandwich Islands, where Cook died, February 14, 1779.  We
-had then gone 4,860 leagues from our starting-point. In the morning,
-when I went on the platform, I saw two miles to windward, Hawaii, the
-largest of the seven islands that form the group.  I saw clearly the
-cultivated ranges, and the several mountain-chains that run parallel
-with the side, and the volcanoes that overtop Mouna-Rea, which rise
-5,000 yards above the level of the sea.  Besides other things the nets
-brought up, were several flabellariae and graceful polypi, that are
-peculiar to that part of the ocean.  The direction of the Nautilus was
-still to the south-east. It crossed the equator December 1, in 142 deg.
-long.; and on the 4th of the same month, after crossing rapidly and
-without anything in particular occurring, we sighted the Marquesas
-group.  I saw, three miles off, Martin's peak in Nouka-Hiva, the
-largest of the group that belongs to France.  I only saw the woody
-mountains against the horizon, because Captain Nemo did not wish to
-bring the ship to the wind.  There the nets brought up beautiful
-specimens of fish:  some with azure fins and tails like gold, the flesh
-of which is unrivalled; some nearly destitute of scales, but of
-exquisite flavour; others, with bony jaws, and yellow-tinged gills, as
-good as bonitos; all fish that would be of use to us.  After leaving
-these charming islands protected by the French flag, from the 4th to
-the 11th of December the Nautilus sailed over about 2,000 miles.
-
-During the daytime of the 11th of December I was busy reading in the
-large drawing-room. Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous water
-through the half-open panels.  The Nautilus was immovable.  While its
-reservoirs were filled, it kept at a depth of 1,000 yards, a region
-rarely visited in the ocean, and in which large fish were seldom seen.
-
-I was then reading a charming book by Jean Mace, The Slaves of the
-Stomach, and I was learning some valuable lessons from it, when Conseil
-interrupted me.
-
-"Will master come here a moment?" he said, in a curious voice.
-
-"What is the matter, Conseil?"
-
-"I want master to look."
-
-I rose, went, and leaned on my elbows before the panes and watched.
-
-In a full electric light, an enormous black mass, quite immovable, was
-suspended in the midst of the waters.  I watched it attentively,
-seeking to find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean.  But a sudden
-thought crossed my mind.  "A vessel!" I said, half aloud.
-
-"Yes," replied the Canadian, "a disabled ship that has sunk
-perpendicularly."
-
-Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the tattered
-shrouds still hung from their chains.  The keel seemed to be in good
-order, and it had been wrecked at most some few hours.  Three stumps of
-masts, broken off about two feet above the bridge, showed that the
-vessel had had to sacrifice its masts.  But, lying on its side, it had
-filled, and it was heeling over to port.  This skeleton of what it had
-once been was a sad spectacle as it lay lost under the waves, but
-sadder still was the sight of the bridge, where some corpses, bound
-with ropes, were still lying.  I counted five--four men, one of whom
-was standing at the helm, and a woman standing by the poop, holding an
-infant in her arms.  She was quite young.  I could distinguish her
-features, which the water had not decomposed, by the brilliant light
-from the Nautilus.  In one despairing effort, she had raised her infant
-above her head--poor little thing!--whose arms encircled its mother's
-neck.  The attitude of the four sailors was frightful, distorted as
-they were by their convulsive movements, whilst making a last effort to
-free themselves from the cords that bound them to the vessel.  The
-steersman alone, calm, with a grave, clear face, his grey hair glued to
-his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the helm, seemed even
-then to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths of the
-ocean.
-
-What a scene!  We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before this
-shipwreck, taken as it were from life and photographed in its last
-moments.  And I saw already, coming towards it with hungry eyes,
-enormous sharks, attracted by the human flesh.
-
-However, the Nautilus, turning, went round the submerged vessel, and in
-one instant I read on the stern--"The Florida, Sunderland."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-VANIKORO
-
-This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime
-catastrophes that the Nautilus was destined to meet with in its route.
-As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw the
-hulls of shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths, and
-deeper down cannons, bullets, anchors, chains, and a thousand other
-iron materials eaten up by rust.  However, on the 11th of December we
-sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old "dangerous group" of Bougainville,
-that extend over a space of 500 leagues at E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the
-Island Ducie to that of Lazareff.  This group covers an area of 370
-square leagues, and it is formed of sixty groups of islands, among
-which the Gambier group is remarkable, over which France exercises
-sway.  These are coral islands, slowly raised, but continuous, created
-by the daily work of polypi.  Then this new island will be joined later
-on to the neighboring groups, and a fifth continent will stretch from
-New Zealand and New Caledonia, and from thence to the Marquesas.
-
-One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain Nemo, he replied
-coldly:
-
-"The earth does not want new continents, but new men."
-
-Chance had conducted the Nautilus towards the Island of
-Clermont-Tonnere, one of the most curious of the group, that was
-discovered in 1822 by Captain Bell of the Minerva. I could study now
-the madreporal system, to which are due the islands in this ocean.
-
-Madrepores (which must not be mistaken for corals) have a tissue lined
-with a calcareous crust, and the modifications of its structure have
-induced M. Milne Edwards, my worthy master, to class them into five
-sections. The animalcule that the marine polypus secretes live by
-millions at the bottom of their cells. Their calcareous deposits become
-rocks, reefs, and large and small islands. Here they form a ring,
-surrounding a little inland lake, that communicates with the sea by
-means of gaps. There they make barriers of reefs like those on the
-coasts of New Caledonia and the various Pomoton islands. In other
-places, like those at Reunion and at Maurice, they raise fringed reefs,
-high, straight walls, near which the depth of the ocean is considerable.
-
-Some cable-lengths off the shores of the Island of Clermont I admired
-the gigantic work accomplished by these microscopical workers. These
-walls are specially the work of those madrepores known as milleporas,
-porites, madrepores, and astraeas. These polypi are found particularly
-in the rough beds of the sea, near the surface; and consequently it is
-from the upper part that they begin their operations, in which they
-bury themselves by degrees with the debris of the secretions that
-support them. Such is, at least, Darwin's theory, who thus explains the
-formation of the _atolls_, a superior theory (to my mind) to that given
-of the foundation of the madreporical works, summits of mountains or
-volcanoes, that are submerged some feet below the level of the sea.
-
-I could observe closely these curious walls, for perpendicularly they
-were more than 300 yards deep, and our electric sheets lighted up this
-calcareous matter brilliantly. Replying to a question Conseil asked me
-as to the time these colossal barriers took to be raised, I astonished
-him much by telling him that learned men reckoned it about the eighth
-of an inch in a hundred years.
-
-Towards evening Clermont-Tonnerre was lost in the distance, and the
-route of the Nautilus was sensibly changed. After having crossed the
-tropic of Capricorn in 135 deg. longitude, it sailed W.N.W., making
-again for the tropical zone. Although the summer sun was very strong,
-we did not suffer from heat, for at fifteen or twenty fathoms below the
-surface, the temperature did not rise above from ten to twelve degrees.
-
-On 15th of December, we left to the east the bewitching group of the
-Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific.  I saw in the
-morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated summits of the
-island.  These waters furnished our table with excellent fish,
-mackerel, bonitos, and some varieties of a sea-serpent.
-
-On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed into the midst of the New
-Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville explored
-in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773.  This group
-is composed principally of nine large islands, that form a band of 120
-leagues N.N.S. to S.S.W., between 15 deg. and 2 deg. S. lat., and 164
-deg. and 168 deg. long.  We passed tolerably near to the Island of
-Aurou, that at noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a
-peak of great height.
-
-That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely the
-non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fete of which Protestants
-are so fond.  I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week, when, on the
-morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room, always
-seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before.  I was busily
-tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere.  The Captain came
-up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart, and said this single
-word.
-
-"Vanikoro."
-
-The effect was magical!  It was the name of the islands on which La
-Perouse had been lost!  I rose suddenly.
-
-"The Nautilus has brought us to Vanikoro?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, Professor," said the Captain.
-
-"And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole and the
-Astrolabe struck?"
-
-"If you like, Professor."
-
-"When shall we be there?"
-
-"We are there now."
-
-Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform, and greedily
-scanned the horizon.
-
-To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size, surrounded by
-a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference.  We were close
-to Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d'Urville gave the name of
-Isle de la Recherche, and exactly facing the little harbour of Vanou,
-situated in 16 deg. 4' S. lat., and 164 deg. 32' E. long.  The earth
-seemed covered with verdure from the shore to the summits in the
-interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high.  The
-Nautilus, having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait,
-found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty to forty
-fathoms deep.  Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived
-some savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach.  In the
-long black body, moving between wind and water, did they not see some
-formidable cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
-
-Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La
-Perouse.
-
-"Only what everyone knows, Captain," I replied.
-
-"And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?" he inquired,
-ironically.
-
-"Easily."
-
-I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d'Urville had made
-known--works from which the following is a brief account.
-
-La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent by Louis XVI,
-in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation.  They embarked in the
-corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe, neither of which were again heard
-of.  In 1791, the French Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of
-these two sloops, manned two large merchantmen, the Recherche and the
-Esperance, which left Brest the 28th of September under the command of
-Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
-
-Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle,
-that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts of
-New Georgia.  But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication--rather
-uncertain, besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
-mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La
-Perouse was wrecked.
-
-They sought in vain.  The Esperance and the Recherche passed before
-Vanikoro without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most
-disastrous, as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of
-his lieutenants, besides several of his crew.
-
-Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find
-unmistakable traces of the wrecks.  On the 15th of May, 1824, his
-vessel, the St. Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New
-Hebrides.  There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the
-handle of a sword in silver that bore the print of characters engraved
-on the hilt.  The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay
-at Vanikoro, he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels
-that had run aground on the reefs some years ago.
-
-Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had
-troubled the whole world.  He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
-according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
-but winds and tides prevented him.
-
-Dillon returned to Calcutta.  There he interested the Asiatic Society
-and the Indian Company in his discovery.  A vessel, to which was given
-the name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out,
-23rd January, 1827, accompanied by a French agent.
-
-The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific, cast
-anchor before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour of Vanou
-where the Nautilus was at this time.
-
-There it collected numerous relics of the wreck--iron utensils,
-anchors, pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lb. shot, fragments of
-astronomical instruments, a piece of crown work, and a bronze clock,
-bearing this inscription--"Bazin m'a fait," the mark of the foundry of
-the arsenal at Brest about 1785.  There could be no further doubt.
-
-Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till
-October.  Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New
-Zealand; put into Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France,
-where he was warmly welcomed by Charles X.
-
-But at the same time, without knowing Dillon's movements, Dumont
-d'Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck.  And they
-had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis had
-been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.
-Dumont d'Urville, commander of the Astrolabe, had then sailed, and two
-months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put into Hobart Town.  There
-he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries, and found that a certain
-James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing
-on an island situated 8 deg. 18' S. lat., and 156 deg. 30' E. long.,
-had seen some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these
-parts.  Dumont d'Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit
-the reports of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon's track.
-
-On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia, and
-took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island; made his
-way to Vanikoro, sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among the reefs
-until the 14th, and not until the 20th did he cast anchor within the
-barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
-
-On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought back
-some unimportant trifles.  The natives, adopting a system of denials
-and evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place.  This
-ambiguous conduct led them to believe that the natives had ill-treated
-the castaways, and indeed they seemed to fear that Dumont d'Urville had
-come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
-
-However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that
-they had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of
-the wreck.
-
-There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs of Pacou
-and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron, embedded in the
-limy concretions.  The large boat and the whaler belonging to the
-Astrolabe were sent to this place, and, not without some difficulty,
-their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800 lbs., a brass gun, some
-pigs of iron, and two copper swivel-guns.
-
-Dumont d'Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse,
-after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island, had
-constructed a smaller boat, only to be lost a second time.  Where, no
-one knew.
-
-But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d'Urville was not
-acquainted with Dillon's movements, had sent the sloop Bayonnaise,
-commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro, which had been
-stationed on the west coast of America.  The Bayonnaise cast her anchor
-before Vanikoro some months after the departure of the Astrolabe, but
-found no new document; but stated that the savages had respected the
-monument to La Perouse.  That is the substance of what I told Captain
-Nemo.
-
-"So," he said, "no one knows now where the third vessel perished that
-was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?"
-
-"No one knows."
-
-Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into the
-large saloon.  The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves, and the
-panels were opened.
-
-I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral, covered
-with fungi, syphonules, alcyons, madrepores, through myriads of
-charming fish--girelles, glyphisidri, pompherides, diacopes, and
-holocentres--I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been
-able to tear up--iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan
-fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck of
-some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers. While I was looking
-on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a sad voice:
-
-"Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels La
-Boussole and the Astrolabe.  He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
-visited the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course
-towards Santa Cruz, and put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group.  Then
-his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro.  The Boussole,
-which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast.  The Astrolabe
-went to its help, and ran aground too.  The first vessel was destroyed
-almost immediately.  The second, stranded under the wind, resisted some
-days.  The natives made the castaways welcome.  They installed
-themselves in the island, and constructed a smaller boat with the
-debris of the two large ones.  Some sailors stayed willingly at
-Vanikoro; the others, weak and ill, set out with La Perouse.  They
-directed their course towards the Solomon Islands, and there perished,
-with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island of the
-group, between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."
-
-"How do you know that?"
-
-"By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck."
-
-Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms,
-and corroded by the salt water.  He opened it, and I saw a bundle of
-papers, yellow but still readable.
-
-They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La
-Perouse, annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
-
-"Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!" said Captain Nemo, at last.  "A
-coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades will
-find no other."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-TORRES STRAITS
-
-During the night of the 27th or 28th of December, the Nautilus left the
-shores of Vanikoro with great speed.  Her course was south-westerly,
-and in three days she had gone over the 750 leagues that separated it
-from La Perouse's group and the south-east point of Papua.
-
-Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
-
-"Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?"
-
-"What!  Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study at the Jardin
-des Plantes?  Well, I accept your good wishes, and thank you for them.
-Only, I will ask you what you mean by a `Happy New Year' under our
-circumstances?  Do you mean the year that will bring us to the end of
-our imprisonment, or the year that sees us continue this strange
-voyage?"
-
-"Really, I do not know how to answer, master.  We are sure to see
-curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time for
-dullness.  The last marvel is always the most astonishing; and, if we
-continue this progression, I do not know how it will end.  It is my
-opinion that we shall never again see the like.  I think then, with no
-offence to master, that a happy year would be one in which we could see
-everything."
-
-On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250 French leagues, since
-our starting-point in the Japan Seas.  Before the ship's head stretched
-the dangerous shores of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of
-Australia.  Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank on
-which Cook's vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770.  The boat in which Cook
-was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink, it was owing to a piece
-of coral that was broken by the shock, and fixed itself in the broken
-keel.
-
-I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the
-sea, always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like
-thunder.  But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a
-great depth, and I could see nothing of the high coral walls.  I had to
-content myself with the different specimens of fish brought up by the
-nets.  I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel as
-large as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands,
-that disappear with the animal's life.
-
-These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with very delicate
-food. We took also a large number of gilt-heads, about one and a half
-inches long, tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine
-swallows, which, in dark nights, light alternately the air and water
-with their phosphorescent light. Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I
-found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini,
-hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented
-by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and macrocystes,
-impregnated with the mucilage that transudes through their pores; and
-among which I gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois, that was
-classed among the natural curiosities of the museum.
-
-Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted the
-Papuan coasts.  On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his
-intention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.
-His communication ended there.
-
-The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are
-obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers, and
-rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable; so that Captain
-Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them.  The Nautilus,
-floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace.  Her screw,
-like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.
-
-Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the deserted
-platform.  Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expected that
-Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus.  I had
-before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and I
-consulted them attentively.  Round the Nautilus the sea dashed
-furiously.  The course of the waves, that went from south-east to
-north-west at the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that
-showed itself here and there.
-
-"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.
-
-"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the
-Nautilus."
-
-"The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of
-coral that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly."
-
-Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus seemed to slide
-like magic off these rocks.  It did not follow the routes of the
-Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont
-d'Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray, and
-came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage.  I thought it
-was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west, it went
-through a large quantity of islands and islets little known, towards
-the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
-
-I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his vessel
-into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched; when,
-swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west, he steered
-for the Island of Gilboa.
-
-It was then three in the afternoon.  The tide began to recede, being
-quite full.  The Nautilus approached the island, that I still saw, with
-its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off it at about two
-miles distant.  Suddenly a shock overthrew me.  The Nautilus just
-touched a rock, and stayed immovable, laying lightly to port side.
-
-When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the
-platform.  They were examining the situation of the vessel, and
-exchanging words in their incomprehensible dialect.
-
-She was situated thus:  Two miles, on the starboard side, appeared
-Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm.  Towards the
-south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb.  We had run
-aground, and in one of those seas where the tides are middling--a sorry
-matter for the floating of the Nautilus.  However, the vessel had not
-suffered, for her keel was solidly joined.  But, if she could neither
-glide off nor move, she ran the risk of being for ever fastened to
-these rocks, and then Captain Nemo's submarine vessel would be done for.
-
-I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm, always master
-of himself, approached me.
-
-"An accident?"  I asked.
-
-"No; an incident."
-
-"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
-of this land from which you flee?"
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as
-much as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma
-again.  Then he said:
-
-"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it will carry you yet
-into the midst of the marvels of the ocean.  Our voyage is only begun,
-and I do not wish to be deprived so soon of the honour of your company."
-
-"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironical turn
-of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.  Now the tides
-are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot lighten the Nautilus,
-I do not see how it will be reinflated."
-
-"The tides are not strong in the Pacific:  you are right there,
-Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference of a yard
-and a half between the level of high and low seas.  To-day is 4th
-January, and in five days the moon will be full.  Now, I shall be very
-much astonished if that satellite does not raise these masses of water
-sufficiently, and render me a service that I should be indebted to her
-for."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, redescended
-to the interior of the Nautilus.  As to the vessel, it moved not, and
-was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had already walled it up with
-their in destructible cement.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure of
-the Captain.
-
-"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th
-instant; for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it
-off again."
-
-"Really?"
-
-"Really."
-
-"And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide
-will suffice?" said Conseil, simply.
-
-The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will
-navigate neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold
-for its weight.  I think, therefore, that the time has come to part
-company with Captain Nemo."
-
-"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus, as you do; and in
-four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides.  Besides,
-flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English or
-Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing; and it
-will be time enough to come to that extremity if the Nautilus does not
-recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event."
-
-"But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly?  There is an
-island; on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial
-animals, bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly
-give a trial."
-
-"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil, "and I agree with him.
-Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put
-us on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the
-solid parts of our planet?"
-
-"I can ask him, but he will refuse."
-
-"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and we shall know how to rely
-upon the Captain's amiability."
-
-To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
-and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise
-to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be very
-perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.
-Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than to fall into the
-hands of the natives.
-
-At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the
-Nautilus.  The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.
-Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered in the
-straight passage that the breakers left between them.  The boat was
-well handled, and moved rapidly.
-
-Ned Land could not restrain his joy.  He was like a prisoner that had
-escaped from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
-
-"Meat!  We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!" he replied.
-"Real game! no, bread, indeed."
-
-"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it; but a piece
-of fresh venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably vary our
-ordinary course."
-
-"Glutton!" said Conseil, "he makes my mouth water."
-
-"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these forests are full of game,
-and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."
-
-"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed
-sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger--loin of
-tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."
-
-"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.
-
-"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land, "every animal with four paws
-without feathers, or with two paws without feathers, will be saluted by
-my first shot."
-
-"Very well!  Master Land's imprudences are beginning."
-
-"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian; "I do not want
-twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort."
-
-At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly aground on a heavy
-sand, after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the
-Island of Gilboa.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-A FEW DAYS ON LAND
-
-I was much impressed on touching land.  Ned Land tried the soil with
-his feet, as if to take possession of it.  However, it was only two
-months before that we had become, according to Captain Nemo,
-"passengers on board the Nautilus," but, in reality, prisoners of its
-commander.
-
-In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast.  The whole
-horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests.  Enormous
-trees, the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet, were tied to
-each other by garlands of bindweed, real natural hammocks, which a
-light breeze rocked.  They were mimosas, figs, hibisci, and palm trees,
-mingled together in profusion; and under the shelter of their verdant
-vault grew orchids, leguminous plants, and ferns.
-
-But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
-the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful.  He discovered a
-coco-tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them, and we drunk the
-milk and ate the nut with a satisfaction that protested against the
-ordinary food on the Nautilus.
-
-"Excellent!" said Ned Land.
-
-"Exquisite!" replied Conseil.
-
-"And I do not think," said the Canadian, "that he would object to our
-introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board."
-
-"I do not think he would, but he would not taste them."
-
-"So much the worse for him," said Conseil.
-
-"And so much the better for us," replied Ned Land.  "There will be more
-for us."
-
-"One word only, Master Land," I said to the harpooner, who was
-beginning to ravage another coco-nut tree.  "Coco-nuts are good things,
-but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre
-and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.
-Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the Nautilus."
-
-"Master is right," replied Conseil; "and I propose to reserve three
-places in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the
-third for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest
-specimen."
-
-"Conseil, we must not despair," said the Canadian.
-
-"Let us continue," I returned, "and lie in wait.  Although the island
-seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would
-be less hard than we on the nature of game."
-
-"Ho! ho!" said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
-
-"Well, Ned!" said Conseil.
-
-"My word!" returned the Canadian, "I begin to understand the charms of
-anthropophagy."
-
-"Ned!  Ned! what are you saying?  You, a man-eater? I should not feel
-safe with you, especially as I share your cabin.  I might perhaps wake
-one day to find myself half devoured."
-
-"Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you
-unnecessarily."
-
-"I would not trust you," replied Conseil.  "But enough.  We must
-absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal, or else one
-of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces of his servant to
-serve him."
-
-While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches of
-the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
-
-Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables, and one of the most
-useful products of the tropical zones furnished us with precious food
-that we missed on board.  I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very
-abundant in the island of Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety
-destitute of seeds, which bears in Malaya the name of "rima."
-
-Ned Land knew these fruits well.  He had already eaten many during his
-numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance.
-Moreover, the sight of them excited him, and he could contain himself
-no longer.
-
-"Master," he said, "I shall die if I do not taste a little of this
-bread-fruit pie."
-
-"Taste it, friend Ned--taste it as you want.  We are here to make
-experiments--make them."
-
-"It won't take long," said the Canadian.
-
-And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that
-crackled joyously.  During this time, Conseil and I chose the best
-fruits of the bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient
-degree of maturity; and their thick skin covered a white but rather
-fibrous pulp.  Others, the greater number yellow and gelatinous, waited
-only to be picked.
-
-These fruits enclosed no kernel.  Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land,
-who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices,
-and while doing this repeating:
-
-"You will see, master, how good this bread is.  More so when one has
-been deprived of it so long.  It is not even bread," added he, "but a
-delicate pastry.  You have eaten none, master?"
-
-"No, Ned."
-
-"Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing.  If you do not come for
-more, I am no longer the king of harpooners."
-
-After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire
-was completely roasted.  The interior looked like a white pasty, a sort
-of soft crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
-
-It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it with
-great relish.
-
-"What time is it now?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil.
-
-"How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned Land.
-
-"Let us be off," replied Conseil.
-
-We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid
-upon the cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
-little beans that I recognised as the "abrou" of the Malays, and yams
-of a superior quality.
-
-We were loaded when we reached the boat.  But Ned Land did not find his
-provisions sufficient.  Fate, however, favoured us.  Just as we were
-pushing off, he perceived several trees, from twenty-five to thirty
-feet high, a species of palm-tree.
-
-At last, at five o'clock in the evening, loaded with our riches, we
-quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus.  No
-one appeared on our arrival.  The enormous iron-plated cylinder seemed
-deserted.  The provisions embarked, I descended to my chamber, and
-after supper slept soundly.
-
-The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board.  Not a sound inside,
-not a sign of life.  The boat rested along the edge, in the same place
-in which we had left it.  We resolved to return to the island.  Ned
-Land hoped to be more fortunate than on the day before with regard to
-the hunt, and wished to visit another part of the forest.
-
-At dawn we set off.  The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to
-shore, reached the island in a few minutes.
-
-We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian,
-we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us.  He
-wound up the coast towards the west:  then, fording some torrents, he
-gained the high plain that was bordered with admirable forests.  Some
-kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses, but they would not
-let themselves be approached.  Their circumspection proved to me that
-these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I
-concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings
-occasionally frequented it.
-
-After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a
-little wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large
-number of birds.
-
-"There are only birds," said Conseil.
-
-"But they are eatable," replied the harpooner.
-
-"I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there."
-
-"Friend Conseil," said Ned, gravely, "the parrot is like pheasant to
-those who have nothing else."
-
-"And," I added, "this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and fork."
-
-Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots were
-flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful education to speak
-the human language.  For the moment, they were chattering with parrots
-of all colours, and grave cockatoos, who seemed to meditate upon some
-philosophical problem, whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece
-of bunting carried away by the breeze, papuans, with the finest azure
-colours, and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold,
-but few eatable.
-
-However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed the
-limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
-But fortune reserved it for me before long.
-
-After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain
-obstructed with bushes.  I saw then those magnificent birds, the
-disposition of whose long feathers obliges them to fly against the
-wind.  Their undulating flight, graceful aerial curves, and the shading
-of their colours, attracted and charmed one's looks.  I had no trouble
-in recognising them.
-
-"Birds of paradise!"  I exclaimed.
-
-The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese,
-have several means that we could not employ for taking them.  Sometimes
-they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds of paradise
-prefer to frequent.  Sometimes they catch them with a viscous birdlime
-that paralyses their movements.  They even go so far as to poison the
-fountains that the birds generally drink from.  But we were obliged to
-fire at them during flight, which gave us few chances to bring them
-down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one half our ammunition.
-
-About eleven o'clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that
-form the centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
-Hunger drove us on.  The hunters had relied on the products of the
-chase, and they were wrong.  Happily Conseil, to his great surprise,
-made a double shot and secured breakfast.  He brought down a white
-pigeon and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended from a
-skewer, was roasted before a red fire of dead wood.  While these
-interesting birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the
-bread-tree. Then the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and
-declared excellent.  The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of
-stuffing their crops, flavours their flesh and renders it delicious
-eating.
-
-"Now, Ned, what do you miss now?"
-
-"Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax.  All these pigeons are only
-side-dishes and trifles; and until I have killed an animal with cutlets
-I shall not be content."
-
-"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise."
-
-"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil.  "Let us go towards the
-sea.  We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I
-think we had better regain the region of forests."
-
-That was sensible advice, and was followed out.  After walking for one
-hour we had attained a forest of sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents
-glided away from us.  The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and
-truly I despaired of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in
-front, suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
-bringing a magnificent specimen.
-
-"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"
-
-"Master is very good."
-
-"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke.  Take one of these
-living birds, and carry it in your hand."
-
-"If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great
-merit."
-
-"Why, Conseil?"
-
-"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."
-
-"Drunk!"
-
-"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under the
-nutmeg-tree, under which I found it.  See, friend Ned, see the
-monstrous effects of intemperance!"
-
-"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because I have drunk gin for two
-months, you must needs reproach me!"
-
-However, I examined the curious bird.  Conseil was right.  The bird,
-drunk with the juice, was quite powerless.  It could not fly; it could
-hardly walk.
-
-This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species that are
-found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands.  It was the "large
-emerald bird, the most rare kind." It measured three feet in length.
-Its head was comparatively small, its eyes placed near the opening of
-the beak, and also small.  But the shades of colour were beautiful,
-having a yellow beak, brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with
-purple tips, pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
-colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly.  Two horned,
-downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged the long light
-feathers of admirable fineness, and they completed the whole of this
-marvellous bird, that the natives have poetically named the "bird of
-the sun."
-
-But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird of
-paradise, the Canadian's were not yet.  Happily, about two o'clock, Ned
-Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood of those the
-natives call "bari-outang." The animal came in time for us to procure
-real quadruped meat, and he was well received.  Ned Land was very proud
-of his shot.  The hog, hit by the electric ball, fell stone dead.  The
-Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly, after having taken half a
-dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us with a grilled repast in the
-evening.  Then the hunt was resumed, which was still more marked by Ned
-and Conseil's exploits.
-
-Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd of kangaroos
-that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws.  But these animals
-did not take to flight so rapidly but what the electric capsule could
-stop their course.
-
-"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the delights
-of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed, too!  What a supply for
-the Nautilus!  Two! three! five down!  And to think that we shall eat
-that flesh, and that the idiots on board shall not have a crumb!"
-
-I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian, if he had not
-talked so much, would have killed them all.  But he contented himself
-with a single dozen of these interesting marsupians.  These animals
-were small.  They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live
-habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme; but
-they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food.  We
-were very satisfied with the results of the hunt.  Happy Ned proposed
-to return to this enchanting island the next day, for he wished to
-depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds.  But he had reckoned
-without his host.
-
-At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore; our boat was
-moored to the usual place.  The Nautilus, like a long rock, emerged
-from the waves two miles from the beach.  Ned Land, without waiting,
-occupied himself about the important dinner business.  He understood
-all about cooking well.  The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon
-scented the air with a delicious odour.
-
-Indeed, the dinner was excellent.  Two wood-pigeons completed this
-extraordinary menu.  The sago pasty, the artocarpus bread, some
-mangoes, half a dozen pineapples, and the liquor fermented from some
-coco-nuts, overjoyed us.  I even think that my worthy companions' ideas
-had not all the plainness desirable.
-
-"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this evening?" said Conseil.
-
-"Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land.
-
-Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's
-proposition.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO'S THUNDERBOLT
-
-We looked at the edge of the forest without rising, my hand stopping in
-the action of putting it to my mouth, Ned Land's completing its office.
-
-"Stones do not fall from the sky," remarked Conseil, "or they would
-merit the name aerolites."
-
-A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon's leg fall
-from Conseil's hand, gave still more weight to his observation.  We all
-three arose, shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply to any attack.
-
-"Are they apes?" cried Ned Land.
-
-"Very nearly--they are savages."
-
-"To the boat!"  I said, hurrying to the sea.
-
-It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives
-armed with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that
-masked the horizon to the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
-
-Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us.  The savages approached
-us, not running, but making hostile demonstrations.  Stones and arrows
-fell thickly.
-
-Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his
-imminent danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other, he
-went tolerably fast.  In two minutes we were on the shore.  To load the
-boat with provisions and arms, to push it out to sea, and ship the
-oars, was the work of an instant.  We had not gone two cable-lengths,
-when a hundred savages, howling and gesticulating, entered the water up
-to their waists.  I watched to see if their apparition would attract
-some men from the Nautilus on to the platform.  But no.  The enormous
-machine, lying off, was absolutely deserted.
-
-Twenty minutes later we were on board.  The panels were open.  After
-making the boat fast, we entered into the interior of the Nautilus.
-
-I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords.
-Captain Nemo was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in a
-musical ecstasy.
-
-"Captain!"
-
-He did not hear me.
-
-"Captain!"  I said, touching his hand.
-
-He shuddered, and, turning round, said, "Ah! it is you, Professor?
-Well, have you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?"
-
-"Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
-whose vicinity troubles me."
-
-"What bipeds?"
-
-"Savages."
-
-"Savages!" he echoed, ironically.  "So you are astonished, Professor,
-at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages?  Savages!
-where are there not any?  Besides, are they worse than others, these
-whom you call savages?"
-
-"But Captain----"
-
-"How many have you counted?"
-
-"A hundred at least."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ
-stops, "when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the
-Nautilus will have nothing to fear from their attacks."
-
-The Captain's fingers were then running over the keys of the
-instrument, and I remarked that he touched only the black keys, which
-gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character.  Soon he had
-forgotten my presence, and had plunged into a reverie that I did not
-disturb.  I went up again on to the platform: night had already fallen;
-for, in this low latitude, the sun sets rapidly and without twilight.
-I could only see the island indistinctly; but the numerous fires,
-lighted on the beach, showed that the natives did not think of leaving
-it.  I was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the
-natives--but without any dread of them, for the imperturbable
-confidence of the Captain was catching--sometimes forgetting them to
-admire the splendours of the night in the tropics.  My remembrances
-went to France in the train of those zodiacal stars that would shine in
-some hours' time.  The moon shone in the midst of the constellations of
-the zenith.
-
-The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders frightened
-no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay.  The panels were
-open, and would have offered an easy access to the interior of the
-Nautilus.
-
-At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up on to the
-platform.  The dawn was breaking.  The island soon showed itself
-through the dissipating fogs, first the shore, then the summits.
-
-The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before--five or
-six hundred perhaps--some of them, profiting by the low water, had come
-on to the coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus.  I
-distinguished them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic
-figures, men of good race, large high foreheads, large, but not broad
-and flat, and white teeth.  Their woolly hair, with a reddish tinge,
-showed off on their black shining bodies like those of the Nubians.
-From the lobes of their ears, cut and distended, hung chaplets of
-bones.  Most of these savages were naked.  Amongst them, I remarked
-some women, dressed from the hips to knees in quite a crinoline of
-herbs, that sustained a vegetable waistband.  Some chiefs had
-ornamented their necks with a crescent and collars of glass beads, red
-and white; nearly all were armed with bows, arrows, and shields and
-carried on their shoulders a sort of net containing those round stones
-which they cast from their slings with great skill.  One of these
-chiefs, rather near to the Nautilus, examined it attentively.  He was,
-perhaps, a "mado" of high rank, for he was draped in a mat of
-banana-leaves, notched round the edges, and set off with brilliant
-colours.
-
-I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short
-length; but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile
-demonstrations.  Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the
-Europeans to parry sharply, not to attack.
-
-During low water the natives roamed about near the Nautilus, but were
-not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word "Assai," and
-by their gestures I understood that they invited me to go on land, an
-invitation that I declined.
-
-So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great
-displeasure of Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
-
-This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands and meat
-that he had brought off the island.  As for the savages, they returned
-to the shore about eleven o'clock in the morning, as soon as the coral
-tops began to disappear under the rising tide; but I saw their numbers
-had increased considerably on the shore.  Probably they came from the
-neighbouring islands, or very likely from Papua.  However, I had not
-seen a single native canoe.  Having nothing better to do, I thought of
-dragging these beautiful limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion
-of shells, zoophytes, and marine plants.  Moreover, it was the last day
-that the Nautilus would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea
-the next day, according to Captain Nemo's promise.
-
-I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag, very
-like those for the oyster fishery.  Now to work!  For two hours we
-fished unceasingly, but without bringing up any rarities.  The drag was
-filled with midas-ears, harps, melames, and particularly the most
-beautiful hammers I have ever seen.  We also brought up some sea-slugs,
-pearl-oysters, and a dozen little turtles that were reserved for the
-pantry on board.
-
-But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder, I might
-say a natural deformity, very rarely met with.  Conseil was just
-dragging, and his net came up filled with divers ordinary shells, when,
-all at once, he saw me plunge my arm quickly into the net, to draw out
-a shell, and heard me utter a cry.
-
-"What is the matter, sir?" he asked in surprise.  "Has master been
-bitten?"
-
-"No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my
-discovery."
-
-"What discovery?"
-
-"This shell," I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
-
-"It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the
-pectinibranchidae, class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca."
-
-"Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left, this
-olive turns from left to right."
-
-"Is it possible?"
-
-"Yes, my boy; it is a left shell."
-
-Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
-their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
-
-Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure, and I
-was promising myself to enrich the museum with it, when a stone
-unfortunately thrown by a native struck against, and broke, the
-precious object in Conseil's hand.  I uttered a cry of despair!
-Conseil took up his gun, and aimed at a savage who was poising his
-sling at ten yards from him.  I would have stopped him, but his blow
-took effect and broke the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm
-of the savage.
-
-"Conseil!" cried I. "Conseil!"
-
-"Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?"
-
-"A shell is not worth the life of a man," said I.
-
-"Ah! the scoundrel!" cried Conseil; "I would rather he had broken my
-shoulder!"
-
-Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion.  However, the
-situation had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived.  A
-score of canoes surrounded the Nautilus.  These canoes, scooped out of
-the trunk of a tree, long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were
-balanced by means of a long bamboo pole, which floated on the water.
-They were managed by skilful, half-naked paddlers, and I watched their
-advance with some uneasiness.  It was evident that these Papuans had
-already had dealings with the Europeans and knew their ships.  But this
-long iron cylinder anchored in the bay, without masts or chimneys, what
-could they think of it?  Nothing good, for at first they kept at a
-respectful distance.  However, seeing it motionless, by degrees they
-took courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it.  Now this
-familiarity was precisely what it was necessary to avoid.  Our arms,
-which were noiseless, could only produce a moderate effect on the
-savages, who have little respect for aught but blustering things.  The
-thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man
-but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise.
-
-At this moment the canoes approached the Nautilus, and a shower of
-arrows alighted on her.
-
-I went down to the saloon, but found no one there.  I ventured to knock
-at the door that opened into the Captain's room.  "Come in," was the
-answer.
-
-I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations of
-_x_ and other quantities.
-
-"I am disturbing you," said I, for courtesy's sake.
-
-"That is true, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain; "but I think you have
-serious reasons for wishing to see me?"
-
-"Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes, and
-in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many hundreds of
-savages."
-
-"Ah!" said Captain Nemo quietly, "they are come with their canoes?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Well, sir, we must close the hatches."
-
-"Exactly, and I came to say to you----"
-
-"Nothing can be more simple," said Captain Nemo.  And, pressing an
-electric button, he transmitted an order to the ship's crew.
-
-"It is all done, sir," said he, after some moments.  "The pinnace is
-ready, and the hatches are closed.  You do not fear, I imagine, that
-these gentlemen could stave in walls on which the balls of your frigate
-have had no effect?"
-
-"No, Captain; but a danger still exists."
-
-"What is that, sir?"
-
-"It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches to
-renew the air of the Nautilus.  Now, if, at this moment, the Papuans
-should occupy the platform, I do not see how you could prevent them
-from entering."
-
-"Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?"
-
-"I am certain of it."
-
-"Well, sir, let them come.  I see no reason for hindering them.  After
-all, these Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling that my visit
-to the island should cost the life of a single one of these wretches."
-
-Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me, and asked me
-to sit down by him.  He questioned me with interest about our
-excursions on shore, and our hunting; and seemed not to understand the
-craving for meat that possessed the Canadian.  Then the conversation
-turned on various subjects, and, without being more communicative,
-Captain Nemo showed himself more amiable.
-
-Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation of the
-Nautilus, run aground in exactly the same spot in this strait where
-Dumont d'Urville was nearly lost.  Apropos of this:
-
-"This D'Urville was one of your great sailors," said the Captain to me,
-"one of your most intelligent navigators.  He is the Captain Cook of
-you Frenchmen.  Unfortunate man of science, after having braved the
-icebergs of the South Pole, the coral reefs of Oceania, the cannibals
-of the Pacific, to perish miserably in a railway train!  If this
-energetic man could have reflected during the last moments of his life,
-what must have been uppermost in his last thoughts, do you suppose?"
-
-So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion gave me a
-better opinion of him.  Then, chart in hand, we reviewed the travels of
-the French navigator, his voyages of circumnavigation, his double
-detention at the South Pole, which led to the discovery of Adelaide and
-Louis Philippe, and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal
-islands of Oceania.
-
-"That which your D'Urville has done on the surface of the seas," said
-Captain Nemo, "that have I done under them, and more easily, more
-completely than he.  The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed
-about by the hurricane, could not be worth the Nautilus, quiet
-repository of labour that she is, truly motionless in the midst of the
-waters.
-
-"To-morrow," added the Captain, rising, "to-morrow, at twenty minutes
-to three p.m., the Nautilus shall float, and leave the Strait of Torres
-uninjured."
-
-Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly.
-This was to dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
-
-There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview
-with the Captain.
-
-"My boy," said I, "when I feigned to believe that his Nautilus was
-threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered me very
-sarcastically.  I have but one thing to say to you: Have confidence in
-him, and go to sleep in peace."
-
-"Have you no need of my services, sir?"
-
-"No, my friend.  What is Ned Land doing?"
-
-"If you will excuse me, sir," answered Conseil, "friend Ned is busy
-making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel."
-
-I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently.  I heard the
-noise of the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening
-cries.  The night passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose
-of the crew.  The presence of these cannibals affected them no more
-than the soldiers of a masked battery care for the ants that crawl over
-its front.
-
-At six in the morning I rose.  The hatches had not been opened.  The
-inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready for any
-emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several cubic feet of
-oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the Nautilus.
-
-I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo, even
-for an instant.  On board no preparations for departure were visible.
-
-I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon.  The clock
-marked half-past two.  In ten minutes it would be high-tide: and, if
-Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise, the Nautilus would be
-immediately detached.  If not, many months would pass ere she could
-leave her bed of coral.
-
-However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel.  I
-heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of the coral
-reef.
-
-At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the
-saloon.
-
-"We are going to start," said he.
-
-"Ah!" replied I.
-
-"I have given the order to open the hatches."
-
-"And the Papuans?"
-
-"The Papuans?" answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
-
-"Will they not come inside the Nautilus?"
-
-"How?"
-
-"Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened."
-
-"M. Aronnax," quietly answered Captain Nemo, "they will not enter the
-hatches of the Nautilus in that way, even if they were open."
-
-I looked at the Captain.
-
-"You do not understand?" said he.
-
-"Hardly."
-
-"Well, come and you will see."
-
-I directed my steps towards the central staircase.  There Ned Land and
-Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship's crew, who were opening
-the hatches, while cries of rage and fearful vociferations resounded
-outside.
-
-The port lids were pulled down outside.  Twenty horrible faces
-appeared.  But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail,
-struck from behind by some invisible force, I know not what, fled,
-uttering the most fearful cries and making the wildest contortions.
-
-Ten of his companions followed him.  They met with the same fate.
-
-Conseil was in ecstasy.  Ned Land, carried away by his violent
-instincts, rushed on to the staircase.  But the moment he seized the
-rail with both hands, he, in his turn, was overthrown.
-
-"I am struck by a thunderbolt," cried he, with an oath.
-
-This explained all.  It was no rail; but a metallic cable charged with
-electricity from the deck communicating with the platform.  Whoever
-touched it felt a powerful shock--and this shock would have been mortal
-if Captain Nemo had discharged into the conductor the whole force of
-the current.  It might truly be said that between his assailants and
-himself he had stretched a network of electricity which none could pass
-with impunity.
-
-Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed with
-terror.  As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed the
-unfortunate Ned Land, who swore like one possessed.
-
-But at this moment the Nautilus, raised by the last waves of the tide,
-quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by the
-Captain.  Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically.  Her
-speed increased gradually, and, sailing on the surface of the ocean,
-she quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of
-Torres.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-"AEGRI SOMNIA"
-
-The following day 10th January, the Nautilus continued her course
-between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I could not
-estimate it at less than thirty-five miles an hour.  The rapidity of
-her screw was such that I could neither follow nor count its
-revolutions.  When I reflected that this marvellous electric agent,
-after having afforded motion, heat, and light to the Nautilus, still
-protected her from outward attack, and transformed her into an ark of
-safety which no profane hand might touch without being thunderstricken,
-my admiration was unbounded, and from the structure it extended to the
-engineer who had called it into existence.
-
-Our course was directed to the west, and on the 11th of January we
-doubled Cape Wessel, situation in 135 deg. long. and 10 deg. S. lat.,
-which forms the east point of the Gulf of Carpentaria.  The reefs were
-still numerous, but more equalised, and marked on the chart with
-extreme precision.  The Nautilus easily avoided the breakers of Money
-to port and the Victoria reefs to starboard, placed at 130 deg. long.
-and on the 10th parallel, which we strictly followed.
-
-On the 13th of January, Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor, and
-recognised the island of that name in 122 deg. long.
-
-From this point the direction of the Nautilus inclined towards the
-south-west. Her head was set for the Indian Ocean.  Where would the
-fancy of Captain Nemo carry us next?  Would he return to the coast of
-Asia or would he approach again the shores of Europe?  Improbable
-conjectures both, to a man who fled from inhabited continents.  Then
-would he descend to the south?  Was he going to double the Cape of Good
-Hope, then Cape Horn, and finally go as far as the Antarctic pole?
-Would he come back at last to the Pacific, where his Nautilus could
-sail free and independently?  Time would show.
-
-After having skirted the sands of Cartier, of Hibernia, Seringapatam,
-and Scott, last efforts of the solid against the liquid element, on the
-14th of January we lost sight of land altogether.  The speed of the
-Nautilus was considerably abated, and with irregular course she
-sometimes swam in the bosom of the waters, sometimes floated on their
-surface.
-
-During this period of the voyage, Captain Nemo made some interesting
-experiments on the varied temperature of the sea, in different beds.
-Under ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of
-rather complicated instruments, and with somewhat doubtful results, by
-means of thermometrical sounding-leads, the glasses often breaking
-under the pressure of the water, or an apparatus grounded on the
-variations of the resistance of metals to the electric currents.
-Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated.  On the
-contrary, Captain Nemo went himself to test the temperature in the
-depths of the sea, and his thermometer, placed in communication with
-the different sheets of water, gave him the required degree immediately
-and accurately.
-
-It was thus that, either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending
-obliquely by means of her inclined planes, the Nautilus successively
-attained the depth of three, four, five, seven, nine, and ten thousand
-yards, and the definite result of this experience was that the sea
-preserved an average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth
-of five thousand fathoms under all latitudes.
-
-On the 16th of January, the Nautilus seemed becalmed only a few yards
-beneath the surface of the waves.  Her electric apparatus remained
-inactive and her motionless screw left her to drift at the mercy of the
-currents.  I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs,
-rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements of the
-machine.
-
-My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle.  The hatches of
-the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light of the Nautilus was not
-in action, a dim obscurity reigned in the midst of the waters.  I
-observed the state of the sea, under these conditions, and the largest
-fish appeared to me no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the
-Nautilus found herself suddenly transported into full light.  I thought
-at first that the beacon had been lighted, and was casting its electric
-radiance into the liquid mass.  I was mistaken, and after a rapid
-survey perceived my error.
-
-The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which, in
-this obscurity, became quite dazzling.  It was produced by myriads of
-luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was increased as they glided
-over the metallic hull of the vessel.  I was surprised by lightning in
-the midst of these luminous sheets, as though they had been rivulets of
-lead melted in an ardent furnace or metallic masses brought to a white
-heat, so that, by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared
-to cast a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all
-shade seemed banished.  No; this was not the calm irradiation of our
-ordinary lightning.  There was unusual life and vigour: this was truly
-living light!
-
-In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria, of
-veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle, and
-of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less than
-two cubic half-inches of water.
-
-During several hours the Nautilus floated in these brilliant waves, and
-our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters disporting
-themselves like salamanders.  I saw there in the midst of this fire
-that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise (the indefatigable clown
-of the ocean), and some swordfish ten feet long, those prophetic
-heralds of the hurricane whose formidable sword would now and then
-strike the glass of the saloon.  Then appeared the smaller fish, the
-balista, the leaping mackerel, wolf-thorn-tails, and a hundred others
-which striped the luminous atmosphere as they swam.  This dazzling
-spectacle was enchanting!  Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased
-the intensity of this phenomenon.  Perhaps some storm agitated the
-surface of the waves.  But at this depth of some yards, the Nautilus
-was unmoved by its fury and reposed peacefully in still water.
-
-So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel.  The days
-passed rapidly away, and I took no account of them.  Ned, according to
-habit, tried to vary the diet on board.  Like snails, we were fixed to
-our shells, and I declare it is easy to lead a snail's life.
-
-Thus this life seemed easy and natural, and we thought no longer of the
-life we led on land; but something happened to recall us to the
-strangeness of our situation.
-
-On the 18th of January, the Nautilus was in 105 deg. long. and 15 deg.
-S. lat.  The weather was threatening, the sea rough and rolling.  There
-was a strong east wind.  The barometer, which had been going down for
-some days, foreboded a coming storm.  I went up on to the platform just
-as the second lieutenant was taking the measure of the horary angles,
-and waited, according to habit till the daily phrase was said.  But on
-this day it was exchanged for another phrase not less incomprehensible.
-Almost directly, I saw Captain Nemo appear with a glass, looking
-towards the horizon.
-
-For some minutes he was immovable, without taking his eye off the point
-of observation.  Then he lowered his glass and exchanged a few words
-with his lieutenant.  The latter seemed to be a victim to some emotion
-that he tried in vain to repress.  Captain Nemo, having more command
-over himself, was cool.  He seemed, too, to be making some objections
-to which the lieutenant replied by formal assurances.  At least I
-concluded so by the difference of their tones and gestures.  For
-myself, I had looked carefully in the direction indicated without
-seeing anything.  The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the
-horizon.
-
-However, Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform to the other,
-without looking at me, perhaps without seeing me.  His step was firm,
-but less regular than usual.  He stopped sometimes, crossed his arms,
-and observed the sea.  What could he be looking for on that immense
-expanse?
-
-The Nautilus was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.
-
-The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon
-steadfastly, going and coming, stamping his foot and showing more
-nervous agitation than his superior officer.  Besides, this mystery
-must necessarily be solved, and before long; for, upon an order from
-Captain Nemo, the engine, increasing its propelling power, made the
-screw turn more rapidly.
-
-Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain's attention again.  The
-latter stopped walking and directed his glass towards the place
-indicated.  He looked long.  I felt very much puzzled, and descended to
-the drawing-room, and took out an excellent telescope that I generally
-used.  Then, leaning on the cage of the watch-light that jutted out
-from the front of the platform, set myself to look over all the line of
-the sky and sea.
-
-But my eye was no sooner applied to the glass than it was quickly
-snatched out of my hands.
-
-I turned round.  Captain Nemo was before me, but I did not know him.
-His face was transfigured.  His eyes flashed sullenly; his teeth were
-set; his stiff body, clenched fists, and head shrunk between his
-shoulders, betrayed the violent agitation that pervaded his whole
-frame.  He did not move.  My glass, fallen from his hands, had rolled
-at his feet.
-
-Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger?  Did this
-incomprehensible person imagine that I had discovered some forbidden
-secret?  No; I was not the object of this hatred, for he was not
-looking at me; his eye was steadily fixed upon the impenetrable point
-of the horizon.  At last Captain Nemo recovered himself.  His agitation
-subsided.  He addressed some words in a foreign language to his
-lieutenant, then turned to me.  "M. Aronnax," he said, in rather an
-imperious tone, "I require you to keep one of the conditions that bind
-you to me."
-
-"What is it, Captain?"
-
-"You must be confined, with your companions, until I think fit to
-release you."
-
-"You are the master," I replied, looking steadily at him.  "But may I
-ask you one question?"
-
-"None, sir."
-
-There was no resisting this imperious command, it would have been
-useless.  I went down to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil,
-and told them the Captain's determination.  You may judge how this
-communication was received by the Canadian.
-
-But there was not time for altercation.  Four of the crew waited at the
-door, and conducted us to that cell where we had passed our first night
-on board the Nautilus.
-
-Ned Land would have remonstrated, but the door was shut upon him.
-
-"Will master tell me what this means?" asked Conseil.
-
-I told my companions what had passed.  They were as much astonished as
-I, and equally at a loss how to account for it.
-
-Meanwhile, I was absorbed in my own reflections, and could think of
-nothing but the strange fear depicted in the Captain's countenance.  I
-was utterly at a loss to account for it, when my cogitations were
-disturbed by these words from Ned Land:
-
-"Hallo! breakfast is ready."
-
-And indeed the table was laid.  Evidently Captain Nemo had given this
-order at the same time that he had hastened the speed of the Nautilus.
-
-"Will master permit me to make a recommendation?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy."
-
-"Well, it is that master breakfasts.  It is prudent, for we do not know
-what may happen."
-
-"You are right, Conseil."
-
-"Unfortunately," said Ned Land, "they have only given us the ship's
-fare."
-
-"Friend Ned," asked Conseil, "what would you have said if the breakfast
-had been entirely forgotten?"
-
-This argument cut short the harpooner's recriminations.
-
-We sat down to table.  The meal was eaten in silence.
-
-Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left
-us in total darkness.  Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me
-was that Conseil went off into a heavy slumber.  I was thinking what
-could have caused his irresistible drowsiness, when I felt my brain
-becoming stupefied.  In spite of my efforts to keep my eyes open, they
-would close.  A painful suspicion seized me.  Evidently soporific
-substances had been mixed with the food we had just taken.
-Imprisonment was not enough to conceal Captain Nemo's projects from us,
-sleep was more necessary.  I then heard the panels shut.  The
-undulations of the sea, which caused a slight rolling motion, ceased.
-Had the Nautilus quitted the surface of the ocean?  Had it gone back to
-the motionless bed of water?  I tried to resist sleep.  It was
-impossible.  My breathing grew weak.  I felt a mortal cold freeze my
-stiffened and half-paralysed limbs.  My eye lids, like leaden caps,
-fell over my eyes.  I could not raise them; a morbid sleep, full of
-hallucinations, bereft me of my being.  Then the visions disappeared,
-and left me in complete insensibility.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-THE CORAL KINGDOM
-
-The next day I woke with my head singularly clear.  To my great
-surprise, I was in my own room.  My companions, no doubt, had been
-reinstated in their cabin, without having perceived it any more than I.
-Of what had passed during the night they were as ignorant as I was, and
-to penetrate this mystery I only reckoned upon the chances of the
-future.
-
-I then thought of quitting my room.  Was I free again or a prisoner?
-Quite free.  I opened the door, went to the half-deck, went up the
-central stairs.  The panels, shut the evening before, were open.  I
-went on to the platform.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil waited there for me.  I questioned them; they knew
-nothing.  Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had been totally
-unconscious, they had been astonished at finding themselves in their
-cabin.
-
-As for the Nautilus, it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever.  It
-floated on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace.  Nothing seemed
-changed on board.
-
-The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave the usual
-order below.
-
-As for Captain Nemo, he did not appear.
-
-Of the people on board, I only saw the impassive steward, who served me
-with his usual dumb regularity.
-
-About two o'clock, I was in the drawing-room, busied in arranging my
-notes, when the Captain opened the door and appeared.  I bowed.  He
-made a slight inclination in return, without speaking.  I resumed my
-work, hoping that he would perhaps give me some explanation of the
-events of the preceding night.  He made none.  I looked at him.  He
-seemed fatigued; his heavy eyes had not been refreshed by sleep; his
-face looked very sorrowful.  He walked to and fro, sat down and got up
-again, took a chance book, put it down, consulted his instruments
-without taking his habitual notes, and seemed restless and uneasy.  At
-last, he came up to me, and said:
-
-"Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?"
-
-I so little expected such a question that I stared some time at him
-without answering.
-
-"Are you a doctor?" he repeated.  "Several of your colleagues have
-studied medicine."
-
-"Well," said I, "I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital.  I
-practised several years before entering the museum."
-
-"Very well, sir."
-
-My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain.  But, not knowing what
-he would say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my answers
-according to circumstances.
-
-"M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?" he asked.
-
-"Is he ill?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"I am ready to follow you."
-
-"Come, then."
-
-I own my heart beat, I do not know why.  I saw certain connection
-between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day
-before; and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick man.
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the Nautilus, and took me into
-a cabin situated near the sailors' quarters.
-
-There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute
-expression of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
-
-I leant over him.  He was not only ill, he was wounded.  His head,
-swathed in bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow.  I undid the
-bandages, and the wounded man looked at me with his large eyes and gave
-no sign of pain as I did it.  It was a horrible wound.  The skull,
-shattered by some deadly weapon, left the brain exposed, which was much
-injured.  Clots of blood had formed in the bruised and broken mass, in
-colour like the dregs of wine.
-
-There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain.  His breathing was
-slow, and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face.  I
-felt his pulse.  It was intermittent.  The extremities of the body were
-growing cold already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue.  After
-dressing the unfortunate man's wounds, I readjusted the bandages on his
-head, and turned to Captain Nemo.
-
-"What caused this wound?"  I asked.
-
-"What does it signify?" he replied, evasively.  "A shock has broken one
-of the levers of the engine, which struck myself.  But your opinion as
-to his state?"
-
-I hesitated before giving it.
-
-"You may speak," said the Captain.  "This man does not understand
-French."
-
-I gave a last look at the wounded man.
-
-"He will be dead in two hours."
-
-"Can nothing save him?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-Captain Nemo's hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes,
-which I thought incapable of shedding any.
-
-For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed
-slowly.  His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed
-over his death-bed. I looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with
-premature wrinkles, produced probably by misfortune and sorrow.  I
-tried to learn the secret of his life from the last words that escaped
-his lips.
-
-"You can go now, M. Aronnax," said the Captain.
-
-I left him in the dying man's cabin, and returned to my room much
-affected by this scene.  During the whole day, I was haunted by
-uncomfortable suspicions, and at night I slept badly, and between my
-broken dreams I fancied I heard distant sighs like the notes of a
-funeral psalm.  Were they the prayers of the dead, murmured in that
-language that I could not understand?
-
-The next morning I went on to the bridge.  Captain Nemo was there
-before me.  As soon as he perceived me he came to me.
-
-"Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion
-to-day?"
-
-"With my companions?"  I asked.
-
-"If they like."
-
-"We obey your orders, Captain."
-
-"Will you be so good then as to put on your cork jackets?"
-
-It was not a question of dead or dying.  I rejoined Ned Land and
-Conseil, and told them of Captain Nemo's proposition.  Conseil hastened
-to accept it, and this time the Canadian seemed quite willing to follow
-our example.
-
-It was eight o'clock in the morning.  At half-past eight we were
-equipped for this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for
-light and breathing.  The double door was open; and, accompanied by
-Captain Nemo, who was followed by a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at
-a depth of about thirty feet, on the solid bottom on which the Nautilus
-rested.
-
-A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth.
-This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first
-excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean.  Here, there was no
-fine sand, no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately
-recognised that marvellous region in which, on that day, the Captain
-did the honours to us.  It was the coral kingdom.
-
-The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in the midst
-of the branches that were so vividly coloured.  I seemed to see the
-membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble beneath the undulation of the
-waters.  I was tempted to gather their fresh petals, ornamented with
-delicate tentacles, some just blown, the others budding, while a small
-fish, swimming swiftly, touched them slightly, like flights of birds.
-But if my hand approached these living flowers, these animated,
-sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm.  The white petals
-re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked, and the bush
-changed into a block of stony knobs.
-
-Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the
-zoophyte.  This coral was more valuable than that found in the
-Mediterranean, on the coasts of France, Italy and Barbary.  Its tints
-justified the poetical names of "Flower of Blood," and "Froth of
-Blood," that trade has given to its most beautiful productions.  Coral
-is sold for L20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds would make
-the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter, often
-confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots called
-"macciota," and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens of pink
-coral.
-
-But soon the bushes contract, and the arborisations increase. Real
-petrified thickets, long joints of fantastic architecture, were
-disclosed before us. Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery,
-where by a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards. The
-light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects, following the
-rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants disposed like
-lustres, that were tipped with points of fire.
-
-At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth of about
-three hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit on which coral
-begins to form.  But there was no isolated bush, nor modest brushwood,
-at the bottom of lofty trees.  It was an immense forest of large
-mineral vegetations, enormous petrified trees, united by garlands of
-elegant sea-bindweed, all adorned with clouds and reflections.  We
-passed freely under their high branches, lost in the shade of the waves.
-
-Captain Nemo had stopped.  I and my companions halted, and, turning
-round, I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief.
-Watching attentively, I observed that four of them carried on their
-shoulders an object of an oblong shape.
-
-We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade surrounded by
-the lofty foliage of the submarine forest.  Our lamps threw over this
-place a sort of clear twilight that singularly elongated the shadows on
-the ground.  At the end of the glade the darkness increased, and was
-only relieved by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil were near me.  We watched, and I thought I was
-going to witness a strange scene.  On observing the ground, I saw that
-it was raised in certain places by slight excrescences encrusted with
-limy deposits, and disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of
-man.
-
-In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly piled up,
-stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms that one might have
-thought were made of petrified blood.  Upon a sign from Captain Nemo
-one of the men advanced; and at some feet from the cross he began to
-dig a hole with a pickaxe that he took from his belt.  I understood
-all!  This glade was a cemetery, this hole a tomb, this oblong object
-the body of the man who had died in the night!  The Captain and his men
-had come to bury their companion in this general resting-place, at the
-bottom of this inaccessible ocean!
-
-The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their
-retreat was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe,
-which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the
-waters.  The hole was soon large and deep enough to receive the body.
-Then the bearers approached; the body, enveloped in a tissue of white
-linen, was lowered into the damp grave.  Captain Nemo, with his arms
-crossed on his breast, and all the friends of him who had loved them,
-knelt in prayer.
-
-The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground,
-which formed a slight mound.  When this was done, Captain Nemo and his
-men rose; then, approaching the grave, they knelt again, and all
-extended their hands in sign of a last adieu.  Then the funeral
-procession returned to the Nautilus, passing under the arches of the
-forest, in the midst of thickets, along the coral bushes, and still on
-the ascent.  At last the light of the ship appeared, and its luminous
-track guided us to the Nautilus.  At one o'clock we had returned.
-
-As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform, and,
-a prey to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle.  Captain
-Nemo joined me.  I rose and said to him:
-
-"So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?"
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax."
-
-"And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?"
-
-"Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us.  We dug the grave, and the
-polypi undertake to seal our dead for eternity." And, burying his face
-quickly in his hands, he tried in vain to suppress a sob.  Then he
-added:  "Our peaceful cemetery is there, some hundred feet below the
-surface of the waves."
-
-"Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of
-sharks."
-
-"Yes, sir, of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.
-
-
-
-PART TWO
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-THE INDIAN OCEAN
-
-We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea.  The first
-ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a
-deep impression on my mind.  Thus, in the midst of this great sea,
-Captain Nemo's life was passing, even to his grave, which he had
-prepared in one of its deepest abysses.  There, not one of the ocean's
-monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus, of
-those friends riveted to each other in death as in life.  "Nor any man,
-either," had added the Captain.  Still the same fierce, implacable
-defiance towards human society!
-
-I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied
-Conseil.
-
-That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of the Nautilus
-one of those unknown _savants_ who return mankind contempt for
-indifference.  For him, he was a misunderstood genius who, tired of
-earth's deceptions, had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium, where
-he might follow his instincts freely.  To my mind, this explains but
-one side of Captain Nemo's character.  Indeed, the mystery of that last
-night during which we had been chained in prison, the sleep, and the
-precaution so violently taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes
-the glass I had raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the
-man, due to an unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a new
-track.  No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man.  His
-formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom, but
-perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.
-
-At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse of light
-amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself to writing as events
-shall dictate.
-
-That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came
-to take the altitude of the sun.  I mounted the platform, lit a cigar,
-and watched the operation.  It seemed to me that the man did not
-understand French; for several times I made remarks in a loud voice,
-which must have drawn from him some involuntary sign of attention, if
-he had understood them; but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
-
-As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the sailors of
-the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first
-submarine excursion to the Island of Crespo) came to clean the glasses
-of the lantern.  I examined the fittings of the apparatus, the strength
-of which was increased a hundredfold by lenticular rings, placed
-similar to those in a lighthouse, and which projected their brilliance
-in a horizontal plane.  The electric lamp was combined in such a way as
-to give its most powerful light.  Indeed, it was produced in vacuo,
-which insured both its steadiness and its intensity.  This vacuum
-economised the graphite points between which the luminous arc was
-developed--an important point of economy for Captain Nemo, who could
-not easily have replaced them; and under these conditions their waste
-was imperceptible.  When the Nautilus was ready to continue its
-submarine journey, I went down to the saloon.  The panel was closed,
-and the course marked direct west.
-
-We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
-with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
-and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy.  The
-Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep.  We
-went on so for some days.  To anyone but myself, who had a great love
-for the sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous; but the
-daily walks on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving air
-of the ocean, the sight of the rich waters through the windows of the
-saloon, the books in the library, the compiling of my memoirs, took up
-all my time, and left me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
-
-For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or
-gulls.  Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made
-very acceptable water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long
-distance from all lands and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of
-their flight, I saw some magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant
-cries like the braying of an ass, and birds belonging to the family of
-the long-wings.
-
-As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
-the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels.  I saw many
-kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
-
-I shall notice chiefly ostracions peculiar to the Red Sea, the Indian
-Ocean, and that part which washes the coast of tropical America. These
-fishes, like the tortoise, the armadillo, the sea-hedgehog, and the
-Crustacea, are protected by a breastplate which is neither chalky nor
-stony, but real bone. In some it takes the form of a solid triangle, in
-others of a solid quadrangle. Amongst the triangular I saw some an inch
-and a half in length, with wholesome flesh and a delicious flavour;
-they are brown at the tail, and yellow at the fins, and I recommend
-their introduction into fresh water, to which a certain number of
-sea-fish easily accustom themselves. I would also mention quadrangular
-ostracions, having on the back four large tubercles; some dotted over
-with white spots on the lower part of the body, and which may be tamed
-like birds; trigons provided with spikes formed by the lengthening of
-their bony shell, and which, from their strange gruntings, are called
-"seapigs"; also dromedaries with large humps in the shape of a cone,
-whose flesh is very tough and leathery.
-
-I now borrow from the daily notes of Master Conseil. "Certain fish of
-the genus petrodon peculiar to those seas, with red backs and white
-chests, which are distinguished by three rows of longitudinal
-filaments; and some electrical, seven inches long, decked in the
-liveliest colours.  Then, as specimens of other kinds, some ovoides,
-resembling an egg of a dark brown colour, marked with white bands, and
-without tails; diodons, real sea-porcupines, furnished with spikes, and
-capable of swelling in such a way as to look like cushions bristling
-with darts; hippocampi, common to every ocean; some pegasi with
-lengthened snouts, which their pectoral fins, being much elongated and
-formed in the shape of wings, allow, if not to fly, at least to shoot
-into the air; pigeon spatulae, with tails covered with many rings of
-shell; macrognathi with long jaws, an excellent fish, nine inches long,
-and bright with most agreeable colours; pale-coloured calliomores, with
-rugged heads; and plenty of chaetpdons, with long and tubular muzzles,
-which kill insects by shooting them, as from an air-gun, with a single
-drop of water. These we may call the flycatchers of the seas.
-
-"In the eighty-ninth genus of fishes, classed by Lacepede, belonging to
-the second lower class of bony, characterised by opercules and
-bronchial membranes, I remarked the scorpaena, the head of which is
-furnished with spikes, and which has but one dorsal fin; these
-creatures are covered, or not, with little shells, according to the
-sub-class to which they belong. The second sub-class gives us specimens
-of didactyles fourteen or fifteen inches in length, with yellow rays,
-and heads of a most fantastic appearance. As to the first sub-class, it
-gives several specimens of that singular looking fish appropriately
-called a 'seafrog,' with large head, sometimes pierced with holes,
-sometimes swollen with protuberances, bristling with spikes, and
-covered with tubercles; it has irregular and hideous horns; its body
-and tail are covered with callosities; its sting makes a dangerous
-wound; it is both repugnant and horrible to look at."
-
-From the 21st to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went at the rate of
-two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours, being five hundred
-and forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour.  If we recognised so many
-different varieties of fish, it was because, attracted by the electric
-light, they tried to follow us; the greater part, however, were soon
-distanced by our speed, though some kept their place in the waters of
-the Nautilus for a time.  The morning of the 24th, in 12 deg. 5' S.
-lat., and 94 deg. 33' long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral
-formation, planted with magnificent cocos, and which had been visited
-by Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy.  The Nautilus skirted the shores of
-this desert island for a little distance.  Its nets brought up numerous
-specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca.  Some precious
-productions of the species of delphinulae enriched the treasures of
-Captain Nemo, to which I added an astraea punctifera, a kind of
-parasite polypus often found fixed to a shell.
-
-Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was
-directed to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often
-taking us into great depths.  Several times they made use of the
-inclined planes, which certain internal levers placed obliquely to the
-waterline.  In that way we went about two miles, but without ever
-obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea, which soundings of
-seven thousand fathoms have never reached.  As to the temperature of
-the lower strata, the thermometer invariably indicated 4 deg. above
-zero.  I only observed that in the upper regions the water was always
-colder in the high levels than at the surface of the sea.
-
-On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus
-passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful
-screw and making them rebound to a great height.  Who under such
-circumstances would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean?  Three
-parts of this day I spent on the platform.  I watched the sea.  Nothing
-on the horizon, till about four o'clock a steamer running west on our
-counter.  Her masts were visible for an instant, but she could not see
-the Nautilus, being too low in the water.  I fancied this steamboat
-belonged to the P.O. Company, which runs from Ceylon to Sydney,
-touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.
-
-At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight which
-binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by
-a curious spectacle.
-
-It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the
-ocean.  We could count several hundreds.  They belonged to the tubercle
-kind which are peculiar to the Indian seas.
-
-These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their locomotive
-tube, through which they propelled the water already drawn in.  Of
-their eight tentacles, six were elongated, and stretched out floating
-on the water, whilst the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the
-wing like a light sail.  I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells,
-which Cuvier justly compares to an elegant skiff.  A boat indeed!  It
-bears the creature which secretes it without its adhering to it.
-
-For nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of this shoal of
-molluscs.  Then I know not what sudden fright they took.  But as if at
-a signal every sail was furled, the arms folded, the body drawn in, the
-shells turned over, changing their centre of gravity, and the whole
-fleet disappeared under the waves.  Never did the ships of a squadron
-manoeuvre with more unity.
-
-At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised by
-the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the eighty-second
-meridian and entered the northern hemisphere.  During the day a
-formidable troop of sharks accompanied us, terrible creatures, which
-multiply in these seas and make them very dangerous.  They were
-"cestracio philippi" sharks, with brown backs and whitish bellies,
-armed with eleven rows of teeth--eyed sharks--their throat being marked
-with a large black spot surrounded with white like an eye.  There were
-also some Isabella sharks, with rounded snouts marked with dark spots.
-These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at the windows of the
-saloon with such violence as to make us feel very insecure.  At such
-times Ned Land was no longer master of himself.  He wanted to go to the
-surface and harpoon the monsters, particularly certain smooth-hound
-sharks, whose mouth is studded with teeth like a mosaic; and large
-tiger-sharks nearly six yards long, the last named of which seemed to
-excite him more particularly.  But the Nautilus, accelerating her
-speed, easily left the most rapid of them behind.
-
-The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal, we met
-repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on the surface
-of the water.  They were the dead of the Indian villages, carried by
-the Ganges to the level of the sea, and which the vultures, the only
-undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour.  But the
-sharks did not fail to help them at their funeral work.
-
-About seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus, half-immersed, was
-sailing in a sea of milk.  At first sight the ocean seemed lactified.
-Was it the effect of the lunar rays?  No; for the moon, scarcely two
-days old, was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the
-sun.  The whole sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by
-contrast with the whiteness of the waters.
-
-Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause
-of this strange phenomenon.  Happily I was able to answer him.
-
-"It is called a milk sea," I explained.  "A large extent of white
-wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna, and in these parts
-of the sea."
-
-"But, sir," said Conseil, "can you tell me what causes such an effect?
-for I suppose the water is not really turned into milk."
-
-"No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by
-the presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm,
-gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair, and whose
-length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch.  These insects
-adhere to one another sometimes for several leagues."
-
-"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these
-infusoria.  You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have
-floated on these milk seas for more than forty miles."
-
-Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind
-us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected the whitened
-waves, and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague
-glimmerings of an aurora borealis.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO'S
-
-On the 28th of February, when at noon the Nautilus came to the surface
-of the sea, in 9 deg. 4' N. lat., there was land in sight about eight
-miles to westward.  The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains
-about two thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious.
-On taking the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of
-Ceylon, the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment.  The Captain
-glanced at the map.  Then turning to me, said:
-
-"The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you like to
-visit one of them, M. Aronnax?"
-
-"Certainly, Captain."
-
-"Well, the thing is easy.  Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall
-not see the fishermen.  The annual exportation has not yet begun.
-Never mind, I will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar, where we
-shall arrive in the night."
-
-The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out.
-Soon the Nautilus returned to her native element, and the manometer
-showed that she was about thirty feet deep.
-
-"Well, sir," said Captain Nemo, "you and your companions shall visit
-the Bank of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there, we
-shall see him at work."
-
-"Agreed, Captain!"
-
-"By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?"
-
-"Sharks!" exclaimed I.
-
-This question seemed a very hard one.
-
-"Well?" continued Captain Nemo.
-
-"I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of
-fish."
-
-"We are accustomed to them," replied Captain Nemo, "and in time you
-will be too.  However, we shall be armed, and on the road we may be
-able to hunt some of the tribe.  It is interesting.  So, till
-to-morrow, sir, and early."
-
-This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon.  Now, if
-you were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland, what
-would you say?
-
-"Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear." If you were asked
-to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas, or the tiger in the Indian
-jungles, what would you say?
-
-"Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!" But when
-you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element, you would
-perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation.  As for myself, I
-passed my hand over my forehead, on which stood large drops of cold
-perspiration.  "Let us reflect," said I, "and take our time.  Hunting
-otters in submarine forests, as we did in the Island of Crespo, will
-pass; but going up and down at the bottom of the sea, where one is
-almost certain to meet sharks, is quite another thing!  I know well
-that in certain countries, particularly in the Andaman Islands, the
-negroes never hesitate to attack them with a dagger in one hand and a
-running noose in the other; but I also know that few who affront those
-creatures ever return alive.  However, I am not a negro, and if I were
-I think a little hesitation in this case would not be ill-timed."
-
-At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed, and
-even joyous.  They knew not what awaited them.
-
-"Faith, sir," said Ned Land, "your Captain Nemo--the devil take
-him!--has just made us a very pleasant offer."
-
-"Ah!" said I, "you know?"
-
-"If agreeable to you, sir," interrupted Conseil, "the commander of the
-Nautilus has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon fisheries
-to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly, and behaved like a real
-gentleman."
-
-"He said nothing more?"
-
-"Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you of this
-little walk."
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "would you give us some details of the pearl
-fishery?"
-
-"As to the fishing itself," I asked, "or the incidents, which?"
-
-"On the fishing," replied the Canadian; "before entering upon the
-ground, it is as well to know something about it."
-
-"Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you."
-
-Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing
-the Canadian asked was:
-
-"Sir, what is a pearl?"
-
-"My worthy Ned," I answered, "to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the
-sea; to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies,
-it is a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl
-substance, which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their
-ears; for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of
-lime, with a little gelatine; and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply
-a morbid secretion of the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl
-amongst certain bivalves."
-
-"Branch of molluscs," said Conseil.
-
-"Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea the
-earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those which
-secrete mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet, or white
-substance which lines the interior of their shells, are capable of
-producing pearls."
-
-"Mussels too?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Saxony,
-Bohemia, and France."
-
-"Good!  For the future I shall pay attention," replied the Canadian.
-
-"But," I continued, "the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl is
-the pearl-oyster, the meleagrina margaritiferct, that precious
-pintadine. The pearl is nothing but a nacreous formation, deposited in
-a globular form, either adhering to the oyster shell, or buried in the
-folds of the creature. On the shell it is fast; in the flesh it is
-loose; but always has for a kernel a small hard substance, may be a
-barren egg, may be a grain of sand, around which the pearly matter
-deposits itself year after year successively, and by thin concentric
-layers."
-
-"Are many pearls found in the same oyster?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy.  Some are a perfect casket.  One oyster has been
-mentioned, though I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no
-less than a hundred and fifty sharks."
-
-"A hundred and fifty sharks!" exclaimed Ned Land.
-
-"Did I say sharks?" said I hurriedly.  "I meant to say a hundred and
-fifty pearls.  Sharks would not be sense."
-
-"Certainly not," said Conseil; "but will you tell us now by what means
-they extract these pearls?"
-
-"They proceed in various ways.  When they adhere to the shell, the
-fishermen often pull them off with pincers; but the most common way is
-to lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers the banks.  Thus
-they die in the open air; and at the end of ten days they are in a
-forward state of decomposition.  They are then plunged into large
-reservoirs of sea-water; then they are opened and washed."
-
-"The price of these pearls varies according to their size?" asked
-Conseil.
-
-"Not only according to their size," I answered, "but also according to
-their shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre:
-that is, that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming
-to the eye.  The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons.
-They are formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc, are white, often
-opaque, and sometimes have the transparency of an opal; they are
-generally round or oval.  The round are made into bracelets, the oval
-into pendants, and, being more precious, are sold singly.  Those
-adhering to the shell of the oyster are more irregular in shape, and
-are sold by weight.  Lastly, in a lower order are classed those small
-pearls known under the name of seed-pearls; they are sold by measure,
-and are especially used in embroidery for church ornaments."
-
-"But," said Conseil, "is this pearl-fishery dangerous?"
-
-"No," I answered, quickly; "particularly if certain precautions are
-taken."
-
-"What does one risk in such a calling?" said Ned Land, "the swallowing
-of some mouthfuls of sea-water?"
-
-"As you say, Ned.  By the bye," said I, trying to take Captain Nemo's
-careless tone, "are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?"
-
-"I!" replied the Canadian; "a harpooner by profession?  It is my trade
-to make light of them."
-
-"But," said I, "it is not a question of fishing for them with an
-iron-swivel, hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off their tails
-with a blow of a chopper, ripping them up, and throwing their heart
-into the sea!"
-
-"Then, it is a question of----"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"In the water?"
-
-"In the water."
-
-"Faith, with a good harpoon!  You know, sir, these sharks are
-ill-fashioned beasts.  They turn on their bellies to seize you, and in
-that time----"
-
-Ned Land had a way of saying "seize" which made my blood run cold.
-
-"Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?"
-
-"Me!" said Conseil.  "I will be frank, sir."
-
-"So much the better," thought I.
-
-"If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful
-servant should not face them with you."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS
-
-The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by the steward whom
-Captain Nemo had placed at my service.  I rose hurriedly, dressed, and
-went into the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said he, "are you ready to start?"
-
-"I am ready."
-
-"Then please to follow me."
-
-"And my companions, Captain?"
-
-"They have been told and are waiting."
-
-"Are we not to put on our diver's dresses?" asked I.
-
-"Not yet.  I have not allowed the Nautilus to come too near this coast,
-and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready,
-and will take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us
-a long way.  It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when
-we begin our submarine journey."
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase, which led on the
-platform.  Ned and Conseil were already there, delighted at the idea of
-the "pleasure party" which was preparing.  Five sailors from the
-Nautilus, with their oars, waited in the boat, which had been made fast
-against the side.
-
-The night was still dark.  Layers of clouds covered the sky, allowing
-but few stars to be seen.  I looked on the side where the land lay, and
-saw nothing but a dark line enclosing three parts of the horizon, from
-south-west to north west.  The Nautilus, having returned during the
-night up the western coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or
-rather gulf, formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar.  There,
-under the dark waters, stretched the pintadine bank, an inexhaustible
-field of pearls, the length of which is more than twenty miles.
-
-Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places in the stern of
-the boat.  The master went to the tiller; his four companions leaned on
-their oars, the painter was cast off, and we sheered off.
-
-The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry.  I noticed
-that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every
-ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy.
-Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops
-struck the dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead.
-A little billow, spreading wide, gave a slight roll to the boat, and
-some samphire reeds flapped before it.
-
-We were silent.  What was Captain Nemo thinking of?  Perhaps of the
-land he was approaching, and which he found too near to him, contrary
-to the Canadian's opinion, who thought it too far off.  As to Conseil,
-he was merely there from curiosity.
-
-About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed the upper
-line of coast more distinctly.  Flat enough in the east, it rose a
-little to the south.  Five miles still lay between us, and it was
-indistinct owing to the mist on the water.  At six o'clock it became
-suddenly daylight, with that rapidity peculiar to tropical regions,
-which know neither dawn nor twilight.  The solar rays pierced the
-curtain of clouds, piled up on the eastern horizon, and the radiant orb
-rose rapidly.  I saw land distinctly, with a few trees scattered here
-and there.  The boat neared Manaar Island, which was rounded to the
-south.  Captain Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea.
-
-At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran,
-for it was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the
-highest points of the bank of pintadines.
-
-"Here we are, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.  "You see that enclosed
-bay?  Here, in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of
-the exporters, and these are the waters their divers will ransack so
-boldly.  Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing.
-It is sheltered from the strongest winds; the sea is never very rough
-here, which makes it favourable for the diver's work.  We will now put
-on our dresses, and begin our walk."
-
-I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves, began with
-the help of the sailors to put on my heavy sea-dress. Captain Nemo and
-my companions were also dressing.  None of the Nautilus men were to
-accompany us on this new excursion.
-
-Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing; the air
-apparatus fixed to our backs by braces.  As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus,
-there was no necessity for it.  Before putting my head into the copper
-cap, I had asked the question of the Captain.
-
-"They would be useless," he replied.  "We are going to no great depth,
-and the solar rays will be enough to light our walk.  Besides, it would
-not be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters; its
-brilliancy might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast
-most inopportunely."
-
-As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned
-Land.  But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal
-cap, and they could neither hear nor answer.
-
-One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
-
-"And our arms?" asked I; "our guns?"
-
-"Guns!  What for?  Do not mountaineers attack the bear with a dagger in
-their hand, and is not steel surer than lead?  Here is a strong blade;
-put it in your belt, and we start."
-
-I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than
-that, Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed
-in the boat before leaving the Nautilus.
-
-Then, following the Captain's example, I allowed myself to be dressed
-in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air were at once in
-activity.  An instant after we were landed, one after the other, in
-about two yards of water upon an even sand.  Captain Nemo made a sign
-with his hand, and we followed him by a gentle declivity till we
-disappeared under the waves.
-
-Over our feet, like coveys of snipe in a bog, rose shoals of fish, of
-the genus monoptera, which have no other fins but their tail. I
-recognized the Javanese, a real serpent two and a half feet long, of a
-livid colour underneath, and which might easily be mistaken for a
-conger eel if it were not for the golden stripes on its side. In the
-genus stromateus, whose bodies are very flat and oval, I saw some of
-the most brilliant colours, carrying their dorsal fin like a scythe; an
-excellent eating fish, which, dried and pickled, is known by the name
-of Karawade; then some tranquebars, belonging to the genus
-apsiphoroides, whose body is covered with a shell cuirass of eight
-longitudinal plates.
-
-The heightening sun lit the mass of waters more and more. The soil
-changed by degrees. To the fine sand succeeded a perfect causeway of
-boulders, covered with a carpet of molluscs and zoophytes. Amongst the
-specimens of these branches I noticed some placenae, with thin unequal
-shells, a kind of ostracion peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian
-Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded shells; rockfish three feet and
-a half long, which raised themselves under the waves like hands ready
-to seize one. There were also some panopyres, slightly luminous; and
-lastly, some oculines, like magnificent fans, forming one of the
-richest vegetations of these seas.
-
-In the midst of these living plants, and under the arbours of the
-hydrophytes, were layers of clumsy articulates, particularly some
-raninae, whose carapace formed a slightly rounded triangle; and some
-horrible looking parthenopes.
-
-At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the
-oyster-banks on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters; and
-I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for Nature's
-creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction.  Ned Land,
-faithful to his instinct, hastened to fill a net which he carried by
-his side with some of the finest specimens.  But we could not stop.  We
-must follow the Captain, who seemed to guide him self by paths known
-only to himself.  The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes, on
-holding up my arm, it was above the surface of the sea.  Then the level
-of the bank would sink capriciously.  Often we rounded high rocks
-scarped into pyramids.  In their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched
-upon their high claws like some war-machine, watched us with fixed
-eyes, and under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.
-
-At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a
-picturesque heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the
-submarine flora.  At first it seemed very dark to me.  The solar rays
-seemed to be extinguished by successive gradations, until its vague
-transparency became nothing more than drowned light.  Captain Nemo
-entered; we followed.  My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this
-relative state of darkness.  I could distinguish the arches springing
-capriciously from natural pillars, standing broad upon their granite
-base, like the heavy columns of Tuscan architecture.  Why had our
-incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of this submarine crypt?  I
-was soon to know.  After descending a rather sharp declivity, our feet
-trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit.  There Captain Nemo stopped,
-and with his hand indicated an object I had not yet perceived.  It was
-an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a gigantic tridacne, a goblet
-which could have contained a whole lake of holy-water, a basin the
-breadth of which was more than two yards and a half, and consequently
-larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus.  I approached
-this extraordinary mollusc.  It adhered by its filaments to a table of
-granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in the calm waters of
-the grotto.  I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lb.  Such
-an oyster would contain 30 lb. of meat; and one must have the stomach
-of a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
-
-Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this
-bivalve, and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual
-state of this tridacne.  The shells were a little open; the Captain
-came near and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing; then
-with his hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges, which
-formed a cloak for the creature.  There, between the folded plaits, I
-saw a loose pearl, whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular
-shape, perfect clearness, and admirable lustre made it altogether a
-jewel of inestimable value.  Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched
-out my hand to seize it, weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain
-stopped me, made a sign of refusal, and quickly withdrew his dagger,
-and the two shells closed suddenly.  I then understood Captain Nemo's
-intention.  In leaving this pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne
-he was allowing it to grow slowly.  Each year the secretions of the
-mollusc would add new concentric circles.  I estimated its value at
-L500,000 at least.
-
-After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.  I thought he had
-halted previously to returning.  No; by a gesture he bade us crouch
-beside him in a deep fracture of the rock, his hand pointed to one part
-of the liquid mass, which I watched attentively.
-
-About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground.
-The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was
-mistaken; and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had
-anything to do with.
-
-It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor devil who, I
-suppose, had come to glean before the harvest.  I could see the bottom
-of his canoe anchored some feet above his head.  He dived and went up
-successively.  A stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a
-sugar loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat, helped him to
-descend more rapidly.  This was all his apparatus.  Reaching the
-bottom, about five yards deep, he went on his knees and filled his bag
-with oysters picked up at random.  Then he went up, emptied it, pulled
-up his stone, and began the operation once more, which lasted thirty
-seconds.
-
-The diver did not see us.  The shadow of the rock hid us from sight.
-And how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like
-himself, should be there under the water watching his movements and
-losing no detail of the fishing?  Several times he went up in this way,
-and dived again.  He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge,
-for he was obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by
-means of their strong byssus.  And how many of those oysters for which
-he risked his life had no pearl in them!  I watched him closely; his
-manoeuvres were regular; and for the space of half an hour no danger
-appeared to threaten him.
-
-I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting
-fishing, when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make
-a gesture of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface
-of the sea.
-
-I understood his dread.  A gigantic shadow appeared just above the
-unfortunate diver.  It was a shark of enormous size advancing
-diagonally, his eyes on fire, and his jaws open.  I was mute with
-horror and unable to move.
-
-The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw himself on
-one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its tail, for it struck his
-chest and stretched him on the ground.
-
-This scene lasted but a few seconds:  the shark returned, and, turning
-on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two, when I saw
-Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to
-the monster, ready to fight face to face with him.  The very moment the
-shark was going to snap the unhappy fisherman in two, he perceived his
-new adversary, and, turning over, made straight towards him.
-
-I can still see Captain Nemo's position.  Holding himself well
-together, he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it
-rushed at him, threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness,
-avoiding the shock, and burying his dagger deep into its side.  But it
-was not all over.  A terrible combat ensued.
-
-The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so.  The blood rushed in
-torrents from its wound.  The sea was dyed red, and through the opaque
-liquid I could distinguish nothing more.  Nothing more until the moment
-when, like lightning, I saw the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of
-the creature's fins, struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the
-monster, and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to
-give a decisive one.
-
-The shark's struggles agitated the water with such fury that the
-rocking threatened to upset me.
-
-I wanted to go to the Captain's assistance, but, nailed to the spot
-with horror, I could not stir.
-
-I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight.  The
-Captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant upon
-him.  The shark's jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and
-it would have been all over with the Captain; but, quick as thought,
-harpoon in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with
-its sharp point.
-
-The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood.  They rocked under the
-shark's movements, which beat them with indescribable fury.  Ned Land
-had not missed his aim.  It was the monster's death-rattle.  Struck to
-the heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock of which
-overthrew Conseil.
-
-But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any
-wound, went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him
-to his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel,
-mounted to the surface.
-
-We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle, and reached
-the fisherman's boat.
-
-Captain Nemo's first care was to recall the unfortunate man to life
-again.  I did not think he could succeed.  I hoped so, for the poor
-creature's immersion was not long; but the blow from the shark's tail
-might have been his death-blow.
-
-Happily, with the Captain's and Conseil's sharp friction, I saw
-consciousness return by degrees.  He opened his eyes.  What was his
-surprise, his terror even, at seeing four great copper heads leaning
-over him!  And, above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo,
-drawing from the pocket of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his
-hand!  This munificent charity from the man of the waters to the poor
-Cingalese was accepted with a trembling hand.  His wondering eyes
-showed that he knew not to what super-human beings he owed both fortune
-and life.
-
-At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the
-road already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which
-held the canoe of the Nautilus to the earth.
-
-Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid of the
-heavy copper helmet.
-
-Captain Nemo's first word was to the Canadian.
-
-"Thank you, Master Land," said he.
-
-"It was in revenge, Captain," replied Ned Land.  "I owed you that."
-
-A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips, and that was all.
-
-"To the Nautilus," said he.
-
-The boat flew over the waves.  Some minutes after we met the shark's
-dead body floating.  By the black marking of the extremity of its fins,
-I recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the
-species of shark so properly called.  It was more than twenty-five feet
-long; its enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body.  It was an
-adult, as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles
-triangle in the upper jaw.
-
-Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
-beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw
-themselves upon the dead body and fought with one another for the
-pieces.
-
-At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus.  There I
-reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our excursion to
-the Manaar Bank.
-
-Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it--one bearing upon the
-unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon his devotion to a
-human being, a representative of that race from which he fled beneath
-the sea.  Whatever he might say, this strange man had not yet succeeded
-in entirely crushing his heart.
-
-When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved
-tone:
-
-"That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country; and I am
-still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-THE RED SEA
-
-In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon
-disappeared under the horizon, and the Nautilus, at a speed of twenty
-miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth of canals which separate the
-Maldives from the Laccadives.  It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a
-land originally coraline, discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one
-of the nineteen principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago,
-situated between 10 deg. and 14 deg. 30' N. lat., and 69 deg. 50' 72"
-E. long.
-
-We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our
-starting-point in the Japanese Seas.
-
-The next day (30th January), when the Nautilus went to the surface of
-the ocean there was no land in sight.  Its course was N.N.E., in the
-direction of the Sea of Oman, between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula,
-which serves as an outlet to the Persian Gulf.  It was evidently a
-block without any possible egress.  Where was Captain Nemo taking us
-to?  I could not say.  This, however, did not satisfy the Canadian, who
-that day came to me asking where we were going.
-
-"We are going where our Captain's fancy takes us, Master Ned."
-
-"His fancy cannot take us far, then," said the Canadian.  "The Persian
-Gulf has no outlet:  and, if we do go in, it will not be long before we
-are out again."
-
-"Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if, after
-the Persian Gulf, the Nautilus would like to visit the Red Sea, the
-Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance."
-
-"I need not tell you, sir," said Ned Land, "that the Red Sea is as much
-closed as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it
-was, a boat as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut
-with sluices.  And again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back
-to Europe."
-
-"But I never said we were going back to Europe."
-
-"What do you suppose, then?"
-
-"I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt,
-the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again, perhaps cross the
-Channel of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas, so as to gain the
-Cape of Good Hope."
-
-"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?" asked the Canadian, with peculiar
-emphasis.
-
-"Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know.
-Ah! friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea;
-you are surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine
-wonders.  For my part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage
-which it is given to so few men to make."
-
-For four days, till the 3rd of February, the Nautilus scoured the Sea
-of Oman, at various speeds and at various depths.  It seemed to go at
-random, as if hesitating as to which road it should follow, but we
-never passed the Tropic of Cancer.
-
-In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant, one of the most
-important towns of the country of Oman.  I admired its strange aspect,
-surrounded by black rocks upon which its white houses and forts stood
-in relief.  I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points
-of its minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces.  But it was only a
-vision!  The Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part of the sea.
-
-We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut, for a
-distance of six miles, its undulating line of mountains being
-occasionally relieved by some ancient ruin.  The 5th of February we at
-last entered the Gulf of Aden, a perfect funnel introduced into the
-neck of Bab-el-mandeb, through which the Indian waters entered the Red
-Sea.
-
-The 6th of February, the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden, perched
-upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland, a kind
-of inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which were rebuilt by
-the English after taking possession in 1839.  I caught a glimpse of the
-octagon minarets of this town, which was at one time the richest
-commercial magazine on the coast.
-
-I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point, would
-back out again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing, much to
-my surprise.
-
-The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits of
-Bab-el-mandeb, the name of which, in the Arab tongue, means The Gate of
-Tears.
-
-To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length.  And for
-the Nautilus, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely the
-work of an hour.  But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim, with
-which the British Government has fortified the position of Aden.  There
-were too many English or French steamers of the line of Suez to Bombay,
-Calcutta to Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius, furrowing
-this narrow passage, for the Nautilus to venture to show itself.  So it
-remained prudently below.  At last about noon, we were in the waters of
-the Red Sea.
-
-I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided
-Captain Nemo upon entering the gulf.  But I quite approved of the
-Nautilus entering it.  Its speed was lessened:  sometimes it kept on
-the surface, sometimes it dived to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able
-to observe the upper and lower parts of this curious sea.
-
-The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came in sight,
-now a ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot, yet which
-shelters here and there some verdant date-trees; once an important
-city, containing six public markets, and twenty-six mosques, and whose
-walls, defended by fourteen forts, formed a girdle of two miles in
-circumference.
-
-The Nautilus then approached the African shore, where the depth of the
-sea was greater.  There, between two waters clear as crystal, through
-the open panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful bushes of
-brilliant coral and large blocks of rock clothed with a splendid fur of
-green variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and algae
-and fuci.  What an indescribable spectacle, and what variety of sites
-and landscapes along these sandbanks and volcanic islands which bound
-the Libyan coast!  But where these shrubs appeared in all their beauty
-was on the eastern coast, which the Nautilus soon gained.  It was on
-the coast of Tehama, for there not only did this display of zoophytes
-flourish beneath the level of the sea, but they also formed picturesque
-interlacings which unfolded themselves about sixty feet above the
-surface, more capricious but less highly coloured than those whose
-freshness was kept up by the vital power of the waters.
-
-What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon!  What
-new specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under the
-brightness of our electric lantern!
-
-The 9th of February the Nautilus floated in the broadest part of the
-Red Sea, which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and
-Komfidah, on the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
-
-That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted
-the platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let
-him go down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior
-projects.  As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me
-a cigar.
-
-"Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you?  Have you sufficiently
-observed the wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes, its
-parterres of sponges, and its forests of coral?  Did you catch a
-glimpse of the towns on its borders?"
-
-"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied; "and the Nautilus is wonderfully fitted
-for such a study.  Ah! it is an intelligent boat!"
-
-"Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable.  It fears neither the terrible
-tempests of the Red Sea, nor its currents, nor its sandbanks."
-
-"Certainly," said I, "this sea is quoted as one of the worst, and in
-the time of the ancients, if I am not mistaken, its reputation was
-detestable."
-
-"Detestable, M. Aronnax.  The Greek and Latin historians do not speak
-favourably of it, and Strabo says it is very dangerous during the
-Etesian winds and in the rainy season.  The Arabian Edrisi portrays it
-under the name of the Gulf of Colzoum, and relates that vessels
-perished there in great numbers on the sandbanks and that no one would
-risk sailing in the night.  It is, he pretends, a sea subject to
-fearful hurricanes, strewn with inhospitable islands, and `which offers
-nothing good either on its surface or in its depths.'"
-
-"One may see," I replied, "that these historians never sailed on board
-the Nautilus."
-
-"Just so," replied the Captain, smiling; "and in that respect moderns
-are not more advanced than the ancients.  It required many ages to find
-out the mechanical power of steam.  Who knows if, in another hundred
-years, we may not see a second Nautilus?  Progress is slow, M. Aronnax."
-
-"It is true," I answered; "your boat is at least a century before its
-time, perhaps an era.  What a misfortune that the secret of such an
-invention should die with its inventor!"
-
-Captain Nemo did not reply.  After some minutes' silence he continued:
-
-"You were speaking of the opinions of ancient historians upon the
-dangerous navigation of the Red Sea."
-
-"It is true," said I; "but were not their fears exaggerated?"
-
-"Yes and no, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, who seemed to know the
-Red Sea by heart.  "That which is no longer dangerous for a modern
-vessel, well rigged, strongly built, and master of its own course,
-thanks to obedient steam, offered all sorts of perils to the ships of
-the ancients.  Picture to yourself those first navigators venturing in
-ships made of planks sewn with the cords of the palmtree, saturated
-with the grease of the seadog, and covered with powdered resin!  They
-had not even instruments wherewith to take their bearings, and they
-went by guess amongst currents of which they scarcely knew anything.
-Under such conditions shipwrecks were, and must have been, numerous.
-But in our time, steamers running between Suez and the South Seas have
-nothing more to fear from the fury of this gulf, in spite of contrary
-trade-winds. The captain and passengers do not prepare for their
-departure by offering propitiatory sacrifices; and, on their return,
-they no longer go ornamented with wreaths and gilt fillets to thank the
-gods in the neighbouring temple."
-
-"I agree with you," said I; "and steam seems to have killed all
-gratitude in the hearts of sailors.  But, Captain, since you seem to
-have especially studied this sea, can you tell me the origin of its
-name?"
-
-"There exist several explanations on the subject, M. Aronnax.  Would
-you like to know the opinion of a chronicler of the fourteenth century?"
-
-"Willingly."
-
-"This fanciful writer pretends that its name was given to it after the
-passage of the Israelites, when Pharaoh perished in the waves which
-closed at the voice of Moses."
-
-"A poet's explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied; "but I cannot content
-myself with that.  I ask you for your personal opinion."
-
-"Here it is, M. Aronnax.  According to my idea, we must see in this
-appellation of the Red Sea a translation of the Hebrew word `Edom'; and
-if the ancients gave it that name, it was on account of the particular
-colour of its waters."
-
-"But up to this time I have seen nothing but transparent waves and
-without any particular colour."
-
-"Very likely; but as we advance to the bottom of the gulf, you will see
-this singular appearance.  I remember seeing the Bay of Tor entirely
-red, like a sea of blood."
-
-"And you attribute this colour to the presence of a microscopic
-seaweed?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"So, Captain Nemo, it is not the first time you have overrun the Red
-Sea on board the Nautilus?"
-
-"No, sir."
-
-"As you spoke a while ago of the passage of the Israelites and of the
-catastrophe to the Egyptians, I will ask whether you have met with the
-traces under the water of this great historical fact?"
-
-"No, sir; and for a good reason."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"It is that the spot where Moses and his people passed is now so
-blocked up with sand that the camels can barely bathe their legs there.
-You can well understand that there would not be water enough for my
-Nautilus."
-
-"And the spot?"  I asked.
-
-"The spot is situated a little above the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm
-which formerly made a deep estuary, when the Red Sea extended to the
-Salt Lakes.  Now, whether this passage were miraculous or not, the
-Israelites, nevertheless, crossed there to reach the Promised Land, and
-Pharaoh's army perished precisely on that spot; and I think that
-excavations made in the middle of the sand would bring to light a large
-number of arms and instruments of Egyptian origin."
-
-"That is evident," I replied; "and for the sake of archaeologists let
-us hope that these excavations will be made sooner or later, when new
-towns are established on the isthmus, after the construction of the
-Suez Canal; a canal, however, very useless to a vessel like the
-Nautilus."
-
-"Very likely; but useful to the whole world," said Captain Nemo.  "The
-ancients well understood the utility of a communication between the Red
-Sea and the Mediterranean for their commercial affairs: but they did
-not think of digging a canal direct, and took the Nile as an
-intermediate.  Very probably the canal which united the Nile to the Red
-Sea was begun by Sesostris, if we may believe tradition.  One thing is
-certain, that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ, Necos undertook the
-works of an alimentary canal to the waters of the Nile across the plain
-of Egypt, looking towards Arabia.  It took four days to go up this
-canal, and it was so wide that two triremes could go abreast.  It was
-carried on by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and probably finished by
-Ptolemy II.  Strabo saw it navigated:  but its decline from the point
-of departure, near Bubastes, to the Red Sea was so slight that it was
-only navigable for a few months in the year.  This canal answered all
-commercial purposes to the age of Antonius, when it was abandoned and
-blocked up with sand.  Restored by order of the Caliph Omar, it was
-definitely destroyed in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor, who wished to
-prevent the arrival of provisions to Mohammed-ben-Abdallah, who had
-revolted against him.  During the expedition into Egypt, your General
-Bonaparte discovered traces of the works in the Desert of Suez; and,
-surprised by the tide, he nearly perished before regaining Hadjaroth,
-at the very place where Moses had encamped three thousand years before
-him."
-
-"Well, Captain, what the ancients dared not undertake, this junction
-between the two seas, which will shorten the road from Cadiz to India,
-M. Lesseps has succeeded in doing; and before long he will have changed
-Africa into an immense island."
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax; you have the right to be proud of your countryman.
-Such a man brings more honour to a nation than great captains.  He
-began, like so many others, with disgust and rebuffs; but he has
-triumphed, for he has the genius of will.  And it is sad to think that
-a work like that, which ought to have been an international work and
-which would have sufficed to make a reign illustrious, should have
-succeeded by the energy of one man.  All honour to M. Lesseps!"
-
-"Yes! honour to the great citizen," I replied, surprised by the manner
-in which Captain Nemo had just spoken.
-
-"Unfortunately," he continued, "I cannot take you through the Suez
-Canal; but you will be able to see the long jetty of Port Said after
-to-morrow, when we shall be in the Mediterranean."
-
-"The Mediterranean!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir; does that astonish you?"
-
-"What astonishes me is to think that we shall be there the day after
-to-morrow."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, although by this time I ought to have accustomed myself
-to be surprised at nothing since I have been on board your boat."
-
-"But the cause of this surprise?"
-
-"Well! it is the fearful speed you will have to put on the Nautilus, if
-the day after to-morrow she is to be in the Mediterranean, having made
-the round of Africa, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope!"
-
-"Who told you that she would make the round of Africa and double the
-Cape of Good Hope, sir?"
-
-"Well, unless the Nautilus sails on dry land, and passes above the
-isthmus----"
-
-"Or beneath it, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Beneath it?"
-
-"Certainly," replied Captain Nemo quietly.  "A long time ago Nature
-made under this tongue of land what man has this day made on its
-surface."
-
-"What! such a passage exists?"
-
-"Yes; a subterranean passage, which I have named the Arabian Tunnel.
-It takes us beneath Suez and opens into the Gulf of Pelusium."
-
-"But this isthmus is composed of nothing but quick sands?"
-
-"To a certain depth.  But at fifty-five yards only there is a solid
-layer of rock."
-
-"Did you discover this passage by chance?"  I asked more and more
-surprised.
-
-"Chance and reasoning, sir; and by reasoning even more than by chance.
-Not only does this passage exist, but I have profited by it several
-times.  Without that I should not have ventured this day into the
-impassable Red Sea.  I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the
-Mediterranean there existed a certain number of fishes of a kind
-perfectly identical.  Certain of the fact, I asked myself was it
-possible that there was no communication between the two seas?  If
-there was, the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red
-Sea to the Mediterranean, from the sole cause of difference of level.
-I caught a large number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez.  I
-passed a copper ring through their tails, and threw them back into the
-sea.  Some months later, on the coast of Syria, I caught some of my
-fish ornamented with the ring.  Thus the communication between the two
-was proved.  I then sought for it with my Nautilus; I discovered it,
-ventured into it, and before long, sir, you too will have passed
-through my Arabian tunnel!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE ARABIAN TUNNEL
-
-That same evening, in 21 deg. 30' N. lat., the Nautilus floated on the
-surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast.  I saw Djeddah, the
-most important counting-house of Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and India.  I
-distinguished clearly enough its buildings, the vessels anchored at the
-quays, and those whose draught of water obliged them to anchor in the
-roads.  The sun, rather low on the horizon, struck full on the houses
-of the town, bringing out their whiteness.  Outside, some wooden
-cabins, and some made of reeds, showed the quarter inhabited by the
-Bedouins.  Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the shadows of night,
-and the Nautilus found herself under water slightly phosphorescent.
-
-The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running to
-windward.  The Nautilus returned to its submarine navigation; but at
-noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted, she rose
-again to her waterline.
-
-Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform.  The
-coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon a
-damp fog.
-
-We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and
-another, when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the
-sea, said:
-
-"Do you see anything there, sir?"
-
-"No, Ned," I replied; "but I have not your eyes, you know."
-
-"Look well," said Ned, "there, on the starboard beam, about the height
-of the lantern!  Do you not see a mass which seems to move?"
-
-"Certainly," said I, after close attention; "I see something like a
-long black body on the top of the water."
-
-And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile
-from us.  It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea.
-It was a gigantic dugong!
-
-Ned Land looked eagerly.  His eyes shone with covetousness at the sight
-of the animal.  His hand seemed ready to harpoon it.  One would have
-thought he was awaiting the moment to throw himself into the sea and
-attack it in its element.
-
-At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform.  He saw the
-dugong, understood the Canadian's attitude, and, addressing him, said:
-
-"If you held a harpoon just now, Master Land, would it not burn your
-hand?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"And you would not be sorry to go back, for one day, to your trade of a
-fisherman and to add this cetacean to the list of those you have
-already killed?"
-
-"I should not, sir."
-
-"Well, you can try."
-
-"Thank you, sir," said Ned Land, his eyes flaming.
-
-"Only," continued the Captain, "I advise you for your own sake not to
-miss the creature."
-
-"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?"  I asked, in spite of the
-Canadian's shrug of the shoulders.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain; "sometimes the animal turns upon its
-assailants and overturns their boat.  But for Master Land this danger
-is not to be feared.  His eye is prompt, his arm sure."
-
-At this moment seven men of the crew, mute and immovable as ever,
-mounted the platform.  One carried a harpoon and a line similar to
-those employed in catching whales.  The pinnace was lifted from the
-bridge, pulled from its socket, and let down into the sea.  Six oarsmen
-took their seats, and the coxswain went to the tiller.  Ned, Conseil,
-and I went to the back of the boat.
-
-"You are not coming, Captain?"  I asked.
-
-"No, sir; but I wish you good sport."
-
-The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards
-the dugong, which floated about two miles from the Nautilus.
-
-Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened, and
-the oars dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters.  Ned Land, harpoon
-in hand, stood in the fore part of the boat.  The harpoon used for
-striking the whale is generally attached to a very long cord which runs
-out rapidly as the wounded creature draws it after him.  But here the
-cord was not more than ten fathoms long, and the extremity was attached
-to a small barrel which, by floating, was to show the course the dugong
-took under the water.
-
-I stood and carefully watched the Canadian's adversary.  This dugong,
-which also bears the name of the halicore, closely resembles the
-manatee; its oblong body terminated in a lengthened tail, and its
-lateral fins in perfect fingers.  Its difference from the manatee
-consisted in its upper jaw, which was armed with two long and pointed
-teeth which formed on each side diverging tusks.
-
-This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was of colossal
-dimensions; it was more than seven yards long.  It did not move, and
-seemed to be sleeping on the waves, which circumstance made it easier
-to capture.
-
-The boat approached within six yards of the animal.  The oars rested on
-the rowlocks.  I half rose.  Ned Land, his body thrown a little back,
-brandished the harpoon in his experienced hand.
-
-Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared.  The
-harpoon, although thrown with great force; had apparently only struck
-the water.
-
-"Curse it!" exclaimed the Canadian furiously; "I have missed it!"
-
-"No," said I; "the creature is wounded--look at the blood; but your
-weapon has not stuck in his body."
-
-"My harpoon! my harpoon!" cried Ned Land.
-
-The sailors rowed on, and the coxswain made for the floating barrel.
-The harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal.
-
-The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe.  Its wound had
-not weakened it, for it shot onwards with great rapidity.
-
-The boat, rowed by strong arms, flew on its track.  Several times it
-approached within some few yards, and the Canadian was ready to strike,
-but the dugong made off with a sudden plunge, and it was impossible to
-reach it.
-
-Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land!  He hurled at the
-unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English
-tongue.  For my part, I was only vexed to see the dugong escape all our
-attacks.
-
-We pursued it without relaxation for an hour, and I began to think it
-would prove difficult to capture, when the animal, possessed with the
-perverse idea of vengeance of which he had cause to repent, turned upon
-the pinnace and assailed us in its turn.
-
-This manoeuvre did not escape the Canadian.
-
-"Look out!" he cried.
-
-The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue, doubtless
-warning the men to keep on their guard.
-
-The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat, stopped, sniffed the
-air briskly with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity, but
-in the upper part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring, he threw
-himself upon us.
-
-The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least
-two tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the
-coxswain, we caught it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite
-overturned.  While Ned Land, clinging to the bows, belaboured the
-gigantic animal with blows from his harpoon, the creature's teeth were
-buried in the gunwale, and it lifted the whole thing out of the water,
-as a lion does a roebuck.  We were upset over one another, and I know
-not how the adventure would have ended, if the Canadian, still enraged
-with the beast, had not struck it to the heart.
-
-I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate, and the dugong disappeared,
-carrying the harpoon with him.  But the barrel soon returned to the
-surface, and shortly after the body of the animal, turned on its back.
-The boat came up with it, took it in tow, and made straight for the
-Nautilus.
-
-It required tackle of enormous strength to hoist the dugong on to the
-platform.  It weighed 10,000 lb.
-
-The next day, 11th February, the larder of the Nautilus was enriched by
-some more delicate game.  A flight of sea-swallows rested on the
-Nautilus.  It was a species of the Sterna nilotica, peculiar to Egypt;
-its beak is black, head grey and pointed, the eye surrounded by white
-spots, the back, wings, and tail of a greyish colour, the belly and
-throat white, and claws red.  They also took some dozen of Nile ducks,
-a wild bird of high flavour, its throat and upper part of the head
-white with black spots.
-
-About five o'clock in the evening we sighted to the north the Cape of
-Ras-Mohammed. This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea,
-comprised between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.
-
-The Nautilus penetrated into the Straits of Jubal, which leads to the
-Gulf of Suez.  I distinctly saw a high mountain, towering between the
-two gulfs of Ras-Mohammed. It was Mount Horeb, that Sinai at the top of
-which Moses saw God face to face.
-
-At six o'clock the Nautilus, sometimes floating, sometimes immersed,
-passed some distance from Tor, situated at the end of the bay, the
-waters of which seemed tinted with red, an observation already made by
-Captain Nemo.  Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence,
-sometimes broken by the cries of the pelican and other night-birds, and
-the noise of the waves breaking upon the shore, chafing against the
-rocks, or the panting of some far-off steamer beating the waters of the
-Gulf with its noisy paddles.
-
-From eight to nine o'clock the Nautilus remained some fathoms under the
-water.  According to my calculation we must have been very near Suez.
-Through the panel of the saloon I saw the bottom of the rocks
-brilliantly lit up by our electric lamp.  We seemed to be leaving the
-Straits behind us more and more.
-
-At a quarter-past nine, the vessel having returned to the surface, I
-mounted the platform.  Most impatient to pass through Captain Nemo's
-tunnel, I could not stay in one place, so came to breathe the fresh
-night air.
-
-Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light, half discoloured by the fog,
-shining about a mile from us.
-
-"A floating lighthouse!" said someone near me.
-
-I turned, and saw the Captain.
-
-"It is the floating light of Suez," he continued.  "It will not be long
-before we gain the entrance of the tunnel."
-
-"The entrance cannot be easy?"
-
-"No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman's
-cage and myself direct our course.  And now, if you will go down, M.
-Aronnax, the Nautilus is going under the waves, and will not return to
-the surface until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel."
-
-Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he
-opened a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot's
-cage, which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.
-It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied
-by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson.  In the
-midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught to the tiller-rope,
-which ran to the back of the Nautilus.  Four light-ports with
-lenticular glasses, let in a groove in the partition of the cabin,
-allowed the man at the wheel to see in all directions.
-
-This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the
-obscurity, and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands
-resting on the spokes of the wheel.  Outside, the sea appeared vividly
-lit up by the lantern, which shed its rays from the back of the cabin
-to the other extremity of the platform.
-
-"Now," said Captain Nemo, "let us try to make our passage."
-
-Electric wires connected the pilot's cage with the machinery room, and
-from there the Captain could communicate simultaneously to his Nautilus
-the direction and the speed.  He pressed a metal knob, and at once the
-speed of the screw diminished.
-
-I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running by at
-this moment, the immovable base of a massive sandy coast.  We followed
-it thus for an hour only some few yards off.
-
-Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob, suspended by its two
-concentric circles in the cabin.  At a simple gesture, the pilot
-modified the course of the Nautilus every instant.
-
-I had placed myself at the port-scuttle, and saw some magnificent
-substructures of coral, zoophytes, seaweed, and fucus, agitating their
-enormous claws, which stretched out from the fissures of the rock.
-
-At a quarter-past ten, the Captain himself took the helm.  A large
-gallery, black and deep, opened before us.  The Nautilus went boldly
-into it.  A strange roaring was heard round its sides.  It was the
-waters of the Red Sea, which the incline of the tunnel precipitated
-violently towards the Mediterranean.  The Nautilus went with the
-torrent, rapid as an arrow, in spite of the efforts of the machinery,
-which, in order to offer more effective resistance, beat the waves with
-reversed screw.
-
-On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing but brilliant
-rays, straight lines, furrows of fire, traced by the great speed, under
-the brilliant electric light.  My heart beat fast.
-
-At thirty-five minutes past ten, Captain Nemo quitted the helm, and,
-turning to me, said:
-
-"The Mediterranean!"
-
-In less than twenty minutes, the Nautilus, carried along by the
-torrent, had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
-
-The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day, the Nautilus
-rose to the surface.  I hastened on to the platform.  Three miles to
-the south the dim outline of Pelusium was to be seen.  A torrent had
-carried us from one sea to another.  About seven o'clock Ned and
-Conseil joined me.
-
-"Well, Sir Naturalist," said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone,
-"and the Mediterranean?"
-
-"We are floating on its surface, friend Ned."
-
-"What!" said Conseil, "this very night."
-
-"Yes, this very night; in a few minutes we have passed this impassable
-isthmus."
-
-"I do not believe it," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Then you are wrong, Master Land," I continued; "this low coast which
-rounds off to the south is the Egyptian coast.  And you who have such
-good eyes, Ned, you can see the jetty of Port Said stretching into the
-sea."
-
-The Canadian looked attentively.
-
-"Certainly you are right, sir, and your Captain is a first-rate man.
-We are in the Mediterranean.  Good!  Now, if you please, let us talk of
-our own little affair, but so that no one hears us."
-
-I saw what the Canadian wanted, and, in any case, I thought it better
-to let him talk, as he wished it; so we all three went and sat down
-near the lantern, where we were less exposed to the spray of the blades.
-
-"Now, Ned, we listen; what have you to tell us?"
-
-"What I have to tell you is very simple.  We are in Europe; and before
-Captain Nemo's caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar
-Seas, or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the Nautilus."
-
-I wished in no way to shackle the liberty of my companions, but I
-certainly felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
-
-Thanks to him, and thanks to his apparatus, I was each day nearer the
-completion of my submarine studies; and I was rewriting my book of
-submarine depths in its very element.  Should I ever again have such an
-opportunity of observing the wonders of the ocean?  No, certainly not!
-And I could not bring myself to the idea of abandoning the Nautilus
-before the cycle of investigation was accomplished.
-
-"Friend Ned, answer me frankly, are you tired of being on board?  Are
-you sorry that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo's hands?"
-
-The Canadian remained some moments without answering.  Then, crossing
-his arms, he said:
-
-"Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas.  I shall be glad
-to have made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it.
-That is my idea."
-
-"It will come to an end, Ned."
-
-"Where and when?"
-
-"Where I do not know--when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose it will
-end when these seas have nothing more to teach us."
-
-"Then what do you hope for?" demanded the Canadian.
-
-"That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which
-we may and ought to profit."
-
-"Oh!" said Ned Land, "and where shall we be in six months, if you
-please, Sir Naturalist?"
-
-"Perhaps in China; you know the Nautilus is a rapid traveller.  It goes
-through water as swallows through the air, or as an express on the
-land.  It does not fear frequented seas; who can say that it may not
-beat the coasts of France, England, or America, on which flight may be
-attempted as advantageously as here."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are rotten at the
-foundation.  You speak in the future, `We shall be there!  we shall be
-here!'  I speak in the present, `We are here, and we must profit by
-it.'"
-
-Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that
-ground.  I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.
-
-"Sir," continued Ned, "let us suppose an impossibility: if Captain Nemo
-should this day offer you your liberty; would you accept it?"
-
-"I do not know," I answered.
-
-"And if," he added, "the offer made you this day was never to be
-renewed, would you accept it?"
-
-"Friend Ned, this is my answer.  Your reasoning is against me.  We must
-not rely on Captain Nemo's good-will. Common prudence forbids him to
-set us at liberty.  On the other side, prudence bids us profit by the
-first opportunity to leave the Nautilus."
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said."
-
-"Only one observation--just one.  The occasion must be serious, and our
-first attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never find another,
-and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."
-
-"All that is true," replied the Canadian.  "But your observation
-applies equally to all attempts at flight, whether in two years' time,
-or in two days'. But the question is still this: If a favourable
-opportunity presents itself, it must be seized."
-
-"Agreed!  And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by a favourable
-opportunity?"
-
-"It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the Nautilus a
-short distance from some European coast."
-
-"And you will try and save yourself by swimming?"
-
-"Yes, if we were near enough to the bank, and if the vessel was
-floating at the time.  Not if the bank was far away, and the boat was
-under the water."
-
-"And in that case?"
-
-"In that case, I should seek to make myself master of the pinnace.  I
-know how it is worked.  We must get inside, and the bolts once drawn,
-we shall come to the surface of the water, without even the pilot, who
-is in the bows, perceiving our flight."
-
-"Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity; but do not forget that a hitch
-will ruin us."
-
-"I will not forget, sir."
-
-"And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your project?"
-
-"Certainly, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Well, I think--I do not say I hope--I think that this favourable
-opportunity will never present itself."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given
-up all hope of regaining our liberty, and he will be on his guard,
-above all, in the seas and in the sight of European coasts."
-
-"We shall see," replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly.
-
-"And now, Ned Land," I added, "let us stop here.  Not another word on
-the subject.  The day that you are ready, come and let us know, and we
-will follow you.  I rely entirely upon you."
-
-Thus ended a conversation which, at no very distant time, led to such
-grave results.  I must say here that facts seemed to confirm my
-foresight, to the Canadian's great despair.  Did Captain Nemo distrust
-us in these frequented seas? or did he only wish to hide himself from
-the numerous vessels, of all nations, which ploughed the Mediterranean?
-I could not tell; but we were oftener between waters and far from the
-coast.  Or, if the Nautilus did emerge, nothing was to be seen but the
-pilot's cage; and sometimes it went to great depths, for, between the
-Grecian Archipelago and Asia Minor we could not touch the bottom by
-more than a thousand fathoms.
-
-Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the
-Sporades, by Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
-
-    "Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates,
-     Caeruleus Proteus,"
-
-as he pointed to a spot on the planisphere.
-
-It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of
-Neptune's flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, situated between Rhodes
-and Crete.  I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels
-of the saloon.
-
-The next day, the 14th of February, I resolved to employ some hours in
-studying the fishes of the Archipelago; but for some reason or other
-the panels remained hermetically sealed.  Upon taking the course of the
-Nautilus, I found that we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle
-of Crete.  At the time I embarked on the Abraham Lincoln, the whole of
-this island had risen in insurrection against the despotism of the
-Turks.  But how the insurgents had fared since that time I was
-absolutely ignorant, and it was not Captain Nemo, deprived of all land
-communications, who could tell me.
-
-I made no allusion to this event when that night I found myself alone
-with him in the saloon.  Besides, he seemed to be taciturn and
-preoccupied.  Then, contrary to his custom, he ordered both panels to
-be opened, and, going from one to the other, observed the mass of
-waters attentively.  To what end I could not guess; so, on my side, I
-employed my time in studying the fish passing before my eyes.
-
-In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his
-belt a leathern purse.  It was not a body abandoned to the waves; it
-was a living man, swimming with a strong hand, disappearing
-occasionally to take breath at the surface.
-
-I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
-
-"A man shipwrecked!  He must be saved at any price!"
-
-The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
-
-The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass,
-was looking at us.
-
-To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him.  The diver answered
-with his hand, mounted immediately to the surface of the water, and did
-not appear again.
-
-"Do not be uncomfortable," said Captain Nemo.  "It is Nicholas of Cape
-Matapan, surnamed Pesca.  He is well known in all the Cyclades.  A bold
-diver! water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land,
-going continually from one island to another, even as far as Crete."
-
-"You know him, Captain?"
-
-"Why not, M. Aronnax?"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing
-near the left panel of the saloon.  Near this piece of furniture, I saw
-a chest bound with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate,
-bearing the cypher of the Nautilus with its device.
-
-At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence, opened the
-piece of furniture, a sort of strong box, which held a great many
-ingots.
-
-They were ingots of gold.  From whence came this precious metal, which
-represented an enormous sum?  Where did the Captain gather this gold
-from? and what was he going to do with it?
-
-I did not say one word.  I looked.  Captain Nemo took the ingots one by
-one, and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled
-entirely.  I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lb. weight of
-gold, that is to say, nearly L200,000.
-
-The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on
-the lid, in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.
-
-This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated
-with the quarters of the crew.  Four men appeared, and, not without
-some trouble, pushed the chest out of the saloon.  Then I heard them
-hoisting it up the iron staircase by means of pulleys.
-
-At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
-
-"And you were saying, sir?" said he.
-
-"I was saying nothing, Captain."
-
-"Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night."
-
-Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.
-
-I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe.  I vainly
-tried to sleep--I sought the connecting link between the apparition of
-the diver and the chest filled with gold.  Soon, I felt by certain
-movements of pitching and tossing that the Nautilus was leaving the
-depths and returning to the surface.
-
-Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were unfastening
-the pinnace and launching it upon the waves.  For one instant it struck
-the side of the Nautilus, then all noise ceased.
-
-Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed;
-the boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the Nautilus
-again plunged under the waves.
-
-So these millions had been transported to their address.  To what point
-of the continent?  Who was Captain Nemo's correspondent?
-
-The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events of the
-night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree.  My
-companions were not less surprised than myself.
-
-"But where does he take his millions to?" asked Ned Land.
-
-To that there was no possible answer.  I returned to the saloon after
-having breakfast and set to work.  Till five o'clock in the evening I
-employed myself in arranging my notes.  At that moment--(ought I to
-attribute it to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)--I felt so great a heat
-that I was obliged to take off my coat.  It was strange, for we were
-under low latitudes; and even then the Nautilus, submerged as it was,
-ought to experience no change of temperature.  I looked at the
-manometer; it showed a depth of sixty feet, to which atmospheric heat
-could never attain.
-
-I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a pitch as to be
-intolerable.
-
-"Could there be fire on board?"  I asked myself.
-
-I was leaving the saloon, when Captain Nemo entered; he approached the
-thermometer, consulted it, and, turning to me, said:
-
-"Forty-two degrees."
-
-"I have noticed it, Captain," I replied; "and if it gets much hotter we
-cannot bear it."
-
-"Oh, sir, it will not get better if we do not wish it."
-
-"You can reduce it as you please, then?"
-
-"No; but I can go farther from the stove which produces it."
-
-"It is outward, then!"
-
-"Certainly; we are floating in a current of boiling water."
-
-"Is it possible!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Look."
-
-The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round.  A
-sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like water in
-a copper.  I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass, but the heat
-was so great that I quickly took it off again.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"Near the Island of Santorin, sir," replied the Captain.  "I wished to
-give you a sight of the curious spectacle of a submarine eruption."
-
-"I thought," said I, "that the formation of these new islands was
-ended."
-
-"Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea," replied
-Captain Nemo; "and the globe is always being worked by subterranean
-fires.  Already, in the nineteenth year of our era, according to
-Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia (the divine), appeared in
-the very place where these islets have recently been formed.  Then they
-sank under the waves, to rise again in the year 69, when they again
-subsided.  Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been
-suspended.  But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they
-named George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour
-near Nea Kamenni, and settled again the 6th of the same month.  Seven
-days after, the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa appeared,
-leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten yards broad.  I was
-in these seas when the phenomenon occurred, and I was able therefore to
-observe all the different phases.  The Island of Aphroessa, of round
-form, measured 300 feet in diameter, and 30 feet in height.  It was
-composed of black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of felspar.
-And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka, showed
-itself near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have joined
-together, forming but one and the same island."
-
-"And the canal in which we are at this moment?"  I asked.
-
-"Here it is," replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the
-Archipelago.  "You see, I have marked the new islands."
-
-I returned to the glass.  The Nautilus was no longer moving, the heat
-was becoming unbearable.  The sea, which till now had been white, was
-red, owing to the presence of salts of iron.  In spite of the ship's
-being hermetically sealed, an insupportable smell of sulphur filled the
-saloon, and the brilliancy of the electricity was entirely extinguished
-by bright scarlet flames.  I was in a bath, I was choking, I was
-broiled.
-
-"We can remain no longer in this boiling water," said I to the Captain.
-
-"It would not be prudent," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.
-
-An order was given; the Nautilus tacked about and left the furnace it
-could not brave with impunity.  A quarter of an hour after we were
-breathing fresh air on the surface.  The thought then struck me that,
-if Ned Land had chosen this part of the sea for our flight, we should
-never have come alive out of this sea of fire.
-
-The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which, between
-Rhodes and Alexandria, is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms in depth, and
-the Nautilus, passing some distance from Cerigo, quitted the Grecian
-Archipelago after having doubled Cape Matapan.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
-
-The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, "the great sea" of the
-Hebrews, "the sea" of the Greeks, the "mare nostrum" of the Romans,
-bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with
-the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with
-pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires;
-a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the
-empire of the world!
-
-It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man is
-renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe.  But,
-beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at the basin
-whose superficial area is two million of square yards.  Even Captain
-Nemo's knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling person did not
-appear once during our passage at full speed.  I estimated the course
-which the Nautilus took under the waves of the sea at about six hundred
-leagues, and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours.  Starting on the
-morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece, we had
-crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
-
-It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of
-those countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain
-Nemo.  Those waves and those breezes brought back too many
-remembrances, if not too many regrets.  Here he had no longer that
-independence and that liberty of gait which he had when in the open
-seas, and his Nautilus felt itself cramped between the close shores of
-Africa and Europe.
-
-Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour.  It may be well understood
-that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged to renounce his
-intended flight.  He could not launch the pinnace, going at the rate of
-twelve or thirteen yards every second.  To quit the Nautilus under such
-conditions would be as bad as jumping from a train going at full
-speed--an imprudent thing, to say the least of it.  Besides, our vessel
-only mounted to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of
-air; it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.
-
-I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by
-express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
-that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which
-pass like a flash of lightning.
-
-We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis.  In the
-narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of
-the sea rose almost suddenly.  There was a perfect bank, on which there
-was not more than nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the
-depth was ninety fathoms.
-
-The Nautilus had to manoeuvre very carefully so as not to strike
-against this submarine barrier.
-
-I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied by
-this reef.
-
-"But if you please, sir," observed Conseil, "it is like a real isthmus
-joining Europe to Africa."
-
-"Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia, and the
-soundings of Smith have proved that in former times the continents
-between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined."
-
-"I can well believe it," said Conseil.
-
-"I will add," I continued, "that a similar barrier exists between
-Gibraltar and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire
-Mediterranean."
-
-"What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers
-above the waves?"
-
-"It is not probable, Conseil."
-
-"Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon should
-take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps, who has taken so
-much pains to pierce the isthmus."
-
-"I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will never
-happen.  The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.
-Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world, are being
-extinguished by degrees; the internal heat is weakened, the temperature
-of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a perceptible quantity
-every century to the detriment of our globe, for its heat is its life."
-
-"But the sun?"
-
-"The sun is not sufficient, Conseil.  Can it give heat to a dead body?"
-
-"Not that I know of."
-
-"Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse; it will
-become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon, which has long
-since lost all its vital heat."
-
-"In how many centuries?"
-
-"In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy."
-
-"Then," said Conseil, "we shall have time to finish our journey--that
-is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it."
-
-And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank, which the
-Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.
-
-During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the
-second Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450
-fathoms.  The Nautilus, by the action of its crew, slid down the
-inclined planes and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
-
-On the 18th of February, about three o'clock in the morning, we were at
-the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar.  There once existed two
-currents: an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters
-of the ocean into the basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower
-counter-current, which reasoning has now shown to exist.  Indeed, the
-volume of water in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves
-of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise
-the level of this sea, for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore
-the equilibrium.  As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the
-existence of an under-current, which empties into the basin of the
-Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the
-Mediterranean.  A fact indeed; and it was this counter-current by which
-the Nautilus profited.  It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass.  For
-one instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of
-Hercules, buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low
-island which supports it; and a few minutes later we were floating on
-the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-VIGO BAY
-
-The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers
-twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine
-thousand miles, with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred--an
-ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
-watered by the largest rivers of the world, the St. Lawrence, the
-Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco, the Niger, the
-Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water from the
-most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries!
-Magnificent field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels of every
-nation, sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which terminates in
-those two terrible points so dreaded by mariners, Cape Horn and the
-Cape of Tempests.
-
-The Nautilus was piercing the water with its sharp spur, after having
-accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half, a
-distance greater than the great circle of the earth.  Where were we
-going now, and what was reserved for the future?  The Nautilus, leaving
-the Straits of Gibraltar, had gone far out.  It returned to the surface
-of the waves, and our daily walks on the platform were restored to us.
-
-I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil.  At a distance
-of about twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent was dimly to be seen, forming
-the south-western point of the Spanish peninsula.  A strong southerly
-gale was blowing.  The sea was swollen and billowy; it made the
-Nautilus rock violently.  It was almost impossible to keep one's foot
-on the platform, which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every
-instant.  So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.
-
-I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian, with a
-preoccupied air, followed me.  Our rapid passage across the
-Mediterranean had not allowed him to put his project into execution,
-and he could not help showing his disappointment.  When the door of my
-room was shut, he sat down and looked at me silently.
-
-"Friend Ned," said I, "I understand you; but you cannot reproach
-yourself.  To have attempted to leave the Nautilus under the
-circumstances would have been folly."
-
-Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
-with him the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind.
-
-"Let us see," I continued; "we need not despair yet.  We are going up
-the coast of Portugal again; France and England are not far off, where
-we can easily find refuge.  Now if the Nautilus, on leaving the Straits
-of Gibraltar, had gone to the south, if it had carried us towards
-regions where there were no continents, I should share your uneasiness.
-But we know now that Captain Nemo does not fly from civilised seas, and
-in some days I think you can act with security."
-
-Ned Land still looked at me fixedly; at length his fixed lips parted,
-and he said, "It is for to-night."
-
-I drew myself up suddenly.  I was, I admit, little prepared for this
-communication.  I wanted to answer the Canadian, but words would not
-come.
-
-"We agreed to wait for an opportunity," continued Ned Land, "and the
-opportunity has arrived.  This night we shall be but a few miles from
-the Spanish coast.  It is cloudy.  The wind blows freely.  I have your
-word, M. Aronnax, and I rely upon you."
-
-As I was silent, the Canadian approached me.
-
-"To-night, at nine o'clock," said he.  "I have warned Conseil.  At that
-moment Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room, probably in bed.
-Neither the engineers nor the ship's crew can see us.  Conseil and I
-will gain the central staircase, and you, M. Aronnax, will remain in
-the library, two steps from us, waiting my signal.  The oars, the mast,
-and the sail are in the canoe.  I have even succeeded in getting some
-provisions.  I have procured an English wrench, to unfasten the bolts
-which attach it to the shell of the Nautilus.  So all is ready, till
-to-night."
-
-"The sea is bad."
-
-"That I allow," replied the Canadian; "but we must risk that.  Liberty
-is worth paying for; besides, the boat is strong, and a few miles with
-a fair wind to carry us is no great thing.  Who knows but by to-morrow
-we may be a hundred leagues away?  Let circumstances only favour us,
-and by ten or eleven o'clock we shall have landed on some spot of terra
-firma, alive or dead.  But adieu now till to-night."
-
-With these words the Canadian withdrew, leaving me almost dumb.  I had
-imagined that, the chance gone, I should have time to reflect and
-discuss the matter.  My obstinate companion had given me no time; and,
-after all, what could I have said to him?  Ned Land was perfectly
-right.  There was almost the opportunity to profit by.  Could I retract
-my word, and take upon myself the responsibility of compromising the
-future of my companions?  To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us far from
-all land.
-
-At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs
-were filling, and that the Nautilus was sinking under the waves of the
-Atlantic.
-
-A sad day I passed, between the desire of regaining my liberty of
-action and of abandoning the wonderful Nautilus, and leaving my
-submarine studies incomplete.
-
-What dreadful hours I passed thus!  Sometimes seeing myself and
-companions safely landed, sometimes wishing, in spite of my reason,
-that some unforeseen circumstance, would prevent the realisation of Ned
-Land's project.
-
-Twice I went to the saloon.  I wished to consult the compass.  I wished
-to see if the direction the Nautilus was taking was bringing us nearer
-or taking us farther from the coast.  But no; the Nautilus kept in
-Portuguese waters.
-
-I must therefore take my part and prepare for flight.  My luggage was
-not heavy; my notes, nothing more.
-
-As to Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he would think of our escape;
-what trouble, what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in
-case of its discovery or failure.  Certainly I had no cause to complain
-of him; on the contrary, never was hospitality freer than his.  In
-leaving him I could not be taxed with ingratitude.  No oath bound us to
-him.  It was on the strength of circumstances he relied, and not upon
-our word, to fix us for ever.
-
-I had not seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin.
-Would chance bring me to his presence before our departure?  I wished
-it, and I feared it at the same time.  I listened if I could hear him
-walking the room contiguous to mine.  No sound reached my ear.  I felt
-an unbearable uneasiness.  This day of waiting seemed eternal.  Hours
-struck too slowly to keep pace with my impatience.
-
-My dinner was served in my room as usual.  I ate but little; I was too
-preoccupied.  I left the table at seven o'clock. A hundred and twenty
-minutes (I counted them) still separated me from the moment in which I
-was to join Ned Land.  My agitation redoubled.  My pulse beat
-violently.  I could not remain quiet.  I went and came, hoping to calm
-my troubled spirit by constant movement.  The idea of failure in our
-bold enterprise was the least painful of my anxieties; but the thought
-of seeing our project discovered before leaving the Nautilus, of being
-brought before Captain Nemo, irritated, or (what was worse) saddened,
-at my desertion, made my heart beat.
-
-I wanted to see the saloon for the last time.  I descended the stairs
-and arrived in the museum, where I had passed so many useful and
-agreeable hours.  I looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a
-man on the eve of an eternal exile, who was leaving never to return.
-
-These wonders of Nature, these masterpieces of art, amongst which for
-so many days my life had been concentrated, I was going to abandon them
-for ever!  I should like to have taken a last look through the windows
-of the saloon into the waters of the Atlantic:  but the panels were
-hermetically closed, and a cloak of steel separated me from that ocean
-which I had not yet explored.
-
-In passing through the saloon, I came near the door let into the angle
-which opened into the Captain's room.  To my great surprise, this door
-was ajar.  I drew back involuntarily.  If Captain Nemo should be in his
-room, he could see me.  But, hearing no sound, I drew nearer.  The room
-was deserted.  I pushed open the door and took some steps forward.
-Still the same monklike severity of aspect.
-
-Suddenly the clock struck eight.  The first beat of the hammer on the
-bell awoke me from my dreams.  I trembled as if an invisible eye had
-plunged into my most secret thoughts, and I hurried from the room.
-
-There my eye fell upon the compass.  Our course was still north.  The
-log indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.
-
-I returned to my room, clothed myself warmly--sea boots, an otterskin
-cap, a great coat of byssus, lined with sealskin; I was ready, I was
-waiting.  The vibration of the screw alone broke the deep silence which
-reigned on board.  I listened attentively.  Would no loud voice
-suddenly inform me that Ned Land had been surprised in his projected
-flight.  A mortal dread hung over me, and I vainly tried to regain my
-accustomed coolness.
-
-At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain's door.  No
-noise.  I left my room and returned to the saloon, which was half in
-obscurity, but deserted.
-
-I opened the door communicating with the library.  The same
-insufficient light, the same solitude.  I placed myself near the door
-leading to the central staircase, and there waited for Ned Land's
-signal.
-
-At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished, then it
-stopped entirely.  The silence was now only disturbed by the beatings
-of my own heart.  Suddenly a slight shock was felt; and I knew that the
-Nautilus had stopped at the bottom of the ocean.  My uneasiness
-increased.  The Canadian's signal did not come.  I felt inclined to
-join Ned Land and beg of him to put off his attempt.  I felt that we
-were not sailing under our usual conditions.
-
-At this moment the door of the large saloon opened, and Captain Nemo
-appeared.  He saw me, and without further preamble began in an amiable
-tone of voice:
-
-"Ah, sir!  I have been looking for you.  Do you know the history of
-Spain?"
-
-Now, one might know the history of one's own country by heart; but in
-the condition I was at the time, with troubled mind and head quite
-lost, I could not have said a word of it.
-
-"Well," continued Captain Nemo, "you heard my question!  Do you know
-the history of Spain?"
-
-"Very slightly," I answered.
-
-"Well, here are learned men having to learn," said the Captain.  "Come,
-sit down, and I will tell you a curious episode in this history.  Sir,
-listen well," said he; "this history will interest you on one side, for
-it will answer a question which doubtless you have not been able to
-solve."
-
-"I listen, Captain," said I, not knowing what my interlocutor was
-driving at, and asking myself if this incident was bearing on our
-projected flight.
-
-"Sir, if you have no objection, we will go back to 1702.  You cannot be
-ignorant that your king, Louis XIV, thinking that the gesture of a
-potentate was sufficient to bring the Pyrenees under his yoke, had
-imposed the Duke of Anjou, his grandson, on the Spaniards.  This prince
-reigned more or less badly under the name of Philip V, and had a strong
-party against him abroad.  Indeed, the preceding year, the royal houses
-of Holland, Austria, and England had concluded a treaty of alliance at
-the Hague, with the intention of plucking the crown of Spain from the
-head of Philip V, and placing it on that of an archduke to whom they
-prematurely gave the title of Charles III.
-
-"Spain must resist this coalition; but she was almost entirely
-unprovided with either soldiers or sailors.  However, money would not
-fail them, provided that their galleons, laden with gold and silver
-from America, once entered their ports.  And about the end of 1702 they
-expected a rich convoy which France was escorting with a fleet of
-twenty-three vessels, commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud, for the
-ships of the coalition were already beating the Atlantic.  This convoy
-was to go to Cadiz, but the Admiral, hearing that an English fleet was
-cruising in those waters, resolved to make for a French port.
-
-"The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision.  They
-wanted to be taken to a Spanish port, and, if not to Cadiz, into Vigo
-Bay, situated on the northwest coast of Spain, and which was not
-blocked.
-
-"Admiral Chateau-Renaud had the rashness to obey this injunction, and
-the galleons entered Vigo Bay.
-
-"Unfortunately, it formed an open road which could not be defended in
-any way.  They must therefore hasten to unload the galleons before the
-arrival of the combined fleet; and time would not have failed them had
-not a miserable question of rivalry suddenly arisen.
-
-"You are following the chain of events?" asked Captain Nemo.
-
-"Perfectly," said I, not knowing the end proposed by this historical
-lesson.
-
-"I will continue.  This is what passed.  The merchants of Cadiz had a
-privilege by which they had the right of receiving all merchandise
-coming from the West Indies.  Now, to disembark these ingots at the
-port of Vigo was depriving them of their rights.  They complained at
-Madrid, and obtained the consent of the weak-minded Philip that the
-convoy, without discharging its cargo, should remain sequestered in the
-roads of Vigo until the enemy had disappeared.
-
-"But whilst coming to this decision, on the 22nd of October, 1702, the
-English vessels arrived in Vigo Bay, when Admiral Chateau-Renaud, in
-spite of inferior forces, fought bravely.  But, seeing that the
-treasure must fall into the enemy's hands, he burnt and scuttled every
-galleon, which went to the bottom with their immense riches."
-
-Captain Nemo stopped.  I admit I could not see yet why this history
-should interest me.
-
-"Well?"  I asked.
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, "we are in that Vigo Bay; and
-it rests with yourself whether you will penetrate its mysteries."
-
-The Captain rose, telling me to follow him.  I had had time to recover.
-I obeyed.  The saloon was dark, but through the transparent glass the
-waves were sparkling.  I looked.
-
-For half a mile around the Nautilus, the waters seemed bathed in
-electric light.  The sandy bottom was clean and bright.  Some of the
-ship's crew in their diving-dresses were clearing away half-rotten
-barrels and empty cases from the midst of the blackened wrecks.  From
-these cases and from these barrels escaped ingots of gold and silver,
-cascades of piastres and jewels.  The sand was heaped up with them.
-Laden with their precious booty, the men returned to the Nautilus,
-disposed of their burden, and went back to this inexhaustible fishery
-of gold and silver.
-
-I understood now.  This was the scene of the battle of the 22nd of
-October, 1702.  Here on this very spot the galleons laden for the
-Spanish Government had sunk.  Here Captain Nemo came, according to his
-wants, to pack up those millions with which he burdened the Nautilus.
-It was for him and him alone America had given up her precious metals.
-He was heir direct, without anyone to share, in those treasures torn
-from the Incas and from the conquered of Ferdinand Cortez.
-
-"Did you know, sir," he asked, smiling, "that the sea contained such
-riches?"
-
-"I knew," I answered, "that they value money held in suspension in
-these waters at two millions."
-
-"Doubtless; but to extract this money the expense would be greater than
-the profit.  Here, on the contrary, I have but to pick up what man has
-lost--and not only in Vigo Bay, but in a thousand other ports where
-shipwrecks have happened, and which are marked on my submarine map.
-Can you understand now the source of the millions I am worth?"
-
-"I understand, Captain.  But allow me to tell you that in exploring
-Vigo Bay you have only been beforehand with a rival society."
-
-"And which?"
-
-"A society which has received from the Spanish Government the privilege
-of seeking those buried galleons.  The shareholders are led on by the
-allurement of an enormous bounty, for they value these rich shipwrecks
-at five hundred millions."
-
-"Five hundred millions they were," answered Captain Nemo, "but they are
-so no longer."
-
-"Just so," said I; "and a warning to those shareholders would be an act
-of charity.  But who knows if it would be well received?  What gamblers
-usually regret above all is less the loss of their money than of their
-foolish hopes.  After all, I pity them less than the thousands of
-unfortunates to whom so much riches well-distributed would have been
-profitable, whilst for them they will be for ever barren."
-
-I had no sooner expressed this regret than I felt that it must have
-wounded Captain Nemo.
-
-"Barren!" he exclaimed, with animation.  "Do you think then, sir, that
-these riches are lost because I gather them?  Is it for myself alone,
-according to your idea, that I take the trouble to collect these
-treasures?  Who told you that I did not make a good use of it?  Do you
-think I am ignorant that there are suffering beings and oppressed races
-on this earth, miserable creatures to console, victims to avenge?  Do
-you not understand?"
-
-Captain Nemo stopped at these last words, regretting perhaps that he
-had spoken so much.  But I had guessed that, whatever the motive which
-had forced him to seek independence under the sea, it had left him
-still a man, that his heart still beat for the sufferings of humanity,
-and that his immense charity was for oppressed races as well as
-individuals.  And I then understood for whom those millions were
-destined which were forwarded by Captain Nemo when the Nautilus was
-cruising in the waters of Crete.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-A VANISHED CONTINENT
-
-The next morning, the 19th of February, I saw the Canadian enter my
-room.  I expected this visit.  He looked very disappointed.
-
-"Well, sir?" said he.
-
-"Well, Ned, fortune was against us yesterday."
-
-"Yes; that Captain must needs stop exactly at the hour we intended
-leaving his vessel."
-
-"Yes, Ned, he had business at his bankers."
-
-"His bankers!"
-
-"Or rather his banking-house; by that I mean the ocean, where his
-riches are safer than in the chests of the State."
-
-I then related to the Canadian the incidents of the preceding night,
-hoping to bring him back to the idea of not abandoning the Captain; but
-my recital had no other result than an energetically expressed regret
-from Ned that he had not been able to take a walk on the battlefield of
-Vigo on his own account.
-
-"However," said he, "all is not ended.  It is only a blow of the
-harpoon lost.  Another time we must succeed; and to-night, if
-necessary----"
-
-"In what direction is the Nautilus going?"  I asked.
-
-"I do not know," replied Ned.
-
-"Well, at noon we shall see the point."
-
-The Canadian returned to Conseil.  As soon as I was dressed, I went
-into the saloon.  The compass was not reassuring.  The course of the
-Nautilus was S.S.W. We were turning our backs on Europe.
-
-I waited with some impatience till the ship's place was pricked on the
-chart.  At about half-past eleven the reservoirs were emptied, and our
-vessel rose to the surface of the ocean.  I rushed towards the
-platform.  Ned Land had preceded me.  No more land in sight.  Nothing
-but an immense sea.  Some sails on the horizon, doubtless those going
-to San Roque in search of favourable winds for doubling the Cape of
-Good Hope.  The weather was cloudy.  A gale of wind was preparing.  Ned
-raved, and tried to pierce the cloudy horizon.  He still hoped that
-behind all that fog stretched the land he so longed for.
-
-At noon the sun showed itself for an instant.  The second profited by
-this brightness to take its height.  Then, the sea becoming more
-billowy, we descended, and the panel closed.
-
-An hour after, upon consulting the chart, I saw the position of the
-Nautilus was marked at 16 deg. 17' long., and 33 deg. 22' lat., at 150
-leagues from the nearest coast.  There was no means of flight, and I
-leave you to imagine the rage of the Canadian when I informed him of
-our situation.
-
-For myself, I was not particularly sorry.  I felt lightened of the load
-which had oppressed me, and was able to return with some degree of
-calmness to my accustomed work.
-
-That night, about eleven o'clock, I received a most unexpected visit
-from Captain Nemo.  He asked me very graciously if I felt fatigued from
-my watch of the preceding night.  I answered in the negative.
-
-"Then, M. Aronnax, I propose a curious excursion."
-
-"Propose, Captain?"
-
-"You have hitherto only visited the submarine depths by daylight, under
-the brightness of the sun.  Would it suit you to see them in the
-darkness of the night?"
-
-"Most willingly."
-
-"I warn you, the way will be tiring.  We shall have far to walk, and
-must climb a mountain.  The roads are not well kept."
-
-"What you say, Captain, only heightens my curiosity; I am ready to
-follow you."
-
-"Come then, sir, we will put on our diving-dresses."
-
-Arrived at the robing-room, I saw that neither of my companions nor any
-of the ship's crew were to follow us on this excursion.  Captain Nemo
-had not even proposed my taking with me either Ned or Conseil.
-
-In a few moments we had put on our diving-dresses; they placed on our
-backs the reservoirs, abundantly filled with air, but no electric lamps
-were prepared.  I called the Captain's attention to the fact.
-
-"They will be useless," he replied.
-
-I thought I had not heard aright, but I could not repeat my
-observation, for the Captain's head had already disappeared in its
-metal case.  I finished harnessing myself.  I felt them put an
-iron-pointed stick into my hand, and some minutes later, after going
-through the usual form, we set foot on the bottom of the Atlantic at a
-depth of 150 fathoms.  Midnight was near.  The waters were profoundly
-dark, but Captain Nemo pointed out in the distance a reddish spot, a
-sort of large light shining brilliantly about two miles from the
-Nautilus.  What this fire might be, what could feed it, why and how it
-lit up the liquid mass, I could not say.  In any case, it did light our
-way, vaguely, it is true, but I soon accustomed myself to the peculiar
-darkness, and I understood, under such circumstances, the uselessness
-of the Ruhmkorff apparatus.
-
-As we advanced, I heard a kind of pattering above my head.  The noise
-redoubling, sometimes producing a continual shower, I soon understood
-the cause.  It was rain falling violently, and crisping the surface of
-the waves.  Instinctively the thought flashed across my mind that I
-should be wet through!  By the water! in the midst of the water!  I
-could not help laughing at the odd idea.  But, indeed, in the thick
-diving-dress, the liquid element is no longer felt, and one only seems
-to be in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the terrestrial atmosphere.
-Nothing more.
-
-After half an hour's walk the soil became stony.  Medusae, microscopic
-crustacea, and pennatules lit it slightly with their phosphorescent
-gleam.  I caught a glimpse of pieces of stone covered with millions of
-zoophytes and masses of sea weed.  My feet often slipped upon this
-sticky carpet of sea weed, and without my iron-tipped stick I should
-have fallen more than once.  In turning round, I could still see the
-whitish lantern of the Nautilus beginning to pale in the distance.
-
-But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon.
-The presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree.
-Was I going towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown to the _savants_
-of the earth?  Or even (for this thought crossed my brain) had the hand
-of man aught to do with this conflagration?  Had he fanned this flame?
-Was I to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo
-whom he was going to visit, and who, like him, led this strange
-existence?  Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who,
-weary of the miseries of this earth, had sought and found independence
-in the deep ocean?  All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued
-me.  And in this condition of mind, over-excited by the succession of
-wonders continually passing before my eyes, I should not have been
-surprised to meet at the bottom of the sea one of those submarine towns
-of which Captain Nemo dreamed.
-
-Our road grew lighter and lighter.  The white glimmer came in rays from
-the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high.  But what I saw was
-simply a reflection, developed by the clearness of the waters.  The
-source of this inexplicable light was a fire on the opposite side of
-the mountain.
-
-In the midst of this stony maze furrowing the bottom of the Atlantic,
-Captain Nemo advanced without hesitation.  He knew this dreary road.
-Doubtless he had often travelled over it, and could not lose himself.
-I followed him with unshaken confidence.  He seemed to me like a genie
-of the sea; and, as he walked before me, I could not help admiring his
-stature, which was outlined in black on the luminous horizon.
-
-It was one in the morning when we arrived at the first slopes of the
-mountain; but to gain access to them we must venture through the
-difficult paths of a vast copse.
-
-Yes; a copse of dead trees, without leaves, without sap, trees
-petrified by the action of the water and here and there overtopped by
-gigantic pines.  It was like a coal-pit still standing, holding by the
-roots to the broken soil, and whose branches, like fine black paper
-cuttings, showed distinctly on the watery ceiling.  Picture to yourself
-a forest in the Hartz hanging on to the sides of the mountain, but a
-forest swallowed up.  The paths were encumbered with seaweed and fucus,
-between which grovelled a whole world of crustacea.  I went along,
-climbing the rocks, striding over extended trunks, breaking the sea
-bind-weed which hung from one tree to the other; and frightening the
-fishes, which flew from branch to branch.  Pressing onward, I felt no
-fatigue.  I followed my guide, who was never tired.  What a spectacle!
-How can I express it? how paint the aspect of those woods and rocks in
-this medium--their under parts dark and wild, the upper coloured with
-red tints, by that light which the reflecting powers of the waters
-doubled?  We climbed rocks which fell directly after with gigantic
-bounds and the low growling of an avalanche.  To right and left ran
-long, dark galleries, where sight was lost.  Here opened vast glades
-which the hand of man seemed to have worked; and I sometimes asked
-myself if some inhabitant of these submarine regions would not suddenly
-appear to me.
-
-But Captain Nemo was still mounting.  I could not stay behind.  I
-followed boldly.  My stick gave me good help.  A false step would have
-been dangerous on the narrow passes sloping down to the sides of the
-gulfs; but I walked with firm step, without feeling any giddiness.  Now
-I jumped a crevice, the depth of which would have made me hesitate had
-it been among the glaciers on the land; now I ventured on the unsteady
-trunk of a tree thrown across from one abyss to the other, without
-looking under my feet, having only eyes to admire the wild sites of
-this region.
-
-There, monumental rocks, leaning on their regularly-cut bases, seemed
-to defy all laws of equilibrium.  From between their stony knees trees
-sprang, like a jet under heavy pressure, and upheld others which upheld
-them.  Natural towers, large scarps, cut perpendicularly, like a
-"curtain," inclined at an angle which the laws of gravitation could
-never have tolerated in terrestrial regions.
-
-Two hours after quitting the Nautilus we had crossed the line of trees,
-and a hundred feet above our heads rose the top of the mountain, which
-cast a shadow on the brilliant irradiation of the opposite slope.  Some
-petrified shrubs ran fantastically here and there.  Fishes got up under
-our feet like birds in the long grass.  The massive rocks were rent
-with impenetrable fractures, deep grottos, and unfathomable holes, at
-the bottom of which formidable creatures might be heard moving.  My
-blood curdled when I saw enormous antennae blocking my road, or some
-frightful claw closing with a noise in the shadow of some cavity.
-Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the midst of the darkness.
-They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their holes; giant
-lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers, and moving their claws
-with the clicking sound of pincers; titanic crabs, pointed like a gun
-on its carriage; and frightful-looking poulps, interweaving their
-tentacles like a living nest of serpents.
-
-We had now arrived on the first platform, where other surprises awaited
-me.  Before us lay some picturesque ruins, which betrayed the hand of
-man and not that of the Creator.  There were vast heaps of stone,
-amongst which might be traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles
-and temples, clothed with a world of blossoming zoophytes, and over
-which, instead of ivy, sea-weed and fucus threw a thick vegetable
-mantle.  But what was this portion of the globe which had been
-swallowed by cataclysms?  Who had placed those rocks and stones like
-cromlechs of prehistoric times?  Where was I?  Whither had Captain
-Nemo's fancy hurried me?
-
-I would fain have asked him; not being able to, I stopped him--I seized
-his arm.  But, shaking his head, and pointing to the highest point of
-the mountain, he seemed to say:
-
-"Come, come along; come higher!"
-
-I followed, and in a few minutes I had climbed to the top, which for a
-circle of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock.
-
-I looked down the side we had just climbed.  The mountain did not rise
-more than seven or eight hundred feet above the level of the plain; but
-on the opposite side it commanded from twice that height the depths of
-this part of the Atlantic.  My eyes ranged far over a large space lit
-by a violent fulguration.  In fact, the mountain was a volcano.
-
-At fifty feet above the peak, in the midst of a rain of stones and
-scoriae, a large crater was vomiting forth torrents of lava which fell
-in a cascade of fire into the bosom of the liquid mass.  Thus situated,
-this volcano lit the lower plain like an immense torch, even to the
-extreme limits of the horizon.  I said that the submarine crater threw
-up lava, but no flames.  Flames require the oxygen of the air to feed
-upon and cannot be developed under water; but streams of lava, having
-in themselves the principles of their incandescence, can attain a white
-heat, fight vigorously against the liquid element, and turn it to
-vapour by contact.
-
-Rapid currents bearing all these gases in diffusion and torrents of
-lava slid to the bottom of the mountain like an eruption of Vesuvius on
-another Terra del Greco.
-
-There indeed under my eyes, ruined, destroyed, lay a town--its roofs
-open to the sky, its temples fallen, its arches dislocated, its columns
-lying on the ground, from which one would still recognise the massive
-character of Tuscan architecture.  Further on, some remains of a
-gigantic aqueduct; here the high base of an Acropolis, with the
-floating outline of a Parthenon; there traces of a quay, as if an
-ancient port had formerly abutted on the borders of the ocean, and
-disappeared with its merchant vessels and its war-galleys. Farther on
-again, long lines of sunken walls and broad, deserted streets--a
-perfect Pompeii escaped beneath the waters.  Such was the sight that
-Captain Nemo brought before my eyes!
-
-Where was I?  Where was I?  I must know at any cost.  I tried to speak,
-but Captain Nemo stopped me by a gesture, and, picking up a piece of
-chalk-stone, advanced to a rock of black basalt, and traced the one
-word:
-
-
-ATLANTIS
-
-
-What a light shot through my mind!  Atlantis! the Atlantis of Plato,
-that continent denied by Origen and Humbolt, who placed its
-disappearance amongst the legendary tales.  I had it there now before
-my eyes, bearing upon it the unexceptionable testimony of its
-catastrophe.  The region thus engulfed was beyond Europe, Asia, and
-Lybia, beyond the columns of Hercules, where those powerful people, the
-Atlantides, lived, against whom the first wars of ancient Greeks were
-waged.
-
-Thus, led by the strangest destiny, I was treading under foot the
-mountains of this continent, touching with my hand those ruins a
-thousand generations old and contemporary with the geological epochs.
-I was walking on the very spot where the contemporaries of the first
-man had walked.
-
-Whilst I was trying to fix in my mind every detail of this grand
-landscape, Captain Nemo remained motionless, as if petrified in mute
-ecstasy, leaning on a mossy stone.  Was he dreaming of those
-generations long since disappeared?  Was he asking them the secret of
-human destiny?  Was it here this strange man came to steep himself in
-historical recollections, and live again this ancient life--he who
-wanted no modern one?  What would I not have given to know his
-thoughts, to share them, to understand them!  We remained for an hour
-at this place, contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of
-the lava, which was some times wonderfully intense.  Rapid tremblings
-ran along the mountain caused by internal bubblings, deep noise,
-distinctly transmitted through the liquid medium were echoed with
-majestic grandeur.  At this moment the moon appeared through the mass
-of waters and threw her pale rays on the buried continent.  It was but
-a gleam, but what an indescribable effect!  The Captain rose, cast one
-last look on the immense plain, and then bade me follow him.
-
-We descended the mountain rapidly, and, the mineral forest once passed,
-I saw the lantern of the Nautilus shining like a star.  The Captain
-walked straight to it, and we got on board as the first rays of light
-whitened the surface of the ocean.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES
-
-The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late:  the fatigues of
-the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o'clock. I
-dressed quickly, and hastened to find the course the Nautilus was
-taking.  The instruments showed it to be still toward the south, with a
-speed of twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoms.
-
-The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already
-noticed.  There were rays of giant size, five yards long, and endowed
-with great muscular strength, which enabled them to shoot above the
-waves; sharks of many kinds; amongst others, one fifteen feet long,
-with triangular sharp teeth, and whose transparency rendered it almost
-invisible in the water.
-
-Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long, armed at
-the upper jaw with a piercing sword; other bright-coloured creatures,
-known in the time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon, which are
-dangerous to capture on account of the spikes on their back.
-
-About four o'clock, the soil, generally composed of a thick mud mixed
-with petrified wood, changed by degrees, and it became more stony, and
-seemed strewn with conglomerate and pieces of basalt, with a sprinkling
-of lava.  I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long
-plains; and accordingly, after a few evolutions of the Nautilus, I saw
-the southerly horizon blocked by a high wall which seemed to close all
-exit.  Its summit evidently passed the level of the ocean.  It must be
-a continent, or at least an island--one of the Canaries, or of the Cape
-Verde Islands.  The bearings not being yet taken, perhaps designedly, I
-was ignorant of our exact position.  In any case, such a wall seemed to
-me to mark the limits of that Atlantis, of which we had in reality
-passed over only the smallest part.
-
-Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring the beauties
-of sea and sky, but the panels closed.  At this moment the Nautilus
-arrived at the side of this high, perpendicular wall.  What it would
-do, I could not guess.  I returned to my room; it no longer moved.  I
-laid myself down with the full intention of waking after a few hours'
-sleep; but it was eight o'clock the next day when I entered the saloon.
-I looked at the manometer.  It told me that the Nautilus was floating
-on the surface of the ocean.  Besides, I heard steps on the platform.
-I went to the panel.  It was open; but, instead of broad daylight, as I
-expected, I was surrounded by profound darkness.  Where were we?  Was I
-mistaken?  Was it still night?  No; not a star was shining and night
-has not that utter darkness.
-
-I knew not what to think, when a voice near me said:
-
-"Is that you, Professor?"
-
-"Ah!  Captain," I answered, "where are we?"
-
-"Underground, sir."
-
-"Underground!"  I exclaimed.  "And the Nautilus floating still?"
-
-"It always floats."
-
-"But I do not understand."
-
-"Wait a few minutes, our lantern will be lit, and, if you like light
-places, you will be satisfied."
-
-I stood on the platform and waited.  The darkness was so complete that
-I could not even see Captain Nemo; but, looking to the zenith, exactly
-above my head, I seemed to catch an undecided gleam, a kind of twilight
-filling a circular hole.  At this instant the lantern was lit, and its
-vividness dispelled the faint light.  I closed my dazzled eyes for an
-instant, and then looked again.  The Nautilus was stationary, floating
-near a mountain which formed a sort of quay.  The lake, then,
-supporting it was a lake imprisoned by a circle of walls, measuring two
-miles in diameter and six in circumference.  Its level (the manometer
-showed) could only be the same as the outside level, for there must
-necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea.  The high
-partitions, leaning forward on their base, grew into a vaulted roof
-bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned upside down, the height
-being about five or six hundred yards.  At the summit was a circular
-orifice, by which I had caught the slight gleam of light, evidently
-daylight.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has
-been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth.
-Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the Nautilus penetrated to this
-lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards beneath the
-surface of the ocean.  This is its harbour of refuge, a sure,
-commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from all gales.  Show me, if
-you can, on the coasts of any of your continents or islands, a road
-which can give such perfect refuge from all storms."
-
-"Certainly," I replied, "you are in safety here, Captain Nemo.  Who
-could reach you in the heart of a volcano?  But did I not see an
-opening at its summit?"
-
-"Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames, and
-which now gives entrance to the life-giving air we breathe."
-
-"But what is this volcanic mountain?"
-
-"It belongs to one of the numerous islands with which this sea is
-strewn--to vessels a simple sandbank--to us an immense cavern.  Chance
-led me to discover it, and chance served me well."
-
-"But of what use is this refuge, Captain?  The Nautilus wants no port."
-
-"No, sir; but it wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal
-to make the electricity--sodium to feed the elements, coal from which
-to get the sodium, and a coal-mine to supply the coal.  And exactly on
-this spot the sea covers entire forests embedded during the geological
-periods, now mineralised and transformed into coal; for me they are an
-inexhaustible mine."
-
-"Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?"
-
-"Exactly so.  These mines extend under the waves like the mines of
-Newcastle.  Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand,
-my men extract the coal, which I do not even ask from the mines of the
-earth.  When I burn this combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the
-smoke, escaping from the crater of the mountain, gives it the
-appearance of a still-active volcano."
-
-"And we shall see your companions at work?"
-
-"No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue our
-submarine tour of the earth.  So I shall content myself with drawing
-from the reserve of sodium I already possess.  The time for loading is
-one day only, and we continue our voyage.  So, if you wish to go over
-the cavern and make the round of the lagoon, you must take advantage of
-to-day, M. Aronnax."
-
-I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not
-yet left their cabin.  I invited them to follow me without saying where
-we were.  They mounted the platform.  Conseil, who was astonished at
-nothing, seemed to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake
-under a mountain, after having fallen asleep under the waves.  But Ned
-Land thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit.
-After breakfast, about ten o'clock, we went down on to the mountain.
-
-"Here we are, once more on land," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not call this land," said the Canadian.  "And besides, we are not
-on it, but beneath it."
-
-Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a
-sandy shore which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet.
-On this soil one might easily make the tour of the lake.  But the base
-of the high partitions was stony ground, with volcanic locks and
-enormous pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps.  All these detached
-masses, covered with enamel, polished by the action of the
-subterraneous fires, shone resplendent by the light of our electric
-lantern.  The mica dust from the shore, rising under our feet, flew
-like a cloud of sparks.  The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon
-arrived at long circuitous slopes, or inclined planes, which took us
-higher by degrees; but we were obliged to walk carefully among these
-conglomerates, bound by no cement, the feet slipping on the glassy
-crystal, felspar, and quartz.
-
-The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all
-sides, and I pointed it out to my companions.
-
-"Picture to yourselves," said I, "what this crater must have been when
-filled with boiling lava, and when the level of the incandescent liquid
-rose to the orifice of the mountain, as though melted on the top of a
-hot plate."
-
-"I can picture it perfectly," said Conseil.  "But, sir, will you tell
-me why the Great Architect has suspended operations, and how it is that
-the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters of the lake?"
-
-"Most probably, Conseil, because some convulsion beneath the ocean
-produced that very opening which has served as a passage for the
-Nautilus.  Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed into the interior of
-the mountain.  There must have been a terrible struggle between the two
-elements, a struggle which ended in the victory of Neptune.  But many
-ages have run out since then, and the submerged volcano is now a
-peaceable grotto."
-
-"Very well," replied Ned Land; "I accept the explanation, sir; but, in
-our own interests, I regret that the opening of which you speak was not
-made above the level of the sea."
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "if the passage had not been under the
-sea, the Nautilus could not have gone through it."
-
-We continued ascending.  The steps became more and more perpendicular
-and narrow.  Deep excavations, which we were obliged to cross, cut them
-here and there; sloping masses had to be turned.  We slid upon our
-knees and crawled along.  But Conseil's dexterity and the Canadian's
-strength surmounted all obstacles.  At a height of about 31 feet the
-nature of the ground changed without becoming more practicable.  To the
-conglomerate and trachyte succeeded black basalt, the first dispread in
-layers full of bubbles, the latter forming regular prisms, placed like
-a colonnade supporting the spring of the immense vault, an admirable
-specimen of natural architecture.  Between the blocks of basalt wound
-long streams of lava, long since grown cold, encrusted with bituminous
-rays; and in some places there were spread large carpets of sulphur.  A
-more powerful light shone through the upper crater, shedding a vague
-glimmer over these volcanic depressions for ever buried in the bosom of
-this extinguished mountain.  But our upward march was soon stopped at a
-height of about two hundred and fifty feet by impassable obstacles.
-There was a complete vaulted arch overhanging us, and our ascent was
-changed to a circular walk.  At the last change vegetable life began to
-struggle with the mineral.  Some shrubs, and even some trees, grew from
-the fractures of the walls.  I recognised some euphorbias, with the
-caustic sugar coming from them; heliotropes, quite incapable of
-justifying their name, sadly drooped their clusters of flowers, both
-their colour and perfume half gone.  Here and there some chrysanthemums
-grew timidly at the foot of an aloe with long, sickly-looking leaves.
-But between the streams of lava, I saw some little violets still
-slightly perfumed, and I admit that I smelt them with delight.  Perfume
-is the soul of the flower, and sea-flowers have no soul.
-
-We had arrived at the foot of some sturdy dragon-trees, which had
-pushed aside the rocks with their strong roots, when Ned Land exclaimed:
-
-"Ah! sir, a hive! a hive!"
-
-"A hive!"  I replied, with a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes, a hive," repeated the Canadian, "and bees humming round it."
-
-I approached, and was bound to believe my own eyes.  There at a hole
-bored in one of the dragon-trees were some thousands of these ingenious
-insects, so common in all the Canaries, and whose produce is so much
-esteemed.  Naturally enough, the Canadian wished to gather the honey,
-and I could not well oppose his wish.  A quantity of dry leaves, mixed
-with sulphur, he lit with a spark from his flint, and he began to smoke
-out the bees.  The humming ceased by degrees, and the hive eventually
-yielded several pounds of the sweetest honey, with which Ned Land
-filled his haversack.
-
-"When I have mixed this honey with the paste of the bread-fruit," said
-he, "I shall be able to offer you a succulent cake."
-
-[Transcriber's Note: 'bread-fruit' has been substituted for
-'artocarpus' in this ed.]
-
-"'Pon my word," said Conseil, "it will be gingerbread."
-
-"Never mind the gingerbread," said I; "let us continue our interesting
-walk."
-
-At every turn of the path we were following, the lake appeared in all
-its length and breadth.  The lantern lit up the whole of its peaceable
-surface, which knew neither ripple nor wave.  The Nautilus remained
-perfectly immovable.  On the platform, and on the mountain, the ship's
-crew were working like black shadows clearly carved against the
-luminous atmosphere.  We were now going round the highest crest of the
-first layers of rock which upheld the roof.  I then saw that bees were
-not the only representatives of the animal kingdom in the interior of
-this volcano.  Birds of prey hovered here and there in the shadows, or
-fled from their nests on the top of the rocks.  There were sparrow
-hawks, with white breasts, and kestrels, and down the slopes scampered,
-with their long legs, several fine fat bustards.  I leave anyone to
-imagine the covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this savoury
-game, and whether he did not regret having no gun.  But he did his best
-to replace the lead by stones, and, after several fruitless attempts,
-he succeeded in wounding a magnificent bird.  To say that he risked his
-life twenty times before reaching it is but the truth; but he managed
-so well that the creature joined the honey-cakes in his bag.  We were
-now obliged to descend toward the shore, the crest becoming
-impracticable.  Above us the crater seemed to gape like the mouth of a
-well.  From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
-dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit of
-the mountain, their misty remnants--certain proof that they were only
-moderately high, for the volcano did not rise more than eight hundred
-feet above the level of the ocean.  Half an hour after the Canadian's
-last exploit we had regained the inner shore.  Here the flora was
-represented by large carpets of marine crystal, a little umbelliferous
-plant very good to pickle, which also bears the name of pierce-stone
-and sea-fennel. Conseil gathered some bundles of it.  As to the fauna,
-it might be counted by thousands of crustacea of all sorts, lobsters,
-crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps, and a large number of shells,
-rockfish, and limpets.  Three-quarters of an hour later we had finished
-our circuitous walk and were on board.  The crew had just finished
-loading the sodium, and the Nautilus could have left that instant.  But
-Captain Nemo gave no order.  Did he wish to wait until night, and leave
-the submarine passage secretly?  Perhaps so.  Whatever it might be, the
-next day, the Nautilus, having left its port, steered clear of all land
-at a few yards beneath the waves of the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-THE SARGASSO SEA
-
-That day the Nautilus crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean.
-No one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm water
-known by the name of the Gulf Stream.  After leaving the Gulf of
-Florida, we went in the direction of Spitzbergen.  But before entering
-the Gulf of Mexico, about 45 deg. of N. lat., this current divides into
-two arms, the principal one going towards the coast of Ireland and
-Norway, whilst the second bends to the south about the height of the
-Azores; then, touching the African shore, and describing a lengthened
-oval, returns to the Antilles.  This second arm--it is rather a collar
-than an arm--surrounds with its circles of warm water that portion of
-the cold, quiet, immovable ocean called the Sargasso Sea, a perfect
-lake in the open Atlantic: it takes no less than three years for the
-great current to pass round it.  Such was the region the Nautilus was
-now visiting, a perfect meadow, a close carpet of seaweed, fucus, and
-tropical berries, so thick and so compact that the stem of a vessel
-could hardly tear its way through it.  And Captain Nemo, not wishing to
-entangle his screw in this herbaceous mass, kept some yards beneath the
-surface of the waves.  The name Sargasso comes from the Spanish word
-"sargazzo" which signifies kelp.  This kelp, or berry-plant, is the
-principal formation of this immense bank.  And this is the reason why
-these plants unite in the peaceful basin of the Atlantic.  The only
-explanation which can be given, he says, seems to me to result from the
-experience known to all the world.  Place in a vase some fragments of
-cork or other floating body, and give to the water in the vase a
-circular movement, the scattered fragments will unite in a group in the
-centre of the liquid surface, that is to say, in the part least
-agitated.  In the phenomenon we are considering, the Atlantic is the
-vase, the Gulf Stream the circular current, and the Sargasso Sea the
-central point at which the floating bodies unite.
-
-I share Maury's opinion, and I was able to study the phenomenon in the
-very midst, where vessels rarely penetrate.  Above us floated products
-of all kinds, heaped up among these brownish plants; trunks of trees
-torn from the Andes or the Rocky Mountains, and floated by the Amazon
-or the Mississippi; numerous wrecks, remains of keels, or ships'
-bottoms, side-planks stove in, and so weighted with shells and
-barnacles that they could not again rise to the surface.  And time will
-one day justify Maury's other opinion, that these substances thus
-accumulated for ages will become petrified by the action of the water
-and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines--a precious reserve
-prepared by far-seeing Nature for the moment when men shall have
-exhausted the mines of continents.
-
-In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed, I
-noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long
-tentacles trailing after them, and medusae, green, red, and blue.
-
-All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea,
-where such fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant
-nourishment.  The next, the ocean had returned to its accustomed
-aspect.  From this time for nineteen days, from the 23rd of February to
-the 12th of March, the Nautilus kept in the middle of the Atlantic,
-carrying us at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four
-hours.  Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine
-programme, and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn,
-to return to the Australian seas of the Pacific.  Ned Land had cause
-for fear.  In these large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt
-to leave the boat.  Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo's
-will.  Our only course was to submit; but what we could neither gain by
-force nor cunning, I liked to think might be obtained by persuasion.
-This voyage ended, would he not consent to restore our liberty, under
-an oath never to reveal his existence?--an oath of honour which we
-should have religiously kept.  But we must consider that delicate
-question with the Captain.  But was I free to claim this liberty?  Had
-he not himself said from the beginning, in the firmest manner, that the
-secret of his life exacted from him our lasting imprisonment on board
-the Nautilus?  And would not my four months' silence appear to him a
-tacit acceptance of our situation?  And would not a return to the
-subject result in raising suspicions which might be hurtful to our
-projects, if at some future time a favourable opportunity offered to
-return to them?
-
-During the nineteen days mentioned above, no incident of any kind
-happened to signalise our voyage.  I saw little of the Captain; he was
-at work.  In the library I often found his books left open, especially
-those on natural history.  My work on submarine depths, conned over by
-him, was covered with marginal notes, often contradicting my theories
-and systems; but the Captain contented himself with thus purging my
-work; it was very rare for him to discuss it with me.  Sometimes I
-heard the melancholy tones of his organ; but only at night, in the
-midst of the deepest obscurity, when the Nautilus slept upon the
-deserted ocean.  During this part of our voyage we sailed whole days on
-the surface of the waves.  The sea seemed abandoned.  A few
-sailing-vessels, on the road to India, were making for the Cape of Good
-Hope.  One day we were followed by the boats of a whaler, who, no
-doubt, took us for some enormous whale of great price; but Captain Nemo
-did not wish the worthy fellows to lose their time and trouble, so
-ended the chase by plunging under the water.  Our navigation continued
-until the 13th of March; that day the Nautilus was employed in taking
-soundings, which greatly interested me.  We had then made about 13,000
-leagues since our departure from the high seas of the Pacific.  The
-bearings gave us 45 deg. 37' S. lat., and 37 deg. 53' W. long.  It was
-the same water in which Captain Denham of the Herald sounded 7,000
-fathoms without finding the bottom.  There, too, Lieutenant Parker, of
-the American frigate Congress, could not touch the bottom with 15,140
-fathoms.  Captain Nemo intended seeking the bottom of the ocean by a
-diagonal sufficiently lengthened by means of lateral planes placed at
-an angle of 45 deg. with the water-line of the Nautilus.  Then the
-screw set to work at its maximum speed, its four blades beating the
-waves with in describable force.  Under this powerful pressure, the
-hull of the Nautilus quivered like a sonorous chord and sank regularly
-under the water.
-
-At 7,000 fathoms I saw some blackish tops rising from the midst of the
-waters; but these summits might belong to high mountains like the
-Himalayas or Mont Blanc, even higher; and the depth of the abyss
-remained incalculable.  The Nautilus descended still lower, in spite of
-the great pressure.  I felt the steel plates tremble at the fastenings
-of the bolts; its bars bent, its partitions groaned; the windows of the
-saloon seemed to curve under the pressure of the waters.  And this firm
-structure would doubtless have yielded, if, as its Captain had said, it
-had not been capable of resistance like a solid block.  We had attained
-a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues), and the sides of the Nautilus
-then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, that is to say, 3,200 lb.
-to each square two-fifths of an inch of its surface.
-
-"What a situation to be in!"  I exclaimed.  "To overrun these deep
-regions where man has never trod!  Look, Captain, look at these
-magnificent rocks, these uninhabited grottoes, these lowest receptacles
-of the globe, where life is no longer possible!  What unknown sights
-are here!  Why should we be unable to preserve a remembrance of them?"
-
-"Would you like to carry away more than the remembrance?" said Captain
-Nemo.
-
-"What do you mean by those words?"
-
-"I mean to say that nothing is easier than to make a photographic view
-of this submarine region."
-
-I had not time to express my surprise at this new proposition, when, at
-Captain Nemo's call, an objective was brought into the saloon.  Through
-the widely-opened panel, the liquid mass was bright with electricity,
-which was distributed with such uniformity that not a shadow, not a
-gradation, was to be seen in our manufactured light.  The Nautilus
-remained motionless, the force of its screw subdued by the inclination
-of its planes: the instrument was propped on the bottom of the oceanic
-site, and in a few seconds we had obtained a perfect negative.
-
-But, the operation being over, Captain Nemo said, "Let us go up; we
-must not abuse our position, nor expose the Nautilus too long to such
-great pressure."
-
-"Go up again!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Hold well on."
-
-I had not time to understand why the Captain cautioned me thus, when I
-was thrown forward on to the carpet.  At a signal from the Captain, its
-screw was shipped, and its blades raised vertically; the Nautilus shot
-into the air like a balloon, rising with stunning rapidity, and cutting
-the mass of waters with a sonorous agitation.  Nothing was visible; and
-in four minutes it had shot through the four leagues which separated it
-from the ocean, and, after emerging like a flying-fish, fell, making
-the waves rebound to an enormous height.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-CACHALOTS AND WHALES
-
-During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March, the Nautilus returned
-to its southerly course.  I fancied that, when on a level with Cape
-Horn, he would turn the helm westward, in order to beat the Pacific
-seas, and so complete the tour of the world.  He did nothing of the
-kind, but continued on his way to the southern regions.  Where was he
-going to?  To the pole?  It was madness!  I began to think that the
-Captain's temerity justified Ned Land's fears.  For some time past the
-Canadian had not spoken to me of his projects of flight; he was less
-communicative, almost silent.  I could see that this lengthened
-imprisonment was weighing upon him, and I felt that rage was burning
-within him.  When he met the Captain, his eyes lit up with suppressed
-anger; and I feared that his natural violence would lead him into some
-extreme.  That day, the 14th of March, Conseil and he came to me in my
-room.  I inquired the cause of their visit.
-
-"A simple question to ask you, sir," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Speak, Ned."
-
-"How many men are there on board the Nautilus, do you think?"
-
-"I cannot tell, my friend."
-
-"I should say that its working does not require a large crew."
-
-"Certainly, under existing conditions, ten men, at the most, ought to
-be enough."
-
-"Well, why should there be any more?"
-
-"Why?"  I replied, looking fixedly at Ned Land, whose meaning was easy
-to guess.  "Because," I added, "if my surmises are correct, and if I
-have well understood the Captain's existence, the Nautilus is not only
-a vessel: it is also a place of refuge for those who, like its
-commander, have broken every tie upon earth."
-
-"Perhaps so," said Conseil; "but, in any case, the Nautilus can only
-contain a certain number of men.  Could not you, sir, estimate their
-maximum?"
-
-"How, Conseil?"
-
-"By calculation; given the size of the vessel, which you know, sir, and
-consequently the quantity of air it contains, knowing also how much
-each man expends at a breath, and comparing these results with the fact
-that the Nautilus is obliged to go to the surface every twenty-four
-hours."
-
-Conseil had not finished the sentence before I saw what he was driving
-at.
-
-"I understand," said I; "but that calculation, though simple enough,
-can give but a very uncertain result."
-
-"Never mind," said Ned Land urgently.
-
-"Here it is, then," said I. "In one hour each man consumes the oxygen
-contained in twenty gallons of air; and in twenty-four, that contained
-in 480 gallons.  We must, therefore find how many times 480 gallons of
-air the Nautilus contains."
-
-"Just so," said Conseil.
-
-"Or," I continued, "the size of the Nautilus being 1,500 tons; and one
-ton holding 200 gallons, it contains 300,000 gallons of air, which,
-divided by 480, gives a quotient of 625.  Which means to say, strictly
-speaking, that the air contained in the Nautilus would suffice for 625
-men for twenty-four hours."
-
-"Six hundred and twenty-five!" repeated Ned.
-
-"But remember that all of us, passengers, sailors, and officers
-included, would not form a tenth part of that number."
-
-"Still too many for three men," murmured Conseil.
-
-The Canadian shook his head, passed his hand across his forehead, and
-left the room without answering.
-
-"Will you allow me to make one observation, sir?" said Conseil.  "Poor
-Ned is longing for everything that he can not have.  His past life is
-always present to him; everything that we are forbidden he regrets.
-His head is full of old recollections.  And we must understand him.
-What has he to do here?  Nothing; he is not learned like you, sir; and
-has not the same taste for the beauties of the sea that we have.  He
-would risk everything to be able to go once more into a tavern in his
-own country."
-
-Certainly the monotony on board must seem intolerable to the Canadian,
-accustomed as he was to a life of liberty and activity.  Events were
-rare which could rouse him to any show of spirit; but that day an event
-did happen which recalled the bright days of the harpooner.  About
-eleven in the morning, being on the surface of the ocean, the Nautilus
-fell in with a troop of whales--an encounter which did not astonish me,
-knowing that these creatures, hunted to death, had taken refuge in high
-latitudes.
-
-We were seated on the platform, with a quiet sea.  The month of October
-in those latitudes gave us some lovely autumnal days.  It was the
-Canadian--he could not be mistaken--who signalled a whale on the
-eastern horizon.  Looking attentively, one might see its black back
-rise and fall with the waves five miles from the Nautilus.
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed Ned Land, "if I was on board a whaler, now such a
-meeting would give me pleasure.  It is one of large size.  See with
-what strength its blow-holes throw up columns of air an steam!
-Confound it, why am I bound to these steel plates?"
-
-"What, Ned," said I, "you have not forgotten your old ideas of fishing?"
-
-"Can a whale-fisher ever forget his old trade, sir?  Can he ever tire
-of the emotions caused by such a chase?"
-
-"You have never fished in these seas, Ned?"
-
-"Never, sir; in the northern only, and as much in Behring as in Davis
-Straits."
-
-"Then the southern whale is still unknown to you.  It is the Greenland
-whale you have hunted up to this time, and that would not risk passing
-through the warm waters of the equator.  Whales are localised,
-according to their kinds, in certain seas which they never leave.  And
-if one of these creatures went from Behring to Davis Straits, it must
-be simply because there is a passage from one sea to the other, either
-on the American or the Asiatic side."
-
-"In that case, as I have never fished in these seas, I do not know the
-kind of whale frequenting them!"
-
-"I have told you, Ned."
-
-"A greater reason for making their acquaintance," said Conseil.
-
-"Look! look!" exclaimed the Canadian, "they approach: they aggravate
-me; they know that I cannot get at them!"
-
-Ned stamped his feet.  His hand trembled, as he grasped an imaginary
-harpoon.
-
-"Are these cetaceans as large as those of the northern seas?" asked he.
-
-"Very nearly, Ned."
-
-"Because I have seen large whales, sir, whales measuring a hundred
-feet.  I have even been told that those of Hullamoch and Umgallick, of
-the Aleutian Islands, are sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long."
-
-"That seems to me exaggeration. These creatures are only
-balaeaopterons, provided with dorsal fins; and, like the cachalots, are
-generally much smaller than the Greenland whale."
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes had never left the ocean,
-"they are coming nearer; they are in the same water as the Nautilus."
-
-Then, returning to the conversation, he said:
-
-"You spoke of the cachalot as a small creature.  I have heard of
-gigantic ones.  They are intelligent cetacea.  It is said of some that
-they cover themselves with seaweed and fucus, and then are taken for
-islands.  People encamp upon them, and settle there; lights a fire----"
-
-"And build houses," said Conseil.
-
-"Yes, joker," said Ned Land.  "And one fine day the creature plunges,
-carrying with it all the inhabitants to the bottom of the sea."
-
-"Something like the travels of Sinbad the Sailor," I replied, laughing.
-
-"Ah!" suddenly exclaimed Ned Land, "it is not one whale; there are
-ten--there are twenty--it is a whole troop!  And I not able to do
-anything! hands and feet tied!"
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "why do you not ask Captain Nemo's
-permission to chase them?"
-
-Conseil had not finished his sentence when Ned Land had lowered himself
-through the panel to seek the Captain.  A few minutes afterwards the
-two appeared together on the platform.
-
-Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea playing on the waters about a
-mile from the Nautilus.
-
-"They are southern whales," said he; "there goes the fortune of a whole
-fleet of whalers."
-
-"Well, sir," asked the Canadian, "can I not chase them, if only to
-remind me of my old trade of harpooner?"
-
-"And to what purpose?" replied Captain Nemo; "only to destroy!  We have
-nothing to do with the whale-oil on board."
-
-"But, sir," continued the Canadian, "in the Red Sea you allowed us to
-follow the dugong."
-
-"Then it was to procure fresh meat for my crew.  Here it would be
-killing for killing's sake.  I know that is a privilege reserved for
-man, but I do not approve of such murderous pastime.  In destroying the
-southern whale (like the Greenland whale, an inoffensive creature),
-your traders do a culpable action, Master Land.  They have already
-depopulated the whole of Baffin's Bay, and are annihilating a class of
-useful animals.  Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone.  They have plenty
-of natural enemies--cachalots, swordfish, and sawfish--without you
-troubling them."
-
-The Captain was right.  The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these
-fishermen will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale in the
-ocean.  Ned Land whistled "Yankee-doodle" between his teeth, thrust his
-hands into his pockets, and turned his back upon us.  But Captain Nemo
-watched the troop of cetacea, and, addressing me, said:
-
-"I was right in saying that whales had natural enemies enough, without
-counting man.  These will have plenty to do before long.  Do you see,
-M. Aronnax, about eight miles to leeward, those blackish moving points?"
-
-"Yes, Captain," I replied.
-
-"Those are cachalots--terrible animals, which I have met in troops of
-two or three hundred.  As to those, they are cruel, mischievous
-creatures; they would be right in exterminating them."
-
-The Canadian turned quickly at the last words.
-
-"Well, Captain," said he, "it is still time, in the interest of the
-whales."
-
-"It is useless to expose one's self, Professor.  The Nautilus will
-disperse them.  It is armed with a steel spur as good as Master Land's
-harpoon, I imagine."
-
-The Canadian did not put himself out enough to shrug his shoulders.
-Attack cetacea with blows of a spur!  Who had ever heard of such a
-thing?
-
-"Wait, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.  "We will show you something you
-have never yet seen.  We have no pity for these ferocious creatures.
-They are nothing but mouth and teeth."
-
-Mouth and teeth!  No one could better describe the macrocephalous
-cachalot, which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long.  Its
-enormous head occupies one-third of its entire body.  Better armed than
-the whale, whose upper jaw is furnished only with whalebone, it is
-supplied with twenty-five large tusks, about eight inches long,
-cylindrical and conical at the top, each weighing two pounds.  It is in
-the upper part of this enormous head, in great cavities divided by
-cartilages, that is to be found from six to eight hundred pounds of
-that precious oil called spermaceti.  The cachalot is a disagreeable
-creature, more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol's description.
-It is badly formed, the whole of its left side being (if we may say
-it), a "failure," and being only able to see with its right eye.  But
-the formidable troop was nearing us.  They had seen the whales and were
-preparing to attack them.  One could judge beforehand that the
-cachalots would be victorious, not only because they were better built
-for attack than their inoffensive adversaries, but also because they
-could remain longer under water without coming to the surface.  There
-was only just time to go to the help of the whales.  The Nautilus went
-under water.  Conseil, Ned Land, and I took our places before the
-window in the saloon, and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage to
-work his apparatus as an engine of destruction.  Soon I felt the
-beatings of the screw quicken, and our speed increased.  The battle
-between the cachalots and the whales had already begun when the
-Nautilus arrived.  They did not at first show any fear at the sight of
-this new monster joining in the conflict.  But they soon had to guard
-against its blows.  What a battle!  The Nautilus was nothing but a
-formidable harpoon, brandished by the hand of its Captain.  It hurled
-itself against the fleshy mass, passing through from one part to the
-other, leaving behind it two quivering halves of the animal.  It could
-not feel the formidable blows from their tails upon its sides, nor the
-shock which it produced itself, much more.  One cachalot killed, it ran
-at the next, tacked on the spot that it might not miss its prey, going
-forwards and backwards, answering to its helm, plunging when the
-cetacean dived into the deep waters, coming up with it when it returned
-to the surface, striking it front or sideways, cutting or tearing in
-all directions and at any pace, piercing it with its terrible spur.
-What carnage!  What a noise on the surface of the waves!  What sharp
-hissing, and what snorting peculiar to these enraged animals!  In the
-midst of these waters, generally so peaceful, their tails made perfect
-billows.  For one hour this wholesale massacre continued, from which
-the cachalots could not escape.  Several times ten or twelve united
-tried to crush the Nautilus by their weight.  From the window we could
-see their enormous mouths, studded with tusks, and their formidable
-eyes.  Ned Land could not contain himself; he threatened and swore at
-them.  We could feel them clinging to our vessel like dogs worrying a
-wild boar in a copse.  But the Nautilus, working its screw, carried
-them here and there, or to the upper levels of the ocean, without
-caring for their enormous weight, nor the powerful strain on the
-vessel.  At length the mass of cachalots broke up, the waves became
-quiet, and I felt that we were rising to the surface.  The panel
-opened, and we hurried on to the platform.  The sea was covered with
-mutilated bodies.  A formidable explosion could not have divided and
-torn this fleshy mass with more violence.  We were floating amid
-gigantic bodies, bluish on the back and white underneath, covered with
-enormous protuberances.  Some terrified cachalots were flying towards
-the horizon.  The waves were dyed red for several miles, and the
-Nautilus floated in a sea of blood:  Captain Nemo joined us.
-
-"Well, Master Land?" said he.
-
-"Well, sir," replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had somewhat
-calmed; "it is a terrible spectacle, certainly.  But I am not a
-butcher.  I am a hunter, and I call this a butchery."
-
-"It is a massacre of mischievous creatures," replied the Captain; "and
-the Nautilus is not a butcher's knife."
-
-"I like my harpoon better," said the Canadian.
-
-"Every one to his own," answered the Captain, looking fixedly at Ned
-Land.
-
-I feared he would commit some act of violence, which would end in sad
-consequences.  But his anger was turned by the sight of a whale which
-the Nautilus had just come up with.  The creature had not quite escaped
-from the cachalot's teeth.  I recognised the southern whale by its flat
-head, which is entirely black.  Anatomically, it is distinguished from
-the white whale and the North Cape whale by the seven cervical
-vertebrae, and it has two more ribs than its congeners.  The
-unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side, riddled with holes from the
-bites, and quite dead.  From its mutilated fin still hung a young whale
-which it could not save from the massacre.  Its open mouth let the
-water flow in and out, murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore.
-Captain Nemo steered close to the corpse of the creature.  Two of his
-men mounted its side, and I saw, not without surprise, that they were
-drawing from its breasts all the milk which they contained, that is to
-say, about two or three tons.  The Captain offered me a cup of the
-milk, which was still warm.  I could not help showing my repugnance to
-the drink; but he assured me that it was excellent, and not to be
-distinguished from cow's milk.  I tasted it, and was of his opinion.
-It was a useful reserve to us, for in the shape of salt butter or
-cheese it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food.  From
-that day I noticed with uneasiness that Ned Land's ill-will towards
-Captain Nemo increased, and I resolved to watch the Canadian's gestures
-closely.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE ICEBERG
-
-The Nautilus was steadily pursuing its southerly course, following the
-fiftieth meridian with considerable speed.  Did he wish to reach the
-pole?  I did not think so, for every attempt to reach that point had
-hitherto failed.  Again, the season was far advanced, for in the
-Antarctic regions the 13th of March corresponds with the 13th of
-September of northern regions, which begin at the equinoctial season.
-On the 14th of March I saw floating ice in latitude 55 deg., merely
-pale bits of debris from twenty to twenty-five feet long, forming banks
-over which the sea curled.  The Nautilus remained on the surface of the
-ocean.  Ned Land, who had fished in the Arctic Seas, was familiar with
-its icebergs; but Conseil and I admired them for the first time.  In
-the atmosphere towards the southern horizon stretched a white dazzling
-band.  English whalers have given it the name of "ice blink."  However
-thick the clouds may be, it is always visible, and announces the
-presence of an ice pack or bank.  Accordingly, larger blocks soon
-appeared, whose brilliancy changed with the caprices of the fog.  Some
-of these masses showed green veins, as if long undulating lines had
-been traced with sulphate of copper; others resembled enormous
-amethysts with the light shining through them.  Some reflected the
-light of day upon a thousand crystal facets.  Others shaded with vivid
-calcareous reflections resembled a perfect town of marble.  The more we
-neared the south the more these floating islands increased both in
-number and importance.
-
-At 60 deg. lat. every pass had disappeared.  But, seeking carefully,
-Captain Nemo soon found a narrow opening, through which he boldly
-slipped, knowing, however, that it would close behind him.  Thus,
-guided by this clever hand, the Nautilus passed through all the ice
-with a precision which quite charmed Conseil; icebergs or mountains,
-ice-fields or smooth plains, seeming to have no limits, drift-ice or
-floating ice-packs, plains broken up, called palchs when they are
-circular, and streams when they are made up of long strips.  The
-temperature was very low; the thermometer exposed to the air marked 2
-deg. or 3 deg. below zero, but we were warmly clad with fur, at the
-expense of the sea-bear and seal.  The interior of the Nautilus, warmed
-regularly by its electric apparatus, defied the most intense cold.
-Besides, it would only have been necessary to go some yards beneath the
-waves to find a more bearable temperature.  Two months earlier we
-should have had perpetual daylight in these latitudes; but already we
-had had three or four hours of night, and by and by there would be six
-months of darkness in these circumpolar regions.  On the 15th of March
-we were in the latitude of New Shetland and South Orkney.  The Captain
-told me that formerly numerous tribes of seals inhabited them; but that
-English and American whalers, in their rage for destruction, massacred
-both old and young; thus, where there was once life and animation, they
-had left silence and death.
-
-About eight o'clock on the morning of the 16th of March the Nautilus,
-following the fifty-fifth meridian, cut the Antarctic polar circle.
-Ice surrounded us on all sides, and closed the horizon.  But Captain
-Nemo went from one opening to another, still going higher.  I cannot
-express my astonishment at the beauties of these new regions.  The ice
-took most surprising forms.  Here the grouping formed an oriental town,
-with innumerable mosques and minarets; there a fallen city thrown to
-the earth, as it were, by some convulsion of nature.  The whole aspect
-was constantly changed by the oblique rays of the sun, or lost in the
-greyish fog amidst hurricanes of snow.  Detonations and falls were
-heard on all sides, great overthrows of icebergs, which altered the
-whole landscape like a diorama.  Often seeing no exit, I thought we
-were definitely prisoners; but, instinct guiding him at the slightest
-indication, Captain Nemo would discover a new pass.  He was never
-mistaken when he saw the thin threads of bluish water trickling along
-the ice-fields; and I had no doubt that he had already ventured into
-the midst of these Antarctic seas before.  On the 16th of March,
-however, the ice-fields absolutely blocked our road.  It was not the
-iceberg itself, as yet, but vast fields cemented by the cold.  But this
-obstacle could not stop Captain Nemo: he hurled himself against it with
-frightful violence.  The Nautilus entered the brittle mass like a
-wedge, and split it with frightful crackings.  It was the battering ram
-of the ancients hurled by infinite strength.  The ice, thrown high in
-the air, fell like hail around us.  By its own power of impulsion our
-apparatus made a canal for itself; some times carried away by its own
-impetus, it lodged on the ice-field, crushing it with its weight, and
-sometimes buried beneath it, dividing it by a simple pitching movement,
-producing large rents in it.  Violent gales assailed us at this time,
-accompanied by thick fogs, through which, from one end of the platform
-to the other, we could see nothing.  The wind blew sharply from all
-parts of the compass, and the snow lay in such hard heaps that we had
-to break it with blows of a pickaxe.  The temperature was always at 5
-deg. below zero; every outward part of the Nautilus was covered with
-ice.  A rigged vessel would have been entangled in the blocked up
-gorges.  A vessel without sails, with electricity for its motive power,
-and wanting no coal, could alone brave such high latitudes.  At length,
-on the 18th of March, after many useless assaults, the Nautilus was
-positively blocked.  It was no longer either streams, packs, or
-ice-fields, but an interminable and immovable barrier, formed by
-mountains soldered together.
-
-"An iceberg!" said the Canadian to me.
-
-I knew that to Ned Land, as well as to all other navigators who had
-preceded us, this was an inevitable obstacle.  The sun appearing for an
-instant at noon, Captain Nemo took an observation as near as possible,
-which gave our situation at 51 deg. 30' long. and 67 deg. 39' of S.
-lat.  We had advanced one degree more in this Antarctic region.  Of the
-liquid surface of the sea there was no longer a glimpse.  Under the
-spur of the Nautilus lay stretched a vast plain, entangled with
-confused blocks.  Here and there sharp points and slender needles
-rising to a height of 200 feet; further on a steep shore, hewn as it
-were with an axe and clothed with greyish tints; huge mirrors,
-reflecting a few rays of sunshine, half drowned in the fog.  And over
-this desolate face of nature a stern silence reigned, scarcely broken
-by the flapping of the wings of petrels and puffins.  Everything was
-frozen--even the noise.  The Nautilus was then obliged to stop in its
-adventurous course amid these fields of ice.  In spite of our efforts,
-in spite of the powerful means employed to break up the ice, the
-Nautilus remained immovable.  Generally, when we can proceed no
-further, we have return still open to us; but here return was as
-impossible as advance, for every pass had closed behind us; and for the
-few moments when we were stationary, we were likely to be entirely
-blocked, which did indeed happen about two o'clock in the afternoon,
-the fresh ice forming around its sides with astonishing rapidity.  I
-was obliged to admit that Captain Nemo was more than imprudent.  I was
-on the platform at that moment.  The Captain had been observing our
-situation for some time past, when he said to me:
-
-"Well, sir, what do you think of this?"
-
-"I think that we are caught, Captain."
-
-"So, M. Aronnax, you really think that the Nautilus cannot disengage
-itself?"
-
-"With difficulty, Captain; for the season is already too far advanced
-for you to reckon on the breaking of the ice."
-
-"Ah! sir," said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, "you will always be
-the same.  You see nothing but difficulties and obstacles.  I affirm
-that not only can the Nautilus disengage itself, but also that it can
-go further still."
-
-"Further to the South?"  I asked, looking at the Captain.
-
-"Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole."
-
-"To the pole!"  I exclaimed, unable to repress a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain, coldly, "to the Antarctic pole--to that
-unknown point from whence springs every meridian of the globe.  You
-know whether I can do as I please with the Nautilus!"
-
-Yes, I knew that.  I knew that this man was bold, even to rashness.
-But to conquer those obstacles which bristled round the South Pole,
-rendering it more inaccessible than the North, which had not yet been
-reached by the boldest navigators--was it not a mad enterprise, one
-which only a maniac would have conceived?  It then came into my head to
-ask Captain Nemo if he had ever discovered that pole which had never
-yet been trodden by a human creature?
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "but we will discover it together.  Where others
-have failed, I will not fail.  I have never yet led my Nautilus so far
-into southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall go further yet."
-
-"I can well believe you, Captain," said I, in a slightly ironical tone.
-"I believe you!  Let us go ahead!  There are no obstacles for us!  Let
-us smash this iceberg!  Let us blow it up; and, if it resists, let us
-give the Nautilus wings to fly over it!"
-
-"Over it, sir!" said Captain Nemo, quietly; "no, not over it, but under
-it!"
-
-"Under it!"  I exclaimed, a sudden idea of the Captain's projects
-flashing upon my mind.  I understood; the wonderful qualities of the
-Nautilus were going to serve us in this superhuman enterprise.
-
-"I see we are beginning to understand one another, sir," said the
-Captain, half smiling.  "You begin to see the possibility--I should say
-the success--of this attempt.  That which is impossible for an ordinary
-vessel is easy to the Nautilus.  If a continent lies before the pole,
-it must stop before the continent; but if, on the contrary, the pole is
-washed by open sea, it will go even to the pole."
-
-"Certainly," said I, carried away by the Captain's reasoning; "if the
-surface of the sea is solidified by the ice, the lower depths are free
-by the Providential law which has placed the maximum of density of the
-waters of the ocean one degree higher than freezing-point; and, if I am
-not mistaken, the portion of this iceberg which is above the water is
-as one to four to that which is below."
-
-"Very nearly, sir; for one foot of iceberg above the sea there are
-three below it.  If these ice mountains are not more than 300 feet
-above the surface, they are not more than 900 beneath.  And what are
-900 feet to the Nautilus?"
-
-"Nothing, sir."
-
-"It could even seek at greater depths that uniform temperature of
-sea-water, and there brave with impunity the thirty or forty degrees of
-surface cold."
-
-"Just so, sir--just so," I replied, getting animated.
-
-"The only difficulty," continued Captain Nemo, "is that of remaining
-several days without renewing our provision of air."
-
-"Is that all?  The Nautilus has vast reservoirs; we can fill them, and
-they will supply us with all the oxygen we want."
-
-"Well thought of, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain, smiling.  "But, not
-wishing you to accuse me of rashness, I will first give you all my
-objections."
-
-"Have you any more to make?"
-
-"Only one.  It is possible, if the sea exists at the South Pole, that
-it may be covered; and, consequently, we shall be unable to come to the
-surface."
-
-"Good, sir! but do you forget that the Nautilus is armed with a
-powerful spur, and could we not send it diagonally against these fields
-of ice, which would open at the shocks."
-
-"Ah! sir, you are full of ideas to-day."
-
-"Besides, Captain," I added, enthusiastically, "why should we not find
-the sea open at the South Pole as well as at the North?  The frozen
-poles of the earth do not coincide, either in the southern or in the
-northern regions; and, until it is proved to the contrary, we may
-suppose either a continent or an ocean free from ice at these two
-points of the globe."
-
-"I think so too, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo.  "I only wish you
-to observe that, after having made so many objections to my project,
-you are now crushing me with arguments in its favour!"
-
-The preparations for this audacious attempt now began.  The powerful
-pumps of the Nautilus were working air into the reservoirs and storing
-it at high pressure.  About four o'clock, Captain Nemo announced the
-closing of the panels on the platform.  I threw one last look at the
-massive iceberg which we were going to cross.  The weather was clear,
-the atmosphere pure enough, the cold very great, being 12 deg. below
-zero; but, the wind having gone down, this temperature was not so
-unbearable.  About ten men mounted the sides of the Nautilus, armed
-with pickaxes to break the ice around the vessel, which was soon free.
-The operation was quickly performed, for the fresh ice was still very
-thin.  We all went below.  The usual reservoirs were filled with the
-newly-liberated water, and the Nautilus soon descended.  I had taken my
-place with Conseil in the saloon; through the open window we could see
-the lower beds of the Southern Ocean.  The thermometer went up, the
-needle of the compass deviated on the dial.  At about 900 feet, as
-Captain Nemo had foreseen, we were floating beneath the undulating
-bottom of the iceberg.  But the Nautilus went lower still--it went to
-the depth of four hundred fathoms.  The temperature of the water at the
-surface showed twelve degrees, it was now only ten; we had gained two.
-I need not say the temperature of the Nautilus was raised by its
-heating apparatus to a much higher degree; every manoeuvre was
-accomplished with wonderful precision.
-
-"We shall pass it, if you please, sir," said Conseil.
-
-"I believe we shall," I said, in a tone of firm conviction.
-
-In this open sea, the Nautilus had taken its course direct to the pole,
-without leaving the fifty-second meridian.  From 67 deg. 30' to 90
-deg., twenty-two degrees and a half of latitude remained to travel;
-that is, about five hundred leagues.  The Nautilus kept up a mean speed
-of twenty-six miles an hour--the speed of an express train.  If that
-was kept up, in forty hours we should reach the pole.
-
-For a part of the night the novelty of the situation kept us at the
-window.  The sea was lit with the electric lantern; but it was
-deserted; fishes did not sojourn in these imprisoned waters; they only
-found there a passage to take them from the Antarctic Ocean to the open
-polar sea.  Our pace was rapid; we could feel it by the quivering of
-the long steel body.  About two in the morning I took some hours'
-repose, and Conseil did the same.  In crossing the waist I did not meet
-Captain Nemo: I supposed him to be in the pilot's cage.  The next
-morning, the 19th of March, I took my post once more in the saloon.
-The electric log told me that the speed of the Nautilus had been
-slackened.  It was then going towards the surface; but prudently
-emptying its reservoirs very slowly.  My heart beat fast.  Were we
-going to emerge and regain the open polar atmosphere?  No!  A shock
-told me that the Nautilus had struck the bottom of the iceberg, still
-very thick, judging from the deadened sound.  We had in deed "struck,"
-to use a sea expression, but in an inverse sense, and at a thousand
-feet deep.  This would give three thousand feet of ice above us; one
-thousand being above the water-mark. The iceberg was then higher than
-at its borders--not a very reassuring fact.  Several times that day the
-Nautilus tried again, and every time it struck the wall which lay like
-a ceiling above it.  Sometimes it met with but 900 yards, only 200 of
-which rose above the surface.  It was twice the height it was when the
-Nautilus had gone under the waves.  I carefully noted the different
-depths, and thus obtained a submarine profile of the chain as it was
-developed under the water.  That night no change had taken place in our
-situation.  Still ice between four and five hundred yards in depth!  It
-was evidently diminishing, but, still, what a thickness between us and
-the surface of the ocean!  It was then eight.  According to the daily
-custom on board the Nautilus, its air should have been renewed four
-hours ago; but I did not suffer much, although Captain Nemo had not yet
-made any demand upon his reserve of oxygen.  My sleep was painful that
-night; hope and fear besieged me by turns: I rose several times.  The
-groping of the Nautilus continued.  About three in the morning, I
-noticed that the lower surface of the iceberg was only about fifty feet
-deep.  One hundred and fifty feet now separated us from the surface of
-the waters.  The iceberg was by degrees becoming an ice-field, the
-mountain a plain.  My eyes never left the manometer.  We were still
-rising diagonally to the surface, which sparkled under the electric
-rays.  The iceberg was stretching both above and beneath into
-lengthening slopes; mile after mile it was getting thinner.  At length,
-at six in the morning of that memorable day, the 19th of March, the
-door of the saloon opened, and Captain Nemo appeared.
-
-"The sea is open!!" was all he said.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-THE SOUTH POLE
-
-I rushed on to the platform.  Yes! the open sea, with but a few
-scattered pieces of ice and moving icebergs--a long stretch of sea; a
-world of birds in the air, and myriads of fishes under those waters,
-which varied from intense blue to olive green, according to the bottom.
-The thermometer marked 3 deg. C. above zero.  It was comparatively
-spring, shut up as we were behind this iceberg, whose lengthened mass
-was dimly seen on our northern horizon.
-
-"Are we at the pole?"  I asked the Captain, with a beating heart.
-
-"I do not know," he replied.  "At noon I will take our bearings."
-
-"But will the sun show himself through this fog?" said I, looking at
-the leaden sky.
-
-"However little it shows, it will be enough," replied the Captain.
-
-About ten miles south a solitary island rose to a height of one hundred
-and four yards.  We made for it, but carefully, for the sea might be
-strewn with banks.  One hour afterwards we had reached it, two hours
-later we had made the round of it.  It measured four or five miles in
-circumference.  A narrow canal separated it from a considerable stretch
-of land, perhaps a continent, for we could not see its limits.  The
-existence of this land seemed to give some colour to Maury's theory.
-The ingenious American has remarked that, between the South Pole and
-the sixtieth parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice of enormous
-size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic.  From this fact he
-has drawn the conclusion that the Antarctic Circle encloses
-considerable continents, as icebergs cannot form in open sea, but only
-on the coasts.  According to these calculations, the mass of ice
-surrounding the southern pole forms a vast cap, the circumference of
-which must be, at least, 2,500 miles.  But the Nautilus, for fear of
-running aground, had stopped about three cable-lengths from a strand
-over which reared a superb heap of rocks.  The boat was launched; the
-Captain, two of his men, bearing instruments, Conseil, and myself were
-in it.  It was ten in the morning.  I had not seen Ned Land.  Doubtless
-the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of the South Pole.  A
-few strokes of the oar brought us to the sand, where we ran ashore.
-Conseil was going to jump on to the land, when I held him back.
-
-"Sir," said I to Captain Nemo, "to you belongs the honour of first
-setting foot on this land."
-
-"Yes, sir," said the Captain, "and if I do not hesitate to tread this
-South Pole, it is because, up to this time, no human being has left a
-trace there."
-
-Saying this, he jumped lightly on to the sand.  His heart beat with
-emotion.  He climbed a rock, sloping to a little promontory, and there,
-with his arms crossed, mute and motionless, and with an eager look, he
-seemed to take possession of these southern regions.  After five
-minutes passed in this ecstasy, he turned to us.
-
-"When you like, sir."
-
-I landed, followed by Conseil, leaving the two men in the boat.  For a
-long way the soil was composed of a reddish sandy stone, something like
-crushed brick, scoriae, streams of lava, and pumice-stones. One could
-not mistake its volcanic origin.  In some parts, slight curls of smoke
-emitted a sulphurous smell, proving that the internal fires had lost
-nothing of their expansive powers, though, having climbed a high
-acclivity, I could see no volcano for a radius of several miles.  We
-know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found two craters,
-the Erebus and Terror, in full activity, on the 167th meridian,
-latitude 77 deg. 32'. The vegetation of this desolate continent seemed
-to me much restricted.  Some lichens lay upon the black rocks; some
-microscopic plants, rudimentary diatomas, a kind of cells placed
-between two quartz shells; long purple and scarlet weed, supported on
-little swimming bladders, which the breaking of the waves brought to
-the shore.  These constituted the meagre flora of this region.  The
-shore was strewn with molluscs, little mussels, and limpets.  I also
-saw myriads of northern clios, one-and-a-quarter inches long, of which
-a whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful; and some perfect
-sea-butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts of the shore.
-
-There appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs, of the kind
-which, according to James Ross, live in the Antarctic seas to the depth
-of more than 1,000 yards.  Then there were little kingfishers and
-starfish studding the soil.  But where life abounded most was in the
-air.  There thousands of birds fluttered and flew of all kinds,
-deafening us with their cries; others crowded the rock, looking at us
-as we passed by without fear, and pressing familiarly close by our
-feet.  There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward as
-they are on the ground; they were uttering harsh cries, a large
-assembly, sober in gesture, but extravagant in clamour.  Albatrosses
-passed in the air, the expanse of their wings being at least four yards
-and a half, and justly called the vultures of the ocean; some gigantic
-petrels, and some damiers, a kind of small duck, the underpart of whose
-body is black and white; then there were a whole series of petrels,
-some whitish, with brown-bordered wings, others blue, peculiar to the
-Antarctic seas, and so oily, as I told Conseil, that the inhabitants of
-the Ferroe Islands had nothing to do before lighting them but to put a
-wick in.
-
-"A little more," said Conseil, "and they would be perfect lamps!  After
-that, we cannot expect Nature to have previously furnished them with
-wicks!"
-
-About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with ruffs' nests, a
-sort of laying-ground, out of which many birds were issuing.  Captain
-Nemo had some hundreds hunted.  They uttered a cry like the braying of
-an ass, were about the size of a goose, slate-colour on the body, white
-beneath, with a yellow line round their throats; they allowed
-themselves to be killed with a stone, never trying to escape.  But the
-fog did not lift, and at eleven the sun had not yet shown itself.  Its
-absence made me uneasy.  Without it no observations were possible.
-How, then, could we decide whether we had reached the pole?  When I
-rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of rock, silently
-watching the sky.  He seemed impatient and vexed.  But what was to be
-done?  This rash and powerful man could not command the sun as he did
-the sea.  Noon arrived without the orb of day showing itself for an
-instant.  We could not even tell its position behind the curtain of
-fog; and soon the fog turned to snow.
-
-"Till to-morrow," said the Captain, quietly, and we returned to the
-Nautilus amid these atmospheric disturbances.
-
-The tempest of snow continued till the next day.  It was impossible to
-remain on the platform.  From the saloon, where I was taking notes of
-incidents happening during this excursion to the polar continent, I
-could hear the cries of petrels and albatrosses sporting in the midst
-of this violent storm.  The Nautilus did not remain motionless, but
-skirted the coast, advancing ten miles more to the south in the
-half-light left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon.  The
-next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased.  The cold was a
-little greater, the thermometer showing 2 deg. below zero.  The fog
-was rising, and I hoped that that day our observations might be taken.
-Captain Nemo not having yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and myself
-to land.  The soil was still of the same volcanic nature; everywhere
-were traces of lava, scoriae, and basalt; but the crater which had
-vomited them I could not see.  Here, as lower down, this continent was
-alive with myriads of birds.  But their rule was now divided with large
-troops of sea-mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes.  There were
-several kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth, some on flakes of
-ice, many going in and out of the sea.  They did not flee at our
-approach, never having had anything to do with man; and I reckoned that
-there were provisions there for hundreds of vessels.
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "will you tell me the names of these creatures?"
-
-"They are seals and morses."
-
-It was now eight in the morning.  Four hours remained to us before the
-sun could be observed with advantage.  I directed our steps towards a
-vast bay cut in the steep granite shore.  There, I can aver that earth
-and ice were lost to sight by the numbers of sea-mammals covering them,
-and I involuntarily sought for old Proteus, the mythological shepherd
-who watched these immense flocks of Neptune.  There were more seals
-than anything else, forming distinct groups, male and female, the
-father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones,
-some already strong enough to go a few steps.  When they wished to
-change their place, they took little jumps, made by the contraction of
-their bodies, and helped awkwardly enough by their imperfect fin,
-which, as with the lamantin, their cousins, forms a perfect forearm.  I
-should say that, in the water, which is their element--the spine of
-these creatures is flexible; with smooth and close skin and webbed
-feet--they swim admirably.  In resting on the earth they take the most
-graceful attitudes.  Thus the ancients, observing their soft and
-expressive looks, which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look
-a woman can give, their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming
-positions, and the poetry of their manners, metamorphosed them, the
-male into a triton and the female into a mermaid.  I made Conseil
-notice the considerable development of the lobes of the brain in these
-interesting cetaceans.  No mammal, except man, has such a quantity of
-brain matter; they are also capable of receiving a certain amount of
-education, are easily domesticated, and I think, with other
-naturalists, that if properly taught they would be of great service as
-fishing-dogs.  The greater part of them slept on the rocks or on the
-sand.  Amongst these seals, properly so called, which have no external
-ears (in which they differ from the otter, whose ears are prominent), I
-noticed several varieties of seals about three yards long, with a white
-coat, bulldog heads, armed with teeth in both jaws, four incisors at
-the top and four at the bottom, and two large canine teeth in the shape
-of a fleur-de-lis. Amongst them glided sea-elephants, a kind of seal,
-with short, flexible trunks.  The giants of this species measured
-twenty feet round and ten yards and a half in length; but they did not
-move as we approached.
-
-"These creatures are not dangerous?" asked Conseil.
-
-"No; not unless you attack them.  When they have to defend their young
-their rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon for them to break the
-fishing-boats to pieces."
-
-"They are quite right," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not say they are not."
-
-Two miles farther on we were stopped by the promontory which shelters
-the bay from the southerly winds.  Beyond it we heard loud bellowings
-such as a troop of ruminants would produce.
-
-"Good!" said Conseil; "a concert of bulls!"
-
-"No; a concert of morses."
-
-"They are fighting!"
-
-"They are either fighting or playing."
-
-We now began to climb the blackish rocks, amid unforeseen stumbles, and
-over stones which the ice made slippery.  More than once I rolled over
-at the expense of my loins.  Conseil, more prudent or more steady, did
-not stumble, and helped me up, saying:
-
-"If, sir, you would have the kindness to take wider steps, you would
-preserve your equilibrium better."
-
-Arrived at the upper ridge of the promontory, I saw a vast white plain
-covered with morses.  They were playing amongst themselves, and what we
-heard were bellowings of pleasure, not of anger.
-
-As I passed these curious animals I could examine them leisurely, for
-they did not move.  Their skins were thick and rugged, of a yellowish
-tint, approaching to red; their hair was short and scant.  Some of them
-were four yards and a quarter long.  Quieter and less timid than their
-cousins of the north, they did not, like them, place sentinels round
-the outskirts of their encampment.  After examining this city of
-morses, I began to think of returning.  It was eleven o'clock, and, if
-Captain Nemo found the conditions favourable for observations, I wished
-to be present at the operation.  We followed a narrow pathway running
-along the summit of the steep shore.  At half-past eleven we had
-reached the place where we landed.  The boat had run aground, bringing
-the Captain.  I saw him standing on a block of basalt, his instruments
-near him, his eyes fixed on the northern horizon, near which the sun
-was then describing a lengthened curve.  I took my place beside him,
-and waited without speaking.  Noon arrived, and, as before, the sun did
-not appear.  It was a fatality.  Observations were still wanting.  If
-not accomplished to-morrow, we must give up all idea of taking any.  We
-were indeed exactly at the 20th of March.  To-morrow, the 21st, would
-be the equinox; the sun would disappear behind the horizon for six
-months, and with its disappearance the long polar night would begin.
-Since the September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon,
-rising by lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December.  At this
-period, the summer solstice of the northern regions, it had begun to
-descend; and to-morrow was to shed its last rays upon them.  I
-communicated my fears and observations to Captain Nemo.
-
-"You are right, M. Aronnax," said he; "if to-morrow I cannot take the
-altitude of the sun, I shall not be able to do it for six months.  But
-precisely because chance has led me into these seas on the 21st of
-March, my bearings will be easy to take, if at twelve we can see the
-sun."
-
-"Why, Captain?"
-
-"Because then the orb of day described such lengthened curves that it
-is difficult to measure exactly its height above the horizon, and grave
-errors may be made with instruments."
-
-"What will you do then?"
-
-"I shall only use my chronometer," replied Captain Nemo.  "If
-to-morrow, the 21st of March, the disc of the sun, allowing for
-refraction, is exactly cut by the northern horizon, it will show that I
-am at the South Pole."
-
-"Just so," said I. "But this statement is not mathematically correct,
-because the equinox does not necessarily begin at noon."
-
-"Very likely, sir; but the error will not be a hundred yards and we do
-not want more.  Till to-morrow, then!"
-
-Captain Nemo returned on board.  Conseil and I remained to survey the
-shore, observing and studying until five o'clock. Then I went to bed,
-not, however, without invoking, like the Indian, the favour of the
-radiant orb.  The next day, the 21st of March, at five in the morning,
-I mounted the platform.  I found Captain Nemo there.
-
-"The weather is lightening a little," said he.  "I have some hope.
-After breakfast we will go on shore and choose a post for observation."
-
-That point settled, I sought Ned Land.  I wanted to take him with me.
-But the obstinate Canadian refused, and I saw that his taciturnity and
-his bad humour grew day by day.  After all, I was not sorry for his
-obstinacy under the circumstances.  Indeed, there were too many seals
-on shore, and we ought not to lay such temptation in this unreflecting
-fisherman's way.  Breakfast over, we went on shore.  The Nautilus had
-gone some miles further up in the night.  It was a whole league from
-the coast, above which reared a sharp peak about five hundred yards
-high.  The boat took with me Captain Nemo, two men of the crew, and the
-instruments, which consisted of a chronometer, a telescope, and a
-barometer.  While crossing, I saw numerous whales belonging to the
-three kinds peculiar to the southern seas; the whale, or the English
-"right whale," which has no dorsal fin; the "humpback," with reeved
-chest and large, whitish fins, which, in spite of its name, do not form
-wings; and the fin-back, of a yellowish brown, the liveliest of all the
-cetacea.  This powerful creature is heard a long way off when he throws
-to a great height columns of air and vapour, which look like whirlwinds
-of smoke.  These different mammals were disporting themselves in troops
-in the quiet waters; and I could see that this basin of the Antarctic
-Pole serves as a place of refuge to the cetacea too closely tracked by
-the hunters.  I also noticed large medusae floating between the reeds.
-
-At nine we landed; the sky was brightening, the clouds were flying to
-the south, and the fog seemed to be leaving the cold surface of the
-waters.  Captain Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant
-to be his observatory.  It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava and
-the pumice-stones, in an atmosphere often impregnated with a sulphurous
-smell from the smoking cracks.  For a man unaccustomed to walk on land,
-the Captain climbed the steep slopes with an agility I never saw
-equalled and which a hunter would have envied.  We were two hours
-getting to the summit of this peak, which was half porphyry and half
-basalt.  From thence we looked upon a vast sea which, towards the
-north, distinctly traced its boundary line upon the sky.  At our feet
-lay fields of dazzling whiteness.  Over our heads a pale azure, free
-from fog.  To the north the disc of the sun seemed like a ball of fire,
-already horned by the cutting of the horizon.  From the bosom of the
-water rose sheaves of liquid jets by hundreds.  In the distance lay the
-Nautilus like a cetacean asleep on the water.  Behind us, to the south
-and east, an immense country and a chaotic heap of rocks and ice, the
-limits of which were not visible.  On arriving at the summit Captain
-Nemo carefully took the mean height of the barometer, for he would have
-to consider that in taking his observations.  At a quarter to twelve
-the sun, then seen only by refraction, looked like a golden disc
-shedding its last rays upon this deserted continent and seas which
-never man had yet ploughed.  Captain Nemo, furnished with a lenticular
-glass which, by means of a mirror, corrected the refraction, watched
-the orb sinking below the horizon by degrees, following a lengthened
-diagonal.  I held the chronometer.  My heart beat fast.  If the
-disappearance of the half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve o'clock
-on the chronometer, we were at the pole itself.
-
-"Twelve!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"The South Pole!" replied Captain Nemo, in a grave voice, handing me
-the glass, which showed the orb cut in exactly equal parts by the
-horizon.
-
-I looked at the last rays crowning the peak, and the shadows mounting
-by degrees up its slopes.  At that moment Captain Nemo, resting with
-his hand on my shoulder, said:
-
-"I, Captain Nemo, on this 21st day of March, 1868, have reached the
-South Pole on the ninetieth degree; and I take possession of this part
-of the globe, equal to one-sixth of the known continents."
-
-"In whose name, Captain?"
-
-"In my own, sir!"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an "N" in
-gold quartered on its bunting.  Then, turning towards the orb of day,
-whose last rays lapped the horizon of the sea, he exclaimed:
-
-"Adieu, sun!  Disappear, thou radiant orb! rest beneath this open sea,
-and let a night of six months spread its shadows over my new domains!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?
-
-The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning, preparations
-for departure were begun.  The last gleams of twilight were melting
-into night.  The cold was great, the constellations shone with
-wonderful intensity.  In the zenith glittered that wondrous Southern
-Cross--the polar bear of Antarctic regions.  The thermometer showed 120
-below zero, and when the wind freshened it was most biting.  Flakes of
-ice increased on the open water.  The sea seemed everywhere alike.
-Numerous blackish patches spread on the surface, showing the formation
-of fresh ice.  Evidently the southern basin, frozen during the six
-winter months, was absolutely inaccessible.  What became of the whales
-in that time?  Doubtless they went beneath the icebergs, seeking more
-practicable seas.  As to the seals and morses, accustomed to live in a
-hard climate, they remained on these icy shores.  These creatures have
-the instinct to break holes in the ice-field and to keep them open.  To
-these holes they come for breath; when the birds, driven away by the
-cold, have emigrated to the north, these sea mammals remain sole
-masters of the polar continent.  But the reservoirs were filling with
-water, and the Nautilus was slowly descending.  At 1,000 feet deep it
-stopped; its screw beat the waves, and it advanced straight towards the
-north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour.  Towards night it was
-already floating under the immense body of the iceberg.  At three in
-the morning I was awakened by a violent shock.  I sat up in my bed and
-listened in the darkness, when I was thrown into the middle of the
-room.  The Nautilus, after having struck, had rebounded violently.  I
-groped along the partition, and by the staircase to the saloon, which
-was lit by the luminous ceiling.  The furniture was upset.  Fortunately
-the windows were firmly set, and had held fast.  The pictures on the
-starboard side, from being no longer vertical, were clinging to the
-paper, whilst those of the port side were hanging at least a foot from
-the wall.  The Nautilus was lying on its starboard side perfectly
-motionless.  I heard footsteps, and a confusion of voices; but Captain
-Nemo did not appear.  As I was leaving the saloon, Ned Land and Conseil
-entered.
-
-"What is the matter?" said I, at once.
-
-"I came to ask you, sir," replied Conseil.
-
-"Confound it!" exclaimed the Canadian, "I know well enough!  The
-Nautilus has struck; and, judging by the way she lies, I do not think
-she will right herself as she did the first time in Torres Straits."
-
-"But," I asked, "has she at least come to the surface of the sea?"
-
-"We do not know," said Conseil.
-
-"It is easy to decide," I answered.  I consulted the manometer.  To my
-great surprise, it showed a depth of more than 180 fathoms.  "What does
-that mean?"  I exclaimed.
-
-"We must ask Captain Nemo," said Conseil.
-
-"But where shall we find him?" said Ned Land.
-
-"Follow me," said I, to my companions.
-
-We left the saloon.  There was no one in the library.  At the centre
-staircase, by the berths of the ship's crew, there was no one.  I
-thought that Captain Nemo must be in the pilot's cage.  It was best to
-wait.  We all returned to the saloon.  For twenty minutes we remained
-thus, trying to hear the slightest noise which might be made on board
-the Nautilus, when Captain Nemo entered.  He seemed not to see us; his
-face, generally so impassive, showed signs of uneasiness.  He watched
-the compass silently, then the manometer; and, going to the
-planisphere, placed his finger on a spot representing the southern
-seas.  I would not interrupt him; but, some minutes later, when he
-turned towards me, I said, using one of his own expressions in the
-Torres Straits:
-
-"An incident, Captain?"
-
-"No, sir; an accident this time."
-
-"Serious?"
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Is the danger immediate?"
-
-"No."
-
-"The Nautilus has stranded?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And this has happened--how?"
-
-"From a caprice of nature, not from the ignorance of man.  Not a
-mistake has been made in the working.  But we cannot prevent
-equilibrium from producing its effects.  We may brave human laws, but
-we cannot resist natural ones."
-
-Captain Nemo had chosen a strange moment for uttering this
-philosophical reflection.  On the whole, his answer helped me little.
-
-"May I ask, sir, the cause of this accident?"
-
-"An enormous block of ice, a whole mountain, has turned over," he
-replied.  "When icebergs are undermined at their base by warmer water
-or reiterated shocks their centre of gravity rises, and the whole thing
-turns over.  This is what has happened; one of these blocks, as it
-fell, struck the Nautilus, then, gliding under its hull, raised it with
-irresistible force, bringing it into beds which are not so thick, where
-it is lying on its side."
-
-"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that
-it might regain its equilibrium?"
-
-"That, sir, is being done at this moment.  You can hear the pump
-working.  Look at the needle of the manometer; it shows that the
-Nautilus is rising, but the block of ice is floating with it; and,
-until some obstacle stops its ascending motion, our position cannot be
-altered."
-
-Indeed, the Nautilus still held the same position to starboard;
-doubtless it would right itself when the block stopped.  But at this
-moment who knows if we may not be frightfully crushed between the two
-glassy surfaces?  I reflected on all the consequences of our position.
-Captain Nemo never took his eyes off the manometer.  Since the fall of
-the iceberg, the Nautilus had risen about a hundred and fifty feet, but
-it still made the same angle with the perpendicular.  Suddenly a slight
-movement was felt in the hold.  Evidently it was righting a little.
-Things hanging in the saloon were sensibly returning to their normal
-position.  The partitions were nearing the upright.  No one spoke.
-With beating hearts we watched and felt the straightening.  The boards
-became horizontal under our feet.  Ten minutes passed.
-
-"At last we have righted!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes," said Captain Nemo, going to the door of the saloon.
-
-"But are we floating?"  I asked.
-
-"Certainly," he replied; "since the reservoirs are not empty; and, when
-empty, the Nautilus must rise to the surface of the sea."
-
-We were in open sea; but at a distance of about ten yards, on either
-side of the Nautilus, rose a dazzling wall of ice.  Above and beneath
-the same wall.  Above, because the lower surface of the iceberg
-stretched over us like an immense ceiling.  Beneath, because the
-overturned block, having slid by degrees, had found a resting-place on
-the lateral walls, which kept it in that position.  The Nautilus was
-really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice more than twenty yards in
-breadth, filled with quiet water.  It was easy to get out of it by
-going either forward or backward, and then make a free passage under
-the iceberg, some hundreds of yards deeper.  The luminous ceiling had
-been extinguished, but the saloon was still resplendent with intense
-light.  It was the powerful reflection from the glass partition sent
-violently back to the sheets of the lantern.  I cannot describe the
-effect of the voltaic rays upon the great blocks so capriciously cut;
-upon every angle, every ridge, every facet was thrown a different
-light, according to the nature of the veins running through the ice; a
-dazzling mine of gems, particularly of sapphires, their blue rays
-crossing with the green of the emerald.  Here and there were opal
-shades of wonderful softness, running through bright spots like
-diamonds of fire, the brilliancy of which the eye could not bear.  The
-power of the lantern seemed increased a hundredfold, like a lamp
-through the lenticular plates of a first-class lighthouse.
-
-"How beautiful! how beautiful!" cried Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I said, "it is a wonderful sight.  Is it not, Ned?"
-
-"Yes, confound it!  Yes," answered Ned Land, "it is superb!  I am mad
-at being obliged to admit it.  No one has ever seen anything like it;
-but the sight may cost us dear.  And, if I must say all, I think we are
-seeing here things which God never intended man to see."
-
-Ned was right, it was too beautiful.  Suddenly a cry from Conseil made
-me turn.
-
-"What is it?"  I asked.
-
-"Shut your eyes, sir!  Do not look, sir!"  Saying which, Conseil
-clapped his hands over his eyes.
-
-"But what is the matter, my boy?"
-
-"I am dazzled, blinded."
-
-My eyes turned involuntarily towards the glass, but I could not stand
-the fire which seemed to devour them.  I understood what had happened.
-The Nautilus had put on full speed.  All the quiet lustre of the
-ice-walls was at once changed into flashes of lightning.  The fire from
-these myriads of diamonds was blinding.  It required some time to calm
-our troubled looks.  At last the hands were taken down.
-
-"Faith, I should never have believed it," said Conseil.
-
-It was then five in the morning; and at that moment a shock was felt at
-the bows of the Nautilus.  I knew that its spur had struck a block of
-ice.  It must have been a false manoeuvre, for this submarine tunnel,
-obstructed by blocks, was not very easy navigation.  I thought that
-Captain Nemo, by changing his course, would either turn these obstacles
-or else follow the windings of the tunnel.  In any case, the road
-before us could not be entirely blocked.  But, contrary to my
-expectations, the Nautilus took a decided retrograde motion.
-
-"We are going backwards?" said Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I replied.  "This end of the tunnel can have no egress."
-
-"And then?"
-
-"Then," said I, "the working is easy.  We must go back again, and go
-out at the southern opening.  That is all."
-
-In speaking thus, I wished to appear more confident than I really was.
-But the retrograde motion of the Nautilus was increasing; and,
-reversing the screw, it carried us at great speed.
-
-"It will be a hindrance," said Ned.
-
-"What does it matter, some hours more or less, provided we get out at
-last?"
-
-"Yes," repeated Ned Land, "provided we do get out at last!"
-
-For a short time I walked from the saloon to the library.  My
-companions were silent.  I soon threw myself on an ottoman, and took a
-book, which my eyes overran mechanically.  A quarter of an hour after,
-Conseil, approaching me, said, "Is what you are reading very
-interesting, sir?"
-
-"Very interesting!"  I replied.
-
-"I should think so, sir.  It is your own book you are reading."
-
-"My book?"
-
-And indeed I was holding in my hand the work on the Great Submarine
-Depths.  I did not even dream of it.  I closed the book and returned to
-my walk.  Ned and Conseil rose to go.
-
-"Stay here, my friends," said I, detaining them.  "Let us remain
-together until we are out of this block."
-
-"As you please, sir," Conseil replied.
-
-Some hours passed.  I often looked at the instruments hanging from the
-partition.  The manometer showed that the Nautilus kept at a constant
-depth of more than three hundred yards; the compass still pointed to
-south; the log indicated a speed of twenty miles an hour, which, in
-such a cramped space, was very great.  But Captain Nemo knew that he
-could not hasten too much, and that minutes were worth ages to us.  At
-twenty-five minutes past eight a second shock took place, this time
-from behind.  I turned pale.  My companions were close by my side.  I
-seized Conseil's hand.  Our looks expressed our feelings better than
-words.  At this moment the Captain entered the saloon.  I went up to
-him.
-
-"Our course is barred southward?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The iceberg has shifted and closed every outlet."
-
-"We are blocked up then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-WANT OF AIR
-
-Thus around the Nautilus, above and below, was an impenetrable wall of
-ice.  We were prisoners to the iceberg.  I watched the Captain.  His
-countenance had resumed its habitual imperturbability.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said calmly, "there are two ways of dying in the
-circumstances in which we are placed."  (This puzzling person had the
-air of a mathematical professor lecturing to his pupils.) "The first is
-to be crushed; the second is to die of suffocation.  I do not speak of
-the possibility of dying of hunger, for the supply of provisions in the
-Nautilus will certainly last longer than we shall.  Let us, then,
-calculate our chances."
-
-"As to suffocation, Captain," I replied, "that is not to be feared,
-because our reservoirs are full."
-
-"Just so; but they will only yield two days' supply of air.  Now, for
-thirty-six hours we have been hidden under the water, and already the
-heavy atmosphere of the Nautilus requires renewal.  In forty-eight
-hours our reserve will be exhausted."
-
-"Well, Captain, can we be delivered before forty-eight hours?"
-
-"We will attempt it, at least, by piercing the wall that surrounds us."
-
-"On which side?"
-
-"Sound will tell us.  I am going to run the Nautilus aground on the
-lower bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side that is
-least thick."
-
-Captain Nemo went out.  Soon I discovered by a hissing noise that the
-water was entering the reservoirs.  The Nautilus sank slowly, and
-rested on the ice at a depth of 350 yards, the depth at which the lower
-bank was immersed.
-
-"My friends," I said, "our situation is serious, but I rely on your
-courage and energy."
-
-"Sir," replied the Canadian, "I am ready to do anything for the general
-safety."
-
-"Good!  Ned," and I held out my hand to the Canadian.
-
-"I will add," he continued, "that, being as handy with the pickaxe as
-with the harpoon, if I can be useful to the Captain, he can command my
-services."
-
-"He will not refuse your help.  Come, Ned!"
-
-I led him to the room where the crew of the Nautilus were putting on
-their cork-jackets. I told the Captain of Ned's proposal, which he
-accepted.  The Canadian put on his sea-costume, and was ready as soon
-as his companions.  When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the
-drawing-room, where the panes of glass were open, and, posted near
-Conseil, I examined the ambient beds that supported the Nautilus.  Some
-instants after, we saw a dozen of the crew set foot on the bank of ice,
-and among them Ned Land, easily known by his stature.  Captain Nemo was
-with them.  Before proceeding to dig the walls, he took the soundings,
-to be sure of working in the right direction.  Long sounding lines were
-sunk in the side walls, but after fifteen yards they were again stopped
-by the thick wall.  It was useless to attack it on the ceiling-like
-surface, since the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in
-height.  Captain Nemo then sounded the lower surface.  There ten yards
-of wall separated us from the water, so great was the thickness of the
-ice-field. It was necessary, therefore, to cut from it a piece equal in
-extent to the waterline of the Nautilus.  There were about 6,000 cubic
-yards to detach, so as to dig a hole by which we could descend to the
-ice-field. The work had begun immediately and carried on with
-indefatigable energy.  Instead of digging round the Nautilus which
-would have involved greater difficulty, Captain Nemo had an immense
-trench made at eight yards from the port-quarter. Then the men set to
-work simultaneously with their screws on several points of its
-circumference.  Presently the pickaxe attacked this compact matter
-vigorously, and large blocks were detached from the mass.  By a curious
-effect of specific gravity, these blocks, lighter than water, fled, so
-to speak, to the vault of the tunnel, that increased in thickness at
-the top in proportion as it diminished at the base.  But that mattered
-little, so long as the lower part grew thinner.  After two hours' hard
-work, Ned Land came in exhausted.  He and his comrades were replaced by
-new workers, whom Conseil and I joined.  The second lieutenant of the
-Nautilus superintended us.  The water seemed singularly cold, but I
-soon got warm handling the pickaxe.  My movements were free enough,
-although they were made under a pressure of thirty atmospheres.  When I
-re-entered, after working two hours, to take some food and rest, I
-found a perceptible difference between the pure fluid with which the
-Rouquayrol engine supplied me and the atmosphere of the Nautilus,
-already charged with carbonic acid.  The air had not been renewed for
-forty-eight hours, and its vivifying qualities were considerably
-enfeebled.  However, after a lapse of twelve hours, we had only raised
-a block of ice one yard thick, on the marked surface, which was about
-600 cubic yards!  Reckoning that it took twelve hours to accomplish
-this much it would take five nights and four days to bring this
-enterprise to a satisfactory conclusion.  Five nights and four days!
-And we have only air enough for two days in the reservoirs!  "Without
-taking into account," said Ned, "that, even if we get out of this
-infernal prison, we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg, shut
-out from all possible communication with the atmosphere." True enough!
-Who could then foresee the minimum of time necessary for our
-deliverance?  We might be suffocated before the Nautilus could regain
-the surface of the waves?  Was it destined to perish in this ice-tomb,
-with all those it enclosed?  The situation was terrible.  But everyone
-had looked the danger in the face, and each was determined to do his
-duty to the last.
-
-As I expected, during the night a new block a yard square was carried
-away, and still further sank the immense hollow.  But in the morning
-when, dressed in my cork-jacket, I traversed the slushy mass at a
-temperature of six or seven degrees below zero, I remarked that the
-side walls were gradually closing in.  The beds of water farthest from
-the trench, that were not warmed by the men's work, showed a tendency
-to solidification.  In presence of this new and imminent danger, what
-would become of our chances of safety, and how hinder the
-solidification of this liquid medium, that would burst the partitions
-of the Nautilus like glass?
-
-I did not tell my companions of this new danger.  What was the good of
-damping the energy they displayed in the painful work of escape?  But
-when I went on board again, I told Captain Nemo of this grave
-complication.
-
-"I know it," he said, in that calm tone which could counteract the most
-terrible apprehensions.  "It is one danger more; but I see no way of
-escaping it; the only chance of safety is to go quicker than
-solidification.  We must be beforehand with it, that is all."
-
-On this day for several hours I used my pickaxe vigorously.  The work
-kept me up.  Besides, to work was to quit the Nautilus, and breathe
-directly the pure air drawn from the reservoirs, and supplied by our
-apparatus, and to quit the impoverished and vitiated atmosphere.
-Towards evening the trench was dug one yard deeper.  When I returned on
-board, I was nearly suffocated by the carbonic acid with which the air
-was filled--ah! if we had only the chemical means to drive away this
-deleterious gas.  We had plenty of oxygen; all this water contained a
-considerable quantity, and by dissolving it with our powerful piles, it
-would restore the vivifying fluid.  I had thought well over it; but of
-what good was that, since the carbonic acid produced by our respiration
-had invaded every part of the vessel?  To absorb it, it was necessary
-to fill some jars with caustic potash, and to shake them incessantly.
-Now this substance was wanting on board, and nothing could replace it.
-On that evening, Captain Nemo ought to open the taps of his reservoirs,
-and let some pure air into the interior of the Nautilus; without this
-precaution we could not get rid of the sense of suffocation.  The next
-day, March 26th, I resumed my miner's work in beginning the fifth yard.
-The side walls and the lower surface of the iceberg thickened visibly.
-It was evident that they would meet before the Nautilus was able to
-disengage itself.  Despair seized me for an instant; my pickaxe nearly
-fell from my hands.  What was the good of digging if I must be
-suffocated, crushed by the water that was turning into stone?--a
-punishment that the ferocity of the savages even would not have
-invented!  Just then Captain Nemo passed near me.  I touched his hand
-and showed him the walls of our prison.  The wall to port had advanced
-to at least four yards from the hull of the Nautilus.  The Captain
-understood me, and signed me to follow him.  We went on board.  I took
-off my cork-jacket and accompanied him into the drawing-room.
-
-"M. Aronnax, we must attempt some desperate means, or we shall be
-sealed up in this solidified water as in cement."
-
-"Yes; but what is to be done?"
-
-"Ah! if my Nautilus were strong enough to bear this pressure without
-being crushed!"
-
-"Well?"  I asked, not catching the Captain's idea.
-
-"Do you not understand," he replied, "that this congelation of water
-will help us?  Do you not see that by its solidification, it would
-burst through this field of ice that imprisons us, as, when it freezes,
-it bursts the hardest stones?  Do you not perceive that it would be an
-agent of safety instead of destruction?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, perhaps.  But, whatever resistance to crushing the
-Nautilus possesses, it could not support this terrible pressure, and
-would be flattened like an iron plate."
-
-"I know it, sir.  Therefore we must not reckon on the aid of nature,
-but on our own exertions.  We must stop this solidification.  Not only
-will the side walls be pressed together; but there is not ten feet of
-water before or behind the Nautilus.  The congelation gains on us on
-all sides."
-
-"How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on
-board?"
-
-The Captain looked in my face.  "After to-morrow they will be empty!"
-
-A cold sweat came over me.  However, ought I to have been astonished at
-the answer?  On March 22, the Nautilus was in the open polar seas.  We
-were at 26 deg.. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board.
-And what was left of the respirable air must be kept for the workers.
-Even now, as I write, my recollection is still so vivid that an
-involuntary terror seizes me and my lungs seem to be without air.
-Meanwhile, Captain Nemo reflected silently, and evidently an idea had
-struck him; but he seemed to reject it.  At last, these words escaped
-his lips:
-
-"Boiling water!" he muttered.
-
-"Boiling water?"  I cried.
-
-"Yes, sir.  We are enclosed in a space that is relatively confined.
-Would not jets of boiling water, constantly injected by the pumps,
-raise the temperature in this part and stay the congelation?"
-
-"Let us try it," I said resolutely.
-
-"Let us try it, Professor."
-
-The thermometer then stood at 7 deg. outside.  Captain Nemo took me to
-the galleys, where the vast distillatory machines stood that furnished
-the drinkable water by evaporation.  They filled these with water, and
-all the electric heat from the piles was thrown through the worms
-bathed in the liquid.  In a few minutes this water reached 100 deg.. It
-was directed towards the pumps, while fresh water replaced it in
-proportion.  The heat developed by the troughs was such that cold
-water, drawn up from the sea after only having gone through the
-machines, came boiling into the body of the pump.  The injection was
-begun, and three hours after the thermometer marked 6 deg. below zero
-outside.  One degree was gained.  Two hours later the thermometer only
-marked 4 deg..
-
-"We shall succeed," I said to the Captain, after having anxiously
-watched the result of the operation.
-
-"I think," he answered, "that we shall not be crushed.  We have no more
-suffocation to fear."
-
-During the night the temperature of the water rose to 1 deg. below
-zero.  The injections could not carry it to a higher point.  But, as
-the congelation of the sea-water produces at least 2 deg., I was at
-least reassured against the dangers of solidification.
-
-The next day, March 27th, six yards of ice had been cleared, twelve
-feet only remaining to be cleared away.  There was yet forty-eight
-hours' work.  The air could not be renewed in the interior of the
-Nautilus.  And this day would make it worse.  An intolerable weight
-oppressed me.  Towards three o'clock in the evening this feeling rose
-to a violent degree.  Yawns dislocated my jaws.  My lungs panted as
-they inhaled this burning fluid, which became rarefied more and more.
-A moral torpor took hold of me.  I was powerless, almost unconscious.
-My brave Conseil, though exhibiting the same symptoms and suffering in
-the same manner, never left me.  He took my hand and encouraged me, and
-I heard him murmur, "Oh! if I could only not breathe, so as to leave
-more air for my master!"
-
-Tears came into my eyes on hearing him speak thus.  If our situation to
-all was intolerable in the interior, with what haste and gladness would
-we put on our cork-jackets to work in our turn!  Pickaxes sounded on
-the frozen ice-beds. Our arms ached, the skin was torn off our hands.
-But what were these fatigues, what did the wounds matter?  Vital air
-came to the lungs!  We breathed! we breathed!
-
-All this time no one prolonged his voluntary task beyond the prescribed
-time.  His task accomplished, each one handed in turn to his panting
-companions the apparatus that supplied him with life.  Captain Nemo set
-the example, and submitted first to this severe discipline.  When the
-time came, he gave up his apparatus to another and returned to the
-vitiated air on board, calm, unflinching, unmurmuring.
-
-On that day the ordinary work was accomplished with unusual vigour.
-Only two yards remained to be raised from the surface.  Two yards only
-separated us from the open sea.  But the reservoirs were nearly emptied
-of air.  The little that remained ought to be kept for the workers; not
-a particle for the Nautilus.  When I went back on board, I was half
-suffocated.  What a night!  I know not how to describe it.  The next
-day my breathing was oppressed.  Dizziness accompanied the pain in my
-head and made me like a drunken man.  My companions showed the same
-symptoms.  Some of the crew had rattling in the throat.
-
-On that day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo, finding the
-pickaxes work too slowly, resolved to crush the ice-bed that still
-separated us from the liquid sheet.  This man's coolness and energy
-never forsook him.  He subdued his physical pains by moral force.
-
-By his orders the vessel was lightened, that is to say, raised from the
-ice-bed by a change of specific gravity.  When it floated they towed it
-so as to bring it above the immense trench made on the level of the
-water-line. Then, filling his reservoirs of water, he descended and
-shut himself up in the hole.
-
-Just then all the crew came on board, and the double door of
-communication was shut.  The Nautilus then rested on the bed of ice,
-which was not one yard thick, and which the sounding leads had
-perforated in a thousand places.  The taps of the reservoirs were then
-opened, and a hundred cubic yards of water was let in, increasing the
-weight of the Nautilus to 1,800 tons.  We waited, we listened,
-forgetting our sufferings in hope.  Our safety depended on this last
-chance.  Notwithstanding the buzzing in my head, I soon heard the
-humming sound under the hull of the Nautilus.  The ice cracked with a
-singular noise, like tearing paper, and the Nautilus sank.
-
-"We are off!" murmured Conseil in my ear.
-
-I could not answer him.  I seized his hand, and pressed it
-convulsively.  All at once, carried away by its frightful overcharge,
-the Nautilus sank like a bullet under the waters, that is to say, it
-fell as if it was in a vacuum.  Then all the electric force was put on
-the pumps, that soon began to let the water out of the reservoirs.
-After some minutes, our fall was stopped.  Soon, too, the manometer
-indicated an ascending movement.  The screw, going at full speed, made
-the iron hull tremble to its very bolts and drew us towards the north.
-But if this floating under the iceberg is to last another day before we
-reach the open sea, I shall be dead first.
-
-Half stretched upon a divan in the library, I was suffocating.  My face
-was purple, my lips blue, my faculties suspended.  I neither saw nor
-heard.  All notion of time had gone from my mind.  My muscles could not
-contract.  I do not know how many hours passed thus, but I was
-conscious of the agony that was coming over me.  I felt as if I was
-going to die.  Suddenly I came to.  Some breaths of air penetrated my
-lungs.  Had we risen to the surface of the waves?  Were we free of the
-iceberg?  No!  Ned and Conseil, my two brave friends, were sacrificing
-themselves to save me.  Some particles of air still remained at the
-bottom of one apparatus.  Instead of using it, they had kept it for me,
-and, while they were being suffocated, they gave me life, drop by drop.
-I wanted to push back the thing; they held my hands, and for some
-moments I breathed freely.  I looked at the clock; it was eleven in the
-morning.  It ought to be the 28th of March.  The Nautilus went at a
-frightful pace, forty miles an hour.  It literally tore through the
-water.  Where was Captain Nemo?  Had he succumbed?  Were his companions
-dead with him?  At the moment the manometer indicated that we were not
-more than twenty feet from the surface.  A mere plate of ice separated
-us from the atmosphere.  Could we not break it?  Perhaps.  In any case
-the Nautilus was going to attempt it.  I felt that it was in an oblique
-position, lowering the stern, and raising the bows.  The introduction
-of water had been the means of disturbing its equilibrium.  Then,
-impelled by its powerful screw, it attacked the ice-field from beneath
-like a formidable battering-ram.  It broke it by backing and then
-rushing forward against the field, which gradually gave way; and at
-last, dashing suddenly against it, shot forwards on the ice-field, that
-crushed beneath its weight.  The panel was opened--one might say torn
-off--and the pure air came in in abundance to all parts of the Nautilus.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON
-
-How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian had
-carried me there.  But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air.  My
-two companions were getting drunk with the fresh particles.  The other
-unhappy men had been so long without food, that they could not with
-impunity indulge in the simplest aliments that were given them.  We, on
-the contrary, had no end to restrain ourselves; we could draw this air
-freely into our lungs, and it was the breeze, the breeze alone, that
-filled us with this keen enjoyment.
-
-"Ah!" said Conseil, "how delightful this oxygen is!  Master need not
-fear to breathe it.  There is enough for everybody."
-
-Ned Land did not speak, but he opened his jaws wide enough to frighten
-a shark.  Our strength soon returned, and, when I looked round me, I
-saw we were alone on the platform.  The foreign seamen in the Nautilus
-were contented with the air that circulated in the interior; none of
-them had come to drink in the open air.
-
-The first words I spoke were words of gratitude and thankfulness to my
-two companions.  Ned and Conseil had prolonged my life during the last
-hours of this long agony.  All my gratitude could not repay such
-devotion.
-
-"My friends," said I, "we are bound one to the other for ever, and I am
-under infinite obligations to you."
-
-"Which I shall take advantage of," exclaimed the Canadian.
-
-"What do you mean?" said Conseil.
-
-"I mean that I shall take you with me when I leave this infernal
-Nautilus."
-
-"Well," said Conseil, "after all this, are we going right?"
-
-"Yes," I replied, "for we are going the way of the sun, and here the
-sun is in the north."
-
-"No doubt," said Ned Land; "but it remains to be seen whether he will
-bring the ship into the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean, that is, into
-frequented or deserted seas."
-
-I could not answer that question, and I feared that Captain Nemo would
-rather take us to the vast ocean that touches the coasts of Asia and
-America at the same time.  He would thus complete the tour round the
-submarine world, and return to those waters in which the Nautilus could
-sail freely.  We ought, before long, to settle this important point.
-The Nautilus went at a rapid pace.  The polar circle was soon passed,
-and the course shaped for Cape Horn.  We were off the American point,
-March 31st, at seven o'clock in the evening.  Then all our past
-sufferings were forgotten.  The remembrance of that imprisonment in the
-ice was effaced from our minds.  We only thought of the future.
-Captain Nemo did not appear again either in the drawing-room or on the
-platform.  The point shown each day on the planisphere, and, marked by
-the lieutenant, showed me the exact direction of the Nautilus.  Now, on
-that evening, it was evident, to, my great satisfaction, that we were
-going back to the North by the Atlantic.  The next day, April 1st, when
-the Nautilus ascended to the surface some minutes before noon, we
-sighted land to the west.  It was Terra del Fuego, which the first
-navigators named thus from seeing the quantity of smoke that rose from
-the natives' huts.  The coast seemed low to me, but in the distance
-rose high mountains.  I even thought I had a glimpse of Mount
-Sarmiento, that rises 2,070 yards above the level of the sea, with a
-very pointed summit, which, according as it is misty or clear, is a
-sign of fine or of wet weather.  At this moment the peak was clearly
-defined against the sky.  The Nautilus, diving again under the water,
-approached the coast, which was only some few miles off.  From the
-glass windows in the drawing-room, I saw long seaweeds and gigantic
-fuci and varech, of which the open polar sea contains so many
-specimens, with their sharp polished filaments; they measured about 300
-yards in length--real cables, thicker than one's thumb; and, having
-great tenacity, they are often used as ropes for vessels.  Another weed
-known as velp, with leaves four feet long, buried in the coral
-concretions, hung at the bottom.  It served as nest and food for
-myriads of crustacea and molluscs, crabs, and cuttlefish.  There seals
-and otters had splendid repasts, eating the flesh of fish with
-sea-vegetables, according to the English fashion.  Over this fertile
-and luxuriant ground the Nautilus passed with great rapidity.  Towards
-evening it approached the Falkland group, the rough summits of which I
-recognised the following day.  The depth of the sea was moderate.  On
-the shores our nets brought in beautiful specimens of sea weed, and
-particularly a certain fucus, the roots of which were filled with the
-best mussels in the world.  Geese and ducks fell by dozens on the
-platform, and soon took their places in the pantry on board.
-
-When the last heights of the Falklands had disappeared from the
-horizon, the Nautilus sank to between twenty and twenty-five yards, and
-followed the American coast.  Captain Nemo did not show himself.  Until
-the 3rd of April we did not quit the shores of Patagonia, sometimes
-under the ocean, sometimes at the surface.  The Nautilus passed beyond
-the large estuary formed by the Uraguay.  Its direction was northwards,
-and followed the long windings of the coast of South America.  We had
-then made 1,600 miles since our embarkation in the seas of Japan.
-About eleven o'clock in the morning the Tropic of Capricorn was crossed
-on the thirty-seventh meridian, and we passed Cape Frio standing out to
-sea.  Captain Nemo, to Ned Land's great displeasure, did not like the
-neighbourhood of the inhabited coasts of Brazil, for we went at a giddy
-speed.  Not a fish, not a bird of the swiftest kind could follow us,
-and the natural curiosities of these seas escaped all observation.
-
-This speed was kept up for several days, and in the evening of the 9th
-of April we sighted the most westerly point of South America that forms
-Cape San Roque.  But then the Nautilus swerved again, and sought the
-lowest depth of a submarine valley which is between this Cape and
-Sierra Leone on the African coast.  This valley bifurcates to the
-parallel of the Antilles, and terminates at the mouth by the enormous
-depression of 9,000 yards.  In this place, the geological basin of the
-ocean forms, as far as the Lesser Antilles, a cliff to three and a half
-miles perpendicular in height, and, at the parallel of the Cape Verde
-Islands, an other wall not less considerable, that encloses thus all
-the sunk continent of the Atlantic.  The bottom of this immense valley
-is dotted with some mountains, that give to these submarine places a
-picturesque aspect.  I speak, moreover, from the manuscript charts that
-were in the library of the Nautilus--charts evidently due to Captain
-Nemo's hand, and made after his personal observations.  For two days
-the desert and deep waters were visited by means of the inclined
-planes.  The Nautilus was furnished with long diagonal broadsides which
-carried it to all elevations.  But on the 11th of April it rose
-suddenly, and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast
-estuary, the embouchure of which is so considerable that it freshens
-the sea-water for the distance of several leagues.
-
-The equator was crossed. Twenty miles to the west were the Guianas, a
-French territory, on which we could have found an easy refuge; but a
-stiff breeze was blowing, and the furious waves would not have allowed
-a single boat to face them. Ned Land understood that, no doubt, for he
-spoke not a word about it. For my part, I made no allusion to his
-schemes of flight, for I would not urge him to make an attempt that
-must inevitably fail. I made the time pass pleasantly by interesting
-studies.  During the days of April 11th and 12th, the Nautilus did not
-leave the surface of the sea, and the net brought in a marvellous haul
-of Zoophytes, fish and reptiles. Some zoophytes had been fished up by
-the chain of the nets; they were for the most part beautiful
-phyctallines, belonging to the actinidian family, and among other
-species the phyctalis protexta, peculiar to that part of the ocean,
-with a little cylindrical trunk, ornamented With vertical lines,
-speckled with red dots, crowning a marvellous blossoming of tentacles.
-As to the molluscs, they consisted of some I had already
-observed--turritellas, olive porphyras, with regular lines
-intercrossed, with red spots standing out plainly against the flesh;
-odd pteroceras, like petrified scorpions; translucid hyaleas,
-argonauts, cuttle-fish (excellent eating), and certain species of
-calmars that naturalists of antiquity have classed amongst the
-flying-fish, and that serve principally for bait for cod-fishing. I had
-now an opportunity of studying several species of fish on these shores.
-Amongst the cartilaginous ones, petromyzons-pricka, a sort of eel,
-fifteen inches long, with a greenish head, violet fins, grey-blue back,
-brown belly, silvered and sown with bright spots, the pupil of the eye
-encircled with gold--a curious animal, that the current of the Amazon
-had drawn to the sea, for they inhabit fresh waters--tuberculated
-streaks, with pointed snouts, and a long loose tail, armed with a long
-jagged sting; little sharks, a yard long, grey and whitish skin, and
-several rows of teeth, bent back, that are generally known by the name
-of pantouffles; vespertilios, a kind of red isosceles triangle, half a
-yard long, to which pectorals are attached by fleshy prolongations that
-make them look like bats, but that their horny appendage, situated near
-the nostrils, has given them the name of sea-unicorns; lastly, some
-species of balistae, the curassavian, whose spots were of a brilliant
-gold colour, and the capriscus of clear violet, and with varying shades
-like a pigeon's throat.
-
-I end here this catalogue, which is somewhat dry perhaps, but very
-exact, with a series of bony fish that I observed in passing belonging
-to the apteronotes, and whose snout is white as snow, the body of a
-beautiful black, marked with a very long loose fleshy strip;
-odontognathes, armed with spikes; sardines nine inches long, glittering
-with a bright silver light; a species of mackerel provided with two
-anal fins; centronotes of a blackish tint, that are fished for with
-torches, long fish, two yards in length, with fat flesh, white and
-firm, which, when they arc fresh, taste like eel, and when dry, like
-smoked salmon; labres, half red, covered with scales only at the bottom
-of the dorsal and anal fins; chrysoptera, on which gold and silver
-blend their brightness with that of the ruby and topaz; golden-tailed
-spares, the flesh of which is extremely delicate, and whose
-phosphorescent properties betray them in the midst of the waters;
-orange-coloured spares with long tongues; maigres, with gold caudal
-fins, dark thorn-tails, anableps of Surinam, etc.
-
-Notwithstanding this "et cetera," I must not omit to mention fish that
-Conseil will long remember, and with good reason. One of our nets had
-hauled up a sort of very flat ray fish, which, with the tail cut off,
-formed a perfect disc, and weighed twenty ounces. It was white
-underneath, red above, with large round spots of dark blue encircled
-with black, very glossy skin, terminating in a bilobed fin. Laid out on
-the platform, it struggled, tried to turn itself by convulsive
-movements, and made so many efforts, that one last turn had nearly sent
-it into the sea. But Conseil, not wishing to let the fish go, rushed to
-it, and, before I could prevent him, had seized it with both hands. In
-a moment he was overthrown, his legs in the air, and half his body
-paralysed, crying--
-
-"Oh! master, master! help me!"
-
-It was the first time the poor boy had spoken to me so familiarly.  The
-Canadian and I took him up, and rubbed his contracted arms till he
-became sensible. The unfortunate Conseil had attacked a cramp-fish of
-the most dangerous kind, the cumana. This odd animal, in a medium
-conductor like water, strikes fish at several yards' distance, so great
-is the power of its electric organ, the two principal surfaces of which
-do not measure less than twenty-seven square feet. The next day, April
-12th, the Nautilus approached the Dutch coast, near the mouth of the
-Maroni. There several groups of sea-cows herded together; they were
-manatees, that, like the dugong and the stellera, belong to the skenian
-order. These beautiful animals, peaceable and inoffensive, from
-eighteen to twenty-one feet in length, weigh at least sixteen
-hundredweight. I told Ned Land and Conseil that provident nature had
-assigned an important role to these mammalia. Indeed, they, like the
-seals, are designed to graze on the submarine prairies, and thus
-destroy the accumulation of weed that obstructs the tropical rivers.
-
-"And do you know," I added, "what has been the result since men have
-almost entirely annihilated this useful race? That the putrefied weeds
-have poisoned the air, and the poisoned air causes the yellow fever,
-that desolates these beautiful countries. Enormous vegetations are
-multiplied under the torrid seas, and the evil is irresistibly
-developed from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to Florida. If we are
-to believe Toussenel, this plague is nothing to what it would be if the
-seas were cleaned of whales and seals. Then, infested with poulps,
-medusae, and cuttle-fish, they would become immense centres of
-infection, since their waves would not possess 'these vast stomachs
-that God had charged to infest the surface of the seas.'"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-THE POULPS
-
-For several days the Nautilus kept off from the American coast.
-Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of Mexico or of
-the sea of the Antilles.  April 16th, we sighted Martinique and
-Guadaloupe from a distance of about thirty miles.  I saw their tall
-peaks for an instant.  The Canadian, who counted on carrying out his
-projects in the Gulf, by either landing or hailing one of the numerous
-boats that coast from one island to another, was quite disheartened.
-Flight would have been quite practicable, if Ned Land had been able to
-take possession of the boat without the Captain's knowledge.  But in
-the open sea it could not be thought of.  The Canadian, Conseil, and I
-had a long conversation on this subject.  For six months we had been
-prisoners on board the Nautilus.  We had travelled 17,000 leagues; and,
-as Ned Land said, there was no reason why it should come to an end.  We
-could hope nothing from the Captain of the Nautilus, but only from
-ourselves.  Besides, for some time past he had become graver, more
-retired, less sociable.  He seemed to shun me.  I met him rarely.
-Formerly he was pleased to explain the submarine marvels to me; now he
-left me to my studies, and came no more to the saloon.  What change had
-come over him?  For what cause?  For my part, I did not wish to bury
-with me my curious and novel studies.  I had now the power to write the
-true book of the sea; and this book, sooner or later, I wished to see
-daylight.  The land nearest us was the archipelago of the Bahamas.
-There rose high submarine cliffs covered with large weeds.  It was
-about eleven o'clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable
-pricking, like the sting of an ant, which was produced by means of
-large seaweeds.
-
-"Well," I said, "these are proper caverns for poulps, and I should not
-be astonished to see some of these monsters."
-
-"What!" said Conseil; "cuttlefish, real cuttlefish of the cephalopod
-class?"
-
-"No," I said, "poulps of huge dimensions."
-
-"I will never believe that such animals exist," said Ned.
-
-"Well," said Conseil, with the most serious air in the world, "I
-remember perfectly to have seen a large vessel drawn under the waves by
-an octopus's arm."
-
-"You saw that?" said the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, Ned."
-
-"With your own eyes?"
-
-"With my own eyes."
-
-"Where, pray, might that be?"
-
-"At St. Malo," answered Conseil.
-
-"In the port?" said Ned, ironically.
-
-"No; in a church," replied Conseil.
-
-"In a church!" cried the Canadian.
-
-"Yes; friend Ned.  In a picture representing the poulp in question."
-
-"Good!" said Ned Land, bursting out laughing.
-
-"He is quite right," I said.  "I have heard of this picture; but the
-subject represented is taken from a legend, and you know what to think
-of legends in the matter of natural history.  Besides, when it is a
-question of monsters, the imagination is apt to run wild.  Not only is
-it supposed that these poulps can draw down vessels, but a certain
-Olaus Magnus speaks of an octopus a mile long that is more like an
-island than an animal.  It is also said that the Bishop of Nidros was
-building an altar on an immense rock.  Mass finished, the rock began to
-walk, and returned to the sea.  The rock was a poulp.  Another Bishop,
-Pontoppidan, speaks also of a poulp on which a regiment of cavalry
-could manoeuvre.  Lastly, the ancient naturalists speak of monsters
-whose mouths were like gulfs, and which were too large to pass through
-the Straits of Gibraltar."
-
-"But how much is true of these stories?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth
-to get to fable or legend.  Nevertheless, there must be some ground for
-the imagination of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps and
-cuttlefish exist of a large species, inferior, however, to the
-cetaceans.  Aristotle has stated the dimensions of a cuttlefish as five
-cubits, or nine feet two inches.  Our fishermen frequently see some
-that are more than four feet long.  Some skeletons of poulps are
-preserved in the museums of Trieste and Montpelier, that measure two
-yards in length.  Besides, according to the calculations of some
-naturalists, one of these animals only six feet long would have
-tentacles twenty-seven feet long.  That would suffice to make a
-formidable monster."
-
-"Do they fish for them in these days?" asked Ned.
-
-"If they do not fish for them, sailors see them at least.  One of my
-friends, Captain Paul Bos of Havre, has often affirmed that he met one
-of these monsters of colossal dimensions in the Indian seas.  But the
-most astonishing fact, and which does not permit of the denial of the
-existence of these gigantic animals, happened some years ago, in 1861."
-
-"What is the fact?" asked Ned Land.
-
-"This is it.  In 1861, to the north-east of Teneriffe, very nearly in
-the same latitude we are in now, the crew of the despatch-boat Alector
-perceived a monstrous cuttlefish swimming in the waters.  Captain
-Bouguer went near to the animal, and attacked it with harpoon and guns,
-without much success, for balls and harpoons glided over the soft
-flesh.  After several fruitless attempts the crew tried to pass a
-slip-knot round the body of the mollusc.  The noose slipped as far as
-the tail fins and there stopped.  They tried then to haul it on board,
-but its weight was so considerable that the tightness of the cord
-separated the tail from the body, and, deprived of this ornament, he
-disappeared under the water."
-
-"Indeed! is that a fact?"
-
-"An indisputable fact, my good Ned.  They proposed to name this poulp
-`Bouguer's cuttlefish.'"
-
-"What length was it?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Did it not measure about six yards?" said Conseil, who, posted at the
-window, was examining again the irregular windings of the cliff.
-
-"Precisely," I replied.
-
-"Its head," rejoined Conseil, "was it not crowned with eight tentacles,
-that beat the water like a nest of serpents?"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"Had not its eyes, placed at the back of its head, considerable
-development?"
-
-"Yes, Conseil."
-
-"And was not its mouth like a parrot's beak?"
-
-"Exactly, Conseil."
-
-"Very well! no offence to master," he replied, quietly; "if this is not
-Bouguer's cuttlefish, it is, at least, one of its brothers."
-
-I looked at Conseil.  Ned Land hurried to the window.
-
-"What a horrible beast!" he cried.
-
-I looked in my turn, and could not repress a gesture of disgust.
-Before my eyes was a horrible monster worthy to figure in the legends
-of the marvellous.  It was an immense cuttlefish, being eight yards
-long.  It swam crossways in the direction of the Nautilus with great
-speed, watching us with its enormous staring green eyes.  Its eight
-arms, or rather feet, fixed to its head, that have given the name of
-cephalopod to these animals, were twice as long as its body, and were
-twisted like the furies' hair.  One could see the 250 air holes on the
-inner side of the tentacles.  The monster's mouth, a horned beak like a
-parrot's, opened and shut vertically.  Its tongue, a horned substance,
-furnished with several rows of pointed teeth, came out quivering from
-this veritable pair of shears.  What a freak of nature, a bird's beak
-on a mollusc!  Its spindle-like body formed a fleshy mass that might
-weigh 4,000 to 5,000 lb.; the, varying colour changing with great
-rapidity, according to the irritation of the animal, passed
-successively from livid grey to reddish brown.  What irritated this
-mollusc?  No doubt the presence of the Nautilus, more formidable than
-itself, and on which its suckers or its jaws had no hold.  Yet, what
-monsters these poulps are! what vitality the Creator has given them!
-what vigour in their movements! and they possess three hearts!  Chance
-had brought us in presence of this cuttlefish, and I did not wish to
-lose the opportunity of carefully studying this specimen of
-cephalopods.  I overcame the horror that inspired me, and, taking a
-pencil, began to draw it.
-
-"Perhaps this is the same which the Alector saw," said Conseil.
-
-"No," replied the Canadian; "for this is whole, and the other had lost
-its tail."
-
-"That is no reason," I replied.  "The arms and tails of these animals
-are re-formed by renewal; and in seven years the tail of Bouguer's
-cuttlefish has no doubt had time to grow."
-
-By this time other poulps appeared at the port light.  I counted seven.
-They formed a procession after the Nautilus, and I heard their beaks
-gnashing against the iron hull.  I continued my work.  These monsters
-kept in the water with such precision that they seemed immovable.
-Suddenly the Nautilus stopped.  A shock made it tremble in every plate.
-
-"Have we struck anything?"  I asked.
-
-"In any case," replied the Canadian, "we shall be free, for we are
-floating."
-
-The Nautilus was floating, no doubt, but it did not move.  A minute
-passed.  Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, entered the
-drawing-room. I had not seen him for some time.  He seemed dull.
-Without noticing or speaking to us, he went to the panel, looked at the
-poulps, and said something to his lieutenant.  The latter went out.
-Soon the panels were shut.  The ceiling was lighted.  I went towards
-the Captain.
-
-"A curious collection of poulps?"  I said.
-
-"Yes, indeed, Mr. Naturalist," he replied; "and we are going to fight
-them, man to beast."
-
-I looked at him.  I thought I had not heard aright.
-
-"Man to beast?"  I repeated.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The screw is stopped.  I think that the horny jaws of one
-of the cuttlefish is entangled in the blades.  That is what prevents
-our moving."
-
-"What are you going to do?"
-
-"Rise to the surface, and slaughter this vermin."
-
-"A difficult enterprise."
-
-"Yes, indeed.  The electric bullets are powerless against the soft
-flesh, where they do not find resistance enough to go off.  But we
-shall attack them with the hatchet."
-
-"And the harpoon, sir," said the Canadian, "if you do not refuse my
-help."
-
-"I will accept it, Master Land."
-
-"We will follow you," I said, and, following Captain Nemo, we went
-towards the central staircase.
-
-There, about ten men with boarding-hatchets were ready for the attack.
-Conseil and I took two hatchets; Ned Land seized a harpoon.  The
-Nautilus had then risen to the surface.  One of the sailors, posted on
-the top ladderstep, unscrewed the bolts of the panels.  But hardly were
-the screws loosed, when the panel rose with great violence, evidently
-drawn by the suckers of a poulp's arm.  Immediately one of these arms
-slid like a serpent down the opening and twenty others were above.
-With one blow of the axe, Captain Nemo cut this formidable tentacle,
-that slid wriggling down the ladder.  Just as we were pressing one on
-the other to reach the platform, two other arms, lashing the air, came
-down on the seaman placed before Captain Nemo, and lifted him up with
-irresistible power.  Captain Nemo uttered a cry, and rushed out.  We
-hurried after him.
-
-What a scene!  The unhappy man, seized by the tentacle and fixed to the
-suckers, was balanced in the air at the caprice of this enormous trunk.
-He rattled in his throat, he was stifled, he cried, "Help! help!"
-These words, spoken in French, startled me!  I had a fellow-countryman
-on board, perhaps several!  That heart-rending cry!  I shall hear it
-all my life.  The unfortunate man was lost.  Who could rescue him from
-that powerful pressure?  However, Captain Nemo had rushed to the poulp,
-and with one blow of the axe had cut through one arm.  His lieutenant
-struggled furiously against other monsters that crept on the flanks of
-the Nautilus.  The crew fought with their axes.  The Canadian, Conseil,
-and I buried our weapons in the fleshy masses; a strong smell of musk
-penetrated the atmosphere.  It was horrible!
-
-For one instant, I thought the unhappy man, entangled with the poulp,
-would be torn from its powerful suction.  Seven of the eight arms had
-been cut off.  One only wriggled in the air, brandishing the victim
-like a feather.  But just as Captain Nemo and his lieutenant threw
-themselves on it, the animal ejected a stream of black liquid.  We were
-blinded with it.  When the cloud dispersed, the cuttlefish had
-disappeared, and my unfortunate countryman with it.  Ten or twelve
-poulps now invaded the platform and sides of the Nautilus.  We rolled
-pell-mell into the midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled on the
-platform in the waves of blood and ink.  It seemed as though these
-slimy tentacles sprang up like the hydra's heads.  Ned Land's harpoon,
-at each stroke, was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish.
-But my bold companion was suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a
-monster he had not been able to avoid.
-
-Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror!  The formidable beak of
-a cuttlefish was open over Ned Land.  The unhappy man would be cut in
-two.  I rushed to his succour.  But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe
-disappeared between the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the
-Canadian, rising, plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart of the
-poulp.
-
-"I owed myself this revenge!" said the Captain to the Canadian.
-
-Ned bowed without replying.  The combat had lasted a quarter of an
-hour.  The monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and
-disappeared under the waves.  Captain Nemo, covered with blood, nearly
-exhausted, gazed upon the sea that had swallowed up one of his
-companions, and great tears gathered in his eyes.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-THE GULF STREAM
-
-This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget.  I
-have written it under the influence of violent emotion.  Since then I
-have revised the recital; I have read it to Conseil and to the
-Canadian.  They found it exact as to facts, but insufficient as to
-effect.  To paint such pictures, one must have the pen of the most
-illustrious of our poets, the author of The Toilers of the Deep.
-
-I have said that Captain Nemo wept while watching the waves; his grief
-was great.  It was the second companion he had lost since our arrival
-on board, and what a death!  That friend, crushed, stifled, bruised by
-the dreadful arms of a poulp, pounded by his iron jaws, would not rest
-with his comrades in the peaceful coral cemetery!  In the midst of the
-struggle, it was the despairing cry uttered by the unfortunate man that
-had torn my heart.  The poor Frenchman, forgetting his conventional
-language, had taken to his own mother tongue, to utter a last appeal!
-Amongst the crew of the Nautilus, associated with the body and soul of
-the Captain, recoiling like him from all contact with men, I had a
-fellow-countryman. Did he alone represent France in this mysterious
-association, evidently composed of individuals of divers nationalities?
-It was one of these insoluble problems that rose up unceasingly before
-my mind!
-
-Captain Nemo entered his room, and I saw him no more for some time.
-But that he was sad and irresolute I could see by the vessel, of which
-he was the soul, and which received all his impressions.  The Nautilus
-did not keep on in its settled course; it floated about like a corpse
-at the will of the waves.  It went at random.  He could not tear
-himself away from the scene of the last struggle, from this sea that
-had devoured one of his men.  Ten days passed thus.  It was not till
-the 1st of May that the Nautilus resumed its northerly course, after
-having sighted the Bahamas at the mouth of the Bahama Canal.  We were
-then following the current from the largest river to the sea, that has
-its banks, its fish, and its proper temperatures.  I mean the Gulf
-Stream.  It is really a river, that flows freely to the middle of the
-Atlantic, and whose waters do not mix with the ocean waters.  It is a
-salt river, salter than the surrounding sea.  Its mean depth is 1,500
-fathoms, its mean breadth ten miles.  In certain places the current
-flows with the speed of two miles and a half an hour.  The body of its
-waters is more considerable than that of all the rivers in the globe.
-It was on this ocean river that the Nautilus then sailed.
-
-I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters of the
-Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light, especially
-in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently.  May 8th, we
-were still crossing Cape Hatteras, at the height of the North Caroline.
-The width of the Gulf Stream there is seventy-five miles, and its depth
-210 yards.  The Nautilus still went at random; all supervision seemed
-abandoned.  I thought that, under these circumstances, escape would be
-possible.  Indeed, the inhabited shores offered anywhere an easy
-refuge.  The sea was incessantly ploughed by the steamers that ply
-between New York or Boston and the Gulf of Mexico, and overrun day and
-night by the little schooners coasting about the several parts of the
-American coast.  We could hope to be picked up.  It was a favourable
-opportunity, notwithstanding the thirty miles that separated the
-Nautilus from the coasts of the Union.  One unfortunate circumstance
-thwarted the Canadian's plans.  The weather was very bad.  We were
-nearing those shores where tempests are so frequent, that country of
-waterspouts and cyclones actually engendered by the current of the Gulf
-Stream.  To tempt the sea in a frail boat was certain destruction.  Ned
-Land owned this himself.  He fretted, seized with nostalgia that flight
-only could cure.
-
-"Master," he said that day to me, "this must come to an end.  I must
-make a clean breast of it.  This Nemo is leaving land and going up to
-the north.  But I declare to you that I have had enough of the South
-Pole, and I will not follow him to the North."
-
-"What is to be done, Ned, since flight is impracticable just now?"
-
-"We must speak to the Captain," said he; "you said nothing when we were
-in your native seas.  I will speak, now we are in mine.  When I think
-that before long the Nautilus will be by Nova Scotia, and that there
-near New foundland is a large bay, and into that bay the St. Lawrence
-empties itself, and that the St. Lawrence is my river, the river by
-Quebec, my native town--when I think of this, I feel furious, it makes
-my hair stand on end.  Sir, I would rather throw myself into the sea!
-I will not stay here!  I am stifled!"
-
-The Canadian was evidently losing all patience.  His vigorous nature
-could not stand this prolonged imprisonment.  His face altered daily;
-his temper became more surly.  I knew what he must suffer, for I was
-seized with home-sickness myself.  Nearly seven months had passed
-without our having had any news from land; Captain Nemo's isolation,
-his altered spirits, especially since the fight with the poulps, his
-taciturnity, all made me view things in a different light.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned, seeing I did not reply.
-
-"Well, Ned, do you wish me to ask Captain Nemo his intentions
-concerning us?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Although he has already made them known?"
-
-"Yes; I wish it settled finally.  Speak for me, in my name only, if you
-like."
-
-"But I so seldom meet him.  He avoids me."
-
-"That is all the more reason for you to go to see him."
-
-I went to my room.  From thence I meant to go to Captain Nemo's.  It
-would not do to let this opportunity of meeting him slip.  I knocked at
-the door.  No answer.  I knocked again, then turned the handle.  The
-door opened, I went in.  The Captain was there.  Bending over his
-work-table, he had not heard me.  Resolved not to go without having
-spoken, I approached him.  He raised his head quickly, frowned, and
-said roughly, "You here!  What do you want?"
-
-"To speak to you, Captain."
-
-"But I am busy, sir; I am working.  I leave you at liberty to shut
-yourself up; cannot I be allowed the same?"
-
-This reception was not encouraging; but I was determined to hear and
-answer everything.
-
-"Sir," I said coldly, "I have to speak to you on a matter that admits
-of no delay."
-
-"What is that, sir?" he replied, ironically.  "Have you discovered
-something that has escaped me, or has the sea delivered up any new
-secrets?"
-
-We were at cross-purposes. But, before I could reply, he showed me an
-open manuscript on his table, and said, in a more serious tone, "Here,
-M. Aronnax, is a manuscript written in several languages.  It contains
-the sum of my studies of the sea; and, if it please God, it shall not
-perish with me.  This manuscript, signed with my name, complete with
-the history of my life, will be shut up in a little floating case.  The
-last survivor of all of us on board the Nautilus will throw this case
-into the sea, and it will go whither it is borne by the waves."
-
-This man's name! his history written by himself!  His mystery would
-then be revealed some day.
-
-"Captain," I said, "I can but approve of the idea that makes you act
-thus.  The result of your studies must not be lost.  But the means you
-employ seem to me to be primitive.  Who knows where the winds will
-carry this case, and in whose hands it will fall?  Could you not use
-some other means?  Could not you, or one of yours----"
-
-"Never, sir!" he said, hastily interrupting me.
-
-"But I and my companions are ready to keep this manuscript in store;
-and, if you will put us at liberty----"
-
-"At liberty?" said the Captain, rising.
-
-"Yes, sir; that is the subject on which I wish to question you.  For
-seven months we have been here on board, and I ask you to-day, in the
-name of my companions and in my own, if your intention is to keep us
-here always?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, I will answer you to-day as I did seven months ago:
-Whoever enters the Nautilus, must never quit it."
-
-"You impose actual slavery upon us!"
-
-"Give it what name you please."
-
-"But everywhere the slave has the right to regain his liberty."
-
-"Who denies you this right?  Have I ever tried to chain you with an
-oath?"
-
-He looked at me with his arms crossed.
-
-"Sir," I said, "to return a second time to this subject will be neither
-to your nor to my taste; but, as we have entered upon it, let us go
-through with it.  I repeat, it is not only myself whom it concerns.
-Study is to me a relief, a diversion, a passion that could make me
-forget everything.  Like you, I am willing to live obscure, in the
-frail hope of bequeathing one day, to future time, the result of my
-labours.  But it is otherwise with Ned Land.  Every man, worthy of the
-name, deserves some consideration.  Have you thought that love of
-liberty, hatred of slavery, can give rise to schemes of revenge in a
-nature like the Canadian's; that he could think, attempt, and try----"
-
-I was silenced; Captain Nemo rose.
-
-"Whatever Ned Land thinks of, attempts, or tries, what does it matter
-to me?  I did not seek him!  It is not for my pleasure that I keep him
-on board!  As for you, M. Aronnax, you are one of those who can
-understand everything, even silence.  I have nothing more to say to
-you.  Let this first time you have come to treat of this subject be the
-last, for a second time I will not listen to you."
-
-I retired.  Our situation was critical.  I related my conversation to
-my two companions.
-
-"We know now," said Ned, "that we can expect nothing from this man.
-The Nautilus is nearing Long Island.  We will escape, whatever the
-weather may be."
-
-But the sky became more and more threatening.  Symptoms of a hurricane
-became manifest.  The atmosphere was becoming white and misty.  On the
-horizon fine streaks of cirrhous clouds were succeeded by masses of
-cumuli.  Other low clouds passed swiftly by.  The swollen sea rose in
-huge billows.  The birds disappeared with the exception of the petrels,
-those friends of the storm.  The barometer fell sensibly, and indicated
-an extreme extension of the vapours.  The mixture of the storm glass
-was decomposed under the influence of the electricity that pervaded the
-atmosphere.  The tempest burst on the 18th of May, just as the Nautilus
-was floating off Long Island, some miles from the port of New York.  I
-can describe this strife of the elements! for, instead of fleeing to
-the depths of the sea, Captain Nemo, by an unaccountable caprice, would
-brave it at the surface.  The wind blew from the south-west at first.
-Captain Nemo, during the squalls, had taken his place on the platform.
-He had made himself fast, to prevent being washed overboard by the
-monstrous waves.  I had hoisted myself up, and made myself fast also,
-dividing my admiration between the tempest and this extraordinary man
-who was coping with it.  The raging sea was swept by huge cloud-drifts,
-which were actually saturated with the waves.  The Nautilus, sometimes
-lying on its side, sometimes standing up like a mast, rolled and
-pitched terribly.  About five o'clock a torrent of rain fell, that
-lulled neither sea nor wind.  The hurri cane blew nearly forty leagues
-an hour.  It is under these conditions that it overturns houses, breaks
-iron gates, displaces twenty-four pounders.  However, the Nautilus, in
-the midst of the tempest, confirmed the words of a clever engineer,
-"There is no well-constructed hull that cannot defy the sea." This was
-not a resisting rock; it was a steel spindle, obedient and movable,
-without rigging or masts, that braved its fury with impunity.  However,
-I watched these raging waves attentively.  They measured fifteen feet
-in height, and 150 to 175 yards long, and their speed of propagation
-was thirty feet per second.  Their bulk and power increased with the
-depth of the water.  Such waves as these, at the Hebrides, have
-displaced a mass weighing 8,400 lb.  They are they which, in the
-tempest of December 23rd, 1864, after destroying the town of Yeddo, in
-Japan, broke the same day on the shores of America.  The intensity of
-the tempest increased with the night.  The barometer, as in 1860 at
-Reunion during a cyclone, fell seven-tenths at the close of day.  I saw
-a large vessel pass the horizon struggling painfully.  She was trying
-to lie to under half steam, to keep up above the waves.  It was
-probably one of the steamers of the line from New York to Liverpool, or
-Havre.  It soon disappeared in the gloom.  At ten o'clock in the
-evening the sky was on fire.  The atmosphere was streaked with vivid
-lightning.  I could not bear the brightness of it; while the captain,
-looking at it, seemed to envy the spirit of the tempest.  A terrible
-noise filled the air, a complex noise, made up of the howls of the
-crushed waves, the roaring of the wind, and the claps of thunder.  The
-wind veered suddenly to all points of the horizon; and the cyclone,
-rising in the east, returned after passing by the north, west, and
-south, in the inverse course pursued by the circular storm of the
-southern hemisphere.  Ah, that Gulf Stream!  It deserves its name of
-the King of Tempests.  It is that which causes those formidable
-cyclones, by the difference of temperature between its air and its
-currents.  A shower of fire had succeeded the rain.  The drops of water
-were changed to sharp spikes.  One would have thought that Captain Nemo
-was courting a death worthy of himself, a death by lightning.  As the
-Nautilus, pitching dreadfully, raised its steel spur in the air, it
-seemed to act as a conductor, and I saw long sparks burst from it.
-Crushed and without strength I crawled to the panel, opened it, and
-descended to the saloon.  The storm was then at its height.  It was
-impossible to stand upright in the interior of the Nautilus.  Captain
-Nemo came down about twelve.  I heard the reservoirs filling by
-degrees, and the Nautilus sank slowly beneath the waves.  Through the
-open windows in the saloon I saw large fish terrified, passing like
-phantoms in the water.  Some were struck before my eyes.  The Nautilus
-was still descending.  I thought that at about eight fathoms deep we
-should find a calm.  But no! the upper beds were too violently agitated
-for that.  We had to seek repose at more than twenty-five fathoms in
-the bowels of the deep.  But there, what quiet, what silence, what
-peace!  Who could have told that such a hurricane had been let loose on
-the surface of that ocean?
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-FROM LATITUDE 47 deg. 24' TO LONGITUDE 17 deg. 28'
-
-In consequence of the storm, we had been thrown eastward once more.
-All hope of escape on the shores of New York or St. Lawrence had faded
-away; and poor Ned, in despair, had isolated himself like Captain Nemo.
-Conseil and I, however, never left each other.  I said that the
-Nautilus had gone aside to the east.  I should have said (to be more
-exact) the north-east. For some days, it wandered first on the surface,
-and then beneath it, amid those fogs so dreaded by sailors.  What
-accidents are due to these thick fogs!  What shocks upon these reefs
-when the wind drowns the breaking of the waves!  What collisions
-between vessels, in spite of their warning lights, whistles, and alarm
-bells!  And the bottoms of these seas look like a field of battle,
-where still lie all the conquered of the ocean; some old and already
-encrusted, others fresh and reflecting from their iron bands and copper
-plates the brilliancy of our lantern.
-
-On the 15th of May we were at the extreme south of the Bank of
-Newfoundland.  This bank consists of alluvia, or large heaps of organic
-matter, brought either from the Equator by the Gulf Stream, or from the
-North Pole by the counter-current of cold water which skirts the
-American coast.  There also are heaped up those erratic blocks which
-are carried along by the broken ice; and close by, a vast charnel-house
-of molluscs, which perish here by millions.  The depth of the sea is
-not great at Newfoundland--not more than some hundreds of fathoms; but
-towards the south is a depression of 1,500 fathoms.  There the Gulf
-Stream widens.  It loses some of its speed and some of its temperature,
-but it becomes a sea.
-
-It was on the 17th of May, about 500 miles from Heart's Content, at a
-depth of more than 1,400 fathoms, that I saw the electric cable lying
-on the bottom.  Conseil, to whom I had not mentioned it, thought at
-first that it was a gigantic sea-serpent. But I undeceived the worthy
-fellow, and by way of consolation related several particulars in the
-laying of this cable.  The first one was laid in the years 1857 and
-1858; but, after transmitting about 400 telegrams, would not act any
-longer.  In 1863 the engineers constructed an other one, measuring
-2,000 miles in length, and weighing 4,500 tons, which was embarked on
-the Great Eastern.  This attempt also failed.
-
-On the 25th of May the Nautilus, being at a depth of more than 1,918
-fathoms, was on the precise spot where the rupture occurred which
-ruined the enterprise.  It was within 638 miles of the coast of
-Ireland; and at half-past two in the afternoon they discovered that
-communication with Europe had ceased.  The electricians on board
-resolved to cut the cable before fishing it up, and at eleven o'clock
-at night they had recovered the damaged part.  They made another point
-and spliced it, and it was once more submerged.  But some days after it
-broke again, and in the depths of the ocean could not be recaptured.
-The Americans, however, were not discouraged.  Cyrus Field, the bold
-promoter of the enterprise, as he had sunk all his own fortune, set a
-new subscription on foot, which was at once answered, and another cable
-was constructed on better principles.  The bundles of conducting wires
-were each enveloped in gutta-percha, and protected by a wadding of
-hemp, contained in a metallic covering.  The Great Eastern sailed on
-the 13th of July, 1866.  The operation worked well.  But one incident
-occurred.  Several times in unrolling the cable they observed that
-nails had recently been forced into it, evidently with the motive of
-destroying it.  Captain Anderson, the officers, and engineers consulted
-together, and had it posted up that, if the offender was surprised on
-board, he would be thrown without further trial into the sea.  From
-that time the criminal attempt was never repeated.
-
-On the 23rd of July the Great Eastern was not more than 500 miles from
-Newfoundland, when they telegraphed from Ireland the news of the
-armistice concluded between Prussia and Austria after Sadowa.  On the
-27th, in the midst of heavy fogs, they reached the port of Heart's
-Content.  The enterprise was successfully terminated; and for its first
-despatch, young America addressed old Europe in these words of wisdom,
-so rarely understood:  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
-peace, goodwill towards men."
-
-I did not expect to find the electric cable in its primitive state,
-such as it was on leaving the manufactory.  The long serpent, covered
-with the remains of shells, bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted
-with a strong coating which served as a protection against all boring
-molluscs.  It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and
-under a favourable pressure for the transmission of the electric spark
-which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second.  Doubtless this
-cable will last for a great length of time, for they find that the
-gutta-percha covering is improved by the sea-water. Besides, on this
-level, so well chosen, the cable is never so deeply submerged as to
-cause it to break.  The Nautilus followed it to the lowest depth, which
-was more than 2,212 fathoms, and there it lay without any anchorage;
-and then we reached the spot where the accident had taken place in
-1863.  The bottom of the ocean then formed a valley about 100 miles
-broad, in which Mont Blanc might have been placed without its summit
-appearing above the waves.  This valley is closed at the east by a
-perpendicular wall more than 2,000 yards high.  We arrived there on the
-28th of May, and the Nautilus was then not more than 120 miles from
-Ireland.
-
-Was Captain Nemo going to land on the British Isles?  No. To my great
-surprise he made for the south, once more coming back towards European
-seas.  In rounding the Emerald Isle, for one instant I caught sight of
-Cape Clear, and the light which guides the thousands of vessels leaving
-Glasgow or Liverpool.  An important question then arose in my mind.
-Did the Nautilus dare entangle itself in the Manche?  Ned Land, who had
-re-appeared since we had been nearing land, did not cease to question
-me.  How could I answer?  Captain Nemo remained invisible.  After
-having shown the Canadian a glimpse of American shores, was he going to
-show me the coast of France?
-
-But the Nautilus was still going southward.  On the 30th of May, it
-passed in sight of Land's End, between the extreme point of England and
-the Scilly Isles, which were left to starboard.  If we wished to enter
-the Manche, he must go straight to the east.  He did not do so.
-
-During the whole of the 31st of May, the Nautilus described a series of
-circles on the water, which greatly interested me.  It seemed to be
-seeking a spot it had some trouble in finding.  At noon, Captain Nemo
-himself came to work the ship's log.  He spoke no word to me, but
-seemed gloomier than ever.  What could sadden him thus?  Was it his
-proxim ity to European shores?  Had he some recollections of his
-abandoned country?  If not, what did he feel?  Remorse or regret?  For
-a long while this thought haunted my mind, and I had a kind of
-presentiment that before long chance would betray the captain's secrets.
-
-The next day, the 1st of June, the Nautilus continued the same process.
-It was evidently seeking some particular spot in the ocean.  Captain
-Nemo took the sun's altitude as he had done the day before.  The sea
-was beautiful, the sky clear.  About eight miles to the east, a large
-steam vessel could be discerned on the horizon.  No flag fluttered from
-its mast, and I could not discover its nationality.  Some minutes
-before the sun passed the meridian, Captain Nemo took his sextant, and
-watched with great attention.  The perfect rest of the water greatly
-helped the operation.  The Nautilus was motionless; it neither rolled
-nor pitched.
-
-I was on the platform when the altitude was taken, and the Captain
-pronounced these words:  "It is here."
-
-He turned and went below.  Had he seen the vessel which was changing
-its course and seemed to be nearing us?  I could not tell.  I returned
-to the saloon.  The panels closed, I heard the hissing of the water in
-the reservoirs.  The Nautilus began to sink, following a vertical line,
-for its screw communicated no motion to it.  Some minutes later it
-stopped at a depth of more than 420 fathoms, resting on the ground.
-The luminous ceiling was darkened, then the panels were opened, and
-through the glass I saw the sea brilliantly illuminated by the rays of
-our lantern for at least half a mile round us.
-
-I looked to the port side, and saw nothing but an immensity of quiet
-waters.  But to starboard, on the bottom appeared a large protuberance,
-which at once attracted my attention.  One would have thought it a ruin
-buried under a coating of white shells, much resembling a covering of
-snow.  Upon examining the mass attentively, I could recognise the
-ever-thickening form of a vessel bare of its masts, which must have
-sunk.  It certainly belonged to past times.  This wreck, to be thus
-encrusted with the lime of the water, must already be able to count
-many years passed at the bottom of the ocean.
-
-What was this vessel?  Why did the Nautilus visit its tomb?  Could it
-have been aught but a shipwreck which had drawn it under the water?  I
-knew not what to think, when near me in a slow voice I heard Captain
-Nemo say:
-
-"At one time this ship was called the Marseillais.  It carried
-seventy-four guns, and was launched in 1762.  In 1778, the 13th of
-August, commanded by La Poype-Ver trieux, it fought boldly against the
-Preston.  In 1779, on the 4th of July, it was at the taking of Grenada,
-with the squadron of Admiral Estaing.  In 1781, on the 5th of
-September, it took part in the battle of Comte de Grasse, in Chesapeake
-Bay.  In 1794, the French Republic changed its name.  On the 16th of
-April, in the same year, it joined the squadron of Villaret Joyeuse, at
-Brest, being entrusted with the escort of a cargo of corn coming from
-America, under the command of Admiral Van Stebel.  On the 11th and 12th
-Prairal of the second year, this squadron fell in with an English
-vessel.  Sir, to-day is the 13th Prairal, the first of June, 1868.  It
-is now seventy-four years ago, day for day on this very spot, in
-latitude 47 deg. 24', longitude 17 deg. 28', that this vessel, after
-fighting heroically, losing its three masts, with the water in its
-hold, and the third of its crew disabled, preferred sinking with its
-356 sailors to surrendering; and, nailing its colours to the poop,
-disappeared under the waves to the cry of `Long live the Republic!'"
-
-"The Avenger!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir, the Avenger!  A good name!" muttered Captain Nemo, crossing
-his arms.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-A HECATOMB
-
-The way of describing this unlooked-for scene, the history of the
-patriot ship, told at first so coldly, and the emotion with which this
-strange man pronounced the last words, the name of the Avenger, the
-significance of which could not escape me, all impressed itself deeply
-on my mind.  My eyes did not leave the Captain, who, with his hand
-stretched out to sea, was watching with a glowing eye the glorious
-wreck.  Perhaps I was never to know who he was, from whence he came, or
-where he was going to, but I saw the man move, and apart from the
-_savant_.  It was no common misanthropy which had shut Captain Nemo and
-his companions within the Nautilus, but a hatred, either monstrous or
-sublime, which time could never weaken.  Did this hatred still seek for
-vengeance?  The future would soon teach me that.  But the Nautilus was
-rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the form of the Avenger
-disappeared by degrees from my sight.  Soon a slight rolling told me
-that we were in the open air.  At that moment a dull boom was heard.  I
-looked at the Captain.  He did not move.
-
-"Captain?" said I.
-
-He did not answer.  I left him and mounted the platform.  Conseil and
-the Canadian were already there.
-
-"Where did that sound come from?"  I asked.
-
-"It was a gunshot," replied Ned Land.
-
-I looked in the direction of the vessel I had already seen.  It was
-nearing the Nautilus, and we could see that it was putting on steam.
-It was within six miles of us.
-
-"What is that ship, Ned?"
-
-"By its rigging, and the height of its lower masts," said the Canadian,
-"I bet she is a ship-of-war. May it reach us; and, if necessary, sink
-this cursed Nautilus."
-
-"Friend Ned," replied Conseil, "what harm can it do to the Nautilus?
-Can it attack it beneath the waves?  Can its cannonade us at the bottom
-of the sea?"
-
-"Tell me, Ned," said I, "can you recognise what country she belongs to?"
-
-The Canadian knitted his eyebrows, dropped his eyelids, and screwed up
-the corners of his eyes, and for a few moments fixed a piercing look
-upon the vessel.
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "I cannot tell what nation she belongs to, for
-she shows no colours.  But I can declare she is a man-of-war, for a
-long pennant flutters from her main mast."
-
-For a quarter of an hour we watched the ship which was steaming towards
-us.  I could not, however, believe that she could see the Nautilus from
-that distance; and still less that she could know what this submarine
-engine was.  Soon the Canadian informed me that she was a large,
-armoured, two-decker ram.  A thick black smoke was pouring from her two
-funnels.  Her closely-furled sails were stopped to her yards.  She
-hoisted no flag at her mizzen-peak. The distance prevented us from
-distinguishing the colours of her pennant, which floated like a thin
-ribbon.  She advanced rapidly.  If Captain Nemo allowed her to
-approach, there was a chance of salvation for us.
-
-"Sir," said Ned Land, "if that vessel passes within a mile of us I
-shall throw myself into the sea, and I should advise you to do the
-same."
-
-I did not reply to the Canadian's suggestion, but continued watching
-the ship.  Whether English, French, American, or Russian, she would be
-sure to take us in if we could only reach her.  Presently a white smoke
-burst from the fore part of the vessel; some seconds after, the water,
-agitated by the fall of a heavy body, splashed the stern of the
-Nautilus, and shortly afterwards a loud explosion struck my ear.
-
-"What! they are firing at us!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"So please you, sir," said Ned, "they have recognised the unicorn, and
-they are firing at us."
-
-"But," I exclaimed, "surely they can see that there are men in the
-case?"
-
-"It is, perhaps, because of that," replied Ned Land, looking at me.
-
-A whole flood of light burst upon my mind.  Doubtless they knew now how
-to believe the stories of the pretended monster.  No doubt, on board
-the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian struck it with the harpoon,
-Commander Farragut had recognised in the supposed narwhal a submarine
-vessel, more dangerous than a supernatural cetacean.  Yes, it must have
-been so; and on every sea they were now seeking this engine of
-destruction.  Terrible indeed! if, as we supposed, Captain Nemo
-employed the Nautilus in works of vengeance.  On the night when we were
-imprisoned in that cell, in the midst of the Indian Ocean, had he not
-attacked some vessel?  The man buried in the coral cemetery, had he not
-been a victim to the shock caused by the Nautilus?  Yes, I repeat it,
-it must be so.  One part of the mysterious existence of Captain Nemo
-had been unveiled; and, if his identity had not been recognised, at
-least, the nations united against him were no longer hunting a
-chimerical creature, but a man who had vowed a deadly hatred against
-them.  All the formidable past rose before me.  Instead of meeting
-friends on board the approaching ship, we could only expect pitiless
-enemies.  But the shot rattled about us.  Some of them struck the sea
-and ricochetted, losing themselves in the distance.  But none touched
-the Nautilus.  The vessel was not more than three miles from us.  In
-spite of the serious cannonade, Captain Nemo did not appear on the
-platform; but, if one of the conical projectiles had struck the shell
-of the Nautilus, it would have been fatal.  The Canadian then said,
-"Sir, we must do all we can to get out of this dilemma.  Let us signal
-them.  They will then, perhaps, understand that we are honest folks."
-
-Ned Land took his handkerchief to wave in the air; but he had scarcely
-displayed it, when he was struck down by an iron hand, and fell, in
-spite of his great strength, upon the deck.
-
-"Fool!" exclaimed the Captain, "do you wish to be pierced by the spur
-of the Nautilus before it is hurled at this vessel?"
-
-Captain Nemo was terrible to hear; he was still more terrible to see.
-His face was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart.  For an instant it
-must have ceased to beat.  His pupils were fearfully contracted.  He
-did not speak, he roared, as, with his body thrown forward, he wrung
-the Canadian's shoulders.  Then, leaving him, and turning to the ship
-of war, whose shot was still raining around him, he exclaimed, with a
-powerful voice, "Ah, ship of an accursed nation, you know who I am!  I
-do not want your colours to know you by!  Look! and I will show you
-mine!"
-
-And on the fore part of the platform Captain Nemo unfurled a black
-flag, similar to the one he had placed at the South Pole.  At that
-moment a shot struck the shell of the Nautilus obliquely, without
-piercing it; and, rebounding near the Captain, was lost in the sea.  He
-shrugged his shoulders; and, addressing me, said shortly, "Go down, you
-and your companions, go down!"
-
-"Sir," I cried, "are you going to attack this vessel?"
-
-"Sir, I am going to sink it."
-
-"You will not do that?"
-
-"I shall do it," he replied coldly.  "And I advise you not to judge me,
-sir.  Fate has shown you what you ought not to have seen.  The attack
-has begun; go down."
-
-"What is this vessel?"
-
-"You do not know?  Very well! so much the better!  Its nationality to
-you, at least, will be a secret.  Go down!"
-
-We could but obey.  About fifteen of the sailors surrounded the
-Captain, looking with implacable hatred at the vessel nearing them.
-One could feel that the same desire of vengeance animated every soul.
-I went down at the moment another projectile struck the Nautilus, and I
-heard the Captain exclaim:
-
-"Strike, mad vessel!  Shower your useless shot!  And then, you will not
-escape the spur of the Nautilus.  But it is not here that you shall
-perish!  I would not have your ruins mingle with those of the Avenger!"
-
-I reached my room.  The Captain and his second had remained on the
-platform.  The screw was set in motion, and the Nautilus, moving with
-speed, was soon beyond the reach of the ship's guns.  But the pursuit
-continued, and Captain Nemo contented himself with keeping his distance.
-
-About four in the afternoon, being no longer able to contain my
-impatience, I went to the central staircase.  The panel was open, and I
-ventured on to the platform.  The Captain was still walking up and down
-with an agitated step.  He was looking at the ship, which was five or
-six miles to leeward.
-
-He was going round it like a wild beast, and, drawing it eastward, he
-allowed them to pursue.  But he did not attack.  Perhaps he still
-hesitated?  I wished to mediate once more.  But I had scarcely spoken,
-when Captain Nemo imposed silence, saying:
-
-"I am the law, and I am the judge!  I am the oppressed, and there is
-the oppressor!  Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished,
-and venerated--country, wife, children, father, and mother.  I saw all
-perish!  All that I hate is there!  Say no more!"
-
-I cast a last look at the man-of-war, which was putting on steam, and
-rejoined Ned and Conseil.
-
-"We will fly!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Good!" said Ned.  "What is this vessel?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, it will be sunk before night.  In
-any case, it is better to perish with it, than be made accomplices in a
-retaliation the justice of which we cannot judge."
-
-"That is my opinion too," said Ned Land, coolly.  "Let us wait for
-night."
-
-Night arrived.  Deep silence reigned on board.  The compass showed that
-the Nautilus had not altered its course.  It was on the surface,
-rolling slightly.  My companions and I resolved to fly when the vessel
-should be near enough either to hear us or to see us; for the moon,
-which would be full in two or three days, shone brightly.  Once on
-board the ship, if we could not prevent the blow which threatened it,
-we could, at least we would, do all that circumstances would allow.
-Several times I thought the Nautilus was preparing for attack; but
-Captain Nemo contented himself with allowing his adversary to approach,
-and then fled once more before it.
-
-Part of the night passed without any incident.  We watched the
-opportunity for action.  We spoke little, for we were too much moved.
-Ned Land would have thrown himself into the sea, but I forced him to
-wait.  According to my idea, the Nautilus would attack the ship at her
-waterline, and then it would not only be possible, but easy to fly.
-
-At three in the morning, full of uneasiness, I mounted the platform.
-Captain Nemo had not left it.  He was standing at the fore part near
-his flag, which a slight breeze displayed above his head.  He did not
-take his eyes from the vessel.  The intensity of his look seemed to
-attract, and fascinate, and draw it onward more surely than if he had
-been towing it.  The moon was then passing the meridian.  Jupiter was
-rising in the east.  Amid this peaceful scene of nature, sky and ocean
-rivalled each other in tranquillity, the sea offering to the orbs of
-night the finest mirror they could ever have in which to reflect their
-image.  As I thought of the deep calm of these elements, compared with
-all those passions brooding imperceptibly within the Nautilus, I
-shuddered.
-
-The vessel was within two miles of us.  It was ever nearing that
-phosphorescent light which showed the presence of the Nautilus.  I
-could see its green and red lights, and its white lantern hanging from
-the large foremast.  An indistinct vibration quivered through its
-rigging, showing that the furnaces were heated to the uttermost.
-Sheaves of sparks and red ashes flew from the funnels, shining in the
-atmosphere like stars.
-
-I remained thus until six in the morning, without Captain Nemo noticing
-me.  The ship stood about a mile and a half from us, and with the first
-dawn of day the firing began afresh.  The moment could not be far off
-when, the Nautilus attacking its adversary, my companions and myself
-should for ever leave this man.  I was preparing to go down to remind
-them, when the second mounted the platform, accompanied by several
-sailors.  Captain Nemo either did not or would not see them.  Some
-steps were taken which might be called the signal for action.  They
-were very simple.  The iron balustrade around the platform was lowered,
-and the lantern and pilot cages were pushed within the shell until they
-were flush with the deck.  The long surface of the steel cigar no
-longer offered a single point to check its manoeuvres.  I returned to
-the saloon.  The Nautilus still floated; some streaks of light were
-filtering through the liquid beds.  With the undulations of the waves
-the windows were brightened by the red streaks of the rising sun, and
-this dreadful day of the 2nd of June had dawned.
-
-At five o'clock, the log showed that the speed of the Nautilus was
-slackening, and I knew that it was allowing them to draw nearer.
-Besides, the reports were heard more distinctly, and the projectiles,
-labouring through the ambient water, were extinguished with a strange
-hissing noise.
-
-"My friends," said I, "the moment is come.  One grasp of the hand, and
-may God protect us!"
-
-Ned Land was resolute, Conseil calm, myself so nervous that I knew not
-how to contain myself.  We all passed into the library; but the moment
-I pushed the door opening on to the central staircase, I heard the
-upper panel close sharply.  The Canadian rushed on to the stairs, but I
-stopped him.  A well-known hissing noise told me that the water was
-running into the reservoirs, and in a few minutes the Nautilus was some
-yards beneath the surface of the waves.  I understood the manoeuvre.
-It was too late to act.  The Nautilus did not wish to strike at the
-impenetrable cuirass, but below the water-line, where the metallic
-covering no longer protected it.
-
-We were again imprisoned, unwilling witnesses of the dreadful drama
-that was preparing.  We had scarcely time to reflect; taking refuge in
-my room, we looked at each other without speaking.  A deep stupor had
-taken hold of my mind:  thought seemed to stand still.  I was in that
-painful state of expectation preceding a dreadful report.  I waited, I
-listened, every sense was merged in that of hearing!  The speed of the
-Nautilus was accelerated.  It was preparing to rush.  The whole ship
-trembled.  Suddenly I screamed.  I felt the shock, but comparatively
-light.  I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur.  I heard
-rattlings and scrapings.  But the Nautilus, carried along by its
-propelling power, passed through the mass of the vessel like a needle
-through sailcloth!
-
-I could stand it no longer.  Mad, out of my mind, I rushed from my room
-into the saloon.  Captain Nemo was there, mute, gloomy, implacable; he
-was looking through the port panel.  A large mass cast a shadow on the
-water; and, that it might lose nothing of her agony, the Nautilus was
-going down into the abyss with her.  Ten yards from me I saw the open
-shell, through which the water was rushing with the noise of thunder,
-then the double line of guns and the netting.  The bridge was covered
-with black, agitated shadows.
-
-The water was rising.  The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines,
-clinging to the masts, struggling under the water.  It was a human
-ant-heap overtaken by the sea.  Paralysed, stiffened with anguish, my
-hair standing on end, with eyes wide open, panting, without breath, and
-without voice, I too was watching!  An irresistible attraction glued me
-to the glass!  Suddenly an explosion took place.  The compressed air
-blew up her decks, as if the magazines had caught fire.  Then the
-unfortunate vessel sank more rapidly.  Her topmast, laden with victims,
-now appeared; then her spars, bending under the weight of men; and,
-last of all, the top of her mainmast.  Then the dark mass disappeared,
-and with it the dead crew, drawn down by the strong eddy.
-
-I turned to Captain Nemo.  That terrible avenger, a perfect archangel
-of hatred, was still looking.  When all was over, he turned to his
-room, opened the door, and entered.  I followed him with my eyes.  On
-the end wall beneath his heroes, I saw the portrait of a woman, still
-young, and two little children.  Captain Nemo looked at them for some
-moments, stretched his arms towards them, and, kneeling down, burst
-into deep sobs.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
-
-The panels had closed on this dreadful vision, but light had not
-returned to the saloon:  all was silence and darkness within the
-Nautilus.  At wonderful speed, a hundred feet beneath the water, it was
-leaving this desolate spot.  Whither was it going?  To the north or
-south?  Where was the man flying to after such dreadful retaliation?  I
-had returned to my room, where Ned and Conseil had remained silent
-enough.  I felt an insurmountable horror for Captain Nemo.  Whatever he
-had suffered at the hands of these men, he had no right to punish thus.
-He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least a witness of his
-vengeance.  At eleven the electric light reappeared.  I passed into the
-saloon.  It was deserted.  I consulted the different instruments.  The
-Nautilus was flying northward at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour,
-now on the surface, and now thirty feet below it.  On taking the
-bearings by the chart, I saw that we were passing the mouth of the
-Manche, and that our course was hurrying us towards the northern seas
-at a frightful speed.  That night we had crossed two hundred leagues of
-the Atlantic.  The shadows fell, and the sea was covered with darkness
-until the rising of the moon.  I went to my room, but could not sleep.
-I was troubled with dreadful nightmare.  The horrible scene of
-destruction was continually before my eyes.  From that day, who could
-tell into what part of the North Atlantic basin the Nautilus would take
-us?  Still with unaccountable speed.  Still in the midst of these
-northern fogs.  Would it touch at Spitzbergen, or on the shores of Nova
-Zembla?  Should we explore those unknown seas, the White Sea, the Sea
-of Kara, the Gulf of Obi, the Archipelago of Liarrov, and the unknown
-coast of Asia?  I could not say.  I could no longer judge of the time
-that was passing.  The clocks had been stopped on board.  It seemed, as
-in polar countries, that night and day no longer followed their regular
-course.  I felt myself being drawn into that strange region where the
-foundered imagination of Edgar Poe roamed at will.  Like the fabulous
-Gordon Pym, at every moment I expected to see "that veiled human
-figure, of larger proportions than those of any inhabitant of the
-earth, thrown across the cataract which defends the approach to the
-pole." I estimated (though, perhaps, I may be mistaken)--I estimated
-this adventurous course of the Nautilus to have lasted fifteen or
-twenty days.  And I know not how much longer it might have lasted, had
-it not been for the catastrophe which ended this voyage.  Of Captain
-Nemo I saw nothing whatever now, nor of his second.  Not a man of the
-crew was visible for an instant.  The Nautilus was almost incessantly
-under water.  When we came to the surface to renew the air, the panels
-opened and shut mechanically.  There were no more marks on the
-planisphere.  I knew not where we were.  And the Canadian, too, his
-strength and patience at an end, appeared no more.  Conseil could not
-draw a word from him; and, fearing that, in a dreadful fit of madness,
-he might kill himself, watched him with constant devotion.  One morning
-(what date it was I could not say) I had fallen into a heavy sleep
-towards the early hours, a sleep both painful and unhealthy, when I
-suddenly awoke.  Ned Land was leaning over me, saying, in a low voice,
-"We are going to fly."  I sat up.
-
-"When shall we go?"  I asked.
-
-"To-night. All inspection on board the Nautilus seems to have ceased.
-All appear to be stupefied.  You will be ready, sir?"
-
-"Yes; where are we?"
-
-"In sight of land.  I took the reckoning this morning in the
-fog--twenty miles to the east."
-
-"What country is it?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, we will take refuge there."
-
-"Yes, Ned, yes.  We will fly to-night, even if the sea should swallow
-us up."
-
-"The sea is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light boat
-of the Nautilus does not frighten me.  Unknown to the crew, I have been
-able to procure food and some bottles of water."
-
-"I will follow you."
-
-"But," continued the Canadian, "if I am surprised, I will defend
-myself; I will force them to kill me."
-
-"We will die together, friend Ned."
-
-I had made up my mind to all.  The Canadian left me.  I reached the
-platform, on which I could with difficulty support myself against the
-shock of the waves.  The sky was threatening; but, as land was in those
-thick brown shadows, we must fly.  I returned to the saloon, fearing
-and yet hoping to see Captain Nemo, wishing and yet not wishing to see
-him.  What could I have said to him?  Could I hide the involuntary
-horror with which he inspired me?  No. It was better that I should not
-meet him face to face; better to forget him.  And yet----  How long
-seemed that day, the last that I should pass in the Nautilus.  I
-remained alone.  Ned Land and Conseil avoided speaking, for fear of
-betraying themselves.  At six I dined, but I was not hungry; I forced
-myself to eat in spite of my disgust, that I might not weaken myself.
-At half-past six Ned Land came to my room, saying, "We shall not see
-each other again before our departure.  At ten the moon will not be
-risen.  We will profit by the darkness.  Come to the boat; Conseil and
-I will wait for you."
-
-The Canadian went out without giving me time to answer.  Wishing to
-verify the course of the Nautilus, I went to the saloon.  We were
-running N.N.E. at frightful speed, and more than fifty yards deep.  I
-cast a last look on these wonders of nature, on the riches of art
-heaped up in this museum, upon the unrivalled collection destined to
-perish at the bottom of the sea, with him who had formed it.  I wished
-to fix an indelible impression of it in my mind.  I remained an hour
-thus, bathed in the light of that luminous ceiling, and passing in
-review those treasures shining under their glasses.  Then I returned to
-my room.
-
-I dressed myself in strong sea clothing.  I collected my notes, placing
-them carefully about me.  My heart beat loudly.  I could not check its
-pulsations.  Certainly my trouble and agitation would have betrayed me
-to Captain Nemo's eyes.  What was he doing at this moment?  I listened
-at the door of his room.  I heard steps.  Captain Nemo was there.  He
-had not gone to rest.  At every moment I expected to see him appear,
-and ask me why I wished to fly.  I was constantly on the alert.  My
-imagination magnified everything.  The impression became at last so
-poignant that I asked myself if it would not be better to go to the
-Captain's room, see him face to face, and brave him with look and
-gesture.
-
-It was the inspiration of a madman; fortunately I resisted the desire,
-and stretched myself on my bed to quiet my bodily agitation.  My nerves
-were somewhat calmer, but in my excited brain I saw over again all my
-existence on board the Nautilus; every incident, either happy or
-unfortunate, which had happened since my disappearance from the Abraham
-Lincoln--the submarine hunt, the Torres Straits, the savages of Papua,
-the running ashore, the coral cemetery, the passage of Suez, the Island
-of Santorin, the Cretan diver, Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the iceberg, the
-South Pole, the imprisonment in the ice, the fight among the poulps,
-the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, and the horrible scene of
-the vessel sunk with all her crew.  All these events passed before my
-eyes like scenes in a drama.  Then Captain Nemo seemed to grow
-enormously, his features to assume superhuman proportions.  He was no
-longer my equal, but a man of the waters, the genie of the sea.
-
-It was then half-past nine.  I held my head between my hands to keep it
-from bursting.  I closed my eyes; I would not think any longer.  There
-was another half-hour to wait, another half-hour of a nightmare, which
-might drive me mad.
-
-At that moment I heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony
-to an undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break these
-earthly bonds.  I listened with every sense, scarcely breathing;
-plunged, like Captain Nemo, in that musical ecstasy, which was drawing
-him in spirit to the end of life.
-
-Then a sudden thought terrified me.  Captain Nemo had left his room.
-He was in the saloon, which I must cross to fly.  There I should meet
-him for the last time.  He would see me, perhaps speak to me.  A
-gesture of his might destroy me, a single word chain me on board.
-
-But ten was about to strike.  The moment had come for me to leave my
-room, and join my companions.
-
-I must not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himself should rise before
-me.  I opened my door carefully; and even then, as it turned on its
-hinges, it seemed to me to make a dreadful noise.  Perhaps it only
-existed in my own imagination.
-
-I crept along the dark stairs of the Nautilus, stopping at each step to
-check the beating of my heart.  I reached the door of the saloon, and
-opened it gently.  It was plunged in profound darkness.  The strains of
-the organ sounded faintly.  Captain Nemo was there.  He did not see me.
-In the full light I do not think he would have noticed me, so entirely
-was he absorbed in the ecstasy.
-
-I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound which might
-betray my presence.  I was at least five minutes reaching the door, at
-the opposite side, opening into the library.
-
-I was going to open it, when a sigh from Captain Nemo nailed me to the
-spot.  I knew that he was rising.  I could even see him, for the light
-from the library came through to the saloon.  He came towards me
-silently, with his arms crossed, gliding like a spectre rather than
-walking.  His breast was swelling with sobs; and I heard him murmur
-these words (the last which ever struck my ear):
-
-"Almighty God! enough! enough!"
-
-Was it a confession of remorse which thus escaped from this man's
-conscience?
-
-In desperation, I rushed through the library, mounted the central
-staircase, and, following the upper flight, reached the boat.  I crept
-through the opening, which had already admitted my two companions.
-
-"Let us go! let us go!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Directly!" replied the Canadian.
-
-The orifice in the plates of the Nautilus was first closed, and
-fastened down by means of a false key, with which Ned Land had provided
-himself; the opening in the boat was also closed.  The Canadian began
-to loosen the bolts which still held us to the submarine boat.
-
-Suddenly a noise was heard.  Voices were answering each other loudly.
-What was the matter?  Had they discovered our flight?  I felt Ned Land
-slipping a dagger into my hand.
-
-"Yes," I murmured, "we know how to die!"
-
-The Canadian had stopped in his work.  But one word many times
-repeated, a dreadful word, revealed the cause of the agitation
-spreading on board the Nautilus.  It was not we the crew were looking
-after!
-
-"The maelstrom! the maelstrom!"  Could a more dreadful word in a more
-dreadful situation have sounded in our ears!  We were then upon the
-dangerous coast of Norway.  Was the Nautilus being drawn into this gulf
-at the moment our boat was going to leave its sides?  We knew that at
-the tide the pent-up waters between the islands of Ferroe and Loffoden
-rush with irresistible violence, forming a whirlpool from which no
-vessel ever escapes.  From every point of the horizon enormous waves
-were meeting, forming a gulf justly called the "Navel of the Ocean,"
-whose power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve miles.
-There, not only vessels, but whales are sacrificed, as well as white
-bears from the northern regions.
-
-It is thither that the Nautilus, voluntarily or involuntarily, had been
-run by the Captain.
-
-It was describing a spiral, the circumference of which was lessening by
-degrees, and the boat, which was still fastened to its side, was
-carried along with giddy speed.  I felt that sickly giddiness which
-arises from long-continued whirling round.
-
-We were in dread.  Our horror was at its height, circulation had
-stopped, all nervous influence was annihilated, and we were covered
-with cold sweat, like a sweat of agony!  And what noise around our
-frail bark!  What roarings repeated by the echo miles away!  What an
-uproar was that of the waters broken on the sharp rocks at the bottom,
-where the hardest bodies are crushed, and trees worn away, "with all
-the fur rubbed off," according to the Norwegian phrase!
-
-What a situation to be in!  We rocked frightfully.  The Nautilus
-defended itself like a human being.  Its steel muscles cracked.
-Sometimes it seemed to stand upright, and we with it!
-
-"We must hold on," said Ned, "and look after the bolts.  We may still
-be saved if we stick to the Nautilus."
-
-He had not finished the words, when we heard a crashing noise, the
-bolts gave way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was hurled like a
-stone from a sling into the midst of the whirlpool.
-
-My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock I lost
-all consciousness.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-CONCLUSION
-
-Thus ends the voyage under the seas.  What passed during that
-night--how the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom--how Ned
-Land, Conseil, and myself ever came out of the gulf, I cannot tell.
-
-But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman's hut,
-on the Loffoden Isles.  My two companions, safe and sound, were near me
-holding my hands.  We embraced each other heartily.
-
-At that moment we could not think of returning to France.  The means of
-communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare.  And
-I am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly from
-Cape North.
-
-And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us, I revise
-my record of these adventures once more.  Not a fact has been omitted,
-not a detail exaggerated.  It is a faithful narrative of this
-incredible expedition in an element inaccessible to man, but to which
-Progress will one day open a road.
-
-Shall I be believed?  I do not know.  And it matters little, after all.
-What I now affirm is, that I have a right to speak of these seas, under
-which, in less than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that
-submarine tour of the world, which has revealed so many wonders.
-
-But what has become of the Nautilus?  Did it resist the pressure of the
-maelstrom?  Does Captain Nemo still live?  And does he still follow
-under the ocean those frightful retaliations?  Or, did he stop after
-the last hecatomb?
-
-Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing the
-history of his life?  Shall I ever know the name of this man?  Will the
-missing vessel tell us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo?
-
-I hope so.  And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered the
-sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the Nautilus has survived where
-so many other vessels have been lost!  If it be so--if Captain Nemo
-still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be appeased
-in that savage heart!  May the contemplation of so many wonders
-extinguish for ever the spirit of vengeance!  May the judge disappear,
-and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea!  If
-his destiny be strange, it is also sublime.  Have I not understood it
-myself?  Have I not lived ten months of this unnatural life?  And to
-the question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago, "That
-which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?" two men
-alone of all now living have the right to give an answer----
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
-
-TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA by JULES VERNE
-
-
-
-
-
-PART ONE
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-A SHIFTING REEF
-
-The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious
-and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.
-Not to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population
-and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents,
-seafaring men were particularly excited.  Merchants, common sailors,
-captains of vessels, skippers, both of Europe and America,
-naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several States
-on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.
-
-For some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing,"
-a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent,
-and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
-
-The facts relating to this apparition (entered in various log-books)
-agreed in most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in question,
-the untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power of locomotion,
-and the peculiar life with which it seemed endowed.  If it was a whale,
-it surpassed in size all those hitherto classified in science.
-Taking into consideration the mean of observations made at divers times--
-rejecting the timid estimate of those who assigned to this object
-a length of two hundred feet, equally with the exaggerated opinions
-which set it down as a mile in width and three in length--we might fairly
-conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly all dimensions
-admitted by the learned ones of the day, if it existed at all.
-And that it DID exist was an undeniable fact; and, with that tendency
-which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvellous, we can understand
-the excitement produced in the entire world by this supernatural apparition.
-As to classing it in the list of fables, the idea was out of the question.
-
-On the 20th of July, 1866, the steamer Governor Higginson,
-of the Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had met
-this moving mass five miles off the east coast of Australia.
-Captain Baker thought at first that he was in the presence of an
-unknown sandbank; he even prepared to determine its exact position
-when two columns of water, projected by the mysterious object,
-shot with a hissing noise a hundred and fifty feet up into the air.
-Now, unless the sandbank had been submitted to the intermittent
-eruption of a geyser, the Governor Higginson had to do neither
-more nor less than with an aquatic mammal, unknown till then,
-which threw up from its blow-holes columns of water mixed with
-air and vapour.
-
-Similar facts were observed on the 23rd of July in the same year,
-in the Pacific Ocean, by the Columbus, of the West India
-and Pacific Steam Navigation Company.  But this extraordinary
-creature could transport itself from one place to another
-with surprising velocity; as, in an interval of three days,
-the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had observed it at
-two different points of the chart, separated by a distance
-of more than seven hundred nautical leagues.
-
-Fifteen days later, two thousand miles farther off, the Helvetia,
-of the Compagnie-Nationale, and the Shannon, of the Royal
-Mail Steamship Company, sailing to windward in that portion
-of the Atlantic lying between the United States and Europe,
-respectively signalled the monster to each other in 42@ 15' N. lat.
-and 60@ 35' W. long.  In these simultaneous observations they
-thought themselves justified in estimating the minimum length
-of the mammal at more than three hundred and fifty feet,
-as the Shannon and Helvetia were of smaller dimensions than it,
-though they measured three hundred feet over all.
-
-Now the largest whales, those which frequent those parts of the sea round
-the Aleutian, Kulammak, and Umgullich islands, have never exceeded the length
-of sixty yards, if they attain that.
-
-In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion.
-They sang of it in the cafes, ridiculed it in the papers, and represented
-it on the stage.  All kinds of stories were circulated regarding it.
-There appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and
-imaginary creature, from the white whale, the terrible "Moby Dick"
-of sub-arctic regions, to the immense kraken, whose tentacles could entangle
-a ship of five hundred tons and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean.
-The legends of ancient times were even revived.
-
-Then burst forth the unending argument between the believers and the
-unbelievers in the societies of the wise and the scientific journals.
-"The question of the monster" inflamed all minds.  Editors of
-scientific journals, quarrelling with believers in the supernatural,
-spilled seas of ink during this memorable campaign, some even drawing blood;
-for from the sea-serpent they came to direct personalities.
-
-During the first months of the year 1867 the question seemed buried,
-never to revive, when new facts were brought before the public.
-It was then no longer a scientific problem to be solved, but a real
-danger seriously to be avoided.  The question took quite another shape.
-The monster became a small island, a rock, a reef, but a reef of indefinite
-and shifting proportions.
-
-On the 5th of March, 1867, the Moravian, of the Montreal Ocean Company,
-finding herself during the night in 27@ 30' lat.  and 72@ 15' long., struck
-on her starboard quarter a rock, marked in no chart for that part of the sea.
-Under the combined efforts of the wind and its four hundred horse power,
-it was going at the rate of thirteen knots.  Had it not been for the superior
-strength of the hull of the Moravian, she would have been broken by the shock
-and gone down with the 237 passengers she was bringing home from Canada.
-
-The accident happened about five o'clock in the morning, as the day
-was breaking.  The officers of the quarter-deck hurried to the after-part
-of the vessel.  They examined the sea with the most careful attention.
-They saw nothing but a strong eddy about three cables' length distant,
-as if the surface had been violently agitated.  The bearings of the place were
-taken exactly, and the Moravian continued its route without apparent damage.
-Had it struck on a submerged rock, or on an enormous wreck?  They could
-not tell; but, on examination of the ship's bottom when undergoing repairs,
-it was found that part of her keel was broken.
-
-This fact, so grave in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten
-like many others if, three weeks after, it had not been re-enacted
-under similar circumstances.  But, thanks to the nationality of
-the victim of the shock, thanks to the reputation of the company to
-which the vessel belonged, the circumstance became extensively circulated.
-
-The 13th of April, 1867, the sea being beautiful, the breeze favourable,
-the Scotia, of the Cunard Company's line, found herself in 15@ 12' long.
-and 45@ 37' lat.  She was going at the speed of thirteen knots and a half.
-
-At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, whilst the passengers were
-assembled at lunch in the great saloon, a slight shock was felt on the hull
-of the Scotia, on her quarter, a little aft of the port-paddle.
-
-The Scotia had not struck, but she had been struck, and seemingly
-by something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt.
-The shock had been so slight that no one had been alarmed,
-had it not been for the shouts of the carpenter's watch,
-who rushed on to the bridge, exclaiming, "We are sinking! we
-are sinking!"  At first the passengers were much frightened,
-but Captain Anderson hastened to reassure them.  The danger could
-not be imminent.  The Scotia, divided into seven compartments
-by strong partitions, could brave with impunity any leak.
-Captain Anderson went down immediately into the hold.
-He found that the sea was pouring into the fifth compartment;
-and the rapidity of the influx proved that the force of the water
-was considerable.  Fortunately this compartment did not hold
-the boilers, or the fires would have been immediately extinguished.
-Captain Anderson ordered the engines to be stopped at once,
-and one of the men went down to ascertain the extent of the injury.
-Some minutes afterwards they discovered the existence of a
-large hole, two yards in diameter, in the ship's bottom.
-Such a leak could not be stopped; and the Scotia, her paddles
-half submerged, was obliged to continue her course.  She was then
-three hundred miles from Cape Clear, and, after three days' delay,
-which caused great uneasiness in Liverpool, she entered the basin
-of the company.
-
-The engineers visited the Scotia, which was put in dry dock.
-They could scarcely believe it possible; at two yards and a half below
-water-mark was a regular rent, in the form of an isosceles triangle.
-The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined
-that it could not have been more neatly done by a punch.
-It was clear, then, that the instrument producing the perforation
-was not of a common stamp and, after having been driven with
-prodigious strength, and piercing an iron plate 1 3/8 inches thick,
-had withdrawn itself by a backward motion.
-
-Such was the last fact, which resulted in exciting once more the torrent
-of public opinion.  From this moment all unlucky casualties which could
-not be otherwise accounted for were put down to the monster.
-
-Upon this imaginary creature rested the responsibility of all
-these shipwrecks, which unfortunately were considerable;
-for of three thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded
-at Lloyd's, the number of sailing and steam-ships supposed
-to be totally lost, from the absence of all news, amounted to
-not less than two hundred!
-
-Now, it was the "monster" who, justly or unjustly, was accused
-of their disappearance, and, thanks to it, communication between
-the different continents became more and more dangerous.
-The public demanded sharply that the seas should at any price be
-relieved from this formidable cetacean.  [1]
-
-[1] Member of the whale family.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-PRO AND CON
-
-At the period when these events took place, I had just returned
-from a scientific research in the disagreeable territory
-of Nebraska, in the United States.  In virtue of my office
-as Assistant Professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris,
-the French Government had attached me to that expedition.
-After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York towards
-the end of March, laden with a precious collection.
-My departure for France was fixed for the first days in May.
-Meanwhile I was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical,
-botanical, and zoological riches, when the accident happened
-to the Scotia.
-
-I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day.
-How could I be otherwise?  I had read and reread all the American
-and European papers without being any nearer a conclusion.
-This mystery puzzled me.  Under the impossibility of forming
-an opinion, I jumped from one extreme to the other.
-That there really was something could not be doubted,
-and the incredulous were invited to put their finger on the wound
-of the Scotia.
-
-On my arrival at New York the question was at its height.
-The theory of the floating island, and the unapproachable sandbank,
-supported by minds little competent to form a judgment, was abandoned.
-And, indeed, unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach,
-how could it change its position with such astonishing rapidity?
-
-From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enormous
-wreck was given up.
-
-There remained, then, only two possible solutions of the question,
-which created two distinct parties:  on one side, those who were
-for a monster of colossal strength; on the other, those who were
-for a submarine vessel of enormous motive power.
-
-But this last theory, plausible as it was, could not stand against
-inquiries made in both worlds.  That a private gentleman should have
-such a machine at his command was not likely.  Where, when, and how
-was it built? and how could its construction have been kept secret?
-Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine.
-And in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has
-multiplied the power of weapons of war, it was possible that,
-without the knowledge of others, a State might try to work such
-a formidable engine.
-
-But the idea of a war machine fell before the declaration of Governments.
-As public interest was in question, and transatlantic communications
-suffered, their veracity could not be doubted.  But how admit that
-the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the public eye?
-For a private gentleman to keep the secret under such circumstances would
-be very difficult, and for a State whose every act is persistently watched
-by powerful rivals, certainly impossible.
-
-Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me
-the honour of consulting me on the phenomenon in question.
-I had published in France a work in quarto, in two volumes,
-entitled Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.  This book,
-highly approved of in the learned world, gained for me a special
-reputation in this rather obscure branch of Natural History.
-My advice was asked.  As long as I could deny the reality
-of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative.
-But soon, finding myself driven into a corner, I was
-obliged to explain myself point by point.  I discussed
-the question in all its forms, politically and scientifically;
-and I give here an extract from a carefully-studied article
-which I published in the number of the 30th of April.
-It ran as follows:
-
-"After examining one by one the different theories, rejecting all
-other suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence
-of a marine animal of enormous power.
-
-"The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us.
-Soundings cannot reach them.  What passes in those remote depths--
-what beings live, or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath
-the surface of the waters--what is the organisation of these animals,
-we can scarcely conjecture.  However, the solution of the problem
-submitted to me may modify the form of the dilemma.  Either we do know
-all the varieties of beings which people our planet, or we do not.
-If we do NOT know them all--if Nature has still secrets in the deeps
-for us, nothing is more conformable to reason than to admit the existence
-of fishes, or cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species,
-of an organisation formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings,
-and which an accident of some sort has brought at long intervals
-to the upper level of the ocean.
-
-"If, on the contrary, we DO know all living kinds, we must
-necessarily seek for the animal in question amongst those marine
-beings already classed; and, in that case, I should be disposed
-to admit the existence of a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains
-a length of sixty feet.  Increase its size fivefold or tenfold,
-give it strength proportionate to its size, lengthen its
-destructive weapons, and you obtain the animal required.
-It will have the proportions determined by the officers
-of the Shannon, the instrument required by the perforation
-of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull
-of the steamer.
-
-"Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword,
-a halberd, according to the expression of certain naturalists.
-The principal tusk has the hardness of steel.  Some of these tusks
-have been found buried in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn
-always attacks with success.  Others have been drawn out,
-not without trouble, from the bottoms of ships, which they
-had pierced through and through, as a gimlet pierces a barrel.
-The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one
-of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length,
-and fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
-
-"Very well! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger and the animal
-ten times more powerful; launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
-and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required.
-Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be
-a sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd,
-but with a real spur, as the armoured frigates, or the `rams' of war,
-whose massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time.
-Thus may this puzzling phenomenon be explained, unless there be something over
-and above all that one has ever conjectured, seen, perceived, or experienced;
-which is just within the bounds of possibility."
-
-These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a certain point,
-I wished to shelter my dignity as professor, and not give
-too much cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well
-when they do laugh.  I reserved for myself a way of escape.
-In effect, however, I admitted the existence of the "monster."
-My article was warmly discussed, which procured it a high reputation.
-It rallied round it a certain number of partisans.  The solution
-it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to the imagination.
-The human mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings.
-And the sea is precisely their best vehicle, the only medium
-through which these giants (against which terrestrial animals,
-such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as nothing) can be produced
-or developed.
-
-The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this
-point of view.  The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd's List,
-the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial Review, all papers devoted
-to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of premium,
-were unanimous on this point.  Public opinion had been pronounced.
-The United States were the first in the field; and in New York they
-made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this narwhal.
-A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in commission
-as soon as possible.  The arsenals were opened to Commander Farragut,
-who hastened the arming of his frigate; but, as it always happens,
-the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster did not appear.
-For two months no one heard it spoken of.  No ship met with it.
-It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around it.
-It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable, that jesters
-pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on its passage and was
-making the most of it.
-
-So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided with
-formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to pursue.
-Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned that a
-steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to Shanghai,
-had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean.
-The excitement caused by this news was extreme.  The ship was revictualled
-and well stocked with coal.
-
-Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier,
-I received a letter worded as follows:
-
-To M. ARONNAX, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
-
-SIR,--If you will consent to join the Abraham Lincoln
-in this expedition, the Government of the United States
-will with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise.
-Commander Farragut has a cabin at your disposal.
-
-Very cordially yours, J.B. HOBSON, Secretary of Marine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-I FORM MY RESOLUTION
-
-Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson's letter I no more thought
-of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the North Sea.
-Three seconds after reading the letter of the honourable Secretary of Marine,
-I felt that my true vocation, the sole end of my life, was to chase this
-disturbing monster and purge it from the world.
-
-But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey, weary and longing
-for repose.  I aspired to nothing more than again seeing my country,
-my friends, my little lodging by the Jardin des Plantes,
-my dear and precious collections--but nothing could keep me back!
-I forgot all--fatigue, friends and collections--and accepted without
-hesitation the offer of the American Government.
-
-"Besides," thought I, "all roads lead back to Europe; and the unicorn
-may be amiable enough to hurry me towards the coast of France.
-This worthy animal may allow itself to be caught in the seas of Europe
-(for my particular benefit), and I will not bring back less than half
-a yard of his ivory halberd to the Museum of Natural History."
-But in the meanwhile I must seek this narwhal in the North
-Pacific Ocean, which, to return to France, was taking the road
-to the antipodes.
-
-"Conseil," I called in an impatient voice.
-
-Conseil was my servant, a true, devoted Flemish boy, who had accompanied
-me in all my travels.  I liked him, and he returned the liking well.
-He was quiet by nature, regular from principle, zealous from habit,
-evincing little disturbance at the different surprises of life,
-very quick with his hands, and apt at any service required of him;
-and, despite his name, never giving advice--even when asked for it.
-
-Conseil had followed me for the last ten years wherever science led.
-Never once did he complain of the length or fatigue of a journey,
-never make an objection to pack his portmanteau for whatever
-country it might be, or however far away, whether China or Congo.
-Besides all this, he had good health, which defied all sickness,
-and solid muscles, but no nerves; good morals are understood.
-This boy was thirty years old, and his age to that of his master
-as fifteen to twenty.  May I be excused for saying that I was
-forty years old?
-
-But Conseil had one fault:  he was ceremonious to a degree,
-and would never speak to me but in the third person,
-which was sometimes provoking.
-
-"Conseil," said I again, beginning with feverish hands to make
-preparations for my departure.
-
-Certainly I was sure of this devoted boy.  As a rule, I never asked
-him if it were convenient for him or not to follow me in my travels;
-but this time the expedition in question might be prolonged,
-and the enterprise might be hazardous in pursuit of an animal capable
-of sinking a frigate as easily as a nutshell.  Here there was matter
-for reflection even to the most impassive man in the world.
-What would Conseil say?
-
-"Conseil," I called a third time.
-
-Conseil appeared.
-
-"Did you call, sir?" said he, entering.
-
-"Yes, my boy; make preparations for me and yourself too.
-We leave in two hours."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied Conseil, quietly.
-
-"Not an instant to lose; lock in my trunk all travelling utensils,
-coats, shirts, and stockings--without counting, as many as you can,
-and make haste."
-
-"And your collections, sir?" observed Conseil.
-
-"They will keep them at the hotel."
-
-"We are not returning to Paris, then?" said Conseil.
-
-"Oh! certainly," I answered, evasively, "by making a curve."
-
-"Will the curve please you, sir?"
-
-"Oh! it will be nothing; not quite so direct a road, that is all.
-We take our passage in the Abraham, Lincoln."
-
-"As you think proper, sir," coolly replied Conseil.
-
-"You see, my friend, it has to do with the monster--
-the famous narwhal.  We are going to purge it from the seas.
-A glorious mission, but a dangerous one!  We cannot tell
-where we may go; these animals can be very capricious.
-But we will go whether or no; we have got a captain who
-is pretty wide-awake."
-
-Our luggage was transported to the deck of the frigate immediately.
-I hastened on board and asked for Commander Farragut.
-One of the sailors conducted me to the poop, where I found myself
-in the presence of a good-looking officer, who held out his
-hand to me.
-
-"Monsieur Pierre Aronnax?" said he.
-
-"Himself," replied I. "Commander Farragut?"
-
-"You are welcome, Professor; your cabin is ready for you."
-
-I bowed, and desired to be conducted to the cabin destined for me.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln had been well chosen and equipped
-for her new destination.  She was a frigate of great speed,
-fitted with high-pressure engines which admitted a pressure
-of seven atmospheres.  Under this the Abraham Lincoln attained
-the mean speed of nearly eighteen knots and a third an hour--
-a considerable speed, but, nevertheless, insufficient to grapple
-with this gigantic cetacean.
-
-The interior arrangements of the frigate corresponded to its
-nautical qualities.  I was well satisfied with my cabin,
-which was in the after part, opening upon the gunroom.
-
-"We shall be well off here," said I to Conseil.
-
-"As well, by your honour's leave, as a hermit-crab in the shell
-of a whelk," said Conseil.
-
-I left Conseil to stow our trunks conveniently away, and remounted
-the poop in order to survey the preparations for departure.
-
-At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings
-to be cast loose which held the Abraham Lincoln to the pier
-of Brooklyn.  So in a quarter of an hour, perhaps less,
-the frigate would have sailed without me.  I should have missed
-this extraordinary, supernatural, and incredible expedition,
-the recital of which may well meet with some suspicion.
-
-But Commander Farragut would not lose a day nor an hour
-in scouring the seas in which the animal had been sighted.
-He sent for the engineer.
-
-"Is the steam full on?" asked he.
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-"Go ahead," cried Commander Farragut.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-NED LAND
-
-Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded.
-His vessel and he were one.  He was the soul of it.  On the question
-of the monster there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow
-the existence of the animal to be disputed on board.  He believed in it,
-as certain good women believe in the leviathan--by faith, not by reason.
-The monster did exist, and he had sworn to rid the seas of it.  Either Captain
-Farragut would kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the captain.
-There was no third course.
-
-The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief.
-They were ever chatting, discussing, and calculating the various
-chances of a meeting, watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean.
-More than one took up his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees,
-who would have cursed such a berth under any other circumstances.
-As long as the sun described its daily course, the rigging was
-crowded with sailors, whose feet were burnt to such an extent by
-the heat of the deck as to render it unbearable; still the Abraham
-Lincoln had not yet breasted the suspected waters of the Pacific.
-As to the ship's company, they desired nothing better than to meet
-the unicorn, to harpoon it, hoist it on board, and despatch it.
-They watched the sea with eager attention.
-
-Besides, Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand dollars,
-set apart for whoever should first sight the monster, were he cabin-boy,
-common seaman, or officer.
-
-I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the Abraham Lincoln.
-
-For my own part I was not behind the others, and, left to no one my share
-of daily observations.  The frigate might have been called the Argus,
-for a hundred reasons.  Only one amongst us, Conseil, seemed to protest
-by his indifference against the question which so interested us all,
-and seemed to be out of keeping with the general enthusiasm on board.
-
-I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his
-ship with every apparatus for catching the gigantic cetacean.
-No whaler had ever been better armed.  We possessed every
-known engine, from the harpoon thrown by the hand to the barbed
-arrows of the blunderbuss, and the explosive balls of the duck-gun.
-On the forecastle lay the perfection of a breech-loading gun,
-very thick at the breech, and very narrow in the bore,
-the model of which had been in the Exhibition of 1867.
-This precious weapon of American origin could throw with ease
-a conical projectile of nine pounds to a mean distance
-of ten miles.
-
-Thus the Abraham Lincoln wanted for no means of destruction; and, what was
-better still she had on board Ned Land, the prince of harpooners.
-
-Ned Land was a Canadian, with an uncommon quickness of hand, and who knew
-no equal in his dangerous occupation.  Skill, coolness, audacity, and cunning
-he possessed in a superior degree, and it must be a cunning whale to escape
-the stroke of his harpoon.
-
-Ned Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man
-(more than six feet high), strongly built, grave and taciturn,
-occasionally violent, and very passionate when contradicted.
-His person attracted attention, but above all the boldness
-of his look, which gave a singular expression to his face.
-
-Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French; and, little communicative
-as Ned Land was, I must admit that he took a certain liking for me.
-My nationality drew him to me, no doubt.  It was an opportunity for him
-to talk, and for me to hear, that old language of Rabelais, which is still
-in use in some Canadian provinces.  The harpooner's family was originally
-from Quebec, and was already a tribe of hardy fishermen when this town
-belonged to France.
-
-Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I
-loved to hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas.
-He related his fishing, and his combats, with natural poetry
-of expression; his recital took the form of an epic poem,
-and I seemed to be listening to a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad
-of the regions of the North.
-
-I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him.
-We are old friends now, united in that unchangeable friendship
-which is born and cemented amidst extreme dangers.  Ah, brave Ned!
-I ask no more than to live a hundred years longer, that I may have more
-time to dwell the longer on your memory.
-
-Now, what was Ned Land's opinion upon the question of the marine monster?
-I must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn, and was
-the only one on board who did not share that universal conviction.
-He even avoided the subject, which I one day thought it my duty
-to press upon him.  One magnificent evening, the 30th July (that is
-to say, three weeks after our departure), the frigate was abreast
-of Cape Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia.
-We had crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and the Straits of Magellan
-opened less than seven hundred miles to the south.  Before eight
-days were over the Abraham Lincoln would be ploughing the waters
-of the Pacific.
-
-Seated on the poop, Ned Land and I were chatting of one thing
-and another as we looked at this mysterious sea, whose great
-depths had up to this time been inaccessible to the eye of man.
-I naturally led up the conversation to the giant unicorn, and examined
-the various chances of success or failure of the expedition.
-But, seeing that Ned Land let me speak without saying too much himself,
-I pressed him more closely.
-
-"Well, Ned," said I, "is it possible that you are not convinced
-of the existence of this cetacean that we are following?
-Have you any particular reason for being so incredulous?"
-
-The harpooner looked at me fixedly for some moments
-before answering, struck his broad forehead with his hand
-(a habit of his), as if to collect himself, and said at last,
-"Perhaps I have, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"But, Ned, you, a whaler by profession, familiarised with all
-the great marine mammalia--YOU ought to be the last to doubt
-under such circumstances!"
-
-"That is just what deceives you, Professor," replied Ned.
-"As a whaler I have followed many a cetacean, harpooned a great number,
-and killed several; but, however strong or well-armed they may
-have been, neither their tails nor their weapons would have been
-able even to scratch the iron plates of a steamer."
-
-"But, Ned, they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal
-have pierced through and through."
-
-"Wooden ships--that is possible," replied the Canadian,
-"but I have never seen it done; and, until further proof,
-I deny that whales, cetaceans, or sea-unicorns could ever produce
-the effect you describe."
-
-"Well, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction resting on the logic of facts.
-I believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised, belonging to
-the branch of vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots, or the dolphins,
-and furnished with a horn of defence of great penetrating power."
-
-"Hum!" said the harpooner, shaking his head with the air of a man
-who would not be convinced.
-
-"Notice one thing, my worthy Canadian," I resumed.
-"If such an animal is in existence, if it inhabits the depths
-of the ocean, if it frequents the strata lying miles below
-the surface of the water, it must necessarily possess an
-organisation the strength of which would defy all comparison."
-
-"And why this powerful organisation?" demanded Ned.
-
-"Because it requires incalculable strength to keep one's self
-in these strata and resist their pressure.  Listen to me.
-Let us admit that the pressure of the atmosphere is represented
-by the weight of a column of water thirty-two feet high.
-In reality the column of water would be shorter, as we are
-speaking of sea water, the density of which is greater than
-that of fresh water.  Very well, when you dive, Ned, as many
-times 32 feet of water as there are above you, so many times
-does your body bear a pressure equal to that of the atmosphere,
-that is to say, 15 lb.  for each square inch of its surface.
-It follows, then, that at 320 feet this pressure equals
-that of 10 atmospheres, of 100 atmospheres at 3,200 feet,
-and of 1,000 atmospheres at 32,000 feet, that is, about 6 miles;
-which is equivalent to saying that if you could attain this
-depth in the ocean, each square three-eighths of an inch
-of the surface of your body would bear a pressure of 5,600 lb.
-Ah! my brave Ned, do you know how many square inches you carry on
-the surface of your body?"
-
-"I have no idea, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"About 6,500; and as in reality the atmospheric pressure is about 15 lb.
-to the square inch, your 6,500 square inches bear at this moment a pressure
-of 97,500 lb."
-
-"Without my perceiving it?"
-
-"Without your perceiving it.  And if you are not crushed by
-such a pressure, it is because the air penetrates the interior
-of your body with equal pressure.  Hence perfect equilibrium
-between the interior and exterior pressure, which thus neutralise
-each other, and which allows you to bear it without inconvenience.
-But in the water it is another thing."
-
-"Yes, I understand," replied Ned, becoming more attentive;
-"because the water surrounds me, but does not penetrate."
-
-"Precisely, Ned:  so that at 32 feet beneath the surface of the sea you would
-undergo a pressure of 97,500 lb.; at 320 feet, ten times that pressure;
-at 3,200 feet, a hundred times that pressure; lastly, at 32,000 feet,
-a thousand times that pressure would be 97,500,000 lb.--that is to say,
-that you would be flattened as if you had been drawn from the plates of
-a hydraulic machine!"
-
-"The devil!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"Very well, my worthy harpooner, if some vertebrate, several hundred
-yards long, and large in proportion, can maintain itself in such depths--
-of those whose surface is represented by millions of square inches, that is
-by tens of millions of pounds, we must estimate the pressure they undergo.
-Consider, then, what must be the resistance of their bony structure,
-and the strength of their organisation to withstand such pressure!"
-
-"Why!" exclaimed Ned Land, "they must be made of iron plates
-eight inches thick, like the armoured frigates."
-
-"As you say, Ned.  And think what destruction such a mass would cause,
-if hurled with the speed of an express train against the hull of a vessel."
-
-"Yes--certainly--perhaps," replied the Canadian, shaken by these figures,
-but not yet willing to give in.
-
-"Well, have I convinced you?"
-
-"You have convinced me of one thing, sir, which is that,
-if such animals do exist at the bottom of the seas, they must
-necessarily be as strong as you say."
-
-"But if they do not exist, mine obstinate harpooner, how explain
-the accident to the Scotia?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-AT A VENTURE
-
-The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was for a long time marked
-by no special incident.  But one circumstance happened which showed
-the wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence
-we might place in him.
-
-The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers,
-from whom we learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal.
-But one of them, the captain of the Monroe, knowing that Ned Land had
-shipped on board the Abraham Lincoln, begged for his help in chasing
-a whale they had in sight.  Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing
-Ned Land at work, gave him permission to go on board the Monroe.
-And fate served our Canadian so well that, instead of one whale,
-he harpooned two with a double blow, striking one straight to the heart,
-and catching the other after some minutes' pursuit.
-
-Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land's harpoon,
-I would not bet in its favour.
-
-The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great rapidity.
-The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of Magellan, level with
-Cape Vierges.  But Commander Farragut would not take a tortuous passage,
-but doubled Cape Horn.
-
-The ship's crew agreed with him.  And certainly it was possible
-that they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.
-Many of the sailors affirmed that the monster could not pass there,
-"that he was too big for that!"
-
-The 6th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Abraham Lincoln,
-at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island,
-this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which
-some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn.
-The course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw
-of the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
-
-"Keep your eyes open!" called out the sailors.
-
-And they were opened widely.  Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled,
-it is true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not
-an instant's repose.
-
-I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least
-attentive on board.  Giving but few minutes to my meals,
-but a few hours to sleep, indifferent to either rain or sunshine,
-I did not leave the poop of the vessel.  Now leaning on the netting
-of the forecastle, now on the taffrail, I devoured with eagerness
-the soft foam which whitened the sea as far as the eye could reach;
-and how often have I shared the emotion of the majority of the crew,
-when some capricious whale raised its black back above the waves!
-The poop of the vessel was crowded on a moment.  The cabins
-poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers, each with heaving
-breast and troubled eye watching the course of the cetacean.
-I looked and looked till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil kept
-repeating in a calm voice:
-
-"If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!"
-
-But vain excitement!  The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made
-for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot,
-which soon disappeared amidst a storm of abuse.
-
-But the weather was good.  The voyage was being accomplished under
-the most favourable auspices.  It was then the bad season in Australia,
-the July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe,
-but the sea was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.
-
-The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105d of longitude,
-and the 27th of the same month we crossed the Equator on the 110th meridian.
-This passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly direction,
-and scoured the central waters of the Pacific.  Commander Farragut thought,
-and with reason, that it was better to remain in deep water, and keep
-clear of continents or islands, which the beast itself seemed to shun
-(perhaps because there was not enough water for him! suggested
-the greater part of the crew). The frigate passed at some distance from
-the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the tropic of Cancer,
-and made for the China Seas.  We were on the theatre of the last diversions
-of the monster:  and, to say truth, we no longer LIVED on board.
-The entire ship's crew were undergoing a nervous excitement, of which I
-can give no idea:  they could not eat, they could not sleep--twenty times
-a day, a misconception or an optical illusion of some sailor seated
-on the taffrail, would cause dreadful perspirations, and these emotions,
-twenty times repeated, kept us in a state of excitement so violent that a
-reaction was unavoidable.
-
-And truly, reaction soon showed itself.  For three months,
-during which a day seemed an age, the Abraham Lincoln furrowed
-all the waters of the Northern Pacific, running at whales,
-making sharp deviations from her course, veering suddenly
-from one tack to another, stopping suddenly, putting on steam,
-and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging her machinery,
-and not one point of the Japanese or American coast
-was left unexplored.
-
-The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most
-ardent detractors.  Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself,
-and certainly, had it not been for the resolute determination on the part
-of Captain Farragut, the frigate would have headed due southward.
-This useless search could not last much longer.  The Abraham Lincoln
-had nothing to reproach herself with, she had done her best to succeed.
-Never had an American ship's crew shown more zeal or patience;
-its failure could not be placed to their charge--there remained nothing
-but to return.
-
-This was represented to the commander.  The sailors could
-not hide their discontent, and the service suffered.
-I will not say there was a mutiny on board, but after a reasonable
-period of obstinacy, Captain Farragut (as Columbus did)
-asked for three days' patience.  If in three days the monster did
-not appear, the man at the helm should give three turns of the wheel,
-and the Abraham Lincoln would make for the European seas.
-
-This promise was made on the 2nd of November.  It had the effect of
-rallying the ship's crew.  The ocean was watched with renewed attention.
-Each one wished for a last glance in which to sum up his remembrance.
-Glasses were used with feverish activity.  It was a grand defiance
-given to the giant narwhal, and he could scarcely fail to answer
-the summons and "appear."
-
-Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure; a thousand
-schemes were tried to attract the attention and stimulate
-the apathy of the animal in case it should be met in those parts.
-Large quantities of bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship,
-to the great satisfaction (I must say) of the sharks.
-Small craft radiated in all directions round the Abraham Lincoln
-as she lay to, and did not leave a spot of the sea unexplored.
-But the night of the 4th of November arrived without the unveiling of
-this submarine mystery.
-
-The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would
-(morally speaking) expire; after that time, Commander Farragut,
-faithful to his promise, was to turn the course to the south-east
-and abandon for ever the northern regions of the Pacific.
-
-The frigate was then in 31@ 15' N. lat.  and 136@ 42' E. long.
-The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles to leeward.
-Night was approaching.  They had just struck eight bells;
-large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter.
-The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
-
-At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting.
-Conseil, standing near me, was looking straight before him.
-The crew, perched in the ratlines, examined the horizon which
-contracted and darkened by degrees.  Officers with their night
-glasses scoured the growing darkness:  sometimes the ocean sparkled
-under the rays of the moon, which darted between two clouds,
-then all trace of light was lost in the darkness.
-
-In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little
-of the general influence.  At least I thought so.  Perhaps for
-the first time his nerves vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
-
-"Come, Conseil," said I, "this is the last chance of pocketing
-the two thousand dollars."
-
-"May I be permitted to say, sir," replied Conseil, "that I never reckoned
-on getting the prize; and, had the government of the Union offered a hundred
-thousand dollars, it would have been none the poorer."
-
-"You are right, Conseil.  It is a foolish affair after all, and one upon
-which we entered too lightly.  What time lost, what useless emotions!
-We should have been back in France six months ago."
-
-"In your little room, sir," replied Conseil, "and in your museum, sir; and I
-should have already classed all your fossils, sir.  And the Babiroussa would
-have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des Plantes, and have drawn
-all the curious people of the capital!"
-
-"As you say, Conseil.  I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being
-laughed at for our pains."
-
-"That's tolerably certain," replied Conseil, quietly; "I think
-they will make fun of you, sir.  And, must I say it----?"
-
-"Go on, my good friend."
-
-"Well, sir, you will only get your deserts."
-
-"Indeed!"
-
-"When one has the honour of being a savant as you are, sir, one should
-not expose one's self to----"
-
-Conseil had not time to finish his compliment.
-In the midst of general silence a voice had just been heard.
-It was the voice of Ned Land shouting:
-
-"Look out there!  The very thing we are looking for--
-on our weather beam!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-AT FULL STEAM
-
-At this cry the whole ship's crew hurried towards the harpooner--
-commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the engineers
-left their engines, and the stokers their furnaces.
-
-The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went
-on by her own momentum.  The darkness was then profound, and, however good
-the Canadian's eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to see,
-and what he had been able to see.  My heart beat as if it would break.
-But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all perceived the object
-he pointed to.  At two cables' length from the Abraham Lincoln,
-on the starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be illuminated all over.
-It was not a mere phosphoric phenomenon.  The monster emerged some fathoms
-from the water, and then threw out that very intense but mysterious
-light mentioned in the report of several captains.  This magnificent
-irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great SHINING power.
-The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval, much elongated,
-the centre of which condensed a burning heat, whose overpowering brilliancy
-died out by successive gradations.
-
-"It is only a massing of phosphoric particles," cried one of the officers.
-
-"No, sir, certainly not," I replied.  "That brightness is of an
-essentially electrical nature.  Besides, see, see! it moves;
-it is moving forwards, backwards; it is darting towards us!"
-
-A general cry arose from the frigate.
-
-"Silence!" said the captain.  "Up with the helm, reverse the engines."
-
-The steam was shut off, and the Abraham Lincoln, beating to port,
-described a semicircle.
-
-"Right the helm, go ahead," cried the captain.
-
-These orders were executed, and the frigate moved rapidly
-from the burning light.
-
-I was mistaken.  She tried to sheer off, but the supernatural
-animal approached with a velocity double her own.
-
-We gasped for breath.  Stupefaction more than fear made us dumb
-and motionless.  The animal gained on us, sporting with the waves.
-It made the round of the frigate, which was then making fourteen knots,
-and enveloped it with its electric rings like luminous dust.
-
-Then it moved away two or three miles, leaving a phosphorescent track,
-like those volumes of steam that the express trains leave behind.
-All at once from the dark line of the horizon whither it retired
-to gain its momentum, the monster rushed suddenly towards the Abraham
-Lincoln with alarming rapidity, stopped suddenly about twenty feet
-from the hull, and died out--not diving under the water, for its
-brilliancy did not abate--but suddenly, and as if the source of this
-brilliant emanation was exhausted.  Then it reappeared on the other
-side of the vessel, as if it had turned and slid under the hull.
-Any moment a collision might have occurred which would have been fatal
-to us.  However, I was astonished at the manoeuvres of the frigate.
-She fled and did not attack.
-
-On the captain's face, generally so impassive, was an expression
-of unaccountable astonishment.
-
-"Mr. Aronnax," he said, "I do not know with what formidable
-being I have to deal, and I will not imprudently risk my
-frigate in the midst of this darkness.  Besides, how attack
-this unknown thing, how defend one's self from it?
-Wait for daylight, and the scene will change."
-
-"You have no further doubt, captain, of the nature of the animal?"
-
-"No, sir; it is evidently a gigantic narwhal, and an electric one."
-
-"Perhaps," added I, "one can only approach it with a torpedo."
-
-"Undoubtedly," replied the captain, "if it possesses such
-dreadful power, it is the most terrible animal that ever was created.
-That is why, sir, I must be on my guard."
-
-The crew were on their feet all night.  No one thought of sleep.
-The Abraham Lincoln, not being able to struggle with such velocity,
-had moderated its pace, and sailed at half speed.  For its part,
-the narwhal, imitating the frigate, let the waves rock it at will,
-and seemed decided not to leave the scene of the struggle.
-Towards midnight, however, it disappeared, or, to use a more
-appropriate term, it "died out" like a large glow-worm. Had it fled?
-One could only fear, not hope it.  But at seven minutes to one o'clock
-in the morning a deafening whistling was heard, like that produced
-by a body of water rushing with great violence.
-
-The captain, Ned Land, and I were then on the poop, eagerly peering
-through the profound darkness.
-
-"Ned Land," asked the commander, "you have often heard the roaring of whales?"
-
-"Often, sir; but never such whales the sight of which brought me
-in two thousand dollars.  If I can only approach within four harpoons'
-length of it!"
-
-"But to approach it," said the commander, "I ought to put a whaler
-at your disposal?"
-
-"Certainly, sir."
-
-"That will be trifling with the lives of my men."
-
-"And mine too," simply said the harpooner.
-
-Towards two o'clock in the morning, the burning light reappeared,
-not less intense, about five miles to windward of the Abraham Lincoln.
-Notwithstanding the distance, and the noise of the wind and sea,
-one heard distinctly the loud strokes of the animal's tail,
-and even its panting breath.  It seemed that, at the moment
-that the enormous narwhal had come to take breath at the surface
-of the water, the air was engulfed in its lungs, like the steam
-in the vast cylinders of a machine of two thousand horse-power.
-
-"Hum!" thought I, "a whale with the strength of a cavalry regiment
-would be a pretty whale!"
-
-We were on the qui vive till daylight, and prepared for the combat.
-The fishing implements were laid along the hammock nettings.
-The second lieutenant loaded the blunder busses, which could throw harpoons
-to the distance of a mile, and long duck-guns, with explosive bullets,
-which inflicted mortal wounds even to the most terrible animals.
-Ned Land contented himself with sharpening his harpoon--a terrible weapon
-in his hands.
-
-At six o'clock day began to break; and, with the first glimmer
-of light, the electric light of the narwhal disappeared.
-At seven o'clock the day was sufficiently advanced, but a very thick sea
-fog obscured our view, and the best spy glasses could not pierce it.
-That caused disappointment and anger.
-
-I climbed the mizzen-mast. Some officers were already perched
-on the mast-heads. At eight o'clock the fog lay heavily
-on the waves, and its thick scrolls rose little by little.
-The horizon grew wider and clearer at the same time.
-Suddenly, just as on the day before, Ned Land's voice was heard:
-
-"The thing itself on the port quarter!" cried the harpooner.
-
-Every eye was turned towards the point indicated.  There, a mile and a half
-from the frigate, a long blackish body emerged a yard above the waves.
-Its tail, violently agitated, produced a considerable eddy.
-Never did a tail beat the sea with such violence.  An immense track,
-of dazzling whiteness, marked the passage of the animal, and described
-a long curve.
-
-The frigate approached the cetacean.  I examined it thoroughly.
-
-The reports of the Shannon and of the Helvetia had rather
-exaggerated its size, and I estimated its length at
-only two hundred and fifty feet.  As to its dimensions,
-I could only conjecture them to be admirably proportioned.
-While I watched this phenomenon, two jets of steam and water
-were ejected from its vents, and rose to the height of 120 feet;
-thus I ascertained its way of breathing.  I concluded definitely
-that it belonged to the vertebrate branch, class mammalia.
-
-The crew waited impatiently for their chief's orders.  The latter,
-after having observed the animal attentively, called the engineer.
-The engineer ran to him.
-
-"Sir," said the commander, "you have steam up?"
-
-"Yes, sir," answered the engineer.
-
-"Well, make up your fires and put on all steam."
-
-Three hurrahs greeted this order.  The time for the struggle had arrived.
-Some moments after, the two funnels of the frigate vomited torrents of
-black smoke, and the bridge quaked under the trembling of the boilers.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln, propelled by her wonderful screw,
-went straight at the animal.  The latter allowed it to come
-within half a cable's length; then, as if disdaining to dive,
-it took a little turn, and stopped a short distance off.
-
-This pursuit lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour,
-without the frigate gaining two yards on the cetacean.
-It was quite evident that at that rate we should never come
-up with it.
-
-"Well, Mr. Land," asked the captain, "do you advise me to put
-the boats out to sea?"
-
-"No, sir," replied Ned Land; "because we shall not take that beast easily."
-
-"What shall we do then?"
-
-"Put on more steam if you can, sir.  With your leave, I mean to post
-myself under the bowsprit, and, if we get within harpooning distance,
-I shall throw my harpoon."
-
-"Go, Ned," said the captain.  "Engineer, put on more pressure."
-
-Ned Land went to his post.  The fires were increased, the screw revolved
-forty-three times a minute, and the steam poured out of the valves.
-We heaved the log, and calculated that the Abraham Lincoln was going
-at the rate of 18 1/2 miles an hour.
-
-But the accursed animal swam at the same speed.
-
-For a whole hour the frigate kept up this pace, without gaining six feet.
-It was humiliating for one of the swiftest sailers in the American navy.
-A stubborn anger seized the crew; the sailors abused the monster, who,
-as before, disdained to answer them; the captain no longer contented himself
-with twisting his beard--he gnawed it.
-
-The engineer was called again.
-
-"You have turned full steam on?"
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-The speed of the Abraham Lincoln increased.  Its masts trembled
-down to their stepping holes, and the clouds of smoke could hardly
-find way out of the narrow funnels.
-
-They heaved the log a second time.
-
-"Well?" asked the captain of the man at the wheel.
-
-"Nineteen miles and three-tenths, sir."
-
-"Clap on more steam."
-
-The engineer obeyed.  The manometer showed ten degrees.
-But the cetacean grew warm itself, no doubt; for without
-straining itself, it made 19 3/10 miles.
-
-What a pursuit!  No, I cannot describe the emotion that vibrated through me.
-Ned Land kept his post, harpoon in hand.  Several times the animal let us
-gain upon it.--"We shall catch it! we shall catch it!" cried the Canadian.
-But just as he was going to strike, the cetacean stole away with a rapidity
-that could not be estimated at less than thirty miles an hour, and even during
-our maximum of speed, it bullied the frigate, going round and round it.
-A cry of fury broke from everyone!
-
-At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o'clock in the morning.
-
-The captain then decided to take more direct means.
-
-"Ah!" said he, "that animal goes quicker than the Abraham Lincoln.
-Very well! we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets.
-Send your men to the forecastle, sir."
-
-The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round.
-But the shot passed some feet above the cetacean, which was half
-a mile off.
-
-"Another, more to the right," cried the commander, "and five
-dollars to whoever will hit that infernal beast."
-
-An old gunner with a grey beard--that I can see now--with steady
-eye and grave face, went up to the gun and took a long aim.
-A loud report was heard, with which were mingled the cheers
-of the crew.
-
-The bullet did its work; it hit the animal, and, sliding off
-the rounded surface, was lost in two miles depth of sea.
-
-The chase began again, and the captain, leaning towards me, said:
-
-"I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up."
-
-"Yes," answered I; "and you will be quite right to do it."
-
-I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible
-to fatigue like a steam engine.  But it was of no use.
-Hours passed, without its showing any signs of exhaustion.
-
-However, it must be said in praise of the Abraham Lincoln that she
-struggled on indefatigably.  I cannot reckon the distance she made
-under three hundred miles during this unlucky day, November the 6th.
-But night came on, and overshadowed the rough ocean.
-
-Now I thought our expedition was at an end, and that we should
-never again see the extraordinary animal.  I was mistaken.
-At ten minutes to eleven in the evening, the electric light
-reappeared three miles to windward of the frigate, as pure,
-as intense as during the preceding night.
-
-The narwhal seemed motionless; perhaps, tired with its day's work,
-it slept, letting itself float with the undulation of the waves.
-Now was a chance of which the captain resolved to take advantage.
-
-He gave his orders.  The Abraham Lincoln kept up half steam,
-and advanced cautiously so as not to awake its adversary.
-It is no rare thing to meet in the middle of the ocean whales
-so sound asleep that they can be successfully attacked,
-and Ned Land had harpooned more than one during its sleep.
-The Canadian went to take his place again under the bowsprit.
-
-The frigate approached noiselessly, stopped at two cables'
-lengths from the animal, and following its track.
-No one breathed; a deep silence reigned on the bridge.
-We were not a hundred feet from the burning focus, the light of
-which increased and dazzled our eyes.
-
-At this moment, leaning on the forecastle bulwark, I saw below me Ned
-Land grappling the martingale in one hand, brandishing his terrible
-harpoon in the other, scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal.
-Suddenly his arm straightened, and the harpoon was thrown; I heard
-the sonorous stroke of the weapon, which seemed to have struck a hard body.
-The electric light went out suddenly, and two enormous waterspouts
-broke over the bridge of the frigate, rushing like a torrent from stem
-to stern, overthrowing men, and breaking the lashings of the spars.
-A fearful shock followed, and, thrown over the rail without having
-time to stop myself, I fell into the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE
-
-This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no
-clear recollection of my sensations at the time.
-I was at first drawn down to a depth of about twenty feet.
-I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to rival
-Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art),
-and in that plunge I did not lose my presence of mind.
-Two vigorous strokes brought me to the surface of the water.
-My first care was to look for the frigate.  Had the crew
-seen me disappear?  Had the Abraham Lincoln veered round?
-Would the captain put out a boat?  Might I hope to be saved?
-
-The darkness was intense.  I caught a glimpse of a black mass disappearing in
-the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance.  It was the frigate!
-I was lost.
-
-"Help, help!"  I shouted, swimming towards the Abraham Lincoln in desperation.
-
-My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body,
-and paralysed my movements.
-
-I was sinking!  I was suffocating!
-
-"Help!"
-
-This was my last cry.  My mouth filled with water;
-I struggled against being drawn down the abyss.
-Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong hand, and I
-felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea;
-and I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear:
-
-"If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder,
-master would swim with much greater ease."
-
-I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil's arm.
-
-"Is it you?" said I, "you?"
-
-"Myself," answered Conseil; "and waiting master's orders."
-
-"That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?"
-
-"No; but, being in my master's service, I followed him."
-
-The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
-
-"And the frigate?"  I asked.
-
-"The frigate?" replied Conseil, turning on his back;
-"I think that master had better not count too much on her."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men
-at the wheel say, `The screw and the rudder are broken.'
-
-"Broken?"
-
-"Yes, broken by the monster's teeth.  It is the only injury
-the Abraham Lincoln has sustained.  But it is a bad look-out for us--
-she no longer answers her helm."
-
-"Then we are lost!"
-
-"Perhaps so," calmly answered Conseil.  "However, we have still several
-hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours."
-
-Conseil's imperturbable coolness set me up again.
-I swam more vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck
-to me like a leaden weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up.
-Conseil saw this.
-
-"Will master let me make a slit?" said he; and, slipping an open knife
-under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly.
-Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
-
-Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near
-to each other.
-
-Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible.
-Perhaps our disappearance had not been noticed; and, if it
-had been, the frigate could not tack, being without its helm.
-Conseil argued on this supposition, and laid his plans accordingly.
-This quiet boy was perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that,
-as our only chance of safety was being picked up by the Abraham
-Lincoln's boats, we ought to manage so as to wait for them
-as long as possible.  I resolved then to husband our strength,
-so that both should not be exhausted at the same time;
-and this is how we managed:  while one of us lay on our back,
-quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out,
-the other would swim and push the other on in front.
-This towing business did not last more than ten minutes each;
-and relieving each other thus, we could swim on for some hours,
-perhaps till day-break. Poor chance! but hope is so firmly
-rooted in the heart of man!  Moreover, there were two of us.
-Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable)
-if I sought to destroy all hope--if I wished to despair,
-I could not.
-
-The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had
-occurred about eleven o'clock in the evening before.
-I reckoned then we should have eight hours to swim before sunrise,
-an operation quite practicable if we relieved each other.
-The sea, very calm, was in our favour.  Sometimes I tried
-to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled
-by the phosphorescence caused by our movements.
-I watched the luminous waves that broke over my hand,
-whose mirror-like surface was spotted with silvery rings.
-One might have said that we were in a bath of quicksilver.
-
-Near one o'clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue.
-My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp.  Conseil was
-obliged to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone.
-I heard the poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried.
-I found that he could not keep up much longer.
-
-"Leave me! leave me!"  I said to him.
-
-"Leave my master?  Never!" replied he.  "I would drown first."
-
-Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a
-thick cloud that the wind was driving to the east.
-The surface of the sea glittered with its rays.
-This kindly light reanimated us.  My head got better again.
-I looked at all points of the horizon.  I saw the frigate!
-She was five miles from us, and looked like a dark mass,
-hardly discernible.  But no boats!
-
-I would have cried out.  But what good would it have been at such a distance!
-My swollen lips could utter no sounds.  Conseil could articulate some words,
-and I heard him repeat at intervals, "Help! help!"
-
-Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened.
-It might be only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me
-as if a cry answered the cry from Conseil.
-
-"Did you hear?"  I murmured.
-
-"Yes!  Yes!"
-
-And Conseil gave one more despairing cry.
-
-This time there was no mistake!  A human voice responded to ours!
-Was it the voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle
-of the ocean, some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel?
-Or rather was it a boat from the frigate, that was hailing us in the darkness?
-
-Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck
-out in a desperate effort, he raised himself half out of the water,
-then fell back exhausted.
-
-"What did you see?"
-
-"I saw----" murmured he; "I saw--but do not talk--reserve all your strength!"
-
-What had he seen?  Then, I know not why, the thought
-of the monster came into my head for the first time!
-But that voice!  The time is past for Jonahs to take refuge
-in whales' bellies!  However, Conseil was towing me again.
-He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a cry
-of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer
-and nearer.  I scarcely heard it.  My strength was exhausted;
-my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer;
-my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water.
-Cold crept over me.  I raised my head for the last time,
-then I sank.
-
-At this moment a hard body struck me.  I clung to it:
-then I felt that I was being drawn up, that I was brought to
-the surface of the water, that my chest collapsed--I fainted.
-
-It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings
-that I received.  I half opened my eyes.
-
-"Conseil!"  I murmured.
-
-"Does master call me?" asked Conseil.
-
-Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking
-down to the horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil's
-and which I immediately recognised.
-
-"Ned!"  I cried.
-
-"The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!" replied the Canadian.
-
-"Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?"
-
-"Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find
-a footing almost directly upon a floating island."
-
-"An island?"
-
-"Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal."
-
-"Explain yourself, Ned!"
-
-"Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin
-and was blunted."
-
-"Why, Ned, why?"
-
-"Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron."
-
-The Canadian's last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain.
-I wriggled myself quickly to the top of the being, or object,
-half out of the water, which served us for a refuge.  I kicked it.
-It was evidently a hard, impenetrable body, and not the soft substance
-that forms the bodies of the great marine mammalia.  But this hard
-body might be a bony covering, like that of the antediluvian animals;
-and I should be free to class this monster among amphibious reptiles,
-such as tortoises or alligators.
-
-Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth,
-polished, without scales.  The blow produced a metallic sound;
-and, incredible though it may be, it seemed, I might say,
-as if it was made of riveted plates.
-
-There was no doubt about it!  This monster, this natural
-phenomenon that had puzzled the learned world, and over thrown
-and misled the imagination of seamen of both hemispheres,
-it must be owned was a still more astonishing phenomenon,
-inasmuch as it was a simply human construction.
-
-We had no time to lose, however.  We were lying upon the back of a
-sort of submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge)
-like a huge fish of steel.  Ned Land's mind was made up on this point.
-Conseil and I could only agree with him.
-
-Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing
-(which was evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move.
-We had only just time to seize hold of the upper part,
-which rose about seven feet out of the water, and happily its speed
-was not great.
-
-"As long as it sails horizontally," muttered Ned Land,
-"I do not mind; but, if it takes a fancy to dive, I would
-not give two straws for my life."
-
-The Canadian might have said still less.  It became really necessary to
-communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the machine.
-I searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or a manhole,
-to use a technical expression; but the lines of the iron rivets,
-solidly driven into the joints of the iron plates, were clear and uniform.
-Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total darkness.
-
-At last this long night passed.  My indistinct remembrance
-prevents my describing all the impressions it made.
-I can only recall one circumstance.  During some lulls of
-the wind and sea, I fancied I heard several times vague sounds,
-a sort of fugitive harmony produced by words of command.
-What was, then, the mystery of this submarine craft,
-of which the whole world vainly sought an explanation?
-What kind of beings existed in this strange boat?
-What mechanical agent caused its prodigious speed?
-
-Daybreak appeared.  The morning mists surrounded us,
-but they soon cleared off.  I was about to examine the hull,
-which formed on deck a kind of horizontal platform, when I felt
-it gradually sinking.
-
-"Oh! confound it!" cried Ned Land, kicking the resounding plate.
-"Open, you inhospitable rascals!"
-
-Happily the sinking movement ceased.  Suddenly a noise, like iron
-works violently pushed aside, came from the interior of the boat.
-One iron plate was moved, a man appeared, uttered an odd cry,
-and disappeared immediately.
-
-Some moments after, eight strong men, with masked faces, appeared noiselessly,
-and drew us down into their formidable machine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI
-
-This forcible abduction, so roughly carried out, was accomplished with
-the rapidity of lightning.  I shivered all over.  Whom had we to deal with?
-No doubt some new sort of pirates, who explored the sea in their own way.
-Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me, when I was enveloped in darkness.
-My eyes, dazzled with the outer light, could distinguish nothing.
-I felt my naked feet cling to the rungs of an iron ladder.  Ned Land
-and Conseil, firmly seized, followed me.  At the bottom of the ladder,
-a door opened, and shut after us immediately with a bang.
-
-We were alone.  Where, I could not say, hardly imagine.
-All was black, and such a dense black that, after some minutes,
-my eyes had not been able to discern even the faintest glimmer.
-
-Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at these proceedings, gave free
-vent to his indignation.
-
-"Confound it!" cried he, "here are people who come up to the
-Scotch for hospitality.  They only just miss being cannibals.
-I should not be surprised at it, but I declare that they shall
-not eat me without my protesting."
-
-"Calm yourself, friend Ned, calm yourself," replied Conseil, quietly.
-"Do not cry out before you are hurt.  We are not quite done for yet."
-
-"Not quite," sharply replied the Canadian, "but pretty near,
-at all events.  Things look black.  Happily, my bowie knife
-I have still, and I can always see well enough to use it.
-The first of these pirates who lays a hand on me----"
-
-"Do not excite yourself, Ned," I said to the harpooner, "and do not compromise
-us by useless violence.  Who knows that they will not listen to us?
-Let us rather try to find out where we are."
-
-I groped about.  In five steps I came to an iron wall,
-made of plates bolted together.  Then turning back I struck
-against a wooden table, near which were ranged several stools.
-The boards of this prison were concealed under a thick mat,
-which deadened the noise of the feet.  The bare walls
-revealed no trace of window or door.  Conseil, going round
-the reverse way, met me, and we went back to the middle
-of the cabin, which measured about twenty feet by ten.
-As to its height, Ned Land, in spite of his own great height,
-could not measure it.
-
-Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered,
-when the dense darkness suddenly gave way to extreme light.
-Our prison was suddenly lighted, that is to say, it became filled
-with a luminous matter, so strong that I could not bear it at first.
-In its whiteness and intensity I recognised that electric light which played
-round the submarine boat like a magnificent phenomenon of phosphorescence.
-After shutting my eyes involuntarily, I opened them, and saw that this
-luminous agent came from a half globe, unpolished, placed in the roof
-of the cabin.
-
-"At last one can see," cried Ned Land, who, knife in hand,
-stood on the defensive.
-
-"Yes," said I; "but we are still in the dark about ourselves."
-
-"Let master have patience," said the imperturbable Conseil.
-
-The sudden lighting of the cabin enabled me to examine it minutely.
-It only contained a table and five stools.  The invisible
-door might be hermetically sealed.  No noise was heard.
-All seemed dead in the interior of this boat.  Did it move, did it
-float on the surface of the ocean, or did it dive into its depths?
-I could not guess.
-
-A noise of bolts was now heard, the door opened, and two men appeared.
-
-One was short, very muscular, broad-shouldered, with robust limbs,
-strong head, an abundance of black hair, thick moustache,
-a quick penetrating look, and the vivacity which characterises
-the population of Southern France.
-
-The second stranger merits a more detailed description.  I made out
-his prevailing qualities directly:  self-confidence--because his head
-was well set on his shoulders, and his black eyes looked around with
-cold assurance; calmness--for his skin, rather pale, showed his coolness
-of blood; energy--evinced by the rapid contraction of his lofty brows;
-and courage--because his deep breathing denoted great power of lungs.
-
-Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years of age,
-I could not say.  He was tall, had a large forehead,
-straight nose, a clearly cut mouth, beautiful teeth, with fine
-taper hands, indicative of a highly nervous temperament.
-This man was certainly the most admirable specimen I had ever met.
-One particular feature was his eyes, rather far from each other,
-and which could take in nearly a quarter of the horizon at once.
-
-This faculty--(I verified it later)--gave him a range of vision far superior
-to Ned Land's. When this stranger fixed upon an object, his eyebrows met,
-his large eyelids closed around so as to contract the range of his vision,
-and he looked as if he magnified the objects lessened by distance, as if
-he pierced those sheets of water so opaque to our eyes, and as if he read
-the very depths of the seas.
-
-The two strangers, with caps made from the fur of the sea otter,
-and shod with sea boots of seal's skin, were dressed in clothes
-of a particular texture, which allowed free movement of the limbs.
-The taller of the two, evidently the chief on board, examined us
-with great attention, without saying a word; then, turning to
-his companion, talked with him in an unknown tongue.
-It was a sonorous, harmonious, and flexible dialect, the vowels
-seeming to admit of very varied accentuation.
-
-The other replied by a shake of the head, and added two or three perfectly
-incomprehensible words.  Then he seemed to question me by a look.
-
-I replied in good French that I did not know his language;
-but he seemed not to understand me, and my situation
-became more embarrassing.
-
-"If master were to tell our story," said Conseil, "perhaps these gentlemen
-may understand some words."
-
-I began to tell our adventures, articulating each syllable clearly,
-and without omitting one single detail.  I announced our names and rank,
-introducing in person Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil,
-and master Ned Land, the harpooner.
-
-The man with the soft calm eyes listened to me quietly,
-even politely, and with extreme attention; but nothing in
-his countenance indicated that he had understood my story.
-When I finished, he said not a word.
-
-There remained one resource, to speak English.
-Perhaps they would know this almost universal language.
-I knew it--as well as the German language--well enough to read
-it fluently, but not to speak it correctly.  But, anyhow, we must
-make ourselves understood.
-
-"Go on in your turn," I said to the harpooner; "speak your best
-Anglo-Saxon, and try to do better than I."
-
-Ned did not beg off, and recommenced our story.
-
-To his great disgust, the harpooner did not seem to have made
-himself more intelligible than I had.  Our visitors did not stir.
-They evidently understood neither the language of England
-nor of France.
-
-Very much embarrassed, after having vainly exhausted our speaking resources,
-I knew not what part to take, when Conseil said:
-
-"If master will permit me, I will relate it in German."
-
-But in spite of the elegant terms and good accent
-of the narrator, the German language had no success.
-At last, nonplussed, I tried to remember my first lessons,
-and to narrate our adventures in Latin, but with no better success.
-This last attempt being of no avail, the two strangers exchanged
-some words in their unknown language, and retired.
-
-The door shut.
-
-"It is an infamous shame," cried Ned Land, who broke out for the
-twentieth time.  "We speak to those rogues in French, English, German,
-and Latin, and not one of them has the politeness to answer!"
-
-"Calm yourself," I said to the impetuous Ned; "anger will do no good."
-
-"But do you see, Professor," replied our irascible companion,
-"that we shall absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?"
-
-"Bah!" said Conseil, philosophically; "we can hold out some time yet."
-
-"My friends," I said, "we must not despair.  We have been worse
-off than this.  Do me the favour to wait a little before forming
-an opinion upon the commander and crew of this boat."
-
-"My opinion is formed," replied Ned Land, sharply.  "They are rascals."
-
-"Good! and from what country?"
-
-"From the land of rogues!"
-
-"My brave Ned, that country is not clearly indicated on the map of the world;
-but I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard to determine.
-Neither English, French, nor German, that is quite certain.  However, I am
-inclined to think that the commander and his companion were born in
-low latitudes.  There is southern blood in them.  But I cannot decide by
-their appearance whether they are Spaniards, Turks, Arabians, or Indians.
-As to their language, it is quite incomprehensible."
-
-"There is the disadvantage of not knowing all languages," said Conseil,
-"or the disadvantage of not having one universal language."
-
-As he said these words, the door opened.  A steward entered.
-He brought us clothes, coats and trousers, made of a stuff I did not know.
-I hastened to dress myself, and my companions followed my example.
-During that time, the steward--dumb, perhaps deaf--had arranged the table,
-and laid three plates.
-
-"This is something like!" said Conseil.
-
-"Bah!" said the angry harpooner, "what do you suppose they eat here?
-Tortoise liver, filleted shark, and beef steaks from seadogs."
-
-"We shall see," said Conseil.
-
-The dishes, of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we took
-our places.  Undoubtedly we had to do with civilised people,
-and, had it not been for the electric light which flooded us,
-I could have fancied I was in the dining-room of the Adelphi
-Hotel at Liverpool, or at the Grand Hotel in Paris.
-I must say, however, that there was neither bread nor wine.
-The water was fresh and clear, but it was water and did not suit
-Ned Land's taste.  Amongst the dishes which were brought to us,
-I recognised several fish delicately dressed; but of some,
-although excellent, I could give no opinion, neither could I tell
-to what kingdom they belonged, whether animal or vegetable.
-As to the dinner-service, it was elegant, and in perfect taste.
-Each utensil--spoon, fork, knife, plate--had a letter engraved on it,
-with a motto above it, of which this is an exact facsimile:
-
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI N
-
-The letter N was no doubt the initial of the name of the enigmatical
-person who commanded at the bottom of the seas.
-
-Ned and Conseil did not reflect much.  They devoured the food,
-and I did likewise.  I was, besides, reassured as to our fate;
-and it seemed evident that our hosts would not let us die of want.
-
-However, everything has an end, everything passes away,
-even the hunger of people who have not eaten for fifteen hours.
-Our appetites satisfied, we felt overcome with sleep.
-
-"Faith!  I shall sleep well," said Conseil.
-
-"So shall I," replied Ned Land.
-
-My two companions stretched themselves on the cabin carpet,
-and were soon sound asleep.  For my own part, too many thoughts
-crowded my brain, too many insoluble questions pressed upon me,
-too many fancies kept my eyes half open.  Where were we?
-What strange power carried us on?  I felt--or rather fancied I felt--
-the machine sinking down to the lowest beds of the sea.
-Dreadful nightmares beset me; I saw in these mysterious asylums
-a world of unknown animals, amongst which this submarine boat seemed
-to be of the same kind, living, moving, and formidable as they.
-Then my brain grew calmer, my imagination wandered into
-vague unconsciousness, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-NED LAND'S TEMPERS
-
-How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long,
-for it rested us completely from our fatigues.  I woke first.
-My companions had not moved, and were still stretched in their corner.
-
-Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch, I felt my brain freed,
-my mind clear.  I then began an attentive examination of our cell.
-Nothing was changed inside.  The prison was still a prison--
-the prisoners, prisoners.  However, the steward, during our sleep,
-had cleared the table.  I breathed with difficulty.  The heavy air
-seemed to oppress my lungs.  Although the cell was large, we had
-evidently consumed a great part of the oxygen that it contained.
-Indeed, each man consumes, in one hour, the oxygen contained in more
-than 176 pints of air, and this air, charged (as then) with a nearly
-equal quantity of carbonic acid, becomes unbreathable.
-
-It became necessary to renew the atmosphere of our prison, and no doubt
-the whole in the submarine boat.  That gave rise to a question in my mind.
-How would the commander of this floating dwelling-place proceed?
-Would he obtain air by chemical means, in getting by heat the oxygen contained
-in chlorate of potash, and in absorbing carbonic acid by caustic potash?
-Or--a more convenient, economical, and consequently more probable alternative--
-would he be satisfied to rise and take breath at the surface of the water,
-like a whale, and so renew for twenty-four hours the atmospheric provision?
-
-In fact, I was already obliged to increase my respirations to eke
-out of this cell the little oxygen it contained, when suddenly I was
-refreshed by a current of pure air, and perfumed with saline emanations.
-It was an invigorating sea breeze, charged with iodine.  I opened my
-mouth wide, and my lungs saturated themselves with fresh particles.
-
-At the same time I felt the boat rolling.  The iron-plated monster
-had evidently just risen to the surface of the ocean to breathe,
-after the fashion of whales.  I found out from that the mode
-of ventilating the boat.
-
-When I had inhaled this air freely, I sought the conduit pipe,
-which conveyed to us the beneficial whiff, and I was not long in finding it.
-Above the door was a ventilator, through which volumes of fresh air
-renewed the impoverished atmosphere of the cell.
-
-I was making my observations, when Ned and Conseil awoke almost
-at the same time, under the influence of this reviving air.
-They rubbed their eyes, stretched themselves, and were on their feet
-in an instant.
-
-"Did master sleep well?" asked Conseil, with his usual politeness.
-
-"Very well, my brave boy.  And you, Mr. Land?"
-
-"Soundly, Professor.  But, I don't know if I am right or not,
-there seems to be a sea breeze!"
-
-A seaman could not be mistaken, and I told the Canadian all that had passed
-during his sleep.
-
-"Good!" said he.  "That accounts for those roarings we heard,
-when the supposed narwhal sighted the Abraham Lincoln."
-
-"Quite so, Master Land; it was taking breath."
-
-"Only, Mr. Aronnax, I have no idea what o'clock it is,
-unless it is dinner-time."
-
-"Dinner-time! my good fellow?  Say rather breakfast-time, for we
-certainly have begun another day."
-
-"So," said Conseil, "we have slept twenty-four hours?"
-
-"That is my opinion."
-
-"I will not contradict you," replied Ned Land.  "But, dinner or breakfast,
-the steward will be welcome, whichever he brings."
-
-"Master Land, we must conform to the rules on board, and I suppose
-our appetites are in advance of the dinner hour."
-
-"That is just like you, friend Conseil," said Ned, impatiently.
-"You are never out of temper, always calm; you would return thanks
-before grace, and die of hunger rather than complain!"
-
-Time was getting on, and we were fearfully hungry; and this
-time the steward did not appear.  It was rather too long
-to leave us, if they really had good intentions towards us.
-Ned Land, tormented by the cravings of hunger, got still
-more angry; and, notwithstanding his promise, I dreaded an
-explosion when he found himself with one of the crew.
-
-For two hours more Ned Land's temper increased; he cried, he shouted,
-but in vain.  The walls were deaf.  There was no sound to be heard
-in the boat; all was still as death.  It did not move, for I should have
-felt the trembling motion of the hull under the influence of the screw.
-Plunged in the depths of the waters, it belonged no longer to earth:
-this silence was dreadful.
-
-I felt terrified, Conseil was calm, Ned Land roared.
-
-Just then a noise was heard outside.  Steps sounded on the metal flags.
-The locks were turned, the door opened, and the steward appeared.
-
-Before I could rush forward to stop him, the Canadian had thrown him down,
-and held him by the throat.  The steward was choking under the grip
-of his powerful hand.
-
-Conseil was already trying to unclasp the harpooner's hand from
-his half-suffocated victim, and I was going to fly to the rescue,
-when suddenly I was nailed to the spot by hearing these words in French:
-
-"Be quiet, Master Land; and you, Professor, will you be so good
-as to listen to me?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE MAN OF THE SEAS
-
-It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.
-
-At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly.  The steward,
-nearly strangled, tottered out on a sign from his master.
-But such was the power of the commander on board, that not
-a gesture betrayed the resentment which this man must have felt
-towards the Canadian.  Conseil interested in spite of himself,
-I stupefied, awaited in silence the result of this scene.
-
-The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms folded,
-scanned us with profound attention.  Did he hesitate to speak?
-Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French?
-One might almost think so.
-
-After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed
-of breaking, "Gentlemen," said he, in a calm and penetrating voice,
-"I speak French, English, German, and Latin equally well.
-I could, therefore, have answered you at our first interview, but I
-wished to know you first, then to reflect.  The story told by each one,
-entirely agreeing in the main points, convinced me of your identity.
-I know now that chance has brought before me M. Pierre Aronnax,
-Professor of Natural History at the Museum of Paris, entrusted with
-a scientific mission abroad, Conseil, his servant, and Ned Land,
-of Canadian origin, harpooner on board the frigate Abraham Lincoln
-of the navy of the United States of America."
-
-I bowed assent.  It was not a question that the commander put to me.
-Therefore there was no answer to be made.  This man expressed himself
-with perfect ease, without any accent.  His sentences were well turned,
-his words clear, and his fluency of speech remarkable.  Yet, I did not
-recognise in him a fellow-countryman.
-
-He continued the conversation in these terms:
-
-"You have doubtless thought, sir, that I have delayed long in paying
-you this second visit.  The reason is that, your identity recognised,
-I wished to weigh maturely what part to act towards you.
-I have hesitated much.  Most annoying circumstances have brought you
-into the presence of a man who has broken all the ties of humanity.
-You have come to trouble my existence."
-
-"Unintentionally!" said I.
-
-"Unintentionally?" replied the stranger, raising his voice a little.
-"Was it unintentionally that the Abraham Lincoln pursued me all over
-the seas?  Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this frigate?
-Was it unintentionally that your cannon-balls rebounded off the plating
-of my vessel?  Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land struck me
-with his harpoon?"
-
-I detected a restrained irritation in these words.
-But to these recriminations I had a very natural answer to make,
-and I made it.
-
-"Sir," said I, "no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions
-which have taken place concerning you in America and Europe.
-You do not know that divers accidents, caused by collisions with your
-submarine machine, have excited public feeling in the two continents.
-I omit the theories without number by which it was sought
-to explain that of which you alone possess the secret.
-But you must understand that, in pursuing you over the high
-seas of the Pacific, the Abraham Lincoln believed itself to be
-chasing some powerful sea-monster, of which it was necessary
-to rid the ocean at any price."
-
-A half-smile curled the lips of the commander:  then, in a calmer tone:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he replied, "dare you affirm that your frigate
-would not as soon have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat
-as a monster?"
-
-This question embarrassed me, for certainly Captain Farragut might
-not have hesitated.  He might have thought it his duty to destroy
-a contrivance of this kind, as he would a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"You understand then, sir," continued the stranger, "that I
-have the right to treat you as enemies?"
-
-I answered nothing, purposely.  For what good would it be to discuss
-such a proposition, when force could destroy the best arguments?
-
-"I have hesitated some time," continued the commander; "nothing obliged
-me to show you hospitality.  If I chose to separate myself from you,
-I should have no interest in seeing you again; I could place you
-upon the deck of this vessel which has served you as a refuge,
-I could sink beneath the waters, and forget that you had ever existed.
-Would not that be my right?"
-
-"It might be the right of a savage," I answered, "but not
-that of a civilised man."
-
-"Professor," replied the commander, quickly, "I am not what you
-call a civilised man!  I have done with society entirely,
-for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating.
-I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude
-to them before me again!"
-
-This was said plainly.  A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the eyes of
-the Unknown, and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life of this man.
-Not only had he put himself beyond the pale of human laws, but he had made
-himself independent of them, free in the strictest acceptation of the word,
-quite beyond their reach!  Who then would dare to pursue him at the bottom of
-the sea, when, on its surface, he defied all attempts made against him?
-
-What vessel could resist the shock of his submarine monitor?
-What cuirass, however thick, could withstand the blows of his spur?
-No man could demand from him an account of his actions;
-God, if he believed in one--his conscience, if he had one--
-were the sole judges to whom he was answerable.
-
-These reflections crossed my mind rapidly, whilst the stranger
-personage was silent, absorbed, and as if wrapped up in himself.
-I regarded him with fear mingled with interest, as, doubtless,
-OEdiphus regarded the Sphinx.
-
-After rather a long silence, the commander resumed the conversation.
-
-"I have hesitated," said he, "but I have thought that my interest might
-be reconciled with that pity to which every human being has a right.
-You will remain on board my vessel, since fate has cast you there.
-You will be free; and, in exchange for this liberty, I shall only impose one
-single condition.  Your word of honour to submit to it will suffice."
-
-"Speak, sir," I answered.  "I suppose this condition is one which a man
-of honour may accept?"
-
-"Yes, sir; it is this:  It is possible that certain events,
-unforeseen, may oblige me to consign you to your cabins for some hours
-or some days, as the case may be.  As I desire never to use violence,
-I expect from you, more than all the others, a passive obedience.
-In thus acting, I take all the responsibility:  I acquit you entirely,
-for I make it an impossibility for you to see what ought not to be seen.
-Do you accept this condition?"
-
-Then things took place on board which, to say the least,
-were singular, and which ought not to be seen by people
-who were not placed beyond the pale of social laws.
-Amongst the surprises which the future was preparing for me,
-this might not be the least.
-
-"We accept," I answered; "only I will ask your permission, sir, to address
-one question to you--one only."
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"You said that we should be free on board."
-
-"Entirely."
-
-"I ask you, then, what you mean by this liberty?"
-
-"Just the liberty to go, to come, to see, to observe even all
-that passes here save under rare circumstances--the liberty,
-in short, which we enjoy ourselves, my companions and I."
-
-It was evident that we did not understand one another.
-
-"Pardon me, sir," I resumed, "but this liberty is only what every
-prisoner has of pacing his prison.  It cannot suffice us."
-
-"It must suffice you, however."
-
-"What! we must renounce for ever seeing our country, our friends,
-our relations again?"
-
-"Yes, sir.  But to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men
-believe to be liberty is not perhaps so painful as you think."
-
-"Well," exclaimed Ned Land, "never will I give my word of honour
-not to try to escape."
-
-"I did not ask you for your word of honour, Master Land,"
-answered the commander, coldly.
-
-"Sir," I replied, beginning to get angry in spite of my self,
-"you abuse your situation towards us; it is cruelty."
-
-"No, sir, it is clemency.  You are my prisoners of war.  I keep you,
-when I could, by a word, plunge you into the depths of the ocean.
-You attacked me.  You came to surprise a secret which no man
-in the world must penetrate--the secret of my whole existence.
-And you think that I am going to send you back to that world which must
-know me no more?  Never!  In retaining you, it is not you whom I guard--
-it is myself."
-
-These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander,
-against which no arguments would prevail.
-
-"So, sir," I rejoined, "you give us simply the choice between life and death?"
-
-"Simply."
-
-"My friends," said I, "to a question thus put, there is nothing to answer.
-But no word of honour binds us to the master of this vessel."
-
-"None, sir," answered the Unknown.
-
-Then, in a gentler tone, he continued:
-
-"Now, permit me to finish what I have to say to you.  I know you,
-M. Aronnax.  You and your companions will not, perhaps, have so much
-to complain of in the chance which has bound you to my fate.
-You will find amongst the books which are my favourite study the work
-which you have published on `the depths of the sea.'  I have often read it.
-You have carried out your work as far as terrestrial science permitted you.
-But you do not know all--you have not seen all.  Let me tell you then,
-Professor, that you will not regret the time passed on board my vessel.
-You are going to visit the land of marvels."
-
-These words of the commander had a great effect upon me.  I cannot deny it.
-My weak point was touched; and I forgot, for a moment, that the contemplation
-of these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of liberty.
-Besides, I trusted to the future to decide this grave question.
-So I contented myself with saying:
-
-"By what name ought I to address you?"
-
-"Sir," replied the commander, "I am nothing to you but Captain Nemo;
-and you and your companions are nothing to me but the passengers
-of the Nautilus."
-
-Captain Nemo called.  A steward appeared.  The captain gave him
-his orders in that strange language which I did not understand.
-Then, turning towards the Canadian and Conseil:
-
-"A repast awaits you in your cabin," said he.  "Be so good
-as to follow this man.
-
-"And now, M. Aronnax, our breakfast is ready.  Permit me to lead the way."
-
-"I am at your service, Captain."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo; and as soon as I had passed through the door,
-I found myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity,
-similar to the waist of a ship.  After we had proceeded a dozen yards,
-a second door opened before me.
-
-I then entered a dining-room, decorated and furnished
-in severe taste.  High oaken sideboards, inlaid with ebony,
-stood at the two extremities of the room, and upon their shelves
-glittered china, porcelain, and glass of inestimable value.
-The plate on the table sparkled in the rays which the luminous
-ceiling shed around, while the light was tempered and softened
-by exquisite paintings.
-
-In the centre of the room was a table richly laid out.
-Captain Nemo indicated the place I was to occupy.
-
-The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes,
-the contents of which were furnished by the sea alone;
-and I was ignorant of the nature and mode of preparation
-of some of them.  I acknowledged that they were good, but they
-had a peculiar flavour, which I easily became accustomed to.
-These different aliments appeared to me to be rich in phosphorus,
-and I thought they must have a marine origin.
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me.  I asked him no questions, but he guessed
-my thoughts, and answered of his own accord the questions which I
-was burning to address to him.
-
-"The greater part of these dishes are unknown to you,"
-he said to me.  "However, you may partake of them without fear.
-They are wholesome and nourishing.  For a long time I have
-renounced the food of the earth, and I am never ill now.
-My crew, who are healthy, are fed on the same food."
-
-"So," said I, "all these eatables are the produce of the sea?"
-
-"Yes, Professor, the sea supplies all my wants.  Sometimes I cast
-my nets in tow, and I draw them in ready to break.  Sometimes I
-hunt in the midst of this element, which appears to be inaccessible
-to man, and quarry the game which dwells in my submarine forests.
-My flocks, like those of Neptune's old shepherds, graze fearlessly
-in the immense prairies of the ocean.  I have a vast property there,
-which I cultivate myself, and which is always sown by the hand
-of the Creator of all things."
-
-"I can understand perfectly, sir, that your nets furnish excellent fish
-for your table; I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in your
-submarine forests; but I cannot understand at all how a particle of meat,
-no matter how small, can figure in your bill of fare."
-
-"This, which you believe to be meat, Professor, is nothing else than
-fillet of turtle.  Here are also some dolphins' livers, which you
-take to be ragout of pork.  My cook is a clever fellow,
-who excels in dressing these various products of the ocean.
-Taste all these dishes.  Here is a preserve of sea-cucumber,
-which a Malay would declare to be unrivalled in the world;
-here is a cream, of which the milk has been furnished by
-the cetacea, and the sugar by the great fucus of the North Sea;
-and, lastly, permit me to offer you some preserve of anemones,
-which is equal to that of the most delicious fruits."
-
-I tasted, more from curiosity than as a connoisseur, whilst Captain
-Nemo enchanted me with his extraordinary stories.
-
-"You like the sea, Captain?"
-
-"Yes; I love it!  The sea is everything.  It covers seven tenths
-of the terrestrial globe.  Its breath is pure and healthy.
-It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely,
-for he feels life stirring on all sides.  The sea is only
-the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence.
-It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the `Living Infinite,'
-as one of your poets has said.  In fact, Professor, Nature manifests
-herself in it by her three kingdoms--mineral, vegetable, and animal.
-The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature.  The globe began with sea,
-so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it?
-In it is supreme tranquillity.  The sea does not belong to despots.
-Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one
-another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors.
-But at thirty feet below its level, their reign ceases,
-their influence is quenched, and their power disappears.
-Ah! sir, live--live in the bosom of the waters!
-There only is independence!  There I recognise no masters!
-There I am free!"
-
-Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of
-this enthusiasm, by which he was quite carried away.
-For a few moments he paced up and down, much agitated.
-Then he became more calm, regained his accustomed coldness
-of expression, and turning towards me:
-
-"Now, Professor," said he, "if you wish to go over the Nautilus,
-I am at your service."
-
-Captain Nemo rose.  I followed him.  A double door, contrived at the back
-of the dining-room, opened, and I entered a room equal in dimensions
-to that which I had just quitted.
-
-It was a library.  High pieces of furniture, of black violet
-ebony inlaid with brass, supported upon their wide shelves
-a great number of books uniformly bound.  They followed the shape
-of the room, terminating at the lower part in huge divans,
-covered with brown leather, which were curved, to afford
-the greatest comfort.  Light movable desks, made to slide in
-and out at will, allowed one to rest one's book while reading.
-In the centre stood an immense table, covered with pamphlets,
-amongst which were some newspapers, already of old date.
-The electric light flooded everything; it was shed from four
-unpolished globes half sunk in the volutes of the ceiling.
-I looked with real admiration at this room, so ingeniously fitted up,
-and I could scarcely believe my eyes.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I to my host, who had just thrown himself
-on one of the divans, "this is a library which would do honour
-to more than one of the continental palaces, and I am absolutely
-astounded when I consider that it can follow you to the bottom
-of the seas."
-
-"Where could one find greater solitude or silence, Professor?"
-replied Captain Nemo.  "Did your study in the Museum afford you
-such perfect quiet?"
-
-"No, sir; and I must confess that it is a very poor one after yours.
-You must have six or seven thousand volumes here."
-
-"Twelve thousand, M. Aronnax.  These are the only ties which bind
-me to the earth.  But I had done with the world on the day
-when my Nautilus plunged for the first time beneath the waters.
-That day I bought my last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last papers,
-and from that time I wish to think that men no longer think or write.
-These books, Professor, are at your service besides, and you can make use
-of them freely."
-
-I thanked Captain Nemo, and went up to the shelves of the library.
-Works on science, morals, and literature abounded in every language;
-but I did not see one single work on political economy; that subject
-appeared to be strictly proscribed.  Strange to say, all these books
-were irregularly arranged, in whatever language they were written;
-and this medley proved that the Captain of the Nautilus must have read
-indiscriminately the books which he took up by chance.
-
-"Sir," said I to the Captain, "I thank you for having placed
-this library at my disposal.  It contains treasures of science,
-and I shall profit by them."
-
-"This room is not only a library," said Captain Nemo,
-"it is also a smoking-room."
-
-"A smoking-room!" I cried.  "Then one may smoke on board?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"Then, sir, I am forced to believe that you have kept up
-a communication with Havannah."
-
-"Not any," answered the Captain.  "Accept this cigar,
-M. Aronnax; and, though it does not come from Havannah,
-you will be pleased with it, if you are a connoisseur."
-
-I took the cigar which was offered me; its shape recalled
-the London ones, but it seemed to be made of leaves of gold.
-I lighted it at a little brazier, which was supported upon an
-elegant bronze stem, and drew the first whiffs with the delight
-of a lover of smoking who has not smoked for two days.
-
-"It is excellent, but it is not tobacco."
-
-"No!" answered the Captain, "this tobacco comes neither from Havannah
-nor from the East.  It is a kind of sea-weed, rich in nicotine,
-with which the sea provides me, but somewhat sparingly."
-
-At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite
-to that by which I had entered the library, and I passed into
-an immense drawing-room splendidly lighted.
-
-It was a vast, four-sided room, thirty feet long, eighteen wide,
-and fifteen high.  A luminous ceiling, decorated with light arabesques,
-shed a soft clear light over all the marvels accumulated in this museum.
-For it was in fact a museum, in which an intelligent and prodigal hand
-had gathered all the treasures of nature and art, with the artistic
-confusion which distinguishes a painter's studio.
-
-{several sentences are missing here in the omnibus edition}
-
-Thirty first-rate pictures, uniformly framed, separated by bright drapery,
-ornamented the walls, which were hung with tapestry of severe design.
-I saw works of great value, the greater part of which I had admired in the
-special collections of Europe, and in the exhibitions of paintings.
-
-Some admirable statues in marble and bronze, after the finest antique models,
-stood upon pedestals in the corners of this magnificent museum.
-Amazement, as the Captain of the Nautilus had predicted, had already
-begun to take possession of me.
-
-"Professor," said this strange man, "you must excuse the unceremonious
-way in which I receive you, and the disorder of this room."
-
-"Sir," I answered, "without seeking to know who you are,
-I recognise in you an artist."
-
-"An amateur, nothing more, sir.  Formerly I loved to collect
-these beautiful works created by the hand of man.
-I sought them greedily, and ferreted them out indefatigably,
-and I have been able to bring together some objects of great value.
-These are my last souvenirs of that world which is dead to me.
-In my eyes, your modern artists are already old; they have two or
-three thousand years of existence; I confound them in my own mind.
-Masters have no age."
-
-{4 paragraphs seem to be missing from this omnibus text here they
-have to do with musical composers, a piano, and a brief revery
-on the part of Nemo}
-
-Under elegant glass cases, fixed by copper rivets, were classed
-and labelled the most precious productions of the sea
-which had ever been presented to the eye of a naturalist.
-My delight as a professor may be conceived.
-
-{2 long paragraphs seem to be missing from this omnibus here}
-
-Apart, in separate compartments, were spread out chaplets of pearls
-of the greatest beauty, which reflected the electric light in little
-sparks of fire; pink pearls, torn from the pinna-marina of the Red Sea;
-green pearls, yellow, blue, and black pearls, the curious productions
-of the divers molluscs of every ocean, and certain mussels of the water
-courses of the North; lastly, several specimens of inestimable value.
-Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon's egg, and were worth millions.
-
-{this para has been altered the last sentence reworded}
-
-Therefore, to estimate the value of this collection was simply impossible.
-Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the acquirement of these
-various specimens, and I was thinking what source he could have drawn from,
-to have been able thus to gratify his fancy for collecting, when I was
-interrupted by these words:
-
-"You are examining my shells, Professor?  Unquestionably they must be
-interesting to a naturalist; but for me they have a far greater charm,
-for I have collected them all with my own hand, and there is not a sea
-on the face of the globe which has escaped my researches."
-
-"I can understand, Captain, the delight of wandering about in the midst
-of such riches.  You are one of those who have collected their
-treasures themselves.  No museum in Europe possesses such a collection
-of the produce of the ocean.  But if I exhaust all my admiration
-upon it, I shall have none left for the vessel which carries it.
-I do not wish to pry into your secrets:  but I must confess
-that this Nautilus, with the motive power which is confined in it,
-the contrivances which enable it to be worked, the powerful agent
-which propels it, all excite my curiosity to the highest pitch.
-I see suspended on the walls of this room instruments of whose use
-I am ignorant."
-
-"You will find these same instruments in my own room, Professor,
-where I shall have much pleasure in explaining their use to you.
-But first come and inspect the cabin which is set apart for your own use.
-You must see how you will be accommodated on board the Nautilus."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo who, by one of the doors opening
-from each panel of the drawing-room, regained the waist.
-He conducted me towards the bow, and there I found, not a cabin,
-but an elegant room, with a bed, dressing-table, and several other
-pieces of excellent furniture.
-
-I could only thank my host.
-
-"Your room adjoins mine," said he, opening a door, "and mine
-opens into the drawing-room that we have just quitted."
-
-I entered the Captain's room:  it had a severe, almost a monkish aspect.
-A small iron bedstead, a table, some articles for the toilet; the whole
-lighted by a skylight.  No comforts, the strictest necessaries only.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed to a seat.
-
-"Be so good as to sit down," he said.  I seated myself,
-and he began thus:
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-ALL BY ELECTRICITY
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, showing me the instruments hanging on the walls
-of his room, "here are the contrivances required for the navigation of
-the Nautilus.  Here, as in the drawing-room, I have them always under my eyes,
-and they indicate my position and exact direction in the middle of the ocean.
-Some are known to you, such as the thermometer, which gives the internal
-temperature of the Nautilus; the barometer, which indicates the weight
-of the air and foretells the changes of the weather; the hygrometer,
-which marks the dryness of the atmosphere; the storm-glass, the contents
-of which, by decomposing, announce the approach of tempests; the compass,
-which guides my course; the sextant, which shows the latitude by the altitude
-of the sun; chronometers, by which I calculate the longitude; and glasses
-for day and night, which I use to examine the points of the horizon,
-when the Nautilus rises to the surface of the waves."
-
-"These are the usual nautical instruments," I replied,
-"and I know the use of them.  But these others, no doubt,
-answer to the particular requirements of the Nautilus.
-This dial with movable needle is a manometer, is it not?"
-
-"It is actually a manometer.  But by communication with the water,
-whose external pressure it indicates, it gives our depth at the same time."
-
-"And these other instruments, the use of which I cannot guess?"
-
-"Here, Professor, I ought to give you some explanations.
-Will you be kind enough to listen to me?"
-
-He was silent for a few moments, then he said:
-
-"There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to
-every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel.  Everything is done by means
-of it.  It lights, warms it, and is the soul of my mechanical apparatus.
-This agent is electricity."
-
-"Electricity?"  I cried in surprise.
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement,
-which does not agree well with the power of electricity.
-Until now, its dynamic force has remained under restraint, and has
-only been able to produce a small amount of power."
-
-"Professor," said Captain Nemo, "my electricity is not everybody's.
-You know what sea-water is composed of.  In a thousand grammes
-are found 96 1/2 per cent.  of water, and about 2 2/3 per cent.
-of chloride of sodium; then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of
-magnesium and of potassium, bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia,
-sulphate and carbonate of lime.  You see, then, that chloride
-of sodium forms a large part of it.  So it is this sodium that I
-extract from the sea-water, and of which I compose my ingredients.
-I owe all to the ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity
-gives heat, light, motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus."
-
-"But not the air you breathe?"
-
-"Oh!  I could manufacture the air necessary for my consumption, but it
-is useless, because I go up to the surface of the water when I please.
-However, if electricity does not furnish me with air to breathe, it works
-at least the powerful pumps that are stored in spacious reservoirs,
-and which enable me to prolong at need, and as long as I will, my stay
-in the depths of the sea.  It gives a uniform and unintermittent light,
-which the sun does not.  Now look at this clock; it is electrical,
-and goes with a regularity that defies the best chronometers.
-I have divided it into twenty-four hours, like the Italian clocks,
-because for me there is neither night nor day, sun nor moon, but only
-that factitious light that I take with me to the bottom of the sea.
-Look! just now, it is ten o'clock in the morning."
-
-"Exactly."
-
-"Another application of electricity.  This dial hanging in front of us
-indicates the speed of the Nautilus.  An electric thread puts it in
-communication with the screw, and the needle indicates the real speed.
-Look! now we are spinning along with a uniform speed of fifteen
-miles an hour."
-
-"It is marvelous!  And I see, Captain, you were right to make use
-of this agent that takes the place of wind, water, and steam."
-
-"We have not finished, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo, rising.
-"If you will allow me, we will examine the stern of the Nautilus."
-
-Really, I knew already the anterior part of this submarine boat,
-of which this is the exact division, starting from the ship's head:
-the dining-room, five yards long, separated from the library
-by a water-tight partition; the library, five yards long;
-the large drawing-room, ten yards long, separated from the Captain's
-room by a second water-tight partition; the said room, five yards
-in length; mine, two and a half yards; and, lastly a reservoir
-of air, seven and a half yards, that extended to the bows.
-Total length thirty five yards, or one hundred and five feet.
-The partitions had doors that were shut hermetically by means of
-india-rubber instruments, and they ensured the safety of the Nautilus
-in case of a leak.
-
-I followed Captain Nemo through the waist, and arrived at the centre
-of the boat.  There was a sort of well that opened between two partitions.
-An iron ladder, fastened with an iron hook to the partition, led to
-the upper end.  I asked the Captain what the ladder was used for.
-
-"It leads to the small boat," he said.
-
-"What! have you a boat?"  I exclaimed, in surprise.
-
-"Of course; an excellent vessel, light and insubmersible,
-that serves either as a fishing or as a pleasure boat."
-
-"But then, when you wish to embark, you are obliged to come to the surface
-of the water?"
-
-"Not at all.  This boat is attached to the upper part of
-the hull of the Nautilus, and occupies a cavity made for it.
-It is decked, quite water-tight, and held together by solid bolts.
-This ladder leads to a man-hole made in the hull of the Nautilus,
-that corresponds with a similar hole made in the side of the boat.
-By this double opening I get into the small vessel.  They shut the one
-belonging to the Nautilus; I shut the other by means of screw pressure.
-I undo the bolts, and the little boat goes up to the surface of the sea
-with prodigious rapidity.  I then open the panel of the bridge,
-carefully shut till then; I mast it, hoist my sail, take my oars,
-and I'm off."
-
-"But how do you get back on board?"
-
-"I do not come back, M. Aronnax; the Nautilus comes to me."
-
-"By your orders?"
-
-"By my orders.  An electric thread connects us.  I telegraph to it,
-and that is enough."
-
-"Really," I said, astonished at these marvels, "nothing can
-be more simple."
-
-After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led to the platform,
-I saw a cabin six feet long, in which Conseil and Ned Land,
-enchanted with their repast, were devouring it with avidity.
-Then a door opened into a kitchen nine feet long, situated between
-the large store-rooms. There electricity, better than gas itself,
-did all the cooking.  The streams under the furnaces gave out to the
-sponges of platina a heat which was regularly kept up and distributed.
-They also heated a distilling apparatus, which, by evaporation,
-furnished excellent drinkable water.  Near this kitchen was a bathroom
-comfortably furnished, with hot and cold water taps.
-
-Next to the kitchen was the berth-room of the vessel, sixteen feet long.
-But the door was shut, and I could not see the management of it,
-which might have given me an idea of the number of men employed on
-board the Nautilus.
-
-At the bottom was a fourth partition that separated this
-office from the engine-room. A door opened, and I found myself
-in the compartment where Captain Nemo--certainly an engineer
-of a very high order--had arranged his locomotive machinery.
-This engine-room, clearly lighted, did not measure less than
-sixty-five feet in length.  It was divided into two parts;
-the first contained the materials for producing electricity,
-and the second the machinery that connected it with the screw.
-I examined it with great interest, in order to understand the
-machinery of the Nautilus.
-
-"You see," said the Captain, "I use Bunsen's contrivances,
-not Ruhmkorff's. Those would not have been powerful enough.
-Bunsen's are fewer in number, but strong and large, which experience
-proves to be the best.  The electricity produced passes forward,
-where it works, by electro-magnets of great size, on a system of levers
-and cog-wheels that transmit the movement to the axle of the screw.
-This one, the diameter of which is nineteen feet, and the thread
-twenty-three feet, performs about 120 revolutions in a second."
-
-"And you get then?"
-
-"A speed of fifty miles an hour."
-
-"I have seen the Nautilus manoeuvre before the Abraham Lincoln,
-and I have my own ideas as to its speed.  But this is not enough.
-We must see where we go.  We must be able to direct it to the right,
-to the left, above, below.  How do you get to the great depths,
-where you find an increasing resistance, which is rated by hundreds
-of atmospheres?  How do you return to the surface of the ocean?
-And how do you maintain yourselves in the requisite medium?
-Am I asking too much?"
-
-"Not at all, Professor," replied the Captain, with some hesitation;
-"since you may never leave this submarine boat.  Come into the saloon,
-it is our usual study, and there you will learn all you want to know
-about the Nautilus."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-SOME FIGURES
-
-A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking.
-The Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation
-of the Nautilus.  Then he began his description in these words:
-
-"Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat
-you are in.  It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends.
-It is very like a cigar in shape, a shape already adopted
-in London in several constructions of the same sort.
-The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is exactly
-232 feet, and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet.
-It is not built quite like your long-voyage steamers,
-but its lines are sufficiently long, and its curves
-prolonged enough, to allow the water to slide off easily,
-and oppose no obstacle to its passage.  These two dimensions
-enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the surface and
-cubic contents of the Nautilus.  Its area measures 6,032 feet;
-and its contents about 1,500 cubic yards; that is to say,
-when completely immersed it displaces 50,000 feet of water,
-or weighs 1,500 tons.
-
-"When I made the plans for this submarine vessel, I meant that nine-tenths
-should be submerged:  consequently it ought only to displace nine-tenths
-of its bulk, that is to say, only to weigh that number of tons.
-I ought not, therefore, to have exceeded that weight, constructing it on
-the aforesaid dimensions.
-
-"The Nautilus is composed of two hulls, one inside, the other outside,
-joined by T-shaped irons, which render it very strong.  Indeed, owing to
-this cellular arrangement it resists like a block, as if it were solid.
-Its sides cannot yield; it coheres spontaneously, and not by the closeness
-of its rivets; and its perfect union of the materials enables it to defy
-the roughest seas.
-
-"These two hulls are composed of steel plates, whose density is
-from .7 to .8 that of water.  The first is not less than two inches
-and a half thick and weighs 394 tons.  The second envelope, the keel,
-twenty inches high and ten thick, weighs only sixty-two tons.
-The engine, the ballast, the several accessories and apparatus
-appendages, the partitions and bulkheads, weigh 961.62 tons.
-Do you follow all this?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Then, when the Nautilus is afloat under these circumstances,
-one-tenth is out of the water.  Now, if I have made reservoirs
-of a size equal to this tenth, or capable of holding 150 tons,
-and if I fill them with water, the boat, weighing then 1,507 tons,
-will be completely immersed.  That would happen, Professor.
-These reservoirs are in the lower part of the Nautilus.
-I turn on taps and they fill, and the vessel sinks that had just
-been level with the surface."
-
-"Well, Captain, but now we come to the real difficulty.
-I can understand your rising to the surface; but, diving below
-the surface, does not your submarine contrivance encounter a pressure,
-and consequently undergo an upward thrust of one atmosphere
-for every thirty feet of water, just about fifteen pounds
-per square inch?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"Then, unless you quite fill the Nautilus, I do not see how you
-can draw it down to those depths."
-
-"Professor, you must not confound statics with dynamics or you will be
-exposed to grave errors.  There is very little labour spent in attaining
-the lower regions of the ocean, for all bodies have a tendency to sink.
-When I wanted to find out the necessary increase of weight required
-to sink the Nautilus, I had only to calculate the reduction of volume
-that sea-water acquires according to the depth."
-
-"That is evident."
-
-"Now, if water is not absolutely incompressible, it is at least capable
-of very slight compression.  Indeed, after the most recent calculations this
-reduction is only .000436 of an atmosphere for each thirty feet of depth.
-If we want to sink 3,000 feet, I should keep account of the reduction of bulk
-under a pressure equal to that of a column of water of a thousand feet.
-The calculation is easily verified.  Now, I have supplementary
-reservoirs capable of holding a hundred tons.  Therefore I can sink
-to a considerable depth.  When I wish to rise to the level of the sea,
-I only let off the water, and empty all the reservoirs if I want the Nautilus
-to emerge from the tenth part of her total capacity."
-
-I had nothing to object to these reasonings.
-
-"I admit your calculations, Captain," I replied; "I should be
-wrong to dispute them since daily experience confirms them;
-but I foresee a real difficulty in the way."
-
-"What, sir?"
-
-"When you are about 1,000 feet deep, the walls of the Nautilus
-bear a pressure of 100 atmospheres.  If, then, just now you were
-to empty the supplementary reservoirs, to lighten the vessel,
-and to go up to the surface, the pumps must overcome the pressure
-of 100 atmospheres, which is 1,500 lbs.  per square inch.
-From that a power----"
-
-"That electricity alone can give," said the Captain, hastily.
-"I repeat, sir, that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite.
-The pumps of the Nautilus have an enormous power, as you must have observed
-when their jets of water burst like a torrent upon the Abraham Lincoln.
-Besides, I use subsidiary reservoirs only to attain a mean depth of 750
-to 1,000 fathoms, and that with a view of managing my machines.
-Also, when I have a mind to visit the depths of the ocean five or six mlles
-below the surface, I make use of slower but not less infallible means."
-
-"What are they, Captain?"
-
-"That involves my telling you how the Nautilus is worked."
-
-"I am impatient to learn."
-
-"To steer this boat to starboard or port, to turn, in a word,
-following a horizontal plan, I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back
-of the stern-post, and with one wheel and some tackle to steer by.
-But I can also make the Nautilus rise and sink, and sink and rise,
-by a vertical movement by means of two inclined planes fastened to its sides,
-opposite the centre of flotation, planes that move in every direction,
-and that are worked by powerful levers from the interior.
-If the planes are kept parallel with the boat, it moves horizontally.
-If slanted, the Nautilus, according to this inclination, and under
-the influence of the screw, either sinks diagonally or rises diagonally
-as it suits me.  And even if I wish to rise more quickly to the surface,
-I ship the screw, and the pressure of the water causes the Nautilus
-to rise vertically like a balloon filled with hydrogen."
-
-"Bravo, Captain!  But how can the steersman follow the route
-in the middle of the waters?"
-
-"The steersman is placed in a glazed box, that is raised about the hull
-of the Nautilus, and furnished with lenses."
-
-"Are these lenses capable of resisting such pressure?"
-
-"Perfectly.  Glass, which breaks at a blow, is, nevertheless, capable of
-offering considerable resistance.  During some experiments of fishing
-by electric light in 1864 in the Northern Seas, we saw plates less
-than a third of an inch thick resist a pressure of sixteen atmospheres.
-Now, the glass that I use is not less than thirty times thicker."
-
-"Granted.  But, after all, in order to see, the light must exceed
-the darkness, and in the midst of the darkness in the water,
-how can you see?"
-
-"Behind the steersman's cage is placed a powerful electric reflector,
-the rays from which light up the sea for half a mile in front."
-
-"Ah! bravo, bravo, Captain!  Now I can account for this
-phosphorescence in the supposed narwhal that puzzled us so.
-I now ask you if the boarding of the Nautilus and of the Scotia,
-that has made such a noise, has been the result of a chance rencontre?"
-
-"Quite accidental, sir.  I was sailing only one fathom
-below the surface of the water when the shock came.
-It had no bad result."
-
-"None, sir.  But now, about your rencontre with the Abraham Lincoln?"
-
-"Professor, I am sorry for one of the best vessels in the American navy;
-but they attacked me, and I was bound to defend myself.
-I contented myself, however, with putting the frigate hors de combat;
-she will not have any difficulty in getting repaired at the next port."
-
-"Ah, Commander! your Nautilus is certainly a marvellous boat."
-
-"Yes, Professor; and I love it as if it were part of myself.
-If danger threatens one of your vessels on the ocean,
-the first impression is the feeling of an abyss above and below.
-On the Nautilus men's hearts never fail them.  No defects
-to be afraid of, for the double shell is as firm as iron;
-no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to carry away;
-no boilers to burst; no fire to fear, for the vessel is made
-of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity
-is the only mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for it
-alone swims in deep water; no tempest to brave, for when it
-dives below the water it reaches absolute tranquillity.
-There, sir! that is the perfection of vessels!  And if it is true
-that the engineer has more confidence in the vessel than the builder,
-and the builder than the captain himself, you understand
-the trust I repose in my Nautilus; for I am at once captain,
-builder, and engineer."
-
-"But how could you construct this wonderful Nautilus in secret?"
-
-"Each separate portion, M. Aronnax, was brought from different
-parts of the globe."
-
-"But these parts had to be put together and arranged?"
-
-"Professor, I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the ocean.
-There my workmen, that is to say, the brave men that I instructed
-and educated, and myself have put together our Nautilus.  Then, when the work
-was finished, fire destroyed all trace of our proceedings on this island,
-that I could have jumped over if I had liked."
-
-"Then the cost of this vessel is great?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, an iron vessel costs L145 per ton.  Now the Nautilus weighed
-1,500. It came therefore to L67,500, and L80,000 more for fitting it up,
-and about L200,000, with the works of art and the collections it contains."
-
-"One last question, Captain Nemo."
-
-"Ask it, Professor."
-
-"You are rich?"
-
-"Immensely rich, sir; and I could, without missing it,
-pay the national debt of France."
-
-I stared at the singular person who spoke thus.  Was he playing
-upon my credulity?  The future would decide that.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE BLACK RIVER
-
-The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by
-water is estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres.
-This fluid mass comprises two billions two hundred and fifty
-millions of cubic miles, forming a spherical body of a diameter
-of sixty leagues, the weight of which would be three quintillions
-of tons.  To comprehend the meaning of these figures,
-it is necessary to observe that a quintillion is to a billion
-as a billion is to unity; in other words, there are as many
-billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.
-This mass of fluid is equal to about the quantity of water
-which would be discharged by all the rivers of the earth in
-forty thousand years.
-
-During the geological epochs the ocean originally prevailed everywhere.
-Then by degrees, in the silurian period, the tops of the mountains began
-to appear, the islands emerged, then disappeared in partial deluges,
-reappeared, became settled, formed continents, till at length the earth
-became geographically arranged, as we see in the present day.
-The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred
-and fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billions nine hundred
-and sixty millions of acres.
-
-The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five
-great portions:  the Arctic or Frozen Ocean, the Antarctic,
-or Frozen Ocean, the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.
-
-The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two
-Polar Circles, and from east to west between Asia and America,
-over an extent of 145 degrees of longitude.  It is the quietest of seas;
-its currents are broad and slow, it has medium tides, and abundant rain.
-Such was the ocean that my fate destined me first to travel over under
-these strange conditions.
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, "we will, if you please,
-take our bearings and fix the starting-point of this voyage.
-It is a quarter to twelve; I will go up again to the surface."
-
-The Captain pressed an electric clock three times.
-The pumps began to drive the water from the tanks; the needle
-of the manometer marked by a different pressure the ascent
-of the Nautilus, then it stopped.
-
-"We have arrived," said the Captain.
-
-I went to the central staircase which opened on to the platform,
-clambered up the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part
-of the Nautilus.
-
-The platform was only three feet out of water.  The front
-and back of the Nautilus was of that spindle-shape which caused
-it justly to be compared to a cigar.  I noticed that its
-iron plates, slightly overlaying each other, resembled the shell
-which clothes the bodies of our large terrestrial reptiles.
-It explained to me how natural it was, in spite of all glasses,
-that this boat should have been taken for a marine animal.
-
-Toward the middle of the platform the longboat, half buried
-in the hull of the vessel, formed a slight excrescence.
-Fore and aft rose two cages of medium height with inclined sides,
-and partly closed by thick lenticular glasses; one destined for
-the steersman who directed the Nautilus, the other containing a
-brilliant lantern to give light on the road.
-
-The sea was beautiful, the sky pure.  Scarcely could
-the long vehicle feel the broad undulations of the ocean.
-A light breeze from the east rippled the surface of the waters.
-The horizon, free from fog, made observation easy.
-Nothing was in sight.  Not a quicksand, not an island.
-A vast desert.
-
-Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude
-of the sun, which ought also to give the latitude.
-He waited for some moments till its disc touched the horizon.
-Whilst taking observations not a muscle moved, the instrument
-could not have been more motionless in a hand of marble.
-
-"Twelve o'clock, sir," said he.  "When you like----"
-
-I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese coast,
-and descended to the saloon.
-
-"And now, sir, I leave you to your studies," added the Captain;
-"our course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms.
-Here are maps on a large scale by which you may follow it.
-The saloon is at your disposal, and, with your permission,
-I will retire."  Captain Nemo bowed, and I remained alone,
-lost in thoughts all bearing on the commander of the Nautilus.
-
-For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections,
-seeking to pierce this mystery so interesting to me.
-Then my eyes fell upon the vast planisphere spread upon the table,
-and I placed my finger on the very spot where the given latitude
-and longitude crossed.
-
-The sea has its large rivers like the continents.  They are
-special currents known by their temperature and their colour.
-The most remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream.
-Science has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents:
-one in the North Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North
-Pacific, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian Ocean.
-It is even probable that a sixth current existed at one time or another
-in the Northern Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas formed but
-one vast sheet of water.
-
-At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents
-was rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which,
-leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular
-rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast
-of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands,
-carrying with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions,
-and edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.
-It was this current that the Nautilus was to follow.  I followed
-it with my eye; saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific,
-and felt myself drawn with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at
-the door of the saloon.
-
-My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
-spread before them.
-
-"Where are we, where are we?" exclaimed the Canadian.
-"In the museum at Quebec?"
-
-"My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter,
-"you are not in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards
-below the level of the sea."
-
-"But, M. Aronnax," said Ned Land, "can you tell me how many men
-there are on board?  Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?"
-
-"I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a
-time all idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it.
-This ship is a masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be
-sorry not to have seen it.  Many people would accept the situation
-forced upon us, if only to move amongst such wonders.
-So be quiet and let us try and see what passes around us."
-
-"See!" exclaimed the harpooner, "but we can see nothing in this iron prison!
-We are walking--we are sailing--blindly."
-
-Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly darkness.
-The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes received
-a painful impression.
-
-We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited us,
-whether agreeable or disagreeable.  A sliding noise was heard:
-one would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-"It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.
-
-Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong openings.
-The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam.  Two crystal
-plates separated us from the sea.  At first I trembled at the thought that
-this frail partition might break, but strong bands of copper bound them,
-giving an almost infinite power of resistance.
-
-The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the Nautilus.
-What a spectacle!  What pen can describe it?  Who could paint
-the effects of the light through those transparent sheets of water,
-and the softness of the successive gradations from the lower
-to the superior strata of the ocean?
-
-We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
-beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances
-which it holds in suspension heightens its transparency.
-In certain parts of the ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five
-fathoms of water, can be seen with surprising clearness a bed
-of sand.  The penetrating power of the solar rays does not
-seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and fifty fathoms.
-But in this middle fluid travelled over by the Nautilus,
-the electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves.
-It was no longer luminous water, but liquid light.
-
-On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss.
-The obscurity of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside,
-and we looked out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of
-an immense aquarium.
-
-"You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now."
-
-"Curious! curious!" muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
-ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction;
-"and one would come further than this to admire such a sight!"
-
-"Ah!" thought I to myself, "I understand the life of this man;
-he has made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all
-his greatest wonders."
-
-For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus.
-During their games, their bounds, while rivalling each other
-in beauty, brightness, and velocity, I distinguished the green labre;
-the banded mullet, marked by a double line of black; the round-tailed goby,
-of a white colour, with violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus,
-a beautiful mackerel of these seas, with a blue body and silvery head;
-the brilliant azurors, whose name alone defies description;
-some banded spares, with variegated fins of blue and yellow;
-the woodcocks of the seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in length;
-Japanese salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents six feet long,
-with eyes small and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth;
-with many other species.
-
-Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
-on each other.  Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them.
-I was in ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the
-beauty of their forms.  Never had it been given to me to surprise
-these animals, alive and at liberty, in their natural element.
-I will not mention all the varieties which passed before my dazzled eyes,
-all the collection of the seas of China and Japan.  These fish,
-more numerous than the birds of the air, came, attracted, no doubt,
-by the brilliant focus of the electric light.
-
-Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed again,
-and the enchanting vision disappeared.  But for a long time I dreamt on,
-till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the partition.
-The compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the manometer
-indicated a pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a depth
-of twenty five fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of fifteen
-miles an hour.  I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear.
-The clock marked the hour of five.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my chamber.
-My dinner was ready.  It was composed of turtle soup made of the
-most delicate hawks bills, of a surmullet served with puff paste
-(the liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and fillets
-of the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me superior
-even to salmon.
-
-I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking.
-Then sleep overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch
-of zostera, and slept profoundly, whilst the Nautilus was gliding
-rapidly through the current of the Black River.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-A NOTE OF INVITATION
-
-The next day was the 9th of November.  I awoke after a long
-sleep of twelve hours.  Conseil came, according to custom,
-to know "how I passed the night," and to offer his services.
-He had left his friend the Canadian sleeping like a man who
-had never done anything else all his life.  I let the worthy
-fellow chatter as he pleased, without caring to answer him.
-I was preoccupied by the absence of the Captain during our sitting
-of the day before, and hoping to see him to-day.
-
-As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon.  It was deserted.
-I plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses.
-
-The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain Nemo.
-The panels of the saloon did not open.  Perhaps they did not wish us to tire
-of these beautiful things.
-
-The course of the Nautilus was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots,
-the depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
-
-The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion,
-the same solitude.  I did not see one of the ship's crew:
-Ned and Conseil spent the greater part of the day with me.
-They were astonished at the puzzling absence of the Captain.
-Was this singular man ill?--had he altered his intentions with
-regard to us?
-
-After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were delicately
-and abundantly fed.  Our host kept to his terms of the treaty.
-We could not complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our fate reserved
-such wonderful compensation for us that we had no right to accuse
-it as yet.
-
-That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled
-me to relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail.
-
-11th November, early in the morning.  The fresh air spreading
-over the interior of the Nautilus told me that we had come
-to the surface of the ocean to renew our supply of oxygen.
-I directed my steps to the central staircase, and mounted the platform.
-
-It was six o'clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey, but calm.
-Scarcely a billow.  Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be there?
-I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage.
-Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace,
-I inhaled the salt breeze with delight.
-
-By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun's rays,
-the radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon.
-The sea flamed under its glance like a train of gunpowder.
-The clouds scattered in the heights were coloured with lively tints
-of beautiful shades, and numerous "mare's tails," which betokened
-wind for that day.  But what was wind to this Nautilus,
-which tempests could not frighten!
-
-I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay,
-and so life-giving, when I heard steps approaching the platform.
-I was prepared to salute Captain Nemo, but it was his second
-(whom I had already seen on the Captain's first visit) who appeared.
-He advanced on the platform, not seeming to see me.
-With his powerful glass to his eye, he scanned every point
-of the horizon with great attention.  This examination over,
-he approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in exactly
-these terms.  I have remembered it, for every morning
-it was repeated under exactly the same conditions.
-It was thus worded:
-
-"Nautron respoc lorni virch."
-
-What it meant I could not say.
-
-These words pronounced, the second descended.  I thought that
-the Nautilus was about to return to its submarine navigation.
-I regained the panel and returned to my chamber.
-
-Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation.  Every morning I
-mounted the platform.  The same phrase was pronounced by the same individual.
-But Captain Nemo did not appear.
-
-I had made up my mind that I should never see him again,
-when, on the 16th November, on returning to my room with Ned
-and Conseil, I found upon my table a note addressed to me.
-I opened it impatiently.  It was written in a bold, clear hand,
-the characters rather pointed, recalling the German type.
-The note was worded as follows:
-
-
-TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus.  16th of November, 1867.
-
-Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
-take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo.
-He hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present,
-and he will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.
-
-
-"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.
-
-"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.
-
-"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I,
-reading the letter once more.
-
-"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian.  "But once more on dry ground,
-we shall know what to do.  Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat a piece
-of fresh venison."
-
-Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
-Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation
-to hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:
-
-"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."
-
-I consulted the planisphere, and in 32@ 40' N. lat.
-and 157@ 50' W. long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801
-by Captain Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps
-as Rocca de la Plata, the meaning of which is The Silver Rock.
-We were then about eighteen hundred miles from our starting-point,
-and the course of the Nautilus, a little changed, was bringing
-it back towards the southeast.
-
-I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific,
-to my companions.
-
-"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I,
-"he at least chooses desert islands."
-
-Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil
-and he left me.
-
-After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive,
-I went to bed, not without some anxiety.
-
-The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt
-that the Nautilus was perfectly still.  I dressed quickly
-and entered the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me.  He rose, bowed,
-and asked me if it was convenient for me to accompany him.
-As he made no allusion to his absence during the last eight days,
-I did not mention it, and simply answered that my companions and
-myself were ready to follow him.
-
-We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said the Captain, "pray, share my breakfast without ceremony;
-we will chat as we eat.  For, though I promised you a walk in the forest,
-I did not undertake to find hotels there.  So breakfast as a man who will most
-likely not have his dinner till very late."
-
-I did honour to the repast.  It was composed of several kinds of fish,
-and slices of sea-cucumber, and different sorts of seaweed.
-Our drink consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added
-some drops of a fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha
-method from a seaweed known under the name of Rhodomenia palmata.
-Captain Nemo ate at first without saying a word.  Then he began:
-
-"Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
-you evidently thought me mad.  Sir, you should never judge lightly
-of any man."
-
-"But Captain, believe me----"
-
-"Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you
-have any cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction."
-
-"I listen."
-
-"You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
-providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air.
-In submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress,
-with his head in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means
-of forcing pumps and regulators."
-
-"That is a diving apparatus," said I.
-
-"Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty;
-he is attached to the pump which sends him air through an
-india-rubber tube, and if we were obliged to be thus held
-to the Nautilus, we could not go far."
-
-"And the means of getting free?"  I asked.
-
-"It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your
-own countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use,
-and which will allow you to risk yourself under these new
-physiological conditions without any organ whatever suffering.
-It consists of a reservoir of thick iron plates, in which I store
-the air under a pressure of fifty atmospheres.  This reservoir is
-fixed on the back by means of braces, like a soldier's knapsack.
-Its upper part forms a box in which the air is kept by means of
-a bellows, and therefore cannot escape unless at its normal tension.
-In the Rouquayrol apparatus such as we use, two india rubber pipes
-leave this box and join a sort of tent which holds the nose and mouth;
-one is to introduce fresh air, the other to let out the foul, and the tongue
-closes one or the other according to the wants of the respirator.
-But I, in encountering great pressures at the bottom of the sea,
-was obliged to shut my head, like that of a diver in a ball of copper;
-and it is to this ball of copper that the two pipes, the inspirator and
-the expirator, open."
-
-"Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you
-must soon be used; when it only contains fifteen per cent.
-of oxygen it is no longer fit to breathe."
-
-"Right!  But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the Nautilus allow
-me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those conditions
-the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air for nine
-or ten hours."
-
-"I have no further objections to make," I answered.
-"I will only ask you one thing, Captain--how can you light your
-road at the bottom of the sea?"
-
-"With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back,
-the other is fastened to the waist.  It is composed of a Bunsen pile,
-which I do not work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium.
-A wire is introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs
-it towards a particularly made lantern.  In this lantern is a spiral glass
-which contains a small quantity of carbonic gas.  When the apparatus is at
-work this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous light.
-Thus provided, I can breathe and I can see."
-
-"Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers that I
-dare no longer doubt.  But, if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol
-and Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with regard
-to the gun I am to carry."
-
-"But it is not a gun for powder," answered the Captain.
-
-"Then it is an air-gun."
-
-"Doubtless!  How would you have me manufacture gun powder on board,
-without either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?"
-
-"Besides," I added, "to fire under water in a medium eight
-hundred and fifty-five times denser than the air, we must
-conquer very considerable resistance."
-
-"That would be no difficulty.  There exist guns, according to Fulton,
-perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy,
-and in Italy by Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar
-system of closing, which can fire under these conditions.
-But I repeat, having no powder, I use air under great pressure,
-which the pumps of the Nautilus furnish abundantly."
-
-"But this air must be rapidly used?"
-
-"Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at need?
-A tap is all that is required.  Besides M. Aronnax, you must see
-yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air
-and but few balls."
-
-"But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this fluid,
-which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could not go far,
-nor easily prove mortal."
-
-"Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal;
-and, however lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck
-by a thunderbolt."
-
-"Why?"
-
-"Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little
-cases of glass.  These glass cases are covered with a case of steel,
-and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles,
-into which the electricity is forced to a very high tension.
-With the slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal,
-however strong it may be, falls dead.  I must tell you that these
-cases are size number four, and that the charge for an ordinary gun
-would be ten."
-
-"I will argue no longer," I replied, rising from the table.
-"I have nothing left me but to take my gun.  At all events,
-I will go where you go."
-
-Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned's and
-Conseil's cabin, I called my two companions, who followed promptly.
-We then came to a cell near the machinery-room, in which we put
-on our walking-dress.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
-
-This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the Nautilus.
-A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting our use.
-
-Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress
-himself in one.
-
-"But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
-but submarine forests."
-
-"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams
-of fresh meat fade away.  "And you, M. Aronnax, are you going
-to dress yourself in those clothes?"
-
-"There is no alternative, Master Ned."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
-"but, as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one."
-
-"No one will force you, Master Ned," said Captain Nemo.
-
-"Is Conseil going to risk it?" asked Ned.
-
-"I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.
-
-At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came to help us dress
-in these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam,
-and constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure.
-One would have thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting.
-This suit formed trousers and waistcoat.  The trousers were
-finished off with thick boots, weighted with heavy leaden soles.
-The texture of the waistcoat was held together by bands of copper,
-which crossed the chest, protecting it from the great pressure
-of the water, and leaving the lungs free to act; the sleeves ended
-in gloves, which in no way restrained the movement of the hands.
-There was a vast difference noticeable between these consummate
-apparatuses and the old cork breastplates, jackets, and other
-contrivances in vogue during the eighteenth century.
-
-Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules,
-who must have possessed great strength), Conseil and myself
-were soon enveloped in the dresses.  There remained nothing
-more to be done but to enclose our heads in the metal box.
-But, before proceeding to this operation, I asked the Captain's
-permission to examine the guns.
-
-One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end
-of which, made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large.
-It served as a reservoir for compressed air, which a valve,
-worked by a spring, allowed to escape into a metal tube.
-A box of projectiles in a groove in the thickness of the butt
-end contained about twenty of these electric balls, which,
-by means of a spring, were forced into the barrel of the gun.
-As soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I, "this arm is perfect, and easily handled:
-I only ask to be allowed to try it.  But how shall we gain the bottom
-of the sea?"
-
-"At this moment, Professor, the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
-and we have nothing to do but to start."
-
-"But how shall we get off?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the same,
-not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian.
-The upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which
-was screwed the metal helmet.  Three holes, protected by thick glass,
-allowed us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head
-in the interior of the head-dress. As soon as it was in position,
-the Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began to act; and, for my part,
-I could breathe with ease.
-
-With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand,
-I was ready to set out.  But to speak the truth, imprisoned in
-these heavy garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles,
-it was impossible for me to take a step.
-
-But this state of things was provided for.  I felt myself being
-pushed into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe room.
-My companions followed, towed along in the same way.  I heard
-a water-tight door, furnished with stopper plates, close upon us,
-and we were wrapped in profound darkness.
-
-After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard.  I felt the cold
-mount from my feet to my chest.  Evidently from some part of the
-vessel they had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water,
-which was invading us, and with which the room was soon filled.
-A second door cut in the side of the Nautilus then opened.
-We saw a faint light.  In another instant our feet trod the bottom
-of the sea.
-
-And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
-under the waters?  Words are impotent to relate such wonders!
-Captain Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind.
-Conseil and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words
-had been possible through our metallic cases.  I no longer felt
-the weight of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir of air,
-or my thick helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond
-in its shell.
-
-The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of
-the ocean, astonished me by its power.  The solar rays shone through
-the watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly
-distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.
-Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine,
-and faded into vague obscurity.  Truly this water which surrounded
-me was but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere,
-but almost as transparent.  Above me was the calm surface of the sea.
-We were walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore,
-which retains the impression of the billows.  This dazzling carpet,
-really a reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity,
-which accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid.
-Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet,
-I could see as if I was in broad daylight?
-
-For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
-dust of shells.  The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
-disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake us
-in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
-
-Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible.
-I recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes
-of the most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar
-effect of this medium.
-
-It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
-of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their light,
-decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks, plants, shells,
-and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours.
-It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints,
-a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue;
-in one word, the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist!
-Why could I not communicate to Conseil the lively sensations which were
-mounting to my brain, and rival him in expressions of admiration?
-For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his companion might be able to exchange
-thoughts by means of signs previously agreed upon.  So, for want of better,
-I talked to myself; I declaimed in the copper box which covered my head,
-thereby expending more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
-
-Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi,
-and anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
-collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom.
-It was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant
-specimens of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands,
-of hammerheads, donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases,
-and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this
-inexhaustible ocean.  But we were bound to walk, so we went on,
-whilst above our heads waved medusae whose umbrellas of opal
-or rose-pink, escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from
-the rays of the sun and fiery pelagiae, which, in the darkness,
-would have strewn our path with phosphorescent light.
-
-All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile,
-scarcely stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on
-by signs.  Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain
-succeeded an extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze,"
-composed of equal parts of silicious and calcareous shells.  We then
-travelled over a plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation.
-This sward was of close texture, and soft to the feet,
-and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of man.
-But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not abandon our heads.
-A light network of marine plants, of that inexhaustible family
-of seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known,
-grew on the surface of the water.
-
-I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea,
-whilst the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black
-or brown the care of forming gardens and parterres in the remote
-beds of the ocean.
-
-We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half.
-It was near noon; I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays,
-which were no longer refracted.  The magical colours disappeared
-by degrees, and the shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced.
-We walked with a regular step, which rang upon the ground with
-astonishing intensity; the slightest noise was transmitted with a
-quickness to which the ear is unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water is
-a better conductor of sound than air, in the ratio of four to one.
-At this period the earth sloped downwards; the light took a uniform tint.
-We were at a depth of a hundred and five yards and twenty inches,
-undergoing a pressure of six atmospheres.
-
-At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly;
-to their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
-state between day and night; but we could still see well enough;
-it was not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet.
-At this moment Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him,
-and then pointed to an obscure mass, looming in the shadow,
-at a short distance.
-
-"It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I;
-and I was not mistaken.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-A SUBMARINE FOREST
-
-We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest,
-doubtless one of the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains.
-He looked upon it as his own, and considered he had the same right
-over it that the first men had in the first days of the world.
-And, indeed, who would have disputed with him the possession
-of this submarine property?  What other hardier pioneer would come,
-hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark copses?
-
-This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we
-penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular
-position of their branches--a position I had not yet observed.
-
-Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed
-the trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally;
-all stretched up to the surface of the ocean.  Not a filament, not a ribbon,
-however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron.
-The fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to the density
-of the element which had produced them.  Motionless yet, when bent
-to one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former position.
-Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!
-
-I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position,
-as well as to the comparative darkness which surrounded us.
-The soil of the forest seemed covered with sharp blocks,
-difficult to avoid.  The submarine flora struck me as being
-very perfect, and richer even than it would have been in the arctic
-or tropical zones, where these productions are not so plentiful.
-But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the genera,
-taking animals for plants; and who would not have been mistaken?
-The fauna and the flora are too closely allied in this submarine world.
-
-These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their
-existence is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them.
-The greater number, instead of leaves, shoot forth blades
-of capricious shapes, comprised within a scale of colours pink,
-carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown.
-
-"Curious anomaly, fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist,
-"in which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!"
-
-In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt; I, for my part,
-was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae,
-the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.
-
-This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing
-wanting but the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak,
-impossible to answer, I only put my great copper head to Conseil's.
-I saw the worthy fellow's eyes glistening with delight, and, to show
-his satisfaction, he shook himself in his breastplate of air,
-in the most comical way in the world.
-
-After four hours of this walking, I was surprised not to find
-myself dreadfully hungry.  How to account for this state
-of the stomach I could not tell.  But instead I felt an
-insurmountable desire to sleep, which happens to all divers.
-And my eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses, and I fell into
-a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had prevented before.
-Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in the clear crystal,
-set us the example.
-
-How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge,
-but, when I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon.
-Captain Nemo had already risen, and I was beginning to stretch
-my limbs, when an unexpected apparition brought me briskly
-to my feet.
-
-A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches
-high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me.
-Though my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from
-the bite of this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror.
-Conseil and the sailor of the Nautilus awoke at this moment.
-Captain Nemo pointed out the hideous crustacean, which a blow
-from the butt end of the gun knocked over, and I saw the horrible
-claws of the monster writhe in terrible convulsions.
-This incident reminded me that other animals more to be feared
-might haunt these obscure depths, against whose attacks my
-diving-dress would not protect me.  I had never thought of it before,
-but I now resolved to be upon my guard.  Indeed, I thought
-that this halt would mark the termination of our walk;
-but I was mistaken, for, instead of returning to the Nautilus,
-Captain Nemo continued his bold excursion.  The ground was still
-on the incline, its declivity seemed to be getting greater,
-and to be leading us to greater depths.  It must have been
-about three o'clock when we reached a narrow valley, between high
-perpendicular walls, situated about seventy-five fathoms deep.
-Thanks to the perfection of our apparatus, we were forty-five
-fathoms below the limit which nature seems to have imposed on man
-as to his submarine excursions.
-
-I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to
-judge the distance.  But I knew that even in the clearest waters
-the solar rays could not penetrate further.  And accordingly
-the darkness deepened.  At ten paces not an object was visible.
-I was groping my way, when I suddenly saw a brilliant white light.
-Captain Nemo had just put his electric apparatus into use;
-his companion did the same, and Conseil and I followed their example.
-By turning a screw I established a communication between the wire
-and the spiral glass, and the sea, lit by our four lanterns,
-was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.
-
-As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus
-could not fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch.
-But if they did approach us, they at least kept at
-a respectful distance from the hunters.  Several times
-I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his shoulder,
-and after some moments drop it and walk on.  At last,
-after about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end.
-A wall of superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us,
-a heap of gigantic blocks, an enormous, steep granite shore,
-forming dark grottos, but which presented no practicable slope;
-it was the prop of the Island of Crespo.  It was the earth!
-Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.  A gesture of his brought us all
-to a halt; and, however desirous I might be to scale the wall,
-I was obliged to stop.  Here ended Captain Nemo's domains.
-And he would not go beyond them.  Further on was a portion of the
-globe he might not trample upon.
-
-The return began.  Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little band,
-directing their course without hesitation.  I thought we were not following
-the same road to return to the Nautilus.  The new road was very steep,
-and consequently very painful.  We approached the surface of the sea rapidly.
-But this return to the upper strata was not so sudden as to cause relief
-from the pressure too rapidly, which might have produced serious disorder
-in our organisation, and brought on internal lesions, so fatal to divers.
-Very soon light reappeared and grew, and, the sun being low on the horizon,
-the refraction edged the different objects with a spectral ring.
-At ten yards and a half deep, we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes
-of all kinds, more numerous than the birds of the air, and also more agile;
-but no aquatic game worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze, when at
-that moment I saw the Captain shoulder his gun quickly, and follow
-a moving object into the shrubs.  He fired; I heard a slight hissing,
-and a creature fell stunned at some distance from us.  It was a magnificent
-sea-otter, an enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped.
-This otter was five feet long, and must have been very valuable.
-Its skin, chestnut-brown above and silvery underneath, would have made one
-of those beautiful furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets:
-the fineness and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch L80.
-I admired this curious mammal, with its rounded head ornamented with
-short ears, its round eyes, and white whiskers like those of a cat,
-with webbed feet and nails, and tufted tail.  This precious animal,
-hunted and tracked by fishermen, has now become very rare, and taken refuge
-chiefly in the northern parts of the Pacific, or probably its race would
-soon become extinct.
-
-Captain Nemo's companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder, and we
-continued our journey.  For one hour a plain of sand lay stretched before us.
-Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some inches of the surface of
-the water.  I then saw our image clearly reflected, drawn inversely, and above
-us appeared an identical group reflecting our movements and our actions;
-in a word, like us in every point, except that they walked with their heads
-downward and their feet in the air.
-
-Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which formed
-and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these seeming
-clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the bottom,
-and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops multiplied
-on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above our heads,
-whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.
-
-On this occasion I was witness to one of the finest gun
-shots which ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill.
-A large bird of great breadth of wing, clearly visible, approached,
-hovering over us.  Captain Nemo's companion shouldered his gun
-and fired, when it was only a few yards above the waves.
-The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall
-brought it within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp.
-It was an albatross of the finest kind.
-
-Our march had not been interrupted by this incident.
-For two hours we followed these sandy plains, then fields of algae
-very disagreeable to cross.  Candidly, I could do no more when I
-saw a glimmer of light, which, for a half mile, broke the
-darkness of the waters.  It was the lantern of the Nautilus.
-Before twenty minutes were over we should be on board,
-and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed
-that my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen.
-But I did not reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our
-arrival for some time.
-
-I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain
-Nemo coming hurriedly towards me.  With his strong hand he bent
-me to the ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil.
-At first I knew not what to think of this sudden attack, but I
-was soon reassured by seeing the Captain lie down beside me,
-and remain immovable.
-
-I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush
-of algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass,
-casting phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
-
-My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable
-sharks which threatened us.  It was a couple of tintoreas,
-terrible creatures, with enormous tails and a dull glassy stare,
-the phosphorescent matter ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle.
-Monstrous brutes! which would crush a whole man in their iron jaws.
-I did not know whether Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part,
-I noticed their silver bellies, and their huge mouths bristling
-with teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and more as a
-possible victim than as a naturalist.
-
-Happily the voracious creatures do not see well.  They passed without
-seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a miracle
-from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in the forest.
-Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we reached the Nautilus.
-The outside door had been left open, and Captain Nemo closed it
-as soon as we had entered the first cell.  He then pressed a knob.
-I heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel, I felt the water
-sinking from around me, and in a few moments the cell was entirely empty.
-The inside door then opened, and we entered the vestry.
-
-There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and,
-fairly worn out from want of food and sleep, I returned to my room,
-in great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
-
-The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from
-my fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform,
-just as the second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
-
-I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain
-Nemo appeared.  He did not seem to be aware of my presence,
-and began a series of astronomical observations.
-Then, when he had finished, he went and leant on the cage
-of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean.
-In the meantime, a number of the sailors of the Nautilus,
-all strong and healthy men, had come up onto the platform.
-They came to draw up the nets that had been laid all night.
-These sailors were evidently of different nations,
-although the European type was visible in all of them.
-I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen, Frenchmen, some Sclaves,
-and a Greek, or a Candiote.  They were civil, and only used that odd
-language among themselves, the origin of which I could not guess,
-neither could I question them.
-
-The nets were hauled in.  They were a large kind of "chaluts," like those
-on the Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain fixed
-in the smaller meshes kept open.  These pockets, drawn by iron poles,
-swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their way.
-That day they brought up curious specimens from those productive coasts.
-
-I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of fish.
-It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at.  Indeed, the nets are let
-down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite variety.
-We had no lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the Nautilus
-and the attraction of the electric light could always renew our supply.
-These several productions of the sea were immediately lowered through the
-panel to the steward's room, some to be eaten fresh, and others pickled.
-
-The fishing ended, the provision of air renewed, I thought
-that the Nautilus was about to continue its submarine excursion,
-and was preparing to return to my room, when, without further preamble,
-the Captain turned to me, saying:
-
-"Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life?  It has its
-tempers and its gentle moods.  Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it
-has woke after a quiet night.  Look!" he continued, "it wakes under
-the caresses of the sun.  It is going to renew its diurnal existence.
-It is an interesting study to watch the play of its organisation.
-It has a pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with the learned Maury,
-who discovered in it a circulation as real as the circulation of
-blood in animals.
-
-"Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator
-has caused things to multiply in it--caloric, salt, and animalculae."
-
-When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed,
-and aroused an extraordinary emotion in me.
-
-"Also," he added, "true existence is there; and I can imagine
-the foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses,
-which, like the Nautilus, would ascend every morning to breathe
-at the surface of the water, free towns, independent cities.
-Yet who knows whether some despot----"
-
-Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture.
-Then, addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he asked.  "do you know the depth of the ocean?"
-
-"I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings have taught us."
-
-"Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to my purpose?"
-
-"These are some," I replied, "that I remember.  If I am not mistaken,
-a depth of 8,000 yards has been found in the North Atlantic,
-and 2,500 yards in the Mediterranean.  The most remarkable soundings
-have been made in the South Atlantic, near the thirty-fifth parallel,
-and they gave 12,000 yards, 14,000 yards, and 15,000 yards.
-To sum up all, it is reckoned that if the bottom of the sea were levelled,
-its mean depth would be about one and three-quarter leagues."
-
-"Well, Professor," replied the Captain, "we shall show you better
-than that I hope.  As to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific,
-I tell you it is only 4,000 yards."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo went towards the panel,
-and disappeared down the ladder.  I followed him, and went into
-the large drawing-room. The screw was immediately put in motion,
-and the log gave twenty miles an hour.
-
-During the days and weeks that passed, Captain Nemo
-was very sparing of his visits.  I seldom saw him.
-The lieutenant pricked the ship's course regularly on the chart,
-so I could always tell exactly the route of the Nautilus.
-
-Nearly every day, for some time, the panels of the drawing-room were opened,
-and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the submarine world.
-
-The general direction of the Nautilus was south-east, and it kept between 100
-and 150 yards of depth.  One day, however, I do not know why, being drawn
-diagonally by means of the inclined planes, it touched the bed of the sea.
-The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25 (cent.): a temperature that at
-this depth seemed common to all latitudes.
-
-At three o'clock in the morning of the 26th of November the Nautilus
-crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172@ long.  On 27th instant it
-sighted the Sandwich Islands, where Cook died, February 14, 1779.
-We had then gone 4,860 leagues from our starting-point. In the morning,
-when I went on the platform, I saw two miles to windward,
-Hawaii, the largest of the seven islands that form the group.
-I saw clearly the cultivated ranges, and the several mountain-chains
-that run parallel with the side, and the volcanoes that overtop
-Mouna-Rea, which rise 5,000 yards above the level of the sea.
-Besides other things the nets brought up, were several flabellariae
-and graceful polypi, that are peculiar to that part of the ocean.
-The direction of the Nautilus was still to the south-east. It crossed
-the equator December 1, in 142@ long.; and on the 4th of the same month,
-after crossing rapidly and without anything in particular occurring,
-we sighted the Marquesas group.  I saw, three miles off, Martin's peak
-in Nouka-Hiva, the largest of the group that belongs to France.
-I only saw the woody mountains against the horizon, because Captain Nemo
-did not wish to bring the ship to the wind.  There the nets brought up
-beautiful specimens of fish:  some with azure fins and tails like gold,
-the flesh of which is unrivalled; some nearly destitute of scales,
-but of exquisite flavour; others, with bony jaws, and yellow-tinged
-gills, as good as bonitos; all fish that would be of use to us.
-After leaving these charming islands protected by the French flag,
-from the 4th to the 11th of December the Nautilus sailed over about
-2,000 miles.
-
-During the daytime of the 11th of December I was busy reading
-in the large drawing-room. Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous
-water through the half-open panels.  The Nautilus was immovable.
-While its reservoirs were filled, it kept at a depth of 1,000 yards,
-a region rarely visited in the ocean, and in which large fish
-were seldom seen.
-
-I was then reading a charming book by Jean Mace, The Slaves of the Stomach,
-and I was learning some valuable lessons from it, when Conseil interrupted me.
-
-"Will master come here a moment?" he said, in a curious voice.
-
-"What is the matter, Conseil?"
-
-"I want master to look."
-
-I rose, went, and leaned on my elbows before the panes and watched.
-
-In a full electric light, an enormous black mass, quite immovable,
-was suspended in the midst of the waters.  I watched it attentively,
-seeking to find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean.
-But a sudden thought crossed my mind.  "A vessel!"
-I said, half aloud.
-
-"Yes," replied the Canadian, "a disabled ship that has sunk perpendicularly."
-
-Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the tattered
-shrouds still hung from their chains.  The keel seemed to be
-in good order, and it had been wrecked at most some few hours.
-Three stumps of masts, broken off about two feet above the bridge,
-showed that the vessel had had to sacrifice its masts.  But, lying on
-its side, it had filled, and it was heeling over to port.
-This skeleton of what it had once been was a sad spectacle as it lay
-lost under the waves, but sadder still was the sight of the bridge,
-where some corpses, bound with ropes, were still lying.
-I counted five--four men, one of whom was standing at the helm,
-and a woman standing by the poop, holding an infant in her arms.
-She was quite young.  I could distinguish her features, which the water
-had not decomposed, by the brilliant light from the Nautilus.
-In one despairing effort, she had raised her infant above her head--
-poor little thing!--whose arms encircled its mother's neck.
-The attitude of the four sailors was frightful, distorted as they
-were by their convulsive movements, whilst making a last effort
-to free themselves from the cords that bound them to the vessel.
-The steersman alone, calm, with a grave, clear face, his grey hair
-glued to his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the helm,
-seemed even then to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths
-of the ocean.
-
-What a scene!  We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before this shipwreck,
-taken as it were from life and photographed in its last moments.
-And I saw already, coming towards it with hungry eyes, enormous sharks,
-attracted by the human flesh.
-
-However, the Nautilus, turning, went round the submerged vessel,
-and in one instant I read on the stern--"The Florida, Sunderland."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-VANIKORO
-
-This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime
-catastrophes that the Nautilus was destined to meet with in its route.
-As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw
-the hulls of shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths,
-and deeper down cannons, bullets, anchors, chains, and a thousand
-other iron materials eaten up by rust.  However, on the 11th of
-December we sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old "dangerous group"
-of Bougainville, that extend over a space of 500 leagues at
-E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the Island Ducie to that of Lazareff.
-This group covers an area of 370 square leagues, and it is formed
-of sixty groups of islands, among which the Gambier group is remarkable,
-over which France exercises sway.  These are coral islands,
-slowly raised, but continuous, created by the daily work of polypi.
-Then this new island will be joined later on to the neighboring groups,
-and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia,
-and from thence to the Marquesas.
-
-One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain Nemo,
-he replied coldly:
-
-"The earth does not want new continents, but new men."
-
-{5 paragraphs have been stripped from this edition}
-
-On 15th of December, we left to the east the bewitching group
-of the Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific.
-I saw in the morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated
-summits of the island.  These waters furnished our table
-with excellent fish, mackerel, bonitos, and some varieties
-of a sea-serpent.
-
-On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed into the midst of the
-New Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville
-explored in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773.
-This group is composed principally of nine large islands, that form
-a band of 120 leagues N.N.S. to S.S.W., between 15@ and 2@ S. lat.,
-and 164@ and 168@ long.  We passed tolerably near to the Island of Aurou,
-that at noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a peak
-of great height.
-
-That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely
-the non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fete of which
-Protestants are so fond.  I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week,
-when, on the morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room,
-always seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before.
-I was busily tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere.
-The Captain came up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart,
-and said this single word.
-
-"Vanikoro."
-
-The effect was magical!  It was the name of the islands on which La
-Perouse had been lost!  I rose suddenly.
-
-"The Nautilus has brought us to Vanikoro?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, Professor," said the Captain.
-
-"And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole
-and the Astrolabe struck?"
-
-"If you like, Professor."
-
-"When shall we be there?"
-
-"We are there now."
-
-Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform,
-and greedily scanned the horizon.
-
-To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size,
-surrounded by a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference.
-We were close to Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d'Urville
-gave the name of Isle de la Recherche, and exactly facing the little
-harbour of Vanou, situated in 16@ 4' S. lat., and 164@ 32' E. long.
-The earth seemed covered with verdure from the shore to the summits
-in the interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high.
-The Nautilus, having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait,
-found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty to forty
-fathoms deep.  Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived
-some savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach.
-In the long black body, moving between wind and water, did they not see
-some formidable cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
-
-Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La Perouse.
-
-"Only what everyone knows, Captain," I replied.
-
-"And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?"
-he inquired, ironically.
-
-"Easily."
-
-I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d'Urville had made known--
-works from which the following is a brief account.
-
-La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent
-by Louis XVI, in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation.
-They embarked in the corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe,
-neither of which were again heard of.  In 1791, the French
-Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of these two sloops,
-manned two large merchantmen, the Recherche and the Esperance,
-which left Brest the 28th of September under the command
-of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
-
-Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle,
-that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts
-of New Georgia.  But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication--
-rather uncertain, besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
-mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La
-Perouse was wrecked.
-
-They sought in vain.  The Esperance and the Recherche passed before Vanikoro
-without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most disastrous,
-as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of his lieutenants,
-besides several of his crew.
-
-Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find
-unmistakable traces of the wrecks.  On the 15th of May, 1824, his vessel,
-the St. Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New Hebrides.
-There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the handle of a sword
-in silver that bore the print of characters engraved on the hilt.
-The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay at Vanikoro,
-he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels that had run
-aground on the reefs some years ago.
-
-Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had
-troubled the whole world.  He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
-according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
-but winds and tides prevented him.
-
-Dillon returned to Calcutta.  There he interested the Asiatic Society
-and the Indian Company in his discovery.  A vessel, to which was given
-the name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out,
-23rd January, 1827, accompanied by a French agent.
-
-The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific,
-cast anchor before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour
-of Vanou where the Nautilus was at this time.
-
-There it collected numerous relics of the wreck--
-iron utensils, anchors, pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lb.
-shot, fragments of astronomical instruments, a piece of crown work,
-and a bronze clock, bearing this inscription--"Bazin m'a fait,"
-the mark of the foundry of the arsenal at Brest about 1785.
-There could be no further doubt.
-
-Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till October.
-Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New Zealand;
-put into Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France, where he was
-warmly welcomed by Charles X.
-
-But at the same time, without knowing Dillon's movements,
-Dumont d'Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck.
-And they had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis
-had been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.
-Dumont d'Urville, commander of the Astrolabe, had then sailed,
-and two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put into Hobart Town.
-There he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries, and found that a certain
-James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing
-on an island situated 8@ 18' S. lat., and 156@ 30' E. long., had seen
-some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these parts.
-Dumont d'Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit the reports
-of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon's track.
-
-On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia,
-and took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island;
-made his way to Vanikoro, sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among
-the reefs until the 14th, and not until the 20th did he cast anchor
-within the barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
-
-On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought
-back some unimportant trifles.  The natives, adopting a system
-of denials and evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place.
-This ambiguous conduct led them to believe that the natives had
-ill-treated the castaways, and indeed they seemed to fear that Dumont
-d'Urville had come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
-
-However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that they
-had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of the wreck.
-
-There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs
-of Pacou and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron,
-embedded in the limy concretions.  The large boat and the whaler
-belonging to the Astrolabe were sent to this place, and, not without
-some difficulty, their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800
-lbs., a brass gun, some pigs of iron, and two copper swivel-guns.
-
-Dumont d'Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse,
-after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island,
-had constructed a smaller boat, only to be lost a second time.
-Where, no one knew.
-
-But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d'Urville was
-not acquainted with Dillon's movements, had sent the sloop
-Bayonnaise, commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro,
-which had been stationed on the west coast of America.
-The Bayonnaise cast her anchor before Vanikoro some months
-after the departure of the Astrolabe, but found no new document;
-but stated that the savages had respected the monument to La Perouse.
-That is the substance of what I told Captain Nemo.
-
-"So," he said, "no one knows now where the third vessel perished
-that was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?"
-
-"No one knows."
-
-Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into
-the large saloon.  The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves,
-and the panels were opened.
-
-I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral,
-covered with fungi, I recognised certain debris that the drags had
-not been able to tear up--iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets,
-capstan fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving
-the wreck of some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers.
-While I was looking on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said,
-in a sad voice:
-
-{this above para was edited}
-
-"Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels
-La Boussole and the Astrolabe.  He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
-visited the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course
-towards Santa Cruz, and put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group.
-Then his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro.
-The Boussole, which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast.
-The Astrolabe went to its help, and ran aground too.  The first vessel
-was destroyed almost immediately.  The second, stranded under the wind,
-resisted some days.  The natives made the castaways welcome.
-They installed themselves in the island, and constructed a smaller boat
-with the debris of the two large ones.  Some sailors stayed willingly
-at Vanikoro; the others, weak and ill, set out with La Perouse.
-They directed their course towards the Solomon Islands, and there perished,
-with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island of the group,
-between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."
-
-"How do you know that?"
-
-"By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck."
-
-Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms,
-and corroded by the salt water.  He opened it, and I saw a bundle of papers,
-yellow but still readable.
-
-They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La Perouse,
-annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
-
-"Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!" said Captain Nemo, at last.
-"A coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades
-will find no other."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-TORRES STRAITS
-
-During the night of the 27th or 28th of December,
-the Nautilus left the shores of Vanikoro with great speed.
-Her course was south-westerly, and in three days she had gone
-over the 750 leagues that separated it from La Perouse's group
-and the south-east point of Papua.
-
-Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
-
-"Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?"
-
-"What!  Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study
-at the Jardin des Plantes?  Well, I accept your good wishes,
-and thank you for them.  Only, I will ask you what you mean
-by a `Happy New Year' under our circumstances?  Do you mean
-the year that will bring us to the end of our imprisonment,
-or the year that sees us continue this strange voyage?"
-
-"Really, I do not know how to answer, master.  We are sure to see
-curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time
-for dullness.  The last marvel is always the most astonishing;
-and, if we continue this progression, I do not know how it will end.
-It is my opinion that we shall never again see the like.
-I think then, with no offence to master, that a happy year would be
-one in which we could see everything."
-
-On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250
-French leagues, since our starting-point in the Japan Seas.
-Before the ship's head stretched the dangerous shores
-of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of Australia.
-Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank
-on which Cook's vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770.  The boat
-in which Cook was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink,
-it was owing to a piece of coral that was broken by the shock,
-and fixed itself in the broken keel.
-
-I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the sea,
-always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like thunder.
-But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a great depth,
-and I could see nothing of the high coral walls.  I had to content
-myself with the different specimens of fish brought up by the nets.
-I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel as large
-as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands,
-that disappear with the animal's life.  These fish followed us in shoals,
-and furnished us with very delicate food.  We took also a large number
-of giltheads, about one and a half inches long, tasting like dorys;
-and flying fire-fish like submarine swallows, which, in dark nights,
-light alternately the air and water with their phosphorescent light.{2
-sentences missing here}
-
-Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted
-the Papuan coasts.  On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his
-intention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.
-His communication ended there.
-
-The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are
-obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers,
-and rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable;
-so that Captain Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them.
-The Nautilus, floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace.
-Her screw, like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.
-
-Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the
-deserted platform.  Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expected
-that Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus.
-I had before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and I
-consulted them attentively.  Round the Nautilus the sea dashed furiously.
-The course of the waves, that went from south-east to north-west at
-the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that showed itself
-here and there.
-
-"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.
-
-"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the Nautilus."
-
-"The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of coral
-that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly."
-
-Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus seemed to slide
-like magic off these rocks.  It did not follow the routes of the
-Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont
-d'Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray,
-and came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage.
-I thought it was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west,
-it went through a large quantity of islands and islets little known,
-towards the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
-
-I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his
-vessel into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched;
-when, swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west,
-he steered for the Island of Gilboa.
-
-It was then three in the afternoon.  The tide began to recede,
-being quite full.  The Nautilus approached the island, that I
-still saw, with its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off
-it at about two miles distant.  Suddenly a shock overthrew me.
-The Nautilus just touched a rock, and stayed immovable,
-laying lightly to port side.
-
-When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the platform.
-They were examining the situation of the vessel, and exchanging words in
-their incomprehensible dialect.
-
-She was situated thus:  Two miles, on the starboard side,
-appeared Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm.
-Towards the south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb.
-We had run aground, and in one of those seas where the tides
-are middling--a sorry matter for the floating of the Nautilus.
-However, the vessel had not suffered, for her keel was solidly joined.
-But, if she could neither glide off nor move, she ran the risk
-of being for ever fastened to these rocks, and then Captain Nemo's
-submarine vessel would be done for.
-
-I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm,
-always master of himself, approached me.
-
-"An accident?"  I asked.
-
-"No; an incident."
-
-"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
-of this land from which you flee?"
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as much
-as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma again.
-Then he said:
-
-"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it will
-carry you yet into the midst of the marvels of the ocean.
-Our voyage is only begun, and I do not wish to be deprived so soon
-of the honour of your company."
-
-"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironical
-turn of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.
-Now the tides are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot
-lighten the Nautilus, I do not see how it will be reinflated."
-
-"The tides are not strong in the Pacific:  you are right there,
-Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference
-of a yard and a half between the level of high and low seas.
-To-day is 4th January, and in five days the moon will be full.
-Now, I shall be very much astonished if that satellite does
-not raise these masses of water sufficiently, and render me
-a service that I should be indebted to her for."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant,
-redescended to the interior of the Nautilus.  As to the vessel,
-it moved not, and was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had
-already walled it up with their in destructible cement.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure
-of the Captain.
-
-"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th instant;
-for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it off again."
-
-"Really?"
-
-"Really."
-
-"And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide
-will suffice?" said Conseil, simply.
-
-The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will navigate
-neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold for its weight.
-I think, therefore, that the time has come to part company with Captain Nemo."
-
-"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus, as you do;
-and in four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides.
-Besides, flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English
-or Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing;
-and it will be time enough to come to that extremity if the Nautilus
-does not recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event."
-
-"But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly?  There is an island;
-on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial animals,
-bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly give a trial."
-
-"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil, "and I agree with him.
-Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put us
-on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the solid parts
-of our planet?"
-
-"I can ask him, but he will refuse."
-
-"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and we shall know how to rely
-upon the Captain's amiability."
-
-To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
-and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise
-to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be
-very perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.
-Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than to fall into the hands
-of the natives.
-
-At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the Nautilus.
-The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.
-Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered
-in the straight passage that the breakers left between them.
-The boat was well handled, and moved rapidly.
-
-Ned Land could not restrain his joy.  He was like a prisoner that had escaped
-from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
-
-"Meat!  We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!" he replied.
-"Real game! no, bread, indeed."
-
-"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it;
-but a piece of fresh venison, grilled on live coals,
-will agreeably vary our ordinary course."
-
-"Glutton!" said Conseil, "he makes my mouth water."
-
-"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these forests are full of game,
-and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."
-
-"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed
-sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger--
-loin of tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."
-
-"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.
-
-"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land, "every animal with four
-paws without feathers, or with two paws without feathers,
-will be saluted by my first shot."
-
-"Very well!  Master Land's imprudences are beginning."
-
-"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian; "I do not want
-twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort."
-
-At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly aground
-on a heavy sand, after having happily passed the coral reef
-that surrounds the Island of Gilboa.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-A FEW DAYS ON LAND
-
-I was much impressed on touching land.  Ned Land tried
-the soil with his feet, as if to take possession of it.
-However, it was only two months before that we had become,
-according to Captain Nemo, "passengers on board the Nautilus,"
-but, in reality, prisoners of its commander.
-
-In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast.
-The whole horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests.
-Enormous trees, the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet,
-were tied to each other by garlands of bindweed, real natural
-hammocks, which a light breeze rocked.  They were mimosas,
-figs, hibisci, and palm trees, mingled together in profusion;
-and under the shelter of their verdant vault grew orchids,
-leguminous plants, and ferns.
-
-But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
-the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful.
-He discovered a coco-tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them,
-and we drunk the milk and ate the nut with a satisfaction that
-protested against the ordinary food on the Nautilus.
-
-"Excellent!" said Ned Land.
-
-"Exquisite!" replied Conseil.
-
-"And I do not think," said the Canadian, "that he would object
-to our introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board."
-
-"I do not think he would, but he would not taste them."
-
-"So much the worse for him," said Conseil.
-
-"And so much the better for us," replied Ned Land.
-"There will be more for us."
-
-"One word only, Master Land," I said to the harpooner, who was
-beginning to ravage another coco-nut tree.  "Coco-nuts are good things,
-but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre
-and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.
-Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the Nautilus."
-
-"Master is right," replied Conseil; "and I propose to reserve three places
-in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the third
-for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest specimen."
-
-"Conseil, we must not despair," said the Canadian.
-
-"Let us continue," I returned, "and lie in wait.  Although the island
-seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would
-be less hard than we on the nature of game."
-
-"Ho! ho!" said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
-
-"Well, Ned!" said Conseil.
-
-"My word!" returned the Canadian, "I begin to understand
-the charms of anthropophagy."
-
-"Ned!  Ned! what are you saying?  You, a man-eater? I should
-not feel safe with you, especially as I share your cabin.
-I might perhaps wake one day to find myself half devoured."
-
-"Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you unnecessarily."
-
-"I would not trust you," replied Conseil.  "But enough.
-We must absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal,
-or else one of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces
-of his servant to serve him."
-
-While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches
-of the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
-
-Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables,
-and one of the most useful products of the tropical zones
-furnished us with precious food that we missed on board.
-I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very abundant in the island
-of Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety destitute of seeds,
-which bears in Malaya the name of "rima."
-
-Ned Land knew these fruits well.  He had already eaten many during his
-numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance.
-Moreover, the sight of them excited him, and he could contain
-himself no longer.
-
-"Master," he said, "I shall die if I do not taste a little
-of this bread-fruit pie."
-
-"Taste it, friend Ned--taste it as you want.  We are here
-to make experiments--make them."
-
-"It won't take long," said the Canadian.
-
-And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that
-crackled joyously.  During this time, Conseil and I chose the best
-fruits of the bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient
-degree of maturity; and their thick skin covered a white but rather
-fibrous pulp.  Others, the greater number yellow and gelatinous,
-waited only to be picked.
-
-These fruits enclosed no kernel.  Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land,
-who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices,
-and while doing this repeating:
-
-"You will see, master, how good this bread is.
-More so when one has been deprived of it so long.
-It is not even bread," added he, "but a delicate pastry.
-You have eaten none, master?"
-
-"No, Ned."
-
-"Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing.  If you do not come for more,
-I am no longer the king of harpooners."
-
-After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire
-was completely roasted.  The interior looked like a white pasty,
-a sort of soft crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
-
-It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it
-with great relish.
-
-"What time is it now?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil.
-
-"How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned Land.
-
-"Let us be off," replied Conseil.
-
-We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid
-upon the cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
-little beans that I recognised as the "abrou" of the Malays, and yams
-of a superior quality.
-
-We were loaded when we reached the boat.  But Ned Land did not
-find his provisions sufficient.  Fate, however, favoured us.
-Just as we were pushing off, he perceived several trees,
-from twenty-five to thirty feet high, a species of palm-tree.
-
-At last, at five o'clock in the evening, loaded with our riches,
-we quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus.
-No one appeared on our arrival.  The enormous iron-plated cylinder
-seemed deserted.  The provisions embarked, I descended to my chamber,
-and after supper slept soundly.
-
-The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board.
-Not a sound inside, not a sign of life.  The boat rested
-along the edge, in the same place in which we had left it.
-We resolved to return to the island.  Ned Land hoped to be
-more fortunate than on the day before with regard to the hunt,
-and wished to visit another part of the forest.
-
-At dawn we set off.  The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to shore,
-reached the island in a few minutes.
-
-We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian,
-we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us.
-He wound up the coast towards the west:  then, fording some torrents,
-he gained the high plain that was bordered with admirable forests.
-Some kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses, but they would
-not let themselves be approached.  Their circumspection proved to me
-that these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I
-concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings
-occasionally frequented it.
-
-After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a little
-wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large number of birds.
-
-"There are only birds," said Conseil.
-
-"But they are eatable," replied the harpooner.
-
-"I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there."
-
-"Friend Conseil," said Ned, gravely, "the parrot is like pheasant
-to those who have nothing else."
-
-"And," I added, "this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and fork."
-
-Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots
-were flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful
-education to speak the human language.  For the moment, they were
-chattering with parrots of all colours, and grave cockatoos,
-who seemed to meditate upon some philosophical problem,
-whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece of bunting carried
-away by the breeze, papuans, with the finest azure colours,
-and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold,
-but few eatable.
-
-However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed
-the limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
-But fortune reserved it for me before long.
-
-After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain
-obstructed with bushes.  I saw then those magnificent birds,
-the disposition of whose long feathers obliges them to fly against
-the wind.  Their undulating flight, graceful aerial curves,
-and the shading of their colours, attracted and charmed one's looks.
-I had no trouble in recognising them.
-
-"Birds of paradise!"  I exclaimed.
-
-The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese,
-have several means that we could not employ for taking them.
-Sometimes they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds
-of paradise prefer to frequent.  Sometimes they catch them with a
-viscous birdlime that paralyses their movements.  They even go so far
-as to poison the fountains that the birds generally drink from.
-But we were obliged to fire at them during flight, which gave us few
-chances to bring them down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one
-half our ammunition.
-
-About eleven o'clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that form
-the centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
-Hunger drove us on.  The hunters had relied on the products of the chase,
-and they were wrong.  Happily Conseil, to his great surprise,
-made a double shot and secured breakfast.  He brought down a white pigeon
-and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended from a skewer,
-was roasted before a red fire of dead wood.  While these interesting
-birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the bread-tree. Then
-the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and declared excellent.
-The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of stuffing their crops,
-flavours their flesh and renders it delicious eating.
-
-"Now, Ned, what do you miss now?"
-
-"Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax.  All these pigeons are only
-side-dishes and trifles; and until I have killed an animal
-with cutlets I shall not be content."
-
-"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise."
-
-"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil.  "Let us go towards the sea.
-We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I think we had
-better regain the region of forests."
-
-That was sensible advice, and was followed out.
-After walking for one hour we had attained a forest of
-sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents glided away from us.
-The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and truly I despaired
-of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in front,
-suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
-bringing a magnificent specimen.
-
-"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"
-
-"Master is very good."
-
-"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke.
-Take one of these living birds, and carry it in your hand."
-
-"If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great merit."
-
-"Why, Conseil?"
-
-"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."
-
-"Drunk!"
-
-"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under
-the nutmeg-tree, under which I found it.  See, friend Ned,
-see the monstrous effects of intemperance!"
-
-"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because I have drunk gin for two months,
-you must needs reproach me!"
-
-However, I examined the curious bird.  Conseil was right.
-The bird, drunk with the juice, was quite powerless.  It could
-not fly; it could hardly walk.
-
-This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species
-that are found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands.
-It was the "large emerald bird, the most rare kind."
-It measured three feet in length.  Its head was comparatively small,
-its eyes placed near the opening of the beak, and also small.
-But the shades of colour were beautiful, having a yellow beak,
-brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with purple tips,
-pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
-colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly.
-Two horned, downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged
-the long light feathers of admirable fineness, and they
-completed the whole of this marvellous bird, that the natives
-have poetically named the "bird of the sun."
-
-But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird
-of paradise, the Canadian's were not yet.  Happily, about two
-o'clock, Ned Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood
-of those the natives call "bari-outang." The animal came in time
-for us to procure real quadruped meat, and he was well received.
-Ned Land was very proud of his shot.  The hog, hit by the electric ball,
-fell stone dead.  The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly,
-after having taken half a dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us
-with a grilled repast in the evening.  Then the hunt was resumed,
-which was still more marked by Ned and Conseil's exploits.
-
-Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd
-of kangaroos that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws.
-But these animals did not take to flight so rapidly but what
-the electric capsule could stop their course.
-
-"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the
-delights of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed, too!
-What a supply for the Nautilus!  Two! three! five down!
-And to think that we shall eat that flesh, and that the idiots on
-board shall not have a crumb!"
-
-I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian,
-if he had not talked so much, would have killed them all.
-But he contented himself with a single dozen of these
-interesting marsupians.  These animals were small.
-They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live
-habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme;
-but they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food.
-We were very satisfied with the results of the hunt.
-Happy Ned proposed to return to this enchanting island the next day,
-for he wished to depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds.
-But he had reckoned without his host.
-
-At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore;
-our boat was moored to the usual place.  The Nautilus, like a
-long rock, emerged from the waves two miles from the beach.
-Ned Land, without waiting, occupied himself about the important
-dinner business.  He understood all about cooking well.
-The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon scented the air with
-a delicious odour.
-
-Indeed, the dinner was excellent.  Two wood-pigeons
-completed this extraordinary menu.  The sago pasty,
-the artocarpus bread, some mangoes, half a dozen pineapples,
-and the liquor fermented from some coco-nuts, overjoyed us.
-I even think that my worthy companions' ideas had not all
-the plainness desirable.
-
-"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this evening?" said Conseil.
-
-"Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land.
-
-Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's proposition.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO'S THUNDERBOLT
-
-We looked at the edge of the forest without rising,
-my hand stopping in the action of putting it to my mouth,
-Ned Land's completing its office.
-
-"Stones do not fall from the sky," remarked Conseil, "or they
-would merit the name aerolites."
-
-A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon's leg
-fall from Conseil's hand, gave still more weight to his observation.
-We all three arose, shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply
-to any attack.
-
-"Are they apes?" cried Ned Land.
-
-"Very nearly--they are savages."
-
-"To the boat!"  I said, hurrying to the sea.
-
-It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives
-armed with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that masked
-the horizon to the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
-
-Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us.  The savages
-approached us, not running, but making hostile demonstrations.
-Stones and arrows fell thickly.
-
-Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his
-imminent danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other,
-he went tolerably fast.  In two minutes we were on the shore.
-To load the boat with provisions and arms, to push it out
-to sea, and ship the oars, was the work of an instant.
-We had not gone two cable-lengths, when a hundred savages,
-howling and gesticulating, entered the water up to their waists.
-I watched to see if their apparition would attract some men from
-the Nautilus on to the platform.  But no.  The enormous machine,
-lying off, was absolutely deserted.
-
-Twenty minutes later we were on board.  The panels were open.
-After making the boat fast, we entered into the interior
-of the Nautilus.
-
-I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords.
-Captain Nemo was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in
-a musical ecstasy.
-
-"Captain!"
-
-He did not hear me.
-
-"Captain!"  I said, touching his hand.
-
-He shuddered, and, turning round, said, "Ah! it is you, Professor?
-Well, have you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?"
-
-"Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
-whose vicinity troubles me."
-
-"What bipeds?"
-
-"Savages."
-
-"Savages!" he echoed, ironically.  "So you are astonished, Professor,
-at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages?
-Savages! where are there not any?  Besides, are they worse than others,
-these whom you call savages?"
-
-"But Captain----"
-
-"How many have you counted?"
-
-"A hundred at least."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ stops,
-"when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the Nautilus
-will have nothing to fear from their attacks."
-
-The Captain's fingers were then running over the keys of
-the instrument, and I remarked that he touched only the black keys,
-which gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character.
-Soon he had forgotten my presence, and had plunged into a reverie
-that I did not disturb.  I went up again on to the platform:
-night had already fallen; for, in this low latitude,
-the sun sets rapidly and without twilight.  I could only see
-the island indistinctly; but the numerous fires, lighted on
-the beach, showed that the natives did not think of leaving it.
-I was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the natives--
-but without any dread of them, for the imperturbable
-confidence of the Captain was catching--sometimes forgetting
-them to admire the splendours of the night in the tropics.
-My remembrances went to France in the train of those zodiacal
-stars that would shine in some hours' time.  The moon shone in
-the midst of the constellations of the zenith.
-
-The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders
-frightened no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay.
-The panels were open, and would have offered an easy access
-to the interior of the Nautilus.
-
-At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up
-on to the platform.  The dawn was breaking.  The island soon
-showed itself through the dissipating fogs, first the shore,
-then the summits.
-
-The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before--
-five or six hundred perhaps--some of them, profiting by the low water,
-had come on to the coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus.
-I distinguished them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic figures,
-men of good race, large high foreheads, large, but not broad and flat,
-and white teeth.  Their woolly hair, with a reddish tinge, showed off on their
-black shining bodies like those of the Nubians.  From the lobes of their ears,
-cut and distended, hung chaplets of bones.  Most of these savages were naked.
-Amongst them, I remarked some women, dressed from the hips to knees
-in quite a crinoline of herbs, that sustained a vegetable waistband.
-Some chiefs had ornamented their necks with a crescent and collars
-of glass beads, red and white; nearly all were armed with bows, arrows,
-and shields and carried on their shoulders a sort of net containing
-those round stones which they cast from their slings with great skill.
-One of these chiefs, rather near to the Nautilus, examined it attentively.
-He was, perhaps, a "mado" of high rank, for he was draped in a mat of
-banana-leaves, notched round the edges, and set off with brilliant colours.
-
-I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short length;
-but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile demonstrations.
-Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the Europeans to parry
-sharply, not to attack.
-
-During low water the natives roamed about near the Nautilus,
-but were not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word
-"Assai," and by their gestures I understood that they invited me
-to go on land, an invitation that I declined.
-
-So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great displeasure
-of Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
-
-This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands
-and meat that he had brought off the island.  As for the savages,
-they returned to the shore about eleven o'clock in the morning,
-as soon as the coral tops began to disappear under the rising tide;
-but I saw their numbers had increased considerably on the shore.
-Probably they came from the neighbouring islands, or very likely
-from Papua.  However, I had not seen a single native canoe.
-Having nothing better to do, I thought of dragging these beautiful
-limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion of shells, zoophytes,
-and marine plants.  Moreover, it was the last day that the Nautilus
-would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea the next day,
-according to Captain Nemo's promise.
-
-I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag,
-very like those for the oyster fishery.  Now to work!
-For two hours we fished unceasingly, but without bringing up
-any rarities.  The drag was filled with midas-ears, harps, melames,
-and particularly the most beautiful hammers I have ever seen.
-We also brought up some sea-slugs, pearl-oysters, and a dozen little
-turtles that were reserved for the pantry on board.
-
-But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder,
-I might say a natural deformity, very rarely met with.
-Conseil was just dragging, and his net came up filled with
-divers ordinary shells, when, all at once, he saw me plunge
-my arm quickly into the net, to draw out a shell, and heard me
-utter a cry.
-
-"What is the matter, sir?" he asked in surprise.
-"Has master been bitten?"
-
-"No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my discovery."
-
-"What discovery?"
-
-"This shell," I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
-
-"It is simply an olive porphyry."  {genus species missing}
-
-"Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left,
-this olive turns from left to right."
-
-"Is it possible?"
-
-"Yes, my boy; it is a left shell."
-
-Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
-their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
-
-Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure,
-and I was promising myself to enrich the museum with it,
-when a stone unfortunately thrown by a native struck against,
-and broke, the precious object in Conseil's hand.
-I uttered a cry of despair!  Conseil took up his gun, and aimed
-at a savage who was poising his sling at ten yards from him.
-I would have stopped him, but his blow took effect and broke
-the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm of the savage.
-
-"Conseil!" cried I. "Conseil!"
-
-"Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?"
-
-"A shell is not worth the life of a man," said I.
-
-"Ah! the scoundrel!" cried Conseil; "I would rather he had
-broken my shoulder!"
-
-Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion.  However, the situation
-had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived.  A score of canoes
-surrounded the Nautilus.  These canoes, scooped out of the trunk of a tree,
-long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were balanced by means of a long
-bamboo pole, which floated on the water.  They were managed by skilful,
-half-naked paddlers, and I watched their advance with some uneasiness.
-It was evident that these Papuans had already had dealings with the Europeans
-and knew their ships.  But this long iron cylinder anchored in the bay,
-without masts or chimneys, what could they think of it?  Nothing good, for at
-first they kept at a respectful distance.  However, seeing it motionless,
-by degrees they took courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it.
-Now this familiarity was precisely what it was necessary to avoid.
-Our arms, which were noiseless, could only produce a moderate effect
-on the savages, who have little respect for aught but blustering things.
-The thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man
-but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise.
-
-At this moment the canoes approached the Nautilus, and a shower
-of arrows alighted on her.
-
-I went down to the saloon, but found no one there.  I ventured
-to knock at the door that opened into the Captain's room.
-"Come in," was the answer.
-
-I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations
-of _x_ and other quantities.
-
-"I am disturbing you," said I, for courtesy's sake.
-
-"That is true, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain; "but I think
-you have serious reasons for wishing to see me?"
-
-"Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes,
-and in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many
-hundreds of savages."
-
-"Ah!," said Captain Nemo quietly, "they are come with their canoes?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Well, sir, we must close the hatches."
-
-"Exactly, and I came to say to you----"
-
-"Nothing can be more simple," said Captain Nemo.  And, pressing an
-electric button, he transmitted an order to the ship's crew.
-
-"It is all done, sir," said he, after some moments.
-"The pinnace is ready, and the hatches are closed.
-You do not fear, I imagine, that these gentlemen could stave in
-walls on which the balls of your frigate have had no effect?"
-
-"No, Captain; but a danger still exists."
-
-"What is that, sir?"
-
-"It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches
-to renew the air of the Nautilus.  Now, if, at this moment,
-the Papuans should occupy the platform, I do not see how you
-could prevent them from entering."
-
-"Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?"
-
-"I am certain of it."
-
-"Well, sir, let them come.  I see no reason for hindering them.
-After all, these Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling
-that my visit to the island should cost the life of a single one
-of these wretches."
-
-Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me,
-and asked me to sit down by him.  He questioned me with interest
-about our excursions on shore, and our hunting; and seemed not
-to understand the craving for meat that possessed the Canadian.
-Then the conversation turned on various subjects, and, without being
-more communicative, Captain Nemo showed himself more amiable.
-
-Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation
-of the Nautilus, run aground in exactly the same spot
-in this strait where Dumont d'Urville was nearly lost.
-Apropos of this:
-
-"This D'Urville was one of your great sailors," said the Captain
-to me, "one of your most intelligent navigators.  He is the Captain
-Cook of you Frenchmen.  Unfortunate man of science, after having
-braved the icebergs of the South Pole, the coral reefs of Oceania,
-the cannibals of the Pacific, to perish miserably in a railway train!
-If this energetic man could have reflected during the last moments
-of his life, what must have been uppermost in his last thoughts,
-do you suppose?"
-
-So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion
-gave me a better opinion of him.  Then, chart in hand,
-we reviewed the travels of the French navigator, his voyages
-of circumnavigation, his double detention at the South Pole,
-which led to the discovery of Adelaide and Louis Philippe,
-and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal
-islands of Oceania.
-
-"That which your D'Urville has done on the surface of the seas," said Captain
-Nemo, "that have I done under them, and more easily, more completely than he.
-The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed about by the hurricane,
-could not be worth the Nautilus, quiet repository of labour that she is,
-truly motionless in the midst of the waters.
-
-"To-morrow," added the Captain, rising, "to-morrow, at twenty
-minutes to three p.m., the Nautilus shall float, and leave
-the Strait of Torres uninjured."
-
-Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly.
-This was to dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
-
-There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview
-with the Captain.
-
-"My boy," said I, "when I feigned to believe that his Nautilus
-was threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered
-me very sarcastically.  I have but one thing to say to you:
-Have confidence in him, and go to sleep in peace."
-
-"Have you no need of my services, sir?"
-
-"No, my friend.  What is Ned Land doing?"
-
-"If you will excuse me, sir," answered Conseil, "friend Ned is busy
-making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel."
-
-I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently.  I heard the noise
-of the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening cries.
-The night passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose of the crew.
-The presence of these cannibals affected them no more than the soldiers of a
-masked battery care for the ants that crawl over its front.
-
-At six in the morning I rose.  The hatches had not been opened.
-The inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready
-for any emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several
-cubic feet of oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the Nautilus.
-
-I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo,
-even for an instant.  On board no preparations for departure were visible.
-
-I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon.
-The clock marked half-past two.  In ten minutes it would be
-high-tide: and, if Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise,
-the Nautilus would be immediately detached.  If not, many months
-would pass ere she could leave her bed of coral.
-
-However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel.
-I heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of
-the coral reef.
-
-At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the saloon.
-
-"We are going to start," said he.
-
-"Ah!" replied I.
-
-"I have given the order to open the hatches."
-
-"And the Papuans?"
-
-"The Papuans?" answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
-
-"Will they not come inside the Nautilus?"
-
-"How?"
-
-"Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened."
-
-"M. Aronnax," quietly answered Captain Nemo, "they will not enter
-the hatches of the Nautilus in that way, even if they were open."
-
-I looked at the Captain.
-
-"You do not understand?" said he.
-
-"Hardly."
-
-"Well, come and you will see."
-
-I directed my steps towards the central staircase.  There Ned
-Land and Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship's crew,
-who were opening the hatches, while cries of rage and fearful
-vociferations resounded outside.
-
-The port lids were pulled down outside.  Twenty horrible faces appeared.
-But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail, struck from behind
-by some invisible force, I know not what, fled, uttering the most fearful
-cries and making the wildest contortions.
-
-Ten of his companions followed him.  They met with the same fate.
-
-Conseil was in ecstasy.  Ned Land, carried away by his violent instincts,
-rushed on to the staircase.  But the moment he seized the rail with
-both hands, he, in his turn, was overthrown.
-
-"I am struck by a thunderbolt," cried he, with an oath.
-
-This explained all.  It was no rail; but a metallic cable
-charged with electricity from the deck communicating with
-the platform.  Whoever touched it felt a powerful shock--
-and this shock would have been mortal if Captain Nemo had
-discharged into the conductor the whole force of the current.
-It might truly be said that between his assailants and himself
-he had stretched a network of electricity which none could
-pass with impunity.
-
-Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed
-with terror.  As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed
-the unfortunate Ned Land, who swore like one possessed.
-
-But at this moment the Nautilus, raised by the last waves of the tide,
-quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by
-the Captain.  Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically.
-Her speed increased gradually, and, sailing on the surface of the ocean,
-she quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of Torres.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-"AEGRI SOMNIA"
-
-The following day 10th January, the Nautilus continued her
-course between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I
-could not estimate it at less than thirty-five miles an hour.
-The rapidity of her screw was such that I could neither follow
-nor count its revolutions.  When I reflected that this marvellous
-electric agent, after having afforded motion, heat, and light
-to the Nautilus, still protected her from outward attack,
-and transformed her into an ark of safety which no profane
-hand might touch without being thunderstricken, my admiration
-was unbounded, and from the structure it extended to the engineer
-who had called it into existence.
-
-Our course was directed to the west, and on the 11th of January we doubled
-Cape Wessel, situation in 135@ long.  and 10@ S. lat., which forms
-the east point of the Gulf of Carpentaria.  The reefs were still numerous,
-but more equalised, and marked on the chart with extreme precision.
-The Nautilus easily avoided the breakers of Money to port and the Victoria
-reefs to starboard, placed at 130@ long.  and on the 10th parallel,
-which we strictly followed.
-
-On the 13th of January, Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor,
-and recognised the island of that name in 122@ long.
-
-From this point the direction of the Nautilus inclined towards
-the south-west. Her head was set for the Indian Ocean.
-Where would the fancy of Captain Nemo carry us next?
-Would he return to the coast of Asia or would he approach
-again the shores of Europe?  Improbable conjectures both,
-to a man who fled from inhabited continents.  Then would
-he descend to the south?  Was he going to double the Cape
-of Good Hope, then Cape Horn, and finally go as far as the
-Antarctic pole?  Would he come back at last to the Pacific,
-where his Nautilus could sail free and independently?
-Time would show.
-
-After having skirted the sands of Cartier, of Hibernia, Seringapatam,
-and Scott, last efforts of the solid against the liquid element,
-on the 14th of January we lost sight of land altogether.
-The speed of the Nautilus was considerably abated, and with
-irregular course she sometimes swam in the bosom of the waters,
-sometimes floated on their surface.
-
-During this period of the voyage, Captain Nemo made some interesting
-experiments on the varied temperature of the sea, in different beds.
-Under ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of
-rather complicated instruments, and with somewhat doubtful results,
-by means of thermometrical sounding-leads, the glasses often breaking
-under the pressure of the water, or an apparatus grounded on
-the variations of the resistance of metals to the electric currents.
-Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated.  On the contrary,
-Captain Nemo went himself to test the temperature in the depths of the sea,
-and his thermometer, placed in communication with the different sheets
-of water, gave him the required degree immediately and accurately.
-
-It was thus that, either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending
-obliquely by means of her inclined planes, the Nautilus successively attained
-the depth of three, four, five, seven, nine, and ten thousand yards,
-and the definite result of this experience was that the sea preserved
-an average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth of five
-thousand fathoms under all latitudes.
-
-On the 16th of January, the Nautilus seemed becalmed
-only a few yards beneath the surface of the waves.
-Her electric apparatus remained inactive and her motionless
-screw left her to drift at the mercy of the currents.
-I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs,
-rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements
-of the machine.
-
-My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle.
-The hatches of the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light
-of the Nautilus was not in action, a dim obscurity reigned
-in the midst of the waters.  I observed the state of the sea,
-under these conditions, and the largest fish appeared to me
-no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the Nautilus
-found herself suddenly transported into full light.
-I thought at first that the beacon had been lighted,
-and was casting its electric radiance into the liquid mass.
-I was mistaken, and after a rapid survey perceived my error.
-
-The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which,
-in this obscurity, became quite dazzling.  It was produced
-by myriads of luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was
-increased as they glided over the metallic hull of the vessel.
-I was surprised by lightning in the midst of these luminous sheets,
-as though they bad been rivulets of lead melted in an ardent
-furnace or metallic masses brought to a white heat, so that,
-by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared to cast
-a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all
-shade seemed banished.  No; this was not the calm irradiation
-of our ordinary lightning.  There was unusual life and vigour:
-this was truly living light!
-
-In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria,
-of veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle,
-and of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less
-than two cubic half-inches of water.
-
-During several hours the Nautilus floated in these brilliant waves,
-and our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters
-disporting themselves like salamanders.  I saw there in the midst
-of this fire that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise
-(the indefatigable clown of the ocean), and some swordfish
-ten feet long, those prophetic heralds of the hurricane whose
-formidable sword would now and then strike the glass of the saloon.
-Then appeared the smaller fish, the balista, the leaping mackerel,
-wolf-thorn-tails, and a hundred others which striped the luminous
-atmosphere as they swam.  This dazzling spectacle was enchanting!
-Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased the intensity of
-this phenomenon.  Perhaps some storm agitated the surface of the waves.
-But at this depth of some yards, the Nautilus was unmoved by its fury
-and reposed peacefully in still water.
-
-So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel.
-The days passed rapidly away, and I took no account of them.
-Ned, according to habit, tried to vary the diet on board.
-Like snails, we were fixed to our shells, and I declare it is easy
-to lead a snail's life.
-
-Thus this life seemed easy and natural, and we thought no longer
-of the life we led on land; but something happened to recall us
-to the strangeness of our situation.
-
-On the 18th of January, the Nautilus was in 105@ long.
-and 15@ S. lat.  The weather was threatening, the sea rough
-and rolling.  There was a strong east wind.  The barometer,
-which had been going down for some days, foreboded a coming storm.
-I went up on to the platform just as the second lieutenant
-was taking the measure of the horary angles, and waited,
-according to habit till the daily phrase was said.  But on this day
-it was exchanged for another phrase not less incomprehensible.
-Almost directly, I saw Captain Nemo appear with a glass, looking
-towards the horizon.
-
-For some minutes he was immovable, without taking his eye off
-the point of observation.  Then he lowered his glass and exchanged
-a few words with his lieutenant.  The latter seemed to be
-a victim to some emotion that he tried in vain to repress.
-Captain Nemo, having more command over himself, was cool.
-He seemed, too, to be making some objections to which the lieutenant
-replied by formal assurances.  At least I concluded so by the
-difference of their tones and gestures.  For myself, I had looked
-carefully in the direction indicated without seeing anything.
-The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the horizon.
-
-However, Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform
-to the other, without looking at me, perhaps without seeing me.
-His step was firm, but less regular than usual.
-He stopped sometimes, crossed his arms, and observed the sea.
-What could he be looking for on that immense expanse?
-
-The Nautilus was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.
-
-The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon steadfastly,
-going and coming, stamping his foot and showing more nervous agitation than
-his superior officer.  Besides, this mystery must necessarily be solved,
-and before long; for, upon an order from Captain Nemo, the engine,
-increasing its propelling power, made the screw turn more rapidly.
-
-Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain's attention again.
-The latter stopped walking and directed his glass towards
-the place indicated.  He looked long.  I felt very much puzzled,
-and descended to the drawing-room, and took out an excellent
-telescope that I generally used.  Then, leaning on the cage
-of the watch-light that jutted out from the front of the platform,
-set myself to look over all the line of the sky and sea.
-
-But my eye was no sooner applied to the glass than it was quickly
-snatched out of my hands.
-
-I turned round.  Captain Nemo was before me, but I did not know him.
-His face was transfigured.  His eyes flashed sullenly; his teeth were set;
-his stiff body, clenched fists, and head shrunk between his shoulders,
-betrayed the violent agitation that pervaded his whole frame.
-He did not move.  My glass, fallen from his hands, had rolled at his feet.
-
-Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger?  Did this incomprehensible
-person imagine that I had discovered some forbidden secret?
-No; I was not the object of this hatred, for he was not looking at me;
-his eye was steadily fixed upon the impenetrable point of the horizon.
-At last Captain Nemo recovered himself.  His agitation subsided.
-He addressed some words in a foreign language to his lieutenant,
-then turned to me.  "M. Aronnax," he said, in rather an imperious tone,
-"I require you to keep one of the conditions that bind you to me."
-
-"What is it, Captain?"
-
-"You must be confined, with your companions, until I think fit
-to release you."
-
-"You are the master," I replied, looking steadily at him.
-"But may I ask you one question?"
-
-"None, sir."
-
-There was no resisting this imperious command, it would have been useless.
-I went down to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil, and told them
-the Captain's determination.  You may judge how this communication was
-received by the Canadian.
-
-But there was not time for altercation.  Four of the crew waited
-at the door, and conducted us to that cell where we had passed
-our first night on board the Nautilus.
-
-Ned Land would have remonstrated, but the door was shut upon him.
-
-"Will master tell me what this means?" asked Conseil.
-
-I told my companions what had passed.  They were as much astonished as I,
-and equally at a loss how to account for it.
-
-Meanwhile, I was absorbed in my own reflections, and could think
-of nothing but the strange fear depicted in the Captain's countenance.
-I was utterly at a loss to account for it, when my cogitations were
-disturbed by these words from Ned Land:
-
-"Hallo! breakfast is ready."
-
-And indeed the table was laid.  Evidently Captain Nemo had given this order
-at the same time that he had hastened the speed of the Nautilus.
-
-"Will master permit me to make a recommendation?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy."
-
-"Well, it is that master breakfasts.  It is prudent, for we do not know
-what may happen."
-
-"You are right, Conseil."
-
-"Unfortunately," said Ned Land, "they have only given us the ship's fare."
-
-"Friend Ned," asked Conseil, "what would you have said if the breakfast
-had been entirely forgotten?"
-
-This argument cut short the harpooner's recriminations.
-
-We sat down to table.  The meal was eaten in silence.
-
-Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left us
-in total darkness.  Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me was
-that Conseil went off into a heavy slumber.  I was thinking what could have
-caused his irresistible drowsiness, when I felt my brain becoming stupefied.
-In spite of my efforts to keep my eyes open, they would close.
-A painful suspicion seized me.  Evidently soporific substances had been
-mixed with the food we had just taken.  Imprisonment was not enough
-to conceal Captain Nemo's projects from us, sleep was more necessary.
-I then heard the panels shut.  The undulations of the sea, which caused
-a slight rolling motion, ceased.  Had the Nautilus quitted the surface
-of the ocean?  Had it gone back to the motionless bed of water?
-I tried to resist sleep.  It was impossible.  My breathing grew weak.
-I felt a mortal cold freeze my stiffened and half-paralysed limbs.
-My eye lids, like leaden caps, fell over my eyes.  I could not raise them;
-a morbid sleep, full of hallucinations, bereft me of my being.
-Then the visions disappeared, and left me in complete insensibility.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-THE CORAL KINGDOM
-
-The next day I woke with my head singularly clear.
-To my great surprise, I was in my own room.  My companions,
-no doubt, had been reinstated in their cabin, without having
-perceived it any more than I. Of what had passed during the night
-they were as ignorant as I was, and to penetrate this mystery I
-only reckoned upon the chances of the future.
-
-I then thought of quitting my room.  Was I free again or a prisoner?
-Quite free.  I opened the door, went to the half-deck, went up
-the central stairs.  The panels, shut the evening before, were open.
-I went on to the platform.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil waited there for me.  I questioned them;
-they knew nothing.  Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had
-been totally unconscious, they had been astonished at finding
-themselves in their cabin.
-
-As for the Nautilus, it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever.
-It floated on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace.
-Nothing seemed changed on board.
-
-The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave
-the usual order below.
-
-As for Captain Nemo, he did not appear.
-
-Of the people on board, I only saw the impassive steward,
-who served me with his usual dumb regularity.
-
-About two o'clock, I was in the drawing-room, busied in arranging
-my notes, when the Captain opened the door and appeared.  I bowed.
-He made a slight inclination in return, without speaking.
-I resumed my work, hoping that he would perhaps give me some
-explanation of the events of the preceding night.  He made none.
-I looked at him.  He seemed fatigued; his heavy eyes had not
-been refreshed by sleep; his face looked very sorrowful.
-He walked to and fro, sat down and got up again, took a
-chance book, put it down, consulted his instruments without
-taking his habitual notes, and seemed restless and uneasy.
-At last, he came up to me, and said:
-
-"Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?"
-
-I so little expected such a question that I stared some time
-at him without answering.
-
-"Are you a doctor?" he repeated.  "Several of your colleagues
-have studied medicine."
-
-"Well," said I, "I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital.
-I practised several years before entering the museum."
-
-"Very well, sir."
-
-My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain.  But, not knowing
-what he would say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my
-answers according to circumstances.
-
-"M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?" be asked.
-
-"Is he ill?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"I am ready to follow you."
-
-"Come, then."
-
-I own my heart beat, I do not know why.  I saw certain connection
-between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day before;
-and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick man.
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the Nautilus,
-and took me into a cabin situated near the sailors' quarters.
-
-There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute
-expression of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
-
-I leant over him.  He was not only ill, he was wounded.
-His head, swathed in bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow.
-I undid the bandages, and the wounded man looked at me with his large
-eyes and gave no sign of pain as I did it.  It was a horrible wound.
-The skull, shattered by some deadly weapon, left the brain exposed,
-which was much injured.  Clots of blood had formed in the bruised
-and broken mass, in colour like the dregs of wine.
-
-There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain.  His breathing
-was slow, and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face.
-I felt his pulse.  It was intermittent.  The extremities of the body
-were growing cold already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue.
-After dressing the unfortunate man's wounds, I readjusted the bandages
-on his head, and turned to Captain Nemo.
-
-"What caused this wound?"  I asked.
-
-"What does it signify?" he replied, evasively.  "A shock has
-broken one of the levers of the engine, which struck myself.
-But your opinion as to his state?"
-
-I hesitated before giving it.
-
-"You may speak," said the Captain.  "This man does not understand French."
-
-I gave a last look at the wounded man.
-
-"He will be dead in two hours."
-
-"Can nothing save him?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-Captain Nemo's hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes,
-which I thought incapable of shedding any.
-
-For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed slowly.
-His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed over
-his death-bed. I looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with
-premature wrinkles, produced probably by misfortune and sorrow.
-I tried to learn the secret of his life from the last words that
-escaped his lips.
-
-"You can go now, M. Aronnax," said the Captain.
-
-I left him in the dying man's cabin, and returned to my
-room much affected by this scene.  During the whole day,
-I was haunted by uncomfortable suspicions, and at night
-I slept badly, and between my broken dreams I fancied I
-heard distant sighs like the notes of a funeral psalm.
-Were they the prayers of the dead, murmured in that language
-that I could not understand?
-
-The next morning I went on to the bridge.  Captain Nemo was there before me.
-As soon as he perceived me he came to me.
-
-"Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion to-day?"
-
-"With my companions?"  I asked.
-
-"If they like."
-
-"We obey your orders, Captain."
-
-"Will you be so good then as to put on your cork jackets?"
-
-It was not a question of dead or dying.  I rejoined Ned Land
-and Conseil, and told them of Captain Nemo's proposition.
-Conseil hastened to accept it, and this time the Canadian seemed
-quite willing to follow our example.
-
-It was eight o'clock in the morning.  At half-past eight we were equipped
-for this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for light
-and breathing.  The double door was open; and, accompanied by Captain Nemo,
-who was followed by a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at a depth of about
-thirty feet, on the solid bottom on which the Nautilus rested.
-
-A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth.
-This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first excursion
-under the waters of the Pacific Ocean.  Here, there was no fine sand,
-no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately recognised that
-marvellous region in which, on that day, the Captain did the honours to us.
-It was the coral kingdom.
-
-The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in
-the midst of the branches that were so vividly coloured.
-I seemed to see the membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble
-beneath the undulation of the waters.  I was tempted to gather
-their fresh petals, ornamented with delicate tentacles,
-some just blown, the others budding, while a small fish,
-swimming swiftly, touched them slightly, like flights of birds.
-But if my hand approached these living flowers, these animated,
-sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm.  The white petals
-re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked,
-and the bush changed into a block of stony knobs.
-
-Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the zoophyte.
-This coral was more valuable than that found in the Mediterranean,
-on the coasts of France, Italy and Barbary.  Its tints justified
-the poetical names of "Flower of Blood," and "Froth of Blood,"
-that trade has given to its most beautiful productions.
-Coral is sold for L20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds would
-make the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter,
-often confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots
-called "macciota," and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens
-of pink coral.
-
-{opening sentence missing} Real petrified thickets, long joints
-of fantastic architecture, were disclosed before us.
-Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery, where by
-a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards.
-The light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects,
-following the rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants
-disposed like lustres, that were tipped with points of fire.
-
-At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth
-of about three hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit
-on which coral begins to form.  But there was no isolated bush,
-nor modest brushwood, at the bottom of lofty trees.
-It was an immense forest of large mineral vegetations,
-enormous petrified trees, united by garlands of elegant
-sea-bindweed, all adorned with clouds and reflections.
-We passed freely under their high branches, lost in the shade
-of the waves.
-
-Captain Nemo had stopped.  I and my companions halted, and, turning round,
-I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief.
-Watching attentively, I observed that four of them carried on their
-shoulders an object of an oblong shape.
-
-We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade
-surrounded by the lofty foliage of the submarine forest.
-Our lamps threw over this place a sort of clear twilight
-that singularly elongated the shadows on the ground.
-At the end of the glade the darkness increased, and was only relieved
-by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil were near me.  We watched,
-and I thought I was going to witness a strange scene.
-On observing the ground, I saw that it was raised in certain
-places by slight excrescences encrusted with limy deposits,
-and disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of man.
-
-In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly
-piled up, stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms
-that one might have thought were made of petrified blood.
-Upon a sign from Captain Nemo one of the men advanced;
-and at some feet from the cross he began to dig a hole with
-a pickaxe that he took from his belt.  I understood all!
-This glade was a cemetery, this hole a tomb, this oblong
-object the body of the man who had died in the night!
-The Captain and his men had come to bury their companion in this
-general resting-place, at the bottom of this inaccessible ocean!
-
-The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their
-retreat was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe,
-which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the waters.
-The hole was soon large and deep enough to receive the body.
-Then the bearers approached; the body, enveloped in a tissue of white linen,
-was lowered into the damp grave.  Captain Nemo, with his arms crossed
-on his breast, and all the friends of him who had loved them,
-knelt in prayer.
-
-The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground,
-which formed a slight mound.  When this was done, Captain Nemo
-and his men rose; then, approaching the grave, they knelt again,
-and all extended their hands in sign of a last adieu.
-Then the funeral procession returned to the Nautilus,
-passing under the arches of the forest, in the midst
-of thickets, along the coral bushes, and still on the ascent.
-At last the light of the ship appeared, and its luminous track
-guided us to the Nautilus.  At one o'clock we had returned.
-
-As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform,
-and, a prey to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle.
-Captain Nemo joined me.  I rose and said to him:
-
-"So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?"
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax."
-
-"And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?"
-
-"Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us.  We dug the grave,
-and the polypi undertake to seal our dead for eternity."
-And, burying his face quickly in his hands, he tried in vain to
-suppress a sob.  Then he added:  "Our peaceful cemetery is there,
-some hundred feet below the surface of the waves."
-
-"Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of sharks."
-
-"Yes, sir, of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.
-
-
-
-PART TWO
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-THE INDIAN OCEAN
-
-We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea.
-The first ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left
-such a deep impression on my mind.  Thus, in the midst of this great sea,
-Captain Nemo's life was passing, even to his grave, which he had
-prepared in one of its deepest abysses.  There, not one of the ocean's
-monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus,
-of those friends riveted to each other in death as in life.
-"Nor any man, either," had added the Captain.  Still the same fierce,
-implacable defiance towards human society!
-
-I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied Conseil.
-
-That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of
-the Nautilus one of those unknown servants who return mankind
-contempt for indifference.  For him, he was a misunderstood
-genius who, tired of earth's deceptions, had taken refuge in this
-inaccessible medium, where he might follow his instincts freely.
-To my mind, this explains but one side of Captain Nemo's character.
-Indeed, the mystery of that last night during which we had been
-chained in prison, the sleep, and the precaution so violently
-taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I
-had raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the man,
-due to an unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a
-new track.  No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man.
-His formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom,
-but perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.
-
-At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse
-of light amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself
-to writing as events shall dictate.
-
-That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came to take
-the altitude of the sun.  I mounted the platform, lit a cigar, and watched
-the operation.  It seemed to me that the man did not understand French;
-for several times I made remarks in a loud voice, which must have drawn
-from him some involuntary sign of attention, if he had understood them;
-but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
-
-As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the
-sailors of the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied
-us on our first submarine excursion to the Island of Crespo)
-came to clean the glasses of the lantern.  I examined the fittings
-of the apparatus, the strength of which was increased a hundredfold
-by lenticular rings, placed similar to those in a lighthouse,
-and which projected their brilliance in a horizontal plane.
-The electric lamp was combined in such a way as to give
-its most powerful light.  Indeed, it was produced in vacuo,
-which insured both its steadiness and its intensity.
-This vacuum economised the graphite points between which
-the luminous arc was developed--an important point of economy
-for Captain Nemo, who could not easily have replaced them;
-and under these conditions their waste was imperceptible.
-When the Nautilus was ready to continue its submarine journey,
-I went down to the saloon.  The panel was closed, and the course
-marked direct west.
-
-We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
-with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
-and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy.
-The Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep.
-We went on so for some days.  To anyone but myself, who had a great
-love for the sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous;
-but the daily walks on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving
-air of the ocean, the sight of the rich waters through the windows
-of the saloon, the books in the library, the compiling of my memoirs,
-took up all my time, and left me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
-
-For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or gulls.
-Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made very acceptable
-water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long distance from all lands
-and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their flight, I saw some
-magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant cries like the braying of an ass,
-and birds belonging to the family of the long-wings.
-
-As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
-the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels.
-I saw many kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
-
-{3 paragraphs are missing}
-
-From the 21st to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went at
-the rate of two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours,
-being five hundred and forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour.
-If we recognised so many different varieties of fish, it was because,
-attracted by the electric light, they tried to follow us;
-the greater part, however, were soon distanced by our speed,
-though some kept their place in the waters of the Nautilus for a time.
-The morning of the 24th, in 12@ 5' S. lat., and 94@ 33'
-long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral formation,
-planted with magnificent cocos, and which had been visited by
-Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy.  The Nautilus skirted the shores
-of this desert island for a little distance.  Its nets brought
-up numerous specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca.
-{one sentence stripped here}
-
-Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was directed
-to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable,
-often taking us into great depths.  Several times they made use
-of the inclined planes, which certain internal levers placed
-obliquely to the waterline.  In that way we went about two miles,
-but without ever obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea,
-which soundings of seven thousand fathoms have never reached.
-As to the temperature of the lower strata, the thermometer invariably
-indicated 4@ above zero.  I only observed that in the upper regions
-the water was always colder in the high levels than at the surface
-of the sea.
-
-On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus
-passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful
-screw and making them rebound to a great height.  Who under such
-circumstances would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean?
-Three parts of this day I spent on the platform.  I watched the sea.
-Nothing on the horizon, till about four o'clock a steamer running
-west on our counter.  Her masts were visible for an instant,
-but she could not see the Nautilus, being too low in the water.
-I fancied this steamboat belonged to the P.O. Company, which runs
-from Ceylon to Sydney, touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.
-
-At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight
-which binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I
-were astonished by a curious spectacle.
-
-It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the ocean.
-We could count several hundreds.  They belonged to the tubercle kind
-which are peculiar to the Indian seas.
-
-These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their
-locomotive tube, through which they propelled the water already
-drawn in.  Of their eight tentacles, six were elongated,
-and stretched out floating on the water, whilst the other two,
-rolled up flat, were spread to the wing like a light sail.
-I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells, which Cuvier
-justly compares to an elegant skiff.  A boat indeed!
-It bears the creature which secretes it without its adhering to it.
-
-For nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of this shoal
-of molluscs.  Then I know not what sudden fright they took.
-But as if at a signal every sail was furled, the arms folded,
-the body drawn in, the shells turned over, changing their centre
-of gravity, and the whole fleet disappeared under the waves.
-Never did the ships of a squadron manoeuvre with more unity.
-
-At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised
-by the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the
-eighty-second meridian and entered the northern hemisphere.
-During the day a formidable troop of sharks accompanied us,
-terrible creatures, which multiply in these seas and make them
-very dangerous.  They were "cestracio philippi" sharks, with brown
-backs and whitish bellies, armed with eleven rows of teeth--
-eyed sharks--their throat being marked with a large black
-spot surrounded with white like an eye.  There were also some
-Isabella sharks, with rounded snouts marked with dark spots.
-These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at the windows
-of the saloon with such violence as to make us feel very insecure.
-At such times Ned Land was no longer master of himself.
-He wanted to go to the surface and harpoon the monsters,
-particularly certain smooth-hound sharks, whose mouth is studded with
-teeth like a mosaic; and large tiger-sharks nearly six yards long,
-the last named of which seemed to excite him more particularly.
-But the Nautilus, accelerating her speed, easily left the most rapid
-of them behind.
-
-The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal,
-we met repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on
-the surface of the water.  They were the dead of the Indian villages,
-carried by the Ganges to the level of the sea, and which the vultures,
-the only undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour.
-But the sharks did not fail to help them at their funeral work.
-
-About seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus, half-immersed, was
-sailing in a sea of milk.  At first sight the ocean seemed lactified.
-Was it the effect of the lunar rays?  No; for the moon, scarcely two
-days old, was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the sun.
-The whole sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by contrast
-with the whiteness of the waters.
-
-Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause
-of this strange phenomenon.  Happily I was able to answer him.
-
-"It is called a milk sea," I explained.  "A large extent
-of white wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna,
-and in these parts of the sea."
-
-"But, sir," said Conseil, "can you tell me what causes such an effect?
-for I suppose the water is not really turned into milk."
-
-"No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by
-the presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm,
-gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair,
-and whose length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch.
-These insects adhere to one another sometimes for several leagues."
-
-"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these infusoria.
-You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have floated on these
-milk seas for more than forty miles."
-
-Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour;
-but behind us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky
-reflected the whitened waves, and for a long time seemed
-impregnated with the vague glimmerings of an aurora borealis.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO'S
-
-On the 28th of February, when at noon the Nautilus came to the surface
-of the sea, in 9@ 4' N. lat., there was land in sight about eight
-miles to westward.  The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains
-about two thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious.
-On taking the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of Ceylon,
-the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment.
-The Captain glanced at the map.  Then turning to me, said:
-
-"The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you
-like to visit one of them, M. Aronnax?"
-
-"Certainly, Captain."
-
-"Well, the thing is easy.  Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall
-not see the fishermen.  The annual exportation has not yet begun.
-Never mind, I will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar,
-where we shall arrive in the night."
-
-The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out.
-Soon the Nautilus returned to her native element, and the manometer
-showed that she was about thirty feet deep.
-
-"Well, sir," said Captain Nemo, "you and your companions shall visit
-the Bank of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there,
-we shall see him at work."
-
-"Agreed, Captain!"
-
-"By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?"
-
-"Sharks!" exclaimed I.
-
-This question seemed a very hard one.
-
-"Well?" continued Captain Nemo.
-
-"I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of fish."
-
-"We are accustomed to them," replied Captain Nemo,
-"and in time you will be too.  However, we shall be armed,
-and on the road we may be able to hunt some of the tribe.
-It is interesting.  So, till to-morrow, sir, and early."
-
-This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon.
-Now, if you were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains
-of Switzerland, what would you say?
-
-"Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear."
-If you were asked to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas,
-or the tiger in the Indian jungles, what would you say?
-
-"Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!"
-But when you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element,
-you would perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation.
-As for myself, I passed my hand over my forehead, on which stood large
-drops of cold perspiration.  "Let us reflect," said I, "and take our time.
-Hunting otters in submarine forests, as we did in the Island of Crespo,
-will pass; but going up and down at the bottom of the sea,
-where one is almost certain to meet sharks, is quite another thing!
-I know well that in certain countries, particularly in the Andaman Islands,
-the negroes never hesitate to attack them with a dagger in one hand
-and a running noose in the other; but I also know that few who affront
-those creatures ever return alive.  However, I am not a negro,
-and if I were I think a little hesitation in this case would
-not be ill-timed."
-
-At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed,
-and even joyous.  They knew not what awaited them.
-
-"Faith, sir," said Ned Land, "your Captain Nemo--the devil take him!--
-has just made us a very pleasant offer."
-
-"Ah!" said I, "you know?"
-
-"If agreeable to you, sir," interrupted Conseil, "the commander
-of the Nautilus has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon
-fisheries to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly,
-and behaved like a real gentleman."
-
-"He said nothing more?"
-
-"Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you
-of this little walk."
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "would you give us some details of the pearl fishery?"
-
-"As to the fishing itself," I asked, "or the incidents, which?"
-
-"On the fishing," replied the Canadian; "before entering upon the ground,
-it is as well to know something about it."
-
-"Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you."
-
-Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing
-the Canadian asked was:
-
-"Sir, what is a pearl?"
-
-"My worthy Ned," I answered, "to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the sea;
-to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies, it is
-a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl substance,
-which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their ears; for the chemist
-it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a little gelatine;
-and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply a morbid secretion of the organ
-that produces the mother-of-pearl amongst certain bivalves."
-
-"Branch of molluscs," said Conseil.
-
-"Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea
-the earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those
-which secrete mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet,
-or white substance which lines the interior of their shells,
-are capable of producing pearls."
-
-"Mussels too?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland,
-Saxony, Bohemia, and France."
-
-"Good!  For the future I shall pay attention," replied the Canadian.
-
-"But," I continued, "the particular mollusc which secretes
-the pearl is the pearl-oyster. The pearl is nothing but a
-formation deposited in a globular form, either adhering
-to the oyster-shell or buried in the folds of the creature.
-On the shell it is fast:  in the flesh it is loose; but always
-has for a kernel a small hard substance, maybe a barren egg,
-maybe a grain of sand, around which the pearly matter deposits itself
-year after year successively, and by thin concentric layers."
-{this paragraph is edited}
-
-"Are many pearls found in the same oyster?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy.  Some are a perfect casket.  One oyster has been mentioned,
-though I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no less than a hundred
-and fifty sharks."
-
-"A hundred and fifty sharks!" exclaimed Ned Land.
-
-"Did I say sharks?" said I hurriedly.  "I meant to say a hundred
-and fifty pearls.  Sharks would not be sense."
-
-"Certainly not," said Conseil; "but will you tell us now by what means
-they extract these pearls?"
-
-"They proceed in various ways.  When they adhere to the shell,
-the fishermen often pull them off with pincers; but the most common
-way is to lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers
-the banks.  Thus they die in the open air; and at the end
-of ten days they are in a forward state of decomposition.
-They are then plunged into large reservoirs of sea-water;
-then they are opened and washed."
-
-"The price of these pearls varies according to their size?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Not only according to their size," I answered, "but also according
-to their shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre:
-that is, that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming
-to the eye.  The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons.
-They are formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc, are white,
-often opaque, and sometimes have the transparency of an opal;
-they are generally round or oval.  The round are made into bracelets,
-the oval into pendants, and, being more precious, are sold singly.
-Those adhering to the shell of the oyster are more irregular in shape,
-and are sold by weight.  Lastly, in a lower order are classed those small
-pearls known under the name of seed-pearls; they are sold by measure,
-and are especially used in embroidery for church ornaments."
-
-"But," said Conseil, "is this pearl-fishery dangerous?"
-
-"No," I answered, quickly; "particularly if certain precautions are taken."
-
-"What does one risk in such a calling?" said Ned Land,
-"the swallowing of some mouthfuls of sea-water?"
-
-"As you say, Ned.  By the bye," said I, trying to take Captain
-Nemo's careless tone, "are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?"
-
-"I!" replied the Canadian; "a harpooner by profession?
-It is my trade to make light of them."
-
-"But," said I, "it is not a question of fishing for them
-with an iron-swivel, hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off
-their tails with a blow of a chopper, ripping them up,
-and throwing their heart into the sea!"
-
-"Then, it is a question of----"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"In the water?"
-
-"In the water."
-
-"Faith, with a good harpoon!  You know, sir, these sharks are
-ill-fashioned beasts.  They turn on their bellies to seize you,
-and in that time----"
-
-Ned Land had a way of saying "seize" which made my blood run cold.
-
-"Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?"
-
-"Me!" said Conseil.  "I will be frank, sir."
-
-"So much the better," thought I.
-
-"If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful
-servant should not face them with you."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS
-
-The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by
-the steward whom Captain Nemo had placed at my service.
-I rose hurriedly, dressed, and went into the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said he, "are you ready to start?"
-
-"I am ready."
-
-"Then please to follow me."
-
-"And my companions, Captain?"
-
-"They have been told and are waiting."
-
-"Are we not to put on our diver's dresses?" asked I.
-
-"Not yet.  I have not allowed the Nautilus to come too near this coast,
-and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready, and will
-take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us a long way.
-It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when we begin
-our submarine journey."
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase,
-which led on the platform.  Ned and Conseil were already there,
-delighted at the idea of the "pleasure party" which was preparing.
-Five sailors from the Nautilus, with their oars, waited in the boat,
-which had been made fast against the side.
-
-The night was still dark.  Layers of clouds covered the sky,
-allowing but few stars to be seen.  I looked on the side
-where the land lay, and saw nothing but a dark line enclosing
-three parts of the horizon, from south-west to north west.
-The Nautilus, having returned during the night up the western
-coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or rather gulf,
-formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar.
-There, under the dark waters, stretched the pintadine bank,
-an inexhaustible field of pearls, the length of which is more
-than twenty miles.
-
-Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places
-in the stern of the boat.  The master went to the tiller;
-his four companions leaned on their oars, the painter was cast off,
-and we sheered off.
-
-The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry.  I noticed
-that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every
-ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy.
-Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops
-struck the dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead.
-A little billow, spreading wide, gave a slight roll to the boat, and some
-samphire reeds flapped before it.
-
-We were silent.  What was Captain Nemo thinking of?  Perhaps of
-the land he was approaching, and which he found too near to him,
-contrary to the Canadian's opinion, who thought it too far off.
-As to Conseil, he was merely there from curiosity.
-
-About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed
-the upper line of coast more distinctly.  Flat enough in the east,
-it rose a little to the south.  Five miles still lay between us,
-and it was indistinct owing to the mist on the water.
-At six o'clock it became suddenly daylight, with that rapidity
-peculiar to tropical regions, which know neither dawn nor twilight.
-The solar rays pierced the curtain of clouds, piled up
-on the eastern horizon, and the radiant orb rose rapidly.
-I saw land distinctly, with a few trees scattered here and there.
-The boat neared Manaar Island, which was rounded to the south.
-Captain Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea.
-
-At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran,
-for it was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the highest
-points of the bank of pintadines.
-
-"Here we are, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.
-"You see that enclosed bay?  Here, in a month will be
-assembled the numerous fishing boats of the exporters,
-and these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly.
-Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing.
-It is sheltered from the strongest winds; the sea is never very
-rough here, which makes it favourable for the diver's work.
-We will now put on our dresses, and begin our walk."
-
-I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves,
-began with the help of the sailors to put on my heavy
-sea-dress. Captain Nemo and my companions were also dressing.
-None of the Nautilus men were to accompany us on this new excursion.
-
-Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing;
-the air apparatus fixed to our backs by braces.
-As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus, there was no necessity for it.
-Before putting my head into the copper cap, I had asked the question
-of the Captain.
-
-"They would be useless," he replied.  "We are going to no great depth,
-and the solar rays will be enough to light our walk.  Besides, it would
-not be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters;
-its brilliancy might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants
-of the coast most inopportunely."
-
-As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned Land.
-But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap,
-and they could neither hear nor answer.
-
-One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
-
-"And our arms?" asked I; "our guns?"
-
-"Guns!  What for?  Do not mountaineers attack the bear with
-a dagger in their hand, and is not steel surer than lead?
-Here is a strong blade; put it in your belt, and we start."
-
-I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than that,
-Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed in the boat
-before leaving the Nautilus.
-
-Then, following the Captain's example, I allowed myself to be
-dressed in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air
-were at once in activity.  An instant after we were landed,
-one after the other, in about two yards of water upon an even sand.
-Captain Nemo made a sign with his hand, and we followed him
-by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under the waves.
-
-{3 paragraphs missing}
-
-At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the oyster-banks
-on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters;
-and I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for
-Nature's creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction.
-Ned Land, faithful to his instinct, hastened to fill a net
-which he carried by his side with some of the finest specimens.
-But we could not stop.  We must follow the Captain,
-who seemed to guide him self by paths known only to himself.
-The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes,
-on holding up my arm, it was above the surface of the sea.
-Then the level of the bank would sink capriciously.
-Often we rounded high rocks scarped into pyramids.
-In their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched upon their
-high claws like some war-machine, watched us with fixed eyes,
-and under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.
-
-At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a picturesque
-heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the submarine flora.
-At first it seemed very dark to me.  The solar rays seemed to be
-extinguished by successive gradations, until its vague transparency became
-nothing more than drowned light.  Captain Nemo entered; we followed.
-My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this relative state of darkness.
-I could distinguish the arches springing capriciously from natural pillars,
-standing broad upon their granite base, like the heavy columns of
-Tuscan architecture.  Why had our incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom
-of this submarine crypt?  I was soon to know.  After descending a rather
-sharp declivity, our feet trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit.
-There Captain Nemo stopped, and with his hand indicated an object I
-had not yet perceived.  It was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions,
-a gigantic tridacne, a goblet which could have contained a whole lake of
-holy-water, a basin the breadth of which was more than two yards and a half,
-and consequently larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus.
-I approached this extraordinary mollusc.  It adhered by its filaments
-to a table of granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in the calm
-waters of the grotto.  I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lb.
-Such an oyster would contain 30 lb.  of meat; and one must have the stomach of
-a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
-
-Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this bivalve,
-and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual state
-of this tridacne.  The shells were a little open; the Captain came near
-and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing; then with his
-hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges, which formed a cloak
-for the creature.  There, between the folded plaits, I saw a loose pearl,
-whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular shape, perfect clearness,
-and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of inestimable value.
-Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched out my hand to seize it,
-weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain stopped me, made a sign of refusal,
-and quickly withdrew his dagger, and the two shells closed suddenly.
-I then understood Captain Nemo's intention.  In leaving this pearl
-hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing it to grow slowly.
-Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add new concentric circles.
-I estimated its value at L500,000 at least.
-
-After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.
-I thought he had halted previously to returning.  No; by a
-gesture he bade us crouch beside him in a deep fracture
-of the rock, his hand pointed to one part of the liquid mass,
-which I watched attentively.
-
-About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground.
-The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken;
-and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything
-to do with.
-
-It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor
-devil who, I suppose, had come to glean before the harvest.
-I could see the bottom of his canoe anchored some feet above his head.
-He dived and went up successively.  A stone held between his feet,
-cut in the shape of a sugar loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat,
-helped him to descend more rapidly.  This was all his apparatus.
-Reaching the bottom, about five yards deep, he went on his knees
-and filled his bag with oysters picked up at random.  Then he went up,
-emptied it, pulled up his stone, and began the operation once more,
-which lasted thirty seconds.
-
-The diver did not see us.  The shadow of the rock hid us from sight.
-And how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like himself,
-should be there under the water watching his movements and losing no detail
-of the fishing?  Several times he went up in this way, and dived again.
-He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was obliged to pull
-them from the bank to which they adhered by means of their strong byssus.
-And how many of those oysters for which he risked his life had no pearl
-in them!  I watched him closely; his manoeuvres were regular; and for the
-space of half an hour no danger appeared to threaten him.
-
-I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting fishing,
-when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make a gesture
-of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface of the sea.
-
-I understood his dread.  A gigantic shadow appeared just above
-the unfortunate diver.  It was a shark of enormous size
-advancing diagonally, his eyes on fire, and his jaws open.
-I was mute with horror and unable to move.
-
-The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw
-himself on one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its tail,
-for it struck his chest and stretched him on the ground.
-
-This scene lasted but a few seconds:  the shark returned, and,
-turning on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two,
-when I saw Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand,
-walk straight to the monster, ready to fight face to face with him.
-The very moment the shark was going to snap the unhappy fisherman
-in two, he perceived his new adversary, and, turning over,
-made straight towards him.
-
-I can still see Captain Nemo's position.  Holding himself well together,
-he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it rushed at him,
-threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoiding the shock,
-and burying his dagger deep into its side.  But it was not all over.
-A terrible combat ensued.
-
-The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so.  The blood
-rushed in torrents from its wound.  The sea was dyed red,
-and through the opaque liquid I could distinguish nothing more.
-Nothing more until the moment when, like lightning, I saw
-the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of the creature's fins,
-struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the monster,
-and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to give
-a decisive one.
-
-The shark's struggles agitated the water with such fury that the rocking
-threatened to upset me.
-
-I wanted to go to the Captain's assistance, but, nailed to the spot
-with horror, I could not stir.
-
-I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight.
-The Captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant
-upon him.  The shark's jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears,
-and it would have been all over with the Captain; but, quick as thought,
-harpoon in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with
-its sharp point.
-
-The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood.  They rocked under
-the shark's movements, which beat them with indescribable fury.
-Ned Land had not missed his aim.  It was the monster's death-rattle.
-Struck to the heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock
-of which overthrew Conseil.
-
-But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any wound,
-went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him
-to his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel,
-mounted to the surface.
-
-We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle,
-and reached the fisherman's boat.
-
-Captain Nemo's first care was to recall the unfortunate
-man to life again.  I did not think he could succeed.
-I hoped so, for the poor creature's immersion was not long;
-but the blow from the shark's tail might have been his death-blow.
-
-Happily, with the Captain's and Conseil's sharp friction,
-I saw consciousness return by degrees.  He opened his eyes.
-What was his surprise, his terror even, at seeing four great
-copper heads leaning over him!  And, above all, what must
-he have thought when Captain Nemo, drawing from the pocket
-of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his hand!
-This munificent charity from the man of the waters to the poor
-Cingalese was accepted with a trembling hand.  His wondering eyes
-showed that he knew not to what super-human beings he owed both
-fortune and life.
-
-At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the road
-already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which held
-the canoe of the Nautilus to the earth.
-
-Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid
-of the heavy copper helmet.
-
-Captain Nemo's first word was to the Canadian.
-
-"Thank you, Master Land," said he.
-
-"It was in revenge, Captain," replied Ned Land.
-"I owed you that."
-
-A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips, and that was all.
-
-"To the Nautilus," said he.
-
-The boat flew over the waves.  Some minutes after we met the shark's
-dead body floating.  By the black marking of the extremity of its fins,
-I recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the species
-of shark so properly called.  It was more than twenty-five feet long;
-its enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body.  It was an adult,
-as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles triangle in
-the upper jaw.
-
-Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
-beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw themselves
-upon the dead body and fought with one another for the pieces.
-
-At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus.
-There I reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our
-excursion to the Manaar Bank.
-
-Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it--one bearing
-upon the unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon
-his devotion to a human being, a representative of that race
-from which he fled beneath the sea.  Whatever he might say,
-this strange man had not yet succeeded in entirely crushing his heart.
-
-When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved tone:
-
-"That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country;
-and I am still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-THE RED SEA
-
-In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island
-of Ceylon disappeared under the horizon, and the Nautilus,
-at a speed of twenty miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth
-of canals which separate the Maldives from the Laccadives.
-It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a land originally coraline,
-discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one of the nineteen
-principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago, situated between
-10@ and 14@ 30' N. lat., and 69@ 50' 72" E. long.
-
-We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our starting-point
-in the Japanese Seas.
-
-The next day (30th January), when the Nautilus went
-to the surface of the ocean there was no land in sight.
-Its course was N.N.E., in the direction of the Sea of Oman,
-between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula, which serves as an
-outlet to the Persian Gulf.  It was evidently a block without
-any possible egress.  Where was Captain Nemo taking us to?
-I could not say.  This, however, did not satisfy the Canadian,
-who that day came to me asking where we were going.
-
-"We are going where our Captain's fancy takes us, Master Ned."
-
-"His fancy cannot take us far, then," said the Canadian.
-"The Persian Gulf has no outlet:  and, if we do go in, it will
-not be long before we are out again."
-
-"Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if,
-after the Persian Gulf, the Nautilus would like to visit the Red Sea,
-the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance."
-
-"I need not tell you, sir," said Ned Land, "that the Red Sea is as much closed
-as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it was, a boat
-as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut with sluices.
-And again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back to Europe."
-
-"But I never said we were going back to Europe."
-
-"What do you suppose, then?"
-
-"I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia
-and Egypt, the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again,
-perhaps cross the Channel of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas,
-so as to gain the Cape of Good Hope."
-
-"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?" asked the Canadian,
-with peculiar emphasis.
-
-"Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know.
-Ah! friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea; you are
-surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine wonders.
-For my part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage which it is given to
-so few men to make."
-
-For four days, till the 3rd of February, the Nautilus scoured
-the Sea of Oman, at various speeds and at various depths.
-It seemed to go at random, as if hesitating as to which road it
-should follow, but we never passed the Tropic of Cancer.
-
-In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant,
-one of the most important towns of the country of Oman.
-I admired its strange aspect, surrounded by black rocks
-upon which its white houses and forts stood in relief.
-I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points
-of its minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces.  But it was only
-a vision!  The Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part
-of the sea.
-
-We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut,
-for a distance of six miles, its undulating line of mountains
-being occasionally relieved by some ancient ruin.
-The 5th of February we at last entered the Gulf of Aden,
-a perfect funnel introduced into the neck of Bab-el-mandeb,
-through which the Indian waters entered the Red Sea.
-
-The 6th of February, the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden,
-perched upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland,
-a kind of inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which
-were rebuilt by the English after taking possession in 1839.
-I caught a glimpse of the octagon minarets of this town, which was at
-one time the richest commercial magazine on the coast.
-
-I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point,
-would back out again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing,
-much to my surprise.
-
-The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits
-of Bab-el-mandeb, the name of which, in the Arab tongue,
-means The Gate of Tears.
-
-To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length.
-And for the Nautilus, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely
-the work of an hour.  But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim,
-with which the British Government has fortified the position of Aden.
-There were too many English or French steamers of the line of Suez
-to Bombay, Calcutta to Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius,
-furrowing this narrow passage, for the Nautilus to venture to show itself.
-So it remained prudently below.  At last about noon, we were in the waters of
-the Red Sea.
-
-I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided Captain Nemo
-upon entering the gulf.  But I quite approved of the Nautilus entering it.
-Its speed was lessened:  sometimes it kept on the surface, sometimes it dived
-to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able to observe the upper and lower parts
-of this curious sea.
-
-The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came
-in sight, now a ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot,
-yet which shelters here and there some verdant date-trees;
-once an important city, containing six public markets,
-and twenty-six mosques, and whose walls, defended by fourteen forts,
-formed a girdle of two miles in circumference.
-
-The Nautilus then approached the African shore, where the depth of the sea
-was greater.  There, between two waters clear as crystal, through the open
-panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful bushes of brilliant
-coral and large blocks of rock clothed with a splendid fur of green
-variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and algae and fuci.
-What an indescribable spectacle, and what variety of sites and landscapes
-along these sandbanks and volcanic islands which bound the Libyan coast!
-But where these shrubs appeared in all their beauty was on the eastern coast,
-which the Nautilus soon gained.  It was on the coast of Tehama, for there
-not only did this display of zoophytes flourish beneath the level of the sea,
-but they also formed picturesque interlacings which unfolded themselves about
-sixty feet above the surface, more capricious but less highly coloured than
-those whose freshness was kept up by the vital power of the waters.
-
-What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon!
-What new specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under
-the brightness of our electric lantern!
-
-The 9th of February the Nautilus floated in the broadest part of the Red Sea,
-which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and Komfidah,
-on the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
-
-That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted
-the platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let him go
-down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior projects.
-As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me a cigar.
-
-"Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you?  Have you sufficiently
-observed the wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes,
-its parterres of sponges, and its forests of coral?
-Did you catch a glimpse of the towns on its borders?"
-
-"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied; "and the Nautilus is wonderfully
-fitted for such a study.  Ah! it is an intelligent boat!"
-
-"Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable.  It fears neither
-the terrible tempests of the Red Sea, nor its currents,
-nor its sandbanks."
-
-"Certainly," said I, "this sea is quoted as one of the worst,
-and in the time of the ancients, if I am not mistaken,
-its reputation was detestable."
-
-"Detestable, M. Aronnax.  The Greek and Latin historians
-do not speak favourably of it, and Strabo says it is very
-dangerous during the Etesian winds and in the rainy season.
-The Arabian Edrisi portrays it under the name of the Gulf of Colzoum,
-and relates that vessels perished there in great numbers on
-the sandbanks and that no one would risk sailing in the night.
-It is, he pretends, a sea subject to fearful hurricanes,
-strewn with inhospitable islands, and `which offers nothing good
-either on its surface or in its depths.'"
-
-"One may see," I replied, "that these historians never sailed
-on board the Nautilus."
-
-"Just so," replied the Captain, smiling; "and in that respect
-moderns are not more advanced than the ancients.  It required
-many ages to find out the mechanical power of steam.  Who knows if,
-in another hundred years, we may not see a second Nautilus?
-Progress is slow, M. Aronnax."
-
-"It is true," I answered; "your boat is at least a century before its time,
-perhaps an era.  What a misfortune that the secret of such an invention
-should die with its inventor!"
-
-Captain Nemo did not reply.  After some minutes' silence he continued:
-
-"You were speaking of the opinions of ancient historians upon
-the dangerous navigation of the Red Sea."
-
-"It is true," said I; "but were not their fears exaggerated?"
-
-"Yes and no, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, who seemed to know the Red
-Sea by heart.  "That which is no longer dangerous for a modern vessel,
-well rigged, strongly built, and master of its own course, thanks to
-obedient steam, offered all sorts of perils to the ships of the ancients.
-Picture to yourself those first navigators venturing in ships made
-of planks sewn with the cords of the palmtree, saturated with
-the grease of the seadog, and covered with powdered resin!
-They had not even instruments wherewith to take their bearings, and they
-went by guess amongst currents of which they scarcely knew anything.
-Under such conditions shipwrecks were, and must have been, numerous.
-But in our time, steamers running between Suez and the South Seas have
-nothing more to fear from the fury of this gulf, in spite of contrary
-trade-winds. The captain and passengers do not prepare for their
-departure by offering propitiatory sacrifices; and, on their return,
-they no longer go ornamented with wreaths and gilt fillets to thank
-the gods in the neighbouring temple."
-
-"I agree with you," said I; "and steam seems to have killed all gratitude
-in the hearts of sailors.  But, Captain, since you seem to have especially
-studied this sea, can you tell me the origin of its name?"
-
-"There exist several explanations on the subject, M. Aronnax.
-Would you like to know the opinion of a chronicler of
-the fourteenth century?"
-
-"Willingly."
-
-"This fanciful writer pretends that its name was given to it
-after the passage of the Israelites, when Pharaoh perished
-in the waves which closed at the voice of Moses."
-
-"A poet's explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied; "but I cannot content
-myself with that.  I ask you for your personal opinion."
-
-"Here it is, M. Aronnax.  According to my idea, we must see
-in this appellation of the Red Sea a translation of the Hebrew
-word `Edom'; and if the ancients gave it that name, it was
-on account of the particular colour of its waters."
-
-"But up to this time I have seen nothing but transparent waves
-and without any particular colour."
-
-"Very likely; but as we advance to the bottom of the gulf, you will see
-this singular appearance.  I remember seeing the Bay of Tor entirely red,
-like a sea of blood."
-
-"And you attribute this colour to the presence of a microscopic seaweed?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"So, Captain Nemo, it is not the first time you have overrun
-the Red Sea on board the Nautilus?"
-
-"No, sir."
-
-"As you spoke a while ago of the passage of the Israelites and of
-the catastrophe to the Egyptians, I will ask whether you have met
-with the traces under the water of this great historical fact?"
-
-"No, sir; and for a good reason."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"It is that the spot where Moses and his people passed is now so blocked
-up with sand that the camels can barely bathe their legs there.
-You can well understand that there would not be water enough
-for my Nautilus."
-
-"And the spot?"  I asked.
-
-"The spot is situated a little above the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm
-which formerly made a deep estuary, when the Red Sea extended to
-the Salt Lakes.  Now, whether this passage were miraculous or not,
-the Israelites, nevertheless, crossed there to reach the Promised Land,
-and Pharaoh's army perished precisely on that spot; and I think
-that excavations made in the middle of the sand would bring to light
-a large number of arms and instruments of Egyptian origin."
-
-"That is evident," I replied; "and for the sake of archaeologists let us
-hope that these excavations will be made sooner or later, when new towns
-are established on the isthmus, after the construction of the Suez Canal;
-a canal, however, very useless to a vessel like the Nautilus."
-
-"Very likely; but useful to the whole world," said Captain Nemo.
-"The ancients well understood the utility of a communication between
-the Red Sea and the Mediterranean for their commercial affairs:
-but they did not think of digging a canal direct, and took the Nile
-as an intermediate.  Very probably the canal which united the Nile
-to the Red Sea was begun by Sesostris, if we may believe tradition.
-One thing is certain, that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ,
-Necos undertook the works of an alimentary canal to the waters
-of the Nile across the plain of Egypt, looking towards Arabia.
-It took four days to go up this canal, and it was so wide that
-two triremes could go abreast.  It was carried on by Darius,
-the son of Hystaspes, and probably finished by Ptolemy II.
-Strabo saw it navigated:  but its decline from the point
-of departure, near Bubastes, to the Red Sea was so slight
-that it was only navigable for a few months in the year.
-This canal answered all commercial purposes to the age
-of Antonius, when it was abandoned and blocked up with sand.
-Restored by order of the Caliph Omar, it was definitely destroyed
-in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor, who wished to prevent the arrival
-of provisions to Mohammed-ben-Abdallah, who had revolted against him.
-During the expedition into Egypt, your General Bonaparte discovered
-traces of the works in the Desert of Suez; and, surprised by
-the tide, he nearly perished before regaining Hadjaroth,
-at the very place where Moses had encamped three thousand
-years before him."
-
-"Well, Captain, what the ancients dared not undertake, this junction
-between the two seas, which will shorten the road from Cadiz to India,
-M. Lesseps has succeeded in doing; and before long he will have changed
-Africa into an immense island."
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax; you have the right to be proud of your countryman.
-Such a man brings more honour to a nation than great captains.
-He began, like so many others, with disgust and rebuffs;
-but he has triumphed, for he has the genius of will.
-And it is sad to think that a work like that, which ought to have
-been an international work and which would have sufficed to make
-a reign illustrious, should have succeeded by the energy of one man.
-All honour to M. Lesseps!"
-
-"Yes! honour to the great citizen," I replied, surprised by the manner
-in which Captain Nemo had just spoken.
-
-"Unfortunately," he continued, "I cannot take you through the Suez Canal;
-but you will be able to see the long jetty of Port Said after to-morrow,
-when we shall be in the Mediterranean."
-
-"The Mediterranean!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir; does that astonish you?"
-
-"What astonishes me is to think that we shall be there
-the day after to-morrow."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, although by this time I ought to have accustomed myself
-to be surprised at nothing since I have been on board your boat."
-
-"But the cause of this surprise?"
-
-"Well! it is the fearful speed you will have to put on the Nautilus,
-if the day after to-morrow she is to be in the Mediterranean,
-having made the round of Africa, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope!"
-
-"Who told you that she would make the round of Africa and double
-the Cape of Good Hope, sir?"
-
-"Well, unless the Nautilus sails on dry land, and passes above the isthmus----"
-
-"Or beneath it, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Beneath it?"
-
-"Certainly," replied Captain Nemo quietly.  "A long time ago Nature made
-under this tongue of land what man has this day made on its surface."
-
-"What! such a passage exists?"
-
-"Yes; a subterranean passage, which I have named the Arabian Tunnel.
-It takes us beneath Suez and opens into the Gulf of Pelusium."
-
-"But this isthmus is composed of nothing but quick sands?"
-
-"To a certain depth.  But at fifty-five yards only there is a solid
-layer of rock."
-
-"Did you discover this passage by chance?"  I asked more and more surprised.
-
-"Chance and reasoning, sir; and by reasoning even more than by chance.
-Not only does this passage exist, but I have profited by it several times.
-Without that I should not have ventured this day into the impassable Red Sea.
-I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean there existed a certain
-number of fishes of a kind perfectly identical.  Certain of the fact, I asked
-myself was it possible that there was no communication between the two seas?
-If there was, the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red
-Sea to the Mediterranean, from the sole cause of difference of level.
-I caught a large number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez.
-I passed a copper ring through their tails, and threw them back into the sea.
-Some months later, on the coast of Syria, I caught some of my fish ornamented
-with the ring.  Thus the communication between the two was proved.
-I then sought for it with my Nautilus; I discovered it, ventured into it,
-and before long, sir, you too will have passed through my Arabian tunnel!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE ARABIAN TUNNEL
-
-That same evening, in 21@ 30' N. lat., the Nautilus floated
-on the surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast.
-I saw Djeddah, the most important counting-house of Egypt,
-Syria, Turkey, and India.  I distinguished clearly enough
-its buildings, the vessels anchored at the quays, and those whose
-draught of water obliged them to anchor in the roads.  The sun,
-rather low on the horizon, struck full on the houses of the town,
-bringing out their whiteness.  Outside, some wooden cabins,
-and some made of reeds, showed the quarter inhabited by the Bedouins.
-Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the shadows of night,
-and the Nautilus found herself under water slightly phosphorescent.
-
-The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running
-to windward.  The Nautilus returned to its submarine navigation;
-but at noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted,
-she rose again to her waterline.
-
-Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform.
-The coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon
-a damp fog.
-
-We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and another,
-when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the sea, said:
-
-"Do you see anything there, sir?"
-
-"No, Ned," I replied; "but I have not your eyes, you know."
-
-"Look well," said Ned, "there, on the starboard beam, about the height
-of the lantern!  Do you not see a mass which seems to move?"
-
-"Certainly," said I, after close attention; "I see something
-like a long black body on the top of the water."
-
-And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile
-from us.  It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea.
-It was a gigantic dugong!
-
-Ned Land looked eagerly.  His eyes shone with covetousness at
-the sight of the animal.  His hand seemed ready to harpoon it.
-One would have thought he was awaiting the moment to throw himself
-into the sea and attack it in its element.
-
-At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform.
-He saw the dugong, understood the Canadian's attitude, and,
-addressing him, said:
-
-"If you held a harpoon just now, Master Land, would it not burn your hand?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"And you would not be sorry to go back, for one day, to your trade
-of a fisherman and to add this cetacean to the list of those you
-have already killed?"
-
-"I should not, sir."
-
-"Well, you can try."
-
-"Thank you, sir," said Ned Land, his eyes flaming.
-
-"Only," continued the Captain, "I advise you for your own sake
-not to miss the creature."
-
-"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?"  I asked, in spite of the Canadian's
-shrug of the shoulders.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain; "sometimes the animal
-turns upon its assailants and overturns their boat.
-But for Master Land this danger is not to be feared.
-His eye is prompt, his arm sure."
-
-At this moment seven men of the crew, mute and immovable as ever,
-mounted the platform.  One carried a harpoon and a line similar
-to those employed in catching whales.  The pinnace was lifted from
-the bridge, pulled from its socket, and let down into the sea.
-Six oarsmen took their seats, and the coxswain went to the tiller.
-Ned, Conseil, and I went to the back of the boat.
-
-"You are not coming, Captain?"  I asked.
-
-"No, sir; but I wish you good sport."
-
-The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards
-the dugong, which floated about two miles from the Nautilus.
-
-Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened,
-and the oars dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters.
-Ned Land, harpoon in hand, stood in the fore part of the boat.
-The harpoon used for striking the whale is generally attached to a
-very long cord which runs out rapidly as the wounded creature draws
-it after him.  But here the cord was not more than ten fathoms long,
-and the extremity was attached to a small barrel which, by floating,
-was to show the course the dugong took under the water.
-
-I stood and carefully watched the Canadian's adversary.
-This dugong, which also bears the name of the halicore,
-closely resembles the manatee; its oblong body terminated
-in a lengthened tail, and its lateral fins in perfect fingers.
-Its difference from the manatee consisted in its upper jaw,
-which was armed with two long and pointed teeth which formed on each
-side diverging tusks.
-
-This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was
-of colossal dimensions; it was more than seven yards long.
-It did not move, and seemed to be sleeping on the waves,
-which circumstance made it easier to capture.
-
-The boat approached within six yards of the animal.
-The oars rested on the rowlocks.  I half rose.  Ned Land,
-his body thrown a little back, brandished the harpoon in
-his experienced hand.
-
-Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared.
-The harpoon, although thrown with great force; had apparently only
-struck the water.
-
-"Curse it!" exclaimed the Canadian furiously; "I have missed it!"
-
-"No," said I; "the creature is wounded--look at the blood;
-but your weapon has not stuck in his body."
-
-"My harpoon! my harpoon!" cried Ned Land.
-
-The sailors rowed on, and the coxswain made for the floating barrel.
-The harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal.
-
-The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe.
-Its wound had not weakened it, for it shot onwards with great rapidity.
-
-The boat, rowed by strong arms, flew on its track.  Several times it
-approached within some few yards, and the Canadian was ready to strike,
-but the dugong made off with a sudden plunge, and it was impossible
-to reach it.
-
-Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land!  He hurled at the
-unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English tongue.
-For my part, I was only vexed to see the dugong escape all our attacks.
-
-We pursued it without relaxation for an hour, and I began to think
-it would prove difficult to capture, when the animal, possessed with
-the perverse idea of vengeance of which he had cause to repent,
-turned upon the pinnace and assailed us in its turn.
-
-This manoeuvre did not escape the Canadian.
-
-"Look out!" he cried.
-
-The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue,
-doubtless warning the men to keep on their guard.
-
-The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat, stopped, sniffed the air
-briskly with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity,
-but in the upper part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring,
-he threw himself upon us.
-
-The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least
-two tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the coxswain,
-we caught it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite overturned.
-While Ned Land, clinging to the bows, belaboured the gigantic animal with
-blows from his harpoon, the creature's teeth were buried in the gunwale,
-and it lifted the whole thing out of the water, as a lion does a roebuck.
-We were upset over one another, and I know not how the adventure would
-have ended, if the Canadian, still enraged with the beast, had not struck it
-to the heart.
-
-I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate, and the dugong disappeared,
-carrying the harpoon with him.  But the barrel soon returned to the surface,
-and shortly after the body of the animal, turned on its back.
-The boat came up with it, took it in tow, and made straight for the Nautilus.
-
-It required tackle of enormous strength to hoist the dugong
-on to the platform.  It weighed 10,000 lb.
-
-The next day, 11th February, the larder of the Nautilus was enriched by some
-more delicate game.  A flight of sea-swallows rested on the Nautilus.
-It was a species of the Sterna nilotica, peculiar to Egypt; its beak is black,
-head grey and pointed, the eye surrounded by white spots, the back, wings,
-and tail of a greyish colour, the belly and throat white, and claws red.
-They also took some dozen of Nile ducks, a wild bird of high flavour,
-its throat and upper part of the head white with black spots.
-
-About five o'clock in the evening we sighted to the north the Cape
-of Ras-Mohammed. This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea,
-comprised between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.
-
-The Nautilus penetrated into the Straits of Jubal, which leads
-to the Gulf of Suez.  I distinctly saw a high mountain,
-towering between the two gulfs of Ras-Mohammed. It was Mount Horeb,
-that Sinai at the top of which Moses saw God face to face.
-
-At six o'clock the Nautilus, sometimes floating, sometimes immersed,
-passed some distance from Tor, situated at the end of the bay, the waters
-of which seemed tinted with red, an observation already made by Captain Nemo.
-Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence, sometimes broken by the cries
-of the pelican and other night-birds, and the noise of the waves breaking upon
-the shore, chafing against the rocks, or the panting of some far-off steamer
-beating the waters of the Gulf with its noisy paddles.
-
-From eight to nine o'clock the Nautilus remained some fathoms
-under the water.  According to my calculation we must have
-been very near Suez.  Through the panel of the saloon I saw
-the bottom of the rocks brilliantly lit up by our electric lamp.
-We seemed to be leaving the Straits behind us more and more.
-
-At a quarter-past nine, the vessel having returned to the surface,
-I mounted the platform.  Most impatient to pass through Captain
-Nemo's tunnel, I could not stay in one place, so came to breathe
-the fresh night air.
-
-Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light, half discoloured by the fog,
-shining about a mile from us.
-
-"A floating lighthouse!" said someone near me.
-
-I turned, and saw the Captain.
-
-"It is the floating light of Suez," he continued.
-"It will not be long before we gain the entrance of the tunnel."
-
-"The entrance cannot be easy?"
-
-"No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman's cage
-and myself direct our course.  And now, if you will go down, M. Aronnax,
-the Nautilus is going under the waves, and will not return to the surface
-until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel."
-
-Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he opened
-a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot's cage,
-which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.
-It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied
-by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson.
-In the midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught
-to the tiller-rope, which ran to the back of the Nautilus.
-Four light-ports with lenticular glasses, let in a groove in
-the partition of the cabin, allowed the man at the wheel to see
-in all directions.
-
-This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the obscurity,
-and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands resting on the spokes
-of the wheel.  Outside, the sea appeared vividly lit up by the lantern,
-which shed its rays from the back of the cabin to the other extremity
-of the platform.
-
-"Now," said Captain Nemo, "let us try to make our passage."
-
-Electric wires connected the pilot's cage with the machinery room,
-and from there the Captain could communicate simultaneously to his
-Nautilus the direction and the speed.  He pressed a metal knob,
-and at once the speed of the screw diminished.
-
-I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running
-by at this moment, the immovable base of a massive sandy coast.
-We followed it thus for an hour only some few yards off.
-
-Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob, suspended by
-its two concentric circles in the cabin.  At a simple gesture,
-the pilot modified the course of the Nautilus every instant.
-
-I had placed myself at the port-scuttle, and saw some magnificent
-substructures of coral, zoophytes, seaweed, and fucus, agitating their
-enormous claws, which stretched out from the fissures of the rock.
-
-At a quarter-past ten, the Captain himself took the helm.
-A large gallery, black and deep, opened before us.  The Nautilus
-went boldly into it.  A strange roaring was heard round its sides.
-It was the waters of the Red Sea, which the incline of
-the tunnel precipitated violently towards the Mediterranean.
-The Nautilus went with the torrent, rapid as an arrow, in spite
-of the efforts of the machinery, which, in order to offer more
-effective resistance, beat the waves with reversed screw.
-
-On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing
-but brilliant rays, straight lines, furrows of fire,
-traced by the great speed, under the brilliant electric light.
-My heart beat fast.
-
-At thirty-five minutes past ten, Captain Nemo quitted the helm,
-and, turning to me, said:
-
-"The Mediterranean!"
-
-In less than twenty minutes, the Nautilus, carried along by the torrent,
-had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
-
-The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day,
-the Nautilus rose to the surface.  I hastened on to the platform.
-Three miles to the south the dim outline of Pelusium was to be seen.
-A torrent had carried us from one sea to another.
-About seven o'clock Ned and Conseil joined me.
-
-"Well, Sir Naturalist," said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone,
-"and the Mediterranean?"
-
-"We are floating on its surface, friend Ned."
-
-"What!" said Conseil, "this very night."
-
-"Yes, this very night; in a few minutes we have passed
-this impassable isthmus."
-
-"I do not believe it," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Then you are wrong, Master Land," I continued; "this low
-coast which rounds off to the south is the Egyptian coast.
-And you who have such good eyes, Ned, you can see the jetty of Port
-Said stretching into the sea."
-
-The Canadian looked attentively.
-
-"Certainly you are right, sir, and your Captain is a first-rate man.
-We are in the Mediterranean.  Good!  Now, if you please, let us talk
-of our own little affair, but so that no one hears us."
-
-I saw what the Canadian wanted, and, in any case, I thought it better to let
-him talk, as he wished it; so we all three went and sat down near the lantern,
-where we were less exposed to the spray of the blades.
-
-"Now, Ned, we listen; what have you to tell us?"
-
-"What I have to tell you is very simple.  We are in Europe; and before
-Captain Nemo's caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar Seas,
-or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the Nautilus."
-
-I wished in no way to shackle the liberty of my companions,
-but I certainly felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
-
-Thanks to him, and thanks to his apparatus, I was each day
-nearer the completion of my submarine studies; and I was
-rewriting my book of submarine depths in its very element.
-Should I ever again have such an opportunity of observing
-the wonders of the ocean?  No, certainly not!  And I could
-not bring myself to the idea of abandoning the Nautilus before
-the cycle of investigation was accomplished.
-
-"Friend Ned, answer me frankly, are you tired of being on board?
-Are you sorry that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo's hands?"
-
-The Canadian remained some moments without answering.
-Then, crossing his arms, he said:
-
-"Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas.  I shall be glad
-to have made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it.
-That is my idea."
-
-"It will come to an end, Ned."
-
-"Where and when?"
-
-"Where I do not know--when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose
-it will end when these seas have nothing more to teach us."
-
-"Then what do you hope for?" demanded the Canadian.
-
-"That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which we
-may and ought to profit."
-
-"Oh!" said Ned Land, "and where shall we be in six months,
-if you please, Sir Naturalist?"
-
-"Perhaps in China; you know the Nautilus is a rapid traveller.
-It goes through water as swallows through the air, or as an express
-on the land.  It does not fear frequented seas; who can say
-that it may not beat the coasts of France, England, or America,
-on which flight may be attempted as advantageously as here."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are rotten
-at the foundation.  You speak in the future, `We shall be there!
-we shall be here!'  I speak in the present, `We are here,
-and we must profit by it.'"
-
-Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that ground.
-I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.
-
-"Sir," continued Ned, "let us suppose an impossibility:
-if Captain Nemo should this day offer you your liberty;
-would you accept it?"
-
-"I do not know," I answered.
-
-"And if," he added, "the offer made you this day was never to be renewed,
-would you accept it?"
-
-"Friend Ned, this is my answer.  Your reasoning is against me.
-We must not rely on Captain Nemo's good-will. Common prudence
-forbids him to set us at liberty.  On the other side, prudence bids
-us profit by the first opportunity to leave the Nautilus."
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said."
-
-"Only one observation--just one.  The occasion must be serious,
-and our first attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never
-find another, and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."
-
-"All that is true," replied the Canadian.  "But your observation
-applies equally to all attempts at flight, whether in two years'
-time, or in two days'. But the question is still this:
-If a favourable opportunity presents itself, it must be seized."
-
-"Agreed!  And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean
-by a favourable opportunity?"
-
-"It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the Nautilus
-a short distance from some European coast."
-
-"And you will try and save yourself by swimming?"
-
-"Yes, if we were near enough to the bank, and if the vessel
-was floating at the time.  Not if the bank was far away,
-and the boat was under the water."
-
-"And in that case?"
-
-"In that case, I should seek to make myself master of the pinnace.
-I know how it is worked.  We must get inside, and the bolts once drawn,
-we shall come to the surface of the water, without even the pilot,
-who is in the bows, perceiving our flight."
-
-"Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity; but do not forget that a hitch
-will ruin us."
-
-"I will not forget, sir."
-
-"And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your project?"
-
-"Certainly, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Well, I think--I do not say I hope--I think that this favourable
-opportunity will never present itself."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given up
-all hope of regaining our liberty, and he will be on his guard, above all,
-in the seas and in the sight of European coasts."
-
-"We shall see," replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly.
-
-"And now, Ned Land," I added, "let us stop here.
-Not another word on the subject.  The day that you
-are ready, come and let us know, and we will follow you.
-I rely entirely upon you."
-
-Thus ended a conversation which, at no very distant time,
-led to such grave results.  I must say here that facts seemed
-to confirm my foresight, to the Canadian's great despair.
-Did Captain Nemo distrust us in these frequented seas? or did
-he only wish to hide himself from the numerous vessels,
-of all nations, which ploughed the Mediterranean?
-I could not tell; but we were oftener between waters
-and far from the coast.  Or, if the Nautilus did emerge,
-nothing was to be seen but the pilot's cage; and sometimes it
-went to great depths, for, between the Grecian Archipelago
-and Asia Minor we could not touch the bottom by more than
-a thousand fathoms.
-
-Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the Sporades,
-by Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
-
-"Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates, Caeruleus Proteus,"
-
-as he pointed to a spot on the planisphere.
-
-It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of Neptune's
-flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, situated between Rhodes and Crete.
-I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels of the saloon.
-
-The next day, the 14th of February, I resolved to employ some hours in
-studying the fishes of the Archipelago; but for some reason or other the
-panels remained hermetically sealed.  Upon taking the course of the Nautilus,
-I found that we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle of Crete.
-At the time I embarked on the Abraham Lincoln, the whole of this
-island had risen in insurrection against the despotism of the Turks.
-But how the insurgents had fared since that time I was absolutely ignorant,
-and it was not Captain Nemo, deprived of all land communications,
-who could tell me.
-
-I made no allusion to this event when that night I found myself alone
-with him in the saloon.  Besides, he seemed to be taciturn and preoccupied.
-Then, contrary to his custom, he ordered both panels to be opened, and,
-going from one to the other, observed the mass of waters attentively.
-To what end I could not guess; so, on my side, I employed my time in studying
-the fish passing before my eyes.
-
-In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his
-belt a leathern purse.  It was not a body abandoned to the waves;
-it was a living man, swimming with a strong hand, disappearing occasionally
-to take breath at the surface.
-
-I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
-
-"A man shipwrecked!  He must be saved at any price!"
-
-The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
-
-The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass,
-was looking at us.
-
-To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him.
-The diver answered with his hand, mounted immediately to
-the surface of the water, and did not appear again.
-
-"Do not be uncomfortable," said Captain Nemo.  "It is Nicholas of
-Cape Matapan, surnamed Pesca.  He is well known in all the Cyclades.
-A bold diver! water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land,
-going continually from one island to another, even as far as Crete."
-
-"You know him, Captain?"
-
-"Why not, M. Aronnax?"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing
-near the left panel of the saloon.  Near this piece of furniture,
-I saw a chest bound with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate,
-bearing the cypher of the Nautilus with its device.
-
-At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence,
-opened the piece of furniture, a sort of strong box, which held
-a great many ingots.
-
-They were ingots of gold.  From whence came this precious metal,
-which represented an enormous sum?  Where did the Captain gather
-this gold from? and what was he going to do with it?
-
-I did not say one word.  I looked.  Captain Nemo took the ingots one by one,
-and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled entirely.
-I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lb.  weight of gold, that is
-to say, nearly L200,000.
-
-The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on the lid,
-in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.
-
-This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated with
-the quarters of the crew.  Four men appeared, and, not without some trouble,
-pushed the chest out of the saloon.  Then I heard them hoisting it up the iron
-staircase by means of pulleys.
-
-At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
-
-"And you were saying, sir?" said he.
-
-"I was saying nothing, Captain."
-
-"Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night."
-
-Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.
-
-I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe.
-I vainly tried to sleep--I sought the connecting link between
-the apparition of the diver and the chest filled with gold.
-Soon, I felt by certain movements of pitching and tossing
-that the Nautilus was leaving the depths and returning
-to the surface.
-
-Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were
-unfastening the pinnace and launching it upon the waves.
-For one instant it struck the side of the Nautilus,
-then all noise ceased.
-
-Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed;
-the boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the Nautilus
-again plunged under the waves.
-
-So these millions had been transported to their address.
-To what point of the continent?  Who was Captain Nemo's correspondent?
-
-The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events
-of the night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree.
-My companions were not less surprised than myself.
-
-"But where does he take his millions to?" asked Ned Land.
-
-To that there was no possible answer.  I returned to the saloon
-after having breakfast and set to work.  Till five o'clock
-in the evening I employed myself in arranging my notes.
-At that moment--(ought I to attribute it to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)--
-I felt so great a heat that I was obliged to take off my coat.
-It was strange, for we were under low latitudes; and even then the Nautilus,
-submerged as it was, ought to experience no change of temperature.
-I looked at the manometer; it showed a depth of sixty feet, to which
-atmospheric heat could never attain.
-
-I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a pitch
-as to be intolerable.
-
-"Could there be fire on board?"  I asked myself.
-
-I was leaving the saloon, when Captain Nemo entered; he approached
-the thermometer, consulted it, and, turning to me, said:
-
-"Forty-two degrees."
-
-"I have noticed it, Captain," I replied; "and if it gets much
-hotter we cannot bear it."
-
-"Oh, sir, it will not get better if we do not wish it."
-
-"You can reduce it as you please, then?"
-
-"No; but I can go farther from the stove which produces it."
-
-"It is outward, then!"
-
-"Certainly; we are floating in a current of boiling water."
-
-"Is it possible!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Look."
-
-The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round.
-A sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like
-water in a copper.  I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass,
-but the heat was so great that I quickly took it off again.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"Near the Island of Santorin, sir," replied the Captain.
-"I wished to give you a sight of the curious spectacle of
-a submarine eruption."
-
-"I thought," said I, "that the formation of these new islands was ended."
-
-"Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea,"
-replied Captain Nemo; "and the globe is always being worked by
-subterranean fires.  Already, in the nineteenth year of our era,
-according to Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia
-(the divine), appeared in the very place where these islets
-have recently been formed.  Then they sank under the waves,
-to rise again in the year 69, when they again subsided.
-Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been suspended.
-But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they named
-George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour
-near Nea Kamenni, and settled again the 6th of the same month.
-Seven days after, the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa
-appeared, leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten
-yards broad.  I was in these seas when the phenomenon occurred,
-and I was able therefore to observe all the different phases.
-The Island of Aphroessa, of round form, measured 300 feet
-in diameter, and 30 feet in height.  It was composed of
-black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of felspar.
-And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka,
-showed itself near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have
-joined together, forming but one and the same island."
-
-"And the canal in which we are at this moment?"  I asked.
-
-"Here it is," replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the Archipelago.
-"You see, I have marked the new islands."
-
-I returned to the glass.  The Nautilus was no longer moving,
-the heat was becoming unbearable.  The sea, which till now had
-been white, was red, owing to the presence of salts of iron.
-In spite of the ship's being hermetically sealed, an insupportable
-smell of sulphur filled the saloon, and the brilliancy of the
-electricity was entirely extinguished by bright scarlet flames.
-I was in a bath, I was choking, I was broiled.
-
-"We can remain no longer in this boiling water," said I to the Captain.
-
-"It would not be prudent," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.
-
-An order was given; the Nautilus tacked about and left
-the furnace it could not brave with impunity.  A quarter
-of an hour after we were breathing fresh air on the surface.
-The thought then struck me that, if Ned Land had chosen this part
-of the sea for our flight, we should never have come alive out
-of this sea of fire.
-
-The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which,
-between Rhodes and Alexandria, is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms
-in depth, and the Nautilus, passing some distance from Cerigo,
-quitted the Grecian Archipelago after having doubled Cape Matapan.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
-
-The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, "the great sea"
-of the Hebrews, "the sea" of the Greeks, the "mare nostrum"
-of the Romans, bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines;
-embalmed with the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains,
-saturated with pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked
-by underground fires; a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto
-still dispute the empire of the world!
-
-It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man
-is renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe.
-But, beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at
-the basin whose superficial area is two million of square yards.
-Even Captain Nemo's knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling
-person did not appear once during our passage at full speed.
-I estimated the course which the Nautilus took under the waves
-of the sea at about six hundred leagues, and it was accomplished
-in forty-eight hours.  Starting on the morning of the 16th
-of February from the shores of Greece, we had crossed the Straits
-of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
-
-It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of those
-countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain Nemo.
-Those waves and those breezes brought back too many remembrances, if not
-too many regrets.  Here he had no longer that independence and that liberty
-of gait which he had when in the open seas, and his Nautilus felt itself
-cramped between the close shores of Africa and Europe.
-
-Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour.  It may be well
-understood that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged
-to renounce his intended flight.  He could not launch the pinnace,
-going at the rate of twelve or thirteen yards every second.
-To quit the Nautilus under such conditions would be as bad
-as jumping from a train going at full speed--an imprudent thing,
-to say the least of it.  Besides, our vessel only mounted
-to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of air;
-it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.
-
-I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller
-by express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
-that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which pass
-like a flash of lightning.
-
-We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis.
-In the narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits
-of Messina the bottom of the sea rose almost suddenly.
-There was a perfect bank, on which there was not more than
-nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the depth
-was ninety fathoms.
-
-The Nautilus had to manoeuvre very carefully so as not to strike
-against this submarine barrier.
-
-I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied
-by this reef.
-
-"But if you please, sir," observed Conseil, "it is like a real
-isthmus joining Europe to Africa."
-
-"Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia,
-and the soundings of Smith have proved that in former times
-the continents between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined."
-
-"I can well believe it," said Conseil.
-
-"I will add," I continued, "that a similar barrier exists between Gibraltar
-and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire Mediterranean."
-
-"What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers
-above the waves?"
-
-"It is not probable, Conseil."
-
-"Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon
-should take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps,
-who has taken so much pains to pierce the isthmus."
-
-"I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will
-never happen.  The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.
-Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world,
-are being extinguished by degrees; the internal heat is weakened,
-the temperature of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a
-perceptible quantity every century to the detriment of our globe,
-for its heat is its life."
-
-"But the sun?"
-
-"The sun is not sufficient, Conseil.  Can it give heat to a dead body?"
-
-"Not that I know of."
-
-"Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse;
-it will become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon,
-which has long since lost all its vital heat."
-
-"In how many centuries?"
-
-"In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy."
-
-"Then," said Conseil, "we shall have time to finish our journey--
-that is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it."
-
-And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank,
-which the Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.
-
-During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the second
-Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450 fathoms.
-The Nautilus, by the action of its crew, slid down the inclined planes
-and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
-
-On the 18th of February, about three o'clock in the morning, we were at
-the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar.  There once existed two currents:
-an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters of the ocean
-into the basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower counter-current,
-which reasoning has now shown to exist.  Indeed, the volume of water
-in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves of the Atlantic
-and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise the level of this sea,
-for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore the equilibrium.
-As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the existence of an under-current,
-which empties into the basin of the Atlantic through the Straits
-of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the Mediterranean.  A fact indeed;
-and it was this counter-current by which the Nautilus profited.
-It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass.  For one instant I caught a glimpse
-of the beautiful ruins of the temple of Hercules, buried in the ground,
-according to Pliny, and with the low island which supports it; and a few
-minutes later we were floating on the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-VIGO BAY
-
-The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers
-twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine
-thousand miles, with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred--
-an ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
-watered by the largest rivers of the world, the St. Lawrence,
-the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco, the Niger,
-the Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water
-from the most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries!
-Magnificent field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels
-of every nation, sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which
-terminates in those two terrible points so dreaded by mariners,
-Cape Horn and the Cape of Tempests.
-
-The Nautilus was piercing the water with its sharp spur,
-after having accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months
-and a half, a distance greater than the great circle of the earth.
-Where were we going now, and what was reserved for the future?
-The Nautilus, leaving the Straits of Gibraltar, had gone far out.
-It returned to the surface of the waves, and our daily walks on the
-platform were restored to us.
-
-I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil.
-At a distance of about twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent
-was dimly to be seen, forming the south-western point of
-the Spanish peninsula.  A strong southerly gale was blowing.
-The sea was swollen and billowy; it made the Nautilus rock violently.
-It was almost impossible to keep one's foot on the platform,
-which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every instant.
-So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.
-
-I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian,
-with a preoccupied air, followed me.  Our rapid passage across
-the Mediterranean had not allowed him to put his project
-into execution, and he could not help showing his disappointment.
-When the door of my room was shut, he sat down and looked
-at me silently.
-
-"Friend Ned," said I, "I understand you; but you cannot reproach yourself.
-To have attempted to leave the Nautilus under the circumstances would
-have been folly."
-
-Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
-with him the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind.
-
-"Let us see," I continued; "we need not despair yet.
-We are going up the coast of Portugal again; France and
-England are not far off, where we can easily find refuge.
-Now if the Nautilus, on leaving the Straits of Gibraltar,
-had gone to the south, if it had carried us towards regions
-where there were no continents, I should share your uneasiness.
-But we know now that Captain Nemo does not fly from civilised seas,
-and in some days I think you can act with security."
-
-Ned Land still looked at me fixedly; at length his fixed lips parted,
-and he said, "It is for to-night."
-
-I drew myself up suddenly.  I was, I admit, little prepared
-for this communication.  I wanted to answer the Canadian,
-but words would not come.
-
-"We agreed to wait for an opportunity," continued Ned Land,
-"and the opportunity has arrived.  This night we shall
-be but a few miles from the Spanish coast.  It is cloudy.
-The wind blows freely.  I have your word, M. Aronnax, and I
-rely upon you."
-
-As I was silent, the Canadian approached me.
-
-"To-night, at nine o'clock," said he.  "I have warned Conseil.
-At that moment Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room, probably in bed.
-Neither the engineers nor the ship's crew can see us.
-Conseil and I will gain the central staircase, and you, M. Aronnax,
-will remain in the library, two steps from us, waiting my signal.
-The oars, the mast, and the sail are in the canoe.  I have even succeeded
-in getting some provisions.  I have procured an English wrench,
-to unfasten the bolts which attach it to the shell of the Nautilus.
-So all is ready, till to-night."
-
-"The sea is bad."
-
-"That I allow," replied the Canadian; "but we must risk that.
-Liberty is worth paying for; besides, the boat is strong,
-and a few miles with a fair wind to carry us is no great thing.
-Who knows but by to-morrow we may be a hundred leagues away?
-Let circumstances only favour us, and by ten or eleven o'clock we
-shall have landed on some spot of terra firma, alive or dead.
-But adieu now till to-night."
-
-With these words the Canadian withdrew, leaving me almost dumb.
-I had imagined that, the chance gone, I should have time to
-reflect and discuss the matter.  My obstinate companion had given
-me no time; and, after all, what could I have said to him?
-Ned Land was perfectly right.  There was almost the opportunity
-to profit by.  Could I retract my word, and take upon myself
-the responsibility of compromising the future of my companions?
-To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us far from all land.
-
-At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs
-were filling, and that the Nautilus was sinking under the waves
-of the Atlantic.
-
-A sad day I passed, between the desire of regaining my liberty
-of action and of abandoning the wonderful Nautilus, and leaving
-my submarine studies incomplete.
-
-What dreadful hours I passed thus!  Sometimes seeing myself and
-companions safely landed, sometimes wishing, in spite of my reason,
-that some unforeseen circumstance, would prevent the realisation
-of Ned Land's project.
-
-Twice I went to the saloon.  I wished to consult the compass.
-I wished to see if the direction the Nautilus was taking
-was bringing us nearer or taking us farther from the coast.
-But no; the Nautilus kept in Portuguese waters.
-
-I must therefore take my part and prepare for flight.
-My luggage was not heavy; my notes, nothing more.
-
-As to Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he would think of our escape;
-what trouble, what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in case
-of its discovery or failure.  Certainly I had no cause to complain of him;
-on the contrary, never was hospitality freer than his.  In leaving
-him I could not be taxed with ingratitude.  No oath bound us to him.
-It was on the strength of circumstances he relied, and not upon our word,
-to fix us for ever.
-
-I had not seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin.
-Would chance bring me to his presence before our departure?
-I wished it, and I feared it at the same time.  I listened if I could
-hear him walking the room contiguous to mine.  No sound reached my ear.
-I felt an unbearable uneasiness.  This day of waiting seemed eternal.
-Hours struck too slowly to keep pace with my impatience.
-
-My dinner was served in my room as usual.  I ate but little;
-I was too preoccupied.  I left the table at seven o'clock. A
-hundred and twenty minutes (I counted them) still separated
-me from the moment in which I was to join Ned Land.
-My agitation redoubled.  My pulse beat violently.
-I could not remain quiet.  I went and came, hoping to calm
-my troubled spirit by constant movement.  The idea of failure
-in our bold enterprise was the least painful of my anxieties;
-but the thought of seeing our project discovered before
-leaving the Nautilus, of being brought before Captain Nemo,
-irritated, or (what was worse) saddened, at my desertion,
-made my heart beat.
-
-I wanted to see the saloon for the last time.  I descended the stairs and
-arrived in the museum, where I had passed so many useful and agreeable hours.
-I looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a man on the eve of an
-eternal exile, who was leaving never to return.
-
-These wonders of Nature, these masterpieces of art, amongst which for so many
-days my life had been concentrated, I was going to abandon them for ever!
-I should like to have taken a last look through the windows of the saloon into
-the waters of the Atlantic:  but the panels were hermetically closed, and a
-cloak of steel separated me from that ocean which I had not yet explored.
-
-In passing through the saloon, I came near the door let
-into the angle which opened into the Captain's room.
-To my great surprise, this door was ajar.  I drew back involuntarily.
-If Captain Nemo should be in his room, he could see me.
-But, hearing no sound, I drew nearer.  The room was deserted.
-I pushed open the door and took some steps forward.  Still the same
-monklike severity of aspect.
-
-Suddenly the clock struck eight.  The first beat of the hammer on the bell
-awoke me from my dreams.  I trembled as if an invisible eye had plunged
-into my most secret thoughts, and I hurried from the room.
-
-There my eye fell upon the compass.  Our course was still north.
-The log indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.
-
-I returned to my room, clothed myself warmly--sea boots,
-an otterskin cap, a great coat of byssus, lined with sealskin;
-I was ready, I was waiting.  The vibration of the screw
-alone broke the deep silence which reigned on board.
-I listened attentively.  Would no loud voice suddenly inform
-me that Ned Land had been surprised in his projected flight.
-A mortal dread hung over me, and I vainly tried to regain
-my accustomed coolness.
-
-At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain's door.
-No noise.  I left my room and returned to the saloon, which was half
-in obscurity, but deserted.
-
-I opened the door communicating with the library.
-The same insufficient light, the same solitude.
-I placed myself near the door leading to the central staircase,
-and there waited for Ned Land's signal.
-
-At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished,
-then it stopped entirely.  The silence was now only disturbed
-by the beatings of my own heart.  Suddenly a slight shock was felt;
-and I knew that the Nautilus had stopped at the bottom of the ocean.
-My uneasiness increased.  The Canadian's signal did not come.
-I felt inclined to join Ned Land and beg of him to put off his attempt.
-I felt that we were not sailing under our usual conditions.
-
-At this moment the door of the large saloon opened, and Captain
-Nemo appeared.  He saw me, and without further preamble began
-in an amiable tone of voice:
-
-"Ah, sir!  I have been looking for you.  Do you know the history of Spain?"
-
-Now, one might know the history of one's own country by heart;
-but in the condition I was at the time, with troubled mind
-and head quite lost, I could not have said a word of it.
-
-"Well," continued Captain Nemo, "you heard my question!
-Do you know the history of Spain?"
-
-"Very slightly," I answered.
-
-"Well, here are learned men having to learn," said the Captain.
-"Come, sit down, and I will tell you a curious episode in this history.
-Sir, listen well," said he; "this history will interest you on one side,
-for it will answer a question which doubtless you have not been
-able to solve."
-
-"I listen, Captain," said I, not knowing what my interlocutor was driving at,
-and asking myself if this incident was bearing on our projected flight.
-
-"Sir, if you have no objection, we will go back to 1702.  You cannot
-be ignorant that your king, Louis XIV, thinking that the gesture
-of a potentate was sufficient to bring the Pyrenees under his yoke,
-had imposed the Duke of Anjou, his grandson, on the Spaniards.
-This prince reigned more or less badly under the name of Philip V,
-and had a strong party against him abroad.  Indeed, the preceding year,
-the royal houses of Holland, Austria, and England had concluded
-a treaty of alliance at the Hague, with the intention of plucking
-the crown of Spain from the head of Philip V, and placing it
-on that of an archduke to whom they prematurely gave the title
-of Charles III.
-
-"Spain must resist this coalition; but she was almost entirely unprovided
-with either soldiers or sailors.  However, money would not fail them,
-provided that their galleons, laden with gold and silver from America,
-once entered their ports.  And about the end of 1702 they expected a rich
-convoy which France was escorting with a fleet of twenty-three vessels,
-commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud, for the ships of the coalition
-were already beating the Atlantic.  This convoy was to go to Cadiz,
-but the Admiral, hearing that an English fleet was cruising in those waters,
-resolved to make for a French port.
-
-"The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision.
-They wanted to be taken to a Spanish port, and, if not to Cadiz,
-into Vigo Bay, situated on the northwest coast of Spain,
-and which was not blocked.
-
-"Admiral Chateau-Renaud had the rashness to obey this injunction,
-and the galleons entered Vigo Bay.
-
-"Unfortunately, it formed an open road which could not be
-defended in any way.  They must therefore hasten to unload
-the galleons before the arrival of the combined fleet;
-and time would not have failed them had not a miserable question
-of rivalry suddenly arisen.
-
-"You are following the chain of events?" asked Captain Nemo.
-
-"Perfectly," said I, not knowing the end proposed by this historical lesson.
-
-"I will continue.  This is what passed.  The merchants of Cadiz had
-a privilege by which they had the right of receiving all merchandise
-coming from the West Indies.  Now, to disembark these ingots at the port
-of Vigo was depriving them of their rights.  They complained at Madrid,
-and obtained the consent of the weak-minded Philip that the convoy,
-without discharging its cargo, should remain sequestered in the roads
-of Vigo until the enemy had disappeared.
-
-"But whilst coming to this decision, on the 22nd of October,
-1702, the English vessels arrived in Vigo Bay, when Admiral
-Chateau-Renaud, in spite of inferior forces, fought bravely.
-But, seeing that the treasure must fall into the enemy's hands,
-he burnt and scuttled every galleon, which went to the bottom
-with their immense riches."
-
-Captain Nemo stopped.  I admit I could not see yet why this history
-should interest me.
-
-"Well?"  I asked.
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, "we are in that Vigo Bay;
-and it rests with yourself whether you will penetrate its mysteries."
-
-The Captain rose, telling me to follow him.  I had had time to recover.
-I obeyed.  The saloon was dark, but through the transparent glass the waves
-were sparkling.  I looked.
-
-For half a mile around the Nautilus, the waters seemed bathed
-in electric light.  The sandy bottom was clean and bright.
-Some of the ship's crew in their diving-dresses were clearing away
-half-rotten barrels and empty cases from the midst of the blackened wrecks.
-From these cases and from these barrels escaped ingots of gold and silver,
-cascades of piastres and jewels.  The sand was heaped up with them.
-Laden with their precious booty, the men returned to the Nautilus,
-disposed of their burden, and went back to this inexhaustible fishery of
-gold and silver.
-
-I understood now.  This was the scene of the battle of the 22nd
-of October, 1702.  Here on this very spot the galleons laden for the Spanish
-Government had sunk.  Here Captain Nemo came, according to his wants,
-to pack up those millions with which he burdened the Nautilus.
-It was for him and him alone America had given up her precious metals.
-He was heir direct, without anyone to share, in those treasures torn
-from the Incas and from the conquered of Ferdinand Cortez.
-
-"Did you know, sir," he asked, smiling, "that the sea contained such riches?"
-
-"I knew," I answered, "that they value money held in suspension
-in these waters at two millions."
-
-"Doubtless; but to extract this money the expense would be greater
-than the profit.  Here, on the contrary, I have but to pick up what man
-has lost--and not only in Vigo Bay, but in a thousand other ports where
-shipwrecks have happened, and which are marked on my submarine map.
-Can you understand now the source of the millions I am worth?"
-
-"I understand, Captain.  But allow me to tell you that in exploring
-Vigo Bay you have only been beforehand with a rival society."
-
-"And which?"
-
-"A society which has received from the Spanish Government
-the privilege of seeking those buried galleons.
-The shareholders are led on by the allurement of an enormous bounty,
-for they value these rich shipwrecks at five hundred millions."
-
-"Five hundred millions they were," answered Captain Nemo,
-"but they are so no longer."
-
-"Just so," said I; "and a warning to those shareholders would be
-an act of charity.  But who knows if it would be well received?
-What gamblers usually regret above all is less the loss
-of their money than of their foolish hopes.  After all,
-I pity them less than the thousands of unfortunates to whom
-so much riches well-distributed would have been profitable,
-whilst for them they will be for ever barren."
-
-I had no sooner expressed this regret than I felt that it must
-have wounded Captain Nemo.
-
-"Barren!" he exclaimed, with animation.  "Do you think then,
-sir, that these riches are lost because I gather them?
-Is it for myself alone, according to your idea, that I take
-the trouble to collect these treasures?  Who told you that I
-did not make a good use of it?  Do you think I am ignorant
-that there are suffering beings and oppressed races on
-this earth, miserable creatures to console, victims to avenge?
-Do you not understand?"
-
-Captain Nemo stopped at these last words, regretting perhaps
-that he had spoken so much.  But I had guessed that,
-whatever the motive which had forced him to seek independence
-under the sea, it had left him still a man, that his heart
-still beat for the sufferings of humanity, and that his immense
-charity was for oppressed races as well as individuals.
-And I then understood for whom those millions were destined
-which were forwarded by Captain Nemo when the Nautilus was cruising
-in the waters of Crete.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-A VANISHED CONTINENT
-
-The next morning, the 19th of February, I saw the Canadian enter my room.
-I expected this visit.  He looked very disappointed.
-
-"Well, sir?" said he.
-
-"Well, Ned, fortune was against us yesterday."
-
-"Yes; that Captain must needs stop exactly at the hour we intended
-leaving his vessel."
-
-"Yes, Ned, he had business at his bankers."
-
-"His bankers!"
-
-"Or rather his banking-house; by that I mean the ocean,
-where his riches are safer than in the chests of the State."
-
-I then related to the Canadian the incidents of the preceding night,
-hoping to bring him back to the idea of not abandoning the Captain;
-but my recital had no other result than an energetically expressed regret
-from Ned that he had not been able to take a walk on the battlefield
-of Vigo on his own account.
-
-"However," said he, "all is not ended.  It is only a blow
-of the harpoon lost.  Another time we must succeed;
-and to-night, if necessary----"
-
-"In what direction is the Nautilus going?"  I asked.
-
-"I do not know," replied Ned.
-
-"Well, at noon we shall see the point."
-
-The Canadian returned to Conseil.  As soon as I was dressed,
-I went into the saloon.  The compass was not reassuring.
-The course of the Nautilus was S.S.W. We were turning our
-backs on Europe.
-
-I waited with some impatience till the ship's place was pricked
-on the chart.  At about half-past eleven the reservoirs
-were emptied, and our vessel rose to the surface of the ocean.
-I rushed towards the platform.  Ned Land had preceded me.
-No more land in sight.  Nothing but an immense sea.
-Some sails on the horizon, doubtless those going to San Roque
-in search of favourable winds for doubling the Cape of Good Hope.
-The weather was cloudy.  A gale of wind was preparing.
-Ned raved, and tried to pierce the cloudy horizon.
-He still hoped that behind all that fog stretched the land he so
-longed for.
-
-At noon the sun showed itself for an instant.  The second profited by this
-brightness to take its height.  Then, the sea becoming more billowy,
-we descended, and the panel closed.
-
-An hour after, upon consulting the chart, I saw the position
-of the Nautilus was marked at 16@ 17' long., and 33@ 22'
-lat., at 150 leagues from the nearest coast.  There was no means
-of flight, and I leave you to imagine the rage of the Canadian
-when I informed him of our situation.
-
-For myself, I was not particularly sorry.  I felt lightened
-of the load which had oppressed me, and was able to return
-with some degree of calmness to my accustomed work.
-
-That night, about eleven o'clock, I received a most unexpected
-visit from Captain Nemo.  He asked me very graciously
-if I felt fatigued from my watch of the preceding night.
-I answered in the negative.
-
-"Then, M. Aronnax, I propose a curious excursion."
-
-"Propose, Captain?"
-
-"You have hitherto only visited the submarine depths by daylight,
-under the brightness of the sun.  Would it suit you to see them
-in the darkness of the night?"
-
-"Most willingly."
-
-"I warn you, the way will be tiring.  We shall have far to walk,
-and must climb a mountain.  The roads are not well kept."
-
-"What you say, Captain, only heightens my curiosity;
-I am ready to follow you."
-
-"Come then, sir, we will put on our diving-dresses."
-
-Arrived at the robing-room, I saw that neither of my companions
-nor any of the ship's crew were to follow us on this excursion.
-Captain Nemo had not even proposed my taking with me either
-Ned or Conseil.
-
-In a few moments we had put on our diving-dresses; they placed
-on our backs the reservoirs, abundantly filled with air,
-but no electric lamps were prepared.  I called the Captain's
-attention to the fact.
-
-"They will be useless," he replied.
-
-I thought I had not heard aright, but I could not repeat my observation,
-for the Captain's head had already disappeared in its metal case.
-I finished harnessing myself.  I felt them put an iron-pointed stick
-into my hand, and some minutes later, after going through the usual form,
-we set foot on the bottom of the Atlantic at a depth of 150 fathoms.
-Midnight was near.  The waters were profoundly dark, but Captain Nemo
-pointed out in the distance a reddish spot, a sort of large light shining
-brilliantly about two miles from the Nautilus.  What this fire might be,
-what could feed it, why and how it lit up the liquid mass, I could not say.
-In any case, it did light our way, vaguely, it is true, but I soon accustomed
-myself to the peculiar darkness, and I understood, under such circumstances,
-the uselessness of the Ruhmkorff apparatus.
-
-As we advanced, I heard a kind of pattering above my head.
-The noise redoubling, sometimes producing a continual shower,
-I soon understood the cause.  It was rain falling violently,
-and crisping the surface of the waves.  Instinctively the
-thought flashed across my mind that I should be wet through!
-By the water! in the midst of the water!  I could not help
-laughing at the odd idea.  But, indeed, in the thick diving-dress,
-the liquid element is no longer felt, and one only seems to be
-in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the terrestrial atmosphere.
-Nothing more.
-
-After half an hour's walk the soil became stony.
-Medusae, microscopic crustacea, and pennatules lit it slightly
-with their phosphorescent gleam.  I caught a glimpse of pieces
-of stone covered with millions of zoophytes and masses of sea weed.
-My feet often slipped upon this sticky carpet of sea weed,
-and without my iron-tipped stick I should have fallen more than once.
-In turning round, I could still see the whitish lantern of the
-Nautilus beginning to pale in the distance.
-
-But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon.
-The presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree.
-Was I going towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown to the savants
-of the earth?  Or even (for this thought crossed my brain) had the hand
-of man aught to do with this conflagration?  Had he fanned this flame?
-Was I to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo whom
-he was going to visit, and who, like him, led this strange existence?
-Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who, weary of the miseries
-of this earth, had sought and found independence in the deep ocean?
-All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued me.  And in this condition
-of mind, over-excited by the succession of wonders continually passing before
-my eyes, I should not have been surprised to meet at the bottom of the sea one
-of those submarine towns of which Captain Nemo dreamed.
-
-Our road grew lighter and lighter.  The white glimmer came in rays
-from the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high.  But what I saw
-was simply a reflection, developed by the clearness of the waters.
-The source of this inexplicable light was a fire on the opposite side
-of the mountain.
-
-In the midst of this stony maze furrowing the bottom of the Atlantic,
-Captain Nemo advanced without hesitation.  He knew this dreary road.
-Doubtless he had often travelled over it, and could not lose himself.
-I followed him with unshaken confidence.  He seemed to me like a genie of
-the sea; and, as he walked before me, I could not help admiring his stature,
-which was outlined in black on the luminous horizon.
-
-It was one in the morning when we arrived at the first slopes of the mountain;
-but to gain access to them we must venture through the difficult paths
-of a vast copse.
-
-Yes; a copse of dead trees, without leaves, without sap,
-trees petrified by the action of the water and here and there
-overtopped by gigantic pines.  It was like a coal-pit still standing,
-holding by the roots to the broken soil, and whose branches, like fine
-black paper cuttings, showed distinctly on the watery ceiling.
-Picture to yourself a forest in the Hartz hanging on to the sides
-of the mountain, but a forest swallowed up.  The paths were
-encumbered with seaweed and fucus, between which grovelled
-a whole world of crustacea.  I went along, climbing the rocks,
-striding over extended trunks, breaking the sea bind-weed which hung
-from one tree to the other; and frightening the fishes, which flew
-from branch to branch.  Pressing onward, I felt no fatigue.
-I followed my guide, who was never tired.  What a spectacle!
-How can I express it? how paint the aspect of those woods and
-rocks in this medium--their under parts dark and wild, the upper
-coloured with red tints, by that light which the reflecting powers
-of the waters doubled?  We climbed rocks which fell directly
-after with gigantic bounds and the low growling of an avalanche.
-To right and left ran long, dark galleries, where sight was lost.
-Here opened vast glades which the hand of man seemed to have worked;
-and I sometimes asked myself if some inhabitant of these submarine
-regions would not suddenly appear to me.
-
-But Captain Nemo was still mounting.  I could not stay behind.
-I followed boldly.  My stick gave me good help.  A false step would
-have been dangerous on the narrow passes sloping down to the sides
-of the gulfs; but I walked with firm step, without feeling
-any giddiness.  Now I jumped a crevice, the depth of which would
-have made me hesitate had it been among the glaciers on the land;
-now I ventured on the unsteady trunk of a tree thrown across
-from one abyss to the other, without looking under my feet,
-having only eyes to admire the wild sites of this region.
-
-There, monumental rocks, leaning on their regularly-cut bases, seemed to defy
-all laws of equilibrium.  From between their stony knees trees sprang,
-like a jet under heavy pressure, and upheld others which upheld them.
-Natural towers, large scarps, cut perpendicularly, like a "curtain," inclined
-at an angle which the laws of gravitation could never have tolerated
-in terrestrial regions.
-
-Two hours after quitting the Nautilus we had crossed the line of trees,
-and a hundred feet above our heads rose the top of the mountain,
-which cast a shadow on the brilliant irradiation of the opposite slope.
-Some petrified shrubs ran fantastically here and there.  Fishes got up
-under our feet like birds in the long grass.  The massive rocks were
-rent with impenetrable fractures, deep grottos, and unfathomable holes,
-at the bottom of which formidable creatures might be heard moving.
-My blood curdled when I saw enormous antennae blocking my road,
-or some frightful claw closing with a noise in the shadow of some cavity.
-Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the midst of the darkness.
-They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their holes;
-giant lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers, and moving
-their claws with the clicking sound of pincers; titanic crabs,
-pointed like a gun on its carriage; and frightful-looking poulps,
-interweaving their tentacles like a living nest of serpents.
-
-We had now arrived on the first platform, where other surprises awaited me.
-Before us lay some picturesque ruins, which betrayed the hand of man
-and not that of the Creator.  There were vast heaps of stone,
-amongst which might be traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles
-and temples, clothed with a world of blossoming zoophytes, and over which,
-instead of ivy, sea-weed and fucus threw a thick vegetable mantle.  But what
-was this portion of the globe which had been swallowed by cataclysms?
-Who had placed those rocks and stones like cromlechs of prehistoric times?
-Where was I?  Whither had Captain Nemo's fancy hurried me?
-
-I would fain have asked him; not being able to, I stopped him--
-I seized his arm.  But, shaking his head, and pointing to the highest
-point of the mountain, he seemed to say:
-
-"Come, come along; come higher!"
-
-I followed, and in a few minutes I had climbed to the top,
-which for a circle of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock.
-
-I looked down the side we had just climbed.  The mountain did
-not rise more than seven or eight hundred feet above the level
-of the plain; but on the opposite side it commanded from
-twice that height the depths of this part of the Atlantic.
-My eyes ranged far over a large space lit by a violent fulguration.
-In fact, the mountain was a volcano.
-
-At fifty feet above the peak, in the midst of a rain of stones
-and scoriae, a large crater was vomiting forth torrents of lava
-which fell in a cascade of fire into the bosom of the liquid mass.
-Thus situated, this volcano lit the lower plain like an
-immense torch, even to the extreme limits of the horizon.
-I said that the submarine crater threw up lava, but no flames.
-Flames require the oxygen of the air to feed upon and cannot be
-developed under water; but streams of lava, having in themselves
-the principles of their incandescence, can attain a white heat,
-fight vigorously against the liquid element, and turn it to
-vapour by contact.
-
-Rapid currents bearing all these gases in diffusion and torrents
-of lava slid to the bottom of the mountain like an eruption
-of Vesuvius on another Terra del Greco.
-
-There indeed under my eyes, ruined, destroyed, lay a town--
-its roofs open to the sky, its temples fallen, its arches dislocated,
-its columns lying on the ground, from which one would still
-recognise the massive character of Tuscan architecture.
-Further on, some remains of a gigantic aqueduct; here the high
-base of an Acropolis, with the floating outline of a Parthenon;
-there traces of a quay, as if an ancient port had formerly
-abutted on the borders of the ocean, and disappeared with
-its merchant vessels and its war-galleys. Farther on again,
-long lines of sunken walls and broad, deserted streets--
-a perfect Pompeii escaped beneath the waters.  Such was the sight
-that Captain Nemo brought before my eyes!
-
-Where was I?  Where was I?  I must know at any cost.
-I tried to speak, but Captain Nemo stopped me by a gesture,
-and, picking up a piece of chalk-stone, advanced to a rock
-of black basalt, and traced the one word:
-
-
-ATLANTIS
-
-
-What a light shot through my mind!  Atlantis! the Atlantis
-of Plato, that continent denied by Origen and Humbolt,
-who placed its disappearance amongst the legendary tales.
-I had it there now before my eyes, bearing upon it
-the unexceptionable testimony of its catastrophe.
-The region thus engulfed was beyond Europe, Asia, and Lybia,
-beyond the columns of Hercules, where those powerful people,
-the Atlantides, lived, against whom the first wars of ancient
-Greeks were waged.
-
-Thus, led by the strangest destiny, I was treading under foot
-the mountains of this continent, touching with my hand those ruins
-a thousand generations old and contemporary with the geological epochs.
-I was walking on the very spot where the contemporaries of the first
-man had walked.
-
-Whilst I was trying to fix in my mind every detail of this
-grand landscape, Captain Nemo remained motionless,
-as if petrified in mute ecstasy, leaning on a mossy stone.
-Was he dreaming of those generations long since disappeared?
-Was he asking them the secret of human destiny?  Was it here this
-strange man came to steep himself in historical recollections,
-and live again this ancient life--he who wanted no modern one?
-What would I not have given to know his thoughts, to share them,
-to understand them!  We remained for an hour at this place,
-contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of the lava,
-which was some times wonderfully intense.  Rapid tremblings ran
-along the mountain caused by internal bubblings, deep noise,
-distinctly transmitted through the liquid medium were echoed
-with majestic grandeur.  At this moment the moon appeared through
-the mass of waters and threw her pale rays on the buried continent.
-It was but a gleam, but what an indescribable effect!
-The Captain rose, cast one last look on the immense plain,
-and then bade me follow him.
-
-We descended the mountain rapidly, and, the mineral forest
-once passed, I saw the lantern of the Nautilus shining like a star.
-The Captain walked straight to it, and we got on board as the first
-rays of light whitened the surface of the ocean.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES
-
-The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late:  the fatigues
-of the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o'clock. I
-dressed quickly, and hastened to find the course the Nautilus was taking.
-The instruments showed it to be still toward the south, with a speed of
-twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoms.
-
-The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already noticed.
-There were rays of giant size, five yards long, and endowed with great
-muscular strength, which enabled them to shoot above the waves;
-sharks of many kinds; amongst others, one fifteen feet long,
-with triangular sharp teeth, and whose transparency rendered it almost
-invisible in the water.
-
-Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long, armed at
-the upper jaw with a piercing sword; other bright-coloured creatures,
-known in the time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon, which are
-dangerous to capture on account of the spikes on their back.
-
-About four o'clock, the soil, generally composed of a thick mud mixed with
-petrified wood, changed by degrees, and it became more stony, and seemed
-strewn with conglomerate and pieces of basalt, with a sprinkling of lava.
-I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long plains;
-and accordingly, after a few evolutions of the Nautilus, I saw the southerly
-horizon blocked by a high wall which seemed to close all exit.
-Its summit evidently passed the level of the ocean.  It must be a continent,
-or at least an island--one of the Canaries, or of the Cape Verde Islands.
-The bearings not being yet taken, perhaps designedly, I was ignorant
-of our exact position.  In any case, such a wall seemed to me to mark
-the limits of that Atlantis, of which we had in reality passed over only
-the smallest part.
-
-Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring
-the beauties of sea and sky, but the panels closed.  At this moment
-the Nautilus arrived at the side of this high, perpendicular wall.
-What it would do, I could not guess.  I returned to my room;
-it no longer moved.  I laid myself down with the full intention
-of waking after a few hours' sleep; but it was eight o'clock
-the next day when I entered the saloon.  I looked at the manometer.
-It told me that the Nautilus was floating on the surface of the ocean.
-Besides, I heard steps on the platform.  I went to the panel.
-It was open; but, instead of broad daylight, as I expected,
-I was surrounded by profound darkness.  Where were we?
-Was I mistaken?  Was it still night?  No; not a star was shining
-and night has not that utter darkness.
-
-I knew not what to think, when a voice near me said:
-
-"Is that you, Professor?"
-
-"Ah!  Captain," I answered, "where are we?"
-
-"Underground, sir."
-
-"Underground!"  I exclaimed.  "And the Nautilus floating still?"
-
-"It always floats."
-
-"But I do not understand."
-
-"Wait a few minutes, our lantern will be lit, and, if you like light places,
-you will be satisfied."
-
-I stood on the platform and waited.  The darkness was so complete
-that I could not even see Captain Nemo; but, looking to the zenith,
-exactly above my head, I seemed to catch an undecided gleam,
-a kind of twilight filling a circular hole.  At this instant
-the lantern was lit, and its vividness dispelled the faint light.
-I closed my dazzled eyes for an instant, and then looked again.
-The Nautilus was stationary, floating near a mountain which formed
-a sort of quay.  The lake, then, supporting it was a lake
-imprisoned by a circle of walls, measuring two miles in diameter
-and six in circumference.  Its level (the manometer showed)
-could only be the same as the outside level, for there must
-necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea.
-The high partitions, leaning forward on their base, grew into
-a vaulted roof bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned
-upside down, the height being about five or six hundred yards.
-At the summit was a circular orifice, by which I had caught the slight
-gleam of light, evidently daylight.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has
-been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth.
-Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the Nautilus penetrated
-to this lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards
-beneath the surface of the ocean.  This is its harbour of refuge,
-a sure, commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from all gales.
-Show me, if you can, on the coasts of any of your continents or islands,
-a road which can give such perfect refuge from all storms."
-
-"Certainly," I replied, "you are in safety here, Captain Nemo.
-Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano?  But did I not see
-an opening at its summit?"
-
-"Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames,
-and which now gives entrance to the life-giving air we breathe."
-
-"But what is this volcanic mountain?"
-
-"It belongs to one of the numerous islands with which this sea
-is strewn--to vessels a simple sandbank--to us an immense cavern.
-Chance led me to discover it, and chance served me well."
-
-"But of what use is this refuge, Captain?  The Nautilus wants no port."
-
-"No, sir; but it wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal
-to make the electricity--sodium to feed the elements, coal from
-which to get the sodium, and a coal-mine to supply the coal.
-And exactly on this spot the sea covers entire forests embedded during
-the geological periods, now mineralised and transformed into coal;
-for me they are an inexhaustible mine."
-
-"Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?"
-
-"Exactly so.  These mines extend under the waves like the mines of Newcastle.
-Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand, my men
-extract the coal, which I do not even ask from the mines of the earth.
-When I burn this combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the smoke,
-escaping from the crater of the mountain, gives it the appearance of
-a still-active volcano."
-
-"And we shall see your companions at work?"
-
-"No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue
-our submarine tour of the earth.  So I shall content myself
-with drawing from the reserve of sodium I already possess.
-The time for loading is one day only, and we continue our voyage.
-So, if you wish to go over the cavern and make the round of
-the lagoon, you must take advantage of to-day, M. Aronnax."
-
-I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not yet
-left their cabin.  I invited them to follow me without saying where we were.
-They mounted the platform.  Conseil, who was astonished at nothing,
-seemed to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake under
-a mountain, after having fallen asleep under the waves.  But Ned Land
-thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit.
-After breakfast, about ten o'clock, we went down on to the mountain.
-
-"Here we are, once more on land," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not call this land," said the Canadian.  "And besides,
-we are not on it, but beneath it."
-
-Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a sandy
-shore which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet.
-On this soil one might easily make the tour of the lake.  But the base
-of the high partitions was stony ground, with volcanic locks and enormous
-pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps.  All these detached masses,
-covered with enamel, polished by the action of the subterraneous fires,
-shone resplendent by the light of our electric lantern.  The mica dust
-from the shore, rising under our feet, flew like a cloud of sparks.
-The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon arrived at long circuitous slopes,
-or inclined planes, which took us higher by degrees; but we were obliged
-to walk carefully among these conglomerates, bound by no cement, the feet
-slipping on the glassy crystal, felspar, and quartz.
-
-The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all sides,
-and I pointed it out to my companions.
-
-"Picture to yourselves," said I, "what this crater must
-have been when filled with boiling lava, and when the level
-of the incandescent liquid rose to the orifice of the mountain,
-as though melted on the top of a hot plate."
-
-"I can picture it perfectly," said Conseil.  "But, sir,
-will you tell me why the Great Architect has suspended operations,
-and how it is that the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters
-of the lake?"
-
-"Most probably, Conseil, because some convulsion beneath the ocean produced
-that very opening which has served as a passage for the Nautilus.
-Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed into the interior of the mountain.
-There must have been a terrible struggle between the two elements, a struggle
-which ended in the victory of Neptune.  But many ages have run out since then,
-and the submerged volcano is now a peaceable grotto."
-
-"Very well," replied Ned Land; "I accept the explanation, sir; but, in our
-own interests, I regret that the opening of which you speak was not made
-above the level of the sea."
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "if the passage had not been under the sea,
-the Nautilus could not have gone through it."
-
-We continued ascending.  The steps became more and more perpendicular
-and narrow.  Deep excavations, which we were obliged to cross,
-cut them here and there; sloping masses had to be turned.
-We slid upon our knees and crawled along.  But Conseil's
-dexterity and the Canadian's strength surmounted all obstacles.
-At a height of about 31 feet the nature of the ground changed
-without becoming more practicable.  To the conglomerate and trachyte
-succeeded black basalt, the first dispread in layers full of bubbles,
-the latter forming regular prisms, placed like a colonnade
-supporting the spring of the immense vault, an admirable specimen
-of natural architecture.  Between the blocks of basalt wound long
-streams of lava, long since grown cold, encrusted with bituminous rays;
-and in some places there were spread large carpets of sulphur.
-A more powerful light shone through the upper crater, shedding a
-vague glimmer over these volcanic depressions for ever buried
-in the bosom of this extinguished mountain.  But our upward march
-was soon stopped at a height of about two hundred and fifty feet
-by impassable obstacles.  There was a complete vaulted arch
-overhanging us, and our ascent was changed to a circular walk.
-At the last change vegetable life began to struggle with the mineral.
-Some shrubs, and even some trees, grew from the fractures of the walls.
-I recognised some euphorbias, with the caustic sugar coming
-from them; heliotropes, quite incapable of justifying their name,
-sadly drooped their clusters of flowers, both their colour
-and perfume half gone.  Here and there some chrysanthemums grew
-timidly at the foot of an aloe with long, sickly-looking leaves.
-But between the streams of lava, I saw some little violets still
-slightly perfumed, and I admit that I smelt them with delight.
-Perfume is the soul of the flower, and sea-flowers have no soul.
-
-We had arrived at the foot of some sturdy dragon-trees,
-which had pushed aside the rocks with their strong roots,
-when Ned Land exclaimed:
-
-"Ah! sir, a hive! a hive!"
-
-"A hive!"  I replied, with a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes, a hive," repeated the Canadian, "and bees humming round it."
-
-I approached, and was bound to believe my own eyes.  There at a hole bored
-in one of the dragon-trees were some thousands of these ingenious insects,
-so common in all the Canaries, and whose produce is so much esteemed.
-Naturally enough, the Canadian wished to gather the honey, and I could
-not well oppose his wish.  A quantity of dry leaves, mixed with sulphur,
-he lit with a spark from his flint, and he began to smoke out the bees.
-The humming ceased by degrees, and the hive eventually yielded several pounds
-of the sweetest honey, with which Ned Land filled his haversack.
-
-"When I have mixed this honey with the paste of the bread-fruit,"
-said he, "I shall be able to offer you a succulent cake."
-
-{`bread-fruit' has been substituted for `artocarpus' in this ed.}
-
-"'Pon my word," said Conseil, "it will be gingerbread."
-
-"Never mind the gingerbread," said I; "let us continue our interesting walk."
-
-At every turn of the path we were following, the lake appeared
-in all its length and breadth.  The lantern lit up the whole
-of its peaceable surface, which knew neither ripple nor wave.
-The Nautilus remained perfectly immovable.  On the platform,
-and on the mountain, the ship's crew were working like black
-shadows clearly carved against the luminous atmosphere.
-We were now going round the highest crest of the first layers of rock
-which upheld the roof.  I then saw that bees were not the only
-representatives of the animal kingdom in the interior of this volcano.
-Birds of prey hovered here and there in the shadows, or fled from
-their nests on the top of the rocks.  There were sparrow hawks,
-with white breasts, and kestrels, and down the slopes scampered,
-with their long legs, several fine fat bustards.  I leave anyone
-to imagine the covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this
-savoury game, and whether he did not regret having no gun.
-But he did his best to replace the lead by stones, and, after several
-fruitless attempts, he succeeded in wounding a magnificent bird.
-To say that he risked his life twenty times before reaching
-it is but the truth; but he managed so well that the creature
-joined the honey-cakes in his bag.  We were now obliged to
-descend toward the shore, the crest becoming impracticable.
-Above us the crater seemed to gape like the mouth of a well.
-From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
-dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit
-of the mountain, their misty remnants--certain proof that they
-were only moderately high, for the volcano did not rise more than
-eight hundred feet above the level of the ocean.  Half an hour
-after the Canadian's last exploit we had regained the inner shore.
-Here the flora was represented by large carpets of marine crystal,
-a little umbelliferous plant very good to pickle, which also bears the name
-of pierce-stone and sea-fennel. Conseil gathered some bundles of it.
-As to the fauna, it might be counted by thousands of crustacea
-of all sorts, lobsters, crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps,
-and a large number of shells, rockfish, and limpets.  Three-quarters of
-an hour later we had finished our circuitous walk and were on board.
-The crew had just finished loading the sodium, and the Nautilus
-could have left that instant.  But Captain Nemo gave no order.
-Did he wish to wait until night, and leave the submarine passage secretly?
-Perhaps so.  Whatever it might be, the next day, the Nautilus,
-having left its port, steered clear of all land at a few yards beneath
-the waves of the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-THE SARGASSO SEA
-
-That day the Nautilus crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean.
-No one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm
-water known by the name of the Gulf Stream.  After leaving
-the Gulf of Florida, we went in the direction of Spitzbergen.
-But before entering the Gulf of Mexico, about 45@ of N. lat., this
-current divides into two arms, the principal one going towards
-the coast of Ireland and Norway, whilst the second bends to the south
-about the height of the Azores; then, touching the African shore,
-and describing a lengthened oval, returns to the Antilles.
-This second arm--it is rather a collar than an arm--surrounds with its
-circles of warm water that portion of the cold, quiet, immovable ocean
-called the Sargasso Sea, a perfect lake in the open Atlantic:
-it takes no less than three years for the great current to pass round it.
-Such was the region the Nautilus was now visiting, a perfect meadow,
-a close carpet of seaweed, fucus, and tropical berries, so thick and so
-compact that the stem of a vessel could hardly tear its way through it.
-And Captain Nemo, not wishing to entangle his screw in this herbaceous mass,
-kept some yards beneath the surface of the waves.  The name Sargasso
-comes from the Spanish word "sargazzo" which signifies kelp.
-This kelp, or berry-plant, is the principal formation of this immense bank.
-And this is the reason why these plants unite in the peaceful basin
-of the Atlantic.  The only explanation which can be given, he says,
-seems to me to result from the experience known to all the world.
-Place in a vase some fragments of cork or other floating body,
-and give to the water in the vase a circular movement,
-the scattered fragments will unite in a group in the centre of
-the liquid surface, that is to say, in the part least agitated.
-In the phenomenon we are considering, the Atlantic is the vase,
-the Gulf Stream the circular current, and the Sargasso Sea the central
-point at which the floating bodies unite.
-
-I share Maury's opinion, and I was able to study the phenomenon
-in the very midst, where vessels rarely penetrate.  Above us floated
-products of all kinds, heaped up among these brownish plants;
-trunks of trees torn from the Andes or the Rocky Mountains, and floated
-by the Amazon or the Mississippi; numerous wrecks, remains of keels,
-or ships' bottoms, side-planks stove in, and so weighted with shells
-and barnacles that they could not again rise to the surface.
-And time will one day justify Maury's other opinion, that these
-substances thus accumulated for ages will become petrified by
-the action of the water and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines--
-a precious reserve prepared by far-seeing Nature for the moment
-when men shall have exhausted the mines of continents.
-
-In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed,
-I noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long
-tentacles trailing after them, and medusae, green, red, and blue.
-
-All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea,
-where such fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant nourishment.
-The next, the ocean had returned to its accustomed aspect.
-From this time for nineteen days, from the 23rd of February to the 12th
-of March, the Nautilus kept in the middle of the Atlantic, carrying us
-at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four hours.
-Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine programme,
-and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, to return
-to the Australian seas of the Pacific.  Ned Land had cause for fear.
-In these large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt to leave
-the boat.  Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo's will.
-Our only course was to submit; but what we could neither gain by force
-nor cunning, I liked to think might be obtained by persuasion.
-This voyage ended, would he not consent to restore our liberty,
-under an oath never to reveal his existence?--an oath of honour which we
-should have religiously kept.  But we must consider that delicate
-question with the Captain.  But was I free to claim this liberty?
-Had he not himself said from the beginning, in the firmest manner,
-that the secret of his life exacted from him our lasting imprisonment
-on board the Nautilus?  And would not my four months' silence appear
-to him a tacit acceptance of our situation?  And would not a return
-to the subject result in raising suspicions which might be hurtful
-to our projects, if at some future time a favourable opportunity offered
-to return to them?
-
-During the nineteen days mentioned above, no incident
-of any kind happened to signalise our voyage.  I saw little
-of the Captain; he was at work.  In the library I often found
-his books left open, especially those on natural history.
-My work on submarine depths, conned over by him, was covered
-with marginal notes, often contradicting my theories and systems;
-but the Captain contented himself with thus purging my work;
-it was very rare for him to discuss it with me.
-Sometimes I heard the melancholy tones of his organ;
-but only at night, in the midst of the deepest obscurity,
-when the Nautilus slept upon the deserted ocean.  During this part
-of our voyage we sailed whole days on the surface of the waves.
-The sea seemed abandoned.  A few sailing-vessels, on
-the road to India, were making for the Cape of Good Hope.
-One day we were followed by the boats of a whaler, who, no doubt,
-took us for some enormous whale of great price; but Captain
-Nemo did not wish the worthy fellows to lose their time
-and trouble, so ended the chase by plunging under the water.
-Our navigation continued until the 13th of March;
-that day the Nautilus was employed in taking soundings,
-which greatly interested me.  We had then made about 13,000
-leagues since our departure from the high seas of the Pacific.
-The bearings gave us 45@ 37' S. lat., and 37@ 53' W. long.
-It was the same water in which Captain Denham of the Herald
-sounded 7,000 fathoms without finding the bottom.
-There, too, Lieutenant Parker, of the American frigate Congress,
-could not touch the bottom with 15,140 fathoms.
-Captain Nemo intended seeking the bottom of the ocean by a
-diagonal sufficiently lengthened by means of lateral planes
-placed at an angle of 45@ with the water-line of the Nautilus.
-Then the screw set to work at its maximum speed, its four
-blades beating the waves with in describable force.
-Under this powerful pressure, the hull of the Nautilus quivered
-like a sonorous chord and sank regularly under the water.
-
-At 7,000 fathoms I saw some blackish tops rising from the midst of the waters;
-but these summits might belong to high mountains like the Himalayas or
-Mont Blanc, even higher; and the depth of the abyss remained incalculable.
-The Nautilus descended still lower, in spite of the great pressure.
-I felt the steel plates tremble at the fastenings of the bolts;
-its bars bent, its partitions groaned; the windows of the saloon
-seemed to curve under the pressure of the waters.  And this firm
-structure would doubtless have yielded, if, as its Captain had said,
-it had not been capable of resistance like a solid block.  We had attained
-a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues), and the sides of the Nautilus
-then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, that is to say, 3,200 lb.
-to each square two-fifths of an inch of its surface.
-
-"What a situation to be in!"  I exclaimed.  "To overrun these deep regions
-where man has never trod!  Look, Captain, look at these magnificent rocks,
-these uninhabited grottoes, these lowest receptacles of the globe,
-where life is no longer possible!  What unknown sights are here!
-Why should we be unable to preserve a remembrance of them?"
-
-"Would you like to carry away more than the remembrance?"
-said Captain Nemo.
-
-"What do you mean by those words?"
-
-"I mean to say that nothing is easier than to make a photographic
-view of this submarine region."
-
-I had not time to express my surprise at this new proposition, when,
-at Captain Nemo's call, an objective was brought into the saloon.
-Through the widely-opened panel, the liquid mass was bright with electricity,
-which was distributed with such uniformity that not a shadow, not a gradation,
-was to be seen in our manufactured light.  The Nautilus remained motionless,
-the force of its screw subdued by the inclination of its planes:
-the instrument was propped on the bottom of the oceanic site, and in a few
-seconds we had obtained a perfect negative.
-
-But, the operation being over, Captain Nemo said, "Let us go up;
-we must not abuse our position, nor expose the Nautilus too long
-to such great pressure."
-
-"Go up again!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Hold well on."
-
-I had not time to understand why the Captain cautioned me thus, when I
-was thrown forward on to the carpet.  At a signal from the Captain,
-its screw was shipped, and its blades raised vertically; the Nautilus
-shot into the air like a balloon, rising with stunning rapidity,
-and cutting the mass of waters with a sonorous agitation.
-Nothing was visible; and in four minutes it had shot through the four
-leagues which separated it from the ocean, and, after emerging like a
-flying-fish, fell, making the waves rebound to an enormous height.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-CACHALOTS AND WHALES
-
-During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March, the Nautilus returned
-to its southerly course.  I fancied that, when on a level with Cape Horn,
-he would turn the helm westward, in order to beat the Pacific seas,
-and so complete the tour of the world.  He did nothing of the kind,
-but continued on his way to the southern regions.  Where was he going to?
-To the pole?  It was madness!  I began to think that the Captain's
-temerity justified Ned Land's fears.  For some time past the Canadian
-had not spoken to me of his projects of flight; he was less communicative,
-almost silent.  I could see that this lengthened imprisonment was
-weighing upon him, and I felt that rage was burning within him.
-When he met the Captain, his eyes lit up with suppressed anger;
-and I feared that his natural violence would lead him into some extreme.
-That day, the 14th of March, Conseil and he came to me in my room.
-I inquired the cause of their visit.
-
-"A simple question to ask you, sir," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Speak, Ned."
-
-"How many men are there on board the Nautilus, do you think?"
-
-"I cannot tell, my friend."
-
-"I should say that its working does not require a large crew."
-
-"Certainly, under existing conditions, ten men, at the most,
-ought to be enough."
-
-"Well, why should there be any more?"
-
-"Why?"  I replied, looking fixedly at Ned Land, whose meaning was easy
-to guess.  "Because," I added, "if my surmises are correct, and if I have
-well understood the Captain's existence, the Nautilus is not only a vessel:
-it is also a place of refuge for those who, like its commander, have broken
-every tie upon earth."
-
-"Perhaps so," said Conseil; "but, in any case, the Nautilus can only contain
-a certain number of men.  Could not you, sir, estimate their maximum?"
-
-"How, Conseil?"
-
-"By calculation; given the size of the vessel, which you know, sir,
-and consequently the quantity of air it contains, knowing also how much
-each man expends at a breath, and comparing these results with the fact
-that the Nautilus is obliged to go to the surface every twenty-four hours."
-
-Conseil had not finished the sentence before I saw what he was driving at.
-
-"I understand," said I; "but that calculation, though simple enough,
-can give but a very uncertain result."
-
-"Never mind," said Ned Land urgently.
-
-"Here it is, then," said I. "In one hour each man consumes the oxygen
-contained in twenty gallons of air; and in twenty-four, that contained
-in 480 gallons.  We must, therefore find how many times 480 gallons
-of air the Nautilus contains."
-
-"Just so," said Conseil.
-
-"Or," I continued, "the size of the Nautilus being 1,500 tons;
-and one ton holding 200 gallons, it contains 300,000 gallons
-of air, which, divided by 480, gives a quotient of 625.
-Which means to say, strictly speaking, that the air contained in
-the Nautilus would suffice for 625 men for twenty-four hours."
-
-"Six hundred and twenty-five!" repeated Ned.
-
-"But remember that all of us, passengers, sailors, and officers included,
-would not form a tenth part of that number."
-
-"Still too many for three men," murmured Conseil.
-
-The Canadian shook his head, passed his hand across his forehead,
-and left the room without answering.
-
-"Will you allow me to make one observation, sir?" said Conseil.
-"Poor Ned is longing for everything that he can not have.  His past life
-is always present to him; everything that we are forbidden he regrets.
-His head is full of old recollections.  And we must understand him.
-What has he to do here?  Nothing; he is not learned like you, sir;
-and has not the same taste for the beauties of the sea that we have.
-He would risk everything to be able to go once more into a tavern
-in his own country."
-
-Certainly the monotony on board must seem intolerable to the Canadian,
-accustomed as he was to a life of liberty and activity.
-Events were rare which could rouse him to any show of spirit; but that day
-an event did happen which recalled the bright days of the harpooner.
-About eleven in the morning, being on the surface of the ocean,
-the Nautilus fell in with a troop of whales--an encounter which did
-not astonish me, knowing that these creatures, hunted to death,
-had taken refuge in high latitudes.
-
-We were seated on the platform, with a quiet sea.  The month of October
-in those latitudes gave us some lovely autumnal days.  It was the Canadian--
-he could not be mistaken--who signalled a whale on the eastern horizon.
-Looking attentively, one might see its black back rise and fall with the waves
-five miles from the Nautilus.
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed Ned Land, "if I was on board a whaler, now such
-a meeting would give me pleasure.  It is one of large size.
-See with what strength its blow-holes throw up columns of air an steam!
-Confound it, why am I bound to these steel plates?"
-
-"What, Ned," said I, "you have not forgotten your old ideas of fishing?"
-
-"Can a whale-fisher ever forget his old trade, sir?  Can he ever
-tire of the emotions caused by such a chase?"
-
-"You have never fished in these seas, Ned?"
-
-"Never, sir; in the northern only, and as much in Behring
-as in Davis Straits."
-
-"Then the southern whale is still unknown to you.  It is the Greenland
-whale you have hunted up to this time, and that would not risk passing
-through the warm waters of the equator.  Whales are localised,
-according to their kinds, in certain seas which they never leave.
-And if one of these creatures went from Behring to Davis Straits,
-it must be simply because there is a passage from one sea to the other,
-either on the American or the Asiatic side."
-
-"In that case, as I have never fished in these seas, I do not know
-the kind of whale frequenting them!"
-
-"I have told you, Ned."
-
-"A greater reason for making their acquaintance," said Conseil.
-
-"Look! look!" exclaimed the Canadian, "they approach:
-they aggravate me; they know that I cannot get at them!"
-
-Ned stamped his feet.  His hand trembled, as he grasped an imaginary harpoon.
-
-"Are these cetaceans as large as those of the northern seas?" asked he.
-
-"Very nearly, Ned."
-
-"Because I have seen large whales, sir, whales measuring a hundred feet.
-I have even been told that those of Hullamoch and Umgallick,
-of the Aleutian Islands, are sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long."
-
-"That seems to me exaggeration.  These creatures are generally much smaller
-than the Greenland whale."  {this paragraph has been edited}
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes had never left the ocean,
-"they are coming nearer; they are in the same water as the Nautilus."
-
-Then, returning to the conversation, he said:
-
-"You spoke of the cachalot as a small creature.
-I have heard of gigantic ones.  They are intelligent cetacea.
-It is said of some that they cover themselves with seaweed and fucus,
-and then are taken for islands.  People encamp upon them,
-and settle there; lights a fire----"
-
-"And build houses," said Conseil.
-
-"Yes, joker," said Ned Land.  "And one fine day the creature plunges,
-carrying with it all the inhabitants to the bottom of the sea."
-
-"Something like the travels of Sinbad the Sailor," I replied, laughing.
-
-"Ah!" suddenly exclaimed Ned Land, "it is not one whale;
-there are ten--there are twenty--it is a whole troop!
-And I not able to do anything! hands and feet tied!"
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "why do you not ask Captain
-Nemo's permission to chase them?"
-
-Conseil had not finished his sentence when Ned Land had
-lowered himself through the panel to seek the Captain.
-A few minutes afterwards the two appeared together on the platform.
-
-Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea playing on the waters
-about a mile from the Nautilus.
-
-"They are southern whales," said he; "there goes the fortune
-of a whole fleet of whalers."
-
-"Well, sir," asked the Canadian, "can I not chase them,
-if only to remind me of my old trade of harpooner?"
-
-"And to what purpose?" replied Captain Nemo; "only to destroy!
-We have nothing to do with the whale-oil on board."
-
-"But, sir," continued the Canadian, "in the Red Sea you allowed
-us to follow the dugong."
-
-"Then it was to procure fresh meat for my crew.  Here it would
-be killing for killing's sake.  I know that is a privilege
-reserved for man, but I do not approve of such murderous pastime.
-In destroying the southern whale (like the Greenland whale,
-an inoffensive creature), your traders do a culpable action,
-Master Land.  They have already depopulated the whole of
-Baffin's Bay, and are annihilating a class of useful animals.
-Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone.  They have plenty
-of natural enemies--cachalots, swordfish, and sawfish--
-without you troubling them."
-
-The Captain was right.  The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these
-fishermen will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale
-in the ocean.  Ned Land whistled "Yankee-doodle" between his teeth,
-thrust his hands into his pockets, and turned his back upon us.
-But Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea, and, addressing me, said:
-
-"I was right in saying that whales had natural enemies enough,
-without counting man.  These will have plenty to do before long.
-Do you see, M. Aronnax, about eight miles to leeward,
-those blackish moving points?"
-
-"Yes, Captain," I replied.
-
-"Those are cachalots--terrible animals, which I have met in troops of two
-or three hundred.  As to those, they are cruel, mischievous creatures;
-they would be right in exterminating them."
-
-The Canadian turned quickly at the last words.
-
-"Well, Captain," said he, "it is still time, in the interest
-of the whales."
-
-"It is useless to expose one's self, Professor.  The Nautilus
-will disperse them.  It is armed with a steel spur as good
-as Master Land's harpoon, I imagine."
-
-The Canadian did not put himself out enough to shrug his shoulders.
-Attack cetacea with blows of a spur!  Who had ever heard of such a thing?
-
-"Wait, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.  "We will show you something you
-have never yet seen.  We have no pity for these ferocious creatures.
-They are nothing but mouth and teeth."
-
-Mouth and teeth!  No one could better describe the macrocephalous
-cachalot, which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long.
-Its enormous head occupies one-third of its entire body.
-Better armed than the whale, whose upper jaw is furnished only
-with whalebone, it is supplied with twenty-five large tusks,
-about eight inches long, cylindrical and conical at the top,
-each weighing two pounds.  It is in the upper part of this
-enormous head, in great cavities divided by cartilages, that is
-to be found from six to eight hundred pounds of that precious
-oil called spermaceti.  The cachalot is a disagreeable creature,
-more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol's description.
-It is badly formed, the whole of its left side being
-(if we may say it), a "failure," and being only able to see
-with its right eye.  But the formidable troop was nearing us.
-They had seen the whales and were preparing to attack them.
-One could judge beforehand that the cachalots would be victorious,
-not only because they were better built for attack than
-their inoffensive adversaries, but also because they could
-remain longer under water without coming to the surface.
-There was only just time to go to the help of the whales.
-The Nautilus went under water.  Conseil, Ned Land,
-and I took our places before the window in the saloon,
-and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage to work
-his apparatus as an engine of destruction.  Soon I felt
-the beatings of the screw quicken, and our speed increased.
-The battle between the cachalots and the whales had already begun
-when the Nautilus arrived.  They did not at first show any fear
-at the sight of this new monster joining in the conflict.
-But they soon had to guard against its blows.  What a battle!
-The Nautilus was nothing but a formidable harpoon,
-brandished by the hand of its Captain.  It hurled itself against
-the fleshy mass, passing through from one part to the other,
-leaving behind it two quivering halves of the animal.
-It could not feel the formidable blows from their tails upon
-its sides, nor the shock which it produced itself, much more.
-One cachalot killed, it ran at the next, tacked on the spot
-that it might not miss its prey, going forwards and backwards,
-answering to its helm, plunging when the cetacean dived into
-the deep waters, coming up with it when it returned to the surface,
-striking it front or sideways, cutting or tearing in all
-directions and at any pace, piercing it with its terrible spur.
-What carnage!  What a noise on the surface of the waves!
-What sharp hissing, and what snorting peculiar to
-these enraged animals!  In the midst of these waters,
-generally so peaceful, their tails made perfect billows.
-For one hour this wholesale massacre continued, from which the
-cachalots could not escape.  Several times ten or twelve united
-tried to crush the Nautilus by their weight.  From the window
-we could see their enormous mouths, studded with tusks,
-and their formidable eyes.  Ned Land could not contain himself;
-he threatened and swore at them.  We could feel them clinging
-to our vessel like dogs worrying a wild boar in a copse.
-But the Nautilus, working its screw, carried them here and there,
-or to the upper levels of the ocean, without caring for their
-enormous weight, nor the powerful strain on the vessel.
-At length the mass of cachalots broke up, the waves
-became quiet, and I felt that we were rising to the surface.
-The panel opened, and we hurried on to the platform.
-The sea was covered with mutilated bodies.  A formidable explosion
-could not have divided and torn this fleshy mass with more violence.
-We were floating amid gigantic bodies, bluish on the back
-and white underneath, covered with enormous protuberances.
-Some terrified cachalots were flying towards the horizon.
-The waves were dyed red for several miles, and the Nautilus
-floated in a sea of blood:  Captain Nemo joined
-us.
-
-"Well, Master Land?" said he.
-
-"Well, sir," replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had somewhat calmed;
-"it is a terrible spectacle, certainly.  But I am not a butcher.
-I am a hunter, and I call this a butchery."
-
-"It is a massacre of mischievous creatures," replied the Captain;
-"and the Nautilus is not a butcher's knife."
-
-"I like my harpoon better," said the Canadian.
-
-"Every one to his own," answered the Captain, looking fixedly
-at Ned Land.
-
-I feared he would commit some act of violence, which would end
-in sad consequences.  But his anger was turned by the sight
-of a whale which the Nautilus had just come up with.
-The creature had not quite escaped from the cachalot's teeth.
-I recognised the southern whale by its flat head,
-which is entirely black.  Anatomically, it is distinguished
-from the white whale and the North Cape whale by the seven
-cervical vertebrae, and it has two more ribs than its congeners.
-The unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side,
-riddled with holes from the bites, and quite dead.
-From its mutilated fin still hung a young whale which it could
-not save from the massacre.  Its open mouth let the water flow
-in and out, murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore.
-Captain Nemo steered close to the corpse of the creature.
-Two of his men mounted its side, and I saw, not without surprise,
-that they were drawing from its breasts all the milk which
-they contained, that is to say, about two or three tons.
-The Captain offered me a cup of the milk, which was still warm.
-I could not help showing my repugnance to the drink;
-but he assured me that it was excellent, and not to be distinguished
-from cow's milk.  I tasted it, and was of his opinion.
-It was a useful reserve to us, for in the shape of salt butter
-or cheese it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food.
-From that day I noticed with uneasiness that Ned Land's ill-will
-towards Captain Nemo increased, and I resolved to watch the
-Canadian's gestures closely.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE ICEBERG
-
-The Nautilus was steadily pursuing its southerly course,
-following the fiftieth meridian with considerable speed.
-Did he wish to reach the pole?  I did not think so,
-for every attempt to reach that point had hitherto failed.
-Again, the season was far advanced, for in the Antarctic regions
-the 13th of March corresponds with the 13th of September
-of northern regions, which begin at the equinoctial season.
-On the 14th of March I saw floating ice in latitude 55@,
-merely pale bits of debris from twenty to twenty-five
-feet long, forming banks over which the sea curled.
-The Nautilus remained on the surface of the ocean.
-Ned Land, who had fished in the Arctic Seas, was familiar with
-its icebergs; but Conseil and I admired them for the first time.
-In the atmosphere towards the southern horizon stretched
-a white dazzling band.  English whalers have given it
-the name of "ice blink."  However thick the clouds may be,
-it is always visible, and announces the presence of an ice
-pack or bank.  Accordingly, larger blocks soon appeared,
-whose brilliancy changed with the caprices of the fog.
-Some of these masses showed green veins, as if long undulating
-lines had been traced with sulphate of copper; others resembled
-enormous amethysts with the light shining through them.
-Some reflected the light of day upon a thousand crystal facets.
-Others shaded with vivid calcareous reflections resembled a perfect
-town of marble.  The more we neared the south the more these floating
-islands increased both in number and importance.
-
-At 60@ lat.  every pass had disappeared.  But, seeking carefully,
-Captain Nemo soon found a narrow opening, through which he boldly slipped,
-knowing, however, that it would close behind him.  Thus, guided by this
-clever hand, the Nautilus passed through all the ice with a precision
-which quite charmed Conseil; icebergs or mountains, ice-fields or
-smooth plains, seeming to have no limits, drift-ice or floating ice-packs,
-plains broken up, called palchs when they are circular, and streams
-when they are made up of long strips.  The temperature was very low;
-the thermometer exposed to the air marked 2@ or 3@ below zero, but we
-were warmly clad with fur, at the expense of the sea-bear and seal.
-The interior of the Nautilus, warmed regularly by its electric apparatus,
-defied the most intense cold.  Besides, it would only have been necessary
-to go some yards beneath the waves to find a more bearable temperature.
-Two months earlier we should have had perpetual daylight in these latitudes;
-but already we had had three or four hours of night, and by and by there
-would be six months of darkness in these circumpolar regions.  On the 15th
-of March we were in the latitude of New Shetland and South Orkney.
-The Captain told me that formerly numerous tribes of seals inhabited them;
-but that English and American whalers, in their rage for destruction,
-massacred both old and young; thus, where there was once life and animation,
-they had left silence and death.
-
-About eight o'clock on the morning of the 16th of March the Nautilus,
-following the fifty-fifth meridian, cut the Antarctic polar circle.
-Ice surrounded us on all sides, and closed the horizon.
-But Captain Nemo went from one opening to another, still going higher.
-I cannot express my astonishment at the beauties of these new regions.
-The ice took most surprising forms.  Here the grouping formed an
-oriental town, with innumerable mosques and minarets; there a fallen
-city thrown to the earth, as it were, by some convulsion of nature.
-The whole aspect was constantly changed by the oblique rays
-of the sun, or lost in the greyish fog amidst hurricanes of snow.
-Detonations and falls were heard on all sides, great overthrows of icebergs,
-which altered the whole landscape like a diorama.  Often seeing no exit,
-I thought we were definitely prisoners; but, instinct guiding him
-at the slightest indication, Captain Nemo would discover a new pass.
-He was never mistaken when he saw the thin threads of bluish water
-trickling along the ice-fields; and I had no doubt that he had
-already ventured into the midst of these Antarctic seas before.
-On the 16th of March, however, the ice-fields absolutely blocked our road.
-It was not the iceberg itself, as yet, but vast fields cemented
-by the cold.  But this obstacle could not stop Captain Nemo:
-he hurled himself against it with frightful violence.  The Nautilus entered
-the brittle mass like a wedge, and split it with frightful crackings.
-It was the battering ram of the ancients hurled by infinite strength.
-The ice, thrown high in the air, fell like hail around us.
-By its own power of impulsion our apparatus made a canal for itself;
-some times carried away by its own impetus, it lodged on the ice-field,
-crushing it with its weight, and sometimes buried beneath it,
-dividing it by a simple pitching movement, producing large rents in it.
-Violent gales assailed us at this time, accompanied by thick fogs,
-through which, from one end of the platform to the other, we could
-see nothing.  The wind blew sharply from all parts of the compass,
-and the snow lay in such hard heaps that we had to break it with
-blows of a pickaxe.  The temperature was always at 5@ below zero;
-every outward part of the Nautilus was covered with ice.
-A rigged vessel would have been entangled in the blocked up gorges.
-A vessel without sails, with electricity for its motive power,
-and wanting no coal, could alone brave such high latitudes.  At length,
-on the 18th of March, after many useless assaults, the Nautilus was
-positively blocked.  It was no longer either streams, packs, or ice-fields,
-but an interminable and immovable barrier, formed by mountains soldered
-together.
-
-"An iceberg!" said the Canadian to me.
-
-I knew that to Ned Land, as well as to all other navigators who had
-preceded us, this was an inevitable obstacle.  The sun appearing for an
-instant at noon, Captain Nemo took an observation as near as possible,
-which gave our situation at 51@ 30' long.  and 67@ 39' of S. lat.
-We had advanced one degree more in this Antarctic region.
-Of the liquid surface of the sea there was no longer a glimpse.
-Under the spur of the Nautilus lay stretched a vast plain,
-entangled with confused blocks.  Here and there sharp points and slender
-needles rising to a height of 200 feet; further on a steep shore,
-hewn as it were with an axe and clothed with greyish tints;
-huge mirrors, reflecting a few rays of sunshine, half drowned in the fog.
-And over this desolate face of nature a stern silence reigned,
-scarcely broken by the flapping of the wings of petrels and puffins.
-Everything was frozen--even the noise.  The Nautilus was then
-obliged to stop in its adventurous course amid these fields of ice.
-In spite of our efforts, in spite of the powerful means
-employed to break up the ice, the Nautilus remained immovable.
-Generally, when we can proceed no further, we have return still
-open to us; but here return was as impossible as advance,
-for every pass had closed behind us; and for the few moments
-when we were stationary, we were likely to be entirely blocked,
-which did indeed happen about two o'clock in the afternoon,
-the fresh ice forming around its sides with astonishing rapidity.
-I was obliged to admit that Captain Nemo was more than imprudent.
-I was on the platform at that moment.  The Captain had been observing
-our situation for some time past, when he said to me:
-
-"Well, sir, what do you think of this?"
-
-"I think that we are caught, Captain."
-
-"So, M. Aronnax, you really think that the Nautilus cannot disengage itself?"
-
-"With difficulty, Captain; for the season is already too far
-advanced for you to reckon on the breaking of the ice."
-
-"Ah! sir," said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, "you will always
-be the same.  You see nothing but difficulties and obstacles.
-I affirm that not only can the Nautilus disengage itself,
-but also that it can go further still."
-
-"Further to the South?"  I asked, looking at the Captain.
-
-"Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole."
-
-"To the pole!"  I exclaimed, unable to repress a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain, coldly, "to the Antarctic pole--
-to that unknown point from whence springs every meridian of the globe.
-You know whether I can do as I please with the Nautilus!"
-
-Yes, I knew that.  I knew that this man was bold, even to rashness.
-But to conquer those obstacles which bristled round the South Pole,
-rendering it more inaccessible than the North, which had not yet
-been reached by the boldest navigators--was it not a mad enterprise,
-one which only a maniac would have conceived?  It then came into
-my head to ask Captain Nemo if he had ever discovered that pole
-which had never yet been trodden by a human creature?
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "but we will discover it together.
-Where others have failed, I will not fail.  I have never yet led
-my Nautilus so far into southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall
-go further yet."
-
-"I can well believe you, Captain," said I, in a slightly ironical tone.
-"I believe you!  Let us go ahead!  There are no obstacles for us!
-Let us smash this iceberg!  Let us blow it up; and, if it resists,
-let us give the Nautilus wings to fly over it!"
-
-"Over it, sir!" said Captain Nemo, quietly; "no, not over it,
-but under it!"
-
-"Under it!"  I exclaimed, a sudden idea of the Captain's projects flashing
-upon my mind.  I understood; the wonderful qualities of the Nautilus were
-going to serve us in this superhuman enterprise.
-
-"I see we are beginning to understand one another, sir," said the Captain,
-half smiling.  "You begin to see the possibility--I should say the success--
-of this attempt.  That which is impossible for an ordinary vessel is easy
-to the Nautilus.  If a continent lies before the pole, it must stop before
-the continent; but if, on the contrary, the pole is washed by open sea,
-it will go even to the pole."
-
-"Certainly," said I, carried away by the Captain's reasoning;
-"if the surface of the sea is solidified by the ice,
-the lower depths are free by the Providential law which has
-placed the maximum of density of the waters of the ocean one
-degree higher than freezing-point; and, if I am not mistaken,
-the portion of this iceberg which is above the water is as one
-to four to that which is below."
-
-"Very nearly, sir; for one foot of iceberg above the sea there
-are three below it.  If these ice mountains are not more than 300
-feet above the surface, they are not more than 900 beneath.
-And what are 900 feet to the Nautilus?"
-
-"Nothing, sir."
-
-"It could even seek at greater depths that uniform temperature
-of sea-water, and there brave with impunity the thirty or forty
-degrees of surface cold."
-
-"Just so, sir--just so," I replied, getting animated.
-
-"The only difficulty," continued Captain Nemo, "is that of remaining
-several days without renewing our provision of air."
-
-"Is that all?  The Nautilus has vast reservoirs; we can fill them,
-and they will supply us with all the oxygen we want."
-
-"Well thought of, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain, smiling.
-"But, not wishing you to accuse me of rashness, I will first give
-you all my objections."
-
-"Have you any more to make?"
-
-"Only one.  It is possible, if the sea exists at the South Pole,
-that it may be covered; and, consequently, we shall be unable
-to come to the surface."
-
-"Good, sir! but do you forget that the Nautilus is armed with a powerful spur,
-and could we not send it diagonally against these fields of ice, which would
-open at the shocks."
-
-"Ah! sir, you are full of ideas to-day."
-
-"Besides, Captain," I added, enthusiastically, "why should we
-not find the sea open at the South Pole as well as at the North?
-The frozen poles of the earth do not coincide, either in the southern
-or in the northern regions; and, until it is proved to the contrary,
-we may suppose either a continent or an ocean free from ice at these two
-points of the globe."
-
-"I think so too, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo.
-"I only wish you to observe that, after having made so many
-objections to my project, you are now crushing me with arguments
-in its favour!"
-
-The preparations for this audacious attempt now began.
-The powerful pumps of the Nautilus were working air into the
-reservoirs and storing it at high pressure.  About four o'clock,
-Captain Nemo announced the closing of the panels on the platform.
-I threw one last look at the massive iceberg which we were going
-to cross.  The weather was clear, the atmosphere pure enough,
-the cold very great, being 12@ below zero; but, the wind
-having gone down, this temperature was not so unbearable.
-About ten men mounted the sides of the Nautilus, armed with
-pickaxes to break the ice around the vessel, which was soon free.
-The operation was quickly performed, for the fresh ice was still
-very thin.  We all went below.  The usual reservoirs were filled
-with the newly-liberated water, and the Nautilus soon descended.
-I had taken my place with Conseil in the saloon; through the open
-window we could see the lower beds of the Southern Ocean.
-The thermometer went up, the needle of the compass deviated
-on the dial.  At about 900 feet, as Captain Nemo had foreseen,
-we were floating beneath the undulating bottom of the iceberg.
-But the Nautilus went lower still--it went to the depth of four
-hundred fathoms.  The temperature of the water at the surface
-showed twelve degrees, it was now only ten; we had gained two.
-I need not say the temperature of the Nautilus was raised by its heating
-apparatus to a much higher degree; every manoeuvre was accomplished
-with wonderful precision.
-
-"We shall pass it, if you please, sir," said Conseil.
-
-"I believe we shall," I said, in a tone of firm conviction.
-
-In this open sea, the Nautilus had taken its course direct
-to the pole, without leaving the fifty-second meridian.
-From 67@ 30' to 90@, twenty-two degrees and a half of latitude
-remained to travel; that is, about five hundred leagues.
-The Nautilus kept up a mean speed of twenty-six miles an hour--
-the speed of an express train.  If that was kept up, in forty hours we
-should reach the pole.
-
-For a part of the night the novelty of the situation kept us
-at the window.  The sea was lit with the electric lantern; but it
-was deserted; fishes did not sojourn in these imprisoned waters;
-they only found there a passage to take them from the
-Antarctic Ocean to the open polar sea.  Our pace was rapid;
-we could feel it by the quivering of the long steel body.
-About two in the morning I took some hours' repose, and Conseil
-did the same.  In crossing the waist I did not meet Captain Nemo:
-I supposed him to be in the pilot's cage.  The next morning,
-the 19th of March, I took my post once more in the saloon.
-The electric log told me that the speed of the Nautilus
-had been slackened.  It was then going towards the surface;
-but prudently emptying its reservoirs very slowly.
-My heart beat fast.  Were we going to emerge and regain the open
-polar atmosphere?  No!  A shock told me that the Nautilus
-had struck the bottom of the iceberg, still very thick,
-judging from the deadened sound.  We had in deed "struck," to use
-a sea expression, but in an inverse sense, and at a thousand
-feet deep.  This would give three thousand feet of ice above us;
-one thousand being above the water-mark. The iceberg was then
-higher than at its borders--not a very reassuring fact.
-Several times that day the Nautilus tried again, and every
-time it struck the wall which lay like a ceiling above it.
-Sometimes it met with but 900 yards, only 200 of which
-rose above the surface.  It was twice the height it was
-when the Nautilus had gone under the waves.  I carefully
-noted the different depths, and thus obtained a submarine
-profile of the chain as it was developed under the water.
-That night no change had taken place in our situation.
-Still ice between four and five hundred yards in depth!
-It was evidently diminishing, but, still, what a thickness
-between us and the surface of the ocean!  It was then eight.
-According to the daily custom on board the Nautilus,
-its air should have been renewed four hours ago;
-but I did not suffer much, although Captain Nemo had not yet
-made any demand upon his reserve of oxygen.  My sleep was
-painful that night; hope and fear besieged me by turns:
-I rose several times.  The groping of the Nautilus continued.
-About three in the morning, I noticed that the lower surface
-of the iceberg was only about fifty feet deep.  One hundred
-and fifty feet now separated us from the surface of the waters.
-The iceberg was by degrees becoming an ice-field, the mountain
-a plain.  My eyes never left the manometer.  We were still rising
-diagonally to the surface, which sparkled under the electric rays.
-The iceberg was stretching both above and beneath into
-lengthening slopes; mile after mile it was getting thinner.
-At length, at six in the morning of that memorable day,
-the 19th of March, the door of the saloon opened, and Captain Nemo
-appeared.
-
-"The sea is open!!" was all he said.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-THE SOUTH POLE
-
-I rushed on to the platform.  Yes! the open sea, with but a few
-scattered pieces of ice and moving icebergs--a long stretch of sea;
-a world of birds in the air, and myriads of fishes under those waters,
-which varied from intense blue to olive green, according to the bottom.
-The thermometer marked 3@ C. above zero.  It was comparatively spring,
-shut up as we were behind this iceberg, whose lengthened mass was dimly
-seen on our northern horizon.
-
-"Are we at the pole?"  I asked the Captain, with a beating heart.
-
-"I do not know," he replied.  "At noon I will take our bearings."
-
-"But will the sun show himself through this fog?" said I,
-looking at the leaden sky.
-
-"However little it shows, it will be enough," replied the Captain.
-
-About ten miles south a solitary island rose to a height
-of one hundred and four yards.  We made for it, but carefully,
-for the sea might be strewn with banks.  One hour afterwards we
-had reached it, two hours later we had made the round of it.
-It measured four or five miles in circumference.
-A narrow canal separated it from a considerable stretch of land,
-perhaps a continent, for we could not see its limits.
-The existence of this land seemed to give some colour to Maury's theory.
-The ingenious American has remarked that, between the South Pole
-and the sixtieth parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice
-of enormous size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic.
-From this fact he has drawn the conclusion that the Antarctic
-Circle encloses considerable continents, as icebergs cannot form
-in open sea, but only on the coasts.  According to these calculations,
-the mass of ice surrounding the southern pole forms a vast cap,
-the circumference of which must be, at least, 2,500 miles.
-But the Nautilus, for fear of running aground, had stopped
-about three cable-lengths from a strand over which reared
-a superb heap of rocks.  The boat was launched; the Captain,
-two of his men, bearing instruments, Conseil, and myself were in it.
-It was ten in the morning.  I had not seen Ned Land.
-Doubtless the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of
-the South Pole.  A few strokes of the oar brought us to the sand,
-where we ran ashore.  Conseil was going to jump on to the land,
-when I held him back.
-
-"Sir," said I to Captain Nemo, "to you belongs the honour of first setting
-foot on this land."
-
-"Yes, sir," said the Captain, "and if I do not hesitate
-to tread this South Pole, it is because, up to this time,
-no human being has left a trace there."
-
-Saying this, he jumped lightly on to the sand.  His heart beat
-with emotion.  He climbed a rock, sloping to a little promontory,
-and there, with his arms crossed, mute and motionless, and with an
-eager look, he seemed to take possession of these southern regions.
-After five minutes passed in this ecstasy, he turned to us.
-
-"When you like, sir."
-
-I landed, followed by Conseil, leaving the two men in the boat.
-For a long way the soil was composed of a reddish sandy stone,
-something like crushed brick, scoriae, streams of lava,
-and pumice-stones. One could not mistake its volcanic origin.
-In some parts, slight curls of smoke emitted a sulphurous smell,
-proving that the internal fires had lost nothing of their
-expansive powers, though, having climbed a high acclivity,
-I could see no volcano for a radius of several miles.
-We know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found
-two craters, the Erebus and Terror, in full activity,
-on the 167th meridian, latitude 77@ 32'. The vegetation
-of this desolate continent seemed to me much restricted.
-Some lichens lay upon the black rocks; some microscopic plants,
-rudimentary diatomas, a kind of cells placed between two quartz shells;
-long purple and scarlet weed, supported on little swimming bladders,
-which the breaking of the waves brought to the shore.
-These constituted the meagre flora of this region.
-The shore was strewn with molluscs, little mussels, and limpets.
-I also saw myriads of northern clios, one-and-a-quarter inches long,
-of which a whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful;
-and some perfect sea-butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts
-of the shore.
-
-There appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs,
-of the kind which, according to James Ross, live in
-the Antarctic seas to the depth of more than 1,000 yards.
-Then there were little kingfishers and starfish studding the soil.
-But where life abounded most was in the air.  There thousands
-of birds fluttered and flew of all kinds, deafening us with
-their cries; others crowded the rock, looking at us as we passed
-by without fear, and pressing familiarly close by our feet.
-There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward
-as they are on the ground; they were uttering harsh cries,
-a large assembly, sober in gesture, but extravagant in clamour.
-Albatrosses passed in the air, the expanse of their wings being
-at least four yards and a half, and justly called the vultures
-of the ocean; some gigantic petrels, and some damiers, a kind
-of small duck, the underpart of whose body is black and white;
-then there were a whole series of petrels, some whitish, with
-brown-bordered wings, others blue, peculiar to the Antarctic seas,
-and so oily, as I told Conseil, that the inhabitants of the Ferroe
-Islands had nothing to do before lighting them but to put
-a wick in.
-
-"A little more," said Conseil, "and they would be perfect lamps!
-After that, we cannot expect Nature to have previously furnished
-them with wicks!"
-
-About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with ruffs'
-nests, a sort of laying-ground, out of which many birds were issuing.
-Captain Nemo had some hundreds hunted.  They uttered a cry like the braying
-of an ass, were about the size of a goose, slate-colour on the body,
-white beneath, with a yellow line round their throats; they allowed
-themselves to be killed with a stone, never trying to escape.
-But the fog did not lift, and at eleven the sun had not yet shown itself.
-Its absence made me uneasy.  Without it no observations were possible.
-How, then, could we decide whether we had reached the pole?  When I rejoined
-Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of rock, silently watching
-the sky.  He seemed impatient and vexed.  But what was to be done?
-This rash and powerful man could not command the sun as he did the sea.
-Noon arrived without the orb of day showing itself for an instant.
-We could not even tell its position behind the curtain of fog; and soon
-the fog turned to snow.
-
-"Till to-morrow," said the Captain, quietly, and we returned
-to the Nautilus amid these atmospheric disturbances.
-
-The tempest of snow continued till the next day.
-It was impossible to remain on the platform.  From the saloon,
-where I was taking notes of incidents happening during this
-excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the cries of petrels
-and albatrosses sporting in the midst of this violent storm.
-The Nautilus did not remain motionless, but skirted the coast,
-advancing ten miles more to the south in the half-light
-left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon.
-The next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased.
-The cold was a little greater, the thermometer showing 2@
-below zero.  The fog was rising, and I hoped that that day
-our observations might be taken.  Captain Nemo not having
-yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and myself to land.
-The soil was still of the same volcanic nature;
-everywhere were traces of lava, scoriae, and basalt;
-but the crater which had vomited them I could not see.
-Here, as lower down, this continent was alive with myriads
-of birds.  But their rule was now divided with large troops
-of sea-mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes.
-There were several kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth,
-some on flakes of ice, many going in and out of the sea.  They did
-not flee at our approach, never having had anything to do with man;
-and I reckoned that there were provisions there for hundreds
-of vessels.
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "will you tell me the names of these creatures?"
-
-"They are seals and morses."
-
-It was now eight in the morning.  Four hours remained to us before
-the sun could be observed with advantage.  I directed our steps
-towards a vast bay cut in the steep granite shore.  There, I can aver
-that earth and ice were lost to sight by the numbers of sea-mammals
-covering them, and I involuntarily sought for old Proteus,
-the mythological shepherd who watched these immense flocks of Neptune.
-There were more seals than anything else, forming distinct groups,
-male and female, the father watching over his family, the mother
-suckling her little ones, some already strong enough to go a few steps.
-When they wished to change their place, they took little jumps,
-made by the contraction of their bodies, and helped awkwardly enough
-by their imperfect fin, which, as with the lamantin, their cousins,
-forms a perfect forearm.  I should say that, in the water,
-which is their element--the spine of these creatures is flexible;
-with smooth and close skin and webbed feet--they swim admirably.
-In resting on the earth they take the most graceful attitudes.
-Thus the ancients, observing their soft and expressive looks,
-which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look a woman can give,
-their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming positions, and the poetry
-of their manners, metamorphosed them, the male into a triton and
-the female into a mermaid.  I made Conseil notice the considerable
-development of the lobes of the brain in these interesting cetaceans.
-No mammal, except man, has such a quantity of brain matter;
-they are also capable of receiving a certain amount of education,
-are easily domesticated, and I think, with other naturalists,
-that if properly taught they would be of great service as fishing-dogs.
-The greater part of them slept on the rocks or on the sand.
-Amongst these seals, properly so called, which have no external ears
-(in which they differ from the otter, whose ears are prominent),
-I noticed several varieties of seals about three yards long,
-with a white coat, bulldog heads, armed with teeth in both jaws,
-four incisors at the top and four at the bottom, and two large
-canine teeth in the shape of a fleur-de-lis. Amongst them glided
-sea-elephants, a kind of seal, with short, flexible trunks.
-The giants of this species measured twenty feet round and ten yards
-and a half in length; but they did not move as we approached.
-
-"These creatures are not dangerous?" asked Conseil.
-
-"No; not unless you attack them.  When they have to defend
-their young their rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon
-for them to break the fishing-boats to pieces."
-
-"They are quite right," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not say they are not."
-
-Two miles farther on we were stopped by the promontory which shelters
-the bay from the southerly winds.  Beyond it we heard loud bellowings
-such as a troop of ruminants would produce.
-
-"Good!" said Conseil; "a concert of bulls!"
-
-"No; a concert of morses."
-
-"They are fighting!"
-
-"They are either fighting or playing."
-
-We now began to climb the blackish rocks, amid unforeseen stumbles,
-and over stones which the ice made slippery.  More than once I rolled
-over at the expense of my loins.  Conseil, more prudent or more steady,
-did not stumble, and helped me up, saying:
-
-"If, sir, you would have the kindness to take wider steps,
-you would preserve your equilibrium better."
-
-Arrived at the upper ridge of the promontory, I saw a vast white
-plain covered with morses.  They were playing amongst themselves,
-and what we heard were bellowings of pleasure, not of anger.
-
-As I passed these curious animals I could examine them leisurely,
-for they did not move.  Their skins were thick and rugged,
-of a yellowish tint, approaching to red; their hair was short
-and scant.  Some of them were four yards and a quarter long.
-Quieter and less timid than their cousins of the north, they did not,
-like them, place sentinels round the outskirts of their encampment.
-After examining this city of morses, I began to think of returning.
-It was eleven o'clock, and, if Captain Nemo found the conditions
-favourable for observations, I wished to be present at the operation.
-We followed a narrow pathway running along the summit of the steep shore.
-At half-past eleven we had reached the place where we landed.
-The boat had run aground, bringing the Captain.  I saw him standing on a block
-of basalt, his instruments near him, his eyes fixed on the northern horizon,
-near which the sun was then describing a lengthened curve.  I took my place
-beside him, and waited without speaking.  Noon arrived, and, as before,
-the sun did not appear.  It was a fatality.  Observations were still wanting.
-If not accomplished to-morrow, we must give up all idea of taking any.
-We were indeed exactly at the 20th of March.  To-morrow, the 21st,
-would be the equinox; the sun would disappear behind the horizon for
-six months, and with its disappearance the long polar night would begin.
-Since the September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon,
-rising by lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December.  At this period,
-the summer solstice of the northern regions, it had begun to descend;
-and to-morrow was to shed its last rays upon them.  I communicated my fears
-and observations to Captain Nemo.
-
-"You are right, M. Aronnax," said he; "if to-morrow I cannot take
-the altitude of the sun, I shall not be able to do it for six months.
-But precisely because chance has led me into these seas on the 21st
-of March, my bearings will be easy to take, if at twelve we can
-see the sun."
-
-"Why, Captain?"
-
-"Because then the orb of day described such lengthened curves that it
-is difficult to measure exactly its height above the horizon,
-and grave errors may be made with instruments."
-
-"What will you do then?"
-
-"I shall only use my chronometer," replied Captain Nemo.
-"If to-morrow, the 21st of March, the disc of the sun,
-allowing for refraction, is exactly cut by the northern horizon,
-it will show that I am at the South Pole."
-
-"Just so," said I. "But this statement is not mathematically correct,
-because the equinox does not necessarily begin at noon."
-
-"Very likely, sir; but the error will not be a hundred yards
-and we do not want more.  Till to-morrow, then!"
-
-Captain Nemo returned on board.  Conseil and I remained to survey
-the shore, observing and studying until five o'clock. Then I
-went to bed, not, however, without invoking, like the Indian,
-the favour of the radiant orb.  The next day, the 21st
-of March, at five in the morning, I mounted the platform.
-I found Captain Nemo there.
-
-"The weather is lightening a little," said he.  "I have some hope.
-After breakfast we will go on shore and choose a post for observation."
-
-That point settled, I sought Ned Land.  I wanted to take him with me.
-But the obstinate Canadian refused, and I saw that his taciturnity and his
-bad humour grew day by day.  After all, I was not sorry for his obstinacy
-under the circumstances.  Indeed, there were too many seals on shore,
-and we ought not to lay such temptation in this unreflecting fisherman's way.
-Breakfast over, we went on shore.  The Nautilus had gone some miles
-further up in the night.  It was a whole league from the coast,
-above which reared a sharp peak about five hundred yards high.
-The boat took with me Captain Nemo, two men of the crew, and the instruments,
-which consisted of a chronometer, a telescope, and a barometer.
-While crossing, I saw numerous whales belonging to the three kinds
-peculiar to the southern seas; the whale, or the English "right whale,"
-which has no dorsal fin; the "humpback," with reeved chest and large,
-whitish fins, which, in spite of its name, do not form wings;
-and the fin-back, of a yellowish brown, the liveliest of all the cetacea.
-This powerful creature is heard a long way off when he throws to a great
-height columns of air and vapour, which look like whirlwinds of smoke.
-These different mammals were disporting themselves in troops in the
-quiet waters; and I could see that this basin of the Antarctic Pole serves
-as a place of refuge to the cetacea too closely tracked by the hunters.
-I also noticed large medusae floating between the reeds.
-
-At nine we landed; the sky was brightening, the clouds were flying to
-the south, and the fog seemed to be leaving the cold surface of the waters.
-Captain Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant
-to be his observatory.  It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava
-and the pumice-stones, in an atmosphere often impregnated with a
-sulphurous smell from the smoking cracks.  For a man unaccustomed
-to walk on land, the Captain climbed the steep slopes with an
-agility I never saw equalled and which a hunter would have envied.
-We were two hours getting to the summit of this peak, which was half
-porphyry and half basalt.  From thence we looked upon a vast sea which,
-towards the north, distinctly traced its boundary line upon the sky.
-At our feet lay fields of dazzling whiteness.  Over our heads
-a pale azure, free from fog.  To the north the disc of the sun seemed
-like a ball of fire, already horned by the cutting of the horizon.
-From the bosom of the water rose sheaves of liquid jets by hundreds.
-In the distance lay the Nautilus like a cetacean asleep on the water.
-Behind us, to the south and east, an immense country and a chaotic
-heap of rocks and ice, the limits of which were not visible.
-On arriving at the summit Captain Nemo carefully took the mean height
-of the barometer, for he would have to consider that in taking
-his observations.  At a quarter to twelve the sun, then seen only
-by refraction, looked like a golden disc shedding its last rays upon
-this deserted continent and seas which never man had yet ploughed.
-Captain Nemo, furnished with a lenticular glass which, by means
-of a mirror, corrected the refraction, watched the orb sinking
-below the horizon by degrees, following a lengthened diagonal.
-I held the chronometer.  My heart beat fast.  If the disappearance of
-the half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve o'clock on the chronometer,
-we were at the pole itself.
-
-"Twelve!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"The South Pole!" replied Captain Nemo, in a grave voice,
-handing me the glass, which showed the orb cut in exactly equal
-parts by the horizon.
-
-I looked at the last rays crowning the peak, and the shadows
-mounting by degrees up its slopes.  At that moment Captain Nemo,
-resting with his hand on my shoulder, said:
-
-"I, Captain Nemo, on this 21st day of March, 1868, have reached the South Pole
-on the ninetieth degree; and I take possession of this part of the globe,
-equal to one-sixth of the known continents."
-
-"In whose name, Captain?"
-
-"In my own, sir!"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an "N"
-in gold quartered on its bunting.  Then, turning towards the orb of day,
-whose last rays lapped the horizon of the sea, he exclaimed:
-
-"Adieu, sun!  Disappear, thou radiant orb! rest beneath this open sea,
-and let a night of six months spread its shadows over my new domains!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?
-
-The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning,
-preparations for departure were begun.  The last gleams
-of twilight were melting into night.  The cold was great,
-the constellations shone with wonderful intensity.
-In the zenith glittered that wondrous Southern Cross--
-the polar bear of Antarctic regions.  The thermometer showed 120
-below zero, and when the wind freshened it was most biting.
-Flakes of ice increased on the open water.  The sea seemed
-everywhere alike.  Numerous blackish patches spread on the surface,
-showing the formation of fresh ice.  Evidently the southern basin,
-frozen during the six winter months, was absolutely inaccessible.
-What became of the whales in that time?  Doubtless they
-went beneath the icebergs, seeking more practicable seas.
-As to the seals and morses, accustomed to live in a hard climate,
-they remained on these icy shores.  These creatures have the
-instinct to break holes in the ice-field and to keep them open.
-To these holes they come for breath; when the birds,
-driven away by the cold, have emigrated to the north,
-these sea mammals remain sole masters of the polar continent.
-But the reservoirs were filling with water, and the Nautilus
-was slowly descending.  At 1,000 feet deep it stopped;
-its screw beat the waves, and it advanced straight towards
-the north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour.  Towards night
-it was already floating under the immense body of the iceberg.
-At three in the morning I was awakened by a violent shock.
-I sat up in my bed and listened in the darkness,
-when I was thrown into the middle of the room.
-The Nautilus, after having struck, had rebounded violently.
-I groped along the partition, and by the staircase to the saloon,
-which was lit by the luminous ceiling.  The furniture was upset.
-Fortunately the windows were firmly set, and had held fast.
-The pictures on the starboard side, from being no longer vertical,
-were clinging to the paper, whilst those of the port side
-were hanging at least a foot from the wall.  The Nautilus
-was lying on its starboard side perfectly motionless.
-I heard footsteps, and a confusion of voices; but Captain Nemo did
-not appear.  As I was leaving the saloon, Ned Land and Conseil
-entered.
-
-"What is the matter?" said I, at once.
-
-"I came to ask you, sir," replied Conseil.
-
-"Confound it!" exclaimed the Canadian, "I know well enough!
-The Nautilus has struck; and, judging by the way she lies,
-I do not think she will right herself as she did the first time
-in Torres Straits."
-
-"But," I asked, "has she at least come to the surface of the sea?"
-
-"We do not know," said Conseil.
-
-"It is easy to decide," I answered.  I consulted the manometer.
-To my great surprise, it showed a depth of more than 180 fathoms.
-"What does that mean?"  I exclaimed.
-
-"We must ask Captain Nemo," said Conseil.
-
-"But where shall we find him?" said Ned Land.
-
-"Follow me," said I, to my companions.
-
-We left the saloon.  There was no one in the library.
-At the centre staircase, by the berths of the ship's crew, there was
-no one.  I thought that Captain Nemo must be in the pilot's cage.
-It was best to wait.  We all returned to the saloon.  For twenty
-minutes we remained thus, trying to hear the slightest noise which
-might be made on board the Nautilus, when Captain Nemo entered.
-He seemed not to see us; his face, generally so impassive,
-showed signs of uneasiness.  He watched the compass silently,
-then the manometer; and, going to the planisphere,
-placed his finger on a spot representing the southern seas.
-I would not interrupt him; but, some minutes later, when he
-turned towards me, I said, using one of his own expressions
-in the Torres Straits:
-
-"An incident, Captain?"
-
-"No, sir; an accident this time."
-
-"Serious?"
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Is the danger immediate?"
-
-"No."
-
-"The Nautilus has stranded?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And this has happened--how?"
-
-"From a caprice of nature, not from the ignorance of man.
-Not a mistake has been made in the working.  But we cannot prevent
-equilibrium from producing its effects.  We may brave human laws,
-but we cannot resist natural ones."
-
-Captain Nemo had chosen a strange moment for uttering this
-philosophical reflection.  On the whole, his answer helped me little.
-
-"May I ask, sir, the cause of this accident?"
-
-"An enormous block of ice, a whole mountain, has turned over," he replied.
-"When icebergs are undermined at their base by warmer water or reiterated
-shocks their centre of gravity rises, and the whole thing turns over.
-This is what has happened; one of these blocks, as it fell,
-struck the Nautilus, then, gliding under its hull, raised it with
-irresistible force, bringing it into beds which are not so thick,
-where it is lying on its side."
-
-"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs,
-that it might regain its equilibrium?"
-
-"That, sir, is being done at this moment.  You can hear the pump working.
-Look at the needle of the manometer; it shows that the Nautilus is rising,
-but the block of ice is floating with it; and, until some obstacle stops its
-ascending motion, our position cannot be altered."
-
-Indeed, the Nautilus still held the same position to starboard;
-doubtless it would right itself when the block stopped.
-But at this moment who knows if we may not be frightfully
-crushed between the two glassy surfaces?  I reflected on all
-the consequences of our position.  Captain Nemo never took
-his eyes off the manometer.  Since the fall of the iceberg,
-the Nautilus had risen about a hundred and fifty feet,
-but it still made the same angle with the perpendicular.
-Suddenly a slight movement was felt in the hold.
-Evidently it was righting a little.  Things hanging in
-the saloon were sensibly returning to their normal position.
-The partitions were nearing the upright.  No one spoke.
-With beating hearts we watched and felt the straightening.
-The boards became horizontal under our feet.
-Ten minutes passed.
-
-"At last we have righted!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes," said Captain Nemo, going to the door of the saloon.
-
-"But are we floating?"  I asked.
-
-"Certainly," he replied; "since the reservoirs are not empty; and, when empty,
-the Nautilus must rise to the surface of the sea."
-
-We were in open sea; but at a distance of about ten yards,
-on either side of the Nautilus, rose a dazzling wall of ice.
-Above and beneath the same wall.  Above, because the lower surface
-of the iceberg stretched over us like an immense ceiling.
-Beneath, because the overturned block, having slid by degrees, had found
-a resting-place on the lateral walls, which kept it in that position.
-The Nautilus was really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice
-more than twenty yards in breadth, filled with quiet water.
-It was easy to get out of it by going either forward or backward,
-and then make a free passage under the iceberg, some hundreds
-of yards deeper.  The luminous ceiling had been extinguished,
-but the saloon was still resplendent with intense light.
-It was the powerful reflection from the glass partition sent violently
-back to the sheets of the lantern.  I cannot describe the effect
-of the voltaic rays upon the great blocks so capriciously cut;
-upon every angle, every ridge, every facet was thrown a different light,
-according to the nature of the veins running through the ice;
-a dazzling mine of gems, particularly of sapphires, their blue rays
-crossing with the green of the emerald.  Here and there were opal
-shades of wonderful softness, running through bright spots like
-diamonds of fire, the brilliancy of which the eye could not bear.
-The power of the lantern seemed increased a hundredfold, like a lamp
-through the lenticular plates of a first-class lighthouse.
-
-"How beautiful! how beautiful!" cried Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I said, "it is a wonderful sight.  Is it not, Ned?"
-
-"Yes, confound it!  Yes," answered Ned Land, "it is superb!
-I am mad at being obliged to admit it.  No one has ever seen anything
-like it; but the sight may cost us dear.  And, if I must say all,
-I think we are seeing here things which God never intended
-man to see."
-
-Ned was right, it was too beautiful.  Suddenly a cry from Conseil
-made me turn.
-
-"What is it?"  I asked.
-
-"Shut your eyes, sir!  Do not look, sir!"  Saying which,
-Conseil clapped his hands over his eyes.
-
-"But what is the matter, my boy?"
-
-"I am dazzled, blinded."
-
-My eyes turned involuntarily towards the glass, but I could not stand
-the fire which seemed to devour them.  I understood what had happened.
-The Nautilus had put on full speed.  All the quiet lustre of the ice-walls
-was at once changed into flashes of lightning.  The fire from these myriads
-of diamonds was blinding.  It required some time to calm our troubled looks.
-At last the hands were taken down.
-
-"Faith, I should never have believed it," said Conseil.
-
-It was then five in the morning; and at that moment a shock was
-felt at the bows of the Nautilus.  I knew that its spur had struck
-a block of ice.  It must have been a false manoeuvre, for this
-submarine tunnel, obstructed by blocks, was not very easy navigation.
-I thought that Captain Nemo, by changing his course, would either
-turn these obstacles or else follow the windings of the tunnel.
-In any case, the road before us could not be entirely blocked.
-But, contrary to my expectations, the Nautilus took a decided
-retrograde motion.
-
-"We are going backwards?" said Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I replied.  "This end of the tunnel can have no egress."
-
-"And then?"
-
-"Then," said I, "the working is easy.  We must go back again,
-and go out at the southern opening.  That is all."
-
-In speaking thus, I wished to appear more confident than I really was.
-But the retrograde motion of the Nautilus was increasing; and, reversing
-the screw, it carried us at great speed.
-
-"It will be a hindrance," said Ned.
-
-"What does it matter, some hours more or less, provided we get
-out at last?"
-
-"Yes," repeated Ned Land, "provided we do get out at last!"
-
-For a short time I walked from the saloon to the library.
-My companions were silent.  I soon threw myself on an ottoman,
-and took a book, which my eyes overran mechanically.  A quarter
-of an hour after, Conseil, approaching me, said, "Is what you are
-reading very interesting, sir?"
-
-"Very interesting!"  I replied.
-
-"I should think so, sir.  It is your own book you are reading."
-
-"My book?"
-
-And indeed I was holding in my hand the work on the Great Submarine Depths.
-I did not even dream of it.  I closed the book and returned to my walk.
-Ned and Conseil rose to go.
-
-"Stay here, my friends," said I, detaining them.
-"Let us remain together until we are out of this block."
-
-"As you please, sir," Conseil replied.
-
-Some hours passed.  I often looked at the instruments hanging
-from the partition.  The manometer showed that the Nautilus kept
-at a constant depth of more than three hundred yards; the compass
-still pointed to south; the log indicated a speed of twenty
-miles an hour, which, in such a cramped space, was very great.
-But Captain Nemo knew that he could not hasten too much,
-and that minutes were worth ages to us.  At twenty-five minutes
-past eight a second shock took place, this time from behind.
-I turned pale.  My companions were close by my side.
-I seized Conseil's hand.  Our looks expressed our feelings better
-than words.  At this moment the Captain entered the saloon.
-I went up to him.
-
-"Our course is barred southward?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The iceberg has shifted and closed every outlet."
-
-"We are blocked up then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-WANT OF AIR
-
-Thus around the Nautilus, above and below, was an impenetrable wall
-of ice.  We were prisoners to the iceberg.  I watched the Captain.
-His countenance had resumed its habitual imperturbability.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said calmly, "there are two ways of dying in
-the circumstances in which we are placed."  (This puzzling person
-had the air of a mathematical professor lecturing to his pupils.)
-"The first is to be crushed; the second is to die of suffocation.
-I do not speak of the possibility of dying of hunger, for the supply
-of provisions in the Nautilus will certainly last longer than we shall.
-Let us, then, calculate our chances."
-
-"As to suffocation, Captain," I replied, "that is not to be feared,
-because our reservoirs are full."
-
-"Just so; but they will only yield two days' supply of air.
-Now, for thirty-six hours we have been hidden under the water,
-and already the heavy atmosphere of the Nautilus requires renewal.
-In forty-eight hours our reserve will be exhausted."
-
-"Well, Captain, can we be delivered before forty-eight hours?"
-
-"We will attempt it, at least, by piercing the wall that surrounds us."
-
-"On which side?"
-
-"Sound will tell us.  I am going to run the Nautilus aground
-on the lower bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side
-that is least thick."
-
-Captain Nemo went out.  Soon I discovered by a hissing noise
-that the water was entering the reservoirs.  The Nautilus
-sank slowly, and rested on the ice at a depth of 350 yards,
-the depth at which the lower bank was immersed.
-
-"My friends," I said, "our situation is serious, but I rely
-on your courage and energy."
-
-"Sir," replied the Canadian, "I am ready to do anything
-for the general safety."
-
-"Good!  Ned," and I held out my hand to the Canadian.
-
-"I will add," he continued, "that, being as handy with the pickaxe
-as with the harpoon, if I can be useful to the Captain, he can
-command my services."
-
-"He will not refuse your help.  Come, Ned!"
-
-I led him to the room where the crew of the Nautilus
-were putting on their cork-jackets. I told the Captain
-of Ned's proposal, which he accepted.  The Canadian put on
-his sea-costume, and was ready as soon as his companions.
-When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the drawing-room, where
-the panes of glass were open, and, posted near Conseil,
-I examined the ambient beds that supported the Nautilus.
-Some instants after, we saw a dozen of the crew set foot on the bank
-of ice, and among them Ned Land, easily known by his stature.
-Captain Nemo was with them.  Before proceeding to dig the walls,
-he took the soundings, to be sure of working in the right direction.
-Long sounding lines were sunk in the side walls, but after
-fifteen yards they were again stopped by the thick wall.
-It was useless to attack it on the ceiling-like surface,
-since the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in height.
-Captain Nemo then sounded the lower surface.  There ten yards
-of wall separated us from the water, so great was the thickness
-of the ice-field. It was necessary, therefore, to cut from it
-a piece equal in extent to the waterline of the Nautilus.
-There were about 6,000 cubic yards to detach, so as to dig
-a hole by which we could descend to the ice-field. The work
-had begun immediately and carried on with indefatigable energy.
-Instead of digging round the Nautilus which would have involved
-greater difficulty, Captain Nemo had an immense trench made at eight
-yards from the port-quarter. Then the men set to work simultaneously
-with their screws on several points of its circumference.
-Presently the pickaxe attacked this compact matter vigorously,
-and large blocks were detached from the mass.  By a curious
-effect of specific gravity, these blocks, lighter than water,
-fled, so to speak, to the vault of the tunnel, that increased
-in thickness at the top in proportion as it diminished at the base.
-But that mattered little, so long as the lower part grew thinner.
-After two hours' hard work, Ned Land came in exhausted.  He and his
-comrades were replaced by new workers, whom Conseil and I joined.
-The second lieutenant of the Nautilus superintended us.
-The water seemed singularly cold, but I soon got warm
-handling the pickaxe.  My movements were free enough,
-although they were made under a pressure of thirty atmospheres.
-When I re-entered, after working two hours, to take some food
-and rest, I found a perceptible difference between the pure
-fluid with which the Rouquayrol engine supplied me and the
-atmosphere of the Nautilus, already charged with carbonic acid.
-The air had not been renewed for forty-eight hours, and its vivifying
-qualities were considerably enfeebled.  However, after a lapse
-of twelve hours, we had only raised a block of ice one yard thick,
-on the marked surface, which was about 600 cubic yards!
-Reckoning that it took twelve hours to accomplish this much it
-would take five nights and four days to bring this enterprise
-to a satisfactory conclusion.  Five nights and four days!
-And we have only air enough for two days in the reservoirs!
-"Without taking into account," said Ned, "that, even if we get out
-of this infernal prison, we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg,
-shut out from all possible communication with the atmosphere."
-True enough!  Who could then foresee the minimum of time
-necessary for our deliverance?  We might be suffocated before
-the Nautilus could regain the surface of the waves?  Was it
-destined to perish in this ice-tomb, with all those it enclosed?
-The situation was terrible.  But everyone had looked the danger
-in the face, and each was determined to do his duty to the
-last.
-
-As I expected, during the night a new block a yard square
-was carried away, and still further sank the immense hollow.
-But in the morning when, dressed in my cork-jacket, I traversed
-the slushy mass at a temperature of six or seven degrees below zero,
-I remarked that the side walls were gradually closing in.
-The beds of water farthest from the trench, that were not warmed
-by the men's work, showed a tendency to solidification.  In presence
-of this new and imminent danger, what would become of our chances
-of safety, and how hinder the solidification of this liquid medium,
-that would burst the partitions of the Nautilus like glass?
-
-I did not tell my companions of this new danger.
-What was the good of damping the energy they displayed in
-the painful work of escape?  But when I went on board again,
-I told Captain Nemo of this grave complication.
-
-"I know it," he said, in that calm tone which could counteract
-the most terrible apprehensions.  "It is one danger more;
-but I see no way of escaping it; the only chance of safety is to go
-quicker than solidification.  We must be beforehand with it,
-that is all."
-
-On this day for several hours I used my pickaxe vigorously.
-The work kept me up.  Besides, to work was to quit the Nautilus,
-and breathe directly the pure air drawn from the reservoirs,
-and supplied by our apparatus, and to quit the impoverished and
-vitiated atmosphere.  Towards evening the trench was dug one yard deeper.
-When I returned on board, I was nearly suffocated by the carbonic
-acid with which the air was filled--ah! if we had only the chemical
-means to drive away this deleterious gas.  We had plenty of oxygen;
-all this water contained a considerable quantity, and by dissolving
-it with our powerful piles, it would restore the vivifying fluid.
-I had thought well over it; but of what good was that,
-since the carbonic acid produced by our respiration had invaded
-every part of the vessel?  To absorb it, it was necessary to fill
-some jars with caustic potash, and to shake them incessantly.
-Now this substance was wanting on board, and nothing could replace it.
-On that evening, Captain Nemo ought to open the taps of his reservoirs,
-and let some pure air into the interior of the Nautilus; without this
-precaution we could not get rid of the sense of suffocation.  The next day,
-March 26th, I resumed my miner's work in beginning the fifth yard.
-The side walls and the lower surface of the iceberg thickened visibly.
-It was evident that they would meet before the Nautilus was
-able to disengage itself.  Despair seized me for an instant;
-my pickaxe nearly fell from my hands.  What was the good of digging
-if I must be suffocated, crushed by the water that was turning
-into stone?--a punishment that the ferocity of the savages even
-would not have invented!  Just then Captain Nemo passed near me.
-I touched his hand and showed him the walls of our prison.
-The wall to port had advanced to at least four yards from the hull of
-the Nautilus.  The Captain understood me, and signed me to follow him.
-We went on board.  I took off my cork-jacket and accompanied him into the
-drawing-room.
-
-"M. Aronnax, we must attempt some desperate means, or we shall
-be sealed up in this solidified water as in cement."
-
-"Yes; but what is to be done?"
-
-"Ah! if my Nautilus were strong enough to bear this pressure
-without being crushed!"
-
-"Well?"  I asked, not catching the Captain's idea.
-
-"Do you not understand," he replied, "that this congelation of water
-will help us?  Do you not see that by its solidification, it would
-burst through this field of ice that imprisons us, as, when it freezes,
-it bursts the hardest stones?  Do you not perceive that it would be
-an agent of safety instead of destruction?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, perhaps.  But, whatever resistance to crushing
-the Nautilus possesses, it could not support this terrible pressure,
-and would be flattened like an iron plate."
-
-"I know it, sir.  Therefore we must not reckon on the aid of nature,
-but on our own exertions.  We must stop this solidification.
-Not only will the side walls be pressed together; but there
-is not ten feet of water before or behind the Nautilus.
-The congelation gains on us on all sides."
-
-"How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on board?"
-
-The Captain looked in my face.  "After to-morrow they will be empty!"
-
-A cold sweat came over me.  However, ought I to have been astonished
-at the answer?  On March 22, the Nautilus was in the open polar seas.
-We were at 26@. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board.
-And what was left of the respirable air must be kept for the workers.
-Even now, as I write, my recollection is still so vivid that an
-involuntary terror seizes me and my lungs seem to be without air.
-Meanwhile, Captain Nemo reflected silently, and evidently an idea
-had struck him; but he seemed to reject it.  At last, these words
-escaped his lips:
-
-"Boiling water!" he muttered.
-
-"Boiling water?"  I cried.
-
-"Yes, sir.  We are enclosed in a space that is relatively confined.
-Would not jets of boiling water, constantly injected by the pumps,
-raise the temperature in this part and stay the congelation?"
-
-"Let us try it," I said resolutely.
-
-"Let us try it, Professor."
-
-The thermometer then stood at 7@ outside.  Captain Nemo took
-me to the galleys, where the vast distillatory machines
-stood that furnished the drinkable water by evaporation.
-They filled these with water, and all the electric heat from
-the piles was thrown through the worms bathed in the liquid.
-In a few minutes this water reached 100@. It was directed
-towards the pumps, while fresh water replaced it in proportion.
-The heat developed by the troughs was such that cold water,
-drawn up from the sea after only having gone through the machines,
-came boiling into the body of the pump.  The injection was begun,
-and three hours after the thermometer marked 6@ below zero outside.
-One degree was gained.  Two hours later the thermometer only marked
-4@.
-
-"We shall succeed," I said to the Captain, after having anxiously
-watched the result of the operation.
-
-"I think," he answered, "that we shall not be crushed.
-We have no more suffocation to fear."
-
-During the night the temperature of the water rose to 1@ below zero.
-The injections could not carry it to a higher point.  But, as the congelation
-of the sea-water produces at least 2@, I was at least reassured against
-the dangers of solidification.
-
-The next day, March 27th, six yards of ice had been cleared, twelve feet
-only remaining to be cleared away.  There was yet forty-eight hours' work.
-The air could not be renewed in the interior of the Nautilus.
-And this day would make it worse.  An intolerable weight oppressed me.
-Towards three o'clock in the evening this feeling rose to a violent degree.
-Yawns dislocated my jaws.  My lungs panted as they inhaled this burning fluid,
-which became rarefied more and more.  A moral torpor took hold of me.
-I was powerless, almost unconscious.  My brave Conseil, though exhibiting
-the same symptoms and suffering in the same manner, never left me.
-He took my hand and encouraged me, and I heard him murmur, "Oh! if I could
-only not breathe, so as to leave more air for my master!"
-
-Tears came into my eyes on hearing him speak thus.  If our
-situation to all was intolerable in the interior, with what haste
-and gladness would we put on our cork-jackets to work in our turn!
-Pickaxes sounded on the frozen ice-beds. Our arms ached,
-the skin was torn off our hands.  But what were these fatigues,
-what did the wounds matter?  Vital air came to the lungs!
-We breathed! we breathed!
-
-All this time no one prolonged his voluntary task beyond the prescribed time.
-His task accomplished, each one handed in turn to his panting companions
-the apparatus that supplied him with life.  Captain Nemo set the example,
-and submitted first to this severe discipline.  When the time came,
-he gave up his apparatus to another and returned to the vitiated air
-on board, calm, unflinching, unmurmuring.
-
-On that day the ordinary work was accomplished with unusual vigour.
-Only two yards remained to be raised from the surface.
-Two yards only separated us from the open sea.  But the reservoirs
-were nearly emptied of air.  The little that remained ought
-to be kept for the workers; not a particle for the Nautilus.
-When I went back on board, I was half suffocated.  What a night!
-I know not how to describe it.  The next day my breathing
-was oppressed.  Dizziness accompanied the pain in my head and made
-me like a drunken man.  My companions showed the same symptoms.
-Some of the crew had rattling in the throat.
-
-On that day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo,
-finding the pickaxes work too slowly, resolved to crush
-the ice-bed that still separated us from the liquid sheet.
-This man's coolness and energy never forsook him.  He subdued his
-physical pains by moral force.
-
-By his orders the vessel was lightened, that is to say,
-raised from the ice-bed by a change of specific gravity.
-When it floated they towed it so as to bring it above
-the immense trench made on the level of the water-line. Then,
-filling his reservoirs of water, he descended and shut himself up
-in the hole.
-
-Just then all the crew came on board, and the double door of communication
-was shut.  The Nautilus then rested on the bed of ice, which was not one
-yard thick, and which the sounding leads had perforated in a thousand places.
-The taps of the reservoirs were then opened, and a hundred cubic yards
-of water was let in, increasing the weight of the Nautilus to 1,800 tons.
-We waited, we listened, forgetting our sufferings in hope.  Our safety
-depended on this last chance.  Notwithstanding the buzzing in my head,
-I soon heard the humming sound under the hull of the Nautilus.  The ice
-cracked with a singular noise, like tearing paper, and the Nautilus sank.
-
-"We are off!" murmured Conseil in my ear.
-
-I could not answer him.  I seized his hand, and pressed it convulsively.
-All at once, carried away by its frightful overcharge, the Nautilus sank like
-a bullet under the waters, that is to say, it fell as if it was in a vacuum.
-Then all the electric force was put on the pumps, that soon began to let
-the water out of the reservoirs.  After some minutes, our fall was stopped.
-Soon, too, the manometer indicated an ascending movement.  The screw,
-going at full speed, made the iron hull tremble to its very bolts and drew
-us towards the north.  But if this floating under the iceberg is to last
-another day before we reach the open sea, I shall be dead first.
-
-Half stretched upon a divan in the library, I was suffocating.
-My face was purple, my lips blue, my faculties suspended.
-I neither saw nor heard.  All notion of time had gone from my mind.
-My muscles could not contract.  I do not know how many hours
-passed thus, but I was conscious of the agony that was coming over me.
-I felt as if I was going to die.  Suddenly I came to.
-Some breaths of air penetrated my lungs.  Had we risen to the surface
-of the waves?  Were we free of the iceberg?  No!  Ned and Conseil,
-my two brave friends, were sacrificing themselves to save me.
-Some particles of air still remained at the bottom of one apparatus.
-Instead of using it, they had kept it for me, and, while they
-were being suffocated, they gave me life, drop by drop.
-I wanted to push back the thing; they held my hands,
-and for some moments I breathed freely.  I looked at the clock;
-it was eleven in the morning.  It ought to be the 28th of March.
-The Nautilus went at a frightful pace, forty miles an hour.  It literally
-tore through the water.  Where was Captain Nemo?  Had he succumbed?
-Were his companions dead with him?  At the moment the manometer
-indicated that we were not more than twenty feet from the surface.
-A mere plate of ice separated us from the atmosphere.  Could we not
-break it?  Perhaps.  In any case the Nautilus was going to attempt it.
-I felt that it was in an oblique position, lowering the stern,
-and raising the bows.  The introduction of water had been the means
-of disturbing its equilibrium.  Then, impelled by its powerful screw,
-it attacked the ice-field from beneath like a formidable battering-ram.
-It broke it by backing and then rushing forward against the field,
-which gradually gave way; and at last, dashing suddenly against it,
-shot forwards on the ice-field, that crushed beneath its weight.
-The panel was opened--one might say torn off--and the pure air came in in
-abundance to all parts of the Nautilus.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON
-
-How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian
-had carried me there.  But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air.
-My two companions were getting drunk with the fresh particles.
-The other unhappy men had been so long without food, that they
-could not with impunity indulge in the simplest aliments that were
-given them.  We, on the contrary, had no end to restrain ourselves;
-we could draw this air freely into our lungs, and it was the breeze,
-the breeze alone, that filled us with this keen enjoyment.
-
-"Ah!" said Conseil, "how delightful this oxygen is!
-Master need not fear to breathe it.  There is enough for everybody."
-
-Ned Land did not speak, but he opened his jaws wide enough
-to frighten a shark.  Our strength soon returned, and, when I
-looked round me, I saw we were alone on the platform.
-The foreign seamen in the Nautilus were contented with the air
-that circulated in the interior; none of them had come to drink
-in the open air.
-
-The first words I spoke were words of gratitude and
-thankfulness to my two companions.  Ned and Conseil had
-prolonged my life during the last hours of this long agony.
-All my gratitude could not repay such devotion.
-
-"My friends," said I, "we are bound one to the other for ever,
-and I am under infinite obligations to you."
-
-"Which I shall take advantage of," exclaimed the Canadian.
-
-"What do you mean?" said Conseil.
-
-"I mean that I shall take you with me when I leave this infernal Nautilus."
-
-"Well," said Conseil, "after all this, are we going right?"
-
-"Yes," I replied, "for we are going the way of the sun,
-and here the sun is in the north."
-
-"No doubt," said Ned Land; "but it remains to be seen whether
-he will bring the ship into the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean,
-that is, into frequented or deserted seas."
-
-I could not answer that question, and I feared that Captain Nemo
-would rather take us to the vast ocean that touches the coasts
-of Asia and America at the same time.  He would thus complete
-the tour round the submarine world, and return to those waters
-in which the Nautilus could sail freely.  We ought, before long,
-to settle this important point.  The Nautilus went at a rapid pace.
-The polar circle was soon passed, and the course shaped for Cape Horn.
-We were off the American point, March 31st, at seven o'clock
-in the evening.  Then all our past sufferings were forgotten.
-The remembrance of that imprisonment in the ice was effaced
-from our minds.  We only thought of the future.  Captain Nemo did
-not appear again either in the drawing-room or on the platform.
-The point shown each day on the planisphere, and, marked by
-the lieutenant, showed me the exact direction of the Nautilus.
-Now, on that evening, it was evident, to, my great satisfaction,
-that we were going back to the North by the Atlantic.
-The next day, April 1st, when the Nautilus ascended to the surface
-some minutes before noon, we sighted land to the west.
-It was Terra del Fuego, which the first navigators named thus from
-seeing the quantity of smoke that rose from the natives' huts.
-The coast seemed low to me, but in the distance rose high mountains.
-I even thought I had a glimpse of Mount Sarmiento, that rises 2,070
-yards above the level of the sea, with a very pointed summit, which,
-according as it is misty or clear, is a sign of fine or of wet weather.
-At this moment the peak was clearly defined against the sky.
-The Nautilus, diving again under the water, approached the coast,
-which was only some few miles off.  From the glass windows in
-the drawing-room, I saw long seaweeds and gigantic fuci and varech,
-of which the open polar sea contains so many specimens, with their
-sharp polished filaments; they measured about 300 yards in length--
-real cables, thicker than one's thumb; and, having great tenacity,
-they are often used as ropes for vessels.  Another weed known as velp,
-with leaves four feet long, buried in the coral concretions,
-hung at the bottom.  It served as nest and food for myriads
-of crustacea and molluscs, crabs, and cuttlefish.
-There seals and otters had splendid repasts, eating the flesh
-of fish with sea-vegetables, according to the English fashion.
-Over this fertile and luxuriant ground the Nautilus passed with
-great rapidity.  Towards evening it approached the Falkland group,
-the rough summits of which I recognised the following day.
-The depth of the sea was moderate.  On the shores our nets brought
-in beautiful specimens of sea weed, and particularly a certain fucus,
-the roots of which were filled with the best mussels in the world.
-Geese and ducks fell by dozens on the platform, and soon took
-their places in the pantry on board.
-
-When the last heights of the Falklands had disappeared
-from the horizon, the Nautilus sank to between twenty
-and twenty-five yards, and followed the American coast.
-Captain Nemo did not show himself.  Until the 3rd of April we
-did not quit the shores of Patagonia, sometimes under the ocean,
-sometimes at the surface.  The Nautilus passed beyond the large
-estuary formed by the Uraguay.  Its direction was northwards,
-and followed the long windings of the coast of South America.
-We had then made 1,600 miles since our embarkation in the seas
-of Japan.  About eleven o'clock in the morning the Tropic
-of Capricorn was crossed on the thirty-seventh meridian,
-and we passed Cape Frio standing out to sea.  Captain Nemo,
-to Ned Land's great displeasure, did not like the neighbourhood
-of the inhabited coasts of Brazil, for we went at a giddy speed.
-Not a fish, not a bird of the swiftest kind could follow us,
-and the natural curiosities of these seas escaped all observation.
-
-This speed was kept up for several days, and in the evening
-of the 9th of April we sighted the most westerly point of South
-America that forms Cape San Roque.  But then the Nautilus
-swerved again, and sought the lowest depth of a submarine valley
-which is between this Cape and Sierra Leone on the African coast.
-This valley bifurcates to the parallel of the Antilles,
-and terminates at the mouth by the enormous depression of 9,000 yards.
-In this place, the geological basin of the ocean forms,
-as far as the Lesser Antilles, a cliff to three and a half
-miles perpendicular in height, and, at the parallel of
-the Cape Verde Islands, an other wall not less considerable,
-that encloses thus all the sunk continent of the Atlantic.
-The bottom of this immense valley is dotted with some mountains,
-that give to these submarine places a picturesque aspect.
-I speak, moreover, from the manuscript charts that were in the library
-of the Nautilus--charts evidently due to Captain Nemo's hand,
-and made after his personal observations.  For two days the desert
-and deep waters were visited by means of the inclined planes.
-The Nautilus was furnished with long diagonal broadsides which carried
-it to all elevations.  But on the 11th of April it rose suddenly,
-and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast estuary,
-the embouchure of which is so considerable that it freshens
-the sea-water for the distance of several leagues.  {8 paragraphs
-are deleted from this edition}
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-THE POULPS
-
-For several days the Nautilus kept off from the American coast.
-Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of
-Mexico or of the sea of the Antilles.  April 16th, we sighted
-Martinique and Guadaloupe from a distance of about thirty miles.
-I saw their tall peaks for an instant.  The Canadian,
-who counted on carrying out his projects in the Gulf,
-by either landing or hailing one of the numerous boats that
-coast from one island to another, was quite disheartened.
-Flight would have been quite practicable, if Ned Land had been able
-to take possession of the boat without the Captain's knowledge.
-But in the open sea it could not be thought of.  The Canadian,
-Conseil, and I had a long conversation on this subject.
-For six months we had been prisoners on board the Nautilus.
-We had travelled 17,000 leagues; and, as Ned Land said, there was
-no reason why it should come to an end.  We could hope nothing
-from the Captain of the Nautilus, but only from ourselves.
-Besides, for some time past he had become graver, more retired,
-less sociable.  He seemed to shun me.  I met him rarely.
-Formerly he was pleased to explain the submarine marvels to me;
-now he left me to my studies, and came no more to the saloon.
-What change had come over him?  For what cause?  For my part,
-I did not wish to bury with me my curious and novel studies.
-I had now the power to write the true book of the sea;
-and this book, sooner or later, I wished to see daylight.
-The land nearest us was the archipelago of the Bahamas.  There rose
-high submarine cliffs covered with large weeds.  It was about eleven
-o'clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable pricking,
-like the sting of an ant, which was produced by means of large
-seaweeds.
-
-"Well," I said, "these are proper caverns for poulps, and I
-should not be astonished to see some of these monsters."
-
-"What!" said Conseil; "cuttlefish, real cuttlefish of the cephalopod class?"
-
-"No," I said, "poulps of huge dimensions."
-
-"I will never believe that such animals exist," said Ned.
-
-"Well," said Conseil, with the most serious air in the world,
-"I remember perfectly to have seen a large vessel drawn under
-the waves by an octopus's arm."
-
-"You saw that?" said the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, Ned."
-
-"With your own eyes?"
-
-"With my own eyes."
-
-"Where, pray, might that be?"
-
-"At St. Malo," answered Conseil.
-
-"In the port?" said Ned, ironically.
-
-"No; in a church," replied Conseil.
-
-"In a church!" cried the Canadian.
-
-"Yes; friend Ned.  In a picture representing the poulp in question."
-
-"Good!" said Ned Land, bursting out laughing.
-
-"He is quite right," I said.  "I have heard of this picture;
-but the subject represented is taken from a legend, and you know
-what to think of legends in the matter of natural history.
-Besides, when it is a question of monsters, the imagination
-is apt to run wild.  Not only is it supposed that these poulps
-can draw down vessels, but a certain Olaus Magnus speaks of an
-octopus a mile long that is more like an island than an animal.
-It is also said that the Bishop of Nidros was building
-an altar on an immense rock.  Mass finished, the rock began
-to walk, and returned to the sea.  The rock was a poulp.
-Another Bishop, Pontoppidan, speaks also of a poulp on which
-a regiment of cavalry could manoeuvre.  Lastly, the ancient
-naturalists speak of monsters whose mouths were like gulfs,
-and which were too large to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar."
-
-"But how much is true of these stories?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth
-to get to fable or legend.  Nevertheless, there must be some ground
-for the imagination of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps and
-cuttlefish exist of a large species, inferior, however, to the cetaceans.
-Aristotle has stated the dimensions of a cuttlefish as five cubits,
-or nine feet two inches.  Our fishermen frequently see some that are
-more than four feet long.  Some skeletons of poulps are preserved in
-the museums of Trieste and Montpelier, that measure two yards in length.
-Besides, according to the calculations of some naturalists, one of these
-animals only six feet long would have tentacles twenty-seven feet long.
-That would suffice to make a formidable monster."
-
-"Do they fish for them in these days?" asked Ned.
-
-"If they do not fish for them, sailors see them at least.
-One of my friends, Captain Paul Bos of Havre, has often affirmed
-that he met one of these monsters of colossal dimensions in
-the Indian seas.  But the most astonishing fact, and which does
-not permit of the denial of the existence of these gigantic animals,
-happened some years ago, in 1861."
-
-"What is the fact?" asked Ned Land.
-
-"This is it.  In 1861, to the north-east of Teneriffe, very nearly
-in the same latitude we are in now, the crew of the despatch-boat
-Alector perceived a monstrous cuttlefish swimming in the waters.
-Captain Bouguer went near to the animal, and attacked it with
-harpoon and guns, without much success, for balls and harpoons
-glided over the soft flesh.  After several fruitless attempts
-the crew tried to pass a slip-knot round the body of the mollusc.
-The noose slipped as far as the tail fins and there stopped.
-They tried then to haul it on board, but its weight was so
-considerable that the tightness of the cord separated the tail
-from the body, and, deprived of this ornament, he disappeared
-under the water."
-
-"Indeed! is that a fact?"
-
-"An indisputable fact, my good Ned.  They proposed to name this
-poulp `Bouguer's cuttlefish.'"
-
-"What length was it?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Did it not measure about six yards?" said Conseil, who, posted at the window,
-was examining again the irregular windings of the cliff.
-
-"Precisely," I replied.
-
-"Its head," rejoined Conseil, "was it not crowned with eight tentacles,
-that beat the water like a nest of serpents?"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"Had not its eyes, placed at the back of its head, considerable development?"
-
-"Yes, Conseil."
-
-"And was not its mouth like a parrot's beak?"
-
-"Exactly, Conseil."
-
-"Very well! no offence to master," he replied, quietly; "if this
-is not Bouguer's cuttlefish, it is, at least, one of its brothers."
-
-I looked at Conseil.  Ned Land hurried to the window.
-
-"What a horrible beast!" he cried.
-
-I looked in my turn, and could not repress a gesture of disgust.
-Before my eyes was a horrible monster worthy to figure in the legends
-of the marvellous.  It was an immense cuttlefish, being eight yards long.
-It swam crossways in the direction of the Nautilus with great speed,
-watching us with its enormous staring green eyes.  Its eight arms,
-or rather feet, fixed to its head, that have given the name
-of cephalopod to these animals, were twice as long as its body,
-and were twisted like the furies' hair.  One could see the 250 air
-holes on the inner side of the tentacles.  The monster's mouth,
-a horned beak like a parrot's, opened and shut vertically.
-Its tongue, a horned substance, furnished with several rows
-of pointed teeth, came out quivering from this veritable pair
-of shears.  What a freak of nature, a bird's beak on a mollusc!
-Its spindle-like body formed a fleshy mass that might weigh 4,000
-to 5,000 lb.; the, varying colour changing with great rapidity,
-according to the irritation of the animal, passed successively
-from livid grey to reddish brown.  What irritated this mollusc?
-No doubt the presence of the Nautilus, more formidable than itself,
-and on which its suckers or its jaws had no hold.  Yet, what monsters
-these poulps are! what vitality the Creator has given them!
-what vigour in their movements! and they possess three hearts!
-Chance had brought us in presence of this cuttlefish, and I did not wish
-to lose the opportunity of carefully studying this specimen of cephalopods.
-I overcame the horror that inspired me, and, taking a pencil, began
-to draw it.
-
-"Perhaps this is the same which the Alector saw," said Conseil.
-
-"No," replied the Canadian; "for this is whole, and the other
-had lost its tail."
-
-"That is no reason," I replied.  "The arms and tails of these animals
-are re-formed by renewal; and in seven years the tail of Bouguer's
-cuttlefish has no doubt had time to grow."
-
-By this time other poulps appeared at the port light.  I counted seven.
-They formed a procession after the Nautilus, and I heard their beaks
-gnashing against the iron hull.  I continued my work.  These monsters
-kept in the water with such precision that they seemed immovable.
-Suddenly the Nautilus stopped.  A shock made it tremble in every plate.
-
-"Have we struck anything?"  I asked.
-
-"In any case," replied the Canadian, "we shall be free,
-for we are floating."
-
-The Nautilus was floating, no doubt, but it did not move.
-A minute passed.  Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant,
-entered the drawing-room. I had not seen him for some time.
-He seemed dull.  Without noticing or speaking to us, he went
-to the panel, looked at the poulps, and said something to
-his lieutenant.  The latter went out.  Soon the panels were shut.
-The ceiling was lighted.  I went towards the Captain.
-
-"A curious collection of poulps?"  I said.
-
-"Yes, indeed, Mr. Naturalist," he replied; "and we are going to fight them,
-man to beast."
-
-I looked at him.  I thought I had not heard aright.
-
-"Man to beast?"  I repeated.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The screw is stopped.  I think that the horny
-jaws of one of the cuttlefish is entangled in the blades.
-That is what prevents our moving."
-
-"What are you going to do?"
-
-"Rise to the surface, and slaughter this vermin."
-
-"A difficult enterprise."
-
-"Yes, indeed.  The electric bullets are powerless against the
-soft flesh, where they do not find resistance enough to go off.
-But we shall attack them with the hatchet."
-
-"And the harpoon, sir," said the Canadian, "if you do not refuse my help."
-
-"I will accept it, Master Land."
-
-"We will follow you," I said, and, following Captain Nemo,
-we went towards the central staircase.
-
-There, about ten men with boarding-hatchets were ready for the attack.
-Conseil and I took two hatchets; Ned Land seized a harpoon.
-The Nautilus had then risen to the surface.  One of the sailors,
-posted on the top ladderstep, unscrewed the bolts of the panels.
-But hardly were the screws loosed, when the panel rose with
-great violence, evidently drawn by the suckers of a poulp's arm.
-Immediately one of these arms slid like a serpent down the opening
-and twenty others were above.  With one blow of the axe, Captain Nemo
-cut this formidable tentacle, that slid wriggling down the ladder.
-Just as we were pressing one on the other to reach the platform,
-two other arms, lashing the air, came down on the seaman placed
-before Captain Nemo, and lifted him up with irresistible power.
-Captain Nemo uttered a cry, and rushed out.  We hurried after him.
-
-What a scene!  The unhappy man, seized by the tentacle and fixed
-to the suckers, was balanced in the air at the caprice of this
-enormous trunk.  He rattled in his throat, he was stifled, he cried,
-"Help! help!"  These words, spoken in French, startled me!
-I had a fellow-countryman on board, perhaps several!
-That heart-rending cry!  I shall hear it all my life.
-The unfortunate man was lost.  Who could rescue him from that
-powerful pressure?  However, Captain Nemo had rushed to the poulp,
-and with one blow of the axe had cut through one arm.
-His lieutenant struggled furiously against other monsters that crept
-on the flanks of the Nautilus.  The crew fought with their axes.
-The Canadian, Conseil, and I buried our weapons in the fleshy masses;
-a strong smell of musk penetrated the atmosphere.
-It was horrible!
-
-For one instant, I thought the unhappy man, entangled with the poulp, would be
-torn from its powerful suction.  Seven of the eight arms had been cut off.
-One only wriggled in the air, brandishing the victim like a feather.  But just
-as Captain Nemo and his lieutenant threw themselves on it, the animal ejected
-a stream of black liquid.  We were blinded with it.  When the cloud dispersed,
-the cuttlefish had disappeared, and my unfortunate countryman with it.
-Ten or twelve poulps now invaded the platform and sides of the Nautilus.
-We rolled pell-mell into the midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled
-on the platform in the waves of blood and ink.  It seemed as though these
-slimy tentacles sprang up like the hydra's heads.  Ned Land's harpoon,
-at each stroke, was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish.
-But my bold companion was suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a monster
-he had not been able to avoid.
-
-Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror!
-The formidable beak of a cuttlefish was open over Ned Land.
-The unhappy man would be cut in two.  I rushed to his succour.
-But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe disappeared between
-the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the Canadian,
-rising, plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart
-of the poulp.
-
-"I owed myself this revenge!" said the Captain to the Canadian.
-
-Ned bowed without replying.  The combat had lasted a quarter of an hour.
-The monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and disappeared
-under the waves.  Captain Nemo, covered with blood, nearly exhausted,
-gazed upon the sea that had swallowed up one of his companions, and great
-tears gathered in his eyes.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-THE GULF STREAM
-
-This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget.
-I have written it under the influence of violent emotion.  Since then I
-have revised the recital; I have read it to Conseil and to the Canadian.
-They found it exact as to facts, but insufficient as to effect.
-To paint such pictures, one must have the pen of the most illustrious
-of our poets, the author of The Toilers of the Deep.
-
-I have said that Captain Nemo wept while watching the waves;
-his grief was great.  It was the second companion he had
-lost since our arrival on board, and what a death!
-That friend, crushed, stifled, bruised by the dreadful
-arms of a poulp, pounded by his iron jaws, would not
-rest with his comrades in the peaceful coral cemetery!
-In the midst of the struggle, it was the despairing cry
-uttered by the unfortunate man that had torn my heart.
-The poor Frenchman, forgetting his conventional language,
-had taken to his own mother tongue, to utter a last appeal!
-Amongst the crew of the Nautilus, associated with
-the body and soul of the Captain, recoiling like him
-from all contact with men, I had a fellow-countryman. Did
-he alone represent France in this mysterious association,
-evidently composed of individuals of divers nationalities?
-It was one of these insoluble problems that rose up unceasingly
-before my mind!
-
-Captain Nemo entered his room, and I saw him no more for some time.
-But that he was sad and irresolute I could see by the vessel,
-of which he was the soul, and which received all his impressions.
-The Nautilus did not keep on in its settled course; it floated
-about like a corpse at the will of the waves.  It went at random.
-He could not tear himself away from the scene of the last struggle,
-from this sea that had devoured one of his men.  Ten days passed thus.
-It was not till the 1st of May that the Nautilus resumed its northerly course,
-after having sighted the Bahamas at the mouth of the Bahama Canal.
-We were then following the current from the largest river to the sea,
-that has its banks, its fish, and its proper temperatures.  I mean
-the Gulf Stream.  It is really a river, that flows freely to the middle
-of the Atlantic, and whose waters do not mix with the ocean waters.
-It is a salt river, salter than the surrounding sea.  Its mean depth is
-1,500 fathoms, its mean breadth ten miles.  In certain places the current
-flows with the speed of two miles and a half an hour.  The body of its
-waters is more considerable than that of all the rivers in the globe.
-It was on this ocean river that the Nautilus then sailed.
-
-I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters
-of the Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light,
-especially in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently.
-May 8th, we were still crossing Cape Hatteras, at the height
-of the North Caroline.  The width of the Gulf Stream there
-is seventy-five miles, and its depth 210 yards.  The Nautilus
-still went at random; all supervision seemed abandoned.
-I thought that, under these circumstances, escape would be possible.
-Indeed, the inhabited shores offered anywhere an easy refuge.
-The sea was incessantly ploughed by the steamers that ply
-between New York or Boston and the Gulf of Mexico, and overrun
-day and night by the little schooners coasting about the several
-parts of the American coast.  We could hope to be picked up.
-It was a favourable opportunity, notwithstanding the thirty
-miles that separated the Nautilus from the coasts of the Union.
-One unfortunate circumstance thwarted the Canadian's plans.
-The weather was very bad.  We were nearing those shores
-where tempests are so frequent, that country of waterspouts and
-cyclones actually engendered by the current of the Gulf Stream.
-To tempt the sea in a frail boat was certain destruction.  Ned Land
-owned this himself.  He fretted, seized with nostalgia that flight
-only could cure.
-
-"Master," he said that day to me, "this must come to an end.  I must make
-a clean breast of it.  This Nemo is leaving land and going up to the north.
-But I declare to you that I have had enough of the South Pole, and I will not
-follow him to the North."
-
-"What is to be done, Ned, since flight is impracticable just now?"
-
-"We must speak to the Captain," said he; "you said nothing when we
-were in your native seas.  I will speak, now we are in mine.
-When I think that before long the Nautilus will be by Nova Scotia,
-and that there near New foundland is a large bay, and into that bay
-the St. Lawrence empties itself, and that the St. Lawrence is my river,
-the river by Quebec, my native town--when I think of this,
-I feel furious, it makes my hair stand on end.  Sir, I would
-rather throw myself into the sea!  I will not stay here!
-I am stifled!"
-
-The Canadian was evidently losing all patience.
-His vigorous nature could not stand this prolonged imprisonment.
-His face altered daily; his temper became more surly.  I knew
-what he must suffer, for I was seized with home-sickness myself.
-Nearly seven months had passed without our having had any news
-from land; Captain Nemo's isolation, his altered spirits,
-especially since the fight with the poulps, his taciturnity, all made
-me view things in a different light.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned, seeing I did not reply.
-
-"Well, Ned, do you wish me to ask Captain Nemo his intentions concerning us?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Although he has already made them known?"
-
-"Yes; I wish it settled finally.  Speak for me, in my name only,
-if you like."
-
-"But I so seldom meet him.  He avoids me."
-
-"That is all the more reason for you to go to see him."
-
-I went to my room.  From thence I meant to go to Captain Nemo's.
-It would not do to let this opportunity of meeting him slip.
-I knocked at the door.  No answer.  I knocked again, then turned
-the handle.  The door opened, I went in.  The Captain was there.
-Bending over his work-table, he had not heard me.
-Resolved not to go without having spoken, I approached him.
-He raised his head quickly, frowned, and said roughly, "You here!
-What do you want?"
-
-"To speak to you, Captain."
-
-"But I am busy, sir; I am working.  I leave you at liberty to shut
-yourself up; cannot I be allowed the same?"
-
-This reception was not encouraging; but I was determined to hear
-and answer everything.
-
-"Sir," I said coldly, "I have to speak to you on a matter that admits
-of no delay."
-
-"What is that, sir?" he replied, ironically.  "Have you discovered something
-that has escaped me, or has the sea delivered up any new secrets?"
-
-We were at cross-purposes. But, before I could reply, he showed me
-an open manuscript on his table, and said, in a more serious tone,
-"Here, M. Aronnax, is a manuscript written in several languages.
-It contains the sum of my studies of the sea; and, if it please God,
-it shall not perish with me.  This manuscript, signed with my name,
-complete with the history of my life, will be shut up in a little
-floating case.  The last survivor of all of us on board the Nautilus
-will throw this case into the sea, and it will go whither it is borne
-by the waves."
-
-This man's name! his history written by himself!
-His mystery would then be revealed some day.
-
-"Captain," I said, "I can but approve of the idea that makes you act thus.
-The result of your studies must not be lost.  But the means you employ seem
-to me to be primitive.  Who knows where the winds will carry this case,
-and in whose hands it will fall?  Could you not use some other means?
-Could not you, or one of yours----"
-
-"Never, sir!" he said, hastily interrupting me.
-
-"But I and my companions are ready to keep this manuscript
-in store; and, if you will put us at liberty----"
-
-"At liberty?" said the Captain, rising.
-
-"Yes, sir; that is the subject on which I wish to question you.
-For seven months we have been here on board, and I ask you to-day,
-in the name of my companions and in my own, if your intention is
-to keep us here always?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, I will answer you to-day as I did seven months ago:
-Whoever enters the Nautilus, must never quit it."
-
-"You impose actual slavery upon us!"
-
-"Give it what name you please."
-
-"But everywhere the slave has the right to regain his liberty."
-
-"Who denies you this right?  Have I ever tried to chain you with an oath?"
-
-He looked at me with his arms crossed.
-
-"Sir," I said, "to return a second time to this subject will be neither
-to your nor to my taste; but, as we have entered upon it, let us go
-through with it.  I repeat, it is not only myself whom it concerns.
-Study is to me a relief, a diversion, a passion that could make
-me forget everything.  Like you, I am willing to live obscure,
-in the frail hope of bequeathing one day, to future time,
-the result of my labours.  But it is otherwise with Ned Land.
-Every man, worthy of the name, deserves some consideration.
-Have you thought that love of liberty, hatred of slavery,
-can give rise to schemes of revenge in a nature like the Canadian's;
-that he could think, attempt, and try----"
-
-I was silenced; Captain Nemo rose.
-
-"Whatever Ned Land thinks of, attempts, or tries, what does it matter to me?
-I did not seek him!  It is not for my pleasure that I keep him on board!
-As for you, M. Aronnax, you are one of those who can understand everything,
-even silence.  I have nothing more to say to you.  Let this first time you
-have come to treat of this subject be the last, for a second time I will not
-listen to you."
-
-I retired.  Our situation was critical.  I related my conversation
-to my two companions.
-
-"We know now," said Ned, "that we can expect nothing from this man.
-The Nautilus is nearing Long Island.  We will escape, whatever the
-weather may be."
-
-But the sky became more and more threatening.  Symptoms of a hurricane
-became manifest.  The atmosphere was becoming white and misty.
-On the horizon fine streaks of cirrhous clouds were succeeded
-by masses of cumuli.  Other low clouds passed swiftly by.
-The swollen sea rose in huge billows.  The birds disappeared
-with the exception of the petrels, those friends of the storm.
-The barometer fell sensibly, and indicated an extreme extension
-of the vapours.  The mixture of the storm glass was decomposed
-under the influence of the electricity that pervaded the atmosphere.
-The tempest burst on the 18th of May, just as the Nautilus was
-floating off Long Island, some miles from the port of New York.
-I can describe this strife of the elements! for,
-instead of fleeing to the depths of the sea, Captain Nemo,
-by an unaccountable caprice, would brave it at the surface.
-The wind blew from the south-west at first.  Captain Nemo,
-during the squalls, had taken his place on the platform.
-He had made himself fast, to prevent being washed overboard
-by the monstrous waves.  I had hoisted myself up, and made myself
-fast also, dividing my admiration between the tempest and this
-extraordinary man who was coping with it.  The raging sea was swept
-by huge cloud-drifts, which were actually saturated with the waves.
-The Nautilus, sometimes lying on its side, sometimes standing up
-like a mast, rolled and pitched terribly.  About five o'clock
-a torrent of rain fell, that lulled neither sea nor wind.
-The hurri cane blew nearly forty leagues an hour.  It is under
-these conditions that it overturns houses, breaks iron gates,
-displaces twenty-four pounders.  However, the Nautilus, in the midst
-of the tempest, confirmed the words of a clever engineer,
-"There is no well-constructed hull that cannot defy the sea."
-This was not a resisting rock; it was a steel spindle,
-obedient and movable, without rigging or masts, that braved its fury
-with impunity.  However, I watched these raging waves attentively.
-They measured fifteen feet in height, and 150 to 175 yards long,
-and their speed of propagation was thirty feet per second.
-Their bulk and power increased with the depth of the water.
-Such waves as these, at the Hebrides, have displaced a mass
-weighing 8,400 lb.  They are they which, in the tempest of
-December 23rd, 1864, after destroying the town of Yeddo, in Japan,
-broke the same day on the shores of America.  The intensity of
-the tempest increased with the night.  The barometer, as in 1860
-at Reunion during a cyclone, fell seven-tenths at the close of day.
-I saw a large vessel pass the horizon struggling painfully.
-She was trying to lie to under half steam, to keep up above the waves.
-It was probably one of the steamers of the line from New York
-to Liverpool, or Havre.  It soon disappeared in the gloom.
-At ten o'clock in the evening the sky was on fire.
-The atmosphere was streaked with vivid lightning.
-I could not bear the brightness of it; while the captain,
-looking at it, seemed to envy the spirit of the tempest.
-A terrible noise filled the air, a complex noise, made up
-of the howls of the crushed waves, the roaring of the wind,
-and the claps of thunder.  The wind veered suddenly to all
-points of the horizon; and the cyclone, rising in the east,
-returned after passing by the north, west, and south, in the inverse
-course pursued by the circular storm of the southern hemisphere.
-Ah, that Gulf Stream!  It deserves its name of the King of Tempests.
-It is that which causes those formidable cyclones, by the
-difference of temperature between its air and its currents.
-A shower of fire had succeeded the rain.  The drops of water were
-changed to sharp spikes.  One would have thought that Captain Nemo
-was courting a death worthy of himself, a death by lightning.
-As the Nautilus, pitching dreadfully, raised its steel spur in the air,
-it seemed to act as a conductor, and I saw long sparks burst from it.
-Crushed and without strength I crawled to the panel, opened it,
-and descended to the saloon.  The storm was then at its height.
-It was impossible to stand upright in the interior of the Nautilus.
-Captain Nemo came down about twelve.  I heard the reservoirs filling
-by degrees, and the Nautilus sank slowly beneath the waves.
-Through the open windows in the saloon I saw large fish terrified,
-passing like phantoms in the water.  Some were struck before my eyes.
-The Nautilus was still descending.  I thought that at about eight
-fathoms deep we should find a calm.  But no! the upper beds
-were too violently agitated for that.  We had to seek repose
-at more than twenty-five fathoms in the bowels of the deep.
-But there, what quiet, what silence, what peace!  Who could have told
-that such a hurricane had been let loose on the surface of that
-ocean?
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-FROM LATITUDE 47@ 24' TO LONGITUDE 17@ 28'
-
-In consequence of the storm, we had been thrown eastward once more.
-All hope of escape on the shores of New York or St. Lawrence had faded away;
-and poor Ned, in despair, had isolated himself like Captain Nemo.
-Conseil and I, however, never left each other.  I said that the Nautilus
-had gone aside to the east.  I should have said (to be more exact)
-the north-east. For some days, it wandered first on the surface,
-and then beneath it, amid those fogs so dreaded by sailors.
-What accidents are due to these thick fogs!  What shocks upon
-these reefs when the wind drowns the breaking of the waves!
-What collisions between vessels, in spite of their warning lights,
-whistles, and alarm bells!  And the bottoms of these seas look like
-a field of battle, where still lie all the conquered of the ocean;
-some old and already encrusted, others fresh and reflecting from their
-iron bands and copper plates the brilliancy of our lantern.
-
-On the 15th of May we were at the extreme south of the Bank of Newfoundland.
-This bank consists of alluvia, or large heaps of organic matter,
-brought either from the Equator by the Gulf Stream, or from the North Pole
-by the counter-current of cold water which skirts the American coast.
-There also are heaped up those erratic blocks which are carried along
-by the broken ice; and close by, a vast charnel-house of molluscs,
-which perish here by millions.  The depth of the sea is not great
-at Newfoundland--not more than some hundreds of fathoms; but towards
-the south is a depression of 1,500 fathoms.  There the Gulf Stream widens.
-It loses some of its speed and some of its temperature, but it
-becomes a sea.
-
-It was on the 17th of May, about 500 miles from Heart's Content,
-at a depth of more than 1,400 fathoms, that I saw the electric cable lying
-on the bottom.  Conseil, to whom I had not mentioned it, thought at first
-that it was a gigantic sea-serpent. But I undeceived the worthy fellow,
-and by way of consolation related several particulars in the laying
-of this cable.  The first one was laid in the years 1857 and 1858;
-but, after transmitting about 400 telegrams, would not act any longer.
-In 1863 the engineers constructed an other one, measuring 2,000 miles
-in length, and weighing 4,500 tons, which was embarked on the Great Eastern.
-This attempt also failed.
-
-On the 25th of May the Nautilus, being at a depth of more
-than 1,918 fathoms, was on the precise spot where the rupture
-occurred which ruined the enterprise.  It was within 638 miles
-of the coast of Ireland; and at half-past two in the afternoon
-they discovered that communication with Europe had ceased.
-The electricians on board resolved to cut the cable before
-fishing it up, and at eleven o'clock at night they had recovered
-the damaged part.  They made another point and spliced it,
-and it was once more submerged.  But some days after it broke again,
-and in the depths of the ocean could not be recaptured.
-The Americans, however, were not discouraged.  Cyrus Field, the bold
-promoter of the enterprise, as he had sunk all his own fortune,
-set a new subscription on foot, which was at once answered,
-and another cable was constructed on better principles.
-The bundles of conducting wires were each enveloped in gutta-percha,
-and protected by a wadding of hemp, contained in a metallic covering.
-The Great Eastern sailed on the 13th of July, 1866.  The operation
-worked well.  But one incident occurred.  Several times in
-unrolling the cable they observed that nails had recently been
-forced into it, evidently with the motive of destroying it.
-Captain Anderson, the officers, and engineers consulted together,
-and had it posted up that, if the offender was surprised on board,
-he would be thrown without further trial into the sea.
-From that time the criminal attempt was never repeated.
-
-On the 23rd of July the Great Eastern was not more than 500 miles
-from Newfoundland, when they telegraphed from Ireland the news
-of the armistice concluded between Prussia and Austria after Sadowa.
-On the 27th, in the midst of heavy fogs, they reached the port
-of Heart's Content.  The enterprise was successfully terminated;
-and for its first despatch, young America addressed old Europe in these
-words of wisdom, so rarely understood:  "Glory to God in the highest,
-and on earth peace, goodwill towards men."
-
-I did not expect to find the electric cable in its
-primitive state, such as it was on leaving the manufactory.
-The long serpent, covered with the remains of shells,
-bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted with a strong coating
-which served as a protection against all boring molluscs.
-It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and under
-a favourable pressure for the transmission of the electric
-spark which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second.
-Doubtless this cable will last for a great length of time,
-for they find that the gutta-percha covering is improved
-by the sea-water. Besides, on this level, so well chosen,
-the cable is never so deeply submerged as to cause it to break.
-The Nautilus followed it to the lowest depth, which was more than
-2,212 fathoms, and there it lay without any anchorage; and then
-we reached the spot where the accident had taken place in 1863.
-The bottom of the ocean then formed a valley about 100
-miles broad, in which Mont Blanc might have been placed without
-its summit appearing above the waves.  This valley is closed
-at the east by a perpendicular wall more than 2,000 yards high.
-We arrived there on the 28th of May, and the Nautilus was then not
-more than 120 miles from Ireland.
-
-Was Captain Nemo going to land on the British Isles?
-No. To my great surprise he made for the south, once more coming
-back towards European seas.  In rounding the Emerald Isle,
-for one instant I caught sight of Cape Clear, and the light which
-guides the thousands of vessels leaving Glasgow or Liverpool.
-An important question then arose in my mind.  Did the Nautilus
-dare entangle itself in the Manche?  Ned Land, who had re-appeared
-since we had been nearing land, did not cease to question me.
-How could I answer?  Captain Nemo reminded invisible.
-After having shown the Canadian a glimpse of American shores,
-was he going to show me the coast of France?
-
-But the Nautilus was still going southward.  On the 30th of May,
-it passed in sight of Land's End, between the extreme point
-of England and the Scilly Isles, which were left to starboard.
-If we wished to enter the Manche, he must go straight to the east.
-He did not do so.
-
-During the whole of the 31st of May, the Nautilus described
-a series of circles on the water, which greatly interested me.
-It seemed to be seeking a spot it had some trouble in finding.
-At noon, Captain Nemo himself came to work the ship's log.
-He spoke no word to me, but seemed gloomier than ever.  What could
-sadden him thus?  Was it his proxim ity to European shores?
-Had he some recollections of his abandoned country?
-If not, what did he feel?  Remorse or regret?
-For a long while this thought haunted my mind, and I had
-a kind of presentiment that before long chance would betray
-the captain's secrets.
-
-The next day, the 1st of June, the Nautilus continued the same process.
-It was evidently seeking some particular spot in the ocean.
-Captain Nemo took the sun's altitude as he had done the day before.
-The sea was beautiful, the sky clear.  About eight miles to the east,
-a large steam vessel could be discerned on the horizon.
-No flag fluttered from its mast, and I could not discover
-its nationality.  Some minutes before the sun passed the meridian,
-Captain Nemo took his sextant, and watched with great attention.
-The perfect rest of the water greatly helped the operation.
-The Nautilus was motionless; it neither rolled nor pitched.
-
-I was on the platform when the altitude was taken, and the Captain
-pronounced these words:  "It is here."
-
-He turned and went below.  Had he seen the vessel which
-was changing its course and seemed to be nearing us?
-I could not tell.  I returned to the saloon.  The panels closed,
-I heard the hissing of the water in the reservoirs.
-The Nautilus began to sink, following a vertical line, for its
-screw communicated no motion to it.  Some minutes later it stopped
-at a depth of more than 420 fathoms, resting on the ground.
-The luminous ceiling was darkened, then the panels were opened,
-and through the glass I saw the sea brilliantly illuminated by
-the rays of our lantern for at least half a mile round us.
-
-I looked to the port side, and saw nothing but an immensity
-of quiet waters.  But to starboard, on the bottom appeared
-a large protuberance, which at once attracted my attention.
-One would have thought it a ruin buried under a coating
-of white shells, much resembling a covering of snow.
-Upon examining the mass attentively, I could recognise
-the ever-thickening form of a vessel bare of its masts,
-which must have sunk.  It certainly belonged to past times.
-This wreck, to be thus encrusted with the lime of the water,
-must already be able to count many years passed at the bottom
-of the ocean.
-
-What was this vessel?  Why did the Nautilus visit its tomb?
-Could it have been aught but a shipwreck which had drawn it under the water?
-I knew not what to think, when near me in a slow voice I heard
-Captain Nemo say:
-
-"At one time this ship was called the Marseillais.  It carried
-seventy-four guns, and was launched in 1762.  In 1778, the 13th of August,
-commanded by La Poype-Ver trieux, it fought boldly against the Preston.
-In 1779, on the 4th of July, it was at the taking of Grenada,
-with the squadron of Admiral Estaing.  In 1781, on the 5th of September,
-it took part in the battle of Comte de Grasse, in Chesapeake Bay.
-In 1794, the French Republic changed its name.  On the 16th of April,
-in the same year, it joined the squadron of Villaret Joyeuse, at Brest,
-being entrusted with the escort of a cargo of corn coming from America,
-under the command of Admiral Van Stebel.  On the 11th and 12th Prairal
-of the second year, this squadron fell in with an English vessel.
-Sir, to-day is the 13th Prairal, the first of June, 1868.  It is now
-seventy-four years ago, day for day on this very spot, in latitude 47@
-24', longitude 17@ 28', that this vessel, after fighting heroically,
-losing its three masts, with the water in its hold, and the third of its
-crew disabled, preferred sinking with its 356 sailors to surrendering;
-and, nailing its colours to the poop, disappeared under the waves to
-the cry of `Long live the Republic!'"
-
-"The Avenger!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir, the Avenger!  A good name!" muttered Captain Nemo,
-crossing his arms.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-A HECATOMB
-
-The way of describing this unlooked-for scene, the history
-of the patriot ship, told at first so coldly, and the emotion
-with which this strange man pronounced the last words,
-the name of the Avenger, the significance of which could
-not escape me, all impressed itself deeply on my mind.
-My eyes did not leave the Captain, who, with his hand stretched
-out to sea, was watching with a glowing eye the glorious wreck.
-Perhaps I was never to know who he was, from whence he came,
-or where he was going to, but I saw the man move, and apart
-from the savant.  It was no common misanthropy which had
-shut Captain Nemo and his companions within the Nautilus,
-but a hatred, either monstrous or sublime, which time could
-never weaken.  Did this hatred still seek for vengeance?
-The future would soon teach me that.  But the Nautilus
-was rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the form
-of the Avenger disappeared by degrees from my sight.
-Soon a slight rolling told me that we were in the open air.
-At that moment a dull boom was heard.  I looked at the Captain.
-He did not move.
-
-"Captain?" said I.
-
-He did not answer.  I left him and mounted the platform.
-Conseil and the Canadian were already there.
-
-"Where did that sound come from?"  I asked.
-
-"It was a gunshot," replied Ned Land.
-
-I looked in the direction of the vessel I had already seen.
-It was nearing the Nautilus, and we could see that it was putting on steam.
-It was within six miles of us.
-
-"What is that ship, Ned?"
-
-"By its rigging, and the height of its lower masts," said the Canadian,
-"I bet she is a ship-of-war. May it reach us; and, if necessary,
-sink this cursed Nautilus."
-
-"Friend Ned," replied Conseil, "what harm can it do to the Nautilus?
-Can it attack it beneath the waves?  Can its cannonade us at the bottom
-of the sea?"
-
-"Tell me, Ned," said I, "can you recognise what country she belongs to?"
-
-The Canadian knitted his eyebrows, dropped his eyelids,
-and screwed up the corners of his eyes, and for a few moments
-fixed a piercing look upon the vessel.
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "I cannot tell what nation she belongs to,
-for she shows no colours.  But I can declare she is a man-of-war,
-for a long pennant flutters from her main mast."
-
-For a quarter of an hour we watched the ship which was steaming
-towards us.  I could not, however, believe that she could
-see the Nautilus from that distance; and still less that she
-could know what this submarine engine was.  Soon the Canadian
-informed me that she was a large, armoured, two-decker ram.
-A thick black smoke was pouring from her two funnels.
-Her closely-furled sails were stopped to her yards.
-She hoisted no flag at her mizzen-peak. The distance
-prevented us from distinguishing the colours of her pennant,
-which floated like a thin ribbon.  She advanced rapidly.
-If Captain Nemo allowed her to approach, there was a chance of
-salvation for us.
-
-"Sir," said Ned Land, "if that vessel passes within a mile of us I shall
-throw myself into the sea, and I should advise you to do the same."
-
-I did not reply to the Canadian's suggestion, but continued
-watching the ship.  Whether English, French, American, or Russian,
-she would be sure to take us in if we could only reach her.
-Presently a white smoke burst from the fore part of the vessel;
-some seconds after, the water, agitated by the fall of a heavy body,
-splashed the stern of the Nautilus, and shortly afterwards a loud
-explosion struck my ear.
-
-"What! they are firing at us!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"So please you, sir," said Ned, "they have recognised the unicorn,
-and they are firing at us."
-
-"But," I exclaimed, "surely they can see that there are men in the case?"
-
-"It is, perhaps, because of that," replied Ned Land, looking at me.
-
-A whole flood of light burst upon my mind.  Doubtless they knew
-now how to believe the stories of the pretended monster.  No doubt,
-on board the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian struck it with the harpoon,
-Commander Farragut had recognised in the supposed narwhal a submarine vessel,
-more dangerous than a supernatural cetacean.  Yes, it must have been so;
-and on every sea they were now seeking this engine of destruction.
-Terrible indeed! if, as we supposed, Captain Nemo employed the Nautilus
-in works of vengeance.  On the night when we were imprisoned in that cell,
-in the midst of the Indian Ocean, had he not attacked some vessel?
-The man buried in the coral cemetery, had he not been a victim to
-the shock caused by the Nautilus?  Yes, I repeat it, it must be so.
-One part of the mysterious existence of Captain Nemo had been unveiled;
-and, if his identity had not been recognised, at least, the nations
-united against him were no longer hunting a chimerical creature,
-but a man who had vowed a deadly hatred against them.
-All the formidable past rose before me.  Instead of meeting friends
-on board the approaching ship, we could only expect pitiless enemies.
-But the shot rattled about us.  Some of them struck the sea
-and ricochetted, losing themselves in the distance.  But none touched
-the Nautilus.  The vessel was not more than three miles from us.
-In spite of the serious cannonade, Captain Nemo did not appear
-on the platform; but, if one of the conical projectiles had struck
-the shell of the Nautilus, it would have been fatal.  The Canadian
-then said, "Sir, we must do all we can to get out of this dilemma.
-Let us signal them.  They will then, perhaps, understand that we
-are honest folks."
-
-Ned Land took his handkerchief to wave in the air; but he had
-scarcely displayed it, when he was struck down by an iron hand,
-and fell, in spite of his great strength, upon the deck.
-
-"Fool!" exclaimed the Captain, "do you wish to be pierced by the spur
-of the Nautilus before it is hurled at this vessel?"
-
-Captain Nemo was terrible to hear; he was still more terrible to see.
-His face was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart.  For an instant
-it must have ceased to beat.  His pupils were fearfully contracted.
-He did not speak, he roared, as, with his body thrown forward,
-he wrung the Canadian's shoulders.  Then, leaving him, and turning
-to the ship of war, whose shot was still raining around him,
-he exclaimed, with a powerful voice, "Ah, ship of an accursed nation,
-you know who I am!  I do not want your colours to know you by!
-Look! and I will show you mine!"
-
-And on the fore part of the platform Captain Nemo unfurled
-a black flag, similar to the one he had placed at the South Pole.
-At that moment a shot struck the shell of the Nautilus obliquely,
-without piercing it; and, rebounding near the Captain, was lost in the sea.
-He shrugged his shoulders; and, addressing me, said shortly, "Go down,
-you and your companions, go down!"
-
-"Sir," I cried, "are you going to attack this vessel?"
-
-"Sir, I am going to sink it."
-
-"You will not do that?"
-
-"I shall do it," he replied coldly.  "And I advise you not to
-judge me, sir.  Fate has shown you what you ought not to have seen.
-The attack has begun; go down."
-
-"What is this vessel?"
-
-"You do not know?  Very well! so much the better!
-Its nationality to you, at least, will be a secret.  Go down!"
-
-We could but obey.  About fifteen of the sailors surrounded the Captain,
-looking with implacable hatred at the vessel nearing them.
-One could feel that the same desire of vengeance animated every soul.
-I went down at the moment another projectile struck the Nautilus, and I
-heard the Captain exclaim:
-
-"Strike, mad vessel!  Shower your useless shot!  And then, you will not
-escape the spur of the Nautilus.  But it is not here that you shall perish!
-I would not have your ruins mingle with those of the Avenger!"
-
-I reached my room.  The Captain and his second had remained on the platform.
-The screw was set in motion, and the Nautilus, moving with speed,
-was soon beyond the reach of the ship's guns.  But the pursuit continued,
-and Captain Nemo contented himself with keeping his distance.
-
-About four in the afternoon, being no longer able to
-contain my impatience, I went to the central staircase.
-The panel was open, and I ventured on to the platform.
-The Captain was still walking up and down with an agitated step.
-He was looking at the ship, which was five or six miles to leeward.
-
-He was going round it like a wild beast, and, drawing it eastward,
-he allowed them to pursue.  But he did not attack.
-Perhaps he still hesitated?  I wished to mediate once more.
-But I had scarcely spoken, when Captain Nemo imposed silence, saying:
-
-"I am the law, and I am the judge!  I am the oppressed, and there is
-the oppressor!  Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished,
-and venerated--country, wife, children, father, and mother.
-I saw all perish!  All that I hate is there!  Say no more!"
-
-I cast a last look at the man-of-war, which was putting on steam,
-and rejoined Ned and Conseil.
-
-"We will fly!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Good!" said Ned.  "What is this vessel?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, it will be sunk before night.
-In any case, it is better to perish with it, than be made accomplices
-in a retaliation the justice of which we cannot judge."
-
-"That is my opinion too," said Ned Land, coolly.  "Let us wait for night."
-
-Night arrived.  Deep silence reigned on board.
-The compass showed that the Nautilus had not altered its course.
-It was on the surface, rolling slightly.  My companions and I
-resolved to fly when the vessel should be near enough either
-to hear us or to see us; for the moon, which would be full
-in two or three days, shone brightly.  Once on board the ship,
-if we could not prevent the blow which threatened it, we could,
-at least we would, do all that circumstances would allow.
-Several times I thought the Nautilus was preparing for attack;
-but Captain Nemo contented himself with allowing his adversary
-to approach, and then fled once more before it.
-
-Part of the night passed without any incident.  We watched the
-opportunity for action.  We spoke little, for we were too much moved.
-Ned Land would have thrown himself into the sea, but I forced him to wait.
-According to my idea, the Nautilus would attack the ship at her waterline,
-and then it would not only be possible, but easy to fly.
-
-At three in the morning, full of uneasiness, I mounted the platform.
-Captain Nemo had not left it.  He was standing at the fore part near
-his flag, which a slight breeze displayed above his head.  He did not take
-his eyes from the vessel.  The intensity of his look seemed to attract,
-and fascinate, and draw it onward more surely than if he had been towing it.
-The moon was then passing the meridian.  Jupiter was rising in the east.
-Amid this peaceful scene of nature, sky and ocean rivalled each other
-in tranquillity, the sea offering to the orbs of night the finest mirror
-they could ever have in which to reflect their image.  As I thought of
-the deep calm of these elements, compared with all those passions brooding
-imperceptibly within the Nautilus, I shuddered.
-
-The vessel was within two miles of us.  It was ever nearing that
-phosphorescent light which showed the presence of the Nautilus.
-I could see its green and red lights, and its white lantern hanging
-from the large foremast.  An indistinct vibration quivered through
-its rigging, showing that the furnaces were heated to the uttermost.
-Sheaves of sparks and red ashes flew from the funnels, shining in the
-atmosphere like stars.
-
-I remained thus until six in the morning, without Captain Nemo noticing me.
-The ship stood about a mile and a half from us, and with the first dawn
-of day the firing began afresh.  The moment could not be far off when,
-the Nautilus attacking its adversary, my companions and myself should
-for ever leave this man.  I was preparing to go down to remind them,
-when the second mounted the platform, accompanied by several sailors.
-Captain Nemo either did not or would not see them.  Some steps were taken
-which might be called the signal for action.  They were very simple.
-The iron balustrade around the platform was lowered, and the lantern and pilot
-cages were pushed within the shell until they were flush with the deck.
-The long surface of the steel cigar no longer offered a single point to check
-its manoeuvres.  I returned to the saloon.  The Nautilus still floated;
-some streaks of light were filtering through the liquid beds.
-With the undulations of the waves the windows were brightened by
-the red streaks of the rising sun, and this dreadful day of the 2nd of
-June had dawned.
-
-At five o'clock, the log showed that the speed of the Nautilus
-was slackening, and I knew that it was allowing them to
-draw nearer.  Besides, the reports were heard more distinctly,
-and the projectiles, labouring through the ambient water,
-were extinguished with a strange hissing noise.
-
-"My friends," said I, "the moment is come.  One grasp of the hand,
-and may God protect us!"
-
-Ned Land was resolute, Conseil calm, myself so nervous
-that I knew not how to contain myself.  We all passed into
-the library; but the moment I pushed the door opening on to
-the central staircase, I heard the upper panel close sharply.
-The Canadian rushed on to the stairs, but I stopped him.
-A well-known hissing noise told me that the water was running
-into the reservoirs, and in a few minutes the Nautilus
-was some yards beneath the surface of the waves.
-I understood the manoeuvre.  It was too late to act.
-The Nautilus did not wish to strike at the impenetrable cuirass,
-but below the water-line, where the metallic covering no
-longer protected it.
-
-We were again imprisoned, unwilling witnesses of the dreadful
-drama that was preparing.  We had scarcely time to reflect;
-taking refuge in my room, we looked at each other without speaking.
-A deep stupor had taken hold of my mind:  thought seemed to stand still.
-I was in that painful state of expectation preceding a dreadful report.
-I waited, I listened, every sense was merged in that of hearing!
-The speed of the Nautilus was accelerated.  It was preparing to rush.
-The whole ship trembled.  Suddenly I screamed.  I felt the shock,
-but comparatively light.  I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur.
-I heard rattlings and scrapings.  But the Nautilus, carried along
-by its propelling power, passed through the mass of the vessel like a
-needle through sailcloth!
-
-I could stand it no longer.  Mad, out of my mind, I rushed
-from my room into the saloon.  Captain Nemo was there,
-mute, gloomy, implacable; he was looking through the port panel.
-A large mass cast a shadow on the water; and, that it might
-lose nothing of her agony, the Nautilus was going down into
-the abyss with her.  Ten yards from me I saw the open shell,
-through which the water was rushing with the noise of thunder,
-then the double line of guns and the netting.  The bridge was
-covered with black, agitated shadows.
-
-The water was rising.  The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines,
-clinging to the masts, struggling under the water.  It was a human ant-heap
-overtaken by the sea.  Paralysed, stiffened with anguish, my hair standing
-on end, with eyes wide open, panting, without breath, and without voice,
-I too was watching!  An irresistible attraction glued me to the glass!
-Suddenly an explosion took place.  The compressed air blew up her decks,
-as if the magazines had caught fire.  Then the unfortunate vessel sank
-more rapidly.  Her topmast, laden with victims, now appeared; then her spars,
-bending under the weight of men; and, last of all, the top of her mainmast.
-Then the dark mass disappeared, and with it the dead crew, drawn down by
-the strong eddy.
-
-I turned to Captain Nemo.  That terrible avenger, a perfect
-archangel of hatred, was still looking.  When all was over,
-he turned to his room, opened the door, and entered.
-I followed him with my eyes.  On the end wall beneath his heroes,
-I saw the portrait of a woman, still young, and two little children.
-Captain Nemo looked at them for some moments, stretched his arms
-towards them, and, kneeling down, burst into deep sobs.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
-
-The panels had closed on this dreadful vision, but light had not returned
-to the saloon:  all was silence and darkness within the Nautilus.
-At wonderful speed, a hundred feet beneath the water, it was leaving
-this desolate spot.  Whither was it going?  To the north or south?
-Where was the man flying to after such dreadful retaliation?
-I had returned to my room, where Ned and Conseil had remained silent enough.
-I felt an insurmountable horror for Captain Nemo.  Whatever he had
-suffered at the hands of these men, he had no right to punish thus.
-He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least a witness of his vengeance.
-At eleven the electric light reappeared.  I passed into the saloon.
-It was deserted.  I consulted the different instruments.  The Nautilus was
-flying northward at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, now on the surface,
-and now thirty feet below it.  On taking the bearings by the chart,
-I saw that we were passing the mouth of the Manche, and that our course
-was hurrying us towards the northern seas at a frightful speed.  That night
-we had crossed two hundred leagues of the Atlantic.  The shadows fell,
-and the sea was covered with darkness until the rising of the moon.  I went
-to my room, but could not sleep.  I was troubled with dreadful nightmare.
-The horrible scene of destruction was continually before my eyes.
-From that day, who could tell into what part of the North Atlantic
-basin the Nautilus would take us?  Still with unaccountable speed.
-Still in the midst of these northern fogs.  Would it touch at Spitzbergen,
-or on the shores of Nova Zembla?  Should we explore those unknown seas,
-the White Sea, the Sea of Kara, the Gulf of Obi, the Archipelago of Liarrov,
-and the unknown coast of Asia?  I could not say.  I could no longer judge
-of the time that was passing.  The clocks had been stopped on board.
-It seemed, as in polar countries, that night and day no longer followed
-their regular course.  I felt myself being drawn into that strange
-region where the foundered imagination of Edgar Poe roamed at will.
-Like the fabulous Gordon Pym, at every moment I expected to see "that veiled
-human figure, of larger proportions than those of any inhabitant of the earth,
-thrown across the cataract which defends the approach to the pole."
-I estimated (though, perhaps, I may be mistaken)--I estimated this
-adventurous course of the Nautilus to have lasted fifteen or twenty days.
-And I know not how much longer it might have lasted, had it not been
-for the catastrophe which ended this voyage.  Of Captain Nemo I saw nothing
-whatever now, nor of his second.  Not a man of the crew was visible for
-an instant.  The Nautilus was almost incessantly under water.  When we came
-to the surface to renew the air, the panels opened and shut mechanically.
-There were no more marks on the planisphere.  I knew not where we were.
-And the Canadian, too, his strength and patience at an end, appeared no more.
-Conseil could not draw a word from him; and, fearing that, in a dreadful
-fit of madness, he might kill himself, watched him with constant devotion.
-One morning (what date it was I could not say) I had fallen into a heavy
-sleep towards the early hours, a sleep both painful and unhealthy, when I
-suddenly awoke.  Ned Land was leaning over me, saying, in a low voice,
-"We are going to fly."  I sat up.
-
-"When shall we go?"  I asked.
-
-"To-night. All inspection on board the Nautilus seems to have ceased.
-All appear to be stupefied.  You will be ready, sir?"
-
-"Yes; where are we?"
-
-"In sight of land.  I took the reckoning this morning in the fog--
-twenty miles to the east."
-
-"What country is it?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, we will take refuge there."
-
-"Yes, Ned, yes.  We will fly to-night, even if the sea should swallow us up."
-
-"The sea is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light
-boat of the Nautilus does not frighten me.  Unknown to the crew,
-I have been able to procure food and some bottles of water."
-
-"I will follow you."
-
-"But," continued the Canadian, "if I am surprised, I will defend myself;
-I will force them to kill me."
-
-"We will die together, friend Ned."
-
-I had made up my mind to all.  The Canadian left me.
-I reached the platform, on which I could with difficulty support
-myself against the shock of the waves.  The sky was threatening;
-but, as land was in those thick brown shadows, we must fly.
-I returned to the saloon, fearing and yet hoping to see Captain Nemo,
-wishing and yet not wishing to see him.  What could I have said to him?
-Could I hide the involuntary horror with which he inspired me?
-No. It was better that I should not meet him face to face;
-better to forget him.  And yet---- How long seemed that day, the last
-that I should pass in the Nautilus.  I remained alone.  Ned Land
-and Conseil avoided speaking, for fear of betraying themselves.
-At six I dined, but I was not hungry; I forced myself to eat in spite
-of my disgust, that I might not weaken myself.  At half-past six
-Ned Land came to my room, saying, "We shall not see each other
-again before our departure.  At ten the moon will not be risen.
-We will profit by the darkness.  Come to the boat; Conseil and I
-will wait for you."
-
-The Canadian went out without giving me time to answer.
-Wishing to verify the course of the Nautilus, I went to the saloon.
-We were running N.N.E. at frightful speed, and more than fifty yards deep.
-I cast a last look on these wonders of nature, on the riches of art
-heaped up in this museum, upon the unrivalled collection destined
-to perish at the bottom of the sea, with him who had formed it.
-I wished to fix an indelible impression of it in my mind.
-I remained an hour thus, bathed in the light of that luminous ceiling,
-and passing in review those treasures shining under their glasses.
-Then I returned to my room.
-
-I dressed myself in strong sea clothing.  I collected my notes,
-placing them carefully about me.  My heart beat loudly.
-I could not check its pulsations.  Certainly my trouble and agitation
-would have betrayed me to Captain Nemo's eyes.  What was he doing
-at this moment?  I listened at the door of his room.  I heard steps.
-Captain Nemo was there.  He had not gone to rest.  At every moment
-I expected to see him appear, and ask me why I wished to fly.
-I was constantly on the alert.  My imagination magnified everything.
-The impression became at last so poignant that I asked myself if it
-would not be better to go to the Captain's room, see him face to face,
-and brave him with look and gesture.
-
-It was the inspiration of a madman; fortunately I resisted the desire,
-and stretched myself on my bed to quiet my bodily agitation.
-My nerves were somewhat calmer, but in my excited brain I saw
-over again all my existence on board the Nautilus; every incident,
-either happy or unfortunate, which had happened since my disappearance
-from the Abraham Lincoln--the submarine hunt, the Torres Straits,
-the savages of Papua, the running ashore, the coral cemetery,
-the passage of Suez, the Island of Santorin, the Cretan diver,
-Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the iceberg, the South Pole, the imprisonment
-in the ice, the fight among the poulps, the storm in the Gulf Stream,
-the Avenger, and the horrible scene of the vessel sunk with all her crew.
-All these events passed before my eyes like scenes in a drama.
-Then Captain Nemo seemed to grow enormously, his features to assume
-superhuman proportions.  He was no longer my equal, but a man of the waters,
-the genie of the sea.
-
-It was then half-past nine.  I held my head between my hands to keep
-it from bursting.  I closed my eyes; I would not think any longer.
-There was another half-hour to wait, another half-hour of a nightmare,
-which might drive me mad.
-
-At that moment I heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony to an
-undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break these earthly bonds.
-I listened with every sense, scarcely breathing; plunged, like Captain Nemo,
-in that musical ecstasy, which was drawing him in spirit to the end of life.
-
-Then a sudden thought terrified me.  Captain Nemo had left his room.
-He was in the saloon, which I must cross to fly.  There I should
-meet him for the last time.  He would see me, perhaps speak to me.
-A gesture of his might destroy me, a single word chain me on board.
-
-But ten was about to strike.  The moment had come for me to leave my room,
-and join my companions.
-
-I must not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himself should rise before me.
-I opened my door carefully; and even then, as it turned on its hinges,
-it seemed to me to make a dreadful noise.  Perhaps it only existed in
-my own imagination.
-
-I crept along the dark stairs of the Nautilus, stopping at each step
-to check the beating of my heart.  I reached the door of the saloon,
-and opened it gently.  It was plunged in profound darkness.
-The strains of the organ sounded faintly.  Captain Nemo was there.
-He did not see me.  In the full light I do not think he would have
-noticed me, so entirely was he absorbed in the ecstasy.
-
-I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound which might
-betray my presence.  I was at least five minutes reaching the door,
-at the opposite side, opening into the library.
-
-I was going to open it, when a sigh from Captain Nemo nailed me to the spot.
-I knew that he was rising.  I could even see him, for the light from
-the library came through to the saloon.  He came towards me silently,
-with his arms crossed, gliding like a spectre rather than walking.
-His breast was swelling with sobs; and I heard him murmur these words
-(the last which ever struck my ear):
-
-"Almighty God! enough! enough!"
-
-Was it a confession of remorse which thus escaped from this man's conscience?
-
-In desperation, I rushed through the library, mounted the central
-staircase, and, following the upper flight, reached the boat.
-I crept through the opening, which had already admitted
-my two companions.
-
-"Let us go! let us go!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Directly!" replied the Canadian.
-
-The orifice in the plates of the Nautilus was first closed,
-and fastened down by means of a false key, with which Ned Land
-had provided himself; the opening in the boat was also closed.
-The Canadian began to loosen the bolts which still held us to
-the submarine boat.
-
-Suddenly a noise was heard.  Voices were answering each other loudly.
-What was the matter?  Had they discovered our flight?
-I felt Ned Land slipping a dagger into my hand.
-
-"Yes," I murmured, "we know how to die!"
-
-The Canadian had stopped in his work.  But one word many times repeated,
-a dreadful word, revealed the cause of the agitation spreading on board
-the Nautilus.  It was not we the crew were looking after!
-
-"The maelstrom! the maelstrom!"  Could a more dreadful word in a more
-dreadful situation have sounded in our ears!  We were then upon
-the dangerous coast of Norway.  Was the Nautilus being drawn into
-this gulf at the moment our boat was going to leave its sides?
-We knew that at the tide the pent-up waters between the islands
-of Ferroe and Loffoden rush with irresistible violence,
-forming a whirlpool from which no vessel ever escapes.
-From every point of the horizon enormous waves were meeting,
-forming a gulf justly called the "Navel of the Ocean,"
-whose power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve miles.
-There, not only vessels, but whales are sacrificed, as well as white
-bears from the northern regions.
-
-It is thither that the Nautilus, voluntarily or involuntarily,
-had been run by the Captain.
-
-It was describing a spiral, the circumference of which was lessening
-by degrees, and the boat, which was still fastened to its side,
-was carried along with giddy speed.  I felt that sickly giddiness
-which arises from long-continued whirling round.
-
-We were in dread.  Our horror was at its height, circulation had stopped,
-all nervous influence was annihilated, and we were covered with cold sweat,
-like a sweat of agony!  And what noise around our frail bark!
-What roarings repeated by the echo miles away!  What an uproar was that
-of the waters broken on the sharp rocks at the bottom, where the hardest
-bodies are crushed, and trees worn away, "with all the fur rubbed off,"
-according to the Norwegian phrase!
-
-What a situation to be in!  We rocked frightfully.  The Nautilus
-defended itself like a human being.  Its steel muscles cracked.
-Sometimes it seemed to stand upright, and we with it!
-
-"We must hold on," said Ned, "and look after the bolts.
-We may still be saved if we stick to the Nautilus."
-
-He had not finished the words, when we heard a crashing noise,
-the bolts gave way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was hurled
-like a stone from a sling into the midst of the whirlpool.
-
-My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock
-I lost all consciousness.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-CONCLUSION
-
-Thus ends the voyage under the seas.  What passed during that night--
-how the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom--
-how Ned Land, Conseil, and myself ever came out of the gulf,
-I cannot tell.
-
-But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman's hut,
-on the Loffoden Isles.  My two companions, safe and sound, were near me
-holding my hands.  We embraced each other heartily.
-
-At that moment we could not think of returning to France.  The means
-of communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare.
-And I am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly
-from Cape North.
-
-And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us,
-I revise my record of these adventures once more.
-Not a fact has been omitted, not a detail exaggerated.
-It is a faithful narrative of this incredible expedition in an
-element inaccessible to man, but to which Progress will one day
-open a road.
-
-Shall I be believed?  I do not know.  And it matters little, after all.
-What I now affirm is, that I have a right to speak of these seas, under which,
-in less than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that submarine tour
-of the world, which has revealed so many wonders.
-
-But what has become of the Nautilus?  Did it resist the pressure
-of the maelstrom?  Does Captain Nemo still live?  And does
-he still follow under the ocean those frightful retaliations?
-Or, did he stop after the last hecatomb?
-
-Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing
-the history of his life?  Shall I ever know the name of this man?
-Will the missing vessel tell us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo?
-
-I hope so.  And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered
-the sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the Nautilus has survived
-where so many other vessels have been lost!  If it be so--if Captain
-Nemo still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be
-appeased in that savage heart!  May the contemplation of so many wonders
-extinguish for ever the spirit of vengeance!  May the judge disappear,
-and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea!
-If his destiny be strange, it is also sublime.  Have I not understood
-it myself?  Have I not lived ten months of this unnatural life?
-And to the question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago,
-"That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?"
-two men alone of all now living have the right to give an answer----
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF.
-
-
-The end of Project Gutenberg etext of "Twenty Thousand Leagues
-Under the Sea"
-
-
-I have made the following changes to the text:
-
-PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
-  32    36  mizen-mast             mizzen-mast
-  66     5  Arronax                Aronnax
-  87    33  zoophites              zoophytes
-  89    22  aparatus               apparatus
-  96    28  dirunal                diurnal
-  97     8  Arronax                Aronnax
- 123    23  porphry                porphyry
- 141     8  Arronax                Aronnax
- 146    30  sideral                sidereal
- 177    30  Arronax                Aronnax
- 223     4  commmit                commit
- 258    16  swiftiest              swiftest
- 274     2  occured                occurred
-
-
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
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-Title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
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-Author: Jules Verne
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-[Date last updated: June 25, 2005]
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-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA ***
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-This etext was done by a number of anonymous volunteers of the
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-whom we dedicate this book.
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-
-
-
-TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA by JULES VERNE
-
-
-
-
-
-PART ONE
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-A SHIFTING REEF
-
-The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious
-and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.
-Not to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population
-and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents,
-seafaring men were particularly excited.  Merchants, common sailors,
-captains of vessels, skippers, both of Europe and America,
-naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several States
-on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.
-
-For some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing,"
-a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent,
-and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
-
-The facts relating to this apparition (entered in various log-books)
-agreed in most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in question,
-the untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power of locomotion,
-and the peculiar life with which it seemed endowed.  If it was a whale,
-it surpassed in size all those hitherto classified in science.
-Taking into consideration the mean of observations made at divers times--
-rejecting the timid estimate of those who assigned to this object
-a length of two hundred feet, equally with the exaggerated opinions
-which set it down as a mile in width and three in length--we might fairly
-conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly all dimensions
-admitted by the learned ones of the day, if it existed at all.
-And that it DID exist was an undeniable fact; and, with that tendency
-which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvellous, we can understand
-the excitement produced in the entire world by this supernatural apparition.
-As to classing it in the list of fables, the idea was out of the question.
-
-On the 20th of July, 1866, the steamer Governor Higginson,
-of the Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had met
-this moving mass five miles off the east coast of Australia.
-Captain Baker thought at first that he was in the presence of an
-unknown sandbank; he even prepared to determine its exact position
-when two columns of water, projected by the mysterious object,
-shot with a hissing noise a hundred and fifty feet up into the air.
-Now, unless the sandbank had been submitted to the intermittent
-eruption of a geyser, the Governor Higginson had to do neither
-more nor less than with an aquatic mammal, unknown till then,
-which threw up from its blow-holes columns of water mixed with
-air and vapour.
-
-Similar facts were observed on the 23rd of July in the same year,
-in the Pacific Ocean, by the Columbus, of the West India
-and Pacific Steam Navigation Company.  But this extraordinary
-creature could transport itself from one place to another
-with surprising velocity; as, in an interval of three days,
-the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had observed it at
-two different points of the chart, separated by a distance
-of more than seven hundred nautical leagues.
-
-Fifteen days later, two thousand miles farther off, the Helvetia,
-of the Compagnie-Nationale, and the Shannon, of the Royal
-Mail Steamship Company, sailing to windward in that portion
-of the Atlantic lying between the United States and Europe,
-respectively signalled the monster to each other in 42@ 15' N. lat.
-and 60@ 35' W. long.  In these simultaneous observations they
-thought themselves justified in estimating the minimum length
-of the mammal at more than three hundred and fifty feet,
-as the Shannon and Helvetia were of smaller dimensions than it,
-though they measured three hundred feet over all.
-
-Now the largest whales, those which frequent those parts of the sea round
-the Aleutian, Kulammak, and Umgullich islands, have never exceeded the length
-of sixty yards, if they attain that.
-
-In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion.
-They sang of it in the cafes, ridiculed it in the papers, and represented
-it on the stage.  All kinds of stories were circulated regarding it.
-There appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and
-imaginary creature, from the white whale, the terrible "Moby Dick"
-of sub-arctic regions, to the immense kraken, whose tentacles could entangle
-a ship of five hundred tons and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean.
-The legends of ancient times were even revived.
-
-Then burst forth the unending argument between the believers and the
-unbelievers in the societies of the wise and the scientific journals.
-"The question of the monster" inflamed all minds.  Editors of
-scientific journals, quarrelling with believers in the supernatural,
-spilled seas of ink during this memorable campaign, some even drawing blood;
-for from the sea-serpent they came to direct personalities.
-
-During the first months of the year 1867 the question seemed buried,
-never to revive, when new facts were brought before the public.
-It was then no longer a scientific problem to be solved, but a real
-danger seriously to be avoided.  The question took quite another shape.
-The monster became a small island, a rock, a reef, but a reef of indefinite
-and shifting proportions.
-
-On the 5th of March, 1867, the Moravian, of the Montreal Ocean Company,
-finding herself during the night in 27@ 30' lat.  and 72@ 15' long., struck
-on her starboard quarter a rock, marked in no chart for that part of the sea.
-Under the combined efforts of the wind and its four hundred horse power,
-it was going at the rate of thirteen knots.  Had it not been for the superior
-strength of the hull of the Moravian, she would have been broken by the shock
-and gone down with the 237 passengers she was bringing home from Canada.
-
-The accident happened about five o'clock in the morning, as the day
-was breaking.  The officers of the quarter-deck hurried to the after-part
-of the vessel.  They examined the sea with the most careful attention.
-They saw nothing but a strong eddy about three cables' length distant,
-as if the surface had been violently agitated.  The bearings of the place were
-taken exactly, and the Moravian continued its route without apparent damage.
-Had it struck on a submerged rock, or on an enormous wreck?  They could
-not tell; but, on examination of the ship's bottom when undergoing repairs,
-it was found that part of her keel was broken.
-
-This fact, so grave in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten
-like many others if, three weeks after, it had not been re-enacted
-under similar circumstances.  But, thanks to the nationality of
-the victim of the shock, thanks to the reputation of the company to
-which the vessel belonged, the circumstance became extensively circulated.
-
-The 13th of April, 1867, the sea being beautiful, the breeze favourable,
-the Scotia, of the Cunard Company's line, found herself in 15@ 12' long.
-and 45@ 37' lat.  She was going at the speed of thirteen knots and a half.
-
-At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, whilst the passengers were
-assembled at lunch in the great saloon, a slight shock was felt on the hull
-of the Scotia, on her quarter, a little aft of the port-paddle.
-
-The Scotia had not struck, but she had been struck, and seemingly
-by something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt.
-The shock had been so slight that no one had been alarmed,
-had it not been for the shouts of the carpenter's watch,
-who rushed on to the bridge, exclaiming, "We are sinking! we
-are sinking!"  At first the passengers were much frightened,
-but Captain Anderson hastened to reassure them.  The danger could
-not be imminent.  The Scotia, divided into seven compartments
-by strong partitions, could brave with impunity any leak.
-Captain Anderson went down immediately into the hold.
-He found that the sea was pouring into the fifth compartment;
-and the rapidity of the influx proved that the force of the water
-was considerable.  Fortunately this compartment did not hold
-the boilers, or the fires would have been immediately extinguished.
-Captain Anderson ordered the engines to be stopped at once,
-and one of the men went down to ascertain the extent of the injury.
-Some minutes afterwards they discovered the existence of a
-large hole, two yards in diameter, in the ship's bottom.
-Such a leak could not be stopped; and the Scotia, her paddles
-half submerged, was obliged to continue her course.  She was then
-three hundred miles from Cape Clear, and, after three days' delay,
-which caused great uneasiness in Liverpool, she entered the basin
-of the company.
-
-The engineers visited the Scotia, which was put in dry dock.
-They could scarcely believe it possible; at two yards and a half below
-water-mark was a regular rent, in the form of an isosceles triangle.
-The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined
-that it could not have been more neatly done by a punch.
-It was clear, then, that the instrument producing the perforation
-was not of a common stamp and, after having been driven with
-prodigious strength, and piercing an iron plate 1 3/8 inches thick,
-had withdrawn itself by a backward motion.
-
-Such was the last fact, which resulted in exciting once more the torrent
-of public opinion.  From this moment all unlucky casualties which could
-not be otherwise accounted for were put down to the monster.
-
-Upon this imaginary creature rested the responsibility of all
-these shipwrecks, which unfortunately were considerable;
-for of three thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded
-at Lloyd's, the number of sailing and steam-ships supposed
-to be totally lost, from the absence of all news, amounted to
-not less than two hundred!
-
-Now, it was the "monster" who, justly or unjustly, was accused
-of their disappearance, and, thanks to it, communication between
-the different continents became more and more dangerous.
-The public demanded sharply that the seas should at any price be
-relieved from this formidable cetacean.  [1]
-
-[1] Member of the whale family.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-PRO AND CON
-
-At the period when these events took place, I had just returned
-from a scientific research in the disagreeable territory
-of Nebraska, in the United States.  In virtue of my office
-as Assistant Professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris,
-the French Government had attached me to that expedition.
-After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York towards
-the end of March, laden with a precious collection.
-My departure for France was fixed for the first days in May.
-Meanwhile I was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical,
-botanical, and zoological riches, when the accident happened
-to the Scotia.
-
-I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day.
-How could I be otherwise?  I had read and reread all the American
-and European papers without being any nearer a conclusion.
-This mystery puzzled me.  Under the impossibility of forming
-an opinion, I jumped from one extreme to the other.
-That there really was something could not be doubted,
-and the incredulous were invited to put their finger on the wound
-of the Scotia.
-
-On my arrival at New York the question was at its height.
-The theory of the floating island, and the unapproachable sandbank,
-supported by minds little competent to form a judgment, was abandoned.
-And, indeed, unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach,
-how could it change its position with such astonishing rapidity?
-
-From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enormous
-wreck was given up.
-
-There remained, then, only two possible solutions of the question,
-which created two distinct parties:  on one side, those who were
-for a monster of colossal strength; on the other, those who were
-for a submarine vessel of enormous motive power.
-
-But this last theory, plausible as it was, could not stand against
-inquiries made in both worlds.  That a private gentleman should have
-such a machine at his command was not likely.  Where, when, and how
-was it built? and how could its construction have been kept secret?
-Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine.
-And in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has
-multiplied the power of weapons of war, it was possible that,
-without the knowledge of others, a State might try to work such
-a formidable engine.
-
-But the idea of a war machine fell before the declaration of Governments.
-As public interest was in question, and transatlantic communications
-suffered, their veracity could not be doubted.  But how admit that
-the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the public eye?
-For a private gentleman to keep the secret under such circumstances would
-be very difficult, and for a State whose every act is persistently watched
-by powerful rivals, certainly impossible.
-
-Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me
-the honour of consulting me on the phenomenon in question.
-I had published in France a work in quarto, in two volumes,
-entitled Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.  This book,
-highly approved of in the learned world, gained for me a special
-reputation in this rather obscure branch of Natural History.
-My advice was asked.  As long as I could deny the reality
-of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative.
-But soon, finding myself driven into a corner, I was
-obliged to explain myself point by point.  I discussed
-the question in all its forms, politically and scientifically;
-and I give here an extract from a carefully-studied article
-which I published in the number of the 30th of April.
-It ran as follows:
-
-"After examining one by one the different theories, rejecting all
-other suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence
-of a marine animal of enormous power.
-
-"The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us.
-Soundings cannot reach them.  What passes in those remote depths--
-what beings live, or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath
-the surface of the waters--what is the organisation of these animals,
-we can scarcely conjecture.  However, the solution of the problem
-submitted to me may modify the form of the dilemma.  Either we do know
-all the varieties of beings which people our planet, or we do not.
-If we do NOT know them all--if Nature has still secrets in the deeps
-for us, nothing is more conformable to reason than to admit the existence
-of fishes, or cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species,
-of an organisation formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings,
-and which an accident of some sort has brought at long intervals
-to the upper level of the ocean.
-
-"If, on the contrary, we DO know all living kinds, we must
-necessarily seek for the animal in question amongst those marine
-beings already classed; and, in that case, I should be disposed
-to admit the existence of a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains
-a length of sixty feet.  Increase its size fivefold or tenfold,
-give it strength proportionate to its size, lengthen its
-destructive weapons, and you obtain the animal required.
-It will have the proportions determined by the officers
-of the Shannon, the instrument required by the perforation
-of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull
-of the steamer.
-
-"Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword,
-a halberd, according to the expression of certain naturalists.
-The principal tusk has the hardness of steel.  Some of these tusks
-have been found buried in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn
-always attacks with success.  Others have been drawn out,
-not without trouble, from the bottoms of ships, which they
-had pierced through and through, as a gimlet pierces a barrel.
-The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one
-of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length,
-and fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
-
-"Very well! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger and the animal
-ten times more powerful; launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
-and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required.
-Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be
-a sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd,
-but with a real spur, as the armoured frigates, or the `rams' of war,
-whose massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time.
-Thus may this puzzling phenomenon be explained, unless there be something over
-and above all that one has ever conjectured, seen, perceived, or experienced;
-which is just within the bounds of possibility."
-
-These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a certain point,
-I wished to shelter my dignity as professor, and not give
-too much cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well
-when they do laugh.  I reserved for myself a way of escape.
-In effect, however, I admitted the existence of the "monster."
-My article was warmly discussed, which procured it a high reputation.
-It rallied round it a certain number of partisans.  The solution
-it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to the imagination.
-The human mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings.
-And the sea is precisely their best vehicle, the only medium
-through which these giants (against which terrestrial animals,
-such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as nothing) can be produced
-or developed.
-
-The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this
-point of view.  The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd's List,
-the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial Review, all papers devoted
-to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of premium,
-were unanimous on this point.  Public opinion had been pronounced.
-The United States were the first in the field; and in New York they
-made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this narwhal.
-A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in commission
-as soon as possible.  The arsenals were opened to Commander Farragut,
-who hastened the arming of his frigate; but, as it always happens,
-the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster did not appear.
-For two months no one heard it spoken of.  No ship met with it.
-It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around it.
-It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable, that jesters
-pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on its passage and was
-making the most of it.
-
-So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided with
-formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to pursue.
-Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned that a
-steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to Shanghai,
-had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean.
-The excitement caused by this news was extreme.  The ship was revictualled
-and well stocked with coal.
-
-Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier,
-I received a letter worded as follows:
-
-To M. ARONNAX, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
-
-SIR,--If you will consent to join the Abraham Lincoln
-in this expedition, the Government of the United States
-will with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise.
-Commander Farragut has a cabin at your disposal.
-
-Very cordially yours, J.B. HOBSON, Secretary of Marine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-I FORM MY RESOLUTION
-
-Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson's letter I no more thought
-of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the North Sea.
-Three seconds after reading the letter of the honourable Secretary of Marine,
-I felt that my true vocation, the sole end of my life, was to chase this
-disturbing monster and purge it from the world.
-
-But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey, weary and longing
-for repose.  I aspired to nothing more than again seeing my country,
-my friends, my little lodging by the Jardin des Plantes,
-my dear and precious collections--but nothing could keep me back!
-I forgot all--fatigue, friends and collections--and accepted without
-hesitation the offer of the American Government.
-
-"Besides," thought I, "all roads lead back to Europe; and the unicorn
-may be amiable enough to hurry me towards the coast of France.
-This worthy animal may allow itself to be caught in the seas of Europe
-(for my particular benefit), and I will not bring back less than half
-a yard of his ivory halberd to the Museum of Natural History."
-But in the meanwhile I must seek this narwhal in the North
-Pacific Ocean, which, to return to France, was taking the road
-to the antipodes.
-
-"Conseil," I called in an impatient voice.
-
-Conseil was my servant, a true, devoted Flemish boy, who had accompanied
-me in all my travels.  I liked him, and he returned the liking well.
-He was quiet by nature, regular from principle, zealous from habit,
-evincing little disturbance at the different surprises of life,
-very quick with his hands, and apt at any service required of him;
-and, despite his name, never giving advice--even when asked for it.
-
-Conseil had followed me for the last ten years wherever science led.
-Never once did he complain of the length or fatigue of a journey,
-never make an objection to pack his portmanteau for whatever
-country it might be, or however far away, whether China or Congo.
-Besides all this, he had good health, which defied all sickness,
-and solid muscles, but no nerves; good morals are understood.
-This boy was thirty years old, and his age to that of his master
-as fifteen to twenty.  May I be excused for saying that I was
-forty years old?
-
-But Conseil had one fault:  he was ceremonious to a degree,
-and would never speak to me but in the third person,
-which was sometimes provoking.
-
-"Conseil," said I again, beginning with feverish hands to make
-preparations for my departure.
-
-Certainly I was sure of this devoted boy.  As a rule, I never asked
-him if it were convenient for him or not to follow me in my travels;
-but this time the expedition in question might be prolonged,
-and the enterprise might be hazardous in pursuit of an animal capable
-of sinking a frigate as easily as a nutshell.  Here there was matter
-for reflection even to the most impassive man in the world.
-What would Conseil say?
-
-"Conseil," I called a third time.
-
-Conseil appeared.
-
-"Did you call, sir?" said he, entering.
-
-"Yes, my boy; make preparations for me and yourself too.
-We leave in two hours."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied Conseil, quietly.
-
-"Not an instant to lose; lock in my trunk all travelling utensils,
-coats, shirts, and stockings--without counting, as many as you can,
-and make haste."
-
-"And your collections, sir?" observed Conseil.
-
-"They will keep them at the hotel."
-
-"We are not returning to Paris, then?" said Conseil.
-
-"Oh! certainly," I answered, evasively, "by making a curve."
-
-"Will the curve please you, sir?"
-
-"Oh! it will be nothing; not quite so direct a road, that is all.
-We take our passage in the Abraham, Lincoln."
-
-"As you think proper, sir," coolly replied Conseil.
-
-"You see, my friend, it has to do with the monster--
-the famous narwhal.  We are going to purge it from the seas.
-A glorious mission, but a dangerous one!  We cannot tell
-where we may go; these animals can be very capricious.
-But we will go whether or no; we have got a captain who
-is pretty wide-awake."
-
-Our luggage was transported to the deck of the frigate immediately.
-I hastened on board and asked for Commander Farragut.
-One of the sailors conducted me to the poop, where I found myself
-in the presence of a good-looking officer, who held out his
-hand to me.
-
-"Monsieur Pierre Aronnax?" said he.
-
-"Himself," replied I. "Commander Farragut?"
-
-"You are welcome, Professor; your cabin is ready for you."
-
-I bowed, and desired to be conducted to the cabin destined for me.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln had been well chosen and equipped
-for her new destination.  She was a frigate of great speed,
-fitted with high-pressure engines which admitted a pressure
-of seven atmospheres.  Under this the Abraham Lincoln attained
-the mean speed of nearly eighteen knots and a third an hour--
-a considerable speed, but, nevertheless, insufficient to grapple
-with this gigantic cetacean.
-
-The interior arrangements of the frigate corresponded to its
-nautical qualities.  I was well satisfied with my cabin,
-which was in the after part, opening upon the gunroom.
-
-"We shall be well off here," said I to Conseil.
-
-"As well, by your honour's leave, as a hermit-crab in the shell
-of a whelk," said Conseil.
-
-I left Conseil to stow our trunks conveniently away, and remounted
-the poop in order to survey the preparations for departure.
-
-At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings
-to be cast loose which held the Abraham Lincoln to the pier
-of Brooklyn.  So in a quarter of an hour, perhaps less,
-the frigate would have sailed without me.  I should have missed
-this extraordinary, supernatural, and incredible expedition,
-the recital of which may well meet with some suspicion.
-
-But Commander Farragut would not lose a day nor an hour
-in scouring the seas in which the animal had been sighted.
-He sent for the engineer.
-
-"Is the steam full on?" asked he.
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-"Go ahead," cried Commander Farragut.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-NED LAND
-
-Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded.
-His vessel and he were one.  He was the soul of it.  On the question
-of the monster there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow
-the existence of the animal to be disputed on board.  He believed in it,
-as certain good women believe in the leviathan--by faith, not by reason.
-The monster did exist, and he had sworn to rid the seas of it.  Either Captain
-Farragut would kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the captain.
-There was no third course.
-
-The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief.
-They were ever chatting, discussing, and calculating the various
-chances of a meeting, watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean.
-More than one took up his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees,
-who would have cursed such a berth under any other circumstances.
-As long as the sun described its daily course, the rigging was
-crowded with sailors, whose feet were burnt to such an extent by
-the heat of the deck as to render it unbearable; still the Abraham
-Lincoln had not yet breasted the suspected waters of the Pacific.
-As to the ship's company, they desired nothing better than to meet
-the unicorn, to harpoon it, hoist it on board, and despatch it.
-They watched the sea with eager attention.
-
-Besides, Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand dollars,
-set apart for whoever should first sight the monster, were he cabin-boy,
-common seaman, or officer.
-
-I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the Abraham Lincoln.
-
-For my own part I was not behind the others, and, left to no one my share
-of daily observations.  The frigate might have been called the Argus,
-for a hundred reasons.  Only one amongst us, Conseil, seemed to protest
-by his indifference against the question which so interested us all,
-and seemed to be out of keeping with the general enthusiasm on board.
-
-I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his
-ship with every apparatus for catching the gigantic cetacean.
-No whaler had ever been better armed.  We possessed every
-known engine, from the harpoon thrown by the hand to the barbed
-arrows of the blunderbuss, and the explosive balls of the duck-gun.
-On the forecastle lay the perfection of a breech-loading gun,
-very thick at the breech, and very narrow in the bore,
-the model of which had been in the Exhibition of 1867.
-This precious weapon of American origin could throw with ease
-a conical projectile of nine pounds to a mean distance
-of ten miles.
-
-Thus the Abraham Lincoln wanted for no means of destruction; and, what was
-better still she had on board Ned Land, the prince of harpooners.
-
-Ned Land was a Canadian, with an uncommon quickness of hand, and who knew
-no equal in his dangerous occupation.  Skill, coolness, audacity, and cunning
-he possessed in a superior degree, and it must be a cunning whale to escape
-the stroke of his harpoon.
-
-Ned Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man
-(more than six feet high), strongly built, grave and taciturn,
-occasionally violent, and very passionate when contradicted.
-His person attracted attention, but above all the boldness
-of his look, which gave a singular expression to his face.
-
-Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French; and, little communicative
-as Ned Land was, I must admit that he took a certain liking for me.
-My nationality drew him to me, no doubt.  It was an opportunity for him
-to talk, and for me to hear, that old language of Rabelais, which is still
-in use in some Canadian provinces.  The harpooner's family was originally
-from Quebec, and was already a tribe of hardy fishermen when this town
-belonged to France.
-
-Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I
-loved to hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas.
-He related his fishing, and his combats, with natural poetry
-of expression; his recital took the form of an epic poem,
-and I seemed to be listening to a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad
-of the regions of the North.
-
-I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him.
-We are old friends now, united in that unchangeable friendship
-which is born and cemented amidst extreme dangers.  Ah, brave Ned!
-I ask no more than to live a hundred years longer, that I may have more
-time to dwell the longer on your memory.
-
-Now, what was Ned Land's opinion upon the question of the marine monster?
-I must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn, and was
-the only one on board who did not share that universal conviction.
-He even avoided the subject, which I one day thought it my duty
-to press upon him.  One magnificent evening, the 30th July (that is
-to say, three weeks after our departure), the frigate was abreast
-of Cape Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia.
-We had crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and the Straits of Magellan
-opened less than seven hundred miles to the south.  Before eight
-days were over the Abraham Lincoln would be ploughing the waters
-of the Pacific.
-
-Seated on the poop, Ned Land and I were chatting of one thing
-and another as we looked at this mysterious sea, whose great
-depths had up to this time been inaccessible to the eye of man.
-I naturally led up the conversation to the giant unicorn, and examined
-the various chances of success or failure of the expedition.
-But, seeing that Ned Land let me speak without saying too much himself,
-I pressed him more closely.
-
-"Well, Ned," said I, "is it possible that you are not convinced
-of the existence of this cetacean that we are following?
-Have you any particular reason for being so incredulous?"
-
-The harpooner looked at me fixedly for some moments
-before answering, struck his broad forehead with his hand
-(a habit of his), as if to collect himself, and said at last,
-"Perhaps I have, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"But, Ned, you, a whaler by profession, familiarised with all
-the great marine mammalia--YOU ought to be the last to doubt
-under such circumstances!"
-
-"That is just what deceives you, Professor," replied Ned.
-"As a whaler I have followed many a cetacean, harpooned a great number,
-and killed several; but, however strong or well-armed they may
-have been, neither their tails nor their weapons would have been
-able even to scratch the iron plates of a steamer."
-
-"But, Ned, they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal
-have pierced through and through."
-
-"Wooden ships--that is possible," replied the Canadian,
-"but I have never seen it done; and, until further proof,
-I deny that whales, cetaceans, or sea-unicorns could ever produce
-the effect you describe."
-
-"Well, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction resting on the logic of facts.
-I believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised, belonging to
-the branch of vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots, or the dolphins,
-and furnished with a horn of defence of great penetrating power."
-
-"Hum!" said the harpooner, shaking his head with the air of a man
-who would not be convinced.
-
-"Notice one thing, my worthy Canadian," I resumed.
-"If such an animal is in existence, if it inhabits the depths
-of the ocean, if it frequents the strata lying miles below
-the surface of the water, it must necessarily possess an
-organisation the strength of which would defy all comparison."
-
-"And why this powerful organisation?" demanded Ned.
-
-"Because it requires incalculable strength to keep one's self
-in these strata and resist their pressure.  Listen to me.
-Let us admit that the pressure of the atmosphere is represented
-by the weight of a column of water thirty-two feet high.
-In reality the column of water would be shorter, as we are
-speaking of sea water, the density of which is greater than
-that of fresh water.  Very well, when you dive, Ned, as many
-times 32 feet of water as there are above you, so many times
-does your body bear a pressure equal to that of the atmosphere,
-that is to say, 15 lb.  for each square inch of its surface.
-It follows, then, that at 320 feet this pressure equals
-that of 10 atmospheres, of 100 atmospheres at 3,200 feet,
-and of 1,000 atmospheres at 32,000 feet, that is, about 6 miles;
-which is equivalent to saying that if you could attain this
-depth in the ocean, each square three-eighths of an inch
-of the surface of your body would bear a pressure of 5,600 lb.
-Ah! my brave Ned, do you know how many square inches you carry on
-the surface of your body?"
-
-"I have no idea, Mr. Aronnax."
-
-"About 6,500; and as in reality the atmospheric pressure is about 15 lb.
-to the square inch, your 6,500 square inches bear at this moment a pressure
-of 97,500 lb."
-
-"Without my perceiving it?"
-
-"Without your perceiving it.  And if you are not crushed by
-such a pressure, it is because the air penetrates the interior
-of your body with equal pressure.  Hence perfect equilibrium
-between the interior and exterior pressure, which thus neutralise
-each other, and which allows you to bear it without inconvenience.
-But in the water it is another thing."
-
-"Yes, I understand," replied Ned, becoming more attentive;
-"because the water surrounds me, but does not penetrate."
-
-"Precisely, Ned:  so that at 32 feet beneath the surface of the sea you would
-undergo a pressure of 97,500 lb.; at 320 feet, ten times that pressure;
-at 3,200 feet, a hundred times that pressure; lastly, at 32,000 feet,
-a thousand times that pressure would be 97,500,000 lb.--that is to say,
-that you would be flattened as if you had been drawn from the plates of
-a hydraulic machine!"
-
-"The devil!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"Very well, my worthy harpooner, if some vertebrate, several hundred
-yards long, and large in proportion, can maintain itself in such depths--
-of those whose surface is represented by millions of square inches, that is
-by tens of millions of pounds, we must estimate the pressure they undergo.
-Consider, then, what must be the resistance of their bony structure,
-and the strength of their organisation to withstand such pressure!"
-
-"Why!" exclaimed Ned Land, "they must be made of iron plates
-eight inches thick, like the armoured frigates."
-
-"As you say, Ned.  And think what destruction such a mass would cause,
-if hurled with the speed of an express train against the hull of a vessel."
-
-"Yes--certainly--perhaps," replied the Canadian, shaken by these figures,
-but not yet willing to give in.
-
-"Well, have I convinced you?"
-
-"You have convinced me of one thing, sir, which is that,
-if such animals do exist at the bottom of the seas, they must
-necessarily be as strong as you say."
-
-"But if they do not exist, mine obstinate harpooner, how explain
-the accident to the Scotia?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-AT A VENTURE
-
-The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was for a long time marked
-by no special incident.  But one circumstance happened which showed
-the wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence
-we might place in him.
-
-The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers,
-from whom we learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal.
-But one of them, the captain of the Monroe, knowing that Ned Land had
-shipped on board the Abraham Lincoln, begged for his help in chasing
-a whale they had in sight.  Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing
-Ned Land at work, gave him permission to go on board the Monroe.
-And fate served our Canadian so well that, instead of one whale,
-he harpooned two with a double blow, striking one straight to the heart,
-and catching the other after some minutes' pursuit.
-
-Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land's harpoon,
-I would not bet in its favour.
-
-The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great rapidity.
-The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of Magellan, level with
-Cape Vierges.  But Commander Farragut would not take a tortuous passage,
-but doubled Cape Horn.
-
-The ship's crew agreed with him.  And certainly it was possible
-that they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.
-Many of the sailors affirmed that the monster could not pass there,
-"that he was too big for that!"
-
-The 6th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Abraham Lincoln,
-at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island,
-this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which
-some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn.
-The course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw
-of the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
-
-"Keep your eyes open!" called out the sailors.
-
-And they were opened widely.  Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled,
-it is true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not
-an instant's repose.
-
-I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least
-attentive on board.  Giving but few minutes to my meals,
-but a few hours to sleep, indifferent to either rain or sunshine,
-I did not leave the poop of the vessel.  Now leaning on the netting
-of the forecastle, now on the taffrail, I devoured with eagerness
-the soft foam which whitened the sea as far as the eye could reach;
-and how often have I shared the emotion of the majority of the crew,
-when some capricious whale raised its black back above the waves!
-The poop of the vessel was crowded on a moment.  The cabins
-poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers, each with heaving
-breast and troubled eye watching the course of the cetacean.
-I looked and looked till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil kept
-repeating in a calm voice:
-
-"If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!"
-
-But vain excitement!  The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made
-for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot,
-which soon disappeared amidst a storm of abuse.
-
-But the weather was good.  The voyage was being accomplished under
-the most favourable auspices.  It was then the bad season in Australia,
-the July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe,
-but the sea was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.
-
-The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105d of longitude,
-and the 27th of the same month we crossed the Equator on the 110th meridian.
-This passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly direction,
-and scoured the central waters of the Pacific.  Commander Farragut thought,
-and with reason, that it was better to remain in deep water, and keep
-clear of continents or islands, which the beast itself seemed to shun
-(perhaps because there was not enough water for him! suggested
-the greater part of the crew). The frigate passed at some distance from
-the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the tropic of Cancer,
-and made for the China Seas.  We were on the theatre of the last diversions
-of the monster:  and, to say truth, we no longer LIVED on board.
-The entire ship's crew were undergoing a nervous excitement, of which I
-can give no idea:  they could not eat, they could not sleep--twenty times
-a day, a misconception or an optical illusion of some sailor seated
-on the taffrail, would cause dreadful perspirations, and these emotions,
-twenty times repeated, kept us in a state of excitement so violent that a
-reaction was unavoidable.
-
-And truly, reaction soon showed itself.  For three months,
-during which a day seemed an age, the Abraham Lincoln furrowed
-all the waters of the Northern Pacific, running at whales,
-making sharp deviations from her course, veering suddenly
-from one tack to another, stopping suddenly, putting on steam,
-and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging her machinery,
-and not one point of the Japanese or American coast
-was left unexplored.
-
-The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most
-ardent detractors.  Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself,
-and certainly, had it not been for the resolute determination on the part
-of Captain Farragut, the frigate would have headed due southward.
-This useless search could not last much longer.  The Abraham Lincoln
-had nothing to reproach herself with, she had done her best to succeed.
-Never had an American ship's crew shown more zeal or patience;
-its failure could not be placed to their charge--there remained nothing
-but to return.
-
-This was represented to the commander.  The sailors could
-not hide their discontent, and the service suffered.
-I will not say there was a mutiny on board, but after a reasonable
-period of obstinacy, Captain Farragut (as Columbus did)
-asked for three days' patience.  If in three days the monster did
-not appear, the man at the helm should give three turns of the wheel,
-and the Abraham Lincoln would make for the European seas.
-
-This promise was made on the 2nd of November.  It had the effect of
-rallying the ship's crew.  The ocean was watched with renewed attention.
-Each one wished for a last glance in which to sum up his remembrance.
-Glasses were used with feverish activity.  It was a grand defiance
-given to the giant narwhal, and he could scarcely fail to answer
-the summons and "appear."
-
-Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure; a thousand
-schemes were tried to attract the attention and stimulate
-the apathy of the animal in case it should be met in those parts.
-Large quantities of bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship,
-to the great satisfaction (I must say) of the sharks.
-Small craft radiated in all directions round the Abraham Lincoln
-as she lay to, and did not leave a spot of the sea unexplored.
-But the night of the 4th of November arrived without the unveiling of
-this submarine mystery.
-
-The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would
-(morally speaking) expire; after that time, Commander Farragut,
-faithful to his promise, was to turn the course to the south-east
-and abandon for ever the northern regions of the Pacific.
-
-The frigate was then in 31@ 15' N. lat.  and 136@ 42' E. long.
-The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles to leeward.
-Night was approaching.  They had just struck eight bells;
-large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter.
-The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
-
-At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting.
-Conseil, standing near me, was looking straight before him.
-The crew, perched in the ratlines, examined the horizon which
-contracted and darkened by degrees.  Officers with their night
-glasses scoured the growing darkness:  sometimes the ocean sparkled
-under the rays of the moon, which darted between two clouds,
-then all trace of light was lost in the darkness.
-
-In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little
-of the general influence.  At least I thought so.  Perhaps for
-the first time his nerves vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
-
-"Come, Conseil," said I, "this is the last chance of pocketing
-the two thousand dollars."
-
-"May I be permitted to say, sir," replied Conseil, "that I never reckoned
-on getting the prize; and, had the government of the Union offered a hundred
-thousand dollars, it would have been none the poorer."
-
-"You are right, Conseil.  It is a foolish affair after all, and one upon
-which we entered too lightly.  What time lost, what useless emotions!
-We should have been back in France six months ago."
-
-"In your little room, sir," replied Conseil, "and in your museum, sir; and I
-should have already classed all your fossils, sir.  And the Babiroussa would
-have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des Plantes, and have drawn
-all the curious people of the capital!"
-
-"As you say, Conseil.  I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being
-laughed at for our pains."
-
-"That's tolerably certain," replied Conseil, quietly; "I think
-they will make fun of you, sir.  And, must I say it----?"
-
-"Go on, my good friend."
-
-"Well, sir, you will only get your deserts."
-
-"Indeed!"
-
-"When one has the honour of being a savant as you are, sir, one should
-not expose one's self to----"
-
-Conseil had not time to finish his compliment.
-In the midst of general silence a voice had just been heard.
-It was the voice of Ned Land shouting:
-
-"Look out there!  The very thing we are looking for--
-on our weather beam!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-AT FULL STEAM
-
-At this cry the whole ship's crew hurried towards the harpooner--
-commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the engineers
-left their engines, and the stokers their furnaces.
-
-The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went
-on by her own momentum.  The darkness was then profound, and, however good
-the Canadian's eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to see,
-and what he had been able to see.  My heart beat as if it would break.
-But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all perceived the object
-he pointed to.  At two cables' length from the Abraham Lincoln,
-on the starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be illuminated all over.
-It was not a mere phosphoric phenomenon.  The monster emerged some fathoms
-from the water, and then threw out that very intense but mysterious
-light mentioned in the report of several captains.  This magnificent
-irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great SHINING power.
-The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval, much elongated,
-the centre of which condensed a burning heat, whose overpowering brilliancy
-died out by successive gradations.
-
-"It is only a massing of phosphoric particles," cried one of the officers.
-
-"No, sir, certainly not," I replied.  "That brightness is of an
-essentially electrical nature.  Besides, see, see! it moves;
-it is moving forwards, backwards; it is darting towards us!"
-
-A general cry arose from the frigate.
-
-"Silence!" said the captain.  "Up with the helm, reverse the engines."
-
-The steam was shut off, and the Abraham Lincoln, beating to port,
-described a semicircle.
-
-"Right the helm, go ahead," cried the captain.
-
-These orders were executed, and the frigate moved rapidly
-from the burning light.
-
-I was mistaken.  She tried to sheer off, but the supernatural
-animal approached with a velocity double her own.
-
-We gasped for breath.  Stupefaction more than fear made us dumb
-and motionless.  The animal gained on us, sporting with the waves.
-It made the round of the frigate, which was then making fourteen knots,
-and enveloped it with its electric rings like luminous dust.
-
-Then it moved away two or three miles, leaving a phosphorescent track,
-like those volumes of steam that the express trains leave behind.
-All at once from the dark line of the horizon whither it retired
-to gain its momentum, the monster rushed suddenly towards the Abraham
-Lincoln with alarming rapidity, stopped suddenly about twenty feet
-from the hull, and died out--not diving under the water, for its
-brilliancy did not abate--but suddenly, and as if the source of this
-brilliant emanation was exhausted.  Then it reappeared on the other
-side of the vessel, as if it had turned and slid under the hull.
-Any moment a collision might have occurred which would have been fatal
-to us.  However, I was astonished at the manoeuvres of the frigate.
-She fled and did not attack.
-
-On the captain's face, generally so impassive, was an expression
-of unaccountable astonishment.
-
-"Mr. Aronnax," he said, "I do not know with what formidable
-being I have to deal, and I will not imprudently risk my
-frigate in the midst of this darkness.  Besides, how attack
-this unknown thing, how defend one's self from it?
-Wait for daylight, and the scene will change."
-
-"You have no further doubt, captain, of the nature of the animal?"
-
-"No, sir; it is evidently a gigantic narwhal, and an electric one."
-
-"Perhaps," added I, "one can only approach it with a torpedo."
-
-"Undoubtedly," replied the captain, "if it possesses such
-dreadful power, it is the most terrible animal that ever was created.
-That is why, sir, I must be on my guard."
-
-The crew were on their feet all night.  No one thought of sleep.
-The Abraham Lincoln, not being able to struggle with such velocity,
-had moderated its pace, and sailed at half speed.  For its part,
-the narwhal, imitating the frigate, let the waves rock it at will,
-and seemed decided not to leave the scene of the struggle.
-Towards midnight, however, it disappeared, or, to use a more
-appropriate term, it "died out" like a large glow-worm. Had it fled?
-One could only fear, not hope it.  But at seven minutes to one o'clock
-in the morning a deafening whistling was heard, like that produced
-by a body of water rushing with great violence.
-
-The captain, Ned Land, and I were then on the poop, eagerly peering
-through the profound darkness.
-
-"Ned Land," asked the commander, "you have often heard the roaring of whales?"
-
-"Often, sir; but never such whales the sight of which brought me
-in two thousand dollars.  If I can only approach within four harpoons'
-length of it!"
-
-"But to approach it," said the commander, "I ought to put a whaler
-at your disposal?"
-
-"Certainly, sir."
-
-"That will be trifling with the lives of my men."
-
-"And mine too," simply said the harpooner.
-
-Towards two o'clock in the morning, the burning light reappeared,
-not less intense, about five miles to windward of the Abraham Lincoln.
-Notwithstanding the distance, and the noise of the wind and sea,
-one heard distinctly the loud strokes of the animal's tail,
-and even its panting breath.  It seemed that, at the moment
-that the enormous narwhal had come to take breath at the surface
-of the water, the air was engulfed in its lungs, like the steam
-in the vast cylinders of a machine of two thousand horse-power.
-
-"Hum!" thought I, "a whale with the strength of a cavalry regiment
-would be a pretty whale!"
-
-We were on the qui vive till daylight, and prepared for the combat.
-The fishing implements were laid along the hammock nettings.
-The second lieutenant loaded the blunder busses, which could throw harpoons
-to the distance of a mile, and long duck-guns, with explosive bullets,
-which inflicted mortal wounds even to the most terrible animals.
-Ned Land contented himself with sharpening his harpoon--a terrible weapon
-in his hands.
-
-At six o'clock day began to break; and, with the first glimmer
-of light, the electric light of the narwhal disappeared.
-At seven o'clock the day was sufficiently advanced, but a very thick sea
-fog obscured our view, and the best spy glasses could not pierce it.
-That caused disappointment and anger.
-
-I climbed the mizzen-mast. Some officers were already perched
-on the mast-heads. At eight o'clock the fog lay heavily
-on the waves, and its thick scrolls rose little by little.
-The horizon grew wider and clearer at the same time.
-Suddenly, just as on the day before, Ned Land's voice was heard:
-
-"The thing itself on the port quarter!" cried the harpooner.
-
-Every eye was turned towards the point indicated.  There, a mile and a half
-from the frigate, a long blackish body emerged a yard above the waves.
-Its tail, violently agitated, produced a considerable eddy.
-Never did a tail beat the sea with such violence.  An immense track,
-of dazzling whiteness, marked the passage of the animal, and described
-a long curve.
-
-The frigate approached the cetacean.  I examined it thoroughly.
-
-The reports of the Shannon and of the Helvetia had rather
-exaggerated its size, and I estimated its length at
-only two hundred and fifty feet.  As to its dimensions,
-I could only conjecture them to be admirably proportioned.
-While I watched this phenomenon, two jets of steam and water
-were ejected from its vents, and rose to the height of 120 feet;
-thus I ascertained its way of breathing.  I concluded definitely
-that it belonged to the vertebrate branch, class mammalia.
-
-The crew waited impatiently for their chief's orders.  The latter,
-after having observed the animal attentively, called the engineer.
-The engineer ran to him.
-
-"Sir," said the commander, "you have steam up?"
-
-"Yes, sir," answered the engineer.
-
-"Well, make up your fires and put on all steam."
-
-Three hurrahs greeted this order.  The time for the struggle had arrived.
-Some moments after, the two funnels of the frigate vomited torrents of
-black smoke, and the bridge quaked under the trembling of the boilers.
-
-The Abraham Lincoln, propelled by her wonderful screw,
-went straight at the animal.  The latter allowed it to come
-within half a cable's length; then, as if disdaining to dive,
-it took a little turn, and stopped a short distance off.
-
-This pursuit lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour,
-without the frigate gaining two yards on the cetacean.
-It was quite evident that at that rate we should never come
-up with it.
-
-"Well, Mr. Land," asked the captain, "do you advise me to put
-the boats out to sea?"
-
-"No, sir," replied Ned Land; "because we shall not take that beast easily."
-
-"What shall we do then?"
-
-"Put on more steam if you can, sir.  With your leave, I mean to post
-myself under the bowsprit, and, if we get within harpooning distance,
-I shall throw my harpoon."
-
-"Go, Ned," said the captain.  "Engineer, put on more pressure."
-
-Ned Land went to his post.  The fires were increased, the screw revolved
-forty-three times a minute, and the steam poured out of the valves.
-We heaved the log, and calculated that the Abraham Lincoln was going
-at the rate of 18 1/2 miles an hour.
-
-But the accursed animal swam at the same speed.
-
-For a whole hour the frigate kept up this pace, without gaining six feet.
-It was humiliating for one of the swiftest sailers in the American navy.
-A stubborn anger seized the crew; the sailors abused the monster, who,
-as before, disdained to answer them; the captain no longer contented himself
-with twisting his beard--he gnawed it.
-
-The engineer was called again.
-
-"You have turned full steam on?"
-
-"Yes, sir," replied the engineer.
-
-The speed of the Abraham Lincoln increased.  Its masts trembled
-down to their stepping holes, and the clouds of smoke could hardly
-find way out of the narrow funnels.
-
-They heaved the log a second time.
-
-"Well?" asked the captain of the man at the wheel.
-
-"Nineteen miles and three-tenths, sir."
-
-"Clap on more steam."
-
-The engineer obeyed.  The manometer showed ten degrees.
-But the cetacean grew warm itself, no doubt; for without
-straining itself, it made 19 3/10 miles.
-
-What a pursuit!  No, I cannot describe the emotion that vibrated through me.
-Ned Land kept his post, harpoon in hand.  Several times the animal let us
-gain upon it.--"We shall catch it! we shall catch it!" cried the Canadian.
-But just as he was going to strike, the cetacean stole away with a rapidity
-that could not be estimated at less than thirty miles an hour, and even during
-our maximum of speed, it bullied the frigate, going round and round it.
-A cry of fury broke from everyone!
-
-At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o'clock in the morning.
-
-The captain then decided to take more direct means.
-
-"Ah!" said he, "that animal goes quicker than the Abraham Lincoln.
-Very well! we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets.
-Send your men to the forecastle, sir."
-
-The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round.
-But the shot passed some feet above the cetacean, which was half
-a mile off.
-
-"Another, more to the right," cried the commander, "and five
-dollars to whoever will hit that infernal beast."
-
-An old gunner with a grey beard--that I can see now--with steady
-eye and grave face, went up to the gun and took a long aim.
-A loud report was heard, with which were mingled the cheers
-of the crew.
-
-The bullet did its work; it hit the animal, and, sliding off
-the rounded surface, was lost in two miles depth of sea.
-
-The chase began again, and the captain, leaning towards me, said:
-
-"I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up."
-
-"Yes," answered I; "and you will be quite right to do it."
-
-I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible
-to fatigue like a steam engine.  But it was of no use.
-Hours passed, without its showing any signs of exhaustion.
-
-However, it must be said in praise of the Abraham Lincoln that she
-struggled on indefatigably.  I cannot reckon the distance she made
-under three hundred miles during this unlucky day, November the 6th.
-But night came on, and overshadowed the rough ocean.
-
-Now I thought our expedition was at an end, and that we should
-never again see the extraordinary animal.  I was mistaken.
-At ten minutes to eleven in the evening, the electric light
-reappeared three miles to windward of the frigate, as pure,
-as intense as during the preceding night.
-
-The narwhal seemed motionless; perhaps, tired with its day's work,
-it slept, letting itself float with the undulation of the waves.
-Now was a chance of which the captain resolved to take advantage.
-
-He gave his orders.  The Abraham Lincoln kept up half steam,
-and advanced cautiously so as not to awake its adversary.
-It is no rare thing to meet in the middle of the ocean whales
-so sound asleep that they can be successfully attacked,
-and Ned Land had harpooned more than one during its sleep.
-The Canadian went to take his place again under the bowsprit.
-
-The frigate approached noiselessly, stopped at two cables'
-lengths from the animal, and following its track.
-No one breathed; a deep silence reigned on the bridge.
-We were not a hundred feet from the burning focus, the light of
-which increased and dazzled our eyes.
-
-At this moment, leaning on the forecastle bulwark, I saw below me Ned
-Land grappling the martingale in one hand, brandishing his terrible
-harpoon in the other, scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal.
-Suddenly his arm straightened, and the harpoon was thrown; I heard
-the sonorous stroke of the weapon, which seemed to have struck a hard body.
-The electric light went out suddenly, and two enormous waterspouts
-broke over the bridge of the frigate, rushing like a torrent from stem
-to stern, overthrowing men, and breaking the lashings of the spars.
-A fearful shock followed, and, thrown over the rail without having
-time to stop myself, I fell into the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE
-
-This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no
-clear recollection of my sensations at the time.
-I was at first drawn down to a depth of about twenty feet.
-I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to rival
-Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art),
-and in that plunge I did not lose my presence of mind.
-Two vigorous strokes brought me to the surface of the water.
-My first care was to look for the frigate.  Had the crew
-seen me disappear?  Had the Abraham Lincoln veered round?
-Would the captain put out a boat?  Might I hope to be saved?
-
-The darkness was intense.  I caught a glimpse of a black mass disappearing in
-the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance.  It was the frigate!
-I was lost.
-
-"Help, help!"  I shouted, swimming towards the Abraham Lincoln in desperation.
-
-My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body,
-and paralysed my movements.
-
-I was sinking!  I was suffocating!
-
-"Help!"
-
-This was my last cry.  My mouth filled with water;
-I struggled against being drawn down the abyss.
-Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong hand, and I
-felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea;
-and I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear:
-
-"If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder,
-master would swim with much greater ease."
-
-I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil's arm.
-
-"Is it you?" said I, "you?"
-
-"Myself," answered Conseil; "and waiting master's orders."
-
-"That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?"
-
-"No; but, being in my master's service, I followed him."
-
-The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
-
-"And the frigate?"  I asked.
-
-"The frigate?" replied Conseil, turning on his back;
-"I think that master had better not count too much on her."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men
-at the wheel say, `The screw and the rudder are broken.'
-
-"Broken?"
-
-"Yes, broken by the monster's teeth.  It is the only injury
-the Abraham Lincoln has sustained.  But it is a bad look-out for us--
-she no longer answers her helm."
-
-"Then we are lost!"
-
-"Perhaps so," calmly answered Conseil.  "However, we have still several
-hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours."
-
-Conseil's imperturbable coolness set me up again.
-I swam more vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck
-to me like a leaden weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up.
-Conseil saw this.
-
-"Will master let me make a slit?" said he; and, slipping an open knife
-under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly.
-Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
-
-Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near
-to each other.
-
-Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible.
-Perhaps our disappearance had not been noticed; and, if it
-had been, the frigate could not tack, being without its helm.
-Conseil argued on this supposition, and laid his plans accordingly.
-This quiet boy was perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that,
-as our only chance of safety was being picked up by the Abraham
-Lincoln's boats, we ought to manage so as to wait for them
-as long as possible.  I resolved then to husband our strength,
-so that both should not be exhausted at the same time;
-and this is how we managed:  while one of us lay on our back,
-quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out,
-the other would swim and push the other on in front.
-This towing business did not last more than ten minutes each;
-and relieving each other thus, we could swim on for some hours,
-perhaps till day-break. Poor chance! but hope is so firmly
-rooted in the heart of man!  Moreover, there were two of us.
-Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable)
-if I sought to destroy all hope--if I wished to despair,
-I could not.
-
-The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had
-occurred about eleven o'clock in the evening before.
-I reckoned then we should have eight hours to swim before sunrise,
-an operation quite practicable if we relieved each other.
-The sea, very calm, was in our favour.  Sometimes I tried
-to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled
-by the phosphorescence caused by our movements.
-I watched the luminous waves that broke over my hand,
-whose mirror-like surface was spotted with silvery rings.
-One might have said that we were in a bath of quicksilver.
-
-Near one o'clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue.
-My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp.  Conseil was
-obliged to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone.
-I heard the poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried.
-I found that he could not keep up much longer.
-
-"Leave me! leave me!"  I said to him.
-
-"Leave my master?  Never!" replied he.  "I would drown first."
-
-Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a
-thick cloud that the wind was driving to the east.
-The surface of the sea glittered with its rays.
-This kindly light reanimated us.  My head got better again.
-I looked at all points of the horizon.  I saw the frigate!
-She was five miles from us, and looked like a dark mass,
-hardly discernible.  But no boats!
-
-I would have cried out.  But what good would it have been at such a distance!
-My swollen lips could utter no sounds.  Conseil could articulate some words,
-and I heard him repeat at intervals, "Help! help!"
-
-Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened.
-It might be only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me
-as if a cry answered the cry from Conseil.
-
-"Did you hear?"  I murmured.
-
-"Yes!  Yes!"
-
-And Conseil gave one more despairing cry.
-
-This time there was no mistake!  A human voice responded to ours!
-Was it the voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle
-of the ocean, some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel?
-Or rather was it a boat from the frigate, that was hailing us in the darkness?
-
-Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck
-out in a desperate effort, he raised himself half out of the water,
-then fell back exhausted.
-
-"What did you see?"
-
-"I saw----" murmured he; "I saw--but do not talk--reserve all your strength!"
-
-What had he seen?  Then, I know not why, the thought
-of the monster came into my head for the first time!
-But that voice!  The time is past for Jonahs to take refuge
-in whales' bellies!  However, Conseil was towing me again.
-He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a cry
-of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer
-and nearer.  I scarcely heard it.  My strength was exhausted;
-my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer;
-my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water.
-Cold crept over me.  I raised my head for the last time,
-then I sank.
-
-At this moment a hard body struck me.  I clung to it:
-then I felt that I was being drawn up, that I was brought to
-the surface of the water, that my chest collapsed--I fainted.
-
-It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings
-that I received.  I half opened my eyes.
-
-"Conseil!"  I murmured.
-
-"Does master call me?" asked Conseil.
-
-Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking
-down to the horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil's
-and which I immediately recognised.
-
-"Ned!"  I cried.
-
-"The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!" replied the Canadian.
-
-"Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?"
-
-"Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find
-a footing almost directly upon a floating island."
-
-"An island?"
-
-"Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal."
-
-"Explain yourself, Ned!"
-
-"Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin
-and was blunted."
-
-"Why, Ned, why?"
-
-"Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron."
-
-The Canadian's last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain.
-I wriggled myself quickly to the top of the being, or object,
-half out of the water, which served us for a refuge.  I kicked it.
-It was evidently a hard, impenetrable body, and not the soft substance
-that forms the bodies of the great marine mammalia.  But this hard
-body might be a bony covering, like that of the antediluvian animals;
-and I should be free to class this monster among amphibious reptiles,
-such as tortoises or alligators.
-
-Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth,
-polished, without scales.  The blow produced a metallic sound;
-and, incredible though it may be, it seemed, I might say,
-as if it was made of riveted plates.
-
-There was no doubt about it!  This monster, this natural
-phenomenon that had puzzled the learned world, and over thrown
-and misled the imagination of seamen of both hemispheres,
-it must be owned was a still more astonishing phenomenon,
-inasmuch as it was a simply human construction.
-
-We had no time to lose, however.  We were lying upon the back of a
-sort of submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge)
-like a huge fish of steel.  Ned Land's mind was made up on this point.
-Conseil and I could only agree with him.
-
-Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing
-(which was evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move.
-We had only just time to seize hold of the upper part,
-which rose about seven feet out of the water, and happily its speed
-was not great.
-
-"As long as it sails horizontally," muttered Ned Land,
-"I do not mind; but, if it takes a fancy to dive, I would
-not give two straws for my life."
-
-The Canadian might have said still less.  It became really necessary to
-communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the machine.
-I searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or a manhole,
-to use a technical expression; but the lines of the iron rivets,
-solidly driven into the joints of the iron plates, were clear and uniform.
-Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total darkness.
-
-At last this long night passed.  My indistinct remembrance
-prevents my describing all the impressions it made.
-I can only recall one circumstance.  During some lulls of
-the wind and sea, I fancied I heard several times vague sounds,
-a sort of fugitive harmony produced by words of command.
-What was, then, the mystery of this submarine craft,
-of which the whole world vainly sought an explanation?
-What kind of beings existed in this strange boat?
-What mechanical agent caused its prodigious speed?
-
-Daybreak appeared.  The morning mists surrounded us,
-but they soon cleared off.  I was about to examine the hull,
-which formed on deck a kind of horizontal platform, when I felt
-it gradually sinking.
-
-"Oh! confound it!" cried Ned Land, kicking the resounding plate.
-"Open, you inhospitable rascals!"
-
-Happily the sinking movement ceased.  Suddenly a noise, like iron
-works violently pushed aside, came from the interior of the boat.
-One iron plate was moved, a man appeared, uttered an odd cry,
-and disappeared immediately.
-
-Some moments after, eight strong men, with masked faces, appeared noiselessly,
-and drew us down into their formidable machine.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI
-
-This forcible abduction, so roughly carried out, was accomplished with
-the rapidity of lightning.  I shivered all over.  Whom had we to deal with?
-No doubt some new sort of pirates, who explored the sea in their own way.
-Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me, when I was enveloped in darkness.
-My eyes, dazzled with the outer light, could distinguish nothing.
-I felt my naked feet cling to the rungs of an iron ladder.  Ned Land
-and Conseil, firmly seized, followed me.  At the bottom of the ladder,
-a door opened, and shut after us immediately with a bang.
-
-We were alone.  Where, I could not say, hardly imagine.
-All was black, and such a dense black that, after some minutes,
-my eyes had not been able to discern even the faintest glimmer.
-
-Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at these proceedings, gave free
-vent to his indignation.
-
-"Confound it!" cried he, "here are people who come up to the
-Scotch for hospitality.  They only just miss being cannibals.
-I should not be surprised at it, but I declare that they shall
-not eat me without my protesting."
-
-"Calm yourself, friend Ned, calm yourself," replied Conseil, quietly.
-"Do not cry out before you are hurt.  We are not quite done for yet."
-
-"Not quite," sharply replied the Canadian, "but pretty near,
-at all events.  Things look black.  Happily, my bowie knife
-I have still, and I can always see well enough to use it.
-The first of these pirates who lays a hand on me----"
-
-"Do not excite yourself, Ned," I said to the harpooner, "and do not compromise
-us by useless violence.  Who knows that they will not listen to us?
-Let us rather try to find out where we are."
-
-I groped about.  In five steps I came to an iron wall,
-made of plates bolted together.  Then turning back I struck
-against a wooden table, near which were ranged several stools.
-The boards of this prison were concealed under a thick mat,
-which deadened the noise of the feet.  The bare walls
-revealed no trace of window or door.  Conseil, going round
-the reverse way, met me, and we went back to the middle
-of the cabin, which measured about twenty feet by ten.
-As to its height, Ned Land, in spite of his own great height,
-could not measure it.
-
-Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered,
-when the dense darkness suddenly gave way to extreme light.
-Our prison was suddenly lighted, that is to say, it became filled
-with a luminous matter, so strong that I could not bear it at first.
-In its whiteness and intensity I recognised that electric light which played
-round the submarine boat like a magnificent phenomenon of phosphorescence.
-After shutting my eyes involuntarily, I opened them, and saw that this
-luminous agent came from a half globe, unpolished, placed in the roof
-of the cabin.
-
-"At last one can see," cried Ned Land, who, knife in hand,
-stood on the defensive.
-
-"Yes," said I; "but we are still in the dark about ourselves."
-
-"Let master have patience," said the imperturbable Conseil.
-
-The sudden lighting of the cabin enabled me to examine it minutely.
-It only contained a table and five stools.  The invisible
-door might be hermetically sealed.  No noise was heard.
-All seemed dead in the interior of this boat.  Did it move, did it
-float on the surface of the ocean, or did it dive into its depths?
-I could not guess.
-
-A noise of bolts was now heard, the door opened, and two men appeared.
-
-One was short, very muscular, broad-shouldered, with robust limbs,
-strong head, an abundance of black hair, thick moustache,
-a quick penetrating look, and the vivacity which characterises
-the population of Southern France.
-
-The second stranger merits a more detailed description.  I made out
-his prevailing qualities directly:  self-confidence--because his head
-was well set on his shoulders, and his black eyes looked around with
-cold assurance; calmness--for his skin, rather pale, showed his coolness
-of blood; energy--evinced by the rapid contraction of his lofty brows;
-and courage--because his deep breathing denoted great power of lungs.
-
-Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years of age,
-I could not say.  He was tall, had a large forehead,
-straight nose, a clearly cut mouth, beautiful teeth, with fine
-taper hands, indicative of a highly nervous temperament.
-This man was certainly the most admirable specimen I had ever met.
-One particular feature was his eyes, rather far from each other,
-and which could take in nearly a quarter of the horizon at once.
-
-This faculty--(I verified it later)--gave him a range of vision far superior
-to Ned Land's. When this stranger fixed upon an object, his eyebrows met,
-his large eyelids closed around so as to contract the range of his vision,
-and he looked as if he magnified the objects lessened by distance, as if
-he pierced those sheets of water so opaque to our eyes, and as if he read
-the very depths of the seas.
-
-The two strangers, with caps made from the fur of the sea otter,
-and shod with sea boots of seal's skin, were dressed in clothes
-of a particular texture, which allowed free movement of the limbs.
-The taller of the two, evidently the chief on board, examined us
-with great attention, without saying a word; then, turning to
-his companion, talked with him in an unknown tongue.
-It was a sonorous, harmonious, and flexible dialect, the vowels
-seeming to admit of very varied accentuation.
-
-The other replied by a shake of the head, and added two or three perfectly
-incomprehensible words.  Then he seemed to question me by a look.
-
-I replied in good French that I did not know his language;
-but he seemed not to understand me, and my situation
-became more embarrassing.
-
-"If master were to tell our story," said Conseil, "perhaps these gentlemen
-may understand some words."
-
-I began to tell our adventures, articulating each syllable clearly,
-and without omitting one single detail.  I announced our names and rank,
-introducing in person Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil,
-and master Ned Land, the harpooner.
-
-The man with the soft calm eyes listened to me quietly,
-even politely, and with extreme attention; but nothing in
-his countenance indicated that he had understood my story.
-When I finished, he said not a word.
-
-There remained one resource, to speak English.
-Perhaps they would know this almost universal language.
-I knew it--as well as the German language--well enough to read
-it fluently, but not to speak it correctly.  But, anyhow, we must
-make ourselves understood.
-
-"Go on in your turn," I said to the harpooner; "speak your best
-Anglo-Saxon, and try to do better than I."
-
-Ned did not beg off, and recommenced our story.
-
-To his great disgust, the harpooner did not seem to have made
-himself more intelligible than I had.  Our visitors did not stir.
-They evidently understood neither the language of England
-nor of France.
-
-Very much embarrassed, after having vainly exhausted our speaking resources,
-I knew not what part to take, when Conseil said:
-
-"If master will permit me, I will relate it in German."
-
-But in spite of the elegant terms and good accent
-of the narrator, the German language had no success.
-At last, nonplussed, I tried to remember my first lessons,
-and to narrate our adventures in Latin, but with no better success.
-This last attempt being of no avail, the two strangers exchanged
-some words in their unknown language, and retired.
-
-The door shut.
-
-"It is an infamous shame," cried Ned Land, who broke out for the
-twentieth time.  "We speak to those rogues in French, English, German,
-and Latin, and not one of them has the politeness to answer!"
-
-"Calm yourself," I said to the impetuous Ned; "anger will do no good."
-
-"But do you see, Professor," replied our irascible companion,
-"that we shall absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?"
-
-"Bah!" said Conseil, philosophically; "we can hold out some time yet."
-
-"My friends," I said, "we must not despair.  We have been worse
-off than this.  Do me the favour to wait a little before forming
-an opinion upon the commander and crew of this boat."
-
-"My opinion is formed," replied Ned Land, sharply.  "They are rascals."
-
-"Good! and from what country?"
-
-"From the land of rogues!"
-
-"My brave Ned, that country is not clearly indicated on the map of the world;
-but I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard to determine.
-Neither English, French, nor German, that is quite certain.  However, I am
-inclined to think that the commander and his companion were born in
-low latitudes.  There is southern blood in them.  But I cannot decide by
-their appearance whether they are Spaniards, Turks, Arabians, or Indians.
-As to their language, it is quite incomprehensible."
-
-"There is the disadvantage of not knowing all languages," said Conseil,
-"or the disadvantage of not having one universal language."
-
-As he said these words, the door opened.  A steward entered.
-He brought us clothes, coats and trousers, made of a stuff I did not know.
-I hastened to dress myself, and my companions followed my example.
-During that time, the steward--dumb, perhaps deaf--had arranged the table,
-and laid three plates.
-
-"This is something like!" said Conseil.
-
-"Bah!" said the angry harpooner, "what do you suppose they eat here?
-Tortoise liver, filleted shark, and beef steaks from seadogs."
-
-"We shall see," said Conseil.
-
-The dishes, of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we took
-our places.  Undoubtedly we had to do with civilised people,
-and, had it not been for the electric light which flooded us,
-I could have fancied I was in the dining-room of the Adelphi
-Hotel at Liverpool, or at the Grand Hotel in Paris.
-I must say, however, that there was neither bread nor wine.
-The water was fresh and clear, but it was water and did not suit
-Ned Land's taste.  Amongst the dishes which were brought to us,
-I recognised several fish delicately dressed; but of some,
-although excellent, I could give no opinion, neither could I tell
-to what kingdom they belonged, whether animal or vegetable.
-As to the dinner-service, it was elegant, and in perfect taste.
-Each utensil--spoon, fork, knife, plate--had a letter engraved on it,
-with a motto above it, of which this is an exact facsimile:
-
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI N
-
-The letter N was no doubt the initial of the name of the enigmatical
-person who commanded at the bottom of the seas.
-
-Ned and Conseil did not reflect much.  They devoured the food,
-and I did likewise.  I was, besides, reassured as to our fate;
-and it seemed evident that our hosts would not let us die of want.
-
-However, everything has an end, everything passes away,
-even the hunger of people who have not eaten for fifteen hours.
-Our appetites satisfied, we felt overcome with sleep.
-
-"Faith!  I shall sleep well," said Conseil.
-
-"So shall I," replied Ned Land.
-
-My two companions stretched themselves on the cabin carpet,
-and were soon sound asleep.  For my own part, too many thoughts
-crowded my brain, too many insoluble questions pressed upon me,
-too many fancies kept my eyes half open.  Where were we?
-What strange power carried us on?  I felt--or rather fancied I felt--
-the machine sinking down to the lowest beds of the sea.
-Dreadful nightmares beset me; I saw in these mysterious asylums
-a world of unknown animals, amongst which this submarine boat seemed
-to be of the same kind, living, moving, and formidable as they.
-Then my brain grew calmer, my imagination wandered into
-vague unconsciousness, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-NED LAND'S TEMPERS
-
-How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long,
-for it rested us completely from our fatigues.  I woke first.
-My companions had not moved, and were still stretched in their corner.
-
-Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch, I felt my brain freed,
-my mind clear.  I then began an attentive examination of our cell.
-Nothing was changed inside.  The prison was still a prison--
-the prisoners, prisoners.  However, the steward, during our sleep,
-had cleared the table.  I breathed with difficulty.  The heavy air
-seemed to oppress my lungs.  Although the cell was large, we had
-evidently consumed a great part of the oxygen that it contained.
-Indeed, each man consumes, in one hour, the oxygen contained in more
-than 176 pints of air, and this air, charged (as then) with a nearly
-equal quantity of carbonic acid, becomes unbreathable.
-
-It became necessary to renew the atmosphere of our prison, and no doubt
-the whole in the submarine boat.  That gave rise to a question in my mind.
-How would the commander of this floating dwelling-place proceed?
-Would he obtain air by chemical means, in getting by heat the oxygen contained
-in chlorate of potash, and in absorbing carbonic acid by caustic potash?
-Or--a more convenient, economical, and consequently more probable alternative--
-would he be satisfied to rise and take breath at the surface of the water,
-like a whale, and so renew for twenty-four hours the atmospheric provision?
-
-In fact, I was already obliged to increase my respirations to eke
-out of this cell the little oxygen it contained, when suddenly I was
-refreshed by a current of pure air, and perfumed with saline emanations.
-It was an invigorating sea breeze, charged with iodine.  I opened my
-mouth wide, and my lungs saturated themselves with fresh particles.
-
-At the same time I felt the boat rolling.  The iron-plated monster
-had evidently just risen to the surface of the ocean to breathe,
-after the fashion of whales.  I found out from that the mode
-of ventilating the boat.
-
-When I had inhaled this air freely, I sought the conduit pipe,
-which conveyed to us the beneficial whiff, and I was not long in finding it.
-Above the door was a ventilator, through which volumes of fresh air
-renewed the impoverished atmosphere of the cell.
-
-I was making my observations, when Ned and Conseil awoke almost
-at the same time, under the influence of this reviving air.
-They rubbed their eyes, stretched themselves, and were on their feet
-in an instant.
-
-"Did master sleep well?" asked Conseil, with his usual politeness.
-
-"Very well, my brave boy.  And you, Mr. Land?"
-
-"Soundly, Professor.  But, I don't know if I am right or not,
-there seems to be a sea breeze!"
-
-A seaman could not be mistaken, and I told the Canadian all that had passed
-during his sleep.
-
-"Good!" said he.  "That accounts for those roarings we heard,
-when the supposed narwhal sighted the Abraham Lincoln."
-
-"Quite so, Master Land; it was taking breath."
-
-"Only, Mr. Aronnax, I have no idea what o'clock it is,
-unless it is dinner-time."
-
-"Dinner-time! my good fellow?  Say rather breakfast-time, for we
-certainly have begun another day."
-
-"So," said Conseil, "we have slept twenty-four hours?"
-
-"That is my opinion."
-
-"I will not contradict you," replied Ned Land.  "But, dinner or breakfast,
-the steward will be welcome, whichever he brings."
-
-"Master Land, we must conform to the rules on board, and I suppose
-our appetites are in advance of the dinner hour."
-
-"That is just like you, friend Conseil," said Ned, impatiently.
-"You are never out of temper, always calm; you would return thanks
-before grace, and die of hunger rather than complain!"
-
-Time was getting on, and we were fearfully hungry; and this
-time the steward did not appear.  It was rather too long
-to leave us, if they really had good intentions towards us.
-Ned Land, tormented by the cravings of hunger, got still
-more angry; and, notwithstanding his promise, I dreaded an
-explosion when he found himself with one of the crew.
-
-For two hours more Ned Land's temper increased; he cried, he shouted,
-but in vain.  The walls were deaf.  There was no sound to be heard
-in the boat; all was still as death.  It did not move, for I should have
-felt the trembling motion of the hull under the influence of the screw.
-Plunged in the depths of the waters, it belonged no longer to earth:
-this silence was dreadful.
-
-I felt terrified, Conseil was calm, Ned Land roared.
-
-Just then a noise was heard outside.  Steps sounded on the metal flags.
-The locks were turned, the door opened, and the steward appeared.
-
-Before I could rush forward to stop him, the Canadian had thrown him down,
-and held him by the throat.  The steward was choking under the grip
-of his powerful hand.
-
-Conseil was already trying to unclasp the harpooner's hand from
-his half-suffocated victim, and I was going to fly to the rescue,
-when suddenly I was nailed to the spot by hearing these words in French:
-
-"Be quiet, Master Land; and you, Professor, will you be so good
-as to listen to me?"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE MAN OF THE SEAS
-
-It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.
-
-At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly.  The steward,
-nearly strangled, tottered out on a sign from his master.
-But such was the power of the commander on board, that not
-a gesture betrayed the resentment which this man must have felt
-towards the Canadian.  Conseil interested in spite of himself,
-I stupefied, awaited in silence the result of this scene.
-
-The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms folded,
-scanned us with profound attention.  Did he hesitate to speak?
-Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French?
-One might almost think so.
-
-After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed
-of breaking, "Gentlemen," said he, in a calm and penetrating voice,
-"I speak French, English, German, and Latin equally well.
-I could, therefore, have answered you at our first interview, but I
-wished to know you first, then to reflect.  The story told by each one,
-entirely agreeing in the main points, convinced me of your identity.
-I know now that chance has brought before me M. Pierre Aronnax,
-Professor of Natural History at the Museum of Paris, entrusted with
-a scientific mission abroad, Conseil, his servant, and Ned Land,
-of Canadian origin, harpooner on board the frigate Abraham Lincoln
-of the navy of the United States of America."
-
-I bowed assent.  It was not a question that the commander put to me.
-Therefore there was no answer to be made.  This man expressed himself
-with perfect ease, without any accent.  His sentences were well turned,
-his words clear, and his fluency of speech remarkable.  Yet, I did not
-recognise in him a fellow-countryman.
-
-He continued the conversation in these terms:
-
-"You have doubtless thought, sir, that I have delayed long in paying
-you this second visit.  The reason is that, your identity recognised,
-I wished to weigh maturely what part to act towards you.
-I have hesitated much.  Most annoying circumstances have brought you
-into the presence of a man who has broken all the ties of humanity.
-You have come to trouble my existence."
-
-"Unintentionally!" said I.
-
-"Unintentionally?" replied the stranger, raising his voice a little.
-"Was it unintentionally that the Abraham Lincoln pursued me all over
-the seas?  Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this frigate?
-Was it unintentionally that your cannon-balls rebounded off the plating
-of my vessel?  Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land struck me
-with his harpoon?"
-
-I detected a restrained irritation in these words.
-But to these recriminations I had a very natural answer to make,
-and I made it.
-
-"Sir," said I, "no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions
-which have taken place concerning you in America and Europe.
-You do not know that divers accidents, caused by collisions with your
-submarine machine, have excited public feeling in the two continents.
-I omit the theories without number by which it was sought
-to explain that of which you alone possess the secret.
-But you must understand that, in pursuing you over the high
-seas of the Pacific, the Abraham Lincoln believed itself to be
-chasing some powerful sea-monster, of which it was necessary
-to rid the ocean at any price."
-
-A half-smile curled the lips of the commander:  then, in a calmer tone:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he replied, "dare you affirm that your frigate
-would not as soon have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat
-as a monster?"
-
-This question embarrassed me, for certainly Captain Farragut might
-not have hesitated.  He might have thought it his duty to destroy
-a contrivance of this kind, as he would a gigantic narwhal.
-
-"You understand then, sir," continued the stranger, "that I
-have the right to treat you as enemies?"
-
-I answered nothing, purposely.  For what good would it be to discuss
-such a proposition, when force could destroy the best arguments?
-
-"I have hesitated some time," continued the commander; "nothing obliged
-me to show you hospitality.  If I chose to separate myself from you,
-I should have no interest in seeing you again; I could place you
-upon the deck of this vessel which has served you as a refuge,
-I could sink beneath the waters, and forget that you had ever existed.
-Would not that be my right?"
-
-"It might be the right of a savage," I answered, "but not
-that of a civilised man."
-
-"Professor," replied the commander, quickly, "I am not what you
-call a civilised man!  I have done with society entirely,
-for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating.
-I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude
-to them before me again!"
-
-This was said plainly.  A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the eyes of
-the Unknown, and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life of this man.
-Not only had he put himself beyond the pale of human laws, but he had made
-himself independent of them, free in the strictest acceptation of the word,
-quite beyond their reach!  Who then would dare to pursue him at the bottom of
-the sea, when, on its surface, he defied all attempts made against him?
-
-What vessel could resist the shock of his submarine monitor?
-What cuirass, however thick, could withstand the blows of his spur?
-No man could demand from him an account of his actions;
-God, if he believed in one--his conscience, if he had one--
-were the sole judges to whom he was answerable.
-
-These reflections crossed my mind rapidly, whilst the stranger
-personage was silent, absorbed, and as if wrapped up in himself.
-I regarded him with fear mingled with interest, as, doubtless,
-OEdiphus regarded the Sphinx.
-
-After rather a long silence, the commander resumed the conversation.
-
-"I have hesitated," said he, "but I have thought that my interest might
-be reconciled with that pity to which every human being has a right.
-You will remain on board my vessel, since fate has cast you there.
-You will be free; and, in exchange for this liberty, I shall only impose one
-single condition.  Your word of honour to submit to it will suffice."
-
-"Speak, sir," I answered.  "I suppose this condition is one which a man
-of honour may accept?"
-
-"Yes, sir; it is this:  It is possible that certain events,
-unforeseen, may oblige me to consign you to your cabins for some hours
-or some days, as the case may be.  As I desire never to use violence,
-I expect from you, more than all the others, a passive obedience.
-In thus acting, I take all the responsibility:  I acquit you entirely,
-for I make it an impossibility for you to see what ought not to be seen.
-Do you accept this condition?"
-
-Then things took place on board which, to say the least,
-were singular, and which ought not to be seen by people
-who were not placed beyond the pale of social laws.
-Amongst the surprises which the future was preparing for me,
-this might not be the least.
-
-"We accept," I answered; "only I will ask your permission, sir, to address
-one question to you--one only."
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"You said that we should be free on board."
-
-"Entirely."
-
-"I ask you, then, what you mean by this liberty?"
-
-"Just the liberty to go, to come, to see, to observe even all
-that passes here save under rare circumstances--the liberty,
-in short, which we enjoy ourselves, my companions and I."
-
-It was evident that we did not understand one another.
-
-"Pardon me, sir," I resumed, "but this liberty is only what every
-prisoner has of pacing his prison.  It cannot suffice us."
-
-"It must suffice you, however."
-
-"What! we must renounce for ever seeing our country, our friends,
-our relations again?"
-
-"Yes, sir.  But to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men
-believe to be liberty is not perhaps so painful as you think."
-
-"Well," exclaimed Ned Land, "never will I give my word of honour
-not to try to escape."
-
-"I did not ask you for your word of honour, Master Land,"
-answered the commander, coldly.
-
-"Sir," I replied, beginning to get angry in spite of my self,
-"you abuse your situation towards us; it is cruelty."
-
-"No, sir, it is clemency.  You are my prisoners of war.  I keep you,
-when I could, by a word, plunge you into the depths of the ocean.
-You attacked me.  You came to surprise a secret which no man
-in the world must penetrate--the secret of my whole existence.
-And you think that I am going to send you back to that world which must
-know me no more?  Never!  In retaining you, it is not you whom I guard--
-it is myself."
-
-These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander,
-against which no arguments would prevail.
-
-"So, sir," I rejoined, "you give us simply the choice between life and death?"
-
-"Simply."
-
-"My friends," said I, "to a question thus put, there is nothing to answer.
-But no word of honour binds us to the master of this vessel."
-
-"None, sir," answered the Unknown.
-
-Then, in a gentler tone, he continued:
-
-"Now, permit me to finish what I have to say to you.  I know you,
-M. Aronnax.  You and your companions will not, perhaps, have so much
-to complain of in the chance which has bound you to my fate.
-You will find amongst the books which are my favourite study the work
-which you have published on `the depths of the sea.'  I have often read it.
-You have carried out your work as far as terrestrial science permitted you.
-But you do not know all--you have not seen all.  Let me tell you then,
-Professor, that you will not regret the time passed on board my vessel.
-You are going to visit the land of marvels."
-
-These words of the commander had a great effect upon me.  I cannot deny it.
-My weak point was touched; and I forgot, for a moment, that the contemplation
-of these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of liberty.
-Besides, I trusted to the future to decide this grave question.
-So I contented myself with saying:
-
-"By what name ought I to address you?"
-
-"Sir," replied the commander, "I am nothing to you but Captain Nemo;
-and you and your companions are nothing to me but the passengers
-of the Nautilus."
-
-Captain Nemo called.  A steward appeared.  The captain gave him
-his orders in that strange language which I did not understand.
-Then, turning towards the Canadian and Conseil:
-
-"A repast awaits you in your cabin," said he.  "Be so good
-as to follow this man.
-
-"And now, M. Aronnax, our breakfast is ready.  Permit me to lead the way."
-
-"I am at your service, Captain."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo; and as soon as I had passed through the door,
-I found myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity,
-similar to the waist of a ship.  After we had proceeded a dozen yards,
-a second door opened before me.
-
-I then entered a dining-room, decorated and furnished
-in severe taste.  High oaken sideboards, inlaid with ebony,
-stood at the two extremities of the room, and upon their shelves
-glittered china, porcelain, and glass of inestimable value.
-The plate on the table sparkled in the rays which the luminous
-ceiling shed around, while the light was tempered and softened
-by exquisite paintings.
-
-In the centre of the room was a table richly laid out.
-Captain Nemo indicated the place I was to occupy.
-
-The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes,
-the contents of which were furnished by the sea alone;
-and I was ignorant of the nature and mode of preparation
-of some of them.  I acknowledged that they were good, but they
-had a peculiar flavour, which I easily became accustomed to.
-These different aliments appeared to me to be rich in phosphorus,
-and I thought they must have a marine origin.
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me.  I asked him no questions, but he guessed
-my thoughts, and answered of his own accord the questions which I
-was burning to address to him.
-
-"The greater part of these dishes are unknown to you,"
-he said to me.  "However, you may partake of them without fear.
-They are wholesome and nourishing.  For a long time I have
-renounced the food of the earth, and I am never ill now.
-My crew, who are healthy, are fed on the same food."
-
-"So," said I, "all these eatables are the produce of the sea?"
-
-"Yes, Professor, the sea supplies all my wants.  Sometimes I cast
-my nets in tow, and I draw them in ready to break.  Sometimes I
-hunt in the midst of this element, which appears to be inaccessible
-to man, and quarry the game which dwells in my submarine forests.
-My flocks, like those of Neptune's old shepherds, graze fearlessly
-in the immense prairies of the ocean.  I have a vast property there,
-which I cultivate myself, and which is always sown by the hand
-of the Creator of all things."
-
-"I can understand perfectly, sir, that your nets furnish excellent fish
-for your table; I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in your
-submarine forests; but I cannot understand at all how a particle of meat,
-no matter how small, can figure in your bill of fare."
-
-"This, which you believe to be meat, Professor, is nothing else than
-fillet of turtle.  Here are also some dolphins' livers, which you
-take to be ragout of pork.  My cook is a clever fellow,
-who excels in dressing these various products of the ocean.
-Taste all these dishes.  Here is a preserve of sea-cucumber,
-which a Malay would declare to be unrivalled in the world;
-here is a cream, of which the milk has been furnished by
-the cetacea, and the sugar by the great fucus of the North Sea;
-and, lastly, permit me to offer you some preserve of anemones,
-which is equal to that of the most delicious fruits."
-
-I tasted, more from curiosity than as a connoisseur, whilst Captain
-Nemo enchanted me with his extraordinary stories.
-
-"You like the sea, Captain?"
-
-"Yes; I love it!  The sea is everything.  It covers seven tenths
-of the terrestrial globe.  Its breath is pure and healthy.
-It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely,
-for he feels life stirring on all sides.  The sea is only
-the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence.
-It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the `Living Infinite,'
-as one of your poets has said.  In fact, Professor, Nature manifests
-herself in it by her three kingdoms--mineral, vegetable, and animal.
-The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature.  The globe began with sea,
-so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it?
-In it is supreme tranquillity.  The sea does not belong to despots.
-Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one
-another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors.
-But at thirty feet below its level, their reign ceases,
-their influence is quenched, and their power disappears.
-Ah! sir, live--live in the bosom of the waters!
-There only is independence!  There I recognise no masters!
-There I am free!"
-
-Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of
-this enthusiasm, by which he was quite carried away.
-For a few moments he paced up and down, much agitated.
-Then he became more calm, regained his accustomed coldness
-of expression, and turning towards me:
-
-"Now, Professor," said he, "if you wish to go over the Nautilus,
-I am at your service."
-
-Captain Nemo rose.  I followed him.  A double door, contrived at the back
-of the dining-room, opened, and I entered a room equal in dimensions
-to that which I had just quitted.
-
-It was a library.  High pieces of furniture, of black violet
-ebony inlaid with brass, supported upon their wide shelves
-a great number of books uniformly bound.  They followed the shape
-of the room, terminating at the lower part in huge divans,
-covered with brown leather, which were curved, to afford
-the greatest comfort.  Light movable desks, made to slide in
-and out at will, allowed one to rest one's book while reading.
-In the centre stood an immense table, covered with pamphlets,
-amongst which were some newspapers, already of old date.
-The electric light flooded everything; it was shed from four
-unpolished globes half sunk in the volutes of the ceiling.
-I looked with real admiration at this room, so ingeniously fitted up,
-and I could scarcely believe my eyes.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I to my host, who had just thrown himself
-on one of the divans, "this is a library which would do honour
-to more than one of the continental palaces, and I am absolutely
-astounded when I consider that it can follow you to the bottom
-of the seas."
-
-"Where could one find greater solitude or silence, Professor?"
-replied Captain Nemo.  "Did your study in the Museum afford you
-such perfect quiet?"
-
-"No, sir; and I must confess that it is a very poor one after yours.
-You must have six or seven thousand volumes here."
-
-"Twelve thousand, M. Aronnax.  These are the only ties which bind
-me to the earth.  But I had done with the world on the day
-when my Nautilus plunged for the first time beneath the waters.
-That day I bought my last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last papers,
-and from that time I wish to think that men no longer think or write.
-These books, Professor, are at your service besides, and you can make use
-of them freely."
-
-I thanked Captain Nemo, and went up to the shelves of the library.
-Works on science, morals, and literature abounded in every language;
-but I did not see one single work on political economy; that subject
-appeared to be strictly proscribed.  Strange to say, all these books
-were irregularly arranged, in whatever language they were written;
-and this medley proved that the Captain of the Nautilus must have read
-indiscriminately the books which he took up by chance.
-
-"Sir," said I to the Captain, "I thank you for having placed
-this library at my disposal.  It contains treasures of science,
-and I shall profit by them."
-
-"This room is not only a library," said Captain Nemo,
-"it is also a smoking-room."
-
-"A smoking-room!" I cried.  "Then one may smoke on board?"
-
-"Certainly."
-
-"Then, sir, I am forced to believe that you have kept up
-a communication with Havannah."
-
-"Not any," answered the Captain.  "Accept this cigar,
-M. Aronnax; and, though it does not come from Havannah,
-you will be pleased with it, if you are a connoisseur."
-
-I took the cigar which was offered me; its shape recalled
-the London ones, but it seemed to be made of leaves of gold.
-I lighted it at a little brazier, which was supported upon an
-elegant bronze stem, and drew the first whiffs with the delight
-of a lover of smoking who has not smoked for two days.
-
-"It is excellent, but it is not tobacco."
-
-"No!" answered the Captain, "this tobacco comes neither from Havannah
-nor from the East.  It is a kind of sea-weed, rich in nicotine,
-with which the sea provides me, but somewhat sparingly."
-
-At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite
-to that by which I had entered the library, and I passed into
-an immense drawing-room splendidly lighted.
-
-It was a vast, four-sided room, thirty feet long, eighteen wide,
-and fifteen high.  A luminous ceiling, decorated with light arabesques,
-shed a soft clear light over all the marvels accumulated in this museum.
-For it was in fact a museum, in which an intelligent and prodigal hand
-had gathered all the treasures of nature and art, with the artistic
-confusion which distinguishes a painter's studio.
-
-Thirty first-rate pictures, uniformly framed, separated by bright
-drapery, ornamented the walls, which were hung with tapestry of severe
-design. I saw works of great value, the greater part of which I had
-admired in the special collections of Europe, and in the exhibitions of
-paintings. The several schools of the old masters were represented by a
-Madonna of Raphael, a Virgin of Leonardo da Vinci, a nymph of Corregio,
-a woman of Titan, an Adoration of Veronese, an Assumption of Murillo, a
-portrait of Holbein, a monk of Velasquez, a martyr of Ribera, a fair of
-Rubens, two Flemish landscapes of Teniers, three little "genre" pictures
-of Gerard Dow, Metsu, and Paul Potter, two specimens of Gericault and
-Prudhon, and some sea-pieces of Backhuysen and Vernet. Amongst the
-works of modern painters were pictures with the signatures of Delacroix,
-Ingres, Decamps, Troyon, Meissonier, Daubigny, etc.; and some admirable
-statues in marble and bronze, after the finest antique models, stood
-upon pedestals in the corners of this magnificent museum. Amazement,
-as the Captain of the Nautilus had predicted, had already begun to
-take possession of me.
-
-"Professor," said this strange man, "you must excuse the unceremonious
-way in which I receive you, and the disorder of this room."
-
-"Sir," I answered, "without seeking to know who you are,
-I recognise in you an artist."
-
-"An amateur, nothing more, sir.  Formerly I loved to collect
-these beautiful works created by the hand of man.
-I sought them greedily, and ferreted them out indefatigably,
-and I have been able to bring together some objects of great value.
-These are my last souvenirs of that world which is dead to me.
-In my eyes, your modern artists are already old; they have two or
-three thousand years of existence; I confound them in my own mind.
-Masters have no age."
-
-"And these musicians?" said I, pointing out some works of Weber,
-Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, Herold, Wagner, Auber,
-Gounod, and a number of others, scattered over a large model piano-organ
-which occupied one of the panels of the drawing-room.
-
-"These musicians," replied Captain Nemo, "are the contemporaries of
-Orpheus; for in the memory of the dead all chronological differences are
-effaced; and I am dead, Professor; as much dead as those of your friends
-who are sleeping six feet under the earth!"
-
-Captain Nemo was silent, and seemed lost in a profound reverie. I
-contemplated him with deep interest, analysing in silence the strange
-expression of his countenance. Leaning on his elbow against an angle of
-a costly mosaic table, he no longer saw me,--he had forgotten my
-presence.
-
-I did not disturb this reverie, and continued my observation of the
-curiosities which enriched this drawing-room.
-
-Under elegant glass cases, fixed by copper rivets, were classed
-and labelled the most precious productions of the sea
-which had ever been presented to the eye of a naturalist.
-My delight as a professor may be conceived.
-
-The division containing the zoophytes presented the most curious
-specimens of the two groups of polypi and echinodermes. In the first
-group, the tubipores, were gorgones arranged like a fan, soft sponges of
-Syria, ises of the Moluccas, pennatules, an admirable virgularia of the
-Norwegian seas, variegated unbellulairae, alcyonariae, a whole series
-of madrepores, which my master Milne Edwards has so cleverly classified,
-amongst which I remarked some wonderful flabellinae oculinae of the
-Island of Bourbon, the "Neptune's car" of the Antilles, superb varieties
-of corals--in short, every species of those curious polypi of which
-entire islands are formed, which will one day become continents. Of the
-echinodermes, remarkable for their coating of spines, asteri, sea-stars,
-pantacrinae, comatules, asterophons, echini, holothuri, etc.,
-represented individually a complete collection of this group.
-
-A somewhat nervous conchyliologist would certainly have fainted before
-other more numerous cases, in which were classified the specimens of
-molluscs. It was a collection of inestimable value, which time fails me
-to describe minutely. Amongst these specimens I will quote from memory
-only the elegant royal hammer-fish of the Indian Ocean, whose regular
-white spots stood out brightly on a red and brown ground, an imperial
-spondyle, bright-coloured, bristling with spines, a rare specimen in the
-European museums--(I estimated its value at not less than Ł1000); a
-common hammer-fish of the seas of New Holland, which is only procured
-with difficulty; exotic buccardia of Senegal; fragile white bivalve
-shells, which a breath might shatter like a soap-bubble; several
-varieties of the aspirgillum of Java, a kind of calcareous tube, edged
-with leafy folds, and much debated by amateurs; a whole series of
-trochi, some a greenish-yellow, found in the American seas, others a
-reddish-brown, natives of Australian waters; others from the Gulf of
-Mexico, remarkable for their imbricated shell; stellari found in the
-Southern Seas; and last, the rarest of all, the magnificent spur of New
-Zealand; and every description of delicate and fragile shells to which
-science has given appropriate names.
-
-Apart, in separate compartments, were spread out chaplets of pearls of
-the greatest beauty, which reflected the electric light in little sparks
-of fire; pink pearls, torn from the pinna-marina of the Red Sea; green
-pearls of the haliotyde iris; yellow, blue and black pearls, the curious
-productions of the divers molluscs of every ocean, and certain mussels
-of the water-courses of the North; lastly, several specimens of
-inestimable value which had been gathered from the rarest pintadines.
-Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon's egg, and were worth as
-much, and more than that which the traveller Tavernier sold to the Shah
-of Persia for three millions, and surpassed the one in the possession of
-the Imaum of Muscat, which I had believed to be unrivalled in the world.
-
-Therefore, to estimate the value of this collection was simply impossible.
-Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the acquirement of these
-various specimens, and I was thinking what source he could have drawn from,
-to have been able thus to gratify his fancy for collecting, when I was
-interrupted by these words:
-
-"You are examining my shells, Professor?  Unquestionably they must be
-interesting to a naturalist; but for me they have a far greater charm,
-for I have collected them all with my own hand, and there is not a sea
-on the face of the globe which has escaped my researches."
-
-"I can understand, Captain, the delight of wandering about in the midst
-of such riches.  You are one of those who have collected their
-treasures themselves.  No museum in Europe possesses such a collection
-of the produce of the ocean.  But if I exhaust all my admiration
-upon it, I shall have none left for the vessel which carries it.
-I do not wish to pry into your secrets:  but I must confess
-that this Nautilus, with the motive power which is confined in it,
-the contrivances which enable it to be worked, the powerful agent
-which propels it, all excite my curiosity to the highest pitch.
-I see suspended on the walls of this room instruments of whose use
-I am ignorant."
-
-"You will find these same instruments in my own room, Professor,
-where I shall have much pleasure in explaining their use to you.
-But first come and inspect the cabin which is set apart for your own use.
-You must see how you will be accommodated on board the Nautilus."
-
-I followed Captain Nemo who, by one of the doors opening
-from each panel of the drawing-room, regained the waist.
-He conducted me towards the bow, and there I found, not a cabin,
-but an elegant room, with a bed, dressing-table, and several other
-pieces of excellent furniture.
-
-I could only thank my host.
-
-"Your room adjoins mine," said he, opening a door, "and mine
-opens into the drawing-room that we have just quitted."
-
-I entered the Captain's room:  it had a severe, almost a monkish aspect.
-A small iron bedstead, a table, some articles for the toilet; the whole
-lighted by a skylight.  No comforts, the strictest necessaries only.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed to a seat.
-
-"Be so good as to sit down," he said.  I seated myself,
-and he began thus:
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-ALL BY ELECTRICITY
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, showing me the instruments hanging on the walls
-of his room, "here are the contrivances required for the navigation of
-the Nautilus.  Here, as in the drawing-room, I have them always under my eyes,
-and they indicate my position and exact direction in the middle of the ocean.
-Some are known to you, such as the thermometer, which gives the internal
-temperature of the Nautilus; the barometer, which indicates the weight
-of the air and foretells the changes of the weather; the hygrometer,
-which marks the dryness of the atmosphere; the storm-glass, the contents
-of which, by decomposing, announce the approach of tempests; the compass,
-which guides my course; the sextant, which shows the latitude by the altitude
-of the sun; chronometers, by which I calculate the longitude; and glasses
-for day and night, which I use to examine the points of the horizon,
-when the Nautilus rises to the surface of the waves."
-
-"These are the usual nautical instruments," I replied,
-"and I know the use of them.  But these others, no doubt,
-answer to the particular requirements of the Nautilus.
-This dial with movable needle is a manometer, is it not?"
-
-"It is actually a manometer.  But by communication with the water,
-whose external pressure it indicates, it gives our depth at the same time."
-
-"And these other instruments, the use of which I cannot guess?"
-
-"Here, Professor, I ought to give you some explanations.
-Will you be kind enough to listen to me?"
-
-He was silent for a few moments, then he said:
-
-"There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to
-every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel.  Everything is done by means
-of it.  It lights, warms it, and is the soul of my mechanical apparatus.
-This agent is electricity."
-
-"Electricity?"  I cried in surprise.
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement,
-which does not agree well with the power of electricity.
-Until now, its dynamic force has remained under restraint, and has
-only been able to produce a small amount of power."
-
-"Professor," said Captain Nemo, "my electricity is not everybody's.
-You know what sea-water is composed of.  In a thousand grammes
-are found 96 1/2 per cent. of water, and about 2 2/3 per cent.
-of chloride of sodium; then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of
-magnesium and of potassium, bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia,
-sulphate and carbonate of lime.  You see, then, that chloride
-of sodium forms a large part of it.  So it is this sodium that I
-extract from the sea-water, and of which I compose my ingredients.
-I owe all to the ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity
-gives heat, light, motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus."
-
-"But not the air you breathe?"
-
-"Oh!  I could manufacture the air necessary for my consumption, but it
-is useless, because I go up to the surface of the water when I please.
-However, if electricity does not furnish me with air to breathe, it works
-at least the powerful pumps that are stored in spacious reservoirs,
-and which enable me to prolong at need, and as long as I will, my stay
-in the depths of the sea.  It gives a uniform and unintermittent light,
-which the sun does not.  Now look at this clock; it is electrical,
-and goes with a regularity that defies the best chronometers.
-I have divided it into twenty-four hours, like the Italian clocks,
-because for me there is neither night nor day, sun nor moon, but only
-that factitious light that I take with me to the bottom of the sea.
-Look! just now, it is ten o'clock in the morning."
-
-"Exactly."
-
-"Another application of electricity.  This dial hanging in front of us
-indicates the speed of the Nautilus.  An electric thread puts it in
-communication with the screw, and the needle indicates the real speed.
-Look! now we are spinning along with a uniform speed of fifteen
-miles an hour."
-
-"It is marvelous!  And I see, Captain, you were right to make use
-of this agent that takes the place of wind, water, and steam."
-
-"We have not finished, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo, rising.
-"If you will allow me, we will examine the stern of the Nautilus."
-
-Really, I knew already the anterior part of this submarine boat,
-of which this is the exact division, starting from the ship's head:
-the dining-room, five yards long, separated from the library
-by a water-tight partition; the library, five yards long;
-the large drawing-room, ten yards long, separated from the Captain's
-room by a second water-tight partition; the said room, five yards
-in length; mine, two and a half yards; and, lastly a reservoir
-of air, seven and a half yards, that extended to the bows.
-Total length thirty five yards, or one hundred and five feet.
-The partitions had doors that were shut hermetically by means of
-india-rubber instruments, and they ensured the safety of the Nautilus
-in case of a leak.
-
-I followed Captain Nemo through the waist, and arrived at the centre
-of the boat.  There was a sort of well that opened between two partitions.
-An iron ladder, fastened with an iron hook to the partition, led to
-the upper end.  I asked the Captain what the ladder was used for.
-
-"It leads to the small boat," he said.
-
-"What! have you a boat?"  I exclaimed, in surprise.
-
-"Of course; an excellent vessel, light and insubmersible,
-that serves either as a fishing or as a pleasure boat."
-
-"But then, when you wish to embark, you are obliged to come to the surface
-of the water?"
-
-"Not at all.  This boat is attached to the upper part of
-the hull of the Nautilus, and occupies a cavity made for it.
-It is decked, quite water-tight, and held together by solid bolts.
-This ladder leads to a man-hole made in the hull of the Nautilus,
-that corresponds with a similar hole made in the side of the boat.
-By this double opening I get into the small vessel.  They shut the one
-belonging to the Nautilus; I shut the other by means of screw pressure.
-I undo the bolts, and the little boat goes up to the surface of the sea
-with prodigious rapidity.  I then open the panel of the bridge,
-carefully shut till then; I mast it, hoist my sail, take my oars,
-and I'm off."
-
-"But how do you get back on board?"
-
-"I do not come back, M. Aronnax; the Nautilus comes to me."
-
-"By your orders?"
-
-"By my orders.  An electric thread connects us.  I telegraph to it,
-and that is enough."
-
-"Really," I said, astonished at these marvels, "nothing can
-be more simple."
-
-After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led to the platform,
-I saw a cabin six feet long, in which Conseil and Ned Land,
-enchanted with their repast, were devouring it with avidity.
-Then a door opened into a kitchen nine feet long, situated between
-the large store-rooms. There electricity, better than gas itself,
-did all the cooking.  The streams under the furnaces gave out to the
-sponges of platina a heat which was regularly kept up and distributed.
-They also heated a distilling apparatus, which, by evaporation,
-furnished excellent drinkable water.  Near this kitchen was a bathroom
-comfortably furnished, with hot and cold water taps.
-
-Next to the kitchen was the berth-room of the vessel, sixteen feet long.
-But the door was shut, and I could not see the management of it,
-which might have given me an idea of the number of men employed on
-board the Nautilus.
-
-At the bottom was a fourth partition that separated this
-office from the engine-room. A door opened, and I found myself
-in the compartment where Captain Nemo--certainly an engineer
-of a very high order--had arranged his locomotive machinery.
-This engine-room, clearly lighted, did not measure less than
-sixty-five feet in length.  It was divided into two parts;
-the first contained the materials for producing electricity,
-and the second the machinery that connected it with the screw.
-I examined it with great interest, in order to understand the
-machinery of the Nautilus.
-
-"You see," said the Captain, "I use Bunsen's contrivances,
-not Ruhmkorff's. Those would not have been powerful enough.
-Bunsen's are fewer in number, but strong and large, which experience
-proves to be the best.  The electricity produced passes forward,
-where it works, by electro-magnets of great size, on a system of levers
-and cog-wheels that transmit the movement to the axle of the screw.
-This one, the diameter of which is nineteen feet, and the thread
-twenty-three feet, performs about 120 revolutions in a second."
-
-"And you get then?"
-
-"A speed of fifty miles an hour."
-
-"I have seen the Nautilus manoeuvre before the Abraham Lincoln,
-and I have my own ideas as to its speed.  But this is not enough.
-We must see where we go.  We must be able to direct it to the right,
-to the left, above, below.  How do you get to the great depths,
-where you find an increasing resistance, which is rated by hundreds
-of atmospheres?  How do you return to the surface of the ocean?
-And how do you maintain yourselves in the requisite medium?
-Am I asking too much?"
-
-"Not at all, Professor," replied the Captain, with some hesitation;
-"since you may never leave this submarine boat.  Come into the saloon,
-it is our usual study, and there you will learn all you want to know
-about the Nautilus."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-SOME FIGURES
-
-A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking.
-The Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation
-of the Nautilus.  Then he began his description in these words:
-
-"Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat
-you are in.  It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends.
-It is very like a cigar in shape, a shape already adopted
-in London in several constructions of the same sort.
-The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is exactly
-232 feet, and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet.
-It is not built quite like your long-voyage steamers,
-but its lines are sufficiently long, and its curves
-prolonged enough, to allow the water to slide off easily,
-and oppose no obstacle to its passage.  These two dimensions
-enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the surface and
-cubic contents of the Nautilus.  Its area measures 6,032 feet;
-and its contents about 1,500 cubic yards; that is to say,
-when completely immersed it displaces 50,000 feet of water,
-or weighs 1,500 tons.
-
-"When I made the plans for this submarine vessel, I meant that nine-tenths
-should be submerged:  consequently it ought only to displace nine-tenths
-of its bulk, that is to say, only to weigh that number of tons.
-I ought not, therefore, to have exceeded that weight, constructing it on
-the aforesaid dimensions.
-
-"The Nautilus is composed of two hulls, one inside, the other outside,
-joined by T-shaped irons, which render it very strong.  Indeed, owing to
-this cellular arrangement it resists like a block, as if it were solid.
-Its sides cannot yield; it coheres spontaneously, and not by the closeness
-of its rivets; and its perfect union of the materials enables it to defy
-the roughest seas.
-
-"These two hulls are composed of steel plates, whose density is
-from .7 to .8 that of water.  The first is not less than two inches
-and a half thick and weighs 394 tons.  The second envelope, the keel,
-twenty inches high and ten thick, weighs only sixty-two tons.
-The engine, the ballast, the several accessories and apparatus
-appendages, the partitions and bulkheads, weigh 961.62 tons.
-Do you follow all this?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Then, when the Nautilus is afloat under these circumstances,
-one-tenth is out of the water.  Now, if I have made reservoirs
-of a size equal to this tenth, or capable of holding 150 tons,
-and if I fill them with water, the boat, weighing then 1,507 tons,
-will be completely immersed.  That would happen, Professor.
-These reservoirs are in the lower part of the Nautilus.
-I turn on taps and they fill, and the vessel sinks that had just
-been level with the surface."
-
-"Well, Captain, but now we come to the real difficulty.
-I can understand your rising to the surface; but, diving below
-the surface, does not your submarine contrivance encounter a pressure,
-and consequently undergo an upward thrust of one atmosphere
-for every thirty feet of water, just about fifteen pounds
-per square inch?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"Then, unless you quite fill the Nautilus, I do not see how you
-can draw it down to those depths."
-
-"Professor, you must not confound statics with dynamics or you will be
-exposed to grave errors.  There is very little labour spent in attaining
-the lower regions of the ocean, for all bodies have a tendency to sink.
-When I wanted to find out the necessary increase of weight required
-to sink the Nautilus, I had only to calculate the reduction of volume
-that sea-water acquires according to the depth."
-
-"That is evident."
-
-"Now, if water is not absolutely incompressible, it is at least capable
-of very slight compression.  Indeed, after the most recent calculations this
-reduction is only .000436 of an atmosphere for each thirty feet of depth.
-If we want to sink 3,000 feet, I should keep account of the reduction of bulk
-under a pressure equal to that of a column of water of a thousand feet.
-The calculation is easily verified.  Now, I have supplementary
-reservoirs capable of holding a hundred tons.  Therefore I can sink
-to a considerable depth.  When I wish to rise to the level of the sea,
-I only let off the water, and empty all the reservoirs if I want the Nautilus
-to emerge from the tenth part of her total capacity."
-
-I had nothing to object to these reasonings.
-
-"I admit your calculations, Captain," I replied; "I should be
-wrong to dispute them since daily experience confirms them;
-but I foresee a real difficulty in the way."
-
-"What, sir?"
-
-"When you are about 1,000 feet deep, the walls of the Nautilus
-bear a pressure of 100 atmospheres.  If, then, just now you were
-to empty the supplementary reservoirs, to lighten the vessel,
-and to go up to the surface, the pumps must overcome the pressure
-of 100 atmospheres, which is 1,500 lbs.  per square inch.
-From that a power----"
-
-"That electricity alone can give," said the Captain, hastily.
-"I repeat, sir, that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite.
-The pumps of the Nautilus have an enormous power, as you must have observed
-when their jets of water burst like a torrent upon the Abraham Lincoln.
-Besides, I use subsidiary reservoirs only to attain a mean depth of 750
-to 1,000 fathoms, and that with a view of managing my machines.
-Also, when I have a mind to visit the depths of the ocean five or six mlles
-below the surface, I make use of slower but not less infallible means."
-
-"What are they, Captain?"
-
-"That involves my telling you how the Nautilus is worked."
-
-"I am impatient to learn."
-
-"To steer this boat to starboard or port, to turn, in a word,
-following a horizontal plan, I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back
-of the stern-post, and with one wheel and some tackle to steer by.
-But I can also make the Nautilus rise and sink, and sink and rise,
-by a vertical movement by means of two inclined planes fastened to its sides,
-opposite the centre of flotation, planes that move in every direction,
-and that are worked by powerful levers from the interior.
-If the planes are kept parallel with the boat, it moves horizontally.
-If slanted, the Nautilus, according to this inclination, and under
-the influence of the screw, either sinks diagonally or rises diagonally
-as it suits me.  And even if I wish to rise more quickly to the surface,
-I ship the screw, and the pressure of the water causes the Nautilus
-to rise vertically like a balloon filled with hydrogen."
-
-"Bravo, Captain!  But how can the steersman follow the route
-in the middle of the waters?"
-
-"The steersman is placed in a glazed box, that is raised about the hull
-of the Nautilus, and furnished with lenses."
-
-"Are these lenses capable of resisting such pressure?"
-
-"Perfectly.  Glass, which breaks at a blow, is, nevertheless, capable of
-offering considerable resistance.  During some experiments of fishing
-by electric light in 1864 in the Northern Seas, we saw plates less
-than a third of an inch thick resist a pressure of sixteen atmospheres.
-Now, the glass that I use is not less than thirty times thicker."
-
-"Granted.  But, after all, in order to see, the light must exceed
-the darkness, and in the midst of the darkness in the water,
-how can you see?"
-
-"Behind the steersman's cage is placed a powerful electric reflector,
-the rays from which light up the sea for half a mile in front."
-
-"Ah! bravo, bravo, Captain!  Now I can account for this
-phosphorescence in the supposed narwhal that puzzled us so.
-I now ask you if the boarding of the Nautilus and of the Scotia,
-that has made such a noise, has been the result of a chance rencontre?"
-
-"Quite accidental, sir.  I was sailing only one fathom
-below the surface of the water when the shock came.
-It had no bad result."
-
-"None, sir.  But now, about your rencontre with the Abraham Lincoln?"
-
-"Professor, I am sorry for one of the best vessels in the American navy;
-but they attacked me, and I was bound to defend myself.
-I contented myself, however, with putting the frigate hors de combat;
-she will not have any difficulty in getting repaired at the next port."
-
-"Ah, Commander! your Nautilus is certainly a marvellous boat."
-
-"Yes, Professor; and I love it as if it were part of myself.
-If danger threatens one of your vessels on the ocean,
-the first impression is the feeling of an abyss above and below.
-On the Nautilus men's hearts never fail them.  No defects
-to be afraid of, for the double shell is as firm as iron;
-no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to carry away;
-no boilers to burst; no fire to fear, for the vessel is made
-of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity
-is the only mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for it
-alone swims in deep water; no tempest to brave, for when it
-dives below the water it reaches absolute tranquillity.
-There, sir! that is the perfection of vessels!  And if it is true
-that the engineer has more confidence in the vessel than the builder,
-and the builder than the captain himself, you understand
-the trust I repose in my Nautilus; for I am at once captain,
-builder, and engineer."
-
-"But how could you construct this wonderful Nautilus in secret?"
-
-"Each separate portion, M. Aronnax, was brought from different
-parts of the globe."
-
-"But these parts had to be put together and arranged?"
-
-"Professor, I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the ocean.
-There my workmen, that is to say, the brave men that I instructed
-and educated, and myself have put together our Nautilus.  Then, when the work
-was finished, fire destroyed all trace of our proceedings on this island,
-that I could have jumped over if I had liked."
-
-"Then the cost of this vessel is great?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, an iron vessel costs L145 per ton.  Now the Nautilus weighed
-1,500. It came therefore to L67,500, and L80,000 more for fitting it up,
-and about L200,000, with the works of art and the collections it contains."
-
-"One last question, Captain Nemo."
-
-"Ask it, Professor."
-
-"You are rich?"
-
-"Immensely rich, sir; and I could, without missing it,
-pay the national debt of France."
-
-I stared at the singular person who spoke thus.  Was he playing
-upon my credulity?  The future would decide that.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE BLACK RIVER
-
-The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by
-water is estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres.
-This fluid mass comprises two billions two hundred and fifty
-millions of cubic miles, forming a spherical body of a diameter
-of sixty leagues, the weight of which would be three quintillions
-of tons.  To comprehend the meaning of these figures,
-it is necessary to observe that a quintillion is to a billion
-as a billion is to unity; in other words, there are as many
-billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.
-This mass of fluid is equal to about the quantity of water
-which would be discharged by all the rivers of the earth in
-forty thousand years.
-
-During the geological epochs the ocean originally prevailed everywhere.
-Then by degrees, in the silurian period, the tops of the mountains began
-to appear, the islands emerged, then disappeared in partial deluges,
-reappeared, became settled, formed continents, till at length the earth
-became geographically arranged, as we see in the present day.
-The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred
-and fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billions nine hundred
-and sixty millions of acres.
-
-The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five
-great portions:  the Arctic or Frozen Ocean, the Antarctic,
-or Frozen Ocean, the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.
-
-The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two
-Polar Circles, and from east to west between Asia and America,
-over an extent of 145 degrees of longitude.  It is the quietest of seas;
-its currents are broad and slow, it has medium tides, and abundant rain.
-Such was the ocean that my fate destined me first to travel over under
-these strange conditions.
-
-"Sir," said Captain Nemo, "we will, if you please,
-take our bearings and fix the starting-point of this voyage.
-It is a quarter to twelve; I will go up again to the surface."
-
-The Captain pressed an electric clock three times.
-The pumps began to drive the water from the tanks; the needle
-of the manometer marked by a different pressure the ascent
-of the Nautilus, then it stopped.
-
-"We have arrived," said the Captain.
-
-I went to the central staircase which opened on to the platform,
-clambered up the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part
-of the Nautilus.
-
-The platform was only three feet out of water.  The front
-and back of the Nautilus was of that spindle-shape which caused
-it justly to be compared to a cigar.  I noticed that its
-iron plates, slightly overlaying each other, resembled the shell
-which clothes the bodies of our large terrestrial reptiles.
-It explained to me how natural it was, in spite of all glasses,
-that this boat should have been taken for a marine animal.
-
-Toward the middle of the platform the longboat, half buried
-in the hull of the vessel, formed a slight excrescence.
-Fore and aft rose two cages of medium height with inclined sides,
-and partly closed by thick lenticular glasses; one destined for
-the steersman who directed the Nautilus, the other containing a
-brilliant lantern to give light on the road.
-
-The sea was beautiful, the sky pure.  Scarcely could
-the long vehicle feel the broad undulations of the ocean.
-A light breeze from the east rippled the surface of the waters.
-The horizon, free from fog, made observation easy.
-Nothing was in sight.  Not a quicksand, not an island.
-A vast desert.
-
-Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude
-of the sun, which ought also to give the latitude.
-He waited for some moments till its disc touched the horizon.
-Whilst taking observations not a muscle moved, the instrument
-could not have been more motionless in a hand of marble.
-
-"Twelve o'clock, sir," said he.  "When you like----"
-
-I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese coast,
-and descended to the saloon.
-
-"And now, sir, I leave you to your studies," added the Captain;
-"our course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms.
-Here are maps on a large scale by which you may follow it.
-The saloon is at your disposal, and, with your permission,
-I will retire."  Captain Nemo bowed, and I remained alone,
-lost in thoughts all bearing on the commander of the Nautilus.
-
-For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections,
-seeking to pierce this mystery so interesting to me.
-Then my eyes fell upon the vast planisphere spread upon the table,
-and I placed my finger on the very spot where the given latitude
-and longitude crossed.
-
-The sea has its large rivers like the continents.  They are
-special currents known by their temperature and their colour.
-The most remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream.
-Science has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents:
-one in the North Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North
-Pacific, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian Ocean.
-It is even probable that a sixth current existed at one time or another
-in the Northern Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas formed but
-one vast sheet of water.
-
-At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents
-was rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which,
-leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular
-rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast
-of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands,
-carrying with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions,
-and edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.
-It was this current that the Nautilus was to follow.  I followed
-it with my eye; saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific,
-and felt myself drawn with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at
-the door of the saloon.
-
-My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
-spread before them.
-
-"Where are we, where are we?" exclaimed the Canadian.
-"In the museum at Quebec?"
-
-"My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter,
-"you are not in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards
-below the level of the sea."
-
-"But, M. Aronnax," said Ned Land, "can you tell me how many men
-there are on board?  Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?"
-
-"I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a
-time all idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it.
-This ship is a masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be
-sorry not to have seen it.  Many people would accept the situation
-forced upon us, if only to move amongst such wonders.
-So be quiet and let us try and see what passes around us."
-
-"See!" exclaimed the harpooner, "but we can see nothing in this iron prison!
-We are walking--we are sailing--blindly."
-
-Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly darkness.
-The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes received
-a painful impression.
-
-We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited us,
-whether agreeable or disagreeable.  A sliding noise was heard:
-one would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-"It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.
-
-Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong openings.
-The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam.  Two crystal
-plates separated us from the sea.  At first I trembled at the thought that
-this frail partition might break, but strong bands of copper bound them,
-giving an almost infinite power of resistance.
-
-The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the Nautilus.
-What a spectacle!  What pen can describe it?  Who could paint
-the effects of the light through those transparent sheets of water,
-and the softness of the successive gradations from the lower
-to the superior strata of the ocean?
-
-We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
-beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances
-which it holds in suspension heightens its transparency.
-In certain parts of the ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five
-fathoms of water, can be seen with surprising clearness a bed
-of sand.  The penetrating power of the solar rays does not
-seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and fifty fathoms.
-But in this middle fluid travelled over by the Nautilus,
-the electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves.
-It was no longer luminous water, but liquid light.
-
-On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss.
-The obscurity of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside,
-and we looked out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of
-an immense aquarium.
-
-"You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now."
-
-"Curious! curious!" muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
-ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction;
-"and one would come further than this to admire such a sight!"
-
-"Ah!" thought I to myself, "I understand the life of this man;
-he has made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all
-his greatest wonders."
-
-For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus.
-During their games, their bounds, while rivalling each other
-in beauty, brightness, and velocity, I distinguished the green labre;
-the banded mullet, marked by a double line of black; the round-tailed goby,
-of a white colour, with violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus,
-a beautiful mackerel of these seas, with a blue body and silvery head;
-the brilliant azurors, whose name alone defies description;
-some banded spares, with variegated fins of blue and yellow;
-the woodcocks of the seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in length;
-Japanese salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents six feet long,
-with eyes small and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth;
-with many other species.
-
-Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
-on each other.  Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them.
-I was in ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the
-beauty of their forms.  Never had it been given to me to surprise
-these animals, alive and at liberty, in their natural element.
-I will not mention all the varieties which passed before my dazzled eyes,
-all the collection of the seas of China and Japan.  These fish,
-more numerous than the birds of the air, came, attracted, no doubt,
-by the brilliant focus of the electric light.
-
-Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed again,
-and the enchanting vision disappeared.  But for a long time I dreamt on,
-till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the partition.
-The compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the manometer
-indicated a pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a depth
-of twenty five fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of fifteen
-miles an hour.  I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear.
-The clock marked the hour of five.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my chamber.
-My dinner was ready.  It was composed of turtle soup made of the
-most delicate hawks bills, of a surmullet served with puff paste
-(the liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and fillets
-of the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me superior
-even to salmon.
-
-I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking.
-Then sleep overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch
-of zostera, and slept profoundly, whilst the Nautilus was gliding
-rapidly through the current of the Black River.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-A NOTE OF INVITATION
-
-The next day was the 9th of November.  I awoke after a long
-sleep of twelve hours.  Conseil came, according to custom,
-to know "how I passed the night," and to offer his services.
-He had left his friend the Canadian sleeping like a man who
-had never done anything else all his life.  I let the worthy
-fellow chatter as he pleased, without caring to answer him.
-I was preoccupied by the absence of the Captain during our sitting
-of the day before, and hoping to see him to-day.
-
-As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon.  It was deserted.
-I plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses.
-
-The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain Nemo.
-The panels of the saloon did not open.  Perhaps they did not wish us to tire
-of these beautiful things.
-
-The course of the Nautilus was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots,
-the depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
-
-The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion,
-the same solitude.  I did not see one of the ship's crew:
-Ned and Conseil spent the greater part of the day with me.
-They were astonished at the puzzling absence of the Captain.
-Was this singular man ill?--had he altered his intentions with
-regard to us?
-
-After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were delicately
-and abundantly fed.  Our host kept to his terms of the treaty.
-We could not complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our fate reserved
-such wonderful compensation for us that we had no right to accuse
-it as yet.
-
-That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled
-me to relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail.
-
-11th November, early in the morning.  The fresh air spreading
-over the interior of the Nautilus told me that we had come
-to the surface of the ocean to renew our supply of oxygen.
-I directed my steps to the central staircase, and mounted the platform.
-
-It was six o'clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey, but calm.
-Scarcely a billow.  Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be there?
-I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage.
-Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace,
-I inhaled the salt breeze with delight.
-
-By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun's rays,
-the radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon.
-The sea flamed under its glance like a train of gunpowder.
-The clouds scattered in the heights were coloured with lively tints
-of beautiful shades, and numerous "mare's tails," which betokened
-wind for that day.  But what was wind to this Nautilus,
-which tempests could not frighten!
-
-I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay,
-and so life-giving, when I heard steps approaching the platform.
-I was prepared to salute Captain Nemo, but it was his second
-(whom I had already seen on the Captain's first visit) who appeared.
-He advanced on the platform, not seeming to see me.
-With his powerful glass to his eye, he scanned every point
-of the horizon with great attention.  This examination over,
-he approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in exactly
-these terms.  I have remembered it, for every morning
-it was repeated under exactly the same conditions.
-It was thus worded:
-
-"Nautron respoc lorni virch."
-
-What it meant I could not say.
-
-These words pronounced, the second descended.  I thought that
-the Nautilus was about to return to its submarine navigation.
-I regained the panel and returned to my chamber.
-
-Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation.  Every morning I
-mounted the platform.  The same phrase was pronounced by the same individual.
-But Captain Nemo did not appear.
-
-I had made up my mind that I should never see him again,
-when, on the 16th November, on returning to my room with Ned
-and Conseil, I found upon my table a note addressed to me.
-I opened it impatiently.  It was written in a bold, clear hand,
-the characters rather pointed, recalling the German type.
-The note was worded as follows:
-
-
-TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus.  16th of November, 1867.
-
-Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
-take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo.
-He hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present,
-and he will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.
-
-
-"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.
-
-"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.
-
-"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.
-
-"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I,
-reading the letter once more.
-
-"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian.  "But once more on dry ground,
-we shall know what to do.  Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat a piece
-of fresh venison."
-
-Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
-Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation
-to hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:
-
-"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."
-
-I consulted the planisphere, and in 32@ 40' N. lat.
-and 157@ 50' W. long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801
-by Captain Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps
-as Rocca de la Plata, the meaning of which is The Silver Rock.
-We were then about eighteen hundred miles from our starting-point,
-and the course of the Nautilus, a little changed, was bringing
-it back towards the southeast.
-
-I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific,
-to my companions.
-
-"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I,
-"he at least chooses desert islands."
-
-Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil
-and he left me.
-
-After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive,
-I went to bed, not without some anxiety.
-
-The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt
-that the Nautilus was perfectly still.  I dressed quickly
-and entered the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me.  He rose, bowed,
-and asked me if it was convenient for me to accompany him.
-As he made no allusion to his absence during the last eight days,
-I did not mention it, and simply answered that my companions and
-myself were ready to follow him.
-
-We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said the Captain, "pray, share my breakfast without ceremony;
-we will chat as we eat.  For, though I promised you a walk in the forest,
-I did not undertake to find hotels there.  So breakfast as a man who will most
-likely not have his dinner till very late."
-
-I did honour to the repast.  It was composed of several kinds of fish,
-and slices of sea-cucumber, and different sorts of seaweed.
-Our drink consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added
-some drops of a fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha
-method from a seaweed known under the name of Rhodomenia palmata.
-Captain Nemo ate at first without saying a word.  Then he began:
-
-"Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
-you evidently thought me mad.  Sir, you should never judge lightly
-of any man."
-
-"But Captain, believe me----"
-
-"Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you
-have any cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction."
-
-"I listen."
-
-"You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
-providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air.
-In submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress,
-with his head in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means
-of forcing pumps and regulators."
-
-"That is a diving apparatus," said I.
-
-"Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty;
-he is attached to the pump which sends him air through an
-india-rubber tube, and if we were obliged to be thus held
-to the Nautilus, we could not go far."
-
-"And the means of getting free?"  I asked.
-
-"It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your
-own countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use,
-and which will allow you to risk yourself under these new
-physiological conditions without any organ whatever suffering.
-It consists of a reservoir of thick iron plates, in which I store
-the air under a pressure of fifty atmospheres.  This reservoir is
-fixed on the back by means of braces, like a soldier's knapsack.
-Its upper part forms a box in which the air is kept by means of
-a bellows, and therefore cannot escape unless at its normal tension.
-In the Rouquayrol apparatus such as we use, two india rubber pipes
-leave this box and join a sort of tent which holds the nose and mouth;
-one is to introduce fresh air, the other to let out the foul, and the tongue
-closes one or the other according to the wants of the respirator.
-But I, in encountering great pressures at the bottom of the sea,
-was obliged to shut my head, like that of a diver in a ball of copper;
-and it is to this ball of copper that the two pipes, the inspirator and
-the expirator, open."
-
-"Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you
-must soon be used; when it only contains fifteen per cent.
-of oxygen it is no longer fit to breathe."
-
-"Right!  But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the Nautilus allow
-me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those conditions
-the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air for nine
-or ten hours."
-
-"I have no further objections to make," I answered.
-"I will only ask you one thing, Captain--how can you light your
-road at the bottom of the sea?"
-
-"With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back,
-the other is fastened to the waist.  It is composed of a Bunsen pile,
-which I do not work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium.
-A wire is introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs
-it towards a particularly made lantern.  In this lantern is a spiral glass
-which contains a small quantity of carbonic gas.  When the apparatus is at
-work this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous light.
-Thus provided, I can breathe and I can see."
-
-"Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers that I
-dare no longer doubt.  But, if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol
-and Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with regard
-to the gun I am to carry."
-
-"But it is not a gun for powder," answered the Captain.
-
-"Then it is an air-gun."
-
-"Doubtless!  How would you have me manufacture gun powder on board,
-without either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?"
-
-"Besides," I added, "to fire under water in a medium eight
-hundred and fifty-five times denser than the air, we must
-conquer very considerable resistance."
-
-"That would be no difficulty.  There exist guns, according to Fulton,
-perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy,
-and in Italy by Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar
-system of closing, which can fire under these conditions.
-But I repeat, having no powder, I use air under great pressure,
-which the pumps of the Nautilus furnish abundantly."
-
-"But this air must be rapidly used?"
-
-"Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at need?
-A tap is all that is required.  Besides M. Aronnax, you must see
-yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air
-and but few balls."
-
-"But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this fluid,
-which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could not go far,
-nor easily prove mortal."
-
-"Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal;
-and, however lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck
-by a thunderbolt."
-
-"Why?"
-
-"Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little
-cases of glass.  These glass cases are covered with a case of steel,
-and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles,
-into which the electricity is forced to a very high tension.
-With the slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal,
-however strong it may be, falls dead.  I must tell you that these
-cases are size number four, and that the charge for an ordinary gun
-would be ten."
-
-"I will argue no longer," I replied, rising from the table.
-"I have nothing left me but to take my gun.  At all events,
-I will go where you go."
-
-Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned's and
-Conseil's cabin, I called my two companions, who followed promptly.
-We then came to a cell near the machinery-room, in which we put
-on our walking-dress.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
-
-This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the Nautilus.
-A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting our use.
-
-Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress
-himself in one.
-
-"But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
-but submarine forests."
-
-"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams
-of fresh meat fade away.  "And you, M. Aronnax, are you going
-to dress yourself in those clothes?"
-
-"There is no alternative, Master Ned."
-
-"As you please, sir," replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
-"but, as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one."
-
-"No one will force you, Master Ned," said Captain Nemo.
-
-"Is Conseil going to risk it?" asked Ned.
-
-"I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.
-
-At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came to help us dress
-in these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam,
-and constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure.
-One would have thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting.
-This suit formed trousers and waistcoat.  The trousers were
-finished off with thick boots, weighted with heavy leaden soles.
-The texture of the waistcoat was held together by bands of copper,
-which crossed the chest, protecting it from the great pressure
-of the water, and leaving the lungs free to act; the sleeves ended
-in gloves, which in no way restrained the movement of the hands.
-There was a vast difference noticeable between these consummate
-apparatuses and the old cork breastplates, jackets, and other
-contrivances in vogue during the eighteenth century.
-
-Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules,
-who must have possessed great strength), Conseil and myself
-were soon enveloped in the dresses.  There remained nothing
-more to be done but to enclose our heads in the metal box.
-But, before proceeding to this operation, I asked the Captain's
-permission to examine the guns.
-
-One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end
-of which, made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large.
-It served as a reservoir for compressed air, which a valve,
-worked by a spring, allowed to escape into a metal tube.
-A box of projectiles in a groove in the thickness of the butt
-end contained about twenty of these electric balls, which,
-by means of a spring, were forced into the barrel of the gun.
-As soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
-
-"Captain Nemo," said I, "this arm is perfect, and easily handled:
-I only ask to be allowed to try it.  But how shall we gain the bottom
-of the sea?"
-
-"At this moment, Professor, the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
-and we have nothing to do but to start."
-
-"But how shall we get off?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the same,
-not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian.
-The upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which
-was screwed the metal helmet.  Three holes, protected by thick glass,
-allowed us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head
-in the interior of the head-dress. As soon as it was in position,
-the Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began to act; and, for my part,
-I could breathe with ease.
-
-With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand,
-I was ready to set out.  But to speak the truth, imprisoned in
-these heavy garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles,
-it was impossible for me to take a step.
-
-But this state of things was provided for.  I felt myself being
-pushed into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe room.
-My companions followed, towed along in the same way.  I heard
-a water-tight door, furnished with stopper plates, close upon us,
-and we were wrapped in profound darkness.
-
-After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard.  I felt the cold
-mount from my feet to my chest.  Evidently from some part of the
-vessel they had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water,
-which was invading us, and with which the room was soon filled.
-A second door cut in the side of the Nautilus then opened.
-We saw a faint light.  In another instant our feet trod the bottom
-of the sea.
-
-And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
-under the waters?  Words are impotent to relate such wonders!
-Captain Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind.
-Conseil and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words
-had been possible through our metallic cases.  I no longer felt
-the weight of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir of air,
-or my thick helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond
-in its shell.
-
-The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of
-the ocean, astonished me by its power.  The solar rays shone through
-the watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly
-distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.
-Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine,
-and faded into vague obscurity.  Truly this water which surrounded
-me was but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere,
-but almost as transparent.  Above me was the calm surface of the sea.
-We were walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore,
-which retains the impression of the billows.  This dazzling carpet,
-really a reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity,
-which accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid.
-Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet,
-I could see as if I was in broad daylight?
-
-For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
-dust of shells.  The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
-disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake us
-in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
-
-Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible.
-I recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes
-of the most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar
-effect of this medium.
-
-It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
-of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their light,
-decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks, plants, shells,
-and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours.
-It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints,
-a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue;
-in one word, the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist!
-Why could I not communicate to Conseil the lively sensations which were
-mounting to my brain, and rival him in expressions of admiration?
-For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his companion might be able to exchange
-thoughts by means of signs previously agreed upon.  So, for want of better,
-I talked to myself; I declaimed in the copper box which covered my head,
-thereby expending more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
-
-Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi,
-and anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
-collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom.
-It was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant
-specimens of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands,
-of hammerheads, donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases,
-and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this
-inexhaustible ocean.  But we were bound to walk, so we went on,
-whilst above our heads waved medusae whose umbrellas of opal
-or rose-pink, escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from
-the rays of the sun and fiery pelagiae, which, in the darkness,
-would have strewn our path with phosphorescent light.
-
-All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile,
-scarcely stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on
-by signs.  Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain
-succeeded an extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze,"
-composed of equal parts of silicious and calcareous shells.  We then
-travelled over a plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation.
-This sward was of close texture, and soft to the feet,
-and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of man.
-But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not abandon our heads.
-A light network of marine plants, of that inexhaustible family
-of seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known,
-grew on the surface of the water.
-
-I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea,
-whilst the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black
-or brown the care of forming gardens and parterres in the remote
-beds of the ocean.
-
-We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half.
-It was near noon; I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays,
-which were no longer refracted.  The magical colours disappeared
-by degrees, and the shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced.
-We walked with a regular step, which rang upon the ground with
-astonishing intensity; the slightest noise was transmitted with a
-quickness to which the ear is unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water is
-a better conductor of sound than air, in the ratio of four to one.
-At this period the earth sloped downwards; the light took a uniform tint.
-We were at a depth of a hundred and five yards and twenty inches,
-undergoing a pressure of six atmospheres.
-
-At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly;
-to their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
-state between day and night; but we could still see well enough;
-it was not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet.
-At this moment Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him,
-and then pointed to an obscure mass, looming in the shadow,
-at a short distance.
-
-"It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I;
-and I was not mistaken.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-A SUBMARINE FOREST
-
-We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest,
-doubtless one of the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains.
-He looked upon it as his own, and considered he had the same right
-over it that the first men had in the first days of the world.
-And, indeed, who would have disputed with him the possession
-of this submarine property?  What other hardier pioneer would come,
-hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark copses?
-
-This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we
-penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular
-position of their branches--a position I had not yet observed.
-
-Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed
-the trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally;
-all stretched up to the surface of the ocean.  Not a filament, not a ribbon,
-however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron.
-The fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to the density
-of the element which had produced them.  Motionless yet, when bent
-to one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former position.
-Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!
-
-I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position,
-as well as to the comparative darkness which surrounded us.
-The soil of the forest seemed covered with sharp blocks,
-difficult to avoid.  The submarine flora struck me as being
-very perfect, and richer even than it would have been in the arctic
-or tropical zones, where these productions are not so plentiful.
-But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the genera,
-taking animals for plants; and who would not have been mistaken?
-The fauna and the flora are too closely allied in this submarine world.
-
-These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their
-existence is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them.
-The greater number, instead of leaves, shoot forth blades
-of capricious shapes, comprised within a scale of colours pink,
-carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown.
-
-"Curious anomaly, fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist,
-"in which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!"
-
-In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt; I, for my part,
-was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae,
-the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.
-
-This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing
-wanting but the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak,
-impossible to answer, I only put my great copper head to Conseil's.
-I saw the worthy fellow's eyes glistening with delight, and, to show
-his satisfaction, he shook himself in his breastplate of air,
-in the most comical way in the world.
-
-After four hours of this walking, I was surprised not to find
-myself dreadfully hungry.  How to account for this state
-of the stomach I could not tell.  But instead I felt an
-insurmountable desire to sleep, which happens to all divers.
-And my eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses, and I fell into
-a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had prevented before.
-Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in the clear crystal,
-set us the example.
-
-How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge,
-but, when I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon.
-Captain Nemo had already risen, and I was beginning to stretch
-my limbs, when an unexpected apparition brought me briskly
-to my feet.
-
-A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches
-high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me.
-Though my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from
-the bite of this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror.
-Conseil and the sailor of the Nautilus awoke at this moment.
-Captain Nemo pointed out the hideous crustacean, which a blow
-from the butt end of the gun knocked over, and I saw the horrible
-claws of the monster writhe in terrible convulsions.
-This incident reminded me that other animals more to be feared
-might haunt these obscure depths, against whose attacks my
-diving-dress would not protect me.  I had never thought of it before,
-but I now resolved to be upon my guard.  Indeed, I thought
-that this halt would mark the termination of our walk;
-but I was mistaken, for, instead of returning to the Nautilus,
-Captain Nemo continued his bold excursion.  The ground was still
-on the incline, its declivity seemed to be getting greater,
-and to be leading us to greater depths.  It must have been
-about three o'clock when we reached a narrow valley, between high
-perpendicular walls, situated about seventy-five fathoms deep.
-Thanks to the perfection of our apparatus, we were forty-five
-fathoms below the limit which nature seems to have imposed on man
-as to his submarine excursions.
-
-I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to
-judge the distance.  But I knew that even in the clearest waters
-the solar rays could not penetrate further.  And accordingly
-the darkness deepened.  At ten paces not an object was visible.
-I was groping my way, when I suddenly saw a brilliant white light.
-Captain Nemo had just put his electric apparatus into use;
-his companion did the same, and Conseil and I followed their example.
-By turning a screw I established a communication between the wire
-and the spiral glass, and the sea, lit by our four lanterns,
-was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.
-
-As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus
-could not fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch.
-But if they did approach us, they at least kept at
-a respectful distance from the hunters.  Several times
-I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his shoulder,
-and after some moments drop it and walk on.  At last,
-after about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end.
-A wall of superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us,
-a heap of gigantic blocks, an enormous, steep granite shore,
-forming dark grottos, but which presented no practicable slope;
-it was the prop of the Island of Crespo.  It was the earth!
-Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.  A gesture of his brought us all
-to a halt; and, however desirous I might be to scale the wall,
-I was obliged to stop.  Here ended Captain Nemo's domains.
-And he would not go beyond them.  Further on was a portion of the
-globe he might not trample upon.
-
-The return began.  Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little band,
-directing their course without hesitation.  I thought we were not following
-the same road to return to the Nautilus.  The new road was very steep,
-and consequently very painful.  We approached the surface of the sea rapidly.
-But this return to the upper strata was not so sudden as to cause relief
-from the pressure too rapidly, which might have produced serious disorder
-in our organisation, and brought on internal lesions, so fatal to divers.
-Very soon light reappeared and grew, and, the sun being low on the horizon,
-the refraction edged the different objects with a spectral ring.
-At ten yards and a half deep, we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes
-of all kinds, more numerous than the birds of the air, and also more agile;
-but no aquatic game worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze, when at
-that moment I saw the Captain shoulder his gun quickly, and follow
-a moving object into the shrubs.  He fired; I heard a slight hissing,
-and a creature fell stunned at some distance from us.  It was a magnificent
-sea-otter, an enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped.
-This otter was five feet long, and must have been very valuable.
-Its skin, chestnut-brown above and silvery underneath, would have made one
-of those beautiful furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets:
-the fineness and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch L80.
-I admired this curious mammal, with its rounded head ornamented with
-short ears, its round eyes, and white whiskers like those of a cat,
-with webbed feet and nails, and tufted tail.  This precious animal,
-hunted and tracked by fishermen, has now become very rare, and taken refuge
-chiefly in the northern parts of the Pacific, or probably its race would
-soon become extinct.
-
-Captain Nemo's companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder, and we
-continued our journey.  For one hour a plain of sand lay stretched before us.
-Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some inches of the surface of
-the water.  I then saw our image clearly reflected, drawn inversely, and above
-us appeared an identical group reflecting our movements and our actions;
-in a word, like us in every point, except that they walked with their heads
-downward and their feet in the air.
-
-Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which formed
-and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these seeming
-clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the bottom,
-and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops multiplied
-on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above our heads,
-whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.
-
-On this occasion I was witness to one of the finest gun
-shots which ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill.
-A large bird of great breadth of wing, clearly visible, approached,
-hovering over us.  Captain Nemo's companion shouldered his gun
-and fired, when it was only a few yards above the waves.
-The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall
-brought it within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp.
-It was an albatross of the finest kind.
-
-Our march had not been interrupted by this incident.
-For two hours we followed these sandy plains, then fields of algae
-very disagreeable to cross.  Candidly, I could do no more when I
-saw a glimmer of light, which, for a half mile, broke the
-darkness of the waters.  It was the lantern of the Nautilus.
-Before twenty minutes were over we should be on board,
-and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed
-that my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen.
-But I did not reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our
-arrival for some time.
-
-I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain
-Nemo coming hurriedly towards me.  With his strong hand he bent
-me to the ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil.
-At first I knew not what to think of this sudden attack, but I
-was soon reassured by seeing the Captain lie down beside me,
-and remain immovable.
-
-I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush
-of algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass,
-casting phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
-
-My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable
-sharks which threatened us.  It was a couple of tintoreas,
-terrible creatures, with enormous tails and a dull glassy stare,
-the phosphorescent matter ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle.
-Monstrous brutes! which would crush a whole man in their iron jaws.
-I did not know whether Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part,
-I noticed their silver bellies, and their huge mouths bristling
-with teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and more as a
-possible victim than as a naturalist.
-
-Happily the voracious creatures do not see well.  They passed without
-seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a miracle
-from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in the forest.
-Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we reached the Nautilus.
-The outside door had been left open, and Captain Nemo closed it
-as soon as we had entered the first cell.  He then pressed a knob.
-I heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel, I felt the water
-sinking from around me, and in a few moments the cell was entirely empty.
-The inside door then opened, and we entered the vestry.
-
-There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and,
-fairly worn out from want of food and sleep, I returned to my room,
-in great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
-
-The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from
-my fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform,
-just as the second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
-
-I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain
-Nemo appeared.  He did not seem to be aware of my presence,
-and began a series of astronomical observations.
-Then, when he had finished, he went and leant on the cage
-of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean.
-In the meantime, a number of the sailors of the Nautilus,
-all strong and healthy men, had come up onto the platform.
-They came to draw up the nets that had been laid all night.
-These sailors were evidently of different nations,
-although the European type was visible in all of them.
-I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen, Frenchmen, some Sclaves,
-and a Greek, or a Candiote.  They were civil, and only used that odd
-language among themselves, the origin of which I could not guess,
-neither could I question them.
-
-The nets were hauled in.  They were a large kind of "chaluts," like those
-on the Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain fixed
-in the smaller meshes kept open.  These pockets, drawn by iron poles,
-swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their way.
-That day they brought up curious specimens from those productive coasts.
-
-I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of fish.
-It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at.  Indeed, the nets are let
-down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite variety.
-We had no lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the Nautilus
-and the attraction of the electric light could always renew our supply.
-These several productions of the sea were immediately lowered through the
-panel to the steward's room, some to be eaten fresh, and others pickled.
-
-The fishing ended, the provision of air renewed, I thought
-that the Nautilus was about to continue its submarine excursion,
-and was preparing to return to my room, when, without further preamble,
-the Captain turned to me, saying:
-
-"Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life?  It has its
-tempers and its gentle moods.  Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it
-has woke after a quiet night.  Look!" he continued, "it wakes under
-the caresses of the sun.  It is going to renew its diurnal existence.
-It is an interesting study to watch the play of its organisation.
-It has a pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with the learned Maury,
-who discovered in it a circulation as real as the circulation of
-blood in animals.
-
-"Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator
-has caused things to multiply in it--caloric, salt, and animalculae."
-
-When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed,
-and aroused an extraordinary emotion in me.
-
-"Also," he added, "true existence is there; and I can imagine
-the foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses,
-which, like the Nautilus, would ascend every morning to breathe
-at the surface of the water, free towns, independent cities.
-Yet who knows whether some despot----"
-
-Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture.
-Then, addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought:
-
-"M. Aronnax," he asked, "do you know the depth of the ocean?"
-
-"I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings have taught us."
-
-"Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to my purpose?"
-
-"These are some," I replied, "that I remember.  If I am not mistaken,
-a depth of 8,000 yards has been found in the North Atlantic,
-and 2,500 yards in the Mediterranean.  The most remarkable soundings
-have been made in the South Atlantic, near the thirty-fifth parallel,
-and they gave 12,000 yards, 14,000 yards, and 15,000 yards.
-To sum up all, it is reckoned that if the bottom of the sea were levelled,
-its mean depth would be about one and three-quarter leagues."
-
-"Well, Professor," replied the Captain, "we shall show you better
-than that I hope.  As to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific,
-I tell you it is only 4,000 yards."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo went towards the panel,
-and disappeared down the ladder.  I followed him, and went into
-the large drawing-room. The screw was immediately put in motion,
-and the log gave twenty miles an hour.
-
-During the days and weeks that passed, Captain Nemo
-was very sparing of his visits.  I seldom saw him.
-The lieutenant pricked the ship's course regularly on the chart,
-so I could always tell exactly the route of the Nautilus.
-
-Nearly every day, for some time, the panels of the drawing-room were opened,
-and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the submarine world.
-
-The general direction of the Nautilus was south-east, and it kept between 100
-and 150 yards of depth.  One day, however, I do not know why, being drawn
-diagonally by means of the inclined planes, it touched the bed of the sea.
-The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25 (cent.): a temperature that at
-this depth seemed common to all latitudes.
-
-At three o'clock in the morning of the 26th of November the Nautilus
-crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172@ long.  On 27th instant it
-sighted the Sandwich Islands, where Cook died, February 14, 1779.
-We had then gone 4,860 leagues from our starting-point. In the morning,
-when I went on the platform, I saw two miles to windward,
-Hawaii, the largest of the seven islands that form the group.
-I saw clearly the cultivated ranges, and the several mountain-chains
-that run parallel with the side, and the volcanoes that overtop
-Mouna-Rea, which rise 5,000 yards above the level of the sea.
-Besides other things the nets brought up, were several flabellariae
-and graceful polypi, that are peculiar to that part of the ocean.
-The direction of the Nautilus was still to the south-east. It crossed
-the equator December 1, in 142@ long.; and on the 4th of the same month,
-after crossing rapidly and without anything in particular occurring,
-we sighted the Marquesas group.  I saw, three miles off, Martin's peak
-in Nouka-Hiva, the largest of the group that belongs to France.
-I only saw the woody mountains against the horizon, because Captain Nemo
-did not wish to bring the ship to the wind.  There the nets brought up
-beautiful specimens of fish:  some with azure fins and tails like gold,
-the flesh of which is unrivalled; some nearly destitute of scales,
-but of exquisite flavour; others, with bony jaws, and yellow-tinged
-gills, as good as bonitos; all fish that would be of use to us.
-After leaving these charming islands protected by the French flag,
-from the 4th to the 11th of December the Nautilus sailed over about
-2,000 miles.
-
-During the daytime of the 11th of December I was busy reading
-in the large drawing-room. Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous
-water through the half-open panels.  The Nautilus was immovable.
-While its reservoirs were filled, it kept at a depth of 1,000 yards,
-a region rarely visited in the ocean, and in which large fish
-were seldom seen.
-
-I was then reading a charming book by Jean Mace, The Slaves of the Stomach,
-and I was learning some valuable lessons from it, when Conseil interrupted me.
-
-"Will master come here a moment?" he said, in a curious voice.
-
-"What is the matter, Conseil?"
-
-"I want master to look."
-
-I rose, went, and leaned on my elbows before the panes and watched.
-
-In a full electric light, an enormous black mass, quite immovable,
-was suspended in the midst of the waters.  I watched it attentively,
-seeking to find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean.
-But a sudden thought crossed my mind.  "A vessel!"
-I said, half aloud.
-
-"Yes," replied the Canadian, "a disabled ship that has sunk perpendicularly."
-
-Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the tattered
-shrouds still hung from their chains.  The keel seemed to be
-in good order, and it had been wrecked at most some few hours.
-Three stumps of masts, broken off about two feet above the bridge,
-showed that the vessel had had to sacrifice its masts.  But, lying on
-its side, it had filled, and it was heeling over to port.
-This skeleton of what it had once been was a sad spectacle as it lay
-lost under the waves, but sadder still was the sight of the bridge,
-where some corpses, bound with ropes, were still lying.
-I counted five--four men, one of whom was standing at the helm,
-and a woman standing by the poop, holding an infant in her arms.
-She was quite young.  I could distinguish her features, which the water
-had not decomposed, by the brilliant light from the Nautilus.
-In one despairing effort, she had raised her infant above her head--
-poor little thing!--whose arms encircled its mother's neck.
-The attitude of the four sailors was frightful, distorted as they
-were by their convulsive movements, whilst making a last effort
-to free themselves from the cords that bound them to the vessel.
-The steersman alone, calm, with a grave, clear face, his grey hair
-glued to his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the helm,
-seemed even then to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths
-of the ocean.
-
-What a scene!  We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before this shipwreck,
-taken as it were from life and photographed in its last moments.
-And I saw already, coming towards it with hungry eyes, enormous sharks,
-attracted by the human flesh.
-
-However, the Nautilus, turning, went round the submerged vessel,
-and in one instant I read on the stern--"The Florida, Sunderland."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-VANIKORO
-
-This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime
-catastrophes that the Nautilus was destined to meet with in its route.
-As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw
-the hulls of shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths,
-and deeper down cannons, bullets, anchors, chains, and a thousand
-other iron materials eaten up by rust.  However, on the 11th of
-December we sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old "dangerous group"
-of Bougainville, that extend over a space of 500 leagues at
-E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the Island Ducie to that of Lazareff.
-This group covers an area of 370 square leagues, and it is formed
-of sixty groups of islands, among which the Gambier group is remarkable,
-over which France exercises sway.  These are coral islands,
-slowly raised, but continuous, created by the daily work of polypi.
-Then this new island will be joined later on to the neighboring groups,
-and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia,
-and from thence to the Marquesas.
-
-One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain Nemo,
-he replied coldly:
-
-"The earth does not want new continents, but new men."
-
-Chance had conducted the Nautilus towards the Island of
-Clermont-Tonnere, one of the most curious of the group, that was
-discovered in 1822 by Captain Bell of the Minerva. I could study now
-the madreporal system, to which are due the islands in this ocean.
-
-Madrepores (which must not be mistaken for corals) have a tissue
-lined with a calcareous crust, and the modifications of its
-structure have induced M. Milne Edwards, my worthy master, to class
-them into five sections. The animalcule that the marine polypus
-secretes live by millions at the bottom of their cells. Their
-calcareous deposits become rocks, reefs, and large and small
-islands. Here they form a ring, surrounding a little inland lake,
-that communicates with the sea by means of gaps. There they make
-barriers of reefs like those on the coasts of New Caledonia and the
-various Pomoton islands. In other places, like those at Reunion and
-at Maurice, they raise fringed reefs, high, straight walls, near
-which the depth of the ocean is considerable.
-
-Some cable-lengths off the shores of the Island of Clermont I
-admired the gigantic work accomplished by these microscopical
-workers. These walls are specially the work of those madrepores
-known as milleporas, porites, madrepores, and astraeas. These polypi
-are found particularly in the rough beds of the sea, near the
-surface; and consequently it is from the upper part that they begin
-their operations, in which they bury themselves by degrees with the
-debris of the secretions that support them. Such is, at least,
-Darwin's theory, who thus explains the formation of the _atolls_, a
-superior theory (to my mind) to that given of the foundation of the
-madreporical works, summits of mountains or volcanoes, that are
-submerged some feet below the level of the sea.
-
-I could observe closely these curious walls, for perpendicularly
-they were more than 300 yards deep, and our electric sheets lighted
-up this calcareous matter brilliantly. Replying to a question
-Conseil asked me as to the time these colossal barriers took to be
-raised, I astonished him much by telling him that learned men
-reckoned it about the eighth of an inch in a hundred years.
-
-Towards evening Clermont-Tonnerre was lost in the distance, and the
-route of the Nautilus was sensibly changed. After having crossed the
-tropic of Capricorn in 135 deg. longitude, it sailed W.N.W., making
-again for the tropical zone. Although the summer sun was very
-strong, we did not suffer from heat, for at fifteen or twenty
-fathoms below the surface, the temperature did not rise above from
-ten to twelve degrees.
-
-On 15th of December, we left to the east the bewitching group
-of the Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific.
-I saw in the morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated
-summits of the island.  These waters furnished our table
-with excellent fish, mackerel, bonitos, and some varieties
-of a sea-serpent.
-
-On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed into the midst of the
-New Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville
-explored in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773.
-This group is composed principally of nine large islands, that form
-a band of 120 leagues N.N.S. to S.S.W., between 15@ and 2@ S. lat.,
-and 164@ and 168@ long.  We passed tolerably near to the Island of Aurou,
-that at noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a peak
-of great height.
-
-That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely
-the non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fete of which
-Protestants are so fond.  I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week,
-when, on the morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room,
-always seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before.
-I was busily tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere.
-The Captain came up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart,
-and said this single word.
-
-"Vanikoro."
-
-The effect was magical!  It was the name of the islands on which La
-Perouse had been lost!  I rose suddenly.
-
-"The Nautilus has brought us to Vanikoro?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, Professor," said the Captain.
-
-"And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole
-and the Astrolabe struck?"
-
-"If you like, Professor."
-
-"When shall we be there?"
-
-"We are there now."
-
-Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform,
-and greedily scanned the horizon.
-
-To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size,
-surrounded by a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference.
-We were close to Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d'Urville
-gave the name of Isle de la Recherche, and exactly facing the little
-harbour of Vanou, situated in 16@ 4' S. lat., and 164@ 32' E. long.
-The earth seemed covered with verdure from the shore to the summits
-in the interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high.
-The Nautilus, having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait,
-found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty to forty
-fathoms deep.  Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived
-some savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach.
-In the long black body, moving between wind and water, did they not see
-some formidable cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
-
-Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La Perouse.
-
-"Only what everyone knows, Captain," I replied.
-
-"And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?"
-he inquired, ironically.
-
-"Easily."
-
-I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d'Urville had made known--
-works from which the following is a brief account.
-
-La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent
-by Louis XVI, in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation.
-They embarked in the corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe,
-neither of which were again heard of.  In 1791, the French
-Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of these two sloops,
-manned two large merchantmen, the Recherche and the Esperance,
-which left Brest the 28th of September under the command
-of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
-
-Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle,
-that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts
-of New Georgia.  But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication--
-rather uncertain, besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
-mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La
-Perouse was wrecked.
-
-They sought in vain.  The Esperance and the Recherche passed before Vanikoro
-without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most disastrous,
-as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of his lieutenants,
-besides several of his crew.
-
-Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find
-unmistakable traces of the wrecks.  On the 15th of May, 1824, his vessel,
-the St. Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New Hebrides.
-There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the handle of a sword
-in silver that bore the print of characters engraved on the hilt.
-The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay at Vanikoro,
-he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels that had run
-aground on the reefs some years ago.
-
-Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had
-troubled the whole world.  He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
-according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
-but winds and tides prevented him.
-
-Dillon returned to Calcutta.  There he interested the Asiatic Society
-and the Indian Company in his discovery.  A vessel, to which was given
-the name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out,
-23rd January, 1827, accompanied by a French agent.
-
-The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific,
-cast anchor before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour
-of Vanou where the Nautilus was at this time.
-
-There it collected numerous relics of the wreck--
-iron utensils, anchors, pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lb.
-shot, fragments of astronomical instruments, a piece of crown work,
-and a bronze clock, bearing this inscription--"Bazin m'a fait,"
-the mark of the foundry of the arsenal at Brest about 1785.
-There could be no further doubt.
-
-Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till October.
-Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New Zealand;
-put into Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France, where he was
-warmly welcomed by Charles X.
-
-But at the same time, without knowing Dillon's movements,
-Dumont d'Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck.
-And they had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis
-had been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.
-Dumont d'Urville, commander of the Astrolabe, had then sailed,
-and two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put into Hobart Town.
-There he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries, and found that a certain
-James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing
-on an island situated 8@ 18' S. lat., and 156@ 30' E. long., had seen
-some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these parts.
-Dumont d'Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit the reports
-of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon's track.
-
-On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia,
-and took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island;
-made his way to Vanikoro, sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among
-the reefs until the 14th, and not until the 20th did he cast anchor
-within the barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
-
-On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought
-back some unimportant trifles.  The natives, adopting a system
-of denials and evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place.
-This ambiguous conduct led them to believe that the natives had
-ill-treated the castaways, and indeed they seemed to fear that Dumont
-d'Urville had come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
-
-However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that they
-had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of the wreck.
-
-There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs
-of Pacou and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron,
-embedded in the limy concretions.  The large boat and the whaler
-belonging to the Astrolabe were sent to this place, and, not without
-some difficulty, their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800
-lbs., a brass gun, some pigs of iron, and two copper swivel-guns.
-
-Dumont d'Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse,
-after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island,
-had constructed a smaller boat, only to be lost a second time.
-Where, no one knew.
-
-But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d'Urville was
-not acquainted with Dillon's movements, had sent the sloop
-Bayonnaise, commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro,
-which had been stationed on the west coast of America.
-The Bayonnaise cast her anchor before Vanikoro some months
-after the departure of the Astrolabe, but found no new document;
-but stated that the savages had respected the monument to La Perouse.
-That is the substance of what I told Captain Nemo.
-
-"So," he said, "no one knows now where the third vessel perished
-that was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?"
-
-"No one knows."
-
-Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into
-the large saloon.  The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves,
-and the panels were opened.
-
-I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral,
-covered with fungi, syphonules, alcyons, madrepores, through myriads
-of charming fish--girelles, glyphisidri, pompherides, diacopes, and
-holocentres--I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been
-able to tear up--iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan
-fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck
-of some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers. While I was
-looking on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a sad voice:
-
-"Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels
-La Boussole and the Astrolabe.  He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
-visited the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course
-towards Santa Cruz, and put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group.
-Then his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro.
-The Boussole, which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast.
-The Astrolabe went to its help, and ran aground too.  The first vessel
-was destroyed almost immediately.  The second, stranded under the wind,
-resisted some days.  The natives made the castaways welcome.
-They installed themselves in the island, and constructed a smaller boat
-with the debris of the two large ones.  Some sailors stayed willingly
-at Vanikoro; the others, weak and ill, set out with La Perouse.
-They directed their course towards the Solomon Islands, and there perished,
-with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island of the group,
-between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."
-
-"How do you know that?"
-
-"By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck."
-
-Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms,
-and corroded by the salt water.  He opened it, and I saw a bundle of papers,
-yellow but still readable.
-
-They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La Perouse,
-annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
-
-"Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!" said Captain Nemo, at last.
-"A coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades
-will find no other."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-TORRES STRAITS
-
-During the night of the 27th or 28th of December,
-the Nautilus left the shores of Vanikoro with great speed.
-Her course was south-westerly, and in three days she had gone
-over the 750 leagues that separated it from La Perouse's group
-and the south-east point of Papua.
-
-Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
-
-"Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?"
-
-"What!  Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study
-at the Jardin des Plantes?  Well, I accept your good wishes,
-and thank you for them.  Only, I will ask you what you mean
-by a `Happy New Year' under our circumstances?  Do you mean
-the year that will bring us to the end of our imprisonment,
-or the year that sees us continue this strange voyage?"
-
-"Really, I do not know how to answer, master.  We are sure to see
-curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time
-for dullness.  The last marvel is always the most astonishing;
-and, if we continue this progression, I do not know how it will end.
-It is my opinion that we shall never again see the like.
-I think then, with no offence to master, that a happy year would be
-one in which we could see everything."
-
-On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250
-French leagues, since our starting-point in the Japan Seas.
-Before the ship's head stretched the dangerous shores
-of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of Australia.
-Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank
-on which Cook's vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770.  The boat
-in which Cook was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink,
-it was owing to a piece of coral that was broken by the shock,
-and fixed itself in the broken keel.
-
-I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the sea,
-always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like thunder.
-But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a great depth,
-and I could see nothing of the high coral walls.  I had to content
-myself with the different specimens of fish brought up by the nets.
-I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel as large
-as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands,
-that disappear with the animal's life.  
-
-These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with very delicate
-food. We took also a large number of gilt-heads, about one and a half
-inches long, tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine
-swallows, which, in dark nights, light alternately the air and water
-with their phosphorescent light. Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I
-found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini,
-hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented
-by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and macrocystes, impregnated
-with the mucilage that transudes through their pores; and among which I
-gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois, that was classed among the
-natural curiosities of the museum.
-
-Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted
-the Papuan coasts.  On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his
-intention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.
-His communication ended there.
-
-The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are
-obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers,
-and rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable;
-so that Captain Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them.
-The Nautilus, floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace.
-Her screw, like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.
-
-Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the
-deserted platform.  Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expected
-that Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus.
-I had before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and I
-consulted them attentively.  Round the Nautilus the sea dashed furiously.
-The course of the waves, that went from south-east to north-west at
-the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that showed itself
-here and there.
-
-"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.
-
-"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the Nautilus."
-
-"The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of coral
-that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly."
-
-Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus seemed to slide
-like magic off these rocks.  It did not follow the routes of the
-Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont
-d'Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray,
-and came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage.
-I thought it was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west,
-it went through a large quantity of islands and islets little known,
-towards the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
-
-I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his
-vessel into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched;
-when, swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west,
-he steered for the Island of Gilboa.
-
-It was then three in the afternoon.  The tide began to recede,
-being quite full.  The Nautilus approached the island, that I
-still saw, with its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off
-it at about two miles distant.  Suddenly a shock overthrew me.
-The Nautilus just touched a rock, and stayed immovable,
-laying lightly to port side.
-
-When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the platform.
-They were examining the situation of the vessel, and exchanging words in
-their incomprehensible dialect.
-
-She was situated thus:  Two miles, on the starboard side,
-appeared Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm.
-Towards the south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb.
-We had run aground, and in one of those seas where the tides
-are middling--a sorry matter for the floating of the Nautilus.
-However, the vessel had not suffered, for her keel was solidly joined.
-But, if she could neither glide off nor move, she ran the risk
-of being for ever fastened to these rocks, and then Captain Nemo's
-submarine vessel would be done for.
-
-I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm,
-always master of himself, approached me.
-
-"An accident?"  I asked.
-
-"No; an incident."
-
-"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
-of this land from which you flee?"
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as much
-as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma again.
-Then he said:
-
-"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it will
-carry you yet into the midst of the marvels of the ocean.
-Our voyage is only begun, and I do not wish to be deprived so soon
-of the honour of your company."
-
-"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironical
-turn of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.
-Now the tides are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot
-lighten the Nautilus, I do not see how it will be reinflated."
-
-"The tides are not strong in the Pacific:  you are right there,
-Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference
-of a yard and a half between the level of high and low seas.
-To-day is 4th January, and in five days the moon will be full.
-Now, I shall be very much astonished if that satellite does
-not raise these masses of water sufficiently, and render me
-a service that I should be indebted to her for."
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant,
-redescended to the interior of the Nautilus.  As to the vessel,
-it moved not, and was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had
-already walled it up with their in destructible cement.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure
-of the Captain.
-
-"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th instant;
-for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it off again."
-
-"Really?"
-
-"Really."
-
-"And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide
-will suffice?" said Conseil, simply.
-
-The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will navigate
-neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold for its weight.
-I think, therefore, that the time has come to part company with Captain Nemo."
-
-"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus, as you do;
-and in four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides.
-Besides, flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English
-or Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing;
-and it will be time enough to come to that extremity if the Nautilus
-does not recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event."
-
-"But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly?  There is an island;
-on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial animals,
-bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly give a trial."
-
-"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil, "and I agree with him.
-Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put us
-on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the solid parts
-of our planet?"
-
-"I can ask him, but he will refuse."
-
-"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and we shall know how to rely
-upon the Captain's amiability."
-
-To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
-and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise
-to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be
-very perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.
-Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than to fall into the hands
-of the natives.
-
-At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the Nautilus.
-The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.
-Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered
-in the straight passage that the breakers left between them.
-The boat was well handled, and moved rapidly.
-
-Ned Land could not restrain his joy.  He was like a prisoner that had escaped
-from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
-
-"Meat!  We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!" he replied.
-"Real game! no, bread, indeed."
-
-"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it;
-but a piece of fresh venison, grilled on live coals,
-will agreeably vary our ordinary course."
-
-"Glutton!" said Conseil, "he makes my mouth water."
-
-"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these forests are full of game,
-and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."
-
-"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed
-sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger--
-loin of tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."
-
-"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.
-
-"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land, "every animal with four
-paws without feathers, or with two paws without feathers,
-will be saluted by my first shot."
-
-"Very well!  Master Land's imprudences are beginning."
-
-"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian; "I do not want
-twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort."
-
-At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly aground
-on a heavy sand, after having happily passed the coral reef
-that surrounds the Island of Gilboa.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-A FEW DAYS ON LAND
-
-I was much impressed on touching land.  Ned Land tried
-the soil with his feet, as if to take possession of it.
-However, it was only two months before that we had become,
-according to Captain Nemo, "passengers on board the Nautilus,"
-but, in reality, prisoners of its commander.
-
-In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast.
-The whole horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests.
-Enormous trees, the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet,
-were tied to each other by garlands of bindweed, real natural
-hammocks, which a light breeze rocked.  They were mimosas,
-figs, hibisci, and palm trees, mingled together in profusion;
-and under the shelter of their verdant vault grew orchids,
-leguminous plants, and ferns.
-
-But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
-the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful.
-He discovered a coco-tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them,
-and we drunk the milk and ate the nut with a satisfaction that
-protested against the ordinary food on the Nautilus.
-
-"Excellent!" said Ned Land.
-
-"Exquisite!" replied Conseil.
-
-"And I do not think," said the Canadian, "that he would object
-to our introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board."
-
-"I do not think he would, but he would not taste them."
-
-"So much the worse for him," said Conseil.
-
-"And so much the better for us," replied Ned Land.
-"There will be more for us."
-
-"One word only, Master Land," I said to the harpooner, who was
-beginning to ravage another coco-nut tree.  "Coco-nuts are good things,
-but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre
-and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.
-Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the Nautilus."
-
-"Master is right," replied Conseil; "and I propose to reserve three places
-in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the third
-for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest specimen."
-
-"Conseil, we must not despair," said the Canadian.
-
-"Let us continue," I returned, "and lie in wait.  Although the island
-seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would
-be less hard than we on the nature of game."
-
-"Ho! ho!" said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
-
-"Well, Ned!" said Conseil.
-
-"My word!" returned the Canadian, "I begin to understand
-the charms of anthropophagy."
-
-"Ned!  Ned! what are you saying?  You, a man-eater? I should
-not feel safe with you, especially as I share your cabin.
-I might perhaps wake one day to find myself half devoured."
-
-"Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you unnecessarily."
-
-"I would not trust you," replied Conseil.  "But enough.
-We must absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal,
-or else one of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces
-of his servant to serve him."
-
-While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches
-of the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
-
-Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables,
-and one of the most useful products of the tropical zones
-furnished us with precious food that we missed on board.
-I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very abundant in the island
-of Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety destitute of seeds,
-which bears in Malaya the name of "rima."
-
-Ned Land knew these fruits well.  He had already eaten many during his
-numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance.
-Moreover, the sight of them excited him, and he could contain
-himself no longer.
-
-"Master," he said, "I shall die if I do not taste a little
-of this bread-fruit pie."
-
-"Taste it, friend Ned--taste it as you want.  We are here
-to make experiments--make them."
-
-"It won't take long," said the Canadian.
-
-And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that
-crackled joyously.  During this time, Conseil and I chose the best
-fruits of the bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient
-degree of maturity; and their thick skin covered a white but rather
-fibrous pulp.  Others, the greater number yellow and gelatinous,
-waited only to be picked.
-
-These fruits enclosed no kernel.  Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land,
-who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices,
-and while doing this repeating:
-
-"You will see, master, how good this bread is.
-More so when one has been deprived of it so long.
-It is not even bread," added he, "but a delicate pastry.
-You have eaten none, master?"
-
-"No, Ned."
-
-"Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing.  If you do not come for more,
-I am no longer the king of harpooners."
-
-After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire
-was completely roasted.  The interior looked like a white pasty,
-a sort of soft crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
-
-It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it
-with great relish.
-
-"What time is it now?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil.
-
-"How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned Land.
-
-"Let us be off," replied Conseil.
-
-We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid
-upon the cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
-little beans that I recognised as the "abrou" of the Malays, and yams
-of a superior quality.
-
-We were loaded when we reached the boat.  But Ned Land did not
-find his provisions sufficient.  Fate, however, favoured us.
-Just as we were pushing off, he perceived several trees,
-from twenty-five to thirty feet high, a species of palm-tree.
-
-At last, at five o'clock in the evening, loaded with our riches,
-we quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus.
-No one appeared on our arrival.  The enormous iron-plated cylinder
-seemed deserted.  The provisions embarked, I descended to my chamber,
-and after supper slept soundly.
-
-The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board.
-Not a sound inside, not a sign of life.  The boat rested
-along the edge, in the same place in which we had left it.
-We resolved to return to the island.  Ned Land hoped to be
-more fortunate than on the day before with regard to the hunt,
-and wished to visit another part of the forest.
-
-At dawn we set off.  The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to shore,
-reached the island in a few minutes.
-
-We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian,
-we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us.
-He wound up the coast towards the west:  then, fording some torrents,
-he gained the high plain that was bordered with admirable forests.
-Some kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses, but they would
-not let themselves be approached.  Their circumspection proved to me
-that these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I
-concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings
-occasionally frequented it.
-
-After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a little
-wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large number of birds.
-
-"There are only birds," said Conseil.
-
-"But they are eatable," replied the harpooner.
-
-"I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there."
-
-"Friend Conseil," said Ned, gravely, "the parrot is like pheasant
-to those who have nothing else."
-
-"And," I added, "this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and fork."
-
-Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots
-were flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful
-education to speak the human language.  For the moment, they were
-chattering with parrots of all colours, and grave cockatoos,
-who seemed to meditate upon some philosophical problem,
-whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece of bunting carried
-away by the breeze, papuans, with the finest azure colours,
-and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold,
-but few eatable.
-
-However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed
-the limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
-But fortune reserved it for me before long.
-
-After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain
-obstructed with bushes.  I saw then those magnificent birds,
-the disposition of whose long feathers obliges them to fly against
-the wind.  Their undulating flight, graceful aerial curves,
-and the shading of their colours, attracted and charmed one's looks.
-I had no trouble in recognising them.
-
-"Birds of paradise!"  I exclaimed.
-
-The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese,
-have several means that we could not employ for taking them.
-Sometimes they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds
-of paradise prefer to frequent.  Sometimes they catch them with a
-viscous birdlime that paralyses their movements.  They even go so far
-as to poison the fountains that the birds generally drink from.
-But we were obliged to fire at them during flight, which gave us few
-chances to bring them down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one
-half our ammunition.
-
-About eleven o'clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that form
-the centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
-Hunger drove us on.  The hunters had relied on the products of the chase,
-and they were wrong.  Happily Conseil, to his great surprise,
-made a double shot and secured breakfast.  He brought down a white pigeon
-and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended from a skewer,
-was roasted before a red fire of dead wood.  While these interesting
-birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the bread-tree. Then
-the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and declared excellent.
-The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of stuffing their crops,
-flavours their flesh and renders it delicious eating.
-
-"Now, Ned, what do you miss now?"
-
-"Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax.  All these pigeons are only
-side-dishes and trifles; and until I have killed an animal
-with cutlets I shall not be content."
-
-"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise."
-
-"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil.  "Let us go towards the sea.
-We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I think we had
-better regain the region of forests."
-
-That was sensible advice, and was followed out.
-After walking for one hour we had attained a forest of
-sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents glided away from us.
-The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and truly I despaired
-of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in front,
-suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
-bringing a magnificent specimen.
-
-"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"
-
-"Master is very good."
-
-"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke.
-Take one of these living birds, and carry it in your hand."
-
-"If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great merit."
-
-"Why, Conseil?"
-
-"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."
-
-"Drunk!"
-
-"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under
-the nutmeg-tree, under which I found it.  See, friend Ned,
-see the monstrous effects of intemperance!"
-
-"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because I have drunk gin for two months,
-you must needs reproach me!"
-
-However, I examined the curious bird.  Conseil was right.
-The bird, drunk with the juice, was quite powerless.  It could
-not fly; it could hardly walk.
-
-This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species
-that are found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands.
-It was the "large emerald bird, the most rare kind."
-It measured three feet in length.  Its head was comparatively small,
-its eyes placed near the opening of the beak, and also small.
-But the shades of colour were beautiful, having a yellow beak,
-brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with purple tips,
-pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
-colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly.
-Two horned, downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged
-the long light feathers of admirable fineness, and they
-completed the whole of this marvellous bird, that the natives
-have poetically named the "bird of the sun."
-
-But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird
-of paradise, the Canadian's were not yet.  Happily, about two
-o'clock, Ned Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood
-of those the natives call "bari-outang." The animal came in time
-for us to procure real quadruped meat, and he was well received.
-Ned Land was very proud of his shot.  The hog, hit by the electric ball,
-fell stone dead.  The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly,
-after having taken half a dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us
-with a grilled repast in the evening.  Then the hunt was resumed,
-which was still more marked by Ned and Conseil's exploits.
-
-Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd
-of kangaroos that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws.
-But these animals did not take to flight so rapidly but what
-the electric capsule could stop their course.
-
-"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the
-delights of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed, too!
-What a supply for the Nautilus!  Two! three! five down!
-And to think that we shall eat that flesh, and that the idiots on
-board shall not have a crumb!"
-
-I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian,
-if he had not talked so much, would have killed them all.
-But he contented himself with a single dozen of these
-interesting marsupians.  These animals were small.
-They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live
-habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme;
-but they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food.
-We were very satisfied with the results of the hunt.
-Happy Ned proposed to return to this enchanting island the next day,
-for he wished to depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds.
-But he had reckoned without his host.
-
-At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore;
-our boat was moored to the usual place.  The Nautilus, like a
-long rock, emerged from the waves two miles from the beach.
-Ned Land, without waiting, occupied himself about the important
-dinner business.  He understood all about cooking well.
-The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon scented the air with
-a delicious odour.
-
-Indeed, the dinner was excellent.  Two wood-pigeons
-completed this extraordinary menu.  The sago pasty,
-the artocarpus bread, some mangoes, half a dozen pineapples,
-and the liquor fermented from some coco-nuts, overjoyed us.
-I even think that my worthy companions' ideas had not all
-the plainness desirable.
-
-"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this evening?" said Conseil.
-
-"Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land.
-
-Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's proposition.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO'S THUNDERBOLT
-
-We looked at the edge of the forest without rising,
-my hand stopping in the action of putting it to my mouth,
-Ned Land's completing its office.
-
-"Stones do not fall from the sky," remarked Conseil, "or they
-would merit the name aerolites."
-
-A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon's leg
-fall from Conseil's hand, gave still more weight to his observation.
-We all three arose, shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply
-to any attack.
-
-"Are they apes?" cried Ned Land.
-
-"Very nearly--they are savages."
-
-"To the boat!"  I said, hurrying to the sea.
-
-It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives
-armed with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that masked
-the horizon to the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
-
-Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us.  The savages
-approached us, not running, but making hostile demonstrations.
-Stones and arrows fell thickly.
-
-Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his
-imminent danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other,
-he went tolerably fast.  In two minutes we were on the shore.
-To load the boat with provisions and arms, to push it out
-to sea, and ship the oars, was the work of an instant.
-We had not gone two cable-lengths, when a hundred savages,
-howling and gesticulating, entered the water up to their waists.
-I watched to see if their apparition would attract some men from
-the Nautilus on to the platform.  But no.  The enormous machine,
-lying off, was absolutely deserted.
-
-Twenty minutes later we were on board.  The panels were open.
-After making the boat fast, we entered into the interior
-of the Nautilus.
-
-I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords.
-Captain Nemo was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in
-a musical ecstasy.
-
-"Captain!"
-
-He did not hear me.
-
-"Captain!"  I said, touching his hand.
-
-He shuddered, and, turning round, said, "Ah! it is you, Professor?
-Well, have you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?"
-
-"Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
-whose vicinity troubles me."
-
-"What bipeds?"
-
-"Savages."
-
-"Savages!" he echoed, ironically.  "So you are astonished, Professor,
-at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages?
-Savages! where are there not any?  Besides, are they worse than others,
-these whom you call savages?"
-
-"But Captain----"
-
-"How many have you counted?"
-
-"A hundred at least."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ stops,
-"when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the Nautilus
-will have nothing to fear from their attacks."
-
-The Captain's fingers were then running over the keys of
-the instrument, and I remarked that he touched only the black keys,
-which gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character.
-Soon he had forgotten my presence, and had plunged into a reverie
-that I did not disturb.  I went up again on to the platform:
-night had already fallen; for, in this low latitude,
-the sun sets rapidly and without twilight.  I could only see
-the island indistinctly; but the numerous fires, lighted on
-the beach, showed that the natives did not think of leaving it.
-I was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the natives--
-but without any dread of them, for the imperturbable
-confidence of the Captain was catching--sometimes forgetting
-them to admire the splendours of the night in the tropics.
-My remembrances went to France in the train of those zodiacal
-stars that would shine in some hours' time.  The moon shone in
-the midst of the constellations of the zenith.
-
-The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders
-frightened no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay.
-The panels were open, and would have offered an easy access
-to the interior of the Nautilus.
-
-At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up
-on to the platform.  The dawn was breaking.  The island soon
-showed itself through the dissipating fogs, first the shore,
-then the summits.
-
-The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before--
-five or six hundred perhaps--some of them, profiting by the low water,
-had come on to the coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus.
-I distinguished them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic figures,
-men of good race, large high foreheads, large, but not broad and flat,
-and white teeth.  Their woolly hair, with a reddish tinge, showed off on their
-black shining bodies like those of the Nubians.  From the lobes of their ears,
-cut and distended, hung chaplets of bones.  Most of these savages were naked.
-Amongst them, I remarked some women, dressed from the hips to knees
-in quite a crinoline of herbs, that sustained a vegetable waistband.
-Some chiefs had ornamented their necks with a crescent and collars
-of glass beads, red and white; nearly all were armed with bows, arrows,
-and shields and carried on their shoulders a sort of net containing
-those round stones which they cast from their slings with great skill.
-One of these chiefs, rather near to the Nautilus, examined it attentively.
-He was, perhaps, a "mado" of high rank, for he was draped in a mat of
-banana-leaves, notched round the edges, and set off with brilliant colours.
-
-I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short length;
-but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile demonstrations.
-Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the Europeans to parry
-sharply, not to attack.
-
-During low water the natives roamed about near the Nautilus,
-but were not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word
-"Assai," and by their gestures I understood that they invited me
-to go on land, an invitation that I declined.
-
-So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great displeasure
-of Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
-
-This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands
-and meat that he had brought off the island.  As for the savages,
-they returned to the shore about eleven o'clock in the morning,
-as soon as the coral tops began to disappear under the rising tide;
-but I saw their numbers had increased considerably on the shore.
-Probably they came from the neighbouring islands, or very likely
-from Papua.  However, I had not seen a single native canoe.
-Having nothing better to do, I thought of dragging these beautiful
-limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion of shells, zoophytes,
-and marine plants.  Moreover, it was the last day that the Nautilus
-would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea the next day,
-according to Captain Nemo's promise.
-
-I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag,
-very like those for the oyster fishery.  Now to work!
-For two hours we fished unceasingly, but without bringing up
-any rarities.  The drag was filled with midas-ears, harps, melames,
-and particularly the most beautiful hammers I have ever seen.
-We also brought up some sea-slugs, pearl-oysters, and a dozen little
-turtles that were reserved for the pantry on board.
-
-But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder,
-I might say a natural deformity, very rarely met with.
-Conseil was just dragging, and his net came up filled with
-divers ordinary shells, when, all at once, he saw me plunge
-my arm quickly into the net, to draw out a shell, and heard me
-utter a cry.
-
-"What is the matter, sir?" he asked in surprise.
-"Has master been bitten?"
-
-"No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my discovery."
-
-"What discovery?"
-
-"This shell," I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
-
-"It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the 
-pectinibranchidae, class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca."
-
-"Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left,
-this olive turns from left to right."
-
-"Is it possible?"
-
-"Yes, my boy; it is a left shell."
-
-Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
-their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
-
-Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure,
-and I was promising myself to enrich the museum with it,
-when a stone unfortunately thrown by a native struck against,
-and broke, the precious object in Conseil's hand.
-I uttered a cry of despair!  Conseil took up his gun, and aimed
-at a savage who was poising his sling at ten yards from him.
-I would have stopped him, but his blow took effect and broke
-the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm of the savage.
-
-"Conseil!" cried I. "Conseil!"
-
-"Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?"
-
-"A shell is not worth the life of a man," said I.
-
-"Ah! the scoundrel!" cried Conseil; "I would rather he had
-broken my shoulder!"
-
-Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion.  However, the situation
-had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived.  A score of canoes
-surrounded the Nautilus.  These canoes, scooped out of the trunk of a tree,
-long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were balanced by means of a long
-bamboo pole, which floated on the water.  They were managed by skilful,
-half-naked paddlers, and I watched their advance with some uneasiness.
-It was evident that these Papuans had already had dealings with the Europeans
-and knew their ships.  But this long iron cylinder anchored in the bay,
-without masts or chimneys, what could they think of it?  Nothing good, for at
-first they kept at a respectful distance.  However, seeing it motionless,
-by degrees they took courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it.
-Now this familiarity was precisely what it was necessary to avoid.
-Our arms, which were noiseless, could only produce a moderate effect
-on the savages, who have little respect for aught but blustering things.
-The thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man
-but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise.
-
-At this moment the canoes approached the Nautilus, and a shower
-of arrows alighted on her.
-
-I went down to the saloon, but found no one there.  I ventured
-to knock at the door that opened into the Captain's room.
-"Come in," was the answer.
-
-I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations
-of _x_ and other quantities.
-
-"I am disturbing you," said I, for courtesy's sake.
-
-"That is true, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain; "but I think
-you have serious reasons for wishing to see me?"
-
-"Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes,
-and in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many
-hundreds of savages."
-
-"Ah!" said Captain Nemo quietly, "they are come with their canoes?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Well, sir, we must close the hatches."
-
-"Exactly, and I came to say to you----"
-
-"Nothing can be more simple," said Captain Nemo.  And, pressing an
-electric button, he transmitted an order to the ship's crew.
-
-"It is all done, sir," said he, after some moments.
-"The pinnace is ready, and the hatches are closed.
-You do not fear, I imagine, that these gentlemen could stave in
-walls on which the balls of your frigate have had no effect?"
-
-"No, Captain; but a danger still exists."
-
-"What is that, sir?"
-
-"It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches
-to renew the air of the Nautilus.  Now, if, at this moment,
-the Papuans should occupy the platform, I do not see how you
-could prevent them from entering."
-
-"Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?"
-
-"I am certain of it."
-
-"Well, sir, let them come.  I see no reason for hindering them.
-After all, these Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling
-that my visit to the island should cost the life of a single one
-of these wretches."
-
-Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me,
-and asked me to sit down by him.  He questioned me with interest
-about our excursions on shore, and our hunting; and seemed not
-to understand the craving for meat that possessed the Canadian.
-Then the conversation turned on various subjects, and, without being
-more communicative, Captain Nemo showed himself more amiable.
-
-Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation
-of the Nautilus, run aground in exactly the same spot
-in this strait where Dumont d'Urville was nearly lost.
-Apropos of this:
-
-"This D'Urville was one of your great sailors," said the Captain
-to me, "one of your most intelligent navigators.  He is the Captain
-Cook of you Frenchmen.  Unfortunate man of science, after having
-braved the icebergs of the South Pole, the coral reefs of Oceania,
-the cannibals of the Pacific, to perish miserably in a railway train!
-If this energetic man could have reflected during the last moments
-of his life, what must have been uppermost in his last thoughts,
-do you suppose?"
-
-So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion
-gave me a better opinion of him.  Then, chart in hand,
-we reviewed the travels of the French navigator, his voyages
-of circumnavigation, his double detention at the South Pole,
-which led to the discovery of Adelaide and Louis Philippe,
-and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal
-islands of Oceania.
-
-"That which your D'Urville has done on the surface of the seas," said Captain
-Nemo, "that have I done under them, and more easily, more completely than he.
-The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed about by the hurricane,
-could not be worth the Nautilus, quiet repository of labour that she is,
-truly motionless in the midst of the waters.
-
-"To-morrow," added the Captain, rising, "to-morrow, at twenty
-minutes to three p.m., the Nautilus shall float, and leave
-the Strait of Torres uninjured."
-
-Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly.
-This was to dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
-
-There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview
-with the Captain.
-
-"My boy," said I, "when I feigned to believe that his Nautilus
-was threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered
-me very sarcastically.  I have but one thing to say to you:
-Have confidence in him, and go to sleep in peace."
-
-"Have you no need of my services, sir?"
-
-"No, my friend.  What is Ned Land doing?"
-
-"If you will excuse me, sir," answered Conseil, "friend Ned is busy
-making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel."
-
-I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently.  I heard the noise
-of the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening cries.
-The night passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose of the crew.
-The presence of these cannibals affected them no more than the soldiers of a
-masked battery care for the ants that crawl over its front.
-
-At six in the morning I rose.  The hatches had not been opened.
-The inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready
-for any emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several
-cubic feet of oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the Nautilus.
-
-I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo,
-even for an instant.  On board no preparations for departure were visible.
-
-I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon.
-The clock marked half-past two.  In ten minutes it would be
-high-tide: and, if Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise,
-the Nautilus would be immediately detached.  If not, many months
-would pass ere she could leave her bed of coral.
-
-However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel.
-I heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of
-the coral reef.
-
-At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the saloon.
-
-"We are going to start," said he.
-
-"Ah!" replied I.
-
-"I have given the order to open the hatches."
-
-"And the Papuans?"
-
-"The Papuans?" answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
-
-"Will they not come inside the Nautilus?"
-
-"How?"
-
-"Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened."
-
-"M. Aronnax," quietly answered Captain Nemo, "they will not enter
-the hatches of the Nautilus in that way, even if they were open."
-
-I looked at the Captain.
-
-"You do not understand?" said he.
-
-"Hardly."
-
-"Well, come and you will see."
-
-I directed my steps towards the central staircase.  There Ned
-Land and Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship's crew,
-who were opening the hatches, while cries of rage and fearful
-vociferations resounded outside.
-
-The port lids were pulled down outside.  Twenty horrible faces appeared.
-But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail, struck from behind
-by some invisible force, I know not what, fled, uttering the most fearful
-cries and making the wildest contortions.
-
-Ten of his companions followed him.  They met with the same fate.
-
-Conseil was in ecstasy.  Ned Land, carried away by his violent instincts,
-rushed on to the staircase.  But the moment he seized the rail with
-both hands, he, in his turn, was overthrown.
-
-"I am struck by a thunderbolt," cried he, with an oath.
-
-This explained all.  It was no rail; but a metallic cable
-charged with electricity from the deck communicating with
-the platform.  Whoever touched it felt a powerful shock--
-and this shock would have been mortal if Captain Nemo had
-discharged into the conductor the whole force of the current.
-It might truly be said that between his assailants and himself
-he had stretched a network of electricity which none could
-pass with impunity.
-
-Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed
-with terror.  As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed
-the unfortunate Ned Land, who swore like one possessed.
-
-But at this moment the Nautilus, raised by the last waves of the tide,
-quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by
-the Captain.  Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically.
-Her speed increased gradually, and, sailing on the surface of the ocean,
-she quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of Torres.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-"AEGRI SOMNIA"
-
-The following day 10th January, the Nautilus continued her
-course between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I
-could not estimate it at less than thirty-five miles an hour.
-The rapidity of her screw was such that I could neither follow
-nor count its revolutions.  When I reflected that this marvellous
-electric agent, after having afforded motion, heat, and light
-to the Nautilus, still protected her from outward attack,
-and transformed her into an ark of safety which no profane
-hand might touch without being thunderstricken, my admiration
-was unbounded, and from the structure it extended to the engineer
-who had called it into existence.
-
-Our course was directed to the west, and on the 11th of January we doubled
-Cape Wessel, situation in 135@ long. and 10@ S. lat., which forms
-the east point of the Gulf of Carpentaria.  The reefs were still numerous,
-but more equalised, and marked on the chart with extreme precision.
-The Nautilus easily avoided the breakers of Money to port and the Victoria
-reefs to starboard, placed at 130@ long.  and on the 10th parallel,
-which we strictly followed.
-
-On the 13th of January, Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor,
-and recognised the island of that name in 122@ long.
-
-From this point the direction of the Nautilus inclined towards
-the south-west. Her head was set for the Indian Ocean.
-Where would the fancy of Captain Nemo carry us next?
-Would he return to the coast of Asia or would he approach
-again the shores of Europe?  Improbable conjectures both,
-to a man who fled from inhabited continents.  Then would
-he descend to the south?  Was he going to double the Cape
-of Good Hope, then Cape Horn, and finally go as far as the
-Antarctic pole?  Would he come back at last to the Pacific,
-where his Nautilus could sail free and independently?
-Time would show.
-
-After having skirted the sands of Cartier, of Hibernia, Seringapatam,
-and Scott, last efforts of the solid against the liquid element,
-on the 14th of January we lost sight of land altogether.
-The speed of the Nautilus was considerably abated, and with
-irregular course she sometimes swam in the bosom of the waters,
-sometimes floated on their surface.
-
-During this period of the voyage, Captain Nemo made some interesting
-experiments on the varied temperature of the sea, in different beds.
-Under ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of
-rather complicated instruments, and with somewhat doubtful results,
-by means of thermometrical sounding-leads, the glasses often breaking
-under the pressure of the water, or an apparatus grounded on
-the variations of the resistance of metals to the electric currents.
-Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated.  On the contrary,
-Captain Nemo went himself to test the temperature in the depths of the sea,
-and his thermometer, placed in communication with the different sheets
-of water, gave him the required degree immediately and accurately.
-
-It was thus that, either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending
-obliquely by means of her inclined planes, the Nautilus successively attained
-the depth of three, four, five, seven, nine, and ten thousand yards,
-and the definite result of this experience was that the sea preserved
-an average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth of five
-thousand fathoms under all latitudes.
-
-On the 16th of January, the Nautilus seemed becalmed
-only a few yards beneath the surface of the waves.
-Her electric apparatus remained inactive and her motionless
-screw left her to drift at the mercy of the currents.
-I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs,
-rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements
-of the machine.
-
-My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle.
-The hatches of the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light
-of the Nautilus was not in action, a dim obscurity reigned
-in the midst of the waters.  I observed the state of the sea,
-under these conditions, and the largest fish appeared to me
-no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the Nautilus
-found herself suddenly transported into full light.
-I thought at first that the beacon had been lighted,
-and was casting its electric radiance into the liquid mass.
-I was mistaken, and after a rapid survey perceived my error.
-
-The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which,
-in this obscurity, became quite dazzling.  It was produced
-by myriads of luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was
-increased as they glided over the metallic hull of the vessel.
-I was surprised by lightning in the midst of these luminous sheets,
-as though they bad been rivulets of lead melted in an ardent
-furnace or metallic masses brought to a white heat, so that,
-by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared to cast
-a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all
-shade seemed banished.  No; this was not the calm irradiation
-of our ordinary lightning.  There was unusual life and vigour:
-this was truly living light!
-
-In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria,
-of veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle,
-and of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less
-than two cubic half-inches of water.
-
-During several hours the Nautilus floated in these brilliant waves,
-and our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters
-disporting themselves like salamanders.  I saw there in the midst
-of this fire that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise
-(the indefatigable clown of the ocean), and some swordfish
-ten feet long, those prophetic heralds of the hurricane whose
-formidable sword would now and then strike the glass of the saloon.
-Then appeared the smaller fish, the balista, the leaping mackerel,
-wolf-thorn-tails, and a hundred others which striped the luminous
-atmosphere as they swam.  This dazzling spectacle was enchanting!
-Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased the intensity of
-this phenomenon.  Perhaps some storm agitated the surface of the waves.
-But at this depth of some yards, the Nautilus was unmoved by its fury
-and reposed peacefully in still water.
-
-So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel.
-The days passed rapidly away, and I took no account of them.
-Ned, according to habit, tried to vary the diet on board.
-Like snails, we were fixed to our shells, and I declare it is easy
-to lead a snail's life.
-
-Thus this life seemed easy and natural, and we thought no longer
-of the life we led on land; but something happened to recall us
-to the strangeness of our situation.
-
-On the 18th of January, the Nautilus was in 105@ long.
-and 15@ S. lat.  The weather was threatening, the sea rough
-and rolling.  There was a strong east wind.  The barometer,
-which had been going down for some days, foreboded a coming storm.
-I went up on to the platform just as the second lieutenant
-was taking the measure of the horary angles, and waited,
-according to habit till the daily phrase was said.  But on this day
-it was exchanged for another phrase not less incomprehensible.
-Almost directly, I saw Captain Nemo appear with a glass, looking
-towards the horizon.
-
-For some minutes he was immovable, without taking his eye off
-the point of observation.  Then he lowered his glass and exchanged
-a few words with his lieutenant.  The latter seemed to be
-a victim to some emotion that he tried in vain to repress.
-Captain Nemo, having more command over himself, was cool.
-He seemed, too, to be making some objections to which the lieutenant
-replied by formal assurances.  At least I concluded so by the
-difference of their tones and gestures.  For myself, I had looked
-carefully in the direction indicated without seeing anything.
-The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the horizon.
-
-However, Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform
-to the other, without looking at me, perhaps without seeing me.
-His step was firm, but less regular than usual.
-He stopped sometimes, crossed his arms, and observed the sea.
-What could he be looking for on that immense expanse?
-
-The Nautilus was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.
-
-The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon steadfastly,
-going and coming, stamping his foot and showing more nervous agitation than
-his superior officer.  Besides, this mystery must necessarily be solved,
-and before long; for, upon an order from Captain Nemo, the engine,
-increasing its propelling power, made the screw turn more rapidly.
-
-Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain's attention again.
-The latter stopped walking and directed his glass towards
-the place indicated.  He looked long.  I felt very much puzzled,
-and descended to the drawing-room, and took out an excellent
-telescope that I generally used.  Then, leaning on the cage
-of the watch-light that jutted out from the front of the platform,
-set myself to look over all the line of the sky and sea.
-
-But my eye was no sooner applied to the glass than it was quickly
-snatched out of my hands.
-
-I turned round.  Captain Nemo was before me, but I did not know him.
-His face was transfigured.  His eyes flashed sullenly; his teeth were set;
-his stiff body, clenched fists, and head shrunk between his shoulders,
-betrayed the violent agitation that pervaded his whole frame.
-He did not move.  My glass, fallen from his hands, had rolled at his feet.
-
-Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger?  Did this incomprehensible
-person imagine that I had discovered some forbidden secret?
-No; I was not the object of this hatred, for he was not looking at me;
-his eye was steadily fixed upon the impenetrable point of the horizon.
-At last Captain Nemo recovered himself.  His agitation subsided.
-He addressed some words in a foreign language to his lieutenant,
-then turned to me.  "M. Aronnax," he said, in rather an imperious tone,
-"I require you to keep one of the conditions that bind you to me."
-
-"What is it, Captain?"
-
-"You must be confined, with your companions, until I think fit
-to release you."
-
-"You are the master," I replied, looking steadily at him.
-"But may I ask you one question?"
-
-"None, sir."
-
-There was no resisting this imperious command, it would have been useless.
-I went down to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil, and told them
-the Captain's determination.  You may judge how this communication was
-received by the Canadian.
-
-But there was not time for altercation.  Four of the crew waited
-at the door, and conducted us to that cell where we had passed
-our first night on board the Nautilus.
-
-Ned Land would have remonstrated, but the door was shut upon him.
-
-"Will master tell me what this means?" asked Conseil.
-
-I told my companions what had passed.  They were as much astonished as I,
-and equally at a loss how to account for it.
-
-Meanwhile, I was absorbed in my own reflections, and could think
-of nothing but the strange fear depicted in the Captain's countenance.
-I was utterly at a loss to account for it, when my cogitations were
-disturbed by these words from Ned Land:
-
-"Hallo! breakfast is ready."
-
-And indeed the table was laid.  Evidently Captain Nemo had given this order
-at the same time that he had hastened the speed of the Nautilus.
-
-"Will master permit me to make a recommendation?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy."
-
-"Well, it is that master breakfasts.  It is prudent, for we do not know
-what may happen."
-
-"You are right, Conseil."
-
-"Unfortunately," said Ned Land, "they have only given us the ship's fare."
-
-"Friend Ned," asked Conseil, "what would you have said if the breakfast
-had been entirely forgotten?"
-
-This argument cut short the harpooner's recriminations.
-
-We sat down to table.  The meal was eaten in silence.
-
-Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left us
-in total darkness.  Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me was
-that Conseil went off into a heavy slumber.  I was thinking what could have
-caused his irresistible drowsiness, when I felt my brain becoming stupefied.
-In spite of my efforts to keep my eyes open, they would close.
-A painful suspicion seized me.  Evidently soporific substances had been
-mixed with the food we had just taken.  Imprisonment was not enough
-to conceal Captain Nemo's projects from us, sleep was more necessary.
-I then heard the panels shut.  The undulations of the sea, which caused
-a slight rolling motion, ceased.  Had the Nautilus quitted the surface
-of the ocean?  Had it gone back to the motionless bed of water?
-I tried to resist sleep.  It was impossible.  My breathing grew weak.
-I felt a mortal cold freeze my stiffened and half-paralysed limbs.
-My eye lids, like leaden caps, fell over my eyes.  I could not raise them;
-a morbid sleep, full of hallucinations, bereft me of my being.
-Then the visions disappeared, and left me in complete insensibility.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-THE CORAL KINGDOM
-
-The next day I woke with my head singularly clear.
-To my great surprise, I was in my own room.  My companions,
-no doubt, had been reinstated in their cabin, without having
-perceived it any more than I. Of what had passed during the night
-they were as ignorant as I was, and to penetrate this mystery I
-only reckoned upon the chances of the future.
-
-I then thought of quitting my room.  Was I free again or a prisoner?
-Quite free.  I opened the door, went to the half-deck, went up
-the central stairs.  The panels, shut the evening before, were open.
-I went on to the platform.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil waited there for me.  I questioned them;
-they knew nothing.  Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had
-been totally unconscious, they had been astonished at finding
-themselves in their cabin.
-
-As for the Nautilus, it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever.
-It floated on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace.
-Nothing seemed changed on board.
-
-The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave
-the usual order below.
-
-As for Captain Nemo, he did not appear.
-
-Of the people on board, I only saw the impassive steward,
-who served me with his usual dumb regularity.
-
-About two o'clock, I was in the drawing-room, busied in arranging
-my notes, when the Captain opened the door and appeared.  I bowed.
-He made a slight inclination in return, without speaking.
-I resumed my work, hoping that he would perhaps give me some
-explanation of the events of the preceding night.  He made none.
-I looked at him.  He seemed fatigued; his heavy eyes had not
-been refreshed by sleep; his face looked very sorrowful.
-He walked to and fro, sat down and got up again, took a
-chance book, put it down, consulted his instruments without
-taking his habitual notes, and seemed restless and uneasy.
-At last, he came up to me, and said:
-
-"Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?"
-
-I so little expected such a question that I stared some time
-at him without answering.
-
-"Are you a doctor?" he repeated.  "Several of your colleagues
-have studied medicine."
-
-"Well," said I, "I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital.
-I practised several years before entering the museum."
-
-"Very well, sir."
-
-My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain.  But, not knowing
-what he would say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my
-answers according to circumstances.
-
-"M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?" he asked.
-
-"Is he ill?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"I am ready to follow you."
-
-"Come, then."
-
-I own my heart beat, I do not know why.  I saw certain connection
-between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day before;
-and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick man.
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the Nautilus,
-and took me into a cabin situated near the sailors' quarters.
-
-There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute
-expression of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
-
-I leant over him.  He was not only ill, he was wounded.
-His head, swathed in bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow.
-I undid the bandages, and the wounded man looked at me with his large
-eyes and gave no sign of pain as I did it.  It was a horrible wound.
-The skull, shattered by some deadly weapon, left the brain exposed,
-which was much injured.  Clots of blood had formed in the bruised
-and broken mass, in colour like the dregs of wine.
-
-There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain.  His breathing
-was slow, and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face.
-I felt his pulse.  It was intermittent.  The extremities of the body
-were growing cold already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue.
-After dressing the unfortunate man's wounds, I readjusted the bandages
-on his head, and turned to Captain Nemo.
-
-"What caused this wound?"  I asked.
-
-"What does it signify?" he replied, evasively.  "A shock has
-broken one of the levers of the engine, which struck myself.
-But your opinion as to his state?"
-
-I hesitated before giving it.
-
-"You may speak," said the Captain.  "This man does not understand French."
-
-I gave a last look at the wounded man.
-
-"He will be dead in two hours."
-
-"Can nothing save him?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-Captain Nemo's hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes,
-which I thought incapable of shedding any.
-
-For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed slowly.
-His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed over
-his death-bed. I looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with
-premature wrinkles, produced probably by misfortune and sorrow.
-I tried to learn the secret of his life from the last words that
-escaped his lips.
-
-"You can go now, M. Aronnax," said the Captain.
-
-I left him in the dying man's cabin, and returned to my
-room much affected by this scene.  During the whole day,
-I was haunted by uncomfortable suspicions, and at night
-I slept badly, and between my broken dreams I fancied I
-heard distant sighs like the notes of a funeral psalm.
-Were they the prayers of the dead, murmured in that language
-that I could not understand?
-
-The next morning I went on to the bridge.  Captain Nemo was there before me.
-As soon as he perceived me he came to me.
-
-"Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion to-day?"
-
-"With my companions?"  I asked.
-
-"If they like."
-
-"We obey your orders, Captain."
-
-"Will you be so good then as to put on your cork jackets?"
-
-It was not a question of dead or dying.  I rejoined Ned Land
-and Conseil, and told them of Captain Nemo's proposition.
-Conseil hastened to accept it, and this time the Canadian seemed
-quite willing to follow our example.
-
-It was eight o'clock in the morning.  At half-past eight we were equipped
-for this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for light
-and breathing.  The double door was open; and, accompanied by Captain Nemo,
-who was followed by a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at a depth of about
-thirty feet, on the solid bottom on which the Nautilus rested.
-
-A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth.
-This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first excursion
-under the waters of the Pacific Ocean.  Here, there was no fine sand,
-no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately recognised that
-marvellous region in which, on that day, the Captain did the honours to us.
-It was the coral kingdom.
-
-The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in
-the midst of the branches that were so vividly coloured.
-I seemed to see the membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble
-beneath the undulation of the waters.  I was tempted to gather
-their fresh petals, ornamented with delicate tentacles,
-some just blown, the others budding, while a small fish,
-swimming swiftly, touched them slightly, like flights of birds.
-But if my hand approached these living flowers, these animated,
-sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm.  The white petals
-re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked,
-and the bush changed into a block of stony knobs.
-
-Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the zoophyte.
-This coral was more valuable than that found in the Mediterranean,
-on the coasts of France, Italy and Barbary.  Its tints justified
-the poetical names of "Flower of Blood," and "Froth of Blood,"
-that trade has given to its most beautiful productions.
-Coral is sold for L20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds would
-make the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter,
-often confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots
-called "macciota," and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens
-of pink coral.
-
-But soon the bushes contract, and the arborisations increase. Real
-petrified thickets, long joints of fantastic architecture, were
-disclosed before us. Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery,
-where by a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards. The
-light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects, following the
-rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants disposed like lustres,
-that were tipped with points of fire.
-
-At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth
-of about three hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit
-on which coral begins to form.  But there was no isolated bush,
-nor modest brushwood, at the bottom of lofty trees.
-It was an immense forest of large mineral vegetations,
-enormous petrified trees, united by garlands of elegant
-sea-bindweed, all adorned with clouds and reflections.
-We passed freely under their high branches, lost in the shade
-of the waves.
-
-Captain Nemo had stopped.  I and my companions halted, and, turning round,
-I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief.
-Watching attentively, I observed that four of them carried on their
-shoulders an object of an oblong shape.
-
-We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade
-surrounded by the lofty foliage of the submarine forest.
-Our lamps threw over this place a sort of clear twilight
-that singularly elongated the shadows on the ground.
-At the end of the glade the darkness increased, and was only relieved
-by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil were near me.  We watched,
-and I thought I was going to witness a strange scene.
-On observing the ground, I saw that it was raised in certain
-places by slight excrescences encrusted with limy deposits,
-and disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of man.
-
-In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly
-piled up, stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms
-that one might have thought were made of petrified blood.
-Upon a sign from Captain Nemo one of the men advanced;
-and at some feet from the cross he began to dig a hole with
-a pickaxe that he took from his belt.  I understood all!
-This glade was a cemetery, this hole a tomb, this oblong
-object the body of the man who had died in the night!
-The Captain and his men had come to bury their companion in this
-general resting-place, at the bottom of this inaccessible ocean!
-
-The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their
-retreat was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe,
-which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the waters.
-The hole was soon large and deep enough to receive the body.
-Then the bearers approached; the body, enveloped in a tissue of white linen,
-was lowered into the damp grave.  Captain Nemo, with his arms crossed
-on his breast, and all the friends of him who had loved them,
-knelt in prayer.
-
-The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground,
-which formed a slight mound.  When this was done, Captain Nemo
-and his men rose; then, approaching the grave, they knelt again,
-and all extended their hands in sign of a last adieu.
-Then the funeral procession returned to the Nautilus,
-passing under the arches of the forest, in the midst
-of thickets, along the coral bushes, and still on the ascent.
-At last the light of the ship appeared, and its luminous track
-guided us to the Nautilus.  At one o'clock we had returned.
-
-As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform,
-and, a prey to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle.
-Captain Nemo joined me.  I rose and said to him:
-
-"So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?"
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax."
-
-"And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?"
-
-"Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us.  We dug the grave,
-and the polypi undertake to seal our dead for eternity."
-And, burying his face quickly in his hands, he tried in vain to
-suppress a sob.  Then he added:  "Our peaceful cemetery is there,
-some hundred feet below the surface of the waves."
-
-"Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of sharks."
-
-"Yes, sir, of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.
-
-
-
-PART TWO
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-THE INDIAN OCEAN
-
-We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea.
-The first ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left
-such a deep impression on my mind.  Thus, in the midst of this great sea,
-Captain Nemo's life was passing, even to his grave, which he had
-prepared in one of its deepest abysses.  There, not one of the ocean's
-monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus,
-of those friends riveted to each other in death as in life.
-"Nor any man, either," had added the Captain.  Still the same fierce,
-implacable defiance towards human society!
-
-I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied Conseil.
-
-That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of
-the Nautilus one of those unknown servants who return mankind
-contempt for indifference.  For him, he was a misunderstood
-genius who, tired of earth's deceptions, had taken refuge in this
-inaccessible medium, where he might follow his instincts freely.
-To my mind, this explains but one side of Captain Nemo's character.
-Indeed, the mystery of that last night during which we had been
-chained in prison, the sleep, and the precaution so violently
-taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I
-had raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the man,
-due to an unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a
-new track.  No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man.
-His formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom,
-but perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.
-
-At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse
-of light amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself
-to writing as events shall dictate.
-
-That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came to take
-the altitude of the sun.  I mounted the platform, lit a cigar, and watched
-the operation.  It seemed to me that the man did not understand French;
-for several times I made remarks in a loud voice, which must have drawn
-from him some involuntary sign of attention, if he had understood them;
-but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
-
-As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the
-sailors of the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied
-us on our first submarine excursion to the Island of Crespo)
-came to clean the glasses of the lantern.  I examined the fittings
-of the apparatus, the strength of which was increased a hundredfold
-by lenticular rings, placed similar to those in a lighthouse,
-and which projected their brilliance in a horizontal plane.
-The electric lamp was combined in such a way as to give
-its most powerful light.  Indeed, it was produced in vacuo,
-which insured both its steadiness and its intensity.
-This vacuum economised the graphite points between which
-the luminous arc was developed--an important point of economy
-for Captain Nemo, who could not easily have replaced them;
-and under these conditions their waste was imperceptible.
-When the Nautilus was ready to continue its submarine journey,
-I went down to the saloon.  The panel was closed, and the course
-marked direct west.
-
-We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
-with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
-and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy.
-The Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep.
-We went on so for some days.  To anyone but myself, who had a great
-love for the sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous;
-but the daily walks on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving
-air of the ocean, the sight of the rich waters through the windows
-of the saloon, the books in the library, the compiling of my memoirs,
-took up all my time, and left me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
-
-For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or gulls.
-Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made very acceptable
-water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long distance from all lands
-and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their flight, I saw some
-magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant cries like the braying of an ass,
-and birds belonging to the family of the long-wings.
-
-As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
-the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels.
-I saw many kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
-
-I shall notice chiefly ostracions peculiar to the Red Sea, the Indian
-Ocean, and that part which washes the coast of tropical America. These
-fishes, like the tortoise, the armadillo, the sea-hedgehog, and the
-Crustacea, are protected by a breastplate which is neither chalky nor
-stony, but real bone. In some it takes the form of a solid triangle, in
-others of a solid quadrangle. Amongst the triangular I saw some an inch
-and a half in length, with wholesome flesh and a delicious flavour; they
-are brown at the tail, and yellow at the fins, and I recommend their
-introduction into fresh water, to which a certain number of sea-fish
-easily accustom themselves. I would also mention quadrangular
-ostracions, having on the back four large tubercles; some dotted over
-with white spots on the lower part of the body, and which may be tamed
-like birds; trigons provided with spikes formed by the lengthening of
-their bony shell, and which, from their strange gruntings, are called
-"seapigs"; also dromedaries with large humps in the shape of a cone,
-whose flesh is very tough and leathery.
-
-I now borrow from the daily notes of Master Conseil. "Certain fish of
-the genus petrodon peculiar to those seas, with red backs and white
-chests, which are distinguished by three rows of longitudinal filaments;
-and some electrical, seven inches long, decked in the liveliest colours.
-Then, as specimens of other kinds, some ovoides, resembling an egg of a
-dark brown colour, marked with white bands, and without tails; diodons,
-real sea-porcupines, furnished with spikes, and capable of swelling in
-such a way as to look like cushions bristling with darts; hippocampi,
-common to every ocean; some pegasi with lengthened snouts, which their
-pectoral fins, being much elongated and formed in the shape of wings,
-allow, if not to fly, at least to shoot into the air; pigeon spatulae,
-with tails covered with many rings of shell; macrognathi with long
-jaws, an excellent fish, nine inches long, and bright with most
-agreeable colours; pale-coloured calliomores, with rugged heads; and
-plenty of chaetpdons, with long and tubular muzzles, which kill insects
-by shooting them, as from an air-gun, with a single drop of water. These
-we may call the flycatchers of the seas.
-
-"In the eighty-ninth genus of fishes, classed by Lacepede, belonging to
-the second lower class of bony, characterised by opercules and
-bronchial membranes, I remarked the scorpaena, the head of which is
-furnished with spikes, and which has but one dorsal fin; these creatures
-are covered, or not, with little shells, according to the sub-class to
-which they belong. The second sub-class gives us specimens of
-didactyles fourteen or fifteen inches in length, with yellow rays, and
-heads of a most fantastic appearance. As to the first sub-class, it
-gives several specimens of that singular looking fish appropriately
-called a 'seafrog,' with large head, sometimes pierced with holes,
-sometimes swollen with protuberances, bristling with spikes, and covered
-with tubercles; it has irregular and hideous horns; its body and tail
-are covered with callosities; its sting makes a dangerous wound; it is
-both repugnant and horrible to look at."
-
-From the 21st to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went at
-the rate of two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours,
-being five hundred and forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour.
-If we recognised so many different varieties of fish, it was because,
-attracted by the electric light, they tried to follow us;
-the greater part, however, were soon distanced by our speed,
-though some kept their place in the waters of the Nautilus for a time.
-The morning of the 24th, in 12@ 5' S. lat., and 94@ 33'
-long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral formation,
-planted with magnificent cocos, and which had been visited by
-Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy.  The Nautilus skirted the shores
-of this desert island for a little distance.  Its nets brought
-up numerous specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca.
-Some precious productions of the species of delphinulae enriched the
-treasures of Captain Nemo, to which I added an astraea punctifera, a
-kind of parasite polypus often found fixed to a shell.
-
-Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was
-directed to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable,
-often taking us into great depths.  Several times they made use
-of the inclined planes, which certain internal levers placed
-obliquely to the waterline.  In that way we went about two miles,
-but without ever obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea,
-which soundings of seven thousand fathoms have never reached.
-As to the temperature of the lower strata, the thermometer invariably
-indicated 4@ above zero.  I only observed that in the upper regions
-the water was always colder in the high levels than at the surface
-of the sea.
-
-On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus
-passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful
-screw and making them rebound to a great height.  Who under such
-circumstances would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean?
-Three parts of this day I spent on the platform.  I watched the sea.
-Nothing on the horizon, till about four o'clock a steamer running
-west on our counter.  Her masts were visible for an instant,
-but she could not see the Nautilus, being too low in the water.
-I fancied this steamboat belonged to the P.O. Company, which runs
-from Ceylon to Sydney, touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.
-
-At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight
-which binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I
-were astonished by a curious spectacle.
-
-It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the ocean.
-We could count several hundreds.  They belonged to the tubercle kind
-which are peculiar to the Indian seas.
-
-These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their
-locomotive tube, through which they propelled the water already
-drawn in.  Of their eight tentacles, six were elongated,
-and stretched out floating on the water, whilst the other two,
-rolled up flat, were spread to the wing like a light sail.
-I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells, which Cuvier
-justly compares to an elegant skiff.  A boat indeed!
-It bears the creature which secretes it without its adhering to it.
-
-For nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of this shoal
-of molluscs.  Then I know not what sudden fright they took.
-But as if at a signal every sail was furled, the arms folded,
-the body drawn in, the shells turned over, changing their centre
-of gravity, and the whole fleet disappeared under the waves.
-Never did the ships of a squadron manoeuvre with more unity.
-
-At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised
-by the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus.
-
-The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the
-eighty-second meridian and entered the northern hemisphere.
-During the day a formidable troop of sharks accompanied us,
-terrible creatures, which multiply in these seas and make them
-very dangerous.  They were "cestracio philippi" sharks, with brown
-backs and whitish bellies, armed with eleven rows of teeth--
-eyed sharks--their throat being marked with a large black
-spot surrounded with white like an eye.  There were also some
-Isabella sharks, with rounded snouts marked with dark spots.
-These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at the windows
-of the saloon with such violence as to make us feel very insecure.
-At such times Ned Land was no longer master of himself.
-He wanted to go to the surface and harpoon the monsters,
-particularly certain smooth-hound sharks, whose mouth is studded with
-teeth like a mosaic; and large tiger-sharks nearly six yards long,
-the last named of which seemed to excite him more particularly.
-But the Nautilus, accelerating her speed, easily left the most rapid
-of them behind.
-
-The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal,
-we met repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on
-the surface of the water.  They were the dead of the Indian villages,
-carried by the Ganges to the level of the sea, and which the vultures,
-the only undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour.
-But the sharks did not fail to help them at their funeral work.
-
-About seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus, half-immersed, was
-sailing in a sea of milk.  At first sight the ocean seemed lactified.
-Was it the effect of the lunar rays?  No; for the moon, scarcely two
-days old, was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the sun.
-The whole sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by contrast
-with the whiteness of the waters.
-
-Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause
-of this strange phenomenon.  Happily I was able to answer him.
-
-"It is called a milk sea," I explained.  "A large extent
-of white wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna,
-and in these parts of the sea."
-
-"But, sir," said Conseil, "can you tell me what causes such an effect?
-for I suppose the water is not really turned into milk."
-
-"No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by
-the presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm,
-gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair,
-and whose length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch.
-These insects adhere to one another sometimes for several leagues."
-
-"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these infusoria.
-You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have floated on these
-milk seas for more than forty miles."
-
-Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour;
-but behind us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky
-reflected the whitened waves, and for a long time seemed
-impregnated with the vague glimmerings of an aurora borealis.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO'S
-
-On the 28th of February, when at noon the Nautilus came to the surface
-of the sea, in 9@ 4' N. lat., there was land in sight about eight
-miles to westward.  The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains
-about two thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious.
-On taking the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of Ceylon,
-the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment.
-The Captain glanced at the map.  Then turning to me, said:
-
-"The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you
-like to visit one of them, M. Aronnax?"
-
-"Certainly, Captain."
-
-"Well, the thing is easy.  Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall
-not see the fishermen.  The annual exportation has not yet begun.
-Never mind, I will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar,
-where we shall arrive in the night."
-
-The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out.
-Soon the Nautilus returned to her native element, and the manometer
-showed that she was about thirty feet deep.
-
-"Well, sir," said Captain Nemo, "you and your companions shall visit
-the Bank of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there,
-we shall see him at work."
-
-"Agreed, Captain!"
-
-"By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?"
-
-"Sharks!" exclaimed I.
-
-This question seemed a very hard one.
-
-"Well?" continued Captain Nemo.
-
-"I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of fish."
-
-"We are accustomed to them," replied Captain Nemo,
-"and in time you will be too.  However, we shall be armed,
-and on the road we may be able to hunt some of the tribe.
-It is interesting.  So, till to-morrow, sir, and early."
-
-This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon.
-Now, if you were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains
-of Switzerland, what would you say?
-
-"Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear."
-If you were asked to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas,
-or the tiger in the Indian jungles, what would you say?
-
-"Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!"
-But when you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element,
-you would perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation.
-As for myself, I passed my hand over my forehead, on which stood large
-drops of cold perspiration.  "Let us reflect," said I, "and take our time.
-Hunting otters in submarine forests, as we did in the Island of Crespo,
-will pass; but going up and down at the bottom of the sea,
-where one is almost certain to meet sharks, is quite another thing!
-I know well that in certain countries, particularly in the Andaman Islands,
-the negroes never hesitate to attack them with a dagger in one hand
-and a running noose in the other; but I also know that few who affront
-those creatures ever return alive.  However, I am not a negro,
-and if I were I think a little hesitation in this case would
-not be ill-timed."
-
-At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed,
-and even joyous.  They knew not what awaited them.
-
-"Faith, sir," said Ned Land, "your Captain Nemo--the devil take him!--
-has just made us a very pleasant offer."
-
-"Ah!" said I, "you know?"
-
-"If agreeable to you, sir," interrupted Conseil, "the commander
-of the Nautilus has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon
-fisheries to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly,
-and behaved like a real gentleman."
-
-"He said nothing more?"
-
-"Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you
-of this little walk."
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "would you give us some details of the pearl fishery?"
-
-"As to the fishing itself," I asked, "or the incidents, which?"
-
-"On the fishing," replied the Canadian; "before entering upon the ground,
-it is as well to know something about it."
-
-"Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you."
-
-Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing
-the Canadian asked was:
-
-"Sir, what is a pearl?"
-
-"My worthy Ned," I answered, "to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the sea;
-to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies, it is
-a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl substance,
-which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their ears; for the chemist
-it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a little gelatine;
-and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply a morbid secretion of the organ
-that produces the mother-of-pearl amongst certain bivalves."
-
-"Branch of molluscs," said Conseil.
-
-"Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea
-the earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those
-which secrete mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet,
-or white substance which lines the interior of their shells,
-are capable of producing pearls."
-
-"Mussels too?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland,
-Saxony, Bohemia, and France."
-
-"Good!  For the future I shall pay attention," replied the Canadian.
-
-"But," I continued, "the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl
-is the pearl-oyster, the meleagrina margaritiferct, that precious
-pintadine. The pearl is nothing but a nacreous formation, deposited
-in a globular form, either adhering to the oyster shell, or buried
-in the folds of the creature. On the shell it is fast; in the flesh
-it is loose; but always has for a kernel a small hard substance, may
-be a barren egg, may be a grain of sand, around which the pearly
-matter deposits itself year after year successively, and by thin
-concentric layers."
-
-"Are many pearls found in the same oyster?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Yes, my boy.  Some are a perfect casket.  One oyster has been mentioned,
-though I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no less than a hundred
-and fifty sharks."
-
-"A hundred and fifty sharks!" exclaimed Ned Land.
-
-"Did I say sharks?" said I hurriedly.  "I meant to say a hundred
-and fifty pearls.  Sharks would not be sense."
-
-"Certainly not," said Conseil; "but will you tell us now by what means
-they extract these pearls?"
-
-"They proceed in various ways.  When they adhere to the shell,
-the fishermen often pull them off with pincers; but the most common
-way is to lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers
-the banks.  Thus they die in the open air; and at the end
-of ten days they are in a forward state of decomposition.
-They are then plunged into large reservoirs of sea-water;
-then they are opened and washed."
-
-"The price of these pearls varies according to their size?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Not only according to their size," I answered, "but also according
-to their shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre:
-that is, that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming
-to the eye.  The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons.
-They are formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc, are white,
-often opaque, and sometimes have the transparency of an opal;
-they are generally round or oval.  The round are made into bracelets,
-the oval into pendants, and, being more precious, are sold singly.
-Those adhering to the shell of the oyster are more irregular in shape,
-and are sold by weight.  Lastly, in a lower order are classed those small
-pearls known under the name of seed-pearls; they are sold by measure,
-and are especially used in embroidery for church ornaments."
-
-"But," said Conseil, "is this pearl-fishery dangerous?"
-
-"No," I answered, quickly; "particularly if certain precautions are taken."
-
-"What does one risk in such a calling?" said Ned Land,
-"the swallowing of some mouthfuls of sea-water?"
-
-"As you say, Ned.  By the bye," said I, trying to take Captain
-Nemo's careless tone, "are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?"
-
-"I!" replied the Canadian; "a harpooner by profession?
-It is my trade to make light of them."
-
-"But," said I, "it is not a question of fishing for them
-with an iron-swivel, hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off
-their tails with a blow of a chopper, ripping them up,
-and throwing their heart into the sea!"
-
-"Then, it is a question of----"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"In the water?"
-
-"In the water."
-
-"Faith, with a good harpoon!  You know, sir, these sharks are
-ill-fashioned beasts.  They turn on their bellies to seize you,
-and in that time----"
-
-Ned Land had a way of saying "seize" which made my blood run cold.
-
-"Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?"
-
-"Me!" said Conseil.  "I will be frank, sir."
-
-"So much the better," thought I.
-
-"If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful
-servant should not face them with you."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS
-
-The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by
-the steward whom Captain Nemo had placed at my service.
-I rose hurriedly, dressed, and went into the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
-
-"M. Aronnax," said he, "are you ready to start?"
-
-"I am ready."
-
-"Then please to follow me."
-
-"And my companions, Captain?"
-
-"They have been told and are waiting."
-
-"Are we not to put on our diver's dresses?" asked I.
-
-"Not yet.  I have not allowed the Nautilus to come too near this coast,
-and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready, and will
-take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us a long way.
-It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when we begin
-our submarine journey."
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase,
-which led on the platform.  Ned and Conseil were already there,
-delighted at the idea of the "pleasure party" which was preparing.
-Five sailors from the Nautilus, with their oars, waited in the boat,
-which had been made fast against the side.
-
-The night was still dark.  Layers of clouds covered the sky,
-allowing but few stars to be seen.  I looked on the side
-where the land lay, and saw nothing but a dark line enclosing
-three parts of the horizon, from south-west to north west.
-The Nautilus, having returned during the night up the western
-coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or rather gulf,
-formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar.
-There, under the dark waters, stretched the pintadine bank,
-an inexhaustible field of pearls, the length of which is more
-than twenty miles.
-
-Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places
-in the stern of the boat.  The master went to the tiller;
-his four companions leaned on their oars, the painter was cast off,
-and we sheered off.
-
-The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry.  I noticed
-that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every
-ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy.
-Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops
-struck the dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead.
-A little billow, spreading wide, gave a slight roll to the boat, and some
-samphire reeds flapped before it.
-
-We were silent.  What was Captain Nemo thinking of?  Perhaps of
-the land he was approaching, and which he found too near to him,
-contrary to the Canadian's opinion, who thought it too far off.
-As to Conseil, he was merely there from curiosity.
-
-About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed
-the upper line of coast more distinctly.  Flat enough in the east,
-it rose a little to the south.  Five miles still lay between us,
-and it was indistinct owing to the mist on the water.
-At six o'clock it became suddenly daylight, with that rapidity
-peculiar to tropical regions, which know neither dawn nor twilight.
-The solar rays pierced the curtain of clouds, piled up
-on the eastern horizon, and the radiant orb rose rapidly.
-I saw land distinctly, with a few trees scattered here and there.
-The boat neared Manaar Island, which was rounded to the south.
-Captain Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea.
-
-At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran,
-for it was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the highest
-points of the bank of pintadines.
-
-"Here we are, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.
-"You see that enclosed bay?  Here, in a month will be
-assembled the numerous fishing boats of the exporters,
-and these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly.
-Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing.
-It is sheltered from the strongest winds; the sea is never very
-rough here, which makes it favourable for the diver's work.
-We will now put on our dresses, and begin our walk."
-
-I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves,
-began with the help of the sailors to put on my heavy
-sea-dress. Captain Nemo and my companions were also dressing.
-None of the Nautilus men were to accompany us on this new excursion.
-
-Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing;
-the air apparatus fixed to our backs by braces.
-As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus, there was no necessity for it.
-Before putting my head into the copper cap, I had asked the question
-of the Captain.
-
-"They would be useless," he replied.  "We are going to no great depth,
-and the solar rays will be enough to light our walk.  Besides, it would
-not be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters;
-its brilliancy might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants
-of the coast most inopportunely."
-
-As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned Land.
-But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap,
-and they could neither hear nor answer.
-
-One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
-
-"And our arms?" asked I; "our guns?"
-
-"Guns!  What for?  Do not mountaineers attack the bear with
-a dagger in their hand, and is not steel surer than lead?
-Here is a strong blade; put it in your belt, and we start."
-
-I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than that,
-Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed in the boat
-before leaving the Nautilus.
-
-Then, following the Captain's example, I allowed myself to be
-dressed in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air
-were at once in activity.  An instant after we were landed,
-one after the other, in about two yards of water upon an even sand.
-Captain Nemo made a sign with his hand, and we followed him
-by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under the waves.
-
-Over our feet, like coveys of snipe in a bog, rose shoals of fish, of
-the genus monoptera, which have no other fins but their tail. I
-recognized the Javanese, a real serpent two and a half feet long, of a
-livid colour underneath, and which might easily be mistaken for a conger
-eel if it were not for the golden stripes on its side. In the genus
-stromateus, whose bodies are very flat and oval, I saw some of the most
-brilliant colours, carrying their dorsal fin like a scythe; an excellent
-eating fish, which, dried and pickled, is known by the name of
-Karawade; then some tranquebars, belonging to the genus apsiphoroides,
-whose body is covered with a shell cuirass of eight longitudinal plates.
-
-The heightening sun lit the mass of waters more and more. The soil
-changed by degrees. To the fine sand succeeded a perfect causeway of
-boulders, covered with a carpet of molluscs and zoophytes. Amongst the
-specimens of these branches I noticed some placenae, with thin unequal
-shells, a kind of ostracion peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian
-Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded shells; rockfish three feet and
-a half long, which raised themselves under the waves like hands ready
-to seize one. There were also some panopyres, slightly luminous; and
-lastly, some oculines, like magnificent fans, forming one of the richest
-vegetations of these seas.
-
-In the midst of these living plants, and under the arbours of the
-hydrophytes, were layers of clumsy articulates, particularly some
-raninae, whose carapace formed a slightly rounded triangle; and some
-horrible looking parthenopes.
-
-At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the oyster-banks
-on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters;
-and I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for
-Nature's creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction.
-Ned Land, faithful to his instinct, hastened to fill a net
-which he carried by his side with some of the finest specimens.
-But we could not stop.  We must follow the Captain,
-who seemed to guide him self by paths known only to himself.
-The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes,
-on holding up my arm, it was above the surface of the sea.
-Then the level of the bank would sink capriciously.
-Often we rounded high rocks scarped into pyramids.
-In their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched upon their
-high claws like some war-machine, watched us with fixed eyes,
-and under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.
-
-At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a picturesque
-heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the submarine flora.
-At first it seemed very dark to me.  The solar rays seemed to be
-extinguished by successive gradations, until its vague transparency became
-nothing more than drowned light.  Captain Nemo entered; we followed.
-My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this relative state of darkness.
-I could distinguish the arches springing capriciously from natural pillars,
-standing broad upon their granite base, like the heavy columns of
-Tuscan architecture.  Why had our incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom
-of this submarine crypt?  I was soon to know.  After descending a rather
-sharp declivity, our feet trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit.
-There Captain Nemo stopped, and with his hand indicated an object I
-had not yet perceived.  It was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions,
-a gigantic tridacne, a goblet which could have contained a whole lake of
-holy-water, a basin the breadth of which was more than two yards and a half,
-and consequently larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus.
-I approached this extraordinary mollusc.  It adhered by its filaments
-to a table of granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in the calm
-waters of the grotto.  I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lb.
-Such an oyster would contain 30 lb.  of meat; and one must have the stomach of
-a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
-
-Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this bivalve,
-and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual state
-of this tridacne.  The shells were a little open; the Captain came near
-and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing; then with his
-hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges, which formed a cloak
-for the creature.  There, between the folded plaits, I saw a loose pearl,
-whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular shape, perfect clearness,
-and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of inestimable value.
-Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched out my hand to seize it,
-weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain stopped me, made a sign of refusal,
-and quickly withdrew his dagger, and the two shells closed suddenly.
-I then understood Captain Nemo's intention.  In leaving this pearl
-hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing it to grow slowly.
-Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add new concentric circles.
-I estimated its value at L500,000 at least.
-
-After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.
-I thought he had halted previously to returning.  No; by a
-gesture he bade us crouch beside him in a deep fracture
-of the rock, his hand pointed to one part of the liquid mass,
-which I watched attentively.
-
-About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground.
-The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken;
-and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything
-to do with.
-
-It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor
-devil who, I suppose, had come to glean before the harvest.
-I could see the bottom of his canoe anchored some feet above his head.
-He dived and went up successively.  A stone held between his feet,
-cut in the shape of a sugar loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat,
-helped him to descend more rapidly.  This was all his apparatus.
-Reaching the bottom, about five yards deep, he went on his knees
-and filled his bag with oysters picked up at random.  Then he went up,
-emptied it, pulled up his stone, and began the operation once more,
-which lasted thirty seconds.
-
-The diver did not see us.  The shadow of the rock hid us from sight.
-And how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like himself,
-should be there under the water watching his movements and losing no detail
-of the fishing?  Several times he went up in this way, and dived again.
-He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was obliged to pull
-them from the bank to which they adhered by means of their strong byssus.
-And how many of those oysters for which he risked his life had no pearl
-in them!  I watched him closely; his manoeuvres were regular; and for the
-space of half an hour no danger appeared to threaten him.
-
-I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting fishing,
-when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make a gesture
-of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface of the sea.
-
-I understood his dread.  A gigantic shadow appeared just above
-the unfortunate diver.  It was a shark of enormous size
-advancing diagonally, his eyes on fire, and his jaws open.
-I was mute with horror and unable to move.
-
-The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw
-himself on one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its tail,
-for it struck his chest and stretched him on the ground.
-
-This scene lasted but a few seconds:  the shark returned, and,
-turning on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two,
-when I saw Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand,
-walk straight to the monster, ready to fight face to face with him.
-The very moment the shark was going to snap the unhappy fisherman
-in two, he perceived his new adversary, and, turning over,
-made straight towards him.
-
-I can still see Captain Nemo's position.  Holding himself well together,
-he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it rushed at him,
-threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoiding the shock,
-and burying his dagger deep into its side.  But it was not all over.
-A terrible combat ensued.
-
-The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so.  The blood
-rushed in torrents from its wound.  The sea was dyed red,
-and through the opaque liquid I could distinguish nothing more.
-Nothing more until the moment when, like lightning, I saw
-the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of the creature's fins,
-struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the monster,
-and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to give
-a decisive one.
-
-The shark's struggles agitated the water with such fury that the rocking
-threatened to upset me.
-
-I wanted to go to the Captain's assistance, but, nailed to the spot
-with horror, I could not stir.
-
-I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight.
-The Captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant
-upon him.  The shark's jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears,
-and it would have been all over with the Captain; but, quick as thought,
-harpoon in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with
-its sharp point.
-
-The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood.  They rocked under
-the shark's movements, which beat them with indescribable fury.
-Ned Land had not missed his aim.  It was the monster's death-rattle.
-Struck to the heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock
-of which overthrew Conseil.
-
-But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any wound,
-went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him
-to his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel,
-mounted to the surface.
-
-We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle,
-and reached the fisherman's boat.
-
-Captain Nemo's first care was to recall the unfortunate
-man to life again.  I did not think he could succeed.
-I hoped so, for the poor creature's immersion was not long;
-but the blow from the shark's tail might have been his death-blow.
-
-Happily, with the Captain's and Conseil's sharp friction,
-I saw consciousness return by degrees.  He opened his eyes.
-What was his surprise, his terror even, at seeing four great
-copper heads leaning over him!  And, above all, what must
-he have thought when Captain Nemo, drawing from the pocket
-of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his hand!
-This munificent charity from the man of the waters to the poor
-Cingalese was accepted with a trembling hand.  His wondering eyes
-showed that he knew not to what super-human beings he owed both
-fortune and life.
-
-At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the road
-already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which held
-the canoe of the Nautilus to the earth.
-
-Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid
-of the heavy copper helmet.
-
-Captain Nemo's first word was to the Canadian.
-
-"Thank you, Master Land," said he.
-
-"It was in revenge, Captain," replied Ned Land.
-"I owed you that."
-
-A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips, and that was all.
-
-"To the Nautilus," said he.
-
-The boat flew over the waves.  Some minutes after we met the shark's
-dead body floating.  By the black marking of the extremity of its fins,
-I recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the species
-of shark so properly called.  It was more than twenty-five feet long;
-its enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body.  It was an adult,
-as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles triangle in
-the upper jaw.
-
-Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
-beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw themselves
-upon the dead body and fought with one another for the pieces.
-
-At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus.
-There I reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our
-excursion to the Manaar Bank.
-
-Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it--one bearing
-upon the unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon
-his devotion to a human being, a representative of that race
-from which he fled beneath the sea.  Whatever he might say,
-this strange man had not yet succeeded in entirely crushing his heart.
-
-When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved tone:
-
-"That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country;
-and I am still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-THE RED SEA
-
-In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island
-of Ceylon disappeared under the horizon, and the Nautilus,
-at a speed of twenty miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth
-of canals which separate the Maldives from the Laccadives.
-It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a land originally coraline,
-discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one of the nineteen
-principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago, situated between
-10@ and 14@ 30' N. lat., and 69@ 50' 72" E. long.
-
-We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our starting-point
-in the Japanese Seas.
-
-The next day (30th January), when the Nautilus went
-to the surface of the ocean there was no land in sight.
-Its course was N.N.E., in the direction of the Sea of Oman,
-between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula, which serves as an
-outlet to the Persian Gulf.  It was evidently a block without
-any possible egress.  Where was Captain Nemo taking us to?
-I could not say.  This, however, did not satisfy the Canadian,
-who that day came to me asking where we were going.
-
-"We are going where our Captain's fancy takes us, Master Ned."
-
-"His fancy cannot take us far, then," said the Canadian.
-"The Persian Gulf has no outlet:  and, if we do go in, it will
-not be long before we are out again."
-
-"Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if,
-after the Persian Gulf, the Nautilus would like to visit the Red Sea,
-the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance."
-
-"I need not tell you, sir," said Ned Land, "that the Red Sea is as much closed
-as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it was, a boat
-as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut with sluices.
-And again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back to Europe."
-
-"But I never said we were going back to Europe."
-
-"What do you suppose, then?"
-
-"I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia
-and Egypt, the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again,
-perhaps cross the Channel of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas,
-so as to gain the Cape of Good Hope."
-
-"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?" asked the Canadian,
-with peculiar emphasis.
-
-"Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know.
-Ah! friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea; you are
-surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine wonders.
-For my part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage which it is given to
-so few men to make."
-
-For four days, till the 3rd of February, the Nautilus scoured
-the Sea of Oman, at various speeds and at various depths.
-It seemed to go at random, as if hesitating as to which road it
-should follow, but we never passed the Tropic of Cancer.
-
-In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant,
-one of the most important towns of the country of Oman.
-I admired its strange aspect, surrounded by black rocks
-upon which its white houses and forts stood in relief.
-I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points
-of its minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces.  But it was only
-a vision!  The Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part
-of the sea.
-
-We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut,
-for a distance of six miles, its undulating line of mountains
-being occasionally relieved by some ancient ruin.
-The 5th of February we at last entered the Gulf of Aden,
-a perfect funnel introduced into the neck of Bab-el-mandeb,
-through which the Indian waters entered the Red Sea.
-
-The 6th of February, the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden,
-perched upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland,
-a kind of inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which
-were rebuilt by the English after taking possession in 1839.
-I caught a glimpse of the octagon minarets of this town, which was at
-one time the richest commercial magazine on the coast.
-
-I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point,
-would back out again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing,
-much to my surprise.
-
-The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits
-of Bab-el-mandeb, the name of which, in the Arab tongue,
-means The Gate of Tears.
-
-To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length.
-And for the Nautilus, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely
-the work of an hour.  But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim,
-with which the British Government has fortified the position of Aden.
-There were too many English or French steamers of the line of Suez
-to Bombay, Calcutta to Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius,
-furrowing this narrow passage, for the Nautilus to venture to show itself.
-So it remained prudently below.  At last about noon, we were in the waters of
-the Red Sea.
-
-I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided Captain Nemo
-upon entering the gulf.  But I quite approved of the Nautilus entering it.
-Its speed was lessened:  sometimes it kept on the surface, sometimes it dived
-to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able to observe the upper and lower parts
-of this curious sea.
-
-The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came
-in sight, now a ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot,
-yet which shelters here and there some verdant date-trees;
-once an important city, containing six public markets,
-and twenty-six mosques, and whose walls, defended by fourteen forts,
-formed a girdle of two miles in circumference.
-
-The Nautilus then approached the African shore, where the depth of the sea
-was greater.  There, between two waters clear as crystal, through the open
-panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful bushes of brilliant
-coral and large blocks of rock clothed with a splendid fur of green
-variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and algae and fuci.
-What an indescribable spectacle, and what variety of sites and landscapes
-along these sandbanks and volcanic islands which bound the Libyan coast!
-But where these shrubs appeared in all their beauty was on the eastern coast,
-which the Nautilus soon gained.  It was on the coast of Tehama, for there
-not only did this display of zoophytes flourish beneath the level of the sea,
-but they also formed picturesque interlacings which unfolded themselves about
-sixty feet above the surface, more capricious but less highly coloured than
-those whose freshness was kept up by the vital power of the waters.
-
-What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon!
-What new specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under
-the brightness of our electric lantern!
-
-The 9th of February the Nautilus floated in the broadest part of the Red Sea,
-which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and Komfidah,
-on the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
-
-That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted
-the platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let him go
-down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior projects.
-As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me a cigar.
-
-"Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you?  Have you sufficiently
-observed the wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes,
-its parterres of sponges, and its forests of coral?
-Did you catch a glimpse of the towns on its borders?"
-
-"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied; "and the Nautilus is wonderfully
-fitted for such a study.  Ah! it is an intelligent boat!"
-
-"Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable.  It fears neither
-the terrible tempests of the Red Sea, nor its currents,
-nor its sandbanks."
-
-"Certainly," said I, "this sea is quoted as one of the worst,
-and in the time of the ancients, if I am not mistaken,
-its reputation was detestable."
-
-"Detestable, M. Aronnax.  The Greek and Latin historians
-do not speak favourably of it, and Strabo says it is very
-dangerous during the Etesian winds and in the rainy season.
-The Arabian Edrisi portrays it under the name of the Gulf of Colzoum,
-and relates that vessels perished there in great numbers on
-the sandbanks and that no one would risk sailing in the night.
-It is, he pretends, a sea subject to fearful hurricanes,
-strewn with inhospitable islands, and `which offers nothing good
-either on its surface or in its depths.'"
-
-"One may see," I replied, "that these historians never sailed
-on board the Nautilus."
-
-"Just so," replied the Captain, smiling; "and in that respect
-moderns are not more advanced than the ancients.  It required
-many ages to find out the mechanical power of steam.  Who knows if,
-in another hundred years, we may not see a second Nautilus?
-Progress is slow, M. Aronnax."
-
-"It is true," I answered; "your boat is at least a century before its time,
-perhaps an era.  What a misfortune that the secret of such an invention
-should die with its inventor!"
-
-Captain Nemo did not reply.  After some minutes' silence he continued:
-
-"You were speaking of the opinions of ancient historians upon
-the dangerous navigation of the Red Sea."
-
-"It is true," said I; "but were not their fears exaggerated?"
-
-"Yes and no, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, who seemed to know the Red
-Sea by heart.  "That which is no longer dangerous for a modern vessel,
-well rigged, strongly built, and master of its own course, thanks to
-obedient steam, offered all sorts of perils to the ships of the ancients.
-Picture to yourself those first navigators venturing in ships made
-of planks sewn with the cords of the palmtree, saturated with
-the grease of the seadog, and covered with powdered resin!
-They had not even instruments wherewith to take their bearings, and they
-went by guess amongst currents of which they scarcely knew anything.
-Under such conditions shipwrecks were, and must have been, numerous.
-But in our time, steamers running between Suez and the South Seas have
-nothing more to fear from the fury of this gulf, in spite of contrary
-trade-winds. The captain and passengers do not prepare for their
-departure by offering propitiatory sacrifices; and, on their return,
-they no longer go ornamented with wreaths and gilt fillets to thank
-the gods in the neighbouring temple."
-
-"I agree with you," said I; "and steam seems to have killed all gratitude
-in the hearts of sailors.  But, Captain, since you seem to have especially
-studied this sea, can you tell me the origin of its name?"
-
-"There exist several explanations on the subject, M. Aronnax.
-Would you like to know the opinion of a chronicler of
-the fourteenth century?"
-
-"Willingly."
-
-"This fanciful writer pretends that its name was given to it
-after the passage of the Israelites, when Pharaoh perished
-in the waves which closed at the voice of Moses."
-
-"A poet's explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied; "but I cannot content
-myself with that.  I ask you for your personal opinion."
-
-"Here it is, M. Aronnax.  According to my idea, we must see
-in this appellation of the Red Sea a translation of the Hebrew
-word `Edom'; and if the ancients gave it that name, it was
-on account of the particular colour of its waters."
-
-"But up to this time I have seen nothing but transparent waves
-and without any particular colour."
-
-"Very likely; but as we advance to the bottom of the gulf, you will see
-this singular appearance.  I remember seeing the Bay of Tor entirely red,
-like a sea of blood."
-
-"And you attribute this colour to the presence of a microscopic seaweed?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"So, Captain Nemo, it is not the first time you have overrun
-the Red Sea on board the Nautilus?"
-
-"No, sir."
-
-"As you spoke a while ago of the passage of the Israelites and of
-the catastrophe to the Egyptians, I will ask whether you have met
-with the traces under the water of this great historical fact?"
-
-"No, sir; and for a good reason."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"It is that the spot where Moses and his people passed is now so blocked
-up with sand that the camels can barely bathe their legs there.
-You can well understand that there would not be water enough
-for my Nautilus."
-
-"And the spot?"  I asked.
-
-"The spot is situated a little above the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm
-which formerly made a deep estuary, when the Red Sea extended to
-the Salt Lakes.  Now, whether this passage were miraculous or not,
-the Israelites, nevertheless, crossed there to reach the Promised Land,
-and Pharaoh's army perished precisely on that spot; and I think
-that excavations made in the middle of the sand would bring to light
-a large number of arms and instruments of Egyptian origin."
-
-"That is evident," I replied; "and for the sake of archaeologists let us
-hope that these excavations will be made sooner or later, when new towns
-are established on the isthmus, after the construction of the Suez Canal;
-a canal, however, very useless to a vessel like the Nautilus."
-
-"Very likely; but useful to the whole world," said Captain Nemo.
-"The ancients well understood the utility of a communication between
-the Red Sea and the Mediterranean for their commercial affairs:
-but they did not think of digging a canal direct, and took the Nile
-as an intermediate.  Very probably the canal which united the Nile
-to the Red Sea was begun by Sesostris, if we may believe tradition.
-One thing is certain, that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ,
-Necos undertook the works of an alimentary canal to the waters
-of the Nile across the plain of Egypt, looking towards Arabia.
-It took four days to go up this canal, and it was so wide that
-two triremes could go abreast.  It was carried on by Darius,
-the son of Hystaspes, and probably finished by Ptolemy II.
-Strabo saw it navigated:  but its decline from the point
-of departure, near Bubastes, to the Red Sea was so slight
-that it was only navigable for a few months in the year.
-This canal answered all commercial purposes to the age
-of Antonius, when it was abandoned and blocked up with sand.
-Restored by order of the Caliph Omar, it was definitely destroyed
-in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor, who wished to prevent the arrival
-of provisions to Mohammed-ben-Abdallah, who had revolted against him.
-During the expedition into Egypt, your General Bonaparte discovered
-traces of the works in the Desert of Suez; and, surprised by
-the tide, he nearly perished before regaining Hadjaroth,
-at the very place where Moses had encamped three thousand
-years before him."
-
-"Well, Captain, what the ancients dared not undertake, this junction
-between the two seas, which will shorten the road from Cadiz to India,
-M. Lesseps has succeeded in doing; and before long he will have changed
-Africa into an immense island."
-
-"Yes, M. Aronnax; you have the right to be proud of your countryman.
-Such a man brings more honour to a nation than great captains.
-He began, like so many others, with disgust and rebuffs;
-but he has triumphed, for he has the genius of will.
-And it is sad to think that a work like that, which ought to have
-been an international work and which would have sufficed to make
-a reign illustrious, should have succeeded by the energy of one man.
-All honour to M. Lesseps!"
-
-"Yes! honour to the great citizen," I replied, surprised by the manner
-in which Captain Nemo had just spoken.
-
-"Unfortunately," he continued, "I cannot take you through the Suez Canal;
-but you will be able to see the long jetty of Port Said after to-morrow,
-when we shall be in the Mediterranean."
-
-"The Mediterranean!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir; does that astonish you?"
-
-"What astonishes me is to think that we shall be there
-the day after to-morrow."
-
-"Indeed?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, although by this time I ought to have accustomed myself
-to be surprised at nothing since I have been on board your boat."
-
-"But the cause of this surprise?"
-
-"Well! it is the fearful speed you will have to put on the Nautilus,
-if the day after to-morrow she is to be in the Mediterranean,
-having made the round of Africa, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope!"
-
-"Who told you that she would make the round of Africa and double
-the Cape of Good Hope, sir?"
-
-"Well, unless the Nautilus sails on dry land, and passes above the isthmus----"
-
-"Or beneath it, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Beneath it?"
-
-"Certainly," replied Captain Nemo quietly.  "A long time ago Nature made
-under this tongue of land what man has this day made on its surface."
-
-"What! such a passage exists?"
-
-"Yes; a subterranean passage, which I have named the Arabian Tunnel.
-It takes us beneath Suez and opens into the Gulf of Pelusium."
-
-"But this isthmus is composed of nothing but quick sands?"
-
-"To a certain depth.  But at fifty-five yards only there is a solid
-layer of rock."
-
-"Did you discover this passage by chance?"  I asked more and more surprised.
-
-"Chance and reasoning, sir; and by reasoning even more than by chance.
-Not only does this passage exist, but I have profited by it several times.
-Without that I should not have ventured this day into the impassable Red Sea.
-I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean there existed a certain
-number of fishes of a kind perfectly identical.  Certain of the fact, I asked
-myself was it possible that there was no communication between the two seas?
-If there was, the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red
-Sea to the Mediterranean, from the sole cause of difference of level.
-I caught a large number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez.
-I passed a copper ring through their tails, and threw them back into the sea.
-Some months later, on the coast of Syria, I caught some of my fish ornamented
-with the ring.  Thus the communication between the two was proved.
-I then sought for it with my Nautilus; I discovered it, ventured into it,
-and before long, sir, you too will have passed through my Arabian tunnel!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE ARABIAN TUNNEL
-
-That same evening, in 21@ 30' N. lat., the Nautilus floated
-on the surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast.
-I saw Djeddah, the most important counting-house of Egypt,
-Syria, Turkey, and India.  I distinguished clearly enough
-its buildings, the vessels anchored at the quays, and those whose
-draught of water obliged them to anchor in the roads.  The sun,
-rather low on the horizon, struck full on the houses of the town,
-bringing out their whiteness.  Outside, some wooden cabins,
-and some made of reeds, showed the quarter inhabited by the Bedouins.
-Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the shadows of night,
-and the Nautilus found herself under water slightly phosphorescent.
-
-The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running
-to windward.  The Nautilus returned to its submarine navigation;
-but at noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted,
-she rose again to her waterline.
-
-Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform.
-The coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon
-a damp fog.
-
-We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and another,
-when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the sea, said:
-
-"Do you see anything there, sir?"
-
-"No, Ned," I replied; "but I have not your eyes, you know."
-
-"Look well," said Ned, "there, on the starboard beam, about the height
-of the lantern!  Do you not see a mass which seems to move?"
-
-"Certainly," said I, after close attention; "I see something
-like a long black body on the top of the water."
-
-And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile
-from us.  It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea.
-It was a gigantic dugong!
-
-Ned Land looked eagerly.  His eyes shone with covetousness at
-the sight of the animal.  His hand seemed ready to harpoon it.
-One would have thought he was awaiting the moment to throw himself
-into the sea and attack it in its element.
-
-At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform.
-He saw the dugong, understood the Canadian's attitude, and,
-addressing him, said:
-
-"If you held a harpoon just now, Master Land, would it not burn your hand?"
-
-"Just so, sir."
-
-"And you would not be sorry to go back, for one day, to your trade
-of a fisherman and to add this cetacean to the list of those you
-have already killed?"
-
-"I should not, sir."
-
-"Well, you can try."
-
-"Thank you, sir," said Ned Land, his eyes flaming.
-
-"Only," continued the Captain, "I advise you for your own sake
-not to miss the creature."
-
-"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?"  I asked, in spite of the Canadian's
-shrug of the shoulders.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain; "sometimes the animal
-turns upon its assailants and overturns their boat.
-But for Master Land this danger is not to be feared.
-His eye is prompt, his arm sure."
-
-At this moment seven men of the crew, mute and immovable as ever,
-mounted the platform.  One carried a harpoon and a line similar
-to those employed in catching whales.  The pinnace was lifted from
-the bridge, pulled from its socket, and let down into the sea.
-Six oarsmen took their seats, and the coxswain went to the tiller.
-Ned, Conseil, and I went to the back of the boat.
-
-"You are not coming, Captain?"  I asked.
-
-"No, sir; but I wish you good sport."
-
-The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards
-the dugong, which floated about two miles from the Nautilus.
-
-Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened,
-and the oars dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters.
-Ned Land, harpoon in hand, stood in the fore part of the boat.
-The harpoon used for striking the whale is generally attached to a
-very long cord which runs out rapidly as the wounded creature draws
-it after him.  But here the cord was not more than ten fathoms long,
-and the extremity was attached to a small barrel which, by floating,
-was to show the course the dugong took under the water.
-
-I stood and carefully watched the Canadian's adversary.
-This dugong, which also bears the name of the halicore,
-closely resembles the manatee; its oblong body terminated
-in a lengthened tail, and its lateral fins in perfect fingers.
-Its difference from the manatee consisted in its upper jaw,
-which was armed with two long and pointed teeth which formed on each
-side diverging tusks.
-
-This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was
-of colossal dimensions; it was more than seven yards long.
-It did not move, and seemed to be sleeping on the waves,
-which circumstance made it easier to capture.
-
-The boat approached within six yards of the animal.
-The oars rested on the rowlocks.  I half rose.  Ned Land,
-his body thrown a little back, brandished the harpoon in
-his experienced hand.
-
-Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared.
-The harpoon, although thrown with great force; had apparently only
-struck the water.
-
-"Curse it!" exclaimed the Canadian furiously; "I have missed it!"
-
-"No," said I; "the creature is wounded--look at the blood;
-but your weapon has not stuck in his body."
-
-"My harpoon! my harpoon!" cried Ned Land.
-
-The sailors rowed on, and the coxswain made for the floating barrel.
-The harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal.
-
-The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe.
-Its wound had not weakened it, for it shot onwards with great rapidity.
-
-The boat, rowed by strong arms, flew on its track.  Several times it
-approached within some few yards, and the Canadian was ready to strike,
-but the dugong made off with a sudden plunge, and it was impossible
-to reach it.
-
-Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land!  He hurled at the
-unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English tongue.
-For my part, I was only vexed to see the dugong escape all our attacks.
-
-We pursued it without relaxation for an hour, and I began to think
-it would prove difficult to capture, when the animal, possessed with
-the perverse idea of vengeance of which he had cause to repent,
-turned upon the pinnace and assailed us in its turn.
-
-This manoeuvre did not escape the Canadian.
-
-"Look out!" he cried.
-
-The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue,
-doubtless warning the men to keep on their guard.
-
-The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat, stopped, sniffed the air
-briskly with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity,
-but in the upper part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring,
-he threw himself upon us.
-
-The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least
-two tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the coxswain,
-we caught it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite overturned.
-While Ned Land, clinging to the bows, belaboured the gigantic animal with
-blows from his harpoon, the creature's teeth were buried in the gunwale,
-and it lifted the whole thing out of the water, as a lion does a roebuck.
-We were upset over one another, and I know not how the adventure would
-have ended, if the Canadian, still enraged with the beast, had not struck it
-to the heart.
-
-I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate, and the dugong disappeared,
-carrying the harpoon with him.  But the barrel soon returned to the surface,
-and shortly after the body of the animal, turned on its back.
-The boat came up with it, took it in tow, and made straight for the Nautilus.
-
-It required tackle of enormous strength to hoist the dugong
-on to the platform.  It weighed 10,000 lb.
-
-The next day, 11th February, the larder of the Nautilus was enriched by some
-more delicate game.  A flight of sea-swallows rested on the Nautilus.
-It was a species of the Sterna nilotica, peculiar to Egypt; its beak is black,
-head grey and pointed, the eye surrounded by white spots, the back, wings,
-and tail of a greyish colour, the belly and throat white, and claws red.
-They also took some dozen of Nile ducks, a wild bird of high flavour,
-its throat and upper part of the head white with black spots.
-
-About five o'clock in the evening we sighted to the north the Cape
-of Ras-Mohammed. This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea,
-comprised between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.
-
-The Nautilus penetrated into the Straits of Jubal, which leads
-to the Gulf of Suez.  I distinctly saw a high mountain,
-towering between the two gulfs of Ras-Mohammed. It was Mount Horeb,
-that Sinai at the top of which Moses saw God face to face.
-
-At six o'clock the Nautilus, sometimes floating, sometimes immersed,
-passed some distance from Tor, situated at the end of the bay, the waters
-of which seemed tinted with red, an observation already made by Captain Nemo.
-Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence, sometimes broken by the cries
-of the pelican and other night-birds, and the noise of the waves breaking upon
-the shore, chafing against the rocks, or the panting of some far-off steamer
-beating the waters of the Gulf with its noisy paddles.
-
-From eight to nine o'clock the Nautilus remained some fathoms
-under the water.  According to my calculation we must have
-been very near Suez.  Through the panel of the saloon I saw
-the bottom of the rocks brilliantly lit up by our electric lamp.
-We seemed to be leaving the Straits behind us more and more.
-
-At a quarter-past nine, the vessel having returned to the surface,
-I mounted the platform.  Most impatient to pass through Captain
-Nemo's tunnel, I could not stay in one place, so came to breathe
-the fresh night air.
-
-Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light, half discoloured by the fog,
-shining about a mile from us.
-
-"A floating lighthouse!" said someone near me.
-
-I turned, and saw the Captain.
-
-"It is the floating light of Suez," he continued.
-"It will not be long before we gain the entrance of the tunnel."
-
-"The entrance cannot be easy?"
-
-"No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman's cage
-and myself direct our course.  And now, if you will go down, M. Aronnax,
-the Nautilus is going under the waves, and will not return to the surface
-until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel."
-
-Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he opened
-a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot's cage,
-which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.
-It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied
-by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson.
-In the midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught
-to the tiller-rope, which ran to the back of the Nautilus.
-Four light-ports with lenticular glasses, let in a groove in
-the partition of the cabin, allowed the man at the wheel to see
-in all directions.
-
-This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the obscurity,
-and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands resting on the spokes
-of the wheel.  Outside, the sea appeared vividly lit up by the lantern,
-which shed its rays from the back of the cabin to the other extremity
-of the platform.
-
-"Now," said Captain Nemo, "let us try to make our passage."
-
-Electric wires connected the pilot's cage with the machinery room,
-and from there the Captain could communicate simultaneously to his
-Nautilus the direction and the speed.  He pressed a metal knob,
-and at once the speed of the screw diminished.
-
-I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running
-by at this moment, the immovable base of a massive sandy coast.
-We followed it thus for an hour only some few yards off.
-
-Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob, suspended by
-its two concentric circles in the cabin.  At a simple gesture,
-the pilot modified the course of the Nautilus every instant.
-
-I had placed myself at the port-scuttle, and saw some magnificent
-substructures of coral, zoophytes, seaweed, and fucus, agitating their
-enormous claws, which stretched out from the fissures of the rock.
-
-At a quarter-past ten, the Captain himself took the helm.
-A large gallery, black and deep, opened before us.  The Nautilus
-went boldly into it.  A strange roaring was heard round its sides.
-It was the waters of the Red Sea, which the incline of
-the tunnel precipitated violently towards the Mediterranean.
-The Nautilus went with the torrent, rapid as an arrow, in spite
-of the efforts of the machinery, which, in order to offer more
-effective resistance, beat the waves with reversed screw.
-
-On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing
-but brilliant rays, straight lines, furrows of fire,
-traced by the great speed, under the brilliant electric light.
-My heart beat fast.
-
-At thirty-five minutes past ten, Captain Nemo quitted the helm,
-and, turning to me, said:
-
-"The Mediterranean!"
-
-In less than twenty minutes, the Nautilus, carried along by the torrent,
-had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
-
-The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day,
-the Nautilus rose to the surface.  I hastened on to the platform.
-Three miles to the south the dim outline of Pelusium was to be seen.
-A torrent had carried us from one sea to another.
-About seven o'clock Ned and Conseil joined me.
-
-"Well, Sir Naturalist," said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone,
-"and the Mediterranean?"
-
-"We are floating on its surface, friend Ned."
-
-"What!" said Conseil, "this very night."
-
-"Yes, this very night; in a few minutes we have passed
-this impassable isthmus."
-
-"I do not believe it," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Then you are wrong, Master Land," I continued; "this low
-coast which rounds off to the south is the Egyptian coast.
-And you who have such good eyes, Ned, you can see the jetty of Port
-Said stretching into the sea."
-
-The Canadian looked attentively.
-
-"Certainly you are right, sir, and your Captain is a first-rate man.
-We are in the Mediterranean.  Good!  Now, if you please, let us talk
-of our own little affair, but so that no one hears us."
-
-I saw what the Canadian wanted, and, in any case, I thought it better to let
-him talk, as he wished it; so we all three went and sat down near the lantern,
-where we were less exposed to the spray of the blades.
-
-"Now, Ned, we listen; what have you to tell us?"
-
-"What I have to tell you is very simple.  We are in Europe; and before
-Captain Nemo's caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar Seas,
-or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the Nautilus."
-
-I wished in no way to shackle the liberty of my companions,
-but I certainly felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
-
-Thanks to him, and thanks to his apparatus, I was each day
-nearer the completion of my submarine studies; and I was
-rewriting my book of submarine depths in its very element.
-Should I ever again have such an opportunity of observing
-the wonders of the ocean?  No, certainly not!  And I could
-not bring myself to the idea of abandoning the Nautilus before
-the cycle of investigation was accomplished.
-
-"Friend Ned, answer me frankly, are you tired of being on board?
-Are you sorry that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo's hands?"
-
-The Canadian remained some moments without answering.
-Then, crossing his arms, he said:
-
-"Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas.  I shall be glad
-to have made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it.
-That is my idea."
-
-"It will come to an end, Ned."
-
-"Where and when?"
-
-"Where I do not know--when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose
-it will end when these seas have nothing more to teach us."
-
-"Then what do you hope for?" demanded the Canadian.
-
-"That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which we
-may and ought to profit."
-
-"Oh!" said Ned Land, "and where shall we be in six months,
-if you please, Sir Naturalist?"
-
-"Perhaps in China; you know the Nautilus is a rapid traveller.
-It goes through water as swallows through the air, or as an express
-on the land.  It does not fear frequented seas; who can say
-that it may not beat the coasts of France, England, or America,
-on which flight may be attempted as advantageously as here."
-
-"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are rotten
-at the foundation.  You speak in the future, `We shall be there!
-we shall be here!'  I speak in the present, `We are here,
-and we must profit by it.'"
-
-Ned Land's logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that ground.
-I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.
-
-"Sir," continued Ned, "let us suppose an impossibility:
-if Captain Nemo should this day offer you your liberty;
-would you accept it?"
-
-"I do not know," I answered.
-
-"And if," he added, "the offer made you this day was never to be renewed,
-would you accept it?"
-
-"Friend Ned, this is my answer.  Your reasoning is against me.
-We must not rely on Captain Nemo's good-will. Common prudence
-forbids him to set us at liberty.  On the other side, prudence bids
-us profit by the first opportunity to leave the Nautilus."
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said."
-
-"Only one observation--just one.  The occasion must be serious,
-and our first attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never
-find another, and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."
-
-"All that is true," replied the Canadian.  "But your observation
-applies equally to all attempts at flight, whether in two years'
-time, or in two days'. But the question is still this:
-If a favourable opportunity presents itself, it must be seized."
-
-"Agreed!  And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean
-by a favourable opportunity?"
-
-"It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the Nautilus
-a short distance from some European coast."
-
-"And you will try and save yourself by swimming?"
-
-"Yes, if we were near enough to the bank, and if the vessel
-was floating at the time.  Not if the bank was far away,
-and the boat was under the water."
-
-"And in that case?"
-
-"In that case, I should seek to make myself master of the pinnace.
-I know how it is worked.  We must get inside, and the bolts once drawn,
-we shall come to the surface of the water, without even the pilot,
-who is in the bows, perceiving our flight."
-
-"Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity; but do not forget that a hitch
-will ruin us."
-
-"I will not forget, sir."
-
-"And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your project?"
-
-"Certainly, M. Aronnax."
-
-"Well, I think--I do not say I hope--I think that this favourable
-opportunity will never present itself."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given up
-all hope of regaining our liberty, and he will be on his guard, above all,
-in the seas and in the sight of European coasts."
-
-"We shall see," replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly.
-
-"And now, Ned Land," I added, "let us stop here.
-Not another word on the subject.  The day that you
-are ready, come and let us know, and we will follow you.
-I rely entirely upon you."
-
-Thus ended a conversation which, at no very distant time,
-led to such grave results.  I must say here that facts seemed
-to confirm my foresight, to the Canadian's great despair.
-Did Captain Nemo distrust us in these frequented seas? or did
-he only wish to hide himself from the numerous vessels,
-of all nations, which ploughed the Mediterranean?
-I could not tell; but we were oftener between waters
-and far from the coast.  Or, if the Nautilus did emerge,
-nothing was to be seen but the pilot's cage; and sometimes it
-went to great depths, for, between the Grecian Archipelago
-and Asia Minor we could not touch the bottom by more than
-a thousand fathoms.
-
-Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the Sporades,
-by Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
-
-    "Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates, 
-     Caeruleus Proteus,"
-
-as he pointed to a spot on the planisphere.
-
-It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of Neptune's
-flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, situated between Rhodes and Crete.
-I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels of the saloon.
-
-The next day, the 14th of February, I resolved to employ some hours in
-studying the fishes of the Archipelago; but for some reason or other the
-panels remained hermetically sealed.  Upon taking the course of the Nautilus,
-I found that we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle of Crete.
-At the time I embarked on the Abraham Lincoln, the whole of this
-island had risen in insurrection against the despotism of the Turks.
-But how the insurgents had fared since that time I was absolutely ignorant,
-and it was not Captain Nemo, deprived of all land communications,
-who could tell me.
-
-I made no allusion to this event when that night I found myself alone
-with him in the saloon.  Besides, he seemed to be taciturn and preoccupied.
-Then, contrary to his custom, he ordered both panels to be opened, and,
-going from one to the other, observed the mass of waters attentively.
-To what end I could not guess; so, on my side, I employed my time in studying
-the fish passing before my eyes.
-
-In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his
-belt a leathern purse.  It was not a body abandoned to the waves;
-it was a living man, swimming with a strong hand, disappearing occasionally
-to take breath at the surface.
-
-I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
-
-"A man shipwrecked!  He must be saved at any price!"
-
-The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
-
-The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass,
-was looking at us.
-
-To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him.
-The diver answered with his hand, mounted immediately to
-the surface of the water, and did not appear again.
-
-"Do not be uncomfortable," said Captain Nemo.  "It is Nicholas of
-Cape Matapan, surnamed Pesca.  He is well known in all the Cyclades.
-A bold diver! water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land,
-going continually from one island to another, even as far as Crete."
-
-"You know him, Captain?"
-
-"Why not, M. Aronnax?"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing
-near the left panel of the saloon.  Near this piece of furniture,
-I saw a chest bound with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate,
-bearing the cypher of the Nautilus with its device.
-
-At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence,
-opened the piece of furniture, a sort of strong box, which held
-a great many ingots.
-
-They were ingots of gold.  From whence came this precious metal,
-which represented an enormous sum?  Where did the Captain gather
-this gold from? and what was he going to do with it?
-
-I did not say one word.  I looked.  Captain Nemo took the ingots one by one,
-and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled entirely.
-I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lb.  weight of gold, that is
-to say, nearly L200,000.
-
-The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on the lid,
-in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.
-
-This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated with
-the quarters of the crew.  Four men appeared, and, not without some trouble,
-pushed the chest out of the saloon.  Then I heard them hoisting it up the iron
-staircase by means of pulleys.
-
-At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
-
-"And you were saying, sir?" said he.
-
-"I was saying nothing, Captain."
-
-"Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night."
-
-Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.
-
-I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe.
-I vainly tried to sleep--I sought the connecting link between
-the apparition of the diver and the chest filled with gold.
-Soon, I felt by certain movements of pitching and tossing
-that the Nautilus was leaving the depths and returning
-to the surface.
-
-Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were
-unfastening the pinnace and launching it upon the waves.
-For one instant it struck the side of the Nautilus,
-then all noise ceased.
-
-Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed;
-the boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the Nautilus
-again plunged under the waves.
-
-So these millions had been transported to their address.
-To what point of the continent?  Who was Captain Nemo's correspondent?
-
-The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events
-of the night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree.
-My companions were not less surprised than myself.
-
-"But where does he take his millions to?" asked Ned Land.
-
-To that there was no possible answer.  I returned to the saloon
-after having breakfast and set to work.  Till five o'clock
-in the evening I employed myself in arranging my notes.
-At that moment--(ought I to attribute it to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)--
-I felt so great a heat that I was obliged to take off my coat.
-It was strange, for we were under low latitudes; and even then the Nautilus,
-submerged as it was, ought to experience no change of temperature.
-I looked at the manometer; it showed a depth of sixty feet, to which
-atmospheric heat could never attain.
-
-I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a pitch
-as to be intolerable.
-
-"Could there be fire on board?"  I asked myself.
-
-I was leaving the saloon, when Captain Nemo entered; he approached
-the thermometer, consulted it, and, turning to me, said:
-
-"Forty-two degrees."
-
-"I have noticed it, Captain," I replied; "and if it gets much
-hotter we cannot bear it."
-
-"Oh, sir, it will not get better if we do not wish it."
-
-"You can reduce it as you please, then?"
-
-"No; but I can go farther from the stove which produces it."
-
-"It is outward, then!"
-
-"Certainly; we are floating in a current of boiling water."
-
-"Is it possible!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Look."
-
-The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round.
-A sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like
-water in a copper.  I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass,
-but the heat was so great that I quickly took it off again.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"Near the Island of Santorin, sir," replied the Captain.
-"I wished to give you a sight of the curious spectacle of
-a submarine eruption."
-
-"I thought," said I, "that the formation of these new islands was ended."
-
-"Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea,"
-replied Captain Nemo; "and the globe is always being worked by
-subterranean fires.  Already, in the nineteenth year of our era,
-according to Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia
-(the divine), appeared in the very place where these islets
-have recently been formed.  Then they sank under the waves,
-to rise again in the year 69, when they again subsided.
-Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been suspended.
-But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they named
-George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour
-near Nea Kamenni, and settled again the 6th of the same month.
-Seven days after, the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa
-appeared, leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten
-yards broad.  I was in these seas when the phenomenon occurred,
-and I was able therefore to observe all the different phases.
-The Island of Aphroessa, of round form, measured 300 feet
-in diameter, and 30 feet in height.  It was composed of
-black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of felspar.
-And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka,
-showed itself near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have
-joined together, forming but one and the same island."
-
-"And the canal in which we are at this moment?"  I asked.
-
-"Here it is," replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the Archipelago.
-"You see, I have marked the new islands."
-
-I returned to the glass.  The Nautilus was no longer moving,
-the heat was becoming unbearable.  The sea, which till now had
-been white, was red, owing to the presence of salts of iron.
-In spite of the ship's being hermetically sealed, an insupportable
-smell of sulphur filled the saloon, and the brilliancy of the
-electricity was entirely extinguished by bright scarlet flames.
-I was in a bath, I was choking, I was broiled.
-
-"We can remain no longer in this boiling water," said I to the Captain.
-
-"It would not be prudent," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.
-
-An order was given; the Nautilus tacked about and left
-the furnace it could not brave with impunity.  A quarter
-of an hour after we were breathing fresh air on the surface.
-The thought then struck me that, if Ned Land had chosen this part
-of the sea for our flight, we should never have come alive out
-of this sea of fire.
-
-The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which,
-between Rhodes and Alexandria, is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms
-in depth, and the Nautilus, passing some distance from Cerigo,
-quitted the Grecian Archipelago after having doubled Cape Matapan.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
-
-The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, "the great sea"
-of the Hebrews, "the sea" of the Greeks, the "mare nostrum"
-of the Romans, bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines;
-embalmed with the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains,
-saturated with pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked
-by underground fires; a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto
-still dispute the empire of the world!
-
-It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man
-is renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe.
-But, beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at
-the basin whose superficial area is two million of square yards.
-Even Captain Nemo's knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling
-person did not appear once during our passage at full speed.
-I estimated the course which the Nautilus took under the waves
-of the sea at about six hundred leagues, and it was accomplished
-in forty-eight hours.  Starting on the morning of the 16th
-of February from the shores of Greece, we had crossed the Straits
-of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
-
-It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of those
-countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain Nemo.
-Those waves and those breezes brought back too many remembrances, if not
-too many regrets.  Here he had no longer that independence and that liberty
-of gait which he had when in the open seas, and his Nautilus felt itself
-cramped between the close shores of Africa and Europe.
-
-Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour.  It may be well
-understood that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged
-to renounce his intended flight.  He could not launch the pinnace,
-going at the rate of twelve or thirteen yards every second.
-To quit the Nautilus under such conditions would be as bad
-as jumping from a train going at full speed--an imprudent thing,
-to say the least of it.  Besides, our vessel only mounted
-to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of air;
-it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.
-
-I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller
-by express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
-that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which pass
-like a flash of lightning.
-
-We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis.
-In the narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits
-of Messina the bottom of the sea rose almost suddenly.
-There was a perfect bank, on which there was not more than
-nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the depth
-was ninety fathoms.
-
-The Nautilus had to manoeuvre very carefully so as not to strike
-against this submarine barrier.
-
-I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied
-by this reef.
-
-"But if you please, sir," observed Conseil, "it is like a real
-isthmus joining Europe to Africa."
-
-"Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia,
-and the soundings of Smith have proved that in former times
-the continents between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined."
-
-"I can well believe it," said Conseil.
-
-"I will add," I continued, "that a similar barrier exists between Gibraltar
-and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire Mediterranean."
-
-"What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers
-above the waves?"
-
-"It is not probable, Conseil."
-
-"Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon
-should take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps,
-who has taken so much pains to pierce the isthmus."
-
-"I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will
-never happen.  The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.
-Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world,
-are being extinguished by degrees; the internal heat is weakened,
-the temperature of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a
-perceptible quantity every century to the detriment of our globe,
-for its heat is its life."
-
-"But the sun?"
-
-"The sun is not sufficient, Conseil.  Can it give heat to a dead body?"
-
-"Not that I know of."
-
-"Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse;
-it will become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon,
-which has long since lost all its vital heat."
-
-"In how many centuries?"
-
-"In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy."
-
-"Then," said Conseil, "we shall have time to finish our journey--
-that is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it."
-
-And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank,
-which the Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.
-
-During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the second
-Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450 fathoms.
-The Nautilus, by the action of its crew, slid down the inclined planes
-and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
-
-On the 18th of February, about three o'clock in the morning, we were at
-the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar.  There once existed two currents:
-an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters of the ocean
-into the basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower counter-current,
-which reasoning has now shown to exist.  Indeed, the volume of water
-in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves of the Atlantic
-and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise the level of this sea,
-for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore the equilibrium.
-As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the existence of an under-current,
-which empties into the basin of the Atlantic through the Straits
-of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the Mediterranean.  A fact indeed;
-and it was this counter-current by which the Nautilus profited.
-It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass.  For one instant I caught a glimpse
-of the beautiful ruins of the temple of Hercules, buried in the ground,
-according to Pliny, and with the low island which supports it; and a few
-minutes later we were floating on the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-VIGO BAY
-
-The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers
-twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine
-thousand miles, with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred--
-an ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
-watered by the largest rivers of the world, the St. Lawrence,
-the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco, the Niger,
-the Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water
-from the most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries!
-Magnificent field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels
-of every nation, sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which
-terminates in those two terrible points so dreaded by mariners,
-Cape Horn and the Cape of Tempests.
-
-The Nautilus was piercing the water with its sharp spur,
-after having accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months
-and a half, a distance greater than the great circle of the earth.
-Where were we going now, and what was reserved for the future?
-The Nautilus, leaving the Straits of Gibraltar, had gone far out.
-It returned to the surface of the waves, and our daily walks on the
-platform were restored to us.
-
-I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil.
-At a distance of about twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent
-was dimly to be seen, forming the south-western point of
-the Spanish peninsula.  A strong southerly gale was blowing.
-The sea was swollen and billowy; it made the Nautilus rock violently.
-It was almost impossible to keep one's foot on the platform,
-which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every instant.
-So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.
-
-I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian,
-with a preoccupied air, followed me.  Our rapid passage across
-the Mediterranean had not allowed him to put his project
-into execution, and he could not help showing his disappointment.
-When the door of my room was shut, he sat down and looked
-at me silently.
-
-"Friend Ned," said I, "I understand you; but you cannot reproach yourself.
-To have attempted to leave the Nautilus under the circumstances would
-have been folly."
-
-Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
-with him the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind.
-
-"Let us see," I continued; "we need not despair yet.
-We are going up the coast of Portugal again; France and
-England are not far off, where we can easily find refuge.
-Now if the Nautilus, on leaving the Straits of Gibraltar,
-had gone to the south, if it had carried us towards regions
-where there were no continents, I should share your uneasiness.
-But we know now that Captain Nemo does not fly from civilised seas,
-and in some days I think you can act with security."
-
-Ned Land still looked at me fixedly; at length his fixed lips parted,
-and he said, "It is for to-night."
-
-I drew myself up suddenly.  I was, I admit, little prepared
-for this communication.  I wanted to answer the Canadian,
-but words would not come.
-
-"We agreed to wait for an opportunity," continued Ned Land,
-"and the opportunity has arrived.  This night we shall
-be but a few miles from the Spanish coast.  It is cloudy.
-The wind blows freely.  I have your word, M. Aronnax, and I
-rely upon you."
-
-As I was silent, the Canadian approached me.
-
-"To-night, at nine o'clock," said he.  "I have warned Conseil.
-At that moment Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room, probably in bed.
-Neither the engineers nor the ship's crew can see us.
-Conseil and I will gain the central staircase, and you, M. Aronnax,
-will remain in the library, two steps from us, waiting my signal.
-The oars, the mast, and the sail are in the canoe.  I have even succeeded
-in getting some provisions.  I have procured an English wrench,
-to unfasten the bolts which attach it to the shell of the Nautilus.
-So all is ready, till to-night."
-
-"The sea is bad."
-
-"That I allow," replied the Canadian; "but we must risk that.
-Liberty is worth paying for; besides, the boat is strong,
-and a few miles with a fair wind to carry us is no great thing.
-Who knows but by to-morrow we may be a hundred leagues away?
-Let circumstances only favour us, and by ten or eleven o'clock we
-shall have landed on some spot of terra firma, alive or dead.
-But adieu now till to-night."
-
-With these words the Canadian withdrew, leaving me almost dumb.
-I had imagined that, the chance gone, I should have time to
-reflect and discuss the matter.  My obstinate companion had given
-me no time; and, after all, what could I have said to him?
-Ned Land was perfectly right.  There was almost the opportunity
-to profit by.  Could I retract my word, and take upon myself
-the responsibility of compromising the future of my companions?
-To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us far from all land.
-
-At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs
-were filling, and that the Nautilus was sinking under the waves
-of the Atlantic.
-
-A sad day I passed, between the desire of regaining my liberty
-of action and of abandoning the wonderful Nautilus, and leaving
-my submarine studies incomplete.
-
-What dreadful hours I passed thus!  Sometimes seeing myself and
-companions safely landed, sometimes wishing, in spite of my reason,
-that some unforeseen circumstance, would prevent the realisation
-of Ned Land's project.
-
-Twice I went to the saloon.  I wished to consult the compass.
-I wished to see if the direction the Nautilus was taking
-was bringing us nearer or taking us farther from the coast.
-But no; the Nautilus kept in Portuguese waters.
-
-I must therefore take my part and prepare for flight.
-My luggage was not heavy; my notes, nothing more.
-
-As to Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he would think of our escape;
-what trouble, what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in case
-of its discovery or failure.  Certainly I had no cause to complain of him;
-on the contrary, never was hospitality freer than his.  In leaving
-him I could not be taxed with ingratitude.  No oath bound us to him.
-It was on the strength of circumstances he relied, and not upon our word,
-to fix us for ever.
-
-I had not seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin.
-Would chance bring me to his presence before our departure?
-I wished it, and I feared it at the same time.  I listened if I could
-hear him walking the room contiguous to mine.  No sound reached my ear.
-I felt an unbearable uneasiness.  This day of waiting seemed eternal.
-Hours struck too slowly to keep pace with my impatience.
-
-My dinner was served in my room as usual.  I ate but little;
-I was too preoccupied.  I left the table at seven o'clock. A
-hundred and twenty minutes (I counted them) still separated
-me from the moment in which I was to join Ned Land.
-My agitation redoubled.  My pulse beat violently.
-I could not remain quiet.  I went and came, hoping to calm
-my troubled spirit by constant movement.  The idea of failure
-in our bold enterprise was the least painful of my anxieties;
-but the thought of seeing our project discovered before
-leaving the Nautilus, of being brought before Captain Nemo,
-irritated, or (what was worse) saddened, at my desertion,
-made my heart beat.
-
-I wanted to see the saloon for the last time.  I descended the stairs and
-arrived in the museum, where I had passed so many useful and agreeable hours.
-I looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a man on the eve of an
-eternal exile, who was leaving never to return.
-
-These wonders of Nature, these masterpieces of art, amongst which for so many
-days my life had been concentrated, I was going to abandon them for ever!
-I should like to have taken a last look through the windows of the saloon into
-the waters of the Atlantic:  but the panels were hermetically closed, and a
-cloak of steel separated me from that ocean which I had not yet explored.
-
-In passing through the saloon, I came near the door let
-into the angle which opened into the Captain's room.
-To my great surprise, this door was ajar.  I drew back involuntarily.
-If Captain Nemo should be in his room, he could see me.
-But, hearing no sound, I drew nearer.  The room was deserted.
-I pushed open the door and took some steps forward.  Still the same
-monklike severity of aspect.
-
-Suddenly the clock struck eight.  The first beat of the hammer on the bell
-awoke me from my dreams.  I trembled as if an invisible eye had plunged
-into my most secret thoughts, and I hurried from the room.
-
-There my eye fell upon the compass.  Our course was still north.
-The log indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.
-
-I returned to my room, clothed myself warmly--sea boots,
-an otterskin cap, a great coat of byssus, lined with sealskin;
-I was ready, I was waiting.  The vibration of the screw
-alone broke the deep silence which reigned on board.
-I listened attentively.  Would no loud voice suddenly inform
-me that Ned Land had been surprised in his projected flight.
-A mortal dread hung over me, and I vainly tried to regain
-my accustomed coolness.
-
-At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain's door.
-No noise.  I left my room and returned to the saloon, which was half
-in obscurity, but deserted.
-
-I opened the door communicating with the library.
-The same insufficient light, the same solitude.
-I placed myself near the door leading to the central staircase,
-and there waited for Ned Land's signal.
-
-At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished,
-then it stopped entirely.  The silence was now only disturbed
-by the beatings of my own heart.  Suddenly a slight shock was felt;
-and I knew that the Nautilus had stopped at the bottom of the ocean.
-My uneasiness increased.  The Canadian's signal did not come.
-I felt inclined to join Ned Land and beg of him to put off his attempt.
-I felt that we were not sailing under our usual conditions.
-
-At this moment the door of the large saloon opened, and Captain
-Nemo appeared.  He saw me, and without further preamble began
-in an amiable tone of voice:
-
-"Ah, sir!  I have been looking for you.  Do you know the history of Spain?"
-
-Now, one might know the history of one's own country by heart;
-but in the condition I was at the time, with troubled mind
-and head quite lost, I could not have said a word of it.
-
-"Well," continued Captain Nemo, "you heard my question!
-Do you know the history of Spain?"
-
-"Very slightly," I answered.
-
-"Well, here are learned men having to learn," said the Captain.
-"Come, sit down, and I will tell you a curious episode in this history.
-Sir, listen well," said he; "this history will interest you on one side,
-for it will answer a question which doubtless you have not been
-able to solve."
-
-"I listen, Captain," said I, not knowing what my interlocutor was driving at,
-and asking myself if this incident was bearing on our projected flight.
-
-"Sir, if you have no objection, we will go back to 1702.  You cannot
-be ignorant that your king, Louis XIV, thinking that the gesture
-of a potentate was sufficient to bring the Pyrenees under his yoke,
-had imposed the Duke of Anjou, his grandson, on the Spaniards.
-This prince reigned more or less badly under the name of Philip V,
-and had a strong party against him abroad.  Indeed, the preceding year,
-the royal houses of Holland, Austria, and England had concluded
-a treaty of alliance at the Hague, with the intention of plucking
-the crown of Spain from the head of Philip V, and placing it
-on that of an archduke to whom they prematurely gave the title
-of Charles III.
-
-"Spain must resist this coalition; but she was almost entirely unprovided
-with either soldiers or sailors.  However, money would not fail them,
-provided that their galleons, laden with gold and silver from America,
-once entered their ports.  And about the end of 1702 they expected a rich
-convoy which France was escorting with a fleet of twenty-three vessels,
-commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud, for the ships of the coalition
-were already beating the Atlantic.  This convoy was to go to Cadiz,
-but the Admiral, hearing that an English fleet was cruising in those waters,
-resolved to make for a French port.
-
-"The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision.
-They wanted to be taken to a Spanish port, and, if not to Cadiz,
-into Vigo Bay, situated on the northwest coast of Spain,
-and which was not blocked.
-
-"Admiral Chateau-Renaud had the rashness to obey this injunction,
-and the galleons entered Vigo Bay.
-
-"Unfortunately, it formed an open road which could not be
-defended in any way.  They must therefore hasten to unload
-the galleons before the arrival of the combined fleet;
-and time would not have failed them had not a miserable question
-of rivalry suddenly arisen.
-
-"You are following the chain of events?" asked Captain Nemo.
-
-"Perfectly," said I, not knowing the end proposed by this historical lesson.
-
-"I will continue.  This is what passed.  The merchants of Cadiz had
-a privilege by which they had the right of receiving all merchandise
-coming from the West Indies.  Now, to disembark these ingots at the port
-of Vigo was depriving them of their rights.  They complained at Madrid,
-and obtained the consent of the weak-minded Philip that the convoy,
-without discharging its cargo, should remain sequestered in the roads
-of Vigo until the enemy had disappeared.
-
-"But whilst coming to this decision, on the 22nd of October,
-1702, the English vessels arrived in Vigo Bay, when Admiral
-Chateau-Renaud, in spite of inferior forces, fought bravely.
-But, seeing that the treasure must fall into the enemy's hands,
-he burnt and scuttled every galleon, which went to the bottom
-with their immense riches."
-
-Captain Nemo stopped.  I admit I could not see yet why this history
-should interest me.
-
-"Well?"  I asked.
-
-"Well, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, "we are in that Vigo Bay;
-and it rests with yourself whether you will penetrate its mysteries."
-
-The Captain rose, telling me to follow him.  I had had time to recover.
-I obeyed.  The saloon was dark, but through the transparent glass the waves
-were sparkling.  I looked.
-
-For half a mile around the Nautilus, the waters seemed bathed
-in electric light.  The sandy bottom was clean and bright.
-Some of the ship's crew in their diving-dresses were clearing away
-half-rotten barrels and empty cases from the midst of the blackened wrecks.
-From these cases and from these barrels escaped ingots of gold and silver,
-cascades of piastres and jewels.  The sand was heaped up with them.
-Laden with their precious booty, the men returned to the Nautilus,
-disposed of their burden, and went back to this inexhaustible fishery of
-gold and silver.
-
-I understood now.  This was the scene of the battle of the 22nd
-of October, 1702.  Here on this very spot the galleons laden for the Spanish
-Government had sunk.  Here Captain Nemo came, according to his wants,
-to pack up those millions with which he burdened the Nautilus.
-It was for him and him alone America had given up her precious metals.
-He was heir direct, without anyone to share, in those treasures torn
-from the Incas and from the conquered of Ferdinand Cortez.
-
-"Did you know, sir," he asked, smiling, "that the sea contained such riches?"
-
-"I knew," I answered, "that they value money held in suspension
-in these waters at two millions."
-
-"Doubtless; but to extract this money the expense would be greater
-than the profit.  Here, on the contrary, I have but to pick up what man
-has lost--and not only in Vigo Bay, but in a thousand other ports where
-shipwrecks have happened, and which are marked on my submarine map.
-Can you understand now the source of the millions I am worth?"
-
-"I understand, Captain.  But allow me to tell you that in exploring
-Vigo Bay you have only been beforehand with a rival society."
-
-"And which?"
-
-"A society which has received from the Spanish Government
-the privilege of seeking those buried galleons.
-The shareholders are led on by the allurement of an enormous bounty,
-for they value these rich shipwrecks at five hundred millions."
-
-"Five hundred millions they were," answered Captain Nemo,
-"but they are so no longer."
-
-"Just so," said I; "and a warning to those shareholders would be
-an act of charity.  But who knows if it would be well received?
-What gamblers usually regret above all is less the loss
-of their money than of their foolish hopes.  After all,
-I pity them less than the thousands of unfortunates to whom
-so much riches well-distributed would have been profitable,
-whilst for them they will be for ever barren."
-
-I had no sooner expressed this regret than I felt that it must
-have wounded Captain Nemo.
-
-"Barren!" he exclaimed, with animation.  "Do you think then,
-sir, that these riches are lost because I gather them?
-Is it for myself alone, according to your idea, that I take
-the trouble to collect these treasures?  Who told you that I
-did not make a good use of it?  Do you think I am ignorant
-that there are suffering beings and oppressed races on
-this earth, miserable creatures to console, victims to avenge?
-Do you not understand?"
-
-Captain Nemo stopped at these last words, regretting perhaps
-that he had spoken so much.  But I had guessed that,
-whatever the motive which had forced him to seek independence
-under the sea, it had left him still a man, that his heart
-still beat for the sufferings of humanity, and that his immense
-charity was for oppressed races as well as individuals.
-And I then understood for whom those millions were destined
-which were forwarded by Captain Nemo when the Nautilus was cruising
-in the waters of Crete.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-A VANISHED CONTINENT
-
-The next morning, the 19th of February, I saw the Canadian enter my room.
-I expected this visit.  He looked very disappointed.
-
-"Well, sir?" said he.
-
-"Well, Ned, fortune was against us yesterday."
-
-"Yes; that Captain must needs stop exactly at the hour we intended
-leaving his vessel."
-
-"Yes, Ned, he had business at his bankers."
-
-"His bankers!"
-
-"Or rather his banking-house; by that I mean the ocean,
-where his riches are safer than in the chests of the State."
-
-I then related to the Canadian the incidents of the preceding night,
-hoping to bring him back to the idea of not abandoning the Captain;
-but my recital had no other result than an energetically expressed regret
-from Ned that he had not been able to take a walk on the battlefield
-of Vigo on his own account.
-
-"However," said he, "all is not ended.  It is only a blow
-of the harpoon lost.  Another time we must succeed;
-and to-night, if necessary----"
-
-"In what direction is the Nautilus going?"  I asked.
-
-"I do not know," replied Ned.
-
-"Well, at noon we shall see the point."
-
-The Canadian returned to Conseil.  As soon as I was dressed,
-I went into the saloon.  The compass was not reassuring.
-The course of the Nautilus was S.S.W. We were turning our
-backs on Europe.
-
-I waited with some impatience till the ship's place was pricked
-on the chart.  At about half-past eleven the reservoirs
-were emptied, and our vessel rose to the surface of the ocean.
-I rushed towards the platform.  Ned Land had preceded me.
-No more land in sight.  Nothing but an immense sea.
-Some sails on the horizon, doubtless those going to San Roque
-in search of favourable winds for doubling the Cape of Good Hope.
-The weather was cloudy.  A gale of wind was preparing.
-Ned raved, and tried to pierce the cloudy horizon.
-He still hoped that behind all that fog stretched the land he so
-longed for.
-
-At noon the sun showed itself for an instant.  The second profited by this
-brightness to take its height.  Then, the sea becoming more billowy,
-we descended, and the panel closed.
-
-An hour after, upon consulting the chart, I saw the position
-of the Nautilus was marked at 16@ 17' long., and 33@ 22'
-lat., at 150 leagues from the nearest coast.  There was no means
-of flight, and I leave you to imagine the rage of the Canadian
-when I informed him of our situation.
-
-For myself, I was not particularly sorry.  I felt lightened
-of the load which had oppressed me, and was able to return
-with some degree of calmness to my accustomed work.
-
-That night, about eleven o'clock, I received a most unexpected
-visit from Captain Nemo.  He asked me very graciously
-if I felt fatigued from my watch of the preceding night.
-I answered in the negative.
-
-"Then, M. Aronnax, I propose a curious excursion."
-
-"Propose, Captain?"
-
-"You have hitherto only visited the submarine depths by daylight,
-under the brightness of the sun.  Would it suit you to see them
-in the darkness of the night?"
-
-"Most willingly."
-
-"I warn you, the way will be tiring.  We shall have far to walk,
-and must climb a mountain.  The roads are not well kept."
-
-"What you say, Captain, only heightens my curiosity;
-I am ready to follow you."
-
-"Come then, sir, we will put on our diving-dresses."
-
-Arrived at the robing-room, I saw that neither of my companions
-nor any of the ship's crew were to follow us on this excursion.
-Captain Nemo had not even proposed my taking with me either
-Ned or Conseil.
-
-In a few moments we had put on our diving-dresses; they placed
-on our backs the reservoirs, abundantly filled with air,
-but no electric lamps were prepared.  I called the Captain's
-attention to the fact.
-
-"They will be useless," he replied.
-
-I thought I had not heard aright, but I could not repeat my observation,
-for the Captain's head had already disappeared in its metal case.
-I finished harnessing myself.  I felt them put an iron-pointed stick
-into my hand, and some minutes later, after going through the usual form,
-we set foot on the bottom of the Atlantic at a depth of 150 fathoms.
-Midnight was near.  The waters were profoundly dark, but Captain Nemo
-pointed out in the distance a reddish spot, a sort of large light shining
-brilliantly about two miles from the Nautilus.  What this fire might be,
-what could feed it, why and how it lit up the liquid mass, I could not say.
-In any case, it did light our way, vaguely, it is true, but I soon accustomed
-myself to the peculiar darkness, and I understood, under such circumstances,
-the uselessness of the Ruhmkorff apparatus.
-
-As we advanced, I heard a kind of pattering above my head.
-The noise redoubling, sometimes producing a continual shower,
-I soon understood the cause.  It was rain falling violently,
-and crisping the surface of the waves.  Instinctively the
-thought flashed across my mind that I should be wet through!
-By the water! in the midst of the water!  I could not help
-laughing at the odd idea.  But, indeed, in the thick diving-dress,
-the liquid element is no longer felt, and one only seems to be
-in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the terrestrial atmosphere.
-Nothing more.
-
-After half an hour's walk the soil became stony.
-Medusae, microscopic crustacea, and pennatules lit it slightly
-with their phosphorescent gleam.  I caught a glimpse of pieces
-of stone covered with millions of zoophytes and masses of sea weed.
-My feet often slipped upon this sticky carpet of sea weed,
-and without my iron-tipped stick I should have fallen more than once.
-In turning round, I could still see the whitish lantern of the
-Nautilus beginning to pale in the distance.
-
-But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon.
-The presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree.
-Was I going towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown to the savants
-of the earth?  Or even (for this thought crossed my brain) had the hand
-of man aught to do with this conflagration?  Had he fanned this flame?
-Was I to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo whom
-he was going to visit, and who, like him, led this strange existence?
-Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who, weary of the miseries
-of this earth, had sought and found independence in the deep ocean?
-All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued me.  And in this condition
-of mind, over-excited by the succession of wonders continually passing before
-my eyes, I should not have been surprised to meet at the bottom of the sea one
-of those submarine towns of which Captain Nemo dreamed.
-
-Our road grew lighter and lighter.  The white glimmer came in rays
-from the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high.  But what I saw
-was simply a reflection, developed by the clearness of the waters.
-The source of this inexplicable light was a fire on the opposite side
-of the mountain.
-
-In the midst of this stony maze furrowing the bottom of the Atlantic,
-Captain Nemo advanced without hesitation.  He knew this dreary road.
-Doubtless he had often travelled over it, and could not lose himself.
-I followed him with unshaken confidence.  He seemed to me like a genie of
-the sea; and, as he walked before me, I could not help admiring his stature,
-which was outlined in black on the luminous horizon.
-
-It was one in the morning when we arrived at the first slopes of the mountain;
-but to gain access to them we must venture through the difficult paths
-of a vast copse.
-
-Yes; a copse of dead trees, without leaves, without sap,
-trees petrified by the action of the water and here and there
-overtopped by gigantic pines.  It was like a coal-pit still standing,
-holding by the roots to the broken soil, and whose branches, like fine
-black paper cuttings, showed distinctly on the watery ceiling.
-Picture to yourself a forest in the Hartz hanging on to the sides
-of the mountain, but a forest swallowed up.  The paths were
-encumbered with seaweed and fucus, between which grovelled
-a whole world of crustacea.  I went along, climbing the rocks,
-striding over extended trunks, breaking the sea bind-weed which hung
-from one tree to the other; and frightening the fishes, which flew
-from branch to branch.  Pressing onward, I felt no fatigue.
-I followed my guide, who was never tired.  What a spectacle!
-How can I express it? how paint the aspect of those woods and
-rocks in this medium--their under parts dark and wild, the upper
-coloured with red tints, by that light which the reflecting powers
-of the waters doubled?  We climbed rocks which fell directly
-after with gigantic bounds and the low growling of an avalanche.
-To right and left ran long, dark galleries, where sight was lost.
-Here opened vast glades which the hand of man seemed to have worked;
-and I sometimes asked myself if some inhabitant of these submarine
-regions would not suddenly appear to me.
-
-But Captain Nemo was still mounting.  I could not stay behind.
-I followed boldly.  My stick gave me good help.  A false step would
-have been dangerous on the narrow passes sloping down to the sides
-of the gulfs; but I walked with firm step, without feeling
-any giddiness.  Now I jumped a crevice, the depth of which would
-have made me hesitate had it been among the glaciers on the land;
-now I ventured on the unsteady trunk of a tree thrown across
-from one abyss to the other, without looking under my feet,
-having only eyes to admire the wild sites of this region.
-
-There, monumental rocks, leaning on their regularly-cut bases, seemed to defy
-all laws of equilibrium.  From between their stony knees trees sprang,
-like a jet under heavy pressure, and upheld others which upheld them.
-Natural towers, large scarps, cut perpendicularly, like a "curtain," inclined
-at an angle which the laws of gravitation could never have tolerated
-in terrestrial regions.
-
-Two hours after quitting the Nautilus we had crossed the line of trees,
-and a hundred feet above our heads rose the top of the mountain,
-which cast a shadow on the brilliant irradiation of the opposite slope.
-Some petrified shrubs ran fantastically here and there.  Fishes got up
-under our feet like birds in the long grass.  The massive rocks were
-rent with impenetrable fractures, deep grottos, and unfathomable holes,
-at the bottom of which formidable creatures might be heard moving.
-My blood curdled when I saw enormous antennae blocking my road,
-or some frightful claw closing with a noise in the shadow of some cavity.
-Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the midst of the darkness.
-They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their holes;
-giant lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers, and moving
-their claws with the clicking sound of pincers; titanic crabs,
-pointed like a gun on its carriage; and frightful-looking poulps,
-interweaving their tentacles like a living nest of serpents.
-
-We had now arrived on the first platform, where other surprises awaited me.
-Before us lay some picturesque ruins, which betrayed the hand of man
-and not that of the Creator.  There were vast heaps of stone,
-amongst which might be traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles
-and temples, clothed with a world of blossoming zoophytes, and over which,
-instead of ivy, sea-weed and fucus threw a thick vegetable mantle.  But what
-was this portion of the globe which had been swallowed by cataclysms?
-Who had placed those rocks and stones like cromlechs of prehistoric times?
-Where was I?  Whither had Captain Nemo's fancy hurried me?
-
-I would fain have asked him; not being able to, I stopped him--
-I seized his arm.  But, shaking his head, and pointing to the highest
-point of the mountain, he seemed to say:
-
-"Come, come along; come higher!"
-
-I followed, and in a few minutes I had climbed to the top,
-which for a circle of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock.
-
-I looked down the side we had just climbed.  The mountain did
-not rise more than seven or eight hundred feet above the level
-of the plain; but on the opposite side it commanded from
-twice that height the depths of this part of the Atlantic.
-My eyes ranged far over a large space lit by a violent fulguration.
-In fact, the mountain was a volcano.
-
-At fifty feet above the peak, in the midst of a rain of stones
-and scoriae, a large crater was vomiting forth torrents of lava
-which fell in a cascade of fire into the bosom of the liquid mass.
-Thus situated, this volcano lit the lower plain like an
-immense torch, even to the extreme limits of the horizon.
-I said that the submarine crater threw up lava, but no flames.
-Flames require the oxygen of the air to feed upon and cannot be
-developed under water; but streams of lava, having in themselves
-the principles of their incandescence, can attain a white heat,
-fight vigorously against the liquid element, and turn it to
-vapour by contact.
-
-Rapid currents bearing all these gases in diffusion and torrents
-of lava slid to the bottom of the mountain like an eruption
-of Vesuvius on another Terra del Greco.
-
-There indeed under my eyes, ruined, destroyed, lay a town--
-its roofs open to the sky, its temples fallen, its arches dislocated,
-its columns lying on the ground, from which one would still
-recognise the massive character of Tuscan architecture.
-Further on, some remains of a gigantic aqueduct; here the high
-base of an Acropolis, with the floating outline of a Parthenon;
-there traces of a quay, as if an ancient port had formerly
-abutted on the borders of the ocean, and disappeared with
-its merchant vessels and its war-galleys. Farther on again,
-long lines of sunken walls and broad, deserted streets--
-a perfect Pompeii escaped beneath the waters.  Such was the sight
-that Captain Nemo brought before my eyes!
-
-Where was I?  Where was I?  I must know at any cost.
-I tried to speak, but Captain Nemo stopped me by a gesture,
-and, picking up a piece of chalk-stone, advanced to a rock
-of black basalt, and traced the one word:
-
-
-ATLANTIS
-
-
-What a light shot through my mind!  Atlantis! the Atlantis
-of Plato, that continent denied by Origen and Humbolt,
-who placed its disappearance amongst the legendary tales.
-I had it there now before my eyes, bearing upon it
-the unexceptionable testimony of its catastrophe.
-The region thus engulfed was beyond Europe, Asia, and Lybia,
-beyond the columns of Hercules, where those powerful people,
-the Atlantides, lived, against whom the first wars of ancient
-Greeks were waged.
-
-Thus, led by the strangest destiny, I was treading under foot
-the mountains of this continent, touching with my hand those ruins
-a thousand generations old and contemporary with the geological epochs.
-I was walking on the very spot where the contemporaries of the first
-man had walked.
-
-Whilst I was trying to fix in my mind every detail of this
-grand landscape, Captain Nemo remained motionless,
-as if petrified in mute ecstasy, leaning on a mossy stone.
-Was he dreaming of those generations long since disappeared?
-Was he asking them the secret of human destiny?  Was it here this
-strange man came to steep himself in historical recollections,
-and live again this ancient life--he who wanted no modern one?
-What would I not have given to know his thoughts, to share them,
-to understand them!  We remained for an hour at this place,
-contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of the lava,
-which was some times wonderfully intense.  Rapid tremblings ran
-along the mountain caused by internal bubblings, deep noise,
-distinctly transmitted through the liquid medium were echoed
-with majestic grandeur.  At this moment the moon appeared through
-the mass of waters and threw her pale rays on the buried continent.
-It was but a gleam, but what an indescribable effect!
-The Captain rose, cast one last look on the immense plain,
-and then bade me follow him.
-
-We descended the mountain rapidly, and, the mineral forest
-once passed, I saw the lantern of the Nautilus shining like a star.
-The Captain walked straight to it, and we got on board as the first
-rays of light whitened the surface of the ocean.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES
-
-The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late:  the fatigues
-of the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o'clock. I
-dressed quickly, and hastened to find the course the Nautilus was taking.
-The instruments showed it to be still toward the south, with a speed of
-twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoms.
-
-The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already noticed.
-There were rays of giant size, five yards long, and endowed with great
-muscular strength, which enabled them to shoot above the waves;
-sharks of many kinds; amongst others, one fifteen feet long,
-with triangular sharp teeth, and whose transparency rendered it almost
-invisible in the water.
-
-Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long, armed at
-the upper jaw with a piercing sword; other bright-coloured creatures,
-known in the time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon, which are
-dangerous to capture on account of the spikes on their back.
-
-About four o'clock, the soil, generally composed of a thick mud mixed with
-petrified wood, changed by degrees, and it became more stony, and seemed
-strewn with conglomerate and pieces of basalt, with a sprinkling of lava.
-I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long plains;
-and accordingly, after a few evolutions of the Nautilus, I saw the southerly
-horizon blocked by a high wall which seemed to close all exit.
-Its summit evidently passed the level of the ocean.  It must be a continent,
-or at least an island--one of the Canaries, or of the Cape Verde Islands.
-The bearings not being yet taken, perhaps designedly, I was ignorant
-of our exact position.  In any case, such a wall seemed to me to mark
-the limits of that Atlantis, of which we had in reality passed over only
-the smallest part.
-
-Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring
-the beauties of sea and sky, but the panels closed.  At this moment
-the Nautilus arrived at the side of this high, perpendicular wall.
-What it would do, I could not guess.  I returned to my room;
-it no longer moved.  I laid myself down with the full intention
-of waking after a few hours' sleep; but it was eight o'clock
-the next day when I entered the saloon.  I looked at the manometer.
-It told me that the Nautilus was floating on the surface of the ocean.
-Besides, I heard steps on the platform.  I went to the panel.
-It was open; but, instead of broad daylight, as I expected,
-I was surrounded by profound darkness.  Where were we?
-Was I mistaken?  Was it still night?  No; not a star was shining
-and night has not that utter darkness.
-
-I knew not what to think, when a voice near me said:
-
-"Is that you, Professor?"
-
-"Ah!  Captain," I answered, "where are we?"
-
-"Underground, sir."
-
-"Underground!"  I exclaimed.  "And the Nautilus floating still?"
-
-"It always floats."
-
-"But I do not understand."
-
-"Wait a few minutes, our lantern will be lit, and, if you like light places,
-you will be satisfied."
-
-I stood on the platform and waited.  The darkness was so complete
-that I could not even see Captain Nemo; but, looking to the zenith,
-exactly above my head, I seemed to catch an undecided gleam,
-a kind of twilight filling a circular hole.  At this instant
-the lantern was lit, and its vividness dispelled the faint light.
-I closed my dazzled eyes for an instant, and then looked again.
-The Nautilus was stationary, floating near a mountain which formed
-a sort of quay.  The lake, then, supporting it was a lake
-imprisoned by a circle of walls, measuring two miles in diameter
-and six in circumference.  Its level (the manometer showed)
-could only be the same as the outside level, for there must
-necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea.
-The high partitions, leaning forward on their base, grew into
-a vaulted roof bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned
-upside down, the height being about five or six hundred yards.
-At the summit was a circular orifice, by which I had caught the slight
-gleam of light, evidently daylight.
-
-"Where are we?"  I asked.
-
-"In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has
-been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth.
-Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the Nautilus penetrated
-to this lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards
-beneath the surface of the ocean.  This is its harbour of refuge,
-a sure, commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from all gales.
-Show me, if you can, on the coasts of any of your continents or islands,
-a road which can give such perfect refuge from all storms."
-
-"Certainly," I replied, "you are in safety here, Captain Nemo.
-Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano?  But did I not see
-an opening at its summit?"
-
-"Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames,
-and which now gives entrance to the life-giving air we breathe."
-
-"But what is this volcanic mountain?"
-
-"It belongs to one of the numerous islands with which this sea
-is strewn--to vessels a simple sandbank--to us an immense cavern.
-Chance led me to discover it, and chance served me well."
-
-"But of what use is this refuge, Captain?  The Nautilus wants no port."
-
-"No, sir; but it wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal
-to make the electricity--sodium to feed the elements, coal from
-which to get the sodium, and a coal-mine to supply the coal.
-And exactly on this spot the sea covers entire forests embedded during
-the geological periods, now mineralised and transformed into coal;
-for me they are an inexhaustible mine."
-
-"Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?"
-
-"Exactly so.  These mines extend under the waves like the mines of Newcastle.
-Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand, my men
-extract the coal, which I do not even ask from the mines of the earth.
-When I burn this combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the smoke,
-escaping from the crater of the mountain, gives it the appearance of
-a still-active volcano."
-
-"And we shall see your companions at work?"
-
-"No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue
-our submarine tour of the earth.  So I shall content myself
-with drawing from the reserve of sodium I already possess.
-The time for loading is one day only, and we continue our voyage.
-So, if you wish to go over the cavern and make the round of
-the lagoon, you must take advantage of to-day, M. Aronnax."
-
-I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not yet
-left their cabin.  I invited them to follow me without saying where we were.
-They mounted the platform.  Conseil, who was astonished at nothing,
-seemed to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake under
-a mountain, after having fallen asleep under the waves.  But Ned Land
-thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit.
-After breakfast, about ten o'clock, we went down on to the mountain.
-
-"Here we are, once more on land," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not call this land," said the Canadian.  "And besides,
-we are not on it, but beneath it."
-
-Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a sandy
-shore which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet.
-On this soil one might easily make the tour of the lake.  But the base
-of the high partitions was stony ground, with volcanic locks and enormous
-pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps.  All these detached masses,
-covered with enamel, polished by the action of the subterraneous fires,
-shone resplendent by the light of our electric lantern.  The mica dust
-from the shore, rising under our feet, flew like a cloud of sparks.
-The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon arrived at long circuitous slopes,
-or inclined planes, which took us higher by degrees; but we were obliged
-to walk carefully among these conglomerates, bound by no cement, the feet
-slipping on the glassy crystal, felspar, and quartz.
-
-The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all sides,
-and I pointed it out to my companions.
-
-"Picture to yourselves," said I, "what this crater must
-have been when filled with boiling lava, and when the level
-of the incandescent liquid rose to the orifice of the mountain,
-as though melted on the top of a hot plate."
-
-"I can picture it perfectly," said Conseil.  "But, sir,
-will you tell me why the Great Architect has suspended operations,
-and how it is that the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters
-of the lake?"
-
-"Most probably, Conseil, because some convulsion beneath the ocean produced
-that very opening which has served as a passage for the Nautilus.
-Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed into the interior of the mountain.
-There must have been a terrible struggle between the two elements, a struggle
-which ended in the victory of Neptune.  But many ages have run out since then,
-and the submerged volcano is now a peaceable grotto."
-
-"Very well," replied Ned Land; "I accept the explanation, sir; but, in our
-own interests, I regret that the opening of which you speak was not made
-above the level of the sea."
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "if the passage had not been under the sea,
-the Nautilus could not have gone through it."
-
-We continued ascending.  The steps became more and more perpendicular
-and narrow.  Deep excavations, which we were obliged to cross,
-cut them here and there; sloping masses had to be turned.
-We slid upon our knees and crawled along.  But Conseil's
-dexterity and the Canadian's strength surmounted all obstacles.
-At a height of about 31 feet the nature of the ground changed
-without becoming more practicable.  To the conglomerate and trachyte
-succeeded black basalt, the first dispread in layers full of bubbles,
-the latter forming regular prisms, placed like a colonnade
-supporting the spring of the immense vault, an admirable specimen
-of natural architecture.  Between the blocks of basalt wound long
-streams of lava, long since grown cold, encrusted with bituminous rays;
-and in some places there were spread large carpets of sulphur.
-A more powerful light shone through the upper crater, shedding a
-vague glimmer over these volcanic depressions for ever buried
-in the bosom of this extinguished mountain.  But our upward march
-was soon stopped at a height of about two hundred and fifty feet
-by impassable obstacles.  There was a complete vaulted arch
-overhanging us, and our ascent was changed to a circular walk.
-At the last change vegetable life began to struggle with the mineral.
-Some shrubs, and even some trees, grew from the fractures of the walls.
-I recognised some euphorbias, with the caustic sugar coming
-from them; heliotropes, quite incapable of justifying their name,
-sadly drooped their clusters of flowers, both their colour
-and perfume half gone.  Here and there some chrysanthemums grew
-timidly at the foot of an aloe with long, sickly-looking leaves.
-But between the streams of lava, I saw some little violets still
-slightly perfumed, and I admit that I smelt them with delight.
-Perfume is the soul of the flower, and sea-flowers have no soul.
-
-We had arrived at the foot of some sturdy dragon-trees,
-which had pushed aside the rocks with their strong roots,
-when Ned Land exclaimed:
-
-"Ah! sir, a hive! a hive!"
-
-"A hive!"  I replied, with a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes, a hive," repeated the Canadian, "and bees humming round it."
-
-I approached, and was bound to believe my own eyes.  There at a hole bored
-in one of the dragon-trees were some thousands of these ingenious insects,
-so common in all the Canaries, and whose produce is so much esteemed.
-Naturally enough, the Canadian wished to gather the honey, and I could
-not well oppose his wish.  A quantity of dry leaves, mixed with sulphur,
-he lit with a spark from his flint, and he began to smoke out the bees.
-The humming ceased by degrees, and the hive eventually yielded several pounds
-of the sweetest honey, with which Ned Land filled his haversack.
-
-"When I have mixed this honey with the paste of the bread-fruit,"
-said he, "I shall be able to offer you a succulent cake."
-
-[Transcriber's Note: 'bread-fruit' has been substituted for 
-'artocarpus' in this ed.]
-
-"'Pon my word," said Conseil, "it will be gingerbread."
-
-"Never mind the gingerbread," said I; "let us continue our interesting 
-walk."
-
-At every turn of the path we were following, the lake appeared
-in all its length and breadth.  The lantern lit up the whole
-of its peaceable surface, which knew neither ripple nor wave.
-The Nautilus remained perfectly immovable.  On the platform,
-and on the mountain, the ship's crew were working like black
-shadows clearly carved against the luminous atmosphere.
-We were now going round the highest crest of the first layers of rock
-which upheld the roof.  I then saw that bees were not the only
-representatives of the animal kingdom in the interior of this volcano.
-Birds of prey hovered here and there in the shadows, or fled from
-their nests on the top of the rocks.  There were sparrow hawks,
-with white breasts, and kestrels, and down the slopes scampered,
-with their long legs, several fine fat bustards.  I leave anyone
-to imagine the covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this
-savoury game, and whether he did not regret having no gun.
-But he did his best to replace the lead by stones, and, after several
-fruitless attempts, he succeeded in wounding a magnificent bird.
-To say that he risked his life twenty times before reaching
-it is but the truth; but he managed so well that the creature
-joined the honey-cakes in his bag.  We were now obliged to
-descend toward the shore, the crest becoming impracticable.
-Above us the crater seemed to gape like the mouth of a well.
-From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
-dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit
-of the mountain, their misty remnants--certain proof that they
-were only moderately high, for the volcano did not rise more than
-eight hundred feet above the level of the ocean.  Half an hour
-after the Canadian's last exploit we had regained the inner shore.
-Here the flora was represented by large carpets of marine crystal,
-a little umbelliferous plant very good to pickle, which also bears the name
-of pierce-stone and sea-fennel. Conseil gathered some bundles of it.
-As to the fauna, it might be counted by thousands of crustacea
-of all sorts, lobsters, crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps,
-and a large number of shells, rockfish, and limpets.  Three-quarters of
-an hour later we had finished our circuitous walk and were on board.
-The crew had just finished loading the sodium, and the Nautilus
-could have left that instant.  But Captain Nemo gave no order.
-Did he wish to wait until night, and leave the submarine passage secretly?
-Perhaps so.  Whatever it might be, the next day, the Nautilus,
-having left its port, steered clear of all land at a few yards beneath
-the waves of the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-THE SARGASSO SEA
-
-That day the Nautilus crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean.
-No one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm
-water known by the name of the Gulf Stream.  After leaving
-the Gulf of Florida, we went in the direction of Spitzbergen.
-But before entering the Gulf of Mexico, about 45@ of N. lat., this
-current divides into two arms, the principal one going towards
-the coast of Ireland and Norway, whilst the second bends to the south
-about the height of the Azores; then, touching the African shore,
-and describing a lengthened oval, returns to the Antilles.
-This second arm--it is rather a collar than an arm--surrounds with its
-circles of warm water that portion of the cold, quiet, immovable ocean
-called the Sargasso Sea, a perfect lake in the open Atlantic:
-it takes no less than three years for the great current to pass round it.
-Such was the region the Nautilus was now visiting, a perfect meadow,
-a close carpet of seaweed, fucus, and tropical berries, so thick and so
-compact that the stem of a vessel could hardly tear its way through it.
-And Captain Nemo, not wishing to entangle his screw in this herbaceous mass,
-kept some yards beneath the surface of the waves.  The name Sargasso
-comes from the Spanish word "sargazzo" which signifies kelp.
-This kelp, or berry-plant, is the principal formation of this immense bank.
-And this is the reason why these plants unite in the peaceful basin
-of the Atlantic.  The only explanation which can be given, he says,
-seems to me to result from the experience known to all the world.
-Place in a vase some fragments of cork or other floating body,
-and give to the water in the vase a circular movement,
-the scattered fragments will unite in a group in the centre of
-the liquid surface, that is to say, in the part least agitated.
-In the phenomenon we are considering, the Atlantic is the vase,
-the Gulf Stream the circular current, and the Sargasso Sea the central
-point at which the floating bodies unite.
-
-I share Maury's opinion, and I was able to study the phenomenon
-in the very midst, where vessels rarely penetrate.  Above us floated
-products of all kinds, heaped up among these brownish plants;
-trunks of trees torn from the Andes or the Rocky Mountains, and floated
-by the Amazon or the Mississippi; numerous wrecks, remains of keels,
-or ships' bottoms, side-planks stove in, and so weighted with shells
-and barnacles that they could not again rise to the surface.
-And time will one day justify Maury's other opinion, that these
-substances thus accumulated for ages will become petrified by
-the action of the water and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines--
-a precious reserve prepared by far-seeing Nature for the moment
-when men shall have exhausted the mines of continents.
-
-In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed,
-I noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long
-tentacles trailing after them, and medusae, green, red, and blue.
-
-All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea,
-where such fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant nourishment.
-The next, the ocean had returned to its accustomed aspect.
-From this time for nineteen days, from the 23rd of February to the 12th
-of March, the Nautilus kept in the middle of the Atlantic, carrying us
-at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four hours.
-Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine programme,
-and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, to return
-to the Australian seas of the Pacific.  Ned Land had cause for fear.
-In these large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt to leave
-the boat.  Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo's will.
-Our only course was to submit; but what we could neither gain by force
-nor cunning, I liked to think might be obtained by persuasion.
-This voyage ended, would he not consent to restore our liberty,
-under an oath never to reveal his existence?--an oath of honour which we
-should have religiously kept.  But we must consider that delicate
-question with the Captain.  But was I free to claim this liberty?
-Had he not himself said from the beginning, in the firmest manner,
-that the secret of his life exacted from him our lasting imprisonment
-on board the Nautilus?  And would not my four months' silence appear
-to him a tacit acceptance of our situation?  And would not a return
-to the subject result in raising suspicions which might be hurtful
-to our projects, if at some future time a favourable opportunity offered
-to return to them?
-
-During the nineteen days mentioned above, no incident
-of any kind happened to signalise our voyage.  I saw little
-of the Captain; he was at work.  In the library I often found
-his books left open, especially those on natural history.
-My work on submarine depths, conned over by him, was covered
-with marginal notes, often contradicting my theories and systems;
-but the Captain contented himself with thus purging my work;
-it was very rare for him to discuss it with me.
-Sometimes I heard the melancholy tones of his organ;
-but only at night, in the midst of the deepest obscurity,
-when the Nautilus slept upon the deserted ocean.  During this part
-of our voyage we sailed whole days on the surface of the waves.
-The sea seemed abandoned.  A few sailing-vessels, on
-the road to India, were making for the Cape of Good Hope.
-One day we were followed by the boats of a whaler, who, no doubt,
-took us for some enormous whale of great price; but Captain
-Nemo did not wish the worthy fellows to lose their time
-and trouble, so ended the chase by plunging under the water.
-Our navigation continued until the 13th of March;
-that day the Nautilus was employed in taking soundings,
-which greatly interested me.  We had then made about 13,000
-leagues since our departure from the high seas of the Pacific.
-The bearings gave us 45@ 37' S. lat., and 37@ 53' W. long.
-It was the same water in which Captain Denham of the Herald
-sounded 7,000 fathoms without finding the bottom.
-There, too, Lieutenant Parker, of the American frigate Congress,
-could not touch the bottom with 15,140 fathoms.
-Captain Nemo intended seeking the bottom of the ocean by a
-diagonal sufficiently lengthened by means of lateral planes
-placed at an angle of 45@ with the water-line of the Nautilus.
-Then the screw set to work at its maximum speed, its four
-blades beating the waves with in describable force.
-Under this powerful pressure, the hull of the Nautilus quivered
-like a sonorous chord and sank regularly under the water.
-
-At 7,000 fathoms I saw some blackish tops rising from the midst of the waters;
-but these summits might belong to high mountains like the Himalayas or
-Mont Blanc, even higher; and the depth of the abyss remained incalculable.
-The Nautilus descended still lower, in spite of the great pressure.
-I felt the steel plates tremble at the fastenings of the bolts;
-its bars bent, its partitions groaned; the windows of the saloon
-seemed to curve under the pressure of the waters.  And this firm
-structure would doubtless have yielded, if, as its Captain had said,
-it had not been capable of resistance like a solid block.  We had attained
-a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues), and the sides of the Nautilus
-then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, that is to say, 3,200 lb.
-to each square two-fifths of an inch of its surface.
-
-"What a situation to be in!"  I exclaimed.  "To overrun these deep regions
-where man has never trod!  Look, Captain, look at these magnificent rocks,
-these uninhabited grottoes, these lowest receptacles of the globe,
-where life is no longer possible!  What unknown sights are here!
-Why should we be unable to preserve a remembrance of them?"
-
-"Would you like to carry away more than the remembrance?"
-said Captain Nemo.
-
-"What do you mean by those words?"
-
-"I mean to say that nothing is easier than to make a photographic
-view of this submarine region."
-
-I had not time to express my surprise at this new proposition, when,
-at Captain Nemo's call, an objective was brought into the saloon.
-Through the widely-opened panel, the liquid mass was bright with electricity,
-which was distributed with such uniformity that not a shadow, not a gradation,
-was to be seen in our manufactured light.  The Nautilus remained motionless,
-the force of its screw subdued by the inclination of its planes:
-the instrument was propped on the bottom of the oceanic site, and in a few
-seconds we had obtained a perfect negative.
-
-But, the operation being over, Captain Nemo said, "Let us go up;
-we must not abuse our position, nor expose the Nautilus too long
-to such great pressure."
-
-"Go up again!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Hold well on."
-
-I had not time to understand why the Captain cautioned me thus, when I
-was thrown forward on to the carpet.  At a signal from the Captain,
-its screw was shipped, and its blades raised vertically; the Nautilus
-shot into the air like a balloon, rising with stunning rapidity,
-and cutting the mass of waters with a sonorous agitation.
-Nothing was visible; and in four minutes it had shot through the four
-leagues which separated it from the ocean, and, after emerging like a
-flying-fish, fell, making the waves rebound to an enormous height.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-CACHALOTS AND WHALES
-
-During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March, the Nautilus returned
-to its southerly course.  I fancied that, when on a level with Cape Horn,
-he would turn the helm westward, in order to beat the Pacific seas,
-and so complete the tour of the world.  He did nothing of the kind,
-but continued on his way to the southern regions.  Where was he going to?
-To the pole?  It was madness!  I began to think that the Captain's
-temerity justified Ned Land's fears.  For some time past the Canadian
-had not spoken to me of his projects of flight; he was less communicative,
-almost silent.  I could see that this lengthened imprisonment was
-weighing upon him, and I felt that rage was burning within him.
-When he met the Captain, his eyes lit up with suppressed anger;
-and I feared that his natural violence would lead him into some extreme.
-That day, the 14th of March, Conseil and he came to me in my room.
-I inquired the cause of their visit.
-
-"A simple question to ask you, sir," replied the Canadian.
-
-"Speak, Ned."
-
-"How many men are there on board the Nautilus, do you think?"
-
-"I cannot tell, my friend."
-
-"I should say that its working does not require a large crew."
-
-"Certainly, under existing conditions, ten men, at the most,
-ought to be enough."
-
-"Well, why should there be any more?"
-
-"Why?"  I replied, looking fixedly at Ned Land, whose meaning was easy
-to guess.  "Because," I added, "if my surmises are correct, and if I have
-well understood the Captain's existence, the Nautilus is not only a vessel:
-it is also a place of refuge for those who, like its commander, have broken
-every tie upon earth."
-
-"Perhaps so," said Conseil; "but, in any case, the Nautilus can only contain
-a certain number of men.  Could not you, sir, estimate their maximum?"
-
-"How, Conseil?"
-
-"By calculation; given the size of the vessel, which you know, sir,
-and consequently the quantity of air it contains, knowing also how much
-each man expends at a breath, and comparing these results with the fact
-that the Nautilus is obliged to go to the surface every twenty-four hours."
-
-Conseil had not finished the sentence before I saw what he was driving at.
-
-"I understand," said I; "but that calculation, though simple enough,
-can give but a very uncertain result."
-
-"Never mind," said Ned Land urgently.
-
-"Here it is, then," said I. "In one hour each man consumes the oxygen
-contained in twenty gallons of air; and in twenty-four, that contained
-in 480 gallons.  We must, therefore find how many times 480 gallons
-of air the Nautilus contains."
-
-"Just so," said Conseil.
-
-"Or," I continued, "the size of the Nautilus being 1,500 tons;
-and one ton holding 200 gallons, it contains 300,000 gallons
-of air, which, divided by 480, gives a quotient of 625.
-Which means to say, strictly speaking, that the air contained in
-the Nautilus would suffice for 625 men for twenty-four hours."
-
-"Six hundred and twenty-five!" repeated Ned.
-
-"But remember that all of us, passengers, sailors, and officers included,
-would not form a tenth part of that number."
-
-"Still too many for three men," murmured Conseil.
-
-The Canadian shook his head, passed his hand across his forehead,
-and left the room without answering.
-
-"Will you allow me to make one observation, sir?" said Conseil.
-"Poor Ned is longing for everything that he can not have.  His past life
-is always present to him; everything that we are forbidden he regrets.
-His head is full of old recollections.  And we must understand him.
-What has he to do here?  Nothing; he is not learned like you, sir;
-and has not the same taste for the beauties of the sea that we have.
-He would risk everything to be able to go once more into a tavern
-in his own country."
-
-Certainly the monotony on board must seem intolerable to the Canadian,
-accustomed as he was to a life of liberty and activity.
-Events were rare which could rouse him to any show of spirit; but that day
-an event did happen which recalled the bright days of the harpooner.
-About eleven in the morning, being on the surface of the ocean,
-the Nautilus fell in with a troop of whales--an encounter which did
-not astonish me, knowing that these creatures, hunted to death,
-had taken refuge in high latitudes.
-
-We were seated on the platform, with a quiet sea.  The month of October
-in those latitudes gave us some lovely autumnal days.  It was the Canadian--
-he could not be mistaken--who signalled a whale on the eastern horizon.
-Looking attentively, one might see its black back rise and fall with the waves
-five miles from the Nautilus.
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed Ned Land, "if I was on board a whaler, now such
-a meeting would give me pleasure.  It is one of large size.
-See with what strength its blow-holes throw up columns of air an steam!
-Confound it, why am I bound to these steel plates?"
-
-"What, Ned," said I, "you have not forgotten your old ideas of fishing?"
-
-"Can a whale-fisher ever forget his old trade, sir?  Can he ever
-tire of the emotions caused by such a chase?"
-
-"You have never fished in these seas, Ned?"
-
-"Never, sir; in the northern only, and as much in Behring
-as in Davis Straits."
-
-"Then the southern whale is still unknown to you.  It is the Greenland
-whale you have hunted up to this time, and that would not risk passing
-through the warm waters of the equator.  Whales are localised,
-according to their kinds, in certain seas which they never leave.
-And if one of these creatures went from Behring to Davis Straits,
-it must be simply because there is a passage from one sea to the other,
-either on the American or the Asiatic side."
-
-"In that case, as I have never fished in these seas, I do not know
-the kind of whale frequenting them!"
-
-"I have told you, Ned."
-
-"A greater reason for making their acquaintance," said Conseil.
-
-"Look! look!" exclaimed the Canadian, "they approach:
-they aggravate me; they know that I cannot get at them!"
-
-Ned stamped his feet.  His hand trembled, as he grasped an imaginary harpoon.
-
-"Are these cetaceans as large as those of the northern seas?" asked he.
-
-"Very nearly, Ned."
-
-"Because I have seen large whales, sir, whales measuring a hundred feet.
-I have even been told that those of Hullamoch and Umgallick,
-of the Aleutian Islands, are sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long."
-
-"That seems to me exaggeration. These creatures are only
-balaeaopterons, provided with dorsal fins; and, like the cachalots,
-are generally much smaller than the Greenland whale."
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes had never left the ocean,
-"they are coming nearer; they are in the same water as the Nautilus."
-
-Then, returning to the conversation, he said:
-
-"You spoke of the cachalot as a small creature.
-I have heard of gigantic ones.  They are intelligent cetacea.
-It is said of some that they cover themselves with seaweed and fucus,
-and then are taken for islands.  People encamp upon them,
-and settle there; lights a fire----"
-
-"And build houses," said Conseil.
-
-"Yes, joker," said Ned Land.  "And one fine day the creature plunges,
-carrying with it all the inhabitants to the bottom of the sea."
-
-"Something like the travels of Sinbad the Sailor," I replied, laughing.
-
-"Ah!" suddenly exclaimed Ned Land, "it is not one whale;
-there are ten--there are twenty--it is a whole troop!
-And I not able to do anything! hands and feet tied!"
-
-"But, friend Ned," said Conseil, "why do you not ask Captain
-Nemo's permission to chase them?"
-
-Conseil had not finished his sentence when Ned Land had
-lowered himself through the panel to seek the Captain.
-A few minutes afterwards the two appeared together on the platform.
-
-Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea playing on the waters
-about a mile from the Nautilus.
-
-"They are southern whales," said he; "there goes the fortune
-of a whole fleet of whalers."
-
-"Well, sir," asked the Canadian, "can I not chase them,
-if only to remind me of my old trade of harpooner?"
-
-"And to what purpose?" replied Captain Nemo; "only to destroy!
-We have nothing to do with the whale-oil on board."
-
-"But, sir," continued the Canadian, "in the Red Sea you allowed
-us to follow the dugong."
-
-"Then it was to procure fresh meat for my crew.  Here it would
-be killing for killing's sake.  I know that is a privilege
-reserved for man, but I do not approve of such murderous pastime.
-In destroying the southern whale (like the Greenland whale,
-an inoffensive creature), your traders do a culpable action,
-Master Land.  They have already depopulated the whole of
-Baffin's Bay, and are annihilating a class of useful animals.
-Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone.  They have plenty
-of natural enemies--cachalots, swordfish, and sawfish--
-without you troubling them."
-
-The Captain was right.  The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these
-fishermen will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale
-in the ocean.  Ned Land whistled "Yankee-doodle" between his teeth,
-thrust his hands into his pockets, and turned his back upon us.
-But Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea, and, addressing me, said:
-
-"I was right in saying that whales had natural enemies enough,
-without counting man.  These will have plenty to do before long.
-Do you see, M. Aronnax, about eight miles to leeward,
-those blackish moving points?"
-
-"Yes, Captain," I replied.
-
-"Those are cachalots--terrible animals, which I have met in troops of two
-or three hundred.  As to those, they are cruel, mischievous creatures;
-they would be right in exterminating them."
-
-The Canadian turned quickly at the last words.
-
-"Well, Captain," said he, "it is still time, in the interest
-of the whales."
-
-"It is useless to expose one's self, Professor.  The Nautilus
-will disperse them.  It is armed with a steel spur as good
-as Master Land's harpoon, I imagine."
-
-The Canadian did not put himself out enough to shrug his shoulders.
-Attack cetacea with blows of a spur!  Who had ever heard of such a thing?
-
-"Wait, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.  "We will show you something you
-have never yet seen.  We have no pity for these ferocious creatures.
-They are nothing but mouth and teeth."
-
-Mouth and teeth!  No one could better describe the macrocephalous
-cachalot, which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long.
-Its enormous head occupies one-third of its entire body.
-Better armed than the whale, whose upper jaw is furnished only
-with whalebone, it is supplied with twenty-five large tusks,
-about eight inches long, cylindrical and conical at the top,
-each weighing two pounds.  It is in the upper part of this
-enormous head, in great cavities divided by cartilages, that is
-to be found from six to eight hundred pounds of that precious
-oil called spermaceti.  The cachalot is a disagreeable creature,
-more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol's description.
-It is badly formed, the whole of its left side being
-(if we may say it), a "failure," and being only able to see
-with its right eye.  But the formidable troop was nearing us.
-They had seen the whales and were preparing to attack them.
-One could judge beforehand that the cachalots would be victorious,
-not only because they were better built for attack than
-their inoffensive adversaries, but also because they could
-remain longer under water without coming to the surface.
-There was only just time to go to the help of the whales.
-The Nautilus went under water.  Conseil, Ned Land,
-and I took our places before the window in the saloon,
-and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage to work
-his apparatus as an engine of destruction.  Soon I felt
-the beatings of the screw quicken, and our speed increased.
-The battle between the cachalots and the whales had already begun
-when the Nautilus arrived.  They did not at first show any fear
-at the sight of this new monster joining in the conflict.
-But they soon had to guard against its blows.  What a battle!
-The Nautilus was nothing but a formidable harpoon,
-brandished by the hand of its Captain.  It hurled itself against
-the fleshy mass, passing through from one part to the other,
-leaving behind it two quivering halves of the animal.
-It could not feel the formidable blows from their tails upon
-its sides, nor the shock which it produced itself, much more.
-One cachalot killed, it ran at the next, tacked on the spot
-that it might not miss its prey, going forwards and backwards,
-answering to its helm, plunging when the cetacean dived into
-the deep waters, coming up with it when it returned to the surface,
-striking it front or sideways, cutting or tearing in all
-directions and at any pace, piercing it with its terrible spur.
-What carnage!  What a noise on the surface of the waves!
-What sharp hissing, and what snorting peculiar to
-these enraged animals!  In the midst of these waters,
-generally so peaceful, their tails made perfect billows.
-For one hour this wholesale massacre continued, from which the
-cachalots could not escape.  Several times ten or twelve united
-tried to crush the Nautilus by their weight.  From the window
-we could see their enormous mouths, studded with tusks,
-and their formidable eyes.  Ned Land could not contain himself;
-he threatened and swore at them.  We could feel them clinging
-to our vessel like dogs worrying a wild boar in a copse.
-But the Nautilus, working its screw, carried them here and there,
-or to the upper levels of the ocean, without caring for their
-enormous weight, nor the powerful strain on the vessel.
-At length the mass of cachalots broke up, the waves
-became quiet, and I felt that we were rising to the surface.
-The panel opened, and we hurried on to the platform.
-The sea was covered with mutilated bodies.  A formidable explosion
-could not have divided and torn this fleshy mass with more violence.
-We were floating amid gigantic bodies, bluish on the back
-and white underneath, covered with enormous protuberances.
-Some terrified cachalots were flying towards the horizon.
-The waves were dyed red for several miles, and the Nautilus
-floated in a sea of blood:  Captain Nemo joined
-us.
-
-"Well, Master Land?" said he.
-
-"Well, sir," replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had somewhat calmed;
-"it is a terrible spectacle, certainly.  But I am not a butcher.
-I am a hunter, and I call this a butchery."
-
-"It is a massacre of mischievous creatures," replied the Captain;
-"and the Nautilus is not a butcher's knife."
-
-"I like my harpoon better," said the Canadian.
-
-"Every one to his own," answered the Captain, looking fixedly
-at Ned Land.
-
-I feared he would commit some act of violence, which would end
-in sad consequences.  But his anger was turned by the sight
-of a whale which the Nautilus had just come up with.
-The creature had not quite escaped from the cachalot's teeth.
-I recognised the southern whale by its flat head,
-which is entirely black.  Anatomically, it is distinguished
-from the white whale and the North Cape whale by the seven
-cervical vertebrae, and it has two more ribs than its congeners.
-The unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side,
-riddled with holes from the bites, and quite dead.
-From its mutilated fin still hung a young whale which it could
-not save from the massacre.  Its open mouth let the water flow
-in and out, murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore.
-Captain Nemo steered close to the corpse of the creature.
-Two of his men mounted its side, and I saw, not without surprise,
-that they were drawing from its breasts all the milk which
-they contained, that is to say, about two or three tons.
-The Captain offered me a cup of the milk, which was still warm.
-I could not help showing my repugnance to the drink;
-but he assured me that it was excellent, and not to be distinguished
-from cow's milk.  I tasted it, and was of his opinion.
-It was a useful reserve to us, for in the shape of salt butter
-or cheese it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food.
-From that day I noticed with uneasiness that Ned Land's ill-will
-towards Captain Nemo increased, and I resolved to watch the
-Canadian's gestures closely.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE ICEBERG
-
-The Nautilus was steadily pursuing its southerly course,
-following the fiftieth meridian with considerable speed.
-Did he wish to reach the pole?  I did not think so,
-for every attempt to reach that point had hitherto failed.
-Again, the season was far advanced, for in the Antarctic regions
-the 13th of March corresponds with the 13th of September
-of northern regions, which begin at the equinoctial season.
-On the 14th of March I saw floating ice in latitude 55@,
-merely pale bits of debris from twenty to twenty-five
-feet long, forming banks over which the sea curled.
-The Nautilus remained on the surface of the ocean.
-Ned Land, who had fished in the Arctic Seas, was familiar with
-its icebergs; but Conseil and I admired them for the first time.
-In the atmosphere towards the southern horizon stretched
-a white dazzling band.  English whalers have given it
-the name of "ice blink."  However thick the clouds may be,
-it is always visible, and announces the presence of an ice
-pack or bank.  Accordingly, larger blocks soon appeared,
-whose brilliancy changed with the caprices of the fog.
-Some of these masses showed green veins, as if long undulating
-lines had been traced with sulphate of copper; others resembled
-enormous amethysts with the light shining through them.
-Some reflected the light of day upon a thousand crystal facets.
-Others shaded with vivid calcareous reflections resembled a perfect
-town of marble.  The more we neared the south the more these floating
-islands increased both in number and importance.
-
-At 60@ lat.  every pass had disappeared.  But, seeking carefully,
-Captain Nemo soon found a narrow opening, through which he boldly slipped,
-knowing, however, that it would close behind him.  Thus, guided by this
-clever hand, the Nautilus passed through all the ice with a precision
-which quite charmed Conseil; icebergs or mountains, ice-fields or
-smooth plains, seeming to have no limits, drift-ice or floating ice-packs,
-plains broken up, called palchs when they are circular, and streams
-when they are made up of long strips.  The temperature was very low;
-the thermometer exposed to the air marked 2@ or 3@ below zero, but we
-were warmly clad with fur, at the expense of the sea-bear and seal.
-The interior of the Nautilus, warmed regularly by its electric apparatus,
-defied the most intense cold.  Besides, it would only have been necessary
-to go some yards beneath the waves to find a more bearable temperature.
-Two months earlier we should have had perpetual daylight in these latitudes;
-but already we had had three or four hours of night, and by and by there
-would be six months of darkness in these circumpolar regions.  On the 15th
-of March we were in the latitude of New Shetland and South Orkney.
-The Captain told me that formerly numerous tribes of seals inhabited them;
-but that English and American whalers, in their rage for destruction,
-massacred both old and young; thus, where there was once life and animation,
-they had left silence and death.
-
-About eight o'clock on the morning of the 16th of March the Nautilus,
-following the fifty-fifth meridian, cut the Antarctic polar circle.
-Ice surrounded us on all sides, and closed the horizon.
-But Captain Nemo went from one opening to another, still going higher.
-I cannot express my astonishment at the beauties of these new regions.
-The ice took most surprising forms.  Here the grouping formed an
-oriental town, with innumerable mosques and minarets; there a fallen
-city thrown to the earth, as it were, by some convulsion of nature.
-The whole aspect was constantly changed by the oblique rays
-of the sun, or lost in the greyish fog amidst hurricanes of snow.
-Detonations and falls were heard on all sides, great overthrows of icebergs,
-which altered the whole landscape like a diorama.  Often seeing no exit,
-I thought we were definitely prisoners; but, instinct guiding him
-at the slightest indication, Captain Nemo would discover a new pass.
-He was never mistaken when he saw the thin threads of bluish water
-trickling along the ice-fields; and I had no doubt that he had
-already ventured into the midst of these Antarctic seas before.
-On the 16th of March, however, the ice-fields absolutely blocked our road.
-It was not the iceberg itself, as yet, but vast fields cemented
-by the cold.  But this obstacle could not stop Captain Nemo:
-he hurled himself against it with frightful violence.  The Nautilus entered
-the brittle mass like a wedge, and split it with frightful crackings.
-It was the battering ram of the ancients hurled by infinite strength.
-The ice, thrown high in the air, fell like hail around us.
-By its own power of impulsion our apparatus made a canal for itself;
-some times carried away by its own impetus, it lodged on the ice-field,
-crushing it with its weight, and sometimes buried beneath it,
-dividing it by a simple pitching movement, producing large rents in it.
-Violent gales assailed us at this time, accompanied by thick fogs,
-through which, from one end of the platform to the other, we could
-see nothing.  The wind blew sharply from all parts of the compass,
-and the snow lay in such hard heaps that we had to break it with
-blows of a pickaxe.  The temperature was always at 5@ below zero;
-every outward part of the Nautilus was covered with ice.
-A rigged vessel would have been entangled in the blocked up gorges.
-A vessel without sails, with electricity for its motive power,
-and wanting no coal, could alone brave such high latitudes.  At length,
-on the 18th of March, after many useless assaults, the Nautilus was
-positively blocked.  It was no longer either streams, packs, or ice-fields,
-but an interminable and immovable barrier, formed by mountains soldered
-together.
-
-"An iceberg!" said the Canadian to me.
-
-I knew that to Ned Land, as well as to all other navigators who had
-preceded us, this was an inevitable obstacle.  The sun appearing for an
-instant at noon, Captain Nemo took an observation as near as possible,
-which gave our situation at 51@ 30' long.  and 67@ 39' of S. lat.
-We had advanced one degree more in this Antarctic region.
-Of the liquid surface of the sea there was no longer a glimpse.
-Under the spur of the Nautilus lay stretched a vast plain,
-entangled with confused blocks.  Here and there sharp points and slender
-needles rising to a height of 200 feet; further on a steep shore,
-hewn as it were with an axe and clothed with greyish tints;
-huge mirrors, reflecting a few rays of sunshine, half drowned in the fog.
-And over this desolate face of nature a stern silence reigned,
-scarcely broken by the flapping of the wings of petrels and puffins.
-Everything was frozen--even the noise.  The Nautilus was then
-obliged to stop in its adventurous course amid these fields of ice.
-In spite of our efforts, in spite of the powerful means
-employed to break up the ice, the Nautilus remained immovable.
-Generally, when we can proceed no further, we have return still
-open to us; but here return was as impossible as advance,
-for every pass had closed behind us; and for the few moments
-when we were stationary, we were likely to be entirely blocked,
-which did indeed happen about two o'clock in the afternoon,
-the fresh ice forming around its sides with astonishing rapidity.
-I was obliged to admit that Captain Nemo was more than imprudent.
-I was on the platform at that moment.  The Captain had been observing
-our situation for some time past, when he said to me:
-
-"Well, sir, what do you think of this?"
-
-"I think that we are caught, Captain."
-
-"So, M. Aronnax, you really think that the Nautilus cannot disengage itself?"
-
-"With difficulty, Captain; for the season is already too far
-advanced for you to reckon on the breaking of the ice."
-
-"Ah! sir," said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, "you will always
-be the same.  You see nothing but difficulties and obstacles.
-I affirm that not only can the Nautilus disengage itself,
-but also that it can go further still."
-
-"Further to the South?"  I asked, looking at the Captain.
-
-"Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole."
-
-"To the pole!"  I exclaimed, unable to repress a gesture of incredulity.
-
-"Yes," replied the Captain, coldly, "to the Antarctic pole--
-to that unknown point from whence springs every meridian of the globe.
-You know whether I can do as I please with the Nautilus!"
-
-Yes, I knew that.  I knew that this man was bold, even to rashness.
-But to conquer those obstacles which bristled round the South Pole,
-rendering it more inaccessible than the North, which had not yet
-been reached by the boldest navigators--was it not a mad enterprise,
-one which only a maniac would have conceived?  It then came into
-my head to ask Captain Nemo if he had ever discovered that pole
-which had never yet been trodden by a human creature?
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "but we will discover it together.
-Where others have failed, I will not fail.  I have never yet led
-my Nautilus so far into southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall
-go further yet."
-
-"I can well believe you, Captain," said I, in a slightly ironical tone.
-"I believe you!  Let us go ahead!  There are no obstacles for us!
-Let us smash this iceberg!  Let us blow it up; and, if it resists,
-let us give the Nautilus wings to fly over it!"
-
-"Over it, sir!" said Captain Nemo, quietly; "no, not over it,
-but under it!"
-
-"Under it!"  I exclaimed, a sudden idea of the Captain's projects flashing
-upon my mind.  I understood; the wonderful qualities of the Nautilus were
-going to serve us in this superhuman enterprise.
-
-"I see we are beginning to understand one another, sir," said the Captain,
-half smiling.  "You begin to see the possibility--I should say the success--
-of this attempt.  That which is impossible for an ordinary vessel is easy
-to the Nautilus.  If a continent lies before the pole, it must stop before
-the continent; but if, on the contrary, the pole is washed by open sea,
-it will go even to the pole."
-
-"Certainly," said I, carried away by the Captain's reasoning;
-"if the surface of the sea is solidified by the ice,
-the lower depths are free by the Providential law which has
-placed the maximum of density of the waters of the ocean one
-degree higher than freezing-point; and, if I am not mistaken,
-the portion of this iceberg which is above the water is as one
-to four to that which is below."
-
-"Very nearly, sir; for one foot of iceberg above the sea there
-are three below it.  If these ice mountains are not more than 300
-feet above the surface, they are not more than 900 beneath.
-And what are 900 feet to the Nautilus?"
-
-"Nothing, sir."
-
-"It could even seek at greater depths that uniform temperature
-of sea-water, and there brave with impunity the thirty or forty
-degrees of surface cold."
-
-"Just so, sir--just so," I replied, getting animated.
-
-"The only difficulty," continued Captain Nemo, "is that of remaining
-several days without renewing our provision of air."
-
-"Is that all?  The Nautilus has vast reservoirs; we can fill them,
-and they will supply us with all the oxygen we want."
-
-"Well thought of, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain, smiling.
-"But, not wishing you to accuse me of rashness, I will first give
-you all my objections."
-
-"Have you any more to make?"
-
-"Only one.  It is possible, if the sea exists at the South Pole,
-that it may be covered; and, consequently, we shall be unable
-to come to the surface."
-
-"Good, sir! but do you forget that the Nautilus is armed with a powerful spur,
-and could we not send it diagonally against these fields of ice, which would
-open at the shocks."
-
-"Ah! sir, you are full of ideas to-day."
-
-"Besides, Captain," I added, enthusiastically, "why should we
-not find the sea open at the South Pole as well as at the North?
-The frozen poles of the earth do not coincide, either in the southern
-or in the northern regions; and, until it is proved to the contrary,
-we may suppose either a continent or an ocean free from ice at these two
-points of the globe."
-
-"I think so too, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo.
-"I only wish you to observe that, after having made so many
-objections to my project, you are now crushing me with arguments
-in its favour!"
-
-The preparations for this audacious attempt now began.
-The powerful pumps of the Nautilus were working air into the
-reservoirs and storing it at high pressure.  About four o'clock,
-Captain Nemo announced the closing of the panels on the platform.
-I threw one last look at the massive iceberg which we were going
-to cross.  The weather was clear, the atmosphere pure enough,
-the cold very great, being 12@ below zero; but, the wind
-having gone down, this temperature was not so unbearable.
-About ten men mounted the sides of the Nautilus, armed with
-pickaxes to break the ice around the vessel, which was soon free.
-The operation was quickly performed, for the fresh ice was still
-very thin.  We all went below.  The usual reservoirs were filled
-with the newly-liberated water, and the Nautilus soon descended.
-I had taken my place with Conseil in the saloon; through the open
-window we could see the lower beds of the Southern Ocean.
-The thermometer went up, the needle of the compass deviated
-on the dial.  At about 900 feet, as Captain Nemo had foreseen,
-we were floating beneath the undulating bottom of the iceberg.
-But the Nautilus went lower still--it went to the depth of four
-hundred fathoms.  The temperature of the water at the surface
-showed twelve degrees, it was now only ten; we had gained two.
-I need not say the temperature of the Nautilus was raised by its heating
-apparatus to a much higher degree; every manoeuvre was accomplished
-with wonderful precision.
-
-"We shall pass it, if you please, sir," said Conseil.
-
-"I believe we shall," I said, in a tone of firm conviction.
-
-In this open sea, the Nautilus had taken its course direct
-to the pole, without leaving the fifty-second meridian.
-From 67@ 30' to 90@, twenty-two degrees and a half of latitude
-remained to travel; that is, about five hundred leagues.
-The Nautilus kept up a mean speed of twenty-six miles an hour--
-the speed of an express train.  If that was kept up, in forty hours we
-should reach the pole.
-
-For a part of the night the novelty of the situation kept us
-at the window.  The sea was lit with the electric lantern; but it
-was deserted; fishes did not sojourn in these imprisoned waters;
-they only found there a passage to take them from the
-Antarctic Ocean to the open polar sea.  Our pace was rapid;
-we could feel it by the quivering of the long steel body.
-About two in the morning I took some hours' repose, and Conseil
-did the same.  In crossing the waist I did not meet Captain Nemo:
-I supposed him to be in the pilot's cage.  The next morning,
-the 19th of March, I took my post once more in the saloon.
-The electric log told me that the speed of the Nautilus
-had been slackened.  It was then going towards the surface;
-but prudently emptying its reservoirs very slowly.
-My heart beat fast.  Were we going to emerge and regain the open
-polar atmosphere?  No!  A shock told me that the Nautilus
-had struck the bottom of the iceberg, still very thick,
-judging from the deadened sound.  We had in deed "struck," to use
-a sea expression, but in an inverse sense, and at a thousand
-feet deep.  This would give three thousand feet of ice above us;
-one thousand being above the water-mark. The iceberg was then
-higher than at its borders--not a very reassuring fact.
-Several times that day the Nautilus tried again, and every
-time it struck the wall which lay like a ceiling above it.
-Sometimes it met with but 900 yards, only 200 of which
-rose above the surface.  It was twice the height it was
-when the Nautilus had gone under the waves.  I carefully
-noted the different depths, and thus obtained a submarine
-profile of the chain as it was developed under the water.
-That night no change had taken place in our situation.
-Still ice between four and five hundred yards in depth!
-It was evidently diminishing, but, still, what a thickness
-between us and the surface of the ocean!  It was then eight.
-According to the daily custom on board the Nautilus,
-its air should have been renewed four hours ago;
-but I did not suffer much, although Captain Nemo had not yet
-made any demand upon his reserve of oxygen.  My sleep was
-painful that night; hope and fear besieged me by turns:
-I rose several times.  The groping of the Nautilus continued.
-About three in the morning, I noticed that the lower surface
-of the iceberg was only about fifty feet deep.  One hundred
-and fifty feet now separated us from the surface of the waters.
-The iceberg was by degrees becoming an ice-field, the mountain
-a plain.  My eyes never left the manometer.  We were still rising
-diagonally to the surface, which sparkled under the electric rays.
-The iceberg was stretching both above and beneath into
-lengthening slopes; mile after mile it was getting thinner.
-At length, at six in the morning of that memorable day,
-the 19th of March, the door of the saloon opened, and Captain Nemo
-appeared.
-
-"The sea is open!!" was all he said.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-THE SOUTH POLE
-
-I rushed on to the platform.  Yes! the open sea, with but a few
-scattered pieces of ice and moving icebergs--a long stretch of sea;
-a world of birds in the air, and myriads of fishes under those waters,
-which varied from intense blue to olive green, according to the bottom.
-The thermometer marked 3@ C. above zero.  It was comparatively spring,
-shut up as we were behind this iceberg, whose lengthened mass was dimly
-seen on our northern horizon.
-
-"Are we at the pole?"  I asked the Captain, with a beating heart.
-
-"I do not know," he replied.  "At noon I will take our bearings."
-
-"But will the sun show himself through this fog?" said I,
-looking at the leaden sky.
-
-"However little it shows, it will be enough," replied the Captain.
-
-About ten miles south a solitary island rose to a height
-of one hundred and four yards.  We made for it, but carefully,
-for the sea might be strewn with banks.  One hour afterwards we
-had reached it, two hours later we had made the round of it.
-It measured four or five miles in circumference.
-A narrow canal separated it from a considerable stretch of land,
-perhaps a continent, for we could not see its limits.
-The existence of this land seemed to give some colour to Maury's theory.
-The ingenious American has remarked that, between the South Pole
-and the sixtieth parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice
-of enormous size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic.
-From this fact he has drawn the conclusion that the Antarctic
-Circle encloses considerable continents, as icebergs cannot form
-in open sea, but only on the coasts.  According to these calculations,
-the mass of ice surrounding the southern pole forms a vast cap,
-the circumference of which must be, at least, 2,500 miles.
-But the Nautilus, for fear of running aground, had stopped
-about three cable-lengths from a strand over which reared
-a superb heap of rocks.  The boat was launched; the Captain,
-two of his men, bearing instruments, Conseil, and myself were in it.
-It was ten in the morning.  I had not seen Ned Land.
-Doubtless the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of
-the South Pole.  A few strokes of the oar brought us to the sand,
-where we ran ashore.  Conseil was going to jump on to the land,
-when I held him back.
-
-"Sir," said I to Captain Nemo, "to you belongs the honour of first setting
-foot on this land."
-
-"Yes, sir," said the Captain, "and if I do not hesitate
-to tread this South Pole, it is because, up to this time,
-no human being has left a trace there."
-
-Saying this, he jumped lightly on to the sand.  His heart beat
-with emotion.  He climbed a rock, sloping to a little promontory,
-and there, with his arms crossed, mute and motionless, and with an
-eager look, he seemed to take possession of these southern regions.
-After five minutes passed in this ecstasy, he turned to us.
-
-"When you like, sir."
-
-I landed, followed by Conseil, leaving the two men in the boat.
-For a long way the soil was composed of a reddish sandy stone,
-something like crushed brick, scoriae, streams of lava,
-and pumice-stones. One could not mistake its volcanic origin.
-In some parts, slight curls of smoke emitted a sulphurous smell,
-proving that the internal fires had lost nothing of their
-expansive powers, though, having climbed a high acclivity,
-I could see no volcano for a radius of several miles.
-We know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found
-two craters, the Erebus and Terror, in full activity,
-on the 167th meridian, latitude 77@ 32'. The vegetation
-of this desolate continent seemed to me much restricted.
-Some lichens lay upon the black rocks; some microscopic plants,
-rudimentary diatomas, a kind of cells placed between two quartz shells;
-long purple and scarlet weed, supported on little swimming bladders,
-which the breaking of the waves brought to the shore.
-These constituted the meagre flora of this region.
-The shore was strewn with molluscs, little mussels, and limpets.
-I also saw myriads of northern clios, one-and-a-quarter inches long,
-of which a whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful;
-and some perfect sea-butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts
-of the shore.
-
-There appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs,
-of the kind which, according to James Ross, live in
-the Antarctic seas to the depth of more than 1,000 yards.
-Then there were little kingfishers and starfish studding the soil.
-But where life abounded most was in the air.  There thousands
-of birds fluttered and flew of all kinds, deafening us with
-their cries; others crowded the rock, looking at us as we passed
-by without fear, and pressing familiarly close by our feet.
-There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward
-as they are on the ground; they were uttering harsh cries,
-a large assembly, sober in gesture, but extravagant in clamour.
-Albatrosses passed in the air, the expanse of their wings being
-at least four yards and a half, and justly called the vultures
-of the ocean; some gigantic petrels, and some damiers, a kind
-of small duck, the underpart of whose body is black and white;
-then there were a whole series of petrels, some whitish, with
-brown-bordered wings, others blue, peculiar to the Antarctic seas,
-and so oily, as I told Conseil, that the inhabitants of the Ferroe
-Islands had nothing to do before lighting them but to put
-a wick in.
-
-"A little more," said Conseil, "and they would be perfect lamps!
-After that, we cannot expect Nature to have previously furnished
-them with wicks!"
-
-About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with ruffs'
-nests, a sort of laying-ground, out of which many birds were issuing.
-Captain Nemo had some hundreds hunted.  They uttered a cry like the braying
-of an ass, were about the size of a goose, slate-colour on the body,
-white beneath, with a yellow line round their throats; they allowed
-themselves to be killed with a stone, never trying to escape.
-But the fog did not lift, and at eleven the sun had not yet shown itself.
-Its absence made me uneasy.  Without it no observations were possible.
-How, then, could we decide whether we had reached the pole?  When I rejoined
-Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of rock, silently watching
-the sky.  He seemed impatient and vexed.  But what was to be done?
-This rash and powerful man could not command the sun as he did the sea.
-Noon arrived without the orb of day showing itself for an instant.
-We could not even tell its position behind the curtain of fog; and soon
-the fog turned to snow.
-
-"Till to-morrow," said the Captain, quietly, and we returned
-to the Nautilus amid these atmospheric disturbances.
-
-The tempest of snow continued till the next day.
-It was impossible to remain on the platform.  From the saloon,
-where I was taking notes of incidents happening during this
-excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the cries of petrels
-and albatrosses sporting in the midst of this violent storm.
-The Nautilus did not remain motionless, but skirted the coast,
-advancing ten miles more to the south in the half-light
-left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon.
-The next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased.
-The cold was a little greater, the thermometer showing 2@
-below zero.  The fog was rising, and I hoped that that day
-our observations might be taken.  Captain Nemo not having
-yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and myself to land.
-The soil was still of the same volcanic nature;
-everywhere were traces of lava, scoriae, and basalt;
-but the crater which had vomited them I could not see.
-Here, as lower down, this continent was alive with myriads
-of birds.  But their rule was now divided with large troops
-of sea-mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes.
-There were several kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth,
-some on flakes of ice, many going in and out of the sea.  They did
-not flee at our approach, never having had anything to do with man;
-and I reckoned that there were provisions there for hundreds
-of vessels.
-
-"Sir," said Conseil, "will you tell me the names of these creatures?"
-
-"They are seals and morses."
-
-It was now eight in the morning.  Four hours remained to us before
-the sun could be observed with advantage.  I directed our steps
-towards a vast bay cut in the steep granite shore.  There, I can aver
-that earth and ice were lost to sight by the numbers of sea-mammals
-covering them, and I involuntarily sought for old Proteus,
-the mythological shepherd who watched these immense flocks of Neptune.
-There were more seals than anything else, forming distinct groups,
-male and female, the father watching over his family, the mother
-suckling her little ones, some already strong enough to go a few steps.
-When they wished to change their place, they took little jumps,
-made by the contraction of their bodies, and helped awkwardly enough
-by their imperfect fin, which, as with the lamantin, their cousins,
-forms a perfect forearm.  I should say that, in the water,
-which is their element--the spine of these creatures is flexible;
-with smooth and close skin and webbed feet--they swim admirably.
-In resting on the earth they take the most graceful attitudes.
-Thus the ancients, observing their soft and expressive looks,
-which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look a woman can give,
-their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming positions, and the poetry
-of their manners, metamorphosed them, the male into a triton and
-the female into a mermaid.  I made Conseil notice the considerable
-development of the lobes of the brain in these interesting cetaceans.
-No mammal, except man, has such a quantity of brain matter;
-they are also capable of receiving a certain amount of education,
-are easily domesticated, and I think, with other naturalists,
-that if properly taught they would be of great service as fishing-dogs.
-The greater part of them slept on the rocks or on the sand.
-Amongst these seals, properly so called, which have no external ears
-(in which they differ from the otter, whose ears are prominent),
-I noticed several varieties of seals about three yards long,
-with a white coat, bulldog heads, armed with teeth in both jaws,
-four incisors at the top and four at the bottom, and two large
-canine teeth in the shape of a fleur-de-lis. Amongst them glided
-sea-elephants, a kind of seal, with short, flexible trunks.
-The giants of this species measured twenty feet round and ten yards
-and a half in length; but they did not move as we approached.
-
-"These creatures are not dangerous?" asked Conseil.
-
-"No; not unless you attack them.  When they have to defend
-their young their rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon
-for them to break the fishing-boats to pieces."
-
-"They are quite right," said Conseil.
-
-"I do not say they are not."
-
-Two miles farther on we were stopped by the promontory which shelters
-the bay from the southerly winds.  Beyond it we heard loud bellowings
-such as a troop of ruminants would produce.
-
-"Good!" said Conseil; "a concert of bulls!"
-
-"No; a concert of morses."
-
-"They are fighting!"
-
-"They are either fighting or playing."
-
-We now began to climb the blackish rocks, amid unforeseen stumbles,
-and over stones which the ice made slippery.  More than once I rolled
-over at the expense of my loins.  Conseil, more prudent or more steady,
-did not stumble, and helped me up, saying:
-
-"If, sir, you would have the kindness to take wider steps,
-you would preserve your equilibrium better."
-
-Arrived at the upper ridge of the promontory, I saw a vast white
-plain covered with morses.  They were playing amongst themselves,
-and what we heard were bellowings of pleasure, not of anger.
-
-As I passed these curious animals I could examine them leisurely,
-for they did not move.  Their skins were thick and rugged,
-of a yellowish tint, approaching to red; their hair was short
-and scant.  Some of them were four yards and a quarter long.
-Quieter and less timid than their cousins of the north, they did not,
-like them, place sentinels round the outskirts of their encampment.
-After examining this city of morses, I began to think of returning.
-It was eleven o'clock, and, if Captain Nemo found the conditions
-favourable for observations, I wished to be present at the operation.
-We followed a narrow pathway running along the summit of the steep shore.
-At half-past eleven we had reached the place where we landed.
-The boat had run aground, bringing the Captain.  I saw him standing on a block
-of basalt, his instruments near him, his eyes fixed on the northern horizon,
-near which the sun was then describing a lengthened curve.  I took my place
-beside him, and waited without speaking.  Noon arrived, and, as before,
-the sun did not appear.  It was a fatality.  Observations were still wanting.
-If not accomplished to-morrow, we must give up all idea of taking any.
-We were indeed exactly at the 20th of March.  To-morrow, the 21st,
-would be the equinox; the sun would disappear behind the horizon for
-six months, and with its disappearance the long polar night would begin.
-Since the September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon,
-rising by lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December.  At this period,
-the summer solstice of the northern regions, it had begun to descend;
-and to-morrow was to shed its last rays upon them.  I communicated my fears
-and observations to Captain Nemo.
-
-"You are right, M. Aronnax," said he; "if to-morrow I cannot take
-the altitude of the sun, I shall not be able to do it for six months.
-But precisely because chance has led me into these seas on the 21st
-of March, my bearings will be easy to take, if at twelve we can
-see the sun."
-
-"Why, Captain?"
-
-"Because then the orb of day described such lengthened curves that it
-is difficult to measure exactly its height above the horizon,
-and grave errors may be made with instruments."
-
-"What will you do then?"
-
-"I shall only use my chronometer," replied Captain Nemo.
-"If to-morrow, the 21st of March, the disc of the sun,
-allowing for refraction, is exactly cut by the northern horizon,
-it will show that I am at the South Pole."
-
-"Just so," said I. "But this statement is not mathematically correct,
-because the equinox does not necessarily begin at noon."
-
-"Very likely, sir; but the error will not be a hundred yards
-and we do not want more.  Till to-morrow, then!"
-
-Captain Nemo returned on board.  Conseil and I remained to survey
-the shore, observing and studying until five o'clock. Then I
-went to bed, not, however, without invoking, like the Indian,
-the favour of the radiant orb.  The next day, the 21st
-of March, at five in the morning, I mounted the platform.
-I found Captain Nemo there.
-
-"The weather is lightening a little," said he.  "I have some hope.
-After breakfast we will go on shore and choose a post for observation."
-
-That point settled, I sought Ned Land.  I wanted to take him with me.
-But the obstinate Canadian refused, and I saw that his taciturnity and his
-bad humour grew day by day.  After all, I was not sorry for his obstinacy
-under the circumstances.  Indeed, there were too many seals on shore,
-and we ought not to lay such temptation in this unreflecting fisherman's way.
-Breakfast over, we went on shore.  The Nautilus had gone some miles
-further up in the night.  It was a whole league from the coast,
-above which reared a sharp peak about five hundred yards high.
-The boat took with me Captain Nemo, two men of the crew, and the instruments,
-which consisted of a chronometer, a telescope, and a barometer.
-While crossing, I saw numerous whales belonging to the three kinds
-peculiar to the southern seas; the whale, or the English "right whale,"
-which has no dorsal fin; the "humpback," with reeved chest and large,
-whitish fins, which, in spite of its name, do not form wings;
-and the fin-back, of a yellowish brown, the liveliest of all the cetacea.
-This powerful creature is heard a long way off when he throws to a great
-height columns of air and vapour, which look like whirlwinds of smoke.
-These different mammals were disporting themselves in troops in the
-quiet waters; and I could see that this basin of the Antarctic Pole serves
-as a place of refuge to the cetacea too closely tracked by the hunters.
-I also noticed large medusae floating between the reeds.
-
-At nine we landed; the sky was brightening, the clouds were flying to
-the south, and the fog seemed to be leaving the cold surface of the waters.
-Captain Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant
-to be his observatory.  It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava
-and the pumice-stones, in an atmosphere often impregnated with a
-sulphurous smell from the smoking cracks.  For a man unaccustomed
-to walk on land, the Captain climbed the steep slopes with an
-agility I never saw equalled and which a hunter would have envied.
-We were two hours getting to the summit of this peak, which was half
-porphyry and half basalt.  From thence we looked upon a vast sea which,
-towards the north, distinctly traced its boundary line upon the sky.
-At our feet lay fields of dazzling whiteness.  Over our heads
-a pale azure, free from fog.  To the north the disc of the sun seemed
-like a ball of fire, already horned by the cutting of the horizon.
-From the bosom of the water rose sheaves of liquid jets by hundreds.
-In the distance lay the Nautilus like a cetacean asleep on the water.
-Behind us, to the south and east, an immense country and a chaotic
-heap of rocks and ice, the limits of which were not visible.
-On arriving at the summit Captain Nemo carefully took the mean height
-of the barometer, for he would have to consider that in taking
-his observations.  At a quarter to twelve the sun, then seen only
-by refraction, looked like a golden disc shedding its last rays upon
-this deserted continent and seas which never man had yet ploughed.
-Captain Nemo, furnished with a lenticular glass which, by means
-of a mirror, corrected the refraction, watched the orb sinking
-below the horizon by degrees, following a lengthened diagonal.
-I held the chronometer.  My heart beat fast.  If the disappearance of
-the half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve o'clock on the chronometer,
-we were at the pole itself.
-
-"Twelve!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"The South Pole!" replied Captain Nemo, in a grave voice,
-handing me the glass, which showed the orb cut in exactly equal
-parts by the horizon.
-
-I looked at the last rays crowning the peak, and the shadows
-mounting by degrees up its slopes.  At that moment Captain Nemo,
-resting with his hand on my shoulder, said:
-
-"I, Captain Nemo, on this 21st day of March, 1868, have reached the South Pole
-on the ninetieth degree; and I take possession of this part of the globe,
-equal to one-sixth of the known continents."
-
-"In whose name, Captain?"
-
-"In my own, sir!"
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an "N"
-in gold quartered on its bunting.  Then, turning towards the orb of day,
-whose last rays lapped the horizon of the sea, he exclaimed:
-
-"Adieu, sun!  Disappear, thou radiant orb! rest beneath this open sea,
-and let a night of six months spread its shadows over my new domains!"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?
-
-The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning,
-preparations for departure were begun.  The last gleams
-of twilight were melting into night.  The cold was great,
-the constellations shone with wonderful intensity.
-In the zenith glittered that wondrous Southern Cross--
-the polar bear of Antarctic regions.  The thermometer showed 120
-below zero, and when the wind freshened it was most biting.
-Flakes of ice increased on the open water.  The sea seemed
-everywhere alike.  Numerous blackish patches spread on the surface,
-showing the formation of fresh ice.  Evidently the southern basin,
-frozen during the six winter months, was absolutely inaccessible.
-What became of the whales in that time?  Doubtless they
-went beneath the icebergs, seeking more practicable seas.
-As to the seals and morses, accustomed to live in a hard climate,
-they remained on these icy shores.  These creatures have the
-instinct to break holes in the ice-field and to keep them open.
-To these holes they come for breath; when the birds,
-driven away by the cold, have emigrated to the north,
-these sea mammals remain sole masters of the polar continent.
-But the reservoirs were filling with water, and the Nautilus
-was slowly descending.  At 1,000 feet deep it stopped;
-its screw beat the waves, and it advanced straight towards
-the north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour.  Towards night
-it was already floating under the immense body of the iceberg.
-At three in the morning I was awakened by a violent shock.
-I sat up in my bed and listened in the darkness,
-when I was thrown into the middle of the room.
-The Nautilus, after having struck, had rebounded violently.
-I groped along the partition, and by the staircase to the saloon,
-which was lit by the luminous ceiling.  The furniture was upset.
-Fortunately the windows were firmly set, and had held fast.
-The pictures on the starboard side, from being no longer vertical,
-were clinging to the paper, whilst those of the port side
-were hanging at least a foot from the wall.  The Nautilus
-was lying on its starboard side perfectly motionless.
-I heard footsteps, and a confusion of voices; but Captain Nemo did
-not appear.  As I was leaving the saloon, Ned Land and Conseil
-entered.
-
-"What is the matter?" said I, at once.
-
-"I came to ask you, sir," replied Conseil.
-
-"Confound it!" exclaimed the Canadian, "I know well enough!
-The Nautilus has struck; and, judging by the way she lies,
-I do not think she will right herself as she did the first time
-in Torres Straits."
-
-"But," I asked, "has she at least come to the surface of the sea?"
-
-"We do not know," said Conseil.
-
-"It is easy to decide," I answered.  I consulted the manometer.
-To my great surprise, it showed a depth of more than 180 fathoms.
-"What does that mean?"  I exclaimed.
-
-"We must ask Captain Nemo," said Conseil.
-
-"But where shall we find him?" said Ned Land.
-
-"Follow me," said I, to my companions.
-
-We left the saloon.  There was no one in the library.
-At the centre staircase, by the berths of the ship's crew, there was
-no one.  I thought that Captain Nemo must be in the pilot's cage.
-It was best to wait.  We all returned to the saloon.  For twenty
-minutes we remained thus, trying to hear the slightest noise which
-might be made on board the Nautilus, when Captain Nemo entered.
-He seemed not to see us; his face, generally so impassive,
-showed signs of uneasiness.  He watched the compass silently,
-then the manometer; and, going to the planisphere,
-placed his finger on a spot representing the southern seas.
-I would not interrupt him; but, some minutes later, when he
-turned towards me, I said, using one of his own expressions
-in the Torres Straits:
-
-"An incident, Captain?"
-
-"No, sir; an accident this time."
-
-"Serious?"
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Is the danger immediate?"
-
-"No."
-
-"The Nautilus has stranded?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And this has happened--how?"
-
-"From a caprice of nature, not from the ignorance of man.
-Not a mistake has been made in the working.  But we cannot prevent
-equilibrium from producing its effects.  We may brave human laws,
-but we cannot resist natural ones."
-
-Captain Nemo had chosen a strange moment for uttering this
-philosophical reflection.  On the whole, his answer helped me little.
-
-"May I ask, sir, the cause of this accident?"
-
-"An enormous block of ice, a whole mountain, has turned over," he replied.
-"When icebergs are undermined at their base by warmer water or reiterated
-shocks their centre of gravity rises, and the whole thing turns over.
-This is what has happened; one of these blocks, as it fell,
-struck the Nautilus, then, gliding under its hull, raised it with
-irresistible force, bringing it into beds which are not so thick,
-where it is lying on its side."
-
-"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs,
-that it might regain its equilibrium?"
-
-"That, sir, is being done at this moment.  You can hear the pump working.
-Look at the needle of the manometer; it shows that the Nautilus is rising,
-but the block of ice is floating with it; and, until some obstacle stops its
-ascending motion, our position cannot be altered."
-
-Indeed, the Nautilus still held the same position to starboard;
-doubtless it would right itself when the block stopped.
-But at this moment who knows if we may not be frightfully
-crushed between the two glassy surfaces?  I reflected on all
-the consequences of our position.  Captain Nemo never took
-his eyes off the manometer.  Since the fall of the iceberg,
-the Nautilus had risen about a hundred and fifty feet,
-but it still made the same angle with the perpendicular.
-Suddenly a slight movement was felt in the hold.
-Evidently it was righting a little.  Things hanging in
-the saloon were sensibly returning to their normal position.
-The partitions were nearing the upright.  No one spoke.
-With beating hearts we watched and felt the straightening.
-The boards became horizontal under our feet.
-Ten minutes passed.
-
-"At last we have righted!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes," said Captain Nemo, going to the door of the saloon.
-
-"But are we floating?"  I asked.
-
-"Certainly," he replied; "since the reservoirs are not empty; and, when empty,
-the Nautilus must rise to the surface of the sea."
-
-We were in open sea; but at a distance of about ten yards,
-on either side of the Nautilus, rose a dazzling wall of ice.
-Above and beneath the same wall.  Above, because the lower surface
-of the iceberg stretched over us like an immense ceiling.
-Beneath, because the overturned block, having slid by degrees, had found
-a resting-place on the lateral walls, which kept it in that position.
-The Nautilus was really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice
-more than twenty yards in breadth, filled with quiet water.
-It was easy to get out of it by going either forward or backward,
-and then make a free passage under the iceberg, some hundreds
-of yards deeper.  The luminous ceiling had been extinguished,
-but the saloon was still resplendent with intense light.
-It was the powerful reflection from the glass partition sent violently
-back to the sheets of the lantern.  I cannot describe the effect
-of the voltaic rays upon the great blocks so capriciously cut;
-upon every angle, every ridge, every facet was thrown a different light,
-according to the nature of the veins running through the ice;
-a dazzling mine of gems, particularly of sapphires, their blue rays
-crossing with the green of the emerald.  Here and there were opal
-shades of wonderful softness, running through bright spots like
-diamonds of fire, the brilliancy of which the eye could not bear.
-The power of the lantern seemed increased a hundredfold, like a lamp
-through the lenticular plates of a first-class lighthouse.
-
-"How beautiful! how beautiful!" cried Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I said, "it is a wonderful sight.  Is it not, Ned?"
-
-"Yes, confound it!  Yes," answered Ned Land, "it is superb!
-I am mad at being obliged to admit it.  No one has ever seen anything
-like it; but the sight may cost us dear.  And, if I must say all,
-I think we are seeing here things which God never intended
-man to see."
-
-Ned was right, it was too beautiful.  Suddenly a cry from Conseil
-made me turn.
-
-"What is it?"  I asked.
-
-"Shut your eyes, sir!  Do not look, sir!"  Saying which,
-Conseil clapped his hands over his eyes.
-
-"But what is the matter, my boy?"
-
-"I am dazzled, blinded."
-
-My eyes turned involuntarily towards the glass, but I could not stand
-the fire which seemed to devour them.  I understood what had happened.
-The Nautilus had put on full speed.  All the quiet lustre of the ice-walls
-was at once changed into flashes of lightning.  The fire from these myriads
-of diamonds was blinding.  It required some time to calm our troubled looks.
-At last the hands were taken down.
-
-"Faith, I should never have believed it," said Conseil.
-
-It was then five in the morning; and at that moment a shock was
-felt at the bows of the Nautilus.  I knew that its spur had struck
-a block of ice.  It must have been a false manoeuvre, for this
-submarine tunnel, obstructed by blocks, was not very easy navigation.
-I thought that Captain Nemo, by changing his course, would either
-turn these obstacles or else follow the windings of the tunnel.
-In any case, the road before us could not be entirely blocked.
-But, contrary to my expectations, the Nautilus took a decided
-retrograde motion.
-
-"We are going backwards?" said Conseil.
-
-"Yes," I replied.  "This end of the tunnel can have no egress."
-
-"And then?"
-
-"Then," said I, "the working is easy.  We must go back again,
-and go out at the southern opening.  That is all."
-
-In speaking thus, I wished to appear more confident than I really was.
-But the retrograde motion of the Nautilus was increasing; and, reversing
-the screw, it carried us at great speed.
-
-"It will be a hindrance," said Ned.
-
-"What does it matter, some hours more or less, provided we get
-out at last?"
-
-"Yes," repeated Ned Land, "provided we do get out at last!"
-
-For a short time I walked from the saloon to the library.
-My companions were silent.  I soon threw myself on an ottoman,
-and took a book, which my eyes overran mechanically.  A quarter
-of an hour after, Conseil, approaching me, said, "Is what you are
-reading very interesting, sir?"
-
-"Very interesting!"  I replied.
-
-"I should think so, sir.  It is your own book you are reading."
-
-"My book?"
-
-And indeed I was holding in my hand the work on the Great Submarine Depths.
-I did not even dream of it.  I closed the book and returned to my walk.
-Ned and Conseil rose to go.
-
-"Stay here, my friends," said I, detaining them.
-"Let us remain together until we are out of this block."
-
-"As you please, sir," Conseil replied.
-
-Some hours passed.  I often looked at the instruments hanging
-from the partition.  The manometer showed that the Nautilus kept
-at a constant depth of more than three hundred yards; the compass
-still pointed to south; the log indicated a speed of twenty
-miles an hour, which, in such a cramped space, was very great.
-But Captain Nemo knew that he could not hasten too much,
-and that minutes were worth ages to us.  At twenty-five minutes
-past eight a second shock took place, this time from behind.
-I turned pale.  My companions were close by my side.
-I seized Conseil's hand.  Our looks expressed our feelings better
-than words.  At this moment the Captain entered the saloon.
-I went up to him.
-
-"Our course is barred southward?"  I asked.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The iceberg has shifted and closed every outlet."
-
-"We are blocked up then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-WANT OF AIR
-
-Thus around the Nautilus, above and below, was an impenetrable wall
-of ice.  We were prisoners to the iceberg.  I watched the Captain.
-His countenance had resumed its habitual imperturbability.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said calmly, "there are two ways of dying in
-the circumstances in which we are placed."  (This puzzling person
-had the air of a mathematical professor lecturing to his pupils.)
-"The first is to be crushed; the second is to die of suffocation.
-I do not speak of the possibility of dying of hunger, for the supply
-of provisions in the Nautilus will certainly last longer than we shall.
-Let us, then, calculate our chances."
-
-"As to suffocation, Captain," I replied, "that is not to be feared,
-because our reservoirs are full."
-
-"Just so; but they will only yield two days' supply of air.
-Now, for thirty-six hours we have been hidden under the water,
-and already the heavy atmosphere of the Nautilus requires renewal.
-In forty-eight hours our reserve will be exhausted."
-
-"Well, Captain, can we be delivered before forty-eight hours?"
-
-"We will attempt it, at least, by piercing the wall that surrounds us."
-
-"On which side?"
-
-"Sound will tell us.  I am going to run the Nautilus aground
-on the lower bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side
-that is least thick."
-
-Captain Nemo went out.  Soon I discovered by a hissing noise
-that the water was entering the reservoirs.  The Nautilus
-sank slowly, and rested on the ice at a depth of 350 yards,
-the depth at which the lower bank was immersed.
-
-"My friends," I said, "our situation is serious, but I rely
-on your courage and energy."
-
-"Sir," replied the Canadian, "I am ready to do anything
-for the general safety."
-
-"Good!  Ned," and I held out my hand to the Canadian.
-
-"I will add," he continued, "that, being as handy with the pickaxe
-as with the harpoon, if I can be useful to the Captain, he can
-command my services."
-
-"He will not refuse your help.  Come, Ned!"
-
-I led him to the room where the crew of the Nautilus
-were putting on their cork-jackets. I told the Captain
-of Ned's proposal, which he accepted.  The Canadian put on
-his sea-costume, and was ready as soon as his companions.
-When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the drawing-room, where
-the panes of glass were open, and, posted near Conseil,
-I examined the ambient beds that supported the Nautilus.
-Some instants after, we saw a dozen of the crew set foot on the bank
-of ice, and among them Ned Land, easily known by his stature.
-Captain Nemo was with them.  Before proceeding to dig the walls,
-he took the soundings, to be sure of working in the right direction.
-Long sounding lines were sunk in the side walls, but after
-fifteen yards they were again stopped by the thick wall.
-It was useless to attack it on the ceiling-like surface,
-since the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in height.
-Captain Nemo then sounded the lower surface.  There ten yards
-of wall separated us from the water, so great was the thickness
-of the ice-field. It was necessary, therefore, to cut from it
-a piece equal in extent to the waterline of the Nautilus.
-There were about 6,000 cubic yards to detach, so as to dig
-a hole by which we could descend to the ice-field. The work
-had begun immediately and carried on with indefatigable energy.
-Instead of digging round the Nautilus which would have involved
-greater difficulty, Captain Nemo had an immense trench made at eight
-yards from the port-quarter. Then the men set to work simultaneously
-with their screws on several points of its circumference.
-Presently the pickaxe attacked this compact matter vigorously,
-and large blocks were detached from the mass.  By a curious
-effect of specific gravity, these blocks, lighter than water,
-fled, so to speak, to the vault of the tunnel, that increased
-in thickness at the top in proportion as it diminished at the base.
-But that mattered little, so long as the lower part grew thinner.
-After two hours' hard work, Ned Land came in exhausted.  He and his
-comrades were replaced by new workers, whom Conseil and I joined.
-The second lieutenant of the Nautilus superintended us.
-The water seemed singularly cold, but I soon got warm
-handling the pickaxe.  My movements were free enough,
-although they were made under a pressure of thirty atmospheres.
-When I re-entered, after working two hours, to take some food
-and rest, I found a perceptible difference between the pure
-fluid with which the Rouquayrol engine supplied me and the
-atmosphere of the Nautilus, already charged with carbonic acid.
-The air had not been renewed for forty-eight hours, and its vivifying
-qualities were considerably enfeebled.  However, after a lapse
-of twelve hours, we had only raised a block of ice one yard thick,
-on the marked surface, which was about 600 cubic yards!
-Reckoning that it took twelve hours to accomplish this much it
-would take five nights and four days to bring this enterprise
-to a satisfactory conclusion.  Five nights and four days!
-And we have only air enough for two days in the reservoirs!
-"Without taking into account," said Ned, "that, even if we get out
-of this infernal prison, we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg,
-shut out from all possible communication with the atmosphere."
-True enough!  Who could then foresee the minimum of time
-necessary for our deliverance?  We might be suffocated before
-the Nautilus could regain the surface of the waves?  Was it
-destined to perish in this ice-tomb, with all those it enclosed?
-The situation was terrible.  But everyone had looked the danger
-in the face, and each was determined to do his duty to the
-last.
-
-As I expected, during the night a new block a yard square
-was carried away, and still further sank the immense hollow.
-But in the morning when, dressed in my cork-jacket, I traversed
-the slushy mass at a temperature of six or seven degrees below zero,
-I remarked that the side walls were gradually closing in.
-The beds of water farthest from the trench, that were not warmed
-by the men's work, showed a tendency to solidification.  In presence
-of this new and imminent danger, what would become of our chances
-of safety, and how hinder the solidification of this liquid medium,
-that would burst the partitions of the Nautilus like glass?
-
-I did not tell my companions of this new danger.
-What was the good of damping the energy they displayed in
-the painful work of escape?  But when I went on board again,
-I told Captain Nemo of this grave complication.
-
-"I know it," he said, in that calm tone which could counteract
-the most terrible apprehensions.  "It is one danger more;
-but I see no way of escaping it; the only chance of safety is to go
-quicker than solidification.  We must be beforehand with it,
-that is all."
-
-On this day for several hours I used my pickaxe vigorously.
-The work kept me up.  Besides, to work was to quit the Nautilus,
-and breathe directly the pure air drawn from the reservoirs,
-and supplied by our apparatus, and to quit the impoverished and
-vitiated atmosphere.  Towards evening the trench was dug one yard deeper.
-When I returned on board, I was nearly suffocated by the carbonic
-acid with which the air was filled--ah! if we had only the chemical
-means to drive away this deleterious gas.  We had plenty of oxygen;
-all this water contained a considerable quantity, and by dissolving
-it with our powerful piles, it would restore the vivifying fluid.
-I had thought well over it; but of what good was that,
-since the carbonic acid produced by our respiration had invaded
-every part of the vessel?  To absorb it, it was necessary to fill
-some jars with caustic potash, and to shake them incessantly.
-Now this substance was wanting on board, and nothing could replace it.
-On that evening, Captain Nemo ought to open the taps of his reservoirs,
-and let some pure air into the interior of the Nautilus; without this
-precaution we could not get rid of the sense of suffocation.  The next day,
-March 26th, I resumed my miner's work in beginning the fifth yard.
-The side walls and the lower surface of the iceberg thickened visibly.
-It was evident that they would meet before the Nautilus was
-able to disengage itself.  Despair seized me for an instant;
-my pickaxe nearly fell from my hands.  What was the good of digging
-if I must be suffocated, crushed by the water that was turning
-into stone?--a punishment that the ferocity of the savages even
-would not have invented!  Just then Captain Nemo passed near me.
-I touched his hand and showed him the walls of our prison.
-The wall to port had advanced to at least four yards from the hull of
-the Nautilus.  The Captain understood me, and signed me to follow him.
-We went on board.  I took off my cork-jacket and accompanied him into the
-drawing-room.
-
-"M. Aronnax, we must attempt some desperate means, or we shall
-be sealed up in this solidified water as in cement."
-
-"Yes; but what is to be done?"
-
-"Ah! if my Nautilus were strong enough to bear this pressure
-without being crushed!"
-
-"Well?"  I asked, not catching the Captain's idea.
-
-"Do you not understand," he replied, "that this congelation of water
-will help us?  Do you not see that by its solidification, it would
-burst through this field of ice that imprisons us, as, when it freezes,
-it bursts the hardest stones?  Do you not perceive that it would be
-an agent of safety instead of destruction?"
-
-"Yes, Captain, perhaps.  But, whatever resistance to crushing
-the Nautilus possesses, it could not support this terrible pressure,
-and would be flattened like an iron plate."
-
-"I know it, sir.  Therefore we must not reckon on the aid of nature,
-but on our own exertions.  We must stop this solidification.
-Not only will the side walls be pressed together; but there
-is not ten feet of water before or behind the Nautilus.
-The congelation gains on us on all sides."
-
-"How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on board?"
-
-The Captain looked in my face.  "After to-morrow they will be empty!"
-
-A cold sweat came over me.  However, ought I to have been astonished
-at the answer?  On March 22, the Nautilus was in the open polar seas.
-We were at 26@. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board.
-And what was left of the respirable air must be kept for the workers.
-Even now, as I write, my recollection is still so vivid that an
-involuntary terror seizes me and my lungs seem to be without air.
-Meanwhile, Captain Nemo reflected silently, and evidently an idea
-had struck him; but he seemed to reject it.  At last, these words
-escaped his lips:
-
-"Boiling water!" he muttered.
-
-"Boiling water?"  I cried.
-
-"Yes, sir.  We are enclosed in a space that is relatively confined.
-Would not jets of boiling water, constantly injected by the pumps,
-raise the temperature in this part and stay the congelation?"
-
-"Let us try it," I said resolutely.
-
-"Let us try it, Professor."
-
-The thermometer then stood at 7@ outside.  Captain Nemo took
-me to the galleys, where the vast distillatory machines
-stood that furnished the drinkable water by evaporation.
-They filled these with water, and all the electric heat from
-the piles was thrown through the worms bathed in the liquid.
-In a few minutes this water reached 100@. It was directed
-towards the pumps, while fresh water replaced it in proportion.
-The heat developed by the troughs was such that cold water,
-drawn up from the sea after only having gone through the machines,
-came boiling into the body of the pump.  The injection was begun,
-and three hours after the thermometer marked 6@ below zero outside.
-One degree was gained.  Two hours later the thermometer only marked
-4@.
-
-"We shall succeed," I said to the Captain, after having anxiously
-watched the result of the operation.
-
-"I think," he answered, "that we shall not be crushed.
-We have no more suffocation to fear."
-
-During the night the temperature of the water rose to 1@ below zero.
-The injections could not carry it to a higher point.  But, as the congelation
-of the sea-water produces at least 2@, I was at least reassured against
-the dangers of solidification.
-
-The next day, March 27th, six yards of ice had been cleared, twelve feet
-only remaining to be cleared away.  There was yet forty-eight hours' work.
-The air could not be renewed in the interior of the Nautilus.
-And this day would make it worse.  An intolerable weight oppressed me.
-Towards three o'clock in the evening this feeling rose to a violent degree.
-Yawns dislocated my jaws.  My lungs panted as they inhaled this burning fluid,
-which became rarefied more and more.  A moral torpor took hold of me.
-I was powerless, almost unconscious.  My brave Conseil, though exhibiting
-the same symptoms and suffering in the same manner, never left me.
-He took my hand and encouraged me, and I heard him murmur, "Oh! if I could
-only not breathe, so as to leave more air for my master!"
-
-Tears came into my eyes on hearing him speak thus.  If our
-situation to all was intolerable in the interior, with what haste
-and gladness would we put on our cork-jackets to work in our turn!
-Pickaxes sounded on the frozen ice-beds. Our arms ached,
-the skin was torn off our hands.  But what were these fatigues,
-what did the wounds matter?  Vital air came to the lungs!
-We breathed! we breathed!
-
-All this time no one prolonged his voluntary task beyond the prescribed time.
-His task accomplished, each one handed in turn to his panting companions
-the apparatus that supplied him with life.  Captain Nemo set the example,
-and submitted first to this severe discipline.  When the time came,
-he gave up his apparatus to another and returned to the vitiated air
-on board, calm, unflinching, unmurmuring.
-
-On that day the ordinary work was accomplished with unusual vigour.
-Only two yards remained to be raised from the surface.
-Two yards only separated us from the open sea.  But the reservoirs
-were nearly emptied of air.  The little that remained ought
-to be kept for the workers; not a particle for the Nautilus.
-When I went back on board, I was half suffocated.  What a night!
-I know not how to describe it.  The next day my breathing
-was oppressed.  Dizziness accompanied the pain in my head and made
-me like a drunken man.  My companions showed the same symptoms.
-Some of the crew had rattling in the throat.
-
-On that day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo,
-finding the pickaxes work too slowly, resolved to crush
-the ice-bed that still separated us from the liquid sheet.
-This man's coolness and energy never forsook him.  He subdued his
-physical pains by moral force.
-
-By his orders the vessel was lightened, that is to say,
-raised from the ice-bed by a change of specific gravity.
-When it floated they towed it so as to bring it above
-the immense trench made on the level of the water-line. Then,
-filling his reservoirs of water, he descended and shut himself up
-in the hole.
-
-Just then all the crew came on board, and the double door of communication
-was shut.  The Nautilus then rested on the bed of ice, which was not one
-yard thick, and which the sounding leads had perforated in a thousand places.
-The taps of the reservoirs were then opened, and a hundred cubic yards
-of water was let in, increasing the weight of the Nautilus to 1,800 tons.
-We waited, we listened, forgetting our sufferings in hope.  Our safety
-depended on this last chance.  Notwithstanding the buzzing in my head,
-I soon heard the humming sound under the hull of the Nautilus.  The ice
-cracked with a singular noise, like tearing paper, and the Nautilus sank.
-
-"We are off!" murmured Conseil in my ear.
-
-I could not answer him.  I seized his hand, and pressed it convulsively.
-All at once, carried away by its frightful overcharge, the Nautilus sank like
-a bullet under the waters, that is to say, it fell as if it was in a vacuum.
-Then all the electric force was put on the pumps, that soon began to let
-the water out of the reservoirs.  After some minutes, our fall was stopped.
-Soon, too, the manometer indicated an ascending movement.  The screw,
-going at full speed, made the iron hull tremble to its very bolts and drew
-us towards the north.  But if this floating under the iceberg is to last
-another day before we reach the open sea, I shall be dead first.
-
-Half stretched upon a divan in the library, I was suffocating.
-My face was purple, my lips blue, my faculties suspended.
-I neither saw nor heard.  All notion of time had gone from my mind.
-My muscles could not contract.  I do not know how many hours
-passed thus, but I was conscious of the agony that was coming over me.
-I felt as if I was going to die.  Suddenly I came to.
-Some breaths of air penetrated my lungs.  Had we risen to the surface
-of the waves?  Were we free of the iceberg?  No!  Ned and Conseil,
-my two brave friends, were sacrificing themselves to save me.
-Some particles of air still remained at the bottom of one apparatus.
-Instead of using it, they had kept it for me, and, while they
-were being suffocated, they gave me life, drop by drop.
-I wanted to push back the thing; they held my hands,
-and for some moments I breathed freely.  I looked at the clock;
-it was eleven in the morning.  It ought to be the 28th of March.
-The Nautilus went at a frightful pace, forty miles an hour.  It literally
-tore through the water.  Where was Captain Nemo?  Had he succumbed?
-Were his companions dead with him?  At the moment the manometer
-indicated that we were not more than twenty feet from the surface.
-A mere plate of ice separated us from the atmosphere.  Could we not
-break it?  Perhaps.  In any case the Nautilus was going to attempt it.
-I felt that it was in an oblique position, lowering the stern,
-and raising the bows.  The introduction of water had been the means
-of disturbing its equilibrium.  Then, impelled by its powerful screw,
-it attacked the ice-field from beneath like a formidable battering-ram.
-It broke it by backing and then rushing forward against the field,
-which gradually gave way; and at last, dashing suddenly against it,
-shot forwards on the ice-field, that crushed beneath its weight.
-The panel was opened--one might say torn off--and the pure air came in in
-abundance to all parts of the Nautilus.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON
-
-How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian
-had carried me there.  But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air.
-My two companions were getting drunk with the fresh particles.
-The other unhappy men had been so long without food, that they
-could not with impunity indulge in the simplest aliments that were
-given them.  We, on the contrary, had no end to restrain ourselves;
-we could draw this air freely into our lungs, and it was the breeze,
-the breeze alone, that filled us with this keen enjoyment.
-
-"Ah!" said Conseil, "how delightful this oxygen is!
-Master need not fear to breathe it.  There is enough for everybody."
-
-Ned Land did not speak, but he opened his jaws wide enough
-to frighten a shark.  Our strength soon returned, and, when I
-looked round me, I saw we were alone on the platform.
-The foreign seamen in the Nautilus were contented with the air
-that circulated in the interior; none of them had come to drink
-in the open air.
-
-The first words I spoke were words of gratitude and
-thankfulness to my two companions.  Ned and Conseil had
-prolonged my life during the last hours of this long agony.
-All my gratitude could not repay such devotion.
-
-"My friends," said I, "we are bound one to the other for ever,
-and I am under infinite obligations to you."
-
-"Which I shall take advantage of," exclaimed the Canadian.
-
-"What do you mean?" said Conseil.
-
-"I mean that I shall take you with me when I leave this infernal Nautilus."
-
-"Well," said Conseil, "after all this, are we going right?"
-
-"Yes," I replied, "for we are going the way of the sun,
-and here the sun is in the north."
-
-"No doubt," said Ned Land; "but it remains to be seen whether
-he will bring the ship into the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean,
-that is, into frequented or deserted seas."
-
-I could not answer that question, and I feared that Captain Nemo
-would rather take us to the vast ocean that touches the coasts
-of Asia and America at the same time.  He would thus complete
-the tour round the submarine world, and return to those waters
-in which the Nautilus could sail freely.  We ought, before long,
-to settle this important point.  The Nautilus went at a rapid pace.
-The polar circle was soon passed, and the course shaped for Cape Horn.
-We were off the American point, March 31st, at seven o'clock
-in the evening.  Then all our past sufferings were forgotten.
-The remembrance of that imprisonment in the ice was effaced
-from our minds.  We only thought of the future.  Captain Nemo did
-not appear again either in the drawing-room or on the platform.
-The point shown each day on the planisphere, and, marked by
-the lieutenant, showed me the exact direction of the Nautilus.
-Now, on that evening, it was evident, to, my great satisfaction,
-that we were going back to the North by the Atlantic.
-The next day, April 1st, when the Nautilus ascended to the surface
-some minutes before noon, we sighted land to the west.
-It was Terra del Fuego, which the first navigators named thus from
-seeing the quantity of smoke that rose from the natives' huts.
-The coast seemed low to me, but in the distance rose high mountains.
-I even thought I had a glimpse of Mount Sarmiento, that rises 2,070
-yards above the level of the sea, with a very pointed summit, which,
-according as it is misty or clear, is a sign of fine or of wet weather.
-At this moment the peak was clearly defined against the sky.
-The Nautilus, diving again under the water, approached the coast,
-which was only some few miles off.  From the glass windows in
-the drawing-room, I saw long seaweeds and gigantic fuci and varech,
-of which the open polar sea contains so many specimens, with their
-sharp polished filaments; they measured about 300 yards in length--
-real cables, thicker than one's thumb; and, having great tenacity,
-they are often used as ropes for vessels.  Another weed known as velp,
-with leaves four feet long, buried in the coral concretions,
-hung at the bottom.  It served as nest and food for myriads
-of crustacea and molluscs, crabs, and cuttlefish.
-There seals and otters had splendid repasts, eating the flesh
-of fish with sea-vegetables, according to the English fashion.
-Over this fertile and luxuriant ground the Nautilus passed with
-great rapidity.  Towards evening it approached the Falkland group,
-the rough summits of which I recognised the following day.
-The depth of the sea was moderate.  On the shores our nets brought
-in beautiful specimens of sea weed, and particularly a certain fucus,
-the roots of which were filled with the best mussels in the world.
-Geese and ducks fell by dozens on the platform, and soon took
-their places in the pantry on board.
-
-When the last heights of the Falklands had disappeared
-from the horizon, the Nautilus sank to between twenty
-and twenty-five yards, and followed the American coast.
-Captain Nemo did not show himself.  Until the 3rd of April we
-did not quit the shores of Patagonia, sometimes under the ocean,
-sometimes at the surface.  The Nautilus passed beyond the large
-estuary formed by the Uraguay.  Its direction was northwards,
-and followed the long windings of the coast of South America.
-We had then made 1,600 miles since our embarkation in the seas
-of Japan.  About eleven o'clock in the morning the Tropic
-of Capricorn was crossed on the thirty-seventh meridian,
-and we passed Cape Frio standing out to sea.  Captain Nemo,
-to Ned Land's great displeasure, did not like the neighbourhood
-of the inhabited coasts of Brazil, for we went at a giddy speed.
-Not a fish, not a bird of the swiftest kind could follow us,
-and the natural curiosities of these seas escaped all observation.
-
-This speed was kept up for several days, and in the evening
-of the 9th of April we sighted the most westerly point of South
-America that forms Cape San Roque.  But then the Nautilus
-swerved again, and sought the lowest depth of a submarine valley
-which is between this Cape and Sierra Leone on the African coast.
-This valley bifurcates to the parallel of the Antilles,
-and terminates at the mouth by the enormous depression of 9,000 yards.
-In this place, the geological basin of the ocean forms,
-as far as the Lesser Antilles, a cliff to three and a half
-miles perpendicular in height, and, at the parallel of
-the Cape Verde Islands, an other wall not less considerable,
-that encloses thus all the sunk continent of the Atlantic.
-The bottom of this immense valley is dotted with some mountains,
-that give to these submarine places a picturesque aspect.
-I speak, moreover, from the manuscript charts that were in the library
-of the Nautilus--charts evidently due to Captain Nemo's hand,
-and made after his personal observations.  For two days the desert
-and deep waters were visited by means of the inclined planes.
-The Nautilus was furnished with long diagonal broadsides which carried
-it to all elevations.  But on the 11th of April it rose suddenly,
-and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast estuary,
-the embouchure of which is so considerable that it freshens
-the sea-water for the distance of several leagues.  
-
-The equator was crossed. Twenty miles to the west were the Guianas, a
-French territory, on which we could have found an easy refuge; but a
-stiff breeze was blowing, and the furious waves would not have allowed a
-single boat to face them. Ned Land understood that, no doubt, for he
-spoke not a word about it. For my part, I made no allusion to his
-schemes of flight, for I would not urge him to make an attempt that must
-inevitably fail. I made the time pass pleasantly by interesting studies.
-During the days of April 11th and 12th, the Nautilus did not leave the
-surface of the sea, and the net brought in a marvellous haul of
-Zoophytes, fish and reptiles. Some zoophytes had been fished up by the
-chain of the nets; they were for the most part beautiful phyctallines,
-belonging to the actinidian family, and among other species the
-phyctalis protexta, peculiar to that part of the ocean, with a little
-cylindrical trunk, ornamented With vertical lines, speckled with red
-dots, crowning a marvellous blossoming of tentacles. As to the molluscs,
-they consisted of some I had already observed--turritellas, olive
-porphyras, with regular lines intercrossed, with red spots standing out
-plainly against the flesh; odd pteroceras, like petrified scorpions;
-translucid hyaleas, argonauts, cuttle-fish (excellent eating), and
-certain species of calmars that naturalists of antiquity have classed
-amongst the flying-fish, and that serve principally for bait for
-cod-fishing. I had now an opportunity of studying several species of
-fish on these shores. Amongst the cartilaginous ones,
-petromyzons-pricka, a sort of eel, fifteen inches long, with a greenish
-head, violet fins, grey-blue back, brown belly, silvered and sown with
-bright spots, the pupil of the eye encircled with gold--a curious
-animal, that the current of the Amazon had drawn to the sea, for they
-inhabit fresh waters--tuberculated streaks, with pointed snouts, and a
-long loose tail, armed with a long jagged sting; little sharks, a yard
-long, grey and whitish skin, and several rows of teeth, bent back, that
-are generally known by the name of pantouffles; vespertilios, a kind of
-red isosceles triangle, half a yard long, to which pectorals are
-attached by fleshy prolongations that make them look like bats, but that
-their horny appendage, situated near the nostrils, has given them the
-name of sea-unicorns; lastly, some species of balistae, the curassavian,
-whose spots were of a brilliant gold colour, and the capriscus of clear
-violet, and with varying shades like a pigeon's throat.
-
-I end here this catalogue, which is somewhat dry perhaps, but very
-exact, with a series of bony fish that I observed in passing belonging
-to the apteronotes, and whose snout is white as snow, the body of a
-beautiful black, marked with a very long loose fleshy strip;
-odontognathes, armed with spikes; sardines nine inches long, glittering
-with a bright silver light; a species of mackerel provided with two anal
-fins; centronotes of a blackish tint, that are fished for with torches,
-long fish, two yards in length, with fat flesh, white and firm, which,
-when they arc fresh, taste like eel, and when dry, like smoked salmon;
-labres, half red, covered with scales only at the bottom of the dorsal
-and anal fins; chrysoptera, on which gold and silver blend their
-brightness with that of the ruby and topaz; golden-tailed spares, the
-flesh of which is extremely delicate, and whose phosphorescent
-properties betray them in the midst of the waters; orange-coloured
-spares with long tongues; maigres, with gold caudal fins, dark
-thorn-tails, anableps of Surinam, etc.
-
-Notwithstanding this "et cetera," I must not omit to mention fish
-that Conseil will long remember, and with good reason. One of our
-nets had hauled up a sort of very flat ray fish, which, with the
-tail cut off, formed a perfect disc, and weighed twenty ounces. It
-was white underneath, red above, with large round spots of dark blue
-encircled with black, very glossy skin, terminating in a bilobed
-fin. Laid out on the platform, it struggled, tried to turn itself by
-convulsive movements, and made so many efforts, that one last turn
-had nearly sent it into the sea. But Conseil, not wishing to let the
-fish go, rushed to it, and, before I could prevent him, had seized
-it with both hands. In a moment he was overthrown, his legs in the
-air, and half his body paralysed, crying--
-
-"Oh! master, master! help me!"
-
-It was the first time the poor boy had spoken to me so familiarly.
-The Canadian and I took him up, and rubbed his contracted arms till he
-became sensible. The unfortunate Conseil had attacked a cramp-fish
-of the most dangerous kind, the cumana. This odd animal, in a medium
-conductor like water, strikes fish at several yards' distance, so
-great is the power of its electric organ, the two principal surfaces
-of which do not measure less than twenty-seven square feet. The next
-day, April 12th, the Nautilus approached the Dutch coast, near the mouth
-of the Maroni. There several groups of sea-cows herded together; they
-were manatees, that, like the dugong and the stellera, belong to the
-skenian order. These beautiful animals, peaceable and inoffensive, from
-eighteen to twenty-one feet in length, weigh at least sixteen
-hundredweight. I told Ned Land and Conseil that provident nature had
-assigned an important role to these mammalia. Indeed, they, like the
-seals, are designed to graze on the submarine prairies, and thus destroy
-the accumulation of weed that obstructs the tropical rivers.
-
-"And do you know," I added, "what has been the result since men have
-almost entirely annihilated this useful race? That the putrefied weeds
-have poisoned the air, and the poisoned air causes the yellow fever,
-that desolates these beautiful countries. Enormous vegetations are
-multiplied under the torrid seas, and the evil is irresistibly developed
-from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to Florida. If we are to believe
-Toussenel, this plague is nothing to what it would be if the seas were
-cleaned of whales and seals. Then, infested with poulps, medusae, and
-cuttle-fish, they would become immense centres of infection, since their
-waves would not possess 'these vast stomachs that God had charged to
-infest the surface of the seas.'"
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-THE POULPS
-
-For several days the Nautilus kept off from the American coast.
-Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of
-Mexico or of the sea of the Antilles.  April 16th, we sighted
-Martinique and Guadaloupe from a distance of about thirty miles.
-I saw their tall peaks for an instant.  The Canadian,
-who counted on carrying out his projects in the Gulf,
-by either landing or hailing one of the numerous boats that
-coast from one island to another, was quite disheartened.
-Flight would have been quite practicable, if Ned Land had been able
-to take possession of the boat without the Captain's knowledge.
-But in the open sea it could not be thought of.  The Canadian,
-Conseil, and I had a long conversation on this subject.
-For six months we had been prisoners on board the Nautilus.
-We had travelled 17,000 leagues; and, as Ned Land said, there was
-no reason why it should come to an end.  We could hope nothing
-from the Captain of the Nautilus, but only from ourselves.
-Besides, for some time past he had become graver, more retired,
-less sociable.  He seemed to shun me.  I met him rarely.
-Formerly he was pleased to explain the submarine marvels to me;
-now he left me to my studies, and came no more to the saloon.
-What change had come over him?  For what cause?  For my part,
-I did not wish to bury with me my curious and novel studies.
-I had now the power to write the true book of the sea;
-and this book, sooner or later, I wished to see daylight.
-The land nearest us was the archipelago of the Bahamas.  There rose
-high submarine cliffs covered with large weeds.  It was about eleven
-o'clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable pricking,
-like the sting of an ant, which was produced by means of large
-seaweeds.
-
-"Well," I said, "these are proper caverns for poulps, and I
-should not be astonished to see some of these monsters."
-
-"What!" said Conseil; "cuttlefish, real cuttlefish of the cephalopod class?"
-
-"No," I said, "poulps of huge dimensions."
-
-"I will never believe that such animals exist," said Ned.
-
-"Well," said Conseil, with the most serious air in the world,
-"I remember perfectly to have seen a large vessel drawn under
-the waves by an octopus's arm."
-
-"You saw that?" said the Canadian.
-
-"Yes, Ned."
-
-"With your own eyes?"
-
-"With my own eyes."
-
-"Where, pray, might that be?"
-
-"At St. Malo," answered Conseil.
-
-"In the port?" said Ned, ironically.
-
-"No; in a church," replied Conseil.
-
-"In a church!" cried the Canadian.
-
-"Yes; friend Ned.  In a picture representing the poulp in question."
-
-"Good!" said Ned Land, bursting out laughing.
-
-"He is quite right," I said.  "I have heard of this picture;
-but the subject represented is taken from a legend, and you know
-what to think of legends in the matter of natural history.
-Besides, when it is a question of monsters, the imagination
-is apt to run wild.  Not only is it supposed that these poulps
-can draw down vessels, but a certain Olaus Magnus speaks of an
-octopus a mile long that is more like an island than an animal.
-It is also said that the Bishop of Nidros was building
-an altar on an immense rock.  Mass finished, the rock began
-to walk, and returned to the sea.  The rock was a poulp.
-Another Bishop, Pontoppidan, speaks also of a poulp on which
-a regiment of cavalry could manoeuvre.  Lastly, the ancient
-naturalists speak of monsters whose mouths were like gulfs,
-and which were too large to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar."
-
-"But how much is true of these stories?" asked Conseil.
-
-"Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth
-to get to fable or legend.  Nevertheless, there must be some ground
-for the imagination of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps and
-cuttlefish exist of a large species, inferior, however, to the cetaceans.
-Aristotle has stated the dimensions of a cuttlefish as five cubits,
-or nine feet two inches.  Our fishermen frequently see some that are
-more than four feet long.  Some skeletons of poulps are preserved in
-the museums of Trieste and Montpelier, that measure two yards in length.
-Besides, according to the calculations of some naturalists, one of these
-animals only six feet long would have tentacles twenty-seven feet long.
-That would suffice to make a formidable monster."
-
-"Do they fish for them in these days?" asked Ned.
-
-"If they do not fish for them, sailors see them at least.
-One of my friends, Captain Paul Bos of Havre, has often affirmed
-that he met one of these monsters of colossal dimensions in
-the Indian seas.  But the most astonishing fact, and which does
-not permit of the denial of the existence of these gigantic animals,
-happened some years ago, in 1861."
-
-"What is the fact?" asked Ned Land.
-
-"This is it.  In 1861, to the north-east of Teneriffe, very nearly
-in the same latitude we are in now, the crew of the despatch-boat
-Alector perceived a monstrous cuttlefish swimming in the waters.
-Captain Bouguer went near to the animal, and attacked it with
-harpoon and guns, without much success, for balls and harpoons
-glided over the soft flesh.  After several fruitless attempts
-the crew tried to pass a slip-knot round the body of the mollusc.
-The noose slipped as far as the tail fins and there stopped.
-They tried then to haul it on board, but its weight was so
-considerable that the tightness of the cord separated the tail
-from the body, and, deprived of this ornament, he disappeared
-under the water."
-
-"Indeed! is that a fact?"
-
-"An indisputable fact, my good Ned.  They proposed to name this
-poulp `Bouguer's cuttlefish.'"
-
-"What length was it?" asked the Canadian.
-
-"Did it not measure about six yards?" said Conseil, who, posted at the window,
-was examining again the irregular windings of the cliff.
-
-"Precisely," I replied.
-
-"Its head," rejoined Conseil, "was it not crowned with eight tentacles,
-that beat the water like a nest of serpents?"
-
-"Precisely."
-
-"Had not its eyes, placed at the back of its head, considerable development?"
-
-"Yes, Conseil."
-
-"And was not its mouth like a parrot's beak?"
-
-"Exactly, Conseil."
-
-"Very well! no offence to master," he replied, quietly; "if this
-is not Bouguer's cuttlefish, it is, at least, one of its brothers."
-
-I looked at Conseil.  Ned Land hurried to the window.
-
-"What a horrible beast!" he cried.
-
-I looked in my turn, and could not repress a gesture of disgust.
-Before my eyes was a horrible monster worthy to figure in the legends
-of the marvellous.  It was an immense cuttlefish, being eight yards long.
-It swam crossways in the direction of the Nautilus with great speed,
-watching us with its enormous staring green eyes.  Its eight arms,
-or rather feet, fixed to its head, that have given the name
-of cephalopod to these animals, were twice as long as its body,
-and were twisted like the furies' hair.  One could see the 250 air
-holes on the inner side of the tentacles.  The monster's mouth,
-a horned beak like a parrot's, opened and shut vertically.
-Its tongue, a horned substance, furnished with several rows
-of pointed teeth, came out quivering from this veritable pair
-of shears.  What a freak of nature, a bird's beak on a mollusc!
-Its spindle-like body formed a fleshy mass that might weigh 4,000
-to 5,000 lb.; the, varying colour changing with great rapidity,
-according to the irritation of the animal, passed successively
-from livid grey to reddish brown.  What irritated this mollusc?
-No doubt the presence of the Nautilus, more formidable than itself,
-and on which its suckers or its jaws had no hold.  Yet, what monsters
-these poulps are! what vitality the Creator has given them!
-what vigour in their movements! and they possess three hearts!
-Chance had brought us in presence of this cuttlefish, and I did not wish
-to lose the opportunity of carefully studying this specimen of cephalopods.
-I overcame the horror that inspired me, and, taking a pencil, began
-to draw it.
-
-"Perhaps this is the same which the Alector saw," said Conseil.
-
-"No," replied the Canadian; "for this is whole, and the other
-had lost its tail."
-
-"That is no reason," I replied.  "The arms and tails of these animals
-are re-formed by renewal; and in seven years the tail of Bouguer's
-cuttlefish has no doubt had time to grow."
-
-By this time other poulps appeared at the port light.  I counted seven.
-They formed a procession after the Nautilus, and I heard their beaks
-gnashing against the iron hull.  I continued my work.  These monsters
-kept in the water with such precision that they seemed immovable.
-Suddenly the Nautilus stopped.  A shock made it tremble in every plate.
-
-"Have we struck anything?"  I asked.
-
-"In any case," replied the Canadian, "we shall be free,
-for we are floating."
-
-The Nautilus was floating, no doubt, but it did not move.
-A minute passed.  Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant,
-entered the drawing-room. I had not seen him for some time.
-He seemed dull.  Without noticing or speaking to us, he went
-to the panel, looked at the poulps, and said something to
-his lieutenant.  The latter went out.  Soon the panels were shut.
-The ceiling was lighted.  I went towards the Captain.
-
-"A curious collection of poulps?"  I said.
-
-"Yes, indeed, Mr. Naturalist," he replied; "and we are going to fight them,
-man to beast."
-
-I looked at him.  I thought I had not heard aright.
-
-"Man to beast?"  I repeated.
-
-"Yes, sir.  The screw is stopped.  I think that the horny
-jaws of one of the cuttlefish is entangled in the blades.
-That is what prevents our moving."
-
-"What are you going to do?"
-
-"Rise to the surface, and slaughter this vermin."
-
-"A difficult enterprise."
-
-"Yes, indeed.  The electric bullets are powerless against the
-soft flesh, where they do not find resistance enough to go off.
-But we shall attack them with the hatchet."
-
-"And the harpoon, sir," said the Canadian, "if you do not refuse my help."
-
-"I will accept it, Master Land."
-
-"We will follow you," I said, and, following Captain Nemo,
-we went towards the central staircase.
-
-There, about ten men with boarding-hatchets were ready for the attack.
-Conseil and I took two hatchets; Ned Land seized a harpoon.
-The Nautilus had then risen to the surface.  One of the sailors,
-posted on the top ladderstep, unscrewed the bolts of the panels.
-But hardly were the screws loosed, when the panel rose with
-great violence, evidently drawn by the suckers of a poulp's arm.
-Immediately one of these arms slid like a serpent down the opening
-and twenty others were above.  With one blow of the axe, Captain Nemo
-cut this formidable tentacle, that slid wriggling down the ladder.
-Just as we were pressing one on the other to reach the platform,
-two other arms, lashing the air, came down on the seaman placed
-before Captain Nemo, and lifted him up with irresistible power.
-Captain Nemo uttered a cry, and rushed out.  We hurried after him.
-
-What a scene!  The unhappy man, seized by the tentacle and fixed
-to the suckers, was balanced in the air at the caprice of this
-enormous trunk.  He rattled in his throat, he was stifled, he cried,
-"Help! help!"  These words, spoken in French, startled me!
-I had a fellow-countryman on board, perhaps several!
-That heart-rending cry!  I shall hear it all my life.
-The unfortunate man was lost.  Who could rescue him from that
-powerful pressure?  However, Captain Nemo had rushed to the poulp,
-and with one blow of the axe had cut through one arm.
-His lieutenant struggled furiously against other monsters that crept
-on the flanks of the Nautilus.  The crew fought with their axes.
-The Canadian, Conseil, and I buried our weapons in the fleshy masses;
-a strong smell of musk penetrated the atmosphere.
-It was horrible!
-
-For one instant, I thought the unhappy man, entangled with the poulp, would be
-torn from its powerful suction.  Seven of the eight arms had been cut off.
-One only wriggled in the air, brandishing the victim like a feather.  But just
-as Captain Nemo and his lieutenant threw themselves on it, the animal ejected
-a stream of black liquid.  We were blinded with it.  When the cloud dispersed,
-the cuttlefish had disappeared, and my unfortunate countryman with it.
-Ten or twelve poulps now invaded the platform and sides of the Nautilus.
-We rolled pell-mell into the midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled
-on the platform in the waves of blood and ink.  It seemed as though these
-slimy tentacles sprang up like the hydra's heads.  Ned Land's harpoon,
-at each stroke, was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish.
-But my bold companion was suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a monster
-he had not been able to avoid.
-
-Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror!
-The formidable beak of a cuttlefish was open over Ned Land.
-The unhappy man would be cut in two.  I rushed to his succour.
-But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe disappeared between
-the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the Canadian,
-rising, plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart
-of the poulp.
-
-"I owed myself this revenge!" said the Captain to the Canadian.
-
-Ned bowed without replying.  The combat had lasted a quarter of an hour.
-The monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and disappeared
-under the waves.  Captain Nemo, covered with blood, nearly exhausted,
-gazed upon the sea that had swallowed up one of his companions, and great
-tears gathered in his eyes.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-THE GULF STREAM
-
-This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget.
-I have written it under the influence of violent emotion.  Since then I
-have revised the recital; I have read it to Conseil and to the Canadian.
-They found it exact as to facts, but insufficient as to effect.
-To paint such pictures, one must have the pen of the most illustrious
-of our poets, the author of The Toilers of the Deep.
-
-I have said that Captain Nemo wept while watching the waves;
-his grief was great.  It was the second companion he had
-lost since our arrival on board, and what a death!
-That friend, crushed, stifled, bruised by the dreadful
-arms of a poulp, pounded by his iron jaws, would not
-rest with his comrades in the peaceful coral cemetery!
-In the midst of the struggle, it was the despairing cry
-uttered by the unfortunate man that had torn my heart.
-The poor Frenchman, forgetting his conventional language,
-had taken to his own mother tongue, to utter a last appeal!
-Amongst the crew of the Nautilus, associated with
-the body and soul of the Captain, recoiling like him
-from all contact with men, I had a fellow-countryman. Did
-he alone represent France in this mysterious association,
-evidently composed of individuals of divers nationalities?
-It was one of these insoluble problems that rose up unceasingly
-before my mind!
-
-Captain Nemo entered his room, and I saw him no more for some time.
-But that he was sad and irresolute I could see by the vessel,
-of which he was the soul, and which received all his impressions.
-The Nautilus did not keep on in its settled course; it floated
-about like a corpse at the will of the waves.  It went at random.
-He could not tear himself away from the scene of the last struggle,
-from this sea that had devoured one of his men.  Ten days passed thus.
-It was not till the 1st of May that the Nautilus resumed its northerly course,
-after having sighted the Bahamas at the mouth of the Bahama Canal.
-We were then following the current from the largest river to the sea,
-that has its banks, its fish, and its proper temperatures.  I mean
-the Gulf Stream.  It is really a river, that flows freely to the middle
-of the Atlantic, and whose waters do not mix with the ocean waters.
-It is a salt river, salter than the surrounding sea.  Its mean depth is
-1,500 fathoms, its mean breadth ten miles.  In certain places the current
-flows with the speed of two miles and a half an hour.  The body of its
-waters is more considerable than that of all the rivers in the globe.
-It was on this ocean river that the Nautilus then sailed.
-
-I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters
-of the Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light,
-especially in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently.
-May 8th, we were still crossing Cape Hatteras, at the height
-of the North Caroline.  The width of the Gulf Stream there
-is seventy-five miles, and its depth 210 yards.  The Nautilus
-still went at random; all supervision seemed abandoned.
-I thought that, under these circumstances, escape would be possible.
-Indeed, the inhabited shores offered anywhere an easy refuge.
-The sea was incessantly ploughed by the steamers that ply
-between New York or Boston and the Gulf of Mexico, and overrun
-day and night by the little schooners coasting about the several
-parts of the American coast.  We could hope to be picked up.
-It was a favourable opportunity, notwithstanding the thirty
-miles that separated the Nautilus from the coasts of the Union.
-One unfortunate circumstance thwarted the Canadian's plans.
-The weather was very bad.  We were nearing those shores
-where tempests are so frequent, that country of waterspouts and
-cyclones actually engendered by the current of the Gulf Stream.
-To tempt the sea in a frail boat was certain destruction.  Ned Land
-owned this himself.  He fretted, seized with nostalgia that flight
-only could cure.
-
-"Master," he said that day to me, "this must come to an end.  I must make
-a clean breast of it.  This Nemo is leaving land and going up to the north.
-But I declare to you that I have had enough of the South Pole, and I will not
-follow him to the North."
-
-"What is to be done, Ned, since flight is impracticable just now?"
-
-"We must speak to the Captain," said he; "you said nothing when we
-were in your native seas.  I will speak, now we are in mine.
-When I think that before long the Nautilus will be by Nova Scotia,
-and that there near New foundland is a large bay, and into that bay
-the St. Lawrence empties itself, and that the St. Lawrence is my river,
-the river by Quebec, my native town--when I think of this,
-I feel furious, it makes my hair stand on end.  Sir, I would
-rather throw myself into the sea!  I will not stay here!
-I am stifled!"
-
-The Canadian was evidently losing all patience.
-His vigorous nature could not stand this prolonged imprisonment.
-His face altered daily; his temper became more surly.  I knew
-what he must suffer, for I was seized with home-sickness myself.
-Nearly seven months had passed without our having had any news
-from land; Captain Nemo's isolation, his altered spirits,
-especially since the fight with the poulps, his taciturnity, all made
-me view things in a different light.
-
-"Well, sir?" said Ned, seeing I did not reply.
-
-"Well, Ned, do you wish me to ask Captain Nemo his intentions concerning us?"
-
-"Yes, sir."
-
-"Although he has already made them known?"
-
-"Yes; I wish it settled finally.  Speak for me, in my name only,
-if you like."
-
-"But I so seldom meet him.  He avoids me."
-
-"That is all the more reason for you to go to see him."
-
-I went to my room.  From thence I meant to go to Captain Nemo's.
-It would not do to let this opportunity of meeting him slip.
-I knocked at the door.  No answer.  I knocked again, then turned
-the handle.  The door opened, I went in.  The Captain was there.
-Bending over his work-table, he had not heard me.
-Resolved not to go without having spoken, I approached him.
-He raised his head quickly, frowned, and said roughly, "You here!
-What do you want?"
-
-"To speak to you, Captain."
-
-"But I am busy, sir; I am working.  I leave you at liberty to shut
-yourself up; cannot I be allowed the same?"
-
-This reception was not encouraging; but I was determined to hear
-and answer everything.
-
-"Sir," I said coldly, "I have to speak to you on a matter that admits
-of no delay."
-
-"What is that, sir?" he replied, ironically.  "Have you discovered something
-that has escaped me, or has the sea delivered up any new secrets?"
-
-We were at cross-purposes. But, before I could reply, he showed me
-an open manuscript on his table, and said, in a more serious tone,
-"Here, M. Aronnax, is a manuscript written in several languages.
-It contains the sum of my studies of the sea; and, if it please God,
-it shall not perish with me.  This manuscript, signed with my name,
-complete with the history of my life, will be shut up in a little
-floating case.  The last survivor of all of us on board the Nautilus
-will throw this case into the sea, and it will go whither it is borne
-by the waves."
-
-This man's name! his history written by himself!
-His mystery would then be revealed some day.
-
-"Captain," I said, "I can but approve of the idea that makes you act thus.
-The result of your studies must not be lost.  But the means you employ seem
-to me to be primitive.  Who knows where the winds will carry this case,
-and in whose hands it will fall?  Could you not use some other means?
-Could not you, or one of yours----"
-
-"Never, sir!" he said, hastily interrupting me.
-
-"But I and my companions are ready to keep this manuscript
-in store; and, if you will put us at liberty----"
-
-"At liberty?" said the Captain, rising.
-
-"Yes, sir; that is the subject on which I wish to question you.
-For seven months we have been here on board, and I ask you to-day,
-in the name of my companions and in my own, if your intention is
-to keep us here always?"
-
-"M. Aronnax, I will answer you to-day as I did seven months ago:
-Whoever enters the Nautilus, must never quit it."
-
-"You impose actual slavery upon us!"
-
-"Give it what name you please."
-
-"But everywhere the slave has the right to regain his liberty."
-
-"Who denies you this right?  Have I ever tried to chain you with an oath?"
-
-He looked at me with his arms crossed.
-
-"Sir," I said, "to return a second time to this subject will be neither
-to your nor to my taste; but, as we have entered upon it, let us go
-through with it.  I repeat, it is not only myself whom it concerns.
-Study is to me a relief, a diversion, a passion that could make
-me forget everything.  Like you, I am willing to live obscure,
-in the frail hope of bequeathing one day, to future time,
-the result of my labours.  But it is otherwise with Ned Land.
-Every man, worthy of the name, deserves some consideration.
-Have you thought that love of liberty, hatred of slavery,
-can give rise to schemes of revenge in a nature like the Canadian's;
-that he could think, attempt, and try----"
-
-I was silenced; Captain Nemo rose.
-
-"Whatever Ned Land thinks of, attempts, or tries, what does it matter to me?
-I did not seek him!  It is not for my pleasure that I keep him on board!
-As for you, M. Aronnax, you are one of those who can understand everything,
-even silence.  I have nothing more to say to you.  Let this first time you
-have come to treat of this subject be the last, for a second time I will not
-listen to you."
-
-I retired.  Our situation was critical.  I related my conversation
-to my two companions.
-
-"We know now," said Ned, "that we can expect nothing from this man.
-The Nautilus is nearing Long Island.  We will escape, whatever the
-weather may be."
-
-But the sky became more and more threatening.  Symptoms of a hurricane
-became manifest.  The atmosphere was becoming white and misty.
-On the horizon fine streaks of cirrhous clouds were succeeded
-by masses of cumuli.  Other low clouds passed swiftly by.
-The swollen sea rose in huge billows.  The birds disappeared
-with the exception of the petrels, those friends of the storm.
-The barometer fell sensibly, and indicated an extreme extension
-of the vapours.  The mixture of the storm glass was decomposed
-under the influence of the electricity that pervaded the atmosphere.
-The tempest burst on the 18th of May, just as the Nautilus was
-floating off Long Island, some miles from the port of New York.
-I can describe this strife of the elements! for,
-instead of fleeing to the depths of the sea, Captain Nemo,
-by an unaccountable caprice, would brave it at the surface.
-The wind blew from the south-west at first.  Captain Nemo,
-during the squalls, had taken his place on the platform.
-He had made himself fast, to prevent being washed overboard
-by the monstrous waves.  I had hoisted myself up, and made myself
-fast also, dividing my admiration between the tempest and this
-extraordinary man who was coping with it.  The raging sea was swept
-by huge cloud-drifts, which were actually saturated with the waves.
-The Nautilus, sometimes lying on its side, sometimes standing up
-like a mast, rolled and pitched terribly.  About five o'clock
-a torrent of rain fell, that lulled neither sea nor wind.
-The hurri cane blew nearly forty leagues an hour.  It is under
-these conditions that it overturns houses, breaks iron gates,
-displaces twenty-four pounders.  However, the Nautilus, in the midst
-of the tempest, confirmed the words of a clever engineer,
-"There is no well-constructed hull that cannot defy the sea."
-This was not a resisting rock; it was a steel spindle,
-obedient and movable, without rigging or masts, that braved its fury
-with impunity.  However, I watched these raging waves attentively.
-They measured fifteen feet in height, and 150 to 175 yards long,
-and their speed of propagation was thirty feet per second.
-Their bulk and power increased with the depth of the water.
-Such waves as these, at the Hebrides, have displaced a mass
-weighing 8,400 lb.  They are they which, in the tempest of
-December 23rd, 1864, after destroying the town of Yeddo, in Japan,
-broke the same day on the shores of America.  The intensity of
-the tempest increased with the night.  The barometer, as in 1860
-at Reunion during a cyclone, fell seven-tenths at the close of day.
-I saw a large vessel pass the horizon struggling painfully.
-She was trying to lie to under half steam, to keep up above the waves.
-It was probably one of the steamers of the line from New York
-to Liverpool, or Havre.  It soon disappeared in the gloom.
-At ten o'clock in the evening the sky was on fire.
-The atmosphere was streaked with vivid lightning.
-I could not bear the brightness of it; while the captain,
-looking at it, seemed to envy the spirit of the tempest.
-A terrible noise filled the air, a complex noise, made up
-of the howls of the crushed waves, the roaring of the wind,
-and the claps of thunder.  The wind veered suddenly to all
-points of the horizon; and the cyclone, rising in the east,
-returned after passing by the north, west, and south, in the inverse
-course pursued by the circular storm of the southern hemisphere.
-Ah, that Gulf Stream!  It deserves its name of the King of Tempests.
-It is that which causes those formidable cyclones, by the
-difference of temperature between its air and its currents.
-A shower of fire had succeeded the rain.  The drops of water were
-changed to sharp spikes.  One would have thought that Captain Nemo
-was courting a death worthy of himself, a death by lightning.
-As the Nautilus, pitching dreadfully, raised its steel spur in the air,
-it seemed to act as a conductor, and I saw long sparks burst from it.
-Crushed and without strength I crawled to the panel, opened it,
-and descended to the saloon.  The storm was then at its height.
-It was impossible to stand upright in the interior of the Nautilus.
-Captain Nemo came down about twelve.  I heard the reservoirs filling
-by degrees, and the Nautilus sank slowly beneath the waves.
-Through the open windows in the saloon I saw large fish terrified,
-passing like phantoms in the water.  Some were struck before my eyes.
-The Nautilus was still descending.  I thought that at about eight
-fathoms deep we should find a calm.  But no! the upper beds
-were too violently agitated for that.  We had to seek repose
-at more than twenty-five fathoms in the bowels of the deep.
-But there, what quiet, what silence, what peace!  Who could have told
-that such a hurricane had been let loose on the surface of that
-ocean?
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-FROM LATITUDE 47@ 24' TO LONGITUDE 17@ 28'
-
-In consequence of the storm, we had been thrown eastward once more.
-All hope of escape on the shores of New York or St. Lawrence had faded away;
-and poor Ned, in despair, had isolated himself like Captain Nemo.
-Conseil and I, however, never left each other.  I said that the Nautilus
-had gone aside to the east.  I should have said (to be more exact)
-the north-east. For some days, it wandered first on the surface,
-and then beneath it, amid those fogs so dreaded by sailors.
-What accidents are due to these thick fogs!  What shocks upon
-these reefs when the wind drowns the breaking of the waves!
-What collisions between vessels, in spite of their warning lights,
-whistles, and alarm bells!  And the bottoms of these seas look like
-a field of battle, where still lie all the conquered of the ocean;
-some old and already encrusted, others fresh and reflecting from their
-iron bands and copper plates the brilliancy of our lantern.
-
-On the 15th of May we were at the extreme south of the Bank of Newfoundland.
-This bank consists of alluvia, or large heaps of organic matter,
-brought either from the Equator by the Gulf Stream, or from the North Pole
-by the counter-current of cold water which skirts the American coast.
-There also are heaped up those erratic blocks which are carried along
-by the broken ice; and close by, a vast charnel-house of molluscs,
-which perish here by millions.  The depth of the sea is not great
-at Newfoundland--not more than some hundreds of fathoms; but towards
-the south is a depression of 1,500 fathoms.  There the Gulf Stream widens.
-It loses some of its speed and some of its temperature, but it
-becomes a sea.
-
-It was on the 17th of May, about 500 miles from Heart's Content,
-at a depth of more than 1,400 fathoms, that I saw the electric cable lying
-on the bottom.  Conseil, to whom I had not mentioned it, thought at first
-that it was a gigantic sea-serpent. But I undeceived the worthy fellow,
-and by way of consolation related several particulars in the laying
-of this cable.  The first one was laid in the years 1857 and 1858;
-but, after transmitting about 400 telegrams, would not act any longer.
-In 1863 the engineers constructed an other one, measuring 2,000 miles
-in length, and weighing 4,500 tons, which was embarked on the Great Eastern.
-This attempt also failed.
-
-On the 25th of May the Nautilus, being at a depth of more
-than 1,918 fathoms, was on the precise spot where the rupture
-occurred which ruined the enterprise.  It was within 638 miles
-of the coast of Ireland; and at half-past two in the afternoon
-they discovered that communication with Europe had ceased.
-The electricians on board resolved to cut the cable before
-fishing it up, and at eleven o'clock at night they had recovered
-the damaged part.  They made another point and spliced it,
-and it was once more submerged.  But some days after it broke again,
-and in the depths of the ocean could not be recaptured.
-The Americans, however, were not discouraged.  Cyrus Field, the bold
-promoter of the enterprise, as he had sunk all his own fortune,
-set a new subscription on foot, which was at once answered,
-and another cable was constructed on better principles.
-The bundles of conducting wires were each enveloped in gutta-percha,
-and protected by a wadding of hemp, contained in a metallic covering.
-The Great Eastern sailed on the 13th of July, 1866.  The operation
-worked well.  But one incident occurred.  Several times in
-unrolling the cable they observed that nails had recently been
-forced into it, evidently with the motive of destroying it.
-Captain Anderson, the officers, and engineers consulted together,
-and had it posted up that, if the offender was surprised on board,
-he would be thrown without further trial into the sea.
-From that time the criminal attempt was never repeated.
-
-On the 23rd of July the Great Eastern was not more than 500 miles
-from Newfoundland, when they telegraphed from Ireland the news
-of the armistice concluded between Prussia and Austria after Sadowa.
-On the 27th, in the midst of heavy fogs, they reached the port
-of Heart's Content.  The enterprise was successfully terminated;
-and for its first despatch, young America addressed old Europe in these
-words of wisdom, so rarely understood:  "Glory to God in the highest,
-and on earth peace, goodwill towards men."
-
-I did not expect to find the electric cable in its
-primitive state, such as it was on leaving the manufactory.
-The long serpent, covered with the remains of shells,
-bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted with a strong coating
-which served as a protection against all boring molluscs.
-It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and under
-a favourable pressure for the transmission of the electric
-spark which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second.
-Doubtless this cable will last for a great length of time,
-for they find that the gutta-percha covering is improved
-by the sea-water. Besides, on this level, so well chosen,
-the cable is never so deeply submerged as to cause it to break.
-The Nautilus followed it to the lowest depth, which was more than
-2,212 fathoms, and there it lay without any anchorage; and then
-we reached the spot where the accident had taken place in 1863.
-The bottom of the ocean then formed a valley about 100
-miles broad, in which Mont Blanc might have been placed without
-its summit appearing above the waves.  This valley is closed
-at the east by a perpendicular wall more than 2,000 yards high.
-We arrived there on the 28th of May, and the Nautilus was then not
-more than 120 miles from Ireland.
-
-Was Captain Nemo going to land on the British Isles?
-No. To my great surprise he made for the south, once more coming
-back towards European seas.  In rounding the Emerald Isle,
-for one instant I caught sight of Cape Clear, and the light which
-guides the thousands of vessels leaving Glasgow or Liverpool.
-An important question then arose in my mind.  Did the Nautilus
-dare entangle itself in the Manche?  Ned Land, who had re-appeared
-since we had been nearing land, did not cease to question me.
-How could I answer?  Captain Nemo remained invisible.
-After having shown the Canadian a glimpse of American shores,
-was he going to show me the coast of France?
-
-But the Nautilus was still going southward.  On the 30th of May,
-it passed in sight of Land's End, between the extreme point
-of England and the Scilly Isles, which were left to starboard.
-If we wished to enter the Manche, he must go straight to the east.
-He did not do so.
-
-During the whole of the 31st of May, the Nautilus described
-a series of circles on the water, which greatly interested me.
-It seemed to be seeking a spot it had some trouble in finding.
-At noon, Captain Nemo himself came to work the ship's log.
-He spoke no word to me, but seemed gloomier than ever.  What could
-sadden him thus?  Was it his proxim ity to European shores?
-Had he some recollections of his abandoned country?
-If not, what did he feel?  Remorse or regret?
-For a long while this thought haunted my mind, and I had
-a kind of presentiment that before long chance would betray
-the captain's secrets.
-
-The next day, the 1st of June, the Nautilus continued the same process.
-It was evidently seeking some particular spot in the ocean.
-Captain Nemo took the sun's altitude as he had done the day before.
-The sea was beautiful, the sky clear.  About eight miles to the east,
-a large steam vessel could be discerned on the horizon.
-No flag fluttered from its mast, and I could not discover
-its nationality.  Some minutes before the sun passed the meridian,
-Captain Nemo took his sextant, and watched with great attention.
-The perfect rest of the water greatly helped the operation.
-The Nautilus was motionless; it neither rolled nor pitched.
-
-I was on the platform when the altitude was taken, and the Captain
-pronounced these words:  "It is here."
-
-He turned and went below.  Had he seen the vessel which
-was changing its course and seemed to be nearing us?
-I could not tell.  I returned to the saloon.  The panels closed,
-I heard the hissing of the water in the reservoirs.
-The Nautilus began to sink, following a vertical line, for its
-screw communicated no motion to it.  Some minutes later it stopped
-at a depth of more than 420 fathoms, resting on the ground.
-The luminous ceiling was darkened, then the panels were opened,
-and through the glass I saw the sea brilliantly illuminated by
-the rays of our lantern for at least half a mile round us.
-
-I looked to the port side, and saw nothing but an immensity
-of quiet waters.  But to starboard, on the bottom appeared
-a large protuberance, which at once attracted my attention.
-One would have thought it a ruin buried under a coating
-of white shells, much resembling a covering of snow.
-Upon examining the mass attentively, I could recognise
-the ever-thickening form of a vessel bare of its masts,
-which must have sunk.  It certainly belonged to past times.
-This wreck, to be thus encrusted with the lime of the water,
-must already be able to count many years passed at the bottom
-of the ocean.
-
-What was this vessel?  Why did the Nautilus visit its tomb?
-Could it have been aught but a shipwreck which had drawn it under the water?
-I knew not what to think, when near me in a slow voice I heard
-Captain Nemo say:
-
-"At one time this ship was called the Marseillais.  It carried
-seventy-four guns, and was launched in 1762.  In 1778, the 13th of August,
-commanded by La Poype-Ver trieux, it fought boldly against the Preston.
-In 1779, on the 4th of July, it was at the taking of Grenada,
-with the squadron of Admiral Estaing.  In 1781, on the 5th of September,
-it took part in the battle of Comte de Grasse, in Chesapeake Bay.
-In 1794, the French Republic changed its name.  On the 16th of April,
-in the same year, it joined the squadron of Villaret Joyeuse, at Brest,
-being entrusted with the escort of a cargo of corn coming from America,
-under the command of Admiral Van Stebel.  On the 11th and 12th Prairal
-of the second year, this squadron fell in with an English vessel.
-Sir, to-day is the 13th Prairal, the first of June, 1868.  It is now
-seventy-four years ago, day for day on this very spot, in latitude 47@
-24', longitude 17@ 28', that this vessel, after fighting heroically,
-losing its three masts, with the water in its hold, and the third of its
-crew disabled, preferred sinking with its 356 sailors to surrendering;
-and, nailing its colours to the poop, disappeared under the waves to
-the cry of `Long live the Republic!'"
-
-"The Avenger!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, sir, the Avenger!  A good name!" muttered Captain Nemo,
-crossing his arms.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-A HECATOMB
-
-The way of describing this unlooked-for scene, the history
-of the patriot ship, told at first so coldly, and the emotion
-with which this strange man pronounced the last words,
-the name of the Avenger, the significance of which could
-not escape me, all impressed itself deeply on my mind.
-My eyes did not leave the Captain, who, with his hand stretched
-out to sea, was watching with a glowing eye the glorious wreck.
-Perhaps I was never to know who he was, from whence he came,
-or where he was going to, but I saw the man move, and apart
-from the savant.  It was no common misanthropy which had
-shut Captain Nemo and his companions within the Nautilus,
-but a hatred, either monstrous or sublime, which time could
-never weaken.  Did this hatred still seek for vengeance?
-The future would soon teach me that.  But the Nautilus
-was rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the form
-of the Avenger disappeared by degrees from my sight.
-Soon a slight rolling told me that we were in the open air.
-At that moment a dull boom was heard.  I looked at the Captain.
-He did not move.
-
-"Captain?" said I.
-
-He did not answer.  I left him and mounted the platform.
-Conseil and the Canadian were already there.
-
-"Where did that sound come from?"  I asked.
-
-"It was a gunshot," replied Ned Land.
-
-I looked in the direction of the vessel I had already seen.
-It was nearing the Nautilus, and we could see that it was putting on steam.
-It was within six miles of us.
-
-"What is that ship, Ned?"
-
-"By its rigging, and the height of its lower masts," said the Canadian,
-"I bet she is a ship-of-war. May it reach us; and, if necessary,
-sink this cursed Nautilus."
-
-"Friend Ned," replied Conseil, "what harm can it do to the Nautilus?
-Can it attack it beneath the waves?  Can its cannonade us at the bottom
-of the sea?"
-
-"Tell me, Ned," said I, "can you recognise what country she belongs to?"
-
-The Canadian knitted his eyebrows, dropped his eyelids,
-and screwed up the corners of his eyes, and for a few moments
-fixed a piercing look upon the vessel.
-
-"No, sir," he replied; "I cannot tell what nation she belongs to,
-for she shows no colours.  But I can declare she is a man-of-war,
-for a long pennant flutters from her main mast."
-
-For a quarter of an hour we watched the ship which was steaming
-towards us.  I could not, however, believe that she could
-see the Nautilus from that distance; and still less that she
-could know what this submarine engine was.  Soon the Canadian
-informed me that she was a large, armoured, two-decker ram.
-A thick black smoke was pouring from her two funnels.
-Her closely-furled sails were stopped to her yards.
-She hoisted no flag at her mizzen-peak. The distance
-prevented us from distinguishing the colours of her pennant,
-which floated like a thin ribbon.  She advanced rapidly.
-If Captain Nemo allowed her to approach, there was a chance of
-salvation for us.
-
-"Sir," said Ned Land, "if that vessel passes within a mile of us I shall
-throw myself into the sea, and I should advise you to do the same."
-
-I did not reply to the Canadian's suggestion, but continued
-watching the ship.  Whether English, French, American, or Russian,
-she would be sure to take us in if we could only reach her.
-Presently a white smoke burst from the fore part of the vessel;
-some seconds after, the water, agitated by the fall of a heavy body,
-splashed the stern of the Nautilus, and shortly afterwards a loud
-explosion struck my ear.
-
-"What! they are firing at us!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"So please you, sir," said Ned, "they have recognised the unicorn,
-and they are firing at us."
-
-"But," I exclaimed, "surely they can see that there are men in the case?"
-
-"It is, perhaps, because of that," replied Ned Land, looking at me.
-
-A whole flood of light burst upon my mind.  Doubtless they knew
-now how to believe the stories of the pretended monster.  No doubt,
-on board the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian struck it with the harpoon,
-Commander Farragut had recognised in the supposed narwhal a submarine vessel,
-more dangerous than a supernatural cetacean.  Yes, it must have been so;
-and on every sea they were now seeking this engine of destruction.
-Terrible indeed! if, as we supposed, Captain Nemo employed the Nautilus
-in works of vengeance.  On the night when we were imprisoned in that cell,
-in the midst of the Indian Ocean, had he not attacked some vessel?
-The man buried in the coral cemetery, had he not been a victim to
-the shock caused by the Nautilus?  Yes, I repeat it, it must be so.
-One part of the mysterious existence of Captain Nemo had been unveiled;
-and, if his identity had not been recognised, at least, the nations
-united against him were no longer hunting a chimerical creature,
-but a man who had vowed a deadly hatred against them.
-All the formidable past rose before me.  Instead of meeting friends
-on board the approaching ship, we could only expect pitiless enemies.
-But the shot rattled about us.  Some of them struck the sea
-and ricochetted, losing themselves in the distance.  But none touched
-the Nautilus.  The vessel was not more than three miles from us.
-In spite of the serious cannonade, Captain Nemo did not appear
-on the platform; but, if one of the conical projectiles had struck
-the shell of the Nautilus, it would have been fatal.  The Canadian
-then said, "Sir, we must do all we can to get out of this dilemma.
-Let us signal them.  They will then, perhaps, understand that we
-are honest folks."
-
-Ned Land took his handkerchief to wave in the air; but he had
-scarcely displayed it, when he was struck down by an iron hand,
-and fell, in spite of his great strength, upon the deck.
-
-"Fool!" exclaimed the Captain, "do you wish to be pierced by the spur
-of the Nautilus before it is hurled at this vessel?"
-
-Captain Nemo was terrible to hear; he was still more terrible to see.
-His face was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart.  For an instant
-it must have ceased to beat.  His pupils were fearfully contracted.
-He did not speak, he roared, as, with his body thrown forward,
-he wrung the Canadian's shoulders.  Then, leaving him, and turning
-to the ship of war, whose shot was still raining around him,
-he exclaimed, with a powerful voice, "Ah, ship of an accursed nation,
-you know who I am!  I do not want your colours to know you by!
-Look! and I will show you mine!"
-
-And on the fore part of the platform Captain Nemo unfurled
-a black flag, similar to the one he had placed at the South Pole.
-At that moment a shot struck the shell of the Nautilus obliquely,
-without piercing it; and, rebounding near the Captain, was lost in the sea.
-He shrugged his shoulders; and, addressing me, said shortly, "Go down,
-you and your companions, go down!"
-
-"Sir," I cried, "are you going to attack this vessel?"
-
-"Sir, I am going to sink it."
-
-"You will not do that?"
-
-"I shall do it," he replied coldly.  "And I advise you not to
-judge me, sir.  Fate has shown you what you ought not to have seen.
-The attack has begun; go down."
-
-"What is this vessel?"
-
-"You do not know?  Very well! so much the better!
-Its nationality to you, at least, will be a secret.  Go down!"
-
-We could but obey.  About fifteen of the sailors surrounded the Captain,
-looking with implacable hatred at the vessel nearing them.
-One could feel that the same desire of vengeance animated every soul.
-I went down at the moment another projectile struck the Nautilus, and I
-heard the Captain exclaim:
-
-"Strike, mad vessel!  Shower your useless shot!  And then, you will not
-escape the spur of the Nautilus.  But it is not here that you shall perish!
-I would not have your ruins mingle with those of the Avenger!"
-
-I reached my room.  The Captain and his second had remained on the platform.
-The screw was set in motion, and the Nautilus, moving with speed,
-was soon beyond the reach of the ship's guns.  But the pursuit continued,
-and Captain Nemo contented himself with keeping his distance.
-
-About four in the afternoon, being no longer able to
-contain my impatience, I went to the central staircase.
-The panel was open, and I ventured on to the platform.
-The Captain was still walking up and down with an agitated step.
-He was looking at the ship, which was five or six miles to leeward.
-
-He was going round it like a wild beast, and, drawing it eastward,
-he allowed them to pursue.  But he did not attack.
-Perhaps he still hesitated?  I wished to mediate once more.
-But I had scarcely spoken, when Captain Nemo imposed silence, saying:
-
-"I am the law, and I am the judge!  I am the oppressed, and there is
-the oppressor!  Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished,
-and venerated--country, wife, children, father, and mother.
-I saw all perish!  All that I hate is there!  Say no more!"
-
-I cast a last look at the man-of-war, which was putting on steam,
-and rejoined Ned and Conseil.
-
-"We will fly!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Good!" said Ned.  "What is this vessel?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, it will be sunk before night.
-In any case, it is better to perish with it, than be made accomplices
-in a retaliation the justice of which we cannot judge."
-
-"That is my opinion too," said Ned Land, coolly.  "Let us wait for night."
-
-Night arrived.  Deep silence reigned on board.
-The compass showed that the Nautilus had not altered its course.
-It was on the surface, rolling slightly.  My companions and I
-resolved to fly when the vessel should be near enough either
-to hear us or to see us; for the moon, which would be full
-in two or three days, shone brightly.  Once on board the ship,
-if we could not prevent the blow which threatened it, we could,
-at least we would, do all that circumstances would allow.
-Several times I thought the Nautilus was preparing for attack;
-but Captain Nemo contented himself with allowing his adversary
-to approach, and then fled once more before it.
-
-Part of the night passed without any incident.  We watched the
-opportunity for action.  We spoke little, for we were too much moved.
-Ned Land would have thrown himself into the sea, but I forced him to wait.
-According to my idea, the Nautilus would attack the ship at her waterline,
-and then it would not only be possible, but easy to fly.
-
-At three in the morning, full of uneasiness, I mounted the platform.
-Captain Nemo had not left it.  He was standing at the fore part near
-his flag, which a slight breeze displayed above his head.  He did not take
-his eyes from the vessel.  The intensity of his look seemed to attract,
-and fascinate, and draw it onward more surely than if he had been towing it.
-The moon was then passing the meridian.  Jupiter was rising in the east.
-Amid this peaceful scene of nature, sky and ocean rivalled each other
-in tranquillity, the sea offering to the orbs of night the finest mirror
-they could ever have in which to reflect their image.  As I thought of
-the deep calm of these elements, compared with all those passions brooding
-imperceptibly within the Nautilus, I shuddered.
-
-The vessel was within two miles of us.  It was ever nearing that
-phosphorescent light which showed the presence of the Nautilus.
-I could see its green and red lights, and its white lantern hanging
-from the large foremast.  An indistinct vibration quivered through
-its rigging, showing that the furnaces were heated to the uttermost.
-Sheaves of sparks and red ashes flew from the funnels, shining in the
-atmosphere like stars.
-
-I remained thus until six in the morning, without Captain Nemo noticing me.
-The ship stood about a mile and a half from us, and with the first dawn
-of day the firing began afresh.  The moment could not be far off when,
-the Nautilus attacking its adversary, my companions and myself should
-for ever leave this man.  I was preparing to go down to remind them,
-when the second mounted the platform, accompanied by several sailors.
-Captain Nemo either did not or would not see them.  Some steps were taken
-which might be called the signal for action.  They were very simple.
-The iron balustrade around the platform was lowered, and the lantern and pilot
-cages were pushed within the shell until they were flush with the deck.
-The long surface of the steel cigar no longer offered a single point to check
-its manoeuvres.  I returned to the saloon.  The Nautilus still floated;
-some streaks of light were filtering through the liquid beds.
-With the undulations of the waves the windows were brightened by
-the red streaks of the rising sun, and this dreadful day of the 2nd of
-June had dawned.
-
-At five o'clock, the log showed that the speed of the Nautilus
-was slackening, and I knew that it was allowing them to
-draw nearer.  Besides, the reports were heard more distinctly,
-and the projectiles, labouring through the ambient water,
-were extinguished with a strange hissing noise.
-
-"My friends," said I, "the moment is come.  One grasp of the hand,
-and may God protect us!"
-
-Ned Land was resolute, Conseil calm, myself so nervous
-that I knew not how to contain myself.  We all passed into
-the library; but the moment I pushed the door opening on to
-the central staircase, I heard the upper panel close sharply.
-The Canadian rushed on to the stairs, but I stopped him.
-A well-known hissing noise told me that the water was running
-into the reservoirs, and in a few minutes the Nautilus
-was some yards beneath the surface of the waves.
-I understood the manoeuvre.  It was too late to act.
-The Nautilus did not wish to strike at the impenetrable cuirass,
-but below the water-line, where the metallic covering no
-longer protected it.
-
-We were again imprisoned, unwilling witnesses of the dreadful
-drama that was preparing.  We had scarcely time to reflect;
-taking refuge in my room, we looked at each other without speaking.
-A deep stupor had taken hold of my mind:  thought seemed to stand still.
-I was in that painful state of expectation preceding a dreadful report.
-I waited, I listened, every sense was merged in that of hearing!
-The speed of the Nautilus was accelerated.  It was preparing to rush.
-The whole ship trembled.  Suddenly I screamed.  I felt the shock,
-but comparatively light.  I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur.
-I heard rattlings and scrapings.  But the Nautilus, carried along
-by its propelling power, passed through the mass of the vessel like a
-needle through sailcloth!
-
-I could stand it no longer.  Mad, out of my mind, I rushed
-from my room into the saloon.  Captain Nemo was there,
-mute, gloomy, implacable; he was looking through the port panel.
-A large mass cast a shadow on the water; and, that it might
-lose nothing of her agony, the Nautilus was going down into
-the abyss with her.  Ten yards from me I saw the open shell,
-through which the water was rushing with the noise of thunder,
-then the double line of guns and the netting.  The bridge was
-covered with black, agitated shadows.
-
-The water was rising.  The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines,
-clinging to the masts, struggling under the water.  It was a human ant-heap
-overtaken by the sea.  Paralysed, stiffened with anguish, my hair standing
-on end, with eyes wide open, panting, without breath, and without voice,
-I too was watching!  An irresistible attraction glued me to the glass!
-Suddenly an explosion took place.  The compressed air blew up her decks,
-as if the magazines had caught fire.  Then the unfortunate vessel sank
-more rapidly.  Her topmast, laden with victims, now appeared; then her spars,
-bending under the weight of men; and, last of all, the top of her mainmast.
-Then the dark mass disappeared, and with it the dead crew, drawn down by
-the strong eddy.
-
-I turned to Captain Nemo.  That terrible avenger, a perfect
-archangel of hatred, was still looking.  When all was over,
-he turned to his room, opened the door, and entered.
-I followed him with my eyes.  On the end wall beneath his heroes,
-I saw the portrait of a woman, still young, and two little children.
-Captain Nemo looked at them for some moments, stretched his arms
-towards them, and, kneeling down, burst into deep sobs.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
-
-The panels had closed on this dreadful vision, but light had not returned
-to the saloon:  all was silence and darkness within the Nautilus.
-At wonderful speed, a hundred feet beneath the water, it was leaving
-this desolate spot.  Whither was it going?  To the north or south?
-Where was the man flying to after such dreadful retaliation?
-I had returned to my room, where Ned and Conseil had remained silent enough.
-I felt an insurmountable horror for Captain Nemo.  Whatever he had
-suffered at the hands of these men, he had no right to punish thus.
-He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least a witness of his vengeance.
-At eleven the electric light reappeared.  I passed into the saloon.
-It was deserted.  I consulted the different instruments.  The Nautilus was
-flying northward at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, now on the surface,
-and now thirty feet below it.  On taking the bearings by the chart,
-I saw that we were passing the mouth of the Manche, and that our course
-was hurrying us towards the northern seas at a frightful speed.  That night
-we had crossed two hundred leagues of the Atlantic.  The shadows fell,
-and the sea was covered with darkness until the rising of the moon.  I went
-to my room, but could not sleep.  I was troubled with dreadful nightmare.
-The horrible scene of destruction was continually before my eyes.
-From that day, who could tell into what part of the North Atlantic
-basin the Nautilus would take us?  Still with unaccountable speed.
-Still in the midst of these northern fogs.  Would it touch at Spitzbergen,
-or on the shores of Nova Zembla?  Should we explore those unknown seas,
-the White Sea, the Sea of Kara, the Gulf of Obi, the Archipelago of Liarrov,
-and the unknown coast of Asia?  I could not say.  I could no longer judge
-of the time that was passing.  The clocks had been stopped on board.
-It seemed, as in polar countries, that night and day no longer followed
-their regular course.  I felt myself being drawn into that strange
-region where the foundered imagination of Edgar Poe roamed at will.
-Like the fabulous Gordon Pym, at every moment I expected to see "that veiled
-human figure, of larger proportions than those of any inhabitant of the earth,
-thrown across the cataract which defends the approach to the pole."
-I estimated (though, perhaps, I may be mistaken)--I estimated this
-adventurous course of the Nautilus to have lasted fifteen or twenty days.
-And I know not how much longer it might have lasted, had it not been
-for the catastrophe which ended this voyage.  Of Captain Nemo I saw nothing
-whatever now, nor of his second.  Not a man of the crew was visible for
-an instant.  The Nautilus was almost incessantly under water.  When we came
-to the surface to renew the air, the panels opened and shut mechanically.
-There were no more marks on the planisphere.  I knew not where we were.
-And the Canadian, too, his strength and patience at an end, appeared no more.
-Conseil could not draw a word from him; and, fearing that, in a dreadful
-fit of madness, he might kill himself, watched him with constant devotion.
-One morning (what date it was I could not say) I had fallen into a heavy
-sleep towards the early hours, a sleep both painful and unhealthy, when I
-suddenly awoke.  Ned Land was leaning over me, saying, in a low voice,
-"We are going to fly."  I sat up.
-
-"When shall we go?"  I asked.
-
-"To-night. All inspection on board the Nautilus seems to have ceased.
-All appear to be stupefied.  You will be ready, sir?"
-
-"Yes; where are we?"
-
-"In sight of land.  I took the reckoning this morning in the fog--
-twenty miles to the east."
-
-"What country is it?"
-
-"I do not know; but, whatever it is, we will take refuge there."
-
-"Yes, Ned, yes.  We will fly to-night, even if the sea should swallow us up."
-
-"The sea is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light
-boat of the Nautilus does not frighten me.  Unknown to the crew,
-I have been able to procure food and some bottles of water."
-
-"I will follow you."
-
-"But," continued the Canadian, "if I am surprised, I will defend myself;
-I will force them to kill me."
-
-"We will die together, friend Ned."
-
-I had made up my mind to all.  The Canadian left me.
-I reached the platform, on which I could with difficulty support
-myself against the shock of the waves.  The sky was threatening;
-but, as land was in those thick brown shadows, we must fly.
-I returned to the saloon, fearing and yet hoping to see Captain Nemo,
-wishing and yet not wishing to see him.  What could I have said to him?
-Could I hide the involuntary horror with which he inspired me?
-No. It was better that I should not meet him face to face;
-better to forget him.  And yet---- How long seemed that day, the last
-that I should pass in the Nautilus.  I remained alone.  Ned Land
-and Conseil avoided speaking, for fear of betraying themselves.
-At six I dined, but I was not hungry; I forced myself to eat in spite
-of my disgust, that I might not weaken myself.  At half-past six
-Ned Land came to my room, saying, "We shall not see each other
-again before our departure.  At ten the moon will not be risen.
-We will profit by the darkness.  Come to the boat; Conseil and I
-will wait for you."
-
-The Canadian went out without giving me time to answer.
-Wishing to verify the course of the Nautilus, I went to the saloon.
-We were running N.N.E. at frightful speed, and more than fifty yards deep.
-I cast a last look on these wonders of nature, on the riches of art
-heaped up in this museum, upon the unrivalled collection destined
-to perish at the bottom of the sea, with him who had formed it.
-I wished to fix an indelible impression of it in my mind.
-I remained an hour thus, bathed in the light of that luminous ceiling,
-and passing in review those treasures shining under their glasses.
-Then I returned to my room.
-
-I dressed myself in strong sea clothing.  I collected my notes,
-placing them carefully about me.  My heart beat loudly.
-I could not check its pulsations.  Certainly my trouble and agitation
-would have betrayed me to Captain Nemo's eyes.  What was he doing
-at this moment?  I listened at the door of his room.  I heard steps.
-Captain Nemo was there.  He had not gone to rest.  At every moment
-I expected to see him appear, and ask me why I wished to fly.
-I was constantly on the alert.  My imagination magnified everything.
-The impression became at last so poignant that I asked myself if it
-would not be better to go to the Captain's room, see him face to face,
-and brave him with look and gesture.
-
-It was the inspiration of a madman; fortunately I resisted the desire,
-and stretched myself on my bed to quiet my bodily agitation.
-My nerves were somewhat calmer, but in my excited brain I saw
-over again all my existence on board the Nautilus; every incident,
-either happy or unfortunate, which had happened since my disappearance
-from the Abraham Lincoln--the submarine hunt, the Torres Straits,
-the savages of Papua, the running ashore, the coral cemetery,
-the passage of Suez, the Island of Santorin, the Cretan diver,
-Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the iceberg, the South Pole, the imprisonment
-in the ice, the fight among the poulps, the storm in the Gulf Stream,
-the Avenger, and the horrible scene of the vessel sunk with all her crew.
-All these events passed before my eyes like scenes in a drama.
-Then Captain Nemo seemed to grow enormously, his features to assume
-superhuman proportions.  He was no longer my equal, but a man of the waters,
-the genie of the sea.
-
-It was then half-past nine.  I held my head between my hands to keep
-it from bursting.  I closed my eyes; I would not think any longer.
-There was another half-hour to wait, another half-hour of a nightmare,
-which might drive me mad.
-
-At that moment I heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony to an
-undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break these earthly bonds.
-I listened with every sense, scarcely breathing; plunged, like Captain Nemo,
-in that musical ecstasy, which was drawing him in spirit to the end of life.
-
-Then a sudden thought terrified me.  Captain Nemo had left his room.
-He was in the saloon, which I must cross to fly.  There I should
-meet him for the last time.  He would see me, perhaps speak to me.
-A gesture of his might destroy me, a single word chain me on board.
-
-But ten was about to strike.  The moment had come for me to leave my room,
-and join my companions.
-
-I must not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himself should rise before me.
-I opened my door carefully; and even then, as it turned on its hinges,
-it seemed to me to make a dreadful noise.  Perhaps it only existed in
-my own imagination.
-
-I crept along the dark stairs of the Nautilus, stopping at each step
-to check the beating of my heart.  I reached the door of the saloon,
-and opened it gently.  It was plunged in profound darkness.
-The strains of the organ sounded faintly.  Captain Nemo was there.
-He did not see me.  In the full light I do not think he would have
-noticed me, so entirely was he absorbed in the ecstasy.
-
-I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound which might
-betray my presence.  I was at least five minutes reaching the door,
-at the opposite side, opening into the library.
-
-I was going to open it, when a sigh from Captain Nemo nailed me to the spot.
-I knew that he was rising.  I could even see him, for the light from
-the library came through to the saloon.  He came towards me silently,
-with his arms crossed, gliding like a spectre rather than walking.
-His breast was swelling with sobs; and I heard him murmur these words
-(the last which ever struck my ear):
-
-"Almighty God! enough! enough!"
-
-Was it a confession of remorse which thus escaped from this man's conscience?
-
-In desperation, I rushed through the library, mounted the central
-staircase, and, following the upper flight, reached the boat.
-I crept through the opening, which had already admitted
-my two companions.
-
-"Let us go! let us go!"  I exclaimed.
-
-"Directly!" replied the Canadian.
-
-The orifice in the plates of the Nautilus was first closed,
-and fastened down by means of a false key, with which Ned Land
-had provided himself; the opening in the boat was also closed.
-The Canadian began to loosen the bolts which still held us to
-the submarine boat.
-
-Suddenly a noise was heard.  Voices were answering each other loudly.
-What was the matter?  Had they discovered our flight?
-I felt Ned Land slipping a dagger into my hand.
-
-"Yes," I murmured, "we know how to die!"
-
-The Canadian had stopped in his work.  But one word many times repeated,
-a dreadful word, revealed the cause of the agitation spreading on board
-the Nautilus.  It was not we the crew were looking after!
-
-"The maelstrom! the maelstrom!"  Could a more dreadful word in a more
-dreadful situation have sounded in our ears!  We were then upon
-the dangerous coast of Norway.  Was the Nautilus being drawn into
-this gulf at the moment our boat was going to leave its sides?
-We knew that at the tide the pent-up waters between the islands
-of Ferroe and Loffoden rush with irresistible violence,
-forming a whirlpool from which no vessel ever escapes.
-From every point of the horizon enormous waves were meeting,
-forming a gulf justly called the "Navel of the Ocean,"
-whose power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve miles.
-There, not only vessels, but whales are sacrificed, as well as white
-bears from the northern regions.
-
-It is thither that the Nautilus, voluntarily or involuntarily,
-had been run by the Captain.
-
-It was describing a spiral, the circumference of which was lessening
-by degrees, and the boat, which was still fastened to its side,
-was carried along with giddy speed.  I felt that sickly giddiness
-which arises from long-continued whirling round.
-
-We were in dread.  Our horror was at its height, circulation had stopped,
-all nervous influence was annihilated, and we were covered with cold sweat,
-like a sweat of agony!  And what noise around our frail bark!
-What roarings repeated by the echo miles away!  What an uproar was that
-of the waters broken on the sharp rocks at the bottom, where the hardest
-bodies are crushed, and trees worn away, "with all the fur rubbed off,"
-according to the Norwegian phrase!
-
-What a situation to be in!  We rocked frightfully.  The Nautilus
-defended itself like a human being.  Its steel muscles cracked.
-Sometimes it seemed to stand upright, and we with it!
-
-"We must hold on," said Ned, "and look after the bolts.
-We may still be saved if we stick to the Nautilus."
-
-He had not finished the words, when we heard a crashing noise,
-the bolts gave way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was hurled
-like a stone from a sling into the midst of the whirlpool.
-
-My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock
-I lost all consciousness.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-CONCLUSION
-
-Thus ends the voyage under the seas.  What passed during that night--
-how the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom--
-how Ned Land, Conseil, and myself ever came out of the gulf,
-I cannot tell.
-
-But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman's hut,
-on the Loffoden Isles.  My two companions, safe and sound, were near me
-holding my hands.  We embraced each other heartily.
-
-At that moment we could not think of returning to France.  The means
-of communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare.
-And I am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly
-from Cape North.
-
-And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us,
-I revise my record of these adventures once more.
-Not a fact has been omitted, not a detail exaggerated.
-It is a faithful narrative of this incredible expedition in an
-element inaccessible to man, but to which Progress will one day
-open a road.
-
-Shall I be believed?  I do not know.  And it matters little, after all.
-What I now affirm is, that I have a right to speak of these seas, under which,
-in less than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that submarine tour
-of the world, which has revealed so many wonders.
-
-But what has become of the Nautilus?  Did it resist the pressure
-of the maelstrom?  Does Captain Nemo still live?  And does
-he still follow under the ocean those frightful retaliations?
-Or, did he stop after the last hecatomb?
-
-Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing
-the history of his life?  Shall I ever know the name of this man?
-Will the missing vessel tell us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo?
-
-I hope so.  And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered
-the sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the Nautilus has survived
-where so many other vessels have been lost!  If it be so--if Captain
-Nemo still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be
-appeased in that savage heart!  May the contemplation of so many wonders
-extinguish for ever the spirit of vengeance!  May the judge disappear,
-and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea!
-If his destiny be strange, it is also sublime.  Have I not understood
-it myself?  Have I not lived ten months of this unnatural life?
-And to the question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago,
-"That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?"
-two men alone of all now living have the right to give an answer----
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF.
-
-
-
-
-The end of Project Gutenberg etext of "Twenty Thousand Leagues
-Under the Sea"
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-  32    36  mizen-mast             mizzen-mast
-  66     5  Arronax                Aronnax
-  87    33  zoophites              zoophytes
-  89    22  aparatus               apparatus
-  96    28  dirunal                diurnal
-  97     8  Arronax                Aronnax
- 123    23  porphry                porphyry
- 141     8  Arronax                Aronnax
- 146    30  sideral                sidereal
- 177    30  Arronax                Aronnax
- 223     4  commmit                commit
- 258    16  swiftiest              swiftest
- 274     2  occured                occurred
-
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-End Project Gutenberg EBook of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, by Jules Verne
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
-
-Author: Jules Verne
-
-Illustrators: Alphonse de Neuville
-              Edouard Riou
-
-Release Date: September 1, 1994 [eBook #164]
-[Most recently updated: October 13, 2023]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: a number of anonymous Gutenberg Project volunteers
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA ***
-
-
-
-
-Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
-
-by Jules Verne
-
-
-
-
-Contents
-
- PART I
- CHAPTER I A SHIFTING REEF
- CHAPTER II PRO AND CON
- CHAPTER III I FORM MY RESOLUTION
- CHAPTER IV NED LAND
- CHAPTER V AT A VENTURE
- CHAPTER VI AT FULL STEAM
- CHAPTER VII AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE
- CHAPTER VIII MOBILIS IN MOBILI
- CHAPTER IX NED LAND’S TEMPERS
- CHAPTER X THE MAN OF THE SEAS
- CHAPTER XI ALL BY ELECTRICITY
- CHAPTER XII SOME FIGURES
- CHAPTER XIII THE BLACK RIVER
- CHAPTER XIV A NOTE OF INVITATION
- CHAPTER XV A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
- CHAPTER XVI A SUBMARINE FOREST
- CHAPTER XVII FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
- CHAPTER XVIII VANIKORO
- CHAPTER XIX TORRES STRAITS
- CHAPTER XX A FEW DAYS ON LAND
- CHAPTER XXI CAPTAIN NEMO’S THUNDERBOLT
- CHAPTER XXII “ÆGRI SOMNIA”
- CHAPTER XXIII THE CORAL KINGDOM
-
- PART II
- CHAPTER I THE INDIAN OCEAN
- CHAPTER II A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO’S
- CHAPTER III A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS
- CHAPTER IV THE RED SEA
- CHAPTER V THE ARABIAN TUNNEL
- CHAPTER VI THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
- CHAPTER VII THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
- CHAPTER VIII VIGO BAY
- CHAPTER IX A VANISHED CONTINENT
- CHAPTER X THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES
- CHAPTER XI THE SARGASSO SEA
- CHAPTER XII CACHALOTS AND WHALES
- CHAPTER XIII THE ICEBERG
- CHAPTER XIV THE SOUTH POLE
- CHAPTER XV ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?
- CHAPTER XVI WANT OF AIR
- CHAPTER XVII FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON
- CHAPTER XVIII THE POULPS
- CHAPTER XIX THE GULF STREAM
- CHAPTER XX FROM LATITUDE 47° 24′ TO LONGITUDE 17° 28′
- CHAPTER XXI A HECATOMB
- CHAPTER XXII THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
- CHAPTER XXIII CONCLUSION
-
-
-
-
-List of Illustrations
-
- An old grey-bearded gunner . . . .
- Captain Nemo’s state-room
- Captain Nemo took the Sun’s altitude
- I was ready to set out
- Conseil seized his gun
- All fell on their knees in an attitude of prayer
- A terrible combat began
- “A man! A shipwrecked sailor!” I cried
- The _Nautilus_ was floating near a mountain
- The _Nautilus_ was blocked up
- One of these long arms glided through the opening
- The unfortunate vessel sank more rapidly
-
-
-
-
-PART ONE
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-A SHIFTING REEF
-
-
-The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and
-puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to
-mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the
-public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were
-particularly excited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels,
-skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries,
-and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were
-deeply interested in the matter.
-
-For some time past, vessels had been met by “an enormous thing,” a long
-object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely
-larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
-
-The facts relating to this apparition (entered in various log-books)
-agreed in most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in
-question, the untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power
-of locomotion, and the peculiar life with which it seemed endowed. If
-it was a cetacean, it surpassed in size all those hitherto classified
-in science. Taking into consideration the mean of observations made at
-divers times,—rejecting the timid estimate of those who assigned to
-this object a length of two hundred feet, equally with the exaggerated
-opinions which set it down as a mile in width and three in length,—we
-might fairly conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly all
-dimensions admitted by the ichthyologists of the day, if it existed at
-all. And that it _did_ exist was an undeniable fact; and, with that
-tendency which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvellous, we
-can understand the excitement produced in the entire world by this
-supernatural apparition. As to classing it in the list of fables, the
-idea was out of the question.
-
-On the 20th of July, 1866, the steamer _Governor Higginson_, of the
-Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had met this moving mass
-five miles off the east coast of Australia. Captain Baker thought at
-first that he was in the presence of an unknown sandbank; he even
-prepared to determine its exact position, when two columns of water,
-projected by the inexplicable object, shot with a hissing noise a
-hundred and fifty feet up into the air. Now, unless the sandbank had
-been submitted to the intermittent eruption of a geyser, the _Governor
-Higginson_ had to do neither more nor less than with an aquatic mammal,
-unknown till then, which threw up from its blow-holes columns of water
-mixed with air and vapour.
-
-Similar facts were observed on the 23rd of July in the same year, in
-the Pacific Ocean, by the _Columbus_, of the West India and Pacific
-Steam Navigation Company. But this extraordinary cetaceous creature
-could transport itself from one place to another with surprising
-velocity; as, in an interval of three days, the _Governor Higginson_
-and the _Columbus_ had observed it at two different points of the
-chart, separated by a distance of more than seven hundred nautical
-leagues.
-
-Fifteen days later, two thousand miles farther off, the _Helvetia_, of
-the Compagnie-Nationale, and the _Shannon_, of the Royal Mail Steamship
-Company, sailing to windward in that portion of the Atlantic lying
-between the United States and Europe, respectively signalled the
-monster to each other in 42° 15′ N. lat. and 60° 35′ W. long. In these
-simultaneous observations they thought themselves justified in
-estimating the minimum length of the mammal at more than three hundred
-and fifty feet, as the _Shannon_ and _Helvetia_ were of smaller
-dimensions than it, though they measured three hundred feet over all.
-
-Now the largest whales, those which frequent those parts of the sea
-round the Aleutian, Kulammak, and Umgullich islands, have never
-exceeded the length of sixty yards, if they attain that.
-
-These reports arriving one after the other, with fresh observations
-made on board the transatlantic ship _Pereire_, a collision which
-occurred between the _Etna_ of the Inman line and the monster, a
-_procès verbal_ directed by the officers of the French frigate
-_Normandie_, a very accurate survey made by the staff of Commodore
-Fitz-James on board the _Lord Clyde_, greatly influenced public
-opinion. Light-thinking people jested upon the phenomenon, but grave
-practical countries, such as England, America, and Germany, treated the
-matter more seriously.
-
-In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion. They sang
-of it in the cafés, ridiculed it in the papers, and represented it on
-the stage. All kinds of stories were circulated regarding it. There
-appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary
-creature, from the white whale, the terrible “Moby Dick” of hyperborean
-regions, to the immense kraken whose tentacles could entangle a ship of
-five hundred tons, and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean. The
-legends of ancient times were even resuscitated, and the opinions of
-Aristotle and Pliny revived, who admitted the existence of these
-monsters, as well as the Norwegian tales of Bishop Pontoppidan, the
-accounts of Paul Heggede, and, last of all, the reports of Mr.
-Harrington (whose good faith no one could suspect), who affirmed that,
-being on board the _Castillan_, in 1857, he had seen this enormous
-serpent, which had never until that time frequented any other seas but
-those of the ancient “_Constitutionnel_.”
-
-Then burst forth the interminable controversy between the credulous and
-the incredulous in the societies of savants and the scientific
-journals. “The question of the monster” inflamed all minds. Editors of
-scientific journals, quarrelling with believers in the supernatural,
-spilled seas of ink during this memorable campaign, some even drawing
-blood; for, from the sea-serpent they came to direct personalities.
-
-For six months war was waged with various fortune in the leading
-articles of the Geographical Institution of Brazil, the Royal Academy
-of Science of Berlin, the British Association, the Smithsonian
-Institution of Washington, in the discussions of the “Indian
-Archipelago,” of the Cosmos of the Abbé Moigno, in the Mittheilungen of
-Petermann, in the scientific chronicles of the great journals of France
-and other countries. The cheaper journals replied keenly and with
-inexhaustible zest. These satirical writers parodied a remark of
-Linnæus, quoted by the adversaries of the monster, maintaining “that
-nature did not make fools,” and adjured their contemporaries not to
-give the lie to nature, by admitting the existence of krakens,
-sea-serpents, “Moby Dicks,” and other lucubrations of delirious
-sailors. At length an article in a well-known satirical journal by a
-favourite contributor, the chief of the staff, settled the monster,
-like Hippolytus, giving it the death-blow amidst an universal burst of
-laughter. Wit had conquered science.
-
-During the first months of the year 1867 the question seemed buried,
-never to revive, when new facts were brought before the public. It was
-then no longer a scientific problem to be solved, but a real danger
-seriously to be avoided. The question took quite another shape. The
-monster became a small island, a rock, a reef, but a reef of indefinite
-and shifting proportions.
-
-On the 5th of March, 1867, the _Moravian_, of the Montreal Ocean
-Company, finding herself during the night in 27° 30′ lat. and 72° 15′
-long., struck on her starboard quarter a rock, marked in no chart for
-that part of the sea. Under the combined efforts of the wind and its
-four hundred horse-power, it was going at the rate of thirteen knots.
-Had it not been for the superior strength of the hull of the
-_Moravian_, she would have been broken by the shock and gone down with
-the 237 passengers she was bringing home from Canada.
-
-The accident happened about five o’clock in the morning, as the day was
-breaking. The officers of the quarter-deck hurried to the after-part of
-the vessel. They examined the sea with the most scrupulous attention.
-They saw nothing but a strong eddy about three cables’ length distant,
-as if the surface had been violently agitated. The bearings of the
-place were taken exactly, and the _Moravian_ continued its route
-without apparent damage. Had it struck on a submerged rock, or on an
-enormous wreck? they could not tell; but on examination of the ship’s
-bottom when undergoing repairs, it was found that part of her keel was
-broken.
-
-This fact, so grave in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten like
-many others if, three weeks after, it had not been re-enacted under
-similar circumstances. But, thanks to the nationality of the victim of
-the shock, thanks to the reputation of the company to which the vessel
-belonged, the circumstance became extensively circulated.
-
-The 13th of April, 1867, the sea being beautiful, the breeze
-favourable, the _Scotia_, of the Cunard Company’s line, found herself
-in 15° 12′ long. and 45° 37′ lat. She was going at the speed of
-thirteen knots and a half.
-
-At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, whilst the passengers
-were assembled at lunch in the great saloon, a slight shock was felt on
-the hull of the _Scotia_, on her quarter, a little aft of the
-port-paddle.
-
-The _Scotia_ had not struck, but she had been struck, and seemingly by
-something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt. The shock had been
-so slight that no one had been alarmed, had it not been for the shouts
-of the carpenter’s watch, who rushed on to the bridge, exclaiming, “We
-are sinking! we are sinking!” At first the passengers were much
-frightened, but Captain Anderson hastened to reassure them. The danger
-could not be imminent. The _Scotia_, divided into seven compartments by
-strong partitions, could brave with impunity any leak. Captain Anderson
-went down immediately into the hold. He found that the sea was pouring
-into the fifth compartment; and the rapidity of the influx proved that
-the force of the water was considerable. Fortunately this compartment
-did not hold the boilers, or the fires would have been immediately
-extinguished. Captain Anderson ordered the engines to be stopped at
-once, and one of the men went down to ascertain the extent of the
-injury. Some minutes afterwards they discovered the existence of a
-large hole, of two yards in diameter, in the ship’s bottom. Such a leak
-could not be stopped; and the _Scotia_, her paddles half submerged, was
-obliged to continue her course. She was then three hundred miles from
-Cape Clear, and after three days’ delay, which caused great uneasiness
-in Liverpool, she entered the basin of the company.
-
-The engineers visited the _Scotia_, which was put in dry dock. They
-could scarcely believe it possible; at two yards and a half below
-water-mark was a regular rent, in the form of an isosceles triangle.
-The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined that it
-could not have been more neatly done by a punch. It was clear, then,
-that the instrument producing the perforation was not of a common
-stamp; and after having been driven with prodigious strength, and
-piercing an iron plate 1-3/8 inches thick, had withdrawn itself by a
-retrograde motion truly inexplicable.
-
-Such was the last fact, which resulted in exciting once more the
-torrent of public opinion. From this moment all unlucky casualties
-which could not be otherwise accounted for were put down to the
-monster. Upon this imaginary creature rested the responsibility of all
-these shipwrecks, which unfortunately were considerable; for of three
-thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded at Lloyd’s, the number
-of sailing and steam ships supposed to be totally lost, from the
-absence of all news, amounted to not less than two hundred!
-
-Now, it was the “monster” who, justly or unjustly, was accused of their
-disappearance, and, thanks to it, communication between the different
-continents became more and more dangerous. The public demanded
-peremptorily that the seas should at any price be relieved from this
-formidable cetacean.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-PRO AND CON
-
-
-At the period when these events took place, I had just returned from a
-scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the
-United States. In virtue of my office as Assistant Professor in the
-Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French Government had attached
-me to that expedition. After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New
-York towards the end of March, laden with a precious collection. My
-departure for France was fixed for the first days in May. Meanwhile, I
-was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and
-zoological riches, when the accident happened to the _Scotia_.
-
-I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day.
-How could I be otherwise? I had read and re-read all the American and
-European papers without being any nearer a conclusion. This mystery
-puzzled me. Under the impossibility of forming an opinion, I jumped
-from one extreme to the other. That there really was something could
-not be doubted, and the incredulous were invited to put their finger on
-the wound of the _Scotia_.
-
-On my arrival at New York the question was at its height. The
-hypothesis of the floating island, and the unapproachable sandbank,
-supported by minds little competent to form a judgment, was abandoned.
-And, indeed, unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach, how could
-it change its position with such astonishing rapidity?
-
-From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enormous wreck
-was given up.
-
-There remained then only two possible solutions of the question, which
-created two distinct parties: on one side, those who were for a monster
-of colossal strength; on the other, those who were for a submarine
-vessel of enormous motive power.
-
-But this last hypothesis, plausible as it was, could not stand against
-inquiries made in both worlds. That a private gentleman should have
-such a machine at his command was not likely. Where, when, and how was
-it built? and how could its construction have been kept secret?
-Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine. And in
-these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the
-power of weapons of war, it was possible that, without the knowledge of
-others, a state might try to work such a formidable engine. After the
-chassepots came the torpedoes, after the torpedoes the submarine rams,
-then—the reaction. At least, I hope so.
-
-But the hypothesis of a war machine fell before the declaration of
-Governments. As public interest was in question, and transatlantic
-communications suffered, their veracity could not be doubted. But, how
-admit that the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the
-public eye? For a private gentleman to keep the secret under such
-circumstances would be very difficult, and for a state whose every act
-is persistently watched by powerful rivals, certainly impossible.
-
-After inquiries made in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy,
-and America, even in Turkey, the hypothesis of a submarine monitor was
-definitely rejected.
-
-Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honour of
-consulting me on the phenomenon in question. I had published in France
-a work in quarto, in two volumes, entitled “Mysteries of the Great
-Submarine Grounds.” This book, highly approved of in the learned world,
-gained for me a special reputation in this rather obscure branch of
-Natural History. My advice was asked. As long as I could deny the
-reality of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative. But soon,
-finding myself driven into a corner, I was obliged to explain myself
-categorically. And even “the Honourable Pierre Aronnax, Professor in
-the Museum of Paris,” was called upon by the _New York Herald_ to
-express a definite opinion of some sort. I did something. I spoke, for
-want of power to hold my tongue. I discussed the question in all its
-forms, politically and scientifically; and I give here an extract from
-a carefully-studied article which I published in the number of the 30th
-of April. It ran as follows:—
-
-“After examining one by one the different hypotheses, rejecting all
-other suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence of a
-marine animal of enormous power.
-
-“The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us. Soundings
-cannot reach them. What passes in those remote depths—what beings live,
-or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the
-waters—what is the organisation of these animals, we can scarcely
-conjecture. However, the solution of the problem submitted to me may
-modify the form of the dilemma. Either we do know all the varieties of
-beings which people our planet, or we do not. If we do _not_ know them
-all—if Nature has still secrets in ichthyology for us, nothing is more
-conformable to reason than to admit the existence of fishes, or
-cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species, of an organisation
-formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings, and which an
-accident of some sort, either fatastical or capricious, has brought at
-long intervals to the upper level of the ocean.
-
-“If, on the contrary, we _do_ know all living kinds, we must
-necessarily seek for the animal in question amongst those marine beings
-already classed; and, in that case, I should be disposed to admit the
-existence of a gigantic narwhal.
-
-“The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of
-sixty feet. Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength
-proportionate to its size, lengthen its destructive weapons, and you
-obtain the animal required. It will have the proportions determined by
-the officers of the _Shannon_, the instrument required by the
-perforation of the _Scotia_, and the power necessary to pierce the hull
-of the steamer.
-
-“Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword, a halberd,
-according to the expression of certain naturalists. The principal tusk
-has the hardness of steel. Some of these tusks have been found buried
-in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn always attacks with success.
-Others have been drawn out, not without trouble, from the bottoms of
-ships, which they had pierced through and through, as a gimlet pierces
-a barrel. The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one
-of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length, and
-fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
-
-“Very well! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger and the animal
-ten times more powerful; launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
-and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required.
-Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be a
-sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with
-a real spur, as the armoured frigates, or the �rams’ of war, whose
-massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time. Thus
-may this puzzling phenomenon be explained, unless there be something
-over and above all that one has ever conjectured, seen, perceived, or
-experienced; which is just within the bounds of possibility.”
-
-These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a certain point,
-I wished to shelter my dignity as Professor, and not give too much
-cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well when they do laugh.
-
-I reserved for myself a way of escape. In effect, however, I admitted
-the existence of the “monster.” My article was warmly discussed, which
-procured it a high reputation. It rallied round it a certain number of
-partisans. The solution it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to the
-imagination. The human mind delights in grand conceptions of
-supernatural beings. And the sea is precisely their best vehicle, the
-only medium through which these giants (against which terrestrial
-animals, such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as nothing) can be
-produced or developed.
-
-The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from
-this point of view. The _Shipping and Mercantile Gazette_, the _Lloyd’s
-List_, the _Packet-Boat_, and the _Maritime and Colonial Review_, all
-papers devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their
-rates of premium, were unanimous on this point. Public opinion had been
-pronounced. The United States were the first in the field; and in New
-York they made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this
-narwhal. A frigate of great speed, the _Abraham Lincoln_, was put in
-commission as soon as possible. The arsenals were opened to Commander
-Farragut, who hastened the arming of his frigate; but, as it always
-happens, the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster
-did not appear. For two months no one heard it spoken of. No ship met
-with it. It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around
-it. It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable,
-that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on
-its passage and was making the most of it.
-
-So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided
-with formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to
-pursue. Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned
-that a steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to
-Shanghai, had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific
-Ocean. The excitement caused by this news was extreme. The ship was
-revictualled and well stocked with coal.
-
-Three hours before the _Abraham Lincoln_ left Brooklyn pier, I received
-a letter worded as follows:—
-
-
-“To M. ARONNAX, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel,
-New York.
-
-“SIR,—If you will consent to join the _Abraham Lincoln_ in this
-expedition, the Government of the United States will with pleasure see
-France represented in the enterprise. Commander Farragut has a cabin at
-your disposal.
-
-
-“Very cordially yours,
-“J.B. HOBSON,
-“Secretary of Marine.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-I FORM MY RESOLUTION
-
-
-Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson’s letter, I no more
-thought of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the
-North Sea. Three seconds after reading the letter of the honourable
-Secretary of Marine, I felt that my true vocation, the sole end of my
-life, was to chase this disturbing monster, and purge it from the
-world.
-
-But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey, weary and longing for
-repose. I aspired to nothing more than again seeing my country, my
-friends, my little lodging by the Jardin des Plantes, my dear and
-precious collections. But nothing could keep me back! I forgot
-all—fatigue, friends and collections—and accepted without hesitation
-the offer of the American Government.
-
-“Besides,” thought I, “all roads lead back to Europe (for my particular
-benefit), and I will not hurry me towards the coast of France. This
-worthy animal may allow itself to be caught in the seas of Europe (for
-my particular benefit), and I will not bring back less than half a yard
-of his ivory halberd to the Museum of Natural History.” But in the
-meanwhile I must seek this narwhal in the North Pacific Ocean, which,
-to return to France, was taking the road to the antipodes.
-
-“Conseil,” I called in an impatient voice.
-
-Conseil was my servant, a true, devoted Flemish boy, who had
-accompanied me in all my travels. I liked him, and he returned the
-liking well. He was phlegmatic by nature, regular from principle,
-zealous from habit, evincing little disturbance at the different
-surprises of life, very quick with his hands, and apt at any service
-required of him; and, despite his name, never giving advice—even when
-asked for it.
-
-Conseil had followed me for the last ten years wherever science led.
-Never once did he complain of the length or fatigue of a journey, never
-make an objection to pack his portmanteau for whatever country it might
-be, or however far away, whether China or Congo. Besides all this, he
-had good health, which defied all sickness, and solid muscles, but no
-nerves; good morals are understood. This boy was thirty years old, and
-his age to that of his master as fifteen to twenty. May I be excused
-for saying that I was forty years old?
-
-But Conseil had one fault: he was ceremonious to a degree, and would
-never speak to me but in the third person, which was sometimes
-provoking.
-
-“Conseil,” said I again, beginning with feverish hands to make
-preparations for my departure.
-
-Certainly I was sure of this devoted boy. As a rule, I never asked him
-if it were convenient for him or not to follow me in my travels; but
-this time the expedition in question might be prolonged, and the
-enterprise might be hazardous in pursuit of an animal capable of
-sinking a frigate as easily as a nutshell. Here there was matter for
-reflection even to the most impassive man in the world. What would
-Conseil say?
-
-“Conseil,” I called a third time.
-
-Conseil appeared.
-
-“Did you call, sir?” said he, entering.
-
-“Yes, my boy; make preparations for me and yourself too. We leave in
-two hours.”
-
-“As you please, sir,” replied Conseil, quietly.
-
-“Not an instant to lose;—lock in my trunk all travelling utensils,
-coats, shirts, and stockings—without counting, as many as you can, and
-make haste.”
-
-“And your collections, sir?” observed Conseil.
-
-“We will think of them by and by.”
-
-“What! the archiotherium, the hyracotherium, the oreodons, the
-cheropotamus, and the other skins?”
-
-“They will keep them at the hotel.”
-
-“And your live Babiroussa, sir?”
-
-“They will feed it during our absence; besides, I will give orders to
-forward our menagerie to France.”
-
-“We are not returning to Paris, then?” said Conseil.
-
-“Oh! certainly,” I answered, evasively, “by making a curve.”
-
-“Will the curve please you, sir?”
-
-“Oh! it will be nothing; not quite so direct a road, that is all. We
-take our passage in the _Abraham Lincoln_.”
-
-“As you think proper, sir,” coolly replied Conseil.
-
-“You see, my friend, it has to do with the monster—the famous narwhal.
-We are going to purge it from the seas. The author of a work in quarto
-in two volumes, on the �Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds’
-cannot forbear embarking with Commander Farragut. A glorious mission,
-but a dangerous one! We cannot tell where we may go; these animals can
-be very capricious. But we will go whether or no; we have got a captain
-who is pretty wide-awake.”
-
-I opened a credit account for Babiroussa, and, Conseil following, I
-jumped into a cab. Our luggage was transported to the deck of the
-frigate immediately. I hastened on board and asked for Commander
-Farragut. One of the sailors conducted me to the poop, where I found
-myself in the presence of a good-looking officer, who held out his hand
-to me.
-
-“Monsieur Pierre Aronnax?” said he.
-
-“Himself,” replied I; “Commander Farragut?”
-
-“You are welcome, Professor; your cabin is ready for you.”
-
-I bowed, and desired to be conducted to the cabin destined for me.
-
-The _Abraham Lincoln_ had been well chosen and equipped for her new
-destination. She was a frigate of great speed, fitted with
-high-pressure engines which admitted a pressure of seven atmospheres.
-Under this the _Abraham Lincoln_ attained the mean speed of nearly
-eighteen knots and a third an hour—a considerable speed, but,
-nevertheless, insufficient to grapple with this gigantic cetacean.
-
-The interior arrangements of the frigate corresponded to its nautical
-qualities. I was well satisfied with my cabin, which was in the after
-part, opening upon the gunroom.
-
-“We shall be well off here,” said I to Conseil.
-
-“As well, by your honour’s leave, as a hermit-crab in the shell of a
-whelk,” said Conseil.
-
-I left Conseil to stow our trunks conveniently away, and remounted the
-poop in order to survey the preparations for departure.
-
-At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings to be
-cast loose which held the _Abraham Lincoln_ to the pier of Brooklyn. So
-in a quarter of an hour, perhaps less, the frigate would have sailed
-without me. I should have missed this extraordinary, supernatural, and
-incredible expedition, the recital of which may well meet with some
-scepticism.
-
-But Commander Farragut would not lose a day nor an hour in scouring the
-seas in which the animal had been sighted. He sent for the engineer.
-
-“Is the steam full on?” asked he.
-
-“Yes, sir,” replied the engineer.
-
-“Go ahead,” cried Commander Farragut.
-
-The quay of Brooklyn, and all that part of New York bordering on the
-East River, was crowded with spectators. Three cheers burst
-successively from five hundred thousand throats; thousands of
-handkerchiefs were waved above the heads of the compact mass, saluting
-the _Abraham Lincoln_, until she reached the waters of the Hudson, at
-the point of that elongated peninsula which forms the town of New York.
-Then the frigate, following the coast of New Jersey along the right
-bank of the beautiful river, covered with villas, passed between the
-forts, which saluted her with their heaviest guns. The _Abraham
-Lincoln_ answered by hoisting the American colours three times, whose
-thirty-nine stars shone resplendent from the mizzen-peak; then
-modifying its speed to take the narrow channel marked by buoys placed
-in the inner bay formed by Sandy Hook Point, it coasted the long sandy
-beach, where some thousands of spectators gave it one final cheer. The
-escort of boats and tenders still followed the frigate, and did not
-leave her until they came abreast of the lightship, whose two lights
-marked the entrance of New York Channel.
-
-Six bells struck, the pilot got into his boat, and rejoined the little
-schooner which was waiting under our lee, the fires were made up, the
-screw beat the waves more rapidly, the frigate skirted the low yellow
-coast of Long Island; and at eight bells, after having lost sight in
-the north-west of the lights of Fire Island, she ran at full steam on
-to the dark waters of the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-NED LAND
-
-
-Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded.
-His vessel and he were one. He was the soul of it. On the question of
-the cetacean there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow the
-existence of the animal to be disputed on board. He believed in it, as
-certain good women believe in the leviathan—by faith, not by reason.
-The monster did exist, and he had sworn to rid the seas of it. He was a
-kind of Knight of Rhodes, a second Dieudonné de Gozon, going to meet
-the serpent which desolated the island. Either Captain Farragut would
-kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the captain. There was no
-third course.
-
-The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief. They were ever
-chatting, discussing, and calculating the various chances of a meeting,
-watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean. More than one took up
-his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees, who would have cursed such
-a berth under any other circumstances. As long as the sun described its
-daily course, the rigging was crowded with sailors, whose feet were
-burnt to such an extent by the heat of the deck as to render it
-unbearable; still the _Abraham Lincoln_ had not yet breasted the
-suspected waters of the Pacific. As to the ship’s company, they desired
-nothing better than to meet the unicorn, to harpoon it, hoist it on
-board, and despatch it. They watched the sea with eager attention.
-
-Besides, Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand
-dollars, set apart for whoever should first sight the monster, were he
-cabin-boy, common seaman, or officer.
-
-I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the _Abraham Lincoln_.
-
-For my own part I was not behind the others, and left to no one my
-share of daily observations. The frigate might have been called the
-_Argus_, for a hundred reasons. Only one amongst us, Conseil, seemed to
-protest by his indifference against the question which so interested us
-all, and seemed to be out of keeping with the general enthusiasm on
-board.
-
-I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his ship with
-every apparatus for catching the gigantic cetacean. No whaler had ever
-been better armed. We possessed every known engine, from the harpoon
-thrown by the hand to the barbed arrows of the blunderbuss, and the
-explosive balls of the duck-gun. On the forecastle lay the perfection
-of a breech-loading gun, very thick at the breech, and very narrow in
-the bore, the model of which had been in the Exhibition of 1867. This
-precious weapon of American origin could throw with ease a conical
-projectile of nine pounds to a mean distance of ten miles.
-
-Thus the _Abraham Lincoln_ wanted for no means of destruction; and,
-what was better still, she had on board Ned Land, the prince of
-harpooners.
-
-Ned Land was a Canadian, with an uncommon quickness of hand, and who
-knew no equal in his dangerous occupation. Skill, coolness, audacity,
-and cunning he possessed in a superior degree, and it must be a cunning
-whale or a singularly “cute” cachalot to escape the stroke of his
-harpoon.
-
-Ned Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man (more than six
-feet high), strongly built, grave and taciturn, occasionally violent,
-and very passionate when contradicted. His person attracted attention,
-but above all the boldness of his look, which gave a singular
-expression to his face.
-
-Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French; and, little
-communicative as Ned Land was, I must admit that he took a certain
-liking for me. My nationality drew him to me, no doubt. It was an
-opportunity for him to talk, and for me to hear, that old language of
-Rabelais, which is still in use in some Canadian provinces. The
-harpooner’s family was originally from Quebec, and was already a tribe
-of hardy fishermen when this town belonged to France.
-
-Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I loved
-to hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas. He related his
-fishing, and his combats, with natural poetry of expression; his
-recital took the form of an epic poem, and I seemed to be listening to
-a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad of the regions of the North.
-
-I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him. We are old
-friends now, united in that unchangeable friendship which is born and
-cemented amidst extreme dangers. Ah, brave Ned! I ask no more than to
-live a hundred years longer, that I may have more time to dwell the
-longer on your memory.
-
-Now, what was Ned Land’s opinion upon the question of the marine
-monster? I must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn, and was
-the only one on board who did not share that universal conviction. He
-even avoided the subject, which I one day thought it my duty to press
-upon him. One magnificent evening, the 30th of July—that is to say,
-three weeks after our departure—the frigate was abreast of Cape Blanc,
-thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia. We had crossed the
-tropic of Capricorn, and the Straits of Magellan opened less than seven
-hundred miles to the south. Before eight days were over the _Abraham
-Lincoln_ would be ploughing the waters of the Pacific.
-
-Seated on the poop, Ned Land and I were chatting of one thing and
-another as we looked at this mysterious sea, whose great depths had up
-to this time been inaccessible to the eye of man. I naturally led up
-the conversation to the giant unicorn, and examined the various chances
-of success or failure of the expedition. But, seeing that Ned Land let
-me speak without saying too much himself, I pressed him more closely.
-
-“Well, Ned,” said I, “is it possible that you are not convinced of the
-existence of this cetacean that we are following? Have you any
-particular reason for being so incredulous?”
-
-The harpooner looked at me fixedly for some moments before answering,
-struck his broad forehead with his hand (a habit of his), as if to
-collect himself, and said at last, “Perhaps I have, Mr. Aronnax.”
-
-“But, Ned, you, a whaler by profession, familiarised with all the great
-marine mammalia—you, whose imagination might easily accept the
-hypothesis of enormous cetaceans, _you_ ought to be the last to doubt
-under such circumstances!”
-
-“That is just what deceives you, Professor,” replied Ned. “That the
-vulgar should believe in extraordinary comets traversing space, and in
-the existence of antediluvian monsters in the heart of the globe, may
-well be; but neither astronomer nor geologist believes in such
-chimeras. As a whaler I have followed many a cetacean, harpooned a
-great number, and killed several; but, however strong or well-armed
-they may have been, neither their tails nor their weapons would have
-been able even to scratch the iron plates of a steamer.”
-
-“But, Ned, they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal have
-pierced through and through.”
-
-“Wooden ships—that is possible,” replied the Canadian, “but I have
-never seen it done; and, until further proof, I deny that whales,
-cetaceans, or sea-unicorns could ever produce the effect you describe.”
-
-“Well, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction resting on the logic of
-facts. I believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised,
-belonging to the branch of vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots,
-or the dolphins, and furnished with a horn of defence of great
-penetrating power.”
-
-“Hum!” said the harpooner, shaking his head with the air of a man who
-would not be convinced.
-
-“Notice one thing, my worthy Canadian,” I resumed. “If such an animal
-is in existence, if it inhabits the depths of the ocean, if it
-frequents the strata lying miles below the surface of the water, it
-must necessarily possess an organisation the strength of which would
-defy all comparison.”
-
-“And why this powerful organisation?” demanded Ned.
-
-“Because it requires incalculable strength to keep one’s self in these
-strata and resist their pressure. Listen to me. Let us admit that the
-pressure of the atmosphere is represented by the weight of a column of
-water thirty-two feet high. In reality the column of water would be
-shorter, as we are speaking of sea water, the density of which is
-greater than that of fresh water. Very well, when you dive, Ned, as
-many times thirty-two feet of water as there are above you, so many
-times does your body bear a pressure equal to that of the atmosphere,
-that is to say, 15 lbs. for each square inch of its surface. It
-follows, then, that at 320 feet this pressure = that of 10 atmospheres,
-of 100 atmospheres at 3200 feet, and of 1000 atmospheres at 32,000
-feet, that is, about 6 miles; which is equivalent to saying that if you
-could attain this depth in the ocean, each square three-eighths of an
-inch of the surface of your body would bear a pressure of 5600 lbs. Ah!
-my brave Ned, do you know how many square inches you carry on the
-surface of your body?”
-
-“I have no idea, Mr. Aronnax.”
-
-“About 6500; and, as in reality the atmospheric pressure is about 15
-lbs. to the square inch, your 6500 square inches bear at this moment a
-pressure of 97,500 lbs.”
-
-“Without my perceiving it?”
-
-“Without your perceiving it. And if you are not crushed by such a
-pressure, it is because the air penetrates the interior of your body
-with equal pressure. Hence perfect equilibrium between the interior and
-exterior pressure, which thus neutralise each other, and which allows
-you to bear it without inconvenience. But in the water it is another
-thing.”
-
-“Yes, I understand,” replied Ned, becoming more attentive; “because the
-water surrounds me, but does not penetrate.”
-
-“Precisely, Ned: so that at 32 feet beneath the surface of the sea you
-would undergo a pressure of 97,500 lbs.; at 320 feet, ten times that
-pressure; at 3200 feet, a hundred times that pressure; lastly, at
-32,000 feet, a thousand times that pressure would be 97,500,000
-lbs.—that is to say, that you would be flattened as if you had been
-drawn from the plates of a hydraulic machine!”
-
-“The devil!” exclaimed Ned.
-
-“Very well, my worthy harpooner, if some vertebrate, several hundred
-yards long, and large in proportion, can maintain itself in such
-depths—of those whose surface is represented by millions of square
-inches, that is by tens of millions of pounds, we must estimate the
-pressure they undergo. Consider, then, what must be the resistance of
-their bony structure, and the strength of their organisation to
-withstand such pressure!”
-
-“Why!” exclaimed Ned Land, “they must be made of iron plates eight
-inches thick, like the armoured frigates.”
-
-“As you say, Ned. And think what destruction such a mass would cause,
-if hurled with the speed of an express train against the hull of a
-vessel.”
-
-“Yes—certainly—perhaps,” replied the Canadian, shaken by these figures,
-but not yet willing to give in.
-
-“Well, have I convinced you?”
-
-“You have convinced me of one thing, sir, which is that, if such
-animals do exist at the bottom of the seas, they must necessarily be as
-strong as you say.”
-
-“But if they do not exist, mine obstinate harpooner, how explain the
-accident to the _Scotia?_”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-AT A VENTURE
-
-
-The voyage of the _Abraham Lincoln_ was for a long time marked by no
-special incident. But one circumstance happened which showed the
-wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence we might
-place in him.
-
-The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers, from whom we
-learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal. But one of them, the
-captain of the _Monroe_, knowing that Ned Land had shipped on board the
-_Abraham Lincoln_, begged for his help in chasing a whale they had in
-sight. Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing Ned Land at work, gave
-him permission to go on board the _Monroe_. And fate served our
-Canadian so well that, instead of one whale, he harpooned two with a
-double blow, striking one straight to the heart, and catching the other
-after some minutes’ pursuit.
-
-Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land’s harpoon, I
-would not bet in its favour.
-
-The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great
-rapidity. The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of
-Magellan, level with Cape Vierges. But Commander Farragut would not
-take a tortuous passage, but doubled Cape Horn.
-
-The ship’s crew agreed with him. And certainly it was possible that
-they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass. Many of the sailors
-affirmed that the monster could not pass there, “that he was too big
-for that!”
-
-The 6th of July, about three o’clock in the afternoon, the _Abraham
-Lincoln_, at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island,
-this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which
-some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn. The
-course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw of
-the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
-
-“Keep your eyes open!” called out the sailors.
-
-And they were opened widely. Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled,
-it is true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not an
-instant’s repose. Day and night they watched the surface of the ocean,
-and even nyctalopes, whose faculty of seeing in the darkness multiplies
-their chances a hundredfold, would have had enough to do to gain the
-prize.
-
-I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least attentive on
-board. Giving but few minutes to my meals, but a few hours to sleep,
-indifferent to either rain or sunshine, I did not leave the poop of the
-vessel. Now leaning on the netting of the forecastle, now on the
-taffrail, I devoured with eagerness the soft foam which whitened the
-sea as far as the eye could reach; and how often have I shared the
-emotion of the majority of the crew, when some capricious whale raised
-its black back above the waves! The poop of the vessel was crowded in a
-moment. The cabins poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers, each
-with heaving breast and troubled eye watching the course of the
-cetacean. I looked and looked, till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil,
-always phlegmatic, kept repeating in a calm voice:
-
-“If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!”
-
-But vain excitement! The _Abraham Lincoln_ checked its speed and made
-for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot, which
-soon disappeared amidst a storm of execration.
-
-But the weather was good. The voyage was being accomplished under the
-most favourable auspices. It was then the bad season in Australia, the
-July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe, but the sea
-was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.
-
-The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105° of longitude,
-and the 27th of the same month we crossed the equator on the 110th
-meridian. This passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly
-direction, and scoured the central waters of the Pacific. Commander
-Farragut thought, and with reason, that it was better to remain in deep
-water, and keep clear of continents or islands, which the beast itself
-seemed to shun (perhaps because there was not enough water for him!
-suggested the greater part of the crew). The frigate passed at some
-distance from the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the
-tropic of Cancer, and made for the China Seas. We were on the theatre
-of the last diversions of the monster: and, to say truth, we no longer
-_lived_ on board. Hearts palpitated, fearfully preparing themselves for
-future incurable aneurism. The entire ship’s crew were undergoing a
-nervous excitement, of which I can give no idea: they could not eat,
-they could not sleep—twenty times a day, a misconception or an optical
-illusion of some sailor seated on the taffrail, would cause dreadful
-perspirations, and these emotions, twenty times repeated, kept us in a
-state of excitement so violent that a reaction was unavoidable.
-
-And truly, reaction soon showed itself. For three months, during which
-a day seemed an age, the _Abraham Lincoln_ furrowed all the waters of
-the Northern Pacific, running at whales, making sharp deviations from
-her course, veering suddenly from one tack to another, stopping
-suddenly, putting on steam, and backing ever and anon at the risk of
-deranging her machinery, and not one point of the Japanese or American
-coast was left unexplored.
-
-The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most ardent
-detractors. Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself, and
-certainly, had it not been for resolute determination on the part of
-Captain Farragut, the frigate would have headed due southward. This
-useless search could not last much longer. The _Abraham Lincoln_ had
-nothing to reproach herself with, she had done her best to succeed.
-Never had an American ship’s crew shown more zeal or patience; its
-failure could not be placed to their charge—there remained nothing but
-to return.
-
-This was represented to the commander. The sailors could not hide their
-discontent, and the service suffered. I will not say there was a mutiny
-on board, but after a reasonable period of obstinacy, Captain Farragut
-(as Columbus did) asked for three days’ patience. If in three days the
-monster did not appear, the man at the helm should give three turns of
-the wheel, and the _Abraham Lincoln_ would make for the European seas.
-
-This promise was made on the 2nd of November. It had the effect of
-rallying the ship’s crew. The ocean was watched with renewed attention.
-Each one wished for a last glance in which to sum up his remembrance.
-Glasses were used with feverish activity. It was a grand defiance given
-to the giant narwhal, and he could scarcely fail to answer the summons
-and “appear.”
-
-Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure; a thousand schemes
-were tried to attract the attention and stimulate the apathy of the
-animal in case it should be met in those parts. Large quantities of
-bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship, to the great satisfaction
-(I must say) of the sharks. Small craft radiated in all directions
-round the _Abraham Lincoln_ as she lay to, and did not leave a spot of
-the sea unexplored. But the night of the 4th of November arrived
-without the unveiling of this submarine mystery.
-
-The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would (morally
-speaking) expire; after that time, Commander Farragut, faithful to his
-promise, was to turn the course to the south-east and abandon for ever
-the northern regions of the Pacific.
-
-The frigate was then in 31° 15′ north latitude and 136° 42′ east
-longitude. The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred
-miles to leeward. Night was approaching. They had just struck eight
-bells; large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first
-quarter. The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
-
-At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting. Conseil,
-standing near me, was looking straight before him. The crew, perched in
-the ratlines, examined the horizon, which contracted and darkened by
-degrees. Officers with their night glasses scoured the growing
-darkness; sometimes the ocean sparkled under the rays of the moon,
-which darted between two clouds, then all trace of light was lost in
-the darkness.
-
-In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little of the
-general influence. At least I thought so. Perhaps for the first time
-his nerves vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
-
-“Come, Conseil,” said I, “this is the last chance of pocketing the two
-thousand dollars.”
-
-“May I be permitted to say, sir,” replied Conseil, “that I never
-reckoned on getting the prize; and, had the government of the Union
-offered a hundred thousand dollars, it would have been none the
-poorer.”
-
-“You are right, Conseil. It is a foolish affair after all, and one upon
-which we entered too lightly. What time lost, what useless emotions! We
-should have been back in France six months ago.”
-
-“In your little room, sir,” replied Conseil, “and in your museum, sir,
-and I should have already classed all your fossils, sir. And the
-Babiroussa would have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des
-Plantes, and have drawn all the curious people of the capital!”
-
-“As you say, Conseil. I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being
-laughed at for our pains.”
-
-“That’s tolerably certain,” replied Conseil, quietly; “I think they
-will make fun of you, sir. And, must I say it?”
-
-“Go on, my good friend.”
-
-“Well, sir, you will only get your deserts.”
-
-“Indeed!”
-
-“When one has the honour of being a savant as you are, sir, one should
-not expose one’s self to——”
-
-Conseil had not time to finish his compliment. In the midst of general
-silence a voice had just been heard. It was the voice of Ned Land
-shouting—
-
-“Look out there! The very thing we are looking for—on our weather
-beam!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-AT FULL STEAM
-
-
-At this cry the whole ship’s crew hurried towards the
-harpooner,—commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the
-engineers left their engines, and the stokers their furnaces.
-
-The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went
-on by her own momentum. The darkness was then profound, and however
-good the Canadian’s eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to
-see, and what he had been able to see. My heart beat as if it would
-break. But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all perceived the object
-he pointed to. At two cables’ length from the _Abraham Lincoln_, on the
-starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be illuminated all over. It was
-not a mere phosphoric phenomenon. The monster emerged some fathoms from
-the water, and then threw out that very intense but inexplicable light
-mentioned in the report of several captains. This magnificent
-irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great _shining_
-power. The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval, much
-elongated, the centre of which condensed a burning heat, whose
-overpowering brilliancy died out by successive gradations.
-
-“It is only an agglomeration of phosphoric particles,” cried one of the
-officers.
-
-“No, sir, certainly not,” I replied. “Never did pholades or salpæ
-produce such a powerful light. That brightness is of an essentially
-electrical nature. Besides, see, see! it moves; it is moving forwards,
-backwards; it is darting towards us!”
-
-A general cry rose from the frigate.
-
-“Silence!” said the Captain; “up with the helm, reverse the engines.”
-
-The steam was shut off, and the _Abraham Lincoln_, beating to port,
-described a semicircle.
-
-“Right the helm, go ahead,” cried the Captain.
-
-These orders were executed, and the frigate moved rapidly from the
-burning light.
-
-I was mistaken. She tried to sheer off, but the supernatural animal
-approached with a velocity double her own.
-
-We gasped for breath. Stupefaction more than fear made us dumb and
-motionless. The animal gained on us, sporting with the waves. It made
-the round of the frigate, which was then making fourteen knots, and
-enveloped it with its electric rings like luminous dust. Then it moved
-away two or three miles, leaving a phosphorescent track, like those
-volumes of steam that the express trains leave behind. All at once from
-the dark line of the horizon whither it retired to gain its momentum,
-the monster rushed suddenly towards the _Abraham Lincoln_ with alarming
-rapidity, stopped suddenly about twenty feet from the hull, and died
-out,—not diving under the water, for its brilliancy did not abate,—but
-suddenly, and as if the source of this brilliant emanation was
-exhausted. Then it reappeared on the other side of the vessel, as if it
-had turned and slid under the hull. Any moment a collision might have
-occurred which would have been fatal to us. However, I was astonished
-at the manœuvres of the frigate. She fled and did not attack.
-
-On the captain’s face, generally so impassive, was an expression of
-unaccountable astonishment.
-
-“Mr. Aronnax,” he said, “I do not know with what formidable being I
-have to deal, and I will not imprudently risk my frigate in the midst
-of this darkness. Besides, how attack this unknown thing, how defend
-one’s self from it? Wait for daylight, and the scene will change.”
-
-“You have no further doubt, captain, of the nature of the animal?”
-
-“No, sir; it is evidently a gigantic narwhal, and an electric one.”
-
-“Perhaps,” added I, “one can only approach it with a gymnotus or a
-torpedo.”
-
-“Undoubtedly,” replied the captain, “if it possesses such dreadful
-power, it is the most terrible animal that ever was created. That is
-why, sir, I must be on my guard.”
-
-The crew were on their feet all night. No one thought of sleep. The
-_Abraham Lincoln_, not being able to struggle with such velocity, had
-moderated its pace, and sailed at half speed. For its part, the
-narwhal, imitating the frigate, let the waves rock it at will, and
-seemed decided not to leave the scene of the struggle. Towards
-midnight, however, it disappeared, or, to use a more appropriate term,
-it “died out” like a large glow-worm. Had it fled? One could only fear,
-not hope. But at seven minutes to one o’clock in the morning a
-deafening whistling was heard, like that produced by a body of water
-rushing with great violence.
-
-The captain, Ned Land, and I, were then on the poop, eagerly peering
-through the profound darkness.
-
-“Ned Land,” asked the commander, “you have often heard the roaring of
-whales?”
-
-“Often, sir; but never such whales the sight of which brought me in two
-thousand dollars. If I can only approach within four harpoon lengths of
-it!”
-
-“But to approach it,” said the commander, “I ought to put a whaler at
-your disposal?”
-
-“Certainly, sir.”
-
-“That will be trifling with the lives of my men.”
-
-“And mine too,” simply said the harpooner.
-
-Towards two o’clock in the morning, the burning light reappeared, not
-less intense, about five miles to windward of the _Abraham Lincoln_.
-Notwithstanding the distance, and the noise of the wind and sea, one
-heard distinctly the loud strokes of the animal’s tail, and even its
-panting breath. It seemed that, at the moment that the enormous narwhal
-had come to take breath at the surface of the water, the air was
-engulfed in its lungs, like the steam in the vast cylinders of a
-machine of two thousand horse-power.
-
-“Hum!” thought I, “a whale with the strength of a cavalry regiment
-would be a pretty whale!”
-
-We were on the _qui vive_ till daylight, and prepared for the combat.
-The fishing implements were laid along the hammock nettings. The second
-lieutenant loaded the blunderbusses, which could throw harpoons to the
-distance of a mile, and long duck-guns, with explosive bullets, which
-inflicted mortal wounds even to the most terrible animals. Ned Land
-contented himself with sharpening his harpoon—a terrible weapon in his
-hands.
-
-At six o’clock day began to break; and, with the first glimmer of
-light, the electric light of the narwhal disappeared. At seven o’clock
-the day was sufficiently advanced, but a very thick sea fog obscured
-our view, and the best spy-glasses could not pierce it. That caused
-disappointment and anger.
-
-I climbed the mizzen-mast. Some officers were already perched on the
-mast heads. At eight o’clock the fog lay heavily on the waves, and its
-thick scrolls rose little by little. The horizon grew wider and clearer
-at the same time. Suddenly, just as on the day before, Ned Land’s voice
-was heard:
-
-“The thing itself on the port quarter!” cried the harpooner.
-
-Every eye was turned towards the point indicated. There, a mile and a
-half from the frigate, a long blackish body emerged a yard above the
-waves. Its tail, violently agitated, produced a considerable eddy.
-Never did a caudal appendage beat the sea with such violence. An
-immense track, of dazzling whiteness, marked the passage of the animal,
-and described a long curve.
-
-The frigate approached the cetacean. I examined it thoroughly.
-
-The reports of the _Shannon_ and of the _Helvetia_ had rather
-exaggerated its size, and I estimated its length at only two hundred
-and fifty feet. As to its dimensions, I could only conjecture them to
-be admirably proportioned. While I watched this phenomenon, two jets of
-steam and water were ejected from its vents, and rose to the height of
-120 feet; thus I ascertained its way of breathing. I concluded
-definitely that it belonged to the vertebrate branch, class mammalia.
-
-The crew waited impatiently for their chief’s orders. The latter, after
-having observed the animal attentively, called the engineer. The
-engineer ran to him.
-
-“Sir,” said the commander, “you have steam up?”
-
-“Yes, sir,” answered the engineer.
-
-“Well, make up your fires and put on all steam.”
-
-Three hurrahs greeted this order. The time for the struggle had
-arrived. Some moments after, the two funnels of the frigate vomited
-torrents of black smoke, and the bridge quaked under the trembling of
-the boilers.
-
-The _Abraham Lincoln_, propelled by her wonderful screw, went straight
-at the animal. The latter allowed it to come within half a cable’s
-length; then, as if disdaining to dive, it took a little turn, and
-stopped a short distance off.
-
-This pursuit lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour, without the
-frigate gaining two yards on the cetacean. It was quite evident that at
-that rate we should never come up with it.
-
-“Well, Mr. Land,” asked the captain, “do you advise me to put the boats
-out to sea?”
-
-“No, sir,” replied Ned Land; “because we shall not take that beast
-easily.”
-
-“What shall we do then?”
-
-“Put on more steam if you can, sir. With your leave, I mean to post
-myself under the bowsprit, and if we get within harpooning distance, I
-shall throw my harpoon.”
-
-“Go, Ned,” said the captain. “Engineer, put on more pressure.”
-
-Ned Land went to his post. The fires were increased, the screw revolved
-forty-three times a minute, and the steam poured out of the valves. We
-heaved the log, and calculated that the _Abraham Lincoln_ was going at
-the rate of 18½ miles an hour.
-
-But the accursed animal swam too at the rate of 18½ miles an hour.
-
-For a whole hour, the frigate kept up this pace, without gaining six
-feet. It was humiliating for one of the swiftest sailers in the
-American navy. A stubborn anger seized the crew; the sailors abused the
-monster, who, as before, disdained to answer them; the captain no
-longer contented himself with twisting his beard—he gnawed it.
-
-The engineer was again called.
-
-“You have turned full steam in?”
-
-“Yes, sir,” replied the engineer.
-
-The speed of the _Abraham Lincoln_ increased. Its masts trembled down
-to their stepping holes, and the clouds of smoke could hardly find way
-out of the narrow funnels.
-
-They heaved the log a second time.
-
-“Well?” asked the captain of the man at the wheel.
-
-“Nineteen miles and three-tenths, sir.”
-
-“Clap on more steam.”
-
-The engineer obeyed. The manometer showed ten degrees. But the cetacean
-grew warm itself, no doubt; for without straining itself, it made
-19-3/10 miles.
-
-What a pursuit! No, I cannot describe the emotion that vibrated through
-me. Ned Land kept his post, harpoon in hand. Several times the animal
-let us gain upon it.—“We shall catch it! we shall catch it!” cried the
-Canadian. But just as he was going to strike, the cetacean stole away
-with a rapidity that could not be estimated at less than thirty miles
-an hour, and even during our maximum of speed, it bullied the frigate,
-going round and round it. A cry of fury broke from everyone!
-
-At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o’clock in the
-morning.
-
-The captain then decided to take more direct means.
-
-“Ah!” said he, “that animal goes quicker than the _Abraham Lincoln_.
-Very well! we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets.
-Send your men to the forecastle, sir.”
-
-The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round. But the
-shot passed some feet above the cetacean, which was half a mile off.
-
-“Another, more to the right,” cried the commander, “and five dollars to
-whoever will hit that infernal beast.”
-
-An old gunner with a grey beard—that I can see now—with steady eye and
-grave face, went up to the gun and took a long aim. A loud report was
-heard, with which were mingled the cheers of the crew.
-
-
-[Illustration] An old grey-bearded gunner . . . .
-
-
-The bullet did its work; it hit the animal, but not fatally, and
-sliding off the rounded surface, was lost in two miles depth of sea.
-
-The chase began again, and the captain, leaning towards me, said—
-
-“I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up.”
-
-“Yes,” answered I; “and you will be quite right to do it.”
-
-I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible to
-fatigue like a steam engine! But it was of no use. Hours passed,
-without its showing any signs of exhaustion.
-
-However, it must be said in praise of the _Abraham Lincoln_, that she
-struggled on indefatigably. I cannot reckon the distance she made under
-three hundred miles during this unlucky day, November the 6th. But
-night came on, and overshadowed the rough ocean.
-
-Now I thought our expedition was at an end, and that we should never
-again see the extraordinary animal. I was mistaken. At ten minutes to
-eleven in the evening, the electric light reappeared three miles to
-windward of the frigate, as pure, as intense as during the preceding
-night.
-
-The narwhal seemed motionless; perhaps, tired with its day’s work, it
-slept, letting itself float with the undulation of the waves. Now was a
-chance of which the captain resolved to take advantage.
-
-He gave his orders. The _Abraham Lincoln_ kept up half steam, and
-advanced cautiously so as not to awake its adversary. It is no rare
-thing to meet in the middle of the ocean whales so sound asleep that
-they can be successfully attacked, and Ned Land had harpooned more than
-one during its sleep. The Canadian went to take his place again under
-the bowsprit.
-
-The frigate approached noiselessly, stopped at two cables’ lengths from
-the animal, and following its track. No one breathed; a deep silence
-reigned on the bridge. We were not a hundred feet from the burning
-focus, the light of which increased and dazzled our eyes.
-
-At this moment, leaning on the forecastle bulwark, I saw below me Ned
-Land grappling the martingale in one hand, brandishing his terrible
-harpoon in the other, scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal.
-Suddenly his arm straightened, and the harpoon was thrown; I heard the
-sonorous stroke of the weapon, which seemed to have struck a hard body.
-The electric light went out suddenly, and two enormous waterspouts
-broke over the bridge of the frigate, rushing like a torrent from stem
-to stern, overthrowing men, and breaking the lashings of the spars. A
-fearful shock followed, and, thrown over the rail without having time
-to stop myself, I fell into the sea.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE
-
-
-This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of
-my sensations at the time. I was at first drawn down to a depth of
-about twenty feet. I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to
-rival Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art), and in that
-plunge I did not lose my presence of mind. Two vigorous strokes brought
-me to the surface of the water. My first care was to look for the
-frigate. Had the crew seen me disappear? Had the _Abraham Lincoln_
-veered round? Would the captain put out a boat? Might I hope to be
-saved?
-
-The darkness was intense. I caught a glimpse of a black mass
-disappearing in the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance.
-It was the frigate! I was lost.
-
-“Help, help!” I shouted, swimming towards the _Abraham Lincoln_ in
-desperation.
-
-My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed
-my movements.
-
-I was sinking! I was suffocating!
-
-“Help!”
-
-This was my last cry. My mouth filled with water; I struggled against
-being drawn down the abyss. Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong
-hand, and I felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea; and
-I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear—
-
-“If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would
-swim with much greater ease.”
-
-I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil’s arm.
-
-“Is it you?” said I, “you?”
-
-“Myself,” answered Conseil; “and waiting master’s orders.”
-
-“That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?”
-
-“No; but being in my master’s service, I followed him.”
-
-The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
-
-“And the frigate?” I asked.
-
-“The frigate?” replied Conseil, turning on his back; “I think that
-master had better not count too much on her.”
-
-“You think so?”
-
-“I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men
-at the wheel say, �The screw and the rudder are broken.’”
-
-“Broken?”
-
-“Yes, broken by the monster’s teeth. It is the only injury the _Abraham
-Lincoln_ has sustained. But it is a bad look out for us—she no longer
-answers her helm.”
-
-“Then we are lost!”
-
-“Perhaps so,” calmly answered Conseil. “However, we have still several
-hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours.”
-
-Conseil’s imperturbable coolness set me up again. I swam more
-vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck to me like a leaden
-weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up. Conseil saw this.
-
-“Will master let me make a slit?” said he; and, slipping an open knife
-under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly.
-Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
-
-Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near to each
-other.
-
-Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible. Perhaps our
-disappearance had not been noticed; and if it had been, the frigate
-could not tack, being without its helm. Conseil argued on this
-supposition, and laid his plans accordingly. This phlegmatic boy was
-perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that, as our only chance of
-safety was being picked up by the _Abraham Lincoln’s_ boats, we ought
-to manage so as to wait for them as long as possible. I resolved then
-to husband our strength, so that both should not be exhausted at the
-same time; and this is how we managed: while one of us lay on our back,
-quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out, the other would
-swim and push the other on in front. This towing business did not last
-more than ten minutes each; and relieving each other thus, we could
-swim on for some hours, perhaps till daybreak. Poor chance! but hope is
-so firmly rooted in the heart of man! Moreover, there were two of us.
-Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable) if I sought to destroy
-all hope,—if I wished to despair, I could not.
-
-The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had occurred about
-eleven o’clock the evening before. I reckoned then we should have eight
-hours to swim before sunrise, an operation quite practicable if we
-relieved each other. The sea, very calm, was in our favour. Sometimes I
-tried to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled by the
-phosphorescence caused by our movements. I watched the luminous waves
-that broke over my hand, whose mirror-like surface was spotted with
-silvery rings. One might have said that we were in a bath of
-quicksilver.
-
-Near one o’clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue. My
-limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp. Conseil was obliged
-to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone. I heard the
-poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried. I found that he
-could not keep up much longer.
-
-“Leave me! leave me!” I said to him.
-
-“Leave my master? Never!” replied he. “I would drown first.”
-
-Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that
-the wind was driving to the east. The surface of the sea glittered with
-its rays. This kindly light reanimated us. My head got better again. I
-looked at all points of the horizon. I saw the frigate! She was five
-miles from us, and looked like a dark mass, hardly discernible. But no
-boats!
-
-I would have cried out. But what good would it have been at such a
-distance! My swollen lips could utter no sounds. Conseil could
-articulate some words, and I heard him repeat at intervals, “Help!
-help!”
-
-Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened. It might be
-only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the
-cry from Conseil.
-
-“Did you hear?” I murmured.
-
-“Yes! Yes!”
-
-And Conseil gave one more despairing call.
-
-This time there was no mistake! A human voice responded to ours! Was it
-the voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle of
-the ocean, some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel? Or
-rather was it a boat from the frigate, that was hailing us in the
-darkness?
-
-Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck
-out in a despairing effort, he raised himself half out of the water,
-then fell back exhausted.
-
-“What did you see?”
-
-“I saw”—murmured he; “I saw—but do not talk—reserve all your strength!”
-
-What had he seen? Then, I know not why, the thought of the monster came
-into my head for the first time! But that voice! The time is past for
-Jonahs to take refuge in whales’ bellies! However, Conseil was towing
-me again. He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a
-cry of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer
-and nearer. I scarcely heard it. My strength was exhausted; my fingers
-stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer; my mouth,
-convulsively opening, filled with salt water. Cold crept over me. I
-raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
-
-At this moment a hard body struck me. I clung to it: then I felt that I
-was being drawn up, that I was brought to the surface of the water,
-that my chest collapsed:—I fainted.
-
-It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings that
-I received. I half opened my eyes.
-
-“Conseil!” I murmured.
-
-“Does master call me?” asked Conseil.
-
-Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down to
-the horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil’s and which I
-immediately recognised.
-
-“Ned!” I cried.
-
-“The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!” replied the Canadian.
-
-“Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?”
-
-“Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find a
-footing almost directly upon a floating island.”
-
-“An island?”
-
-“Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal.”
-
-“Explain yourself, Ned!”
-
-“Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin and was
-blunted.”
-
-“Why, Ned, why?”
-
-“Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron.”
-
-The Canadian’s last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain. I
-wriggled myself quickly to the top of the being, or object, half out of
-the water, which served us for a refuge. I kicked it. It was evidently
-a hard impenetrable body, and not the soft substance that forms the
-bodies of the great marine mammalia. But this hard body might be a bony
-carapace, like that of the antediluvian animals; and I should be free
-to class this monster among amphibious reptiles, such as tortoises or
-alligators.
-
-Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth, polished,
-without scales. The blow produced a metallic sound; and incredible
-though it may be, it seemed, I might say, as if it was made of riveted
-plates.
-
-There was no doubt about it! This monster, this natural phenomenon that
-had puzzled the learned world, and overthrown and misled the
-imagination of seamen of both hemispheres, it must be owned, a still
-more astonishing phenomenon, inasmuch as it was a simply human
-construction.
-
-We had no time to lose, however. We were lying upon the back of a sort
-of submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge) like a huge
-fish of steel. Ned Land’s mind was made up on this point. Conseil and I
-could only agree with him.
-
-Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was
-evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move. We had only just
-time to seize hold of the upper part, which rose about seven feet out
-of the water, and happily its speed was not great.
-
-“As long as it sails horizontally,” muttered Ned Land, “I do not mind;
-but if it takes a fancy to dive, I would not give two straws for my
-life.”
-
-The Canadian might have said still less. It became really necessary to
-communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the
-machine. I searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or a
-man-hole, to use a technical expression; but the lines of the iron
-rivets, solidly driven into the joints of the iron plates, were clear
-and uniform. Besides, the moon disappeared then, and left us in total
-darkness.
-
-At last this long night passed. My indistinct remembrance prevents my
-describing all the impressions it made. I can only recall one
-circumstance. During some lulls of the wind and sea, I fancied I heard
-several times vague sounds, a sort of fugitive harmony produced by
-words of command. What was then the mystery of this submarine craft, of
-which the whole world vainly sought an explanation? What kind of beings
-existed in this strange boat? What mechanical agent caused its
-prodigious speed?
-
-Daybreak appeared. The morning mists surrounded us, but they soon
-cleared off. I was about to examine the hull, which formed on deck a
-kind of horizontal platform, when I felt it gradually sinking.
-
-“Oh! confound it!” cried Ned Land, kicking the resounding plate. “Open,
-you inhospitable rascals!”
-
-Happily the sinking movement ceased. Suddenly a noise, like iron works
-violently pushed aside, came from the interior of the boat. One iron
-plate was moved, a man appeared, uttered an odd cry, and disappeared
-immediately.
-
-Some moments after, eight strong men, with masked faces, appeared
-noiselessly, and drew us down into their formidable machine.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI
-
-
-This forcible abduction, so roughly carried out, was accomplished with
-the rapidity of lightning. I shivered all over. Whom had we to deal
-with? No doubt some new sort of pirates, who explored the sea in their
-own way.
-
-Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me, when I was enveloped in
-darkness. My eyes, dazzled with the outer light, could distinguish
-nothing. I felt my naked feet cling to the rungs of an iron ladder. Ned
-Land and Conseil, firmly seized, followed me. At the bottom of the
-ladder, a door opened, and shut after us immediately with a bang.
-
-We were alone. Where, I could not say, hardly imagine. All was black,
-and such a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes had not been
-able to discern even the faintest glimmer.
-
-Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at these proceedings, gave free vent to
-his indignation.
-
-“Confound it!” cried he, “here are people who come up to the Scotch for
-hospitality. They only just miss being cannibals. I should not be
-surprised at it, but I declare that they shall not eat me without my
-protesting.”
-
-“Calm yourself, friend Ned, calm yourself,” replied Conseil, quietly.
-“Do not cry out before you are hurt. We are not quite done for yet.”
-
-“Not quite,” sharply replied the Canadian, “but pretty near, at all
-events. Things look black. Happily, my bowie knife I have still, and I
-can always see well enough to use it. The first of these pirates who
-lays a hand on me——”
-
-“Do not excite yourself, Ned,” I said to the harpooner, “and do not
-compromise us by useless violence. Who knows that they will not listen
-to us? Let us rather try to find out where we are.”
-
-I groped about. In five steps I came to an iron wall, made of plates
-bolted together. Then turning back I struck against a wooden table,
-near which were ranged several stools. The boards of this prison were
-concealed under a thick mat of phormium, which deadened the noise of
-the feet. The bare walls revealed no trace of window or door. Conseil,
-going round the reverse way, met me, and we went back to the middle of
-the cabin, which measured about twenty feet by ten. As to its height,
-Ned Land, in spite of his own great height, could not measure it.
-
-Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered,
-when the dense darkness suddenly gave way to extreme light. Our prison
-was suddenly lighted—that is to say, it became filled with a luminous
-matter, so strong that I could not bear it at first. In its whiteness
-and intensity I recognised that electric light which played round the
-submarine boat like a magnificent phenomenon of phosphorescence. After
-shutting my eyes involuntarily, I opened them, and saw that this
-luminous agent came from a half globe, unpolished, placed in the roof
-of the cabin.
-
-“At last one can see,” cried Ned Land, who, knife in hand, stood on the
-defensive.
-
-“Yes,” said I; “but we are still in the dark about ourselves.”
-
-“Let master have patience,” said the imperturbable Conseil.
-
-The sudden lighting of the cabin enabled me to examine it minutely. It
-only contained a table and five stools. The invisible door might be
-hermetically sealed. No noise was heard. All seemed dead in the
-interior of this boat. Did it move, did it float on the surface of the
-ocean, or did it dive into its depths? I could not guess.
-
-A noise of bolts was now heard, the door opened, and two men appeared.
-
-One was short, very muscular, broad-shouldered, with robust limbs,
-strong head, an abundance of black hair, thick moustache, a quick
-penetrating look, and the vivacity which characterises the population
-of Southern France.
-
-The second stranger merits a more detailed description. A disciple of
-Gratiolet or Engel would have read his face like an open book. I made
-out his prevailing qualities directly:—self-confidence,—because his
-head was well set on his shoulders, and his black eyes looked around
-with cold assurance; calmness,—for his skin, rather pale, showed his
-coolness of blood; energy,—evinced by the rapid contraction of his
-lofty brows; and courage,—because his deep breathing denoted great
-power of lungs.
-
-Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years of age, I could not
-say. He was tall, had a large forehead, straight nose, a clearly cut
-mouth, beautiful teeth, with fine taper hands, indicative of a highly
-nervous temperament. This man was certainly the most admirable specimen
-I had ever met. One particular feature was his eyes, rather far from
-each other, and which could take in nearly a quarter of the horizon at
-once.
-
-This faculty—(I verified it later)—gave him a range of vision far
-superior to Ned Land’s. When this stranger fixed upon an object, his
-eyebrows met, his large eyelids closed around so as to contract the
-range of his vision, and he looked as if he magnified the objects
-lessened by distance, as if he pierced those sheets of water so opaque
-to our eyes, and as if he read the very depths of the seas.
-
-The two strangers, with caps made from the fur of the sea otter, and
-shod with sea boots of seal’s skin, were dressed in clothes of a
-particular texture, which allowed free movement of the limbs. The
-taller of the two, evidently the chief on board, examined us with great
-attention, without saying a word; then turning to his companion, talked
-with him in an unknown tongue. It was a sonorous, harmonious, and
-flexible dialect, the vowels seeming to admit of very varied
-accentuation.
-
-The other replied by a shake of the head, and added two or three
-perfectly incomprehensible words. Then he seemed to question me by a
-look.
-
-I replied in good French that I did not know his language; but he
-seemed not to understand me, and my situation became more embarrassing.
-
-“If master were to tell our story,” said Conseil, “perhaps these
-gentlemen may understand some words.”
-
-I began to tell our adventures, articulating each syllable clearly, and
-without omitting one single detail. I announced our names and rank,
-introducing in person Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and
-master Ned Land, the harpooner.
-
-The man with the soft calm eyes listened to me quietly, even politely,
-and with extreme attention; but nothing in his countenance indicated
-that he had understood my story. When I finished, he said not a word.
-There remained one resource, to speak English. Perhaps they would know
-this almost universal language. I knew it, as well as the German
-language,—well enough to read it fluently, but not to speak it
-correctly. But, anyhow, we must make ourselves understood.
-
-“Go on in your turn,” I said to the harpooner; “speak your best
-Anglo-Saxon, and try to do better than I.”
-
-Ned did not beg off, and recommenced our story.
-
-To his great disgust, the harpooner did not seem to have made himself
-more intelligible than I had. Our visitors did not stir. They evidently
-understood neither the language of Arago nor of Faraday.
-
-Very much embarrassed, after having vainly exhausted our speaking
-resources, I knew not what part to take, when Conseil said—
-
-“If master will permit me, I will relate it in German.”
-
-But in spite of the elegant terms and good accent of the narrator, the
-German language had no success. At last, nonplussed, I tried to
-remember my first lessons, and to narrate our adventures in Latin, but
-with no better success. This last attempt being of no avail, the two
-strangers exchanged some words in their unknown language, and retired.
-
-The door shut.
-
-“It is an infamous shame,” cried Ned Land, who broke out for the
-twentieth time. “We speak to those rogues in French, English, German,
-and Latin, and not one of them has the politeness to answer!”
-
-“Calm yourself,” I said to the impetuous Ned, “anger will do no good.”
-
-“But do you see, Professor,” replied our irascible companion, “that we
-shall absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?”
-
-“Bah!” said Conseil, philosophically; “we can hold out some time yet.”
-
-“My friends,” I said, “we must not despair. We have been worse off than
-this. Do me the favour to wait a little before forming an opinion upon
-the commander and crew of this boat.”
-
-“My opinion is formed,” replied Ned Land, sharply. “They are rascals.”
-
-“Good! and from what country?”
-
-“From the land of rogues!”
-
-“My brave Ned, that country is not clearly indicated on the map of the
-world; but I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard to
-determine. Neither English, French, nor German, that is quite certain.
-However, I am inclined to think that the commander and his companion
-were born in low latitudes. There is southern blood in them. But I
-cannot decide by their appearance whether they are Spaniards, Turks,
-Arabians, or Indians. As to their language, it is quite
-incomprehensible.”
-
-“There is the disadvantage of not knowing all languages,” said Conseil,
-“or the disadvantage of not having one universal language.”
-
-As he said these words, the door opened. A steward entered. He brought
-us clothes, coats and trousers, made of a stuff I did not know. I
-hastened to dress myself, and my companions followed my example. During
-that time, the steward—dumb, perhaps deaf—had arranged the table, and
-laid three plates.
-
-“This is something like,” said Conseil.
-
-“Bah!” said the rancorous harpooner, “what do you suppose they eat
-here? Tortoise liver, filleted shark, and beefsteaks from sea-dogs.”
-
-“We shall see,” said Conseil.
-
-The dishes, of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we took our
-places. Undoubtedly we had to do with civilised people, and, had it not
-been for the electric light which flooded us, I could have fancied I
-was in the dining-room of the Adelphi Hotel at Liverpool, or at the
-Grand Hotel in Paris. I must say, however, that there was neither bread
-nor wine. The water was fresh and clear, but it was water, and did not
-suit Ned Land’s taste. Amongst the dishes which were brought to us, I
-recognised several fish delicately dressed; but of some, although
-excellent, I could give no opinion, neither could I tell to what
-kingdom they belonged, whether animal or vegetable. As to the dinner
-service, it was elegant, and in perfect taste. Each utensil, spoon,
-fork, knife, plate, had a letter engraved on it, with a motto above it,
-of which this is an exact facsimile:—
-
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI
-N.
-
-
-The letter N was no doubt the initial of the name of the enigmatical
-person, who commanded at the bottom of the sea.
-
-Ned and Conseil did not reflect much. They devoured the food, and I did
-likewise. I was, besides, reassured as to our fate; and it seemed
-evident that our hosts would not let us die of want.
-
-However, everything has an end, everything passes away, even the hunger
-of people who have not eaten for fifteen hours. Our appetites
-satisfied, we felt overcome with sleep.
-
-“Faith! I shall sleep well,” said Conseil.
-
-“So shall I,” replied Ned Land.
-
-My two companions stretched themselves on the cabin carpet, and were
-soon sound asleep. For my own part, too many thoughts crowded my brain,
-too many insoluble questions pressed upon me, too many fancies kept my
-eyes half open. Where were we? What strange power carried us on? I
-felt—or rather fancied I felt—the machine sinking down to the lowest
-beds of the sea. Dreadful nightmares beset me; I saw in these
-mysterious asylums a world of unknown animals, amongst which this
-submarine boat seemed to be of the same kind, living, moving, and
-formidable as they. Then my brain grew calmer, my imagination wandered
-into vague unconsciousness, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-NED LAND’S TEMPERS
-
-
-How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long,
-for it rested us completely from our fatigues. I woke first. My
-companions had not moved, and were still stretched in their corner.
-
-Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch, I felt my brain freed, my
-mind clear. I then began an attentive examination of our cell. Nothing
-was changed inside. The prison was still a prison,—the prisoners,
-prisoners. However, the steward, during our sleep, had cleared the
-table. I breathed with difficulty. The heavy air seemed to oppress my
-lungs. Although the cell was large, we had evidently consumed a great
-part of the oxygen that it contained. Indeed, each man consumes, in one
-hour, the oxygen contained in more than 176 pints of air, and this air,
-charged (as then) with a nearly equal quantity of carbonic acid,
-becomes unbreathable.
-
-It became necessary to renew the atmosphere of our prison, and no doubt
-the whole in the submarine boat. That gave rise to a question in my
-mind. How would the commander of this floating dwelling-place proceed?
-Would he obtain air by chemical means, in getting by heat the oxygen
-contained in chlorate of potash, and in absorbing carbonic acid by
-caustic potash? Or, a more convenient, economical, and consequently
-more probable alternative, would he be satisfied to rise and take
-breath at the surface of the water, like a cetacean, and so renew for
-twenty-four hours the atmospheric provision?
-
-In fact, I was already obliged to increase my respirations to eke out
-of this cell the little oxygen it contained, when suddenly I was
-refreshed by a current of pure air, and perfumed with saline
-emanations. It was an invigorating sea breeze, charged with iodine. I
-opened my mouth wide, and my lungs saturated themselves with fresh
-particles.
-
-At the same time I felt the boat rolling. The iron-plated monster had
-evidently just risen to the surface of the ocean to breathe, after the
-fashion of whales. I found out from that the mode of ventilating the
-boat.
-
-When I had inhaled this air freely, I sought the conduit-pipe, which
-conveyed to us the beneficial whiff, and I was not long in finding it.
-Above the door was a ventilator, through which volumes of fresh air
-renewed the impoverished atmosphere of the cell.
-
-I was making my observations, when Ned and Conseil awoke almost at the
-same time, under the influence of this reviving air. They rubbed their
-eyes, stretched themselves, and were on their feet in an instant.
-
-“Did master sleep well?” asked Conseil, with his usual politeness.
-
-“Very well, my brave boy. And you, Mr. Land?”
-
-“Soundly, Professor. But I don’t know if I am right or not; there seems
-to be a sea breeze!”
-
-A seaman could not be mistaken, and I told the Canadian all that had
-passed during his sleep.
-
-“Good!” said he; “that accounts for those roarings we heard, when the
-supposed narwhal sighted the _Abraham Lincoln_.”
-
-“Quite so, Master Land; it was taking breath.”
-
-“Only, Mr. Aronnax, I have no idea what o’clock it is, unless it is
-dinner-time.”
-
-“Dinner-time! my good fellow? Say rather breakfast-time, for we
-certainly have begun another day.”
-
-“So,” said Conseil, “we have slept twenty-four hours?”
-
-“That is my opinion.”
-
-“I will not contradict you,” replied Ned Land. “But dinner or
-breakfast, the steward will be welcome, whichever he brings.”
-
-“Master Land, we must conform to the rules on board, and I suppose our
-appetites are in advance of the dinner hour.”
-
-“That is just like you, friend Conseil,” said Ned, impatiently. “You
-are never out of temper, always calm; you would return thanks before
-grace, and die of hunger rather than complain!”
-
-Time was getting on, and we were fearfully hungry; and this time the
-steward did not appear. It was rather too long to leave us, if they
-really had good intentions towards us. Ned Land, tormented by the
-cravings of hunger, got still more angry; and, notwithstanding his
-promise, I dreaded an explosion when he found himself with one of the
-crew.
-
-For two hours more Ned Land’s temper increased; he cried, he shouted,
-but in vain. The walls were deaf. There was no sound to be heard in the
-boat: all was still as death. It did not move, for I should have felt
-the trembling motion of the hull under the influence of the screw.
-Plunged in the depths of the waters, it belonged no longer to
-earth:—this silence was dreadful.
-
-I felt terrified, Conseil was calm, Ned Land roared.
-
-Just then a noise was heard outside. Steps sounded on the metal flags.
-The locks were turned, the door opened, and the steward appeared.
-
-Before I could rush forward to stop him, the Canadian had thrown him
-down, and held him by the throat. The steward was choking under the
-grip of his powerful hand.
-
-Conseil was already trying to unclasp the harpooner’s hand from his
-half-suffocated victim, and I was going to fly to the rescue, when
-suddenly I was nailed to the spot by hearing these words in French—
-
-“Be quiet, Master Land; and you, Professor, will you be so good as to
-listen to me?”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-THE MAN OF THE SEAS
-
-
-It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.
-
-At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly. The steward, nearly strangled,
-tottered out on a sign from his master; but such was the power of the
-commander on board, that not a gesture betrayed the resentment which
-this man must have felt towards the Canadian. Conseil, interested in
-spite of himself, I stupefied, awaited in silence the result of this
-scene.
-
-The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms
-folded, scanned us with profound attention. Did he hesitate to speak?
-Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French? One might
-almost think so.
-
-After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed of breaking,
-“Gentlemen,” said he, in a calm and penetrating voice, “I speak French,
-English, German, and Latin equally well. I could, therefore, have
-answered you at our first interview, but I wished to know you first,
-then to reflect. The story told by each one, entirely agreeing in the
-main points, convinced me of your identity. I know now that chance has
-brought before me M. Pierre Aronnax, Professor of Natural History at
-the Museum of Paris, entrusted with a scientific mission abroad,
-Conseil, his servant, and Ned Land, of Canadian origin, harpooner on
-board the frigate _Abraham Lincoln_ of the navy of the United States of
-America.”
-
-I bowed assent. It was not a question that the commander put to me.
-Therefore there was no answer to be made. This man expressed himself
-with perfect ease, without any accent. His sentences were well turned,
-his words clear, and his fluency of speech remarkable. Yet, I did not
-recognise in him a fellow-countryman.
-
-He continued the conversation in these terms:
-
-“You have doubtless thought, sir, that I have delayed long in paying
-you this second visit. The reason is that, your identity recognised, I
-wished to weigh maturely what part to act towards you. I have hesitated
-much. Most annoying circumstances have brought you into the presence of
-a man who has broken all the ties of humanity. You have come to trouble
-my existence.”
-
-“Unintentionally!” said I.
-
-“Unintentionally?” replied the stranger, raising his voice a little;
-“was it unintentionally that the _Abraham Lincoln_ pursued me all over
-the seas? Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this frigate?
-Was it unintentionally that your cannon balls rebounded off the plating
-of my vessel? Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land struck me with
-his harpoon?”
-
-I detected a restrained irritation in these words. But to these
-recriminations I had a very natural answer to make and I made it.
-
-“Sir,” said I, “no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions which have
-taken place concerning you in America and Europe. You do not know that
-divers accidents, caused by collisions with your submarine machine,
-have excited public feeling in the two continents. I omit the
-hypotheses without number by which it was sought to explain the
-inexplicable phenomenon of which you alone possess the secret. But you
-must understand that, in pursuing you over the high seas of the
-Pacific, the _Abraham Lincoln_ believed itself to be chasing some
-powerful sea-monster, of which it was necessary to rid the ocean at any
-price.”
-
-A half-smile curled the lips of the commander: then, in a calmer tone—
-
-“M. Aronnax,” he replied, “dare you affirm that your frigate would not
-as soon have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat as a monster?”
-
-This question embarrassed me, for certainly Captain Farragut might not
-have hesitated. He might have thought it his duty to destroy a
-contrivance of this kind, as he would a gigantic narwhal.
-
-“You understand then, sir,” continued the stranger, “that I have the
-right to treat you as enemies?”
-
-I answered nothing, purposely. For what good would it be to discuss
-such a proposition, when force could destroy the best arguments?
-
-“I have hesitated some time,” continued the commander; “nothing obliged
-me to show you hospitality. If I chose to separate myself from you, I
-should have no interest in seeing you again; I could place you upon the
-deck of this vessel which has served you as a refuge, I could sink
-beneath the waters, and forget that you had ever existed. Would not
-that be my right?”
-
-“It might be the right of a savage,” I answered, “but not that of a
-civilised man.”
-
-“Professor,” replied the commander, quickly, “I am not what you call a
-civilised man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I
-alone have the right of appreciating. I do not therefore obey its laws,
-and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!”
-
-This was said plainly. A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the eyes
-of the Unknown, and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life of
-this man. Not only had he put himself beyond the pale of human laws,
-but he had made himself independent of them, free in the strictest
-acceptation of the word, quite beyond their reach! Who then would dare
-to pursue him at the bottom of the sea, when, on its surface, he defied
-all attempts made against him? What vessel could resist the shock of
-his submarine monitor? What cuirass, however thick, could withstand the
-blows of his spur? No man could demand from him an account of his
-actions; God, if he believed in one—his conscience, if he had one—were
-the sole judges to whom he was answerable.
-
-These reflections crossed my mind rapidly, whilst the stranger
-personage was silent, absorbed, and as if wrapped up in himself. I
-regarded him with fear mingled with interest, as doubtless, Ĺ’dipus
-regarded the Sphinx.
-
-After rather a long silence, the commander resumed the conversation.
-
-“I have hesitated,” said he, “but I have thought that my interest might
-be reconciled with that pity to which every human being has a right.
-You will remain on board my vessel, since fate has cast you there. You
-will be free; and, in exchange for this liberty, I shall only impose
-one single condition. Your word of honour to submit to it will
-suffice.”
-
-“Speak, sir,” I answered. “I suppose this condition is one which a man
-of honour may accept?”
-
-“Yes, sir; it is this. It is possible that certain events, unforeseen,
-may oblige me to consign you to your cabins for some hours or some
-days, as the case may be. As I desire never to use violence, I expect
-from you, more than all the others, a passive obedience. In thus
-acting, I take all the responsibility: I acquit you entirely, for I
-make it an impossibility for you to see what ought not to be seen. Do
-you accept this condition?”
-
-Then things took place on board which, to say the least, were singular,
-and which ought not to be seen by people who were not placed beyond the
-pale of social laws. Amongst the surprises which the future was
-preparing for me, this might not be the least.
-
-“We accept,” I answered; “only I will ask your permission, sir, to
-address one question to you—one only.”
-
-“Speak, sir.”
-
-“You said that we should be free on board.”
-
-“Entirely.”
-
-“I ask you, then, what you mean by this liberty?”
-
-“Just the liberty to go, to come, to see, to observe even all that
-passes here,—save under rare circumstances,—the liberty, in short,
-which we enjoy ourselves, my companions and I.”
-
-It was evident that we did not understand one another.
-
-“Pardon me, sir,” I resumed, “but this liberty is only what every
-prisoner has of pacing his prison. It cannot suffice us.”
-
-“It must suffice you, however.”
-
-“What! we must renounce for ever seeing our country, our friends, our
-relations again?”
-
-“Yes, sir. But to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men
-believe to be liberty, is not perhaps so painful as you think.”
-
-“Well,” exclaimed Ned Land, “never will I give my word of honour not to
-try to escape.”
-
-“I did not ask you for your word of honour, Master Land,” answered the
-commander, coldly.
-
-“Sir,” I replied, beginning to get angry in spite of myself, “you abuse
-your situation towards us; it is cruelty.”
-
-“No, sir, it is clemency. You are my prisoners of war. I keep you, when
-I could, by a word, plunge you into the depths of the ocean. You
-attacked me. You came to surprise a secret which no man in the world
-must penetrate,—the secret of my whole existence. And you think that I
-am going to send you back to that world which must know me no more?
-Never! In retaining you, it is not you whom I guard—it is myself.”
-
-These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander,
-against which no arguments would prevail.
-
-“So, sir,” I rejoined, “you give us simply the choice between life and
-death?”
-
-“Simply.”
-
-“My friends,” said I, “to a question thus put, there is nothing to
-answer. But no word of honour binds us to the master of this vessel.”
-
-“None, sir,” answered the Unknown.
-
-Then, in a gentler tone, he continued—
-
-“Now, permit me to finish what I have to say to you. I know you, M.
-Aronnax. You and your companions will not, perhaps, have so much to
-complain of in the chance which has bound you to my fate. You will find
-amongst the books which are my favourite study the work which you have
-published on �the depths of the sea.’ I have often read it. You have
-carried out your work as far as terrestrial science permitted you. But
-you do not know all—you have not seen all. Let me tell you then,
-Professor, that you will not regret the time passed on board my vessel.
-You are going to visit the land of marvels.”
-
-These words of the commander had a great effect upon me. I cannot deny
-it. My weak point was touched; and I forgot, for a moment, that the
-contemplation of these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of
-liberty. Besides, I trusted to the future to decide this grave
-question. So I contented myself with saying—
-
-“By what name ought I to address you?”
-
-“Sir,” replied the commander, “I am nothing to you but Captain Nemo;
-and you and your companions are nothing to me but the passengers of the
-_Nautilus_.”
-
-Captain Nemo called. A steward appeared. The captain gave him his
-orders in that strange language which I did not understand. Then,
-turning towards the Canadian and Conseil—
-
-“A repast awaits you in your cabin,” said he. “Be so good as to follow
-this man.
-
-“And now, M. Aronnax, our breakfast is ready. Permit me to lead the
-way.”
-
-“I am at your service, Captain.”
-
-I followed Captain Nemo; and as soon as I had passed through the door,
-I found myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity, similar to
-the waist of a ship. After we had proceeded a dozen yards, a second
-door opened before me.
-
-I then entered a dining-room, decorated and furnished in severe taste.
-High oaken sideboards, inlaid with ebony, stood at the two extremities
-of the room, and upon their shelves glittered china, porcelain, and
-glass of inestimable value. The plate on the table sparkled in the rays
-which the luminous ceiling shed around, while the light was tempered
-and softened by exquisite paintings.
-
-In the centre of the room was a table richly laid out. Captain Nemo
-indicated the place I was to occupy.
-
-The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes, the contents of
-which were furnished by the sea alone; and I was ignorant of the nature
-and mode of preparation of some of them. I acknowledged that they were
-good, but they had a peculiar flavour, which I easily became accustomed
-to. These different aliments appeared to me to be rich in phosphorus,
-and I thought they must have a marine origin.
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me. I asked him no questions, but he guessed my
-thoughts, and answered of his own accord the questions which I was
-burning to address to him.
-
-“The greater part of these dishes are unknown to you,” he said to me.
-“However, you may partake of them without fear. They are wholesome and
-nourishing. For a long time I have renounced the food of the earth, and
-am never ill now. My crew, who are healthy, are fed on the same food.”
-
-“So,” said I, “all these eatables are the produce of the sea?”
-
-“Yes, Professor, the sea supplies all my wants. Sometimes I cast my
-nets in tow, and I draw them in ready to break. Sometimes I hunt in the
-midst of this element, which appears to be inaccessible to man, and
-quarry the game which dwells in my submarine forests. My flocks, like
-those of Neptune’s old shepherds, graze fearlessly in the immense
-prairies of the ocean. I have a vast property there, which I cultivate
-myself, and which is always sown by the hand of the Creator of all
-things.”
-
-“I can understand perfectly, sir, that your nets furnish excellent fish
-for your table; I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in
-your submarine forests; but I cannot understand at all how a particle
-of meat, no matter how small, can figure in your bill of fare.”
-
-“This, which you believe to be meat, Professor, is nothing else than
-fillet of turtle. Here are also some dolphins’ livers, which you take
-to be ragout of pork. My cook is a clever fellow, who excels in
-dressing these various products of the ocean. Taste all these dishes.
-Here is a preserve of holothuria, which a Malay would declare to be
-unrivalled in the world; here is a cream, of which the milk has been
-furnished by the cetacea, and the sugar by the great fucus of the North
-Sea; and lastly, permit me to offer you some preserve of anemones,
-which is equal to that of the most delicious fruits.”
-
-I tasted, more from curiosity than as a connoisseur, whilst Captain
-Nemo enchanted me with his extraordinary stories.
-
-“You like the sea, Captain?”
-
-“Yes; I love it! The sea is everything. It covers seven-tenths of the
-terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense
-desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all
-sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful
-existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the �Living
-Infinite,’ as one of your poets has said. In fact, Professor, Nature
-manifests herself in it by her three kingdoms, mineral, vegetable, and
-animal. The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature. The globe began with
-sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it? In it is
-supreme tranquillity. The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its
-surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to
-pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty
-feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched,
-and their power disappears. Ah! sir, live—live in the bosom of the
-waters! There only is independence! There I recognise no masters! There
-I am free!”
-
-Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of this enthusiasm, by
-which he was quite carried away. For a few moments he paced up and
-down, much agitated. Then he became more calm, regained his accustomed
-coldness of expression, and turning towards me—
-
-“Now, Professor,” said he, “if you wish to go over the _Nautilus_, I am
-at your service.”
-
-Captain Nemo rose. I followed him. A double door, contrived at the back
-of the dining-room, opened, and I entered a room equal in dimensions to
-that which I had just quitted.
-
-It was a library. High pieces of furniture, of black violet ebony
-inlaid with brass, supported upon their wide shelves a great number of
-books uniformly bound. They followed the shape of the room, terminating
-at the lower part in huge divans, covered with brown leather, which
-were curved, to afford the greatest comfort. Light movable desks, made
-to slide in and out at will, allowed one to rest one’s book while
-reading. In the centre stood an immense table, covered with pamphlets,
-amongst which were some newspapers, already of old date. The electric
-light flooded everything; it was shed from four unpolished globes half
-sunk in the volutes of the ceiling. I looked with real admiration at
-this room, so ingeniously fitted up, and I could scarcely believe my
-eyes.
-
-“Captain Nemo,” said I to my host, who had just thrown himself on one
-of the divans, “this is a library which would do honour to more than
-one of the continental palaces, and I am absolutely astounded when I
-consider that it can follow you to the bottom of the seas.”
-
-“Where could one find greater solitude or silence, Professor?” replied
-Captain Nemo. “Did your study in the Museum afford you such perfect
-quiet?”
-
-“No, sir; and I must confess that it is a very poor one after yours.
-You must have six or seven thousand volumes here.”
-
-“Twelve thousand, M. Aronnax. These are the only ties which bind me to
-the earth. But I had done with the world on the day when my _Nautilus_
-plunged for the first time beneath the waters. That day I bought my
-last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last papers, and from that time I
-wish to think that men no longer think or write. These books,
-Professor, are at your service besides, and you can make use of them
-freely.”
-
-I thanked Captain Nemo, and went up to the shelves of the library.
-Works on science, morals, and literature abounded in every language;
-but I did not see one single work on political economy; that subject
-appeared to be strictly proscribed. Strange to say, all these books
-were irregularly arranged, in whatever language they were written; and
-this medley proved that the Captain of the _Nautilus_ must have read
-indiscriminately the books which he took up by chance.
-
-“Sir,” said I to the Captain, “I thank you for having placed this
-library at my disposal. It contains treasures of science, and I shall
-profit by them.”
-
-“This room is not only a library,” said Captain Nemo, “it is also a
-smoking-room.”
-
-“A smoking-room!” I cried. “Then one may smoke on board?”
-
-“Certainly.”
-
-“Then, sir, I am forced to believe that you have kept up a
-communication with Havannah.”
-
-“Not any,” answered the Captain. “Accept this cigar, M. Aronnax; and,
-though it does not come from Havannah, you will be pleased with it, if
-you are a connoisseur.”
-
-I took the cigar which was offered me; its shape recalled the London
-ones, but it seemed to be made of leaves of gold. I lighted it at a
-little brazier, which was supported upon an elegant bronze stem, and
-drew the first whiffs with the delight of a lover of smoking who has
-not smoked for two days.
-
-“It is excellent, but it is not tobacco.”
-
-“No!” answered the Captain, “this tobacco comes neither from Havannah
-nor from the East. It is a kind of sea-weed, rich in nicotine, with
-which the sea provides me, but somewhat sparingly.”
-
-At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite to that
-by which I had entered the library, and I passed into an immense
-drawing-room splendidly lighted.
-
-It was a vast four-sided room, thirty feet long, eighteen wide, and
-fifteen high. A luminous ceiling, decorated with light arabesques, shed
-a soft clear light over all the marvels accumulated in this museum. For
-it was in fact a museum, in which an intelligent and prodigal hand had
-gathered all the treasures of nature and art, with the artistic
-confusion which distinguishes a painter’s studio.
-
-Thirty first-rate pictures, uniformly framed, separated by bright
-drapery, ornamented the walls, which were hung with tapestry of severe
-design. I saw works of great value, the greater part of which I had
-admired in the special collections of Europe, and in the exhibitions of
-paintings. The several schools of the old masters were represented by a
-Madonna of Raphael, a Virgin of Leonardo da Vinci, a nymph of Corregio,
-a woman of Titan, an Adoration of Veronese, an Assumption of Murillo, a
-portrait of Holbein, a monk of Velasquez, a martyr of Ribera, a fair of
-Rubens, two Flemish landscapes of Teniers, three little “genre”
-pictures of Gerard Dow, Metsu, and Paul Potter, two specimens of
-GĂ©ricault and Prudhon, and some sea-pieces of Backhuysen and Vernet.
-Amongst the works of modern painters were pictures with the signatures
-of Delacroix, Ingres, Decamps, Troyon, Meissonier, Daubigny, etc.; and
-some admirable statues in marble and bronze, after the finest antique
-models, stood upon pedestals in the corners of this magnificent museum.
-Amazement, as the Captain of the _Nautilus_ had predicted, had already
-begun to take possession of me.
-
-“Professor,” said this strange man, “you must excuse the unceremonious
-way in which I receive you, and the disorder of this room.”
-
-“Sir,” I answered, “without seeking to know who you are, I recognise in
-you an artist.”
-
-“An amateur, nothing more, sir. Formerly I loved to collect these
-beautiful works created by the hand of man. I sought them greedily, and
-ferreted them out indefatigably, and I have been able to bring together
-some objects of great value. These are my last souvenirs of that world
-which is dead to me. In my eyes, your modern artists are already old;
-they have two or three thousand years of existence; I confound them in
-my own mind. Masters have no age.”
-
-“And these musicians?” said I, pointing out some works of Weber,
-Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, HĂ©rold, Wagner, Auber,
-Gounod, and a number of others, scattered over a large model
-piano-organ which occupied one of the panels of the drawing-room.
-
-“These musicians,” replied Captain Nemo, “are the contemporaries of
-Orpheus; for in the memory of the dead all chronological differences
-are effaced; and I am dead, Professor; as much dead as those of your
-friends who are sleeping six feet under the earth!”
-
-Captain Nemo was silent, and seemed lost in a profound reverie. I
-contemplated him with deep interest, analysing in silence the strange
-expression of his countenance. Leaning on his elbow against an angle of
-a costly mosaic table, he no longer saw me,—he had forgotten my
-presence.
-
-I did not disturb this reverie, and continued my observation of the
-curiosities which enriched this drawing-room.
-
-Under elegant glass cases, fixed by copper rivets, were classed and
-labelled the most precious productions of the sea which had ever been
-presented to the eye of a naturalist. My delight as a professor may be
-conceived.
-
-The division containing the zoophytes presented the most curious
-specimens of the two groups of polypi and echinodermes. In the first
-group, the tubipores, were gorgones arranged like a fan, soft sponges
-of Syria, ises of the Moluccas, pennatules, an admirable virgularia of
-the Norwegian seas, variegated unbellulairæ, alcyonariæ, a whole series
-of madrepores, which my master Milne Edwards has so cleverly
-classified, amongst which I remarked some wonderful flabellinæ oculinæ
-of the Island of Bourbon, the “Neptune’s car” of the Antilles, superb
-varieties of corals—in short, every species of those curious polypi of
-which entire islands are formed, which will one day become continents.
-Of the echinodermes, remarkable for their coating of spines, asteri,
-sea-stars, pantacrinæ, comatules, astérophons, echini, holothuri, etc.,
-represented individually a complete collection of this group.
-
-A somewhat nervous conchyliologist would certainly have fainted before
-other more numerous cases, in which were classified the specimens of
-molluscs. It was a collection of inestimable value, which time fails me
-to describe minutely. Amongst these specimens I will quote from memory
-only the elegant royal hammer-fish of the Indian Ocean, whose regular
-white spots stood out brightly on a red and brown ground, an imperial
-spondyle, bright-coloured, bristling with spines, a rare specimen in
-the European museums—(I estimated its value at not less than £1000); a
-common hammer-fish of the seas of New Holland, which is only procured
-with difficulty; exotic buccardia of Senegal; fragile white bivalve
-shells, which a breath might shatter like a soap-bubble; several
-varieties of the aspirgillum of Java, a kind of calcareous tube, edged
-with leafy folds, and much debated by amateurs; a whole series of
-trochi, some a greenish-yellow, found in the American seas, others a
-reddish-brown, natives of Australian waters; others from the Gulf of
-Mexico, remarkable for their imbricated shell; stellari found in the
-Southern Seas; and last, the rarest of all, the magnificent spur of New
-Zealand; and every description of delicate and fragile shells to which
-science has given appropriate names.
-
-Apart, in separate compartments, were spread out chaplets of pearls of
-the greatest beauty, which reflected the electric light in little
-sparks of fire; pink pearls, torn from the pinna-marina of the Red Sea;
-green pearls of the haliotyde iris; yellow, blue and black pearls, the
-curious productions of the divers molluscs of every ocean, and certain
-mussels of the water-courses of the North; lastly, several specimens of
-inestimable value which had been gathered from the rarest pintadines.
-Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon’s egg, and were worth as
-much, and more than that which the traveller Tavernier sold to the Shah
-of Persia for three millions, and surpassed the one in the possession
-of the Imaum of Muscat, which I had believed to be unrivalled in the
-world.
-
-Therefore, to estimate the value of this collection was simply
-impossible. Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the acquirement
-of these various specimens, and I was thinking what source he could
-have drawn from, to have been able thus to gratify his fancy for
-collecting, when I was interrupted by these words—
-
-“You are examining my shells, Professor? Unquestionably they must be
-interesting to a naturalist; but for me they have a far greater charm,
-for I have collected them all with my own hand, and there is not a sea
-on the face of the globe which has escaped my researches.”
-
-“I can understand, Captain, the delight of wandering about in the midst
-of such riches. You are one of those who have collected their treasures
-themselves. No museum in Europe possesses such a collection of the
-produce of the ocean. But if I exhaust all my admiration upon it, I
-shall have none left for the vessel which carries it. I do not wish to
-pry into your secrets; but I must confess that this _Nautilus_, with
-the motive power which is confined in it, the contrivances which enable
-it to be worked, the powerful agent which propels it, all excite my
-curiosity to the highest pitch. I see suspended on the walls of this
-room instruments of whose use I am ignorant.”
-
-“You will find these same instruments in my own room, Professor, where
-I shall have much pleasure in explaining their use to you. But first
-come and inspect the cabin which is set apart for your own use. You
-must see how you will be accommodated on board the _Nautilus_.”
-
-I followed Captain Nemo, who, by one of the doors opening from each
-panel of the drawing-room, regained the waist. He conducted me towards
-the bow, and there I found, not a cabin, but an elegant room, with a
-bed, dressing-table, and several other pieces of furniture.
-
-I could only thank my host.
-
-“Your room adjoins mine,” said he, opening a door, “and mine opens into
-the drawing-room that we have just quitted.”
-
-I entered the Captain’s room: it had a severe, almost a monkish,
-aspect. A small iron bedstead, a table, some articles for the toilet;
-the whole lighted by a skylight. No comforts, the strictest necessaries
-only.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed to a seat.
-
-“Be so good as to sit down,” he said. I seated myself, and he began
-thus:
-
-
-[Illustration] Captain Nemo’s state-room
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-ALL BY ELECTRICITY
-
-
-“Sir,” said Captain Nemo, showing me the instruments hanging on the
-walls of his room, “here are the contrivances required for the
-navigation of the _Nautilus_. Here, as in the drawing-room, I have them
-always under my eyes, and they indicate my position and exact direction
-in the middle of the ocean. Some are known to you, such as the
-thermometer, which gives the internal temperature of the _Nautilus;_
-the barometer, which indicates the weight of the air and foretells the
-changes of the weather; the hygrometer, which marks the dryness of the
-atmosphere; the storm-glass, the contents of which, by decomposing,
-announce the approach of tempests; the compass, which guides my course;
-the sextant, which shows the latitude by the altitude of the sun;
-chronometers, by which I calculate the longitude; and glasses for day
-and night, which I use to examine the points of the horizon, when the
-_Nautilus_ rises to the surface of the waves.”
-
-“These are the usual nautical instruments,” I replied, “and I know the
-use of them. But these others, no doubt, answer to the particular
-requirements of the _Nautilus_. This dial with the movable needle is a
-manometer, is it not?”
-
-“It is actually a manometer. But by communication with the water, whose
-external pressure it indicates, it gives our depth at the same time.”
-
-“And these other instruments, the use of which I cannot guess?”
-
-“Here, Professor, I ought to give you some explanations. Will you be
-kind enough to listen to me?”
-
-He was silent for a few moments, then he said—
-
-“There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to
-every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel. Everything is done by
-means of it. It lights it, warms it, and is the soul of my mechanical
-apparatus. This agent is electricity.”
-
-“Electricity?” I cried in surprise.
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement,
-which does not agree with the power of electricity. Until now, its
-dynamic force has remained under restraint, and has only been able to
-produce a small amount of power.”
-
-“Professor,” said Captain Nemo, “my electricity is not everybody’s. You
-know what sea-water is composed of. In a thousand grammes are found 96½
-per cent. of water, and about 2-2/3 per cent. of chloride of sodium;
-then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of magnesium and of potassium,
-bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and carbonate of
-lime. You see, then, that chloride of sodium forms a large part of it.
-So it is this sodium that I extract from sea-water, and of which I
-compose my ingredients. I owe all to the ocean; it produces
-electricity, and electricity gives heat, light, motion, and, in a word,
-life to the _Nautilus_.”
-
-“But not the air you breathe?”
-
-“Oh! I could manufacture the air necessary for my consumption, but it
-is useless, because I go up to the surface of the water when I please.
-However, if electricity does not furnish me with air to breathe, it
-works at least the powerful pumps that are stored in spacious
-reservoirs, and which enable me to prolong at need, and as long as I
-will, my stay in the depths of the sea. It gives a uniform and
-unintermittent light, which the sun does not. Now look at this clock;
-it is electrical, and goes with a regularity that defies the best
-chronometers. I have divided it into twenty-four hours, like the
-Italian clocks, because for me there is neither night nor day, sun nor
-moon, but only that factitious light that I take with me to the bottom
-of the sea. Look! just now, it is ten o’clock in the morning.”
-
-“Exactly.”
-
-“Another application of electricity. This dial hanging in front of us
-indicates the speed of the _Nautilus_. An electric thread puts it in
-communication with the screw, and the needle indicates the real speed.
-Look! now we are spinning along with a uniform speed of fifteen miles
-an hour.”
-
-“It is marvelous! And I see, Captain, you were right to make use of
-this agent that takes the place of wind, water, and steam.”
-
-“We have not finished, M. Aronnax,” said Captain Nemo, rising. “If you
-will follow me, we will examine the stern of the _Nautilus_.”
-
-Really, I knew already the anterior part of this submarine boat, of
-which this is the exact division, starting from the ship’s head:—the
-dining-room, five yards long, separated from the library by a
-water-tight partition; the library, five yards long; the large
-drawing-room, ten yards long, separated from the Captain’s room by a
-second water-tight partition; the said room, five yards in length;
-mine, two and a half yards; and, lastly a reservoir of air, seven and a
-half yards, that extended to the bows. Total length thirty five yards,
-or one hundred and five feet. The partitions had doors that were shut
-hermetically by means of india-rubber instruments, and they ensured the
-safety of the _Nautilus_ in case of a leak.
-
-I followed Captain Nemo through the waist, and arrived at the centre of
-the boat. There was a sort of well that opened between two partitions.
-An iron ladder, fastened with an iron hook to the partition, led to the
-upper end. I asked the Captain what the ladder was used for.
-
-“It leads to the small boat,” he said.
-
-“What! have you a boat?” I exclaimed, in surprise.
-
-“Of course; an excellent vessel, light and insubmersible, that serves
-either as a fishing or as a pleasure boat.”
-
-“But then, when you wish to embark, you are obliged to come to the
-surface of the water?”
-
-“Not at all. This boat is attached to the upper part of the hull of the
-_Nautilus_, and occupies a cavity made for it. It is decked, quite
-water-tight, and held together by solid bolts. This ladder leads to a
-man-hole made in the hull of the _Nautilus_, that corresponds with a
-similar hole made in the side of the boat. By this double opening I get
-into the small vessel. They shut the one belonging to the _Nautilus;_ I
-shut the other by means of screw pressure. I undo the bolts, and the
-little boat goes up to the surface of the sea with prodigious rapidity.
-I then open the panel of the bridge, carefully shut till then; I mast
-it, hoist my sail, take my oars, and I’m off.”
-
-“But how do you get back on board?”
-
-“I do not come back, M. Aronnax; the _Nautilus_ comes to me.”
-
-“By your orders?”
-
-“By my orders. An electric thread connects us. I telegraph to it, and
-that is enough.”
-
-“Really,” I said, astonished at these marvels, “nothing can be more
-simple.”
-
-After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led to the
-platform, I saw a cabin six feet long, in which Conseil and Ned Land,
-enchanted with their repast, were devouring it with avidity. Then a
-door opened into a kitchen nine feet long, situated between the large
-storerooms. There electricity, better than gas itself, did all the
-cooking. The streams under the furnaces gave out to the sponges of
-platina a heat which was regularly kept up and distributed. They also
-heated a distilling apparatus, which, by evaporation, furnished
-excellent drinkable water. Near this kitchen was a bathroom comfortably
-furnished, with hot and cold water taps.
-
-Next to the kitchen was the berthroom of the vessel, sixteen feet long.
-But the door was shut, and I could not see the management of it, which
-might have given me an idea of the number of men employed on board the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-At the bottom was a fourth partition that separated this office from
-the engine-room. A door opened, and I found myself in the compartment
-where Captain Nemo—certainly an engineer of a very high order—had
-arranged his locomotive machinery. This engine-room, clearly lighted,
-did not measure less than sixty-five feet in length. It was divided
-into two parts; the first contained the materials for producing
-electricity, and the second the machinery that connected it with the
-screw. I examined it with great interest, in order to understand the
-machinery of the _Nautilus_.
-
-“You see,” said the Captain, “I use Bunsen’s contrivances, not
-Ruhmkorff’s. Those would not have been powerful enough. Bunsen’s are
-fewer in number, but strong and large, which experience proves to be
-the best. The electricity produced passes forward, where it works, by
-electro-magnets of great size, on a system of levers and cog-wheels
-that transmit the movement to the axle of the screw. This one, the
-diameter of which is nineteen feet, and the thread twenty-three feet,
-performs about a hundred and twenty revolutions in a second.”
-
-“And you get then?”
-
-“A speed of fifty miles an hour.”
-
-“I have seen the _Nautilus_ manœuvre before the _Abraham Lincoln_, and
-I have my own ideas as to its speed. But this is not enough. We must
-see where we go. We must be able to direct it to the right, to the
-left, above, below. How do you get to the great depths, where you find
-an increasing resistance, which is rated by hundreds of atmospheres?
-How do you return to the surface of the ocean? And how do you maintain
-yourselves in the requisite medium? Am I asking too much?”
-
-“Not at all, Professor,” replied the Captain, with some hesitation;
-“since you may never leave this submarine boat. Come into the saloon,
-it is our usual study, and there you will learn all you want to know
-about the _Nautilus_.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-SOME FIGURES
-
-
-A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking. The
-Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation
-of the _Nautilus_. Then he began his description in these words:—
-
-“Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat you are in.
-It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends. It is very like a cigar
-in shape, a shape already adopted in London in several constructions of
-the same sort. The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is
-exactly 232 feet, and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet. It is not
-built quite like your long-voyage steamers, but its lines are
-sufficiently long, and its curves prolonged enough, to allow the water
-to slide off easily, and oppose no obstacle to its passage. These two
-dimensions enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the surface and
-cubic contents of the _Nautilus_. Its area measures 6032 feet; and its
-contents about 1500 cubic yards—that is to say, when completely
-immersed it displaces 50,000 feet of water, or weighs 1500 tons.
-
-“When I made the plans for this submarine vessel, I meant that
-nine-tenths should be submerged: consequently, it ought only to
-displace nine-tenths of its bulk—that is to say, only to weigh that
-number of tons. I ought not, therefore, to have exceeded that weight,
-constructing it on the aforesaid dimensions.
-
-“The _Nautilus_ is composed of two hulls, one inside, the other
-outside, joined by T-shaped irons, which render it very strong. Indeed,
-owing to this cellular arrangement it resists like a block, as if it
-were solid. Its sides cannot yield; it coheres spontaneously, and not
-by the closeness of its rivets; and the homogenity of its construction,
-due to the perfect union of the materials, enables it to defy the
-roughest seas.
-
-“These two hulls are composed of steel plates, whose density is from .7
-to .8 that of water. The first is not less than two inches and a half
-thick and weighs 394 tons. The second envelope, the keel, twenty inches
-high and ten thick, weighs alone sixty-two tons. The engine, the
-ballast, the several accessories and apparatus appendages, the
-partitions and bulkheads, weigh 961.62 tons. Do you follow all this?”
-
-“I do.”
-
-“Then, when the _Nautilus_ is afloat under these circumstances,
-one-tenth is out of the water. Now, if I have made reservoirs of a size
-equal to this tenth, or capable of holding 150 tons, and if I fill them
-with water, the boat, weighing then 1507 tons, will be completely
-immersed. That would happen, Professor. These reservoirs are in the
-lower parts of the _Nautilus_. I turn on taps and they fill, and the
-vessel sinks that had just been level with the surface.”
-
-“Well, Captain, but now we come to the real difficulty. I can
-understand your rising to the surface; but diving below the surface,
-does not your submarine contrivance encounter a pressure, and
-consequently undergo an upward thrust of one atmosphere for every
-thirty feet of water, just about fifteen pounds per square inch?”
-
-“Just so, sir.”
-
-“Then, unless you quite fill the _Nautilus_, I do not see how you can
-draw it down to those depths.”
-
-“Professor, you must not confound statics with dynamics or you will be
-exposed to grave errors. There is very little labour spent in attaining
-the lower regions of the ocean, for all bodies have a tendency to sink.
-When I wanted to find out the necessary increase of weight required to
-sink the _Nautilus_, I had only to calculate the reduction of volume
-that sea-water acquires according to the depth.”
-
-“That is evident.”
-
-“Now, if water is not absolutely incompressible, it is at least capable
-of very slight compression. Indeed, after the most recent calculations
-this reduction is only .000436 of an atmosphere for each thirty feet of
-depth. If we want to sink 3000 feet, I should keep account of the
-reduction of bulk under a pressure equal to that of a column of water
-of a thousand feet. The calculation is easily verified. Now, I have
-supplementary reservoirs capable of holding a hundred tons. Therefore I
-can sink to a considerable depth. When I wish to rise to the level of
-the sea, I only let off the water, and empty all the reservoirs if I
-want the _Nautilus_ to emerge from the tenth part of her total
-capacity.”
-
-I had nothing to object to these reasonings.
-
-“I admit your calculations, Captain,” I replied; “I should be wrong to
-dispute them since daily experience confirms them; but I foresee a real
-difficulty in the way.”
-
-“What, sir?”
-
-“When you are about 1000 feet deep, the walls of the _Nautilus_ bear a
-pressure of 100 atmospheres. If, then, just now you were to empty the
-supplementary reservoirs, to lighten the vessel, and to go up to the
-surface, the pumps must overcome the pressure of 100 atmospheres, which
-is 1500 pounds per square inch. From that a power——”
-
-“That electricity alone can give,” said the Captain, hastily. “I
-repeat, sir, that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite.
-The pumps of the _Nautilus_ have an enormous power, as you must have
-observed when their jets of water burst like a torrent upon the
-_Abraham Lincoln_. Besides I use subsidiary reservoirs only to attain a
-mean depth of 750 to 1000 fathoms, and that with a view of managing my
-machines. Also, when I have a mind to visit the depths of the ocean
-five or six miles below the surface, I make use of slower but not less
-infallible means.”
-
-“What are they, Captain?”
-
-“That involves my telling you how the _Nautilus_ is worked.”
-
-“I am impatient to learn.”
-
-“To steer this boat to starboard or port, to turn—in a word, following
-a horizontal plan, I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back of the
-stern-post, and with one wheel and some tackle to steer by. But I can
-also make the _Nautilus_ rise and sink, and sink and rise, by a
-vertical movement by means of two inclined planes fastened to its
-sides, opposite the centre of flotation, planes that move in every
-direction, and that are worked by powerful levers from the interior. If
-the planes are kept parallel with the boat, it moves horizontally. If
-slanted, the _Nautilus_, according to this inclination, and under the
-influence of the screw, either sinks diagonally or rises diagonally as
-it suits me. And even if I wish to rise more quickly to the surface, I
-ship the screw, and the pressure of the water causes the _Nautilus_ to
-rise vertically like a balloon filled with hydrogen.”
-
-“Bravo, Captain! But how can the steersman follow the route in the
-middle of the waters?”
-
-“The steersman is placed in a glazed box, that is raised about the hull
-of the _Nautilus_, and furnished with lenses.”
-
-“Are these lenses capable of resisting such pressure?”
-
-“Perfectly. Glass, which breaks at a blow, is, nevertheless, capable of
-offering considerable resistance. During some experiments of fishing by
-electric light in 1864 in the Northern Seas, we saw plates less than a
-third of an inch thick resist a pressure of sixteen atmospheres. Now,
-the glass that I use is not less than thirty times thicker.”
-
-“Granted. But, after all, in order to see, the light must exceed the
-darkness, and in the midst of the darkness in the water, how can you
-see?”
-
-“Behind the steersman’s cage is placed a powerful electric reflector,
-the rays from which light up the sea for half a mile in front.”
-
-“Ah! bravo, bravo, Captain! Now I can account for this phosphorescence
-in the supposed narwhal that puzzled us so. I now ask you if the
-boarding of the _Nautilus_ and of the _Scotia_, that has made such a
-noise, has been the result of a chance rencontre?”
-
-“Quite accidental, sir. I was sailing only one fathom below the surface
-of the water, when the shock came. It had no bad result.”
-
-“None, sir. But now, about your rencontre with the _Abraham Lincoln?_”
-
-“Professor, I am sorry for one of the best vessels in the American
-navy; but they attacked me, and I was bound to defend myself. I
-contented myself, however, with putting the frigate _hors de combat;_
-she will not have any difficulty in getting repaired at the next port.”
-
-“Ah, Commander! your _Nautilus_ is certainly a marvellous boat.”
-
-“Yes, Professor; and I love it as if it were part of myself. If danger
-threatens one of your vessels on the ocean, the first impression is the
-feeling of an abyss above and below. On the _Nautilus_ men’s hearts
-never fail them. No defects to be afraid of, for the double shell is as
-firm as iron; no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to carry
-away; no boilers to burst; no fire to fear, for the vessel is made of
-iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity is the only
-mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for it alone swims in deep
-water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the water, it
-reaches absolute tranquillity. There, sir! that is the perfection of
-vessels! And if it is true that the engineer has more confidence in the
-vessel than the builder, and the builder than the captain himself, you
-understand the trust I repose in my _Nautilus;_ for I am at once
-captain, builder, and engineer.”
-
-“But how could you construct this wonderful _Nautilus_ in secret?”
-
-“Each separate portion, M. Aronnax, was brought from different parts of
-the globe. The keel was forged at Creusot, the shaft of the screw at
-Penn & Co.’s, London, the iron plates of the hull at Laird’s of
-Liverpool, the screw itself at Scott’s at Glasgow. The reservoirs were
-made by Cail & Co. at Paris, the engine by Krupp in Prussia, its beak
-in Motala’s workshop in Sweden, its mathematical instruments by Hart
-Brothers, of New York, etc.; and each of these people had my orders
-under different names.”
-
-“But these parts had to be put together and arranged?”
-
-“Professor, I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the
-ocean. There my workmen, that is to say, the brave men that I
-instructed and educated, and myself have put together our _Nautilus_.
-Then when the work was finished, fire destroyed all trace of our
-proceedings on this island, that I could have jumped over if I had
-liked.”
-
-“Then the cost of this vessel is great?”
-
-“M. Aronnax, an iron vessel costs £145 per ton. Now the _Nautilus_
-weighed 1500. It came therefore to ÂŁ67,500, and ÂŁ80,000 more for
-fitting it up, and about ÂŁ200,000 with the works of art and the
-collections it contains.”
-
-“One last question, Captain Nemo.”
-
-“Ask it, Professor.”
-
-“You are rich?”
-
-“Immensely rich, sir; and I could, without missing it, pay the national
-debt of France.”
-
-I stared at the singular person who spoke thus. Was he playing upon my
-credulity? The future would decide that.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-THE BLACK RIVER
-
-
-The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is
-estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres. This fluid mass
-comprises two billions two hundred and fifty millions of cubic miles,
-forming a spherical body of a diameter of sixty leagues, the weight of
-which would be three quintillions of tons. To comprehend the meaning of
-these figures, it is necessary to observe that a quintillion is to a
-billion as a billion is to unity; in other words, there are as many
-billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion. This mass of
-fluid is equal to about the quantity of water which would be discharged
-by all the rivers of the earth in forty thousand years.
-
-During the geological epochs, the igneous period succeeded to the
-aqeous. The ocean originally prevailed everywhere. Then by degrees, in
-the silurian period, the tops of the mountains began to appear, the
-islands emerged, then disappeared in partial deluges, reappeared,
-became settled, formed continents, till at length the earth became
-geographically arranged, as we see in the present day. The solid had
-wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred and
-fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billion nine hundred and
-sixty millions of acres.
-
-The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five great
-portions: the Arctic or Frozen Ocean, the Antarctic or Frozen Ocean,
-the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.
-
-The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two polar
-circles, and from east to west between Asia and America, over an extent
-of 145 degrees of longitude. It is the quietest of seas; its currents
-are broad and slow, it has medium tides, and abundant rain. Such was
-the ocean that my fate destined me first to travel over under these
-strange conditions.
-
-“Sir,” said Captain Nemo, “we will, if you please, take our bearings
-and fix the starting-point of this voyage. It is a quarter to twelve; I
-will go up again to the surface.”
-
-The Captain pressed an electric clock three times. The pumps began to
-drive the water from the tanks; the needle of the manometer marked by a
-different pressure the ascent of the _Nautilus_, then it stopped.
-
-“We have arrived,” said the Captain.
-
-I went to the central staircase which opened on to the platform,
-clambered up the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part of the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-The platform was only three feet out of water. The front and back of
-the _Nautilus_ was of that spindle-shape which caused it justly to be
-compared to a cigar. I noticed that its iron plates, slightly
-overlaying each other, resembled the shell which clothes the bodies of
-our large terrestrial reptiles. It explained to me how natural it was,
-in spite of all glasses, that this boat should have been taken for a
-marine animal.
-
-Toward the middle of the platform the long-boat, half buried in the
-hull of the vessel, formed a slight excrescence. Fore and aft rose two
-cages of medium height with inclined sides, and partly closed by thick
-lenticular glasses; one destined for the steersman who directed the
-_Nautilus_, the other containing a brilliant lantern to give light on
-the road.
-
-The sea was beautiful, the sky pure. Scarcely could the long vehicle
-feel the broad undulations of the ocean. A light breeze from the east
-rippled the surface of the waters. The horizon, free from fog, made
-observation easy. Nothing was in sight. Not a quicksand, not an island.
-A vast desert.
-
-Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude of the sun,
-which ought also to give the latitude. He waited for some moments till
-its disc touched the horizon. Whilst taking observations not a muscle
-moved, the instrument could not have been more motionless in a hand of
-marble.
-
-
-[Illustration] Captain Nemo took the Sun’s altitude
-
-
-“Twelve o’clock, sir,” said he. “When you like——”
-
-I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese
-coast, and descended to the saloon.
-
-“And now, sir, I leave you to your studies,” added the Captain; “our
-course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms. Here are maps on a
-large scale by which you may follow it. The saloon is at your disposal,
-and with your permission, I will retire.” Captain Nemo bowed, and I
-remained alone, lost in thoughts all bearing on the commander of the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce
-this mystery so interesting to me. Then my eyes fell upon the vast
-planisphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very
-spot where the given latitude and longitude crossed.
-
-The sea has its large rivers like the continents. They are special
-currents known by their temperature and their colour. The most
-remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream. Science
-has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents: one
-in the North Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North
-Pacific, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian
-Ocean. It is even probable that a sixth current existed at one time or
-another in the Northern Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas
-formed but one vast sheet of water.
-
-At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was
-rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which,
-leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular
-rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast
-of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands, carrying
-with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions, and
-edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.
-It was this current that the _Nautilus_ was to follow. I followed it
-with my eye; saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific, and
-felt myself drawn with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the
-door of the saloon.
-
-My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
-spread before them.
-
-“Where are we, where are we?” exclaimed the Canadian. “In the museum at
-Quebec?”
-
-“My friends,” I answered, making a sign for them to enter, “you are not
-in Canada, but on board the _Nautilus_, fifty yards below the level of
-the sea.”
-
-“But, M. Aronnax,” said Ned Land, “can you tell me how many men there
-are on board? Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?”
-
-“I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a time all
-idea of seizing the _Nautilus_ or escaping from it. This ship is a
-masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be sorry not to have seen
-it. Many people would accept the situation forced upon us, if only to
-move amongst such wonders. So be quiet and let us try and see what
-passes around us.”
-
-“See!” exclaimed the harpooner, “but we can see nothing in this iron
-prison! We are walking—we are sailing—blindly.”
-
-Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly
-darkness. The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes
-received a painful impression.
-
-We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited
-us, whether agreeable or disagreeable. A sliding noise was heard: one
-would have said that panels were working at the sides of the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-“It is the end of the end!” said Ned Land.
-
-Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong
-openings. The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric
-gleam. Two crystal plates separated us from the sea. At first I
-trembled at the thought that this frail partition might break, but
-strong bands of copper bound them, giving an almost infinite power of
-resistance.
-
-The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the _Nautilus_.
-What a spectacle! What pen can describe it? Who could paint the effects
-of the light through those transparent sheets of water, and the
-softness of the successive gradations from the lower to the superior
-strata of the ocean?
-
-We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
-beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances which it
-holds in suspension heightens its transparency. In certain parts of the
-ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five fathoms of water, can be seen
-with surprising clearness a bed of sand. The penetrating power of the
-solar rays does not seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and fifty
-fathoms. But in this middle fluid travelled over by the _Nautilus_, the
-electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves. It was
-no longer luminous water, but liquid light.
-
-On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss. The obscurity
-of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside, and we looked
-out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium.
-
-“You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now.”
-
-“Curious! curious!” muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
-ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction; “and one
-would come further than this to admire such a sight!”
-
-“Ah!” thought I to myself, “I understand the life of this man; he has
-made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all his greatest
-wonders.”
-
-For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the _Nautilus_. During
-their games, their bounds, while rivalling each other in beauty,
-brightness, and velocity, I distinguished the green labre; the banded
-mullet, marked by a double line of black; the round-tailed goby, of a
-white colour, with violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus, a
-beautiful mackerel of those seas, with a blue body and silvery head;
-the brilliant azurors, whose name alone defies description; some banded
-spares, with variegated fins of blue and yellow; the woodcocks of the
-seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in length; Japanese
-salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents six feet long, with eyes small
-and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth; with many other
-species.
-
-Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
-on each other. Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them. I was in
-ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their
-forms. Never had it been given to me to surprise these animals, alive
-and at liberty, in their natural element. I will not mention all the
-varieties which passed before my dazzled eyes, all the collection of
-the seas of China and Japan. These fish, more numerous than the birds
-of the air, came, attracted, no doubt, by the brilliant focus of the
-electric light.
-
-Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed
-again, and the enchanting vision disappeared. But for a long time I
-dreamt on till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the
-partition. The compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the
-manometer indicated a pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a
-depth of twenty-five fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of
-fifteen miles an hour. I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear.
-The clock marked the hour of five.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my
-chamber. My dinner was ready. It was composed of turtle soup made of
-the most delicate hawksbills, of a surmullet served with puff paste
-(the liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and
-fillets of the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me
-superior even to salmon.
-
-I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking. Then sleep
-overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch of zostera, and
-slept profoundly, whilst the _Nautilus_ was gliding rapidly through the
-current of the Black River.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-A NOTE OF INVITATION
-
-
-The next day was the 9th of November. I awoke after a long sleep of
-twelve hours. Conseil came, according to custom, to know “how I had
-passed the night,” and to offer his services. He had left his friend
-the Canadian sleeping like a man who had never done anything else all
-his life. I let the worthy fellow chatter as he pleased, without caring
-to answer him. I was pre-occupied by the absence of the Captain during
-our sitting of the day before, and hoping to see him to-day.
-
-As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon. It was deserted.
-
-I plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the
-glasses. I revelled also in great herbals filled with the rarest marine
-plants, which, although dried up, retained their lovely colours.
-Amongst these precious hydrophytes I remarked some vorticellæ,
-pavonariæ, delicate ceramies with scarlet tints, some fan-shaped agari,
-and some natabuli like flat mushrooms, which at one time used to be
-classed as zoophytes; in short, a perfect series of algæ.
-
-The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain
-Nemo. The panels of the saloon did not open. Perhaps they did not wish
-us to tire of these beautiful things.
-
-The course of the _Nautilus_ was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots, the
-depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
-
-The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion, the same solitude.
-I did not see one of the ship’s crew: Ned and Conseil spent the greater
-part of the day with me. They were astonished at the inexplicable
-absence of the Captain. Was this singular man ill?—had he altered his
-intentions with regard to us?
-
-After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were
-delicately and abundantly fed. Our host kept to his terms of the
-treaty. We could not complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our fate
-reserved such wonderful compensation for us, that we had no right to
-accuse it as yet.
-
-That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled
-me to relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail. I
-wrote it on paper made from the zostera marina.
-
-11th November, early in the morning. The fresh air spreading over the
-interior of the _Nautilus_ told me that we had come to the surface of
-the ocean to renew our supply of oxygen. I directed my steps to the
-central staircase, and mounted the platform.
-
-It was six o’clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey but calm.
-Scarcely a billow. Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be
-there? I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage.
-Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled
-the salt breeze with delight.
-
-By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun’s rays, the
-radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon. The sea flamed under
-its glance like a train of gunpowder. The clouds scattered in the
-heights were coloured with lively tints of beautiful shades, and
-numerous “mare’s tails,” which betokened wind for that day. But what
-was wind to this _Nautilus_ which tempests could not frighten!
-
-I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay, and so
-lifegiving, when I heard steps approaching the platform. I was prepared
-to salute Captain Nemo, but it was his second (whom I had already seen
-on the Captain’s first visit) who appeared. He advanced on the
-platform, not seeming to see me. With his powerful glass to his eye he
-scanned every point of the horizon with great attention. This
-examination over, he approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in
-exactly these terms. I have remembered it, for every morning it was
-repeated under exactly the same conditions. It was thus worded—
-
-“Nautron respoc lorni virch.”
-
-What it meant I could not say.
-
-These words pronounced, the second descended. I thought that the
-_Nautilus_ was about to return to its submarine navigation. I regained
-the panel and returned to my chamber.
-
-Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation. Every morning
-I mounted the platform. The same phrase was pronounced by the same
-individual. But Captain Nemo did not appear.
-
-I had made up my mind that I should never see him again, when, on the
-16th November, on returning to my room with Ned and Conseil, I found
-upon my table a note addressed to me. I opened it impatiently. It was
-written in a bold, clear hand, the characters rather pointed, recalling
-the German type. The note was worded as follows—
-
-16th of _November_, 1867.
-
-
-TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the _Nautilus_.
-
-Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
-take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the island of Crespo. He
-hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present, and
-he will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.
-
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the _Nautilus_.
-
-
-“A hunt!” exclaimed Ned.
-
-“And in the forests of the island of Crespo!” added Conseil.
-
-“Oh! then the gentleman is going on _terra firma?_” replied Ned Land.
-
-“That seems to me to be clearly indicated,” said I, reading the letter
-once more.
-
-“Well, we must accept,” said the Canadian. “But once more on dry
-ground, we shall know what to do. Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat a
-piece of fresh venison.”
-
-Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
-Nemo’s manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation
-to hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying—
-
-“Let us first see where the island of Crespo is.”
-
-I consulted the planisphere, and in 32° 40′ north lat. and 157° 50′
-west long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801 by Captain
-Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata,
-the meaning of which is “The Silver Rock.” We were then about eighteen
-hundred miles from our starting-point, and the course of the
-_Nautilus_, a little changed, was bringing it back towards the
-south-east.
-
-I showed this little rock lost in the midst of the North Pacific to my
-companions.
-
-“If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground,” said I, “he at least
-chooses desert islands.”
-
-Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil and he
-left me.
-
-After supper, which was served by the steward mute and impassive, I
-went to bed, not without some anxiety.
-
-The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt that the
-_Nautilus_ was perfectly still. I dressed quickly and entered the
-saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me. He rose, bowed, and asked me if
-it was convenient for me to accompany him. As he made no allusion to
-his absence during the last eight days, I did not mention it, and
-simply answered that my companions and myself were ready to follow him.
-
-We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
-
-“M. Aronnax,” said the Captain, “pray, share my breakfast without
-ceremony; we will chat as we eat. For though I promised you a walk in
-the forest, I did not undertake to find hotels there. So breakfast as a
-man who will most likely not have his dinner till very late.”
-
-I did honour to the repast. It was composed of several kinds of fish,
-and slices of holothuridæ (excellent zoophytes), and different sorts of
-sea-weed. Our drink consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added
-some drops of a fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha method
-from a sea-weed known under the name of _Rhodomenia palmata_. Captain
-Nemo ate at first without saying a word. Then he began—
-
-“Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
-you evidently thought me mad. Sir, you should never judge lightly of
-any man.”
-
-“But Captain, believe me——”
-
-“Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you have any
-cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction.”
-
-“I listen.”
-
-“You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
-providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air. In
-submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress, with his
-head in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means of forcing
-pumps and regulators.”
-
-“That is a diving apparatus,” said I.
-
-“Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty; he is
-attached to the pump which sends him air through an india-rubber tube,
-and if we were obliged to be thus held to the _Nautilus_, we could not
-go far.”
-
-“And the means of getting free?” I asked.
-
-“It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your own
-countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use, and
-which will allow you to risk yourself under these new physiological
-conditions without any organ whatever suffering. It consists of a
-reservoir of thick iron plates, in which I store the air under a
-pressure of fifty atmospheres. This reservoir is fixed on the back by
-means of braces, like a soldier’s knapsack. Its upper part forms a box
-in which the air is kept by means of a bellows, and therefore cannot
-escape unless at its normal tension. In the Rouquayrol apparatus such
-as we use, two india-rubber pipes leave this box and join a sort of
-tent which holds the nose and mouth; one is to introduce fresh air, the
-other to let out the foul, and the tongue closes one or the other
-according to the wants of the respirator. But I, in encountering great
-pressures at the bottom of the sea, was obliged to shut my head, like
-that of a diver in a ball of copper; and it is to this ball of copper
-that the two pipes, the inspirator and the expirator, open.”
-
-“Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you must soon
-be used; when it only contains fifteen per cent. of oxygen it is no
-longer fit to breathe.”
-
-“Right! But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the _Nautilus_
-allow me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those
-conditions the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air
-for nine or ten hours.”
-
-“I have no further objections to make,” I answered; “I will only ask
-you one thing, Captain—how can you light your road at the bottom of the
-sea?”
-
-“With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back,
-the other is fastened to the waist. It is composed of a Bunsen pile,
-which I do not work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium. A wire
-is introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs it
-towards a particularly made lantern. In this lantern is a spiral glass
-which contains a small quantity of carbonic gas. When the apparatus is
-at work this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous
-light. Thus provided, I can breathe and I can see.”
-
-“Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers,
-that I dare no longer doubt. But if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol
-and Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with
-regard to the gun I am to carry.”
-
-“But it is not a gun for powder,” answered the Captain.
-
-“Then it is an air-gun.”
-
-“Doubtless! How would you have me manufacture gunpowder on board,
-without either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?”
-
-“Besides,” I added, “to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and
-fifty-five times denser than the air, we must conquer very considerable
-resistance.”
-
-“That would be no difficulty. There exist guns, according to Fulton,
-perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy,
-and in Italy by Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar system of
-closing, which can fire under these conditions. But I repeat, having no
-powder, I use air under great pressure, which the pumps of the
-_Nautilus_ furnish abundantly.”
-
-“But this air must be rapidly used?”
-
-“Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at
-need? A tap is all that is required. Besides, M. Aronnax, you must see
-yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air
-and but few balls.”
-
-“But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this
-fluid, which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could
-not go far, nor easily prove mortal.”
-
-“Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal; and however
-lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt.”
-
-“Why?”
-
-“Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little
-cases of glass (invented by Leniebroek, an Austrian chemist), of which
-I have a large supply. These glass cases are covered with a case of
-steel, and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden
-bottles, into which the electricity is forced to a very high tension.
-With the slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal, however
-strong it may be, falls dead. I must tell you that these cases are size
-number four, and that the charge for an ordinary gun would be ten.”
-
-“I will argue no longer,” I replied, rising from the table; “I have
-nothing left me but to take my gun. At all events, I will go where you
-go.”
-
-Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned’s and Conseil’s
-cabin, I called my two companions, who followed immediately. We then
-came to a kind of cell near the machinery-room, in which we were to put
-on our walking-dress.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
-
-
-This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the
-_Nautilus_. A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition, waiting
-our use.
-
-Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress himself in
-one.
-
-“But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
-but submarine forests.”
-
-“Good!” said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams of fresh
-meat fade away. “And you, M. Aronnax, are you going to dress yourself
-in those clothes?”
-
-“There is no alternative, Master Ned.”
-
-“As you please, sir,” replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
-“but as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one.”
-
-“No one will force you, Master Ned,” said Captain Nemo.
-
-“Is Conseil going to risk it?” asked Ned.
-
-“I follow my master wherever he goes,” replied Conseil.
-
-At the Captain’s call two of the ship’s crew came to help us to dress
-in these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without
-seam, and constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure. One
-would have thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting. This
-suit formed trousers and waistcoat. The trousers were finished off with
-thick boots, weighted with heavy leaden soles. The texture of the
-waistcoat was held together by bands of copper, which crossed the
-chest, protecting it from the great pressure of the water, and leaving
-the lungs free to act; the sleeves ended in gloves, which in no way
-restrained the movement of the hands. There was a vast difference
-noticeable between these consummate apparatuses and the old cork
-breastplates, jackets, and other contrivances in vogue during the
-eighteenth century.
-
-Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules, who must
-have possessed great strength), Conseil, and myself, were soon
-enveloped in the dresses. There remained nothing more to be done but to
-enclose our heads in the metal box. But before proceeding to this
-operation, I asked the Captain’s permission to examine the guns we were
-to carry.
-
-One of the _Nautilus_ men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which,
-made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large. It served as a
-reservoir for compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring,
-allowed to escape into a metal tube. A box of projectiles, in a groove
-in the thickness of the butt end, contained about twenty of these
-electric balls, which, by means of a spring, were forced into the
-barrel of the gun. As soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
-
-“Captain Nemo,” said I, “this arm is perfect, and easily handled: I
-only ask to be allowed to try it. But how shall we gain the bottom of
-the sea?”
-
-“At this moment, Professor, the _Nautilus_ is stranded in five fathoms,
-and we have nothing to do but to start.”
-
-“But how shall we get off?”
-
-“You shall see.”
-
-Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the
-same, not without hearing an ironical “Good sport!” from the Canadian.
-The upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which
-was screwed the metal helmet. Three holes, protected by thick glass,
-allowed us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head in the
-interior of the head-dress. As soon as it was in position, the
-Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began to act; and, for my part, I
-could breathe with ease.
-
-With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand, I
-was ready to set out. But to speak the truth, imprisoned in these heavy
-garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles, it was impossible
-for me to take a step.
-
-
-[Illustration] I was ready to set out
-
-
-But this state of things was provided for. I felt myself being pushed
-into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe-room. My companions
-followed, towed along in the same way. I heard a water-tight door,
-furnished with stopper-plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in
-profound darkness.
-
-After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard. I felt the cold mount
-from my feet to my chest. Evidently from some part of the vessel they
-had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading
-us, and with which the room was soon filled. A second door cut in the
-side of the _Nautilus_ then opened. We saw a faint light. In another
-instant our feet trod the bottom of the sea.
-
-And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
-under the waters? Words are impotent to relate such wonders! Captain
-Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind. Conseil
-and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words had been
-possible through our metallic cases. I no longer felt the weight of my
-clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir of air, or my thick helmet,
-in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond in its shell.
-
-The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the
-ocean, astonished me by its power. The solar rays shone through the
-watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly
-distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.
-Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine, and
-faded into vague obscurity. Truly this water which surrounded me was
-but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere, but almost as
-transparent. Above me was the calm surface of the sea.
-
-We were walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore,
-which retains the impression of the billows. This dazzling carpet,
-really a reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful
-intensity, which accounted for the vibration which penetrated every
-atom of liquid. Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of
-thirty feet, I could see as if I was in broad daylight?
-
-For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
-dust of shells. The hull of the _Nautilus_, resembling a long shoal,
-disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake
-us in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
-
-Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible. I
-recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the
-most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect
-of this medium.
-
-It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
-of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their
-light, decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks,
-plants, shells, and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar
-colours. It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of
-coloured tints, a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange,
-violet, indigo, and blue; in one word, the whole palette of an
-enthusiastic colourist! Why could I not communicate to Conseil the
-lively sensations which were mounting to my brain, and rival him in
-expressions of admiration? For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his
-companion might be able to exchange thoughts by means of signs
-previously agreed upon. So, for want of better, I talked to myself; I
-declaimed in the copper box which covered my head, thereby expending
-more air in vain words than was perhaps expedient.
-
-Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi, and
-anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, enamelled with porphitæ,
-decked with their collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the
-sandy bottom, together with asterophytons like fine lace embroidered by
-the hands of naĂŻads, whose festoons were waved by the gentle
-undulations caused by our walk. It was a real grief to me to crush
-under my feet the brilliant specimens of molluscs which strewed the
-ground by thousands, of hammer-heads, donaciae (veritable bounding
-shells), of staircases, and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many
-others produced by this inexhaustible ocean. But we were bound to walk,
-so we went on, whilst above our heads waved shoals of physalides
-leaving their tentacles to float in their train, medusæ whose umbrellas
-of opal or rose-pink, escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from
-the rays of the sun and fiery pelagiæ, which, in the darkness, would
-have strewn our path with phosphorescent light.
-
-All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely
-stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs. Soon
-the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an extent
-of slimy mud, which the Americans call “ooze,” composed of equal parts
-of silicious and calcareous shells. We then travelled over a plain of
-sea-weed of wild and luxuriant vegetation. This sward was of close
-texture, and soft to the feet, and rivalled the softest carpet woven by
-the hand of man. But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not
-abandon our heads. A light network of marine plants, of that
-inexhaustible family of sea-weeds of which more than two thousand kinds
-are known, grew on the surface of the water. I saw long ribbons of
-fucus floating, some globular, others tuberous; laurenciæ and
-cladostephi of most delicate foliage, and some rhodomeniæ palmatæ,
-resembling the fan of a cactus. I noticed that the green plants kept
-nearer the top of the sea, whilst the red were at a greater depth,
-leaving to the black or brown hydrophytes the care of forming gardens
-and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
-
-We had quitted the _Nautilus_ about an hour and a half. It was near
-noon; I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun’s rays, which were no
-longer refracted. The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the
-shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced. We walked with a regular
-step, which rang upon the ground with astonishing intensity; the
-slightest noise was transmitted with a quickness to which the ear is
-unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water is a better conductor of sound
-than air, in the ratio of four to one. At this period the earth sloped
-downwards; the light took a uniform tint. We were at a depth of a
-hundred and five yards and twenty inches, undergoing a pressure of six
-atmospheres.
-
-At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to
-their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
-state between day and night; but we could still see well enough; it was
-not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet. At this
-moment Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him, and then
-pointed to an obscure mass, looming in the shadow, at a short distance.
-
-“It is the forest of the Island of Crespo,” thought I;—and I was not
-mistaken.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-A SUBMARINE FOREST
-
-
-We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of
-the finest of Captain Nemo’s immense domains. He looked upon it as his
-own, and considered he had the same right over it that the first men
-had in the first days of the world. And, indeed, who would have
-disputed with him the possession of this submarine property? What other
-hardier pioneer would come, hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark
-copses?
-
-This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we
-penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular
-position of their branches—a position I had not yet observed.
-
-Not a herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the
-trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally; all
-stretched up to the surface of the ocean. Not a filament, not a ribbon,
-however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron. The
-fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to the density
-of the element which had produced them. Motionless, yet when bent to
-one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former position.
-Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!
-
-I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the
-comparative darkness which surrounded us. The soil of the forest seemed
-covered with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid. The submarine flora
-struck me as being very perfect, and richer even than it would have
-been in the arctic or tropical zones, where these productions are not
-so plentiful. But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the
-genera, taking zoophytes for hydrophytes, animals for plants; and who
-would not have been mistaken? The fauna and the flora are too closely
-allied in this submarine world.
-
-These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their existence
-is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them. The greater number,
-instead of leaves, shot forth blades of capricious shapes, comprised
-within a scale of colours,—pink, carmine, green, olive, fawn, and
-brown. I saw there (but not dried up, as our specimens of the
-_Nautilus_ are) pavonari spread like a fan, as if to catch the breeze;
-scarlet ceramies, whose laminaries extended their edible shoots of
-fern-shaped nereocysti, which grow to a height of fifteen feet;
-clusters of acetabuli, whose stems increase in size upwards; and
-numbers of other marine plants, all devoid of flowers!
-
-“Curious anomaly, fantastic element!” said an ingenious naturalist, “in
-which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!”
-
-Under these numerous shrubs (as large as trees of the temperate zone),
-and under their damp shadow, were massed together real bushes of living
-flowers, hedges of zoophytes, on which blossomed some zebrameandrines,
-with crooked grooves, some yellow caryophylliæ; and, to complete the
-allusion, the fish-flies flew from branch to branch like a swarm of
-humming-birds, whilst yellow lepisacomthi, with bristling jaws,
-dactylopteri, and monocentrides rose at our feet like a flight of
-snipes.
-
-In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt. I, for my part,
-was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariæ,
-the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.
-
-This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing wanting but
-the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak, impossible to
-answer, I only put my great copper head to Conseil’s. I saw the worthy
-fellow’s eyes glistening with delight, and to show his satisfaction, he
-shook himself in his breastplate of air in the most comical way in the
-world.
-
-After four hours of this walking I was surprised not to find myself
-dreadfully hungry. How to account for this state of the stomach I could
-not tell. But instead I felt an insurmountable desire to sleep, which
-happens to all divers. And my eyes soon closed behind the thick
-glasses, and I fell into a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had
-prevented before. Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in
-the clear crystal, set us the example.
-
-How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge; but, when
-I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon. Captain Nemo had
-already risen, and I was beginning to stretch my limbs, when an
-unexpected apparition brought me briskly to my feet.
-
-A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches
-high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me.
-Though my diver’s dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite of
-this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror. Conseil and the
-sailor of the _Nautilus_ awoke at this moment. Captain Nemo pointed out
-the hideous crustacean, which a blow from the butt end of the gun
-knocked over, and I saw the horrible claws of the monster writhe in
-terrible convulsions. This accident reminded me that other animals more
-to be feared might haunt these obscure depths, against whose attacks my
-diving-dress would not protect me. I had never thought of it before,
-but I now resolved to be upon my guard. Indeed, I thought that this
-halt would mark the termination of our walk; but I was mistaken, for,
-instead of returning to the _Nautilus_, Captain Nemo continued his bold
-excursion. The ground was still on the incline, its declivity seemed to
-be getting greater, and to be leading us to greater depths. It must
-have been about three o’clock when we reached a narrow valley, between
-high perpendicular walls, situated about seventy-five fathoms deep.
-Thanks to the perfection of our apparatus, we were forty-five fathoms
-below the limit which nature seems to have imposed on man as to his
-submarine excursions.
-
-I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to
-judge the distance. But I knew that even in the clearest waters the
-solar rays could not penetrate further. And accordingly the darkness
-deepened. At ten paces not an object was visible. I was groping my way,
-when I suddenly saw a brilliant white light. Captain Nemo had just put
-his electric apparatus into use; his companion did the same, and
-Conseil and I followed their example. By turning a screw I established
-a communication between the wire and the spiral glass, and the sea, lit
-by our four lanterns, was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.
-
-Captain Nemo was still plunging into the dark depths of the forest,
-whose trees were getting scarcer at every step. I noticed that
-vegetable life disappeared sooner than animal life. The medusæ had
-already abandoned the arid soil, from which a great number of animals,
-zoophytes, articulata, molluscs, and fishes, still obtained sustenance.
-
-As we walked I, thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus could not
-fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch. But if they did
-approach us, they at least kept at a respectful distance from the
-hunters. Several times I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his
-shoulder, and after some moments drop it and walk on. At last, after
-about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end. A wall of
-superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of gigantic
-blocks, an enormous, steep granite shore, forming dark grottos, but
-which presented no practicable slope; it was the prop of the Island of
-Crespo. It was the earth! Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. A gesture of
-his brought us all to a halt, and, however desirous I might be to scale
-the wall, I was obliged to stop. Here ended Captain Nemo’s domains. And
-he would not go beyond them. Further on was a portion of the globe he
-might not trample upon.
-
-The return began. Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little
-band, directing their course without hesitation. I thought we were not
-following the same road to return to the _Nautilus_. The new road was
-very steep, and consequently very painful. We approached the surface of
-the sea rapidly. But this return to the upper strata was not so sudden
-as to cause relief from the pressure too rapidly, which might have
-produced serious disorder in our organisation, and brought on internal
-lesions, so fatal to divers. Very soon light reappeared and grew, and
-the sun being low on the horizon, the refraction edged the different
-objects with a spectral ring. At ten yards and a half deep, we walked
-amidst a shoal of little fishes of all kinds, more numerous than the
-birds of the air, and also more agile; but no aquatic game worthy of a
-shot had as yet met our gaze, when at that moment I saw the Captain
-shoulder his gun quickly, and follow a moving object into the shrubs.
-He fired;—I heard a slight hissing, and a creature fell stunned at some
-distance from us. It was a magnificent sea-otter, an enhydrus, the only
-exclusively marine quadruped. This otter was five feet long, and must
-have been very valuable. Its skin, chestnut-brown above and silvery
-underneath, would have made one of those beautiful furs so sought after
-in the Russian and Chinese markets; the fineness and the lustre of its
-coat would certainly fetch ÂŁ80. I admired this curious mammal, with its
-rounded head ornamented with short ears, its round eyes, and white
-whiskers like those of a cat, with webbed feet and nails, and tufted
-tail. This precious animal, hunted and tracked by fishermen, has now
-become very rare, and taken refuge chiefly in the northern parts of the
-Pacific, or probably its race would soon become extinct.
-
-Captain Nemo’s companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder,
-and we continued our journey. For one hour a plain of sand lay
-stretched before us. Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some
-inches of the surface of the water. I then saw our image clearly
-reflected, drawn inversely, and above us appeared an identical group
-reflecting our movements and our actions; in a word, like us in every
-point, except that they walked with their heads downward and their feet
-in the air.
-
-Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which
-formed and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these
-seeming clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the
-bottom, and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops
-multiplied on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above
-our heads, whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the
-sea.
-
-On this occasion, I was witness to one of the finest gun-shots which
-ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill. A large bird of great breadth
-of wing, clearly visible, approached, hovering over us. Captain Nemo’s
-companion shouldered his gun and fired, when it was only a few yards
-above the waves. The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall
-brought it within the reach of dexterous hunter’s grasp. It was an
-albatross of the finest kind.
-
-Our march had not been interrupted by this incident. For two hours we
-followed these sandy plains, then fields of algæ very disagreeable to
-cross. Candidly, I could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light,
-which, for a half mile, broke the darkness of the waters. It was the
-lantern of the _Nautilus_. Before twenty minutes were over we should be
-on board, and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed that
-my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen. But I did not
-reckon on an accidental meeting, which delayed our arrival for some
-time.
-
-I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain Nemo
-coming hurriedly towards me. With his strong hand he bent me to the
-ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil. At first I knew not
-what to think of this sudden attack, but I was soon reassured by seeing
-the Captain lie down beside me, and remain immovable.
-
-I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of
-algæ, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass, casting
-phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
-
-My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which
-threatened us. It was a couple of tintoreas, terrible creatures, with
-enormous tails and a dull glassy stare, the phosphorescent matter
-ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle. Monstrous brutes! which
-would crush a whole man in their iron jaws. I did not know whether
-Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part, I noticed their silver
-bellies, and their huge mouths bristling with teeth, from a very
-unscientific point of view, and more as a possible victim than as a
-naturalist.
-
-Happily the voracious creatures do not see well. They passed without
-seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a
-miracle from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face
-in the forest. Half an hour after, guided by the electric light, we
-reached the _Nautilus_. The outside door had been left open, and
-Captain Nemo closed it as soon as we had entered the first cell. He
-then pressed a knob. I heard the pumps working in the midst of the
-vessel, I felt the water sinking from around me, and in a few moments
-the cell was entirely empty. The inside door then opened, and we
-entered the vestry.
-
-There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble; and,
-fairly worn out from want of food and sleep. I returned to my room, in
-great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
-
-
-The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my
-fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform, just as
-the second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
-
-I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo
-appeared. He did not seem to be aware of my presence, and began a
-series of astronomical observations. Then, when he had finished, he
-went and leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly
-on the ocean. In the meantime, a number of the sailors of the
-_Nautilus_, all strong and healthy men, had come up onto the platform.
-They came to draw up the nets that had been laid all night. These
-sailors were evidently of different nations, although the European type
-was visible in all of them. I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen,
-Frenchmen, some Sclaves, and a Greek, or a Candiote. They were civil,
-and only used that odd language among themselves, the origin of which I
-could not guess, neither could I question them.
-
-The nets were hauled in. They were a large kind of “chaluts,” like
-those on the Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain
-fixed in the smaller meshes kept open. These pockets, drawn by iron
-poles, swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their
-way. That day they brought up curious specimens from those productive
-coasts.
-
-I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of
-fish. It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at. Indeed, the nets
-are let down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite
-variety. We had no lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the
-_Nautilus_ and the attraction of the electric light could always renew
-our supply. These several productions of the sea were immediately
-lowered through the panel to the steward’s room, some to be eaten
-fresh, and others pickled.
-
-The fishing ended, the provision of air renewed, I thought that the
-_Nautilus_ was about to continue its submarine excursion, and was
-preparing to return to my room, when, without further preamble, the
-Captain turned to me, saying:
-
-“Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life? It has its tempers
-and its gentle moods. Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it has woke
-after a quiet night. Look!” he continued, “it wakes under the caresses
-of the sun. It is going to renew its diurnal existence. It is an
-interesting study to watch the play of its organisation. It has a
-pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with the learned Maury, who
-discovered in it a circulation as real as the circulation of blood in
-animals.
-
-“Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator
-has caused things to multiply in it—caloric, salt, and animalculae.”
-
-When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed, and aroused
-an extraordinary emotion in me.
-
-“Also,” he added, “true existence is there; and I can imagine the
-foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses, which,
-like the _Nautilus_, would ascend every morning to breathe at the
-surface of the water, free towns, independent cities. Yet who knows
-whether some despot——”
-
-Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture. Then,
-addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought:
-
-“M. Aronnax,” he asked, “do you know the depth of the ocean?”
-
-“I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings have taught us.”
-
-“Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to my purpose?”
-
-“These are some,” I replied, “that I remember. If I am not mistaken, a
-depth of 8,000 yards has been found in the North Atlantic, and 2,500
-yards in the Mediterranean. The most remarkable soundings have been
-made in the South Atlantic, near the thirty-fifth parallel, and they
-gave 12,000 yards, 14,000 yards, and 15,000 yards. To sum up all, it is
-reckoned that if the bottom of the sea were levelled, its mean depth
-would be about one and three-quarter leagues.”
-
-“Well, Professor,” replied the Captain, “we shall show you better than
-that I hope. As to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific, I tell
-you it is only 4,000 yards.”
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo went towards the panel, and disappeared
-down the ladder. I followed him, and went into the large drawing-room.
-The screw was immediately put in motion, and the log gave twenty miles
-an hour.
-
-During the days and weeks that passed, Captain Nemo was very sparing of
-his visits. I seldom saw him. The lieutenant pricked the ship’s course
-regularly on the chart, so I could always tell exactly the route of the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-Nearly every day, for some time, the panels of the drawing-room were
-opened, and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the
-submarine world.
-
-The general direction of the _Nautilus_ was south-east, and it kept
-between 100 and 150 yards of depth. One day, however, I do not know
-why, being drawn diagonally by means of the inclined planes, it touched
-the bed of the sea. The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25
-(cent.): a temperature that at this depth seemed common to all
-latitudes.
-
-At three o’clock in the morning of the 26th of November the _Nautilus_
-crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172° long. On 27th instant it sighted
-the Sandwich Islands, where Cook died, February 14, 1779. We had then
-gone 4,860 leagues from our starting-point. In the morning, when I went
-on the platform, I saw two miles to windward, Hawaii, the largest of
-the seven islands that form the group. I saw clearly the cultivated
-ranges, and the several mountain-chains that run parallel with the
-side, and the volcanoes that overtop Mouna-Rea, which rise 5,000 yards
-above the level of the sea. Besides other things the nets brought up,
-were several flabellariae and graceful polypi, that are peculiar to
-that part of the ocean. The direction of the _Nautilus_ was still to
-the south-east. It crossed the equator December 1, in 142° long.; and
-on the 4th of the same month, after crossing rapidly and without
-anything in particular occurring, we sighted the Marquesas group. I
-saw, three miles off, Martin’s peak in Nouka-Hiva, the largest of the
-group that belongs to France. I only saw the woody mountains against
-the horizon, because Captain Nemo did not wish to bring the ship to the
-wind. There the nets brought up beautiful specimens of fish: some with
-azure fins and tails like gold, the flesh of which is unrivalled; some
-nearly destitute of scales, but of exquisite flavour; others, with bony
-jaws, and yellow-tinged gills, as good as bonitos; all fish that would
-be of use to us. After leaving these charming islands protected by the
-French flag, from the 4th to the 11th of December the _Nautilus_ sailed
-over about 2,000 miles.
-
-During the daytime of the 11th of December I was busy reading in the
-large drawing-room. Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous water
-through the half-open panels. The _Nautilus_ was immovable. While its
-reservoirs were filled, it kept at a depth of 1,000 yards, a region
-rarely visited in the ocean, and in which large fish were seldom seen.
-
-I was then reading a charming book by Jean Mace, The Slaves of the
-Stomach, and I was learning some valuable lessons from it, when Conseil
-interrupted me.
-
-“Will master come here a moment?” he said, in a curious voice.
-
-“What is the matter, Conseil?”
-
-“I want master to look.”
-
-I rose, went, and leaned on my elbows before the panes and watched.
-
-In a full electric light, an enormous black mass, quite immovable, was
-suspended in the midst of the waters. I watched it attentively, seeking
-to find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean. But a sudden thought
-crossed my mind. “A vessel!” I said, half aloud.
-
-“Yes,” replied the Canadian, “a disabled ship that has sunk
-perpendicularly.”
-
-Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the tattered
-shrouds still hung from their chains. The keel seemed to be in good
-order, and it had been wrecked at most some few hours. Three stumps of
-masts, broken off about two feet above the bridge, showed that the
-vessel had had to sacrifice its masts. But, lying on its side, it had
-filled, and it was heeling over to port. This skeleton of what it had
-once been was a sad spectacle as it lay lost under the waves, but
-sadder still was the sight of the bridge, where some corpses, bound
-with ropes, were still lying. I counted five—four men, one of whom was
-standing at the helm, and a woman standing by the poop, holding an
-infant in her arms. She was quite young. I could distinguish her
-features, which the water had not decomposed, by the brilliant light
-from the _Nautilus_. In one despairing effort, she had raised her
-infant above her head—poor little thing!—whose arms encircled its
-mother’s neck. The attitude of the four sailors was frightful,
-distorted as they were by their convulsive movements, whilst making a
-last effort to free themselves from the cords that bound them to the
-vessel. The steersman alone, calm, with a grave, clear face, his grey
-hair glued to his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the
-helm, seemed even then to be guiding the three broken masts through the
-depths of the ocean.
-
-What a scene! We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before this shipwreck,
-taken as it were from life and photographed in its last moments. And I
-saw already, coming towards it with hungry eyes, enormous sharks,
-attracted by the human flesh.
-
-However, the _Nautilus_, turning, went round the submerged vessel, and
-in one instant I read on the stern—“The Florida, Sunderland.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-VANIKORO
-
-
-This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime
-catastrophes that the _Nautilus_ was destined to meet with in its
-route. As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw
-the hulls of shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths, and
-deeper down cannons, bullets, anchors, chains, and a thousand other
-iron materials eaten up by rust. However, on the 11th of December we
-sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old “dangerous group” of Bougainville,
-that extend over a space of 500 leagues at E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the
-Island Ducie to that of Lazareff. This group covers an area of 370
-square leagues, and it is formed of sixty groups of islands, among
-which the Gambier group is remarkable, over which France exercises
-sway. These are coral islands, slowly raised, but continuous, created
-by the daily work of polypi. Then this new island will be joined later
-on to the neighboring groups, and a fifth continent will stretch from
-New Zealand and New Caledonia, and from thence to the Marquesas.
-
-One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain Nemo, he replied
-coldly:
-
-“The earth does not want new continents, but new men.”
-
-Chance had conducted the _Nautilus_ towards the Island of
-Clermont-Tonnere, one of the most curious of the group, that was
-discovered in 1822 by Captain Bell of the Minerva. I could study now
-the madreporal system, to which are due the islands in this ocean.
-
-Madrepores (which must not be mistaken for corals) have a tissue lined
-with a calcareous crust, and the modifications of its structure have
-induced M. Milne Edwards, my worthy master, to class them into five
-sections. The animalcule that the marine polypus secretes live by
-millions at the bottom of their cells. Their calcareous deposits become
-rocks, reefs, and large and small islands. Here they form a ring,
-surrounding a little inland lake, that communicates with the sea by
-means of gaps. There they make barriers of reefs like those on the
-coasts of New Caledonia and the various Pomoton islands. In other
-places, like those at Reunion and at Maurice, they raise fringed reefs,
-high, straight walls, near which the depth of the ocean is
-considerable.
-
-Some cable-lengths off the shores of the Island of Clermont I admired
-the gigantic work accomplished by these microscopical workers. These
-walls are specially the work of those madrepores known as milleporas,
-porites, madrepores, and astraeas. These polypi are found particularly
-in the rough beds of the sea, near the surface; and consequently it is
-from the upper part that they begin their operations, in which they
-bury themselves by degrees with the debris of the secretions that
-support them. Such is, at least, Darwin’s theory, who thus explains the
-formation of the _atolls_, a superior theory (to my mind) to that given
-of the foundation of the madreporical works, summits of mountains or
-volcanoes, that are submerged some feet below the level of the sea.
-
-I could observe closely these curious walls, for perpendicularly they
-were more than 300 yards deep, and our electric sheets lighted up this
-calcareous matter brilliantly. Replying to a question Conseil asked me
-as to the time these colossal barriers took to be raised, I astonished
-him much by telling him that learned men reckoned it about the eighth
-of an inch in a hundred years.
-
-Towards evening Clermont-Tonnerre was lost in the distance, and the
-route of the _Nautilus_ was sensibly changed. After having crossed the
-tropic of Capricorn in 135° longitude, it sailed W.N.W., making again
-for the tropical zone. Although the summer sun was very strong, we did
-not suffer from heat, for at fifteen or twenty fathoms below the
-surface, the temperature did not rise above from ten to twelve degrees.
-
-On 15th of December, we left to the east the bewitching group of the
-Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific. I saw in the
-morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated summits of the
-island. These waters furnished our table with excellent fish, mackerel,
-bonitos, and some varieties of a sea-serpent.
-
-On the 25th of December the _Nautilus_ sailed into the midst of the New
-Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville explored
-in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773. This group is
-composed principally of nine large islands, that form a band of 120
-leagues N.N.S. to S.S.W., between 15° and 2° S. lat., and 164 deg. and
-168° long. We passed tolerably near to the Island of Aurou, that at
-noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a peak of great
-height.
-
-That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely the
-non-celebration of “Christmas,” the family fete of which Protestants
-are so fond. I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week, when, on the
-morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room, always
-seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before. I was busily tracing
-the route of the _Nautilus_ on the planisphere. The Captain came up to
-me, put his finger on one spot on the chart, and said this single word.
-
-“Vanikoro.”
-
-The effect was magical! It was the name of the islands on which La
-Perouse had been lost! I rose suddenly.
-
-“The _Nautilus_ has brought us to Vanikoro?” I asked.
-
-“Yes, Professor,” said the Captain.
-
-“And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole and the
-Astrolabe struck?”
-
-“If you like, Professor.”
-
-“When shall we be there?”
-
-“We are there now.”
-
-Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform, and greedily
-scanned the horizon.
-
-To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size, surrounded by
-a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference. We were close
-to Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d’Urville gave the name of
-Isle de la Recherche, and exactly facing the little harbour of Vanou,
-situated in 16° 4′ S. lat., and 164° 32′ E. long. The earth seemed
-covered with verdure from the shore to the summits in the interior,
-that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high. The _Nautilus_,
-having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait, found itself
-among breakers where the sea was from thirty to forty fathoms deep.
-Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived some savages, who
-appeared greatly surprised at our approach. In the long black body,
-moving between wind and water, did they not see some formidable
-cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
-
-Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La
-Perouse.
-
-“Only what everyone knows, Captain,” I replied.
-
-“And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?” he inquired,
-ironically.
-
-“Easily.”
-
-I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d’Urville had made
-known—works from which the following is a brief account.
-
-La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent by Louis XVI,
-in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation. They embarked in the
-corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe, neither of which were again heard
-of. In 1791, the French Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of
-these two sloops, manned two large merchantmen, the Recherche and the
-Esperance, which left Brest the 28th of September under the command of
-Bruni d’Entrecasteaux.
-
-Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle,
-that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts of
-New Georgia. But D’Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication—rather
-uncertain, besides—directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
-mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter’s as being the place where La
-Perouse was wrecked.
-
-They sought in vain. The Esperance and the Recherche passed before
-Vanikoro without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most
-disastrous, as it cost D’Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of
-his lieutenants, besides several of his crew.
-
-Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find
-unmistakable traces of the wrecks. On the 15th of May, 1824, his
-vessel, the St. Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New
-Hebrides. There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the handle
-of a sword in silver that bore the print of characters engraved on the
-hilt. The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay at
-Vanikoro, he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels that
-had run aground on the reefs some years ago.
-
-Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had
-troubled the whole world. He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
-according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
-but winds and tides prevented him.
-
-Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he interested the Asiatic Society
-and the Indian Company in his discovery. A vessel, to which was given
-the name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out,
-23rd January, 1827, accompanied by a French agent.
-
-The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific, cast
-anchor before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour of Vanou
-where the _Nautilus_ was at this time.
-
-There it collected numerous relics of the wreck—iron utensils, anchors,
-pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lbs. shot, fragments of astronomical
-instruments, a piece of crown work, and a bronze clock, bearing this
-inscription—“Bazin m’a fait,” the mark of the foundry of the arsenal at
-Brest about 1785. There could be no further doubt.
-
-Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till
-October. Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New
-Zealand; put into Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France,
-where he was warmly welcomed by Charles X.
-
-But at the same time, without knowing Dillon’s movements, Dumont
-d’Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck. And they
-had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis had
-been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.
-Dumont d’Urville, commander of the Astrolabe, had then sailed, and two
-months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put into Hobart Town. There he
-learned the results of Dillon’s inquiries, and found that a certain
-James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing
-on an island situated 8° 18′ S. lat., and 156° 30′ E. long., had seen
-some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these parts.
-Dumont d’Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit the
-reports of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon’s track.
-
-On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia, and
-took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island; made his
-way to Vanikoro, sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among the reefs
-until the 14th, and not until the 20th did he cast anchor within the
-barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
-
-On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought back
-some unimportant trifles. The natives, adopting a system of denials and
-evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place. This ambiguous
-conduct led them to believe that the natives had ill-treated the
-castaways, and indeed they seemed to fear that Dumont d’Urville had
-come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
-
-However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that
-they had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of
-the wreck.
-
-There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs of Pacou
-and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron, embedded in the
-limy concretions. The large boat and the whaler belonging to the
-Astrolabe were sent to this place, and, not without some difficulty,
-their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800 lbs., a brass gun, some
-pigs of iron, and two copper swivel-guns.
-
-Dumont d’Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse,
-after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island, had
-constructed a smaller boat, only to be lost a second time. Where, no
-one knew.
-
-But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d’Urville was not
-acquainted with Dillon’s movements, had sent the sloop Bayonnaise,
-commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro, which had been
-stationed on the west coast of America. The Bayonnaise cast her anchor
-before Vanikoro some months after the departure of the Astrolabe, but
-found no new document; but stated that the savages had respected the
-monument to La Perouse. That is the substance of what I told Captain
-Nemo.
-
-“So,” he said, “no one knows now where the third vessel perished that
-was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?”
-
-“No one knows.”
-
-Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into the
-large saloon. The _Nautilus_ sank several yards below the waves, and
-the panels were opened.
-
-I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral, covered
-with fungi, syphonules, alcyons, madrepores, through myriads of
-charming fish—girelles, glyphisidri, pompherides, diacopes, and
-holocentres—I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been
-able to tear up—iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan
-fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck of
-some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers. While I was looking
-on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a sad voice:
-
-“Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels La
-Boussole and the Astrolabe. He first cast anchor at Botany Bay, visited
-the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course towards
-Santa Cruz, and put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group. Then his
-vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro. The Boussole, which
-went first, ran aground on the southerly coast. The Astrolabe went to
-its help, and ran aground too. The first vessel was destroyed almost
-immediately. The second, stranded under the wind, resisted some days.
-The natives made the castaways welcome. They installed themselves in
-the island, and constructed a smaller boat with the debris of the two
-large ones. Some sailors stayed willingly at Vanikoro; the others, weak
-and ill, set out with La Perouse. They directed their course towards
-the Solomon Islands, and there perished, with everything, on the
-westerly coast of the chief island of the group, between Capes
-Deception and Satisfaction.”
-
-“How do you know that?”
-
-“By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck.”
-
-Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms,
-and corroded by the salt water. He opened it, and I saw a bundle of
-papers, yellow but still readable.
-
-They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La
-Perouse, annotated in the margin in Louis XVI’s handwriting.
-
-“Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!” said Captain Nemo, at last. “A
-coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades will
-find no other.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-TORRES STRAITS
-
-
-During the night of the 27th or 28th of December, the _Nautilus_ left
-the shores of Vanikoro with great speed. Her course was south-westerly,
-and in three days she had gone over the 750 leagues that separated it
-from La Perouse’s group and the south-east point of Papua.
-
-Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
-
-“Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?”
-
-“What! Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study at the Jardin
-des Plantes? Well, I accept your good wishes, and thank you for them.
-Only, I will ask you what you mean by a �Happy New Year’ under our
-circumstances? Do you mean the year that will bring us to the end of
-our imprisonment, or the year that sees us continue this strange
-voyage?”
-
-“Really, I do not know how to answer, master. We are sure to see
-curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time for
-dullness. The last marvel is always the most astonishing; and, if we
-continue this progression, I do not know how it will end. It is my
-opinion that we shall never again see the like. I think then, with no
-offence to master, that a happy year would be one in which we could see
-everything.”
-
-On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250 French leagues, since
-our starting-point in the Japan Seas. Before the ship’s head stretched
-the dangerous shores of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of
-Australia. Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank on
-which Cook’s vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770. The boat in which Cook
-was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink, it was owing to a piece
-of coral that was broken by the shock, and fixed itself in the broken
-keel.
-
-I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the
-sea, always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like
-thunder. But just then the inclined planes drew the _Nautilus_ down to
-a great depth, and I could see nothing of the high coral walls. I had
-to content myself with the different specimens of fish brought up by
-the nets. I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel
-as large as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse
-bands, that disappear with the animal’s life.
-
-These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with very delicate
-food. We took also a large number of gilt-heads, about one and a half
-inches long, tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine
-swallows, which, in dark nights, light alternately the air and water
-with their phosphorescent light. Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I
-found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini,
-hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented
-by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and macrocystes,
-impregnated with the mucilage that transudes through their pores; and
-among which I gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois, that was
-classed among the natural curiosities of the museum.
-
-Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted the
-Papuan coasts. On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his
-intention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres. His
-communication ended there.
-
-The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are
-obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers, and
-rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable; so that Captain
-Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them. The _Nautilus_,
-floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace. Her screw,
-like a cetacean’s tail, beat the waves slowly.
-
-Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the deserted
-platform. Before us was the steersman’s cage, and I expected that
-Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the _Nautilus_. I had
-before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and I
-consulted them attentively. Round the _Nautilus_ the sea dashed
-furiously. The course of the waves, that went from south-east to
-north-west at the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that
-showed itself here and there.
-
-“This is a bad sea!” remarked Ned Land.
-
-“Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the
-_Nautilus_.”
-
-“The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of
-coral that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly.”
-
-Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the _Nautilus_ seemed to slide
-like magic off these rocks. It did not follow the routes of the
-Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont
-d’Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray, and
-came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage. I thought it
-was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west, it went
-through a large quantity of islands and islets little known, towards
-the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
-
-I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his vessel
-into that pass where Dumont d’Urville’s two corvettes touched; when,
-swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west, he steered
-for the Island of Gilboa.
-
-It was then three in the afternoon. The tide began to recede, being
-quite full. The _Nautilus_ approached the island, that I still saw,
-with its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off it at about two
-miles distant. Suddenly a shock overthrew me. The _Nautilus_ just
-touched a rock, and stayed immovable, laying lightly to port side.
-
-When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the
-platform. They were examining the situation of the vessel, and
-exchanging words in their incomprehensible dialect.
-
-She was situated thus: Two miles, on the starboard side, appeared
-Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm. Towards the
-south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb. We had run
-aground, and in one of those seas where the tides are middling—a sorry
-matter for the floating of the _Nautilus_. However, the vessel had not
-suffered, for her keel was solidly joined. But, if she could neither
-glide off nor move, she ran the risk of being for ever fastened to
-these rocks, and then Captain Nemo’s submarine vessel would be done
-for.
-
-I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm, always master
-of himself, approached me.
-
-“An accident?” I asked.
-
-“No; an incident.”
-
-“But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
-of this land from which you flee?”
-
-Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as
-much as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma
-again. Then he said:
-
-“Besides, M. Aronnax, the _Nautilus_ is not lost; it will carry you yet
-into the midst of the marvels of the ocean. Our voyage is only begun,
-and I do not wish to be deprived so soon of the honour of your
-company.”
-
-“However, Captain Nemo,” I replied, without noticing the ironical turn
-of his phrase, “the _Nautilus_ ran aground in open sea. Now the tides
-are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot lighten the
-_Nautilus_, I do not see how it will be reinflated.”
-
-“The tides are not strong in the Pacific: you are right there,
-Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference of a yard
-and a half between the level of high and low seas. To-day is 4th
-January, and in five days the moon will be full. Now, I shall be very
-much astonished if that satellite does not raise these masses of water
-sufficiently, and render me a service that I should be indebted to her
-for.”
-
-Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, redescended
-to the interior of the _Nautilus_. As to the vessel, it moved not, and
-was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had already walled it up with
-their in destructible cement.
-
-“Well, sir?” said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure of
-the Captain.
-
-“Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th
-instant; for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it
-off again.”
-
-“Really?”
-
-“Really.”
-
-“And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide
-will suffice?” said Conseil, simply.
-
-The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
-
-“Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will
-navigate neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold
-for its weight. I think, therefore, that the time has come to part
-company with Captain Nemo.”
-
-“Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout _Nautilus_, as you do; and
-in four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides.
-Besides, flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English or
-Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing; and it
-will be time enough to come to that extremity if the _Nautilus_ does
-not recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event.”
-
-“But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly? There is an
-island; on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial
-animals, bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly
-give a trial.”
-
-“In this, friend Ned is right,” said Conseil, “and I agree with him.
-Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put
-us on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the
-solid parts of our planet?”
-
-“I can ask him, but he will refuse.”
-
-“Will master risk it?” asked Conseil, “and we shall know how to rely
-upon the Captain’s amiability.”
-
-To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
-and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise
-to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be very
-perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.
-Better to be a prisoner on board the _Nautilus_ than to fall into the
-hands of the natives.
-
-At eight o’clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the
-_Nautilus_. The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.
-Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered in the
-straight passage that the breakers left between them. The boat was well
-handled, and moved rapidly.
-
-Ned Land could not restrain his joy. He was like a prisoner that had
-escaped from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
-
-“Meat! We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!” he replied. “Real
-game! no, bread, indeed.”
-
-“I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it; but a piece
-of fresh venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably vary our
-ordinary course.”
-
-“Glutton!” said Conseil, “he makes my mouth water.”
-
-“It remains to be seen,” I said, “if these forests are full of game,
-and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself.”
-
-“Well said, M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed
-sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; “but I will eat tiger—loin of
-tiger—if there is no other quadruped on this island.”
-
-“Friend Ned is uneasy about it,” said Conseil.
-
-“Whatever it may be,” continued Ned Land, “every animal with four paws
-without feathers, or with two paws without feathers, will be saluted by
-my first shot.”
-
-“Very well! Master Land’s imprudences are beginning.”
-
-“Never fear, M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian; “I do not want
-twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort.”
-
-At half-past eight the _Nautilus_ boat ran softly aground on a heavy
-sand, after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the
-Island of Gilboa.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-A FEW DAYS ON LAND
-
-
-I was much impressed on touching land. Ned Land tried the soil with his
-feet, as if to take possession of it. However, it was only two months
-before that we had become, according to Captain Nemo, “passengers on
-board the _Nautilus_,” but, in reality, prisoners of its commander.
-
-In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast. The whole
-horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests. Enormous
-trees, the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet, were tied to
-each other by garlands of bindweed, real natural hammocks, which a
-light breeze rocked. They were mimosas, figs, hibisci, and palm trees,
-mingled together in profusion; and under the shelter of their verdant
-vault grew orchids, leguminous plants, and ferns.
-
-But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
-the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful. He discovered a
-coco-tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them, and we drunk the
-milk and ate the nut with a satisfaction that protested against the
-ordinary food on the _Nautilus_.
-
-“Excellent!” said Ned Land.
-
-“Exquisite!” replied Conseil.
-
-“And I do not think,” said the Canadian, “that he would object to our
-introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board.”
-
-“I do not think he would, but he would not taste them.”
-
-“So much the worse for him,” said Conseil.
-
-“And so much the better for us,” replied Ned Land. “There will be more
-for us.”
-
-“One word only, Master Land,” I said to the harpooner, who was
-beginning to ravage another coco-nut tree. “Coco-nuts are good things,
-but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre
-and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.
-Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the _Nautilus_.”
-
-“Master is right,” replied Conseil; “and I propose to reserve three
-places in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the
-third for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest
-specimen.”
-
-“Conseil, we must not despair,” said the Canadian.
-
-“Let us continue,” I returned, “and lie in wait. Although the island
-seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would
-be less hard than we on the nature of game.”
-
-“Ho! ho!” said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
-
-“Well, Ned!” said Conseil.
-
-“My word!” returned the Canadian, “I begin to understand the charms of
-anthropophagy.”
-
-“Ned! Ned! what are you saying? You, a man-eater? I should not feel
-safe with you, especially as I share your cabin. I might perhaps wake
-one day to find myself half devoured.”
-
-“Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you
-unnecessarily.”
-
-“I would not trust you,” replied Conseil. “But enough. We must
-absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal, or else one
-of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces of his servant to
-serve him.”
-
-While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches of
-the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
-
-Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables, and one of the most
-useful products of the tropical zones furnished us with precious food
-that we missed on board. I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very
-abundant in the island of Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety
-destitute of seeds, which bears in Malaya the name of “rima.”
-
-Ned Land knew these fruits well. He had already eaten many during his
-numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance.
-Moreover, the sight of them excited him, and he could contain himself
-no longer.
-
-“Master,” he said, “I shall die if I do not taste a little of this
-bread-fruit pie.”
-
-“Taste it, friend Ned—taste it as you want. We are here to make
-experiments—make them.”
-
-“It won’t take long,” said the Canadian.
-
-And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that
-crackled joyously. During this time, Conseil and I chose the best
-fruits of the bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient
-degree of maturity; and their thick skin covered a white but rather
-fibrous pulp. Others, the greater number yellow and gelatinous, waited
-only to be picked.
-
-These fruits enclosed no kernel. Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land,
-who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices,
-and while doing this repeating:
-
-“You will see, master, how good this bread is. More so when one has
-been deprived of it so long. It is not even bread,” added he, “but a
-delicate pastry. You have eaten none, master?”
-
-“No, Ned.”
-
-“Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing. If you do not come for
-more, I am no longer the king of harpooners.”
-
-After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire
-was completely roasted. The interior looked like a white pasty, a sort
-of soft crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
-
-It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it with
-great relish.
-
-“What time is it now?” asked the Canadian.
-
-“Two o’clock at least,” replied Conseil.
-
-“How time flies on firm ground!” sighed Ned Land.
-
-“Let us be off,” replied Conseil.
-
-We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid
-upon the cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
-little beans that I recognised as the “abrou” of the Malays, and yams
-of a superior quality.
-
-We were loaded when we reached the boat. But Ned Land did not find his
-provisions sufficient. Fate, however, favoured us. Just as we were
-pushing off, he perceived several trees, from twenty-five to thirty
-feet high, a species of palm-tree.
-
-At last, at five o’clock in the evening, loaded with our riches, we
-quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the _Nautilus_. No
-one appeared on our arrival. The enormous iron-plated cylinder seemed
-deserted. The provisions embarked, I descended to my chamber, and after
-supper slept soundly.
-
-The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board. Not a sound inside,
-not a sign of life. The boat rested along the edge, in the same place
-in which we had left it. We resolved to return to the island. Ned Land
-hoped to be more fortunate than on the day before with regard to the
-hunt, and wished to visit another part of the forest.
-
-At dawn we set off. The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to
-shore, reached the island in a few minutes.
-
-We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian,
-we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us. He
-wound up the coast towards the west: then, fording some torrents, he
-gained the high plain that was bordered with admirable forests. Some
-kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses, but they would not
-let themselves be approached. Their circumspection proved to me that
-these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I
-concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings
-occasionally frequented it.
-
-After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a
-little wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large
-number of birds.
-
-“There are only birds,” said Conseil.
-
-“But they are eatable,” replied the harpooner.
-
-“I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there.”
-
-“Friend Conseil,” said Ned, gravely, “the parrot is like pheasant to
-those who have nothing else.”
-
-“And,” I added, “this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and
-fork.”
-
-Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots were
-flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful education to speak
-the human language. For the moment, they were chattering with parrots
-of all colours, and grave cockatoos, who seemed to meditate upon some
-philosophical problem, whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece
-of bunting carried away by the breeze, papuans, with the finest azure
-colours, and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold,
-but few eatable.
-
-However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed the
-limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
-But fortune reserved it for me before long.
-
-After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain
-obstructed with bushes. I saw then those magnificent birds, the
-disposition of whose long feathers obliges them to fly against the
-wind. Their undulating flight, graceful aerial curves, and the shading
-of their colours, attracted and charmed one’s looks. I had no trouble
-in recognising them.
-
-“Birds of paradise!” I exclaimed.
-
-The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese,
-have several means that we could not employ for taking them. Sometimes
-they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds of paradise
-prefer to frequent. Sometimes they catch them with a viscous birdlime
-that paralyses their movements. They even go so far as to poison the
-fountains that the birds generally drink from. But we were obliged to
-fire at them during flight, which gave us few chances to bring them
-down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one half our ammunition.
-
-About eleven o’clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that
-form the centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
-Hunger drove us on. The hunters had relied on the products of the
-chase, and they were wrong. Happily Conseil, to his great surprise,
-made a double shot and secured breakfast. He brought down a white
-pigeon and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended from a
-skewer, was roasted before a red fire of dead wood. While these
-interesting birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the
-bread-tree. Then the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and
-declared excellent. The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of
-stuffing their crops, flavours their flesh and renders it delicious
-eating.
-
-“Now, Ned, what do you miss now?”
-
-“Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax. All these pigeons are only
-side-dishes and trifles; and until I have killed an animal with cutlets
-I shall not be content.”
-
-“Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise.”
-
-“Let us continue hunting,” replied Conseil. “Let us go towards the sea.
-We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I think
-we had better regain the region of forests.”
-
-That was sensible advice, and was followed out. After walking for one
-hour we had attained a forest of sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents
-glided away from us. The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and
-truly I despaired of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in
-front, suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
-bringing a magnificent specimen.
-
-“Ah! bravo, Conseil!”
-
-“Master is very good.”
-
-“No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke. Take one of these
-living birds, and carry it in your hand.”
-
-“If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great
-merit.”
-
-“Why, Conseil?”
-
-“Because this bird is as drunk as a quail.”
-
-“Drunk!”
-
-“Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under the
-nutmeg-tree, under which I found it. See, friend Ned, see the monstrous
-effects of intemperance!”
-
-“By Jove!” exclaimed the Canadian, “because I have drunk gin for two
-months, you must needs reproach me!”
-
-However, I examined the curious bird. Conseil was right. The bird,
-drunk with the juice, was quite powerless. It could not fly; it could
-hardly walk.
-
-This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species that are
-found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands. It was the “large
-emerald bird, the most rare kind.” It measured three feet in length.
-Its head was comparatively small, its eyes placed near the opening of
-the beak, and also small. But the shades of colour were beautiful,
-having a yellow beak, brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with
-purple tips, pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
-colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly. Two horned,
-downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged the long light
-feathers of admirable fineness, and they completed the whole of this
-marvellous bird, that the natives have poetically named the “bird of
-the sun.”
-
-But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird of
-paradise, the Canadian’s were not yet. Happily, about two o’clock, Ned
-Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood of those the
-natives call “bari-outang.” The animal came in time for us to procure
-real quadruped meat, and he was well received. Ned Land was very proud
-of his shot. The hog, hit by the electric ball, fell stone dead. The
-Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly, after having taken half a
-dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us with a grilled repast in the
-evening. Then the hunt was resumed, which was still more marked by Ned
-and Conseil’s exploits.
-
-Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd of kangaroos
-that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws. But these animals
-did not take to flight so rapidly but what the electric capsule could
-stop their course.
-
-“Ah, Professor!” cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the delights
-of the chase, “what excellent game, and stewed, too! What a supply for
-the _Nautilus!_ Two! three! five down! And to think that we shall eat
-that flesh, and that the idiots on board shall not have a crumb!”
-
-I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian, if he had not
-talked so much, would have killed them all. But he contented himself
-with a single dozen of these interesting marsupians. These animals were
-small. They were a species of those “kangaroo rabbitss” that live
-habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme; but
-they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food. We were
-very satisfied with the results of the hunt. Happy Ned proposed to
-return to this enchanting island the next day, for he wished to
-depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds. But he had reckoned
-without his host.
-
-At six o’clock in the evening we had regained the shore; our boat was
-moored to the usual place. The _Nautilus_, like a long rock, emerged
-from the waves two miles from the beach. Ned Land, without waiting,
-occupied himself about the important dinner business. He understood all
-about cooking well. The “bari-outang,” grilled on the coals, soon
-scented the air with a delicious odour.
-
-Indeed, the dinner was excellent. Two wood-pigeons completed this
-extraordinary menu. The sago pasty, the artocarpus bread, some mangoes,
-half a dozen pineapples, and the liquor fermented from some coco-nuts,
-overjoyed us. I even think that my worthy companions’ ideas had not all
-the plainness desirable.
-
-“Suppose we do not return to the _Nautilus_ this evening?” said
-Conseil.
-
-“Suppose we never return?” added Ned Land.
-
-Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner’s
-proposition.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-CAPTAIN NEMO’S THUNDERBOLT
-
-
-We looked at the edge of the forest without rising, my hand stopping in
-the action of putting it to my mouth, Ned Land’s completing its office.
-
-“Stones do not fall from the sky,” remarked Conseil, “or they would
-merit the name aerolites.”
-
-A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon’s leg fall
-from Conseil’s hand, gave still more weight to his observation. We all
-three arose, shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply to any
-attack.
-
-“Are they apes?” cried Ned Land.
-
-“Very nearly—they are savages.”
-
-“To the boat!” I said, hurrying to the sea.
-
-It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives
-armed with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that
-masked the horizon to the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
-
-Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us. The savages approached
-us, not running, but making hostile demonstrations. Stones and arrows
-fell thickly.
-
-Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his
-imminent danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other, he
-went tolerably fast. In two minutes we were on the shore. To load the
-boat with provisions and arms, to push it out to sea, and ship the
-oars, was the work of an instant. We had not gone two cable-lengths,
-when a hundred savages, howling and gesticulating, entered the water up
-to their waists. I watched to see if their apparition would attract
-some men from the _Nautilus_ on to the platform. But no. The enormous
-machine, lying off, was absolutely deserted.
-
-Twenty minutes later we were on board. The panels were open. After
-making the boat fast, we entered into the interior of the _Nautilus_.
-
-I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords.
-Captain Nemo was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in a
-musical ecstasy.
-
-“Captain!”
-
-He did not hear me.
-
-“Captain!” I said, touching his hand.
-
-He shuddered, and, turning round, said, “Ah! it is you, Professor?
-Well, have you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?”
-
-“Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
-whose vicinity troubles me.”
-
-“What bipeds?”
-
-“Savages.”
-
-“Savages!” he echoed, ironically. “So you are astonished, Professor, at
-having set foot on a strange land and finding savages? Savages! where
-are there not any? Besides, are they worse than others, these whom you
-call savages?”
-
-“But Captain——”
-
-“How many have you counted?”
-
-“A hundred at least.”
-
-“M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ
-stops, “when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the
-_Nautilus_ will have nothing to fear from their attacks.”
-
-The Captain’s fingers were then running over the keys of the
-instrument, and I remarked that he touched only the black keys, which
-gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character. Soon he had
-forgotten my presence, and had plunged into a reverie that I did not
-disturb. I went up again on to the platform: night had already fallen;
-for, in this low latitude, the sun sets rapidly and without twilight. I
-could only see the island indistinctly; but the numerous fires, lighted
-on the beach, showed that the natives did not think of leaving it. I
-was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the natives—but
-without any dread of them, for the imperturbable confidence of the
-Captain was catching—sometimes forgetting them to admire the splendours
-of the night in the tropics. My remembrances went to France in the
-train of those zodiacal stars that would shine in some hours’ time. The
-moon shone in the midst of the constellations of the zenith.
-
-The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders frightened
-no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay. The panels were
-open, and would have offered an easy access to the interior of the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-At six o’clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up on to the
-platform. The dawn was breaking. The island soon showed itself through
-the dissipating fogs, first the shore, then the summits.
-
-The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before—five or
-six hundred perhaps—some of them, profiting by the low water, had come
-on to the coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the _Nautilus_. I
-distinguished them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic
-figures, men of good race, large high foreheads, large, but not broad
-and flat, and white teeth. Their woolly hair, with a reddish tinge,
-showed off on their black shining bodies like those of the Nubians.
-From the lobes of their ears, cut and distended, hung chaplets of
-bones. Most of these savages were naked. Amongst them, I remarked some
-women, dressed from the hips to knees in quite a crinoline of herbs,
-that sustained a vegetable waistband. Some chiefs had ornamented their
-necks with a crescent and collars of glass beads, red and white; nearly
-all were armed with bows, arrows, and shields and carried on their
-shoulders a sort of net containing those round stones which they cast
-from their slings with great skill. One of these chiefs, rather near to
-the _Nautilus_, examined it attentively. He was, perhaps, a “mado” of
-high rank, for he was draped in a mat of banana-leaves, notched round
-the edges, and set off with brilliant colours.
-
-I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short
-length; but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile
-demonstrations. Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the
-Europeans to parry sharply, not to attack.
-
-During low water the natives roamed about near the _Nautilus_, but were
-not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word “Assai,” and
-by their gestures I understood that they invited me to go on land, an
-invitation that I declined.
-
-So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great
-displeasure of Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
-
-This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands and meat
-that he had brought off the island. As for the savages, they returned
-to the shore about eleven o’clock in the morning, as soon as the coral
-tops began to disappear under the rising tide; but I saw their numbers
-had increased considerably on the shore. Probably they came from the
-neighbouring islands, or very likely from Papua. However, I had not
-seen a single native canoe. Having nothing better to do, I thought of
-dragging these beautiful limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion
-of shells, zoophytes, and marine plants. Moreover, it was the last day
-that the _Nautilus_ would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea
-the next day, according to Captain Nemo’s promise.
-
-I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag, very
-like those for the oyster fishery. Now to work! For two hours we fished
-unceasingly, but without bringing up any rarities. The drag was filled
-with midas-ears, harps, melames, and particularly the most beautiful
-hammers I have ever seen. We also brought up some sea-slugs,
-pearl-oysters, and a dozen little turtles that were reserved for the
-pantry on board.
-
-But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder, I might
-say a natural deformity, very rarely met with. Conseil was just
-dragging, and his net came up filled with divers ordinary shells, when,
-all at once, he saw me plunge my arm quickly into the net, to draw out
-a shell, and heard me utter a cry.
-
-“What is the matter, sir?” he asked in surprise. “Has master been
-bitten?”
-
-“No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my
-discovery.”
-
-“What discovery?”
-
-“This shell,” I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
-
-“It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the
-pectinibranchidæ, class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca.”
-
-“Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left, this
-olive turns from left to right.”
-
-“Is it possible?”
-
-“Yes, my boy; it is a left shell.”
-
-Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
-their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
-
-Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure, and I
-was promising myself to enrich the museum with it, when a stone
-unfortunately thrown by a native struck against, and broke, the
-precious object in Conseil’s hand. I uttered a cry of despair! Conseil
-took up his gun, and aimed at a savage who was poising his sling at ten
-yards from him. I would have stopped him, but his blow took effect and
-broke the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm of the savage.
-
-
-[Illustration] Conseil seized his gun
-
-
-“Conseil!” cried I. “Conseil!”
-
-“Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?”
-
-“A shell is not worth the life of a man,” said I.
-
-“Ah! the scoundrel!” cried Conseil; “I would rather he had broken my
-shoulder!”
-
-Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion. However, the
-situation had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived. A
-score of canoes surrounded the _Nautilus_. These canoes, scooped out of
-the trunk of a tree, long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were
-balanced by means of a long bamboo pole, which floated on the water.
-They were managed by skilful, half-naked paddlers, and I watched their
-advance with some uneasiness. It was evident that these Papuans had
-already had dealings with the Europeans and knew their ships. But this
-long iron cylinder anchored in the bay, without masts or chimneys, what
-could they think of it? Nothing good, for at first they kept at a
-respectful distance. However, seeing it motionless, by degrees they
-took courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it. Now this
-familiarity was precisely what it was necessary to avoid. Our arms,
-which were noiseless, could only produce a moderate effect on the
-savages, who have little respect for aught but blustering things. The
-thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man
-but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise.
-
-At this moment the canoes approached the _Nautilus_, and a shower of
-arrows alighted on her.
-
-I went down to the saloon, but found no one there. I ventured to knock
-at the door that opened into the Captain’s room. “Come in,” was the
-answer.
-
-I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations of
-_x_ and other quantities.
-
-“I am disturbing you,” said I, for courtesy’s sake.
-
-“That is true, M. Aronnax,” replied the Captain; “but I think you have
-serious reasons for wishing to see me?”
-
-“Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes, and
-in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many hundreds of
-savages.”
-
-“Ah!” said Captain Nemo quietly, “they are come with their canoes?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“Well, sir, we must close the hatches.”
-
-“Exactly, and I came to say to you——”
-
-“Nothing can be more simple,” said Captain Nemo. And, pressing an
-electric button, he transmitted an order to the ship’s crew.
-
-“It is all done, sir,” said he, after some moments. “The pinnace is
-ready, and the hatches are closed. You do not fear, I imagine, that
-these gentlemen could stave in walls on which the balls of your frigate
-have had no effect?”
-
-“No, Captain; but a danger still exists.”
-
-“What is that, sir?”
-
-“It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches to
-renew the air of the _Nautilus_. Now, if, at this moment, the Papuans
-should occupy the platform, I do not see how you could prevent them
-from entering.”
-
-“Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?”
-
-“I am certain of it.”
-
-“Well, sir, let them come. I see no reason for hindering them. After
-all, these Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling that my visit
-to the island should cost the life of a single one of these wretches.”
-
-Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me, and asked me
-to sit down by him. He questioned me with interest about our excursions
-on shore, and our hunting; and seemed not to understand the craving for
-meat that possessed the Canadian. Then the conversation turned on
-various subjects, and, without being more communicative, Captain Nemo
-showed himself more amiable.
-
-Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation of the
-_Nautilus_, run aground in exactly the same spot in this strait where
-Dumont d’Urville was nearly lost. Apropos of this:
-
-“This D’Urville was one of your great sailors,” said the Captain to me,
-“one of your most intelligent navigators. He is the Captain Cook of you
-Frenchmen. Unfortunate man of science, after having braved the icebergs
-of the South Pole, the coral reefs of Oceania, the cannibals of the
-Pacific, to perish miserably in a railway train! If this energetic man
-could have reflected during the last moments of his life, what must
-have been uppermost in his last thoughts, do you suppose?”
-
-So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion gave me a
-better opinion of him. Then, chart in hand, we reviewed the travels of
-the French navigator, his voyages of circumnavigation, his double
-detention at the South Pole, which led to the discovery of Adelaide and
-Louis Philippe, and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal
-islands of Oceania.
-
-“That which your D’Urville has done on the surface of the seas,” said
-Captain Nemo, “that have I done under them, and more easily, more
-completely than he. The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed
-about by the hurricane, could not be worth the _Nautilus_, quiet
-repository of labour that she is, truly motionless in the midst of the
-waters.
-
-“To-morrow,” added the Captain, rising, “to-morrow, at twenty minutes
-to three p.m., the _Nautilus_ shall float, and leave the Strait of
-Torres uninjured.”
-
-Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly. This
-was to dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
-
-There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview
-with the Captain.
-
-“My boy,” said I, “when I feigned to believe that his _Nautilus_ was
-threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered me very
-sarcastically. I have but one thing to say to you: Have confidence in
-him, and go to sleep in peace.”
-
-“Have you no need of my services, sir?”
-
-“No, my friend. What is Ned Land doing?”
-
-“If you will excuse me, sir,” answered Conseil, “friend Ned is busy
-making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel.”
-
-I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently. I heard the
-noise of the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening
-cries. The night passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose of
-the crew. The presence of these cannibals affected them no more than
-the soldiers of a masked battery care for the ants that crawl over its
-front.
-
-At six in the morning I rose. The hatches had not been opened. The
-inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready for any
-emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several cubic feet of
-oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the _Nautilus_.
-
-I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo, even
-for an instant. On board no preparations for departure were visible.
-
-I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon. The clock
-marked half-past two. In ten minutes it would be high-tide: and, if
-Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise, the _Nautilus_ would be
-immediately detached. If not, many months would pass ere she could
-leave her bed of coral.
-
-However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel. I
-heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of the coral
-reef.
-
-At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the
-saloon.
-
-“We are going to start,” said he.
-
-“Ah!” replied I.
-
-“I have given the order to open the hatches.”
-
-“And the Papuans?”
-
-“The Papuans?” answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
-
-“Will they not come inside the _Nautilus?_”
-
-“How?”
-
-“Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened.”
-
-“M. Aronnax,” quietly answered Captain Nemo, “they will not enter the
-hatches of the _Nautilus_ in that way, even if they were open.”
-
-I looked at the Captain.
-
-“You do not understand?” said he.
-
-“Hardly.”
-
-“Well, come and you will see.”
-
-I directed my steps towards the central staircase. There Ned Land and
-Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship’s crew, who were opening
-the hatches, while cries of rage and fearful vociferations resounded
-outside.
-
-The port lids were pulled down outside. Twenty horrible faces appeared.
-But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail, struck from
-behind by some invisible force, I know not what, fled, uttering the
-most fearful cries and making the wildest contortions.
-
-Ten of his companions followed him. They met with the same fate.
-
-Conseil was in ecstasy. Ned Land, carried away by his violent
-instincts, rushed on to the staircase. But the moment he seized the
-rail with both hands, he, in his turn, was overthrown.
-
-“I am struck by a thunderbolt,” cried he, with an oath.
-
-This explained all. It was no rail; but a metallic cable charged with
-electricity from the deck communicating with the platform. Whoever
-touched it felt a powerful shock—and this shock would have been mortal
-if Captain Nemo had discharged into the conductor the whole force of
-the current. It might truly be said that between his assailants and
-himself he had stretched a network of electricity which none could pass
-with impunity.
-
-Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed with
-terror. As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed the
-unfortunate Ned Land, who swore like one possessed.
-
-But at this moment the _Nautilus_, raised by the last waves of the
-tide, quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by the
-Captain. Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically. Her speed
-increased gradually, and, sailing on the surface of the ocean, she
-quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of Torres.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-“ÆGRI SOMNIA”
-
-
-The following day 10th January, the _Nautilus_ continued her course
-between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I could not
-estimate it at less than thirty-five miles an hour. The rapidity of her
-screw was such that I could neither follow nor count its revolutions.
-When I reflected that this marvellous electric agent, after having
-afforded motion, heat, and light to the _Nautilus_, still protected her
-from outward attack, and transformed her into an ark of safety which no
-profane hand might touch without being thunderstricken, my admiration
-was unbounded, and from the structure it extended to the engineer who
-had called it into existence.
-
-Our course was directed to the west, and on the 11th of January we
-doubled Cape Wessel, situation in 135° long. and 10° S. lat., which
-forms the east point of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The reefs were still
-numerous, but more equalised, and marked on the chart with extreme
-precision. The _Nautilus_ easily avoided the breakers of Money to port
-and the Victoria reefs to starboard, placed at 130° long. and on the
-10th parallel, which we strictly followed.
-
-On the 13th of January, Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor, and
-recognised the island of that name in 122° long.
-
-From this point the direction of the _Nautilus_ inclined towards the
-south-west. Her head was set for the Indian Ocean. Where would the
-fancy of Captain Nemo carry us next? Would he return to the coast of
-Asia or would he approach again the shores of Europe? Improbable
-conjectures both, to a man who fled from inhabited continents. Then
-would he descend to the south? Was he going to double the Cape of Good
-Hope, then Cape Horn, and finally go as far as the Antarctic pole?
-Would he come back at last to the Pacific, where his _Nautilus_ could
-sail free and independently? Time would show.
-
-After having skirted the sands of Cartier, of Hibernia, Seringapatam,
-and Scott, last efforts of the solid against the liquid element, on the
-14th of January we lost sight of land altogether. The speed of the
-_Nautilus_ was considerably abated, and with irregular course she
-sometimes swam in the bosom of the waters, sometimes floated on their
-surface.
-
-During this period of the voyage, Captain Nemo made some interesting
-experiments on the varied temperature of the sea, in different beds.
-Under ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of
-rather complicated instruments, and with somewhat doubtful results, by
-means of thermometrical sounding-leads, the glasses often breaking
-under the pressure of the water, or an apparatus grounded on the
-variations of the resistance of metals to the electric currents.
-Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated. On the contrary,
-Captain Nemo went himself to test the temperature in the depths of the
-sea, and his thermometer, placed in communication with the different
-sheets of water, gave him the required degree immediately and
-accurately.
-
-It was thus that, either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending
-obliquely by means of her inclined planes, the _Nautilus_ successively
-attained the depth of three, four, five, seven, nine, and ten thousand
-yards, and the definite result of this experience was that the sea
-preserved an average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth
-of five thousand fathoms under all latitudes.
-
-On the 16th of January, the _Nautilus_ seemed becalmed only a few yards
-beneath the surface of the waves. Her electric apparatus remained
-inactive and her motionless screw left her to drift at the mercy of the
-currents. I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs,
-rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements of the
-machine.
-
-My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle. The hatches of
-the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light of the _Nautilus_ was
-not in action, a dim obscurity reigned in the midst of the waters. I
-observed the state of the sea, under these conditions, and the largest
-fish appeared to me no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the
-_Nautilus_ found herself suddenly transported into full light. I
-thought at first that the beacon had been lighted, and was casting its
-electric radiance into the liquid mass. I was mistaken, and after a
-rapid survey perceived my error.
-
-The _Nautilus_ floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which, in
-this obscurity, became quite dazzling. It was produced by myriads of
-luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was increased as they glided
-over the metallic hull of the vessel. I was surprised by lightning in
-the midst of these luminous sheets, as though they had been rivulets of
-lead melted in an ardent furnace or metallic masses brought to a white
-heat, so that, by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared
-to cast a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all
-shade seemed banished. No; this was not the calm irradiation of our
-ordinary lightning. There was unusual life and vigour: this was truly
-living light!
-
-In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria, of
-veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle, and
-of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less than
-two cubic half-inches of water.
-
-During several hours the _Nautilus_ floated in these brilliant waves,
-and our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters
-disporting themselves like salamanders. I saw there in the midst of
-this fire that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise (the
-indefatigable clown of the ocean), and some swordfish ten feet long,
-those prophetic heralds of the hurricane whose formidable sword would
-now and then strike the glass of the saloon. Then appeared the smaller
-fish, the balista, the leaping mackerel, wolf-thorn-tails, and a
-hundred others which striped the luminous atmosphere as they swam. This
-dazzling spectacle was enchanting! Perhaps some atmospheric condition
-increased the intensity of this phenomenon. Perhaps some storm agitated
-the surface of the waves. But at this depth of some yards, the
-_Nautilus_ was unmoved by its fury and reposed peacefully in still
-water.
-
-So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel. The days
-passed rapidly away, and I took no account of them. Ned, according to
-habit, tried to vary the diet on board. Like snails, we were fixed to
-our shells, and I declare it is easy to lead a snail’s life.
-
-Thus this life seemed easy and natural, and we thought no longer of the
-life we led on land; but something happened to recall us to the
-strangeness of our situation.
-
-On the 18th of January, the _Nautilus_ was in 105° long. and 15° S.
-lat. The weather was threatening, the sea rough and rolling. There was
-a strong east wind. The barometer, which had been going down for some
-days, foreboded a coming storm. I went up on to the platform just as
-the second lieutenant was taking the measure of the horary angles, and
-waited, according to habit till the daily phrase was said. But on this
-day it was exchanged for another phrase not less incomprehensible.
-Almost directly, I saw Captain Nemo appear with a glass, looking
-towards the horizon.
-
-For some minutes he was immovable, without taking his eye off the point
-of observation. Then he lowered his glass and exchanged a few words
-with his lieutenant. The latter seemed to be a victim to some emotion
-that he tried in vain to repress. Captain Nemo, having more command
-over himself, was cool. He seemed, too, to be making some objections to
-which the lieutenant replied by formal assurances. At least I concluded
-so by the difference of their tones and gestures. For myself, I had
-looked carefully in the direction indicated without seeing anything.
-The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the horizon.
-
-However, Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform to the other,
-without looking at me, perhaps without seeing me. His step was firm,
-but less regular than usual. He stopped sometimes, crossed his arms,
-and observed the sea. What could he be looking for on that immense
-expanse?
-
-The _Nautilus_ was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.
-
-The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon
-steadfastly, going and coming, stamping his foot and showing more
-nervous agitation than his superior officer. Besides, this mystery must
-necessarily be solved, and before long; for, upon an order from Captain
-Nemo, the engine, increasing its propelling power, made the screw turn
-more rapidly.
-
-Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain’s attention again. The latter
-stopped walking and directed his glass towards the place indicated. He
-looked long. I felt very much puzzled, and descended to the
-drawing-room, and took out an excellent telescope that I generally
-used. Then, leaning on the cage of the watch-light that jutted out from
-the front of the platform, set myself to look over all the line of the
-sky and sea.
-
-But my eye was no sooner applied to the glass than it was quickly
-snatched out of my hands.
-
-I turned round. Captain Nemo was before me, but I did not know him. His
-face was transfigured. His eyes flashed sullenly; his teeth were set;
-his stiff body, clenched fists, and head shrunk between his shoulders,
-betrayed the violent agitation that pervaded his whole frame. He did
-not move. My glass, fallen from his hands, had rolled at his feet.
-
-Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger? Did this incomprehensible
-person imagine that I had discovered some forbidden secret? No; I was
-not the object of this hatred, for he was not looking at me; his eye
-was steadily fixed upon the impenetrable point of the horizon. At last
-Captain Nemo recovered himself. His agitation subsided. He addressed
-some words in a foreign language to his lieutenant, then turned to me.
-“M. Aronnax,” he said, in rather an imperious tone, “I require you to
-keep one of the conditions that bind you to me.”
-
-“What is it, Captain?”
-
-“You must be confined, with your companions, until I think fit to
-release you.”
-
-“You are the master,” I replied, looking steadily at him. “But may I
-ask you one question?”
-
-“None, sir.”
-
-There was no resisting this imperious command, it would have been
-useless. I went down to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil, and
-told them the Captain’s determination. You may judge how this
-communication was received by the Canadian.
-
-But there was not time for altercation. Four of the crew waited at the
-door, and conducted us to that cell where we had passed our first night
-on board the _Nautilus_.
-
-Ned Land would have remonstrated, but the door was shut upon him.
-
-“Will master tell me what this means?” asked Conseil.
-
-I told my companions what had passed. They were as much astonished as
-I, and equally at a loss how to account for it.
-
-Meanwhile, I was absorbed in my own reflections, and could think of
-nothing but the strange fear depicted in the Captain’s countenance. I
-was utterly at a loss to account for it, when my cogitations were
-disturbed by these words from Ned Land:
-
-“Hallo! breakfast is ready.”
-
-And indeed the table was laid. Evidently Captain Nemo had given this
-order at the same time that he had hastened the speed of the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-“Will master permit me to make a recommendation?” asked Conseil.
-
-“Yes, my boy.”
-
-“Well, it is that master breakfasts. It is prudent, for we do not know
-what may happen.”
-
-“You are right, Conseil.”
-
-“Unfortunately,” said Ned Land, “they have only given us the ship’s
-fare.”
-
-“Friend Ned,” asked Conseil, “what would you have said if the breakfast
-had been entirely forgotten?”
-
-This argument cut short the harpooner’s recriminations.
-
-We sat down to table. The meal was eaten in silence.
-
-Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left
-us in total darkness. Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me
-was that Conseil went off into a heavy slumber. I was thinking what
-could have caused his irresistible drowsiness, when I felt my brain
-becoming stupefied. In spite of my efforts to keep my eyes open, they
-would close. A painful suspicion seized me. Evidently soporific
-substances had been mixed with the food we had just taken. Imprisonment
-was not enough to conceal Captain Nemo’s projects from us, sleep was
-more necessary. I then heard the panels shut. The undulations of the
-sea, which caused a slight rolling motion, ceased. Had the _Nautilus_
-quitted the surface of the ocean? Had it gone back to the motionless
-bed of water? I tried to resist sleep. It was impossible. My breathing
-grew weak. I felt a mortal cold freeze my stiffened and half-paralysed
-limbs. My eye lids, like leaden caps, fell over my eyes. I could not
-raise them; a morbid sleep, full of hallucinations, bereft me of my
-being. Then the visions disappeared, and left me in complete
-insensibility.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-THE CORAL KINGDOM
-
-
-The next day I woke with my head singularly clear. To my great
-surprise, I was in my own room. My companions, no doubt, had been
-reinstated in their cabin, without having perceived it any more than I.
-Of what had passed during the night they were as ignorant as I was, and
-to penetrate this mystery I only reckoned upon the chances of the
-future.
-
-I then thought of quitting my room. Was I free again or a prisoner?
-Quite free. I opened the door, went to the half-deck, went up the
-central stairs. The panels, shut the evening before, were open. I went
-on to the platform.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil waited there for me. I questioned them; they knew
-nothing. Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had been totally
-unconscious, they had been astonished at finding themselves in their
-cabin.
-
-As for the _Nautilus_, it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever. It
-floated on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace. Nothing seemed
-changed on board.
-
-The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave the usual
-order below.
-
-As for Captain Nemo, he did not appear.
-
-Of the people on board, I only saw the impassive steward, who served me
-with his usual dumb regularity.
-
-About two o’clock, I was in the drawing-room, busied in arranging my
-notes, when the Captain opened the door and appeared. I bowed. He made
-a slight inclination in return, without speaking. I resumed my work,
-hoping that he would perhaps give me some explanation of the events of
-the preceding night. He made none. I looked at him. He seemed fatigued;
-his heavy eyes had not been refreshed by sleep; his face looked very
-sorrowful. He walked to and fro, sat down and got up again, took a
-chance book, put it down, consulted his instruments without taking his
-habitual notes, and seemed restless and uneasy. At last, he came up to
-me, and said:
-
-“Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?”
-
-I so little expected such a question that I stared some time at him
-without answering.
-
-“Are you a doctor?” he repeated. “Several of your colleagues have
-studied medicine.”
-
-“Well,” said I, “I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital. I
-practised several years before entering the museum.”
-
-“Very well, sir.”
-
-My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain. But, not knowing what he
-would say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my answers
-according to circumstances.
-
-“M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?” he
-asked.
-
-“Is he ill?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“I am ready to follow you.”
-
-“Come, then.”
-
-I own my heart beat, I do not know why. I saw certain connection
-between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day
-before; and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick
-man.
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the _Nautilus_, and took me
-into a cabin situated near the sailors’ quarters.
-
-There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute
-expression of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
-
-I leant over him. He was not only ill, he was wounded. His head,
-swathed in bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow. I undid the
-bandages, and the wounded man looked at me with his large eyes and gave
-no sign of pain as I did it. It was a horrible wound. The skull,
-shattered by some deadly weapon, left the brain exposed, which was much
-injured. Clots of blood had formed in the bruised and broken mass, in
-colour like the dregs of wine.
-
-There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain. His breathing was
-slow, and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face. I
-felt his pulse. It was intermittent. The extremities of the body were
-growing cold already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue. After
-dressing the unfortunate man’s wounds, I readjusted the bandages on his
-head, and turned to Captain Nemo.
-
-“What caused this wound?” I asked.
-
-“What does it signify?” he replied, evasively. “A shock has broken one
-of the levers of the engine, which struck myself. But your opinion as
-to his state?”
-
-I hesitated before giving it.
-
-“You may speak,” said the Captain. “This man does not understand
-French.”
-
-I gave a last look at the wounded man.
-
-“He will be dead in two hours.”
-
-“Can nothing save him?”
-
-“Nothing.”
-
-Captain Nemo’s hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes,
-which I thought incapable of shedding any.
-
-For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed
-slowly. His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed
-over his death-bed. I looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with
-premature wrinkles, produced probably by misfortune and sorrow. I tried
-to learn the secret of his life from the last words that escaped his
-lips.
-
-“You can go now, M. Aronnax,” said the Captain.
-
-I left him in the dying man’s cabin, and returned to my room much
-affected by this scene. During the whole day, I was haunted by
-uncomfortable suspicions, and at night I slept badly, and between my
-broken dreams I fancied I heard distant sighs like the notes of a
-funeral psalm. Were they the prayers of the dead, murmured in that
-language that I could not understand?
-
-The next morning I went on to the bridge. Captain Nemo was there before
-me. As soon as he perceived me he came to me.
-
-“Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion
-to-day?”
-
-“With my companions?” I asked.
-
-“If they like.”
-
-“We obey your orders, Captain.”
-
-“Will you be so good then as to put on your cork jackets?”
-
-It was not a question of dead or dying. I rejoined Ned Land and
-Conseil, and told them of Captain Nemo’s proposition. Conseil hastened
-to accept it, and this time the Canadian seemed quite willing to follow
-our example.
-
-It was eight o’clock in the morning. At half-past eight we were
-equipped for this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for
-light and breathing. The double door was open; and, accompanied by
-Captain Nemo, who was followed by a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at
-a depth of about thirty feet, on the solid bottom on which the
-_Nautilus_ rested.
-
-A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth.
-This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first
-excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here, there was no
-fine sand, no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately
-recognised that marvellous region in which, on that day, the Captain
-did the honours to us. It was the coral kingdom.
-
-The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in the midst
-of the branches that were so vividly coloured. I seemed to see the
-membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble beneath the undulation of the
-waters. I was tempted to gather their fresh petals, ornamented with
-delicate tentacles, some just blown, the others budding, while a small
-fish, swimming swiftly, touched them slightly, like flights of birds.
-But if my hand approached these living flowers, these animated,
-sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm. The white petals
-re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked, and the bush
-changed into a block of stony knobs.
-
-Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the
-zoophyte. This coral was more valuable than that found in the
-Mediterranean, on the coasts of France, Italy and Barbary. Its tints
-justified the poetical names of “Flower of Blood,” and “Froth of
-Blood,” that trade has given to its most beautiful productions. Coral
-is sold for ÂŁ20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds would make
-the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter, often
-confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots called
-“macciota,” and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens of pink
-coral.
-
-But soon the bushes contract, and the arborisations increase. Real
-petrified thickets, long joints of fantastic architecture, were
-disclosed before us. Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery,
-where by a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards. The
-light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects, following the
-rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants disposed like
-lustres, that were tipped with points of fire.
-
-At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth of about
-three hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit on which coral
-begins to form. But there was no isolated bush, nor modest brushwood,
-at the bottom of lofty trees. It was an immense forest of large mineral
-vegetations, enormous petrified trees, united by garlands of elegant
-sea-bindweed, all adorned with clouds and reflections. We passed freely
-under their high branches, lost in the shade of the waves.
-
-Captain Nemo had stopped. I and my companions halted, and, turning
-round, I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief.
-Watching attentively, I observed that four of them carried on their
-shoulders an object of an oblong shape.
-
-We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade surrounded by
-the lofty foliage of the submarine forest. Our lamps threw over this
-place a sort of clear twilight that singularly elongated the shadows on
-the ground. At the end of the glade the darkness increased, and was
-only relieved by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.
-
-Ned Land and Conseil were near me. We watched, and I thought I was
-going to witness a strange scene. On observing the ground, I saw that
-it was raised in certain places by slight excrescences encrusted with
-limy deposits, and disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of
-man.
-
-In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly piled up,
-stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms that one might have
-thought were made of petrified blood. Upon a sign from Captain Nemo one
-of the men advanced; and at some feet from the cross he began to dig a
-hole with a pickaxe that he took from his belt. I understood all! This
-glade was a cemetery, this hole a tomb, this oblong object the body of
-the man who had died in the night! The Captain and his men had come to
-bury their companion in this general resting-place, at the bottom of
-this inaccessible ocean!
-
-The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their
-retreat was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe,
-which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the
-waters. The hole was soon large and deep enough to receive the body.
-Then the bearers approached; the body, enveloped in a tissue of white
-linen, was lowered into the damp grave. Captain Nemo, with his arms
-crossed on his breast, and all the friends of him who had loved them,
-knelt in prayer.
-
-
-[Illustration] All fell on their knees in an attitude of prayer
-
-
-The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground,
-which formed a slight mound. When this was done, Captain Nemo and his
-men rose; then, approaching the grave, they knelt again, and all
-extended their hands in sign of a last adieu. Then the funeral
-procession returned to the _Nautilus_, passing under the arches of the
-forest, in the midst of thickets, along the coral bushes, and still on
-the ascent. At last the light of the ship appeared, and its luminous
-track guided us to the _Nautilus_. At one o’clock we had returned.
-
-As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform, and,
-a prey to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle. Captain
-Nemo joined me. I rose and said to him:
-
-“So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?”
-
-“Yes, M. Aronnax.”
-
-“And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?”
-
-“Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us. We dug the grave, and the
-polypi undertake to seal our dead for eternity.” And, burying his face
-quickly in his hands, he tried in vain to suppress a sob. Then he
-added: “Our peaceful cemetery is there, some hundred feet below the
-surface of the waves.”
-
-“Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of
-sharks.”
-
-“Yes, sir, of sharks and men,” gravely replied the Captain.
-
-
-
-
-PART TWO
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-THE INDIAN OCEAN
-
-
-We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea. The first
-ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a
-deep impression on my mind. Thus, in the midst of this great sea,
-Captain Nemo’s life was passing, even to his grave, which he had
-prepared in one of its deepest abysses. There, not one of the ocean’s
-monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the _Nautilus_, of
-those friends riveted to each other in death as in life. “Nor any man,
-either,” had added the Captain. Still the same fierce, implacable
-defiance towards human society!
-
-I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied
-Conseil.
-
-That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of the
-_Nautilus_ one of those unknown _savants_ who return mankind contempt
-for indifference. For him, he was a misunderstood genius who, tired of
-earth’s deceptions, had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium, where
-he might follow his instincts freely. To my mind, this explains but one
-side of Captain Nemo’s character. Indeed, the mystery of that last
-night during which we had been chained in prison, the sleep, and the
-precaution so violently taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes
-the glass I had raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the
-man, due to an unaccountable shock of the _Nautilus_, all put me on a
-new track. No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man. His
-formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom, but
-perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.
-
-At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse of light
-amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself to writing as events
-shall dictate.
-
-That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came
-to take the altitude of the sun. I mounted the platform, lit a cigar,
-and watched the operation. It seemed to me that the man did not
-understand French; for several times I made remarks in a loud voice,
-which must have drawn from him some involuntary sign of attention, if
-he had understood them; but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
-
-As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the sailors of
-the _Nautilus_ (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first
-submarine excursion to the Island of Crespo) came to clean the glasses
-of the lantern. I examined the fittings of the apparatus, the strength
-of which was increased a hundredfold by lenticular rings, placed
-similar to those in a lighthouse, and which projected their brilliance
-in a horizontal plane. The electric lamp was combined in such a way as
-to give its most powerful light. Indeed, it was produced in vacuo,
-which insured both its steadiness and its intensity. This vacuum
-economised the graphite points between which the luminous arc was
-developed—an important point of economy for Captain Nemo, who could not
-easily have replaced them; and under these conditions their waste was
-imperceptible. When the _Nautilus_ was ready to continue its submarine
-journey, I went down to the saloon. The panel was closed, and the
-course marked direct west.
-
-We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
-with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
-and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy. The
-_Nautilus_ usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep. We
-went on so for some days. To anyone but myself, who had a great love
-for the sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous; but the
-daily walks on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving air
-of the ocean, the sight of the rich waters through the windows of the
-saloon, the books in the library, the compiling of my memoirs, took up
-all my time, and left me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
-
-For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or
-gulls. Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made
-very acceptable water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long
-distance from all lands and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of
-their flight, I saw some magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant
-cries like the braying of an ass, and birds belonging to the family of
-the long-wings.
-
-As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
-the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels. I saw many
-kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
-
-I shall notice chiefly ostracions peculiar to the Red Sea, the Indian
-Ocean, and that part which washes the coast of tropical America. These
-fishes, like the tortoise, the armadillo, the sea-hedgehog, and the
-Crustacea, are protected by a breastplate which is neither chalky nor
-stony, but real bone. In some it takes the form of a solid triangle, in
-others of a solid quadrangle. Amongst the triangular I saw some an inch
-and a half in length, with wholesome flesh and a delicious flavour;
-they are brown at the tail, and yellow at the fins, and I recommend
-their introduction into fresh water, to which a certain number of
-sea-fish easily accustom themselves. I would also mention quadrangular
-ostracions, having on the back four large tubercles; some dotted over
-with white spots on the lower part of the body, and which may be tamed
-like birds; trigons provided with spikes formed by the lengthening of
-their bony shell, and which, from their strange gruntings, are called
-“seapigs”; also dromedaries with large humps in the shape of a cone,
-whose flesh is very tough and leathery.
-
-I now borrow from the daily notes of Master Conseil. “Certain fish of
-the genus petrodon peculiar to those seas, with red backs and white
-chests, which are distinguished by three rows of longitudinal
-filaments; and some electrical, seven inches long, decked in the
-liveliest colours. Then, as specimens of other kinds, some ovoides,
-resembling an egg of a dark brown colour, marked with white bands, and
-without tails; diodons, real sea-porcupines, furnished with spikes, and
-capable of swelling in such a way as to look like cushions bristling
-with darts; hippocampi, common to every ocean; some pegasi with
-lengthened snouts, which their pectoral fins, being much elongated and
-formed in the shape of wings, allow, if not to fly, at least to shoot
-into the air; pigeon spatulae, with tails covered with many rings of
-shell; macrognathi with long jaws, an excellent fish, nine inches long,
-and bright with most agreeable colours; pale-coloured calliomores, with
-rugged heads; and plenty of chaetpdons, with long and tubular muzzles,
-which kill insects by shooting them, as from an air-gun, with a single
-drop of water. These we may call the flycatchers of the seas.
-
-“In the eighty-ninth genus of fishes, classed by Lacepede, belonging to
-the second lower class of bony, characterised by opercules and
-bronchial membranes, I remarked the scorpaena, the head of which is
-furnished with spikes, and which has but one dorsal fin; these
-creatures are covered, or not, with little shells, according to the
-sub-class to which they belong. The second sub-class gives us specimens
-of didactyles fourteen or fifteen inches in length, with yellow rays,
-and heads of a most fantastic appearance. As to the first sub-class, it
-gives several specimens of that singular looking fish appropriately
-called a �seafrog,’ with large head, sometimes pierced with holes,
-sometimes swollen with protuberances, bristling with spikes, and
-covered with tubercles; it has irregular and hideous horns; its body
-and tail are covered with callosities; its sting makes a dangerous
-wound; it is both repugnant and horrible to look at.”
-
-From the 21st to the 23rd of January the _Nautilus_ went at the rate of
-two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours, being five hundred
-and forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour. If we recognised so many
-different varieties of fish, it was because, attracted by the electric
-light, they tried to follow us; the greater part, however, were soon
-distanced by our speed, though some kept their place in the waters of
-the _Nautilus_ for a time. The morning of the 24th, in 12° 5′ S. lat.,
-and 94° 33′ long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral formation,
-planted with magnificent cocos, and which had been visited by Mr.
-Darwin and Captain Fitzroy. The _Nautilus_ skirted the shores of this
-desert island for a little distance. Its nets brought up numerous
-specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca. Some precious
-productions of the species of delphinulae enriched the treasures of
-Captain Nemo, to which I added an astraea punctifera, a kind of
-parasite polypus often found fixed to a shell.
-
-Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was
-directed to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
-
-From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often
-taking us into great depths. Several times they made use of the
-inclined planes, which certain internal levers placed obliquely to the
-waterline. In that way we went about two miles, but without ever
-obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea, which soundings of
-seven thousand fathoms have never reached. As to the temperature of the
-lower strata, the thermometer invariably indicated 4° above zero. I
-only observed that in the upper regions the water was always colder in
-the high levels than at the surface of the sea.
-
-On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the _Nautilus_
-passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful
-screw and making them rebound to a great height. Who under such
-circumstances would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean? Three
-parts of this day I spent on the platform. I watched the sea. Nothing
-on the horizon, till about four o’clock a steamer running west on our
-counter. Her masts were visible for an instant, but she could not see
-the _Nautilus_, being too low in the water. I fancied this steamboat
-belonged to the P.O. Company, which runs from Ceylon to Sydney,
-touching at King George’s Point and Melbourne.
-
-At five o’clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight which
-binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by
-a curious spectacle.
-
-It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the
-ocean. We could count several hundreds. They belonged to the tubercle
-kind which are peculiar to the Indian seas.
-
-These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their locomotive
-tube, through which they propelled the water already drawn in. Of their
-eight tentacles, six were elongated, and stretched out floating on the
-water, whilst the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the wing
-like a light sail. I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells, which
-Cuvier justly compares to an elegant skiff. A boat indeed! It bears the
-creature which secretes it without its adhering to it.
-
-For nearly an hour the _Nautilus_ floated in the midst of this shoal of
-molluscs. Then I know not what sudden fright they took. But as if at a
-signal every sail was furled, the arms folded, the body drawn in, the
-shells turned over, changing their centre of gravity, and the whole
-fleet disappeared under the waves. Never did the ships of a squadron
-manœuvre with more unity.
-
-At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised by
-the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the _Nautilus_.
-
-The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the eighty-second
-meridian and entered the northern hemisphere. During the day a
-formidable troop of sharks accompanied us, terrible creatures, which
-multiply in these seas and make them very dangerous. They were
-“cestracio philippi” sharks, with brown backs and whitish bellies,
-armed with eleven rows of teeth—eyed sharks—their throat being marked
-with a large black spot surrounded with white like an eye. There were
-also some Isabella sharks, with rounded snouts marked with dark spots.
-These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at the windows of the
-saloon with such violence as to make us feel very insecure. At such
-times Ned Land was no longer master of himself. He wanted to go to the
-surface and harpoon the monsters, particularly certain smooth-hound
-sharks, whose mouth is studded with teeth like a mosaic; and large
-tiger-sharks nearly six yards long, the last named of which seemed to
-excite him more particularly. But the _Nautilus_, accelerating her
-speed, easily left the most rapid of them behind.
-
-The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal, we met
-repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on the surface
-of the water. They were the dead of the Indian villages, carried by the
-Ganges to the level of the sea, and which the vultures, the only
-undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour. But the sharks
-did not fail to help them at their funeral work.
-
-About seven o’clock in the evening, the _Nautilus_, half-immersed, was
-sailing in a sea of milk. At first sight the ocean seemed lactified.
-Was it the effect of the lunar rays? No; for the moon, scarcely two
-days old, was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the
-sun. The whole sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by
-contrast with the whiteness of the waters.
-
-Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause
-of this strange phenomenon. Happily I was able to answer him.
-
-“It is called a milk sea,” I explained. “A large extent of white
-wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna, and in these parts
-of the sea.”
-
-“But, sir,” said Conseil, “can you tell me what causes such an effect?
-for I suppose the water is not really turned into milk.”
-
-“No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by
-the presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm,
-gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair, and whose
-length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch. These insects
-adhere to one another sometimes for several leagues.”
-
-“Several leagues!” exclaimed Conseil.
-
-“Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these
-infusoria. You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have
-floated on these milk seas for more than forty miles.”
-
-Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind
-us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected the whitened
-waves, and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague
-glimmerings of an aurora borealis.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO’S
-
-
-On the 28th of February, when at noon the _Nautilus_ came to the
-surface of the sea, in 9° 4′ N. lat., there was land in sight about
-eight miles to westward. The first thing I noticed was a range of
-mountains about two thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most
-capricious. On taking the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the
-island of Ceylon, the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian
-Peninsula.
-
-Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment. The Captain
-glanced at the map. Then turning to me, said:
-
-“The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you like to
-visit one of them, M. Aronnax?”
-
-“Certainly, Captain.”
-
-“Well, the thing is easy. Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall not
-see the fishermen. The annual exportation has not yet begun. Never
-mind, I will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar, where we shall
-arrive in the night.”
-
-The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out.
-Soon the _Nautilus_ returned to her native element, and the manometer
-showed that she was about thirty feet deep.
-
-“Well, sir,” said Captain Nemo, “you and your companions shall visit
-the Bank of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there, we
-shall see him at work.”
-
-“Agreed, Captain!”
-
-“By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?”
-
-“Sharks!” exclaimed I.
-
-This question seemed a very hard one.
-
-“Well?” continued Captain Nemo.
-
-“I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of
-fish.”
-
-“We are accustomed to them,” replied Captain Nemo, “and in time you
-will be too. However, we shall be armed, and on the road we may be able
-to hunt some of the tribe. It is interesting. So, till to-morrow, sir,
-and early.”
-
-This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon. Now, if you
-were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland, what
-would you say?
-
-“Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear.” If you were asked
-to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas, or the tiger in the Indian
-jungles, what would you say?
-
-“Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!” But when
-you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element, you would
-perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation. As for myself, I
-passed my hand over my forehead, on which stood large drops of cold
-perspiration. “Let us reflect,” said I, “and take our time. Hunting
-otters in submarine forests, as we did in the Island of Crespo, will
-pass; but going up and down at the bottom of the sea, where one is
-almost certain to meet sharks, is quite another thing! I know well that
-in certain countries, particularly in the Andaman Islands, the negroes
-never hesitate to attack them with a dagger in one hand and a running
-noose in the other; but I also know that few who affront those
-creatures ever return alive. However, I am not a negro, and if I were I
-think a little hesitation in this case would not be ill-timed.”
-
-At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed, and
-even joyous. They knew not what awaited them.
-
-“Faith, sir,” said Ned Land, “your Captain Nemo—the devil take him!—has
-just made us a very pleasant offer.”
-
-“Ah!” said I, “you know?”
-
-“If agreeable to you, sir,” interrupted Conseil, “the commander of the
-_Nautilus_ has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon fisheries
-to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly, and behaved like a real
-gentleman.”
-
-“He said nothing more?”
-
-“Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you of this
-little walk.”
-
-“Sir,” said Conseil, “would you give us some details of the pearl
-fishery?”
-
-“As to the fishing itself,” I asked, “or the incidents, which?”
-
-“On the fishing,” replied the Canadian; “before entering upon the
-ground, it is as well to know something about it.”
-
-“Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you.”
-
-Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing
-the Canadian asked was:
-
-“Sir, what is a pearl?”
-
-“My worthy Ned,” I answered, “to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the
-sea; to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies,
-it is a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl
-substance, which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their
-ears; for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of
-lime, with a little gelatine; and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply
-a morbid secretion of the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl
-amongst certain bivalves.”
-
-“Branch of molluscs,” said Conseil.
-
-“Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea the
-earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those which
-secrete mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet, or white
-substance which lines the interior of their shells, are capable of
-producing pearls.”
-
-“Mussels too?” asked the Canadian.
-
-“Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Saxony,
-Bohemia, and France.”
-
-“Good! For the future I shall pay attention,” replied the Canadian.
-
-“But,” I continued, “the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl is
-the pearl-oyster, the meleagrina margaritiferct, that precious
-pintadine. The pearl is nothing but a nacreous formation, deposited in
-a globular form, either adhering to the oyster shell, or buried in the
-folds of the creature. On the shell it is fast; in the flesh it is
-loose; but always has for a kernel a small hard substance, may be a
-barren egg, may be a grain of sand, around which the pearly matter
-deposits itself year after year successively, and by thin concentric
-layers.”
-
-“Are many pearls found in the same oyster?” asked Conseil.
-
-“Yes, my boy. Some are a perfect casket. One oyster has been mentioned,
-though I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no less than a
-hundred and fifty sharks.”
-
-“A hundred and fifty sharks!” exclaimed Ned Land.
-
-“Did I say sharks?” said I hurriedly. “I meant to say a hundred and
-fifty pearls. Sharks would not be sense.”
-
-“Certainly not,” said Conseil; “but will you tell us now by what means
-they extract these pearls?”
-
-“They proceed in various ways. When they adhere to the shell, the
-fishermen often pull them off with pincers; but the most common way is
-to lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers the banks. Thus
-they die in the open air; and at the end of ten days they are in a
-forward state of decomposition. They are then plunged into large
-reservoirs of sea-water; then they are opened and washed.”
-
-“The price of these pearls varies according to their size?” asked
-Conseil.
-
-“Not only according to their size,” I answered, “but also according to
-their shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre:
-that is, that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming
-to the eye. The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons.
-They are formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc, are white, often
-opaque, and sometimes have the transparency of an opal; they are
-generally round or oval. The round are made into bracelets, the oval
-into pendants, and, being more precious, are sold singly. Those
-adhering to the shell of the oyster are more irregular in shape, and
-are sold by weight. Lastly, in a lower order are classed those small
-pearls known under the name of seed-pearls; they are sold by measure,
-and are especially used in embroidery for church ornaments.”
-
-“But,” said Conseil, “is this pearl-fishery dangerous?”
-
-“No,” I answered, quickly; “particularly if certain precautions are
-taken.”
-
-“What does one risk in such a calling?” said Ned Land, “the swallowing
-of some mouthfuls of sea-water?”
-
-“As you say, Ned. By the bye,” said I, trying to take Captain Nemo’s
-careless tone, “are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?”
-
-“I!” replied the Canadian; “a harpooner by profession? It is my trade
-to make light of them.”
-
-“But,” said I, “it is not a question of fishing for them with an
-iron-swivel, hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off their tails
-with a blow of a chopper, ripping them up, and throwing their heart
-into the sea!”
-
-“Then, it is a question of——”
-
-“Precisely.”
-
-“In the water?”
-
-“In the water.”
-
-“Faith, with a good harpoon! You know, sir, these sharks are
-ill-fashioned beasts. They turn on their bellies to seize you, and in
-that time——”
-
-Ned Land had a way of saying “seize” which made my blood run cold.
-
-“Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?”
-
-“Me!” said Conseil. “I will be frank, sir.”
-
-“So much the better,” thought I.
-
-“If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful
-servant should not face them with you.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS
-
-
-The next morning at four o’clock I was awakened by the steward whom
-Captain Nemo had placed at my service. I rose hurriedly, dressed, and
-went into the saloon.
-
-Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
-
-“M. Aronnax,” said he, “are you ready to start?”
-
-“I am ready.”
-
-“Then please to follow me.”
-
-“And my companions, Captain?”
-
-“They have been told and are waiting.”
-
-“Are we not to put on our diver’s dresses?” asked I.
-
-“Not yet. I have not allowed the _Nautilus_ to come too near this
-coast, and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is
-ready, and will take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will
-save us a long way. It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put
-on when we begin our submarine journey.”
-
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase, which led on the
-platform. Ned and Conseil were already there, delighted at the idea of
-the “pleasure party” which was preparing. Five sailors from the
-_Nautilus_, with their oars, waited in the boat, which had been made
-fast against the side.
-
-The night was still dark. Layers of clouds covered the sky, allowing
-but few stars to be seen. I looked on the side where the land lay, and
-saw nothing but a dark line enclosing three parts of the horizon, from
-south-west to north west. The _Nautilus_, having returned during the
-night up the western coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or
-rather gulf, formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar. There,
-under the dark waters, stretched the pintadine bank, an inexhaustible
-field of pearls, the length of which is more than twenty miles.
-
-Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places in the stern of
-the boat. The master went to the tiller; his four companions leaned on
-their oars, the painter was cast off, and we sheered off.
-
-The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry. I noticed
-that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every
-ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy.
-Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops
-struck the dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead.
-A little billow, spreading wide, gave a slight roll to the boat, and
-some samphire reeds flapped before it.
-
-We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking of? Perhaps of the land
-he was approaching, and which he found too near to him, contrary to the
-Canadian’s opinion, who thought it too far off. As to Conseil, he was
-merely there from curiosity.
-
-About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed the upper
-line of coast more distinctly. Flat enough in the east, it rose a
-little to the south. Five miles still lay between us, and it was
-indistinct owing to the mist on the water. At six o’clock it became
-suddenly daylight, with that rapidity peculiar to tropical regions,
-which know neither dawn nor twilight. The solar rays pierced the
-curtain of clouds, piled up on the eastern horizon, and the radiant orb
-rose rapidly. I saw land distinctly, with a few trees scattered here
-and there. The boat neared Manaar Island, which was rounded to the
-south. Captain Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea.
-
-At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran,
-for it was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the
-highest points of the bank of pintadines.
-
-“Here we are, M. Aronnax,” said Captain Nemo. “You see that enclosed
-bay? Here, in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of
-the exporters, and these are the waters their divers will ransack so
-boldly. Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing. It
-is sheltered from the strongest winds; the sea is never very rough
-here, which makes it favourable for the diver’s work. We will now put
-on our dresses, and begin our walk.”
-
-I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves, began with
-the help of the sailors to put on my heavy sea-dress. Captain Nemo and
-my companions were also dressing. None of the _Nautilus_ men were to
-accompany us on this new excursion.
-
-Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing; the air
-apparatus fixed to our backs by braces. As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus,
-there was no necessity for it. Before putting my head into the copper
-cap, I had asked the question of the Captain.
-
-“They would be useless,” he replied. “We are going to no great depth,
-and the solar rays will be enough to light our walk. Besides, it would
-not be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters; its
-brilliancy might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast
-most inopportunely.”
-
-As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned
-Land. But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal
-cap, and they could neither hear nor answer.
-
-One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
-
-“And our arms?” asked I; “our guns?”
-
-“Guns! What for? Do not mountaineers attack the bear with a dagger in
-their hand, and is not steel surer than lead? Here is a strong blade;
-put it in your belt, and we start.”
-
-I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than
-that, Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed
-in the boat before leaving the _Nautilus_.
-
-Then, following the Captain’s example, I allowed myself to be dressed
-in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air were at once in
-activity. An instant after we were landed, one after the other, in
-about two yards of water upon an even sand. Captain Nemo made a sign
-with his hand, and we followed him by a gentle declivity till we
-disappeared under the waves.
-
-Over our feet, like coveys of snipe in a bog, rose shoals of fish, of
-the genus monoptera, which have no other fins but their tail. I
-recognized the Javanese, a real serpent two and a half feet long, of a
-livid colour underneath, and which might easily be mistaken for a
-conger eel if it were not for the golden stripes on its side. In the
-genus stromateus, whose bodies are very flat and oval, I saw some of
-the most brilliant colours, carrying their dorsal fin like a scythe; an
-excellent eating fish, which, dried and pickled, is known by the name
-of Karawade; then some tranquebars, belonging to the genus
-apsiphoroides, whose body is covered with a shell cuirass of eight
-longitudinal plates.
-
-The heightening sun lit the mass of waters more and more. The soil
-changed by degrees. To the fine sand succeeded a perfect causeway of
-boulders, covered with a carpet of molluscs and zoophytes. Amongst the
-specimens of these branches I noticed some placenae, with thin unequal
-shells, a kind of ostracion peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian
-Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded shells; rockfish three feet and
-a half long, which raised themselves under the waves like hands ready
-to seize one. There were also some panopyres, slightly luminous; and
-lastly, some oculines, like magnificent fans, forming one of the
-richest vegetations of these seas.
-
-In the midst of these living plants, and under the arbours of the
-hydrophytes, were layers of clumsy articulates, particularly some
-raninae, whose carapace formed a slightly rounded triangle; and some
-horrible looking parthenopes.
-
-At about seven o’clock we found ourselves at last surveying the
-oyster-banks on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
-
-Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters; and
-I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for Nature’s
-creative power is far beyond man’s instinct of destruction. Ned Land,
-faithful to his instinct, hastened to fill a net which he carried by
-his side with some of the finest specimens. But we could not stop. We
-must follow the Captain, who seemed to guide him self by paths known
-only to himself. The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes, on
-holding up my arm, it was above the surface of the sea. Then the level
-of the bank would sink capriciously. Often we rounded high rocks
-scarped into pyramids. In their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched
-upon their high claws like some war-machine, watched us with fixed
-eyes, and under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.
-
-At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a
-picturesque heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the
-submarine flora. At first it seemed very dark to me. The solar rays
-seemed to be extinguished by successive gradations, until its vague
-transparency became nothing more than drowned light. Captain Nemo
-entered; we followed. My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this
-relative state of darkness. I could distinguish the arches springing
-capriciously from natural pillars, standing broad upon their granite
-base, like the heavy columns of Tuscan architecture. Why had our
-incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of this submarine crypt? I
-was soon to know. After descending a rather sharp declivity, our feet
-trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit. There Captain Nemo stopped,
-and with his hand indicated an object I had not yet perceived. It was
-an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a gigantic tridacne, a goblet
-which could have contained a whole lake of holy-water, a basin the
-breadth of which was more than two yards and a half, and consequently
-larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the _Nautilus_. I approached
-this extraordinary mollusc. It adhered by its filaments to a table of
-granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in the calm waters of
-the grotto. I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lbs. Such an
-oyster would contain 30 lbs. of meat; and one must have the stomach of
-a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
-
-Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this
-bivalve, and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual
-state of this tridacne. The shells were a little open; the Captain came
-near and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing; then with
-his hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges, which formed a
-cloak for the creature. There, between the folded plaits, I saw a loose
-pearl, whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular shape,
-perfect clearness, and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of
-inestimable value. Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched out my
-hand to seize it, weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain stopped me,
-made a sign of refusal, and quickly withdrew his dagger, and the two
-shells closed suddenly. I then understood Captain Nemo’s intention. In
-leaving this pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing
-it to grow slowly. Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add
-new concentric circles. I estimated its value at ÂŁ500,000 at least.
-
-After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. I thought he had
-halted previously to returning. No; by a gesture he bade us crouch
-beside him in a deep fracture of the rock, his hand pointed to one part
-of the liquid mass, which I watched attentively.
-
-About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground. The
-disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken;
-and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything
-to do with.
-
-It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor devil who, I
-suppose, had come to glean before the harvest. I could see the bottom
-of his canoe anchored some feet above his head. He dived and went up
-successively. A stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a
-sugar loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat, helped him to
-descend more rapidly. This was all his apparatus. Reaching the bottom,
-about five yards deep, he went on his knees and filled his bag with
-oysters picked up at random. Then he went up, emptied it, pulled up his
-stone, and began the operation once more, which lasted thirty seconds.
-
-The diver did not see us. The shadow of the rock hid us from sight. And
-how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like himself,
-should be there under the water watching his movements and losing no
-detail of the fishing? Several times he went up in this way, and dived
-again. He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was
-obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by means of
-their strong byssus. And how many of those oysters for which he risked
-his life had no pearl in them! I watched him closely; his manœuvres
-were regular; and for the space of half an hour no danger appeared to
-threaten him.
-
-I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting
-fishing, when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make
-a gesture of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface
-of the sea.
-
-I understood his dread. A gigantic shadow appeared just above the
-unfortunate diver. It was a shark of enormous size advancing
-diagonally, his eyes on fire, and his jaws open. I was mute with horror
-and unable to move.
-
-The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw himself on
-one side to avoid the shark’s fins; but not its tail, for it struck his
-chest and stretched him on the ground.
-
-This scene lasted but a few seconds: the shark returned, and, turning
-on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two, when I saw
-Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to
-the monster, ready to fight face to face with him. The very moment the
-shark was going to snap the unhappy fisherman in two, he perceived his
-new adversary, and, turning over, made straight towards him.
-
-I can still see Captain Nemo’s position. Holding himself well together,
-he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it rushed at
-him, threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoiding the
-shock, and burying his dagger deep into its side. But it was not all
-over. A terrible combat ensued.
-
-
-[Illustration] A terrible combat began
-
-
-The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so. The blood rushed in
-torrents from its wound. The sea was dyed red, and through the opaque
-liquid I could distinguish nothing more. Nothing more until the moment
-when, like lightning, I saw the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of
-the creature’s fins, struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the
-monster, and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to
-give a decisive one.
-
-The shark’s struggles agitated the water with such fury that the
-rocking threatened to upset me.
-
-I wanted to go to the Captain’s assistance, but, nailed to the spot
-with horror, I could not stir.
-
-I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight. The
-Captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant upon
-him. The shark’s jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and
-it would have been all over with the Captain; but, quick as thought,
-harpoon in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with
-its sharp point.
-
-The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood. They rocked under the
-shark’s movements, which beat them with indescribable fury. Ned Land
-had not missed his aim. It was the monster’s death-rattle. Struck to
-the heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock of which
-overthrew Conseil.
-
-But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any
-wound, went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him
-to his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel,
-mounted to the surface.
-
-We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle, and reached
-the fisherman’s boat.
-
-Captain Nemo’s first care was to recall the unfortunate man to life
-again. I did not think he could succeed. I hoped so, for the poor
-creature’s immersion was not long; but the blow from the shark’s tail
-might have been his death-blow.
-
-Happily, with the Captain’s and Conseil’s sharp friction, I saw
-consciousness return by degrees. He opened his eyes. What was his
-surprise, his terror even, at seeing four great copper heads leaning
-over him! And, above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo,
-drawing from the pocket of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his
-hand! This munificent charity from the man of the waters to the poor
-Cingalese was accepted with a trembling hand. His wondering eyes showed
-that he knew not to what super-human beings he owed both fortune and
-life.
-
-At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the
-road already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which
-held the canoe of the _Nautilus_ to the earth.
-
-Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid of the
-heavy copper helmet.
-
-Captain Nemo’s first word was to the Canadian.
-
-“Thank you, Master Land,” said he.
-
-“It was in revenge, Captain,” replied Ned Land. “I owed you that.”
-
-A ghastly smile passed across the Captain’s lips, and that was all.
-
-“To the _Nautilus_,” said he.
-
-The boat flew over the waves. Some minutes after we met the shark’s
-dead body floating. By the black marking of the extremity of its fins,
-I recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the
-species of shark so properly called. It was more than twenty-five feet
-long; its enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body. It was an
-adult, as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles
-triangle in the upper jaw.
-
-Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
-beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw
-themselves upon the dead body and fought with one another for the
-pieces.
-
-At half-past eight we were again on board the _Nautilus_. There I
-reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our excursion to
-the Manaar Bank.
-
-Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it—one bearing upon the
-unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon his devotion to a
-human being, a representative of that race from which he fled beneath
-the sea. Whatever he might say, this strange man had not yet succeeded
-in entirely crushing his heart.
-
-When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved
-tone:
-
-“That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country; and I am
-still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-THE RED SEA
-
-
-In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon
-disappeared under the horizon, and the _Nautilus_, at a speed of twenty
-miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth of canals which separate the
-Maldives from the Laccadives. It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a
-land originally coraline, discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one
-of the nineteen principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago,
-situated between 10° and 14° 30′ N. lat., and 69° 50′ 72″ E. long.
-
-We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our
-starting-point in the Japanese Seas.
-
-The next day (30th January), when the _Nautilus_ went to the surface of
-the ocean there was no land in sight. Its course was N.N.E., in the
-direction of the Sea of Oman, between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula,
-which serves as an outlet to the Persian Gulf. It was evidently a block
-without any possible egress. Where was Captain Nemo taking us to? I
-could not say. This, however, did not satisfy the Canadian, who that
-day came to me asking where we were going.
-
-“We are going where our Captain’s fancy takes us, Master Ned.”
-
-“His fancy cannot take us far, then,” said the Canadian. “The Persian
-Gulf has no outlet: and, if we do go in, it will not be long before we
-are out again.”
-
-“Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if, after
-the Persian Gulf, the _Nautilus_ would like to visit the Red Sea, the
-Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance.”
-
-“I need not tell you, sir,” said Ned Land, “that the Red Sea is as much
-closed as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it
-was, a boat as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut
-with sluices. And again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back to
-Europe.”
-
-“But I never said we were going back to Europe.”
-
-“What do you suppose, then?”
-
-“I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt,
-the _Nautilus_ will go down the Indian Ocean again, perhaps cross the
-Channel of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas, so as to gain the
-Cape of Good Hope.”
-
-“And once at the Cape of Good Hope?” asked the Canadian, with peculiar
-emphasis.
-
-“Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know.
-Ah! friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea;
-you are surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine
-wonders. For my part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage which
-it is given to so few men to make.”
-
-For four days, till the 3rd of February, the _Nautilus_ scoured the Sea
-of Oman, at various speeds and at various depths. It seemed to go at
-random, as if hesitating as to which road it should follow, but we
-never passed the Tropic of Cancer.
-
-In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant, one of the most
-important towns of the country of Oman. I admired its strange aspect,
-surrounded by black rocks upon which its white houses and forts stood
-in relief. I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points
-of its minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces. But it was only a
-vision! The _Nautilus_ soon sank under the waves of that part of the
-sea.
-
-We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut, for a
-distance of six miles, its undulating line of mountains being
-occasionally relieved by some ancient ruin. The 5th of February we at
-last entered the Gulf of Aden, a perfect funnel introduced into the
-neck of Bab-el-mandeb, through which the Indian waters entered the Red
-Sea.
-
-The 6th of February, the _Nautilus_ floated in sight of Aden, perched
-upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland, a kind
-of inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which were rebuilt by
-the English after taking possession in 1839. I caught a glimpse of the
-octagon minarets of this town, which was at one time the richest
-commercial magazine on the coast.
-
-I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point, would
-back out again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing, much to
-my surprise.
-
-The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits of
-Bab-el-mandeb, the name of which, in the Arab tongue, means The Gate of
-Tears.
-
-To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length. And for
-the _Nautilus_, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely the
-work of an hour. But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim, with
-which the British Government has fortified the position of Aden. There
-were too many English or French steamers of the line of Suez to Bombay,
-Calcutta to Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius, furrowing
-this narrow passage, for the _Nautilus_ to venture to show itself. So
-it remained prudently below. At last about noon, we were in the waters
-of the Red Sea.
-
-I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided
-Captain Nemo upon entering the gulf. But I quite approved of the
-_Nautilus_ entering it. Its speed was lessened: sometimes it kept on
-the surface, sometimes it dived to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able
-to observe the upper and lower parts of this curious sea.
-
-The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came in sight,
-now a ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot, yet which
-shelters here and there some verdant date-trees; once an important
-city, containing six public markets, and twenty-six mosques, and whose
-walls, defended by fourteen forts, formed a girdle of two miles in
-circumference.
-
-The _Nautilus_ then approached the African shore, where the depth of
-the sea was greater. There, between two waters clear as crystal,
-through the open panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful
-bushes of brilliant coral and large blocks of rock clothed with a
-splendid fur of green variety of sites and landscapes along these
-sandbanks and algæ and fuci. What an indescribable spectacle, and what
-variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and volcanic
-islands which bound the Libyan coast! But where these shrubs appeared
-in all their beauty was on the eastern coast, which the _Nautilus_ soon
-gained. It was on the coast of Tehama, for there not only did this
-display of zoophytes flourish beneath the level of the sea, but they
-also formed picturesque interlacings which unfolded themselves about
-sixty feet above the surface, more capricious but less highly coloured
-than those whose freshness was kept up by the vital power of the
-waters.
-
-What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon! What new
-specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under the
-brightness of our electric lantern!
-
-The 9th of February the _Nautilus_ floated in the broadest part of the
-Red Sea, which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and
-Komfidah, on the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
-
-That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted
-the platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let
-him go down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior
-projects. As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me
-a cigar.
-
-“Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you? Have you sufficiently
-observed the wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes, its
-parterres of sponges, and its forests of coral? Did you catch a glimpse
-of the towns on its borders?”
-
-“Yes, Captain Nemo,” I replied; “and the _Nautilus_ is wonderfully
-fitted for such a study. Ah! it is an intelligent boat!”
-
-“Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable. It fears neither the terrible
-tempests of the Red Sea, nor its currents, nor its sandbanks.”
-
-“Certainly,” said I, “this sea is quoted as one of the worst, and in
-the time of the ancients, if I am not mistaken, its reputation was
-detestable.”
-
-“Detestable, M. Aronnax. The Greek and Latin historians do not speak
-favourably of it, and Strabo says it is very dangerous during the
-Etesian winds and in the rainy season. The Arabian Edrisi portrays it
-under the name of the Gulf of Colzoum, and relates that vessels
-perished there in great numbers on the sandbanks and that no one would
-risk sailing in the night. It is, he pretends, a sea subject to fearful
-hurricanes, strewn with inhospitable islands, and �which offers nothing
-good either on its surface or in its depths.’”
-
-“One may see,” I replied, “that these historians never sailed on board
-the _Nautilus_.”
-
-“Just so,” replied the Captain, smiling; “and in that respect moderns
-are not more advanced than the ancients. It required many ages to find
-out the mechanical power of steam. Who knows if, in another hundred
-years, we may not see a second _Nautilus?_ Progress is slow, M.
-Aronnax.”
-
-“It is true,” I answered; “your boat is at least a century before its
-time, perhaps an era. What a misfortune that the secret of such an
-invention should die with its inventor!”
-
-Captain Nemo did not reply. After some minutes’ silence he continued:
-
-“You were speaking of the opinions of ancient historians upon the
-dangerous navigation of the Red Sea.”
-
-“It is true,” said I; “but were not their fears exaggerated?”
-
-“Yes and no, M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo, who seemed to know the
-Red Sea by heart. “That which is no longer dangerous for a modern
-vessel, well rigged, strongly built, and master of its own course,
-thanks to obedient steam, offered all sorts of perils to the ships of
-the ancients. Picture to yourself those first navigators venturing in
-ships made of planks sewn with the cords of the palmtree, saturated
-with the grease of the seadog, and covered with powdered resin! They
-had not even instruments wherewith to take their bearings, and they
-went by guess amongst currents of which they scarcely knew anything.
-Under such conditions shipwrecks were, and must have been, numerous.
-But in our time, steamers running between Suez and the South Seas have
-nothing more to fear from the fury of this gulf, in spite of contrary
-trade-winds. The captain and passengers do not prepare for their
-departure by offering propitiatory sacrifices; and, on their return,
-they no longer go ornamented with wreaths and gilt fillets to thank the
-gods in the neighbouring temple.”
-
-“I agree with you,” said I; “and steam seems to have killed all
-gratitude in the hearts of sailors. But, Captain, since you seem to
-have especially studied this sea, can you tell me the origin of its
-name?”
-
-“There exist several explanations on the subject, M. Aronnax. Would you
-like to know the opinion of a chronicler of the fourteenth century?”
-
-“Willingly.”
-
-“This fanciful writer pretends that its name was given to it after the
-passage of the Israelites, when Pharaoh perished in the waves which
-closed at the voice of Moses.”
-
-“A poet’s explanation, Captain Nemo,” I replied; “but I cannot content
-myself with that. I ask you for your personal opinion.”
-
-“Here it is, M. Aronnax. According to my idea, we must see in this
-appellation of the Red Sea a translation of the Hebrew word �Edom’; and
-if the ancients gave it that name, it was on account of the particular
-colour of its waters.”
-
-“But up to this time I have seen nothing but transparent waves and
-without any particular colour.”
-
-“Very likely; but as we advance to the bottom of the gulf, you will see
-this singular appearance. I remember seeing the Bay of Tor entirely
-red, like a sea of blood.”
-
-“And you attribute this colour to the presence of a microscopic
-seaweed?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“So, Captain Nemo, it is not the first time you have overrun the Red
-Sea on board the _Nautilus?_”
-
-“No, sir.”
-
-“As you spoke a while ago of the passage of the Israelites and of the
-catastrophe to the Egyptians, I will ask whether you have met with the
-traces under the water of this great historical fact?”
-
-“No, sir; and for a good reason.”
-
-“What is it?”
-
-“It is that the spot where Moses and his people passed is now so
-blocked up with sand that the camels can barely bathe their legs there.
-You can well understand that there would not be water enough for my
-_Nautilus_.”
-
-“And the spot?” I asked.
-
-“The spot is situated a little above the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm
-which formerly made a deep estuary, when the Red Sea extended to the
-Salt Lakes. Now, whether this passage were miraculous or not, the
-Israelites, nevertheless, crossed there to reach the Promised Land, and
-Pharaoh’s army perished precisely on that spot; and I think that
-excavations made in the middle of the sand would bring to light a large
-number of arms and instruments of Egyptian origin.”
-
-“That is evident,” I replied; “and for the sake of archaeologists let
-us hope that these excavations will be made sooner or later, when new
-towns are established on the isthmus, after the construction of the
-Suez Canal; a canal, however, very useless to a vessel like the
-_Nautilus_.”
-
-“Very likely; but useful to the whole world,” said Captain Nemo. “The
-ancients well understood the utility of a communication between the Red
-Sea and the Mediterranean for their commercial affairs: but they did
-not think of digging a canal direct, and took the Nile as an
-intermediate. Very probably the canal which united the Nile to the Red
-Sea was begun by Sesostris, if we may believe tradition. One thing is
-certain, that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ, Necos undertook the
-works of an alimentary canal to the waters of the Nile across the plain
-of Egypt, looking towards Arabia. It took four days to go up this
-canal, and it was so wide that two triremes could go abreast. It was
-carried on by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and probably finished by
-Ptolemy II. Strabo saw it navigated: but its decline from the point of
-departure, near Bubastes, to the Red Sea was so slight that it was only
-navigable for a few months in the year. This canal answered all
-commercial purposes to the age of Antonius, when it was abandoned and
-blocked up with sand. Restored by order of the Caliph Omar, it was
-definitely destroyed in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor, who wished to
-prevent the arrival of provisions to Mohammed-ben-Abdallah, who had
-revolted against him. During the expedition into Egypt, your General
-Bonaparte discovered traces of the works in the Desert of Suez; and,
-surprised by the tide, he nearly perished before regaining Hadjaroth,
-at the very place where Moses had encamped three thousand years before
-him.”
-
-“Well, Captain, what the ancients dared not undertake, this junction
-between the two seas, which will shorten the road from Cadiz to India,
-M. Lesseps has succeeded in doing; and before long he will have changed
-Africa into an immense island.”
-
-“Yes, M. Aronnax; you have the right to be proud of your countryman.
-Such a man brings more honour to a nation than great captains. He
-began, like so many others, with disgust and rebuffs; but he has
-triumphed, for he has the genius of will. And it is sad to think that a
-work like that, which ought to have been an international work and
-which would have sufficed to make a reign illustrious, should have
-succeeded by the energy of one man. All honour to M. Lesseps!”
-
-“Yes! honour to the great citizen,” I replied, surprised by the manner
-in which Captain Nemo had just spoken.
-
-“Unfortunately,” he continued, “I cannot take you through the Suez
-Canal; but you will be able to see the long jetty of Port Said after
-to-morrow, when we shall be in the Mediterranean.”
-
-“The Mediterranean!” I exclaimed.
-
-“Yes, sir; does that astonish you?”
-
-“What astonishes me is to think that we shall be there the day after
-to-morrow.”
-
-“Indeed?”
-
-“Yes, Captain, although by this time I ought to have accustomed myself
-to be surprised at nothing since I have been on board your boat.”
-
-“But the cause of this surprise?”
-
-“Well! it is the fearful speed you will have to put on the _Nautilus_,
-if the day after to-morrow she is to be in the Mediterranean, having
-made the round of Africa, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope!”
-
-“Who told you that she would make the round of Africa and double the
-Cape of Good Hope, sir?”
-
-“Well, unless the _Nautilus_ sails on dry land, and passes above the
-isthmus——”
-
-“Or beneath it, M. Aronnax.”
-
-“Beneath it?”
-
-“Certainly,” replied Captain Nemo quietly. “A long time ago Nature made
-under this tongue of land what man has this day made on its surface.”
-
-“What! such a passage exists?”
-
-“Yes; a subterranean passage, which I have named the Arabian Tunnel. It
-takes us beneath Suez and opens into the Gulf of Pelusium.”
-
-“But this isthmus is composed of nothing but quick sands?”
-
-“To a certain depth. But at fifty-five yards only there is a solid
-layer of rock.”
-
-“Did you discover this passage by chance?” I asked more and more
-surprised.
-
-“Chance and reasoning, sir; and by reasoning even more than by chance.
-Not only does this passage exist, but I have profited by it several
-times. Without that I should not have ventured this day into the
-impassable Red Sea. I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the
-Mediterranean there existed a certain number of fishes of a kind
-perfectly identical. Certain of the fact, I asked myself was it
-possible that there was no communication between the two seas? If there
-was, the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red Sea to
-the Mediterranean, from the sole cause of difference of level. I caught
-a large number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez. I passed a
-copper ring through their tails, and threw them back into the sea. Some
-months later, on the coast of Syria, I caught some of my fish
-ornamented with the ring. Thus the communication between the two was
-proved. I then sought for it with my _Nautilus;_ I discovered it,
-ventured into it, and before long, sir, you too will have passed
-through my Arabian tunnel!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-THE ARABIAN TUNNEL
-
-
-That same evening, in 21° 30′ N. lat., the _Nautilus_ floated on the
-surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast. I saw Djeddah, the
-most important counting-house of Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and India. I
-distinguished clearly enough its buildings, the vessels anchored at the
-quays, and those whose draught of water obliged them to anchor in the
-roads. The sun, rather low on the horizon, struck full on the houses of
-the town, bringing out their whiteness. Outside, some wooden cabins,
-and some made of reeds, showed the quarter inhabited by the Bedouins.
-Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the shadows of night, and the
-_Nautilus_ found herself under water slightly phosphorescent.
-
-The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running to
-windward. The _Nautilus_ returned to its submarine navigation; but at
-noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted, she rose
-again to her waterline.
-
-Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform. The
-coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon a
-damp fog.
-
-We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and
-another, when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the
-sea, said:
-
-“Do you see anything there, sir?”
-
-“No, Ned,” I replied; “but I have not your eyes, you know.”
-
-“Look well,” said Ned, “there, on the starboard beam, about the height
-of the lantern! Do you not see a mass which seems to move?”
-
-“Certainly,” said I, after close attention; “I see something like a
-long black body on the top of the water.”
-
-And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile
-from us. It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea. It
-was a gigantic dugong!
-
-Ned Land looked eagerly. His eyes shone with covetousness at the sight
-of the animal. His hand seemed ready to harpoon it. One would have
-thought he was awaiting the moment to throw himself into the sea and
-attack it in its element.
-
-At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform. He saw the
-dugong, understood the Canadian’s attitude, and, addressing him, said:
-
-“If you held a harpoon just now, Master Land, would it not burn your
-hand?”
-
-“Just so, sir.”
-
-“And you would not be sorry to go back, for one day, to your trade of a
-fisherman and to add this cetacean to the list of those you have
-already killed?”
-
-“I should not, sir.”
-
-“Well, you can try.”
-
-“Thank you, sir,” said Ned Land, his eyes flaming.
-
-“Only,” continued the Captain, “I advise you for your own sake not to
-miss the creature.”
-
-“Is the dugong dangerous to attack?” I asked, in spite of the
-Canadian’s shrug of the shoulders.
-
-“Yes,” replied the Captain; “sometimes the animal turns upon its
-assailants and overturns their boat. But for Master Land this danger is
-not to be feared. His eye is prompt, his arm sure.”
-
-At this moment seven men of the crew, mute and immovable as ever,
-mounted the platform. One carried a harpoon and a line similar to those
-employed in catching whales. The pinnace was lifted from the bridge,
-pulled from its socket, and let down into the sea. Six oarsmen took
-their seats, and the coxswain went to the tiller. Ned, Conseil, and I
-went to the back of the boat.
-
-“You are not coming, Captain?” I asked.
-
-“No, sir; but I wish you good sport.”
-
-The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards
-the dugong, which floated about two miles from the _Nautilus_.
-
-Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened, and
-the oars dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters. Ned Land, harpoon in
-hand, stood in the fore part of the boat. The harpoon used for striking
-the whale is generally attached to a very long cord which runs out
-rapidly as the wounded creature draws it after him. But here the cord
-was not more than ten fathoms long, and the extremity was attached to a
-small barrel which, by floating, was to show the course the dugong took
-under the water.
-
-I stood and carefully watched the Canadian’s adversary. This dugong,
-which also bears the name of the halicore, closely resembles the
-manatee; its oblong body terminated in a lengthened tail, and its
-lateral fins in perfect fingers. Its difference from the manatee
-consisted in its upper jaw, which was armed with two long and pointed
-teeth which formed on each side diverging tusks.
-
-This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was of colossal
-dimensions; it was more than seven yards long. It did not move, and
-seemed to be sleeping on the waves, which circumstance made it easier
-to capture.
-
-The boat approached within six yards of the animal. The oars rested on
-the rowlocks. I half rose. Ned Land, his body thrown a little back,
-brandished the harpoon in his experienced hand.
-
-Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared. The
-harpoon, although thrown with great force; had apparently only struck
-the water.
-
-“Curse it!” exclaimed the Canadian furiously; “I have missed it!”
-
-“No,” said I; “the creature is wounded—look at the blood; but your
-weapon has not stuck in his body.”
-
-“My harpoon! my harpoon!” cried Ned Land.
-
-The sailors rowed on, and the coxswain made for the floating barrel.
-The harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal.
-
-The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe. Its wound had
-not weakened it, for it shot onwards with great rapidity.
-
-The boat, rowed by strong arms, flew on its track. Several times it
-approached within some few yards, and the Canadian was ready to strike,
-but the dugong made off with a sudden plunge, and it was impossible to
-reach it.
-
-Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land! He hurled at the
-unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English
-tongue. For my part, I was only vexed to see the dugong escape all our
-attacks.
-
-We pursued it without relaxation for an hour, and I began to think it
-would prove difficult to capture, when the animal, possessed with the
-perverse idea of vengeance of which he had cause to repent, turned upon
-the pinnace and assailed us in its turn.
-
-This manœuvre did not escape the Canadian.
-
-“Look out!” he cried.
-
-The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue, doubtless
-warning the men to keep on their guard.
-
-The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat, stopped, sniffed the
-air briskly with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity, but
-in the upper part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring, he threw
-himself upon us.
-
-The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least
-two tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the
-coxswain, we caught it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite
-overturned. While Ned Land, clinging to the bows, belaboured the
-gigantic animal with blows from his harpoon, the creature’s teeth were
-buried in the gunwale, and it lifted the whole thing out of the water,
-as a lion does a roebuck. We were upset over one another, and I know
-not how the adventure would have ended, if the Canadian, still enraged
-with the beast, had not struck it to the heart.
-
-I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate, and the dugong disappeared,
-carrying the harpoon with him. But the barrel soon returned to the
-surface, and shortly after the body of the animal, turned on its back.
-The boat came up with it, took it in tow, and made straight for the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-It required tackle of enormous strength to hoist the dugong on to the
-platform. It weighed 10,000 lbs.
-
-The next day, 11th February, the larder of the _Nautilus_ was enriched
-by some more delicate game. A flight of sea-swallows rested on the
-_Nautilus_. It was a species of the Sterna nilotica, peculiar to Egypt;
-its beak is black, head grey and pointed, the eye surrounded by white
-spots, the back, wings, and tail of a greyish colour, the belly and
-throat white, and claws red. They also took some dozen of Nile ducks, a
-wild bird of high flavour, its throat and upper part of the head white
-with black spots.
-
-About five o’clock in the evening we sighted to the north the Cape of
-Ras-Mohammed. This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea,
-comprised between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.
-
-The _Nautilus_ penetrated into the Straits of Jubal, which leads to the
-Gulf of Suez. I distinctly saw a high mountain, towering between the
-two gulfs of Ras-Mohammed. It was Mount Horeb, that Sinai at the top of
-which Moses saw God face to face.
-
-At six o’clock the _Nautilus_, sometimes floating, sometimes immersed,
-passed some distance from Tor, situated at the end of the bay, the
-waters of which seemed tinted with red, an observation already made by
-Captain Nemo. Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence,
-sometimes broken by the cries of the pelican and other night-birds, and
-the noise of the waves breaking upon the shore, chafing against the
-rocks, or the panting of some far-off steamer beating the waters of the
-Gulf with its noisy paddles.
-
-From eight to nine o’clock the _Nautilus_ remained some fathoms under
-the water. According to my calculation we must have been very near
-Suez. Through the panel of the saloon I saw the bottom of the rocks
-brilliantly lit up by our electric lamp. We seemed to be leaving the
-Straits behind us more and more.
-
-At a quarter-past nine, the vessel having returned to the surface, I
-mounted the platform. Most impatient to pass through Captain Nemo’s
-tunnel, I could not stay in one place, so came to breathe the fresh
-night air.
-
-Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light, half discoloured by the fog,
-shining about a mile from us.
-
-“A floating lighthouse!” said someone near me.
-
-I turned, and saw the Captain.
-
-“It is the floating light of Suez,” he continued. “It will not be long
-before we gain the entrance of the tunnel.”
-
-“The entrance cannot be easy?”
-
-“No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman’s
-cage and myself direct our course. And now, if you will go down, M.
-Aronnax, the _Nautilus_ is going under the waves, and will not return
-to the surface until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel.”
-
-Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he
-opened a door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot’s
-cage, which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.
-It was a cabin measuring six feet square, very much like that occupied
-by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson. In the
-midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and caught to the tiller-rope,
-which ran to the back of the _Nautilus_. Four light-ports with
-lenticular glasses, let in a groove in the partition of the cabin,
-allowed the man at the wheel to see in all directions.
-
-This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the
-obscurity, and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands
-resting on the spokes of the wheel. Outside, the sea appeared vividly
-lit up by the lantern, which shed its rays from the back of the cabin
-to the other extremity of the platform.
-
-“Now,” said Captain Nemo, “let us try to make our passage.”
-
-Electric wires connected the pilot’s cage with the machinery room, and
-from there the Captain could communicate simultaneously to his
-_Nautilus_ the direction and the speed. He pressed a metal knob, and at
-once the speed of the screw diminished.
-
-I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running by at
-this moment, the immovable base of a massive sandy coast. We followed
-it thus for an hour only some few yards off.
-
-Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob, suspended by its two
-concentric circles in the cabin. At a simple gesture, the pilot
-modified the course of the _Nautilus_ every instant.
-
-I had placed myself at the port-scuttle, and saw some magnificent
-substructures of coral, zoophytes, seaweed, and fucus, agitating their
-enormous claws, which stretched out from the fissures of the rock.
-
-At a quarter-past ten, the Captain himself took the helm. A large
-gallery, black and deep, opened before us. The _Nautilus_ went boldly
-into it. A strange roaring was heard round its sides. It was the waters
-of the Red Sea, which the incline of the tunnel precipitated violently
-towards the Mediterranean. The _Nautilus_ went with the torrent, rapid
-as an arrow, in spite of the efforts of the machinery, which, in order
-to offer more effective resistance, beat the waves with reversed screw.
-
-On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing but brilliant
-rays, straight lines, furrows of fire, traced by the great speed, under
-the brilliant electric light. My heart beat fast.
-
-At thirty-five minutes past ten, Captain Nemo quitted the helm, and,
-turning to me, said:
-
-“The Mediterranean!”
-
-In less than twenty minutes, the _Nautilus_, carried along by the
-torrent, had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
-
-
-The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day, the _Nautilus_
-rose to the surface. I hastened on to the platform. Three miles to the
-south the dim outline of Pelusium was to be seen. A torrent had carried
-us from one sea to another. About seven o’clock Ned and Conseil joined
-me.
-
-“Well, Sir Naturalist,” said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone,
-“and the Mediterranean?”
-
-“We are floating on its surface, friend Ned.”
-
-“What!” said Conseil, “this very night.”
-
-“Yes, this very night; in a few minutes we have passed this impassable
-isthmus.”
-
-“I do not believe it,” replied the Canadian.
-
-“Then you are wrong, Master Land,” I continued; “this low coast which
-rounds off to the south is the Egyptian coast. And you who have such
-good eyes, Ned, you can see the jetty of Port Said stretching into the
-sea.”
-
-The Canadian looked attentively.
-
-“Certainly you are right, sir, and your Captain is a first-rate man. We
-are in the Mediterranean. Good! Now, if you please, let us talk of our
-own little affair, but so that no one hears us.”
-
-I saw what the Canadian wanted, and, in any case, I thought it better
-to let him talk, as he wished it; so we all three went and sat down
-near the lantern, where we were less exposed to the spray of the
-blades.
-
-“Now, Ned, we listen; what have you to tell us?”
-
-“What I have to tell you is very simple. We are in Europe; and before
-Captain Nemo’s caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar
-Seas, or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the _Nautilus_.”
-
-I wished in no way to shackle the liberty of my companions, but I
-certainly felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
-
-Thanks to him, and thanks to his apparatus, I was each day nearer the
-completion of my submarine studies; and I was rewriting my book of
-submarine depths in its very element. Should I ever again have such an
-opportunity of observing the wonders of the ocean? No, certainly not!
-And I could not bring myself to the idea of abandoning the _Nautilus_
-before the cycle of investigation was accomplished.
-
-“Friend Ned, answer me frankly, are you tired of being on board? Are
-you sorry that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo’s hands?”
-
-The Canadian remained some moments without answering. Then, crossing
-his arms, he said:
-
-“Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas. I shall be glad
-to have made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it.
-That is my idea.”
-
-“It will come to an end, Ned.”
-
-“Where and when?”
-
-“Where I do not know—when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose it will
-end when these seas have nothing more to teach us.”
-
-“Then what do you hope for?” demanded the Canadian.
-
-“That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which
-we may and ought to profit.”
-
-“Oh!” said Ned Land, “and where shall we be in six months, if you
-please, Sir Naturalist?”
-
-“Perhaps in China; you know the _Nautilus_ is a rapid traveller. It
-goes through water as swallows through the air, or as an express on the
-land. It does not fear frequented seas; who can say that it may not
-beat the coasts of France, England, or America, on which flight may be
-attempted as advantageously as here.”
-
-“M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian, “your arguments are rotten at the
-foundation. You speak in the future, �We shall be there! we shall be
-here!’ I speak in the present, �We are here, and we must profit by
-it.’”
-
-Ned Land’s logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that
-ground. I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.
-
-“Sir,” continued Ned, “let us suppose an impossibility: if Captain Nemo
-should this day offer you your liberty; would you accept it?”
-
-“I do not know,” I answered.
-
-“And if,” he added, “the offer made you this day was never to be
-renewed, would you accept it?”
-
-“Friend Ned, this is my answer. Your reasoning is against me. We must
-not rely on Captain Nemo’s good-will. Common prudence forbids him to
-set us at liberty. On the other side, prudence bids us profit by the
-first opportunity to leave the _Nautilus_.”
-
-“Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said.”
-
-“Only one observation—just one. The occasion must be serious, and our
-first attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never find another,
-and Captain Nemo will never forgive us.”
-
-“All that is true,” replied the Canadian. “But your observation applies
-equally to all attempts at flight, whether in two years’ time, or in
-two days’. But the question is still this: If a favourable opportunity
-presents itself, it must be seized.”
-
-“Agreed! And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by a favourable
-opportunity?”
-
-“It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the _Nautilus_ a
-short distance from some European coast.”
-
-“And you will try and save yourself by swimming?”
-
-“Yes, if we were near enough to the bank, and if the vessel was
-floating at the time. Not if the bank was far away, and the boat was
-under the water.”
-
-“And in that case?”
-
-“In that case, I should seek to make myself master of the pinnace. I
-know how it is worked. We must get inside, and the bolts once drawn, we
-shall come to the surface of the water, without even the pilot, who is
-in the bows, perceiving our flight.”
-
-“Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity; but do not forget that a hitch
-will ruin us.”
-
-“I will not forget, sir.”
-
-“And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your project?”
-
-“Certainly, M. Aronnax.”
-
-“Well, I think—I do not say I hope—I think that this favourable
-opportunity will never present itself.”
-
-“Why not?”
-
-“Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given
-up all hope of regaining our liberty, and he will be on his guard,
-above all, in the seas and in the sight of European coasts.”
-
-“We shall see,” replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly.
-
-“And now, Ned Land,” I added, “let us stop here. Not another word on
-the subject. The day that you are ready, come and let us know, and we
-will follow you. I rely entirely upon you.”
-
-Thus ended a conversation which, at no very distant time, led to such
-grave results. I must say here that facts seemed to confirm my
-foresight, to the Canadian’s great despair. Did Captain Nemo distrust
-us in these frequented seas? or did he only wish to hide himself from
-the numerous vessels, of all nations, which ploughed the Mediterranean?
-I could not tell; but we were oftener between waters and far from the
-coast. Or, if the _Nautilus_ did emerge, nothing was to be seen but the
-pilot’s cage; and sometimes it went to great depths, for, between the
-Grecian Archipelago and Asia Minor we could not touch the bottom by
-more than a thousand fathoms.
-
-Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the
-Sporades, by Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
-
-“Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates,
-Caeruleus Proteus,”
-
-
-as he pointed to a spot on the planisphere.
-
-It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of
-Neptune’s flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, situated between Rhodes
-and Crete. I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels
-of the saloon.
-
-The next day, the 14th of February, I resolved to employ some hours in
-studying the fishes of the Archipelago; but for some reason or other
-the panels remained hermetically sealed. Upon taking the course of the
-_Nautilus_, I found that we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle
-of Crete. At the time I embarked on the _Abraham Lincoln_, the whole of
-this island had risen in insurrection against the despotism of the
-Turks. But how the insurgents had fared since that time I was
-absolutely ignorant, and it was not Captain Nemo, deprived of all land
-communications, who could tell me.
-
-I made no allusion to this event when that night I found myself alone
-with him in the saloon. Besides, he seemed to be taciturn and
-preoccupied. Then, contrary to his custom, he ordered both panels to be
-opened, and, going from one to the other, observed the mass of waters
-attentively. To what end I could not guess; so, on my side, I employed
-my time in studying the fish passing before my eyes.
-
-In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his
-belt a leathern purse. It was not a body abandoned to the waves; it was
-a living man, swimming with a strong hand, disappearing occasionally to
-take breath at the surface.
-
-I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
-
-“A man shipwrecked! He must be saved at any price!”
-
-
-[Illustration] “A man! A shipwrecked sailor!” I cried
-
-
-The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
-
-The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass,
-was looking at us.
-
-To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him. The diver answered
-with his hand, mounted immediately to the surface of the water, and did
-not appear again.
-
-“Do not be uncomfortable,” said Captain Nemo. “It is Nicholas of Cape
-Matapan, surnamed Pesca. He is well known in all the Cyclades. A bold
-diver! water is his element, and he lives more in it than on land,
-going continually from one island to another, even as far as Crete.”
-
-“You know him, Captain?”
-
-“Why not, M. Aronnax?”
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing
-near the left panel of the saloon. Near this piece of furniture, I saw
-a chest bound with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate,
-bearing the cypher of the _Nautilus_ with its device.
-
-At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence, opened the
-piece of furniture, a sort of strong box, which held a great many
-ingots.
-
-They were ingots of gold. From whence came this precious metal, which
-represented an enormous sum? Where did the Captain gather this gold
-from? and what was he going to do with it?
-
-I did not say one word. I looked. Captain Nemo took the ingots one by
-one, and arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled
-entirely. I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lbs. weight of
-gold, that is to say, nearly ÂŁ200,000.
-
-The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on
-the lid, in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.
-
-This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated
-with the quarters of the crew. Four men appeared, and, not without some
-trouble, pushed the chest out of the saloon. Then I heard them hoisting
-it up the iron staircase by means of pulleys.
-
-At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
-
-“And you were saying, sir?” said he.
-
-“I was saying nothing, Captain.”
-
-“Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night.”
-
-Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.
-
-I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe. I vainly tried
-to sleep—I sought the connecting link between the apparition of the
-diver and the chest filled with gold. Soon, I felt by certain movements
-of pitching and tossing that the _Nautilus_ was leaving the depths and
-returning to the surface.
-
-Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were unfastening
-the pinnace and launching it upon the waves. For one instant it struck
-the side of the _Nautilus_, then all noise ceased.
-
-Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed;
-the boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the
-_Nautilus_ again plunged under the waves.
-
-So these millions had been transported to their address. To what point
-of the continent? Who was Captain Nemo’s correspondent?
-
-The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events of the
-night, which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree. My
-companions were not less surprised than myself.
-
-“But where does he take his millions to?” asked Ned Land.
-
-To that there was no possible answer. I returned to the saloon after
-having breakfast and set to work. Till five o’clock in the evening I
-employed myself in arranging my notes. At that moment—(ought I to
-attribute it to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)—I felt so great a heat that
-I was obliged to take off my coat. It was strange, for we were under
-low latitudes; and even then the _Nautilus_, submerged as it was, ought
-to experience no change of temperature. I looked at the manometer; it
-showed a depth of sixty feet, to which atmospheric heat could never
-attain.
-
-I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a pitch as to be
-intolerable.
-
-“Could there be fire on board?” I asked myself.
-
-I was leaving the saloon, when Captain Nemo entered; he approached the
-thermometer, consulted it, and, turning to me, said:
-
-“Forty-two degrees.”
-
-“I have noticed it, Captain,” I replied; “and if it gets much hotter we
-cannot bear it.”
-
-“Oh, sir, it will not get better if we do not wish it.”
-
-“You can reduce it as you please, then?”
-
-“No; but I can go farther from the stove which produces it.”
-
-“It is outward, then!”
-
-“Certainly; we are floating in a current of boiling water.”
-
-“Is it possible!” I exclaimed.
-
-“Look.”
-
-The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round. A
-sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like water in
-a copper. I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass, but the heat
-was so great that I quickly took it off again.
-
-“Where are we?” I asked.
-
-“Near the Island of Santorin, sir,” replied the Captain. “I wished to
-give you a sight of the curious spectacle of a submarine eruption.”
-
-“I thought,” said I, “that the formation of these new islands was
-ended.”
-
-“Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea,” replied
-Captain Nemo; “and the globe is always being worked by subterranean
-fires. Already, in the nineteenth year of our era, according to
-Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia (the divine), appeared in
-the very place where these islets have recently been formed. Then they
-sank under the waves, to rise again in the year 69, when they again
-subsided. Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been
-suspended. But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they
-named George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour
-near Nea Kamenni, and settled again the 6th of the same month. Seven
-days after, the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa appeared,
-leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten yards broad. I was
-in these seas when the phenomenon occurred, and I was able therefore to
-observe all the different phases. The Island of Aphroessa, of round
-form, measured 300 feet in diameter, and 30 feet in height. It was
-composed of black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of felspar.
-And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka, showed
-itself near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have joined
-together, forming but one and the same island.”
-
-“And the canal in which we are at this moment?” I asked.
-
-“Here it is,” replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the
-Archipelago. “You see, I have marked the new islands.”
-
-I returned to the glass. The _Nautilus_ was no longer moving, the heat
-was becoming unbearable. The sea, which till now had been white, was
-red, owing to the presence of salts of iron. In spite of the ship’s
-being hermetically sealed, an insupportable smell of sulphur filled the
-saloon, and the brilliancy of the electricity was entirely extinguished
-by bright scarlet flames. I was in a bath, I was choking, I was
-broiled.
-
-“We can remain no longer in this boiling water,” said I to the Captain.
-
-“It would not be prudent,” replied the impassive Captain Nemo.
-
-An order was given; the _Nautilus_ tacked about and left the furnace it
-could not brave with impunity. A quarter of an hour after we were
-breathing fresh air on the surface. The thought then struck me that, if
-Ned Land had chosen this part of the sea for our flight, we should
-never have come alive out of this sea of fire.
-
-The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which, between
-Rhodes and Alexandria, is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms in depth, and
-the _Nautilus_, passing some distance from Cerigo, quitted the Grecian
-Archipelago after having doubled Cape Matapan.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
-
-
-The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, “the great sea” of the
-Hebrews, “the sea” of the Greeks, the “mare nostrum” of the Romans,
-bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with
-the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with
-pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires;
-a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the
-empire of the world!
-
-It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man is
-renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe. But,
-beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at the basin
-whose superficial area is two million of square yards. Even Captain
-Nemo’s knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling person did not
-appear once during our passage at full speed. I estimated the course
-which the _Nautilus_ took under the waves of the sea at about six
-hundred leagues, and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours. Starting
-on the morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece, we
-had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
-
-It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of
-those countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain
-Nemo. Those waves and those breezes brought back too many remembrances,
-if not too many regrets. Here he had no longer that independence and
-that liberty of gait which he had when in the open seas, and his
-_Nautilus_ felt itself cramped between the close shores of Africa and
-Europe.
-
-Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour. It may be well understood
-that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged to renounce his
-intended flight. He could not launch the pinnace, going at the rate of
-twelve or thirteen yards every second. To quit the _Nautilus_ under
-such conditions would be as bad as jumping from a train going at full
-speed—an imprudent thing, to say the least of it. Besides, our vessel
-only mounted to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of
-air; it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.
-
-I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by
-express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
-that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which
-pass like a flash of lightning.
-
-We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis. In the
-narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of
-the sea rose almost suddenly. There was a perfect bank, on which there
-was not more than nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the
-depth was ninety fathoms.
-
-The _Nautilus_ had to manœuvre very carefully so as not to strike
-against this submarine barrier.
-
-I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied by
-this reef.
-
-“But if you please, sir,” observed Conseil, “it is like a real isthmus
-joining Europe to Africa.”
-
-“Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia, and the
-soundings of Smith have proved that in former times the continents
-between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined.”
-
-“I can well believe it,” said Conseil.
-
-“I will add,” I continued, “that a similar barrier exists between
-Gibraltar and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire
-Mediterranean.”
-
-“What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers
-above the waves?”
-
-“It is not probable, Conseil.”
-
-“Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon should
-take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps, who has taken so
-much pains to pierce the isthmus.”
-
-“I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will never
-happen. The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.
-Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world, are being
-extinguished by degrees; the internal heat is weakened, the temperature
-of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a perceptible quantity
-every century to the detriment of our globe, for its heat is its life.”
-
-“But the sun?”
-
-“The sun is not sufficient, Conseil. Can it give heat to a dead body?”
-
-“Not that I know of.”
-
-“Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse; it will
-become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon, which has long
-since lost all its vital heat.”
-
-“In how many centuries?”
-
-“In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy.”
-
-“Then,” said Conseil, “we shall have time to finish our journey—that
-is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it.”
-
-And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank, which the
-_Nautilus_ was skirting at a moderate speed.
-
-During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the
-second Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450
-fathoms. The _Nautilus_, by the action of its crew, slid down the
-inclined planes and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
-
-On the 18th of February, about three o’clock in the morning, we were at
-the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar. There once existed two
-currents: an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters
-of the ocean into the basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower
-counter-current, which reasoning has now shown to exist. Indeed, the
-volume of water in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves
-of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise
-the level of this sea, for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore
-the equilibrium. As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the
-existence of an under-current, which empties into the basin of the
-Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the
-Mediterranean. A fact indeed; and it was this counter-current by which
-the _Nautilus_ profited. It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass. For
-one instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of
-Hercules, buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low
-island which supports it; and a few minutes later we were floating on
-the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-VIGO BAY
-
-
-The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers
-twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine
-thousand miles, with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred—an
-ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
-watered by the largest rivers of the world, the St. Lawrence, the
-Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco, the Niger, the
-Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water from the
-most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries! Magnificent
-field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels of every nation,
-sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which terminates in those
-two terrible points so dreaded by mariners, Cape Horn and the Cape of
-Tempests.
-
-The _Nautilus_ was piercing the water with its sharp spur, after having
-accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half, a
-distance greater than the great circle of the earth. Where were we
-going now, and what was reserved for the future? The _Nautilus_,
-leaving the Straits of Gibraltar, had gone far out. It returned to the
-surface of the waves, and our daily walks on the platform were restored
-to us.
-
-I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil. At a distance
-of about twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent was dimly to be seen, forming
-the south-western point of the Spanish peninsula. A strong southerly
-gale was blowing. The sea was swollen and billowy; it made the
-_Nautilus_ rock violently. It was almost impossible to keep one’s foot
-on the platform, which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every
-instant. So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.
-
-I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian, with a
-preoccupied air, followed me. Our rapid passage across the
-Mediterranean had not allowed him to put his project into execution,
-and he could not help showing his disappointment. When the door of my
-room was shut, he sat down and looked at me silently.
-
-“Friend Ned,” said I, “I understand you; but you cannot reproach
-yourself. To have attempted to leave the _Nautilus_ under the
-circumstances would have been folly.”
-
-Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
-with him the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind.
-
-“Let us see,” I continued; “we need not despair yet. We are going up
-the coast of Portugal again; France and England are not far off, where
-we can easily find refuge. Now if the _Nautilus_, on leaving the
-Straits of Gibraltar, had gone to the south, if it had carried us
-towards regions where there were no continents, I should share your
-uneasiness. But we know now that Captain Nemo does not fly from
-civilised seas, and in some days I think you can act with security.”
-
-Ned Land still looked at me fixedly; at length his fixed lips parted,
-and he said, “It is for to-night.”
-
-I drew myself up suddenly. I was, I admit, little prepared for this
-communication. I wanted to answer the Canadian, but words would not
-come.
-
-“We agreed to wait for an opportunity,” continued Ned Land, “and the
-opportunity has arrived. This night we shall be but a few miles from
-the Spanish coast. It is cloudy. The wind blows freely. I have your
-word, M. Aronnax, and I rely upon you.”
-
-As I was silent, the Canadian approached me.
-
-“To-night, at nine o’clock,” said he. “I have warned Conseil. At that
-moment Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room, probably in bed.
-Neither the engineers nor the ship’s crew can see us. Conseil and I
-will gain the central staircase, and you, M. Aronnax, will remain in
-the library, two steps from us, waiting my signal. The oars, the mast,
-and the sail are in the canoe. I have even succeeded in getting some
-provisions. I have procured an English wrench, to unfasten the bolts
-which attach it to the shell of the _Nautilus_. So all is ready, till
-to-night.”
-
-“The sea is bad.”
-
-“That I allow,” replied the Canadian; “but we must risk that. Liberty
-is worth paying for; besides, the boat is strong, and a few miles with
-a fair wind to carry us is no great thing. Who knows but by to-morrow
-we may be a hundred leagues away? Let circumstances only favour us, and
-by ten or eleven o’clock we shall have landed on some spot of terra
-firma, alive or dead. But adieu now till to-night.”
-
-With these words the Canadian withdrew, leaving me almost dumb. I had
-imagined that, the chance gone, I should have time to reflect and
-discuss the matter. My obstinate companion had given me no time; and,
-after all, what could I have said to him? Ned Land was perfectly right.
-There was almost the opportunity to profit by. Could I retract my word,
-and take upon myself the responsibility of compromising the future of
-my companions? To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us far from all land.
-
-At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs
-were filling, and that the _Nautilus_ was sinking under the waves of
-the Atlantic.
-
-A sad day I passed, between the desire of regaining my liberty of
-action and of abandoning the wonderful _Nautilus_, and leaving my
-submarine studies incomplete.
-
-What dreadful hours I passed thus! Sometimes seeing myself and
-companions safely landed, sometimes wishing, in spite of my reason,
-that some unforeseen circumstance, would prevent the realisation of Ned
-Land’s project.
-
-Twice I went to the saloon. I wished to consult the compass. I wished
-to see if the direction the _Nautilus_ was taking was bringing us
-nearer or taking us farther from the coast. But no; the _Nautilus_ kept
-in Portuguese waters.
-
-I must therefore take my part and prepare for flight. My luggage was
-not heavy; my notes, nothing more.
-
-As to Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he would think of our escape;
-what trouble, what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in
-case of its discovery or failure. Certainly I had no cause to complain
-of him; on the contrary, never was hospitality freer than his. In
-leaving him I could not be taxed with ingratitude. No oath bound us to
-him. It was on the strength of circumstances he relied, and not upon
-our word, to fix us for ever.
-
-I had not seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin.
-Would chance bring me to his presence before our departure? I wished
-it, and I feared it at the same time. I listened if I could hear him
-walking the room contiguous to mine. No sound reached my ear. I felt an
-unbearable uneasiness. This day of waiting seemed eternal. Hours struck
-too slowly to keep pace with my impatience.
-
-My dinner was served in my room as usual. I ate but little; I was too
-preoccupied. I left the table at seven o’clock. A hundred and twenty
-minutes (I counted them) still separated me from the moment in which I
-was to join Ned Land. My agitation redoubled. My pulse beat violently.
-I could not remain quiet. I went and came, hoping to calm my troubled
-spirit by constant movement. The idea of failure in our bold enterprise
-was the least painful of my anxieties; but the thought of seeing our
-project discovered before leaving the _Nautilus_, of being brought
-before Captain Nemo, irritated, or (what was worse) saddened, at my
-desertion, made my heart beat.
-
-I wanted to see the saloon for the last time. I descended the stairs
-and arrived in the museum, where I had passed so many useful and
-agreeable hours. I looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a
-man on the eve of an eternal exile, who was leaving never to return.
-
-These wonders of Nature, these masterpieces of art, amongst which for
-so many days my life had been concentrated, I was going to abandon them
-for ever! I should like to have taken a last look through the windows
-of the saloon into the waters of the Atlantic: but the panels were
-hermetically closed, and a cloak of steel separated me from that ocean
-which I had not yet explored.
-
-In passing through the saloon, I came near the door let into the angle
-which opened into the Captain’s room. To my great surprise, this door
-was ajar. I drew back involuntarily. If Captain Nemo should be in his
-room, he could see me. But, hearing no sound, I drew nearer. The room
-was deserted. I pushed open the door and took some steps forward. Still
-the same monklike severity of aspect.
-
-Suddenly the clock struck eight. The first beat of the hammer on the
-bell awoke me from my dreams. I trembled as if an invisible eye had
-plunged into my most secret thoughts, and I hurried from the room.
-
-There my eye fell upon the compass. Our course was still north. The log
-indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.
-
-I returned to my room, clothed myself warmly—sea boots, an otterskin
-cap, a great coat of byssus, lined with sealskin; I was ready, I was
-waiting. The vibration of the screw alone broke the deep silence which
-reigned on board. I listened attentively. Would no loud voice suddenly
-inform me that Ned Land had been surprised in his projected flight. A
-mortal dread hung over me, and I vainly tried to regain my accustomed
-coolness.
-
-At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain’s door. No noise.
-I left my room and returned to the saloon, which was half in obscurity,
-but deserted.
-
-I opened the door communicating with the library. The same insufficient
-light, the same solitude. I placed myself near the door leading to the
-central staircase, and there waited for Ned Land’s signal.
-
-At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished, then it
-stopped entirely. The silence was now only disturbed by the beatings of
-my own heart. Suddenly a slight shock was felt; and I knew that the
-_Nautilus_ had stopped at the bottom of the ocean. My uneasiness
-increased. The Canadian’s signal did not come. I felt inclined to join
-Ned Land and beg of him to put off his attempt. I felt that we were not
-sailing under our usual conditions.
-
-At this moment the door of the large saloon opened, and Captain Nemo
-appeared. He saw me, and without further preamble began in an amiable
-tone of voice:
-
-“Ah, sir! I have been looking for you. Do you know the history of
-Spain?”
-
-Now, one might know the history of one’s own country by heart; but in
-the condition I was at the time, with troubled mind and head quite
-lost, I could not have said a word of it.
-
-“Well,” continued Captain Nemo, “you heard my question! Do you know the
-history of Spain?”
-
-“Very slightly,” I answered.
-
-“Well, here are learned men having to learn,” said the Captain. “Come,
-sit down, and I will tell you a curious episode in this history. Sir,
-listen well,” said he; “this history will interest you on one side, for
-it will answer a question which doubtless you have not been able to
-solve.”
-
-“I listen, Captain,” said I, not knowing what my interlocutor was
-driving at, and asking myself if this incident was bearing on our
-projected flight.
-
-“Sir, if you have no objection, we will go back to 1702. You cannot be
-ignorant that your king, Louis XIV, thinking that the gesture of a
-potentate was sufficient to bring the Pyrenees under his yoke, had
-imposed the Duke of Anjou, his grandson, on the Spaniards. This prince
-reigned more or less badly under the name of Philip V, and had a strong
-party against him abroad. Indeed, the preceding year, the royal houses
-of Holland, Austria, and England had concluded a treaty of alliance at
-the Hague, with the intention of plucking the crown of Spain from the
-head of Philip V, and placing it on that of an archduke to whom they
-prematurely gave the title of Charles III.
-
-“Spain must resist this coalition; but she was almost entirely
-unprovided with either soldiers or sailors. However, money would not
-fail them, provided that their galleons, laden with gold and silver
-from America, once entered their ports. And about the end of 1702 they
-expected a rich convoy which France was escorting with a fleet of
-twenty-three vessels, commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud, for the
-ships of the coalition were already beating the Atlantic. This convoy
-was to go to Cadiz, but the Admiral, hearing that an English fleet was
-cruising in those waters, resolved to make for a French port.
-
-“The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision. They
-wanted to be taken to a Spanish port, and, if not to Cadiz, into Vigo
-Bay, situated on the northwest coast of Spain, and which was not
-blocked.
-
-“Admiral Chateau-Renaud had the rashness to obey this injunction, and
-the galleons entered Vigo Bay.
-
-“Unfortunately, it formed an open road which could not be defended in
-any way. They must therefore hasten to unload the galleons before the
-arrival of the combined fleet; and time would not have failed them had
-not a miserable question of rivalry suddenly arisen.
-
-“You are following the chain of events?” asked Captain Nemo.
-
-“Perfectly,” said I, not knowing the end proposed by this historical
-lesson.
-
-“I will continue. This is what passed. The merchants of Cadiz had a
-privilege by which they had the right of receiving all merchandise
-coming from the West Indies. Now, to disembark these ingots at the port
-of Vigo was depriving them of their rights. They complained at Madrid,
-and obtained the consent of the weak-minded Philip that the convoy,
-without discharging its cargo, should remain sequestered in the roads
-of Vigo until the enemy had disappeared.
-
-“But whilst coming to this decision, on the 22nd of October, 1702, the
-English vessels arrived in Vigo Bay, when Admiral Chateau-Renaud, in
-spite of inferior forces, fought bravely. But, seeing that the treasure
-must fall into the enemy’s hands, he burnt and scuttled every galleon,
-which went to the bottom with their immense riches.”
-
-Captain Nemo stopped. I admit I could not see yet why this history
-should interest me.
-
-“Well?” I asked.
-
-“Well, M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo, “we are in that Vigo Bay; and
-it rests with yourself whether you will penetrate its mysteries.”
-
-The Captain rose, telling me to follow him. I had had time to recover.
-I obeyed. The saloon was dark, but through the transparent glass the
-waves were sparkling. I looked.
-
-For half a mile around the _Nautilus_, the waters seemed bathed in
-electric light. The sandy bottom was clean and bright. Some of the
-ship’s crew in their diving-dresses were clearing away half-rotten
-barrels and empty cases from the midst of the blackened wrecks. From
-these cases and from these barrels escaped ingots of gold and silver,
-cascades of piastres and jewels. The sand was heaped up with them.
-Laden with their precious booty, the men returned to the _Nautilus_,
-disposed of their burden, and went back to this inexhaustible fishery
-of gold and silver.
-
-I understood now. This was the scene of the battle of the 22nd of
-October, 1702. Here on this very spot the galleons laden for the
-Spanish Government had sunk. Here Captain Nemo came, according to his
-wants, to pack up those millions with which he burdened the _Nautilus_.
-It was for him and him alone America had given up her precious metals.
-He was heir direct, without anyone to share, in those treasures torn
-from the Incas and from the conquered of Ferdinand Cortez.
-
-“Did you know, sir,” he asked, smiling, “that the sea contained such
-riches?”
-
-“I knew,” I answered, “that they value money held in suspension in
-these waters at two millions.”
-
-“Doubtless; but to extract this money the expense would be greater than
-the profit. Here, on the contrary, I have but to pick up what man has
-lost—and not only in Vigo Bay, but in a thousand other ports where
-shipwrecks have happened, and which are marked on my submarine map. Can
-you understand now the source of the millions I am worth?”
-
-“I understand, Captain. But allow me to tell you that in exploring Vigo
-Bay you have only been beforehand with a rival society.”
-
-“And which?”
-
-“A society which has received from the Spanish Government the privilege
-of seeking those buried galleons. The shareholders are led on by the
-allurement of an enormous bounty, for they value these rich shipwrecks
-at five hundred millions.”
-
-“Five hundred millions they were,” answered Captain Nemo, “but they are
-so no longer.”
-
-“Just so,” said I; “and a warning to those shareholders would be an act
-of charity. But who knows if it would be well received? What gamblers
-usually regret above all is less the loss of their money than of their
-foolish hopes. After all, I pity them less than the thousands of
-unfortunates to whom so much riches well-distributed would have been
-profitable, whilst for them they will be for ever barren.”
-
-I had no sooner expressed this regret than I felt that it must have
-wounded Captain Nemo.
-
-“Barren!” he exclaimed, with animation. “Do you think then, sir, that
-these riches are lost because I gather them? Is it for myself alone,
-according to your idea, that I take the trouble to collect these
-treasures? Who told you that I did not make a good use of it? Do you
-think I am ignorant that there are suffering beings and oppressed races
-on this earth, miserable creatures to console, victims to avenge? Do
-you not understand?”
-
-Captain Nemo stopped at these last words, regretting perhaps that he
-had spoken so much. But I had guessed that, whatever the motive which
-had forced him to seek independence under the sea, it had left him
-still a man, that his heart still beat for the sufferings of humanity,
-and that his immense charity was for oppressed races as well as
-individuals. And I then understood for whom those millions were
-destined which were forwarded by Captain Nemo when the _Nautilus_ was
-cruising in the waters of Crete.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-A VANISHED CONTINENT
-
-
-The next morning, the 19th of February, I saw the Canadian enter my
-room. I expected this visit. He looked very disappointed.
-
-“Well, sir?” said he.
-
-“Well, Ned, fortune was against us yesterday.”
-
-“Yes; that Captain must needs stop exactly at the hour we intended
-leaving his vessel.”
-
-“Yes, Ned, he had business at his bankers.”
-
-“His bankers!”
-
-“Or rather his banking-house; by that I mean the ocean, where his
-riches are safer than in the chests of the State.”
-
-I then related to the Canadian the incidents of the preceding night,
-hoping to bring him back to the idea of not abandoning the Captain; but
-my recital had no other result than an energetically expressed regret
-from Ned that he had not been able to take a walk on the battlefield of
-Vigo on his own account.
-
-“However,” said he, “all is not ended. It is only a blow of the harpoon
-lost. Another time we must succeed; and to-night, if necessary——”
-
-“In what direction is the _Nautilus_ going?” I asked.
-
-“I do not know,” replied Ned.
-
-“Well, at noon we shall see the point.”
-
-The Canadian returned to Conseil. As soon as I was dressed, I went into
-the saloon. The compass was not reassuring. The course of the
-_Nautilus_ was S.S.W. We were turning our backs on Europe.
-
-I waited with some impatience till the ship’s place was pricked on the
-chart. At about half-past eleven the reservoirs were emptied, and our
-vessel rose to the surface of the ocean. I rushed towards the platform.
-Ned Land had preceded me. No more land in sight. Nothing but an immense
-sea. Some sails on the horizon, doubtless those going to San Roque in
-search of favourable winds for doubling the Cape of Good Hope. The
-weather was cloudy. A gale of wind was preparing. Ned raved, and tried
-to pierce the cloudy horizon. He still hoped that behind all that fog
-stretched the land he so longed for.
-
-At noon the sun showed itself for an instant. The second profited by
-this brightness to take its height. Then, the sea becoming more
-billowy, we descended, and the panel closed.
-
-An hour after, upon consulting the chart, I saw the position of the
-_Nautilus_ was marked at 16° 17′ long., and 33° 22′ lat., at 150
-leagues from the nearest coast. There was no means of flight, and I
-leave you to imagine the rage of the Canadian when I informed him of
-our situation.
-
-For myself, I was not particularly sorry. I felt lightened of the load
-which had oppressed me, and was able to return with some degree of
-calmness to my accustomed work.
-
-That night, about eleven o’clock, I received a most unexpected visit
-from Captain Nemo. He asked me very graciously if I felt fatigued from
-my watch of the preceding night. I answered in the negative.
-
-“Then, M. Aronnax, I propose a curious excursion.”
-
-“Propose, Captain?”
-
-“You have hitherto only visited the submarine depths by daylight, under
-the brightness of the sun. Would it suit you to see them in the
-darkness of the night?”
-
-“Most willingly.”
-
-“I warn you, the way will be tiring. We shall have far to walk, and
-must climb a mountain. The roads are not well kept.”
-
-“What you say, Captain, only heightens my curiosity; I am ready to
-follow you.”
-
-“Come then, sir, we will put on our diving-dresses.”
-
-Arrived at the robing-room, I saw that neither of my companions nor any
-of the ship’s crew were to follow us on this excursion. Captain Nemo
-had not even proposed my taking with me either Ned or Conseil.
-
-In a few moments we had put on our diving-dresses; they placed on our
-backs the reservoirs, abundantly filled with air, but no electric lamps
-were prepared. I called the Captain’s attention to the fact.
-
-“They will be useless,” he replied.
-
-I thought I had not heard aright, but I could not repeat my
-observation, for the Captain’s head had already disappeared in its
-metal case. I finished harnessing myself. I felt them put an
-iron-pointed stick into my hand, and some minutes later, after going
-through the usual form, we set foot on the bottom of the Atlantic at a
-depth of 150 fathoms. Midnight was near. The waters were profoundly
-dark, but Captain Nemo pointed out in the distance a reddish spot, a
-sort of large light shining brilliantly about two miles from the
-_Nautilus_. What this fire might be, what could feed it, why and how it
-lit up the liquid mass, I could not say. In any case, it did light our
-way, vaguely, it is true, but I soon accustomed myself to the peculiar
-darkness, and I understood, under such circumstances, the uselessness
-of the Ruhmkorff apparatus.
-
-As we advanced, I heard a kind of pattering above my head. The noise
-redoubling, sometimes producing a continual shower, I soon understood
-the cause. It was rain falling violently, and crisping the surface of
-the waves. Instinctively the thought flashed across my mind that I
-should be wet through! By the water! in the midst of the water! I could
-not help laughing at the odd idea. But, indeed, in the thick
-diving-dress, the liquid element is no longer felt, and one only seems
-to be in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the terrestrial atmosphere.
-Nothing more.
-
-After half an hour’s walk the soil became stony. Medusae, microscopic
-crustacea, and pennatules lit it slightly with their phosphorescent
-gleam. I caught a glimpse of pieces of stone covered with millions of
-zoophytes and masses of sea weed. My feet often slipped upon this
-sticky carpet of sea weed, and without my iron-tipped stick I should
-have fallen more than once. In turning round, I could still see the
-whitish lantern of the _Nautilus_ beginning to pale in the distance.
-
-But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon.
-The presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree.
-Was I going towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown to the
-_savants_ of the earth? Or even (for this thought crossed my brain) had
-the hand of man aught to do with this conflagration? Had he fanned this
-flame? Was I to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain
-Nemo whom he was going to visit, and who, like him, led this strange
-existence? Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who, weary
-of the miseries of this earth, had sought and found independence in the
-deep ocean? All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued me. And in
-this condition of mind, over-excited by the succession of wonders
-continually passing before my eyes, I should not have been surprised to
-meet at the bottom of the sea one of those submarine towns of which
-Captain Nemo dreamed.
-
-Our road grew lighter and lighter. The white glimmer came in rays from
-the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high. But what I saw was simply
-a reflection, developed by the clearness of the waters. The source of
-this inexplicable light was a fire on the opposite side of the
-mountain.
-
-In the midst of this stony maze furrowing the bottom of the Atlantic,
-Captain Nemo advanced without hesitation. He knew this dreary road.
-Doubtless he had often travelled over it, and could not lose himself. I
-followed him with unshaken confidence. He seemed to me like a genie of
-the sea; and, as he walked before me, I could not help admiring his
-stature, which was outlined in black on the luminous horizon.
-
-It was one in the morning when we arrived at the first slopes of the
-mountain; but to gain access to them we must venture through the
-difficult paths of a vast copse.
-
-Yes; a copse of dead trees, without leaves, without sap, trees
-petrified by the action of the water and here and there overtopped by
-gigantic pines. It was like a coal-pit still standing, holding by the
-roots to the broken soil, and whose branches, like fine black paper
-cuttings, showed distinctly on the watery ceiling. Picture to yourself
-a forest in the Hartz hanging on to the sides of the mountain, but a
-forest swallowed up. The paths were encumbered with seaweed and fucus,
-between which grovelled a whole world of crustacea. I went along,
-climbing the rocks, striding over extended trunks, breaking the sea
-bind-weed which hung from one tree to the other; and frightening the
-fishes, which flew from branch to branch. Pressing onward, I felt no
-fatigue. I followed my guide, who was never tired. What a spectacle!
-How can I express it? how paint the aspect of those woods and rocks in
-this medium—their under parts dark and wild, the upper coloured with
-red tints, by that light which the reflecting powers of the waters
-doubled? We climbed rocks which fell directly after with gigantic
-bounds and the low growling of an avalanche. To right and left ran
-long, dark galleries, where sight was lost. Here opened vast glades
-which the hand of man seemed to have worked; and I sometimes asked
-myself if some inhabitant of these submarine regions would not suddenly
-appear to me.
-
-But Captain Nemo was still mounting. I could not stay behind. I
-followed boldly. My stick gave me good help. A false step would have
-been dangerous on the narrow passes sloping down to the sides of the
-gulfs; but I walked with firm step, without feeling any giddiness. Now
-I jumped a crevice, the depth of which would have made me hesitate had
-it been among the glaciers on the land; now I ventured on the unsteady
-trunk of a tree thrown across from one abyss to the other, without
-looking under my feet, having only eyes to admire the wild sites of
-this region.
-
-There, monumental rocks, leaning on their regularly-cut bases, seemed
-to defy all laws of equilibrium. From between their stony knees trees
-sprang, like a jet under heavy pressure, and upheld others which upheld
-them. Natural towers, large scarps, cut perpendicularly, like a
-“curtain,” inclined at an angle which the laws of gravitation could
-never have tolerated in terrestrial regions.
-
-Two hours after quitting the _Nautilus_ we had crossed the line of
-trees, and a hundred feet above our heads rose the top of the mountain,
-which cast a shadow on the brilliant irradiation of the opposite slope.
-Some petrified shrubs ran fantastically here and there. Fishes got up
-under our feet like birds in the long grass. The massive rocks were
-rent with impenetrable fractures, deep grottos, and unfathomable holes,
-at the bottom of which formidable creatures might be heard moving. My
-blood curdled when I saw enormous antennae blocking my road, or some
-frightful claw closing with a noise in the shadow of some cavity.
-Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the midst of the darkness.
-They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their holes; giant
-lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers, and moving their claws
-with the clicking sound of pincers; titanic crabs, pointed like a gun
-on its carriage; and frightful-looking poulps, interweaving their
-tentacles like a living nest of serpents.
-
-We had now arrived on the first platform, where other surprises awaited
-me. Before us lay some picturesque ruins, which betrayed the hand of
-man and not that of the Creator. There were vast heaps of stone,
-amongst which might be traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles
-and temples, clothed with a world of blossoming zoophytes, and over
-which, instead of ivy, sea-weed and fucus threw a thick vegetable
-mantle. But what was this portion of the globe which had been swallowed
-by cataclysms? Who had placed those rocks and stones like cromlechs of
-prehistoric times? Where was I? Whither had Captain Nemo’s fancy
-hurried me?
-
-I would fain have asked him; not being able to, I stopped him—I seized
-his arm. But, shaking his head, and pointing to the highest point of
-the mountain, he seemed to say:
-
-“Come, come along; come higher!”
-
-I followed, and in a few minutes I had climbed to the top, which for a
-circle of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock.
-
-I looked down the side we had just climbed. The mountain did not rise
-more than seven or eight hundred feet above the level of the plain; but
-on the opposite side it commanded from twice that height the depths of
-this part of the Atlantic. My eyes ranged far over a large space lit by
-a violent fulguration. In fact, the mountain was a volcano.
-
-At fifty feet above the peak, in the midst of a rain of stones and
-scoriae, a large crater was vomiting forth torrents of lava which fell
-in a cascade of fire into the bosom of the liquid mass. Thus situated,
-this volcano lit the lower plain like an immense torch, even to the
-extreme limits of the horizon. I said that the submarine crater threw
-up lava, but no flames. Flames require the oxygen of the air to feed
-upon and cannot be developed under water; but streams of lava, having
-in themselves the principles of their incandescence, can attain a white
-heat, fight vigorously against the liquid element, and turn it to
-vapour by contact.
-
-Rapid currents bearing all these gases in diffusion and torrents of
-lava slid to the bottom of the mountain like an eruption of Vesuvius on
-another Terra del Greco.
-
-There indeed under my eyes, ruined, destroyed, lay a town—its roofs
-open to the sky, its temples fallen, its arches dislocated, its columns
-lying on the ground, from which one would still recognise the massive
-character of Tuscan architecture. Further on, some remains of a
-gigantic aqueduct; here the high base of an Acropolis, with the
-floating outline of a Parthenon; there traces of a quay, as if an
-ancient port had formerly abutted on the borders of the ocean, and
-disappeared with its merchant vessels and its war-galleys. Farther on
-again, long lines of sunken walls and broad, deserted streets—a perfect
-Pompeii escaped beneath the waters. Such was the sight that Captain
-Nemo brought before my eyes!
-
-Where was I? Where was I? I must know at any cost. I tried to speak,
-but Captain Nemo stopped me by a gesture, and, picking up a piece of
-chalk-stone, advanced to a rock of black basalt, and traced the one
-word:
-
-ATLANTIS
-
-What a light shot through my mind! Atlantis! the Atlantis of Plato,
-that continent denied by Origen and Humbolt, who placed its
-disappearance amongst the legendary tales. I had it there now before my
-eyes, bearing upon it the unexceptionable testimony of its catastrophe.
-The region thus engulfed was beyond Europe, Asia, and Lybia, beyond the
-columns of Hercules, where those powerful people, the Atlantides,
-lived, against whom the first wars of ancient Greeks were waged.
-
-Thus, led by the strangest destiny, I was treading under foot the
-mountains of this continent, touching with my hand those ruins a
-thousand generations old and contemporary with the geological epochs. I
-was walking on the very spot where the contemporaries of the first man
-had walked.
-
-Whilst I was trying to fix in my mind every detail of this grand
-landscape, Captain Nemo remained motionless, as if petrified in mute
-ecstasy, leaning on a mossy stone. Was he dreaming of those generations
-long since disappeared? Was he asking them the secret of human destiny?
-Was it here this strange man came to steep himself in historical
-recollections, and live again this ancient life—he who wanted no modern
-one? What would I not have given to know his thoughts, to share them,
-to understand them! We remained for an hour at this place,
-contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of the lava, which
-was some times wonderfully intense. Rapid tremblings ran along the
-mountain caused by internal bubblings, deep noise, distinctly
-transmitted through the liquid medium were echoed with majestic
-grandeur. At this moment the moon appeared through the mass of waters
-and threw her pale rays on the buried continent. It was but a gleam,
-but what an indescribable effect! The Captain rose, cast one last look
-on the immense plain, and then bade me follow him.
-
-We descended the mountain rapidly, and, the mineral forest once passed,
-I saw the lantern of the _Nautilus_ shining like a star. The Captain
-walked straight to it, and we got on board as the first rays of light
-whitened the surface of the ocean.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES
-
-
-The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late: the fatigues of
-the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o’clock. I
-dressed quickly, and hastened to find the course the _Nautilus_ was
-taking. The instruments showed it to be still toward the south, with a
-speed of twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoms.
-
-The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already
-noticed. There were rays of giant size, five yards long, and endowed
-with great muscular strength, which enabled them to shoot above the
-waves; sharks of many kinds; amongst others, one fifteen feet long,
-with triangular sharp teeth, and whose transparency rendered it almost
-invisible in the water.
-
-Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long, armed at
-the upper jaw with a piercing sword; other bright-coloured creatures,
-known in the time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon, which are
-dangerous to capture on account of the spikes on their back.
-
-About four o’clock, the soil, generally composed of a thick mud mixed
-with petrified wood, changed by degrees, and it became more stony, and
-seemed strewn with conglomerate and pieces of basalt, with a sprinkling
-of lava. I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long
-plains; and accordingly, after a few evolutions of the _Nautilus_, I
-saw the southerly horizon blocked by a high wall which seemed to close
-all exit. Its summit evidently passed the level of the ocean. It must
-be a continent, or at least an island—one of the Canaries, or of the
-Cape Verde Islands. The bearings not being yet taken, perhaps
-designedly, I was ignorant of our exact position. In any case, such a
-wall seemed to me to mark the limits of that Atlantis, of which we had
-in reality passed over only the smallest part.
-
-Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring the beauties
-of sea and sky, but the panels closed. At this moment the _Nautilus_
-arrived at the side of this high, perpendicular wall. What it would do,
-I could not guess. I returned to my room; it no longer moved. I laid
-myself down with the full intention of waking after a few hours’ sleep;
-but it was eight o’clock the next day when I entered the saloon. I
-looked at the manometer. It told me that the _Nautilus_ was floating on
-the surface of the ocean. Besides, I heard steps on the platform. I
-went to the panel. It was open; but, instead of broad daylight, as I
-expected, I was surrounded by profound darkness. Where were we? Was I
-mistaken? Was it still night? No; not a star was shining and night has
-not that utter darkness.
-
-
-[Illustration] The _Nautilus_ was floating near a mountain
-
-
-I knew not what to think, when a voice near me said:
-
-“Is that you, Professor?”
-
-“Ah! Captain,” I answered, “where are we?”
-
-“Underground, sir.”
-
-“Underground!” I exclaimed. “And the _Nautilus_ floating still?”
-
-“It always floats.”
-
-“But I do not understand.”
-
-“Wait a few minutes, our lantern will be lit, and, if you like light
-places, you will be satisfied.”
-
-I stood on the platform and waited. The darkness was so complete that I
-could not even see Captain Nemo; but, looking to the zenith, exactly
-above my head, I seemed to catch an undecided gleam, a kind of twilight
-filling a circular hole. At this instant the lantern was lit, and its
-vividness dispelled the faint light. I closed my dazzled eyes for an
-instant, and then looked again. The _Nautilus_ was stationary, floating
-near a mountain which formed a sort of quay. The lake, then, supporting
-it was a lake imprisoned by a circle of walls, measuring two miles in
-diameter and six in circumference. Its level (the manometer showed)
-could only be the same as the outside level, for there must necessarily
-be a communication between the lake and the sea. The high partitions,
-leaning forward on their base, grew into a vaulted roof bearing the
-shape of an immense funnel turned upside down, the height being about
-five or six hundred yards. At the summit was a circular orifice, by
-which I had caught the slight gleam of light, evidently daylight.
-
-“Where are we?” I asked.
-
-“In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has
-been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth.
-Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the _Nautilus_ penetrated to this
-lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards beneath the
-surface of the ocean. This is its harbour of refuge, a sure,
-commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from all gales. Show me, if
-you can, on the coasts of any of your continents or islands, a road
-which can give such perfect refuge from all storms.”
-
-“Certainly,” I replied, “you are in safety here, Captain Nemo. Who
-could reach you in the heart of a volcano? But did I not see an opening
-at its summit?”
-
-“Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames, and
-which now gives entrance to the life-giving air we breathe.”
-
-“But what is this volcanic mountain?”
-
-“It belongs to one of the numerous islands with which this sea is
-strewn—to vessels a simple sandbank—to us an immense cavern. Chance led
-me to discover it, and chance served me well.”
-
-“But of what use is this refuge, Captain? The _Nautilus_ wants no
-port.”
-
-“No, sir; but it wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal
-to make the electricity—sodium to feed the elements, coal from which to
-get the sodium, and a coal-mine to supply the coal. And exactly on this
-spot the sea covers entire forests embedded during the geological
-periods, now mineralised and transformed into coal; for me they are an
-inexhaustible mine.”
-
-“Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?”
-
-“Exactly so. These mines extend under the waves like the mines of
-Newcastle. Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand,
-my men extract the coal, which I do not even ask from the mines of the
-earth. When I burn this combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the
-smoke, escaping from the crater of the mountain, gives it the
-appearance of a still-active volcano.”
-
-“And we shall see your companions at work?”
-
-“No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue our
-submarine tour of the earth. So I shall content myself with drawing
-from the reserve of sodium I already possess. The time for loading is
-one day only, and we continue our voyage. So, if you wish to go over
-the cavern and make the round of the lagoon, you must take advantage of
-to-day, M. Aronnax.”
-
-I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not
-yet left their cabin. I invited them to follow me without saying where
-we were. They mounted the platform. Conseil, who was astonished at
-nothing, seemed to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake
-under a mountain, after having fallen asleep under the waves. But Ned
-Land thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit.
-After breakfast, about ten o’clock, we went down on to the mountain.
-
-“Here we are, once more on land,” said Conseil.
-
-“I do not call this land,” said the Canadian. “And besides, we are not
-on it, but beneath it.”
-
-Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a
-sandy shore which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet.
-On this soil one might easily make the tour of the lake. But the base
-of the high partitions was stony ground, with volcanic locks and
-enormous pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps. All these detached
-masses, covered with enamel, polished by the action of the
-subterraneous fires, shone resplendent by the light of our electric
-lantern. The mica dust from the shore, rising under our feet, flew like
-a cloud of sparks. The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon arrived at
-long circuitous slopes, or inclined planes, which took us higher by
-degrees; but we were obliged to walk carefully among these
-conglomerates, bound by no cement, the feet slipping on the glassy
-crystal, felspar, and quartz.
-
-The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all
-sides, and I pointed it out to my companions.
-
-“Picture to yourselves,” said I, “what this crater must have been when
-filled with boiling lava, and when the level of the incandescent liquid
-rose to the orifice of the mountain, as though melted on the top of a
-hot plate.”
-
-“I can picture it perfectly,” said Conseil. “But, sir, will you tell me
-why the Great Architect has suspended operations, and how it is that
-the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters of the lake?”
-
-“Most probably, Conseil, because some convulsion beneath the ocean
-produced that very opening which has served as a passage for the
-_Nautilus_. Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed into the interior of
-the mountain. There must have been a terrible struggle between the two
-elements, a struggle which ended in the victory of Neptune. But many
-ages have run out since then, and the submerged volcano is now a
-peaceable grotto.”
-
-“Very well,” replied Ned Land; “I accept the explanation, sir; but, in
-our own interests, I regret that the opening of which you speak was not
-made above the level of the sea.”
-
-“But, friend Ned,” said Conseil, “if the passage had not been under the
-sea, the _Nautilus_ could not have gone through it.”
-
-We continued ascending. The steps became more and more perpendicular
-and narrow. Deep excavations, which we were obliged to cross, cut them
-here and there; sloping masses had to be turned. We slid upon our knees
-and crawled along. But Conseil’s dexterity and the Canadian’s strength
-surmounted all obstacles. At a height of about 31 feet the nature of
-the ground changed without becoming more practicable. To the
-conglomerate and trachyte succeeded black basalt, the first dispread in
-layers full of bubbles, the latter forming regular prisms, placed like
-a colonnade supporting the spring of the immense vault, an admirable
-specimen of natural architecture. Between the blocks of basalt wound
-long streams of lava, long since grown cold, encrusted with bituminous
-rays; and in some places there were spread large carpets of sulphur. A
-more powerful light shone through the upper crater, shedding a vague
-glimmer over these volcanic depressions for ever buried in the bosom of
-this extinguished mountain. But our upward march was soon stopped at a
-height of about two hundred and fifty feet by impassable obstacles.
-There was a complete vaulted arch overhanging us, and our ascent was
-changed to a circular walk. At the last change vegetable life began to
-struggle with the mineral. Some shrubs, and even some trees, grew from
-the fractures of the walls. I recognised some euphorbias, with the
-caustic sugar coming from them; heliotropes, quite incapable of
-justifying their name, sadly drooped their clusters of flowers, both
-their colour and perfume half gone. Here and there some chrysanthemums
-grew timidly at the foot of an aloe with long, sickly-looking leaves.
-But between the streams of lava, I saw some little violets still
-slightly perfumed, and I admit that I smelt them with delight. Perfume
-is the soul of the flower, and sea-flowers have no soul.
-
-We had arrived at the foot of some sturdy dragon-trees, which had
-pushed aside the rocks with their strong roots, when Ned Land
-exclaimed:
-
-“Ah! sir, a hive! a hive!”
-
-“A hive!” I replied, with a gesture of incredulity.
-
-“Yes, a hive,” repeated the Canadian, “and bees humming round it.”
-
-I approached, and was bound to believe my own eyes. There at a hole
-bored in one of the dragon-trees were some thousands of these ingenious
-insects, so common in all the Canaries, and whose produce is so much
-esteemed. Naturally enough, the Canadian wished to gather the honey,
-and I could not well oppose his wish. A quantity of dry leaves, mixed
-with sulphur, he lit with a spark from his flint, and he began to smoke
-out the bees. The humming ceased by degrees, and the hive eventually
-yielded several pounds of the sweetest honey, with which Ned Land
-filled his haversack.
-
-“When I have mixed this honey with the paste of the bread-fruit,” said
-he, “I shall be able to offer you a succulent cake.”
-
-[Transcriber’s Note: ’bread-fruit’ has been substituted for
-’artocarpus’ in this ed.]
-
-
-“’Pon my word,” said Conseil, “it will be gingerbread.”
-
-“Never mind the gingerbread,” said I; “let us continue our interesting
-walk.”
-
-At every turn of the path we were following, the lake appeared in all
-its length and breadth. The lantern lit up the whole of its peaceable
-surface, which knew neither ripple nor wave. The _Nautilus_ remained
-perfectly immovable. On the platform, and on the mountain, the ship’s
-crew were working like black shadows clearly carved against the
-luminous atmosphere. We were now going round the highest crest of the
-first layers of rock which upheld the roof. I then saw that bees were
-not the only representatives of the animal kingdom in the interior of
-this volcano. Birds of prey hovered here and there in the shadows, or
-fled from their nests on the top of the rocks. There were sparrow
-hawks, with white breasts, and kestrels, and down the slopes scampered,
-with their long legs, several fine fat bustards. I leave anyone to
-imagine the covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this savoury
-game, and whether he did not regret having no gun. But he did his best
-to replace the lead by stones, and, after several fruitless attempts,
-he succeeded in wounding a magnificent bird. To say that he risked his
-life twenty times before reaching it is but the truth; but he managed
-so well that the creature joined the honey-cakes in his bag. We were
-now obliged to descend toward the shore, the crest becoming
-impracticable. Above us the crater seemed to gape like the mouth of a
-well. From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
-dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit of
-the mountain, their misty remnants—certain proof that they were only
-moderately high, for the volcano did not rise more than eight hundred
-feet above the level of the ocean. Half an hour after the Canadian’s
-last exploit we had regained the inner shore. Here the flora was
-represented by large carpets of marine crystal, a little umbelliferous
-plant very good to pickle, which also bears the name of pierce-stone
-and sea-fennel. Conseil gathered some bundles of it. As to the fauna,
-it might be counted by thousands of crustacea of all sorts, lobsters,
-crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps, and a large number of shells,
-rockfish, and limpets. Three-quarters of an hour later we had finished
-our circuitous walk and were on board. The crew had just finished
-loading the sodium, and the _Nautilus_ could have left that instant.
-But Captain Nemo gave no order. Did he wish to wait until night, and
-leave the submarine passage secretly? Perhaps so. Whatever it might be,
-the next day, the _Nautilus_, having left its port, steered clear of
-all land at a few yards beneath the waves of the Atlantic.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-THE SARGASSO SEA
-
-
-That day the _Nautilus_ crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean.
-No one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm water
-known by the name of the Gulf Stream. After leaving the Gulf of
-Florida, we went in the direction of Spitzbergen. But before entering
-the Gulf of Mexico, about 45° of N. lat., this current divides into two
-arms, the principal one going towards the coast of Ireland and Norway,
-whilst the second bends to the south about the height of the Azores;
-then, touching the African shore, and describing a lengthened oval,
-returns to the Antilles. This second arm—it is rather a collar than an
-arm—surrounds with its circles of warm water that portion of the cold,
-quiet, immovable ocean called the Sargasso Sea, a perfect lake in the
-open Atlantic: it takes no less than three years for the great current
-to pass round it. Such was the region the _Nautilus_ was now visiting,
-a perfect meadow, a close carpet of seaweed, fucus, and tropical
-berries, so thick and so compact that the stem of a vessel could hardly
-tear its way through it. And Captain Nemo, not wishing to entangle his
-screw in this herbaceous mass, kept some yards beneath the surface of
-the waves. The name Sargasso comes from the Spanish word “sargazzo”
-which signifies kelp. This kelp, or berry-plant, is the principal
-formation of this immense bank. And this is the reason why these plants
-unite in the peaceful basin of the Atlantic. The only explanation which
-can be given, he says, seems to me to result from the experience known
-to all the world. Place in a vase some fragments of cork or other
-floating body, and give to the water in the vase a circular movement,
-the scattered fragments will unite in a group in the centre of the
-liquid surface, that is to say, in the part least agitated. In the
-phenomenon we are considering, the Atlantic is the vase, the Gulf
-Stream the circular current, and the Sargasso Sea the central point at
-which the floating bodies unite.
-
-I share Maury’s opinion, and I was able to study the phenomenon in the
-very midst, where vessels rarely penetrate. Above us floated products
-of all kinds, heaped up among these brownish plants; trunks of trees
-torn from the Andes or the Rocky Mountains, and floated by the Amazon
-or the Mississippi; numerous wrecks, remains of keels, or ships’
-bottoms, side-planks stove in, and so weighted with shells and
-barnacles that they could not again rise to the surface. And time will
-one day justify Maury’s other opinion, that these substances thus
-accumulated for ages will become petrified by the action of the water
-and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines—a precious reserve prepared
-by far-seeing Nature for the moment when men shall have exhausted the
-mines of continents.
-
-In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed, I
-noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long
-tentacles trailing after them, and medusæ, green, red, and blue.
-
-All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea,
-where such fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant
-nourishment. The next, the ocean had returned to its accustomed aspect.
-From this time for nineteen days, from the 23rd of February to the 12th
-of March, the _Nautilus_ kept in the middle of the Atlantic, carrying
-us at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four hours.
-Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine programme,
-and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, to return to
-the Australian seas of the Pacific. Ned Land had cause for fear. In
-these large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt to leave the
-boat. Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo’s will. Our only
-course was to submit; but what we could neither gain by force nor
-cunning, I liked to think might be obtained by persuasion. This voyage
-ended, would he not consent to restore our liberty, under an oath never
-to reveal his existence?—an oath of honour which we should have
-religiously kept. But we must consider that delicate question with the
-Captain. But was I free to claim this liberty? Had he not himself said
-from the beginning, in the firmest manner, that the secret of his life
-exacted from him our lasting imprisonment on board the _Nautilus?_ And
-would not my four months’ silence appear to him a tacit acceptance of
-our situation? And would not a return to the subject result in raising
-suspicions which might be hurtful to our projects, if at some future
-time a favourable opportunity offered to return to them?
-
-During the nineteen days mentioned above, no incident of any kind
-happened to signalise our voyage. I saw little of the Captain; he was
-at work. In the library I often found his books left open, especially
-those on natural history. My work on submarine depths, conned over by
-him, was covered with marginal notes, often contradicting my theories
-and systems; but the Captain contented himself with thus purging my
-work; it was very rare for him to discuss it with me. Sometimes I heard
-the melancholy tones of his organ; but only at night, in the midst of
-the deepest obscurity, when the _Nautilus_ slept upon the deserted
-ocean. During this part of our voyage we sailed whole days on the
-surface of the waves. The sea seemed abandoned. A few sailing-vessels,
-on the road to India, were making for the Cape of Good Hope. One day we
-were followed by the boats of a whaler, who, no doubt, took us for some
-enormous whale of great price; but Captain Nemo did not wish the worthy
-fellows to lose their time and trouble, so ended the chase by plunging
-under the water. Our navigation continued until the 13th of March; that
-day the _Nautilus_ was employed in taking soundings, which greatly
-interested me. We had then made about 13,000 leagues since our
-departure from the high seas of the Pacific. The bearings gave us 45°
-37′ S. lat., and 37° 53′ W. long. It was the same water in which
-Captain Denham of the Herald sounded 7,000 fathoms without finding the
-bottom. There, too, Lieutenant Parker, of the American frigate
-Congress, could not touch the bottom with 15,140 fathoms. Captain Nemo
-intended seeking the bottom of the ocean by a diagonal sufficiently
-lengthened by means of lateral planes placed at an angle of 45° with
-the water-line of the _Nautilus_. Then the screw set to work at its
-maximum speed, its four blades beating the waves with in describable
-force. Under this powerful pressure, the hull of the _Nautilus_
-quivered like a sonorous chord and sank regularly under the water.
-
-At 7,000 fathoms I saw some blackish tops rising from the midst of the
-waters; but these summits might belong to high mountains like the
-Himalayas or Mont Blanc, even higher; and the depth of the abyss
-remained incalculable. The _Nautilus_ descended still lower, in spite
-of the great pressure. I felt the steel plates tremble at the
-fastenings of the bolts; its bars bent, its partitions groaned; the
-windows of the saloon seemed to curve under the pressure of the waters.
-And this firm structure would doubtless have yielded, if, as its
-Captain had said, it had not been capable of resistance like a solid
-block. We had attained a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues), and the
-sides of the _Nautilus_ then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, that
-is to say, 3,200 lbs. to each square two-fifths of an inch of its
-surface.
-
-“What a situation to be in!” I exclaimed. “To overrun these deep
-regions where man has never trod! Look, Captain, look at these
-magnificent rocks, these uninhabited grottoes, these lowest receptacles
-of the globe, where life is no longer possible! What unknown sights are
-here! Why should we be unable to preserve a remembrance of them?”
-
-“Would you like to carry away more than the remembrance?” said Captain
-Nemo.
-
-“What do you mean by those words?”
-
-“I mean to say that nothing is easier than to make a photographic view
-of this submarine region.”
-
-I had not time to express my surprise at this new proposition, when, at
-Captain Nemo’s call, an objective was brought into the saloon. Through
-the widely-opened panel, the liquid mass was bright with electricity,
-which was distributed with such uniformity that not a shadow, not a
-gradation, was to be seen in our manufactured light. The _Nautilus_
-remained motionless, the force of its screw subdued by the inclination
-of its planes: the instrument was propped on the bottom of the oceanic
-site, and in a few seconds we had obtained a perfect negative.
-
-But, the operation being over, Captain Nemo said, “Let us go up; we
-must not abuse our position, nor expose the _Nautilus_ too long to such
-great pressure.”
-
-“Go up again!” I exclaimed.
-
-“Hold well on.”
-
-I had not time to understand why the Captain cautioned me thus, when I
-was thrown forward on to the carpet. At a signal from the Captain, its
-screw was shipped, and its blades raised vertically; the _Nautilus_
-shot into the air like a balloon, rising with stunning rapidity, and
-cutting the mass of waters with a sonorous agitation. Nothing was
-visible; and in four minutes it had shot through the four leagues which
-separated it from the ocean, and, after emerging like a flying-fish,
-fell, making the waves rebound to an enormous height.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-CACHALOTS AND WHALES
-
-
-During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March, the _Nautilus_
-returned to its southerly course. I fancied that, when on a level with
-Cape Horn, he would turn the helm westward, in order to beat the
-Pacific seas, and so complete the tour of the world. He did nothing of
-the kind, but continued on his way to the southern regions. Where was
-he going to? To the pole? It was madness! I began to think that the
-Captain’s temerity justified Ned Land’s fears. For some time past the
-Canadian had not spoken to me of his projects of flight; he was less
-communicative, almost silent. I could see that this lengthened
-imprisonment was weighing upon him, and I felt that rage was burning
-within him. When he met the Captain, his eyes lit up with suppressed
-anger; and I feared that his natural violence would lead him into some
-extreme. That day, the 14th of March, Conseil and he came to me in my
-room. I inquired the cause of their visit.
-
-“A simple question to ask you, sir,” replied the Canadian.
-
-“Speak, Ned.”
-
-“How many men are there on board the _Nautilus_, do you think?”
-
-“I cannot tell, my friend.”
-
-“I should say that its working does not require a large crew.”
-
-“Certainly, under existing conditions, ten men, at the most, ought to
-be enough.”
-
-“Well, why should there be any more?”
-
-“Why?” I replied, looking fixedly at Ned Land, whose meaning was easy
-to guess. “Because,” I added, “if my surmises are correct, and if I
-have well understood the Captain’s existence, the _Nautilus_ is not
-only a vessel: it is also a place of refuge for those who, like its
-commander, have broken every tie upon earth.”
-
-“Perhaps so,” said Conseil; “but, in any case, the _Nautilus_ can only
-contain a certain number of men. Could not you, sir, estimate their
-maximum?”
-
-“How, Conseil?”
-
-“By calculation; given the size of the vessel, which you know, sir, and
-consequently the quantity of air it contains, knowing also how much
-each man expends at a breath, and comparing these results with the fact
-that the _Nautilus_ is obliged to go to the surface every twenty-four
-hours.”
-
-Conseil had not finished the sentence before I saw what he was driving
-at.
-
-“I understand,” said I; “but that calculation, though simple enough,
-can give but a very uncertain result.”
-
-“Never mind,” said Ned Land urgently.
-
-“Here it is, then,” said I. “In one hour each man consumes the oxygen
-contained in twenty gallons of air; and in twenty-four, that contained
-in 480 gallons. We must, therefore find how many times 480 gallons of
-air the _Nautilus_ contains.”
-
-“Just so,” said Conseil.
-
-“Or,” I continued, “the size of the _Nautilus_ being 1,500 tons; and
-one ton holding 200 gallons, it contains 300,000 gallons of air, which,
-divided by 480, gives a quotient of 625. Which means to say, strictly
-speaking, that the air contained in the _Nautilus_ would suffice for
-625 men for twenty-four hours.”
-
-“Six hundred and twenty-five!” repeated Ned.
-
-“But remember that all of us, passengers, sailors, and officers
-included, would not form a tenth part of that number.”
-
-“Still too many for three men,” murmured Conseil.
-
-The Canadian shook his head, passed his hand across his forehead, and
-left the room without answering.
-
-“Will you allow me to make one observation, sir?” said Conseil. “Poor
-Ned is longing for everything that he can not have. His past life is
-always present to him; everything that we are forbidden he regrets. His
-head is full of old recollections. And we must understand him. What has
-he to do here? Nothing; he is not learned like you, sir; and has not
-the same taste for the beauties of the sea that we have. He would risk
-everything to be able to go once more into a tavern in his own
-country.”
-
-Certainly the monotony on board must seem intolerable to the Canadian,
-accustomed as he was to a life of liberty and activity. Events were
-rare which could rouse him to any show of spirit; but that day an event
-did happen which recalled the bright days of the harpooner. About
-eleven in the morning, being on the surface of the ocean, the
-_Nautilus_ fell in with a troop of whales—an encounter which did not
-astonish me, knowing that these creatures, hunted to death, had taken
-refuge in high latitudes.
-
-We were seated on the platform, with a quiet sea. The month of October
-in those latitudes gave us some lovely autumnal days. It was the
-Canadian—he could not be mistaken—who signalled a whale on the eastern
-horizon. Looking attentively, one might see its black back rise and
-fall with the waves five miles from the _Nautilus_.
-
-“Ah!” exclaimed Ned Land, “if I was on board a whaler, now such a
-meeting would give me pleasure. It is one of large size. See with what
-strength its blow-holes throw up columns of air an steam! Confound it,
-why am I bound to these steel plates?”
-
-“What, Ned,” said I, “you have not forgotten your old ideas of
-fishing?”
-
-“Can a whale-fisher ever forget his old trade, sir? Can he ever tire of
-the emotions caused by such a chase?”
-
-“You have never fished in these seas, Ned?”
-
-“Never, sir; in the northern only, and as much in Behring as in Davis
-Straits.”
-
-“Then the southern whale is still unknown to you. It is the Greenland
-whale you have hunted up to this time, and that would not risk passing
-through the warm waters of the equator. Whales are localised, according
-to their kinds, in certain seas which they never leave. And if one of
-these creatures went from Behring to Davis Straits, it must be simply
-because there is a passage from one sea to the other, either on the
-American or the Asiatic side.”
-
-“In that case, as I have never fished in these seas, I do not know the
-kind of whale frequenting them!”
-
-“I have told you, Ned.”
-
-“A greater reason for making their acquaintance,” said Conseil.
-
-“Look! look!” exclaimed the Canadian, “they approach: they aggravate
-me; they know that I cannot get at them!”
-
-Ned stamped his feet. His hand trembled, as he grasped an imaginary
-harpoon.
-
-“Are these cetaceans as large as those of the northern seas?” asked he.
-
-“Very nearly, Ned.”
-
-“Because I have seen large whales, sir, whales measuring a hundred
-feet. I have even been told that those of Hullamoch and Umgallick, of
-the Aleutian Islands, are sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long.”
-
-“That seems to me exaggeration. These creatures are only
-balaeaopterons, provided with dorsal fins; and, like the cachalots, are
-generally much smaller than the Greenland whale.”
-
-“Ah!” exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes had never left the ocean,
-“they are coming nearer; they are in the same water as the _Nautilus_.”
-
-Then, returning to the conversation, he said:
-
-“You spoke of the cachalot as a small creature. I have heard of
-gigantic ones. They are intelligent cetacea. It is said of some that
-they cover themselves with seaweed and fucus, and then are taken for
-islands. People encamp upon them, and settle there; lights a fire——”
-
-“And build houses,” said Conseil.
-
-“Yes, joker,” said Ned Land. “And one fine day the creature plunges,
-carrying with it all the inhabitants to the bottom of the sea.”
-
-“Something like the travels of Sinbad the Sailor,” I replied, laughing.
-
-“Ah!” suddenly exclaimed Ned Land, “it is not one whale; there are
-ten—there are twenty—it is a whole troop! And I not able to do
-anything! hands and feet tied!”
-
-“But, friend Ned,” said Conseil, “why do you not ask Captain Nemo’s
-permission to chase them?”
-
-Conseil had not finished his sentence when Ned Land had lowered himself
-through the panel to seek the Captain. A few minutes afterwards the two
-appeared together on the platform.
-
-Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea playing on the waters about a
-mile from the _Nautilus_.
-
-“They are southern whales,” said he; “there goes the fortune of a whole
-fleet of whalers.”
-
-“Well, sir,” asked the Canadian, “can I not chase them, if only to
-remind me of my old trade of harpooner?”
-
-“And to what purpose?” replied Captain Nemo; “only to destroy! We have
-nothing to do with the whale-oil on board.”
-
-“But, sir,” continued the Canadian, “in the Red Sea you allowed us to
-follow the dugong.”
-
-“Then it was to procure fresh meat for my crew. Here it would be
-killing for killing’s sake. I know that is a privilege reserved for
-man, but I do not approve of such murderous pastime. In destroying the
-southern whale (like the Greenland whale, an inoffensive creature),
-your traders do a culpable action, Master Land. They have already
-depopulated the whole of Baffin’s Bay, and are annihilating a class of
-useful animals. Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone. They have plenty
-of natural enemies—cachalots, swordfish, and sawfish—without you
-troubling them.”
-
-The Captain was right. The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these
-fishermen will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale in the
-ocean. Ned Land whistled “Yankee-doodle” between his teeth, thrust his
-hands into his pockets, and turned his back upon us. But Captain Nemo
-watched the troop of cetacea, and, addressing me, said:
-
-“I was right in saying that whales had natural enemies enough, without
-counting man. These will have plenty to do before long. Do you see, M.
-Aronnax, about eight miles to leeward, those blackish moving points?”
-
-“Yes, Captain,” I replied.
-
-“Those are cachalots—terrible animals, which I have met in troops of
-two or three hundred. As to those, they are cruel, mischievous
-creatures; they would be right in exterminating them.”
-
-The Canadian turned quickly at the last words.
-
-“Well, Captain,” said he, “it is still time, in the interest of the
-whales.”
-
-“It is useless to expose one’s self, Professor. The _Nautilus_ will
-disperse them. It is armed with a steel spur as good as Master Land’s
-harpoon, I imagine.”
-
-The Canadian did not put himself out enough to shrug his shoulders.
-Attack cetacea with blows of a spur! Who had ever heard of such a
-thing?
-
-“Wait, M. Aronnax,” said Captain Nemo. “We will show you something you
-have never yet seen. We have no pity for these ferocious creatures.
-They are nothing but mouth and teeth.”
-
-Mouth and teeth! No one could better describe the macrocephalous
-cachalot, which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long. Its
-enormous head occupies one-third of its entire body. Better armed than
-the whale, whose upper jaw is furnished only with whalebone, it is
-supplied with twenty-five large tusks, about eight inches long,
-cylindrical and conical at the top, each weighing two pounds. It is in
-the upper part of this enormous head, in great cavities divided by
-cartilages, that is to be found from six to eight hundred pounds of
-that precious oil called spermaceti. The cachalot is a disagreeable
-creature, more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol’s description. It
-is badly formed, the whole of its left side being (if we may say it), a
-“failure,” and being only able to see with its right eye. But the
-formidable troop was nearing us. They had seen the whales and were
-preparing to attack them. One could judge beforehand that the cachalots
-would be victorious, not only because they were better built for attack
-than their inoffensive adversaries, but also because they could remain
-longer under water without coming to the surface. There was only just
-time to go to the help of the whales. The _Nautilus_ went under water.
-Conseil, Ned Land, and I took our places before the window in the
-saloon, and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage to work his
-apparatus as an engine of destruction. Soon I felt the beatings of the
-screw quicken, and our speed increased. The battle between the
-cachalots and the whales had already begun when the _Nautilus_ arrived.
-They did not at first show any fear at the sight of this new monster
-joining in the conflict. But they soon had to guard against its blows.
-What a battle! The _Nautilus_ was nothing but a formidable harpoon,
-brandished by the hand of its Captain. It hurled itself against the
-fleshy mass, passing through from one part to the other, leaving behind
-it two quivering halves of the animal. It could not feel the formidable
-blows from their tails upon its sides, nor the shock which it produced
-itself, much more. One cachalot killed, it ran at the next, tacked on
-the spot that it might not miss its prey, going forwards and backwards,
-answering to its helm, plunging when the cetacean dived into the deep
-waters, coming up with it when it returned to the surface, striking it
-front or sideways, cutting or tearing in all directions and at any
-pace, piercing it with its terrible spur. What carnage! What a noise on
-the surface of the waves! What sharp hissing, and what snorting
-peculiar to these enraged animals! In the midst of these waters,
-generally so peaceful, their tails made perfect billows. For one hour
-this wholesale massacre continued, from which the cachalots could not
-escape. Several times ten or twelve united tried to crush the
-_Nautilus_ by their weight. From the window we could see their enormous
-mouths, studded with tusks, and their formidable eyes. Ned Land could
-not contain himself; he threatened and swore at them. We could feel
-them clinging to our vessel like dogs worrying a wild boar in a copse.
-But the _Nautilus_, working its screw, carried them here and there, or
-to the upper levels of the ocean, without caring for their enormous
-weight, nor the powerful strain on the vessel. At length the mass of
-cachalots broke up, the waves became quiet, and I felt that we were
-rising to the surface. The panel opened, and we hurried on to the
-platform. The sea was covered with mutilated bodies. A formidable
-explosion could not have divided and torn this fleshy mass with more
-violence. We were floating amid gigantic bodies, bluish on the back and
-white underneath, covered with enormous protuberances. Some terrified
-cachalots were flying towards the horizon. The waves were dyed red for
-several miles, and the _Nautilus_ floated in a sea of blood: Captain
-Nemo joined us.
-
-“Well, Master Land?” said he.
-
-“Well, sir,” replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had somewhat
-calmed; “it is a terrible spectacle, certainly. But I am not a butcher.
-I am a hunter, and I call this a butchery.”
-
-“It is a massacre of mischievous creatures,” replied the Captain; “and
-the _Nautilus_ is not a butcher’s knife.”
-
-“I like my harpoon better,” said the Canadian.
-
-“Every one to his own,” answered the Captain, looking fixedly at Ned
-Land.
-
-I feared he would commit some act of violence, which would end in sad
-consequences. But his anger was turned by the sight of a whale which
-the _Nautilus_ had just come up with. The creature had not quite
-escaped from the cachalot’s teeth. I recognised the southern whale by
-its flat head, which is entirely black. Anatomically, it is
-distinguished from the white whale and the North Cape whale by the
-seven cervical vertebrae, and it has two more ribs than its congeners.
-The unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side, riddled with holes from
-the bites, and quite dead. From its mutilated fin still hung a young
-whale which it could not save from the massacre. Its open mouth let the
-water flow in and out, murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore.
-Captain Nemo steered close to the corpse of the creature. Two of his
-men mounted its side, and I saw, not without surprise, that they were
-drawing from its breasts all the milk which they contained, that is to
-say, about two or three tons. The Captain offered me a cup of the milk,
-which was still warm. I could not help showing my repugnance to the
-drink; but he assured me that it was excellent, and not to be
-distinguished from cow’s milk. I tasted it, and was of his opinion. It
-was a useful reserve to us, for in the shape of salt butter or cheese
-it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food. From that
-day I noticed with uneasiness that Ned Land’s ill-will towards Captain
-Nemo increased, and I resolved to watch the Canadian’s gestures
-closely.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-THE ICEBERG
-
-
-The _Nautilus_ was steadily pursuing its southerly course, following
-the fiftieth meridian with considerable speed. Did he wish to reach the
-pole? I did not think so, for every attempt to reach that point had
-hitherto failed. Again, the season was far advanced, for in the
-Antarctic regions the 13th of March corresponds with the 13th of
-September of northern regions, which begin at the equinoctial season.
-On the 14th of March I saw floating ice in latitude 55°, merely pale
-bits of debris from twenty to twenty-five feet long, forming banks over
-which the sea curled. The _Nautilus_ remained on the surface of the
-ocean. Ned Land, who had fished in the Arctic Seas, was familiar with
-its icebergs; but Conseil and I admired them for the first time. In the
-atmosphere towards the southern horizon stretched a white dazzling
-band. English whalers have given it the name of “ice blink.” However
-thick the clouds may be, it is always visible, and announces the
-presence of an ice pack or bank. Accordingly, larger blocks soon
-appeared, whose brilliancy changed with the caprices of the fog. Some
-of these masses showed green veins, as if long undulating lines had
-been traced with sulphate of copper; others resembled enormous
-amethysts with the light shining through them. Some reflected the light
-of day upon a thousand crystal facets. Others shaded with vivid
-calcareous reflections resembled a perfect town of marble. The more we
-neared the south the more these floating islands increased both in
-number and importance.
-
-At 60° lat. every pass had disappeared. But, seeking carefully, Captain
-Nemo soon found a narrow opening, through which he boldly slipped,
-knowing, however, that it would close behind him. Thus, guided by this
-clever hand, the _Nautilus_ passed through all the ice with a precision
-which quite charmed Conseil; icebergs or mountains, ice-fields or
-smooth plains, seeming to have no limits, drift-ice or floating
-ice-packs, plains broken up, called palchs when they are circular, and
-streams when they are made up of long strips. The temperature was very
-low; the thermometer exposed to the air marked 2 deg. or 3° below zero,
-but we were warmly clad with fur, at the expense of the sea-bear and
-seal. The interior of the _Nautilus_, warmed regularly by its electric
-apparatus, defied the most intense cold. Besides, it would only have
-been necessary to go some yards beneath the waves to find a more
-bearable temperature. Two months earlier we should have had perpetual
-daylight in these latitudes; but already we had had three or four hours
-of night, and by and by there would be six months of darkness in these
-circumpolar regions. On the 15th of March we were in the latitude of
-New Shetland and South Orkney. The Captain told me that formerly
-numerous tribes of seals inhabited them; but that English and American
-whalers, in their rage for destruction, massacred both old and young;
-thus, where there was once life and animation, they had left silence
-and death.
-
-About eight o’clock on the morning of the 16th of March the _Nautilus_,
-following the fifty-fifth meridian, cut the Antarctic polar circle. Ice
-surrounded us on all sides, and closed the horizon. But Captain Nemo
-went from one opening to another, still going higher. I cannot express
-my astonishment at the beauties of these new regions. The ice took most
-surprising forms. Here the grouping formed an oriental town, with
-innumerable mosques and minarets; there a fallen city thrown to the
-earth, as it were, by some convulsion of nature. The whole aspect was
-constantly changed by the oblique rays of the sun, or lost in the
-greyish fog amidst hurricanes of snow. Detonations and falls were heard
-on all sides, great overthrows of icebergs, which altered the whole
-landscape like a diorama. Often seeing no exit, I thought we were
-definitely prisoners; but, instinct guiding him at the slightest
-indication, Captain Nemo would discover a new pass. He was never
-mistaken when he saw the thin threads of bluish water trickling along
-the ice-fields; and I had no doubt that he had already ventured into
-the midst of these Antarctic seas before. On the 16th of March,
-however, the ice-fields absolutely blocked our road. It was not the
-iceberg itself, as yet, but vast fields cemented by the cold. But this
-obstacle could not stop Captain Nemo: he hurled himself against it with
-frightful violence. The _Nautilus_ entered the brittle mass like a
-wedge, and split it with frightful crackings. It was the battering ram
-of the ancients hurled by infinite strength. The ice, thrown high in
-the air, fell like hail around us. By its own power of impulsion our
-apparatus made a canal for itself; some times carried away by its own
-impetus, it lodged on the ice-field, crushing it with its weight, and
-sometimes buried beneath it, dividing it by a simple pitching movement,
-producing large rents in it. Violent gales assailed us at this time,
-accompanied by thick fogs, through which, from one end of the platform
-to the other, we could see nothing. The wind blew sharply from all
-parts of the compass, and the snow lay in such hard heaps that we had
-to break it with blows of a pickaxe. The temperature was always at 5
-deg. below zero; every outward part of the _Nautilus_ was covered with
-ice. A rigged vessel would have been entangled in the blocked up
-gorges. A vessel without sails, with electricity for its motive power,
-and wanting no coal, could alone brave such high latitudes. At length,
-on the 18th of March, after many useless assaults, the _Nautilus_ was
-positively blocked. It was no longer either streams, packs, or
-ice-fields, but an interminable and immovable barrier, formed by
-mountains soldered together.
-
-“An iceberg!” said the Canadian to me.
-
-I knew that to Ned Land, as well as to all other navigators who had
-preceded us, this was an inevitable obstacle. The sun appearing for an
-instant at noon, Captain Nemo took an observation as near as possible,
-which gave our situation at 51° 30′ long. and 67° 39′ of S. lat. We had
-advanced one degree more in this Antarctic region. Of the liquid
-surface of the sea there was no longer a glimpse. Under the spur of the
-_Nautilus_ lay stretched a vast plain, entangled with confused blocks.
-Here and there sharp points and slender needles rising to a height of
-200 feet; further on a steep shore, hewn as it were with an axe and
-clothed with greyish tints; huge mirrors, reflecting a few rays of
-sunshine, half drowned in the fog. And over this desolate face of
-nature a stern silence reigned, scarcely broken by the flapping of the
-wings of petrels and puffins. Everything was frozen—even the noise. The
-_Nautilus_ was then obliged to stop in its adventurous course amid
-these fields of ice. In spite of our efforts, in spite of the powerful
-means employed to break up the ice, the _Nautilus_ remained immovable.
-Generally, when we can proceed no further, we have return still open to
-us; but here return was as impossible as advance, for every pass had
-closed behind us; and for the few moments when we were stationary, we
-were likely to be entirely blocked, which did indeed happen about two
-o’clock in the afternoon, the fresh ice forming around its sides with
-astonishing rapidity. I was obliged to admit that Captain Nemo was more
-than imprudent. I was on the platform at that moment. The Captain had
-been observing our situation for some time past, when he said to me:
-
-“Well, sir, what do you think of this?”
-
-“I think that we are caught, Captain.”
-
-
-[Illustration] The _Nautilus_ was blocked up
-
-
-“So, M. Aronnax, you really think that the _Nautilus_ cannot disengage
-itself?”
-
-“With difficulty, Captain; for the season is already too far advanced
-for you to reckon on the breaking of the ice.”
-
-“Ah! sir,” said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, “you will always be
-the same. You see nothing but difficulties and obstacles. I affirm that
-not only can the _Nautilus_ disengage itself, but also that it can go
-further still.”
-
-“Further to the South?” I asked, looking at the Captain.
-
-“Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole.”
-
-“To the pole!” I exclaimed, unable to repress a gesture of incredulity.
-
-“Yes,” replied the Captain, coldly, “to the Antarctic pole—to that
-unknown point from whence springs every meridian of the globe. You know
-whether I can do as I please with the _Nautilus!_”
-
-Yes, I knew that. I knew that this man was bold, even to rashness. But
-to conquer those obstacles which bristled round the South Pole,
-rendering it more inaccessible than the North, which had not yet been
-reached by the boldest navigators—was it not a mad enterprise, one
-which only a maniac would have conceived? It then came into my head to
-ask Captain Nemo if he had ever discovered that pole which had never
-yet been trodden by a human creature?
-
-“No, sir,” he replied; “but we will discover it together. Where others
-have failed, I will not fail. I have never yet led my _Nautilus_ so far
-into southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall go further yet.”
-
-“I can well believe you, Captain,” said I, in a slightly ironical tone.
-“I believe you! Let us go ahead! There are no obstacles for us! Let us
-smash this iceberg! Let us blow it up; and, if it resists, let us give
-the _Nautilus_ wings to fly over it!”
-
-“Over it, sir!” said Captain Nemo, quietly; “no, not over it, but under
-it!”
-
-“Under it!” I exclaimed, a sudden idea of the Captain’s projects
-flashing upon my mind. I understood; the wonderful qualities of the
-_Nautilus_ were going to serve us in this superhuman enterprise.
-
-“I see we are beginning to understand one another, sir,” said the
-Captain, half smiling. “You begin to see the possibility—I should say
-the success—of this attempt. That which is impossible for an ordinary
-vessel is easy to the _Nautilus_. If a continent lies before the pole,
-it must stop before the continent; but if, on the contrary, the pole is
-washed by open sea, it will go even to the pole.”
-
-“Certainly,” said I, carried away by the Captain’s reasoning; “if the
-surface of the sea is solidified by the ice, the lower depths are free
-by the Providential law which has placed the maximum of density of the
-waters of the ocean one degree higher than freezing-point; and, if I am
-not mistaken, the portion of this iceberg which is above the water is
-as one to four to that which is below.”
-
-“Very nearly, sir; for one foot of iceberg above the sea there are
-three below it. If these ice mountains are not more than 300 feet above
-the surface, they are not more than 900 beneath. And what are 900 feet
-to the _Nautilus?_”
-
-“Nothing, sir.”
-
-“It could even seek at greater depths that uniform temperature of
-sea-water, and there brave with impunity the thirty or forty degrees of
-surface cold.”
-
-“Just so, sir—just so,” I replied, getting animated.
-
-“The only difficulty,” continued Captain Nemo, “is that of remaining
-several days without renewing our provision of air.”
-
-“Is that all? The _Nautilus_ has vast reservoirs; we can fill them, and
-they will supply us with all the oxygen we want.”
-
-“Well thought of, M. Aronnax,” replied the Captain, smiling. “But, not
-wishing you to accuse me of rashness, I will first give you all my
-objections.”
-
-“Have you any more to make?”
-
-“Only one. It is possible, if the sea exists at the South Pole, that it
-may be covered; and, consequently, we shall be unable to come to the
-surface.”
-
-“Good, sir! but do you forget that the _Nautilus_ is armed with a
-powerful spur, and could we not send it diagonally against these fields
-of ice, which would open at the shocks.”
-
-“Ah! sir, you are full of ideas to-day.”
-
-“Besides, Captain,” I added, enthusiastically, “why should we not find
-the sea open at the South Pole as well as at the North? The frozen
-poles of the earth do not coincide, either in the southern or in the
-northern regions; and, until it is proved to the contrary, we may
-suppose either a continent or an ocean free from ice at these two
-points of the globe.”
-
-“I think so too, M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo. “I only wish you to
-observe that, after having made so many objections to my project, you
-are now crushing me with arguments in its favour!”
-
-The preparations for this audacious attempt now began. The powerful
-pumps of the _Nautilus_ were working air into the reservoirs and
-storing it at high pressure. About four o’clock, Captain Nemo announced
-the closing of the panels on the platform. I threw one last look at the
-massive iceberg which we were going to cross. The weather was clear,
-the atmosphere pure enough, the cold very great, being 12° below zero;
-but, the wind having gone down, this temperature was not so unbearable.
-About ten men mounted the sides of the _Nautilus_, armed with pickaxes
-to break the ice around the vessel, which was soon free. The operation
-was quickly performed, for the fresh ice was still very thin. We all
-went below. The usual reservoirs were filled with the newly-liberated
-water, and the _Nautilus_ soon descended. I had taken my place with
-Conseil in the saloon; through the open window we could see the lower
-beds of the Southern Ocean. The thermometer went up, the needle of the
-compass deviated on the dial. At about 900 feet, as Captain Nemo had
-foreseen, we were floating beneath the undulating bottom of the
-iceberg. But the _Nautilus_ went lower still—it went to the depth of
-four hundred fathoms. The temperature of the water at the surface
-showed twelve degrees, it was now only ten; we had gained two. I need
-not say the temperature of the _Nautilus_ was raised by its heating
-apparatus to a much higher degree; every manœuvre was accomplished with
-wonderful precision.
-
-“We shall pass it, if you please, sir,” said Conseil.
-
-“I believe we shall,” I said, in a tone of firm conviction.
-
-In this open sea, the _Nautilus_ had taken its course direct to the
-pole, without leaving the fifty-second meridian. From 67° 30′ to 90
-deg., twenty-two degrees and a half of latitude remained to travel;
-that is, about five hundred leagues. The _Nautilus_ kept up a mean
-speed of twenty-six miles an hour—the speed of an express train. If
-that was kept up, in forty hours we should reach the pole.
-
-For a part of the night the novelty of the situation kept us at the
-window. The sea was lit with the electric lantern; but it was deserted;
-fishes did not sojourn in these imprisoned waters; they only found
-there a passage to take them from the Antarctic Ocean to the open polar
-sea. Our pace was rapid; we could feel it by the quivering of the long
-steel body. About two in the morning I took some hours’ repose, and
-Conseil did the same. In crossing the waist I did not meet Captain
-Nemo: I supposed him to be in the pilot’s cage. The next morning, the
-19th of March, I took my post once more in the saloon. The electric log
-told me that the speed of the _Nautilus_ had been slackened. It was
-then going towards the surface; but prudently emptying its reservoirs
-very slowly. My heart beat fast. Were we going to emerge and regain the
-open polar atmosphere? No! A shock told me that the _Nautilus_ had
-struck the bottom of the iceberg, still very thick, judging from the
-deadened sound. We had in deed “struck,” to use a sea expression, but
-in an inverse sense, and at a thousand feet deep. This would give three
-thousand feet of ice above us; one thousand being above the water-mark.
-The iceberg was then higher than at its borders—not a very reassuring
-fact. Several times that day the _Nautilus_ tried again, and every time
-it struck the wall which lay like a ceiling above it. Sometimes it met
-with but 900 yards, only 200 of which rose above the surface. It was
-twice the height it was when the _Nautilus_ had gone under the waves. I
-carefully noted the different depths, and thus obtained a submarine
-profile of the chain as it was developed under the water. That night no
-change had taken place in our situation. Still ice between four and
-five hundred yards in depth! It was evidently diminishing, but, still,
-what a thickness between us and the surface of the ocean! It was then
-eight. According to the daily custom on board the _Nautilus_, its air
-should have been renewed four hours ago; but I did not suffer much,
-although Captain Nemo had not yet made any demand upon his reserve of
-oxygen. My sleep was painful that night; hope and fear besieged me by
-turns: I rose several times. The groping of the _Nautilus_ continued.
-About three in the morning, I noticed that the lower surface of the
-iceberg was only about fifty feet deep. One hundred and fifty feet now
-separated us from the surface of the waters. The iceberg was by degrees
-becoming an ice-field, the mountain a plain. My eyes never left the
-manometer. We were still rising diagonally to the surface, which
-sparkled under the electric rays. The iceberg was stretching both above
-and beneath into lengthening slopes; mile after mile it was getting
-thinner. At length, at six in the morning of that memorable day, the
-19th of March, the door of the saloon opened, and Captain Nemo
-appeared.
-
-“The sea is open!!” was all he said.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-THE SOUTH POLE
-
-
-I rushed on to the platform. Yes! the open sea, with but a few
-scattered pieces of ice and moving icebergs—a long stretch of sea; a
-world of birds in the air, and myriads of fishes under those waters,
-which varied from intense blue to olive green, according to the bottom.
-The thermometer marked 3° C. above zero. It was comparatively spring,
-shut up as we were behind this iceberg, whose lengthened mass was dimly
-seen on our northern horizon.
-
-“Are we at the pole?” I asked the Captain, with a beating heart.
-
-“I do not know,” he replied. “At noon I will take our bearings.”
-
-“But will the sun show himself through this fog?” said I, looking at
-the leaden sky.
-
-“However little it shows, it will be enough,” replied the Captain.
-
-About ten miles south a solitary island rose to a height of one hundred
-and four yards. We made for it, but carefully, for the sea might be
-strewn with banks. One hour afterwards we had reached it, two hours
-later we had made the round of it. It measured four or five miles in
-circumference. A narrow canal separated it from a considerable stretch
-of land, perhaps a continent, for we could not see its limits. The
-existence of this land seemed to give some colour to Maury’s theory.
-The ingenious American has remarked that, between the South Pole and
-the sixtieth parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice of enormous
-size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic. From this fact he
-has drawn the conclusion that the Antarctic Circle encloses
-considerable continents, as icebergs cannot form in open sea, but only
-on the coasts. According to these calculations, the mass of ice
-surrounding the southern pole forms a vast cap, the circumference of
-which must be, at least, 2,500 miles. But the _Nautilus_, for fear of
-running aground, had stopped about three cable-lengths from a strand
-over which reared a superb heap of rocks. The boat was launched; the
-Captain, two of his men, bearing instruments, Conseil, and myself were
-in it. It was ten in the morning. I had not seen Ned Land. Doubtless
-the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of the South Pole. A
-few strokes of the oar brought us to the sand, where we ran ashore.
-Conseil was going to jump on to the land, when I held him back.
-
-“Sir,” said I to Captain Nemo, “to you belongs the honour of first
-setting foot on this land.”
-
-“Yes, sir,” said the Captain, “and if I do not hesitate to tread this
-South Pole, it is because, up to this time, no human being has left a
-trace there.”
-
-Saying this, he jumped lightly on to the sand. His heart beat with
-emotion. He climbed a rock, sloping to a little promontory, and there,
-with his arms crossed, mute and motionless, and with an eager look, he
-seemed to take possession of these southern regions. After five minutes
-passed in this ecstasy, he turned to us.
-
-“When you like, sir.”
-
-I landed, followed by Conseil, leaving the two men in the boat. For a
-long way the soil was composed of a reddish sandy stone, something like
-crushed brick, scoriae, streams of lava, and pumice-stones. One could
-not mistake its volcanic origin. In some parts, slight curls of smoke
-emitted a sulphurous smell, proving that the internal fires had lost
-nothing of their expansive powers, though, having climbed a high
-acclivity, I could see no volcano for a radius of several miles. We
-know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found two craters,
-the Erebus and Terror, in full activity, on the 167th meridian,
-latitude 77° 32′. The vegetation of this desolate continent seemed to
-me much restricted. Some lichens lay upon the black rocks; some
-microscopic plants, rudimentary diatomas, a kind of cells placed
-between two quartz shells; long purple and scarlet weed, supported on
-little swimming bladders, which the breaking of the waves brought to
-the shore. These constituted the meagre flora of this region. The shore
-was strewn with molluscs, little mussels, and limpets. I also saw
-myriads of northern clios, one-and-a-quarter inches long, of which a
-whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful; and some perfect
-sea-butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts of the shore.
-
-There appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs, of the kind
-which, according to James Ross, live in the Antarctic seas to the depth
-of more than 1,000 yards. Then there were little kingfishers and
-starfish studding the soil. But where life abounded most was in the
-air. There thousands of birds fluttered and flew of all kinds,
-deafening us with their cries; others crowded the rock, looking at us
-as we passed by without fear, and pressing familiarly close by our
-feet. There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward as
-they are on the ground; they were uttering harsh cries, a large
-assembly, sober in gesture, but extravagant in clamour. Albatrosses
-passed in the air, the expanse of their wings being at least four yards
-and a half, and justly called the vultures of the ocean; some gigantic
-petrels, and some damiers, a kind of small duck, the underpart of whose
-body is black and white; then there were a whole series of petrels,
-some whitish, with brown-bordered wings, others blue, peculiar to the
-Antarctic seas, and so oily, as I told Conseil, that the inhabitants of
-the Ferroe Islands had nothing to do before lighting them but to put a
-wick in.
-
-“A little more,” said Conseil, “and they would be perfect lamps! After
-that, we cannot expect Nature to have previously furnished them with
-wicks!”
-
-About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with ruffs’ nests, a
-sort of laying-ground, out of which many birds were issuing. Captain
-Nemo had some hundreds hunted. They uttered a cry like the braying of
-an ass, were about the size of a goose, slate-colour on the body, white
-beneath, with a yellow line round their throats; they allowed
-themselves to be killed with a stone, never trying to escape. But the
-fog did not lift, and at eleven the sun had not yet shown itself. Its
-absence made me uneasy. Without it no observations were possible. How,
-then, could we decide whether we had reached the pole? When I rejoined
-Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of rock, silently watching
-the sky. He seemed impatient and vexed. But what was to be done? This
-rash and powerful man could not command the sun as he did the sea. Noon
-arrived without the orb of day showing itself for an instant. We could
-not even tell its position behind the curtain of fog; and soon the fog
-turned to snow.
-
-“Till to-morrow,” said the Captain, quietly, and we returned to the
-_Nautilus_ amid these atmospheric disturbances.
-
-The tempest of snow continued till the next day. It was impossible to
-remain on the platform. From the saloon, where I was taking notes of
-incidents happening during this excursion to the polar continent, I
-could hear the cries of petrels and albatrosses sporting in the midst
-of this violent storm. The _Nautilus_ did not remain motionless, but
-skirted the coast, advancing ten miles more to the south in the
-half-light left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon. The
-next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased. The cold was a little
-greater, the thermometer showing 2° below zero. The fog was rising, and
-I hoped that that day our observations might be taken. Captain Nemo not
-having yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and myself to land. The soil
-was still of the same volcanic nature; everywhere were traces of lava,
-scoriae, and basalt; but the crater which had vomited them I could not
-see. Here, as lower down, this continent was alive with myriads of
-birds. But their rule was now divided with large troops of sea-mammals,
-looking at us with their soft eyes. There were several kinds of seals,
-some stretched on the earth, some on flakes of ice, many going in and
-out of the sea. They did not flee at our approach, never having had
-anything to do with man; and I reckoned that there were provisions
-there for hundreds of vessels.
-
-“Sir,” said Conseil, “will you tell me the names of these creatures?”
-
-“They are seals and morses.”
-
-It was now eight in the morning. Four hours remained to us before the
-sun could be observed with advantage. I directed our steps towards a
-vast bay cut in the steep granite shore. There, I can aver that earth
-and ice were lost to sight by the numbers of sea-mammals covering them,
-and I involuntarily sought for old Proteus, the mythological shepherd
-who watched these immense flocks of Neptune. There were more seals than
-anything else, forming distinct groups, male and female, the father
-watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones, some
-already strong enough to go a few steps. When they wished to change
-their place, they took little jumps, made by the contraction of their
-bodies, and helped awkwardly enough by their imperfect fin, which, as
-with the lamantin, their cousins, forms a perfect forearm. I should say
-that, in the water, which is their element—the spine of these creatures
-is flexible; with smooth and close skin and webbed feet—they swim
-admirably. In resting on the earth they take the most graceful
-attitudes. Thus the ancients, observing their soft and expressive
-looks, which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look a woman can
-give, their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming positions, and the
-poetry of their manners, metamorphosed them, the male into a triton and
-the female into a mermaid. I made Conseil notice the considerable
-development of the lobes of the brain in these interesting cetaceans.
-No mammal, except man, has such a quantity of brain matter; they are
-also capable of receiving a certain amount of education, are easily
-domesticated, and I think, with other naturalists, that if properly
-taught they would be of great service as fishing-dogs. The greater part
-of them slept on the rocks or on the sand. Amongst these seals,
-properly so called, which have no external ears (in which they differ
-from the otter, whose ears are prominent), I noticed several varieties
-of seals about three yards long, with a white coat, bulldog heads,
-armed with teeth in both jaws, four incisors at the top and four at the
-bottom, and two large canine teeth in the shape of a fleur-de-lis.
-Amongst them glided sea-elephants, a kind of seal, with short, flexible
-trunks. The giants of this species measured twenty feet round and ten
-yards and a half in length; but they did not move as we approached.
-
-“These creatures are not dangerous?” asked Conseil.
-
-“No; not unless you attack them. When they have to defend their young
-their rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon for them to break the
-fishing-boats to pieces.”
-
-“They are quite right,” said Conseil.
-
-“I do not say they are not.”
-
-Two miles farther on we were stopped by the promontory which shelters
-the bay from the southerly winds. Beyond it we heard loud bellowings
-such as a troop of ruminants would produce.
-
-“Good!” said Conseil; “a concert of bulls!”
-
-“No; a concert of morses.”
-
-“They are fighting!”
-
-“They are either fighting or playing.”
-
-We now began to climb the blackish rocks, amid unforeseen stumbles, and
-over stones which the ice made slippery. More than once I rolled over
-at the expense of my loins. Conseil, more prudent or more steady, did
-not stumble, and helped me up, saying:
-
-“If, sir, you would have the kindness to take wider steps, you would
-preserve your equilibrium better.”
-
-Arrived at the upper ridge of the promontory, I saw a vast white plain
-covered with morses. They were playing amongst themselves, and what we
-heard were bellowings of pleasure, not of anger.
-
-As I passed these curious animals I could examine them leisurely, for
-they did not move. Their skins were thick and rugged, of a yellowish
-tint, approaching to red; their hair was short and scant. Some of them
-were four yards and a quarter long. Quieter and less timid than their
-cousins of the north, they did not, like them, place sentinels round
-the outskirts of their encampment. After examining this city of morses,
-I began to think of returning. It was eleven o’clock, and, if Captain
-Nemo found the conditions favourable for observations, I wished to be
-present at the operation. We followed a narrow pathway running along
-the summit of the steep shore. At half-past eleven we had reached the
-place where we landed. The boat had run aground, bringing the Captain.
-I saw him standing on a block of basalt, his instruments near him, his
-eyes fixed on the northern horizon, near which the sun was then
-describing a lengthened curve. I took my place beside him, and waited
-without speaking. Noon arrived, and, as before, the sun did not appear.
-It was a fatality. Observations were still wanting. If not accomplished
-to-morrow, we must give up all idea of taking any. We were indeed
-exactly at the 20th of March. To-morrow, the 21st, would be the
-equinox; the sun would disappear behind the horizon for six months, and
-with its disappearance the long polar night would begin. Since the
-September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon, rising by
-lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December. At this period, the
-summer solstice of the northern regions, it had begun to descend; and
-to-morrow was to shed its last rays upon them. I communicated my fears
-and observations to Captain Nemo.
-
-“You are right, M. Aronnax,” said he; “if to-morrow I cannot take the
-altitude of the sun, I shall not be able to do it for six months. But
-precisely because chance has led me into these seas on the 21st of
-March, my bearings will be easy to take, if at twelve we can see the
-sun.”
-
-“Why, Captain?”
-
-“Because then the orb of day described such lengthened curves that it
-is difficult to measure exactly its height above the horizon, and grave
-errors may be made with instruments.”
-
-“What will you do then?”
-
-“I shall only use my chronometer,” replied Captain Nemo. “If to-morrow,
-the 21st of March, the disc of the sun, allowing for refraction, is
-exactly cut by the northern horizon, it will show that I am at the
-South Pole.”
-
-“Just so,” said I. “But this statement is not mathematically correct,
-because the equinox does not necessarily begin at noon.”
-
-“Very likely, sir; but the error will not be a hundred yards and we do
-not want more. Till to-morrow, then!”
-
-Captain Nemo returned on board. Conseil and I remained to survey the
-shore, observing and studying until five o’clock. Then I went to bed,
-not, however, without invoking, like the Indian, the favour of the
-radiant orb. The next day, the 21st of March, at five in the morning, I
-mounted the platform. I found Captain Nemo there.
-
-“The weather is lightening a little,” said he. “I have some hope. After
-breakfast we will go on shore and choose a post for observation.”
-
-That point settled, I sought Ned Land. I wanted to take him with me.
-But the obstinate Canadian refused, and I saw that his taciturnity and
-his bad humour grew day by day. After all, I was not sorry for his
-obstinacy under the circumstances. Indeed, there were too many seals on
-shore, and we ought not to lay such temptation in this unreflecting
-fisherman’s way. Breakfast over, we went on shore. The _Nautilus_ had
-gone some miles further up in the night. It was a whole league from the
-coast, above which reared a sharp peak about five hundred yards high.
-The boat took with me Captain Nemo, two men of the crew, and the
-instruments, which consisted of a chronometer, a telescope, and a
-barometer. While crossing, I saw numerous whales belonging to the three
-kinds peculiar to the southern seas; the whale, or the English “right
-whale,” which has no dorsal fin; the “humpback,” with reeved chest and
-large, whitish fins, which, in spite of its name, do not form wings;
-and the fin-back, of a yellowish brown, the liveliest of all the
-cetacea. This powerful creature is heard a long way off when he throws
-to a great height columns of air and vapour, which look like whirlwinds
-of smoke. These different mammals were disporting themselves in troops
-in the quiet waters; and I could see that this basin of the Antarctic
-Pole serves as a place of refuge to the cetacea too closely tracked by
-the hunters. I also noticed large medusæ floating between the reeds.
-
-At nine we landed; the sky was brightening, the clouds were flying to
-the south, and the fog seemed to be leaving the cold surface of the
-waters. Captain Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant to
-be his observatory. It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava and the
-pumice-stones, in an atmosphere often impregnated with a sulphurous
-smell from the smoking cracks. For a man unaccustomed to walk on land,
-the Captain climbed the steep slopes with an agility I never saw
-equalled and which a hunter would have envied. We were two hours
-getting to the summit of this peak, which was half porphyry and half
-basalt. From thence we looked upon a vast sea which, towards the north,
-distinctly traced its boundary line upon the sky. At our feet lay
-fields of dazzling whiteness. Over our heads a pale azure, free from
-fog. To the north the disc of the sun seemed like a ball of fire,
-already horned by the cutting of the horizon. From the bosom of the
-water rose sheaves of liquid jets by hundreds. In the distance lay the
-_Nautilus_ like a cetacean asleep on the water. Behind us, to the south
-and east, an immense country and a chaotic heap of rocks and ice, the
-limits of which were not visible. On arriving at the summit Captain
-Nemo carefully took the mean height of the barometer, for he would have
-to consider that in taking his observations. At a quarter to twelve the
-sun, then seen only by refraction, looked like a golden disc shedding
-its last rays upon this deserted continent and seas which never man had
-yet ploughed. Captain Nemo, furnished with a lenticular glass which, by
-means of a mirror, corrected the refraction, watched the orb sinking
-below the horizon by degrees, following a lengthened diagonal. I held
-the chronometer. My heart beat fast. If the disappearance of the
-half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve o’clock on the chronometer,
-we were at the pole itself.
-
-“Twelve!” I exclaimed.
-
-“The South Pole!” replied Captain Nemo, in a grave voice, handing me
-the glass, which showed the orb cut in exactly equal parts by the
-horizon.
-
-I looked at the last rays crowning the peak, and the shadows mounting
-by degrees up its slopes. At that moment Captain Nemo, resting with his
-hand on my shoulder, said:
-
-“I, Captain Nemo, on this 21st day of March, 1868, have reached the
-South Pole on the ninetieth degree; and I take possession of this part
-of the globe, equal to one-sixth of the known continents.”
-
-“In whose name, Captain?”
-
-“In my own, sir!”
-
-Saying which, Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an “N” in
-gold quartered on its bunting. Then, turning towards the orb of day,
-whose last rays lapped the horizon of the sea, he exclaimed:
-
-“Adieu, sun! Disappear, thou radiant orb! rest beneath this open sea,
-and let a night of six months spread its shadows over my new domains!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?
-
-
-The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning, preparations
-for departure were begun. The last gleams of twilight were melting into
-night. The cold was great, the constellations shone with wonderful
-intensity. In the zenith glittered that wondrous Southern Cross—the
-polar bear of Antarctic regions. The thermometer showed 120 below zero,
-and when the wind freshened it was most biting. Flakes of ice increased
-on the open water. The sea seemed everywhere alike. Numerous blackish
-patches spread on the surface, showing the formation of fresh ice.
-Evidently the southern basin, frozen during the six winter months, was
-absolutely inaccessible. What became of the whales in that time?
-Doubtless they went beneath the icebergs, seeking more practicable
-seas. As to the seals and morses, accustomed to live in a hard climate,
-they remained on these icy shores. These creatures have the instinct to
-break holes in the ice-field and to keep them open. To these holes they
-come for breath; when the birds, driven away by the cold, have
-emigrated to the north, these sea mammals remain sole masters of the
-polar continent. But the reservoirs were filling with water, and the
-_Nautilus_ was slowly descending. At 1,000 feet deep it stopped; its
-screw beat the waves, and it advanced straight towards the north at a
-speed of fifteen miles an hour. Towards night it was already floating
-under the immense body of the iceberg. At three in the morning I was
-awakened by a violent shock. I sat up in my bed and listened in the
-darkness, when I was thrown into the middle of the room. The
-_Nautilus_, after having struck, had rebounded violently. I groped
-along the partition, and by the staircase to the saloon, which was lit
-by the luminous ceiling. The furniture was upset. Fortunately the
-windows were firmly set, and had held fast. The pictures on the
-starboard side, from being no longer vertical, were clinging to the
-paper, whilst those of the port side were hanging at least a foot from
-the wall. The _Nautilus_ was lying on its starboard side perfectly
-motionless. I heard footsteps, and a confusion of voices; but Captain
-Nemo did not appear. As I was leaving the saloon, Ned Land and Conseil
-entered.
-
-“What is the matter?” said I, at once.
-
-“I came to ask you, sir,” replied Conseil.
-
-“Confound it!” exclaimed the Canadian, “I know well enough! The
-_Nautilus_ has struck; and, judging by the way she lies, I do not think
-she will right herself as she did the first time in Torres Straits.”
-
-“But,” I asked, “has she at least come to the surface of the sea?”
-
-“We do not know,” said Conseil.
-
-“It is easy to decide,” I answered. I consulted the manometer. To my
-great surprise, it showed a depth of more than 180 fathoms. “What does
-that mean?” I exclaimed.
-
-“We must ask Captain Nemo,” said Conseil.
-
-“But where shall we find him?” said Ned Land.
-
-“Follow me,” said I, to my companions.
-
-We left the saloon. There was no one in the library. At the centre
-staircase, by the berths of the ship’s crew, there was no one. I
-thought that Captain Nemo must be in the pilot’s cage. It was best to
-wait. We all returned to the saloon. For twenty minutes we remained
-thus, trying to hear the slightest noise which might be made on board
-the _Nautilus_, when Captain Nemo entered. He seemed not to see us; his
-face, generally so impassive, showed signs of uneasiness. He watched
-the compass silently, then the manometer; and, going to the
-planisphere, placed his finger on a spot representing the southern
-seas. I would not interrupt him; but, some minutes later, when he
-turned towards me, I said, using one of his own expressions in the
-Torres Straits:
-
-“An incident, Captain?”
-
-“No, sir; an accident this time.”
-
-“Serious?”
-
-“Perhaps.”
-
-“Is the danger immediate?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“The _Nautilus_ has stranded?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“And this has happened—how?”
-
-“From a caprice of nature, not from the ignorance of man. Not a mistake
-has been made in the working. But we cannot prevent equilibrium from
-producing its effects. We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist
-natural ones.”
-
-Captain Nemo had chosen a strange moment for uttering this
-philosophical reflection. On the whole, his answer helped me little.
-
-“May I ask, sir, the cause of this accident?”
-
-“An enormous block of ice, a whole mountain, has turned over,” he
-replied. “When icebergs are undermined at their base by warmer water or
-reiterated shocks their centre of gravity rises, and the whole thing
-turns over. This is what has happened; one of these blocks, as it fell,
-struck the _Nautilus_, then, gliding under its hull, raised it with
-irresistible force, bringing it into beds which are not so thick, where
-it is lying on its side.”
-
-“But can we not get the _Nautilus_ off by emptying its reservoirs, that
-it might regain its equilibrium?”
-
-“That, sir, is being done at this moment. You can hear the pump
-working. Look at the needle of the manometer; it shows that the
-_Nautilus_ is rising, but the block of ice is floating with it; and,
-until some obstacle stops its ascending motion, our position cannot be
-altered.”
-
-Indeed, the _Nautilus_ still held the same position to starboard;
-doubtless it would right itself when the block stopped. But at this
-moment who knows if we may not be frightfully crushed between the two
-glassy surfaces? I reflected on all the consequences of our position.
-Captain Nemo never took his eyes off the manometer. Since the fall of
-the iceberg, the _Nautilus_ had risen about a hundred and fifty feet,
-but it still made the same angle with the perpendicular. Suddenly a
-slight movement was felt in the hold. Evidently it was righting a
-little. Things hanging in the saloon were sensibly returning to their
-normal position. The partitions were nearing the upright. No one spoke.
-With beating hearts we watched and felt the straightening. The boards
-became horizontal under our feet. Ten minutes passed.
-
-“At last we have righted!” I exclaimed.
-
-“Yes,” said Captain Nemo, going to the door of the saloon.
-
-“But are we floating?” I asked.
-
-“Certainly,” he replied; “since the reservoirs are not empty; and, when
-empty, the _Nautilus_ must rise to the surface of the sea.”
-
-We were in open sea; but at a distance of about ten yards, on either
-side of the _Nautilus_, rose a dazzling wall of ice. Above and beneath
-the same wall. Above, because the lower surface of the iceberg
-stretched over us like an immense ceiling. Beneath, because the
-overturned block, having slid by degrees, had found a resting-place on
-the lateral walls, which kept it in that position. The _Nautilus_ was
-really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice more than twenty yards in
-breadth, filled with quiet water. It was easy to get out of it by going
-either forward or backward, and then make a free passage under the
-iceberg, some hundreds of yards deeper. The luminous ceiling had been
-extinguished, but the saloon was still resplendent with intense light.
-It was the powerful reflection from the glass partition sent violently
-back to the sheets of the lantern. I cannot describe the effect of the
-voltaic rays upon the great blocks so capriciously cut; upon every
-angle, every ridge, every facet was thrown a different light, according
-to the nature of the veins running through the ice; a dazzling mine of
-gems, particularly of sapphires, their blue rays crossing with the
-green of the emerald. Here and there were opal shades of wonderful
-softness, running through bright spots like diamonds of fire, the
-brilliancy of which the eye could not bear. The power of the lantern
-seemed increased a hundredfold, like a lamp through the lenticular
-plates of a first-class lighthouse.
-
-“How beautiful! how beautiful!” cried Conseil.
-
-“Yes,” I said, “it is a wonderful sight. Is it not, Ned?”
-
-“Yes, confound it! Yes,” answered Ned Land, “it is superb! I am mad at
-being obliged to admit it. No one has ever seen anything like it; but
-the sight may cost us dear. And, if I must say all, I think we are
-seeing here things which God never intended man to see.”
-
-Ned was right, it was too beautiful. Suddenly a cry from Conseil made
-me turn.
-
-“What is it?” I asked.
-
-“Shut your eyes, sir! Do not look, sir!” Saying which, Conseil clapped
-his hands over his eyes.
-
-“But what is the matter, my boy?”
-
-“I am dazzled, blinded.”
-
-My eyes turned involuntarily towards the glass, but I could not stand
-the fire which seemed to devour them. I understood what had happened.
-The _Nautilus_ had put on full speed. All the quiet lustre of the
-ice-walls was at once changed into flashes of lightning. The fire from
-these myriads of diamonds was blinding. It required some time to calm
-our troubled looks. At last the hands were taken down.
-
-“Faith, I should never have believed it,” said Conseil.
-
-It was then five in the morning; and at that moment a shock was felt at
-the bows of the _Nautilus_. I knew that its spur had struck a block of
-ice. It must have been a false manœuvre, for this submarine tunnel,
-obstructed by blocks, was not very easy navigation. I thought that
-Captain Nemo, by changing his course, would either turn these obstacles
-or else follow the windings of the tunnel. In any case, the road before
-us could not be entirely blocked. But, contrary to my expectations, the
-_Nautilus_ took a decided retrograde motion.
-
-“We are going backwards?” said Conseil.
-
-“Yes,” I replied. “This end of the tunnel can have no egress.”
-
-“And then?”
-
-“Then,” said I, “the working is easy. We must go back again, and go out
-at the southern opening. That is all.”
-
-In speaking thus, I wished to appear more confident than I really was.
-But the retrograde motion of the _Nautilus_ was increasing; and,
-reversing the screw, it carried us at great speed.
-
-“It will be a hindrance,” said Ned.
-
-“What does it matter, some hours more or less, provided we get out at
-last?”
-
-“Yes,” repeated Ned Land, “provided we do get out at last!”
-
-For a short time I walked from the saloon to the library. My companions
-were silent. I soon threw myself on an ottoman, and took a book, which
-my eyes overran mechanically. A quarter of an hour after, Conseil,
-approaching me, said, “Is what you are reading very interesting, sir?”
-
-“Very interesting!” I replied.
-
-“I should think so, sir. It is your own book you are reading.”
-
-“My book?”
-
-And indeed I was holding in my hand the work on the Great Submarine
-Depths. I did not even dream of it. I closed the book and returned to
-my walk. Ned and Conseil rose to go.
-
-“Stay here, my friends,” said I, detaining them. “Let us remain
-together until we are out of this block.”
-
-“As you please, sir,” Conseil replied.
-
-Some hours passed. I often looked at the instruments hanging from the
-partition. The manometer showed that the _Nautilus_ kept at a constant
-depth of more than three hundred yards; the compass still pointed to
-south; the log indicated a speed of twenty miles an hour, which, in
-such a cramped space, was very great. But Captain Nemo knew that he
-could not hasten too much, and that minutes were worth ages to us. At
-twenty-five minutes past eight a second shock took place, this time
-from behind. I turned pale. My companions were close by my side. I
-seized Conseil’s hand. Our looks expressed our feelings better than
-words. At this moment the Captain entered the saloon. I went up to him.
-
-“Our course is barred southward?” I asked.
-
-“Yes, sir. The iceberg has shifted and closed every outlet.”
-
-“We are blocked up then?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-WANT OF AIR
-
-
-Thus around the _Nautilus_, above and below, was an impenetrable wall
-of ice. We were prisoners to the iceberg. I watched the Captain. His
-countenance had resumed its habitual imperturbability.
-
-“Gentlemen,” he said calmly, “there are two ways of dying in the
-circumstances in which we are placed.” (This puzzling person had the
-air of a mathematical professor lecturing to his pupils.) “The first is
-to be crushed; the second is to die of suffocation. I do not speak of
-the possibility of dying of hunger, for the supply of provisions in the
-_Nautilus_ will certainly last longer than we shall. Let us, then,
-calculate our chances.”
-
-“As to suffocation, Captain,” I replied, “that is not to be feared,
-because our reservoirs are full.”
-
-“Just so; but they will only yield two days’ supply of air. Now, for
-thirty-six hours we have been hidden under the water, and already the
-heavy atmosphere of the _Nautilus_ requires renewal. In forty-eight
-hours our reserve will be exhausted.”
-
-“Well, Captain, can we be delivered before forty-eight hours?”
-
-“We will attempt it, at least, by piercing the wall that surrounds us.”
-
-“On which side?”
-
-“Sound will tell us. I am going to run the _Nautilus_ aground on the
-lower bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side that is
-least thick.”
-
-Captain Nemo went out. Soon I discovered by a hissing noise that the
-water was entering the reservoirs. The _Nautilus_ sank slowly, and
-rested on the ice at a depth of 350 yards, the depth at which the lower
-bank was immersed.
-
-“My friends,” I said, “our situation is serious, but I rely on your
-courage and energy.”
-
-“Sir,” replied the Canadian, “I am ready to do anything for the general
-safety.”
-
-“Good! Ned,” and I held out my hand to the Canadian.
-
-“I will add,” he continued, “that, being as handy with the pickaxe as
-with the harpoon, if I can be useful to the Captain, he can command my
-services.”
-
-“He will not refuse your help. Come, Ned!”
-
-I led him to the room where the crew of the _Nautilus_ were putting on
-their cork-jackets. I told the Captain of Ned’s proposal, which he
-accepted. The Canadian put on his sea-costume, and was ready as soon as
-his companions. When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the drawing-room,
-where the panes of glass were open, and, posted near Conseil, I
-examined the ambient beds that supported the _Nautilus_. Some instants
-after, we saw a dozen of the crew set foot on the bank of ice, and
-among them Ned Land, easily known by his stature. Captain Nemo was with
-them. Before proceeding to dig the walls, he took the soundings, to be
-sure of working in the right direction. Long sounding lines were sunk
-in the side walls, but after fifteen yards they were again stopped by
-the thick wall. It was useless to attack it on the ceiling-like
-surface, since the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in
-height. Captain Nemo then sounded the lower surface. There ten yards of
-wall separated us from the water, so great was the thickness of the
-ice-field. It was necessary, therefore, to cut from it a piece equal in
-extent to the waterline of the _Nautilus_. There were about 6,000 cubic
-yards to detach, so as to dig a hole by which we could descend to the
-ice-field. The work had begun immediately and carried on with
-indefatigable energy. Instead of digging round the _Nautilus_ which
-would have involved greater difficulty, Captain Nemo had an immense
-trench made at eight yards from the port-quarter. Then the men set to
-work simultaneously with their screws on several points of its
-circumference. Presently the pickaxe attacked this compact matter
-vigorously, and large blocks were detached from the mass. By a curious
-effect of specific gravity, these blocks, lighter than water, fled, so
-to speak, to the vault of the tunnel, that increased in thickness at
-the top in proportion as it diminished at the base. But that mattered
-little, so long as the lower part grew thinner. After two hours’ hard
-work, Ned Land came in exhausted. He and his comrades were replaced by
-new workers, whom Conseil and I joined. The second lieutenant of the
-_Nautilus_ superintended us. The water seemed singularly cold, but I
-soon got warm handling the pickaxe. My movements were free enough,
-although they were made under a pressure of thirty atmospheres. When I
-re-entered, after working two hours, to take some food and rest, I
-found a perceptible difference between the pure fluid with which the
-Rouquayrol engine supplied me and the atmosphere of the _Nautilus_,
-already charged with carbonic acid. The air had not been renewed for
-forty-eight hours, and its vivifying qualities were considerably
-enfeebled. However, after a lapse of twelve hours, we had only raised a
-block of ice one yard thick, on the marked surface, which was about 600
-cubic yards! Reckoning that it took twelve hours to accomplish this
-much it would take five nights and four days to bring this enterprise
-to a satisfactory conclusion. Five nights and four days! And we have
-only air enough for two days in the reservoirs! “Without taking into
-account,” said Ned, “that, even if we get out of this infernal prison,
-we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg, shut out from all
-possible communication with the atmosphere.” True enough! Who could
-then foresee the minimum of time necessary for our deliverance? We
-might be suffocated before the _Nautilus_ could regain the surface of
-the waves? Was it destined to perish in this ice-tomb, with all those
-it enclosed? The situation was terrible. But everyone had looked the
-danger in the face, and each was determined to do his duty to the last.
-
-As I expected, during the night a new block a yard square was carried
-away, and still further sank the immense hollow. But in the morning
-when, dressed in my cork-jacket, I traversed the slushy mass at a
-temperature of six or seven degrees below zero, I remarked that the
-side walls were gradually closing in. The beds of water farthest from
-the trench, that were not warmed by the men’s work, showed a tendency
-to solidification. In presence of this new and imminent danger, what
-would become of our chances of safety, and how hinder the
-solidification of this liquid medium, that would burst the partitions
-of the _Nautilus_ like glass?
-
-I did not tell my companions of this new danger. What was the good of
-damping the energy they displayed in the painful work of escape? But
-when I went on board again, I told Captain Nemo of this grave
-complication.
-
-“I know it,” he said, in that calm tone which could counteract the most
-terrible apprehensions. “It is one danger more; but I see no way of
-escaping it; the only chance of safety is to go quicker than
-solidification. We must be beforehand with it, that is all.”
-
-On this day for several hours I used my pickaxe vigorously. The work
-kept me up. Besides, to work was to quit the _Nautilus_, and breathe
-directly the pure air drawn from the reservoirs, and supplied by our
-apparatus, and to quit the impoverished and vitiated atmosphere.
-Towards evening the trench was dug one yard deeper. When I returned on
-board, I was nearly suffocated by the carbonic acid with which the air
-was filled—ah! if we had only the chemical means to drive away this
-deleterious gas. We had plenty of oxygen; all this water contained a
-considerable quantity, and by dissolving it with our powerful piles, it
-would restore the vivifying fluid. I had thought well over it; but of
-what good was that, since the carbonic acid produced by our respiration
-had invaded every part of the vessel? To absorb it, it was necessary to
-fill some jars with caustic potash, and to shake them incessantly. Now
-this substance was wanting on board, and nothing could replace it. On
-that evening, Captain Nemo ought to open the taps of his reservoirs,
-and let some pure air into the interior of the _Nautilus;_ without this
-precaution we could not get rid of the sense of suffocation. The next
-day, March 26th, I resumed my miner’s work in beginning the fifth yard.
-The side walls and the lower surface of the iceberg thickened visibly.
-It was evident that they would meet before the _Nautilus_ was able to
-disengage itself. Despair seized me for an instant; my pickaxe nearly
-fell from my hands. What was the good of digging if I must be
-suffocated, crushed by the water that was turning into stone?—a
-punishment that the ferocity of the savages even would not have
-invented! Just then Captain Nemo passed near me. I touched his hand and
-showed him the walls of our prison. The wall to port had advanced to at
-least four yards from the hull of the _Nautilus_. The Captain
-understood me, and signed me to follow him. We went on board. I took
-off my cork-jacket and accompanied him into the drawing-room.
-
-“M. Aronnax, we must attempt some desperate means, or we shall be
-sealed up in this solidified water as in cement.”
-
-“Yes; but what is to be done?”
-
-“Ah! if my _Nautilus_ were strong enough to bear this pressure without
-being crushed!”
-
-“Well?” I asked, not catching the Captain’s idea.
-
-“Do you not understand,” he replied, “that this congelation of water
-will help us? Do you not see that by its solidification, it would burst
-through this field of ice that imprisons us, as, when it freezes, it
-bursts the hardest stones? Do you not perceive that it would be an
-agent of safety instead of destruction?”
-
-“Yes, Captain, perhaps. But, whatever resistance to crushing the
-_Nautilus_ possesses, it could not support this terrible pressure, and
-would be flattened like an iron plate.”
-
-“I know it, sir. Therefore we must not reckon on the aid of nature, but
-on our own exertions. We must stop this solidification. Not only will
-the side walls be pressed together; but there is not ten feet of water
-before or behind the _Nautilus_. The congelation gains on us on all
-sides.”
-
-“How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on
-board?”
-
-The Captain looked in my face. “After to-morrow they will be empty!”
-
-A cold sweat came over me. However, ought I to have been astonished at
-the answer? On March 22, the _Nautilus_ was in the open polar seas. We
-were at 26°. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board. And
-what was left of the respirable air must be kept for the workers. Even
-now, as I write, my recollection is still so vivid that an involuntary
-terror seizes me and my lungs seem to be without air. Meanwhile,
-Captain Nemo reflected silently, and evidently an idea had struck him;
-but he seemed to reject it. At last, these words escaped his lips:
-
-“Boiling water!” he muttered.
-
-“Boiling water?” I cried.
-
-“Yes, sir. We are enclosed in a space that is relatively confined.
-Would not jets of boiling water, constantly injected by the pumps,
-raise the temperature in this part and stay the congelation?”
-
-“Let us try it,” I said resolutely.
-
-“Let us try it, Professor.”
-
-The thermometer then stood at 7° outside. Captain Nemo took me to the
-galleys, where the vast distillatory machines stood that furnished the
-drinkable water by evaporation. They filled these with water, and all
-the electric heat from the piles was thrown through the worms bathed in
-the liquid. In a few minutes this water reached 100°. It was directed
-towards the pumps, while fresh water replaced it in proportion. The
-heat developed by the troughs was such that cold water, drawn up from
-the sea after only having gone through the machines, came boiling into
-the body of the pump. The injection was begun, and three hours after
-the thermometer marked 6° below zero outside. One degree was gained.
-Two hours later the thermometer only marked 4°.
-
-“We shall succeed,” I said to the Captain, after having anxiously
-watched the result of the operation.
-
-“I think,” he answered, “that we shall not be crushed. We have no more
-suffocation to fear.”
-
-During the night the temperature of the water rose to 1° below zero.
-The injections could not carry it to a higher point. But, as the
-congelation of the sea-water produces at least 2°, I was at least
-reassured against the dangers of solidification.
-
-The next day, March 27th, six yards of ice had been cleared, twelve
-feet only remaining to be cleared away. There was yet forty-eight
-hours’ work. The air could not be renewed in the interior of the
-_Nautilus_. And this day would make it worse. An intolerable weight
-oppressed me. Towards three o’clock in the evening this feeling rose to
-a violent degree. Yawns dislocated my jaws. My lungs panted as they
-inhaled this burning fluid, which became rarefied more and more. A
-moral torpor took hold of me. I was powerless, almost unconscious. My
-brave Conseil, though exhibiting the same symptoms and suffering in the
-same manner, never left me. He took my hand and encouraged me, and I
-heard him murmur, “Oh! if I could only not breathe, so as to leave more
-air for my master!”
-
-Tears came into my eyes on hearing him speak thus. If our situation to
-all was intolerable in the interior, with what haste and gladness would
-we put on our cork-jackets to work in our turn! Pickaxes sounded on the
-frozen ice-beds. Our arms ached, the skin was torn off our hands. But
-what were these fatigues, what did the wounds matter? Vital air came to
-the lungs! We breathed! we breathed!
-
-All this time no one prolonged his voluntary task beyond the prescribed
-time. His task accomplished, each one handed in turn to his panting
-companions the apparatus that supplied him with life. Captain Nemo set
-the example, and submitted first to this severe discipline. When the
-time came, he gave up his apparatus to another and returned to the
-vitiated air on board, calm, unflinching, unmurmuring.
-
-On that day the ordinary work was accomplished with unusual vigour.
-Only two yards remained to be raised from the surface. Two yards only
-separated us from the open sea. But the reservoirs were nearly emptied
-of air. The little that remained ought to be kept for the workers; not
-a particle for the _Nautilus_. When I went back on board, I was half
-suffocated. What a night! I know not how to describe it. The next day
-my breathing was oppressed. Dizziness accompanied the pain in my head
-and made me like a drunken man. My companions showed the same symptoms.
-Some of the crew had rattling in the throat.
-
-On that day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo, finding the
-pickaxes work too slowly, resolved to crush the ice-bed that still
-separated us from the liquid sheet. This man’s coolness and energy
-never forsook him. He subdued his physical pains by moral force.
-
-By his orders the vessel was lightened, that is to say, raised from the
-ice-bed by a change of specific gravity. When it floated they towed it
-so as to bring it above the immense trench made on the level of the
-water-line. Then, filling his reservoirs of water, he descended and
-shut himself up in the hole.
-
-Just then all the crew came on board, and the double door of
-communication was shut. The _Nautilus_ then rested on the bed of ice,
-which was not one yard thick, and which the sounding leads had
-perforated in a thousand places. The taps of the reservoirs were then
-opened, and a hundred cubic yards of water was let in, increasing the
-weight of the _Nautilus_ to 1,800 tons. We waited, we listened,
-forgetting our sufferings in hope. Our safety depended on this last
-chance. Notwithstanding the buzzing in my head, I soon heard the
-humming sound under the hull of the _Nautilus_. The ice cracked with a
-singular noise, like tearing paper, and the _Nautilus_ sank.
-
-“We are off!” murmured Conseil in my ear.
-
-I could not answer him. I seized his hand, and pressed it convulsively.
-All at once, carried away by its frightful overcharge, the _Nautilus_
-sank like a bullet under the waters, that is to say, it fell as if it
-was in a vacuum. Then all the electric force was put on the pumps, that
-soon began to let the water out of the reservoirs. After some minutes,
-our fall was stopped. Soon, too, the manometer indicated an ascending
-movement. The screw, going at full speed, made the iron hull tremble to
-its very bolts and drew us towards the north. But if this floating
-under the iceberg is to last another day before we reach the open sea,
-I shall be dead first.
-
-Half stretched upon a divan in the library, I was suffocating. My face
-was purple, my lips blue, my faculties suspended. I neither saw nor
-heard. All notion of time had gone from my mind. My muscles could not
-contract. I do not know how many hours passed thus, but I was conscious
-of the agony that was coming over me. I felt as if I was going to die.
-Suddenly I came to. Some breaths of air penetrated my lungs. Had we
-risen to the surface of the waves? Were we free of the iceberg? No! Ned
-and Conseil, my two brave friends, were sacrificing themselves to save
-me. Some particles of air still remained at the bottom of one
-apparatus. Instead of using it, they had kept it for me, and, while
-they were being suffocated, they gave me life, drop by drop. I wanted
-to push back the thing; they held my hands, and for some moments I
-breathed freely. I looked at the clock; it was eleven in the morning.
-It ought to be the 28th of March. The _Nautilus_ went at a frightful
-pace, forty miles an hour. It literally tore through the water. Where
-was Captain Nemo? Had he succumbed? Were his companions dead with him?
-At the moment the manometer indicated that we were not more than twenty
-feet from the surface. A mere plate of ice separated us from the
-atmosphere. Could we not break it? Perhaps. In any case the _Nautilus_
-was going to attempt it. I felt that it was in an oblique position,
-lowering the stern, and raising the bows. The introduction of water had
-been the means of disturbing its equilibrium. Then, impelled by its
-powerful screw, it attacked the ice-field from beneath like a
-formidable battering-ram. It broke it by backing and then rushing
-forward against the field, which gradually gave way; and at last,
-dashing suddenly against it, shot forwards on the ice-field, that
-crushed beneath its weight. The panel was opened—one might say torn
-off—and the pure air came in in abundance to all parts of the
-_Nautilus_.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON
-
-
-How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian had
-carried me there. But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air. My
-two companions were getting drunk with the fresh particles. The other
-unhappy men had been so long without food, that they could not with
-impunity indulge in the simplest aliments that were given them. We, on
-the contrary, had no end to restrain ourselves; we could draw this air
-freely into our lungs, and it was the breeze, the breeze alone, that
-filled us with this keen enjoyment.
-
-“Ah!” said Conseil, “how delightful this oxygen is! Master need not
-fear to breathe it. There is enough for everybody.”
-
-Ned Land did not speak, but he opened his jaws wide enough to frighten
-a shark. Our strength soon returned, and, when I looked round me, I saw
-we were alone on the platform. The foreign seamen in the _Nautilus_
-were contented with the air that circulated in the interior; none of
-them had come to drink in the open air.
-
-The first words I spoke were words of gratitude and thankfulness to my
-two companions. Ned and Conseil had prolonged my life during the last
-hours of this long agony. All my gratitude could not repay such
-devotion.
-
-“My friends,” said I, “we are bound one to the other for ever, and I am
-under infinite obligations to you.”
-
-“Which I shall take advantage of,” exclaimed the Canadian.
-
-“What do you mean?” said Conseil.
-
-“I mean that I shall take you with me when I leave this infernal
-_Nautilus_.”
-
-“Well,” said Conseil, “after all this, are we going right?”
-
-“Yes,” I replied, “for we are going the way of the sun, and here the
-sun is in the north.”
-
-“No doubt,” said Ned Land; “but it remains to be seen whether he will
-bring the ship into the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean, that is, into
-frequented or deserted seas.”
-
-I could not answer that question, and I feared that Captain Nemo would
-rather take us to the vast ocean that touches the coasts of Asia and
-America at the same time. He would thus complete the tour round the
-submarine world, and return to those waters in which the _Nautilus_
-could sail freely. We ought, before long, to settle this important
-point. The _Nautilus_ went at a rapid pace. The polar circle was soon
-passed, and the course shaped for Cape Horn. We were off the American
-point, March 31st, at seven o’clock in the evening. Then all our past
-sufferings were forgotten. The remembrance of that imprisonment in the
-ice was effaced from our minds. We only thought of the future. Captain
-Nemo did not appear again either in the drawing-room or on the
-platform. The point shown each day on the planisphere, and, marked by
-the lieutenant, showed me the exact direction of the _Nautilus_. Now,
-on that evening, it was evident, to, my great satisfaction, that we
-were going back to the North by the Atlantic. The next day, April 1st,
-when the _Nautilus_ ascended to the surface some minutes before noon,
-we sighted land to the west. It was Terra del Fuego, which the first
-navigators named thus from seeing the quantity of smoke that rose from
-the natives’ huts. The coast seemed low to me, but in the distance rose
-high mountains. I even thought I had a glimpse of Mount Sarmiento, that
-rises 2,070 yards above the level of the sea, with a very pointed
-summit, which, according as it is misty or clear, is a sign of fine or
-of wet weather. At this moment the peak was clearly defined against the
-sky. The _Nautilus_, diving again under the water, approached the
-coast, which was only some few miles off. From the glass windows in the
-drawing-room, I saw long seaweeds and gigantic fuci and varech, of
-which the open polar sea contains so many specimens, with their sharp
-polished filaments; they measured about 300 yards in length—real
-cables, thicker than one’s thumb; and, having great tenacity, they are
-often used as ropes for vessels. Another weed known as velp, with
-leaves four feet long, buried in the coral concretions, hung at the
-bottom. It served as nest and food for myriads of crustacea and
-molluscs, crabs, and cuttlefish. There seals and otters had splendid
-repasts, eating the flesh of fish with sea-vegetables, according to the
-English fashion. Over this fertile and luxuriant ground the _Nautilus_
-passed with great rapidity. Towards evening it approached the Falkland
-group, the rough summits of which I recognised the following day. The
-depth of the sea was moderate. On the shores our nets brought in
-beautiful specimens of sea weed, and particularly a certain fucus, the
-roots of which were filled with the best mussels in the world. Geese
-and ducks fell by dozens on the platform, and soon took their places in
-the pantry on board.
-
-When the last heights of the Falklands had disappeared from the
-horizon, the _Nautilus_ sank to between twenty and twenty-five yards,
-and followed the American coast. Captain Nemo did not show himself.
-Until the 3rd of April we did not quit the shores of Patagonia,
-sometimes under the ocean, sometimes at the surface. The _Nautilus_
-passed beyond the large estuary formed by the Uraguay. Its direction
-was northwards, and followed the long windings of the coast of South
-America. We had then made 1,600 miles since our embarkation in the seas
-of Japan. About eleven o’clock in the morning the Tropic of Capricorn
-was crossed on the thirty-seventh meridian, and we passed Cape Frio
-standing out to sea. Captain Nemo, to Ned Land’s great displeasure, did
-not like the neighbourhood of the inhabited coasts of Brazil, for we
-went at a giddy speed. Not a fish, not a bird of the swiftest kind
-could follow us, and the natural curiosities of these seas escaped all
-observation.
-
-This speed was kept up for several days, and in the evening of the 9th
-of April we sighted the most westerly point of South America that forms
-Cape San Roque. But then the _Nautilus_ swerved again, and sought the
-lowest depth of a submarine valley which is between this Cape and
-Sierra Leone on the African coast. This valley bifurcates to the
-parallel of the Antilles, and terminates at the mouth by the enormous
-depression of 9,000 yards. In this place, the geological basin of the
-ocean forms, as far as the Lesser Antilles, a cliff to three and a half
-miles perpendicular in height, and, at the parallel of the Cape Verde
-Islands, an other wall not less considerable, that encloses thus all
-the sunk continent of the Atlantic. The bottom of this immense valley
-is dotted with some mountains, that give to these submarine places a
-picturesque aspect. I speak, moreover, from the manuscript charts that
-were in the library of the _Nautilus_—charts evidently due to Captain
-Nemo’s hand, and made after his personal observations. For two days the
-desert and deep waters were visited by means of the inclined planes.
-The _Nautilus_ was furnished with long diagonal broadsides which
-carried it to all elevations. But on the 11th of April it rose
-suddenly, and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast
-estuary, the embouchure of which is so considerable that it freshens
-the sea-water for the distance of several leagues.
-
-The equator was crossed. Twenty miles to the west were the Guianas, a
-French territory, on which we could have found an easy refuge; but a
-stiff breeze was blowing, and the furious waves would not have allowed
-a single boat to face them. Ned Land understood that, no doubt, for he
-spoke not a word about it. For my part, I made no allusion to his
-schemes of flight, for I would not urge him to make an attempt that
-must inevitably fail. I made the time pass pleasantly by interesting
-studies. During the days of April 11th and 12th, the _Nautilus_ did not
-leave the surface of the sea, and the net brought in a marvellous haul
-of Zoophytes, fish and reptiles. Some zoophytes had been fished up by
-the chain of the nets; they were for the most part beautiful
-phyctallines, belonging to the actinidian family, and among other
-species the phyctalis protexta, peculiar to that part of the ocean,
-with a little cylindrical trunk, ornamented With vertical lines,
-speckled with red dots, crowning a marvellous blossoming of tentacles.
-As to the molluscs, they consisted of some I had already
-observed—turritellas, olive porphyras, with regular lines intercrossed,
-with red spots standing out plainly against the flesh; odd pteroceras,
-like petrified scorpions; translucid hyaleas, argonauts, cuttle-fish
-(excellent eating), and certain species of calmars that naturalists of
-antiquity have classed amongst the flying-fish, and that serve
-principally for bait for cod-fishing. I had now an opportunity of
-studying several species of fish on these shores. Amongst the
-cartilaginous ones, petromyzons-pricka, a sort of eel, fifteen inches
-long, with a greenish head, violet fins, grey-blue back, brown belly,
-silvered and sown with bright spots, the pupil of the eye encircled
-with gold—a curious animal, that the current of the Amazon had drawn to
-the sea, for they inhabit fresh waters—tuberculated streaks, with
-pointed snouts, and a long loose tail, armed with a long jagged sting;
-little sharks, a yard long, grey and whitish skin, and several rows of
-teeth, bent back, that are generally known by the name of pantouffles;
-vespertilios, a kind of red isosceles triangle, half a yard long, to
-which pectorals are attached by fleshy prolongations that make them
-look like bats, but that their horny appendage, situated near the
-nostrils, has given them the name of sea-unicorns; lastly, some species
-of balistae, the curassavian, whose spots were of a brilliant gold
-colour, and the capriscus of clear violet, and with varying shades like
-a pigeon’s throat.
-
-I end here this catalogue, which is somewhat dry perhaps, but very
-exact, with a series of bony fish that I observed in passing belonging
-to the apteronotes, and whose snout is white as snow, the body of a
-beautiful black, marked with a very long loose fleshy strip;
-odontognathes, armed with spikes; sardines nine inches long, glittering
-with a bright silver light; a species of mackerel provided with two
-anal fins; centronotes of a blackish tint, that are fished for with
-torches, long fish, two yards in length, with fat flesh, white and
-firm, which, when they arc fresh, taste like eel, and when dry, like
-smoked salmon; labres, half red, covered with scales only at the bottom
-of the dorsal and anal fins; chrysoptera, on which gold and silver
-blend their brightness with that of the ruby and topaz; golden-tailed
-spares, the flesh of which is extremely delicate, and whose
-phosphorescent properties betray them in the midst of the waters;
-orange-coloured spares with long tongues; maigres, with gold caudal
-fins, dark thorn-tails, anableps of Surinam, etc.
-
-Notwithstanding this “et cetera,” I must not omit to mention fish that
-Conseil will long remember, and with good reason. One of our nets had
-hauled up a sort of very flat ray fish, which, with the tail cut off,
-formed a perfect disc, and weighed twenty ounces. It was white
-underneath, red above, with large round spots of dark blue encircled
-with black, very glossy skin, terminating in a bilobed fin. Laid out on
-the platform, it struggled, tried to turn itself by convulsive
-movements, and made so many efforts, that one last turn had nearly sent
-it into the sea. But Conseil, not wishing to let the fish go, rushed to
-it, and, before I could prevent him, had seized it with both hands. In
-a moment he was overthrown, his legs in the air, and half his body
-paralysed, crying—
-
-“Oh! master, master! help me!”
-
-It was the first time the poor boy had spoken to me so familiarly. The
-Canadian and I took him up, and rubbed his contracted arms till he
-became sensible. The unfortunate Conseil had attacked a cramp-fish of
-the most dangerous kind, the cumana. This odd animal, in a medium
-conductor like water, strikes fish at several yards’ distance, so great
-is the power of its electric organ, the two principal surfaces of which
-do not measure less than twenty-seven square feet. The next day, April
-12th, the _Nautilus_ approached the Dutch coast, near the mouth of the
-Maroni. There several groups of sea-cows herded together; they were
-manatees, that, like the dugong and the stellera, belong to the skenian
-order. These beautiful animals, peaceable and inoffensive, from
-eighteen to twenty-one feet in length, weigh at least sixteen
-hundredweight. I told Ned Land and Conseil that provident nature had
-assigned an important role to these mammalia. Indeed, they, like the
-seals, are designed to graze on the submarine prairies, and thus
-destroy the accumulation of weed that obstructs the tropical rivers.
-
-“And do you know,” I added, “what has been the result since men have
-almost entirely annihilated this useful race? That the putrefied weeds
-have poisoned the air, and the poisoned air causes the yellow fever,
-that desolates these beautiful countries. Enormous vegetations are
-multiplied under the torrid seas, and the evil is irresistibly
-developed from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to Florida. If we are
-to believe Toussenel, this plague is nothing to what it would be if the
-seas were cleaned of whales and seals. Then, infested with poulps,
-medusæ, and cuttle-fish, they would become immense centres of
-infection, since their waves would not possess �these vast stomachs
-that God had charged to infest the surface of the seas.’”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-THE POULPS
-
-
-For several days the _Nautilus_ kept off from the American coast.
-Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of Mexico or of
-the sea of the Antilles. April 16th, we sighted Martinique and
-Guadaloupe from a distance of about thirty miles. I saw their tall
-peaks for an instant. The Canadian, who counted on carrying out his
-projects in the Gulf, by either landing or hailing one of the numerous
-boats that coast from one island to another, was quite disheartened.
-Flight would have been quite practicable, if Ned Land had been able to
-take possession of the boat without the Captain’s knowledge. But in the
-open sea it could not be thought of. The Canadian, Conseil, and I had a
-long conversation on this subject. For six months we had been prisoners
-on board the _Nautilus_. We had travelled 17,000 leagues; and, as Ned
-Land said, there was no reason why it should come to an end. We could
-hope nothing from the Captain of the _Nautilus_, but only from
-ourselves. Besides, for some time past he had become graver, more
-retired, less sociable. He seemed to shun me. I met him rarely.
-Formerly he was pleased to explain the submarine marvels to me; now he
-left me to my studies, and came no more to the saloon. What change had
-come over him? For what cause? For my part, I did not wish to bury with
-me my curious and novel studies. I had now the power to write the true
-book of the sea; and this book, sooner or later, I wished to see
-daylight. The land nearest us was the archipelago of the Bahamas. There
-rose high submarine cliffs covered with large weeds. It was about
-eleven o’clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable
-pricking, like the sting of an ant, which was produced by means of
-large seaweeds.
-
-“Well,” I said, “these are proper caverns for poulps, and I should not
-be astonished to see some of these monsters.”
-
-“What!” said Conseil; “cuttlefish, real cuttlefish of the cephalopod
-class?”
-
-“No,” I said, “poulps of huge dimensions.”
-
-“I will never believe that such animals exist,” said Ned.
-
-“Well,” said Conseil, with the most serious air in the world, “I
-remember perfectly to have seen a large vessel drawn under the waves by
-an octopus’s arm.”
-
-“You saw that?” said the Canadian.
-
-“Yes, Ned.”
-
-“With your own eyes?”
-
-“With my own eyes.”
-
-“Where, pray, might that be?”
-
-“At St. Malo,” answered Conseil.
-
-“In the port?” said Ned, ironically.
-
-“No; in a church,” replied Conseil.
-
-“In a church!” cried the Canadian.
-
-“Yes; friend Ned. In a picture representing the poulp in question.”
-
-“Good!” said Ned Land, bursting out laughing.
-
-“He is quite right,” I said. “I have heard of this picture; but the
-subject represented is taken from a legend, and you know what to think
-of legends in the matter of natural history. Besides, when it is a
-question of monsters, the imagination is apt to run wild. Not only is
-it supposed that these poulps can draw down vessels, but a certain
-Olaus Magnus speaks of an octopus a mile long that is more like an
-island than an animal. It is also said that the Bishop of Nidros was
-building an altar on an immense rock. Mass finished, the rock began to
-walk, and returned to the sea. The rock was a poulp. Another Bishop,
-Pontoppidan, speaks also of a poulp on which a regiment of cavalry
-could manœuvre. Lastly, the ancient naturalists speak of monsters whose
-mouths were like gulfs, and which were too large to pass through the
-Straits of Gibraltar.”
-
-“But how much is true of these stories?” asked Conseil.
-
-“Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth
-to get to fable or legend. Nevertheless, there must be some ground for
-the imagination of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps and
-cuttlefish exist of a large species, inferior, however, to the
-cetaceans. Aristotle has stated the dimensions of a cuttlefish as five
-cubits, or nine feet two inches. Our fishermen frequently see some that
-are more than four feet long. Some skeletons of poulps are preserved in
-the museums of Trieste and Montpelier, that measure two yards in
-length. Besides, according to the calculations of some naturalists, one
-of these animals only six feet long would have tentacles twenty-seven
-feet long. That would suffice to make a formidable monster.”
-
-“Do they fish for them in these days?” asked Ned.
-
-“If they do not fish for them, sailors see them at least. One of my
-friends, Captain Paul Bos of Havre, has often affirmed that he met one
-of these monsters of colossal dimensions in the Indian seas. But the
-most astonishing fact, and which does not permit of the denial of the
-existence of these gigantic animals, happened some years ago, in 1861.”
-
-“What is the fact?” asked Ned Land.
-
-“This is it. In 1861, to the north-east of Teneriffe, very nearly in
-the same latitude we are in now, the crew of the despatch-boat Alector
-perceived a monstrous cuttlefish swimming in the waters. Captain
-Bouguer went near to the animal, and attacked it with harpoon and guns,
-without much success, for balls and harpoons glided over the soft
-flesh. After several fruitless attempts the crew tried to pass a
-slip-knot round the body of the mollusc. The noose slipped as far as
-the tail fins and there stopped. They tried then to haul it on board,
-but its weight was so considerable that the tightness of the cord
-separated the tail from the body, and, deprived of this ornament, he
-disappeared under the water.”
-
-“Indeed! is that a fact?”
-
-“An indisputable fact, my good Ned. They proposed to name this poulp
-�Bouguer’s cuttlefish.’”
-
-“What length was it?” asked the Canadian.
-
-“Did it not measure about six yards?” said Conseil, who, posted at the
-window, was examining again the irregular windings of the cliff.
-
-“Precisely,” I replied.
-
-“Its head,” rejoined Conseil, “was it not crowned with eight tentacles,
-that beat the water like a nest of serpents?”
-
-“Precisely.”
-
-“Had not its eyes, placed at the back of its head, considerable
-development?”
-
-“Yes, Conseil.”
-
-“And was not its mouth like a parrot’s beak?”
-
-“Exactly, Conseil.”
-
-“Very well! no offence to master,” he replied, quietly; “if this is not
-Bouguer’s cuttlefish, it is, at least, one of its brothers.”
-
-I looked at Conseil. Ned Land hurried to the window.
-
-“What a horrible beast!” he cried.
-
-I looked in my turn, and could not repress a gesture of disgust. Before
-my eyes was a horrible monster worthy to figure in the legends of the
-marvellous. It was an immense cuttlefish, being eight yards long. It
-swam crossways in the direction of the _Nautilus_ with great speed,
-watching us with its enormous staring green eyes. Its eight arms, or
-rather feet, fixed to its head, that have given the name of cephalopod
-to these animals, were twice as long as its body, and were twisted like
-the furies’ hair. One could see the 250 air holes on the inner side of
-the tentacles. The monster’s mouth, a horned beak like a parrot’s,
-opened and shut vertically. Its tongue, a horned substance, furnished
-with several rows of pointed teeth, came out quivering from this
-veritable pair of shears. What a freak of nature, a bird’s beak on a
-mollusc! Its spindle-like body formed a fleshy mass that might weigh
-4,000 to 5,000 lbs.; the, varying colour changing with great rapidity,
-according to the irritation of the animal, passed successively from
-livid grey to reddish brown. What irritated this mollusc? No doubt the
-presence of the _Nautilus_, more formidable than itself, and on which
-its suckers or its jaws had no hold. Yet, what monsters these poulps
-are! what vitality the Creator has given them! what vigour in their
-movements! and they possess three hearts! Chance had brought us in
-presence of this cuttlefish, and I did not wish to lose the opportunity
-of carefully studying this specimen of cephalopods. I overcame the
-horror that inspired me, and, taking a pencil, began to draw it.
-
-“Perhaps this is the same which the Alector saw,” said Conseil.
-
-“No,” replied the Canadian; “for this is whole, and the other had lost
-its tail.”
-
-“That is no reason,” I replied. “The arms and tails of these animals
-are re-formed by renewal; and in seven years the tail of Bouguer’s
-cuttlefish has no doubt had time to grow.”
-
-By this time other poulps appeared at the port light. I counted seven.
-They formed a procession after the _Nautilus_, and I heard their beaks
-gnashing against the iron hull. I continued my work. These monsters
-kept in the water with such precision that they seemed immovable.
-Suddenly the _Nautilus_ stopped. A shock made it tremble in every
-plate.
-
-“Have we struck anything?” I asked.
-
-“In any case,” replied the Canadian, “we shall be free, for we are
-floating.”
-
-The _Nautilus_ was floating, no doubt, but it did not move. A minute
-passed. Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, entered the
-drawing-room. I had not seen him for some time. He seemed dull. Without
-noticing or speaking to us, he went to the panel, looked at the poulps,
-and said something to his lieutenant. The latter went out. Soon the
-panels were shut. The ceiling was lighted. I went towards the Captain.
-
-“A curious collection of poulps?” I said.
-
-“Yes, indeed, Mr. Naturalist,” he replied; “and we are going to fight
-them, man to beast.”
-
-I looked at him. I thought I had not heard aright.
-
-“Man to beast?” I repeated.
-
-“Yes, sir. The screw is stopped. I think that the horny jaws of one of
-the cuttlefish is entangled in the blades. That is what prevents our
-moving.”
-
-“What are you going to do?”
-
-“Rise to the surface, and slaughter this vermin.”
-
-“A difficult enterprise.”
-
-“Yes, indeed. The electric bullets are powerless against the soft
-flesh, where they do not find resistance enough to go off. But we shall
-attack them with the hatchet.”
-
-“And the harpoon, sir,” said the Canadian, “if you do not refuse my
-help.”
-
-“I will accept it, Master Land.”
-
-“We will follow you,” I said, and, following Captain Nemo, we went
-towards the central staircase.
-
-There, about ten men with boarding-hatchets were ready for the attack.
-Conseil and I took two hatchets; Ned Land seized a harpoon. The
-_Nautilus_ had then risen to the surface. One of the sailors, posted on
-the top ladderstep, unscrewed the bolts of the panels. But hardly were
-the screws loosed, when the panel rose with great violence, evidently
-drawn by the suckers of a poulp’s arm. Immediately one of these arms
-slid like a serpent down the opening and twenty others were above. With
-one blow of the axe, Captain Nemo cut this formidable tentacle, that
-slid wriggling down the ladder. Just as we were pressing one on the
-other to reach the platform, two other arms, lashing the air, came down
-on the seaman placed before Captain Nemo, and lifted him up with
-irresistible power. Captain Nemo uttered a cry, and rushed out. We
-hurried after him.
-
-
-[Illustration] One of these long arms glided through the opening
-
-
-What a scene! The unhappy man, seized by the tentacle and fixed to the
-suckers, was balanced in the air at the caprice of this enormous trunk.
-He rattled in his throat, he was stifled, he cried, “Help! help!” These
-words, spoken in French, startled me! I had a fellow-countryman on
-board, perhaps several! That heart-rending cry! I shall hear it all my
-life. The unfortunate man was lost. Who could rescue him from that
-powerful pressure? However, Captain Nemo had rushed to the poulp, and
-with one blow of the axe had cut through one arm. His lieutenant
-struggled furiously against other monsters that crept on the flanks of
-the _Nautilus_. The crew fought with their axes. The Canadian, Conseil,
-and I buried our weapons in the fleshy masses; a strong smell of musk
-penetrated the atmosphere. It was horrible!
-
-For one instant, I thought the unhappy man, entangled with the poulp,
-would be torn from its powerful suction. Seven of the eight arms had
-been cut off. One only wriggled in the air, brandishing the victim like
-a feather. But just as Captain Nemo and his lieutenant threw themselves
-on it, the animal ejected a stream of black liquid. We were blinded
-with it. When the cloud dispersed, the cuttlefish had disappeared, and
-my unfortunate countryman with it. Ten or twelve poulps now invaded the
-platform and sides of the _Nautilus_. We rolled pell-mell into the
-midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled on the platform in the
-waves of blood and ink. It seemed as though these slimy tentacles
-sprang up like the hydra’s heads. Ned Land’s harpoon, at each stroke,
-was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish. But my bold
-companion was suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a monster he had
-not been able to avoid.
-
-Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror! The formidable beak of a
-cuttlefish was open over Ned Land. The unhappy man would be cut in two.
-I rushed to his succour. But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe
-disappeared between the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the
-Canadian, rising, plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart of the
-poulp.
-
-“I owed myself this revenge!” said the Captain to the Canadian.
-
-Ned bowed without replying. The combat had lasted a quarter of an hour.
-The monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and
-disappeared under the waves. Captain Nemo, covered with blood, nearly
-exhausted, gazed upon the sea that had swallowed up one of his
-companions, and great tears gathered in his eyes.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-THE GULF STREAM
-
-
-This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget. I
-have written it under the influence of violent emotion. Since then I
-have revised the recital; I have read it to Conseil and to the
-Canadian. They found it exact as to facts, but insufficient as to
-effect. To paint such pictures, one must have the pen of the most
-illustrious of our poets, the author of The Toilers of the Deep.
-
-I have said that Captain Nemo wept while watching the waves; his grief
-was great. It was the second companion he had lost since our arrival on
-board, and what a death! That friend, crushed, stifled, bruised by the
-dreadful arms of a poulp, pounded by his iron jaws, would not rest with
-his comrades in the peaceful coral cemetery! In the midst of the
-struggle, it was the despairing cry uttered by the unfortunate man that
-had torn my heart. The poor Frenchman, forgetting his conventional
-language, had taken to his own mother tongue, to utter a last appeal!
-Amongst the crew of the _Nautilus_, associated with the body and soul
-of the Captain, recoiling like him from all contact with men, I had a
-fellow-countryman. Did he alone represent France in this mysterious
-association, evidently composed of individuals of divers nationalities?
-It was one of these insoluble problems that rose up unceasingly before
-my mind!
-
-Captain Nemo entered his room, and I saw him no more for some time. But
-that he was sad and irresolute I could see by the vessel, of which he
-was the soul, and which received all his impressions. The _Nautilus_
-did not keep on in its settled course; it floated about like a corpse
-at the will of the waves. It went at random. He could not tear himself
-away from the scene of the last struggle, from this sea that had
-devoured one of his men. Ten days passed thus. It was not till the 1st
-of May that the _Nautilus_ resumed its northerly course, after having
-sighted the Bahamas at the mouth of the Bahama Canal. We were then
-following the current from the largest river to the sea, that has its
-banks, its fish, and its proper temperatures. I mean the Gulf Stream.
-It is really a river, that flows freely to the middle of the Atlantic,
-and whose waters do not mix with the ocean waters. It is a salt river,
-salter than the surrounding sea. Its mean depth is 1,500 fathoms, its
-mean breadth ten miles. In certain places the current flows with the
-speed of two miles and a half an hour. The body of its waters is more
-considerable than that of all the rivers in the globe. It was on this
-ocean river that the _Nautilus_ then sailed.
-
-I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters of the
-Gulf Stream rivalled the electric power of our watch-light, especially
-in the stormy weather that threatened us so frequently. May 8th, we
-were still crossing Cape Hatteras, at the height of the North Caroline.
-The width of the Gulf Stream there is seventy-five miles, and its depth
-210 yards. The _Nautilus_ still went at random; all supervision seemed
-abandoned. I thought that, under these circumstances, escape would be
-possible. Indeed, the inhabited shores offered anywhere an easy refuge.
-The sea was incessantly ploughed by the steamers that ply between New
-York or Boston and the Gulf of Mexico, and overrun day and night by the
-little schooners coasting about the several parts of the American
-coast. We could hope to be picked up. It was a favourable opportunity,
-notwithstanding the thirty miles that separated the _Nautilus_ from the
-coasts of the Union. One unfortunate circumstance thwarted the
-Canadian’s plans. The weather was very bad. We were nearing those
-shores where tempests are so frequent, that country of waterspouts and
-cyclones actually engendered by the current of the Gulf Stream. To
-tempt the sea in a frail boat was certain destruction. Ned Land owned
-this himself. He fretted, seized with nostalgia that flight only could
-cure.
-
-“Master,” he said that day to me, “this must come to an end. I must
-make a clean breast of it. This Nemo is leaving land and going up to
-the north. But I declare to you that I have had enough of the South
-Pole, and I will not follow him to the North.”
-
-“What is to be done, Ned, since flight is impracticable just now?”
-
-“We must speak to the Captain,” said he; “you said nothing when we were
-in your native seas. I will speak, now we are in mine. When I think
-that before long the _Nautilus_ will be by Nova Scotia, and that there
-near New foundland is a large bay, and into that bay the St. Lawrence
-empties itself, and that the St. Lawrence is my river, the river by
-Quebec, my native town—when I think of this, I feel furious, it makes
-my hair stand on end. Sir, I would rather throw myself into the sea! I
-will not stay here! I am stifled!”
-
-The Canadian was evidently losing all patience. His vigorous nature
-could not stand this prolonged imprisonment. His face altered daily;
-his temper became more surly. I knew what he must suffer, for I was
-seized with home-sickness myself. Nearly seven months had passed
-without our having had any news from land; Captain Nemo’s isolation,
-his altered spirits, especially since the fight with the poulps, his
-taciturnity, all made me view things in a different light.
-
-“Well, sir?” said Ned, seeing I did not reply.
-
-“Well, Ned, do you wish me to ask Captain Nemo his intentions
-concerning us?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“Although he has already made them known?”
-
-“Yes; I wish it settled finally. Speak for me, in my name only, if you
-like.”
-
-“But I so seldom meet him. He avoids me.”
-
-“That is all the more reason for you to go to see him.”
-
-I went to my room. From thence I meant to go to Captain Nemo’s. It
-would not do to let this opportunity of meeting him slip. I knocked at
-the door. No answer. I knocked again, then turned the handle. The door
-opened, I went in. The Captain was there. Bending over his work-table,
-he had not heard me. Resolved not to go without having spoken, I
-approached him. He raised his head quickly, frowned, and said roughly,
-“You here! What do you want?”
-
-“To speak to you, Captain.”
-
-“But I am busy, sir; I am working. I leave you at liberty to shut
-yourself up; cannot I be allowed the same?”
-
-This reception was not encouraging; but I was determined to hear and
-answer everything.
-
-“Sir,” I said coldly, “I have to speak to you on a matter that admits
-of no delay.”
-
-“What is that, sir?” he replied, ironically. “Have you discovered
-something that has escaped me, or has the sea delivered up any new
-secrets?”
-
-We were at cross-purposes. But, before I could reply, he showed me an
-open manuscript on his table, and said, in a more serious tone, “Here,
-M. Aronnax, is a manuscript written in several languages. It contains
-the sum of my studies of the sea; and, if it please God, it shall not
-perish with me. This manuscript, signed with my name, complete with the
-history of my life, will be shut up in a little floating case. The last
-survivor of all of us on board the _Nautilus_ will throw this case into
-the sea, and it will go whither it is borne by the waves.”
-
-This man’s name! his history written by himself! His mystery would then
-be revealed some day.
-
-“Captain,” I said, “I can but approve of the idea that makes you act
-thus. The result of your studies must not be lost. But the means you
-employ seem to me to be primitive. Who knows where the winds will carry
-this case, and in whose hands it will fall? Could you not use some
-other means? Could not you, or one of yours——”
-
-“Never, sir!” he said, hastily interrupting me.
-
-“But I and my companions are ready to keep this manuscript in store;
-and, if you will put us at liberty——”
-
-“At liberty?” said the Captain, rising.
-
-“Yes, sir; that is the subject on which I wish to question you. For
-seven months we have been here on board, and I ask you to-day, in the
-name of my companions and in my own, if your intention is to keep us
-here always?”
-
-“M. Aronnax, I will answer you to-day as I did seven months ago:
-Whoever enters the _Nautilus_, must never quit it.”
-
-“You impose actual slavery upon us!”
-
-“Give it what name you please.”
-
-“But everywhere the slave has the right to regain his liberty.”
-
-“Who denies you this right? Have I ever tried to chain you with an
-oath?”
-
-He looked at me with his arms crossed.
-
-“Sir,” I said, “to return a second time to this subject will be neither
-to your nor to my taste; but, as we have entered upon it, let us go
-through with it. I repeat, it is not only myself whom it concerns.
-Study is to me a relief, a diversion, a passion that could make me
-forget everything. Like you, I am willing to live obscure, in the frail
-hope of bequeathing one day, to future time, the result of my labours.
-But it is otherwise with Ned Land. Every man, worthy of the name,
-deserves some consideration. Have you thought that love of liberty,
-hatred of slavery, can give rise to schemes of revenge in a nature like
-the Canadian’s; that he could think, attempt, and try——”
-
-I was silenced; Captain Nemo rose.
-
-“Whatever Ned Land thinks of, attempts, or tries, what does it matter
-to me? I did not seek him! It is not for my pleasure that I keep him on
-board! As for you, M. Aronnax, you are one of those who can understand
-everything, even silence. I have nothing more to say to you. Let this
-first time you have come to treat of this subject be the last, for a
-second time I will not listen to you.”
-
-I retired. Our situation was critical. I related my conversation to my
-two companions.
-
-“We know now,” said Ned, “that we can expect nothing from this man. The
-_Nautilus_ is nearing Long Island. We will escape, whatever the weather
-may be.”
-
-But the sky became more and more threatening. Symptoms of a hurricane
-became manifest. The atmosphere was becoming white and misty. On the
-horizon fine streaks of cirrhous clouds were succeeded by masses of
-cumuli. Other low clouds passed swiftly by. The swollen sea rose in
-huge billows. The birds disappeared with the exception of the petrels,
-those friends of the storm. The barometer fell sensibly, and indicated
-an extreme extension of the vapours. The mixture of the storm glass was
-decomposed under the influence of the electricity that pervaded the
-atmosphere. The tempest burst on the 18th of May, just as the
-_Nautilus_ was floating off Long Island, some miles from the port of
-New York. I can describe this strife of the elements! for, instead of
-fleeing to the depths of the sea, Captain Nemo, by an unaccountable
-caprice, would brave it at the surface. The wind blew from the
-south-west at first. Captain Nemo, during the squalls, had taken his
-place on the platform. He had made himself fast, to prevent being
-washed overboard by the monstrous waves. I had hoisted myself up, and
-made myself fast also, dividing my admiration between the tempest and
-this extraordinary man who was coping with it. The raging sea was swept
-by huge cloud-drifts, which were actually saturated with the waves. The
-_Nautilus_, sometimes lying on its side, sometimes standing up like a
-mast, rolled and pitched terribly. About five o’clock a torrent of rain
-fell, that lulled neither sea nor wind. The hurri cane blew nearly
-forty leagues an hour. It is under these conditions that it overturns
-houses, breaks iron gates, displaces twenty-four pounders. However, the
-_Nautilus_, in the midst of the tempest, confirmed the words of a
-clever engineer, “There is no well-constructed hull that cannot defy
-the sea.” This was not a resisting rock; it was a steel spindle,
-obedient and movable, without rigging or masts, that braved its fury
-with impunity. However, I watched these raging waves attentively. They
-measured fifteen feet in height, and 150 to 175 yards long, and their
-speed of propagation was thirty feet per second. Their bulk and power
-increased with the depth of the water. Such waves as these, at the
-Hebrides, have displaced a mass weighing 8,400 lbs. They are they
-which, in the tempest of December 23rd, 1864, after destroying the town
-of Yeddo, in Japan, broke the same day on the shores of America. The
-intensity of the tempest increased with the night. The barometer, as in
-1860 at Reunion during a cyclone, fell seven-tenths at the close of
-day. I saw a large vessel pass the horizon struggling painfully. She
-was trying to lie to under half steam, to keep up above the waves. It
-was probably one of the steamers of the line from New York to
-Liverpool, or Havre. It soon disappeared in the gloom. At ten o’clock
-in the evening the sky was on fire. The atmosphere was streaked with
-vivid lightning. I could not bear the brightness of it; while the
-captain, looking at it, seemed to envy the spirit of the tempest. A
-terrible noise filled the air, a complex noise, made up of the howls of
-the crushed waves, the roaring of the wind, and the claps of thunder.
-The wind veered suddenly to all points of the horizon; and the cyclone,
-rising in the east, returned after passing by the north, west, and
-south, in the inverse course pursued by the circular storm of the
-southern hemisphere. Ah, that Gulf Stream! It deserves its name of the
-King of Tempests. It is that which causes those formidable cyclones, by
-the difference of temperature between its air and its currents. A
-shower of fire had succeeded the rain. The drops of water were changed
-to sharp spikes. One would have thought that Captain Nemo was courting
-a death worthy of himself, a death by lightning. As the _Nautilus_,
-pitching dreadfully, raised its steel spur in the air, it seemed to act
-as a conductor, and I saw long sparks burst from it. Crushed and
-without strength I crawled to the panel, opened it, and descended to
-the saloon. The storm was then at its height. It was impossible to
-stand upright in the interior of the _Nautilus_. Captain Nemo came down
-about twelve. I heard the reservoirs filling by degrees, and the
-_Nautilus_ sank slowly beneath the waves. Through the open windows in
-the saloon I saw large fish terrified, passing like phantoms in the
-water. Some were struck before my eyes. The _Nautilus_ was still
-descending. I thought that at about eight fathoms deep we should find a
-calm. But no! the upper beds were too violently agitated for that. We
-had to seek repose at more than twenty-five fathoms in the bowels of
-the deep. But there, what quiet, what silence, what peace! Who could
-have told that such a hurricane had been let loose on the surface of
-that ocean?
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-FROM LATITUDE 47° 24′ TO LONGITUDE 17° 28′
-
-
-In consequence of the storm, we had been thrown eastward once more. All
-hope of escape on the shores of New York or St. Lawrence had faded
-away; and poor Ned, in despair, had isolated himself like Captain Nemo.
-Conseil and I, however, never left each other. I said that the
-_Nautilus_ had gone aside to the east. I should have said (to be more
-exact) the north-east. For some days, it wandered first on the surface,
-and then beneath it, amid those fogs so dreaded by sailors. What
-accidents are due to these thick fogs! What shocks upon these reefs
-when the wind drowns the breaking of the waves! What collisions between
-vessels, in spite of their warning lights, whistles, and alarm bells!
-And the bottoms of these seas look like a field of battle, where still
-lie all the conquered of the ocean; some old and already encrusted,
-others fresh and reflecting from their iron bands and copper plates the
-brilliancy of our lantern.
-
-On the 15th of May we were at the extreme south of the Bank of
-Newfoundland. This bank consists of alluvia, or large heaps of organic
-matter, brought either from the Equator by the Gulf Stream, or from the
-North Pole by the counter-current of cold water which skirts the
-American coast. There also are heaped up those erratic blocks which are
-carried along by the broken ice; and close by, a vast charnel-house of
-molluscs, which perish here by millions. The depth of the sea is not
-great at Newfoundland—not more than some hundreds of fathoms; but
-towards the south is a depression of 1,500 fathoms. There the Gulf
-Stream widens. It loses some of its speed and some of its temperature,
-but it becomes a sea.
-
-It was on the 17th of May, about 500 miles from Heart’s Content, at a
-depth of more than 1,400 fathoms, that I saw the electric cable lying
-on the bottom. Conseil, to whom I had not mentioned it, thought at
-first that it was a gigantic sea-serpent. But I undeceived the worthy
-fellow, and by way of consolation related several particulars in the
-laying of this cable. The first one was laid in the years 1857 and
-1858; but, after transmitting about 400 telegrams, would not act any
-longer. In 1863 the engineers constructed an other one, measuring 2,000
-miles in length, and weighing 4,500 tons, which was embarked on the
-Great Eastern. This attempt also failed.
-
-On the 25th of May the _Nautilus_, being at a depth of more than 1,918
-fathoms, was on the precise spot where the rupture occurred which
-ruined the enterprise. It was within 638 miles of the coast of Ireland;
-and at half-past two in the afternoon they discovered that
-communication with Europe had ceased. The electricians on board
-resolved to cut the cable before fishing it up, and at eleven o’clock
-at night they had recovered the damaged part. They made another point
-and spliced it, and it was once more submerged. But some days after it
-broke again, and in the depths of the ocean could not be recaptured.
-The Americans, however, were not discouraged. Cyrus Field, the bold
-promoter of the enterprise, as he had sunk all his own fortune, set a
-new subscription on foot, which was at once answered, and another cable
-was constructed on better principles. The bundles of conducting wires
-were each enveloped in gutta-percha, and protected by a wadding of
-hemp, contained in a metallic covering. The Great Eastern sailed on the
-13th of July, 1866. The operation worked well. But one incident
-occurred. Several times in unrolling the cable they observed that nails
-had recently been forced into it, evidently with the motive of
-destroying it. Captain Anderson, the officers, and engineers consulted
-together, and had it posted up that, if the offender was surprised on
-board, he would be thrown without further trial into the sea. From that
-time the criminal attempt was never repeated.
-
-On the 23rd of July the Great Eastern was not more than 500 miles from
-Newfoundland, when they telegraphed from Ireland the news of the
-armistice concluded between Prussia and Austria after Sadowa. On the
-27th, in the midst of heavy fogs, they reached the port of Heart’s
-Content. The enterprise was successfully terminated; and for its first
-despatch, young America addressed old Europe in these words of wisdom,
-so rarely understood: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
-goodwill towards men.”
-
-I did not expect to find the electric cable in its primitive state,
-such as it was on leaving the manufactory. The long serpent, covered
-with the remains of shells, bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted
-with a strong coating which served as a protection against all boring
-molluscs. It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and
-under a favourable pressure for the transmission of the electric spark
-which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second. Doubtless this
-cable will last for a great length of time, for they find that the
-gutta-percha covering is improved by the sea-water. Besides, on this
-level, so well chosen, the cable is never so deeply submerged as to
-cause it to break. The _Nautilus_ followed it to the lowest depth,
-which was more than 2,212 fathoms, and there it lay without any
-anchorage; and then we reached the spot where the accident had taken
-place in 1863. The bottom of the ocean then formed a valley about 100
-miles broad, in which Mont Blanc might have been placed without its
-summit appearing above the waves. This valley is closed at the east by
-a perpendicular wall more than 2,000 yards high. We arrived there on
-the 28th of May, and the _Nautilus_ was then not more than 120 miles
-from Ireland.
-
-Was Captain Nemo going to land on the British Isles? No. To my great
-surprise he made for the south, once more coming back towards European
-seas. In rounding the Emerald Isle, for one instant I caught sight of
-Cape Clear, and the light which guides the thousands of vessels leaving
-Glasgow or Liverpool. An important question then arose in my mind. Did
-the _Nautilus_ dare entangle itself in the Manche? Ned Land, who had
-re-appeared since we had been nearing land, did not cease to question
-me. How could I answer? Captain Nemo remained invisible. After having
-shown the Canadian a glimpse of American shores, was he going to show
-me the coast of France?
-
-But the _Nautilus_ was still going southward. On the 30th of May, it
-passed in sight of Land’s End, between the extreme point of England and
-the Scilly Isles, which were left to starboard. If we wished to enter
-the Manche, he must go straight to the east. He did not do so.
-
-During the whole of the 31st of May, the _Nautilus_ described a series
-of circles on the water, which greatly interested me. It seemed to be
-seeking a spot it had some trouble in finding. At noon, Captain Nemo
-himself came to work the ship’s log. He spoke no word to me, but seemed
-gloomier than ever. What could sadden him thus? Was it his proxim ity
-to European shores? Had he some recollections of his abandoned country?
-If not, what did he feel? Remorse or regret? For a long while this
-thought haunted my mind, and I had a kind of presentiment that before
-long chance would betray the captain’s secrets.
-
-The next day, the 1st of June, the _Nautilus_ continued the same
-process. It was evidently seeking some particular spot in the ocean.
-Captain Nemo took the sun’s altitude as he had done the day before. The
-sea was beautiful, the sky clear. About eight miles to the east, a
-large steam vessel could be discerned on the horizon. No flag fluttered
-from its mast, and I could not discover its nationality. Some minutes
-before the sun passed the meridian, Captain Nemo took his sextant, and
-watched with great attention. The perfect rest of the water greatly
-helped the operation. The _Nautilus_ was motionless; it neither rolled
-nor pitched.
-
-I was on the platform when the altitude was taken, and the Captain
-pronounced these words: “It is here.”
-
-He turned and went below. Had he seen the vessel which was changing its
-course and seemed to be nearing us? I could not tell. I returned to the
-saloon. The panels closed, I heard the hissing of the water in the
-reservoirs. The _Nautilus_ began to sink, following a vertical line,
-for its screw communicated no motion to it. Some minutes later it
-stopped at a depth of more than 420 fathoms, resting on the ground. The
-luminous ceiling was darkened, then the panels were opened, and through
-the glass I saw the sea brilliantly illuminated by the rays of our
-lantern for at least half a mile round us.
-
-I looked to the port side, and saw nothing but an immensity of quiet
-waters. But to starboard, on the bottom appeared a large protuberance,
-which at once attracted my attention. One would have thought it a ruin
-buried under a coating of white shells, much resembling a covering of
-snow. Upon examining the mass attentively, I could recognise the
-ever-thickening form of a vessel bare of its masts, which must have
-sunk. It certainly belonged to past times. This wreck, to be thus
-encrusted with the lime of the water, must already be able to count
-many years passed at the bottom of the ocean.
-
-What was this vessel? Why did the _Nautilus_ visit its tomb? Could it
-have been aught but a shipwreck which had drawn it under the water? I
-knew not what to think, when near me in a slow voice I heard Captain
-Nemo say:
-
-“At one time this ship was called the Marseillais. It carried
-seventy-four guns, and was launched in 1762. In 1778, the 13th of
-August, commanded by La Poype-Ver trieux, it fought boldly against the
-Preston. In 1779, on the 4th of July, it was at the taking of Grenada,
-with the squadron of Admiral Estaing. In 1781, on the 5th of September,
-it took part in the battle of Comte de Grasse, in Chesapeake Bay. In
-1794, the French Republic changed its name. On the 16th of April, in
-the same year, it joined the squadron of Villaret Joyeuse, at Brest,
-being entrusted with the escort of a cargo of corn coming from America,
-under the command of Admiral Van Stebel. On the 11th and 12th Prairal
-of the second year, this squadron fell in with an English vessel. Sir,
-to-day is the 13th Prairal, the first of June, 1868. It is now
-seventy-four years ago, day for day on this very spot, in latitude 47°
-24′, longitude 17° 28′, that this vessel, after fighting heroically,
-losing its three masts, with the water in its hold, and the third of
-its crew disabled, preferred sinking with its 356 sailors to
-surrendering; and, nailing its colours to the poop, disappeared under
-the waves to the cry of �Long live the Republic!’”
-
-“The Avenger!” I exclaimed.
-
-“Yes, sir, the Avenger! A good name!” muttered Captain Nemo, crossing
-his arms.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-A HECATOMB
-
-
-The way of describing this unlooked-for scene, the history of the
-patriot ship, told at first so coldly, and the emotion with which this
-strange man pronounced the last words, the name of the Avenger, the
-significance of which could not escape me, all impressed itself deeply
-on my mind. My eyes did not leave the Captain, who, with his hand
-stretched out to sea, was watching with a glowing eye the glorious
-wreck. Perhaps I was never to know who he was, from whence he came, or
-where he was going to, but I saw the man move, and apart from the
-_savant_. It was no common misanthropy which had shut Captain Nemo and
-his companions within the _Nautilus_, but a hatred, either monstrous or
-sublime, which time could never weaken. Did this hatred still seek for
-vengeance? The future would soon teach me that. But the _Nautilus_ was
-rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the form of the Avenger
-disappeared by degrees from my sight. Soon a slight rolling told me
-that we were in the open air. At that moment a dull boom was heard. I
-looked at the Captain. He did not move.
-
-“Captain?” said I.
-
-He did not answer. I left him and mounted the platform. Conseil and the
-Canadian were already there.
-
-“Where did that sound come from?” I asked.
-
-“It was a gunshot,” replied Ned Land.
-
-I looked in the direction of the vessel I had already seen. It was
-nearing the _Nautilus_, and we could see that it was putting on steam.
-It was within six miles of us.
-
-“What is that ship, Ned?”
-
-“By its rigging, and the height of its lower masts,” said the Canadian,
-“I bet she is a ship-of-war. May it reach us; and, if necessary, sink
-this cursed _Nautilus_.”
-
-“Friend Ned,” replied Conseil, “what harm can it do to the _Nautilus?_
-Can it attack it beneath the waves? Can its cannonade us at the bottom
-of the sea?”
-
-“Tell me, Ned,” said I, “can you recognise what country she belongs
-to?”
-
-The Canadian knitted his eyebrows, dropped his eyelids, and screwed up
-the corners of his eyes, and for a few moments fixed a piercing look
-upon the vessel.
-
-“No, sir,” he replied; “I cannot tell what nation she belongs to, for
-she shows no colours. But I can declare she is a man-of-war, for a long
-pennant flutters from her main mast.”
-
-For a quarter of an hour we watched the ship which was steaming towards
-us. I could not, however, believe that she could see the _Nautilus_
-from that distance; and still less that she could know what this
-submarine engine was. Soon the Canadian informed me that she was a
-large, armoured, two-decker ram. A thick black smoke was pouring from
-her two funnels. Her closely-furled sails were stopped to her yards.
-She hoisted no flag at her mizzen-peak. The distance prevented us from
-distinguishing the colours of her pennant, which floated like a thin
-ribbon. She advanced rapidly. If Captain Nemo allowed her to approach,
-there was a chance of salvation for us.
-
-“Sir,” said Ned Land, “if that vessel passes within a mile of us I
-shall throw myself into the sea, and I should advise you to do the
-same.”
-
-I did not reply to the Canadian’s suggestion, but continued watching
-the ship. Whether English, French, American, or Russian, she would be
-sure to take us in if we could only reach her. Presently a white smoke
-burst from the fore part of the vessel; some seconds after, the water,
-agitated by the fall of a heavy body, splashed the stern of the
-_Nautilus_, and shortly afterwards a loud explosion struck my ear.
-
-“What! they are firing at us!” I exclaimed.
-
-“So please you, sir,” said Ned, “they have recognised the unicorn, and
-they are firing at us.”
-
-“But,” I exclaimed, “surely they can see that there are men in the
-case?”
-
-“It is, perhaps, because of that,” replied Ned Land, looking at me.
-
-A whole flood of light burst upon my mind. Doubtless they knew now how
-to believe the stories of the pretended monster. No doubt, on board the
-_Abraham Lincoln_, when the Canadian struck it with the harpoon,
-Commander Farragut had recognised in the supposed narwhal a submarine
-vessel, more dangerous than a supernatural cetacean. Yes, it must have
-been so; and on every sea they were now seeking this engine of
-destruction. Terrible indeed! if, as we supposed, Captain Nemo employed
-the _Nautilus_ in works of vengeance. On the night when we were
-imprisoned in that cell, in the midst of the Indian Ocean, had he not
-attacked some vessel? The man buried in the coral cemetery, had he not
-been a victim to the shock caused by the _Nautilus?_ Yes, I repeat it,
-it must be so. One part of the mysterious existence of Captain Nemo had
-been unveiled; and, if his identity had not been recognised, at least,
-the nations united against him were no longer hunting a chimerical
-creature, but a man who had vowed a deadly hatred against them. All the
-formidable past rose before me. Instead of meeting friends on board the
-approaching ship, we could only expect pitiless enemies. But the shot
-rattled about us. Some of them struck the sea and ricochetted, losing
-themselves in the distance. But none touched the _Nautilus_. The vessel
-was not more than three miles from us. In spite of the serious
-cannonade, Captain Nemo did not appear on the platform; but, if one of
-the conical projectiles had struck the shell of the _Nautilus_, it
-would have been fatal. The Canadian then said, “Sir, we must do all we
-can to get out of this dilemma. Let us signal them. They will then,
-perhaps, understand that we are honest folks.”
-
-Ned Land took his handkerchief to wave in the air; but he had scarcely
-displayed it, when he was struck down by an iron hand, and fell, in
-spite of his great strength, upon the deck.
-
-“Fool!” exclaimed the Captain, “do you wish to be pierced by the spur
-of the _Nautilus_ before it is hurled at this vessel?”
-
-Captain Nemo was terrible to hear; he was still more terrible to see.
-His face was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart. For an instant it
-must have ceased to beat. His pupils were fearfully contracted. He did
-not speak, he roared, as, with his body thrown forward, he wrung the
-Canadian’s shoulders. Then, leaving him, and turning to the ship of
-war, whose shot was still raining around him, he exclaimed, with a
-powerful voice, “Ah, ship of an accursed nation, you know who I am! I
-do not want your colours to know you by! Look! and I will show you
-mine!”
-
-And on the fore part of the platform Captain Nemo unfurled a black
-flag, similar to the one he had placed at the South Pole. At that
-moment a shot struck the shell of the _Nautilus_ obliquely, without
-piercing it; and, rebounding near the Captain, was lost in the sea. He
-shrugged his shoulders; and, addressing me, said shortly, “Go down, you
-and your companions, go down!”
-
-“Sir,” I cried, “are you going to attack this vessel?”
-
-“Sir, I am going to sink it.”
-
-“You will not do that?”
-
-“I shall do it,” he replied coldly. “And I advise you not to judge me,
-sir. Fate has shown you what you ought not to have seen. The attack has
-begun; go down.”
-
-“What is this vessel?”
-
-“You do not know? Very well! so much the better! Its nationality to
-you, at least, will be a secret. Go down!”
-
-We could but obey. About fifteen of the sailors surrounded the Captain,
-looking with implacable hatred at the vessel nearing them. One could
-feel that the same desire of vengeance animated every soul. I went down
-at the moment another projectile struck the _Nautilus_, and I heard the
-Captain exclaim:
-
-“Strike, mad vessel! Shower your useless shot! And then, you will not
-escape the spur of the _Nautilus_. But it is not here that you shall
-perish! I would not have your ruins mingle with those of the Avenger!”
-
-I reached my room. The Captain and his second had remained on the
-platform. The screw was set in motion, and the _Nautilus_, moving with
-speed, was soon beyond the reach of the ship’s guns. But the pursuit
-continued, and Captain Nemo contented himself with keeping his
-distance.
-
-About four in the afternoon, being no longer able to contain my
-impatience, I went to the central staircase. The panel was open, and I
-ventured on to the platform. The Captain was still walking up and down
-with an agitated step. He was looking at the ship, which was five or
-six miles to leeward.
-
-He was going round it like a wild beast, and, drawing it eastward, he
-allowed them to pursue. But he did not attack. Perhaps he still
-hesitated? I wished to mediate once more. But I had scarcely spoken,
-when Captain Nemo imposed silence, saying:
-
-“I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the
-oppressor! Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished, and
-venerated—country, wife, children, father, and mother. I saw all
-perish! All that I hate is there! Say no more!”
-
-I cast a last look at the man-of-war, which was putting on steam, and
-rejoined Ned and Conseil.
-
-“We will fly!” I exclaimed.
-
-“Good!” said Ned. “What is this vessel?”
-
-“I do not know; but, whatever it is, it will be sunk before night. In
-any case, it is better to perish with it, than be made accomplices in a
-retaliation the justice of which we cannot judge.”
-
-“That is my opinion too,” said Ned Land, coolly. “Let us wait for
-night.”
-
-Night arrived. Deep silence reigned on board. The compass showed that
-the _Nautilus_ had not altered its course. It was on the surface,
-rolling slightly. My companions and I resolved to fly when the vessel
-should be near enough either to hear us or to see us; for the moon,
-which would be full in two or three days, shone brightly. Once on board
-the ship, if we could not prevent the blow which threatened it, we
-could, at least we would, do all that circumstances would allow.
-Several times I thought the _Nautilus_ was preparing for attack; but
-Captain Nemo contented himself with allowing his adversary to approach,
-and then fled once more before it.
-
-Part of the night passed without any incident. We watched the
-opportunity for action. We spoke little, for we were too much moved.
-Ned Land would have thrown himself into the sea, but I forced him to
-wait. According to my idea, the _Nautilus_ would attack the ship at her
-waterline, and then it would not only be possible, but easy to fly.
-
-At three in the morning, full of uneasiness, I mounted the platform.
-Captain Nemo had not left it. He was standing at the fore part near his
-flag, which a slight breeze displayed above his head. He did not take
-his eyes from the vessel. The intensity of his look seemed to attract,
-and fascinate, and draw it onward more surely than if he had been
-towing it. The moon was then passing the meridian. Jupiter was rising
-in the east. Amid this peaceful scene of nature, sky and ocean rivalled
-each other in tranquillity, the sea offering to the orbs of night the
-finest mirror they could ever have in which to reflect their image. As
-I thought of the deep calm of these elements, compared with all those
-passions brooding imperceptibly within the _Nautilus_, I shuddered.
-
-The vessel was within two miles of us. It was ever nearing that
-phosphorescent light which showed the presence of the _Nautilus_. I
-could see its green and red lights, and its white lantern hanging from
-the large foremast. An indistinct vibration quivered through its
-rigging, showing that the furnaces were heated to the uttermost.
-Sheaves of sparks and red ashes flew from the funnels, shining in the
-atmosphere like stars.
-
-I remained thus until six in the morning, without Captain Nemo noticing
-me. The ship stood about a mile and a half from us, and with the first
-dawn of day the firing began afresh. The moment could not be far off
-when, the _Nautilus_ attacking its adversary, my companions and myself
-should for ever leave this man. I was preparing to go down to remind
-them, when the second mounted the platform, accompanied by several
-sailors. Captain Nemo either did not or would not see them. Some steps
-were taken which might be called the signal for action. They were very
-simple. The iron balustrade around the platform was lowered, and the
-lantern and pilot cages were pushed within the shell until they were
-flush with the deck. The long surface of the steel cigar no longer
-offered a single point to check its manœuvres. I returned to the
-saloon. The _Nautilus_ still floated; some streaks of light were
-filtering through the liquid beds. With the undulations of the waves
-the windows were brightened by the red streaks of the rising sun, and
-this dreadful day of the 2nd of June had dawned.
-
-At five o’clock, the log showed that the speed of the _Nautilus_ was
-slackening, and I knew that it was allowing them to draw nearer.
-Besides, the reports were heard more distinctly, and the projectiles,
-labouring through the ambient water, were extinguished with a strange
-hissing noise.
-
-“My friends,” said I, “the moment is come. One grasp of the hand, and
-may God protect us!”
-
-Ned Land was resolute, Conseil calm, myself so nervous that I knew not
-how to contain myself. We all passed into the library; but the moment I
-pushed the door opening on to the central staircase, I heard the upper
-panel close sharply. The Canadian rushed on to the stairs, but I
-stopped him. A well-known hissing noise told me that the water was
-running into the reservoirs, and in a few minutes the _Nautilus_ was
-some yards beneath the surface of the waves. I understood the manœuvre.
-It was too late to act. The _Nautilus_ did not wish to strike at the
-impenetrable cuirass, but below the water-line, where the metallic
-covering no longer protected it.
-
-We were again imprisoned, unwilling witnesses of the dreadful drama
-that was preparing. We had scarcely time to reflect; taking refuge in
-my room, we looked at each other without speaking. A deep stupor had
-taken hold of my mind: thought seemed to stand still. I was in that
-painful state of expectation preceding a dreadful report. I waited, I
-listened, every sense was merged in that of hearing! The speed of the
-_Nautilus_ was accelerated. It was preparing to rush. The whole ship
-trembled. Suddenly I screamed. I felt the shock, but comparatively
-light. I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur. I heard
-rattlings and scrapings. But the _Nautilus_, carried along by its
-propelling power, passed through the mass of the vessel like a needle
-through sailcloth!
-
-I could stand it no longer. Mad, out of my mind, I rushed from my room
-into the saloon. Captain Nemo was there, mute, gloomy, implacable; he
-was looking through the port panel. A large mass cast a shadow on the
-water; and, that it might lose nothing of her agony, the _Nautilus_ was
-going down into the abyss with her. Ten yards from me I saw the open
-shell, through which the water was rushing with the noise of thunder,
-then the double line of guns and the netting. The bridge was covered
-with black, agitated shadows.
-
-The water was rising. The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines,
-clinging to the masts, struggling under the water. It was a human
-ant-heap overtaken by the sea. Paralysed, stiffened with anguish, my
-hair standing on end, with eyes wide open, panting, without breath, and
-without voice, I too was watching! An irresistible attraction glued me
-to the glass! Suddenly an explosion took place. The compressed air blew
-up her decks, as if the magazines had caught fire. Then the unfortunate
-vessel sank more rapidly. Her topmast, laden with victims, now
-appeared; then her spars, bending under the weight of men; and, last of
-all, the top of her mainmast. Then the dark mass disappeared, and with
-it the dead crew, drawn down by the strong eddy.
-
-
-[Illustration] The unfortunate vessel sank more rapidly
-
-
-I turned to Captain Nemo. That terrible avenger, a perfect archangel of
-hatred, was still looking. When all was over, he turned to his room,
-opened the door, and entered. I followed him with my eyes. On the end
-wall beneath his heroes, I saw the portrait of a woman, still young,
-and two little children. Captain Nemo looked at them for some moments,
-stretched his arms towards them, and, kneeling down, burst into deep
-sobs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO
-
-
-The panels had closed on this dreadful vision, but light had not
-returned to the saloon: all was silence and darkness within the
-_Nautilus_. At wonderful speed, a hundred feet beneath the water, it
-was leaving this desolate spot. Whither was it going? To the north or
-south? Where was the man flying to after such dreadful retaliation? I
-had returned to my room, where Ned and Conseil had remained silent
-enough. I felt an insurmountable horror for Captain Nemo. Whatever he
-had suffered at the hands of these men, he had no right to punish thus.
-He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least a witness of his
-vengeance. At eleven the electric light reappeared. I passed into the
-saloon. It was deserted. I consulted the different instruments. The
-_Nautilus_ was flying northward at the rate of twenty-five miles an
-hour, now on the surface, and now thirty feet below it. On taking the
-bearings by the chart, I saw that we were passing the mouth of the
-Manche, and that our course was hurrying us towards the northern seas
-at a frightful speed. That night we had crossed two hundred leagues of
-the Atlantic. The shadows fell, and the sea was covered with darkness
-until the rising of the moon. I went to my room, but could not sleep. I
-was troubled with dreadful nightmare. The horrible scene of destruction
-was continually before my eyes. From that day, who could tell into what
-part of the North Atlantic basin the _Nautilus_ would take us? Still
-with unaccountable speed. Still in the midst of these northern fogs.
-Would it touch at Spitzbergen, or on the shores of Nova Zembla? Should
-we explore those unknown seas, the White Sea, the Sea of Kara, the Gulf
-of Obi, the Archipelago of Liarrov, and the unknown coast of Asia? I
-could not say. I could no longer judge of the time that was passing.
-The clocks had been stopped on board. It seemed, as in polar countries,
-that night and day no longer followed their regular course. I felt
-myself being drawn into that strange region where the foundered
-imagination of Edgar Poe roamed at will. Like the fabulous Gordon Pym,
-at every moment I expected to see “that veiled human figure, of larger
-proportions than those of any inhabitant of the earth, thrown across
-the cataract which defends the approach to the pole.” I estimated
-(though, perhaps, I may be mistaken)—I estimated this adventurous
-course of the _Nautilus_ to have lasted fifteen or twenty days. And I
-know not how much longer it might have lasted, had it not been for the
-catastrophe which ended this voyage. Of Captain Nemo I saw nothing
-whatever now, nor of his second. Not a man of the crew was visible for
-an instant. The _Nautilus_ was almost incessantly under water. When we
-came to the surface to renew the air, the panels opened and shut
-mechanically. There were no more marks on the planisphere. I knew not
-where we were. And the Canadian, too, his strength and patience at an
-end, appeared no more. Conseil could not draw a word from him; and,
-fearing that, in a dreadful fit of madness, he might kill himself,
-watched him with constant devotion. One morning (what date it was I
-could not say) I had fallen into a heavy sleep towards the early hours,
-a sleep both painful and unhealthy, when I suddenly awoke. Ned Land was
-leaning over me, saying, in a low voice, “We are going to fly.” I sat
-up.
-
-“When shall we go?” I asked.
-
-“To-night. All inspection on board the _Nautilus_ seems to have ceased.
-All appear to be stupefied. You will be ready, sir?”
-
-“Yes; where are we?”
-
-“In sight of land. I took the reckoning this morning in the fog—twenty
-miles to the east.”
-
-“What country is it?”
-
-“I do not know; but, whatever it is, we will take refuge there.”
-
-“Yes, Ned, yes. We will fly to-night, even if the sea should swallow us
-up.”
-
-“The sea is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light boat
-of the _Nautilus_ does not frighten me. Unknown to the crew, I have
-been able to procure food and some bottles of water.”
-
-“I will follow you.”
-
-“But,” continued the Canadian, “if I am surprised, I will defend
-myself; I will force them to kill me.”
-
-“We will die together, friend Ned.”
-
-I had made up my mind to all. The Canadian left me. I reached the
-platform, on which I could with difficulty support myself against the
-shock of the waves. The sky was threatening; but, as land was in those
-thick brown shadows, we must fly. I returned to the saloon, fearing and
-yet hoping to see Captain Nemo, wishing and yet not wishing to see him.
-What could I have said to him? Could I hide the involuntary horror with
-which he inspired me? No. It was better that I should not meet him face
-to face; better to forget him. And yet—— How long seemed that day, the
-last that I should pass in the _Nautilus_. I remained alone. Ned Land
-and Conseil avoided speaking, for fear of betraying themselves. At six
-I dined, but I was not hungry; I forced myself to eat in spite of my
-disgust, that I might not weaken myself. At half-past six Ned Land came
-to my room, saying, “We shall not see each other again before our
-departure. At ten the moon will not be risen. We will profit by the
-darkness. Come to the boat; Conseil and I will wait for you.”
-
-The Canadian went out without giving me time to answer. Wishing to
-verify the course of the _Nautilus_, I went to the saloon. We were
-running N.N.E. at frightful speed, and more than fifty yards deep. I
-cast a last look on these wonders of nature, on the riches of art
-heaped up in this museum, upon the unrivalled collection destined to
-perish at the bottom of the sea, with him who had formed it. I wished
-to fix an indelible impression of it in my mind. I remained an hour
-thus, bathed in the light of that luminous ceiling, and passing in
-review those treasures shining under their glasses. Then I returned to
-my room.
-
-I dressed myself in strong sea clothing. I collected my notes, placing
-them carefully about me. My heart beat loudly. I could not check its
-pulsations. Certainly my trouble and agitation would have betrayed me
-to Captain Nemo’s eyes. What was he doing at this moment? I listened at
-the door of his room. I heard steps. Captain Nemo was there. He had not
-gone to rest. At every moment I expected to see him appear, and ask me
-why I wished to fly. I was constantly on the alert. My imagination
-magnified everything. The impression became at last so poignant that I
-asked myself if it would not be better to go to the Captain’s room, see
-him face to face, and brave him with look and gesture.
-
-It was the inspiration of a madman; fortunately I resisted the desire,
-and stretched myself on my bed to quiet my bodily agitation. My nerves
-were somewhat calmer, but in my excited brain I saw over again all my
-existence on board the _Nautilus;_ every incident, either happy or
-unfortunate, which had happened since my disappearance from the
-_Abraham Lincoln_—the submarine hunt, the Torres Straits, the savages
-of Papua, the running ashore, the coral cemetery, the passage of Suez,
-the Island of Santorin, the Cretan diver, Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the
-iceberg, the South Pole, the imprisonment in the ice, the fight among
-the poulps, the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, and the horrible
-scene of the vessel sunk with all her crew. All these events passed
-before my eyes like scenes in a drama. Then Captain Nemo seemed to grow
-enormously, his features to assume superhuman proportions. He was no
-longer my equal, but a man of the waters, the genie of the sea.
-
-It was then half-past nine. I held my head between my hands to keep it
-from bursting. I closed my eyes; I would not think any longer. There
-was another half-hour to wait, another half-hour of a nightmare, which
-might drive me mad.
-
-At that moment I heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony
-to an undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break these
-earthly bonds. I listened with every sense, scarcely breathing;
-plunged, like Captain Nemo, in that musical ecstasy, which was drawing
-him in spirit to the end of life.
-
-Then a sudden thought terrified me. Captain Nemo had left his room. He
-was in the saloon, which I must cross to fly. There I should meet him
-for the last time. He would see me, perhaps speak to me. A gesture of
-his might destroy me, a single word chain me on board.
-
-But ten was about to strike. The moment had come for me to leave my
-room, and join my companions.
-
-I must not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himself should rise before
-me. I opened my door carefully; and even then, as it turned on its
-hinges, it seemed to me to make a dreadful noise. Perhaps it only
-existed in my own imagination.
-
-I crept along the dark stairs of the _Nautilus_, stopping at each step
-to check the beating of my heart. I reached the door of the saloon, and
-opened it gently. It was plunged in profound darkness. The strains of
-the organ sounded faintly. Captain Nemo was there. He did not see me.
-In the full light I do not think he would have noticed me, so entirely
-was he absorbed in the ecstasy.
-
-I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound which might
-betray my presence. I was at least five minutes reaching the door, at
-the opposite side, opening into the library.
-
-I was going to open it, when a sigh from Captain Nemo nailed me to the
-spot. I knew that he was rising. I could even see him, for the light
-from the library came through to the saloon. He came towards me
-silently, with his arms crossed, gliding like a spectre rather than
-walking. His breast was swelling with sobs; and I heard him murmur
-these words (the last which ever struck my ear):
-
-“Almighty God! enough! enough!”
-
-Was it a confession of remorse which thus escaped from this man’s
-conscience?
-
-In desperation, I rushed through the library, mounted the central
-staircase, and, following the upper flight, reached the boat. I crept
-through the opening, which had already admitted my two companions.
-
-“Let us go! let us go!” I exclaimed.
-
-“Directly!” replied the Canadian.
-
-The orifice in the plates of the _Nautilus_ was first closed, and
-fastened down by means of a false key, with which Ned Land had provided
-himself; the opening in the boat was also closed. The Canadian began to
-loosen the bolts which still held us to the submarine boat.
-
-Suddenly a noise was heard. Voices were answering each other loudly.
-What was the matter? Had they discovered our flight? I felt Ned Land
-slipping a dagger into my hand.
-
-“Yes,” I murmured, “we know how to die!”
-
-The Canadian had stopped in his work. But one word many times repeated,
-a dreadful word, revealed the cause of the agitation spreading on board
-the _Nautilus_. It was not we the crew were looking after!
-
-“The maelstrom! the maelstrom!” Could a more dreadful word in a more
-dreadful situation have sounded in our ears! We were then upon the
-dangerous coast of Norway. Was the _Nautilus_ being drawn into this
-gulf at the moment our boat was going to leave its sides? We knew that
-at the tide the pent-up waters between the islands of Ferroe and
-Loffoden rush with irresistible violence, forming a whirlpool from
-which no vessel ever escapes. From every point of the horizon enormous
-waves were meeting, forming a gulf justly called the “Navel of the
-Ocean,” whose power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve
-miles. There, not only vessels, but whales are sacrificed, as well as
-white bears from the northern regions.
-
-It is thither that the _Nautilus_, voluntarily or involuntarily, had
-been run by the Captain.
-
-It was describing a spiral, the circumference of which was lessening by
-degrees, and the boat, which was still fastened to its side, was
-carried along with giddy speed. I felt that sickly giddiness which
-arises from long-continued whirling round.
-
-We were in dread. Our horror was at its height, circulation had
-stopped, all nervous influence was annihilated, and we were covered
-with cold sweat, like a sweat of agony! And what noise around our frail
-bark! What roarings repeated by the echo miles away! What an uproar was
-that of the waters broken on the sharp rocks at the bottom, where the
-hardest bodies are crushed, and trees worn away, “with all the fur
-rubbed off,” according to the Norwegian phrase!
-
-What a situation to be in! We rocked frightfully. The _Nautilus_
-defended itself like a human being. Its steel muscles cracked.
-Sometimes it seemed to stand upright, and we with it!
-
-“We must hold on,” said Ned, “and look after the bolts. We may still be
-saved if we stick to the _Nautilus_.”
-
-He had not finished the words, when we heard a crashing noise, the
-bolts gave way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was hurled like a
-stone from a sling into the midst of the whirlpool.
-
-My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock I lost
-all consciousness.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-CONCLUSION
-
-
-Thus ends the voyage under the seas. What passed during that night—how
-the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom—how Ned Land,
-Conseil, and myself ever came out of the gulf, I cannot tell.
-
-But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman’s hut,
-on the Loffoden Isles. My two companions, safe and sound, were near me
-holding my hands. We embraced each other heartily.
-
-At that moment we could not think of returning to France. The means of
-communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare. And I
-am therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly from
-Cape North.
-
-And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us, I revise
-my record of these adventures once more. Not a fact has been omitted,
-not a detail exaggerated. It is a faithful narrative of this incredible
-expedition in an element inaccessible to man, but to which Progress
-will one day open a road.
-
-Shall I be believed? I do not know. And it matters little, after all.
-What I now affirm is, that I have a right to speak of these seas, under
-which, in less than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that
-submarine tour of the world, which has revealed so many wonders.
-
-But what has become of the _Nautilus?_ Did it resist the pressure of
-the maelstrom? Does Captain Nemo still live? And does he still follow
-under the ocean those frightful retaliations? Or, did he stop after the
-last hecatomb?
-
-Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing the
-history of his life? Shall I ever know the name of this man? Will the
-missing vessel tell us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo?
-
-I hope so. And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered the
-sea at its most terrible gulf, and that the _Nautilus_ has survived
-where so many other vessels have been lost! If it be so—if Captain Nemo
-still inhabits the ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be appeased
-in that savage heart! May the contemplation of so many wonders
-extinguish for ever the spirit of vengeance! May the judge disappear,
-and the philosopher continue the peaceful exploration of the sea! If
-his destiny be strange, it is also sublime. Have I not understood it
-myself? Have I not lived ten months of this unnatural life? And to the
-question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago, “That which is
-far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?” two men alone of all
-now living have the right to give an answer——
-
-CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF.
-
-
-
-
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-<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, by Jules Verne</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
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-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Jules Verne</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrators: Alphonse de Neuville<br />
-          Edouard Riou</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 1, 1994 [eBook #164]<br />
-[Most recently updated: October 13, 2023]</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: a number of anonymous Gutenberg Project volunteers</div>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA ***</div>
-
-<h1>Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea</h1>
-
-<h2 class="no-break">by Jules Verne</h2>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h2>Contents</h2>
-
-<table summary="" style="">
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#part01"><b>PART I</b></a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I A SHIFTING REEF</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II PRO AND CON</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III I FORM MY RESOLUTION</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV NED LAND</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V AT A VENTURE</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI AT FULL STEAM</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII MOBILIS IN MOBILI</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX NED LAND’S TEMPERS</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X THE MAN OF THE SEAS</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI ALL BY ELECTRICITY</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII SOME FIGURES</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII THE BLACK RIVER</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV A NOTE OF INVITATION</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI A SUBMARINE FOREST</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII VANIKORO</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX TORRES STRAITS</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX A FEW DAYS ON LAND</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI CAPTAIN NEMO’S THUNDERBOLT</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII “ÆGRI SOMNIA”</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII THE CORAL KINGDOM</a><br /><br /></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#part02"><b>PART II</b></a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap24">CHAPTER I THE INDIAN OCEAN</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap25">CHAPTER II A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO’S</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap26">CHAPTER III A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap27">CHAPTER IV THE RED SEA</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap28">CHAPTER V THE ARABIAN TUNNEL</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap29">CHAPTER VI THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap30">CHAPTER VII THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap31">CHAPTER VIII VIGO BAY</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap32">CHAPTER IX A VANISHED CONTINENT</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap33">CHAPTER X THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap34">CHAPTER XI THE SARGASSO SEA</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap35">CHAPTER XII CACHALOTS AND WHALES</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap36">CHAPTER XIII THE ICEBERG</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap37">CHAPTER XIV THE SOUTH POLE</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap38">CHAPTER XV ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap39">CHAPTER XVI WANT OF AIR</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap40">CHAPTER XVII FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap41">CHAPTER XVIII THE POULPS</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap42">CHAPTER XIX THE GULF STREAM</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap43">CHAPTER XX FROM LATITUDE 47° 24&#x2032; TO LONGITUDE 17° 28&#x2032;</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap44">CHAPTER XXI A HECATOMB</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap45">CHAPTER XXII THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#chap46">CHAPTER XXIII CONCLUSION</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-</table>
-
-<h2>List of Illustrations</h2>
-
-<table summary="" style="">
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus01">An old grey-bearded gunner . . . .</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus02">Captain Nemo’s state-room</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus03">Captain Nemo took the Sun’s altitude</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus04">I was ready to set out</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus05">Conseil seized his gun</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus06">All fell on their knees in an attitude of prayer</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus07">A terrible combat began</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus08">“A man! A shipwrecked sailor!” I cried</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus09">The <i>Nautilus</i> was floating near a mountain</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus10">The <i>Nautilus</i> was blocked up</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus11">One of these long arms glided through the opening</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td> <a href="#illus12">The unfortunate vessel sank more rapidly</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-</table>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="part01"></a>PART ONE</h2>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I<br/>
-A SHIFTING REEF</h2>
-
-<p>
-The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and
-puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to mention
-rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the public mind,
-even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were particularly excited.
-Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, both of Europe and
-America, naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states
-on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For some time past, vessels had been met by “an enormous thing,” a long object,
-spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more
-rapid in its movements than a whale.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The facts relating to this apparition (entered in various log-books) agreed in
-most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in question, the
-untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power of locomotion, and the
-peculiar life with which it seemed endowed. If it was a cetacean, it surpassed
-in size all those hitherto classified in science. Taking into consideration the
-mean of observations made at divers times,—rejecting the timid estimate of
-those who assigned to this object a length of two hundred feet, equally with
-the exaggerated opinions which set it down as a mile in width and three in
-length,—we might fairly conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly
-all dimensions admitted by the ichthyologists of the day, if it existed at all.
-And that it <i>did</i> exist was an undeniable fact; and, with that tendency
-which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvellous, we can understand
-the excitement produced in the entire world by this supernatural apparition. As
-to classing it in the list of fables, the idea was out of the question.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 20th of July, 1866, the steamer <i>Governor Higginson</i>, of the
-Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had met this moving mass five
-miles off the east coast of Australia. Captain Baker thought at first that he
-was in the presence of an unknown sandbank; he even prepared to determine its
-exact position, when two columns of water, projected by the inexplicable
-object, shot with a hissing noise a hundred and fifty feet up into the air.
-Now, unless the sandbank had been submitted to the intermittent eruption of a
-geyser, the <i>Governor Higginson</i> had to do neither more nor less than with
-an aquatic mammal, unknown till then, which threw up from its blow-holes
-columns of water mixed with air and vapour.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Similar facts were observed on the 23rd of July in the same year, in the
-Pacific Ocean, by the <i>Columbus</i>, of the West India and Pacific Steam
-Navigation Company. But this extraordinary cetaceous creature could transport
-itself from one place to another with surprising velocity; as, in an interval
-of three days, the <i>Governor Higginson</i> and the <i>Columbus</i> had
-observed it at two different points of the chart, separated by a distance of
-more than seven hundred nautical leagues.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Fifteen days later, two thousand miles farther off, the <i>Helvetia</i>, of the
-Compagnie-Nationale, and the <i>Shannon</i>, of the Royal Mail Steamship
-Company, sailing to windward in that portion of the Atlantic lying between the
-United States and Europe, respectively signalled the monster to each other in
-42° 15&#x2032; N. lat. and 60° 35&#x2032; W. long. In these simultaneous
-observations they thought themselves justified in estimating the minimum length
-of the mammal at more than three hundred and fifty feet, as the <i>Shannon</i>
-and <i>Helvetia</i> were of smaller dimensions than it, though they measured
-three hundred feet over all.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Now the largest whales, those which frequent those parts of the sea round the
-Aleutian, Kulammak, and Umgullich islands, have never exceeded the length of
-sixty yards, if they attain that.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These reports arriving one after the other, with fresh observations made on
-board the transatlantic ship <i>Pereire</i>, a collision which occurred between
-the <i>Etna</i> of the Inman line and the monster, a <i>procès verbal</i>
-directed by the officers of the French frigate <i>Normandie</i>, a very
-accurate survey made by the staff of Commodore Fitz-James on board the <i>Lord
-Clyde</i>, greatly influenced public opinion. Light-thinking people jested upon
-the phenomenon, but grave practical countries, such as England, America, and
-Germany, treated the matter more seriously.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion. They sang of it in
-the cafés, ridiculed it in the papers, and represented it on the stage. All
-kinds of stories were circulated regarding it. There appeared in the papers
-caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary creature, from the white whale, the
-terrible “Moby Dick” of hyperborean regions, to the immense kraken whose
-tentacles could entangle a ship of five hundred tons, and hurry it into the
-abyss of the ocean. The legends of ancient times were even resuscitated, and
-the opinions of Aristotle and Pliny revived, who admitted the existence of
-these monsters, as well as the Norwegian tales of Bishop Pontoppidan, the
-accounts of Paul Heggede, and, last of all, the reports of Mr. Harrington
-(whose good faith no one could suspect), who affirmed that, being on board the
-<i>Castillan</i>, in 1857, he had seen this enormous serpent, which had never
-until that time frequented any other seas but those of the ancient
-“<i>Constitutionnel</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then burst forth the interminable controversy between the credulous and the
-incredulous in the societies of savants and the scientific journals. “The
-question of the monster” inflamed all minds. Editors of scientific journals,
-quarrelling with believers in the supernatural, spilled seas of ink during this
-memorable campaign, some even drawing blood; for, from the sea-serpent they
-came to direct personalities.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For six months war was waged with various fortune in the leading articles of
-the Geographical Institution of Brazil, the Royal Academy of Science of Berlin,
-the British Association, the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, in the
-discussions of the “Indian Archipelago,” of the Cosmos of the Abbé Moigno, in
-the Mittheilungen of Petermann, in the scientific chronicles of the great
-journals of France and other countries. The cheaper journals replied keenly and
-with inexhaustible zest. These satirical writers parodied a remark of Linnæus,
-quoted by the adversaries of the monster, maintaining “that nature did not make
-fools,” and adjured their contemporaries not to give the lie to nature, by
-admitting the existence of krakens, sea-serpents, “Moby Dicks,” and other
-lucubrations of delirious sailors. At length an article in a well-known
-satirical journal by a favourite contributor, the chief of the staff, settled
-the monster, like Hippolytus, giving it the death-blow amidst an universal
-burst of laughter. Wit had conquered science.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the first months of the year 1867 the question seemed buried, never to
-revive, when new facts were brought before the public. It was then no longer a
-scientific problem to be solved, but a real danger seriously to be avoided. The
-question took quite another shape. The monster became a small island, a rock, a
-reef, but a reef of indefinite and shifting proportions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 5th of March, 1867, the <i>Moravian</i>, of the Montreal Ocean Company,
-finding herself during the night in 27° 30&#x2032; lat. and 72° 15&#x2032;
-long., struck on her starboard quarter a rock, marked in no chart for that part
-of the sea. Under the combined efforts of the wind and its four hundred
-horse-power, it was going at the rate of thirteen knots. Had it not been for
-the superior strength of the hull of the <i>Moravian</i>, she would have been
-broken by the shock and gone down with the 237 passengers she was bringing home
-from Canada.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The accident happened about five o’clock in the morning, as the day was
-breaking. The officers of the quarter-deck hurried to the after-part of the
-vessel. They examined the sea with the most scrupulous attention. They saw
-nothing but a strong eddy about three cables’ length distant, as if the surface
-had been violently agitated. The bearings of the place were taken exactly, and
-the <i>Moravian</i> continued its route without apparent damage. Had it struck
-on a submerged rock, or on an enormous wreck? they could not tell; but on
-examination of the ship’s bottom when undergoing repairs, it was found that
-part of her keel was broken.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This fact, so grave in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten like many
-others if, three weeks after, it had not been re-enacted under similar
-circumstances. But, thanks to the nationality of the victim of the shock,
-thanks to the reputation of the company to which the vessel belonged, the
-circumstance became extensively circulated.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 13th of April, 1867, the sea being beautiful, the breeze favourable, the
-<i>Scotia</i>, of the Cunard Company’s line, found herself in 15° 12&#x2032;
-long. and 45° 37&#x2032; lat. She was going at the speed of thirteen knots and
-a half.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, whilst the passengers were
-assembled at lunch in the great saloon, a slight shock was felt on the hull of
-the <i>Scotia</i>, on her quarter, a little aft of the port-paddle.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Scotia</i> had not struck, but she had been struck, and seemingly by
-something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt. The shock had been so slight
-that no one had been alarmed, had it not been for the shouts of the carpenter’s
-watch, who rushed on to the bridge, exclaiming, “We are sinking! we are
-sinking!” At first the passengers were much frightened, but Captain Anderson
-hastened to reassure them. The danger could not be imminent. The <i>Scotia</i>,
-divided into seven compartments by strong partitions, could brave with impunity
-any leak. Captain Anderson went down immediately into the hold. He found that
-the sea was pouring into the fifth compartment; and the rapidity of the influx
-proved that the force of the water was considerable. Fortunately this
-compartment did not hold the boilers, or the fires would have been immediately
-extinguished. Captain Anderson ordered the engines to be stopped at once, and
-one of the men went down to ascertain the extent of the injury. Some minutes
-afterwards they discovered the existence of a large hole, of two yards in
-diameter, in the ship’s bottom. Such a leak could not be stopped; and the
-<i>Scotia</i>, her paddles half submerged, was obliged to continue her course.
-She was then three hundred miles from Cape Clear, and after three days’ delay,
-which caused great uneasiness in Liverpool, she entered the basin of the
-company.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The engineers visited the <i>Scotia</i>, which was put in dry dock. They could
-scarcely believe it possible; at two yards and a half below water-mark was a
-regular rent, in the form of an isosceles triangle. The broken place in the
-iron plates was so perfectly defined that it could not have been more neatly
-done by a punch. It was clear, then, that the instrument producing the
-perforation was not of a common stamp; and after having been driven with
-prodigious strength, and piercing an iron plate 1-3/8 inches thick, had
-withdrawn itself by a retrograde motion truly inexplicable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Such was the last fact, which resulted in exciting once more the torrent of
-public opinion. From this moment all unlucky casualties which could not be
-otherwise accounted for were put down to the monster. Upon this imaginary
-creature rested the responsibility of all these shipwrecks, which unfortunately
-were considerable; for of three thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded
-at Lloyd’s, the number of sailing and steam ships supposed to be totally lost,
-from the absence of all news, amounted to not less than two hundred!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Now, it was the “monster” who, justly or unjustly, was accused of their
-disappearance, and, thanks to it, communication between the different
-continents became more and more dangerous. The public demanded peremptorily
-that the seas should at any price be relieved from this formidable cetacean.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II<br/>
-PRO AND CON</h2>
-
-<p>
-At the period when these events took place, I had just returned from a
-scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the United
-States. In virtue of my office as Assistant Professor in the Museum of Natural
-History in Paris, the French Government had attached me to that expedition.
-After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York towards the end of March,
-laden with a precious collection. My departure for France was fixed for the
-first days in May. Meanwhile, I was occupying myself in classifying my
-mineralogical, botanical, and zoological riches, when the accident happened to
-the <i>Scotia</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day. How could
-I be otherwise? I had read and re-read all the American and European papers
-without being any nearer a conclusion. This mystery puzzled me. Under the
-impossibility of forming an opinion, I jumped from one extreme to the other.
-That there really was something could not be doubted, and the incredulous were
-invited to put their finger on the wound of the <i>Scotia</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On my arrival at New York the question was at its height. The hypothesis of the
-floating island, and the unapproachable sandbank, supported by minds little
-competent to form a judgment, was abandoned. And, indeed, unless this shoal had
-a machine in its stomach, how could it change its position with such
-astonishing rapidity?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enormous wreck was given
-up.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There remained then only two possible solutions of the question, which created
-two distinct parties: on one side, those who were for a monster of colossal
-strength; on the other, those who were for a submarine vessel of enormous
-motive power.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But this last hypothesis, plausible as it was, could not stand against
-inquiries made in both worlds. That a private gentleman should have such a
-machine at his command was not likely. Where, when, and how was it built? and
-how could its construction have been kept secret? Certainly a Government might
-possess such a destructive machine. And in these disastrous times, when the
-ingenuity of man has multiplied the power of weapons of war, it was possible
-that, without the knowledge of others, a state might try to work such a
-formidable engine. After the chassepots came the torpedoes, after the torpedoes
-the submarine rams, then—the reaction. At least, I hope so.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But the hypothesis of a war machine fell before the declaration of Governments.
-As public interest was in question, and transatlantic communications suffered,
-their veracity could not be doubted. But, how admit that the construction of
-this submarine boat had escaped the public eye? For a private gentleman to keep
-the secret under such circumstances would be very difficult, and for a state
-whose every act is persistently watched by powerful rivals, certainly
-impossible.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After inquiries made in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy, and
-America, even in Turkey, the hypothesis of a submarine monitor was definitely
-rejected.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honour of consulting me
-on the phenomenon in question. I had published in France a work in quarto, in
-two volumes, entitled “Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.” This book,
-highly approved of in the learned world, gained for me a special reputation in
-this rather obscure branch of Natural History. My advice was asked. As long as
-I could deny the reality of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative.
-But soon, finding myself driven into a corner, I was obliged to explain myself
-categorically. And even “the Honourable Pierre Aronnax, Professor in the Museum
-of Paris,” was called upon by the <i>New York Herald</i> to express a definite
-opinion of some sort. I did something. I spoke, for want of power to hold my
-tongue. I discussed the question in all its forms, politically and
-scientifically; and I give here an extract from a carefully-studied article
-which I published in the number of the 30th of April. It ran as follows:—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“After examining one by one the different hypotheses, rejecting all other
-suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence of a marine animal of
-enormous power.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us. Soundings cannot
-reach them. What passes in those remote depths—what beings live, or can live,
-twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the waters—what is the
-organisation of these animals, we can scarcely conjecture. However, the
-solution of the problem submitted to me may modify the form of the dilemma.
-Either we do know all the varieties of beings which people our planet, or we do
-not. If we do <i>not</i> know them all—if Nature has still secrets in
-ichthyology for us, nothing is more conformable to reason than to admit the
-existence of fishes, or cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species, of an
-organisation formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings, and which
-an accident of some sort, either fatastical or capricious, has brought at long
-intervals to the upper level of the ocean.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If, on the contrary, we <i>do</i> know all living kinds, we must necessarily
-seek for the animal in question amongst those marine beings already classed;
-and, in that case, I should be disposed to admit the existence of a gigantic
-narwhal.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of sixty
-feet. Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength proportionate to
-its size, lengthen its destructive weapons, and you obtain the animal required.
-It will have the proportions determined by the officers of the <i>Shannon</i>,
-the instrument required by the perforation of the <i>Scotia</i>, and the power
-necessary to pierce the hull of the steamer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword, a halberd, according
-to the expression of certain naturalists. The principal tusk has the hardness
-of steel. Some of these tusks have been found buried in the bodies of whales,
-which the unicorn always attacks with success. Others have been drawn out, not
-without trouble, from the bottoms of ships, which they had pierced through and
-through, as a gimlet pierces a barrel. The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of
-Paris possesses one of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in
-length, and fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger and the animal ten
-times more powerful; launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and you
-obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required. Until further
-information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be a sea-unicorn of colossal
-dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as the armoured
-frigates, or the �rams’ of war, whose massiveness and motive power it would
-possess at the same time. Thus may this puzzling phenomenon be explained,
-unless there be something over and above all that one has ever conjectured,
-seen, perceived, or experienced; which is just within the bounds of
-possibility.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a certain point, I wished
-to shelter my dignity as Professor, and not give too much cause for laughter to
-the Americans, who laugh well when they do laugh.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I reserved for myself a way of escape. In effect, however, I admitted the
-existence of the “monster.” My article was warmly discussed, which procured it
-a high reputation. It rallied round it a certain number of partisans. The
-solution it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to the imagination. The human
-mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings. And the sea is
-precisely their best vehicle, the only medium through which these giants
-(against which terrestrial animals, such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as
-nothing) can be produced or developed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this
-point of view. The <i>Shipping and Mercantile Gazette</i>, the <i>Lloyd’s
-List</i>, the <i>Packet-Boat</i>, and the <i>Maritime and Colonial Review</i>,
-all papers devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates
-of premium, were unanimous on this point. Public opinion had been pronounced.
-The United States were the first in the field; and in New York they made
-preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this narwhal. A frigate of
-great speed, the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, was put in commission as soon as
-possible. The arsenals were opened to Commander Farragut, who hastened the
-arming of his frigate; but, as it always happens, the moment it was decided to
-pursue the monster, the monster did not appear. For two months no one heard it
-spoken of. No ship met with it. It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots
-weaving around it. It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic
-cable, that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on
-its passage and was making the most of it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided with
-formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to pursue.
-Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned that a steamer of
-the line of San Francisco, from California to Shanghai, had seen the animal
-three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean. The excitement caused by this
-news was extreme. The ship was revictualled and well stocked with coal.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Three hours before the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> left Brooklyn pier, I received a
-letter worded as follows:—
-</p>
-
-<div class="letter">
-
-<p>
-“To M. A<small>RONNAX</small>, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue
-Hotel, New York.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“S<small>IR</small>,—If you will consent to join the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> in
-this expedition, the Government of the United States will with pleasure see
-France represented in the enterprise. Commander Farragut has a cabin at your
-disposal.
-</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="right">
-“Very cordially yours,                    <br/>
-“J.B. H<small>OBSON</small>,          <br/>
-“Secretary of Marine.”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III<br/>
-I FORM MY RESOLUTION</h2>
-
-<p>
-Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson’s letter, I no more thought of
-pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the North Sea. Three
-seconds after reading the letter of the honourable Secretary of Marine, I felt
-that my true vocation, the sole end of my life, was to chase this disturbing
-monster, and purge it from the world.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey, weary and longing for repose.
-I aspired to nothing more than again seeing my country, my friends, my little
-lodging by the Jardin des Plantes, my dear and precious collections. But
-nothing could keep me back! I forgot all—fatigue, friends and collections—and
-accepted without hesitation the offer of the American Government.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Besides,” thought I, “all roads lead back to Europe (for my particular
-benefit), and I will not hurry me towards the coast of France. This worthy
-animal may allow itself to be caught in the seas of Europe (for my particular
-benefit), and I will not bring back less than half a yard of his ivory halberd
-to the Museum of Natural History.” But in the meanwhile I must seek this
-narwhal in the North Pacific Ocean, which, to return to France, was taking the
-road to the antipodes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Conseil,” I called in an impatient voice.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil was my servant, a true, devoted Flemish boy, who had accompanied me in
-all my travels. I liked him, and he returned the liking well. He was phlegmatic
-by nature, regular from principle, zealous from habit, evincing little
-disturbance at the different surprises of life, very quick with his hands, and
-apt at any service required of him; and, despite his name, never giving
-advice—even when asked for it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil had followed me for the last ten years wherever science led. Never once
-did he complain of the length or fatigue of a journey, never make an objection
-to pack his portmanteau for whatever country it might be, or however far away,
-whether China or Congo. Besides all this, he had good health, which defied all
-sickness, and solid muscles, but no nerves; good morals are understood. This
-boy was thirty years old, and his age to that of his master as fifteen to
-twenty. May I be excused for saying that I was forty years old?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But Conseil had one fault: he was ceremonious to a degree, and would never
-speak to me but in the third person, which was sometimes provoking.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Conseil,” said I again, beginning with feverish hands to make preparations for
-my departure.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Certainly I was sure of this devoted boy. As a rule, I never asked him if it
-were convenient for him or not to follow me in my travels; but this time the
-expedition in question might be prolonged, and the enterprise might be
-hazardous in pursuit of an animal capable of sinking a frigate as easily as a
-nutshell. Here there was matter for reflection even to the most impassive man
-in the world. What would Conseil say?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Conseil,” I called a third time.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil appeared.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Did you call, sir?” said he, entering.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, my boy; make preparations for me and yourself too. We leave in two
-hours.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you please, sir,” replied Conseil, quietly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not an instant to lose;—lock in my trunk all travelling utensils, coats,
-shirts, and stockings—without counting, as many as you can, and make haste.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And your collections, sir?” observed Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We will think of them by and by.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What! the archiotherium, the hyracotherium, the oreodons, the cheropotamus,
-and the other skins?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They will keep them at the hotel.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And your live Babiroussa, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They will feed it during our absence; besides, I will give orders to forward
-our menagerie to France.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are not returning to Paris, then?” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh! certainly,” I answered, evasively, “by making a curve.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will the curve please you, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh! it will be nothing; not quite so direct a road, that is all. We take our
-passage in the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you think proper, sir,” coolly replied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You see, my friend, it has to do with the monster—the famous narwhal. We are
-going to purge it from the seas. The author of a work in quarto in two volumes,
-on the �Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds’ cannot forbear embarking with
-Commander Farragut. A glorious mission, but a dangerous one! We cannot tell
-where we may go; these animals can be very capricious. But we will go whether
-or no; we have got a captain who is pretty wide-awake.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I opened a credit account for Babiroussa, and, Conseil following, I jumped into
-a cab. Our luggage was transported to the deck of the frigate immediately. I
-hastened on board and asked for Commander Farragut. One of the sailors
-conducted me to the poop, where I found myself in the presence of a
-good-looking officer, who held out his hand to me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Monsieur Pierre Aronnax?” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Himself,” replied I; “Commander Farragut?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are welcome, Professor; your cabin is ready for you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I bowed, and desired to be conducted to the cabin destined for me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> had been well chosen and equipped for her new
-destination. She was a frigate of great speed, fitted with high-pressure
-engines which admitted a pressure of seven atmospheres. Under this the
-<i>Abraham Lincoln</i> attained the mean speed of nearly eighteen knots and a
-third an hour—a considerable speed, but, nevertheless, insufficient to grapple
-with this gigantic cetacean.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The interior arrangements of the frigate corresponded to its nautical
-qualities. I was well satisfied with my cabin, which was in the after part,
-opening upon the gunroom.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We shall be well off here,” said I to Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As well, by your honour’s leave, as a hermit-crab in the shell of a whelk,”
-said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I left Conseil to stow our trunks conveniently away, and remounted the poop in
-order to survey the preparations for departure.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings to be cast
-loose which held the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> to the pier of Brooklyn. So in a
-quarter of an hour, perhaps less, the frigate would have sailed without me. I
-should have missed this extraordinary, supernatural, and incredible expedition,
-the recital of which may well meet with some scepticism.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But Commander Farragut would not lose a day nor an hour in scouring the seas in
-which the animal had been sighted. He sent for the engineer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is the steam full on?” asked he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir,” replied the engineer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Go ahead,” cried Commander Farragut.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The quay of Brooklyn, and all that part of New York bordering on the East
-River, was crowded with spectators. Three cheers burst successively from five
-hundred thousand throats; thousands of handkerchiefs were waved above the heads
-of the compact mass, saluting the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, until she reached the
-waters of the Hudson, at the point of that elongated peninsula which forms the
-town of New York. Then the frigate, following the coast of New Jersey along the
-right bank of the beautiful river, covered with villas, passed between the
-forts, which saluted her with their heaviest guns. The <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>
-answered by hoisting the American colours three times, whose thirty-nine stars
-shone resplendent from the mizzen-peak; then modifying its speed to take the
-narrow channel marked by buoys placed in the inner bay formed by Sandy Hook
-Point, it coasted the long sandy beach, where some thousands of spectators gave
-it one final cheer. The escort of boats and tenders still followed the frigate,
-and did not leave her until they came abreast of the lightship, whose two
-lights marked the entrance of New York Channel.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Six bells struck, the pilot got into his boat, and rejoined the little schooner
-which was waiting under our lee, the fires were made up, the screw beat the
-waves more rapidly, the frigate skirted the low yellow coast of Long Island;
-and at eight bells, after having lost sight in the north-west of the lights of
-Fire Island, she ran at full steam on to the dark waters of the Atlantic.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV<br/>
-NED LAND</h2>
-
-<p>
-Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded. His
-vessel and he were one. He was the soul of it. On the question of the cetacean
-there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow the existence of the
-animal to be disputed on board. He believed in it, as certain good women
-believe in the leviathan—by faith, not by reason. The monster did exist, and he
-had sworn to rid the seas of it. He was a kind of Knight of Rhodes, a second
-Dieudonné de Gozon, going to meet the serpent which desolated the island.
-Either Captain Farragut would kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the
-captain. There was no third course.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief. They were ever
-chatting, discussing, and calculating the various chances of a meeting,
-watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean. More than one took up his
-quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees, who would have cursed such a berth
-under any other circumstances. As long as the sun described its daily course,
-the rigging was crowded with sailors, whose feet were burnt to such an extent
-by the heat of the deck as to render it unbearable; still the <i>Abraham
-Lincoln</i> had not yet breasted the suspected waters of the Pacific. As to the
-ship’s company, they desired nothing better than to meet the unicorn, to
-harpoon it, hoist it on board, and despatch it. They watched the sea with eager
-attention.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Besides, Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand dollars,
-set apart for whoever should first sight the monster, were he cabin-boy, common
-seaman, or officer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For my own part I was not behind the others, and left to no one my share of
-daily observations. The frigate might have been called the <i>Argus</i>, for a
-hundred reasons. Only one amongst us, Conseil, seemed to protest by his
-indifference against the question which so interested us all, and seemed to be
-out of keeping with the general enthusiasm on board.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his ship with every
-apparatus for catching the gigantic cetacean. No whaler had ever been better
-armed. We possessed every known engine, from the harpoon thrown by the hand to
-the barbed arrows of the blunderbuss, and the explosive balls of the duck-gun.
-On the forecastle lay the perfection of a breech-loading gun, very thick at the
-breech, and very narrow in the bore, the model of which had been in the
-Exhibition of 1867. This precious weapon of American origin could throw with
-ease a conical projectile of nine pounds to a mean distance of ten miles.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Thus the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> wanted for no means of destruction; and, what
-was better still, she had on board Ned Land, the prince of harpooners.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land was a Canadian, with an uncommon quickness of hand, and who knew no
-equal in his dangerous occupation. Skill, coolness, audacity, and cunning he
-possessed in a superior degree, and it must be a cunning whale or a singularly
-“cute” cachalot to escape the stroke of his harpoon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man (more than six feet
-high), strongly built, grave and taciturn, occasionally violent, and very
-passionate when contradicted. His person attracted attention, but above all the
-boldness of his look, which gave a singular expression to his face.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French; and, little communicative as
-Ned Land was, I must admit that he took a certain liking for me. My nationality
-drew him to me, no doubt. It was an opportunity for him to talk, and for me to
-hear, that old language of Rabelais, which is still in use in some Canadian
-provinces. The harpooner’s family was originally from Quebec, and was already a
-tribe of hardy fishermen when this town belonged to France.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I loved to hear
-the recital of his adventures in the polar seas. He related his fishing, and
-his combats, with natural poetry of expression; his recital took the form of an
-epic poem, and I seemed to be listening to a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad
-of the regions of the North.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him. We are old friends
-now, united in that unchangeable friendship which is born and cemented amidst
-extreme dangers. Ah, brave Ned! I ask no more than to live a hundred years
-longer, that I may have more time to dwell the longer on your memory.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Now, what was Ned Land’s opinion upon the question of the marine monster? I
-must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn, and was the only one on
-board who did not share that universal conviction. He even avoided the subject,
-which I one day thought it my duty to press upon him. One magnificent evening,
-the 30th of July—that is to say, three weeks after our departure—the frigate
-was abreast of Cape Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia.
-We had crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and the Straits of Magellan opened less
-than seven hundred miles to the south. Before eight days were over the
-<i>Abraham Lincoln</i> would be ploughing the waters of the Pacific.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Seated on the poop, Ned Land and I were chatting of one thing and another as we
-looked at this mysterious sea, whose great depths had up to this time been
-inaccessible to the eye of man. I naturally led up the conversation to the
-giant unicorn, and examined the various chances of success or failure of the
-expedition. But, seeing that Ned Land let me speak without saying too much
-himself, I pressed him more closely.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Ned,” said I, “is it possible that you are not convinced of the
-existence of this cetacean that we are following? Have you any particular
-reason for being so incredulous?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The harpooner looked at me fixedly for some moments before answering, struck
-his broad forehead with his hand (a habit of his), as if to collect himself,
-and said at last, “Perhaps I have, Mr. Aronnax.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, Ned, you, a whaler by profession, familiarised with all the great marine
-mammalia—you, whose imagination might easily accept the hypothesis of enormous
-cetaceans, <i>you</i> ought to be the last to doubt under such circumstances!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is just what deceives you, Professor,” replied Ned. “That the vulgar
-should believe in extraordinary comets traversing space, and in the existence
-of antediluvian monsters in the heart of the globe, may well be; but neither
-astronomer nor geologist believes in such chimeras. As a whaler I have followed
-many a cetacean, harpooned a great number, and killed several; but, however
-strong or well-armed they may have been, neither their tails nor their weapons
-would have been able even to scratch the iron plates of a steamer.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, Ned, they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal have pierced
-through and through.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Wooden ships—that is possible,” replied the Canadian, “but I have never seen
-it done; and, until further proof, I deny that whales, cetaceans, or
-sea-unicorns could ever produce the effect you describe.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction resting on the logic of facts. I
-believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised, belonging to the
-branch of vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots, or the dolphins, and
-furnished with a horn of defence of great penetrating power.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Hum!” said the harpooner, shaking his head with the air of a man who would not
-be convinced.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Notice one thing, my worthy Canadian,” I resumed. “If such an animal is in
-existence, if it inhabits the depths of the ocean, if it frequents the strata
-lying miles below the surface of the water, it must necessarily possess an
-organisation the strength of which would defy all comparison.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And why this powerful organisation?” demanded Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Because it requires incalculable strength to keep one’s self in these strata
-and resist their pressure. Listen to me. Let us admit that the pressure of the
-atmosphere is represented by the weight of a column of water thirty-two feet
-high. In reality the column of water would be shorter, as we are speaking of
-sea water, the density of which is greater than that of fresh water. Very well,
-when you dive, Ned, as many times thirty-two feet of water as there are above
-you, so many times does your body bear a pressure equal to that of the
-atmosphere, that is to say, 15 lbs. for each square inch of its surface. It
-follows, then, that at 320 feet this pressure = that of 10 atmospheres, of 100
-atmospheres at 3200 feet, and of 1000 atmospheres at 32,000 feet, that is,
-about 6 miles; which is equivalent to saying that if you could attain this
-depth in the ocean, each square three-eighths of an inch of the surface of your
-body would bear a pressure of 5600 lbs. Ah! my brave Ned, do you know how many
-square inches you carry on the surface of your body?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have no idea, Mr. Aronnax.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“About 6500; and, as in reality the atmospheric pressure is about 15 lbs. to
-the square inch, your 6500 square inches bear at this moment a pressure of
-97,500 lbs.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Without my perceiving it?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Without your perceiving it. And if you are not crushed by such a pressure, it
-is because the air penetrates the interior of your body with equal pressure.
-Hence perfect equilibrium between the interior and exterior pressure, which
-thus neutralise each other, and which allows you to bear it without
-inconvenience. But in the water it is another thing.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, I understand,” replied Ned, becoming more attentive; “because the water
-surrounds me, but does not penetrate.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Precisely, Ned: so that at 32 feet beneath the surface of the sea you would
-undergo a pressure of 97,500 lbs.; at 320 feet, ten times that pressure; at
-3200 feet, a hundred times that pressure; lastly, at 32,000 feet, a thousand
-times that pressure would be 97,500,000 lbs.—that is to say, that you would be
-flattened as if you had been drawn from the plates of a hydraulic machine!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The devil!” exclaimed Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well, my worthy harpooner, if some vertebrate, several hundred yards
-long, and large in proportion, can maintain itself in such depths—of those
-whose surface is represented by millions of square inches, that is by tens of
-millions of pounds, we must estimate the pressure they undergo. Consider, then,
-what must be the resistance of their bony structure, and the strength of their
-organisation to withstand such pressure!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why!” exclaimed Ned Land, “they must be made of iron plates eight inches
-thick, like the armoured frigates.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you say, Ned. And think what destruction such a mass would cause, if hurled
-with the speed of an express train against the hull of a vessel.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes—certainly—perhaps,” replied the Canadian, shaken by these figures, but not
-yet willing to give in.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, have I convinced you?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You have convinced me of one thing, sir, which is that, if such animals do
-exist at the bottom of the seas, they must necessarily be as strong as you
-say.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But if they do not exist, mine obstinate harpooner, how explain the accident
-to the <i>Scotia?</i>”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V<br/>
-AT A VENTURE</h2>
-
-<p>
-The voyage of the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> was for a long time marked by no
-special incident. But one circumstance happened which showed the wonderful
-dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence we might place in him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers, from whom we learned
-that they knew nothing about the narwhal. But one of them, the captain of the
-<i>Monroe</i>, knowing that Ned Land had shipped on board the <i>Abraham
-Lincoln</i>, begged for his help in chasing a whale they had in sight.
-Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing Ned Land at work, gave him permission to
-go on board the <i>Monroe</i>. And fate served our Canadian so well that,
-instead of one whale, he harpooned two with a double blow, striking one
-straight to the heart, and catching the other after some minutes’ pursuit.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land’s harpoon, I would not
-bet in its favour.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great rapidity. The
-3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of Magellan, level with Cape
-Vierges. But Commander Farragut would not take a tortuous passage, but doubled
-Cape Horn.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The ship’s crew agreed with him. And certainly it was possible that they might
-meet the narwhal in this narrow pass. Many of the sailors affirmed that the
-monster could not pass there, “that he was too big for that!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 6th of July, about three o’clock in the afternoon, the <i>Abraham
-Lincoln</i>, at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island, this
-lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which some Dutch
-sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn. The course was taken
-towards the north-west, and the next day the screw of the frigate was at last
-beating the waters of the Pacific.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Keep your eyes open!” called out the sailors.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And they were opened widely. Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled, it is
-true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not an instant’s repose. Day
-and night they watched the surface of the ocean, and even nyctalopes, whose
-faculty of seeing in the darkness multiplies their chances a hundredfold, would
-have had enough to do to gain the prize.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least attentive on board.
-Giving but few minutes to my meals, but a few hours to sleep, indifferent to
-either rain or sunshine, I did not leave the poop of the vessel. Now leaning on
-the netting of the forecastle, now on the taffrail, I devoured with eagerness
-the soft foam which whitened the sea as far as the eye could reach; and how
-often have I shared the emotion of the majority of the crew, when some
-capricious whale raised its black back above the waves! The poop of the vessel
-was crowded in a moment. The cabins poured forth a torrent of sailors and
-officers, each with heaving breast and troubled eye watching the course of the
-cetacean. I looked and looked, till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil, always
-phlegmatic, kept repeating in a calm voice:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But vain excitement! The <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> checked its speed and made for
-the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot, which soon
-disappeared amidst a storm of execration.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But the weather was good. The voyage was being accomplished under the most
-favourable auspices. It was then the bad season in Australia, the July of that
-zone corresponding to our January in Europe, but the sea was beautiful and
-easily scanned round a vast circumference.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105° of longitude, and the
-27th of the same month we crossed the equator on the 110th meridian. This
-passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly direction, and scoured the
-central waters of the Pacific. Commander Farragut thought, and with reason,
-that it was better to remain in deep water, and keep clear of continents or
-islands, which the beast itself seemed to shun (perhaps because there was not
-enough water for him! suggested the greater part of the crew). The frigate
-passed at some distance from the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed
-the tropic of Cancer, and made for the China Seas. We were on the theatre of
-the last diversions of the monster: and, to say truth, we no longer
-<i>lived</i> on board. Hearts palpitated, fearfully preparing themselves for
-future incurable aneurism. The entire ship’s crew were undergoing a nervous
-excitement, of which I can give no idea: they could not eat, they could not
-sleep—twenty times a day, a misconception or an optical illusion of some sailor
-seated on the taffrail, would cause dreadful perspirations, and these emotions,
-twenty times repeated, kept us in a state of excitement so violent that a
-reaction was unavoidable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And truly, reaction soon showed itself. For three months, during which a day
-seemed an age, the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> furrowed all the waters of the
-Northern Pacific, running at whales, making sharp deviations from her course,
-veering suddenly from one tack to another, stopping suddenly, putting on steam,
-and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging her machinery, and not one
-point of the Japanese or American coast was left unexplored.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most ardent detractors.
-Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself, and certainly, had it
-not been for resolute determination on the part of Captain Farragut, the
-frigate would have headed due southward. This useless search could not last
-much longer. The <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> had nothing to reproach herself with,
-she had done her best to succeed. Never had an American ship’s crew shown more
-zeal or patience; its failure could not be placed to their charge—there
-remained nothing but to return.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This was represented to the commander. The sailors could not hide their
-discontent, and the service suffered. I will not say there was a mutiny on
-board, but after a reasonable period of obstinacy, Captain Farragut (as
-Columbus did) asked for three days’ patience. If in three days the monster did
-not appear, the man at the helm should give three turns of the wheel, and the
-<i>Abraham Lincoln</i> would make for the European seas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This promise was made on the 2nd of November. It had the effect of rallying the
-ship’s crew. The ocean was watched with renewed attention. Each one wished for
-a last glance in which to sum up his remembrance. Glasses were used with
-feverish activity. It was a grand defiance given to the giant narwhal, and he
-could scarcely fail to answer the summons and “appear.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure; a thousand schemes were tried
-to attract the attention and stimulate the apathy of the animal in case it
-should be met in those parts. Large quantities of bacon were trailed in the
-wake of the ship, to the great satisfaction (I must say) of the sharks. Small
-craft radiated in all directions round the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> as she lay
-to, and did not leave a spot of the sea unexplored. But the night of the 4th of
-November arrived without the unveiling of this submarine mystery.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would (morally
-speaking) expire; after that time, Commander Farragut, faithful to his promise,
-was to turn the course to the south-east and abandon for ever the northern
-regions of the Pacific.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The frigate was then in 31° 15&#x2032; north latitude and 136° 42&#x2032; east
-longitude. The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles to
-leeward. Night was approaching. They had just struck eight bells; large clouds
-veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter. The sea undulated
-peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting. Conseil,
-standing near me, was looking straight before him. The crew, perched in the
-ratlines, examined the horizon, which contracted and darkened by degrees.
-Officers with their night glasses scoured the growing darkness; sometimes the
-ocean sparkled under the rays of the moon, which darted between two clouds,
-then all trace of light was lost in the darkness.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little of the general
-influence. At least I thought so. Perhaps for the first time his nerves
-vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Come, Conseil,” said I, “this is the last chance of pocketing the two thousand
-dollars.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“May I be permitted to say, sir,” replied Conseil, “that I never reckoned on
-getting the prize; and, had the government of the Union offered a hundred
-thousand dollars, it would have been none the poorer.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are right, Conseil. It is a foolish affair after all, and one upon which
-we entered too lightly. What time lost, what useless emotions! We should have
-been back in France six months ago.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In your little room, sir,” replied Conseil, “and in your museum, sir, and I
-should have already classed all your fossils, sir. And the Babiroussa would
-have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des Plantes, and have drawn all
-the curious people of the capital!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you say, Conseil. I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being laughed at
-for our pains.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That’s tolerably certain,” replied Conseil, quietly; “I think they will make
-fun of you, sir. And, must I say it?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Go on, my good friend.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir, you will only get your deserts.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Indeed!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“When one has the honour of being a savant as you are, sir, one should not
-expose one’s self to——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil had not time to finish his compliment. In the midst of general silence
-a voice had just been heard. It was the voice of Ned Land shouting—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Look out there! The very thing we are looking for—on our weather beam!”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI<br/>
-AT FULL STEAM</h2>
-
-<p>
-At this cry the whole ship’s crew hurried towards the harpooner,—commander,
-officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the engineers left their engines,
-and the stokers their furnaces.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The order to stop her had been given, and the frigate now simply went on by her
-own momentum. The darkness was then profound, and however good the Canadian’s
-eyes were, I asked myself how he had managed to see, and what he had been able
-to see. My heart beat as if it would break. But Ned Land was not mistaken, and
-we all perceived the object he pointed to. At two cables’ length from the
-<i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, on the starboard quarter, the sea seemed to be
-illuminated all over. It was not a mere phosphoric phenomenon. The monster
-emerged some fathoms from the water, and then threw out that very intense but
-inexplicable light mentioned in the report of several captains. This
-magnificent irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great
-<i>shining</i> power. The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval, much
-elongated, the centre of which condensed a burning heat, whose overpowering
-brilliancy died out by successive gradations.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is only an agglomeration of phosphoric particles,” cried one of the
-officers.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir, certainly not,” I replied. “Never did pholades or salpæ produce such
-a powerful light. That brightness is of an essentially electrical nature.
-Besides, see, see! it moves; it is moving forwards, backwards; it is darting
-towards us!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A general cry rose from the frigate.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Silence!” said the Captain; “up with the helm, reverse the engines.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The steam was shut off, and the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, beating to port,
-described a semicircle.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Right the helm, go ahead,” cried the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These orders were executed, and the frigate moved rapidly from the burning
-light.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was mistaken. She tried to sheer off, but the supernatural animal approached
-with a velocity double her own.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We gasped for breath. Stupefaction more than fear made us dumb and motionless.
-The animal gained on us, sporting with the waves. It made the round of the
-frigate, which was then making fourteen knots, and enveloped it with its
-electric rings like luminous dust. Then it moved away two or three miles,
-leaving a phosphorescent track, like those volumes of steam that the express
-trains leave behind. All at once from the dark line of the horizon whither it
-retired to gain its momentum, the monster rushed suddenly towards the
-<i>Abraham Lincoln</i> with alarming rapidity, stopped suddenly about twenty
-feet from the hull, and died out,—not diving under the water, for its
-brilliancy did not abate,—but suddenly, and as if the source of this brilliant
-emanation was exhausted. Then it reappeared on the other side of the vessel, as
-if it had turned and slid under the hull. Any moment a collision might have
-occurred which would have been fatal to us. However, I was astonished at the
-manœuvres of the frigate. She fled and did not attack.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the captain’s face, generally so impassive, was an expression of
-unaccountable astonishment.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Mr. Aronnax,” he said, “I do not know with what formidable being I have to
-deal, and I will not imprudently risk my frigate in the midst of this darkness.
-Besides, how attack this unknown thing, how defend one’s self from it? Wait for
-daylight, and the scene will change.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You have no further doubt, captain, of the nature of the animal?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir; it is evidently a gigantic narwhal, and an electric one.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perhaps,” added I, “one can only approach it with a gymnotus or a torpedo.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Undoubtedly,” replied the captain, “if it possesses such dreadful power, it is
-the most terrible animal that ever was created. That is why, sir, I must be on
-my guard.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The crew were on their feet all night. No one thought of sleep. The <i>Abraham
-Lincoln</i>, not being able to struggle with such velocity, had moderated its
-pace, and sailed at half speed. For its part, the narwhal, imitating the
-frigate, let the waves rock it at will, and seemed decided not to leave the
-scene of the struggle. Towards midnight, however, it disappeared, or, to use a
-more appropriate term, it “died out” like a large glow-worm. Had it fled? One
-could only fear, not hope. But at seven minutes to one o’clock in the morning a
-deafening whistling was heard, like that produced by a body of water rushing
-with great violence.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The captain, Ned Land, and I, were then on the poop, eagerly peering through
-the profound darkness.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ned Land,” asked the commander, “you have often heard the roaring of whales?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Often, sir; but never such whales the sight of which brought me in two
-thousand dollars. If I can only approach within four harpoon lengths of it!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But to approach it,” said the commander, “I ought to put a whaler at your
-disposal?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That will be trifling with the lives of my men.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And mine too,” simply said the harpooner.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Towards two o’clock in the morning, the burning light reappeared, not less
-intense, about five miles to windward of the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>.
-Notwithstanding the distance, and the noise of the wind and sea, one heard
-distinctly the loud strokes of the animal’s tail, and even its panting breath.
-It seemed that, at the moment that the enormous narwhal had come to take breath
-at the surface of the water, the air was engulfed in its lungs, like the steam
-in the vast cylinders of a machine of two thousand horse-power.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Hum!” thought I, “a whale with the strength of a cavalry regiment would be a
-pretty whale!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were on the <i>qui vive</i> till daylight, and prepared for the combat. The
-fishing implements were laid along the hammock nettings. The second lieutenant
-loaded the blunderbusses, which could throw harpoons to the distance of a mile,
-and long duck-guns, with explosive bullets, which inflicted mortal wounds even
-to the most terrible animals. Ned Land contented himself with sharpening his
-harpoon—a terrible weapon in his hands.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At six o’clock day began to break; and, with the first glimmer of light, the
-electric light of the narwhal disappeared. At seven o’clock the day was
-sufficiently advanced, but a very thick sea fog obscured our view, and the best
-spy-glasses could not pierce it. That caused disappointment and anger.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I climbed the mizzen-mast. Some officers were already perched on the mast
-heads. At eight o’clock the fog lay heavily on the waves, and its thick scrolls
-rose little by little. The horizon grew wider and clearer at the same time.
-Suddenly, just as on the day before, Ned Land’s voice was heard:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The thing itself on the port quarter!” cried the harpooner.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Every eye was turned towards the point indicated. There, a mile and a half from
-the frigate, a long blackish body emerged a yard above the waves. Its tail,
-violently agitated, produced a considerable eddy. Never did a caudal appendage
-beat the sea with such violence. An immense track, of dazzling whiteness,
-marked the passage of the animal, and described a long curve.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The frigate approached the cetacean. I examined it thoroughly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The reports of the <i>Shannon</i> and of the <i>Helvetia</i> had rather
-exaggerated its size, and I estimated its length at only two hundred and fifty
-feet. As to its dimensions, I could only conjecture them to be admirably
-proportioned. While I watched this phenomenon, two jets of steam and water were
-ejected from its vents, and rose to the height of 120 feet; thus I ascertained
-its way of breathing. I concluded definitely that it belonged to the vertebrate
-branch, class mammalia.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The crew waited impatiently for their chief’s orders. The latter, after having
-observed the animal attentively, called the engineer. The engineer ran to him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said the commander, “you have steam up?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir,” answered the engineer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, make up your fires and put on all steam.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Three hurrahs greeted this order. The time for the struggle had arrived. Some
-moments after, the two funnels of the frigate vomited torrents of black smoke,
-and the bridge quaked under the trembling of the boilers.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, propelled by her wonderful screw, went straight at
-the animal. The latter allowed it to come within half a cable’s length; then,
-as if disdaining to dive, it took a little turn, and stopped a short distance
-off.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This pursuit lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour, without the frigate
-gaining two yards on the cetacean. It was quite evident that at that rate we
-should never come up with it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Mr. Land,” asked the captain, “do you advise me to put the boats out to
-sea?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir,” replied Ned Land; “because we shall not take that beast easily.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What shall we do then?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Put on more steam if you can, sir. With your leave, I mean to post myself
-under the bowsprit, and if we get within harpooning distance, I shall throw my
-harpoon.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Go, Ned,” said the captain. “Engineer, put on more pressure.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land went to his post. The fires were increased, the screw revolved
-forty-three times a minute, and the steam poured out of the valves. We heaved
-the log, and calculated that the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> was going at the rate
-of 18½ miles an hour.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But the accursed animal swam too at the rate of 18½ miles an hour.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For a whole hour, the frigate kept up this pace, without gaining six feet. It
-was humiliating for one of the swiftest sailers in the American navy. A
-stubborn anger seized the crew; the sailors abused the monster, who, as before,
-disdained to answer them; the captain no longer contented himself with twisting
-his beard—he gnawed it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The engineer was again called.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You have turned full steam in?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir,” replied the engineer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The speed of the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> increased. Its masts trembled down to
-their stepping holes, and the clouds of smoke could hardly find way out of the
-narrow funnels.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-They heaved the log a second time.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well?” asked the captain of the man at the wheel.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nineteen miles and three-tenths, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Clap on more steam.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The engineer obeyed. The manometer showed ten degrees. But the cetacean grew
-warm itself, no doubt; for without straining itself, it made 19-3/10 miles.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What a pursuit! No, I cannot describe the emotion that vibrated through me. Ned
-Land kept his post, harpoon in hand. Several times the animal let us gain upon
-it.—“We shall catch it! we shall catch it!” cried the Canadian. But just as he
-was going to strike, the cetacean stole away with a rapidity that could not be
-estimated at less than thirty miles an hour, and even during our maximum of
-speed, it bullied the frigate, going round and round it. A cry of fury broke
-from everyone!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o’clock in the morning.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The captain then decided to take more direct means.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” said he, “that animal goes quicker than the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>. Very
-well! we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets. Send your men
-to the forecastle, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round. But the shot passed
-some feet above the cetacean, which was half a mile off.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Another, more to the right,” cried the commander, “and five dollars to whoever
-will hit that infernal beast.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-An old gunner with a grey beard—that I can see now—with steady eye and grave
-face, went up to the gun and took a long aim. A loud report was heard, with
-which were mingled the cheers of the crew.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus01"></a>
-<img src="images/img01.jpg" width="420" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">An old grey-bearded gunner . . . .
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-The bullet did its work; it hit the animal, but not fatally, and sliding off
-the rounded surface, was lost in two miles depth of sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The chase began again, and the captain, leaning towards me, said—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” answered I; “and you will be quite right to do it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible to fatigue like
-a steam engine! But it was of no use. Hours passed, without its showing any
-signs of exhaustion.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, it must be said in praise of the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, that she
-struggled on indefatigably. I cannot reckon the distance she made under three
-hundred miles during this unlucky day, November the 6th. But night came on, and
-overshadowed the rough ocean.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Now I thought our expedition was at an end, and that we should never again see
-the extraordinary animal. I was mistaken. At ten minutes to eleven in the
-evening, the electric light reappeared three miles to windward of the frigate,
-as pure, as intense as during the preceding night.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The narwhal seemed motionless; perhaps, tired with its day’s work, it slept,
-letting itself float with the undulation of the waves. Now was a chance of
-which the captain resolved to take advantage.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He gave his orders. The <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> kept up half steam, and advanced
-cautiously so as not to awake its adversary. It is no rare thing to meet in the
-middle of the ocean whales so sound asleep that they can be successfully
-attacked, and Ned Land had harpooned more than one during its sleep. The
-Canadian went to take his place again under the bowsprit.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The frigate approached noiselessly, stopped at two cables’ lengths from the
-animal, and following its track. No one breathed; a deep silence reigned on the
-bridge. We were not a hundred feet from the burning focus, the light of which
-increased and dazzled our eyes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment, leaning on the forecastle bulwark, I saw below me Ned Land
-grappling the martingale in one hand, brandishing his terrible harpoon in the
-other, scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal. Suddenly his arm
-straightened, and the harpoon was thrown; I heard the sonorous stroke of the
-weapon, which seemed to have struck a hard body. The electric light went out
-suddenly, and two enormous waterspouts broke over the bridge of the frigate,
-rushing like a torrent from stem to stern, overthrowing men, and breaking the
-lashings of the spars. A fearful shock followed, and, thrown over the rail
-without having time to stop myself, I fell into the sea.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII<br/>
-AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE</h2>
-
-<p>
-This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of my
-sensations at the time. I was at first drawn down to a depth of about twenty
-feet. I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to rival Byron or Edgar
-Poe, who were masters of the art), and in that plunge I did not lose my
-presence of mind. Two vigorous strokes brought me to the surface of the water.
-My first care was to look for the frigate. Had the crew seen me disappear? Had
-the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> veered round? Would the captain put out a boat?
-Might I hope to be saved?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The darkness was intense. I caught a glimpse of a black mass disappearing in
-the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance. It was the frigate! I
-was lost.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Help, help!” I shouted, swimming towards the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> in
-desperation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed my
-movements.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was sinking! I was suffocating!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Help!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This was my last cry. My mouth filled with water; I struggled against being
-drawn down the abyss. Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong hand, and I
-felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea; and I heard, yes, I
-heard these words pronounced in my ear—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would swim with
-much greater ease.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I seized with one hand my faithful Conseil’s arm.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is it you?” said I, “you?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Myself,” answered Conseil; “and waiting master’s orders.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No; but being in my master’s service, I followed him.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And the frigate?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The frigate?” replied Conseil, turning on his back; “I think that master had
-better not count too much on her.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You think so?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men at the
-wheel say, �The screw and the rudder are broken.’”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Broken?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, broken by the monster’s teeth. It is the only injury the <i>Abraham
-Lincoln</i> has sustained. But it is a bad look out for us—she no longer
-answers her helm.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then we are lost!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perhaps so,” calmly answered Conseil. “However, we have still several hours
-before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil’s imperturbable coolness set me up again. I swam more vigorously; but,
-cramped by my clothes, which stuck to me like a leaden weight, I felt great
-difficulty in bearing up. Conseil saw this.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will master let me make a slit?” said he; and, slipping an open knife under my
-clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly. Then he cleverly
-slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near to each other.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible. Perhaps our disappearance had
-not been noticed; and if it had been, the frigate could not tack, being without
-its helm. Conseil argued on this supposition, and laid his plans accordingly.
-This phlegmatic boy was perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that, as our
-only chance of safety was being picked up by the <i>Abraham Lincoln’s</i>
-boats, we ought to manage so as to wait for them as long as possible. I
-resolved then to husband our strength, so that both should not be exhausted at
-the same time; and this is how we managed: while one of us lay on our back,
-quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out, the other would swim
-and push the other on in front. This towing business did not last more than ten
-minutes each; and relieving each other thus, we could swim on for some hours,
-perhaps till daybreak. Poor chance! but hope is so firmly rooted in the heart
-of man! Moreover, there were two of us. Indeed I declare (though it may seem
-improbable) if I sought to destroy all hope,—if I wished to despair, I could
-not.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had occurred about eleven
-o’clock the evening before. I reckoned then we should have eight hours to swim
-before sunrise, an operation quite practicable if we relieved each other. The
-sea, very calm, was in our favour. Sometimes I tried to pierce the intense
-darkness that was only dispelled by the phosphorescence caused by our
-movements. I watched the luminous waves that broke over my hand, whose
-mirror-like surface was spotted with silvery rings. One might have said that we
-were in a bath of quicksilver.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Near one o’clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue. My limbs
-stiffened under the strain of violent cramp. Conseil was obliged to keep me up,
-and our preservation devolved on him alone. I heard the poor boy pant; his
-breathing became short and hurried. I found that he could not keep up much
-longer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Leave me! leave me!” I said to him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Leave my master? Never!” replied he. “I would drown first.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that the wind
-was driving to the east. The surface of the sea glittered with its rays. This
-kindly light reanimated us. My head got better again. I looked at all points of
-the horizon. I saw the frigate! She was five miles from us, and looked like a
-dark mass, hardly discernible. But no boats!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I would have cried out. But what good would it have been at such a distance! My
-swollen lips could utter no sounds. Conseil could articulate some words, and I
-heard him repeat at intervals, “Help! help!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened. It might be only a
-singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the cry from
-Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Did you hear?” I murmured.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes! Yes!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And Conseil gave one more despairing call.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This time there was no mistake! A human voice responded to ours! Was it the
-voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle of the ocean,
-some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel? Or rather was it a boat
-from the frigate, that was hailing us in the darkness?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck out in
-a despairing effort, he raised himself half out of the water, then fell back
-exhausted.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What did you see?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I saw”—murmured he; “I saw—but do not talk—reserve all your strength!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What had he seen? Then, I know not why, the thought of the monster came into my
-head for the first time! But that voice! The time is past for Jonahs to take
-refuge in whales’ bellies! However, Conseil was towing me again. He raised his
-head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a cry of recognition, which was
-responded to by a voice that came nearer and nearer. I scarcely heard it. My
-strength was exhausted; my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no
-longer; my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water. Cold crept over
-me. I raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment a hard body struck me. I clung to it: then I felt that I was
-being drawn up, that I was brought to the surface of the water, that my chest
-collapsed:—I fainted.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings that I
-received. I half opened my eyes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Conseil!” I murmured.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Does master call me?” asked Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down to the
-horizon, I saw a face which was not Conseil’s and which I immediately
-recognised.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ned!” I cried.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The same, sir, who is seeking his prize!” replied the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Were you thrown into the sea by the shock to the frigate?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Professor; but more fortunate than you, I was able to find a footing
-almost directly upon a floating island.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“An island?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Or, more correctly speaking, on our gigantic narwhal.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Explain yourself, Ned!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin and was
-blunted.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why, Ned, why?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Because, Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian’s last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain. I wriggled
-myself quickly to the top of the being, or object, half out of the water, which
-served us for a refuge. I kicked it. It was evidently a hard impenetrable body,
-and not the soft substance that forms the bodies of the great marine mammalia.
-But this hard body might be a bony carapace, like that of the antediluvian
-animals; and I should be free to class this monster among amphibious reptiles,
-such as tortoises or alligators.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Well, no! the blackish back that supported me was smooth, polished, without
-scales. The blow produced a metallic sound; and incredible though it may be, it
-seemed, I might say, as if it was made of riveted plates.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There was no doubt about it! This monster, this natural phenomenon that had
-puzzled the learned world, and overthrown and misled the imagination of seamen
-of both hemispheres, it must be owned, a still more astonishing phenomenon,
-inasmuch as it was a simply human construction.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We had no time to lose, however. We were lying upon the back of a sort of
-submarine boat, which appeared (as far as I could judge) like a huge fish of
-steel. Ned Land’s mind was made up on this point. Conseil and I could only
-agree with him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was
-evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move. We had only just time to
-seize hold of the upper part, which rose about seven feet out of the water, and
-happily its speed was not great.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As long as it sails horizontally,” muttered Ned Land, “I do not mind; but if
-it takes a fancy to dive, I would not give two straws for my life.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian might have said still less. It became really necessary to
-communicate with the beings, whatever they were, shut up inside the machine. I
-searched all over the outside for an aperture, a panel, or a man-hole, to use a
-technical expression; but the lines of the iron rivets, solidly driven into the
-joints of the iron plates, were clear and uniform. Besides, the moon
-disappeared then, and left us in total darkness.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At last this long night passed. My indistinct remembrance prevents my
-describing all the impressions it made. I can only recall one circumstance.
-During some lulls of the wind and sea, I fancied I heard several times vague
-sounds, a sort of fugitive harmony produced by words of command. What was then
-the mystery of this submarine craft, of which the whole world vainly sought an
-explanation? What kind of beings existed in this strange boat? What mechanical
-agent caused its prodigious speed?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Daybreak appeared. The morning mists surrounded us, but they soon cleared off.
-I was about to examine the hull, which formed on deck a kind of horizontal
-platform, when I felt it gradually sinking.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh! confound it!” cried Ned Land, kicking the resounding plate. “Open, you
-inhospitable rascals!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Happily the sinking movement ceased. Suddenly a noise, like iron works
-violently pushed aside, came from the interior of the boat. One iron plate was
-moved, a man appeared, uttered an odd cry, and disappeared immediately.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Some moments after, eight strong men, with masked faces, appeared noiselessly,
-and drew us down into their formidable machine.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br/>
-MOBILIS IN MOBILI</h2>
-
-<p>
-This forcible abduction, so roughly carried out, was accomplished with the
-rapidity of lightning. I shivered all over. Whom had we to deal with? No doubt
-some new sort of pirates, who explored the sea in their own way.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me, when I was enveloped in darkness.
-My eyes, dazzled with the outer light, could distinguish nothing. I felt my
-naked feet cling to the rungs of an iron ladder. Ned Land and Conseil, firmly
-seized, followed me. At the bottom of the ladder, a door opened, and shut after
-us immediately with a bang.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were alone. Where, I could not say, hardly imagine. All was black, and such
-a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes had not been able to discern
-even the faintest glimmer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Meanwhile, Ned Land, furious at these proceedings, gave free vent to his
-indignation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Confound it!” cried he, “here are people who come up to the Scotch for
-hospitality. They only just miss being cannibals. I should not be surprised at
-it, but I declare that they shall not eat me without my protesting.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Calm yourself, friend Ned, calm yourself,” replied Conseil, quietly. “Do not
-cry out before you are hurt. We are not quite done for yet.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not quite,” sharply replied the Canadian, “but pretty near, at all events.
-Things look black. Happily, my bowie knife I have still, and I can always see
-well enough to use it. The first of these pirates who lays a hand on me——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Do not excite yourself, Ned,” I said to the harpooner, “and do not compromise
-us by useless violence. Who knows that they will not listen to us? Let us
-rather try to find out where we are.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I groped about. In five steps I came to an iron wall, made of plates bolted
-together. Then turning back I struck against a wooden table, near which were
-ranged several stools. The boards of this prison were concealed under a thick
-mat of phormium, which deadened the noise of the feet. The bare walls revealed
-no trace of window or door. Conseil, going round the reverse way, met me, and
-we went back to the middle of the cabin, which measured about twenty feet by
-ten. As to its height, Ned Land, in spite of his own great height, could not
-measure it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered, when the
-dense darkness suddenly gave way to extreme light. Our prison was suddenly
-lighted—that is to say, it became filled with a luminous matter, so strong that
-I could not bear it at first. In its whiteness and intensity I recognised that
-electric light which played round the submarine boat like a magnificent
-phenomenon of phosphorescence. After shutting my eyes involuntarily, I opened
-them, and saw that this luminous agent came from a half globe, unpolished,
-placed in the roof of the cabin.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“At last one can see,” cried Ned Land, who, knife in hand, stood on the
-defensive.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” said I; “but we are still in the dark about ourselves.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let master have patience,” said the imperturbable Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The sudden lighting of the cabin enabled me to examine it minutely. It only
-contained a table and five stools. The invisible door might be hermetically
-sealed. No noise was heard. All seemed dead in the interior of this boat. Did
-it move, did it float on the surface of the ocean, or did it dive into its
-depths? I could not guess.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A noise of bolts was now heard, the door opened, and two men appeared.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-One was short, very muscular, broad-shouldered, with robust limbs, strong head,
-an abundance of black hair, thick moustache, a quick penetrating look, and the
-vivacity which characterises the population of Southern France.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The second stranger merits a more detailed description. A disciple of Gratiolet
-or Engel would have read his face like an open book. I made out his prevailing
-qualities directly:—self-confidence,—because his head was well set on his
-shoulders, and his black eyes looked around with cold assurance; calmness,—for
-his skin, rather pale, showed his coolness of blood; energy,—evinced by the
-rapid contraction of his lofty brows; and courage,—because his deep breathing
-denoted great power of lungs.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years of age, I could not say. He
-was tall, had a large forehead, straight nose, a clearly cut mouth, beautiful
-teeth, with fine taper hands, indicative of a highly nervous temperament. This
-man was certainly the most admirable specimen I had ever met. One particular
-feature was his eyes, rather far from each other, and which could take in
-nearly a quarter of the horizon at once.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This faculty—(I verified it later)—gave him a range of vision far superior to
-Ned Land’s. When this stranger fixed upon an object, his eyebrows met, his
-large eyelids closed around so as to contract the range of his vision, and he
-looked as if he magnified the objects lessened by distance, as if he pierced
-those sheets of water so opaque to our eyes, and as if he read the very depths
-of the seas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The two strangers, with caps made from the fur of the sea otter, and shod with
-sea boots of seal’s skin, were dressed in clothes of a particular texture,
-which allowed free movement of the limbs. The taller of the two, evidently the
-chief on board, examined us with great attention, without saying a word; then
-turning to his companion, talked with him in an unknown tongue. It was a
-sonorous, harmonious, and flexible dialect, the vowels seeming to admit of very
-varied accentuation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The other replied by a shake of the head, and added two or three perfectly
-incomprehensible words. Then he seemed to question me by a look.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I replied in good French that I did not know his language; but he seemed not to
-understand me, and my situation became more embarrassing.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If master were to tell our story,” said Conseil, “perhaps these gentlemen may
-understand some words.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I began to tell our adventures, articulating each syllable clearly, and without
-omitting one single detail. I announced our names and rank, introducing in
-person Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and master Ned Land, the
-harpooner.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The man with the soft calm eyes listened to me quietly, even politely, and with
-extreme attention; but nothing in his countenance indicated that he had
-understood my story. When I finished, he said not a word. There remained one
-resource, to speak English. Perhaps they would know this almost universal
-language. I knew it, as well as the German language,—well enough to read it
-fluently, but not to speak it correctly. But, anyhow, we must make ourselves
-understood.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Go on in your turn,” I said to the harpooner; “speak your best Anglo-Saxon,
-and try to do better than I.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned did not beg off, and recommenced our story.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-To his great disgust, the harpooner did not seem to have made himself more
-intelligible than I had. Our visitors did not stir. They evidently understood
-neither the language of Arago nor of Faraday.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Very much embarrassed, after having vainly exhausted our speaking resources, I
-knew not what part to take, when Conseil said—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If master will permit me, I will relate it in German.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But in spite of the elegant terms and good accent of the narrator, the German
-language had no success. At last, nonplussed, I tried to remember my first
-lessons, and to narrate our adventures in Latin, but with no better success.
-This last attempt being of no avail, the two strangers exchanged some words in
-their unknown language, and retired.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The door shut.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is an infamous shame,” cried Ned Land, who broke out for the twentieth
-time. “We speak to those rogues in French, English, German, and Latin, and not
-one of them has the politeness to answer!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Calm yourself,” I said to the impetuous Ned, “anger will do no good.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But do you see, Professor,” replied our irascible companion, “that we shall
-absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Bah!” said Conseil, philosophically; “we can hold out some time yet.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My friends,” I said, “we must not despair. We have been worse off than this.
-Do me the favour to wait a little before forming an opinion upon the commander
-and crew of this boat.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My opinion is formed,” replied Ned Land, sharply. “They are rascals.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good! and from what country?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“From the land of rogues!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My brave Ned, that country is not clearly indicated on the map of the world;
-but I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard to determine.
-Neither English, French, nor German, that is quite certain. However, I am
-inclined to think that the commander and his companion were born in low
-latitudes. There is southern blood in them. But I cannot decide by their
-appearance whether they are Spaniards, Turks, Arabians, or Indians. As to their
-language, it is quite incomprehensible.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“There is the disadvantage of not knowing all languages,” said Conseil, “or the
-disadvantage of not having one universal language.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As he said these words, the door opened. A steward entered. He brought us
-clothes, coats and trousers, made of a stuff I did not know. I hastened to
-dress myself, and my companions followed my example. During that time, the
-steward—dumb, perhaps deaf—had arranged the table, and laid three plates.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This is something like,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Bah!” said the rancorous harpooner, “what do you suppose they eat here?
-Tortoise liver, filleted shark, and beefsteaks from sea-dogs.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We shall see,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The dishes, of bell metal, were placed on the table, and we took our places.
-Undoubtedly we had to do with civilised people, and, had it not been for the
-electric light which flooded us, I could have fancied I was in the dining-room
-of the Adelphi Hotel at Liverpool, or at the Grand Hotel in Paris. I must say,
-however, that there was neither bread nor wine. The water was fresh and clear,
-but it was water, and did not suit Ned Land’s taste. Amongst the dishes which
-were brought to us, I recognised several fish delicately dressed; but of some,
-although excellent, I could give no opinion, neither could I tell to what
-kingdom they belonged, whether animal or vegetable. As to the dinner service,
-it was elegant, and in perfect taste. Each utensil, spoon, fork, knife, plate,
-had a letter engraved on it, with a motto above it, of which this is an exact
-facsimile:—
-</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-<small>MOBILIS IN MOBILI</small><br/>
-N.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The letter N was no doubt the initial of the name of the enigmatical person,
-who commanded at the bottom of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned and Conseil did not reflect much. They devoured the food, and I did
-likewise. I was, besides, reassured as to our fate; and it seemed evident that
-our hosts would not let us die of want.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, everything has an end, everything passes away, even the hunger of
-people who have not eaten for fifteen hours. Our appetites satisfied, we felt
-overcome with sleep.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Faith! I shall sleep well,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So shall I,” replied Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My two companions stretched themselves on the cabin carpet, and were soon sound
-asleep. For my own part, too many thoughts crowded my brain, too many insoluble
-questions pressed upon me, too many fancies kept my eyes half open. Where were
-we? What strange power carried us on? I felt—or rather fancied I felt—the
-machine sinking down to the lowest beds of the sea. Dreadful nightmares beset
-me; I saw in these mysterious asylums a world of unknown animals, amongst which
-this submarine boat seemed to be of the same kind, living, moving, and
-formidable as they. Then my brain grew calmer, my imagination wandered into
-vague unconsciousness, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX<br/>
-NED LAND’S TEMPERS</h2>
-
-<p>
-How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long, for it
-rested us completely from our fatigues. I woke first. My companions had not
-moved, and were still stretched in their corner.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch, I felt my brain freed, my mind
-clear. I then began an attentive examination of our cell. Nothing was changed
-inside. The prison was still a prison,—the prisoners, prisoners. However, the
-steward, during our sleep, had cleared the table. I breathed with difficulty.
-The heavy air seemed to oppress my lungs. Although the cell was large, we had
-evidently consumed a great part of the oxygen that it contained. Indeed, each
-man consumes, in one hour, the oxygen contained in more than 176 pints of air,
-and this air, charged (as then) with a nearly equal quantity of carbonic acid,
-becomes unbreathable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It became necessary to renew the atmosphere of our prison, and no doubt the
-whole in the submarine boat. That gave rise to a question in my mind. How would
-the commander of this floating dwelling-place proceed? Would he obtain air by
-chemical means, in getting by heat the oxygen contained in chlorate of potash,
-and in absorbing carbonic acid by caustic potash? Or, a more convenient,
-economical, and consequently more probable alternative, would he be satisfied
-to rise and take breath at the surface of the water, like a cetacean, and so
-renew for twenty-four hours the atmospheric provision?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In fact, I was already obliged to increase my respirations to eke out of this
-cell the little oxygen it contained, when suddenly I was refreshed by a current
-of pure air, and perfumed with saline emanations. It was an invigorating sea
-breeze, charged with iodine. I opened my mouth wide, and my lungs saturated
-themselves with fresh particles.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At the same time I felt the boat rolling. The iron-plated monster had evidently
-just risen to the surface of the ocean to breathe, after the fashion of whales.
-I found out from that the mode of ventilating the boat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-When I had inhaled this air freely, I sought the conduit-pipe, which conveyed
-to us the beneficial whiff, and I was not long in finding it. Above the door
-was a ventilator, through which volumes of fresh air renewed the impoverished
-atmosphere of the cell.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was making my observations, when Ned and Conseil awoke almost at the same
-time, under the influence of this reviving air. They rubbed their eyes,
-stretched themselves, and were on their feet in an instant.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Did master sleep well?” asked Conseil, with his usual politeness.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well, my brave boy. And you, Mr. Land?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Soundly, Professor. But I don’t know if I am right or not; there seems to be a
-sea breeze!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A seaman could not be mistaken, and I told the Canadian all that had passed
-during his sleep.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good!” said he; “that accounts for those roarings we heard, when the supposed
-narwhal sighted the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Quite so, Master Land; it was taking breath.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Only, Mr. Aronnax, I have no idea what o’clock it is, unless it is
-dinner-time.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Dinner-time! my good fellow? Say rather breakfast-time, for we certainly have
-begun another day.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So,” said Conseil, “we have slept twenty-four hours?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is my opinion.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will not contradict you,” replied Ned Land. “But dinner or breakfast, the
-steward will be welcome, whichever he brings.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Master Land, we must conform to the rules on board, and I suppose our
-appetites are in advance of the dinner hour.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is just like you, friend Conseil,” said Ned, impatiently. “You are never
-out of temper, always calm; you would return thanks before grace, and die of
-hunger rather than complain!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Time was getting on, and we were fearfully hungry; and this time the steward
-did not appear. It was rather too long to leave us, if they really had good
-intentions towards us. Ned Land, tormented by the cravings of hunger, got still
-more angry; and, notwithstanding his promise, I dreaded an explosion when he
-found himself with one of the crew.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For two hours more Ned Land’s temper increased; he cried, he shouted, but in
-vain. The walls were deaf. There was no sound to be heard in the boat: all was
-still as death. It did not move, for I should have felt the trembling motion of
-the hull under the influence of the screw. Plunged in the depths of the waters,
-it belonged no longer to earth:—this silence was dreadful.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I felt terrified, Conseil was calm, Ned Land roared.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then a noise was heard outside. Steps sounded on the metal flags. The
-locks were turned, the door opened, and the steward appeared.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Before I could rush forward to stop him, the Canadian had thrown him down, and
-held him by the throat. The steward was choking under the grip of his powerful
-hand.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil was already trying to unclasp the harpooner’s hand from his
-half-suffocated victim, and I was going to fly to the rescue, when suddenly I
-was nailed to the spot by hearing these words in French—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Be quiet, Master Land; and you, Professor, will you be so good as to listen to
-me?”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X<br/>
-THE MAN OF THE SEAS</h2>
-
-<p>
-It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly. The steward, nearly strangled, tottered
-out on a sign from his master; but such was the power of the commander on
-board, that not a gesture betrayed the resentment which this man must have felt
-towards the Canadian. Conseil, interested in spite of himself, I stupefied,
-awaited in silence the result of this scene.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The commander, leaning against the corner of a table with his arms folded,
-scanned us with profound attention. Did he hesitate to speak? Did he regret the
-words which he had just spoken in French? One might almost think so.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed of breaking,
-“Gentlemen,” said he, in a calm and penetrating voice, “I speak French,
-English, German, and Latin equally well. I could, therefore, have answered you
-at our first interview, but I wished to know you first, then to reflect. The
-story told by each one, entirely agreeing in the main points, convinced me of
-your identity. I know now that chance has brought before me M. Pierre Aronnax,
-Professor of Natural History at the Museum of Paris, entrusted with a
-scientific mission abroad, Conseil, his servant, and Ned Land, of Canadian
-origin, harpooner on board the frigate <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> of the navy of
-the United States of America.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I bowed assent. It was not a question that the commander put to me. Therefore
-there was no answer to be made. This man expressed himself with perfect ease,
-without any accent. His sentences were well turned, his words clear, and his
-fluency of speech remarkable. Yet, I did not recognise in him a
-fellow-countryman.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He continued the conversation in these terms:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You have doubtless thought, sir, that I have delayed long in paying you this
-second visit. The reason is that, your identity recognised, I wished to weigh
-maturely what part to act towards you. I have hesitated much. Most annoying
-circumstances have brought you into the presence of a man who has broken all
-the ties of humanity. You have come to trouble my existence.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Unintentionally!” said I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Unintentionally?” replied the stranger, raising his voice a little; “was it
-unintentionally that the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> pursued me all over the seas?
-Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this frigate? Was it
-unintentionally that your cannon balls rebounded off the plating of my vessel?
-Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land struck me with his harpoon?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I detected a restrained irritation in these words. But to these recriminations
-I had a very natural answer to make and I made it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said I, “no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions which have taken
-place concerning you in America and Europe. You do not know that divers
-accidents, caused by collisions with your submarine machine, have excited
-public feeling in the two continents. I omit the hypotheses without number by
-which it was sought to explain the inexplicable phenomenon of which you alone
-possess the secret. But you must understand that, in pursuing you over the high
-seas of the Pacific, the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i> believed itself to be chasing
-some powerful sea-monster, of which it was necessary to rid the ocean at any
-price.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A half-smile curled the lips of the commander: then, in a calmer tone—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax,” he replied, “dare you affirm that your frigate would not as soon
-have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat as a monster?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This question embarrassed me, for certainly Captain Farragut might not have
-hesitated. He might have thought it his duty to destroy a contrivance of this
-kind, as he would a gigantic narwhal.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You understand then, sir,” continued the stranger, “that I have the right to
-treat you as enemies?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I answered nothing, purposely. For what good would it be to discuss such a
-proposition, when force could destroy the best arguments?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have hesitated some time,” continued the commander; “nothing obliged me to
-show you hospitality. If I chose to separate myself from you, I should have no
-interest in seeing you again; I could place you upon the deck of this vessel
-which has served you as a refuge, I could sink beneath the waters, and forget
-that you had ever existed. Would not that be my right?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It might be the right of a savage,” I answered, “but not that of a civilised
-man.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor,” replied the commander, quickly, “I am not what you call a
-civilised man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone
-have the right of appreciating. I do not therefore obey its laws, and I desire
-you never to allude to them before me again!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This was said plainly. A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the eyes of the
-Unknown, and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life of this man. Not
-only had he put himself beyond the pale of human laws, but he had made himself
-independent of them, free in the strictest acceptation of the word, quite
-beyond their reach! Who then would dare to pursue him at the bottom of the sea,
-when, on its surface, he defied all attempts made against him? What vessel
-could resist the shock of his submarine monitor? What cuirass, however thick,
-could withstand the blows of his spur? No man could demand from him an account
-of his actions; God, if he believed in one—his conscience, if he had one—were
-the sole judges to whom he was answerable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These reflections crossed my mind rapidly, whilst the stranger personage was
-silent, absorbed, and as if wrapped up in himself. I regarded him with fear
-mingled with interest, as doubtless, Ĺ’dipus regarded the Sphinx.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After rather a long silence, the commander resumed the conversation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have hesitated,” said he, “but I have thought that my interest might be
-reconciled with that pity to which every human being has a right. You will
-remain on board my vessel, since fate has cast you there. You will be free;
-and, in exchange for this liberty, I shall only impose one single condition.
-Your word of honour to submit to it will suffice.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Speak, sir,” I answered. “I suppose this condition is one which a man of
-honour may accept?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir; it is this. It is possible that certain events, unforeseen, may
-oblige me to consign you to your cabins for some hours or some days, as the
-case may be. As I desire never to use violence, I expect from you, more than
-all the others, a passive obedience. In thus acting, I take all the
-responsibility: I acquit you entirely, for I make it an impossibility for you
-to see what ought not to be seen. Do you accept this condition?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then things took place on board which, to say the least, were singular, and
-which ought not to be seen by people who were not placed beyond the pale of
-social laws. Amongst the surprises which the future was preparing for me, this
-might not be the least.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We accept,” I answered; “only I will ask your permission, sir, to address one
-question to you—one only.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Speak, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You said that we should be free on board.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Entirely.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I ask you, then, what you mean by this liberty?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just the liberty to go, to come, to see, to observe even all that passes
-here,—save under rare circumstances,—the liberty, in short, which we enjoy
-ourselves, my companions and I.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was evident that we did not understand one another.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Pardon me, sir,” I resumed, “but this liberty is only what every prisoner has
-of pacing his prison. It cannot suffice us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It must suffice you, however.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What! we must renounce for ever seeing our country, our friends, our relations
-again?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir. But to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men believe to
-be liberty, is not perhaps so painful as you think.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well,” exclaimed Ned Land, “never will I give my word of honour not to try to
-escape.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I did not ask you for your word of honour, Master Land,” answered the
-commander, coldly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” I replied, beginning to get angry in spite of myself, “you abuse your
-situation towards us; it is cruelty.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir, it is clemency. You are my prisoners of war. I keep you, when I
-could, by a word, plunge you into the depths of the ocean. You attacked me. You
-came to surprise a secret which no man in the world must penetrate,—the secret
-of my whole existence. And you think that I am going to send you back to that
-world which must know me no more? Never! In retaining you, it is not you whom I
-guard—it is myself.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander, against
-which no arguments would prevail.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So, sir,” I rejoined, “you give us simply the choice between life and death?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Simply.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My friends,” said I, “to a question thus put, there is nothing to answer. But
-no word of honour binds us to the master of this vessel.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“None, sir,” answered the Unknown.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then, in a gentler tone, he continued—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Now, permit me to finish what I have to say to you. I know you, M. Aronnax.
-You and your companions will not, perhaps, have so much to complain of in the
-chance which has bound you to my fate. You will find amongst the books which
-are my favourite study the work which you have published on �the depths of the
-sea.’ I have often read it. You have carried out your work as far as
-terrestrial science permitted you. But you do not know all—you have not seen
-all. Let me tell you then, Professor, that you will not regret the time passed
-on board my vessel. You are going to visit the land of marvels.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These words of the commander had a great effect upon me. I cannot deny it. My
-weak point was touched; and I forgot, for a moment, that the contemplation of
-these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of liberty. Besides, I trusted to
-the future to decide this grave question. So I contented myself with saying—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By what name ought I to address you?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” replied the commander, “I am nothing to you but Captain Nemo; and you
-and your companions are nothing to me but the passengers of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo called. A steward appeared. The captain gave him his orders in
-that strange language which I did not understand. Then, turning towards the
-Canadian and Conseil—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A repast awaits you in your cabin,” said he. “Be so good as to follow this
-man.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And now, M. Aronnax, our breakfast is ready. Permit me to lead the way.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am at your service, Captain.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I followed Captain Nemo; and as soon as I had passed through the door, I found
-myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity, similar to the waist of a
-ship. After we had proceeded a dozen yards, a second door opened before me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I then entered a dining-room, decorated and furnished in severe taste. High
-oaken sideboards, inlaid with ebony, stood at the two extremities of the room,
-and upon their shelves glittered china, porcelain, and glass of inestimable
-value. The plate on the table sparkled in the rays which the luminous ceiling
-shed around, while the light was tempered and softened by exquisite paintings.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In the centre of the room was a table richly laid out. Captain Nemo indicated
-the place I was to occupy.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes, the contents of which
-were furnished by the sea alone; and I was ignorant of the nature and mode of
-preparation of some of them. I acknowledged that they were good, but they had a
-peculiar flavour, which I easily became accustomed to. These different aliments
-appeared to me to be rich in phosphorus, and I thought they must have a marine
-origin.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo looked at me. I asked him no questions, but he guessed my
-thoughts, and answered of his own accord the questions which I was burning to
-address to him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The greater part of these dishes are unknown to you,” he said to me. “However,
-you may partake of them without fear. They are wholesome and nourishing. For a
-long time I have renounced the food of the earth, and am never ill now. My
-crew, who are healthy, are fed on the same food.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So,” said I, “all these eatables are the produce of the sea?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Professor, the sea supplies all my wants. Sometimes I cast my nets in
-tow, and I draw them in ready to break. Sometimes I hunt in the midst of this
-element, which appears to be inaccessible to man, and quarry the game which
-dwells in my submarine forests. My flocks, like those of Neptune’s old
-shepherds, graze fearlessly in the immense prairies of the ocean. I have a vast
-property there, which I cultivate myself, and which is always sown by the hand
-of the Creator of all things.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I can understand perfectly, sir, that your nets furnish excellent fish for
-your table; I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in your submarine
-forests; but I cannot understand at all how a particle of meat, no matter how
-small, can figure in your bill of fare.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This, which you believe to be meat, Professor, is nothing else than fillet of
-turtle. Here are also some dolphins’ livers, which you take to be ragout of
-pork. My cook is a clever fellow, who excels in dressing these various products
-of the ocean. Taste all these dishes. Here is a preserve of holothuria, which a
-Malay would declare to be unrivalled in the world; here is a cream, of which
-the milk has been furnished by the cetacea, and the sugar by the great fucus of
-the North Sea; and lastly, permit me to offer you some preserve of anemones,
-which is equal to that of the most delicious fruits.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I tasted, more from curiosity than as a connoisseur, whilst Captain Nemo
-enchanted me with his extraordinary stories.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You like the sea, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; I love it! The sea is everything. It covers seven-tenths of the
-terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert,
-where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is
-only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing
-but love and emotion; it is the �Living Infinite,’ as one of your poets has
-said. In fact, Professor, Nature manifests herself in it by her three kingdoms,
-mineral, vegetable, and animal. The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature. The
-globe began with sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it? In
-it is supreme tranquillity. The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its
-surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces,
-and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty feet below its
-level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power
-disappears. Ah! sir, live—live in the bosom of the waters! There only is
-independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of this enthusiasm, by which
-he was quite carried away. For a few moments he paced up and down, much
-agitated. Then he became more calm, regained his accustomed coldness of
-expression, and turning towards me—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Now, Professor,” said he, “if you wish to go over the <i>Nautilus</i>, I am at
-your service.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo rose. I followed him. A double door, contrived at the back of the
-dining-room, opened, and I entered a room equal in dimensions to that which I
-had just quitted.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was a library. High pieces of furniture, of black violet ebony inlaid with
-brass, supported upon their wide shelves a great number of books uniformly
-bound. They followed the shape of the room, terminating at the lower part in
-huge divans, covered with brown leather, which were curved, to afford the
-greatest comfort. Light movable desks, made to slide in and out at will,
-allowed one to rest one’s book while reading. In the centre stood an immense
-table, covered with pamphlets, amongst which were some newspapers, already of
-old date. The electric light flooded everything; it was shed from four
-unpolished globes half sunk in the volutes of the ceiling. I looked with real
-admiration at this room, so ingeniously fitted up, and I could scarcely believe
-my eyes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Captain Nemo,” said I to my host, who had just thrown himself on one of the
-divans, “this is a library which would do honour to more than one of the
-continental palaces, and I am absolutely astounded when I consider that it can
-follow you to the bottom of the seas.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where could one find greater solitude or silence, Professor?” replied Captain
-Nemo. “Did your study in the Museum afford you such perfect quiet?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir; and I must confess that it is a very poor one after yours. You must
-have six or seven thousand volumes here.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Twelve thousand, M. Aronnax. These are the only ties which bind me to the
-earth. But I had done with the world on the day when my <i>Nautilus</i> plunged
-for the first time beneath the waters. That day I bought my last volumes, my
-last pamphlets, my last papers, and from that time I wish to think that men no
-longer think or write. These books, Professor, are at your service besides, and
-you can make use of them freely.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I thanked Captain Nemo, and went up to the shelves of the library. Works on
-science, morals, and literature abounded in every language; but I did not see
-one single work on political economy; that subject appeared to be strictly
-proscribed. Strange to say, all these books were irregularly arranged, in
-whatever language they were written; and this medley proved that the Captain of
-the <i>Nautilus</i> must have read indiscriminately the books which he took up
-by chance.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said I to the Captain, “I thank you for having placed this library at my
-disposal. It contains treasures of science, and I shall profit by them.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This room is not only a library,” said Captain Nemo, “it is also a
-smoking-room.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A smoking-room!” I cried. “Then one may smoke on board?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then, sir, I am forced to believe that you have kept up a communication with
-Havannah.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not any,” answered the Captain. “Accept this cigar, M. Aronnax; and, though it
-does not come from Havannah, you will be pleased with it, if you are a
-connoisseur.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I took the cigar which was offered me; its shape recalled the London ones, but
-it seemed to be made of leaves of gold. I lighted it at a little brazier, which
-was supported upon an elegant bronze stem, and drew the first whiffs with the
-delight of a lover of smoking who has not smoked for two days.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is excellent, but it is not tobacco.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No!” answered the Captain, “this tobacco comes neither from Havannah nor from
-the East. It is a kind of sea-weed, rich in nicotine, with which the sea
-provides me, but somewhat sparingly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite to that by which
-I had entered the library, and I passed into an immense drawing-room splendidly
-lighted.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was a vast four-sided room, thirty feet long, eighteen wide, and fifteen
-high. A luminous ceiling, decorated with light arabesques, shed a soft clear
-light over all the marvels accumulated in this museum. For it was in fact a
-museum, in which an intelligent and prodigal hand had gathered all the
-treasures of nature and art, with the artistic confusion which distinguishes a
-painter’s studio.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Thirty first-rate pictures, uniformly framed, separated by bright drapery,
-ornamented the walls, which were hung with tapestry of severe design. I saw
-works of great value, the greater part of which I had admired in the special
-collections of Europe, and in the exhibitions of paintings. The several schools
-of the old masters were represented by a Madonna of Raphael, a Virgin of
-Leonardo da Vinci, a nymph of Corregio, a woman of Titan, an Adoration of
-Veronese, an Assumption of Murillo, a portrait of Holbein, a monk of Velasquez,
-a martyr of Ribera, a fair of Rubens, two Flemish landscapes of Teniers, three
-little “genre” pictures of Gerard Dow, Metsu, and Paul Potter, two specimens of
-GĂ©ricault and Prudhon, and some sea-pieces of Backhuysen and Vernet. Amongst
-the works of modern painters were pictures with the signatures of Delacroix,
-Ingres, Decamps, Troyon, Meissonier, Daubigny, etc.; and some admirable statues
-in marble and bronze, after the finest antique models, stood upon pedestals in
-the corners of this magnificent museum. Amazement, as the Captain of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> had predicted, had already begun to take possession of me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor,” said this strange man, “you must excuse the unceremonious way in
-which I receive you, and the disorder of this room.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” I answered, “without seeking to know who you are, I recognise in you an
-artist.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“An amateur, nothing more, sir. Formerly I loved to collect these beautiful
-works created by the hand of man. I sought them greedily, and ferreted them out
-indefatigably, and I have been able to bring together some objects of great
-value. These are my last souvenirs of that world which is dead to me. In my
-eyes, your modern artists are already old; they have two or three thousand
-years of existence; I confound them in my own mind. Masters have no age.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And these musicians?” said I, pointing out some works of Weber, Rossini,
-Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, HĂ©rold, Wagner, Auber, Gounod, and a
-number of others, scattered over a large model piano-organ which occupied one
-of the panels of the drawing-room.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“These musicians,” replied Captain Nemo, “are the contemporaries of Orpheus;
-for in the memory of the dead all chronological differences are effaced; and I
-am dead, Professor; as much dead as those of your friends who are sleeping six
-feet under the earth!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo was silent, and seemed lost in a profound reverie. I contemplated
-him with deep interest, analysing in silence the strange expression of his
-countenance. Leaning on his elbow against an angle of a costly mosaic table, he
-no longer saw me,—he had forgotten my presence.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I did not disturb this reverie, and continued my observation of the curiosities
-which enriched this drawing-room.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Under elegant glass cases, fixed by copper rivets, were classed and labelled
-the most precious productions of the sea which had ever been presented to the
-eye of a naturalist. My delight as a professor may be conceived.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The division containing the zoophytes presented the most curious specimens of
-the two groups of polypi and echinodermes. In the first group, the tubipores,
-were gorgones arranged like a fan, soft sponges of Syria, ises of the Moluccas,
-pennatules, an admirable virgularia of the Norwegian seas, variegated
-unbellulairæ, alcyonariæ, a whole series of madrepores, which my master Milne
-Edwards has so cleverly classified, amongst which I remarked some wonderful
-flabellinæ oculinæ of the Island of Bourbon, the “Neptune’s car” of the
-Antilles, superb varieties of corals—in short, every species of those curious
-polypi of which entire islands are formed, which will one day become
-continents. Of the echinodermes, remarkable for their coating of spines,
-asteri, sea-stars, pantacrinæ, comatules, astérophons, echini, holothuri, etc.,
-represented individually a complete collection of this group.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A somewhat nervous conchyliologist would certainly have fainted before other
-more numerous cases, in which were classified the specimens of molluscs. It was
-a collection of inestimable value, which time fails me to describe minutely.
-Amongst these specimens I will quote from memory only the elegant royal
-hammer-fish of the Indian Ocean, whose regular white spots stood out brightly
-on a red and brown ground, an imperial spondyle, bright-coloured, bristling
-with spines, a rare specimen in the European museums—(I estimated its value at
-not less than ÂŁ1000); a common hammer-fish of the seas of New Holland, which is
-only procured with difficulty; exotic buccardia of Senegal; fragile white
-bivalve shells, which a breath might shatter like a soap-bubble; several
-varieties of the aspirgillum of Java, a kind of calcareous tube, edged with
-leafy folds, and much debated by amateurs; a whole series of trochi, some a
-greenish-yellow, found in the American seas, others a reddish-brown, natives of
-Australian waters; others from the Gulf of Mexico, remarkable for their
-imbricated shell; stellari found in the Southern Seas; and last, the rarest of
-all, the magnificent spur of New Zealand; and every description of delicate and
-fragile shells to which science has given appropriate names.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Apart, in separate compartments, were spread out chaplets of pearls of the
-greatest beauty, which reflected the electric light in little sparks of fire;
-pink pearls, torn from the pinna-marina of the Red Sea; green pearls of the
-haliotyde iris; yellow, blue and black pearls, the curious productions of the
-divers molluscs of every ocean, and certain mussels of the water-courses of the
-North; lastly, several specimens of inestimable value which had been gathered
-from the rarest pintadines. Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon’s
-egg, and were worth as much, and more than that which the traveller Tavernier
-sold to the Shah of Persia for three millions, and surpassed the one in the
-possession of the Imaum of Muscat, which I had believed to be unrivalled in the
-world.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Therefore, to estimate the value of this collection was simply impossible.
-Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the acquirement of these various
-specimens, and I was thinking what source he could have drawn from, to have
-been able thus to gratify his fancy for collecting, when I was interrupted by
-these words—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are examining my shells, Professor? Unquestionably they must be
-interesting to a naturalist; but for me they have a far greater charm, for I
-have collected them all with my own hand, and there is not a sea on the face of
-the globe which has escaped my researches.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I can understand, Captain, the delight of wandering about in the midst of such
-riches. You are one of those who have collected their treasures themselves. No
-museum in Europe possesses such a collection of the produce of the ocean. But
-if I exhaust all my admiration upon it, I shall have none left for the vessel
-which carries it. I do not wish to pry into your secrets; but I must confess
-that this <i>Nautilus</i>, with the motive power which is confined in it, the
-contrivances which enable it to be worked, the powerful agent which propels it,
-all excite my curiosity to the highest pitch. I see suspended on the walls of
-this room instruments of whose use I am ignorant.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You will find these same instruments in my own room, Professor, where I shall
-have much pleasure in explaining their use to you. But first come and inspect
-the cabin which is set apart for your own use. You must see how you will be
-accommodated on board the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I followed Captain Nemo, who, by one of the doors opening from each panel of
-the drawing-room, regained the waist. He conducted me towards the bow, and
-there I found, not a cabin, but an elegant room, with a bed, dressing-table,
-and several other pieces of furniture.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I could only thank my host.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Your room adjoins mine,” said he, opening a door, “and mine opens into the
-drawing-room that we have just quitted.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I entered the Captain’s room: it had a severe, almost a monkish, aspect. A
-small iron bedstead, a table, some articles for the toilet; the whole lighted
-by a skylight. No comforts, the strictest necessaries only.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo pointed to a seat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Be so good as to sit down,” he said. I seated myself, and he began thus:
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus02"></a>
-<img src="images/img02.jpg" width="424" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">Captain Nemo’s state-room
-</p>
-</div>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI<br/>
-ALL BY ELECTRICITY</h2>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said Captain Nemo, showing me the instruments hanging on the walls of
-his room, “here are the contrivances required for the navigation of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. Here, as in the drawing-room, I have them always under my
-eyes, and they indicate my position and exact direction in the middle of the
-ocean. Some are known to you, such as the thermometer, which gives the internal
-temperature of the <i>Nautilus;</i> the barometer, which indicates the weight
-of the air and foretells the changes of the weather; the hygrometer, which
-marks the dryness of the atmosphere; the storm-glass, the contents of which, by
-decomposing, announce the approach of tempests; the compass, which guides my
-course; the sextant, which shows the latitude by the altitude of the sun;
-chronometers, by which I calculate the longitude; and glasses for day and
-night, which I use to examine the points of the horizon, when the
-<i>Nautilus</i> rises to the surface of the waves.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“These are the usual nautical instruments,” I replied, “and I know the use of
-them. But these others, no doubt, answer to the particular requirements of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. This dial with the movable needle is a manometer, is it not?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is actually a manometer. But by communication with the water, whose
-external pressure it indicates, it gives our depth at the same time.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And these other instruments, the use of which I cannot guess?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Here, Professor, I ought to give you some explanations. Will you be kind
-enough to listen to me?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He was silent for a few moments, then he said—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to every use,
-and reigns supreme on board my vessel. Everything is done by means of it. It
-lights it, warms it, and is the soul of my mechanical apparatus. This agent is
-electricity.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Electricity?” I cried in surprise.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement, which does
-not agree with the power of electricity. Until now, its dynamic force has
-remained under restraint, and has only been able to produce a small amount of
-power.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor,” said Captain Nemo, “my electricity is not everybody’s. You know
-what sea-water is composed of. In a thousand grammes are found 96½ per cent. of
-water, and about 2-2/3 per cent. of chloride of sodium; then, in a smaller
-quantity, chlorides of magnesium and of potassium, bromide of magnesium,
-sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and carbonate of lime. You see, then, that
-chloride of sodium forms a large part of it. So it is this sodium that I
-extract from sea-water, and of which I compose my ingredients. I owe all to the
-ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity gives heat, light, motion, and,
-in a word, life to the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But not the air you breathe?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh! I could manufacture the air necessary for my consumption, but it is
-useless, because I go up to the surface of the water when I please. However, if
-electricity does not furnish me with air to breathe, it works at least the
-powerful pumps that are stored in spacious reservoirs, and which enable me to
-prolong at need, and as long as I will, my stay in the depths of the sea. It
-gives a uniform and unintermittent light, which the sun does not. Now look at
-this clock; it is electrical, and goes with a regularity that defies the best
-chronometers. I have divided it into twenty-four hours, like the Italian
-clocks, because for me there is neither night nor day, sun nor moon, but only
-that factitious light that I take with me to the bottom of the sea. Look! just
-now, it is ten o’clock in the morning.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Exactly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Another application of electricity. This dial hanging in front of us indicates
-the speed of the <i>Nautilus</i>. An electric thread puts it in communication
-with the screw, and the needle indicates the real speed. Look! now we are
-spinning along with a uniform speed of fifteen miles an hour.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is marvelous! And I see, Captain, you were right to make use of this agent
-that takes the place of wind, water, and steam.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We have not finished, M. Aronnax,” said Captain Nemo, rising. “If you will
-follow me, we will examine the stern of the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Really, I knew already the anterior part of this submarine boat, of which this
-is the exact division, starting from the ship’s head:—the dining-room, five
-yards long, separated from the library by a water-tight partition; the library,
-five yards long; the large drawing-room, ten yards long, separated from the
-Captain’s room by a second water-tight partition; the said room, five yards in
-length; mine, two and a half yards; and, lastly a reservoir of air, seven and a
-half yards, that extended to the bows. Total length thirty five yards, or one
-hundred and five feet. The partitions had doors that were shut hermetically by
-means of india-rubber instruments, and they ensured the safety of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> in case of a leak.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I followed Captain Nemo through the waist, and arrived at the centre of the
-boat. There was a sort of well that opened between two partitions. An iron
-ladder, fastened with an iron hook to the partition, led to the upper end. I
-asked the Captain what the ladder was used for.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It leads to the small boat,” he said.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What! have you a boat?” I exclaimed, in surprise.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Of course; an excellent vessel, light and insubmersible, that serves either as
-a fishing or as a pleasure boat.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But then, when you wish to embark, you are obliged to come to the surface of
-the water?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not at all. This boat is attached to the upper part of the hull of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, and occupies a cavity made for it. It is decked, quite
-water-tight, and held together by solid bolts. This ladder leads to a man-hole
-made in the hull of the <i>Nautilus</i>, that corresponds with a similar hole
-made in the side of the boat. By this double opening I get into the small
-vessel. They shut the one belonging to the <i>Nautilus;</i> I shut the other by
-means of screw pressure. I undo the bolts, and the little boat goes up to the
-surface of the sea with prodigious rapidity. I then open the panel of the
-bridge, carefully shut till then; I mast it, hoist my sail, take my oars, and
-I’m off.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But how do you get back on board?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not come back, M. Aronnax; the <i>Nautilus</i> comes to me.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By your orders?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By my orders. An electric thread connects us. I telegraph to it, and that is
-enough.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Really,” I said, astonished at these marvels, “nothing can be more simple.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led to the platform, I
-saw a cabin six feet long, in which Conseil and Ned Land, enchanted with their
-repast, were devouring it with avidity. Then a door opened into a kitchen nine
-feet long, situated between the large storerooms. There electricity, better
-than gas itself, did all the cooking. The streams under the furnaces gave out
-to the sponges of platina a heat which was regularly kept up and distributed.
-They also heated a distilling apparatus, which, by evaporation, furnished
-excellent drinkable water. Near this kitchen was a bathroom comfortably
-furnished, with hot and cold water taps.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Next to the kitchen was the berthroom of the vessel, sixteen feet long. But the
-door was shut, and I could not see the management of it, which might have given
-me an idea of the number of men employed on board the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At the bottom was a fourth partition that separated this office from the
-engine-room. A door opened, and I found myself in the compartment where Captain
-Nemo—certainly an engineer of a very high order—had arranged his locomotive
-machinery. This engine-room, clearly lighted, did not measure less than
-sixty-five feet in length. It was divided into two parts; the first contained
-the materials for producing electricity, and the second the machinery that
-connected it with the screw. I examined it with great interest, in order to
-understand the machinery of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You see,” said the Captain, “I use Bunsen’s contrivances, not Ruhmkorff’s.
-Those would not have been powerful enough. Bunsen’s are fewer in number, but
-strong and large, which experience proves to be the best. The electricity
-produced passes forward, where it works, by electro-magnets of great size, on a
-system of levers and cog-wheels that transmit the movement to the axle of the
-screw. This one, the diameter of which is nineteen feet, and the thread
-twenty-three feet, performs about a hundred and twenty revolutions in a
-second.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And you get then?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A speed of fifty miles an hour.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have seen the <i>Nautilus</i> manœuvre before the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>,
-and I have my own ideas as to its speed. But this is not enough. We must see
-where we go. We must be able to direct it to the right, to the left, above,
-below. How do you get to the great depths, where you find an increasing
-resistance, which is rated by hundreds of atmospheres? How do you return to the
-surface of the ocean? And how do you maintain yourselves in the requisite
-medium? Am I asking too much?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not at all, Professor,” replied the Captain, with some hesitation; “since you
-may never leave this submarine boat. Come into the saloon, it is our usual
-study, and there you will learn all you want to know about the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII<br/>
-SOME FIGURES</h2>
-
-<p>
-A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking. The Captain
-showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. Then he began his description in these words:—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat you are in. It is an
-elongated cylinder with conical ends. It is very like a cigar in shape, a shape
-already adopted in London in several constructions of the same sort. The length
-of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is exactly 232 feet, and its maximum
-breadth is twenty-six feet. It is not built quite like your long-voyage
-steamers, but its lines are sufficiently long, and its curves prolonged enough,
-to allow the water to slide off easily, and oppose no obstacle to its passage.
-These two dimensions enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the surface
-and cubic contents of the <i>Nautilus</i>. Its area measures 6032 feet; and its
-contents about 1500 cubic yards—that is to say, when completely immersed it
-displaces 50,000 feet of water, or weighs 1500 tons.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“When I made the plans for this submarine vessel, I meant that nine-tenths
-should be submerged: consequently, it ought only to displace nine-tenths of its
-bulk—that is to say, only to weigh that number of tons. I ought not, therefore,
-to have exceeded that weight, constructing it on the aforesaid dimensions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The <i>Nautilus</i> is composed of two hulls, one inside, the other outside,
-joined by T-shaped irons, which render it very strong. Indeed, owing to this
-cellular arrangement it resists like a block, as if it were solid. Its sides
-cannot yield; it coheres spontaneously, and not by the closeness of its rivets;
-and the homogenity of its construction, due to the perfect union of the
-materials, enables it to defy the roughest seas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“These two hulls are composed of steel plates, whose density is from .7 to .8
-that of water. The first is not less than two inches and a half thick and
-weighs 394 tons. The second envelope, the keel, twenty inches high and ten
-thick, weighs alone sixty-two tons. The engine, the ballast, the several
-accessories and apparatus appendages, the partitions and bulkheads, weigh
-961.62 tons. Do you follow all this?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then, when the <i>Nautilus</i> is afloat under these circumstances, one-tenth
-is out of the water. Now, if I have made reservoirs of a size equal to this
-tenth, or capable of holding 150 tons, and if I fill them with water, the boat,
-weighing then 1507 tons, will be completely immersed. That would happen,
-Professor. These reservoirs are in the lower parts of the <i>Nautilus</i>. I
-turn on taps and they fill, and the vessel sinks that had just been level with
-the surface.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Captain, but now we come to the real difficulty. I can understand your
-rising to the surface; but diving below the surface, does not your submarine
-contrivance encounter a pressure, and consequently undergo an upward thrust of
-one atmosphere for every thirty feet of water, just about fifteen pounds per
-square inch?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then, unless you quite fill the <i>Nautilus</i>, I do not see how you can draw
-it down to those depths.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor, you must not confound statics with dynamics or you will be exposed
-to grave errors. There is very little labour spent in attaining the lower
-regions of the ocean, for all bodies have a tendency to sink. When I wanted to
-find out the necessary increase of weight required to sink the <i>Nautilus</i>,
-I had only to calculate the reduction of volume that sea-water acquires
-according to the depth.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is evident.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Now, if water is not absolutely incompressible, it is at least capable of very
-slight compression. Indeed, after the most recent calculations this reduction
-is only .000436 of an atmosphere for each thirty feet of depth. If we want to
-sink 3000 feet, I should keep account of the reduction of bulk under a pressure
-equal to that of a column of water of a thousand feet. The calculation is
-easily verified. Now, I have supplementary reservoirs capable of holding a
-hundred tons. Therefore I can sink to a considerable depth. When I wish to rise
-to the level of the sea, I only let off the water, and empty all the reservoirs
-if I want the <i>Nautilus</i> to emerge from the tenth part of her total
-capacity.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had nothing to object to these reasonings.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I admit your calculations, Captain,” I replied; “I should be wrong to dispute
-them since daily experience confirms them; but I foresee a real difficulty in
-the way.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“When you are about 1000 feet deep, the walls of the <i>Nautilus</i> bear a
-pressure of 100 atmospheres. If, then, just now you were to empty the
-supplementary reservoirs, to lighten the vessel, and to go up to the surface,
-the pumps must overcome the pressure of 100 atmospheres, which is 1500 pounds
-per square inch. From that a power——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That electricity alone can give,” said the Captain, hastily. “I repeat, sir,
-that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite. The pumps of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> have an enormous power, as you must have observed when their
-jets of water burst like a torrent upon the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>. Besides I
-use subsidiary reservoirs only to attain a mean depth of 750 to 1000 fathoms,
-and that with a view of managing my machines. Also, when I have a mind to visit
-the depths of the ocean five or six miles below the surface, I make use of
-slower but not less infallible means.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What are they, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That involves my telling you how the <i>Nautilus</i> is worked.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am impatient to learn.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To steer this boat to starboard or port, to turn—in a word, following a
-horizontal plan, I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back of the stern-post,
-and with one wheel and some tackle to steer by. But I can also make the
-<i>Nautilus</i> rise and sink, and sink and rise, by a vertical movement by
-means of two inclined planes fastened to its sides, opposite the centre of
-flotation, planes that move in every direction, and that are worked by powerful
-levers from the interior. If the planes are kept parallel with the boat, it
-moves horizontally. If slanted, the <i>Nautilus</i>, according to this
-inclination, and under the influence of the screw, either sinks diagonally or
-rises diagonally as it suits me. And even if I wish to rise more quickly to the
-surface, I ship the screw, and the pressure of the water causes the
-<i>Nautilus</i> to rise vertically like a balloon filled with hydrogen.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Bravo, Captain! But how can the steersman follow the route in the middle of
-the waters?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The steersman is placed in a glazed box, that is raised about the hull of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, and furnished with lenses.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are these lenses capable of resisting such pressure?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perfectly. Glass, which breaks at a blow, is, nevertheless, capable of
-offering considerable resistance. During some experiments of fishing by
-electric light in 1864 in the Northern Seas, we saw plates less than a third of
-an inch thick resist a pressure of sixteen atmospheres. Now, the glass that I
-use is not less than thirty times thicker.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Granted. But, after all, in order to see, the light must exceed the darkness,
-and in the midst of the darkness in the water, how can you see?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Behind the steersman’s cage is placed a powerful electric reflector, the rays
-from which light up the sea for half a mile in front.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! bravo, bravo, Captain! Now I can account for this phosphorescence in the
-supposed narwhal that puzzled us so. I now ask you if the boarding of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> and of the <i>Scotia</i>, that has made such a noise, has been
-the result of a chance rencontre?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Quite accidental, sir. I was sailing only one fathom below the surface of the
-water, when the shock came. It had no bad result.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“None, sir. But now, about your rencontre with the <i>Abraham Lincoln?</i>”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor, I am sorry for one of the best vessels in the American navy; but
-they attacked me, and I was bound to defend myself. I contented myself,
-however, with putting the frigate <i>hors de combat;</i> she will not have any
-difficulty in getting repaired at the next port.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah, Commander! your <i>Nautilus</i> is certainly a marvellous boat.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Professor; and I love it as if it were part of myself. If danger
-threatens one of your vessels on the ocean, the first impression is the feeling
-of an abyss above and below. On the <i>Nautilus</i> men’s hearts never fail
-them. No defects to be afraid of, for the double shell is as firm as iron; no
-rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to carry away; no boilers to burst;
-no fire to fear, for the vessel is made of iron, not of wood; no coal to run
-short, for electricity is the only mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for
-it alone swims in deep water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the
-water, it reaches absolute tranquillity. There, sir! that is the perfection of
-vessels! And if it is true that the engineer has more confidence in the vessel
-than the builder, and the builder than the captain himself, you understand the
-trust I repose in my <i>Nautilus;</i> for I am at once captain, builder, and
-engineer.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But how could you construct this wonderful <i>Nautilus</i> in secret?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Each separate portion, M. Aronnax, was brought from different parts of the
-globe. The keel was forged at Creusot, the shaft of the screw at Penn &amp;
-Co.’s, London, the iron plates of the hull at Laird’s of Liverpool, the screw
-itself at Scott’s at Glasgow. The reservoirs were made by Cail &amp; Co. at
-Paris, the engine by Krupp in Prussia, its beak in Motala’s workshop in Sweden,
-its mathematical instruments by Hart Brothers, of New York, etc.; and each of
-these people had my orders under different names.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But these parts had to be put together and arranged?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor, I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the ocean. There
-my workmen, that is to say, the brave men that I instructed and educated, and
-myself have put together our <i>Nautilus</i>. Then when the work was finished,
-fire destroyed all trace of our proceedings on this island, that I could have
-jumped over if I had liked.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then the cost of this vessel is great?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax, an iron vessel costs £145 per ton. Now the <i>Nautilus</i> weighed
-1500. It came therefore to ÂŁ67,500, and ÂŁ80,000 more for fitting it up, and
-about £200,000 with the works of art and the collections it contains.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“One last question, Captain Nemo.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ask it, Professor.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are rich?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Immensely rich, sir; and I could, without missing it, pay the national debt of
-France.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I stared at the singular person who spoke thus. Was he playing upon my
-credulity? The future would decide that.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br/>
-THE BLACK RIVER</h2>
-
-<p>
-The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is estimated at
-upwards of eighty millions of acres. This fluid mass comprises two billions two
-hundred and fifty millions of cubic miles, forming a spherical body of a
-diameter of sixty leagues, the weight of which would be three quintillions of
-tons. To comprehend the meaning of these figures, it is necessary to observe
-that a quintillion is to a billion as a billion is to unity; in other words,
-there are as many billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.
-This mass of fluid is equal to about the quantity of water which would be
-discharged by all the rivers of the earth in forty thousand years.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the geological epochs, the igneous period succeeded to the aqeous. The
-ocean originally prevailed everywhere. Then by degrees, in the silurian period,
-the tops of the mountains began to appear, the islands emerged, then
-disappeared in partial deluges, reappeared, became settled, formed continents,
-till at length the earth became geographically arranged, as we see in the
-present day. The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six
-hundred and fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billion nine hundred and
-sixty millions of acres.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five great
-portions: the Arctic or Frozen Ocean, the Antarctic or Frozen Ocean, the
-Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two polar circles,
-and from east to west between Asia and America, over an extent of 145 degrees
-of longitude. It is the quietest of seas; its currents are broad and slow, it
-has medium tides, and abundant rain. Such was the ocean that my fate destined
-me first to travel over under these strange conditions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said Captain Nemo, “we will, if you please, take our bearings and fix
-the starting-point of this voyage. It is a quarter to twelve; I will go up
-again to the surface.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Captain pressed an electric clock three times. The pumps began to drive the
-water from the tanks; the needle of the manometer marked by a different
-pressure the ascent of the <i>Nautilus</i>, then it stopped.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We have arrived,” said the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I went to the central staircase which opened on to the platform, clambered up
-the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The platform was only three feet out of water. The front and back of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was of that spindle-shape which caused it justly to be compared
-to a cigar. I noticed that its iron plates, slightly overlaying each other,
-resembled the shell which clothes the bodies of our large terrestrial reptiles.
-It explained to me how natural it was, in spite of all glasses, that this boat
-should have been taken for a marine animal.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Toward the middle of the platform the long-boat, half buried in the hull of the
-vessel, formed a slight excrescence. Fore and aft rose two cages of medium
-height with inclined sides, and partly closed by thick lenticular glasses; one
-destined for the steersman who directed the <i>Nautilus</i>, the other
-containing a brilliant lantern to give light on the road.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The sea was beautiful, the sky pure. Scarcely could the long vehicle feel the
-broad undulations of the ocean. A light breeze from the east rippled the
-surface of the waters. The horizon, free from fog, made observation easy.
-Nothing was in sight. Not a quicksand, not an island. A vast desert.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude of the sun, which
-ought also to give the latitude. He waited for some moments till its disc
-touched the horizon. Whilst taking observations not a muscle moved, the
-instrument could not have been more motionless in a hand of marble.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus03"></a>
-<img src="images/img03.jpg" width="418" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">Captain Nemo took the Sun’s altitude
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-“Twelve o’clock, sir,” said he. “When you like——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese coast, and
-descended to the saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And now, sir, I leave you to your studies,” added the Captain; “our course is
-E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms. Here are maps on a large scale by
-which you may follow it. The saloon is at your disposal, and with your
-permission, I will retire.” Captain Nemo bowed, and I remained alone, lost in
-thoughts all bearing on the commander of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce this
-mystery so interesting to me. Then my eyes fell upon the vast planisphere
-spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very spot where the given
-latitude and longitude crossed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The sea has its large rivers like the continents. They are special currents
-known by their temperature and their colour. The most remarkable of these is
-known by the name of the Gulf Stream. Science has decided on the globe the
-direction of five principal currents: one in the North Atlantic, a second in
-the South, a third in the North Pacific, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in
-the Southern Indian Ocean. It is even probable that a sixth current existed at
-one time or another in the Northern Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral
-Seas formed but one vast sheet of water.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was rolling,
-the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which, leaving the Gulf of
-Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular rays of a tropical sun, crosses
-the Straits of Malacca along the coast of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to
-the Aleutian Islands, carrying with it trunks of camphor-trees and other
-indigenous productions, and edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo
-of its warm water. It was this current that the <i>Nautilus</i> was to follow.
-I followed it with my eye; saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific,
-and felt myself drawn with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the door
-of the saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders spread
-before them.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where are we, where are we?” exclaimed the Canadian. “In the museum at
-Quebec?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My friends,” I answered, making a sign for them to enter, “you are not in
-Canada, but on board the <i>Nautilus</i>, fifty yards below the level of the
-sea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, M. Aronnax,” said Ned Land, “can you tell me how many men there are on
-board? Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a time all idea of
-seizing the <i>Nautilus</i> or escaping from it. This ship is a masterpiece of
-modern industry, and I should be sorry not to have seen it. Many people would
-accept the situation forced upon us, if only to move amongst such wonders. So
-be quiet and let us try and see what passes around us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“See!” exclaimed the harpooner, “but we can see nothing in this iron prison! We
-are walking—we are sailing—blindly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly darkness.
-The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes received a painful
-impression.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited us,
-whether agreeable or disagreeable. A sliding noise was heard: one would have
-said that panels were working at the sides of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is the end of the end!” said Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong openings.
-The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam. Two crystal
-plates separated us from the sea. At first I trembled at the thought that this
-frail partition might break, but strong bands of copper bound them, giving an
-almost infinite power of resistance.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the <i>Nautilus</i>. What a
-spectacle! What pen can describe it? Who could paint the effects of the light
-through those transparent sheets of water, and the softness of the successive
-gradations from the lower to the superior strata of the ocean?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far beyond that
-of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances which it holds in suspension
-heightens its transparency. In certain parts of the ocean at the Antilles,
-under seventy-five fathoms of water, can be seen with surprising clearness a
-bed of sand. The penetrating power of the solar rays does not seem to cease for
-a depth of one hundred and fifty fathoms. But in this middle fluid travelled
-over by the <i>Nautilus</i>, the electric brightness was produced even in the
-bosom of the waves. It was no longer luminous water, but liquid light.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss. The obscurity of the
-saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside, and we looked out as if this
-pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Curious! curious!” muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his ill-temper,
-seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction; “and one would come further
-than this to admire such a sight!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” thought I to myself, “I understand the life of this man; he has made a
-world apart for himself, in which he treasures all his greatest wonders.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the <i>Nautilus</i>. During their
-games, their bounds, while rivalling each other in beauty, brightness, and
-velocity, I distinguished the green labre; the banded mullet, marked by a
-double line of black; the round-tailed goby, of a white colour, with violet
-spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus, a beautiful mackerel of those seas,
-with a blue body and silvery head; the brilliant azurors, whose name alone
-defies description; some banded spares, with variegated fins of blue and
-yellow; the woodcocks of the seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in
-length; Japanese salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents six feet long, with
-eyes small and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth; with many other
-species.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly on each
-other. Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them. I was in ecstasies with
-the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their forms. Never had it
-been given to me to surprise these animals, alive and at liberty, in their
-natural element. I will not mention all the varieties which passed before my
-dazzled eyes, all the collection of the seas of China and Japan. These fish,
-more numerous than the birds of the air, came, attracted, no doubt, by the
-brilliant focus of the electric light.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed again, and
-the enchanting vision disappeared. But for a long time I dreamt on till my eyes
-fell on the instruments hanging on the partition. The compass still showed the
-course to be E.N.E., the manometer indicated a pressure of five atmospheres,
-equivalent to a depth of twenty-five fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed
-of fifteen miles an hour. I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear. The
-clock marked the hour of five.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my chamber. My
-dinner was ready. It was composed of turtle soup made of the most delicate
-hawksbills, of a surmullet served with puff paste (the liver of which, prepared
-by itself, was most delicious), and fillets of the emperor-holocanthus, the
-savour of which seemed to me superior even to salmon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking. Then sleep overpowered me,
-and I stretched myself on my couch of zostera, and slept profoundly, whilst the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was gliding rapidly through the current of the Black River.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br/>
-A NOTE OF INVITATION</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next day was the 9th of November. I awoke after a long sleep of twelve
-hours. Conseil came, according to custom, to know “how I had passed the night,”
-and to offer his services. He had left his friend the Canadian sleeping like a
-man who had never done anything else all his life. I let the worthy fellow
-chatter as he pleased, without caring to answer him. I was pre-occupied by the
-absence of the Captain during our sitting of the day before, and hoping to see
-him to-day.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon. It was deserted.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses. I
-revelled also in great herbals filled with the rarest marine plants, which,
-although dried up, retained their lovely colours. Amongst these precious
-hydrophytes I remarked some vorticellæ, pavonariæ, delicate ceramies with
-scarlet tints, some fan-shaped agari, and some natabuli like flat mushrooms,
-which at one time used to be classed as zoophytes; in short, a perfect series
-of algæ.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain Nemo.
-The panels of the saloon did not open. Perhaps they did not wish us to tire of
-these beautiful things.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The course of the <i>Nautilus</i> was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots, the depth
-below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion, the same solitude. I did
-not see one of the ship’s crew: Ned and Conseil spent the greater part of the
-day with me. They were astonished at the inexplicable absence of the Captain.
-Was this singular man ill?—had he altered his intentions with regard to us?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were delicately and
-abundantly fed. Our host kept to his terms of the treaty. We could not
-complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our fate reserved such wonderful
-compensation for us, that we had no right to accuse it as yet.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled me to
-relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail. I wrote it on
-paper made from the zostera marina.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-11th November, early in the morning. The fresh air spreading over the interior
-of the <i>Nautilus</i> told me that we had come to the surface of the ocean to
-renew our supply of oxygen. I directed my steps to the central staircase, and
-mounted the platform.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was six o’clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey but calm. Scarcely a
-billow. Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be there? I saw no one but
-the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage. Seated upon the projection formed
-by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled the salt breeze with delight.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun’s rays, the radiant
-orb rose from behind the eastern horizon. The sea flamed under its glance like
-a train of gunpowder. The clouds scattered in the heights were coloured with
-lively tints of beautiful shades, and numerous “mare’s tails,” which betokened
-wind for that day. But what was wind to this <i>Nautilus</i> which tempests
-could not frighten!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay, and so lifegiving, when I
-heard steps approaching the platform. I was prepared to salute Captain Nemo,
-but it was his second (whom I had already seen on the Captain’s first visit)
-who appeared. He advanced on the platform, not seeming to see me. With his
-powerful glass to his eye he scanned every point of the horizon with great
-attention. This examination over, he approached the panel and pronounced a
-sentence in exactly these terms. I have remembered it, for every morning it was
-repeated under exactly the same conditions. It was thus worded—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nautron respoc lorni virch.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What it meant I could not say.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These words pronounced, the second descended. I thought that the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was about to return to its submarine navigation. I regained the
-panel and returned to my chamber.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation. Every morning I
-mounted the platform. The same phrase was pronounced by the same individual.
-But Captain Nemo did not appear.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had made up my mind that I should never see him again, when, on the 16th
-November, on returning to my room with Ned and Conseil, I found upon my table a
-note addressed to me. I opened it impatiently. It was written in a bold, clear
-hand, the characters rather pointed, recalling the German type. The note was
-worded as follows—
-</p>
-
-<p class="right">
-16th of <i>November</i>, 1867.
-</p>
-
-<div class="letter">
-
-<p>
-T<small>O</small> P<small>ROFESSOR</small> A<small>RONNAX</small>, On board the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will take
-place to-morrow morning in the forests of the island of Crespo. He hopes that
-nothing will prevent the Professor from being present, and he will with
-pleasure see him joined by his companions.
-</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="right">
-C<small>APTAIN</small> N<small>EMO</small>, Commander of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A hunt!” exclaimed Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And in the forests of the island of Crespo!” added Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh! then the gentleman is going on <i>terra firma?</i>” replied Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That seems to me to be clearly indicated,” said I, reading the letter once
-more.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, we must accept,” said the Canadian. “But once more on dry ground, we
-shall know what to do. Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat a piece of fresh
-venison.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain Nemo’s
-manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation to hunt in a
-forest, I contented myself with replying—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us first see where the island of Crespo is.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I consulted the planisphere, and in 32° 40&#x2032; north lat. and 157°
-50&#x2032; west long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801 by Captain
-Crespo, and marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata, the
-meaning of which is “The Silver Rock.” We were then about eighteen hundred
-miles from our starting-point, and the course of the <i>Nautilus</i>, a little
-changed, was bringing it back towards the south-east.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I showed this little rock lost in the midst of the North Pacific to my
-companions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground,” said I, “he at least chooses
-desert islands.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil and he left me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After supper, which was served by the steward mute and impassive, I went to
-bed, not without some anxiety.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt that the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was perfectly still. I dressed quickly and entered the saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me. He rose, bowed, and asked me if it was
-convenient for me to accompany him. As he made no allusion to his absence
-during the last eight days, I did not mention it, and simply answered that my
-companions and myself were ready to follow him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax,” said the Captain, “pray, share my breakfast without ceremony; we
-will chat as we eat. For though I promised you a walk in the forest, I did not
-undertake to find hotels there. So breakfast as a man who will most likely not
-have his dinner till very late.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I did honour to the repast. It was composed of several kinds of fish, and
-slices of holothuridæ (excellent zoophytes), and different sorts of sea-weed.
-Our drink consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added some drops of a
-fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha method from a sea-weed known
-under the name of <i>Rhodomenia palmata</i>. Captain Nemo ate at first without
-saying a word. Then he began—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo, you
-evidently thought me mad. Sir, you should never judge lightly of any man.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But Captain, believe me——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you have any cause to
-accuse me of folly and contradiction.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I listen.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water, providing
-he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air. In submarine works,
-the workman, clad in an impervious dress, with his head in a metal helmet,
-receives air from above by means of forcing pumps and regulators.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is a diving apparatus,” said I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty; he is attached
-to the pump which sends him air through an india-rubber tube, and if we were
-obliged to be thus held to the <i>Nautilus</i>, we could not go far.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And the means of getting free?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your own countrymen,
-which I have brought to perfection for my own use, and which will allow you to
-risk yourself under these new physiological conditions without any organ
-whatever suffering. It consists of a reservoir of thick iron plates, in which I
-store the air under a pressure of fifty atmospheres. This reservoir is fixed on
-the back by means of braces, like a soldier’s knapsack. Its upper part forms a
-box in which the air is kept by means of a bellows, and therefore cannot escape
-unless at its normal tension. In the Rouquayrol apparatus such as we use, two
-india-rubber pipes leave this box and join a sort of tent which holds the nose
-and mouth; one is to introduce fresh air, the other to let out the foul, and
-the tongue closes one or the other according to the wants of the respirator.
-But I, in encountering great pressures at the bottom of the sea, was obliged to
-shut my head, like that of a diver in a ball of copper; and it is to this ball
-of copper that the two pipes, the inspirator and the expirator, open.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you must soon be
-used; when it only contains fifteen per cent. of oxygen it is no longer fit to
-breathe.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Right! But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the <i>Nautilus</i> allow
-me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those conditions the
-reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air for nine or ten hours.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have no further objections to make,” I answered; “I will only ask you one
-thing, Captain—how can you light your road at the bottom of the sea?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back, the
-other is fastened to the waist. It is composed of a Bunsen pile, which I do not
-work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium. A wire is introduced which
-collects the electricity produced, and directs it towards a particularly made
-lantern. In this lantern is a spiral glass which contains a small quantity of
-carbonic gas. When the apparatus is at work this gas becomes luminous, giving
-out a white and continuous light. Thus provided, I can breathe and I can see.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers, that I dare
-no longer doubt. But if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol and Ruhmkorff
-apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with regard to the gun I am to
-carry.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But it is not a gun for powder,” answered the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then it is an air-gun.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Doubtless! How would you have me manufacture gunpowder on board, without
-either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Besides,” I added, “to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and
-fifty-five times denser than the air, we must conquer very considerable
-resistance.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That would be no difficulty. There exist guns, according to Fulton, perfected
-in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy, and in Italy by
-Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar system of closing, which can fire
-under these conditions. But I repeat, having no powder, I use air under great
-pressure, which the pumps of the <i>Nautilus</i> furnish abundantly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But this air must be rapidly used?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at need? A tap
-is all that is required. Besides, M. Aronnax, you must see yourself that,
-during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air and but few balls.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this fluid,
-which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could not go far, nor
-easily prove mortal.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal; and however lightly
-the animal is touched, it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little cases of
-glass (invented by Leniebroek, an Austrian chemist), of which I have a large
-supply. These glass cases are covered with a case of steel, and weighted with a
-pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles, into which the electricity is
-forced to a very high tension. With the slightest shock they are discharged,
-and the animal, however strong it may be, falls dead. I must tell you that
-these cases are size number four, and that the charge for an ordinary gun would
-be ten.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will argue no longer,” I replied, rising from the table; “I have nothing
-left me but to take my gun. At all events, I will go where you go.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned’s and Conseil’s cabin,
-I called my two companions, who followed immediately. We then came to a kind of
-cell near the machinery-room, in which we were to put on our walking-dress.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV<br/>
-A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA</h2>
-
-<p>
-This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition, waiting
-our use.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress himself in one.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing but
-submarine forests.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good!” said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams of fresh meat fade
-away. “And you, M. Aronnax, are you going to dress yourself in those clothes?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“There is no alternative, Master Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you please, sir,” replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders; “but as
-for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No one will force you, Master Ned,” said Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is Conseil going to risk it?” asked Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I follow my master wherever he goes,” replied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At the Captain’s call two of the ship’s crew came to help us to dress in these
-heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam, and
-constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure. One would have thought
-it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting. This suit formed trousers and
-waistcoat. The trousers were finished off with thick boots, weighted with heavy
-leaden soles. The texture of the waistcoat was held together by bands of
-copper, which crossed the chest, protecting it from the great pressure of the
-water, and leaving the lungs free to act; the sleeves ended in gloves, which in
-no way restrained the movement of the hands. There was a vast difference
-noticeable between these consummate apparatuses and the old cork breastplates,
-jackets, and other contrivances in vogue during the eighteenth century.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules, who must have
-possessed great strength), Conseil, and myself, were soon enveloped in the
-dresses. There remained nothing more to be done but to enclose our heads in the
-metal box. But before proceeding to this operation, I asked the Captain’s
-permission to examine the guns we were to carry.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-One of the <i>Nautilus</i> men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which,
-made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large. It served as a reservoir
-for compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring, allowed to escape into a
-metal tube. A box of projectiles, in a groove in the thickness of the butt end,
-contained about twenty of these electric balls, which, by means of a spring,
-were forced into the barrel of the gun. As soon as one shot was fired, another
-was ready.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Captain Nemo,” said I, “this arm is perfect, and easily handled: I only ask to
-be allowed to try it. But how shall we gain the bottom of the sea?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“At this moment, Professor, the <i>Nautilus</i> is stranded in five fathoms,
-and we have nothing to do but to start.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But how shall we get off?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You shall see.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the same, not
-without hearing an ironical “Good sport!” from the Canadian. The upper part of
-our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which was screwed the metal
-helmet. Three holes, protected by thick glass, allowed us to see in all
-directions, by simply turning our head in the interior of the head-dress. As
-soon as it was in position, the Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began to act;
-and, for my part, I could breathe with ease.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand, I was
-ready to set out. But to speak the truth, imprisoned in these heavy garments,
-and glued to the deck by my leaden soles, it was impossible for me to take a
-step.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus04"></a>
-<img src="images/img04.jpg" width="408" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">I was ready to set out
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-But this state of things was provided for. I felt myself being pushed into a
-little room contiguous to the wardrobe-room. My companions followed, towed
-along in the same way. I heard a water-tight door, furnished with
-stopper-plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in profound darkness.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard. I felt the cold mount from my
-feet to my chest. Evidently from some part of the vessel they had, by means of
-a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading us, and with which the
-room was soon filled. A second door cut in the side of the <i>Nautilus</i> then
-opened. We saw a faint light. In another instant our feet trod the bottom of
-the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk under the
-waters? Words are impotent to relate such wonders! Captain Nemo walked in
-front, his companion followed some steps behind. Conseil and I remained near
-each other, as if an exchange of words had been possible through our metallic
-cases. I no longer felt the weight of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my
-reservoir of air, or my thick helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled
-like an almond in its shell.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the ocean,
-astonished me by its power. The solar rays shone through the watery mass
-easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly distinguished objects at a
-distance of a hundred and fifty yards. Beyond that the tints darkened into fine
-gradations of ultramarine, and faded into vague obscurity. Truly this water
-which surrounded me was but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere,
-but almost as transparent. Above me was the calm surface of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore, which
-retains the impression of the billows. This dazzling carpet, really a
-reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity, which
-accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid. Shall I be
-believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet, I could see as if I was
-in broad daylight?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable dust of
-shells. The hull of the <i>Nautilus</i>, resembling a long shoal, disappeared
-by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake us in the waters,
-would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible. I recognised
-magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the most beautiful
-kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect of this medium.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface of the
-waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their light, decomposed
-by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks, plants, shells, and polypi
-were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours. It was marvellous, a feast
-for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints, a perfect kaleidoscope of
-green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue; in one word, the whole palette
-of an enthusiastic colourist! Why could I not communicate to Conseil the lively
-sensations which were mounting to my brain, and rival him in expressions of
-admiration? For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his companion might be able to
-exchange thoughts by means of signs previously agreed upon. So, for want of
-better, I talked to myself; I declaimed in the copper box which covered my
-head, thereby expending more air in vain words than was perhaps expedient.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi, and anemones
-formed a brilliant garden of flowers, enamelled with porphitæ, decked with
-their collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom,
-together with asterophytons like fine lace embroidered by the hands of naĂŻads,
-whose festoons were waved by the gentle undulations caused by our walk. It was
-a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens of molluscs
-which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammer-heads, donaciae (veritable
-bounding shells), of staircases, and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many
-others produced by this inexhaustible ocean. But we were bound to walk, so we
-went on, whilst above our heads waved shoals of physalides leaving their
-tentacles to float in their train, medusæ whose umbrellas of opal or rose-pink,
-escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from the rays of the sun and fiery
-pelagiæ, which, in the darkness, would have strewn our path with phosphorescent
-light.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely stopping,
-and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs. Soon the nature of the
-soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an extent of slimy mud, which the
-Americans call “ooze,” composed of equal parts of silicious and calcareous
-shells. We then travelled over a plain of sea-weed of wild and luxuriant
-vegetation. This sward was of close texture, and soft to the feet, and rivalled
-the softest carpet woven by the hand of man. But whilst verdure was spread at
-our feet, it did not abandon our heads. A light network of marine plants, of
-that inexhaustible family of sea-weeds of which more than two thousand kinds
-are known, grew on the surface of the water. I saw long ribbons of fucus
-floating, some globular, others tuberous; laurenciæ and cladostephi of most
-delicate foliage, and some rhodomeniæ palmatæ, resembling the fan of a cactus.
-I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea, whilst the red
-were at a greater depth, leaving to the black or brown hydrophytes the care of
-forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We had quitted the <i>Nautilus</i> about an hour and a half. It was near noon;
-I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun’s rays, which were no longer
-refracted. The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the shades of
-emerald and sapphire were effaced. We walked with a regular step, which rang
-upon the ground with astonishing intensity; the slightest noise was transmitted
-with a quickness to which the ear is unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water
-is a better conductor of sound than air, in the ratio of four to one. At this
-period the earth sloped downwards; the light took a uniform tint. We were at a
-depth of a hundred and five yards and twenty inches, undergoing a pressure of
-six atmospheres.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to their
-intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest state between
-day and night; but we could still see well enough; it was not necessary to
-resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet. At this moment Captain Nemo stopped;
-he waited till I joined him, and then pointed to an obscure mass, looming in
-the shadow, at a short distance.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is the forest of the Island of Crespo,” thought I;—and I was not mistaken.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br/>
-A SUBMARINE FOREST</h2>
-
-<p>
-We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of the
-finest of Captain Nemo’s immense domains. He looked upon it as his own, and
-considered he had the same right over it that the first men had in the first
-days of the world. And, indeed, who would have disputed with him the possession
-of this submarine property? What other hardier pioneer would come, hatchet in
-hand, to cut down the dark copses?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we penetrated
-under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular position of their
-branches—a position I had not yet observed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Not a herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the trees, was
-either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally; all stretched up to
-the surface of the ocean. Not a filament, not a ribbon, however thin they might
-be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron. The fuci and llianas grew in rigid
-perpendicular lines, due to the density of the element which had produced them.
-Motionless, yet when bent to one side by the hand, they directly resumed their
-former position. Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the
-comparative darkness which surrounded us. The soil of the forest seemed covered
-with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid. The submarine flora struck me as being
-very perfect, and richer even than it would have been in the arctic or tropical
-zones, where these productions are not so plentiful. But for some minutes I
-involuntarily confounded the genera, taking zoophytes for hydrophytes, animals
-for plants; and who would not have been mistaken? The fauna and the flora are
-too closely allied in this submarine world.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their existence is in
-the water, which upholds and nourishes them. The greater number, instead of
-leaves, shot forth blades of capricious shapes, comprised within a scale of
-colours,—pink, carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown. I saw there (but not
-dried up, as our specimens of the <i>Nautilus</i> are) pavonari spread like a
-fan, as if to catch the breeze; scarlet ceramies, whose laminaries extended
-their edible shoots of fern-shaped nereocysti, which grow to a height of
-fifteen feet; clusters of acetabuli, whose stems increase in size upwards; and
-numbers of other marine plants, all devoid of flowers!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Curious anomaly, fantastic element!” said an ingenious naturalist, “in which
-the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Under these numerous shrubs (as large as trees of the temperate zone), and
-under their damp shadow, were massed together real bushes of living flowers,
-hedges of zoophytes, on which blossomed some zebrameandrines, with crooked
-grooves, some yellow caryophylliæ; and, to complete the allusion, the
-fish-flies flew from branch to branch like a swarm of humming-birds, whilst
-yellow lepisacomthi, with bristling jaws, dactylopteri, and monocentrides rose
-at our feet like a flight of snipes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt. I, for my part, was not
-sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariæ, the long thin
-blades of which stood up like arrows.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing wanting but the charm
-of conversation; but, impossible to speak, impossible to answer, I only put my
-great copper head to Conseil’s. I saw the worthy fellow’s eyes glistening with
-delight, and to show his satisfaction, he shook himself in his breastplate of
-air in the most comical way in the world.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After four hours of this walking I was surprised not to find myself dreadfully
-hungry. How to account for this state of the stomach I could not tell. But
-instead I felt an insurmountable desire to sleep, which happens to all divers.
-And my eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses, and I fell into a heavy
-slumber, which the movement alone had prevented before. Captain Nemo and his
-robust companion, stretched in the clear crystal, set us the example.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge; but, when I woke,
-the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon. Captain Nemo had already risen, and
-I was beginning to stretch my limbs, when an unexpected apparition brought me
-briskly to my feet.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches high, was
-watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me. Though my diver’s
-dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite of this animal, I could not
-help shuddering with horror. Conseil and the sailor of the <i>Nautilus</i>
-awoke at this moment. Captain Nemo pointed out the hideous crustacean, which a
-blow from the butt end of the gun knocked over, and I saw the horrible claws of
-the monster writhe in terrible convulsions. This accident reminded me that
-other animals more to be feared might haunt these obscure depths, against whose
-attacks my diving-dress would not protect me. I had never thought of it before,
-but I now resolved to be upon my guard. Indeed, I thought that this halt would
-mark the termination of our walk; but I was mistaken, for, instead of returning
-to the <i>Nautilus</i>, Captain Nemo continued his bold excursion. The ground
-was still on the incline, its declivity seemed to be getting greater, and to be
-leading us to greater depths. It must have been about three o’clock when we
-reached a narrow valley, between high perpendicular walls, situated about
-seventy-five fathoms deep. Thanks to the perfection of our apparatus, we were
-forty-five fathoms below the limit which nature seems to have imposed on man as
-to his submarine excursions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to judge the
-distance. But I knew that even in the clearest waters the solar rays could not
-penetrate further. And accordingly the darkness deepened. At ten paces not an
-object was visible. I was groping my way, when I suddenly saw a brilliant white
-light. Captain Nemo had just put his electric apparatus into use; his companion
-did the same, and Conseil and I followed their example. By turning a screw I
-established a communication between the wire and the spiral glass, and the sea,
-lit by our four lanterns, was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo was still plunging into the dark depths of the forest, whose trees
-were getting scarcer at every step. I noticed that vegetable life disappeared
-sooner than animal life. The medusæ had already abandoned the arid soil, from
-which a great number of animals, zoophytes, articulata, molluscs, and fishes,
-still obtained sustenance.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As we walked I, thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus could not fail to
-draw some inhabitant from its dark couch. But if they did approach us, they at
-least kept at a respectful distance from the hunters. Several times I saw
-Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his shoulder, and after some moments drop it
-and walk on. At last, after about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to
-an end. A wall of superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of
-gigantic blocks, an enormous, steep granite shore, forming dark grottos, but
-which presented no practicable slope; it was the prop of the Island of Crespo.
-It was the earth! Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. A gesture of his brought us
-all to a halt, and, however desirous I might be to scale the wall, I was
-obliged to stop. Here ended Captain Nemo’s domains. And he would not go beyond
-them. Further on was a portion of the globe he might not trample upon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The return began. Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little band,
-directing their course without hesitation. I thought we were not following the
-same road to return to the <i>Nautilus</i>. The new road was very steep, and
-consequently very painful. We approached the surface of the sea rapidly. But
-this return to the upper strata was not so sudden as to cause relief from the
-pressure too rapidly, which might have produced serious disorder in our
-organisation, and brought on internal lesions, so fatal to divers. Very soon
-light reappeared and grew, and the sun being low on the horizon, the refraction
-edged the different objects with a spectral ring. At ten yards and a half deep,
-we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes of all kinds, more numerous than the
-birds of the air, and also more agile; but no aquatic game worthy of a shot had
-as yet met our gaze, when at that moment I saw the Captain shoulder his gun
-quickly, and follow a moving object into the shrubs. He fired;—I heard a slight
-hissing, and a creature fell stunned at some distance from us. It was a
-magnificent sea-otter, an enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped. This
-otter was five feet long, and must have been very valuable. Its skin,
-chestnut-brown above and silvery underneath, would have made one of those
-beautiful furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets; the fineness
-and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch ÂŁ80. I admired this curious
-mammal, with its rounded head ornamented with short ears, its round eyes, and
-white whiskers like those of a cat, with webbed feet and nails, and tufted
-tail. This precious animal, hunted and tracked by fishermen, has now become
-very rare, and taken refuge chiefly in the northern parts of the Pacific, or
-probably its race would soon become extinct.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo’s companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder, and we
-continued our journey. For one hour a plain of sand lay stretched before us.
-Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some inches of the surface of the
-water. I then saw our image clearly reflected, drawn inversely, and above us
-appeared an identical group reflecting our movements and our actions; in a
-word, like us in every point, except that they walked with their heads downward
-and their feet in the air.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which formed
-and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these seeming clouds
-were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the bottom, and I could even
-see the fleecy foam which their broken tops multiplied on the water, and the
-shadows of large birds passing above our heads, whose rapid flight I could
-discern on the surface of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On this occasion, I was witness to one of the finest gun-shots which ever made
-the nerves of a hunter thrill. A large bird of great breadth of wing, clearly
-visible, approached, hovering over us. Captain Nemo’s companion shouldered his
-gun and fired, when it was only a few yards above the waves. The creature fell
-stunned, and the force of its fall brought it within the reach of dexterous
-hunter’s grasp. It was an albatross of the finest kind.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Our march had not been interrupted by this incident. For two hours we followed
-these sandy plains, then fields of algæ very disagreeable to cross. Candidly, I
-could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light, which, for a half mile, broke
-the darkness of the waters. It was the lantern of the <i>Nautilus</i>. Before
-twenty minutes were over we should be on board, and I should be able to breathe
-with ease, for it seemed that my reservoir supplied air very deficient in
-oxygen. But I did not reckon on an accidental meeting, which delayed our
-arrival for some time.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain Nemo coming
-hurriedly towards me. With his strong hand he bent me to the ground, his
-companion doing the same to Conseil. At first I knew not what to think of this
-sudden attack, but I was soon reassured by seeing the Captain lie down beside
-me, and remain immovable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of algæ, when,
-raising my head, I saw some enormous mass, casting phosphorescent gleams, pass
-blusteringly by.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which
-threatened us. It was a couple of tintoreas, terrible creatures, with enormous
-tails and a dull glassy stare, the phosphorescent matter ejected from holes
-pierced around the muzzle. Monstrous brutes! which would crush a whole man in
-their iron jaws. I did not know whether Conseil stopped to classify them; for
-my part, I noticed their silver bellies, and their huge mouths bristling with
-teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and more as a possible victim
-than as a naturalist.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Happily the voracious creatures do not see well. They passed without seeing us,
-brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a miracle from a danger
-certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in the forest. Half an hour
-after, guided by the electric light, we reached the <i>Nautilus</i>. The
-outside door had been left open, and Captain Nemo closed it as soon as we had
-entered the first cell. He then pressed a knob. I heard the pumps working in
-the midst of the vessel, I felt the water sinking from around me, and in a few
-moments the cell was entirely empty. The inside door then opened, and we
-entered the vestry.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble; and, fairly
-worn out from want of food and sleep. I returned to my room, in great wonder at
-this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br/>
-FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my fatigues
-of the day before, and I went up on to the platform, just as the second
-lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo appeared.
-He did not seem to be aware of my presence, and began a series of astronomical
-observations. Then, when he had finished, he went and leant on the cage of the
-watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean. In the meantime, a number of
-the sailors of the <i>Nautilus</i>, all strong and healthy men, had come up
-onto the platform. They came to draw up the nets that had been laid all night.
-These sailors were evidently of different nations, although the European type
-was visible in all of them. I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen, Frenchmen,
-some Sclaves, and a Greek, or a Candiote. They were civil, and only used that
-odd language among themselves, the origin of which I could not guess, neither
-could I question them.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The nets were hauled in. They were a large kind of “chaluts,” like those on the
-Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain fixed in the smaller
-meshes kept open. These pockets, drawn by iron poles, swept through the water,
-and gathered in everything in their way. That day they brought up curious
-specimens from those productive coasts.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of fish.
-It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at. Indeed, the nets are let down
-for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite variety. We had no
-lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the <i>Nautilus</i> and the
-attraction of the electric light could always renew our supply. These several
-productions of the sea were immediately lowered through the panel to the
-steward’s room, some to be eaten fresh, and others pickled.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The fishing ended, the provision of air renewed, I thought that the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was about to continue its submarine excursion, and was
-preparing to return to my room, when, without further preamble, the Captain
-turned to me, saying:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life? It has its tempers and its
-gentle moods. Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it has woke after a quiet
-night. Look!” he continued, “it wakes under the caresses of the sun. It is
-going to renew its diurnal existence. It is an interesting study to watch the
-play of its organisation. It has a pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with
-the learned Maury, who discovered in it a circulation as real as the
-circulation of blood in animals.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator has
-caused things to multiply in it—caloric, salt, and animalculae.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed, and aroused an
-extraordinary emotion in me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Also,” he added, “true existence is there; and I can imagine the foundations
-of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses, which, like the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, would ascend every morning to breathe at the surface of the
-water, free towns, independent cities. Yet who knows whether some despot——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture. Then, addressing me
-as if to chase away some sorrowful thought:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax,” he asked, “do you know the depth of the ocean?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings have taught us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to my purpose?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“These are some,” I replied, “that I remember. If I am not mistaken, a depth of
-8,000 yards has been found in the North Atlantic, and 2,500 yards in the
-Mediterranean. The most remarkable soundings have been made in the South
-Atlantic, near the thirty-fifth parallel, and they gave 12,000 yards, 14,000
-yards, and 15,000 yards. To sum up all, it is reckoned that if the bottom of
-the sea were levelled, its mean depth would be about one and three-quarter
-leagues.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Professor,” replied the Captain, “we shall show you better than that I
-hope. As to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific, I tell you it is only
-4,000 yards.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Having said this, Captain Nemo went towards the panel, and disappeared down the
-ladder. I followed him, and went into the large drawing-room. The screw was
-immediately put in motion, and the log gave twenty miles an hour.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the days and weeks that passed, Captain Nemo was very sparing of his
-visits. I seldom saw him. The lieutenant pricked the ship’s course regularly on
-the chart, so I could always tell exactly the route of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Nearly every day, for some time, the panels of the drawing-room were opened,
-and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the submarine world.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The general direction of the <i>Nautilus</i> was south-east, and it kept
-between 100 and 150 yards of depth. One day, however, I do not know why, being
-drawn diagonally by means of the inclined planes, it touched the bed of the
-sea. The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25 (cent.): a temperature
-that at this depth seemed common to all latitudes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At three o’clock in the morning of the 26th of November the <i>Nautilus</i>
-crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172° long. On 27th instant it sighted the
-Sandwich Islands, where Cook died, February 14, 1779. We had then gone 4,860
-leagues from our starting-point. In the morning, when I went on the platform, I
-saw two miles to windward, Hawaii, the largest of the seven islands that form
-the group. I saw clearly the cultivated ranges, and the several mountain-chains
-that run parallel with the side, and the volcanoes that overtop Mouna-Rea,
-which rise 5,000 yards above the level of the sea. Besides other things the
-nets brought up, were several flabellariae and graceful polypi, that are
-peculiar to that part of the ocean. The direction of the <i>Nautilus</i> was
-still to the south-east. It crossed the equator December 1, in 142° long.; and
-on the 4th of the same month, after crossing rapidly and without anything in
-particular occurring, we sighted the Marquesas group. I saw, three miles off,
-Martin’s peak in Nouka-Hiva, the largest of the group that belongs to France. I
-only saw the woody mountains against the horizon, because Captain Nemo did not
-wish to bring the ship to the wind. There the nets brought up beautiful
-specimens of fish: some with azure fins and tails like gold, the flesh of which
-is unrivalled; some nearly destitute of scales, but of exquisite flavour;
-others, with bony jaws, and yellow-tinged gills, as good as bonitos; all fish
-that would be of use to us. After leaving these charming islands protected by
-the French flag, from the 4th to the 11th of December the <i>Nautilus</i>
-sailed over about 2,000 miles.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the daytime of the 11th of December I was busy reading in the large
-drawing-room. Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous water through the
-half-open panels. The <i>Nautilus</i> was immovable. While its reservoirs were
-filled, it kept at a depth of 1,000 yards, a region rarely visited in the
-ocean, and in which large fish were seldom seen.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was then reading a charming book by Jean Mace, The Slaves of the Stomach, and
-I was learning some valuable lessons from it, when Conseil interrupted me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will master come here a moment?” he said, in a curious voice.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is the matter, Conseil?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I want master to look.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I rose, went, and leaned on my elbows before the panes and watched.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In a full electric light, an enormous black mass, quite immovable, was
-suspended in the midst of the waters. I watched it attentively, seeking to find
-out the nature of this gigantic cetacean. But a sudden thought crossed my mind.
-“A vessel!” I said, half aloud.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” replied the Canadian, “a disabled ship that has sunk perpendicularly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the tattered shrouds
-still hung from their chains. The keel seemed to be in good order, and it had
-been wrecked at most some few hours. Three stumps of masts, broken off about
-two feet above the bridge, showed that the vessel had had to sacrifice its
-masts. But, lying on its side, it had filled, and it was heeling over to port.
-This skeleton of what it had once been was a sad spectacle as it lay lost under
-the waves, but sadder still was the sight of the bridge, where some corpses,
-bound with ropes, were still lying. I counted five—four men, one of whom was
-standing at the helm, and a woman standing by the poop, holding an infant in
-her arms. She was quite young. I could distinguish her features, which the
-water had not decomposed, by the brilliant light from the <i>Nautilus</i>. In
-one despairing effort, she had raised her infant above her head—poor little
-thing!—whose arms encircled its mother’s neck. The attitude of the four sailors
-was frightful, distorted as they were by their convulsive movements, whilst
-making a last effort to free themselves from the cords that bound them to the
-vessel. The steersman alone, calm, with a grave, clear face, his grey hair
-glued to his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the helm, seemed
-even then to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths of the ocean.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What a scene! We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before this shipwreck, taken
-as it were from life and photographed in its last moments. And I saw already,
-coming towards it with hungry eyes, enormous sharks, attracted by the human
-flesh.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, the <i>Nautilus</i>, turning, went round the submerged vessel, and in
-one instant I read on the stern—“The Florida, Sunderland.”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br/>
-VANIKORO</h2>
-
-<p>
-This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime
-catastrophes that the <i>Nautilus</i> was destined to meet with in its route.
-As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw the hulls of
-shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths, and deeper down cannons,
-bullets, anchors, chains, and a thousand other iron materials eaten up by rust.
-However, on the 11th of December we sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old
-“dangerous group” of Bougainville, that extend over a space of 500 leagues at
-E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the Island Ducie to that of Lazareff. This group covers
-an area of 370 square leagues, and it is formed of sixty groups of islands,
-among which the Gambier group is remarkable, over which France exercises sway.
-These are coral islands, slowly raised, but continuous, created by the daily
-work of polypi. Then this new island will be joined later on to the neighboring
-groups, and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia,
-and from thence to the Marquesas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain Nemo, he replied coldly:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The earth does not want new continents, but new men.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Chance had conducted the <i>Nautilus</i> towards the Island of
-Clermont-Tonnere, one of the most curious of the group, that was discovered in
-1822 by Captain Bell of the Minerva. I could study now the madreporal system,
-to which are due the islands in this ocean.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Madrepores (which must not be mistaken for corals) have a tissue lined with a
-calcareous crust, and the modifications of its structure have induced M. Milne
-Edwards, my worthy master, to class them into five sections. The animalcule
-that the marine polypus secretes live by millions at the bottom of their cells.
-Their calcareous deposits become rocks, reefs, and large and small islands.
-Here they form a ring, surrounding a little inland lake, that communicates with
-the sea by means of gaps. There they make barriers of reefs like those on the
-coasts of New Caledonia and the various Pomoton islands. In other places, like
-those at Reunion and at Maurice, they raise fringed reefs, high, straight
-walls, near which the depth of the ocean is considerable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Some cable-lengths off the shores of the Island of Clermont I admired the
-gigantic work accomplished by these microscopical workers. These walls are
-specially the work of those madrepores known as milleporas, porites,
-madrepores, and astraeas. These polypi are found particularly in the rough beds
-of the sea, near the surface; and consequently it is from the upper part that
-they begin their operations, in which they bury themselves by degrees with the
-debris of the secretions that support them. Such is, at least, Darwin’s theory,
-who thus explains the formation of the <i>atolls</i>, a superior theory (to my
-mind) to that given of the foundation of the madreporical works, summits of
-mountains or volcanoes, that are submerged some feet below the level of the
-sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I could observe closely these curious walls, for perpendicularly they were more
-than 300 yards deep, and our electric sheets lighted up this calcareous matter
-brilliantly. Replying to a question Conseil asked me as to the time these
-colossal barriers took to be raised, I astonished him much by telling him that
-learned men reckoned it about the eighth of an inch in a hundred years.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Towards evening Clermont-Tonnerre was lost in the distance, and the route of
-the <i>Nautilus</i> was sensibly changed. After having crossed the tropic of
-Capricorn in 135° longitude, it sailed W.N.W., making again for the tropical
-zone. Although the summer sun was very strong, we did not suffer from heat, for
-at fifteen or twenty fathoms below the surface, the temperature did not rise
-above from ten to twelve degrees.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On 15th of December, we left to the east the bewitching group of the Societies
-and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific. I saw in the morning, some miles
-to the windward, the elevated summits of the island. These waters furnished our
-table with excellent fish, mackerel, bonitos, and some varieties of a
-sea-serpent.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 25th of December the <i>Nautilus</i> sailed into the midst of the New
-Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville explored in 1768,
-and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773. This group is composed
-principally of nine large islands, that form a band of 120 leagues N.N.S. to
-S.S.W., between 15° and 2° S. lat., and 164 deg. and 168° long. We passed
-tolerably near to the Island of Aurou, that at noon looked like a mass of green
-woods, surmounted by a peak of great height.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely the
-non-celebration of “Christmas,” the family fete of which Protestants are so
-fond. I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week, when, on the morning of the 27th,
-he came into the large drawing-room, always seeming as if he had seen you five
-minutes before. I was busily tracing the route of the <i>Nautilus</i> on the
-planisphere. The Captain came up to me, put his finger on one spot on the
-chart, and said this single word.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Vanikoro.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The effect was magical! It was the name of the islands on which La Perouse had
-been lost! I rose suddenly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The <i>Nautilus</i> has brought us to Vanikoro?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Professor,” said the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole and the Astrolabe
-struck?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If you like, Professor.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“When shall we be there?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are there now.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform, and greedily scanned
-the horizon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size, surrounded by a coral
-reef that measured forty miles in circumference. We were close to Vanikoro,
-really the one to which Dumont d’Urville gave the name of Isle de la Recherche,
-and exactly facing the little harbour of Vanou, situated in 16° 4&#x2032; S.
-lat., and 164° 32&#x2032; E. long. The earth seemed covered with verdure from
-the shore to the summits in the interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo,
-476 feet high. The <i>Nautilus</i>, having passed the outer belt of rocks by a
-narrow strait, found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty to
-forty fathoms deep. Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived some
-savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach. In the long black
-body, moving between wind and water, did they not see some formidable cetacean
-that they regarded with suspicion?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La Perouse.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Only what everyone knows, Captain,” I replied.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?” he inquired, ironically.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Easily.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d’Urville had made
-known—works from which the following is a brief account.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent by Louis XVI, in 1785,
-on a voyage of circumnavigation. They embarked in the corvettes Boussole and
-the Astrolabe, neither of which were again heard of. In 1791, the French
-Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of these two sloops, manned two large
-merchantmen, the Recherche and the Esperance, which left Brest the 28th of
-September under the command of Bruni d’Entrecasteaux.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle, that the
-debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts of New Georgia. But
-D’Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication—rather uncertain, besides—directed
-his course towards the Admiralty Islands, mentioned in a report of Captain
-Hunter’s as being the place where La Perouse was wrecked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-They sought in vain. The Esperance and the Recherche passed before Vanikoro
-without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most disastrous, as it
-cost D’Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of his lieutenants, besides
-several of his crew.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find unmistakable
-traces of the wrecks. On the 15th of May, 1824, his vessel, the St. Patrick,
-passed close to Tikopia, one of the New Hebrides. There a Lascar came alongside
-in a canoe, sold him the handle of a sword in silver that bore the print of
-characters engraved on the hilt. The Lascar pretended that six years before,
-during a stay at Vanikoro, he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some
-vessels that had run aground on the reefs some years ago.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had troubled the
-whole world. He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where, according to the Lascar, he
-would find numerous debris of the wreck, but winds and tides prevented him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he interested the Asiatic Society and the
-Indian Company in his discovery. A vessel, to which was given the name of the
-Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out, 23rd January, 1827,
-accompanied by a French agent.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific, cast anchor
-before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour of Vanou where the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was at this time.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There it collected numerous relics of the wreck—iron utensils, anchors,
-pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lbs. shot, fragments of astronomical
-instruments, a piece of crown work, and a bronze clock, bearing this
-inscription—“Bazin m’a fait,” the mark of the foundry of the arsenal at Brest
-about 1785. There could be no further doubt.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till October.
-Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New Zealand; put into
-Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France, where he was warmly welcomed
-by Charles X.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But at the same time, without knowing Dillon’s movements, Dumont d’Urville had
-already set out to find the scene of the wreck. And they had learned from a
-whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis had been found in the hands of
-some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia. Dumont d’Urville, commander of the
-Astrolabe, had then sailed, and two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he
-put into Hobart Town. There he learned the results of Dillon’s inquiries, and
-found that a certain James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta,
-after landing on an island situated 8° 18&#x2032; S. lat., and 156° 30&#x2032;
-E. long., had seen some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these
-parts. Dumont d’Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit the
-reports of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon’s track.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia, and took as
-guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island; made his way to Vanikoro,
-sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among the reefs until the 14th, and not until
-the 20th did he cast anchor within the barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought back some
-unimportant trifles. The natives, adopting a system of denials and evasions,
-refused to take them to the unlucky place. This ambiguous conduct led them to
-believe that the natives had ill-treated the castaways, and indeed they seemed
-to fear that Dumont d’Urville had come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate
-crew.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that they
-had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of the wreck.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs of Pacou and Vanou,
-lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron, embedded in the limy concretions.
-The large boat and the whaler belonging to the Astrolabe were sent to this
-place, and, not without some difficulty, their crews hauled up an anchor
-weighing 1,800 lbs., a brass gun, some pigs of iron, and two copper
-swivel-guns.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Dumont d’Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse, after
-losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island, had constructed a smaller
-boat, only to be lost a second time. Where, no one knew.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d’Urville was not acquainted
-with Dillon’s movements, had sent the sloop Bayonnaise, commanded by Legoarant
-de Tromelin, to Vanikoro, which had been stationed on the west coast of
-America. The Bayonnaise cast her anchor before Vanikoro some months after the
-departure of the Astrolabe, but found no new document; but stated that the
-savages had respected the monument to La Perouse. That is the substance of what
-I told Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So,” he said, “no one knows now where the third vessel perished that was
-constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No one knows.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into the large
-saloon. The <i>Nautilus</i> sank several yards below the waves, and the panels
-were opened.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral, covered with
-fungi, syphonules, alcyons, madrepores, through myriads of charming
-fish—girelles, glyphisidri, pompherides, diacopes, and holocentres—I recognised
-certain debris that the drags had not been able to tear up—iron stirrups,
-anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects
-clearly proving the wreck of some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers.
-While I was looking on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a sad voice:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels La Boussole
-and the Astrolabe. He first cast anchor at Botany Bay, visited the Friendly
-Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course towards Santa Cruz, and put into
-Namouka, one of the Hapai group. Then his vessels struck on the unknown reefs
-of Vanikoro. The Boussole, which went first, ran aground on the southerly
-coast. The Astrolabe went to its help, and ran aground too. The first vessel
-was destroyed almost immediately. The second, stranded under the wind, resisted
-some days. The natives made the castaways welcome. They installed themselves in
-the island, and constructed a smaller boat with the debris of the two large
-ones. Some sailors stayed willingly at Vanikoro; the others, weak and ill, set
-out with La Perouse. They directed their course towards the Solomon Islands,
-and there perished, with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island
-of the group, between Capes Deception and Satisfaction.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How do you know that?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms, and
-corroded by the salt water. He opened it, and I saw a bundle of papers, yellow
-but still readable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La Perouse,
-annotated in the margin in Louis XVI’s handwriting.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!” said Captain Nemo, at last. “A coral
-tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades will find no
-other.”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br/>
-TORRES STRAITS</h2>
-
-<p>
-During the night of the 27th or 28th of December, the <i>Nautilus</i> left the
-shores of Vanikoro with great speed. Her course was south-westerly, and in
-three days she had gone over the 750 leagues that separated it from La
-Perouse’s group and the south-east point of Papua.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What! Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study at the Jardin des
-Plantes? Well, I accept your good wishes, and thank you for them. Only, I will
-ask you what you mean by a �Happy New Year’ under our circumstances? Do you
-mean the year that will bring us to the end of our imprisonment, or the year
-that sees us continue this strange voyage?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Really, I do not know how to answer, master. We are sure to see curious
-things, and for the last two months we have not had time for dullness. The last
-marvel is always the most astonishing; and, if we continue this progression, I
-do not know how it will end. It is my opinion that we shall never again see the
-like. I think then, with no offence to master, that a happy year would be one
-in which we could see everything.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250 French leagues, since our
-starting-point in the Japan Seas. Before the ship’s head stretched the
-dangerous shores of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of Australia. Our
-boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank on which Cook’s vessel was
-lost, 10th June, 1770. The boat in which Cook was struck on a rock, and, if it
-did not sink, it was owing to a piece of coral that was broken by the shock,
-and fixed itself in the broken keel.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the sea, always
-rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like thunder. But just then the
-inclined planes drew the <i>Nautilus</i> down to a great depth, and I could see
-nothing of the high coral walls. I had to content myself with the different
-specimens of fish brought up by the nets. I remarked, among others, some
-germons, a species of mackerel as large as a tunny, with bluish sides, and
-striped with transverse bands, that disappear with the animal’s life.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with very delicate food. We
-took also a large number of gilt-heads, about one and a half inches long,
-tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine swallows, which, in dark
-nights, light alternately the air and water with their phosphorescent light.
-Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I found in the meshes of the net several
-species of alcyonarians, echini, hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae.
-The flora was represented by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and
-macrocystes, impregnated with the mucilage that transudes through their pores;
-and among which I gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois, that was classed
-among the natural curiosities of the museum.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted the Papuan
-coasts. On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his intention was to
-get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres. His communication ended
-there.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are obstructed
-by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers, and rocks, that make
-its navigation almost impracticable; so that Captain Nemo took all needful
-precautions to cross them. The <i>Nautilus</i>, floating betwixt wind and
-water, went at a moderate pace. Her screw, like a cetacean’s tail, beat the
-waves slowly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the deserted platform.
-Before us was the steersman’s cage, and I expected that Captain Nemo was there
-directing the course of the <i>Nautilus</i>. I had before me the excellent
-charts of the Straits of Torres, and I consulted them attentively. Round the
-<i>Nautilus</i> the sea dashed furiously. The course of the waves, that went
-from south-east to north-west at the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the
-coral that showed itself here and there.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This is a bad sea!” remarked Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of coral
-that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the <i>Nautilus</i> seemed to slide
-like magic off these rocks. It did not follow the routes of the Astrolabe and
-the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont d’Urville. It bore more
-northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray, and came back to the south-west
-towards Cumberland Passage. I thought it was going to pass it by, when, going
-back to north-west, it went through a large quantity of islands and islets
-little known, towards the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his vessel into
-that pass where Dumont d’Urville’s two corvettes touched; when, swerving again,
-and cutting straight through to the west, he steered for the Island of Gilboa.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was then three in the afternoon. The tide began to recede, being quite full.
-The <i>Nautilus</i> approached the island, that I still saw, with its
-remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off it at about two miles distant.
-Suddenly a shock overthrew me. The <i>Nautilus</i> just touched a rock, and
-stayed immovable, laying lightly to port side.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the platform. They
-were examining the situation of the vessel, and exchanging words in their
-incomprehensible dialect.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-She was situated thus: Two miles, on the starboard side, appeared Gilboa,
-stretching from north to west like an immense arm. Towards the south and east
-some coral showed itself, left by the ebb. We had run aground, and in one of
-those seas where the tides are middling—a sorry matter for the floating of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. However, the vessel had not suffered, for her keel was solidly
-joined. But, if she could neither glide off nor move, she ran the risk of being
-for ever fastened to these rocks, and then Captain Nemo’s submarine vessel
-would be done for.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm, always master of
-himself, approached me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“An accident?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No; an incident.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant of this
-land from which you flee?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as much as to
-say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma again. Then he
-said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Besides, M. Aronnax, the <i>Nautilus</i> is not lost; it will carry you yet
-into the midst of the marvels of the ocean. Our voyage is only begun, and I do
-not wish to be deprived so soon of the honour of your company.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“However, Captain Nemo,” I replied, without noticing the ironical turn of his
-phrase, “the <i>Nautilus</i> ran aground in open sea. Now the tides are not
-strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot lighten the <i>Nautilus</i>, I do not
-see how it will be reinflated.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The tides are not strong in the Pacific: you are right there, Professor; but
-in Torres Straits one finds still a difference of a yard and a half between the
-level of high and low seas. To-day is 4th January, and in five days the moon
-will be full. Now, I shall be very much astonished if that satellite does not
-raise these masses of water sufficiently, and render me a service that I should
-be indebted to her for.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, redescended to the
-interior of the <i>Nautilus</i>. As to the vessel, it moved not, and was
-immovable, as if the coralline polypi had already walled it up with their in
-destructible cement.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir?” said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure of the
-Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th instant; for
-it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it off again.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Really?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Really.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide will
-suffice?” said Conseil, simply.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will navigate
-neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold for its weight. I
-think, therefore, that the time has come to part company with Captain Nemo.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout <i>Nautilus</i>, as you do; and in
-four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides. Besides, flight
-might be possible if we were in sight of the English or Provencal coast; but on
-the Papuan shores, it is another thing; and it will be time enough to come to
-that extremity if the <i>Nautilus</i> does not recover itself again, which I
-look upon as a grave event.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly? There is an island; on
-that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial animals, bearers of
-cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly give a trial.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In this, friend Ned is right,” said Conseil, “and I agree with him. Could not
-master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put us on land, if
-only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the solid parts of our planet?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I can ask him, but he will refuse.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will master risk it?” asked Conseil, “and we shall know how to rely upon the
-Captain’s amiability.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for, and he
-gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise to return to
-the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be very perilous, and I should
-not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it. Better to be a prisoner on board
-the <i>Nautilus</i> than to fall into the hands of the natives.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At eight o’clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land. Conseil and I rowing, we
-sped along quickly, and Ned steered in the straight passage that the breakers
-left between them. The boat was well handled, and moved rapidly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land could not restrain his joy. He was like a prisoner that had escaped
-from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Meat! We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!” he replied. “Real game!
-no, bread, indeed.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it; but a piece of fresh
-venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably vary our ordinary course.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Glutton!” said Conseil, “he makes my mouth water.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It remains to be seen,” I said, “if these forests are full of game, and if the
-game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well said, M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed sharpened
-like the edge of a hatchet; “but I will eat tiger—loin of tiger—if there is no
-other quadruped on this island.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Ned is uneasy about it,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Whatever it may be,” continued Ned Land, “every animal with four paws without
-feathers, or with two paws without feathers, will be saluted by my first shot.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well! Master Land’s imprudences are beginning.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Never fear, M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian; “I do not want twenty-five
-minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At half-past eight the <i>Nautilus</i> boat ran softly aground on a heavy sand,
-after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the Island of Gilboa.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX<br/>
-A FEW DAYS ON LAND</h2>
-
-<p>
-I was much impressed on touching land. Ned Land tried the soil with his feet,
-as if to take possession of it. However, it was only two months before that we
-had become, according to Captain Nemo, “passengers on board the
-<i>Nautilus</i>,” but, in reality, prisoners of its commander.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast. The whole horizon was
-hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests. Enormous trees, the trunks of
-which attained a height of 200 feet, were tied to each other by garlands of
-bindweed, real natural hammocks, which a light breeze rocked. They were
-mimosas, figs, hibisci, and palm trees, mingled together in profusion; and
-under the shelter of their verdant vault grew orchids, leguminous plants, and
-ferns.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora, the
-Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful. He discovered a coco-tree,
-beat down some of the fruit, broke them, and we drunk the milk and ate the nut
-with a satisfaction that protested against the ordinary food on the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Excellent!” said Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Exquisite!” replied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And I do not think,” said the Canadian, “that he would object to our
-introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not think he would, but he would not taste them.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So much the worse for him,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And so much the better for us,” replied Ned Land. “There will be more for us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“One word only, Master Land,” I said to the harpooner, who was beginning to
-ravage another coco-nut tree. “Coco-nuts are good things, but before filling
-the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre and see if the island does
-not produce some substance not less useful. Fresh vegetables would be welcome
-on board the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Master is right,” replied Conseil; “and I propose to reserve three places in
-our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the third for the
-venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest specimen.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Conseil, we must not despair,” said the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us continue,” I returned, “and lie in wait. Although the island seems
-uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would be less hard
-than we on the nature of game.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ho! ho!” said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Ned!” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My word!” returned the Canadian, “I begin to understand the charms of
-anthropophagy.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ned! Ned! what are you saying? You, a man-eater? I should not feel safe with
-you, especially as I share your cabin. I might perhaps wake one day to find
-myself half devoured.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you unnecessarily.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I would not trust you,” replied Conseil. “But enough. We must absolutely bring
-down some game to satisfy this cannibal, or else one of these fine mornings,
-master will find only pieces of his servant to serve him.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches of the
-forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables, and one of the most useful
-products of the tropical zones furnished us with precious food that we missed
-on board. I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very abundant in the island of
-Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety destitute of seeds, which bears in
-Malaya the name of “rima.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land knew these fruits well. He had already eaten many during his numerous
-voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance. Moreover, the sight
-of them excited him, and he could contain himself no longer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Master,” he said, “I shall die if I do not taste a little of this bread-fruit
-pie.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Taste it, friend Ned—taste it as you want. We are here to make
-experiments—make them.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It won’t take long,” said the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that crackled
-joyously. During this time, Conseil and I chose the best fruits of the
-bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient degree of maturity; and
-their thick skin covered a white but rather fibrous pulp. Others, the greater
-number yellow and gelatinous, waited only to be picked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These fruits enclosed no kernel. Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land, who
-placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices, and while
-doing this repeating:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You will see, master, how good this bread is. More so when one has been
-deprived of it so long. It is not even bread,” added he, “but a delicate
-pastry. You have eaten none, master?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing. If you do not come for more, I
-am no longer the king of harpooners.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire was
-completely roasted. The interior looked like a white pasty, a sort of soft
-crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it with great
-relish.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What time is it now?” asked the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Two o’clock at least,” replied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How time flies on firm ground!” sighed Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us be off,” replied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid upon the
-cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees, little beans that I
-recognised as the “abrou” of the Malays, and yams of a superior quality.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were loaded when we reached the boat. But Ned Land did not find his
-provisions sufficient. Fate, however, favoured us. Just as we were pushing off,
-he perceived several trees, from twenty-five to thirty feet high, a species of
-palm-tree.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At last, at five o’clock in the evening, loaded with our riches, we quitted the
-shore, and half an hour after we hailed the <i>Nautilus</i>. No one appeared on
-our arrival. The enormous iron-plated cylinder seemed deserted. The provisions
-embarked, I descended to my chamber, and after supper slept soundly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board. Not a sound inside, not a sign
-of life. The boat rested along the edge, in the same place in which we had left
-it. We resolved to return to the island. Ned Land hoped to be more fortunate
-than on the day before with regard to the hunt, and wished to visit another
-part of the forest.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At dawn we set off. The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to shore,
-reached the island in a few minutes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian, we
-followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us. He wound up the
-coast towards the west: then, fording some torrents, he gained the high plain
-that was bordered with admirable forests. Some kingfishers were rambling along
-the water-courses, but they would not let themselves be approached. Their
-circumspection proved to me that these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of
-our species, and I concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least
-human beings occasionally frequented it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a little
-wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large number of birds.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“There are only birds,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But they are eatable,” replied the harpooner.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Conseil,” said Ned, gravely, “the parrot is like pheasant to those who
-have nothing else.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And,” I added, “this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and fork.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots were flying
-from branch to branch, only needing a careful education to speak the human
-language. For the moment, they were chattering with parrots of all colours, and
-grave cockatoos, who seemed to meditate upon some philosophical problem, whilst
-brilliant red lories passed like a piece of bunting carried away by the breeze,
-papuans, with the finest azure colours, and in all a variety of winged things
-most charming to behold, but few eatable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed the limits
-of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection. But fortune
-reserved it for me before long.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain obstructed
-with bushes. I saw then those magnificent birds, the disposition of whose long
-feathers obliges them to fly against the wind. Their undulating flight,
-graceful aerial curves, and the shading of their colours, attracted and charmed
-one’s looks. I had no trouble in recognising them.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Birds of paradise!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese, have
-several means that we could not employ for taking them. Sometimes they put
-snares on the top of high trees that the birds of paradise prefer to frequent.
-Sometimes they catch them with a viscous birdlime that paralyses their
-movements. They even go so far as to poison the fountains that the birds
-generally drink from. But we were obliged to fire at them during flight, which
-gave us few chances to bring them down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one
-half our ammunition.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About eleven o’clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that form the
-centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing. Hunger drove us
-on. The hunters had relied on the products of the chase, and they were wrong.
-Happily Conseil, to his great surprise, made a double shot and secured
-breakfast. He brought down a white pigeon and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly
-plucked and suspended from a skewer, was roasted before a red fire of dead
-wood. While these interesting birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the
-bread-tree. Then the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and declared
-excellent. The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of stuffing their
-crops, flavours their flesh and renders it delicious eating.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Now, Ned, what do you miss now?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax. All these pigeons are only side-dishes and
-trifles; and until I have killed an animal with cutlets I shall not be
-content.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us continue hunting,” replied Conseil. “Let us go towards the sea. We have
-arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I think we had better
-regain the region of forests.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That was sensible advice, and was followed out. After walking for one hour we
-had attained a forest of sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents glided away from
-us. The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and truly I despaired of
-getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in front, suddenly bent down,
-uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me bringing a magnificent specimen.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! bravo, Conseil!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Master is very good.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke. Take one of these living birds,
-and carry it in your hand.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great merit.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why, Conseil?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Because this bird is as drunk as a quail.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Drunk!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under the nutmeg-tree, under
-which I found it. See, friend Ned, see the monstrous effects of intemperance!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By Jove!” exclaimed the Canadian, “because I have drunk gin for two months,
-you must needs reproach me!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, I examined the curious bird. Conseil was right. The bird, drunk with
-the juice, was quite powerless. It could not fly; it could hardly walk.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species that are found in
-Papua and in the neighbouring islands. It was the “large emerald bird, the most
-rare kind.” It measured three feet in length. Its head was comparatively small,
-its eyes placed near the opening of the beak, and also small. But the shades of
-colour were beautiful, having a yellow beak, brown feet and claws, nut-coloured
-wings with purple tips, pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and
-emerald colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly. Two horned,
-downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged the long light feathers of
-admirable fineness, and they completed the whole of this marvellous bird, that
-the natives have poetically named the “bird of the sun.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird of paradise, the
-Canadian’s were not yet. Happily, about two o’clock, Ned Land brought down a
-magnificent hog; from the brood of those the natives call “bari-outang.” The
-animal came in time for us to procure real quadruped meat, and he was well
-received. Ned Land was very proud of his shot. The hog, hit by the electric
-ball, fell stone dead. The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly, after
-having taken half a dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us with a grilled repast
-in the evening. Then the hunt was resumed, which was still more marked by Ned
-and Conseil’s exploits.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd of kangaroos that
-fled and bounded along on their elastic paws. But these animals did not take to
-flight so rapidly but what the electric capsule could stop their course.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah, Professor!” cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the delights of the
-chase, “what excellent game, and stewed, too! What a supply for the
-<i>Nautilus!</i> Two! three! five down! And to think that we shall eat that
-flesh, and that the idiots on board shall not have a crumb!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian, if he had not talked so
-much, would have killed them all. But he contented himself with a single dozen
-of these interesting marsupians. These animals were small. They were a species
-of those “kangaroo rabbitss” that live habitually in the hollows of trees, and
-whose speed is extreme; but they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least,
-estimable food. We were very satisfied with the results of the hunt. Happy Ned
-proposed to return to this enchanting island the next day, for he wished to
-depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds. But he had reckoned without his
-host.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At six o’clock in the evening we had regained the shore; our boat was moored to
-the usual place. The <i>Nautilus</i>, like a long rock, emerged from the waves
-two miles from the beach. Ned Land, without waiting, occupied himself about the
-important dinner business. He understood all about cooking well. The
-“bari-outang,” grilled on the coals, soon scented the air with a delicious
-odour.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Indeed, the dinner was excellent. Two wood-pigeons completed this extraordinary
-menu. The sago pasty, the artocarpus bread, some mangoes, half a dozen
-pineapples, and the liquor fermented from some coco-nuts, overjoyed us. I even
-think that my worthy companions’ ideas had not all the plainness desirable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Suppose we do not return to the <i>Nautilus</i> this evening?” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Suppose we never return?” added Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner’s proposition.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br/>
-CAPTAIN NEMO’S THUNDERBOLT</h2>
-
-<p>
-We looked at the edge of the forest without rising, my hand stopping in the
-action of putting it to my mouth, Ned Land’s completing its office.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Stones do not fall from the sky,” remarked Conseil, “or they would merit the
-name aerolites.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon’s leg fall from
-Conseil’s hand, gave still more weight to his observation. We all three arose,
-shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply to any attack.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are they apes?” cried Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very nearly—they are savages.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To the boat!” I said, hurrying to the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives armed with
-bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that masked the horizon to
-the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us. The savages approached us, not
-running, but making hostile demonstrations. Stones and arrows fell thickly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his imminent
-danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other, he went tolerably fast.
-In two minutes we were on the shore. To load the boat with provisions and arms,
-to push it out to sea, and ship the oars, was the work of an instant. We had
-not gone two cable-lengths, when a hundred savages, howling and gesticulating,
-entered the water up to their waists. I watched to see if their apparition
-would attract some men from the <i>Nautilus</i> on to the platform. But no. The
-enormous machine, lying off, was absolutely deserted.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Twenty minutes later we were on board. The panels were open. After making the
-boat fast, we entered into the interior of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords. Captain Nemo
-was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in a musical ecstasy.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Captain!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He did not hear me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Captain!” I said, touching his hand.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He shuddered, and, turning round, said, “Ah! it is you, Professor? Well, have
-you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds, whose
-vicinity troubles me.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What bipeds?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Savages.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Savages!” he echoed, ironically. “So you are astonished, Professor, at having
-set foot on a strange land and finding savages? Savages! where are there not
-any? Besides, are they worse than others, these whom you call savages?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But Captain——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How many have you counted?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A hundred at least.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ stops,
-“when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the <i>Nautilus</i>
-will have nothing to fear from their attacks.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Captain’s fingers were then running over the keys of the instrument, and I
-remarked that he touched only the black keys, which gave his melodies an
-essentially Scotch character. Soon he had forgotten my presence, and had
-plunged into a reverie that I did not disturb. I went up again on to the
-platform: night had already fallen; for, in this low latitude, the sun sets
-rapidly and without twilight. I could only see the island indistinctly; but the
-numerous fires, lighted on the beach, showed that the natives did not think of
-leaving it. I was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the
-natives—but without any dread of them, for the imperturbable confidence of the
-Captain was catching—sometimes forgetting them to admire the splendours of the
-night in the tropics. My remembrances went to France in the train of those
-zodiacal stars that would shine in some hours’ time. The moon shone in the
-midst of the constellations of the zenith.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders frightened no doubt
-at the sight of a monster aground in the bay. The panels were open, and would
-have offered an easy access to the interior of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At six o’clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up on to the platform.
-The dawn was breaking. The island soon showed itself through the dissipating
-fogs, first the shore, then the summits.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before—five or six
-hundred perhaps—some of them, profiting by the low water, had come on to the
-coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the <i>Nautilus</i>. I distinguished
-them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic figures, men of good race,
-large high foreheads, large, but not broad and flat, and white teeth. Their
-woolly hair, with a reddish tinge, showed off on their black shining bodies
-like those of the Nubians. From the lobes of their ears, cut and distended,
-hung chaplets of bones. Most of these savages were naked. Amongst them, I
-remarked some women, dressed from the hips to knees in quite a crinoline of
-herbs, that sustained a vegetable waistband. Some chiefs had ornamented their
-necks with a crescent and collars of glass beads, red and white; nearly all
-were armed with bows, arrows, and shields and carried on their shoulders a sort
-of net containing those round stones which they cast from their slings with
-great skill. One of these chiefs, rather near to the <i>Nautilus</i>, examined
-it attentively. He was, perhaps, a “mado” of high rank, for he was draped in a
-mat of banana-leaves, notched round the edges, and set off with brilliant
-colours.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short length;
-but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile demonstrations.
-Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the Europeans to parry sharply,
-not to attack.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During low water the natives roamed about near the <i>Nautilus</i>, but were
-not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word “Assai,” and by their
-gestures I understood that they invited me to go on land, an invitation that I
-declined.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great displeasure of
-Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands and meat that he
-had brought off the island. As for the savages, they returned to the shore
-about eleven o’clock in the morning, as soon as the coral tops began to
-disappear under the rising tide; but I saw their numbers had increased
-considerably on the shore. Probably they came from the neighbouring islands, or
-very likely from Papua. However, I had not seen a single native canoe. Having
-nothing better to do, I thought of dragging these beautiful limpid waters,
-under which I saw a profusion of shells, zoophytes, and marine plants.
-Moreover, it was the last day that the <i>Nautilus</i> would pass in these
-parts, if it float in open sea the next day, according to Captain Nemo’s
-promise.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag, very like those
-for the oyster fishery. Now to work! For two hours we fished unceasingly, but
-without bringing up any rarities. The drag was filled with midas-ears, harps,
-melames, and particularly the most beautiful hammers I have ever seen. We also
-brought up some sea-slugs, pearl-oysters, and a dozen little turtles that were
-reserved for the pantry on board.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder, I might say a
-natural deformity, very rarely met with. Conseil was just dragging, and his net
-came up filled with divers ordinary shells, when, all at once, he saw me plunge
-my arm quickly into the net, to draw out a shell, and heard me utter a cry.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is the matter, sir?” he asked in surprise. “Has master been bitten?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my discovery.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What discovery?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This shell,” I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the pectinibranchidæ,
-class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left, this olive
-turns from left to right.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is it possible?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, my boy; it is a left shell.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance their
-spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure, and I was
-promising myself to enrich the museum with it, when a stone unfortunately
-thrown by a native struck against, and broke, the precious object in Conseil’s
-hand. I uttered a cry of despair! Conseil took up his gun, and aimed at a
-savage who was poising his sling at ten yards from him. I would have stopped
-him, but his blow took effect and broke the bracelet of amulets which encircled
-the arm of the savage.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus05"></a>
-<img src="images/img05.jpg" width="415" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">Conseil seized his gun
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-“Conseil!” cried I. “Conseil!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A shell is not worth the life of a man,” said I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! the scoundrel!” cried Conseil; “I would rather he had broken my shoulder!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion. However, the situation
-had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived. A score of canoes
-surrounded the <i>Nautilus</i>. These canoes, scooped out of the trunk of a
-tree, long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were balanced by means of a long
-bamboo pole, which floated on the water. They were managed by skilful,
-half-naked paddlers, and I watched their advance with some uneasiness. It was
-evident that these Papuans had already had dealings with the Europeans and knew
-their ships. But this long iron cylinder anchored in the bay, without masts or
-chimneys, what could they think of it? Nothing good, for at first they kept at
-a respectful distance. However, seeing it motionless, by degrees they took
-courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it. Now this familiarity was
-precisely what it was necessary to avoid. Our arms, which were noiseless, could
-only produce a moderate effect on the savages, who have little respect for
-aught but blustering things. The thunderbolt without the reverberations of
-thunder would frighten man but little, though the danger lies in the lightning,
-not in the noise.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment the canoes approached the <i>Nautilus</i>, and a shower of
-arrows alighted on her.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I went down to the saloon, but found no one there. I ventured to knock at the
-door that opened into the Captain’s room. “Come in,” was the answer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations of <i>x</i>
-and other quantities.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am disturbing you,” said I, for courtesy’s sake.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is true, M. Aronnax,” replied the Captain; “but I think you have serious
-reasons for wishing to see me?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes, and in a few
-minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many hundreds of savages.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” said Captain Nemo quietly, “they are come with their canoes?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir, we must close the hatches.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Exactly, and I came to say to you——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nothing can be more simple,” said Captain Nemo. And, pressing an electric
-button, he transmitted an order to the ship’s crew.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is all done, sir,” said he, after some moments. “The pinnace is ready, and
-the hatches are closed. You do not fear, I imagine, that these gentlemen could
-stave in walls on which the balls of your frigate have had no effect?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, Captain; but a danger still exists.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is that, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches to renew
-the air of the <i>Nautilus</i>. Now, if, at this moment, the Papuans should
-occupy the platform, I do not see how you could prevent them from entering.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am certain of it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir, let them come. I see no reason for hindering them. After all, these
-Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling that my visit to the island
-should cost the life of a single one of these wretches.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me, and asked me to sit
-down by him. He questioned me with interest about our excursions on shore, and
-our hunting; and seemed not to understand the craving for meat that possessed
-the Canadian. Then the conversation turned on various subjects, and, without
-being more communicative, Captain Nemo showed himself more amiable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, run aground in exactly the same spot in this strait where
-Dumont d’Urville was nearly lost. Apropos of this:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This D’Urville was one of your great sailors,” said the Captain to me, “one of
-your most intelligent navigators. He is the Captain Cook of you Frenchmen.
-Unfortunate man of science, after having braved the icebergs of the South Pole,
-the coral reefs of Oceania, the cannibals of the Pacific, to perish miserably
-in a railway train! If this energetic man could have reflected during the last
-moments of his life, what must have been uppermost in his last thoughts, do you
-suppose?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion gave me a better
-opinion of him. Then, chart in hand, we reviewed the travels of the French
-navigator, his voyages of circumnavigation, his double detention at the South
-Pole, which led to the discovery of Adelaide and Louis Philippe, and fixing the
-hydrographical bearings of the principal islands of Oceania.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That which your D’Urville has done on the surface of the seas,” said Captain
-Nemo, “that have I done under them, and more easily, more completely than he.
-The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed about by the hurricane, could
-not be worth the <i>Nautilus</i>, quiet repository of labour that she is, truly
-motionless in the midst of the waters.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To-morrow,” added the Captain, rising, “to-morrow, at twenty minutes to three
-p.m., the <i>Nautilus</i> shall float, and leave the Strait of Torres
-uninjured.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly. This was to
-dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview with the
-Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My boy,” said I, “when I feigned to believe that his <i>Nautilus</i> was
-threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered me very sarcastically.
-I have but one thing to say to you: Have confidence in him, and go to sleep in
-peace.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Have you no need of my services, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, my friend. What is Ned Land doing?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If you will excuse me, sir,” answered Conseil, “friend Ned is busy making a
-kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently. I heard the noise of
-the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening cries. The night
-passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose of the crew. The presence
-of these cannibals affected them no more than the soldiers of a masked battery
-care for the ants that crawl over its front.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At six in the morning I rose. The hatches had not been opened. The inner air
-was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready for any emergency, were now
-resorted to, and discharged several cubic feet of oxygen into the exhausted
-atmosphere of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo, even for an
-instant. On board no preparations for departure were visible.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon. The clock marked
-half-past two. In ten minutes it would be high-tide: and, if Captain Nemo had
-not made a rash promise, the <i>Nautilus</i> would be immediately detached. If
-not, many months would pass ere she could leave her bed of coral.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel. I heard the
-keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of the coral reef.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are going to start,” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” replied I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have given the order to open the hatches.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And the Papuans?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The Papuans?” answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will they not come inside the <i>Nautilus?</i>”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax,” quietly answered Captain Nemo, “they will not enter the hatches
-of the <i>Nautilus</i> in that way, even if they were open.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked at the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You do not understand?” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Hardly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, come and you will see.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I directed my steps towards the central staircase. There Ned Land and Conseil
-were slyly watching some of the ship’s crew, who were opening the hatches,
-while cries of rage and fearful vociferations resounded outside.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The port lids were pulled down outside. Twenty horrible faces appeared. But the
-first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail, struck from behind by some
-invisible force, I know not what, fled, uttering the most fearful cries and
-making the wildest contortions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ten of his companions followed him. They met with the same fate.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil was in ecstasy. Ned Land, carried away by his violent instincts, rushed
-on to the staircase. But the moment he seized the rail with both hands, he, in
-his turn, was overthrown.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am struck by a thunderbolt,” cried he, with an oath.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This explained all. It was no rail; but a metallic cable charged with
-electricity from the deck communicating with the platform. Whoever touched it
-felt a powerful shock—and this shock would have been mortal if Captain Nemo had
-discharged into the conductor the whole force of the current. It might truly be
-said that between his assailants and himself he had stretched a network of
-electricity which none could pass with impunity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed with terror.
-As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed the unfortunate Ned Land, who
-swore like one possessed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But at this moment the <i>Nautilus</i>, raised by the last waves of the tide,
-quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by the Captain. Her
-screw swept the waters slowly and majestically. Her speed increased gradually,
-and, sailing on the surface of the ocean, she quitted safe and sound the
-dangerous passes of the Straits of Torres.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br/>
-“ÆGRI SOMNIA”</h2>
-
-<p>
-The following day 10th January, the <i>Nautilus</i> continued her course
-between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I could not estimate it
-at less than thirty-five miles an hour. The rapidity of her screw was such that
-I could neither follow nor count its revolutions. When I reflected that this
-marvellous electric agent, after having afforded motion, heat, and light to the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, still protected her from outward attack, and transformed her
-into an ark of safety which no profane hand might touch without being
-thunderstricken, my admiration was unbounded, and from the structure it
-extended to the engineer who had called it into existence.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Our course was directed to the west, and on the 11th of January we doubled Cape
-Wessel, situation in 135° long. and 10° S. lat., which forms the east point of
-the Gulf of Carpentaria. The reefs were still numerous, but more equalised, and
-marked on the chart with extreme precision. The <i>Nautilus</i> easily avoided
-the breakers of Money to port and the Victoria reefs to starboard, placed at
-130° long. and on the 10th parallel, which we strictly followed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 13th of January, Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor, and
-recognised the island of that name in 122° long.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-From this point the direction of the <i>Nautilus</i> inclined towards the
-south-west. Her head was set for the Indian Ocean. Where would the fancy of
-Captain Nemo carry us next? Would he return to the coast of Asia or would he
-approach again the shores of Europe? Improbable conjectures both, to a man who
-fled from inhabited continents. Then would he descend to the south? Was he
-going to double the Cape of Good Hope, then Cape Horn, and finally go as far as
-the Antarctic pole? Would he come back at last to the Pacific, where his
-<i>Nautilus</i> could sail free and independently? Time would show.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After having skirted the sands of Cartier, of Hibernia, Seringapatam, and
-Scott, last efforts of the solid against the liquid element, on the 14th of
-January we lost sight of land altogether. The speed of the <i>Nautilus</i> was
-considerably abated, and with irregular course she sometimes swam in the bosom
-of the waters, sometimes floated on their surface.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During this period of the voyage, Captain Nemo made some interesting
-experiments on the varied temperature of the sea, in different beds. Under
-ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of rather complicated
-instruments, and with somewhat doubtful results, by means of thermometrical
-sounding-leads, the glasses often breaking under the pressure of the water, or
-an apparatus grounded on the variations of the resistance of metals to the
-electric currents. Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated. On
-the contrary, Captain Nemo went himself to test the temperature in the depths
-of the sea, and his thermometer, placed in communication with the different
-sheets of water, gave him the required degree immediately and accurately.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was thus that, either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending
-obliquely by means of her inclined planes, the <i>Nautilus</i> successively
-attained the depth of three, four, five, seven, nine, and ten thousand yards,
-and the definite result of this experience was that the sea preserved an
-average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth of five thousand
-fathoms under all latitudes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 16th of January, the <i>Nautilus</i> seemed becalmed only a few yards
-beneath the surface of the waves. Her electric apparatus remained inactive and
-her motionless screw left her to drift at the mercy of the currents. I supposed
-that the crew was occupied with interior repairs, rendered necessary by the
-violence of the mechanical movements of the machine.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle. The hatches of the
-saloon were open, and, as the beacon light of the <i>Nautilus</i> was not in
-action, a dim obscurity reigned in the midst of the waters. I observed the
-state of the sea, under these conditions, and the largest fish appeared to me
-no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the <i>Nautilus</i> found herself
-suddenly transported into full light. I thought at first that the beacon had
-been lighted, and was casting its electric radiance into the liquid mass. I was
-mistaken, and after a rapid survey perceived my error.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which, in this
-obscurity, became quite dazzling. It was produced by myriads of luminous
-animalculae, whose brilliancy was increased as they glided over the metallic
-hull of the vessel. I was surprised by lightning in the midst of these luminous
-sheets, as though they had been rivulets of lead melted in an ardent furnace or
-metallic masses brought to a white heat, so that, by force of contrast, certain
-portions of light appeared to cast a shade in the midst of the general
-ignition, from which all shade seemed banished. No; this was not the calm
-irradiation of our ordinary lightning. There was unusual life and vigour: this
-was truly living light!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria, of
-veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle, and of which
-as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less than two cubic
-half-inches of water.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During several hours the <i>Nautilus</i> floated in these brilliant waves, and
-our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters disporting
-themselves like salamanders. I saw there in the midst of this fire that burns
-not the swift and elegant porpoise (the indefatigable clown of the ocean), and
-some swordfish ten feet long, those prophetic heralds of the hurricane whose
-formidable sword would now and then strike the glass of the saloon. Then
-appeared the smaller fish, the balista, the leaping mackerel, wolf-thorn-tails,
-and a hundred others which striped the luminous atmosphere as they swam. This
-dazzling spectacle was enchanting! Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased
-the intensity of this phenomenon. Perhaps some storm agitated the surface of
-the waves. But at this depth of some yards, the <i>Nautilus</i> was unmoved by
-its fury and reposed peacefully in still water.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel. The days passed
-rapidly away, and I took no account of them. Ned, according to habit, tried to
-vary the diet on board. Like snails, we were fixed to our shells, and I declare
-it is easy to lead a snail’s life.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Thus this life seemed easy and natural, and we thought no longer of the life we
-led on land; but something happened to recall us to the strangeness of our
-situation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 18th of January, the <i>Nautilus</i> was in 105° long. and 15° S. lat.
-The weather was threatening, the sea rough and rolling. There was a strong east
-wind. The barometer, which had been going down for some days, foreboded a
-coming storm. I went up on to the platform just as the second lieutenant was
-taking the measure of the horary angles, and waited, according to habit till
-the daily phrase was said. But on this day it was exchanged for another phrase
-not less incomprehensible. Almost directly, I saw Captain Nemo appear with a
-glass, looking towards the horizon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For some minutes he was immovable, without taking his eye off the point of
-observation. Then he lowered his glass and exchanged a few words with his
-lieutenant. The latter seemed to be a victim to some emotion that he tried in
-vain to repress. Captain Nemo, having more command over himself, was cool. He
-seemed, too, to be making some objections to which the lieutenant replied by
-formal assurances. At least I concluded so by the difference of their tones and
-gestures. For myself, I had looked carefully in the direction indicated without
-seeing anything. The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the horizon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform to the other, without
-looking at me, perhaps without seeing me. His step was firm, but less regular
-than usual. He stopped sometimes, crossed his arms, and observed the sea. What
-could he be looking for on that immense expanse?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon steadfastly,
-going and coming, stamping his foot and showing more nervous agitation than his
-superior officer. Besides, this mystery must necessarily be solved, and before
-long; for, upon an order from Captain Nemo, the engine, increasing its
-propelling power, made the screw turn more rapidly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain’s attention again. The latter stopped
-walking and directed his glass towards the place indicated. He looked long. I
-felt very much puzzled, and descended to the drawing-room, and took out an
-excellent telescope that I generally used. Then, leaning on the cage of the
-watch-light that jutted out from the front of the platform, set myself to look
-over all the line of the sky and sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But my eye was no sooner applied to the glass than it was quickly snatched out
-of my hands.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I turned round. Captain Nemo was before me, but I did not know him. His face
-was transfigured. His eyes flashed sullenly; his teeth were set; his stiff
-body, clenched fists, and head shrunk between his shoulders, betrayed the
-violent agitation that pervaded his whole frame. He did not move. My glass,
-fallen from his hands, had rolled at his feet.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger? Did this incomprehensible person
-imagine that I had discovered some forbidden secret? No; I was not the object
-of this hatred, for he was not looking at me; his eye was steadily fixed upon
-the impenetrable point of the horizon. At last Captain Nemo recovered himself.
-His agitation subsided. He addressed some words in a foreign language to his
-lieutenant, then turned to me. “M. Aronnax,” he said, in rather an imperious
-tone, “I require you to keep one of the conditions that bind you to me.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is it, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You must be confined, with your companions, until I think fit to release you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are the master,” I replied, looking steadily at him. “But may I ask you
-one question?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“None, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There was no resisting this imperious command, it would have been useless. I
-went down to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil, and told them the
-Captain’s determination. You may judge how this communication was received by
-the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But there was not time for altercation. Four of the crew waited at the door,
-and conducted us to that cell where we had passed our first night on board the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land would have remonstrated, but the door was shut upon him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will master tell me what this means?” asked Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I told my companions what had passed. They were as much astonished as I, and
-equally at a loss how to account for it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Meanwhile, I was absorbed in my own reflections, and could think of nothing but
-the strange fear depicted in the Captain’s countenance. I was utterly at a loss
-to account for it, when my cogitations were disturbed by these words from Ned
-Land:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Hallo! breakfast is ready.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And indeed the table was laid. Evidently Captain Nemo had given this order at
-the same time that he had hastened the speed of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will master permit me to make a recommendation?” asked Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, my boy.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, it is that master breakfasts. It is prudent, for we do not know what may
-happen.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are right, Conseil.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Unfortunately,” said Ned Land, “they have only given us the ship’s fare.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Ned,” asked Conseil, “what would you have said if the breakfast had
-been entirely forgotten?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This argument cut short the harpooner’s recriminations.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We sat down to table. The meal was eaten in silence.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left us in
-total darkness. Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me was that
-Conseil went off into a heavy slumber. I was thinking what could have caused
-his irresistible drowsiness, when I felt my brain becoming stupefied. In spite
-of my efforts to keep my eyes open, they would close. A painful suspicion
-seized me. Evidently soporific substances had been mixed with the food we had
-just taken. Imprisonment was not enough to conceal Captain Nemo’s projects from
-us, sleep was more necessary. I then heard the panels shut. The undulations of
-the sea, which caused a slight rolling motion, ceased. Had the <i>Nautilus</i>
-quitted the surface of the ocean? Had it gone back to the motionless bed of
-water? I tried to resist sleep. It was impossible. My breathing grew weak. I
-felt a mortal cold freeze my stiffened and half-paralysed limbs. My eye lids,
-like leaden caps, fell over my eyes. I could not raise them; a morbid sleep,
-full of hallucinations, bereft me of my being. Then the visions disappeared,
-and left me in complete insensibility.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br/>
-THE CORAL KINGDOM</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next day I woke with my head singularly clear. To my great surprise, I was
-in my own room. My companions, no doubt, had been reinstated in their cabin,
-without having perceived it any more than I. Of what had passed during the
-night they were as ignorant as I was, and to penetrate this mystery I only
-reckoned upon the chances of the future.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I then thought of quitting my room. Was I free again or a prisoner? Quite free.
-I opened the door, went to the half-deck, went up the central stairs. The
-panels, shut the evening before, were open. I went on to the platform.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land and Conseil waited there for me. I questioned them; they knew nothing.
-Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had been totally unconscious, they had been
-astonished at finding themselves in their cabin.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As for the <i>Nautilus</i>, it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever. It floated
-on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace. Nothing seemed changed on
-board.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave the usual order
-below.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As for Captain Nemo, he did not appear.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Of the people on board, I only saw the impassive steward, who served me with
-his usual dumb regularity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About two o’clock, I was in the drawing-room, busied in arranging my notes,
-when the Captain opened the door and appeared. I bowed. He made a slight
-inclination in return, without speaking. I resumed my work, hoping that he
-would perhaps give me some explanation of the events of the preceding night. He
-made none. I looked at him. He seemed fatigued; his heavy eyes had not been
-refreshed by sleep; his face looked very sorrowful. He walked to and fro, sat
-down and got up again, took a chance book, put it down, consulted his
-instruments without taking his habitual notes, and seemed restless and uneasy.
-At last, he came up to me, and said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I so little expected such a question that I stared some time at him without
-answering.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are you a doctor?” he repeated. “Several of your colleagues have studied
-medicine.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well,” said I, “I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital. I
-practised several years before entering the museum.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain. But, not knowing what he would
-say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my answers according to
-circumstances.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?” he asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is he ill?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am ready to follow you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Come, then.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I own my heart beat, I do not know why. I saw certain connection between the
-illness of one of the crew and the events of the day before; and this mystery
-interested me at least as much as the sick man.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the <i>Nautilus</i>, and took me into
-a cabin situated near the sailors’ quarters.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute expression
-of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I leant over him. He was not only ill, he was wounded. His head, swathed in
-bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow. I undid the bandages, and the
-wounded man looked at me with his large eyes and gave no sign of pain as I did
-it. It was a horrible wound. The skull, shattered by some deadly weapon, left
-the brain exposed, which was much injured. Clots of blood had formed in the
-bruised and broken mass, in colour like the dregs of wine.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain. His breathing was slow,
-and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face. I felt his
-pulse. It was intermittent. The extremities of the body were growing cold
-already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue. After dressing the unfortunate
-man’s wounds, I readjusted the bandages on his head, and turned to Captain
-Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What caused this wound?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What does it signify?” he replied, evasively. “A shock has broken one of the
-levers of the engine, which struck myself. But your opinion as to his state?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I hesitated before giving it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You may speak,” said the Captain. “This man does not understand French.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I gave a last look at the wounded man.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“He will be dead in two hours.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Can nothing save him?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nothing.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo’s hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes, which I
-thought incapable of shedding any.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed slowly. His
-pallor increased under the electric light that was shed over his death-bed. I
-looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with premature wrinkles, produced
-probably by misfortune and sorrow. I tried to learn the secret of his life from
-the last words that escaped his lips.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You can go now, M. Aronnax,” said the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I left him in the dying man’s cabin, and returned to my room much affected by
-this scene. During the whole day, I was haunted by uncomfortable suspicions,
-and at night I slept badly, and between my broken dreams I fancied I heard
-distant sighs like the notes of a funeral psalm. Were they the prayers of the
-dead, murmured in that language that I could not understand?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next morning I went on to the bridge. Captain Nemo was there before me. As
-soon as he perceived me he came to me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion to-day?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“With my companions?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If they like.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We obey your orders, Captain.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will you be so good then as to put on your cork jackets?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was not a question of dead or dying. I rejoined Ned Land and Conseil, and
-told them of Captain Nemo’s proposition. Conseil hastened to accept it, and
-this time the Canadian seemed quite willing to follow our example.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was eight o’clock in the morning. At half-past eight we were equipped for
-this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for light and breathing.
-The double door was open; and, accompanied by Captain Nemo, who was followed by
-a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at a depth of about thirty feet, on the solid
-bottom on which the <i>Nautilus</i> rested.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth. This
-bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first excursion under
-the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here, there was no fine sand, no submarine
-prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately recognised that marvellous region in
-which, on that day, the Captain did the honours to us. It was the coral
-kingdom.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in the midst of the
-branches that were so vividly coloured. I seemed to see the membraneous and
-cylindrical tubes tremble beneath the undulation of the waters. I was tempted
-to gather their fresh petals, ornamented with delicate tentacles, some just
-blown, the others budding, while a small fish, swimming swiftly, touched them
-slightly, like flights of birds. But if my hand approached these living
-flowers, these animated, sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm. The
-white petals re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked, and the
-bush changed into a block of stony knobs.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the zoophyte. This
-coral was more valuable than that found in the Mediterranean, on the coasts of
-France, Italy and Barbary. Its tints justified the poetical names of “Flower of
-Blood,” and “Froth of Blood,” that trade has given to its most beautiful
-productions. Coral is sold for ÂŁ20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds
-would make the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter,
-often confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots called
-“macciota,” and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens of pink coral.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But soon the bushes contract, and the arborisations increase. Real petrified
-thickets, long joints of fantastic architecture, were disclosed before us.
-Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery, where by a slight declivity
-we reached a depth of a hundred yards. The light from our lamps produced
-sometimes magical effects, following the rough outlines of the natural arches
-and pendants disposed like lustres, that were tipped with points of fire.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth of about three
-hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit on which coral begins to form.
-But there was no isolated bush, nor modest brushwood, at the bottom of lofty
-trees. It was an immense forest of large mineral vegetations, enormous
-petrified trees, united by garlands of elegant sea-bindweed, all adorned with
-clouds and reflections. We passed freely under their high branches, lost in the
-shade of the waves.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo had stopped. I and my companions halted, and, turning round, I saw
-his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief. Watching attentively, I
-observed that four of them carried on their shoulders an object of an oblong
-shape.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade surrounded by the lofty
-foliage of the submarine forest. Our lamps threw over this place a sort of
-clear twilight that singularly elongated the shadows on the ground. At the end
-of the glade the darkness increased, and was only relieved by little sparks
-reflected by the points of coral.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land and Conseil were near me. We watched, and I thought I was going to
-witness a strange scene. On observing the ground, I saw that it was raised in
-certain places by slight excrescences encrusted with limy deposits, and
-disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of man.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly piled up, stood a
-cross of coral that extended its long arms that one might have thought were
-made of petrified blood. Upon a sign from Captain Nemo one of the men advanced;
-and at some feet from the cross he began to dig a hole with a pickaxe that he
-took from his belt. I understood all! This glade was a cemetery, this hole a
-tomb, this oblong object the body of the man who had died in the night! The
-Captain and his men had come to bury their companion in this general
-resting-place, at the bottom of this inaccessible ocean!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their retreat
-was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe, which sparkled
-when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the waters. The hole was soon
-large and deep enough to receive the body. Then the bearers approached; the
-body, enveloped in a tissue of white linen, was lowered into the damp grave.
-Captain Nemo, with his arms crossed on his breast, and all the friends of him
-who had loved them, knelt in prayer.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus06"></a>
-<img src="images/img06.jpg" width="416" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">All fell on their knees in an attitude of prayer
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground, which
-formed a slight mound. When this was done, Captain Nemo and his men rose; then,
-approaching the grave, they knelt again, and all extended their hands in sign
-of a last adieu. Then the funeral procession returned to the <i>Nautilus</i>,
-passing under the arches of the forest, in the midst of thickets, along the
-coral bushes, and still on the ascent. At last the light of the ship appeared,
-and its luminous track guided us to the <i>Nautilus</i>. At one o’clock we had
-returned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform, and, a prey
-to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle. Captain Nemo joined me.
-I rose and said to him:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, M. Aronnax.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us. We dug the grave, and the polypi
-undertake to seal our dead for eternity.” And, burying his face quickly in his
-hands, he tried in vain to suppress a sob. Then he added: “Our peaceful
-cemetery is there, some hundred feet below the surface of the waves.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of sharks.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir, of sharks and men,” gravely replied the Captain.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="part02"></a>PART TWO</h2>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER I<br/>
-THE INDIAN OCEAN</h2>
-
-<p>
-We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea. The first ended
-with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a deep impression
-on my mind. Thus, in the midst of this great sea, Captain Nemo’s life was
-passing, even to his grave, which he had prepared in one of its deepest
-abysses. There, not one of the ocean’s monsters could trouble the last sleep of
-the crew of the <i>Nautilus</i>, of those friends riveted to each other in
-death as in life. “Nor any man, either,” had added the Captain. Still the same
-fierce, implacable defiance towards human society!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of the <i>Nautilus</i>
-one of those unknown <i>savants</i> who return mankind contempt for
-indifference. For him, he was a misunderstood genius who, tired of earth’s
-deceptions, had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium, where he might follow
-his instincts freely. To my mind, this explains but one side of Captain Nemo’s
-character. Indeed, the mystery of that last night during which we had been
-chained in prison, the sleep, and the precaution so violently taken by the
-Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I had raised to sweep the horizon,
-the mortal wound of the man, due to an unaccountable shock of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, all put me on a new track. No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied
-with shunning man. His formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of
-freedom, but perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse of light amidst
-all the darkness, and I must confine myself to writing as events shall dictate.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came to take
-the altitude of the sun. I mounted the platform, lit a cigar, and watched the
-operation. It seemed to me that the man did not understand French; for several
-times I made remarks in a loud voice, which must have drawn from him some
-involuntary sign of attention, if he had understood them; but he remained
-undisturbed and dumb.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the sailors of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first submarine
-excursion to the Island of Crespo) came to clean the glasses of the lantern. I
-examined the fittings of the apparatus, the strength of which was increased a
-hundredfold by lenticular rings, placed similar to those in a lighthouse, and
-which projected their brilliance in a horizontal plane. The electric lamp was
-combined in such a way as to give its most powerful light. Indeed, it was
-produced in vacuo, which insured both its steadiness and its intensity. This
-vacuum economised the graphite points between which the luminous arc was
-developed—an important point of economy for Captain Nemo, who could not easily
-have replaced them; and under these conditions their waste was imperceptible.
-When the <i>Nautilus</i> was ready to continue its submarine journey, I went
-down to the saloon. The panel was closed, and the course marked direct west.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain, with a
-surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear and
-transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep. We
-went on so for some days. To anyone but myself, who had a great love for the
-sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous; but the daily walks on
-the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving air of the ocean, the sight
-of the rich waters through the windows of the saloon, the books in the library,
-the compiling of my memoirs, took up all my time, and left me not a moment of
-ennui or weariness.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or gulls. Some
-were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made very acceptable
-water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long distance from all lands
-and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their flight, I saw some
-magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant cries like the braying of an ass,
-and birds belonging to the family of the long-wings.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised the
-secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels. I saw many kinds which I
-never before had a chance of observing.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I shall notice chiefly ostracions peculiar to the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean,
-and that part which washes the coast of tropical America. These fishes, like
-the tortoise, the armadillo, the sea-hedgehog, and the Crustacea, are protected
-by a breastplate which is neither chalky nor stony, but real bone. In some it
-takes the form of a solid triangle, in others of a solid quadrangle. Amongst
-the triangular I saw some an inch and a half in length, with wholesome flesh
-and a delicious flavour; they are brown at the tail, and yellow at the fins,
-and I recommend their introduction into fresh water, to which a certain number
-of sea-fish easily accustom themselves. I would also mention quadrangular
-ostracions, having on the back four large tubercles; some dotted over with
-white spots on the lower part of the body, and which may be tamed like birds;
-trigons provided with spikes formed by the lengthening of their bony shell, and
-which, from their strange gruntings, are called “seapigs”; also dromedaries
-with large humps in the shape of a cone, whose flesh is very tough and
-leathery.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I now borrow from the daily notes of Master Conseil. “Certain fish of the genus
-petrodon peculiar to those seas, with red backs and white chests, which are
-distinguished by three rows of longitudinal filaments; and some electrical,
-seven inches long, decked in the liveliest colours. Then, as specimens of other
-kinds, some ovoides, resembling an egg of a dark brown colour, marked with
-white bands, and without tails; diodons, real sea-porcupines, furnished with
-spikes, and capable of swelling in such a way as to look like cushions
-bristling with darts; hippocampi, common to every ocean; some pegasi with
-lengthened snouts, which their pectoral fins, being much elongated and formed
-in the shape of wings, allow, if not to fly, at least to shoot into the air;
-pigeon spatulae, with tails covered with many rings of shell; macrognathi with
-long jaws, an excellent fish, nine inches long, and bright with most agreeable
-colours; pale-coloured calliomores, with rugged heads; and plenty of
-chaetpdons, with long and tubular muzzles, which kill insects by shooting them,
-as from an air-gun, with a single drop of water. These we may call the
-flycatchers of the seas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In the eighty-ninth genus of fishes, classed by Lacepede, belonging to the
-second lower class of bony, characterised by opercules and bronchial membranes,
-I remarked the scorpaena, the head of which is furnished with spikes, and which
-has but one dorsal fin; these creatures are covered, or not, with little
-shells, according to the sub-class to which they belong. The second sub-class
-gives us specimens of didactyles fourteen or fifteen inches in length, with
-yellow rays, and heads of a most fantastic appearance. As to the first
-sub-class, it gives several specimens of that singular looking fish
-appropriately called a �seafrog,’ with large head, sometimes pierced with
-holes, sometimes swollen with protuberances, bristling with spikes, and covered
-with tubercles; it has irregular and hideous horns; its body and tail are
-covered with callosities; its sting makes a dangerous wound; it is both
-repugnant and horrible to look at.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-From the 21st to the 23rd of January the <i>Nautilus</i> went at the rate of
-two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours, being five hundred and
-forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour. If we recognised so many different
-varieties of fish, it was because, attracted by the electric light, they tried
-to follow us; the greater part, however, were soon distanced by our speed,
-though some kept their place in the waters of the <i>Nautilus</i> for a time.
-The morning of the 24th, in 12° 5&#x2032; S. lat., and 94° 33&#x2032; long., we
-observed Keeling Island, a coral formation, planted with magnificent cocos, and
-which had been visited by Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy. The <i>Nautilus</i>
-skirted the shores of this desert island for a little distance. Its nets
-brought up numerous specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca. Some
-precious productions of the species of delphinulae enriched the treasures of
-Captain Nemo, to which I added an astraea punctifera, a kind of parasite
-polypus often found fixed to a shell.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was directed
-to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often taking us
-into great depths. Several times they made use of the inclined planes, which
-certain internal levers placed obliquely to the waterline. In that way we went
-about two miles, but without ever obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian
-Sea, which soundings of seven thousand fathoms have never reached. As to the
-temperature of the lower strata, the thermometer invariably indicated 4° above
-zero. I only observed that in the upper regions the water was always colder in
-the high levels than at the surface of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the <i>Nautilus</i>
-passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful screw and
-making them rebound to a great height. Who under such circumstances would not
-have taken it for a gigantic cetacean? Three parts of this day I spent on the
-platform. I watched the sea. Nothing on the horizon, till about four o’clock a
-steamer running west on our counter. Her masts were visible for an instant, but
-she could not see the <i>Nautilus</i>, being too low in the water. I fancied
-this steamboat belonged to the P.O. Company, which runs from Ceylon to Sydney,
-touching at King George’s Point and Melbourne.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At five o’clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight which binds night
-to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by a curious spectacle.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the ocean. We
-could count several hundreds. They belonged to the tubercle kind which are
-peculiar to the Indian seas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their locomotive tube,
-through which they propelled the water already drawn in. Of their eight
-tentacles, six were elongated, and stretched out floating on the water, whilst
-the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the wing like a light sail. I saw
-their spiral-shaped and fluted shells, which Cuvier justly compares to an
-elegant skiff. A boat indeed! It bears the creature which secretes it without
-its adhering to it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For nearly an hour the <i>Nautilus</i> floated in the midst of this shoal of
-molluscs. Then I know not what sudden fright they took. But as if at a signal
-every sail was furled, the arms folded, the body drawn in, the shells turned
-over, changing their centre of gravity, and the whole fleet disappeared under
-the waves. Never did the ships of a squadron manœuvre with more unity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised by the
-breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the eighty-second meridian
-and entered the northern hemisphere. During the day a formidable troop of
-sharks accompanied us, terrible creatures, which multiply in these seas and
-make them very dangerous. They were “cestracio philippi” sharks, with brown
-backs and whitish bellies, armed with eleven rows of teeth—eyed sharks—their
-throat being marked with a large black spot surrounded with white like an eye.
-There were also some Isabella sharks, with rounded snouts marked with dark
-spots. These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at the windows of the
-saloon with such violence as to make us feel very insecure. At such times Ned
-Land was no longer master of himself. He wanted to go to the surface and
-harpoon the monsters, particularly certain smooth-hound sharks, whose mouth is
-studded with teeth like a mosaic; and large tiger-sharks nearly six yards long,
-the last named of which seemed to excite him more particularly. But the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, accelerating her speed, easily left the most rapid of them
-behind.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal, we met
-repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on the surface of the
-water. They were the dead of the Indian villages, carried by the Ganges to the
-level of the sea, and which the vultures, the only undertakers of the country,
-had not been able to devour. But the sharks did not fail to help them at their
-funeral work.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About seven o’clock in the evening, the <i>Nautilus</i>, half-immersed, was
-sailing in a sea of milk. At first sight the ocean seemed lactified. Was it the
-effect of the lunar rays? No; for the moon, scarcely two days old, was still
-lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the sun. The whole sky, though
-lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by contrast with the whiteness of the
-waters.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause of this
-strange phenomenon. Happily I was able to answer him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is called a milk sea,” I explained. “A large extent of white wavelets often
-to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna, and in these parts of the sea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, sir,” said Conseil, “can you tell me what causes such an effect? for I
-suppose the water is not really turned into milk.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by the
-presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm, gelatinous
-and without colour, of the thickness of a hair, and whose length is not more
-than seven-thousandths of an inch. These insects adhere to one another
-sometimes for several leagues.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Several leagues!” exclaimed Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these infusoria.
-You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have floated on these
-milk seas for more than forty miles.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind us, even
-to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected the whitened waves, and for a
-long time seemed impregnated with the vague glimmerings of an aurora borealis.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap25"></a>CHAPTER II<br/>
-A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO’S</h2>
-
-<p>
-On the 28th of February, when at noon the <i>Nautilus</i> came to the surface
-of the sea, in 9° 4&#x2032; N. lat., there was land in sight about eight miles
-to westward. The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains about two
-thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious. On taking the
-bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of Ceylon, the pearl which
-hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment. The Captain glanced at the
-map. Then turning to me, said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you like to visit
-one of them, M. Aronnax?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly, Captain.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, the thing is easy. Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall not see the
-fishermen. The annual exportation has not yet begun. Never mind, I will give
-orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar, where we shall arrive in the night.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out. Soon the
-<i>Nautilus</i> returned to her native element, and the manometer showed that
-she was about thirty feet deep.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir,” said Captain Nemo, “you and your companions shall visit the Bank
-of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there, we shall see him at
-work.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Agreed, Captain!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sharks!” exclaimed I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This question seemed a very hard one.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well?” continued Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of fish.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are accustomed to them,” replied Captain Nemo, “and in time you will be
-too. However, we shall be armed, and on the road we may be able to hunt some of
-the tribe. It is interesting. So, till to-morrow, sir, and early.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon. Now, if you were
-invited to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland, what would you say?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear.” If you were asked to hunt
-the lion in the plains of Atlas, or the tiger in the Indian jungles, what would
-you say?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!” But when you are
-invited to hunt the shark in its natural element, you would perhaps reflect
-before accepting the invitation. As for myself, I passed my hand over my
-forehead, on which stood large drops of cold perspiration. “Let us reflect,”
-said I, “and take our time. Hunting otters in submarine forests, as we did in
-the Island of Crespo, will pass; but going up and down at the bottom of the
-sea, where one is almost certain to meet sharks, is quite another thing! I know
-well that in certain countries, particularly in the Andaman Islands, the
-negroes never hesitate to attack them with a dagger in one hand and a running
-noose in the other; but I also know that few who affront those creatures ever
-return alive. However, I am not a negro, and if I were I think a little
-hesitation in this case would not be ill-timed.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed, and even
-joyous. They knew not what awaited them.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Faith, sir,” said Ned Land, “your Captain Nemo—the devil take him!—has just
-made us a very pleasant offer.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” said I, “you know?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If agreeable to you, sir,” interrupted Conseil, “the commander of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon fisheries
-to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly, and behaved like a real
-gentleman.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“He said nothing more?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you of this little
-walk.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said Conseil, “would you give us some details of the pearl fishery?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As to the fishing itself,” I asked, “or the incidents, which?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“On the fishing,” replied the Canadian; “before entering upon the ground, it is
-as well to know something about it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing the
-Canadian asked was:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir, what is a pearl?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My worthy Ned,” I answered, “to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the sea; to the
-Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies, it is a jewel of an
-oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl substance, which they wear on
-their fingers, their necks, or their ears; for the chemist it is a mixture of
-phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a little gelatine; and lastly, for
-naturalists, it is simply a morbid secretion of the organ that produces the
-mother-of-pearl amongst certain bivalves.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Branch of molluscs,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea the earshell,
-the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those which secrete mother-of-pearl,
-that is, the blue, bluish, violet, or white substance which lines the interior
-of their shells, are capable of producing pearls.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Mussels too?” asked the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Saxony, Bohemia,
-and France.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good! For the future I shall pay attention,” replied the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But,” I continued, “the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl is the
-pearl-oyster, the meleagrina margaritiferct, that precious pintadine. The pearl
-is nothing but a nacreous formation, deposited in a globular form, either
-adhering to the oyster shell, or buried in the folds of the creature. On the
-shell it is fast; in the flesh it is loose; but always has for a kernel a small
-hard substance, may be a barren egg, may be a grain of sand, around which the
-pearly matter deposits itself year after year successively, and by thin
-concentric layers.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are many pearls found in the same oyster?” asked Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, my boy. Some are a perfect casket. One oyster has been mentioned, though
-I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no less than a hundred and
-fifty sharks.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A hundred and fifty sharks!” exclaimed Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Did I say sharks?” said I hurriedly. “I meant to say a hundred and fifty
-pearls. Sharks would not be sense.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly not,” said Conseil; “but will you tell us now by what means they
-extract these pearls?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They proceed in various ways. When they adhere to the shell, the fishermen
-often pull them off with pincers; but the most common way is to lay the oysters
-on mats of the seaweed which covers the banks. Thus they die in the open air;
-and at the end of ten days they are in a forward state of decomposition. They
-are then plunged into large reservoirs of sea-water; then they are opened and
-washed.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The price of these pearls varies according to their size?” asked Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not only according to their size,” I answered, “but also according to their
-shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre: that is, that
-bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming to the eye. The most
-beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons. They are formed alone in the
-tissue of the mollusc, are white, often opaque, and sometimes have the
-transparency of an opal; they are generally round or oval. The round are made
-into bracelets, the oval into pendants, and, being more precious, are sold
-singly. Those adhering to the shell of the oyster are more irregular in shape,
-and are sold by weight. Lastly, in a lower order are classed those small pearls
-known under the name of seed-pearls; they are sold by measure, and are
-especially used in embroidery for church ornaments.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But,” said Conseil, “is this pearl-fishery dangerous?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No,” I answered, quickly; “particularly if certain precautions are taken.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What does one risk in such a calling?” said Ned Land, “the swallowing of some
-mouthfuls of sea-water?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you say, Ned. By the bye,” said I, trying to take Captain Nemo’s careless
-tone, “are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I!” replied the Canadian; “a harpooner by profession? It is my trade to make
-light of them.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But,” said I, “it is not a question of fishing for them with an iron-swivel,
-hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off their tails with a blow of a
-chopper, ripping them up, and throwing their heart into the sea!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then, it is a question of——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Precisely.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In the water?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In the water.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Faith, with a good harpoon! You know, sir, these sharks are ill-fashioned
-beasts. They turn on their bellies to seize you, and in that time——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land had a way of saying “seize” which made my blood run cold.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Me!” said Conseil. “I will be frank, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So much the better,” thought I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful servant
-should not face them with you.”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap26"></a>CHAPTER III<br/>
-A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next morning at four o’clock I was awakened by the steward whom Captain
-Nemo had placed at my service. I rose hurriedly, dressed, and went into the
-saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax,” said he, “are you ready to start?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am ready.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then please to follow me.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And my companions, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They have been told and are waiting.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are we not to put on our diver’s dresses?” asked I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not yet. I have not allowed the <i>Nautilus</i> to come too near this coast,
-and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready, and will
-take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us a long way. It
-carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when we begin our submarine
-journey.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase, which led on the platform.
-Ned and Conseil were already there, delighted at the idea of the “pleasure
-party” which was preparing. Five sailors from the <i>Nautilus</i>, with their
-oars, waited in the boat, which had been made fast against the side.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The night was still dark. Layers of clouds covered the sky, allowing but few
-stars to be seen. I looked on the side where the land lay, and saw nothing but
-a dark line enclosing three parts of the horizon, from south-west to north
-west. The <i>Nautilus</i>, having returned during the night up the western
-coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or rather gulf, formed by the
-mainland and the Island of Manaar. There, under the dark waters, stretched the
-pintadine bank, an inexhaustible field of pearls, the length of which is more
-than twenty miles.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places in the stern of the
-boat. The master went to the tiller; his four companions leaned on their oars,
-the painter was cast off, and we sheered off.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry. I noticed that
-their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every ten seconds,
-according to the method generally adopted in the navy. Whilst the craft was
-running by its own velocity, the liquid drops struck the dark depths of the
-waves crisply like spats of melted lead. A little billow, spreading wide, gave
-a slight roll to the boat, and some samphire reeds flapped before it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking of? Perhaps of the land he was
-approaching, and which he found too near to him, contrary to the Canadian’s
-opinion, who thought it too far off. As to Conseil, he was merely there from
-curiosity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed the upper line of
-coast more distinctly. Flat enough in the east, it rose a little to the south.
-Five miles still lay between us, and it was indistinct owing to the mist on the
-water. At six o’clock it became suddenly daylight, with that rapidity peculiar
-to tropical regions, which know neither dawn nor twilight. The solar rays
-pierced the curtain of clouds, piled up on the eastern horizon, and the radiant
-orb rose rapidly. I saw land distinctly, with a few trees scattered here and
-there. The boat neared Manaar Island, which was rounded to the south. Captain
-Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran, for it
-was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the highest points
-of the bank of pintadines.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Here we are, M. Aronnax,” said Captain Nemo. “You see that enclosed bay? Here,
-in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of the exporters, and
-these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly. Happily, this bay is
-well situated for that kind of fishing. It is sheltered from the strongest
-winds; the sea is never very rough here, which makes it favourable for the
-diver’s work. We will now put on our dresses, and begin our walk.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves, began with the help
-of the sailors to put on my heavy sea-dress. Captain Nemo and my companions
-were also dressing. None of the <i>Nautilus</i> men were to accompany us on
-this new excursion.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing; the air
-apparatus fixed to our backs by braces. As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus, there
-was no necessity for it. Before putting my head into the copper cap, I had
-asked the question of the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They would be useless,” he replied. “We are going to no great depth, and the
-solar rays will be enough to light our walk. Besides, it would not be prudent
-to carry the electric light in these waters; its brilliancy might attract some
-of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast most inopportunely.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned Land. But
-my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap, and they could
-neither hear nor answer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And our arms?” asked I; “our guns?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Guns! What for? Do not mountaineers attack the bear with a dagger in their
-hand, and is not steel surer than lead? Here is a strong blade; put it in your
-belt, and we start.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than that, Ned
-Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed in the boat
-before leaving the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then, following the Captain’s example, I allowed myself to be dressed in the
-heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air were at once in activity. An
-instant after we were landed, one after the other, in about two yards of water
-upon an even sand. Captain Nemo made a sign with his hand, and we followed him
-by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under the waves.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Over our feet, like coveys of snipe in a bog, rose shoals of fish, of the genus
-monoptera, which have no other fins but their tail. I recognized the Javanese,
-a real serpent two and a half feet long, of a livid colour underneath, and
-which might easily be mistaken for a conger eel if it were not for the golden
-stripes on its side. In the genus stromateus, whose bodies are very flat and
-oval, I saw some of the most brilliant colours, carrying their dorsal fin like
-a scythe; an excellent eating fish, which, dried and pickled, is known by the
-name of Karawade; then some tranquebars, belonging to the genus apsiphoroides,
-whose body is covered with a shell cuirass of eight longitudinal plates.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The heightening sun lit the mass of waters more and more. The soil changed by
-degrees. To the fine sand succeeded a perfect causeway of boulders, covered
-with a carpet of molluscs and zoophytes. Amongst the specimens of these
-branches I noticed some placenae, with thin unequal shells, a kind of ostracion
-peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded
-shells; rockfish three feet and a half long, which raised themselves under the
-waves like hands ready to seize one. There were also some panopyres, slightly
-luminous; and lastly, some oculines, like magnificent fans, forming one of the
-richest vegetations of these seas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In the midst of these living plants, and under the arbours of the hydrophytes,
-were layers of clumsy articulates, particularly some raninae, whose carapace
-formed a slightly rounded triangle; and some horrible looking parthenopes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At about seven o’clock we found ourselves at last surveying the oyster-banks on
-which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters; and I could
-well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for Nature’s creative power
-is far beyond man’s instinct of destruction. Ned Land, faithful to his
-instinct, hastened to fill a net which he carried by his side with some of the
-finest specimens. But we could not stop. We must follow the Captain, who seemed
-to guide him self by paths known only to himself. The ground was sensibly
-rising, and sometimes, on holding up my arm, it was above the surface of the
-sea. Then the level of the bank would sink capriciously. Often we rounded high
-rocks scarped into pyramids. In their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched
-upon their high claws like some war-machine, watched us with fixed eyes, and
-under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a picturesque heap
-of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the submarine flora. At first
-it seemed very dark to me. The solar rays seemed to be extinguished by
-successive gradations, until its vague transparency became nothing more than
-drowned light. Captain Nemo entered; we followed. My eyes soon accustomed
-themselves to this relative state of darkness. I could distinguish the arches
-springing capriciously from natural pillars, standing broad upon their granite
-base, like the heavy columns of Tuscan architecture. Why had our
-incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of this submarine crypt? I was soon
-to know. After descending a rather sharp declivity, our feet trod the bottom of
-a kind of circular pit. There Captain Nemo stopped, and with his hand indicated
-an object I had not yet perceived. It was an oyster of extraordinary
-dimensions, a gigantic tridacne, a goblet which could have contained a whole
-lake of holy-water, a basin the breadth of which was more than two yards and a
-half, and consequently larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. I approached this extraordinary mollusc. It adhered by its
-filaments to a table of granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in
-the calm waters of the grotto. I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600
-lbs. Such an oyster would contain 30 lbs. of meat; and one must have the
-stomach of a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this bivalve, and
-seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual state of this
-tridacne. The shells were a little open; the Captain came near and put his
-dagger between to prevent them from closing; then with his hand he raised the
-membrane with its fringed edges, which formed a cloak for the creature. There,
-between the folded plaits, I saw a loose pearl, whose size equalled that of a
-coco-nut. Its globular shape, perfect clearness, and admirable lustre made it
-altogether a jewel of inestimable value. Carried away by my curiosity, I
-stretched out my hand to seize it, weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain
-stopped me, made a sign of refusal, and quickly withdrew his dagger, and the
-two shells closed suddenly. I then understood Captain Nemo’s intention. In
-leaving this pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing it to
-grow slowly. Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add new concentric
-circles. I estimated its value at ÂŁ500,000 at least.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. I thought he had halted
-previously to returning. No; by a gesture he bade us crouch beside him in a
-deep fracture of the rock, his hand pointed to one part of the liquid mass,
-which I watched attentively.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground. The
-disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken; and once
-again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything to do with.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor devil who, I
-suppose, had come to glean before the harvest. I could see the bottom of his
-canoe anchored some feet above his head. He dived and went up successively. A
-stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a sugar loaf, whilst a rope
-fastened him to his boat, helped him to descend more rapidly. This was all his
-apparatus. Reaching the bottom, about five yards deep, he went on his knees and
-filled his bag with oysters picked up at random. Then he went up, emptied it,
-pulled up his stone, and began the operation once more, which lasted thirty
-seconds.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The diver did not see us. The shadow of the rock hid us from sight. And how
-should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like himself, should be
-there under the water watching his movements and losing no detail of the
-fishing? Several times he went up in this way, and dived again. He did not
-carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was obliged to pull them from
-the bank to which they adhered by means of their strong byssus. And how many of
-those oysters for which he risked his life had no pearl in them! I watched him
-closely; his manœuvres were regular; and for the space of half an hour no
-danger appeared to threaten him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting fishing,
-when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make a gesture of
-terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I understood his dread. A gigantic shadow appeared just above the unfortunate
-diver. It was a shark of enormous size advancing diagonally, his eyes on fire,
-and his jaws open. I was mute with horror and unable to move.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw himself on one side
-to avoid the shark’s fins; but not its tail, for it struck his chest and
-stretched him on the ground.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This scene lasted but a few seconds: the shark returned, and, turning on his
-back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two, when I saw Captain Nemo
-rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to the monster, ready to
-fight face to face with him. The very moment the shark was going to snap the
-unhappy fisherman in two, he perceived his new adversary, and, turning over,
-made straight towards him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I can still see Captain Nemo’s position. Holding himself well together, he
-waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it rushed at him, threw
-himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoiding the shock, and burying
-his dagger deep into its side. But it was not all over. A terrible combat
-ensued.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus07"></a>
-<img src="images/img07.jpg" width="416" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">A terrible combat began
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so. The blood rushed in torrents
-from its wound. The sea was dyed red, and through the opaque liquid I could
-distinguish nothing more. Nothing more until the moment when, like lightning, I
-saw the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of the creature’s fins, struggling,
-as it were, hand to hand with the monster, and dealing successive blows at his
-enemy, yet still unable to give a decisive one.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The shark’s struggles agitated the water with such fury that the rocking
-threatened to upset me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I wanted to go to the Captain’s assistance, but, nailed to the spot with
-horror, I could not stir.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight. The Captain
-fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant upon him. The shark’s
-jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and it would have been all
-over with the Captain; but, quick as thought, harpoon in hand, Ned Land rushed
-towards the shark and struck it with its sharp point.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood. They rocked under the shark’s
-movements, which beat them with indescribable fury. Ned Land had not missed his
-aim. It was the monster’s death-rattle. Struck to the heart, it struggled in
-dreadful convulsions, the shock of which overthrew Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any wound,
-went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him to his stone,
-took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel, mounted to the
-surface.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle, and reached the
-fisherman’s boat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo’s first care was to recall the unfortunate man to life again. I
-did not think he could succeed. I hoped so, for the poor creature’s immersion
-was not long; but the blow from the shark’s tail might have been his
-death-blow.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Happily, with the Captain’s and Conseil’s sharp friction, I saw consciousness
-return by degrees. He opened his eyes. What was his surprise, his terror even,
-at seeing four great copper heads leaning over him! And, above all, what must
-he have thought when Captain Nemo, drawing from the pocket of his dress a bag
-of pearls, placed it in his hand! This munificent charity from the man of the
-waters to the poor Cingalese was accepted with a trembling hand. His wondering
-eyes showed that he knew not to what super-human beings he owed both fortune
-and life.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the road
-already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which held the
-canoe of the <i>Nautilus</i> to the earth.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid of the heavy
-copper helmet.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo’s first word was to the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Thank you, Master Land,” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It was in revenge, Captain,” replied Ned Land. “I owed you that.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A ghastly smile passed across the Captain’s lips, and that was all.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To the <i>Nautilus</i>,” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The boat flew over the waves. Some minutes after we met the shark’s dead body
-floating. By the black marking of the extremity of its fins, I recognised the
-terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the species of shark so properly
-called. It was more than twenty-five feet long; its enormous mouth occupied
-one-third of its body. It was an adult, as was known by its six rows of teeth
-placed in an isosceles triangle in the upper jaw.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious beasts
-appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw themselves upon the
-dead body and fought with one another for the pieces.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At half-past eight we were again on board the <i>Nautilus</i>. There I
-reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our excursion to the Manaar
-Bank.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it—one bearing upon the
-unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon his devotion to a human
-being, a representative of that race from which he fled beneath the sea.
-Whatever he might say, this strange man had not yet succeeded in entirely
-crushing his heart.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved tone:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country; and I am still,
-and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap27"></a>CHAPTER IV<br/>
-THE RED SEA</h2>
-
-<p>
-In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon
-disappeared under the horizon, and the <i>Nautilus</i>, at a speed of twenty
-miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth of canals which separate the Maldives
-from the Laccadives. It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a land originally
-coraline, discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one of the nineteen
-principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago, situated between 10° and 14°
-30&#x2032; N. lat., and 69° 50&#x2032; 72&#x2033; E. long.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our starting-point in
-the Japanese Seas.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day (30th January), when the <i>Nautilus</i> went to the surface of
-the ocean there was no land in sight. Its course was N.N.E., in the direction
-of the Sea of Oman, between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula, which serves as an
-outlet to the Persian Gulf. It was evidently a block without any possible
-egress. Where was Captain Nemo taking us to? I could not say. This, however,
-did not satisfy the Canadian, who that day came to me asking where we were
-going.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are going where our Captain’s fancy takes us, Master Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“His fancy cannot take us far, then,” said the Canadian. “The Persian Gulf has
-no outlet: and, if we do go in, it will not be long before we are out again.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if, after the
-Persian Gulf, the <i>Nautilus</i> would like to visit the Red Sea, the Straits
-of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I need not tell you, sir,” said Ned Land, “that the Red Sea is as much closed
-as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it was, a boat as
-mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut with sluices. And
-again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back to Europe.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But I never said we were going back to Europe.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What do you suppose, then?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt, the
-<i>Nautilus</i> will go down the Indian Ocean again, perhaps cross the Channel
-of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas, so as to gain the Cape of Good
-Hope.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And once at the Cape of Good Hope?” asked the Canadian, with peculiar
-emphasis.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know. Ah!
-friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea; you are
-surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine wonders. For my
-part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage which it is given to so few
-men to make.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For four days, till the 3rd of February, the <i>Nautilus</i> scoured the Sea of
-Oman, at various speeds and at various depths. It seemed to go at random, as if
-hesitating as to which road it should follow, but we never passed the Tropic of
-Cancer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant, one of the most
-important towns of the country of Oman. I admired its strange aspect,
-surrounded by black rocks upon which its white houses and forts stood in
-relief. I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points of its
-minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces. But it was only a vision! The
-<i>Nautilus</i> soon sank under the waves of that part of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut, for a distance of
-six miles, its undulating line of mountains being occasionally relieved by some
-ancient ruin. The 5th of February we at last entered the Gulf of Aden, a
-perfect funnel introduced into the neck of Bab-el-mandeb, through which the
-Indian waters entered the Red Sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 6th of February, the <i>Nautilus</i> floated in sight of Aden, perched upon
-a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland, a kind of
-inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which were rebuilt by the English
-after taking possession in 1839. I caught a glimpse of the octagon minarets of
-this town, which was at one time the richest commercial magazine on the coast.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point, would back out
-again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing, much to my surprise.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb, the
-name of which, in the Arab tongue, means The Gate of Tears.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length. And for the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely the work of
-an hour. But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim, with which the
-British Government has fortified the position of Aden. There were too many
-English or French steamers of the line of Suez to Bombay, Calcutta to
-Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius, furrowing this narrow passage,
-for the <i>Nautilus</i> to venture to show itself. So it remained prudently
-below. At last about noon, we were in the waters of the Red Sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided Captain Nemo
-upon entering the gulf. But I quite approved of the <i>Nautilus</i> entering
-it. Its speed was lessened: sometimes it kept on the surface, sometimes it
-dived to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able to observe the upper and lower
-parts of this curious sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came in sight, now a
-ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot, yet which shelters here and
-there some verdant date-trees; once an important city, containing six public
-markets, and twenty-six mosques, and whose walls, defended by fourteen forts,
-formed a girdle of two miles in circumference.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> then approached the African shore, where the depth of the
-sea was greater. There, between two waters clear as crystal, through the open
-panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful bushes of brilliant coral
-and large blocks of rock clothed with a splendid fur of green variety of sites
-and landscapes along these sandbanks and algæ and fuci. What an indescribable
-spectacle, and what variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and
-volcanic islands which bound the Libyan coast! But where these shrubs appeared
-in all their beauty was on the eastern coast, which the <i>Nautilus</i> soon
-gained. It was on the coast of Tehama, for there not only did this display of
-zoophytes flourish beneath the level of the sea, but they also formed
-picturesque interlacings which unfolded themselves about sixty feet above the
-surface, more capricious but less highly coloured than those whose freshness
-was kept up by the vital power of the waters.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon! What new
-specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under the brightness of our
-electric lantern!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The 9th of February the <i>Nautilus</i> floated in the broadest part of the Red
-Sea, which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and Komfidah, on
-the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted the
-platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let him go down
-again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior projects. As soon as
-he saw me he approached and graciously offered me a cigar.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you? Have you sufficiently observed the
-wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes, its parterres of sponges, and its
-forests of coral? Did you catch a glimpse of the towns on its borders?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Captain Nemo,” I replied; “and the <i>Nautilus</i> is wonderfully fitted
-for such a study. Ah! it is an intelligent boat!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable. It fears neither the terrible tempests
-of the Red Sea, nor its currents, nor its sandbanks.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly,” said I, “this sea is quoted as one of the worst, and in the time
-of the ancients, if I am not mistaken, its reputation was detestable.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Detestable, M. Aronnax. The Greek and Latin historians do not speak favourably
-of it, and Strabo says it is very dangerous during the Etesian winds and in the
-rainy season. The Arabian Edrisi portrays it under the name of the Gulf of
-Colzoum, and relates that vessels perished there in great numbers on the
-sandbanks and that no one would risk sailing in the night. It is, he pretends,
-a sea subject to fearful hurricanes, strewn with inhospitable islands, and
-�which offers nothing good either on its surface or in its depths.’”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“One may see,” I replied, “that these historians never sailed on board the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so,” replied the Captain, smiling; “and in that respect moderns are not
-more advanced than the ancients. It required many ages to find out the
-mechanical power of steam. Who knows if, in another hundred years, we may not
-see a second <i>Nautilus?</i> Progress is slow, M. Aronnax.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is true,” I answered; “your boat is at least a century before its time,
-perhaps an era. What a misfortune that the secret of such an invention should
-die with its inventor!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo did not reply. After some minutes’ silence he continued:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You were speaking of the opinions of ancient historians upon the dangerous
-navigation of the Red Sea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is true,” said I; “but were not their fears exaggerated?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes and no, M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo, who seemed to know the Red Sea
-by heart. “That which is no longer dangerous for a modern vessel, well rigged,
-strongly built, and master of its own course, thanks to obedient steam, offered
-all sorts of perils to the ships of the ancients. Picture to yourself those
-first navigators venturing in ships made of planks sewn with the cords of the
-palmtree, saturated with the grease of the seadog, and covered with powdered
-resin! They had not even instruments wherewith to take their bearings, and they
-went by guess amongst currents of which they scarcely knew anything. Under such
-conditions shipwrecks were, and must have been, numerous. But in our time,
-steamers running between Suez and the South Seas have nothing more to fear from
-the fury of this gulf, in spite of contrary trade-winds. The captain and
-passengers do not prepare for their departure by offering propitiatory
-sacrifices; and, on their return, they no longer go ornamented with wreaths and
-gilt fillets to thank the gods in the neighbouring temple.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I agree with you,” said I; “and steam seems to have killed all gratitude in
-the hearts of sailors. But, Captain, since you seem to have especially studied
-this sea, can you tell me the origin of its name?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“There exist several explanations on the subject, M. Aronnax. Would you like to
-know the opinion of a chronicler of the fourteenth century?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Willingly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This fanciful writer pretends that its name was given to it after the passage
-of the Israelites, when Pharaoh perished in the waves which closed at the voice
-of Moses.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A poet’s explanation, Captain Nemo,” I replied; “but I cannot content myself
-with that. I ask you for your personal opinion.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Here it is, M. Aronnax. According to my idea, we must see in this appellation
-of the Red Sea a translation of the Hebrew word �Edom’; and if the ancients
-gave it that name, it was on account of the particular colour of its waters.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But up to this time I have seen nothing but transparent waves and without any
-particular colour.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very likely; but as we advance to the bottom of the gulf, you will see this
-singular appearance. I remember seeing the Bay of Tor entirely red, like a sea
-of blood.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And you attribute this colour to the presence of a microscopic seaweed?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So, Captain Nemo, it is not the first time you have overrun the Red Sea on
-board the <i>Nautilus?</i>”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you spoke a while ago of the passage of the Israelites and of the
-catastrophe to the Egyptians, I will ask whether you have met with the traces
-under the water of this great historical fact?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir; and for a good reason.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is it?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is that the spot where Moses and his people passed is now so blocked up
-with sand that the camels can barely bathe their legs there. You can well
-understand that there would not be water enough for my <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And the spot?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The spot is situated a little above the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm which
-formerly made a deep estuary, when the Red Sea extended to the Salt Lakes. Now,
-whether this passage were miraculous or not, the Israelites, nevertheless,
-crossed there to reach the Promised Land, and Pharaoh’s army perished precisely
-on that spot; and I think that excavations made in the middle of the sand would
-bring to light a large number of arms and instruments of Egyptian origin.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is evident,” I replied; “and for the sake of archaeologists let us hope
-that these excavations will be made sooner or later, when new towns are
-established on the isthmus, after the construction of the Suez Canal; a canal,
-however, very useless to a vessel like the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very likely; but useful to the whole world,” said Captain Nemo. “The ancients
-well understood the utility of a communication between the Red Sea and the
-Mediterranean for their commercial affairs: but they did not think of digging a
-canal direct, and took the Nile as an intermediate. Very probably the canal
-which united the Nile to the Red Sea was begun by Sesostris, if we may believe
-tradition. One thing is certain, that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ,
-Necos undertook the works of an alimentary canal to the waters of the Nile
-across the plain of Egypt, looking towards Arabia. It took four days to go up
-this canal, and it was so wide that two triremes could go abreast. It was
-carried on by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and probably finished by Ptolemy
-II. Strabo saw it navigated: but its decline from the point of departure, near
-Bubastes, to the Red Sea was so slight that it was only navigable for a few
-months in the year. This canal answered all commercial purposes to the age of
-Antonius, when it was abandoned and blocked up with sand. Restored by order of
-the Caliph Omar, it was definitely destroyed in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor,
-who wished to prevent the arrival of provisions to Mohammed-ben-Abdallah, who
-had revolted against him. During the expedition into Egypt, your General
-Bonaparte discovered traces of the works in the Desert of Suez; and, surprised
-by the tide, he nearly perished before regaining Hadjaroth, at the very place
-where Moses had encamped three thousand years before him.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Captain, what the ancients dared not undertake, this junction between
-the two seas, which will shorten the road from Cadiz to India, M. Lesseps has
-succeeded in doing; and before long he will have changed Africa into an immense
-island.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, M. Aronnax; you have the right to be proud of your countryman. Such a man
-brings more honour to a nation than great captains. He began, like so many
-others, with disgust and rebuffs; but he has triumphed, for he has the genius
-of will. And it is sad to think that a work like that, which ought to have been
-an international work and which would have sufficed to make a reign
-illustrious, should have succeeded by the energy of one man. All honour to M.
-Lesseps!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes! honour to the great citizen,” I replied, surprised by the manner in which
-Captain Nemo had just spoken.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Unfortunately,” he continued, “I cannot take you through the Suez Canal; but
-you will be able to see the long jetty of Port Said after to-morrow, when we
-shall be in the Mediterranean.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The Mediterranean!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir; does that astonish you?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What astonishes me is to think that we shall be there the day after
-to-morrow.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Indeed?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Captain, although by this time I ought to have accustomed myself to be
-surprised at nothing since I have been on board your boat.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But the cause of this surprise?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well! it is the fearful speed you will have to put on the <i>Nautilus</i>, if
-the day after to-morrow she is to be in the Mediterranean, having made the
-round of Africa, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Who told you that she would make the round of Africa and double the Cape of
-Good Hope, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, unless the <i>Nautilus</i> sails on dry land, and passes above the
-isthmus——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Or beneath it, M. Aronnax.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Beneath it?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly,” replied Captain Nemo quietly. “A long time ago Nature made under
-this tongue of land what man has this day made on its surface.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What! such a passage exists?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; a subterranean passage, which I have named the Arabian Tunnel. It takes
-us beneath Suez and opens into the Gulf of Pelusium.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But this isthmus is composed of nothing but quick sands?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To a certain depth. But at fifty-five yards only there is a solid layer of
-rock.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Did you discover this passage by chance?” I asked more and more surprised.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Chance and reasoning, sir; and by reasoning even more than by chance. Not only
-does this passage exist, but I have profited by it several times. Without that
-I should not have ventured this day into the impassable Red Sea. I noticed that
-in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean there existed a certain number of
-fishes of a kind perfectly identical. Certain of the fact, I asked myself was
-it possible that there was no communication between the two seas? If there was,
-the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red Sea to the
-Mediterranean, from the sole cause of difference of level. I caught a large
-number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez. I passed a copper ring through
-their tails, and threw them back into the sea. Some months later, on the coast
-of Syria, I caught some of my fish ornamented with the ring. Thus the
-communication between the two was proved. I then sought for it with my
-<i>Nautilus;</i> I discovered it, ventured into it, and before long, sir, you
-too will have passed through my Arabian tunnel!”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap28"></a>CHAPTER V<br/>
-THE ARABIAN TUNNEL</h2>
-
-<p>
-That same evening, in 21° 30&#x2032; N. lat., the <i>Nautilus</i> floated on
-the surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast. I saw Djeddah, the most
-important counting-house of Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and India. I distinguished
-clearly enough its buildings, the vessels anchored at the quays, and those
-whose draught of water obliged them to anchor in the roads. The sun, rather low
-on the horizon, struck full on the houses of the town, bringing out their
-whiteness. Outside, some wooden cabins, and some made of reeds, showed the
-quarter inhabited by the Bedouins. Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the
-shadows of night, and the <i>Nautilus</i> found herself under water slightly
-phosphorescent.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running to
-windward. The <i>Nautilus</i> returned to its submarine navigation; but at
-noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted, she rose again to
-her waterline.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform. The coast on
-the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon a damp fog.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and another,
-when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the sea, said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Do you see anything there, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, Ned,” I replied; “but I have not your eyes, you know.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Look well,” said Ned, “there, on the starboard beam, about the height of the
-lantern! Do you not see a mass which seems to move?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly,” said I, after close attention; “I see something like a long black
-body on the top of the water.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile from us. It
-looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea. It was a gigantic
-dugong!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land looked eagerly. His eyes shone with covetousness at the sight of the
-animal. His hand seemed ready to harpoon it. One would have thought he was
-awaiting the moment to throw himself into the sea and attack it in its element.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform. He saw the dugong,
-understood the Canadian’s attitude, and, addressing him, said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If you held a harpoon just now, Master Land, would it not burn your hand?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And you would not be sorry to go back, for one day, to your trade of a
-fisherman and to add this cetacean to the list of those you have already
-killed?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I should not, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, you can try.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Thank you, sir,” said Ned Land, his eyes flaming.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Only,” continued the Captain, “I advise you for your own sake not to miss the
-creature.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is the dugong dangerous to attack?” I asked, in spite of the Canadian’s shrug
-of the shoulders.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” replied the Captain; “sometimes the animal turns upon its assailants and
-overturns their boat. But for Master Land this danger is not to be feared. His
-eye is prompt, his arm sure.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment seven men of the crew, mute and immovable as ever, mounted the
-platform. One carried a harpoon and a line similar to those employed in
-catching whales. The pinnace was lifted from the bridge, pulled from its
-socket, and let down into the sea. Six oarsmen took their seats, and the
-coxswain went to the tiller. Ned, Conseil, and I went to the back of the boat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are not coming, Captain?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir; but I wish you good sport.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The boat put off, and, lifted by the six rowers, drew rapidly towards the
-dugong, which floated about two miles from the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened, and the oars
-dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters. Ned Land, harpoon in hand, stood in
-the fore part of the boat. The harpoon used for striking the whale is generally
-attached to a very long cord which runs out rapidly as the wounded creature
-draws it after him. But here the cord was not more than ten fathoms long, and
-the extremity was attached to a small barrel which, by floating, was to show
-the course the dugong took under the water.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I stood and carefully watched the Canadian’s adversary. This dugong, which also
-bears the name of the halicore, closely resembles the manatee; its oblong body
-terminated in a lengthened tail, and its lateral fins in perfect fingers. Its
-difference from the manatee consisted in its upper jaw, which was armed with
-two long and pointed teeth which formed on each side diverging tusks.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This dugong which Ned Land was preparing to attack was of colossal dimensions;
-it was more than seven yards long. It did not move, and seemed to be sleeping
-on the waves, which circumstance made it easier to capture.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The boat approached within six yards of the animal. The oars rested on the
-rowlocks. I half rose. Ned Land, his body thrown a little back, brandished the
-harpoon in his experienced hand.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Suddenly a hissing noise was heard, and the dugong disappeared. The harpoon,
-although thrown with great force; had apparently only struck the water.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Curse it!” exclaimed the Canadian furiously; “I have missed it!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No,” said I; “the creature is wounded—look at the blood; but your weapon has
-not stuck in his body.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My harpoon! my harpoon!” cried Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The sailors rowed on, and the coxswain made for the floating barrel. The
-harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe. Its wound had not
-weakened it, for it shot onwards with great rapidity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The boat, rowed by strong arms, flew on its track. Several times it approached
-within some few yards, and the Canadian was ready to strike, but the dugong
-made off with a sudden plunge, and it was impossible to reach it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land! He hurled at the
-unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English tongue. For
-my part, I was only vexed to see the dugong escape all our attacks.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We pursued it without relaxation for an hour, and I began to think it would
-prove difficult to capture, when the animal, possessed with the perverse idea
-of vengeance of which he had cause to repent, turned upon the pinnace and
-assailed us in its turn.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This manœuvre did not escape the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Look out!” he cried.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue, doubtless warning the
-men to keep on their guard.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat, stopped, sniffed the air
-briskly with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity, but in the upper
-part of its muzzle). Then, taking a spring, he threw himself upon us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The pinnace could not avoid the shock, and half upset, shipped at least two
-tons of water, which had to be emptied; but, thanks to the coxswain, we caught
-it sideways, not full front, so we were not quite overturned. While Ned Land,
-clinging to the bows, belaboured the gigantic animal with blows from his
-harpoon, the creature’s teeth were buried in the gunwale, and it lifted the
-whole thing out of the water, as a lion does a roebuck. We were upset over one
-another, and I know not how the adventure would have ended, if the Canadian,
-still enraged with the beast, had not struck it to the heart.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate, and the dugong disappeared, carrying
-the harpoon with him. But the barrel soon returned to the surface, and shortly
-after the body of the animal, turned on its back. The boat came up with it,
-took it in tow, and made straight for the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It required tackle of enormous strength to hoist the dugong on to the platform.
-It weighed 10,000 lbs.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, 11th February, the larder of the <i>Nautilus</i> was enriched by
-some more delicate game. A flight of sea-swallows rested on the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. It was a species of the Sterna nilotica, peculiar to Egypt;
-its beak is black, head grey and pointed, the eye surrounded by white spots,
-the back, wings, and tail of a greyish colour, the belly and throat white, and
-claws red. They also took some dozen of Nile ducks, a wild bird of high
-flavour, its throat and upper part of the head white with black spots.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About five o’clock in the evening we sighted to the north the Cape of
-Ras-Mohammed. This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea, comprised
-between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> penetrated into the Straits of Jubal, which leads to the
-Gulf of Suez. I distinctly saw a high mountain, towering between the two gulfs
-of Ras-Mohammed. It was Mount Horeb, that Sinai at the top of which Moses saw
-God face to face.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At six o’clock the <i>Nautilus</i>, sometimes floating, sometimes immersed,
-passed some distance from Tor, situated at the end of the bay, the waters of
-which seemed tinted with red, an observation already made by Captain Nemo. Then
-night fell in the midst of a heavy silence, sometimes broken by the cries of
-the pelican and other night-birds, and the noise of the waves breaking upon the
-shore, chafing against the rocks, or the panting of some far-off steamer
-beating the waters of the Gulf with its noisy paddles.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-From eight to nine o’clock the <i>Nautilus</i> remained some fathoms under the
-water. According to my calculation we must have been very near Suez. Through
-the panel of the saloon I saw the bottom of the rocks brilliantly lit up by our
-electric lamp. We seemed to be leaving the Straits behind us more and more.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At a quarter-past nine, the vessel having returned to the surface, I mounted
-the platform. Most impatient to pass through Captain Nemo’s tunnel, I could not
-stay in one place, so came to breathe the fresh night air.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light, half discoloured by the fog, shining
-about a mile from us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A floating lighthouse!” said someone near me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I turned, and saw the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is the floating light of Suez,” he continued. “It will not be long before
-we gain the entrance of the tunnel.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The entrance cannot be easy?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir; for that reason I am accustomed to go into the steersman’s cage and
-myself direct our course. And now, if you will go down, M. Aronnax, the
-<i>Nautilus</i> is going under the waves, and will not return to the surface
-until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase; half way down he opened a
-door, traversed the upper deck, and landed in the pilot’s cage, which it may be
-remembered rose at the extremity of the platform. It was a cabin measuring six
-feet square, very much like that occupied by the pilot on the steamboats of the
-Mississippi or Hudson. In the midst worked a wheel, placed vertically, and
-caught to the tiller-rope, which ran to the back of the <i>Nautilus</i>. Four
-light-ports with lenticular glasses, let in a groove in the partition of the
-cabin, allowed the man at the wheel to see in all directions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This cabin was dark; but soon my eyes accustomed themselves to the obscurity,
-and I perceived the pilot, a strong man, with his hands resting on the spokes
-of the wheel. Outside, the sea appeared vividly lit up by the lantern, which
-shed its rays from the back of the cabin to the other extremity of the
-platform.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Now,” said Captain Nemo, “let us try to make our passage.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Electric wires connected the pilot’s cage with the machinery room, and from
-there the Captain could communicate simultaneously to his <i>Nautilus</i> the
-direction and the speed. He pressed a metal knob, and at once the speed of the
-screw diminished.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running by at this
-moment, the immovable base of a massive sandy coast. We followed it thus for an
-hour only some few yards off.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob, suspended by its two
-concentric circles in the cabin. At a simple gesture, the pilot modified the
-course of the <i>Nautilus</i> every instant.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had placed myself at the port-scuttle, and saw some magnificent substructures
-of coral, zoophytes, seaweed, and fucus, agitating their enormous claws, which
-stretched out from the fissures of the rock.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At a quarter-past ten, the Captain himself took the helm. A large gallery,
-black and deep, opened before us. The <i>Nautilus</i> went boldly into it. A
-strange roaring was heard round its sides. It was the waters of the Red Sea,
-which the incline of the tunnel precipitated violently towards the
-Mediterranean. The <i>Nautilus</i> went with the torrent, rapid as an arrow, in
-spite of the efforts of the machinery, which, in order to offer more effective
-resistance, beat the waves with reversed screw.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing but brilliant rays,
-straight lines, furrows of fire, traced by the great speed, under the brilliant
-electric light. My heart beat fast.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At thirty-five minutes past ten, Captain Nemo quitted the helm, and, turning to
-me, said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The Mediterranean!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In less than twenty minutes, the <i>Nautilus</i>, carried along by the torrent,
-had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap29"></a>CHAPTER VI<br/>
-THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day, the <i>Nautilus</i>
-rose to the surface. I hastened on to the platform. Three miles to the south
-the dim outline of Pelusium was to be seen. A torrent had carried us from one
-sea to another. About seven o’clock Ned and Conseil joined me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Sir Naturalist,” said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone, “and the
-Mediterranean?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are floating on its surface, friend Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What!” said Conseil, “this very night.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, this very night; in a few minutes we have passed this impassable
-isthmus.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not believe it,” replied the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then you are wrong, Master Land,” I continued; “this low coast which rounds
-off to the south is the Egyptian coast. And you who have such good eyes, Ned,
-you can see the jetty of Port Said stretching into the sea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian looked attentively.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly you are right, sir, and your Captain is a first-rate man. We are in
-the Mediterranean. Good! Now, if you please, let us talk of our own little
-affair, but so that no one hears us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I saw what the Canadian wanted, and, in any case, I thought it better to let
-him talk, as he wished it; so we all three went and sat down near the lantern,
-where we were less exposed to the spray of the blades.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Now, Ned, we listen; what have you to tell us?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What I have to tell you is very simple. We are in Europe; and before Captain
-Nemo’s caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar Seas, or lead us
-into Oceania, I ask to leave the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I wished in no way to shackle the liberty of my companions, but I certainly
-felt no desire to leave Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Thanks to him, and thanks to his apparatus, I was each day nearer the
-completion of my submarine studies; and I was rewriting my book of submarine
-depths in its very element. Should I ever again have such an opportunity of
-observing the wonders of the ocean? No, certainly not! And I could not bring
-myself to the idea of abandoning the <i>Nautilus</i> before the cycle of
-investigation was accomplished.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Ned, answer me frankly, are you tired of being on board? Are you sorry
-that destiny has thrown us into Captain Nemo’s hands?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian remained some moments without answering. Then, crossing his arms,
-he said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Frankly, I do not regret this journey under the seas. I shall be glad to have
-made it; but, now that it is made, let us have done with it. That is my idea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It will come to an end, Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where and when?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where I do not know—when I cannot say; or, rather, I suppose it will end when
-these seas have nothing more to teach us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then what do you hope for?” demanded the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which we may
-and ought to profit.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh!” said Ned Land, “and where shall we be in six months, if you please, Sir
-Naturalist?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perhaps in China; you know the <i>Nautilus</i> is a rapid traveller. It goes
-through water as swallows through the air, or as an express on the land. It
-does not fear frequented seas; who can say that it may not beat the coasts of
-France, England, or America, on which flight may be attempted as advantageously
-as here.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax,” replied the Canadian, “your arguments are rotten at the
-foundation. You speak in the future, �We shall be there! we shall be here!’ I
-speak in the present, �We are here, and we must profit by it.’”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land’s logic pressed me hard, and I felt myself beaten on that ground. I
-knew not what argument would now tell in my favour.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” continued Ned, “let us suppose an impossibility: if Captain Nemo should
-this day offer you your liberty; would you accept it?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not know,” I answered.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And if,” he added, “the offer made you this day was never to be renewed, would
-you accept it?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Ned, this is my answer. Your reasoning is against me. We must not rely
-on Captain Nemo’s good-will. Common prudence forbids him to set us at liberty.
-On the other side, prudence bids us profit by the first opportunity to leave
-the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, M. Aronnax, that is wisely said.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Only one observation—just one. The occasion must be serious, and our first
-attempt must succeed; if it fails, we shall never find another, and Captain
-Nemo will never forgive us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“All that is true,” replied the Canadian. “But your observation applies equally
-to all attempts at flight, whether in two years’ time, or in two days’. But the
-question is still this: If a favourable opportunity presents itself, it must be
-seized.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Agreed! And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by a favourable
-opportunity?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It will be that which, on a dark night, will bring the <i>Nautilus</i> a short
-distance from some European coast.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And you will try and save yourself by swimming?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, if we were near enough to the bank, and if the vessel was floating at the
-time. Not if the bank was far away, and the boat was under the water.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And in that case?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In that case, I should seek to make myself master of the pinnace. I know how
-it is worked. We must get inside, and the bolts once drawn, we shall come to
-the surface of the water, without even the pilot, who is in the bows,
-perceiving our flight.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Ned, watch for the opportunity; but do not forget that a hitch will ruin
-us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will not forget, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And now, Ned, would you like to know what I think of your project?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly, M. Aronnax.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, I think—I do not say I hope—I think that this favourable opportunity
-will never present itself.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why not?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given up all
-hope of regaining our liberty, and he will be on his guard, above all, in the
-seas and in the sight of European coasts.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We shall see,” replied Ned Land, shaking his head determinedly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And now, Ned Land,” I added, “let us stop here. Not another word on the
-subject. The day that you are ready, come and let us know, and we will follow
-you. I rely entirely upon you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Thus ended a conversation which, at no very distant time, led to such grave
-results. I must say here that facts seemed to confirm my foresight, to the
-Canadian’s great despair. Did Captain Nemo distrust us in these frequented
-seas? or did he only wish to hide himself from the numerous vessels, of all
-nations, which ploughed the Mediterranean? I could not tell; but we were
-oftener between waters and far from the coast. Or, if the <i>Nautilus</i> did
-emerge, nothing was to be seen but the pilot’s cage; and sometimes it went to
-great depths, for, between the Grecian Archipelago and Asia Minor we could not
-touch the bottom by more than a thousand fathoms.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the Sporades, by
-Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
-</p>
-
-<p class="poem">
-“Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates,<br/>
-Caeruleus Proteus,”
-</p>
-
-<p class="noindent">
-as he pointed to a spot on the planisphere.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of Neptune’s
-flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, situated between Rhodes and Crete. I saw
-nothing but the granite base through the glass panels of the saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 14th of February, I resolved to employ some hours in studying
-the fishes of the Archipelago; but for some reason or other the panels remained
-hermetically sealed. Upon taking the course of the <i>Nautilus</i>, I found
-that we were going towards Candia, the ancient Isle of Crete. At the time I
-embarked on the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, the whole of this island had risen in
-insurrection against the despotism of the Turks. But how the insurgents had
-fared since that time I was absolutely ignorant, and it was not Captain Nemo,
-deprived of all land communications, who could tell me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I made no allusion to this event when that night I found myself alone with him
-in the saloon. Besides, he seemed to be taciturn and preoccupied. Then,
-contrary to his custom, he ordered both panels to be opened, and, going from
-one to the other, observed the mass of waters attentively. To what end I could
-not guess; so, on my side, I employed my time in studying the fish passing
-before my eyes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In the midst of the waters a man appeared, a diver, carrying at his belt a
-leathern purse. It was not a body abandoned to the waves; it was a living man,
-swimming with a strong hand, disappearing occasionally to take breath at the
-surface.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I turned towards Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A man shipwrecked! He must be saved at any price!”
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus08"></a>
-<img src="images/img08.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">“A man! A shipwrecked sailor!” I cried
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-The Captain did not answer me, but came and leaned against the panel.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The man had approached, and, with his face flattened against the glass, was
-looking at us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-To my great amazement, Captain Nemo signed to him. The diver answered with his
-hand, mounted immediately to the surface of the water, and did not appear
-again.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Do not be uncomfortable,” said Captain Nemo. “It is Nicholas of Cape Matapan,
-surnamed Pesca. He is well known in all the Cyclades. A bold diver! water is
-his element, and he lives more in it than on land, going continually from one
-island to another, even as far as Crete.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You know him, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why not, M. Aronnax?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Saying which, Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing near the
-left panel of the saloon. Near this piece of furniture, I saw a chest bound
-with iron, on the cover of which was a copper plate, bearing the cypher of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> with its device.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment, the Captain, without noticing my presence, opened the piece of
-furniture, a sort of strong box, which held a great many ingots.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-They were ingots of gold. From whence came this precious metal, which
-represented an enormous sum? Where did the Captain gather this gold from? and
-what was he going to do with it?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I did not say one word. I looked. Captain Nemo took the ingots one by one, and
-arranged them methodically in the chest, which he filled entirely. I estimated
-the contents at more than 4,000 lbs. weight of gold, that is to say, nearly
-ÂŁ200,000.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on the lid,
-in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This done, Captain Nemo pressed a knob, the wire of which communicated with the
-quarters of the crew. Four men appeared, and, not without some trouble, pushed
-the chest out of the saloon. Then I heard them hoisting it up the iron
-staircase by means of pulleys.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And you were saying, sir?” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I was saying nothing, Captain.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then, sir, if you will allow me, I will wish you good night.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I returned to my room much troubled, as one may believe. I vainly tried to
-sleep—I sought the connecting link between the apparition of the diver and the
-chest filled with gold. Soon, I felt by certain movements of pitching and
-tossing that the <i>Nautilus</i> was leaving the depths and returning to the
-surface.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then I heard steps upon the platform; and I knew they were unfastening the
-pinnace and launching it upon the waves. For one instant it struck the side of
-the <i>Nautilus</i>, then all noise ceased.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Two hours after, the same noise, the same going and coming was renewed; the
-boat was hoisted on board, replaced in its socket, and the <i>Nautilus</i>
-again plunged under the waves.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-So these millions had been transported to their address. To what point of the
-continent? Who was Captain Nemo’s correspondent?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day I related to Conseil and the Canadian the events of the night,
-which had excited my curiosity to the highest degree. My companions were not
-less surprised than myself.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But where does he take his millions to?” asked Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-To that there was no possible answer. I returned to the saloon after having
-breakfast and set to work. Till five o’clock in the evening I employed myself
-in arranging my notes. At that moment—(ought I to attribute it to some peculiar
-idiosyncrasy)—I felt so great a heat that I was obliged to take off my coat. It
-was strange, for we were under low latitudes; and even then the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, submerged as it was, ought to experience no change of
-temperature. I looked at the manometer; it showed a depth of sixty feet, to
-which atmospheric heat could never attain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I continued my work, but the temperature rose to such a pitch as to be
-intolerable.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Could there be fire on board?” I asked myself.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was leaving the saloon, when Captain Nemo entered; he approached the
-thermometer, consulted it, and, turning to me, said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Forty-two degrees.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have noticed it, Captain,” I replied; “and if it gets much hotter we cannot
-bear it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh, sir, it will not get better if we do not wish it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You can reduce it as you please, then?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No; but I can go farther from the stove which produces it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is outward, then!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly; we are floating in a current of boiling water.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is it possible!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Look.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round. A sulphurous
-smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like water in a copper. I placed
-my hand on one of the panes of glass, but the heat was so great that I quickly
-took it off again.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where are we?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Near the Island of Santorin, sir,” replied the Captain. “I wished to give you
-a sight of the curious spectacle of a submarine eruption.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I thought,” said I, “that the formation of these new islands was ended.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea,” replied Captain Nemo;
-“and the globe is always being worked by subterranean fires. Already, in the
-nineteenth year of our era, according to Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island,
-Theia (the divine), appeared in the very place where these islets have recently
-been formed. Then they sank under the waves, to rise again in the year 69, when
-they again subsided. Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been
-suspended. But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they named
-George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour near Nea
-Kamenni, and settled again the 6th of the same month. Seven days after, the
-13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa appeared, leaving between Nea Kamenni
-and itself a canal ten yards broad. I was in these seas when the phenomenon
-occurred, and I was able therefore to observe all the different phases. The
-Island of Aphroessa, of round form, measured 300 feet in diameter, and 30 feet
-in height. It was composed of black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of
-felspar. And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka,
-showed itself near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have joined
-together, forming but one and the same island.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And the canal in which we are at this moment?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Here it is,” replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the Archipelago. “You
-see, I have marked the new islands.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I returned to the glass. The <i>Nautilus</i> was no longer moving, the heat was
-becoming unbearable. The sea, which till now had been white, was red, owing to
-the presence of salts of iron. In spite of the ship’s being hermetically
-sealed, an insupportable smell of sulphur filled the saloon, and the brilliancy
-of the electricity was entirely extinguished by bright scarlet flames. I was in
-a bath, I was choking, I was broiled.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We can remain no longer in this boiling water,” said I to the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It would not be prudent,” replied the impassive Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-An order was given; the <i>Nautilus</i> tacked about and left the furnace it
-could not brave with impunity. A quarter of an hour after we were breathing
-fresh air on the surface. The thought then struck me that, if Ned Land had
-chosen this part of the sea for our flight, we should never have come alive out
-of this sea of fire.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 16th of February, we left the basin which, between Rhodes and
-Alexandria, is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms in depth, and the <i>Nautilus</i>,
-passing some distance from Cerigo, quitted the Grecian Archipelago after having
-doubled Cape Matapan.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap30"></a>CHAPTER VII<br/>
-THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS</h2>
-
-<p>
-The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, “the great sea” of the Hebrews,
-“the sea” of the Greeks, the “mare nostrum” of the Romans, bordered by
-orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with the perfume of the
-myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with pure and transparent air,
-but incessantly worked by underground fires; a perfect battlefield in which
-Neptune and Pluto still dispute the empire of the world!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man is renewed
-in one of the most powerful climates of the globe. But, beautiful as it was, I
-could only take a rapid glance at the basin whose superficial area is two
-million of square yards. Even Captain Nemo’s knowledge was lost to me, for this
-puzzling person did not appear once during our passage at full speed. I
-estimated the course which the <i>Nautilus</i> took under the waves of the sea
-at about six hundred leagues, and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours.
-Starting on the morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece, we
-had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of those
-countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain Nemo. Those
-waves and those breezes brought back too many remembrances, if not too many
-regrets. Here he had no longer that independence and that liberty of gait which
-he had when in the open seas, and his <i>Nautilus</i> felt itself cramped
-between the close shores of Africa and Europe.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour. It may be well understood that Ned
-Land, to his great disgust, was obliged to renounce his intended flight. He
-could not launch the pinnace, going at the rate of twelve or thirteen yards
-every second. To quit the <i>Nautilus</i> under such conditions would be as bad
-as jumping from a train going at full speed—an imprudent thing, to say the
-least of it. Besides, our vessel only mounted to the surface of the waves at
-night to renew its stock of air; it was steered entirely by the compass and the
-log.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by express
-train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes; that is to say,
-the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which pass like a flash of
-lightning.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis. In the narrow space
-between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of the sea rose almost
-suddenly. There was a perfect bank, on which there was not more than nine
-fathoms of water, whilst on either side the depth was ninety fathoms.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> had to manœuvre very carefully so as not to strike against
-this submarine barrier.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied by this
-reef.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But if you please, sir,” observed Conseil, “it is like a real isthmus joining
-Europe to Africa.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia, and the soundings
-of Smith have proved that in former times the continents between Cape Boco and
-Cape Furina were joined.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I can well believe it,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will add,” I continued, “that a similar barrier exists between Gibraltar and
-Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire Mediterranean.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers above the
-waves?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is not probable, Conseil.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon should take
-place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps, who has taken so much pains to
-pierce the isthmus.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will never happen.
-The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing. Volcanoes, so plentiful
-in the first days of the world, are being extinguished by degrees; the internal
-heat is weakened, the temperature of the lower strata of the globe is lowered
-by a perceptible quantity every century to the detriment of our globe, for its
-heat is its life.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But the sun?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The sun is not sufficient, Conseil. Can it give heat to a dead body?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Not that I know of.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse; it will become
-uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon, which has long since lost all its
-vital heat.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In how many centuries?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then,” said Conseil, “we shall have time to finish our journey—that is, if Ned
-Land does not interfere with it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank, which the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was skirting at a moderate speed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the second
-Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450 fathoms. The
-<i>Nautilus</i>, by the action of its crew, slid down the inclined planes and
-buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 18th of February, about three o’clock in the morning, we were at the
-entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar. There once existed two currents: an upper
-one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters of the ocean into the
-basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower counter-current, which reasoning has
-now shown to exist. Indeed, the volume of water in the Mediterranean,
-incessantly added to by the waves of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into
-it, would each year raise the level of this sea, for its evaporation is not
-sufficient to restore the equilibrium. As it is not so, we must necessarily
-admit the existence of an under-current, which empties into the basin of the
-Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the
-Mediterranean. A fact indeed; and it was this counter-current by which the
-<i>Nautilus</i> profited. It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass. For one
-instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of Hercules,
-buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low island which
-supports it; and a few minutes later we were floating on the Atlantic.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap31"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br/>
-VIGO BAY</h2>
-
-<p>
-The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers twenty-five
-millions of square miles, the length of which is nine thousand miles, with a
-mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred—an ocean whose parallel winding
-shores embrace an immense circumference, watered by the largest rivers of the
-world, the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco,
-the Niger, the Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water
-from the most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries!
-Magnificent field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels of every nation,
-sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which terminates in those two
-terrible points so dreaded by mariners, Cape Horn and the Cape of Tempests.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> was piercing the water with its sharp spur, after having
-accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half, a distance
-greater than the great circle of the earth. Where were we going now, and what
-was reserved for the future? The <i>Nautilus</i>, leaving the Straits of
-Gibraltar, had gone far out. It returned to the surface of the waves, and our
-daily walks on the platform were restored to us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil. At a distance of about
-twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent was dimly to be seen, forming the south-western
-point of the Spanish peninsula. A strong southerly gale was blowing. The sea
-was swollen and billowy; it made the <i>Nautilus</i> rock violently. It was
-almost impossible to keep one’s foot on the platform, which the heavy rolls of
-the sea beat over every instant. So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls
-of fresh air.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian, with a
-preoccupied air, followed me. Our rapid passage across the Mediterranean had
-not allowed him to put his project into execution, and he could not help
-showing his disappointment. When the door of my room was shut, he sat down and
-looked at me silently.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Ned,” said I, “I understand you; but you cannot reproach yourself. To
-have attempted to leave the <i>Nautilus</i> under the circumstances would have
-been folly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed with him
-the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us see,” I continued; “we need not despair yet. We are going up the coast
-of Portugal again; France and England are not far off, where we can easily find
-refuge. Now if the <i>Nautilus</i>, on leaving the Straits of Gibraltar, had
-gone to the south, if it had carried us towards regions where there were no
-continents, I should share your uneasiness. But we know now that Captain Nemo
-does not fly from civilised seas, and in some days I think you can act with
-security.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land still looked at me fixedly; at length his fixed lips parted, and he
-said, “It is for to-night.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I drew myself up suddenly. I was, I admit, little prepared for this
-communication. I wanted to answer the Canadian, but words would not come.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We agreed to wait for an opportunity,” continued Ned Land, “and the
-opportunity has arrived. This night we shall be but a few miles from the
-Spanish coast. It is cloudy. The wind blows freely. I have your word, M.
-Aronnax, and I rely upon you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As I was silent, the Canadian approached me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To-night, at nine o’clock,” said he. “I have warned Conseil. At that moment
-Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room, probably in bed. Neither the
-engineers nor the ship’s crew can see us. Conseil and I will gain the central
-staircase, and you, M. Aronnax, will remain in the library, two steps from us,
-waiting my signal. The oars, the mast, and the sail are in the canoe. I have
-even succeeded in getting some provisions. I have procured an English wrench,
-to unfasten the bolts which attach it to the shell of the <i>Nautilus</i>. So
-all is ready, till to-night.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The sea is bad.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That I allow,” replied the Canadian; “but we must risk that. Liberty is worth
-paying for; besides, the boat is strong, and a few miles with a fair wind to
-carry us is no great thing. Who knows but by to-morrow we may be a hundred
-leagues away? Let circumstances only favour us, and by ten or eleven o’clock we
-shall have landed on some spot of terra firma, alive or dead. But adieu now
-till to-night.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-With these words the Canadian withdrew, leaving me almost dumb. I had imagined
-that, the chance gone, I should have time to reflect and discuss the matter. My
-obstinate companion had given me no time; and, after all, what could I have
-said to him? Ned Land was perfectly right. There was almost the opportunity to
-profit by. Could I retract my word, and take upon myself the responsibility of
-compromising the future of my companions? To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us
-far from all land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs were
-filling, and that the <i>Nautilus</i> was sinking under the waves of the
-Atlantic.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A sad day I passed, between the desire of regaining my liberty of action and of
-abandoning the wonderful <i>Nautilus</i>, and leaving my submarine studies
-incomplete.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What dreadful hours I passed thus! Sometimes seeing myself and companions
-safely landed, sometimes wishing, in spite of my reason, that some unforeseen
-circumstance, would prevent the realisation of Ned Land’s project.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Twice I went to the saloon. I wished to consult the compass. I wished to see if
-the direction the <i>Nautilus</i> was taking was bringing us nearer or taking
-us farther from the coast. But no; the <i>Nautilus</i> kept in Portuguese
-waters.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I must therefore take my part and prepare for flight. My luggage was not heavy;
-my notes, nothing more.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As to Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he would think of our escape; what
-trouble, what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in case of its
-discovery or failure. Certainly I had no cause to complain of him; on the
-contrary, never was hospitality freer than his. In leaving him I could not be
-taxed with ingratitude. No oath bound us to him. It was on the strength of
-circumstances he relied, and not upon our word, to fix us for ever.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had not seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin. Would
-chance bring me to his presence before our departure? I wished it, and I feared
-it at the same time. I listened if I could hear him walking the room contiguous
-to mine. No sound reached my ear. I felt an unbearable uneasiness. This day of
-waiting seemed eternal. Hours struck too slowly to keep pace with my
-impatience.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My dinner was served in my room as usual. I ate but little; I was too
-preoccupied. I left the table at seven o’clock. A hundred and twenty minutes (I
-counted them) still separated me from the moment in which I was to join Ned
-Land. My agitation redoubled. My pulse beat violently. I could not remain
-quiet. I went and came, hoping to calm my troubled spirit by constant movement.
-The idea of failure in our bold enterprise was the least painful of my
-anxieties; but the thought of seeing our project discovered before leaving the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, of being brought before Captain Nemo, irritated, or (what was
-worse) saddened, at my desertion, made my heart beat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I wanted to see the saloon for the last time. I descended the stairs and
-arrived in the museum, where I had passed so many useful and agreeable hours. I
-looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a man on the eve of an
-eternal exile, who was leaving never to return.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-These wonders of Nature, these masterpieces of art, amongst which for so many
-days my life had been concentrated, I was going to abandon them for ever! I
-should like to have taken a last look through the windows of the saloon into
-the waters of the Atlantic: but the panels were hermetically closed, and a
-cloak of steel separated me from that ocean which I had not yet explored.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In passing through the saloon, I came near the door let into the angle which
-opened into the Captain’s room. To my great surprise, this door was ajar. I
-drew back involuntarily. If Captain Nemo should be in his room, he could see
-me. But, hearing no sound, I drew nearer. The room was deserted. I pushed open
-the door and took some steps forward. Still the same monklike severity of
-aspect.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Suddenly the clock struck eight. The first beat of the hammer on the bell awoke
-me from my dreams. I trembled as if an invisible eye had plunged into my most
-secret thoughts, and I hurried from the room.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There my eye fell upon the compass. Our course was still north. The log
-indicated moderate speed, the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I returned to my room, clothed myself warmly—sea boots, an otterskin cap, a
-great coat of byssus, lined with sealskin; I was ready, I was waiting. The
-vibration of the screw alone broke the deep silence which reigned on board. I
-listened attentively. Would no loud voice suddenly inform me that Ned Land had
-been surprised in his projected flight. A mortal dread hung over me, and I
-vainly tried to regain my accustomed coolness.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain’s door. No noise. I left
-my room and returned to the saloon, which was half in obscurity, but deserted.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I opened the door communicating with the library. The same insufficient light,
-the same solitude. I placed myself near the door leading to the central
-staircase, and there waited for Ned Land’s signal.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished, then it stopped
-entirely. The silence was now only disturbed by the beatings of my own heart.
-Suddenly a slight shock was felt; and I knew that the <i>Nautilus</i> had
-stopped at the bottom of the ocean. My uneasiness increased. The Canadian’s
-signal did not come. I felt inclined to join Ned Land and beg of him to put off
-his attempt. I felt that we were not sailing under our usual conditions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At this moment the door of the large saloon opened, and Captain Nemo appeared.
-He saw me, and without further preamble began in an amiable tone of voice:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah, sir! I have been looking for you. Do you know the history of Spain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Now, one might know the history of one’s own country by heart; but in the
-condition I was at the time, with troubled mind and head quite lost, I could
-not have said a word of it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well,” continued Captain Nemo, “you heard my question! Do you know the history
-of Spain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very slightly,” I answered.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, here are learned men having to learn,” said the Captain. “Come, sit
-down, and I will tell you a curious episode in this history. Sir, listen well,”
-said he; “this history will interest you on one side, for it will answer a
-question which doubtless you have not been able to solve.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I listen, Captain,” said I, not knowing what my interlocutor was driving at,
-and asking myself if this incident was bearing on our projected flight.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir, if you have no objection, we will go back to 1702. You cannot be ignorant
-that your king, Louis XIV, thinking that the gesture of a potentate was
-sufficient to bring the Pyrenees under his yoke, had imposed the Duke of Anjou,
-his grandson, on the Spaniards. This prince reigned more or less badly under
-the name of Philip V, and had a strong party against him abroad. Indeed, the
-preceding year, the royal houses of Holland, Austria, and England had concluded
-a treaty of alliance at the Hague, with the intention of plucking the crown of
-Spain from the head of Philip V, and placing it on that of an archduke to whom
-they prematurely gave the title of Charles III.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Spain must resist this coalition; but she was almost entirely unprovided with
-either soldiers or sailors. However, money would not fail them, provided that
-their galleons, laden with gold and silver from America, once entered their
-ports. And about the end of 1702 they expected a rich convoy which France was
-escorting with a fleet of twenty-three vessels, commanded by Admiral
-Chateau-Renaud, for the ships of the coalition were already beating the
-Atlantic. This convoy was to go to Cadiz, but the Admiral, hearing that an
-English fleet was cruising in those waters, resolved to make for a French port.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision. They wanted to
-be taken to a Spanish port, and, if not to Cadiz, into Vigo Bay, situated on
-the northwest coast of Spain, and which was not blocked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Admiral Chateau-Renaud had the rashness to obey this injunction, and the
-galleons entered Vigo Bay.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Unfortunately, it formed an open road which could not be defended in any way.
-They must therefore hasten to unload the galleons before the arrival of the
-combined fleet; and time would not have failed them had not a miserable
-question of rivalry suddenly arisen.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are following the chain of events?” asked Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perfectly,” said I, not knowing the end proposed by this historical lesson.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will continue. This is what passed. The merchants of Cadiz had a privilege
-by which they had the right of receiving all merchandise coming from the West
-Indies. Now, to disembark these ingots at the port of Vigo was depriving them
-of their rights. They complained at Madrid, and obtained the consent of the
-weak-minded Philip that the convoy, without discharging its cargo, should
-remain sequestered in the roads of Vigo until the enemy had disappeared.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But whilst coming to this decision, on the 22nd of October, 1702, the English
-vessels arrived in Vigo Bay, when Admiral Chateau-Renaud, in spite of inferior
-forces, fought bravely. But, seeing that the treasure must fall into the
-enemy’s hands, he burnt and scuttled every galleon, which went to the bottom
-with their immense riches.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo stopped. I admit I could not see yet why this history should
-interest me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo, “we are in that Vigo Bay; and it
-rests with yourself whether you will penetrate its mysteries.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Captain rose, telling me to follow him. I had had time to recover. I
-obeyed. The saloon was dark, but through the transparent glass the waves were
-sparkling. I looked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For half a mile around the <i>Nautilus</i>, the waters seemed bathed in
-electric light. The sandy bottom was clean and bright. Some of the ship’s crew
-in their diving-dresses were clearing away half-rotten barrels and empty cases
-from the midst of the blackened wrecks. From these cases and from these barrels
-escaped ingots of gold and silver, cascades of piastres and jewels. The sand
-was heaped up with them. Laden with their precious booty, the men returned to
-the <i>Nautilus</i>, disposed of their burden, and went back to this
-inexhaustible fishery of gold and silver.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I understood now. This was the scene of the battle of the 22nd of October,
-1702. Here on this very spot the galleons laden for the Spanish Government had
-sunk. Here Captain Nemo came, according to his wants, to pack up those millions
-with which he burdened the <i>Nautilus</i>. It was for him and him alone
-America had given up her precious metals. He was heir direct, without anyone to
-share, in those treasures torn from the Incas and from the conquered of
-Ferdinand Cortez.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Did you know, sir,” he asked, smiling, “that the sea contained such riches?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I knew,” I answered, “that they value money held in suspension in these waters
-at two millions.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Doubtless; but to extract this money the expense would be greater than the
-profit. Here, on the contrary, I have but to pick up what man has lost—and not
-only in Vigo Bay, but in a thousand other ports where shipwrecks have happened,
-and which are marked on my submarine map. Can you understand now the source of
-the millions I am worth?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I understand, Captain. But allow me to tell you that in exploring Vigo Bay you
-have only been beforehand with a rival society.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And which?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A society which has received from the Spanish Government the privilege of
-seeking those buried galleons. The shareholders are led on by the allurement of
-an enormous bounty, for they value these rich shipwrecks at five hundred
-millions.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Five hundred millions they were,” answered Captain Nemo, “but they are so no
-longer.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so,” said I; “and a warning to those shareholders would be an act of
-charity. But who knows if it would be well received? What gamblers usually
-regret above all is less the loss of their money than of their foolish hopes.
-After all, I pity them less than the thousands of unfortunates to whom so much
-riches well-distributed would have been profitable, whilst for them they will
-be for ever barren.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had no sooner expressed this regret than I felt that it must have wounded
-Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Barren!” he exclaimed, with animation. “Do you think then, sir, that these
-riches are lost because I gather them? Is it for myself alone, according to
-your idea, that I take the trouble to collect these treasures? Who told you
-that I did not make a good use of it? Do you think I am ignorant that there are
-suffering beings and oppressed races on this earth, miserable creatures to
-console, victims to avenge? Do you not understand?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo stopped at these last words, regretting perhaps that he had spoken
-so much. But I had guessed that, whatever the motive which had forced him to
-seek independence under the sea, it had left him still a man, that his heart
-still beat for the sufferings of humanity, and that his immense charity was for
-oppressed races as well as individuals. And I then understood for whom those
-millions were destined which were forwarded by Captain Nemo when the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was cruising in the waters of Crete.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap32"></a>CHAPTER IX<br/>
-A VANISHED CONTINENT</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next morning, the 19th of February, I saw the Canadian enter my room. I
-expected this visit. He looked very disappointed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir?” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Ned, fortune was against us yesterday.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; that Captain must needs stop exactly at the hour we intended leaving his
-vessel.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Ned, he had business at his bankers.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“His bankers!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Or rather his banking-house; by that I mean the ocean, where his riches are
-safer than in the chests of the State.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I then related to the Canadian the incidents of the preceding night, hoping to
-bring him back to the idea of not abandoning the Captain; but my recital had no
-other result than an energetically expressed regret from Ned that he had not
-been able to take a walk on the battlefield of Vigo on his own account.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“However,” said he, “all is not ended. It is only a blow of the harpoon lost.
-Another time we must succeed; and to-night, if necessary——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In what direction is the <i>Nautilus</i> going?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not know,” replied Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, at noon we shall see the point.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian returned to Conseil. As soon as I was dressed, I went into the
-saloon. The compass was not reassuring. The course of the <i>Nautilus</i> was
-S.S.W. We were turning our backs on Europe.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I waited with some impatience till the ship’s place was pricked on the chart.
-At about half-past eleven the reservoirs were emptied, and our vessel rose to
-the surface of the ocean. I rushed towards the platform. Ned Land had preceded
-me. No more land in sight. Nothing but an immense sea. Some sails on the
-horizon, doubtless those going to San Roque in search of favourable winds for
-doubling the Cape of Good Hope. The weather was cloudy. A gale of wind was
-preparing. Ned raved, and tried to pierce the cloudy horizon. He still hoped
-that behind all that fog stretched the land he so longed for.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At noon the sun showed itself for an instant. The second profited by this
-brightness to take its height. Then, the sea becoming more billowy, we
-descended, and the panel closed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-An hour after, upon consulting the chart, I saw the position of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was marked at 16° 17&#x2032; long., and 33° 22&#x2032; lat., at
-150 leagues from the nearest coast. There was no means of flight, and I leave
-you to imagine the rage of the Canadian when I informed him of our situation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For myself, I was not particularly sorry. I felt lightened of the load which
-had oppressed me, and was able to return with some degree of calmness to my
-accustomed work.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That night, about eleven o’clock, I received a most unexpected visit from
-Captain Nemo. He asked me very graciously if I felt fatigued from my watch of
-the preceding night. I answered in the negative.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then, M. Aronnax, I propose a curious excursion.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Propose, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You have hitherto only visited the submarine depths by daylight, under the
-brightness of the sun. Would it suit you to see them in the darkness of the
-night?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Most willingly.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I warn you, the way will be tiring. We shall have far to walk, and must climb
-a mountain. The roads are not well kept.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What you say, Captain, only heightens my curiosity; I am ready to follow you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Come then, sir, we will put on our diving-dresses.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Arrived at the robing-room, I saw that neither of my companions nor any of the
-ship’s crew were to follow us on this excursion. Captain Nemo had not even
-proposed my taking with me either Ned or Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In a few moments we had put on our diving-dresses; they placed on our backs the
-reservoirs, abundantly filled with air, but no electric lamps were prepared. I
-called the Captain’s attention to the fact.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They will be useless,” he replied.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I thought I had not heard aright, but I could not repeat my observation, for
-the Captain’s head had already disappeared in its metal case. I finished
-harnessing myself. I felt them put an iron-pointed stick into my hand, and some
-minutes later, after going through the usual form, we set foot on the bottom of
-the Atlantic at a depth of 150 fathoms. Midnight was near. The waters were
-profoundly dark, but Captain Nemo pointed out in the distance a reddish spot, a
-sort of large light shining brilliantly about two miles from the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. What this fire might be, what could feed it, why and how it
-lit up the liquid mass, I could not say. In any case, it did light our way,
-vaguely, it is true, but I soon accustomed myself to the peculiar darkness, and
-I understood, under such circumstances, the uselessness of the Ruhmkorff
-apparatus.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As we advanced, I heard a kind of pattering above my head. The noise
-redoubling, sometimes producing a continual shower, I soon understood the
-cause. It was rain falling violently, and crisping the surface of the waves.
-Instinctively the thought flashed across my mind that I should be wet through!
-By the water! in the midst of the water! I could not help laughing at the odd
-idea. But, indeed, in the thick diving-dress, the liquid element is no longer
-felt, and one only seems to be in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the
-terrestrial atmosphere. Nothing more.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-After half an hour’s walk the soil became stony. Medusae, microscopic
-crustacea, and pennatules lit it slightly with their phosphorescent gleam. I
-caught a glimpse of pieces of stone covered with millions of zoophytes and
-masses of sea weed. My feet often slipped upon this sticky carpet of sea weed,
-and without my iron-tipped stick I should have fallen more than once. In
-turning round, I could still see the whitish lantern of the <i>Nautilus</i>
-beginning to pale in the distance.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon. The
-presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree. Was I going
-towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown to the <i>savants</i> of the earth?
-Or even (for this thought crossed my brain) had the hand of man aught to do
-with this conflagration? Had he fanned this flame? Was I to meet in these
-depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo whom he was going to visit, and
-who, like him, led this strange existence? Should I find down there a whole
-colony of exiles who, weary of the miseries of this earth, had sought and found
-independence in the deep ocean? All these foolish and unreasonable ideas
-pursued me. And in this condition of mind, over-excited by the succession of
-wonders continually passing before my eyes, I should not have been surprised to
-meet at the bottom of the sea one of those submarine towns of which Captain
-Nemo dreamed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Our road grew lighter and lighter. The white glimmer came in rays from the
-summit of a mountain about 800 feet high. But what I saw was simply a
-reflection, developed by the clearness of the waters. The source of this
-inexplicable light was a fire on the opposite side of the mountain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In the midst of this stony maze furrowing the bottom of the Atlantic, Captain
-Nemo advanced without hesitation. He knew this dreary road. Doubtless he had
-often travelled over it, and could not lose himself. I followed him with
-unshaken confidence. He seemed to me like a genie of the sea; and, as he walked
-before me, I could not help admiring his stature, which was outlined in black
-on the luminous horizon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was one in the morning when we arrived at the first slopes of the mountain;
-but to gain access to them we must venture through the difficult paths of a
-vast copse.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Yes; a copse of dead trees, without leaves, without sap, trees petrified by the
-action of the water and here and there overtopped by gigantic pines. It was
-like a coal-pit still standing, holding by the roots to the broken soil, and
-whose branches, like fine black paper cuttings, showed distinctly on the watery
-ceiling. Picture to yourself a forest in the Hartz hanging on to the sides of
-the mountain, but a forest swallowed up. The paths were encumbered with seaweed
-and fucus, between which grovelled a whole world of crustacea. I went along,
-climbing the rocks, striding over extended trunks, breaking the sea bind-weed
-which hung from one tree to the other; and frightening the fishes, which flew
-from branch to branch. Pressing onward, I felt no fatigue. I followed my guide,
-who was never tired. What a spectacle! How can I express it? how paint the
-aspect of those woods and rocks in this medium—their under parts dark and wild,
-the upper coloured with red tints, by that light which the reflecting powers of
-the waters doubled? We climbed rocks which fell directly after with gigantic
-bounds and the low growling of an avalanche. To right and left ran long, dark
-galleries, where sight was lost. Here opened vast glades which the hand of man
-seemed to have worked; and I sometimes asked myself if some inhabitant of these
-submarine regions would not suddenly appear to me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But Captain Nemo was still mounting. I could not stay behind. I followed
-boldly. My stick gave me good help. A false step would have been dangerous on
-the narrow passes sloping down to the sides of the gulfs; but I walked with
-firm step, without feeling any giddiness. Now I jumped a crevice, the depth of
-which would have made me hesitate had it been among the glaciers on the land;
-now I ventured on the unsteady trunk of a tree thrown across from one abyss to
-the other, without looking under my feet, having only eyes to admire the wild
-sites of this region.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There, monumental rocks, leaning on their regularly-cut bases, seemed to defy
-all laws of equilibrium. From between their stony knees trees sprang, like a
-jet under heavy pressure, and upheld others which upheld them. Natural towers,
-large scarps, cut perpendicularly, like a “curtain,” inclined at an angle which
-the laws of gravitation could never have tolerated in terrestrial regions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Two hours after quitting the <i>Nautilus</i> we had crossed the line of trees,
-and a hundred feet above our heads rose the top of the mountain, which cast a
-shadow on the brilliant irradiation of the opposite slope. Some petrified
-shrubs ran fantastically here and there. Fishes got up under our feet like
-birds in the long grass. The massive rocks were rent with impenetrable
-fractures, deep grottos, and unfathomable holes, at the bottom of which
-formidable creatures might be heard moving. My blood curdled when I saw
-enormous antennae blocking my road, or some frightful claw closing with a noise
-in the shadow of some cavity. Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the
-midst of the darkness. They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their
-holes; giant lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers, and moving their
-claws with the clicking sound of pincers; titanic crabs, pointed like a gun on
-its carriage; and frightful-looking poulps, interweaving their tentacles like a
-living nest of serpents.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We had now arrived on the first platform, where other surprises awaited me.
-Before us lay some picturesque ruins, which betrayed the hand of man and not
-that of the Creator. There were vast heaps of stone, amongst which might be
-traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles and temples, clothed with a world
-of blossoming zoophytes, and over which, instead of ivy, sea-weed and fucus
-threw a thick vegetable mantle. But what was this portion of the globe which
-had been swallowed by cataclysms? Who had placed those rocks and stones like
-cromlechs of prehistoric times? Where was I? Whither had Captain Nemo’s fancy
-hurried me?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I would fain have asked him; not being able to, I stopped him—I seized his arm.
-But, shaking his head, and pointing to the highest point of the mountain, he
-seemed to say:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Come, come along; come higher!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I followed, and in a few minutes I had climbed to the top, which for a circle
-of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked down the side we had just climbed. The mountain did not rise more than
-seven or eight hundred feet above the level of the plain; but on the opposite
-side it commanded from twice that height the depths of this part of the
-Atlantic. My eyes ranged far over a large space lit by a violent fulguration.
-In fact, the mountain was a volcano.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At fifty feet above the peak, in the midst of a rain of stones and scoriae, a
-large crater was vomiting forth torrents of lava which fell in a cascade of
-fire into the bosom of the liquid mass. Thus situated, this volcano lit the
-lower plain like an immense torch, even to the extreme limits of the horizon. I
-said that the submarine crater threw up lava, but no flames. Flames require the
-oxygen of the air to feed upon and cannot be developed under water; but streams
-of lava, having in themselves the principles of their incandescence, can attain
-a white heat, fight vigorously against the liquid element, and turn it to
-vapour by contact.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Rapid currents bearing all these gases in diffusion and torrents of lava slid
-to the bottom of the mountain like an eruption of Vesuvius on another Terra del
-Greco.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There indeed under my eyes, ruined, destroyed, lay a town—its roofs open to the
-sky, its temples fallen, its arches dislocated, its columns lying on the
-ground, from which one would still recognise the massive character of Tuscan
-architecture. Further on, some remains of a gigantic aqueduct; here the high
-base of an Acropolis, with the floating outline of a Parthenon; there traces of
-a quay, as if an ancient port had formerly abutted on the borders of the ocean,
-and disappeared with its merchant vessels and its war-galleys. Farther on
-again, long lines of sunken walls and broad, deserted streets—a perfect Pompeii
-escaped beneath the waters. Such was the sight that Captain Nemo brought before
-my eyes!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Where was I? Where was I? I must know at any cost. I tried to speak, but
-Captain Nemo stopped me by a gesture, and, picking up a piece of chalk-stone,
-advanced to a rock of black basalt, and traced the one word:
-</p>
-
-<p class="noindent">
-ATLANTIS
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What a light shot through my mind! Atlantis! the Atlantis of Plato, that
-continent denied by Origen and Humbolt, who placed its disappearance amongst
-the legendary tales. I had it there now before my eyes, bearing upon it the
-unexceptionable testimony of its catastrophe. The region thus engulfed was
-beyond Europe, Asia, and Lybia, beyond the columns of Hercules, where those
-powerful people, the Atlantides, lived, against whom the first wars of ancient
-Greeks were waged.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Thus, led by the strangest destiny, I was treading under foot the mountains of
-this continent, touching with my hand those ruins a thousand generations old
-and contemporary with the geological epochs. I was walking on the very spot
-where the contemporaries of the first man had walked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Whilst I was trying to fix in my mind every detail of this grand landscape,
-Captain Nemo remained motionless, as if petrified in mute ecstasy, leaning on a
-mossy stone. Was he dreaming of those generations long since disappeared? Was
-he asking them the secret of human destiny? Was it here this strange man came
-to steep himself in historical recollections, and live again this ancient
-life—he who wanted no modern one? What would I not have given to know his
-thoughts, to share them, to understand them! We remained for an hour at this
-place, contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of the lava, which
-was some times wonderfully intense. Rapid tremblings ran along the mountain
-caused by internal bubblings, deep noise, distinctly transmitted through the
-liquid medium were echoed with majestic grandeur. At this moment the moon
-appeared through the mass of waters and threw her pale rays on the buried
-continent. It was but a gleam, but what an indescribable effect! The Captain
-rose, cast one last look on the immense plain, and then bade me follow him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We descended the mountain rapidly, and, the mineral forest once passed, I saw
-the lantern of the <i>Nautilus</i> shining like a star. The Captain walked
-straight to it, and we got on board as the first rays of light whitened the
-surface of the ocean.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap33"></a>CHAPTER X<br/>
-THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late: the fatigues of the
-previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o’clock. I dressed quickly,
-and hastened to find the course the <i>Nautilus</i> was taking. The instruments
-showed it to be still toward the south, with a speed of twenty miles an hour
-and a depth of fifty fathoms.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already noticed.
-There were rays of giant size, five yards long, and endowed with great muscular
-strength, which enabled them to shoot above the waves; sharks of many kinds;
-amongst others, one fifteen feet long, with triangular sharp teeth, and whose
-transparency rendered it almost invisible in the water.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long, armed at the
-upper jaw with a piercing sword; other bright-coloured creatures, known in the
-time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon, which are dangerous to capture
-on account of the spikes on their back.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About four o’clock, the soil, generally composed of a thick mud mixed with
-petrified wood, changed by degrees, and it became more stony, and seemed strewn
-with conglomerate and pieces of basalt, with a sprinkling of lava. I thought
-that a mountainous region was succeeding the long plains; and accordingly,
-after a few evolutions of the <i>Nautilus</i>, I saw the southerly horizon
-blocked by a high wall which seemed to close all exit. Its summit evidently
-passed the level of the ocean. It must be a continent, or at least an
-island—one of the Canaries, or of the Cape Verde Islands. The bearings not
-being yet taken, perhaps designedly, I was ignorant of our exact position. In
-any case, such a wall seemed to me to mark the limits of that Atlantis, of
-which we had in reality passed over only the smallest part.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring the beauties of sea
-and sky, but the panels closed. At this moment the <i>Nautilus</i> arrived at
-the side of this high, perpendicular wall. What it would do, I could not guess.
-I returned to my room; it no longer moved. I laid myself down with the full
-intention of waking after a few hours’ sleep; but it was eight o’clock the next
-day when I entered the saloon. I looked at the manometer. It told me that the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was floating on the surface of the ocean. Besides, I heard
-steps on the platform. I went to the panel. It was open; but, instead of broad
-daylight, as I expected, I was surrounded by profound darkness. Where were we?
-Was I mistaken? Was it still night? No; not a star was shining and night has
-not that utter darkness.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus09"></a>
-<img src="images/img09.jpg" width="428" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">The <i>Nautilus</i> was floating near a mountain
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-I knew not what to think, when a voice near me said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is that you, Professor?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! Captain,” I answered, “where are we?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Underground, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Underground!” I exclaimed. “And the <i>Nautilus</i> floating still?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It always floats.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But I do not understand.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Wait a few minutes, our lantern will be lit, and, if you like light places,
-you will be satisfied.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I stood on the platform and waited. The darkness was so complete that I could
-not even see Captain Nemo; but, looking to the zenith, exactly above my head, I
-seemed to catch an undecided gleam, a kind of twilight filling a circular hole.
-At this instant the lantern was lit, and its vividness dispelled the faint
-light. I closed my dazzled eyes for an instant, and then looked again. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> was stationary, floating near a mountain which formed a sort of
-quay. The lake, then, supporting it was a lake imprisoned by a circle of walls,
-measuring two miles in diameter and six in circumference. Its level (the
-manometer showed) could only be the same as the outside level, for there must
-necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea. The high
-partitions, leaning forward on their base, grew into a vaulted roof bearing the
-shape of an immense funnel turned upside down, the height being about five or
-six hundred yards. At the summit was a circular orifice, by which I had caught
-the slight gleam of light, evidently daylight.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where are we?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has been
-invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth. Whilst you were
-sleeping, Professor, the <i>Nautilus</i> penetrated to this lagoon by a natural
-canal, which opens about ten yards beneath the surface of the ocean. This is
-its harbour of refuge, a sure, commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from
-all gales. Show me, if you can, on the coasts of any of your continents or
-islands, a road which can give such perfect refuge from all storms.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly,” I replied, “you are in safety here, Captain Nemo. Who could reach
-you in the heart of a volcano? But did I not see an opening at its summit?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames, and which now
-gives entrance to the life-giving air we breathe.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But what is this volcanic mountain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It belongs to one of the numerous islands with which this sea is strewn—to
-vessels a simple sandbank—to us an immense cavern. Chance led me to discover
-it, and chance served me well.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But of what use is this refuge, Captain? The <i>Nautilus</i> wants no port.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir; but it wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal to make
-the electricity—sodium to feed the elements, coal from which to get the sodium,
-and a coal-mine to supply the coal. And exactly on this spot the sea covers
-entire forests embedded during the geological periods, now mineralised and
-transformed into coal; for me they are an inexhaustible mine.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Exactly so. These mines extend under the waves like the mines of Newcastle.
-Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand, my men extract the
-coal, which I do not even ask from the mines of the earth. When I burn this
-combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the smoke, escaping from the crater
-of the mountain, gives it the appearance of a still-active volcano.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And we shall see your companions at work?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue our submarine tour
-of the earth. So I shall content myself with drawing from the reserve of sodium
-I already possess. The time for loading is one day only, and we continue our
-voyage. So, if you wish to go over the cavern and make the round of the lagoon,
-you must take advantage of to-day, M. Aronnax.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not yet left
-their cabin. I invited them to follow me without saying where we were. They
-mounted the platform. Conseil, who was astonished at nothing, seemed to look
-upon it as quite natural that he should wake under a mountain, after having
-fallen asleep under the waves. But Ned Land thought of nothing but finding
-whether the cavern had any exit. After breakfast, about ten o’clock, we went
-down on to the mountain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Here we are, once more on land,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not call this land,” said the Canadian. “And besides, we are not on it,
-but beneath it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a sandy shore
-which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet. On this soil one
-might easily make the tour of the lake. But the base of the high partitions was
-stony ground, with volcanic locks and enormous pumice-stones lying in
-picturesque heaps. All these detached masses, covered with enamel, polished by
-the action of the subterraneous fires, shone resplendent by the light of our
-electric lantern. The mica dust from the shore, rising under our feet, flew
-like a cloud of sparks. The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon arrived at
-long circuitous slopes, or inclined planes, which took us higher by degrees;
-but we were obliged to walk carefully among these conglomerates, bound by no
-cement, the feet slipping on the glassy crystal, felspar, and quartz.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all sides, and
-I pointed it out to my companions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Picture to yourselves,” said I, “what this crater must have been when filled
-with boiling lava, and when the level of the incandescent liquid rose to the
-orifice of the mountain, as though melted on the top of a hot plate.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I can picture it perfectly,” said Conseil. “But, sir, will you tell me why the
-Great Architect has suspended operations, and how it is that the furnace is
-replaced by the quiet waters of the lake?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Most probably, Conseil, because some convulsion beneath the ocean produced
-that very opening which has served as a passage for the <i>Nautilus</i>. Then
-the waters of the Atlantic rushed into the interior of the mountain. There must
-have been a terrible struggle between the two elements, a struggle which ended
-in the victory of Neptune. But many ages have run out since then, and the
-submerged volcano is now a peaceable grotto.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well,” replied Ned Land; “I accept the explanation, sir; but, in our own
-interests, I regret that the opening of which you speak was not made above the
-level of the sea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, friend Ned,” said Conseil, “if the passage had not been under the sea,
-the <i>Nautilus</i> could not have gone through it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We continued ascending. The steps became more and more perpendicular and
-narrow. Deep excavations, which we were obliged to cross, cut them here and
-there; sloping masses had to be turned. We slid upon our knees and crawled
-along. But Conseil’s dexterity and the Canadian’s strength surmounted all
-obstacles. At a height of about 31 feet the nature of the ground changed
-without becoming more practicable. To the conglomerate and trachyte succeeded
-black basalt, the first dispread in layers full of bubbles, the latter forming
-regular prisms, placed like a colonnade supporting the spring of the immense
-vault, an admirable specimen of natural architecture. Between the blocks of
-basalt wound long streams of lava, long since grown cold, encrusted with
-bituminous rays; and in some places there were spread large carpets of sulphur.
-A more powerful light shone through the upper crater, shedding a vague glimmer
-over these volcanic depressions for ever buried in the bosom of this
-extinguished mountain. But our upward march was soon stopped at a height of
-about two hundred and fifty feet by impassable obstacles. There was a complete
-vaulted arch overhanging us, and our ascent was changed to a circular walk. At
-the last change vegetable life began to struggle with the mineral. Some shrubs,
-and even some trees, grew from the fractures of the walls. I recognised some
-euphorbias, with the caustic sugar coming from them; heliotropes, quite
-incapable of justifying their name, sadly drooped their clusters of flowers,
-both their colour and perfume half gone. Here and there some chrysanthemums
-grew timidly at the foot of an aloe with long, sickly-looking leaves. But
-between the streams of lava, I saw some little violets still slightly perfumed,
-and I admit that I smelt them with delight. Perfume is the soul of the flower,
-and sea-flowers have no soul.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We had arrived at the foot of some sturdy dragon-trees, which had pushed aside
-the rocks with their strong roots, when Ned Land exclaimed:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! sir, a hive! a hive!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A hive!” I replied, with a gesture of incredulity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, a hive,” repeated the Canadian, “and bees humming round it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I approached, and was bound to believe my own eyes. There at a hole bored in
-one of the dragon-trees were some thousands of these ingenious insects, so
-common in all the Canaries, and whose produce is so much esteemed. Naturally
-enough, the Canadian wished to gather the honey, and I could not well oppose
-his wish. A quantity of dry leaves, mixed with sulphur, he lit with a spark
-from his flint, and he began to smoke out the bees. The humming ceased by
-degrees, and the hive eventually yielded several pounds of the sweetest honey,
-with which Ned Land filled his haversack.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“When I have mixed this honey with the paste of the bread-fruit,” said he, “I
-shall be able to offer you a succulent cake.”
-</p>
-
-<p class="footnote">
-[Transcriber’s Note: ’bread-fruit’ has been substituted for ’artocarpus’ in
-this ed.]
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“’Pon my word,” said Conseil, “it will be gingerbread.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Never mind the gingerbread,” said I; “let us continue our interesting walk.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At every turn of the path we were following, the lake appeared in all its
-length and breadth. The lantern lit up the whole of its peaceable surface,
-which knew neither ripple nor wave. The <i>Nautilus</i> remained perfectly
-immovable. On the platform, and on the mountain, the ship’s crew were working
-like black shadows clearly carved against the luminous atmosphere. We were now
-going round the highest crest of the first layers of rock which upheld the
-roof. I then saw that bees were not the only representatives of the animal
-kingdom in the interior of this volcano. Birds of prey hovered here and there
-in the shadows, or fled from their nests on the top of the rocks. There were
-sparrow hawks, with white breasts, and kestrels, and down the slopes scampered,
-with their long legs, several fine fat bustards. I leave anyone to imagine the
-covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this savoury game, and whether he
-did not regret having no gun. But he did his best to replace the lead by
-stones, and, after several fruitless attempts, he succeeded in wounding a
-magnificent bird. To say that he risked his life twenty times before reaching
-it is but the truth; but he managed so well that the creature joined the
-honey-cakes in his bag. We were now obliged to descend toward the shore, the
-crest becoming impracticable. Above us the crater seemed to gape like the mouth
-of a well. From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
-dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit of the
-mountain, their misty remnants—certain proof that they were only moderately
-high, for the volcano did not rise more than eight hundred feet above the level
-of the ocean. Half an hour after the Canadian’s last exploit we had regained
-the inner shore. Here the flora was represented by large carpets of marine
-crystal, a little umbelliferous plant very good to pickle, which also bears the
-name of pierce-stone and sea-fennel. Conseil gathered some bundles of it. As to
-the fauna, it might be counted by thousands of crustacea of all sorts,
-lobsters, crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps, and a large number of shells,
-rockfish, and limpets. Three-quarters of an hour later we had finished our
-circuitous walk and were on board. The crew had just finished loading the
-sodium, and the <i>Nautilus</i> could have left that instant. But Captain Nemo
-gave no order. Did he wish to wait until night, and leave the submarine passage
-secretly? Perhaps so. Whatever it might be, the next day, the <i>Nautilus</i>,
-having left its port, steered clear of all land at a few yards beneath the
-waves of the Atlantic.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap34"></a>CHAPTER XI<br/>
-THE SARGASSO SEA</h2>
-
-<p>
-That day the <i>Nautilus</i> crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean. No
-one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm water known by the
-name of the Gulf Stream. After leaving the Gulf of Florida, we went in the
-direction of Spitzbergen. But before entering the Gulf of Mexico, about 45° of
-N. lat., this current divides into two arms, the principal one going towards
-the coast of Ireland and Norway, whilst the second bends to the south about the
-height of the Azores; then, touching the African shore, and describing a
-lengthened oval, returns to the Antilles. This second arm—it is rather a collar
-than an arm—surrounds with its circles of warm water that portion of the cold,
-quiet, immovable ocean called the Sargasso Sea, a perfect lake in the open
-Atlantic: it takes no less than three years for the great current to pass round
-it. Such was the region the <i>Nautilus</i> was now visiting, a perfect meadow,
-a close carpet of seaweed, fucus, and tropical berries, so thick and so compact
-that the stem of a vessel could hardly tear its way through it. And Captain
-Nemo, not wishing to entangle his screw in this herbaceous mass, kept some
-yards beneath the surface of the waves. The name Sargasso comes from the
-Spanish word “sargazzo” which signifies kelp. This kelp, or berry-plant, is the
-principal formation of this immense bank. And this is the reason why these
-plants unite in the peaceful basin of the Atlantic. The only explanation which
-can be given, he says, seems to me to result from the experience known to all
-the world. Place in a vase some fragments of cork or other floating body, and
-give to the water in the vase a circular movement, the scattered fragments will
-unite in a group in the centre of the liquid surface, that is to say, in the
-part least agitated. In the phenomenon we are considering, the Atlantic is the
-vase, the Gulf Stream the circular current, and the Sargasso Sea the central
-point at which the floating bodies unite.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I share Maury’s opinion, and I was able to study the phenomenon in the very
-midst, where vessels rarely penetrate. Above us floated products of all kinds,
-heaped up among these brownish plants; trunks of trees torn from the Andes or
-the Rocky Mountains, and floated by the Amazon or the Mississippi; numerous
-wrecks, remains of keels, or ships’ bottoms, side-planks stove in, and so
-weighted with shells and barnacles that they could not again rise to the
-surface. And time will one day justify Maury’s other opinion, that these
-substances thus accumulated for ages will become petrified by the action of the
-water and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines—a precious reserve prepared
-by far-seeing Nature for the moment when men shall have exhausted the mines of
-continents.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed, I noticed some
-charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long tentacles trailing after
-them, and medusæ, green, red, and blue.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea, where such
-fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant nourishment. The next, the
-ocean had returned to its accustomed aspect. From this time for nineteen days,
-from the 23rd of February to the 12th of March, the <i>Nautilus</i> kept in the
-middle of the Atlantic, carrying us at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in
-twenty-four hours. Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine
-programme, and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, to return
-to the Australian seas of the Pacific. Ned Land had cause for fear. In these
-large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt to leave the boat. Nor had we
-any means of opposing Captain Nemo’s will. Our only course was to submit; but
-what we could neither gain by force nor cunning, I liked to think might be
-obtained by persuasion. This voyage ended, would he not consent to restore our
-liberty, under an oath never to reveal his existence?—an oath of honour which
-we should have religiously kept. But we must consider that delicate question
-with the Captain. But was I free to claim this liberty? Had he not himself said
-from the beginning, in the firmest manner, that the secret of his life exacted
-from him our lasting imprisonment on board the <i>Nautilus?</i> And would not
-my four months’ silence appear to him a tacit acceptance of our situation? And
-would not a return to the subject result in raising suspicions which might be
-hurtful to our projects, if at some future time a favourable opportunity
-offered to return to them?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the nineteen days mentioned above, no incident of any kind happened to
-signalise our voyage. I saw little of the Captain; he was at work. In the
-library I often found his books left open, especially those on natural history.
-My work on submarine depths, conned over by him, was covered with marginal
-notes, often contradicting my theories and systems; but the Captain contented
-himself with thus purging my work; it was very rare for him to discuss it with
-me. Sometimes I heard the melancholy tones of his organ; but only at night, in
-the midst of the deepest obscurity, when the <i>Nautilus</i> slept upon the
-deserted ocean. During this part of our voyage we sailed whole days on the
-surface of the waves. The sea seemed abandoned. A few sailing-vessels, on the
-road to India, were making for the Cape of Good Hope. One day we were followed
-by the boats of a whaler, who, no doubt, took us for some enormous whale of
-great price; but Captain Nemo did not wish the worthy fellows to lose their
-time and trouble, so ended the chase by plunging under the water. Our
-navigation continued until the 13th of March; that day the <i>Nautilus</i> was
-employed in taking soundings, which greatly interested me. We had then made
-about 13,000 leagues since our departure from the high seas of the Pacific. The
-bearings gave us 45° 37&#x2032; S. lat., and 37° 53&#x2032; W. long. It was the
-same water in which Captain Denham of the Herald sounded 7,000 fathoms without
-finding the bottom. There, too, Lieutenant Parker, of the American frigate
-Congress, could not touch the bottom with 15,140 fathoms. Captain Nemo intended
-seeking the bottom of the ocean by a diagonal sufficiently lengthened by means
-of lateral planes placed at an angle of 45° with the water-line of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. Then the screw set to work at its maximum speed, its four
-blades beating the waves with in describable force. Under this powerful
-pressure, the hull of the <i>Nautilus</i> quivered like a sonorous chord and
-sank regularly under the water.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At 7,000 fathoms I saw some blackish tops rising from the midst of the waters;
-but these summits might belong to high mountains like the Himalayas or Mont
-Blanc, even higher; and the depth of the abyss remained incalculable. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> descended still lower, in spite of the great pressure. I felt
-the steel plates tremble at the fastenings of the bolts; its bars bent, its
-partitions groaned; the windows of the saloon seemed to curve under the
-pressure of the waters. And this firm structure would doubtless have yielded,
-if, as its Captain had said, it had not been capable of resistance like a solid
-block. We had attained a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues), and the sides of
-the <i>Nautilus</i> then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, that is to say,
-3,200 lbs. to each square two-fifths of an inch of its surface.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What a situation to be in!” I exclaimed. “To overrun these deep regions where
-man has never trod! Look, Captain, look at these magnificent rocks, these
-uninhabited grottoes, these lowest receptacles of the globe, where life is no
-longer possible! What unknown sights are here! Why should we be unable to
-preserve a remembrance of them?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Would you like to carry away more than the remembrance?” said Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What do you mean by those words?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I mean to say that nothing is easier than to make a photographic view of this
-submarine region.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had not time to express my surprise at this new proposition, when, at Captain
-Nemo’s call, an objective was brought into the saloon. Through the
-widely-opened panel, the liquid mass was bright with electricity, which was
-distributed with such uniformity that not a shadow, not a gradation, was to be
-seen in our manufactured light. The <i>Nautilus</i> remained motionless, the
-force of its screw subdued by the inclination of its planes: the instrument was
-propped on the bottom of the oceanic site, and in a few seconds we had obtained
-a perfect negative.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But, the operation being over, Captain Nemo said, “Let us go up; we must not
-abuse our position, nor expose the <i>Nautilus</i> too long to such great
-pressure.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Go up again!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Hold well on.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had not time to understand why the Captain cautioned me thus, when I was
-thrown forward on to the carpet. At a signal from the Captain, its screw was
-shipped, and its blades raised vertically; the <i>Nautilus</i> shot into the
-air like a balloon, rising with stunning rapidity, and cutting the mass of
-waters with a sonorous agitation. Nothing was visible; and in four minutes it
-had shot through the four leagues which separated it from the ocean, and, after
-emerging like a flying-fish, fell, making the waves rebound to an enormous
-height.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap35"></a>CHAPTER XII<br/>
-CACHALOTS AND WHALES</h2>
-
-<p>
-During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March, the <i>Nautilus</i> returned
-to its southerly course. I fancied that, when on a level with Cape Horn, he
-would turn the helm westward, in order to beat the Pacific seas, and so
-complete the tour of the world. He did nothing of the kind, but continued on
-his way to the southern regions. Where was he going to? To the pole? It was
-madness! I began to think that the Captain’s temerity justified Ned Land’s
-fears. For some time past the Canadian had not spoken to me of his projects of
-flight; he was less communicative, almost silent. I could see that this
-lengthened imprisonment was weighing upon him, and I felt that rage was burning
-within him. When he met the Captain, his eyes lit up with suppressed anger; and
-I feared that his natural violence would lead him into some extreme. That day,
-the 14th of March, Conseil and he came to me in my room. I inquired the cause
-of their visit.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A simple question to ask you, sir,” replied the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Speak, Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How many men are there on board the <i>Nautilus</i>, do you think?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I cannot tell, my friend.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I should say that its working does not require a large crew.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly, under existing conditions, ten men, at the most, ought to be
-enough.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, why should there be any more?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why?” I replied, looking fixedly at Ned Land, whose meaning was easy to guess.
-“Because,” I added, “if my surmises are correct, and if I have well understood
-the Captain’s existence, the <i>Nautilus</i> is not only a vessel: it is also a
-place of refuge for those who, like its commander, have broken every tie upon
-earth.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perhaps so,” said Conseil; “but, in any case, the <i>Nautilus</i> can only
-contain a certain number of men. Could not you, sir, estimate their maximum?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How, Conseil?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By calculation; given the size of the vessel, which you know, sir, and
-consequently the quantity of air it contains, knowing also how much each man
-expends at a breath, and comparing these results with the fact that the
-<i>Nautilus</i> is obliged to go to the surface every twenty-four hours.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil had not finished the sentence before I saw what he was driving at.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I understand,” said I; “but that calculation, though simple enough, can give
-but a very uncertain result.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Never mind,” said Ned Land urgently.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Here it is, then,” said I. “In one hour each man consumes the oxygen contained
-in twenty gallons of air; and in twenty-four, that contained in 480 gallons. We
-must, therefore find how many times 480 gallons of air the <i>Nautilus</i>
-contains.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Or,” I continued, “the size of the <i>Nautilus</i> being 1,500 tons; and one
-ton holding 200 gallons, it contains 300,000 gallons of air, which, divided by
-480, gives a quotient of 625. Which means to say, strictly speaking, that the
-air contained in the <i>Nautilus</i> would suffice for 625 men for twenty-four
-hours.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Six hundred and twenty-five!” repeated Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But remember that all of us, passengers, sailors, and officers included, would
-not form a tenth part of that number.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Still too many for three men,” murmured Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian shook his head, passed his hand across his forehead, and left the
-room without answering.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Will you allow me to make one observation, sir?” said Conseil. “Poor Ned is
-longing for everything that he can not have. His past life is always present to
-him; everything that we are forbidden he regrets. His head is full of old
-recollections. And we must understand him. What has he to do here? Nothing; he
-is not learned like you, sir; and has not the same taste for the beauties of
-the sea that we have. He would risk everything to be able to go once more into
-a tavern in his own country.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Certainly the monotony on board must seem intolerable to the Canadian,
-accustomed as he was to a life of liberty and activity. Events were rare which
-could rouse him to any show of spirit; but that day an event did happen which
-recalled the bright days of the harpooner. About eleven in the morning, being
-on the surface of the ocean, the <i>Nautilus</i> fell in with a troop of
-whales—an encounter which did not astonish me, knowing that these creatures,
-hunted to death, had taken refuge in high latitudes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were seated on the platform, with a quiet sea. The month of October in those
-latitudes gave us some lovely autumnal days. It was the Canadian—he could not
-be mistaken—who signalled a whale on the eastern horizon. Looking attentively,
-one might see its black back rise and fall with the waves five miles from the
-<i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” exclaimed Ned Land, “if I was on board a whaler, now such a meeting would
-give me pleasure. It is one of large size. See with what strength its
-blow-holes throw up columns of air an steam! Confound it, why am I bound to
-these steel plates?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What, Ned,” said I, “you have not forgotten your old ideas of fishing?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Can a whale-fisher ever forget his old trade, sir? Can he ever tire of the
-emotions caused by such a chase?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You have never fished in these seas, Ned?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Never, sir; in the northern only, and as much in Behring as in Davis Straits.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then the southern whale is still unknown to you. It is the Greenland whale you
-have hunted up to this time, and that would not risk passing through the warm
-waters of the equator. Whales are localised, according to their kinds, in
-certain seas which they never leave. And if one of these creatures went from
-Behring to Davis Straits, it must be simply because there is a passage from one
-sea to the other, either on the American or the Asiatic side.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In that case, as I have never fished in these seas, I do not know the kind of
-whale frequenting them!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I have told you, Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A greater reason for making their acquaintance,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Look! look!” exclaimed the Canadian, “they approach: they aggravate me; they
-know that I cannot get at them!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned stamped his feet. His hand trembled, as he grasped an imaginary harpoon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are these cetaceans as large as those of the northern seas?” asked he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very nearly, Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Because I have seen large whales, sir, whales measuring a hundred feet. I have
-even been told that those of Hullamoch and Umgallick, of the Aleutian Islands,
-are sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That seems to me exaggeration. These creatures are only balaeaopterons,
-provided with dorsal fins; and, like the cachalots, are generally much smaller
-than the Greenland whale.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes had never left the ocean, “they are
-coming nearer; they are in the same water as the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then, returning to the conversation, he said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You spoke of the cachalot as a small creature. I have heard of gigantic ones.
-They are intelligent cetacea. It is said of some that they cover themselves
-with seaweed and fucus, and then are taken for islands. People encamp upon
-them, and settle there; lights a fire——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And build houses,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, joker,” said Ned Land. “And one fine day the creature plunges, carrying
-with it all the inhabitants to the bottom of the sea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Something like the travels of Sinbad the Sailor,” I replied, laughing.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” suddenly exclaimed Ned Land, “it is not one whale; there are ten—there
-are twenty—it is a whole troop! And I not able to do anything! hands and feet
-tied!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, friend Ned,” said Conseil, “why do you not ask Captain Nemo’s permission
-to chase them?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Conseil had not finished his sentence when Ned Land had lowered himself through
-the panel to seek the Captain. A few minutes afterwards the two appeared
-together on the platform.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea playing on the waters about a mile
-from the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They are southern whales,” said he; “there goes the fortune of a whole fleet
-of whalers.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir,” asked the Canadian, “can I not chase them, if only to remind me of
-my old trade of harpooner?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And to what purpose?” replied Captain Nemo; “only to destroy! We have nothing
-to do with the whale-oil on board.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But, sir,” continued the Canadian, “in the Red Sea you allowed us to follow
-the dugong.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then it was to procure fresh meat for my crew. Here it would be killing for
-killing’s sake. I know that is a privilege reserved for man, but I do not
-approve of such murderous pastime. In destroying the southern whale (like the
-Greenland whale, an inoffensive creature), your traders do a culpable action,
-Master Land. They have already depopulated the whole of Baffin’s Bay, and are
-annihilating a class of useful animals. Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone.
-They have plenty of natural enemies—cachalots, swordfish, and sawfish—without
-you troubling them.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Captain was right. The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these fishermen
-will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale in the ocean. Ned Land
-whistled “Yankee-doodle” between his teeth, thrust his hands into his pockets,
-and turned his back upon us. But Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea,
-and, addressing me, said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I was right in saying that whales had natural enemies enough, without counting
-man. These will have plenty to do before long. Do you see, M. Aronnax, about
-eight miles to leeward, those blackish moving points?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Captain,” I replied.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Those are cachalots—terrible animals, which I have met in troops of two or
-three hundred. As to those, they are cruel, mischievous creatures; they would
-be right in exterminating them.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian turned quickly at the last words.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Captain,” said he, “it is still time, in the interest of the whales.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is useless to expose one’s self, Professor. The <i>Nautilus</i> will
-disperse them. It is armed with a steel spur as good as Master Land’s harpoon,
-I imagine.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian did not put himself out enough to shrug his shoulders. Attack
-cetacea with blows of a spur! Who had ever heard of such a thing?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Wait, M. Aronnax,” said Captain Nemo. “We will show you something you have
-never yet seen. We have no pity for these ferocious creatures. They are nothing
-but mouth and teeth.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Mouth and teeth! No one could better describe the macrocephalous cachalot,
-which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long. Its enormous head occupies
-one-third of its entire body. Better armed than the whale, whose upper jaw is
-furnished only with whalebone, it is supplied with twenty-five large tusks,
-about eight inches long, cylindrical and conical at the top, each weighing two
-pounds. It is in the upper part of this enormous head, in great cavities
-divided by cartilages, that is to be found from six to eight hundred pounds of
-that precious oil called spermaceti. The cachalot is a disagreeable creature,
-more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol’s description. It is badly formed,
-the whole of its left side being (if we may say it), a “failure,” and being
-only able to see with its right eye. But the formidable troop was nearing us.
-They had seen the whales and were preparing to attack them. One could judge
-beforehand that the cachalots would be victorious, not only because they were
-better built for attack than their inoffensive adversaries, but also because
-they could remain longer under water without coming to the surface. There was
-only just time to go to the help of the whales. The <i>Nautilus</i> went under
-water. Conseil, Ned Land, and I took our places before the window in the
-saloon, and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage to work his apparatus as
-an engine of destruction. Soon I felt the beatings of the screw quicken, and
-our speed increased. The battle between the cachalots and the whales had
-already begun when the <i>Nautilus</i> arrived. They did not at first show any
-fear at the sight of this new monster joining in the conflict. But they soon
-had to guard against its blows. What a battle! The <i>Nautilus</i> was nothing
-but a formidable harpoon, brandished by the hand of its Captain. It hurled
-itself against the fleshy mass, passing through from one part to the other,
-leaving behind it two quivering halves of the animal. It could not feel the
-formidable blows from their tails upon its sides, nor the shock which it
-produced itself, much more. One cachalot killed, it ran at the next, tacked on
-the spot that it might not miss its prey, going forwards and backwards,
-answering to its helm, plunging when the cetacean dived into the deep waters,
-coming up with it when it returned to the surface, striking it front or
-sideways, cutting or tearing in all directions and at any pace, piercing it
-with its terrible spur. What carnage! What a noise on the surface of the waves!
-What sharp hissing, and what snorting peculiar to these enraged animals! In the
-midst of these waters, generally so peaceful, their tails made perfect billows.
-For one hour this wholesale massacre continued, from which the cachalots could
-not escape. Several times ten or twelve united tried to crush the
-<i>Nautilus</i> by their weight. From the window we could see their enormous
-mouths, studded with tusks, and their formidable eyes. Ned Land could not
-contain himself; he threatened and swore at them. We could feel them clinging
-to our vessel like dogs worrying a wild boar in a copse. But the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, working its screw, carried them here and there, or to the
-upper levels of the ocean, without caring for their enormous weight, nor the
-powerful strain on the vessel. At length the mass of cachalots broke up, the
-waves became quiet, and I felt that we were rising to the surface. The panel
-opened, and we hurried on to the platform. The sea was covered with mutilated
-bodies. A formidable explosion could not have divided and torn this fleshy mass
-with more violence. We were floating amid gigantic bodies, bluish on the back
-and white underneath, covered with enormous protuberances. Some terrified
-cachalots were flying towards the horizon. The waves were dyed red for several
-miles, and the <i>Nautilus</i> floated in a sea of blood: Captain Nemo joined
-us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Master Land?” said he.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir,” replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had somewhat calmed; “it is
-a terrible spectacle, certainly. But I am not a butcher. I am a hunter, and I
-call this a butchery.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is a massacre of mischievous creatures,” replied the Captain; “and the
-<i>Nautilus</i> is not a butcher’s knife.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I like my harpoon better,” said the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Every one to his own,” answered the Captain, looking fixedly at Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I feared he would commit some act of violence, which would end in sad
-consequences. But his anger was turned by the sight of a whale which the
-<i>Nautilus</i> had just come up with. The creature had not quite escaped from
-the cachalot’s teeth. I recognised the southern whale by its flat head, which
-is entirely black. Anatomically, it is distinguished from the white whale and
-the North Cape whale by the seven cervical vertebrae, and it has two more ribs
-than its congeners. The unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side, riddled
-with holes from the bites, and quite dead. From its mutilated fin still hung a
-young whale which it could not save from the massacre. Its open mouth let the
-water flow in and out, murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore. Captain
-Nemo steered close to the corpse of the creature. Two of his men mounted its
-side, and I saw, not without surprise, that they were drawing from its breasts
-all the milk which they contained, that is to say, about two or three tons. The
-Captain offered me a cup of the milk, which was still warm. I could not help
-showing my repugnance to the drink; but he assured me that it was excellent,
-and not to be distinguished from cow’s milk. I tasted it, and was of his
-opinion. It was a useful reserve to us, for in the shape of salt butter or
-cheese it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food. From that day
-I noticed with uneasiness that Ned Land’s ill-will towards Captain Nemo
-increased, and I resolved to watch the Canadian’s gestures closely.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap36"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br/>
-THE ICEBERG</h2>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> was steadily pursuing its southerly course, following the
-fiftieth meridian with considerable speed. Did he wish to reach the pole? I did
-not think so, for every attempt to reach that point had hitherto failed. Again,
-the season was far advanced, for in the Antarctic regions the 13th of March
-corresponds with the 13th of September of northern regions, which begin at the
-equinoctial season. On the 14th of March I saw floating ice in latitude 55°,
-merely pale bits of debris from twenty to twenty-five feet long, forming banks
-over which the sea curled. The <i>Nautilus</i> remained on the surface of the
-ocean. Ned Land, who had fished in the Arctic Seas, was familiar with its
-icebergs; but Conseil and I admired them for the first time. In the atmosphere
-towards the southern horizon stretched a white dazzling band. English whalers
-have given it the name of “ice blink.” However thick the clouds may be, it is
-always visible, and announces the presence of an ice pack or bank. Accordingly,
-larger blocks soon appeared, whose brilliancy changed with the caprices of the
-fog. Some of these masses showed green veins, as if long undulating lines had
-been traced with sulphate of copper; others resembled enormous amethysts with
-the light shining through them. Some reflected the light of day upon a thousand
-crystal facets. Others shaded with vivid calcareous reflections resembled a
-perfect town of marble. The more we neared the south the more these floating
-islands increased both in number and importance.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At 60° lat. every pass had disappeared. But, seeking carefully, Captain Nemo
-soon found a narrow opening, through which he boldly slipped, knowing, however,
-that it would close behind him. Thus, guided by this clever hand, the
-<i>Nautilus</i> passed through all the ice with a precision which quite charmed
-Conseil; icebergs or mountains, ice-fields or smooth plains, seeming to have no
-limits, drift-ice or floating ice-packs, plains broken up, called palchs when
-they are circular, and streams when they are made up of long strips. The
-temperature was very low; the thermometer exposed to the air marked 2 deg. or
-3° below zero, but we were warmly clad with fur, at the expense of the sea-bear
-and seal. The interior of the <i>Nautilus</i>, warmed regularly by its electric
-apparatus, defied the most intense cold. Besides, it would only have been
-necessary to go some yards beneath the waves to find a more bearable
-temperature. Two months earlier we should have had perpetual daylight in these
-latitudes; but already we had had three or four hours of night, and by and by
-there would be six months of darkness in these circumpolar regions. On the 15th
-of March we were in the latitude of New Shetland and South Orkney. The Captain
-told me that formerly numerous tribes of seals inhabited them; but that English
-and American whalers, in their rage for destruction, massacred both old and
-young; thus, where there was once life and animation, they had left silence and
-death.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About eight o’clock on the morning of the 16th of March the <i>Nautilus</i>,
-following the fifty-fifth meridian, cut the Antarctic polar circle. Ice
-surrounded us on all sides, and closed the horizon. But Captain Nemo went from
-one opening to another, still going higher. I cannot express my astonishment at
-the beauties of these new regions. The ice took most surprising forms. Here the
-grouping formed an oriental town, with innumerable mosques and minarets; there
-a fallen city thrown to the earth, as it were, by some convulsion of nature.
-The whole aspect was constantly changed by the oblique rays of the sun, or lost
-in the greyish fog amidst hurricanes of snow. Detonations and falls were heard
-on all sides, great overthrows of icebergs, which altered the whole landscape
-like a diorama. Often seeing no exit, I thought we were definitely prisoners;
-but, instinct guiding him at the slightest indication, Captain Nemo would
-discover a new pass. He was never mistaken when he saw the thin threads of
-bluish water trickling along the ice-fields; and I had no doubt that he had
-already ventured into the midst of these Antarctic seas before. On the 16th of
-March, however, the ice-fields absolutely blocked our road. It was not the
-iceberg itself, as yet, but vast fields cemented by the cold. But this obstacle
-could not stop Captain Nemo: he hurled himself against it with frightful
-violence. The <i>Nautilus</i> entered the brittle mass like a wedge, and split
-it with frightful crackings. It was the battering ram of the ancients hurled by
-infinite strength. The ice, thrown high in the air, fell like hail around us.
-By its own power of impulsion our apparatus made a canal for itself; some times
-carried away by its own impetus, it lodged on the ice-field, crushing it with
-its weight, and sometimes buried beneath it, dividing it by a simple pitching
-movement, producing large rents in it. Violent gales assailed us at this time,
-accompanied by thick fogs, through which, from one end of the platform to the
-other, we could see nothing. The wind blew sharply from all parts of the
-compass, and the snow lay in such hard heaps that we had to break it with blows
-of a pickaxe. The temperature was always at 5 deg. below zero; every outward
-part of the <i>Nautilus</i> was covered with ice. A rigged vessel would have
-been entangled in the blocked up gorges. A vessel without sails, with
-electricity for its motive power, and wanting no coal, could alone brave such
-high latitudes. At length, on the 18th of March, after many useless assaults,
-the <i>Nautilus</i> was positively blocked. It was no longer either streams,
-packs, or ice-fields, but an interminable and immovable barrier, formed by
-mountains soldered together.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“An iceberg!” said the Canadian to me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I knew that to Ned Land, as well as to all other navigators who had preceded
-us, this was an inevitable obstacle. The sun appearing for an instant at noon,
-Captain Nemo took an observation as near as possible, which gave our situation
-at 51° 30&#x2032; long. and 67° 39&#x2032; of S. lat. We had advanced one
-degree more in this Antarctic region. Of the liquid surface of the sea there
-was no longer a glimpse. Under the spur of the <i>Nautilus</i> lay stretched a
-vast plain, entangled with confused blocks. Here and there sharp points and
-slender needles rising to a height of 200 feet; further on a steep shore, hewn
-as it were with an axe and clothed with greyish tints; huge mirrors, reflecting
-a few rays of sunshine, half drowned in the fog. And over this desolate face of
-nature a stern silence reigned, scarcely broken by the flapping of the wings of
-petrels and puffins. Everything was frozen—even the noise. The <i>Nautilus</i>
-was then obliged to stop in its adventurous course amid these fields of ice. In
-spite of our efforts, in spite of the powerful means employed to break up the
-ice, the <i>Nautilus</i> remained immovable. Generally, when we can proceed no
-further, we have return still open to us; but here return was as impossible as
-advance, for every pass had closed behind us; and for the few moments when we
-were stationary, we were likely to be entirely blocked, which did indeed happen
-about two o’clock in the afternoon, the fresh ice forming around its sides with
-astonishing rapidity. I was obliged to admit that Captain Nemo was more than
-imprudent. I was on the platform at that moment. The Captain had been observing
-our situation for some time past, when he said to me:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir, what do you think of this?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I think that we are caught, Captain.”
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus10"></a>
-<img src="images/img10.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">The <i>Nautilus</i> was blocked up
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-“So, M. Aronnax, you really think that the <i>Nautilus</i> cannot disengage
-itself?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“With difficulty, Captain; for the season is already too far advanced for you
-to reckon on the breaking of the ice.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! sir,” said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, “you will always be the
-same. You see nothing but difficulties and obstacles. I affirm that not only
-can the <i>Nautilus</i> disengage itself, but also that it can go further
-still.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Further to the South?” I asked, looking at the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir; it shall go to the pole.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To the pole!” I exclaimed, unable to repress a gesture of incredulity.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” replied the Captain, coldly, “to the Antarctic pole—to that unknown
-point from whence springs every meridian of the globe. You know whether I can
-do as I please with the <i>Nautilus!</i>”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Yes, I knew that. I knew that this man was bold, even to rashness. But to
-conquer those obstacles which bristled round the South Pole, rendering it more
-inaccessible than the North, which had not yet been reached by the boldest
-navigators—was it not a mad enterprise, one which only a maniac would have
-conceived? It then came into my head to ask Captain Nemo if he had ever
-discovered that pole which had never yet been trodden by a human creature?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir,” he replied; “but we will discover it together. Where others have
-failed, I will not fail. I have never yet led my <i>Nautilus</i> so far into
-southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall go further yet.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I can well believe you, Captain,” said I, in a slightly ironical tone. “I
-believe you! Let us go ahead! There are no obstacles for us! Let us smash this
-iceberg! Let us blow it up; and, if it resists, let us give the <i>Nautilus</i>
-wings to fly over it!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Over it, sir!” said Captain Nemo, quietly; “no, not over it, but under it!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Under it!” I exclaimed, a sudden idea of the Captain’s projects flashing upon
-my mind. I understood; the wonderful qualities of the <i>Nautilus</i> were
-going to serve us in this superhuman enterprise.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I see we are beginning to understand one another, sir,” said the Captain, half
-smiling. “You begin to see the possibility—I should say the success—of this
-attempt. That which is impossible for an ordinary vessel is easy to the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. If a continent lies before the pole, it must stop before the
-continent; but if, on the contrary, the pole is washed by open sea, it will go
-even to the pole.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly,” said I, carried away by the Captain’s reasoning; “if the surface
-of the sea is solidified by the ice, the lower depths are free by the
-Providential law which has placed the maximum of density of the waters of the
-ocean one degree higher than freezing-point; and, if I am not mistaken, the
-portion of this iceberg which is above the water is as one to four to that
-which is below.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very nearly, sir; for one foot of iceberg above the sea there are three below
-it. If these ice mountains are not more than 300 feet above the surface, they
-are not more than 900 beneath. And what are 900 feet to the <i>Nautilus?</i>”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nothing, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It could even seek at greater depths that uniform temperature of sea-water,
-and there brave with impunity the thirty or forty degrees of surface cold.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so, sir—just so,” I replied, getting animated.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The only difficulty,” continued Captain Nemo, “is that of remaining several
-days without renewing our provision of air.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is that all? The <i>Nautilus</i> has vast reservoirs; we can fill them, and
-they will supply us with all the oxygen we want.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well thought of, M. Aronnax,” replied the Captain, smiling. “But, not wishing
-you to accuse me of rashness, I will first give you all my objections.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Have you any more to make?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Only one. It is possible, if the sea exists at the South Pole, that it may be
-covered; and, consequently, we shall be unable to come to the surface.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good, sir! but do you forget that the <i>Nautilus</i> is armed with a powerful
-spur, and could we not send it diagonally against these fields of ice, which
-would open at the shocks.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! sir, you are full of ideas to-day.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Besides, Captain,” I added, enthusiastically, “why should we not find the sea
-open at the South Pole as well as at the North? The frozen poles of the earth
-do not coincide, either in the southern or in the northern regions; and, until
-it is proved to the contrary, we may suppose either a continent or an ocean
-free from ice at these two points of the globe.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I think so too, M. Aronnax,” replied Captain Nemo. “I only wish you to observe
-that, after having made so many objections to my project, you are now crushing
-me with arguments in its favour!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The preparations for this audacious attempt now began. The powerful pumps of
-the <i>Nautilus</i> were working air into the reservoirs and storing it at high
-pressure. About four o’clock, Captain Nemo announced the closing of the panels
-on the platform. I threw one last look at the massive iceberg which we were
-going to cross. The weather was clear, the atmosphere pure enough, the cold
-very great, being 12° below zero; but, the wind having gone down, this
-temperature was not so unbearable. About ten men mounted the sides of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, armed with pickaxes to break the ice around the vessel, which
-was soon free. The operation was quickly performed, for the fresh ice was still
-very thin. We all went below. The usual reservoirs were filled with the
-newly-liberated water, and the <i>Nautilus</i> soon descended. I had taken my
-place with Conseil in the saloon; through the open window we could see the
-lower beds of the Southern Ocean. The thermometer went up, the needle of the
-compass deviated on the dial. At about 900 feet, as Captain Nemo had foreseen,
-we were floating beneath the undulating bottom of the iceberg. But the
-<i>Nautilus</i> went lower still—it went to the depth of four hundred fathoms.
-The temperature of the water at the surface showed twelve degrees, it was now
-only ten; we had gained two. I need not say the temperature of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was raised by its heating apparatus to a much higher degree;
-every manœuvre was accomplished with wonderful precision.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We shall pass it, if you please, sir,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I believe we shall,” I said, in a tone of firm conviction.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In this open sea, the <i>Nautilus</i> had taken its course direct to the pole,
-without leaving the fifty-second meridian. From 67° 30&#x2032; to 90 deg.,
-twenty-two degrees and a half of latitude remained to travel; that is, about
-five hundred leagues. The <i>Nautilus</i> kept up a mean speed of twenty-six
-miles an hour—the speed of an express train. If that was kept up, in forty
-hours we should reach the pole.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For a part of the night the novelty of the situation kept us at the window. The
-sea was lit with the electric lantern; but it was deserted; fishes did not
-sojourn in these imprisoned waters; they only found there a passage to take
-them from the Antarctic Ocean to the open polar sea. Our pace was rapid; we
-could feel it by the quivering of the long steel body. About two in the morning
-I took some hours’ repose, and Conseil did the same. In crossing the waist I
-did not meet Captain Nemo: I supposed him to be in the pilot’s cage. The next
-morning, the 19th of March, I took my post once more in the saloon. The
-electric log told me that the speed of the <i>Nautilus</i> had been slackened.
-It was then going towards the surface; but prudently emptying its reservoirs
-very slowly. My heart beat fast. Were we going to emerge and regain the open
-polar atmosphere? No! A shock told me that the <i>Nautilus</i> had struck the
-bottom of the iceberg, still very thick, judging from the deadened sound. We
-had in deed “struck,” to use a sea expression, but in an inverse sense, and at
-a thousand feet deep. This would give three thousand feet of ice above us; one
-thousand being above the water-mark. The iceberg was then higher than at its
-borders—not a very reassuring fact. Several times that day the <i>Nautilus</i>
-tried again, and every time it struck the wall which lay like a ceiling above
-it. Sometimes it met with but 900 yards, only 200 of which rose above the
-surface. It was twice the height it was when the <i>Nautilus</i> had gone under
-the waves. I carefully noted the different depths, and thus obtained a
-submarine profile of the chain as it was developed under the water. That night
-no change had taken place in our situation. Still ice between four and five
-hundred yards in depth! It was evidently diminishing, but, still, what a
-thickness between us and the surface of the ocean! It was then eight. According
-to the daily custom on board the <i>Nautilus</i>, its air should have been
-renewed four hours ago; but I did not suffer much, although Captain Nemo had
-not yet made any demand upon his reserve of oxygen. My sleep was painful that
-night; hope and fear besieged me by turns: I rose several times. The groping of
-the <i>Nautilus</i> continued. About three in the morning, I noticed that the
-lower surface of the iceberg was only about fifty feet deep. One hundred and
-fifty feet now separated us from the surface of the waters. The iceberg was by
-degrees becoming an ice-field, the mountain a plain. My eyes never left the
-manometer. We were still rising diagonally to the surface, which sparkled under
-the electric rays. The iceberg was stretching both above and beneath into
-lengthening slopes; mile after mile it was getting thinner. At length, at six
-in the morning of that memorable day, the 19th of March, the door of the saloon
-opened, and Captain Nemo appeared.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The sea is open!!” was all he said.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap37"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br/>
-THE SOUTH POLE</h2>
-
-<p>
-I rushed on to the platform. Yes! the open sea, with but a few scattered pieces
-of ice and moving icebergs—a long stretch of sea; a world of birds in the air,
-and myriads of fishes under those waters, which varied from intense blue to
-olive green, according to the bottom. The thermometer marked 3° C. above zero.
-It was comparatively spring, shut up as we were behind this iceberg, whose
-lengthened mass was dimly seen on our northern horizon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Are we at the pole?” I asked the Captain, with a beating heart.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not know,” he replied. “At noon I will take our bearings.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But will the sun show himself through this fog?” said I, looking at the leaden
-sky.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“However little it shows, it will be enough,” replied the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About ten miles south a solitary island rose to a height of one hundred and
-four yards. We made for it, but carefully, for the sea might be strewn with
-banks. One hour afterwards we had reached it, two hours later we had made the
-round of it. It measured four or five miles in circumference. A narrow canal
-separated it from a considerable stretch of land, perhaps a continent, for we
-could not see its limits. The existence of this land seemed to give some colour
-to Maury’s theory. The ingenious American has remarked that, between the South
-Pole and the sixtieth parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice of
-enormous size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic. From this fact he
-has drawn the conclusion that the Antarctic Circle encloses considerable
-continents, as icebergs cannot form in open sea, but only on the coasts.
-According to these calculations, the mass of ice surrounding the southern pole
-forms a vast cap, the circumference of which must be, at least, 2,500 miles.
-But the <i>Nautilus</i>, for fear of running aground, had stopped about three
-cable-lengths from a strand over which reared a superb heap of rocks. The boat
-was launched; the Captain, two of his men, bearing instruments, Conseil, and
-myself were in it. It was ten in the morning. I had not seen Ned Land.
-Doubtless the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of the South Pole. A
-few strokes of the oar brought us to the sand, where we ran ashore. Conseil was
-going to jump on to the land, when I held him back.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said I to Captain Nemo, “to you belongs the honour of first setting foot
-on this land.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir,” said the Captain, “and if I do not hesitate to tread this South
-Pole, it is because, up to this time, no human being has left a trace there.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Saying this, he jumped lightly on to the sand. His heart beat with emotion. He
-climbed a rock, sloping to a little promontory, and there, with his arms
-crossed, mute and motionless, and with an eager look, he seemed to take
-possession of these southern regions. After five minutes passed in this
-ecstasy, he turned to us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“When you like, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I landed, followed by Conseil, leaving the two men in the boat. For a long way
-the soil was composed of a reddish sandy stone, something like crushed brick,
-scoriae, streams of lava, and pumice-stones. One could not mistake its volcanic
-origin. In some parts, slight curls of smoke emitted a sulphurous smell,
-proving that the internal fires had lost nothing of their expansive powers,
-though, having climbed a high acclivity, I could see no volcano for a radius of
-several miles. We know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found two
-craters, the Erebus and Terror, in full activity, on the 167th meridian,
-latitude 77° 32&#x2032;. The vegetation of this desolate continent seemed to me
-much restricted. Some lichens lay upon the black rocks; some microscopic
-plants, rudimentary diatomas, a kind of cells placed between two quartz shells;
-long purple and scarlet weed, supported on little swimming bladders, which the
-breaking of the waves brought to the shore. These constituted the meagre flora
-of this region. The shore was strewn with molluscs, little mussels, and
-limpets. I also saw myriads of northern clios, one-and-a-quarter inches long,
-of which a whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful; and some perfect
-sea-butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts of the shore.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs, of the kind which,
-according to James Ross, live in the Antarctic seas to the depth of more than
-1,000 yards. Then there were little kingfishers and starfish studding the soil.
-But where life abounded most was in the air. There thousands of birds fluttered
-and flew of all kinds, deafening us with their cries; others crowded the rock,
-looking at us as we passed by without fear, and pressing familiarly close by
-our feet. There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward as they
-are on the ground; they were uttering harsh cries, a large assembly, sober in
-gesture, but extravagant in clamour. Albatrosses passed in the air, the expanse
-of their wings being at least four yards and a half, and justly called the
-vultures of the ocean; some gigantic petrels, and some damiers, a kind of small
-duck, the underpart of whose body is black and white; then there were a whole
-series of petrels, some whitish, with brown-bordered wings, others blue,
-peculiar to the Antarctic seas, and so oily, as I told Conseil, that the
-inhabitants of the Ferroe Islands had nothing to do before lighting them but to
-put a wick in.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A little more,” said Conseil, “and they would be perfect lamps! After that, we
-cannot expect Nature to have previously furnished them with wicks!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with ruffs’ nests, a sort of
-laying-ground, out of which many birds were issuing. Captain Nemo had some
-hundreds hunted. They uttered a cry like the braying of an ass, were about the
-size of a goose, slate-colour on the body, white beneath, with a yellow line
-round their throats; they allowed themselves to be killed with a stone, never
-trying to escape. But the fog did not lift, and at eleven the sun had not yet
-shown itself. Its absence made me uneasy. Without it no observations were
-possible. How, then, could we decide whether we had reached the pole? When I
-rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of rock, silently
-watching the sky. He seemed impatient and vexed. But what was to be done? This
-rash and powerful man could not command the sun as he did the sea. Noon arrived
-without the orb of day showing itself for an instant. We could not even tell
-its position behind the curtain of fog; and soon the fog turned to snow.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Till to-morrow,” said the Captain, quietly, and we returned to the
-<i>Nautilus</i> amid these atmospheric disturbances.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The tempest of snow continued till the next day. It was impossible to remain on
-the platform. From the saloon, where I was taking notes of incidents happening
-during this excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the cries of petrels
-and albatrosses sporting in the midst of this violent storm. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> did not remain motionless, but skirted the coast, advancing ten
-miles more to the south in the half-light left by the sun as it skirted the
-edge of the horizon. The next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased. The
-cold was a little greater, the thermometer showing 2° below zero. The fog was
-rising, and I hoped that that day our observations might be taken. Captain Nemo
-not having yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and myself to land. The soil was
-still of the same volcanic nature; everywhere were traces of lava, scoriae, and
-basalt; but the crater which had vomited them I could not see. Here, as lower
-down, this continent was alive with myriads of birds. But their rule was now
-divided with large troops of sea-mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes.
-There were several kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth, some on flakes
-of ice, many going in and out of the sea. They did not flee at our approach,
-never having had anything to do with man; and I reckoned that there were
-provisions there for hundreds of vessels.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said Conseil, “will you tell me the names of these creatures?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They are seals and morses.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was now eight in the morning. Four hours remained to us before the sun could
-be observed with advantage. I directed our steps towards a vast bay cut in the
-steep granite shore. There, I can aver that earth and ice were lost to sight by
-the numbers of sea-mammals covering them, and I involuntarily sought for old
-Proteus, the mythological shepherd who watched these immense flocks of Neptune.
-There were more seals than anything else, forming distinct groups, male and
-female, the father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little
-ones, some already strong enough to go a few steps. When they wished to change
-their place, they took little jumps, made by the contraction of their bodies,
-and helped awkwardly enough by their imperfect fin, which, as with the
-lamantin, their cousins, forms a perfect forearm. I should say that, in the
-water, which is their element—the spine of these creatures is flexible; with
-smooth and close skin and webbed feet—they swim admirably. In resting on the
-earth they take the most graceful attitudes. Thus the ancients, observing their
-soft and expressive looks, which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look
-a woman can give, their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming positions, and
-the poetry of their manners, metamorphosed them, the male into a triton and the
-female into a mermaid. I made Conseil notice the considerable development of
-the lobes of the brain in these interesting cetaceans. No mammal, except man,
-has such a quantity of brain matter; they are also capable of receiving a
-certain amount of education, are easily domesticated, and I think, with other
-naturalists, that if properly taught they would be of great service as
-fishing-dogs. The greater part of them slept on the rocks or on the sand.
-Amongst these seals, properly so called, which have no external ears (in which
-they differ from the otter, whose ears are prominent), I noticed several
-varieties of seals about three yards long, with a white coat, bulldog heads,
-armed with teeth in both jaws, four incisors at the top and four at the bottom,
-and two large canine teeth in the shape of a fleur-de-lis. Amongst them glided
-sea-elephants, a kind of seal, with short, flexible trunks. The giants of this
-species measured twenty feet round and ten yards and a half in length; but they
-did not move as we approached.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“These creatures are not dangerous?” asked Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No; not unless you attack them. When they have to defend their young their
-rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon for them to break the fishing-boats to
-pieces.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They are quite right,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not say they are not.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Two miles farther on we were stopped by the promontory which shelters the bay
-from the southerly winds. Beyond it we heard loud bellowings such as a troop of
-ruminants would produce.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good!” said Conseil; “a concert of bulls!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No; a concert of morses.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They are fighting!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“They are either fighting or playing.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We now began to climb the blackish rocks, amid unforeseen stumbles, and over
-stones which the ice made slippery. More than once I rolled over at the expense
-of my loins. Conseil, more prudent or more steady, did not stumble, and helped
-me up, saying:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If, sir, you would have the kindness to take wider steps, you would preserve
-your equilibrium better.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Arrived at the upper ridge of the promontory, I saw a vast white plain covered
-with morses. They were playing amongst themselves, and what we heard were
-bellowings of pleasure, not of anger.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As I passed these curious animals I could examine them leisurely, for they did
-not move. Their skins were thick and rugged, of a yellowish tint, approaching
-to red; their hair was short and scant. Some of them were four yards and a
-quarter long. Quieter and less timid than their cousins of the north, they did
-not, like them, place sentinels round the outskirts of their encampment. After
-examining this city of morses, I began to think of returning. It was eleven
-o’clock, and, if Captain Nemo found the conditions favourable for observations,
-I wished to be present at the operation. We followed a narrow pathway running
-along the summit of the steep shore. At half-past eleven we had reached the
-place where we landed. The boat had run aground, bringing the Captain. I saw
-him standing on a block of basalt, his instruments near him, his eyes fixed on
-the northern horizon, near which the sun was then describing a lengthened
-curve. I took my place beside him, and waited without speaking. Noon arrived,
-and, as before, the sun did not appear. It was a fatality. Observations were
-still wanting. If not accomplished to-morrow, we must give up all idea of
-taking any. We were indeed exactly at the 20th of March. To-morrow, the 21st,
-would be the equinox; the sun would disappear behind the horizon for six
-months, and with its disappearance the long polar night would begin. Since the
-September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon, rising by
-lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December. At this period, the summer
-solstice of the northern regions, it had begun to descend; and to-morrow was to
-shed its last rays upon them. I communicated my fears and observations to
-Captain Nemo.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You are right, M. Aronnax,” said he; “if to-morrow I cannot take the altitude
-of the sun, I shall not be able to do it for six months. But precisely because
-chance has led me into these seas on the 21st of March, my bearings will be
-easy to take, if at twelve we can see the sun.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Why, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Because then the orb of day described such lengthened curves that it is
-difficult to measure exactly its height above the horizon, and grave errors may
-be made with instruments.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What will you do then?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I shall only use my chronometer,” replied Captain Nemo. “If to-morrow, the
-21st of March, the disc of the sun, allowing for refraction, is exactly cut by
-the northern horizon, it will show that I am at the South Pole.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so,” said I. “But this statement is not mathematically correct, because
-the equinox does not necessarily begin at noon.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very likely, sir; but the error will not be a hundred yards and we do not want
-more. Till to-morrow, then!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo returned on board. Conseil and I remained to survey the shore,
-observing and studying until five o’clock. Then I went to bed, not, however,
-without invoking, like the Indian, the favour of the radiant orb. The next day,
-the 21st of March, at five in the morning, I mounted the platform. I found
-Captain Nemo there.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The weather is lightening a little,” said he. “I have some hope. After
-breakfast we will go on shore and choose a post for observation.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-That point settled, I sought Ned Land. I wanted to take him with me. But the
-obstinate Canadian refused, and I saw that his taciturnity and his bad humour
-grew day by day. After all, I was not sorry for his obstinacy under the
-circumstances. Indeed, there were too many seals on shore, and we ought not to
-lay such temptation in this unreflecting fisherman’s way. Breakfast over, we
-went on shore. The <i>Nautilus</i> had gone some miles further up in the night.
-It was a whole league from the coast, above which reared a sharp peak about
-five hundred yards high. The boat took with me Captain Nemo, two men of the
-crew, and the instruments, which consisted of a chronometer, a telescope, and a
-barometer. While crossing, I saw numerous whales belonging to the three kinds
-peculiar to the southern seas; the whale, or the English “right whale,” which
-has no dorsal fin; the “humpback,” with reeved chest and large, whitish fins,
-which, in spite of its name, do not form wings; and the fin-back, of a
-yellowish brown, the liveliest of all the cetacea. This powerful creature is
-heard a long way off when he throws to a great height columns of air and
-vapour, which look like whirlwinds of smoke. These different mammals were
-disporting themselves in troops in the quiet waters; and I could see that this
-basin of the Antarctic Pole serves as a place of refuge to the cetacea too
-closely tracked by the hunters. I also noticed large medusæ floating between
-the reeds.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At nine we landed; the sky was brightening, the clouds were flying to the
-south, and the fog seemed to be leaving the cold surface of the waters. Captain
-Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant to be his observatory. It
-was a painful ascent over the sharp lava and the pumice-stones, in an
-atmosphere often impregnated with a sulphurous smell from the smoking cracks.
-For a man unaccustomed to walk on land, the Captain climbed the steep slopes
-with an agility I never saw equalled and which a hunter would have envied. We
-were two hours getting to the summit of this peak, which was half porphyry and
-half basalt. From thence we looked upon a vast sea which, towards the north,
-distinctly traced its boundary line upon the sky. At our feet lay fields of
-dazzling whiteness. Over our heads a pale azure, free from fog. To the north
-the disc of the sun seemed like a ball of fire, already horned by the cutting
-of the horizon. From the bosom of the water rose sheaves of liquid jets by
-hundreds. In the distance lay the <i>Nautilus</i> like a cetacean asleep on the
-water. Behind us, to the south and east, an immense country and a chaotic heap
-of rocks and ice, the limits of which were not visible. On arriving at the
-summit Captain Nemo carefully took the mean height of the barometer, for he
-would have to consider that in taking his observations. At a quarter to twelve
-the sun, then seen only by refraction, looked like a golden disc shedding its
-last rays upon this deserted continent and seas which never man had yet
-ploughed. Captain Nemo, furnished with a lenticular glass which, by means of a
-mirror, corrected the refraction, watched the orb sinking below the horizon by
-degrees, following a lengthened diagonal. I held the chronometer. My heart beat
-fast. If the disappearance of the half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve
-o’clock on the chronometer, we were at the pole itself.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Twelve!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The South Pole!” replied Captain Nemo, in a grave voice, handing me the glass,
-which showed the orb cut in exactly equal parts by the horizon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked at the last rays crowning the peak, and the shadows mounting by
-degrees up its slopes. At that moment Captain Nemo, resting with his hand on my
-shoulder, said:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I, Captain Nemo, on this 21st day of March, 1868, have reached the South Pole
-on the ninetieth degree; and I take possession of this part of the globe, equal
-to one-sixth of the known continents.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In whose name, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In my own, sir!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Saying which, Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an “N” in gold
-quartered on its bunting. Then, turning towards the orb of day, whose last rays
-lapped the horizon of the sea, he exclaimed:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Adieu, sun! Disappear, thou radiant orb! rest beneath this open sea, and let a
-night of six months spread its shadows over my new domains!”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap38"></a>CHAPTER XV<br/>
-ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT?</h2>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning, preparations for
-departure were begun. The last gleams of twilight were melting into night. The
-cold was great, the constellations shone with wonderful intensity. In the
-zenith glittered that wondrous Southern Cross—the polar bear of Antarctic
-regions. The thermometer showed 120 below zero, and when the wind freshened it
-was most biting. Flakes of ice increased on the open water. The sea seemed
-everywhere alike. Numerous blackish patches spread on the surface, showing the
-formation of fresh ice. Evidently the southern basin, frozen during the six
-winter months, was absolutely inaccessible. What became of the whales in that
-time? Doubtless they went beneath the icebergs, seeking more practicable seas.
-As to the seals and morses, accustomed to live in a hard climate, they remained
-on these icy shores. These creatures have the instinct to break holes in the
-ice-field and to keep them open. To these holes they come for breath; when the
-birds, driven away by the cold, have emigrated to the north, these sea mammals
-remain sole masters of the polar continent. But the reservoirs were filling
-with water, and the <i>Nautilus</i> was slowly descending. At 1,000 feet deep
-it stopped; its screw beat the waves, and it advanced straight towards the
-north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour. Towards night it was already
-floating under the immense body of the iceberg. At three in the morning I was
-awakened by a violent shock. I sat up in my bed and listened in the darkness,
-when I was thrown into the middle of the room. The <i>Nautilus</i>, after
-having struck, had rebounded violently. I groped along the partition, and by
-the staircase to the saloon, which was lit by the luminous ceiling. The
-furniture was upset. Fortunately the windows were firmly set, and had held
-fast. The pictures on the starboard side, from being no longer vertical, were
-clinging to the paper, whilst those of the port side were hanging at least a
-foot from the wall. The <i>Nautilus</i> was lying on its starboard side
-perfectly motionless. I heard footsteps, and a confusion of voices; but Captain
-Nemo did not appear. As I was leaving the saloon, Ned Land and Conseil entered.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is the matter?” said I, at once.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I came to ask you, sir,” replied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Confound it!” exclaimed the Canadian, “I know well enough! The <i>Nautilus</i>
-has struck; and, judging by the way she lies, I do not think she will right
-herself as she did the first time in Torres Straits.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But,” I asked, “has she at least come to the surface of the sea?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We do not know,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is easy to decide,” I answered. I consulted the manometer. To my great
-surprise, it showed a depth of more than 180 fathoms. “What does that mean?” I
-exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We must ask Captain Nemo,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But where shall we find him?” said Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Follow me,” said I, to my companions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We left the saloon. There was no one in the library. At the centre staircase,
-by the berths of the ship’s crew, there was no one. I thought that Captain Nemo
-must be in the pilot’s cage. It was best to wait. We all returned to the
-saloon. For twenty minutes we remained thus, trying to hear the slightest noise
-which might be made on board the <i>Nautilus</i>, when Captain Nemo entered. He
-seemed not to see us; his face, generally so impassive, showed signs of
-uneasiness. He watched the compass silently, then the manometer; and, going to
-the planisphere, placed his finger on a spot representing the southern seas. I
-would not interrupt him; but, some minutes later, when he turned towards me, I
-said, using one of his own expressions in the Torres Straits:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“An incident, Captain?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir; an accident this time.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Serious?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perhaps.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Is the danger immediate?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The <i>Nautilus</i> has stranded?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And this has happened—how?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“From a caprice of nature, not from the ignorance of man. Not a mistake has
-been made in the working. But we cannot prevent equilibrium from producing its
-effects. We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo had chosen a strange moment for uttering this philosophical
-reflection. On the whole, his answer helped me little.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“May I ask, sir, the cause of this accident?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“An enormous block of ice, a whole mountain, has turned over,” he replied.
-“When icebergs are undermined at their base by warmer water or reiterated
-shocks their centre of gravity rises, and the whole thing turns over. This is
-what has happened; one of these blocks, as it fell, struck the <i>Nautilus</i>,
-then, gliding under its hull, raised it with irresistible force, bringing it
-into beds which are not so thick, where it is lying on its side.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But can we not get the <i>Nautilus</i> off by emptying its reservoirs, that it
-might regain its equilibrium?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That, sir, is being done at this moment. You can hear the pump working. Look
-at the needle of the manometer; it shows that the <i>Nautilus</i> is rising,
-but the block of ice is floating with it; and, until some obstacle stops its
-ascending motion, our position cannot be altered.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Indeed, the <i>Nautilus</i> still held the same position to starboard;
-doubtless it would right itself when the block stopped. But at this moment who
-knows if we may not be frightfully crushed between the two glassy surfaces? I
-reflected on all the consequences of our position. Captain Nemo never took his
-eyes off the manometer. Since the fall of the iceberg, the <i>Nautilus</i> had
-risen about a hundred and fifty feet, but it still made the same angle with the
-perpendicular. Suddenly a slight movement was felt in the hold. Evidently it
-was righting a little. Things hanging in the saloon were sensibly returning to
-their normal position. The partitions were nearing the upright. No one spoke.
-With beating hearts we watched and felt the straightening. The boards became
-horizontal under our feet. Ten minutes passed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“At last we have righted!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” said Captain Nemo, going to the door of the saloon.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But are we floating?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Certainly,” he replied; “since the reservoirs are not empty; and, when empty,
-the <i>Nautilus</i> must rise to the surface of the sea.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were in open sea; but at a distance of about ten yards, on either side of
-the <i>Nautilus</i>, rose a dazzling wall of ice. Above and beneath the same
-wall. Above, because the lower surface of the iceberg stretched over us like an
-immense ceiling. Beneath, because the overturned block, having slid by degrees,
-had found a resting-place on the lateral walls, which kept it in that position.
-The <i>Nautilus</i> was really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice more than
-twenty yards in breadth, filled with quiet water. It was easy to get out of it
-by going either forward or backward, and then make a free passage under the
-iceberg, some hundreds of yards deeper. The luminous ceiling had been
-extinguished, but the saloon was still resplendent with intense light. It was
-the powerful reflection from the glass partition sent violently back to the
-sheets of the lantern. I cannot describe the effect of the voltaic rays upon
-the great blocks so capriciously cut; upon every angle, every ridge, every
-facet was thrown a different light, according to the nature of the veins
-running through the ice; a dazzling mine of gems, particularly of sapphires,
-their blue rays crossing with the green of the emerald. Here and there were
-opal shades of wonderful softness, running through bright spots like diamonds
-of fire, the brilliancy of which the eye could not bear. The power of the
-lantern seemed increased a hundredfold, like a lamp through the lenticular
-plates of a first-class lighthouse.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How beautiful! how beautiful!” cried Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” I said, “it is a wonderful sight. Is it not, Ned?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, confound it! Yes,” answered Ned Land, “it is superb! I am mad at being
-obliged to admit it. No one has ever seen anything like it; but the sight may
-cost us dear. And, if I must say all, I think we are seeing here things which
-God never intended man to see.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned was right, it was too beautiful. Suddenly a cry from Conseil made me turn.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is it?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Shut your eyes, sir! Do not look, sir!” Saying which, Conseil clapped his
-hands over his eyes.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But what is the matter, my boy?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am dazzled, blinded.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My eyes turned involuntarily towards the glass, but I could not stand the fire
-which seemed to devour them. I understood what had happened. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> had put on full speed. All the quiet lustre of the ice-walls
-was at once changed into flashes of lightning. The fire from these myriads of
-diamonds was blinding. It required some time to calm our troubled looks. At
-last the hands were taken down.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Faith, I should never have believed it,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was then five in the morning; and at that moment a shock was felt at the
-bows of the <i>Nautilus</i>. I knew that its spur had struck a block of ice. It
-must have been a false manœuvre, for this submarine tunnel, obstructed by
-blocks, was not very easy navigation. I thought that Captain Nemo, by changing
-his course, would either turn these obstacles or else follow the windings of
-the tunnel. In any case, the road before us could not be entirely blocked. But,
-contrary to my expectations, the <i>Nautilus</i> took a decided retrograde
-motion.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are going backwards?” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” I replied. “This end of the tunnel can have no egress.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And then?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Then,” said I, “the working is easy. We must go back again, and go out at the
-southern opening. That is all.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In speaking thus, I wished to appear more confident than I really was. But the
-retrograde motion of the <i>Nautilus</i> was increasing; and, reversing the
-screw, it carried us at great speed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It will be a hindrance,” said Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What does it matter, some hours more or less, provided we get out at last?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” repeated Ned Land, “provided we do get out at last!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For a short time I walked from the saloon to the library. My companions were
-silent. I soon threw myself on an ottoman, and took a book, which my eyes
-overran mechanically. A quarter of an hour after, Conseil, approaching me,
-said, “Is what you are reading very interesting, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very interesting!” I replied.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I should think so, sir. It is your own book you are reading.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My book?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And indeed I was holding in my hand the work on the Great Submarine Depths. I
-did not even dream of it. I closed the book and returned to my walk. Ned and
-Conseil rose to go.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Stay here, my friends,” said I, detaining them. “Let us remain together until
-we are out of this block.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As you please, sir,” Conseil replied.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Some hours passed. I often looked at the instruments hanging from the
-partition. The manometer showed that the <i>Nautilus</i> kept at a constant
-depth of more than three hundred yards; the compass still pointed to south; the
-log indicated a speed of twenty miles an hour, which, in such a cramped space,
-was very great. But Captain Nemo knew that he could not hasten too much, and
-that minutes were worth ages to us. At twenty-five minutes past eight a second
-shock took place, this time from behind. I turned pale. My companions were
-close by my side. I seized Conseil’s hand. Our looks expressed our feelings
-better than words. At this moment the Captain entered the saloon. I went up to
-him.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Our course is barred southward?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir. The iceberg has shifted and closed every outlet.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are blocked up then?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes.”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap39"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br/>
-WANT OF AIR</h2>
-
-<p>
-Thus around the <i>Nautilus</i>, above and below, was an impenetrable wall of
-ice. We were prisoners to the iceberg. I watched the Captain. His countenance
-had resumed its habitual imperturbability.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Gentlemen,” he said calmly, “there are two ways of dying in the circumstances
-in which we are placed.” (This puzzling person had the air of a mathematical
-professor lecturing to his pupils.) “The first is to be crushed; the second is
-to die of suffocation. I do not speak of the possibility of dying of hunger,
-for the supply of provisions in the <i>Nautilus</i> will certainly last longer
-than we shall. Let us, then, calculate our chances.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“As to suffocation, Captain,” I replied, “that is not to be feared, because our
-reservoirs are full.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Just so; but they will only yield two days’ supply of air. Now, for thirty-six
-hours we have been hidden under the water, and already the heavy atmosphere of
-the <i>Nautilus</i> requires renewal. In forty-eight hours our reserve will be
-exhausted.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Captain, can we be delivered before forty-eight hours?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We will attempt it, at least, by piercing the wall that surrounds us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“On which side?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sound will tell us. I am going to run the <i>Nautilus</i> aground on the lower
-bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side that is least thick.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo went out. Soon I discovered by a hissing noise that the water was
-entering the reservoirs. The <i>Nautilus</i> sank slowly, and rested on the ice
-at a depth of 350 yards, the depth at which the lower bank was immersed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My friends,” I said, “our situation is serious, but I rely on your courage and
-energy.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” replied the Canadian, “I am ready to do anything for the general
-safety.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good! Ned,” and I held out my hand to the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will add,” he continued, “that, being as handy with the pickaxe as with the
-harpoon, if I can be useful to the Captain, he can command my services.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“He will not refuse your help. Come, Ned!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I led him to the room where the crew of the <i>Nautilus</i> were putting on
-their cork-jackets. I told the Captain of Ned’s proposal, which he accepted.
-The Canadian put on his sea-costume, and was ready as soon as his companions.
-When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the drawing-room, where the panes of glass
-were open, and, posted near Conseil, I examined the ambient beds that supported
-the <i>Nautilus</i>. Some instants after, we saw a dozen of the crew set foot
-on the bank of ice, and among them Ned Land, easily known by his stature.
-Captain Nemo was with them. Before proceeding to dig the walls, he took the
-soundings, to be sure of working in the right direction. Long sounding lines
-were sunk in the side walls, but after fifteen yards they were again stopped by
-the thick wall. It was useless to attack it on the ceiling-like surface, since
-the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in height. Captain Nemo then
-sounded the lower surface. There ten yards of wall separated us from the water,
-so great was the thickness of the ice-field. It was necessary, therefore, to
-cut from it a piece equal in extent to the waterline of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-There were about 6,000 cubic yards to detach, so as to dig a hole by which we
-could descend to the ice-field. The work had begun immediately and carried on
-with indefatigable energy. Instead of digging round the <i>Nautilus</i> which
-would have involved greater difficulty, Captain Nemo had an immense trench made
-at eight yards from the port-quarter. Then the men set to work simultaneously
-with their screws on several points of its circumference. Presently the pickaxe
-attacked this compact matter vigorously, and large blocks were detached from
-the mass. By a curious effect of specific gravity, these blocks, lighter than
-water, fled, so to speak, to the vault of the tunnel, that increased in
-thickness at the top in proportion as it diminished at the base. But that
-mattered little, so long as the lower part grew thinner. After two hours’ hard
-work, Ned Land came in exhausted. He and his comrades were replaced by new
-workers, whom Conseil and I joined. The second lieutenant of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> superintended us. The water seemed singularly cold, but I soon
-got warm handling the pickaxe. My movements were free enough, although they
-were made under a pressure of thirty atmospheres. When I re-entered, after
-working two hours, to take some food and rest, I found a perceptible difference
-between the pure fluid with which the Rouquayrol engine supplied me and the
-atmosphere of the <i>Nautilus</i>, already charged with carbonic acid. The air
-had not been renewed for forty-eight hours, and its vivifying qualities were
-considerably enfeebled. However, after a lapse of twelve hours, we had only
-raised a block of ice one yard thick, on the marked surface, which was about
-600 cubic yards! Reckoning that it took twelve hours to accomplish this much it
-would take five nights and four days to bring this enterprise to a satisfactory
-conclusion. Five nights and four days! And we have only air enough for two days
-in the reservoirs! “Without taking into account,” said Ned, “that, even if we
-get out of this infernal prison, we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg,
-shut out from all possible communication with the atmosphere.” True enough! Who
-could then foresee the minimum of time necessary for our deliverance? We might
-be suffocated before the <i>Nautilus</i> could regain the surface of the waves?
-Was it destined to perish in this ice-tomb, with all those it enclosed? The
-situation was terrible. But everyone had looked the danger in the face, and
-each was determined to do his duty to the last.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-As I expected, during the night a new block a yard square was carried away, and
-still further sank the immense hollow. But in the morning when, dressed in my
-cork-jacket, I traversed the slushy mass at a temperature of six or seven
-degrees below zero, I remarked that the side walls were gradually closing in.
-The beds of water farthest from the trench, that were not warmed by the men’s
-work, showed a tendency to solidification. In presence of this new and imminent
-danger, what would become of our chances of safety, and how hinder the
-solidification of this liquid medium, that would burst the partitions of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> like glass?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I did not tell my companions of this new danger. What was the good of damping
-the energy they displayed in the painful work of escape? But when I went on
-board again, I told Captain Nemo of this grave complication.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I know it,” he said, in that calm tone which could counteract the most
-terrible apprehensions. “It is one danger more; but I see no way of escaping
-it; the only chance of safety is to go quicker than solidification. We must be
-beforehand with it, that is all.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On this day for several hours I used my pickaxe vigorously. The work kept me
-up. Besides, to work was to quit the <i>Nautilus</i>, and breathe directly the
-pure air drawn from the reservoirs, and supplied by our apparatus, and to quit
-the impoverished and vitiated atmosphere. Towards evening the trench was dug
-one yard deeper. When I returned on board, I was nearly suffocated by the
-carbonic acid with which the air was filled—ah! if we had only the chemical
-means to drive away this deleterious gas. We had plenty of oxygen; all this
-water contained a considerable quantity, and by dissolving it with our powerful
-piles, it would restore the vivifying fluid. I had thought well over it; but of
-what good was that, since the carbonic acid produced by our respiration had
-invaded every part of the vessel? To absorb it, it was necessary to fill some
-jars with caustic potash, and to shake them incessantly. Now this substance was
-wanting on board, and nothing could replace it. On that evening, Captain Nemo
-ought to open the taps of his reservoirs, and let some pure air into the
-interior of the <i>Nautilus;</i> without this precaution we could not get rid
-of the sense of suffocation. The next day, March 26th, I resumed my miner’s
-work in beginning the fifth yard. The side walls and the lower surface of the
-iceberg thickened visibly. It was evident that they would meet before the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was able to disengage itself. Despair seized me for an instant;
-my pickaxe nearly fell from my hands. What was the good of digging if I must be
-suffocated, crushed by the water that was turning into stone?—a punishment that
-the ferocity of the savages even would not have invented! Just then Captain
-Nemo passed near me. I touched his hand and showed him the walls of our prison.
-The wall to port had advanced to at least four yards from the hull of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. The Captain understood me, and signed me to follow him. We
-went on board. I took off my cork-jacket and accompanied him into the
-drawing-room.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax, we must attempt some desperate means, or we shall be sealed up in
-this solidified water as in cement.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; but what is to be done?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah! if my <i>Nautilus</i> were strong enough to bear this pressure without
-being crushed!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well?” I asked, not catching the Captain’s idea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Do you not understand,” he replied, “that this congelation of water will help
-us? Do you not see that by its solidification, it would burst through this
-field of ice that imprisons us, as, when it freezes, it bursts the hardest
-stones? Do you not perceive that it would be an agent of safety instead of
-destruction?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Captain, perhaps. But, whatever resistance to crushing the
-<i>Nautilus</i> possesses, it could not support this terrible pressure, and
-would be flattened like an iron plate.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I know it, sir. Therefore we must not reckon on the aid of nature, but on our
-own exertions. We must stop this solidification. Not only will the side walls
-be pressed together; but there is not ten feet of water before or behind the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. The congelation gains on us on all sides.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on board?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Captain looked in my face. “After to-morrow they will be empty!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A cold sweat came over me. However, ought I to have been astonished at the
-answer? On March 22, the <i>Nautilus</i> was in the open polar seas. We were at
-26°. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board. And what was left of
-the respirable air must be kept for the workers. Even now, as I write, my
-recollection is still so vivid that an involuntary terror seizes me and my
-lungs seem to be without air. Meanwhile, Captain Nemo reflected silently, and
-evidently an idea had struck him; but he seemed to reject it. At last, these
-words escaped his lips:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Boiling water!” he muttered.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Boiling water?” I cried.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir. We are enclosed in a space that is relatively confined. Would not
-jets of boiling water, constantly injected by the pumps, raise the temperature
-in this part and stay the congelation?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us try it,” I said resolutely.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us try it, Professor.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The thermometer then stood at 7° outside. Captain Nemo took me to the galleys,
-where the vast distillatory machines stood that furnished the drinkable water
-by evaporation. They filled these with water, and all the electric heat from
-the piles was thrown through the worms bathed in the liquid. In a few minutes
-this water reached 100°. It was directed towards the pumps, while fresh water
-replaced it in proportion. The heat developed by the troughs was such that cold
-water, drawn up from the sea after only having gone through the machines, came
-boiling into the body of the pump. The injection was begun, and three hours
-after the thermometer marked 6° below zero outside. One degree was gained. Two
-hours later the thermometer only marked 4°.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We shall succeed,” I said to the Captain, after having anxiously watched the
-result of the operation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I think,” he answered, “that we shall not be crushed. We have no more
-suffocation to fear.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the night the temperature of the water rose to 1° below zero. The
-injections could not carry it to a higher point. But, as the congelation of the
-sea-water produces at least 2°, I was at least reassured against the dangers of
-solidification.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, March 27th, six yards of ice had been cleared, twelve feet only
-remaining to be cleared away. There was yet forty-eight hours’ work. The air
-could not be renewed in the interior of the <i>Nautilus</i>. And this day would
-make it worse. An intolerable weight oppressed me. Towards three o’clock in the
-evening this feeling rose to a violent degree. Yawns dislocated my jaws. My
-lungs panted as they inhaled this burning fluid, which became rarefied more and
-more. A moral torpor took hold of me. I was powerless, almost unconscious. My
-brave Conseil, though exhibiting the same symptoms and suffering in the same
-manner, never left me. He took my hand and encouraged me, and I heard him
-murmur, “Oh! if I could only not breathe, so as to leave more air for my
-master!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Tears came into my eyes on hearing him speak thus. If our situation to all was
-intolerable in the interior, with what haste and gladness would we put on our
-cork-jackets to work in our turn! Pickaxes sounded on the frozen ice-beds. Our
-arms ached, the skin was torn off our hands. But what were these fatigues, what
-did the wounds matter? Vital air came to the lungs! We breathed! we breathed!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-All this time no one prolonged his voluntary task beyond the prescribed time.
-His task accomplished, each one handed in turn to his panting companions the
-apparatus that supplied him with life. Captain Nemo set the example, and
-submitted first to this severe discipline. When the time came, he gave up his
-apparatus to another and returned to the vitiated air on board, calm,
-unflinching, unmurmuring.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On that day the ordinary work was accomplished with unusual vigour. Only two
-yards remained to be raised from the surface. Two yards only separated us from
-the open sea. But the reservoirs were nearly emptied of air. The little that
-remained ought to be kept for the workers; not a particle for the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. When I went back on board, I was half suffocated. What a
-night! I know not how to describe it. The next day my breathing was oppressed.
-Dizziness accompanied the pain in my head and made me like a drunken man. My
-companions showed the same symptoms. Some of the crew had rattling in the
-throat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On that day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo, finding the pickaxes
-work too slowly, resolved to crush the ice-bed that still separated us from the
-liquid sheet. This man’s coolness and energy never forsook him. He subdued his
-physical pains by moral force.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-By his orders the vessel was lightened, that is to say, raised from the ice-bed
-by a change of specific gravity. When it floated they towed it so as to bring
-it above the immense trench made on the level of the water-line. Then, filling
-his reservoirs of water, he descended and shut himself up in the hole.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Just then all the crew came on board, and the double door of communication was
-shut. The <i>Nautilus</i> then rested on the bed of ice, which was not one yard
-thick, and which the sounding leads had perforated in a thousand places. The
-taps of the reservoirs were then opened, and a hundred cubic yards of water was
-let in, increasing the weight of the <i>Nautilus</i> to 1,800 tons. We waited,
-we listened, forgetting our sufferings in hope. Our safety depended on this
-last chance. Notwithstanding the buzzing in my head, I soon heard the humming
-sound under the hull of the <i>Nautilus</i>. The ice cracked with a singular
-noise, like tearing paper, and the <i>Nautilus</i> sank.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We are off!” murmured Conseil in my ear.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I could not answer him. I seized his hand, and pressed it convulsively. All at
-once, carried away by its frightful overcharge, the <i>Nautilus</i> sank like a
-bullet under the waters, that is to say, it fell as if it was in a vacuum. Then
-all the electric force was put on the pumps, that soon began to let the water
-out of the reservoirs. After some minutes, our fall was stopped. Soon, too, the
-manometer indicated an ascending movement. The screw, going at full speed, made
-the iron hull tremble to its very bolts and drew us towards the north. But if
-this floating under the iceberg is to last another day before we reach the open
-sea, I shall be dead first.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Half stretched upon a divan in the library, I was suffocating. My face was
-purple, my lips blue, my faculties suspended. I neither saw nor heard. All
-notion of time had gone from my mind. My muscles could not contract. I do not
-know how many hours passed thus, but I was conscious of the agony that was
-coming over me. I felt as if I was going to die. Suddenly I came to. Some
-breaths of air penetrated my lungs. Had we risen to the surface of the waves?
-Were we free of the iceberg? No! Ned and Conseil, my two brave friends, were
-sacrificing themselves to save me. Some particles of air still remained at the
-bottom of one apparatus. Instead of using it, they had kept it for me, and,
-while they were being suffocated, they gave me life, drop by drop. I wanted to
-push back the thing; they held my hands, and for some moments I breathed
-freely. I looked at the clock; it was eleven in the morning. It ought to be the
-28th of March. The <i>Nautilus</i> went at a frightful pace, forty miles an
-hour. It literally tore through the water. Where was Captain Nemo? Had he
-succumbed? Were his companions dead with him? At the moment the manometer
-indicated that we were not more than twenty feet from the surface. A mere plate
-of ice separated us from the atmosphere. Could we not break it? Perhaps. In any
-case the <i>Nautilus</i> was going to attempt it. I felt that it was in an
-oblique position, lowering the stern, and raising the bows. The introduction of
-water had been the means of disturbing its equilibrium. Then, impelled by its
-powerful screw, it attacked the ice-field from beneath like a formidable
-battering-ram. It broke it by backing and then rushing forward against the
-field, which gradually gave way; and at last, dashing suddenly against it, shot
-forwards on the ice-field, that crushed beneath its weight. The panel was
-opened—one might say torn off—and the pure air came in in abundance to all
-parts of the <i>Nautilus</i>.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap40"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br/>
-FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON</h2>
-
-<p>
-How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian had carried
-me there. But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air. My two companions
-were getting drunk with the fresh particles. The other unhappy men had been so
-long without food, that they could not with impunity indulge in the simplest
-aliments that were given them. We, on the contrary, had no end to restrain
-ourselves; we could draw this air freely into our lungs, and it was the breeze,
-the breeze alone, that filled us with this keen enjoyment.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Ah!” said Conseil, “how delightful this oxygen is! Master need not fear to
-breathe it. There is enough for everybody.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land did not speak, but he opened his jaws wide enough to frighten a shark.
-Our strength soon returned, and, when I looked round me, I saw we were alone on
-the platform. The foreign seamen in the <i>Nautilus</i> were contented with the
-air that circulated in the interior; none of them had come to drink in the open
-air.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The first words I spoke were words of gratitude and thankfulness to my two
-companions. Ned and Conseil had prolonged my life during the last hours of this
-long agony. All my gratitude could not repay such devotion.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My friends,” said I, “we are bound one to the other for ever, and I am under
-infinite obligations to you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Which I shall take advantage of,” exclaimed the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What do you mean?” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I mean that I shall take you with me when I leave this infernal
-<i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well,” said Conseil, “after all this, are we going right?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” I replied, “for we are going the way of the sun, and here the sun is in
-the north.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No doubt,” said Ned Land; “but it remains to be seen whether he will bring the
-ship into the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean, that is, into frequented or
-deserted seas.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I could not answer that question, and I feared that Captain Nemo would rather
-take us to the vast ocean that touches the coasts of Asia and America at the
-same time. He would thus complete the tour round the submarine world, and
-return to those waters in which the <i>Nautilus</i> could sail freely. We
-ought, before long, to settle this important point. The <i>Nautilus</i> went at
-a rapid pace. The polar circle was soon passed, and the course shaped for Cape
-Horn. We were off the American point, March 31st, at seven o’clock in the
-evening. Then all our past sufferings were forgotten. The remembrance of that
-imprisonment in the ice was effaced from our minds. We only thought of the
-future. Captain Nemo did not appear again either in the drawing-room or on the
-platform. The point shown each day on the planisphere, and, marked by the
-lieutenant, showed me the exact direction of the <i>Nautilus</i>. Now, on that
-evening, it was evident, to, my great satisfaction, that we were going back to
-the North by the Atlantic. The next day, April 1st, when the <i>Nautilus</i>
-ascended to the surface some minutes before noon, we sighted land to the west.
-It was Terra del Fuego, which the first navigators named thus from seeing the
-quantity of smoke that rose from the natives’ huts. The coast seemed low to me,
-but in the distance rose high mountains. I even thought I had a glimpse of
-Mount Sarmiento, that rises 2,070 yards above the level of the sea, with a very
-pointed summit, which, according as it is misty or clear, is a sign of fine or
-of wet weather. At this moment the peak was clearly defined against the sky.
-The <i>Nautilus</i>, diving again under the water, approached the coast, which
-was only some few miles off. From the glass windows in the drawing-room, I saw
-long seaweeds and gigantic fuci and varech, of which the open polar sea
-contains so many specimens, with their sharp polished filaments; they measured
-about 300 yards in length—real cables, thicker than one’s thumb; and, having
-great tenacity, they are often used as ropes for vessels. Another weed known as
-velp, with leaves four feet long, buried in the coral concretions, hung at the
-bottom. It served as nest and food for myriads of crustacea and molluscs,
-crabs, and cuttlefish. There seals and otters had splendid repasts, eating the
-flesh of fish with sea-vegetables, according to the English fashion. Over this
-fertile and luxuriant ground the <i>Nautilus</i> passed with great rapidity.
-Towards evening it approached the Falkland group, the rough summits of which I
-recognised the following day. The depth of the sea was moderate. On the shores
-our nets brought in beautiful specimens of sea weed, and particularly a certain
-fucus, the roots of which were filled with the best mussels in the world. Geese
-and ducks fell by dozens on the platform, and soon took their places in the
-pantry on board.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-When the last heights of the Falklands had disappeared from the horizon, the
-<i>Nautilus</i> sank to between twenty and twenty-five yards, and followed the
-American coast. Captain Nemo did not show himself. Until the 3rd of April we
-did not quit the shores of Patagonia, sometimes under the ocean, sometimes at
-the surface. The <i>Nautilus</i> passed beyond the large estuary formed by the
-Uraguay. Its direction was northwards, and followed the long windings of the
-coast of South America. We had then made 1,600 miles since our embarkation in
-the seas of Japan. About eleven o’clock in the morning the Tropic of Capricorn
-was crossed on the thirty-seventh meridian, and we passed Cape Frio standing
-out to sea. Captain Nemo, to Ned Land’s great displeasure, did not like the
-neighbourhood of the inhabited coasts of Brazil, for we went at a giddy speed.
-Not a fish, not a bird of the swiftest kind could follow us, and the natural
-curiosities of these seas escaped all observation.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This speed was kept up for several days, and in the evening of the 9th of April
-we sighted the most westerly point of South America that forms Cape San Roque.
-But then the <i>Nautilus</i> swerved again, and sought the lowest depth of a
-submarine valley which is between this Cape and Sierra Leone on the African
-coast. This valley bifurcates to the parallel of the Antilles, and terminates
-at the mouth by the enormous depression of 9,000 yards. In this place, the
-geological basin of the ocean forms, as far as the Lesser Antilles, a cliff to
-three and a half miles perpendicular in height, and, at the parallel of the
-Cape Verde Islands, an other wall not less considerable, that encloses thus all
-the sunk continent of the Atlantic. The bottom of this immense valley is dotted
-with some mountains, that give to these submarine places a picturesque aspect.
-I speak, moreover, from the manuscript charts that were in the library of the
-<i>Nautilus</i>—charts evidently due to Captain Nemo’s hand, and made after his
-personal observations. For two days the desert and deep waters were visited by
-means of the inclined planes. The <i>Nautilus</i> was furnished with long
-diagonal broadsides which carried it to all elevations. But on the 11th of
-April it rose suddenly, and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a
-vast estuary, the embouchure of which is so considerable that it freshens the
-sea-water for the distance of several leagues.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The equator was crossed. Twenty miles to the west were the Guianas, a French
-territory, on which we could have found an easy refuge; but a stiff breeze was
-blowing, and the furious waves would not have allowed a single boat to face
-them. Ned Land understood that, no doubt, for he spoke not a word about it. For
-my part, I made no allusion to his schemes of flight, for I would not urge him
-to make an attempt that must inevitably fail. I made the time pass pleasantly
-by interesting studies. During the days of April 11th and 12th, the
-<i>Nautilus</i> did not leave the surface of the sea, and the net brought in a
-marvellous haul of Zoophytes, fish and reptiles. Some zoophytes had been fished
-up by the chain of the nets; they were for the most part beautiful
-phyctallines, belonging to the actinidian family, and among other species the
-phyctalis protexta, peculiar to that part of the ocean, with a little
-cylindrical trunk, ornamented With vertical lines, speckled with red dots,
-crowning a marvellous blossoming of tentacles. As to the molluscs, they
-consisted of some I had already observed—turritellas, olive porphyras, with
-regular lines intercrossed, with red spots standing out plainly against the
-flesh; odd pteroceras, like petrified scorpions; translucid hyaleas, argonauts,
-cuttle-fish (excellent eating), and certain species of calmars that naturalists
-of antiquity have classed amongst the flying-fish, and that serve principally
-for bait for cod-fishing. I had now an opportunity of studying several species
-of fish on these shores. Amongst the cartilaginous ones, petromyzons-pricka, a
-sort of eel, fifteen inches long, with a greenish head, violet fins, grey-blue
-back, brown belly, silvered and sown with bright spots, the pupil of the eye
-encircled with gold—a curious animal, that the current of the Amazon had drawn
-to the sea, for they inhabit fresh waters—tuberculated streaks, with pointed
-snouts, and a long loose tail, armed with a long jagged sting; little sharks, a
-yard long, grey and whitish skin, and several rows of teeth, bent back, that
-are generally known by the name of pantouffles; vespertilios, a kind of red
-isosceles triangle, half a yard long, to which pectorals are attached by fleshy
-prolongations that make them look like bats, but that their horny appendage,
-situated near the nostrils, has given them the name of sea-unicorns; lastly,
-some species of balistae, the curassavian, whose spots were of a brilliant gold
-colour, and the capriscus of clear violet, and with varying shades like a
-pigeon’s throat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I end here this catalogue, which is somewhat dry perhaps, but very exact, with
-a series of bony fish that I observed in passing belonging to the apteronotes,
-and whose snout is white as snow, the body of a beautiful black, marked with a
-very long loose fleshy strip; odontognathes, armed with spikes; sardines nine
-inches long, glittering with a bright silver light; a species of mackerel
-provided with two anal fins; centronotes of a blackish tint, that are fished
-for with torches, long fish, two yards in length, with fat flesh, white and
-firm, which, when they arc fresh, taste like eel, and when dry, like smoked
-salmon; labres, half red, covered with scales only at the bottom of the dorsal
-and anal fins; chrysoptera, on which gold and silver blend their brightness
-with that of the ruby and topaz; golden-tailed spares, the flesh of which is
-extremely delicate, and whose phosphorescent properties betray them in the
-midst of the waters; orange-coloured spares with long tongues; maigres, with
-gold caudal fins, dark thorn-tails, anableps of Surinam, etc.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Notwithstanding this “et cetera,” I must not omit to mention fish that Conseil
-will long remember, and with good reason. One of our nets had hauled up a sort
-of very flat ray fish, which, with the tail cut off, formed a perfect disc, and
-weighed twenty ounces. It was white underneath, red above, with large round
-spots of dark blue encircled with black, very glossy skin, terminating in a
-bilobed fin. Laid out on the platform, it struggled, tried to turn itself by
-convulsive movements, and made so many efforts, that one last turn had nearly
-sent it into the sea. But Conseil, not wishing to let the fish go, rushed to
-it, and, before I could prevent him, had seized it with both hands. In a moment
-he was overthrown, his legs in the air, and half his body paralysed, crying—
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Oh! master, master! help me!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was the first time the poor boy had spoken to me so familiarly. The Canadian
-and I took him up, and rubbed his contracted arms till he became sensible. The
-unfortunate Conseil had attacked a cramp-fish of the most dangerous kind, the
-cumana. This odd animal, in a medium conductor like water, strikes fish at
-several yards’ distance, so great is the power of its electric organ, the two
-principal surfaces of which do not measure less than twenty-seven square feet.
-The next day, April 12th, the <i>Nautilus</i> approached the Dutch coast, near
-the mouth of the Maroni. There several groups of sea-cows herded together; they
-were manatees, that, like the dugong and the stellera, belong to the skenian
-order. These beautiful animals, peaceable and inoffensive, from eighteen to
-twenty-one feet in length, weigh at least sixteen hundredweight. I told Ned
-Land and Conseil that provident nature had assigned an important role to these
-mammalia. Indeed, they, like the seals, are designed to graze on the submarine
-prairies, and thus destroy the accumulation of weed that obstructs the tropical
-rivers.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And do you know,” I added, “what has been the result since men have almost
-entirely annihilated this useful race? That the putrefied weeds have poisoned
-the air, and the poisoned air causes the yellow fever, that desolates these
-beautiful countries. Enormous vegetations are multiplied under the torrid seas,
-and the evil is irresistibly developed from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to
-Florida. If we are to believe Toussenel, this plague is nothing to what it
-would be if the seas were cleaned of whales and seals. Then, infested with
-poulps, medusæ, and cuttle-fish, they would become immense centres of
-infection, since their waves would not possess �these vast stomachs that God
-had charged to infest the surface of the seas.’”
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap41"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br/>
-THE POULPS</h2>
-
-<p>
-For several days the <i>Nautilus</i> kept off from the American coast.
-Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of Mexico or of the sea
-of the Antilles. April 16th, we sighted Martinique and Guadaloupe from a
-distance of about thirty miles. I saw their tall peaks for an instant. The
-Canadian, who counted on carrying out his projects in the Gulf, by either
-landing or hailing one of the numerous boats that coast from one island to
-another, was quite disheartened. Flight would have been quite practicable, if
-Ned Land had been able to take possession of the boat without the Captain’s
-knowledge. But in the open sea it could not be thought of. The Canadian,
-Conseil, and I had a long conversation on this subject. For six months we had
-been prisoners on board the <i>Nautilus</i>. We had travelled 17,000 leagues;
-and, as Ned Land said, there was no reason why it should come to an end. We
-could hope nothing from the Captain of the <i>Nautilus</i>, but only from
-ourselves. Besides, for some time past he had become graver, more retired, less
-sociable. He seemed to shun me. I met him rarely. Formerly he was pleased to
-explain the submarine marvels to me; now he left me to my studies, and came no
-more to the saloon. What change had come over him? For what cause? For my part,
-I did not wish to bury with me my curious and novel studies. I had now the
-power to write the true book of the sea; and this book, sooner or later, I
-wished to see daylight. The land nearest us was the archipelago of the Bahamas.
-There rose high submarine cliffs covered with large weeds. It was about eleven
-o’clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable pricking, like the
-sting of an ant, which was produced by means of large seaweeds.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well,” I said, “these are proper caverns for poulps, and I should not be
-astonished to see some of these monsters.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What!” said Conseil; “cuttlefish, real cuttlefish of the cephalopod class?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No,” I said, “poulps of huge dimensions.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will never believe that such animals exist,” said Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well,” said Conseil, with the most serious air in the world, “I remember
-perfectly to have seen a large vessel drawn under the waves by an octopus’s
-arm.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You saw that?” said the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“With your own eyes?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“With my own eyes.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where, pray, might that be?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“At St. Malo,” answered Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In the port?” said Ned, ironically.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No; in a church,” replied Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In a church!” cried the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; friend Ned. In a picture representing the poulp in question.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good!” said Ned Land, bursting out laughing.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“He is quite right,” I said. “I have heard of this picture; but the subject
-represented is taken from a legend, and you know what to think of legends in
-the matter of natural history. Besides, when it is a question of monsters, the
-imagination is apt to run wild. Not only is it supposed that these poulps can
-draw down vessels, but a certain Olaus Magnus speaks of an octopus a mile long
-that is more like an island than an animal. It is also said that the Bishop of
-Nidros was building an altar on an immense rock. Mass finished, the rock began
-to walk, and returned to the sea. The rock was a poulp. Another Bishop,
-Pontoppidan, speaks also of a poulp on which a regiment of cavalry could
-manœuvre. Lastly, the ancient naturalists speak of monsters whose mouths were
-like gulfs, and which were too large to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But how much is true of these stories?” asked Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Nothing, my friends; at least of that which passes the limit of truth to get
-to fable or legend. Nevertheless, there must be some ground for the imagination
-of the story-tellers. One cannot deny that poulps and cuttlefish exist of a
-large species, inferior, however, to the cetaceans. Aristotle has stated the
-dimensions of a cuttlefish as five cubits, or nine feet two inches. Our
-fishermen frequently see some that are more than four feet long. Some skeletons
-of poulps are preserved in the museums of Trieste and Montpelier, that measure
-two yards in length. Besides, according to the calculations of some
-naturalists, one of these animals only six feet long would have tentacles
-twenty-seven feet long. That would suffice to make a formidable monster.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Do they fish for them in these days?” asked Ned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“If they do not fish for them, sailors see them at least. One of my friends,
-Captain Paul Bos of Havre, has often affirmed that he met one of these monsters
-of colossal dimensions in the Indian seas. But the most astonishing fact, and
-which does not permit of the denial of the existence of these gigantic animals,
-happened some years ago, in 1861.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is the fact?” asked Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“This is it. In 1861, to the north-east of Teneriffe, very nearly in the same
-latitude we are in now, the crew of the despatch-boat Alector perceived a
-monstrous cuttlefish swimming in the waters. Captain Bouguer went near to the
-animal, and attacked it with harpoon and guns, without much success, for balls
-and harpoons glided over the soft flesh. After several fruitless attempts the
-crew tried to pass a slip-knot round the body of the mollusc. The noose slipped
-as far as the tail fins and there stopped. They tried then to haul it on board,
-but its weight was so considerable that the tightness of the cord separated the
-tail from the body, and, deprived of this ornament, he disappeared under the
-water.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Indeed! is that a fact?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“An indisputable fact, my good Ned. They proposed to name this poulp �Bouguer’s
-cuttlefish.’”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What length was it?” asked the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Did it not measure about six yards?” said Conseil, who, posted at the window,
-was examining again the irregular windings of the cliff.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Precisely,” I replied.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Its head,” rejoined Conseil, “was it not crowned with eight tentacles, that
-beat the water like a nest of serpents?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Precisely.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Had not its eyes, placed at the back of its head, considerable development?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Conseil.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And was not its mouth like a parrot’s beak?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Exactly, Conseil.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Very well! no offence to master,” he replied, quietly; “if this is not
-Bouguer’s cuttlefish, it is, at least, one of its brothers.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked at Conseil. Ned Land hurried to the window.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What a horrible beast!” he cried.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked in my turn, and could not repress a gesture of disgust. Before my eyes
-was a horrible monster worthy to figure in the legends of the marvellous. It
-was an immense cuttlefish, being eight yards long. It swam crossways in the
-direction of the <i>Nautilus</i> with great speed, watching us with its
-enormous staring green eyes. Its eight arms, or rather feet, fixed to its head,
-that have given the name of cephalopod to these animals, were twice as long as
-its body, and were twisted like the furies’ hair. One could see the 250 air
-holes on the inner side of the tentacles. The monster’s mouth, a horned beak
-like a parrot’s, opened and shut vertically. Its tongue, a horned substance,
-furnished with several rows of pointed teeth, came out quivering from this
-veritable pair of shears. What a freak of nature, a bird’s beak on a mollusc!
-Its spindle-like body formed a fleshy mass that might weigh 4,000 to 5,000
-lbs.; the, varying colour changing with great rapidity, according to the
-irritation of the animal, passed successively from livid grey to reddish brown.
-What irritated this mollusc? No doubt the presence of the <i>Nautilus</i>, more
-formidable than itself, and on which its suckers or its jaws had no hold. Yet,
-what monsters these poulps are! what vitality the Creator has given them! what
-vigour in their movements! and they possess three hearts! Chance had brought us
-in presence of this cuttlefish, and I did not wish to lose the opportunity of
-carefully studying this specimen of cephalopods. I overcame the horror that
-inspired me, and, taking a pencil, began to draw it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Perhaps this is the same which the Alector saw,” said Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No,” replied the Canadian; “for this is whole, and the other had lost its
-tail.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is no reason,” I replied. “The arms and tails of these animals are
-re-formed by renewal; and in seven years the tail of Bouguer’s cuttlefish has
-no doubt had time to grow.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-By this time other poulps appeared at the port light. I counted seven. They
-formed a procession after the <i>Nautilus</i>, and I heard their beaks gnashing
-against the iron hull. I continued my work. These monsters kept in the water
-with such precision that they seemed immovable. Suddenly the <i>Nautilus</i>
-stopped. A shock made it tremble in every plate.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Have we struck anything?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In any case,” replied the Canadian, “we shall be free, for we are floating.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The <i>Nautilus</i> was floating, no doubt, but it did not move. A minute
-passed. Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, entered the drawing-room. I
-had not seen him for some time. He seemed dull. Without noticing or speaking to
-us, he went to the panel, looked at the poulps, and said something to his
-lieutenant. The latter went out. Soon the panels were shut. The ceiling was
-lighted. I went towards the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A curious collection of poulps?” I said.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, indeed, Mr. Naturalist,” he replied; “and we are going to fight them, man
-to beast.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked at him. I thought I had not heard aright.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Man to beast?” I repeated.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir. The screw is stopped. I think that the horny jaws of one of the
-cuttlefish is entangled in the blades. That is what prevents our moving.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What are you going to do?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Rise to the surface, and slaughter this vermin.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“A difficult enterprise.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, indeed. The electric bullets are powerless against the soft flesh, where
-they do not find resistance enough to go off. But we shall attack them with the
-hatchet.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“And the harpoon, sir,” said the Canadian, “if you do not refuse my help.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will accept it, Master Land.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We will follow you,” I said, and, following Captain Nemo, we went towards the
-central staircase.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-There, about ten men with boarding-hatchets were ready for the attack. Conseil
-and I took two hatchets; Ned Land seized a harpoon. The <i>Nautilus</i> had
-then risen to the surface. One of the sailors, posted on the top ladderstep,
-unscrewed the bolts of the panels. But hardly were the screws loosed, when the
-panel rose with great violence, evidently drawn by the suckers of a poulp’s
-arm. Immediately one of these arms slid like a serpent down the opening and
-twenty others were above. With one blow of the axe, Captain Nemo cut this
-formidable tentacle, that slid wriggling down the ladder. Just as we were
-pressing one on the other to reach the platform, two other arms, lashing the
-air, came down on the seaman placed before Captain Nemo, and lifted him up with
-irresistible power. Captain Nemo uttered a cry, and rushed out. We hurried
-after him.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus11"></a>
-<img src="images/img11.jpg" width="415" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">One of these long arms glided through the opening
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-What a scene! The unhappy man, seized by the tentacle and fixed to the suckers,
-was balanced in the air at the caprice of this enormous trunk. He rattled in
-his throat, he was stifled, he cried, “Help! help!” These words, spoken in
-French, startled me! I had a fellow-countryman on board, perhaps several! That
-heart-rending cry! I shall hear it all my life. The unfortunate man was lost.
-Who could rescue him from that powerful pressure? However, Captain Nemo had
-rushed to the poulp, and with one blow of the axe had cut through one arm. His
-lieutenant struggled furiously against other monsters that crept on the flanks
-of the <i>Nautilus</i>. The crew fought with their axes. The Canadian, Conseil,
-and I buried our weapons in the fleshy masses; a strong smell of musk
-penetrated the atmosphere. It was horrible!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For one instant, I thought the unhappy man, entangled with the poulp, would be
-torn from its powerful suction. Seven of the eight arms had been cut off. One
-only wriggled in the air, brandishing the victim like a feather. But just as
-Captain Nemo and his lieutenant threw themselves on it, the animal ejected a
-stream of black liquid. We were blinded with it. When the cloud dispersed, the
-cuttlefish had disappeared, and my unfortunate countryman with it. Ten or
-twelve poulps now invaded the platform and sides of the <i>Nautilus</i>. We
-rolled pell-mell into the midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled on the
-platform in the waves of blood and ink. It seemed as though these slimy
-tentacles sprang up like the hydra’s heads. Ned Land’s harpoon, at each stroke,
-was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish. But my bold companion was
-suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a monster he had not been able to
-avoid.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror! The formidable beak of a
-cuttlefish was open over Ned Land. The unhappy man would be cut in two. I
-rushed to his succour. But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe disappeared
-between the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the Canadian, rising,
-plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart of the poulp.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I owed myself this revenge!” said the Captain to the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned bowed without replying. The combat had lasted a quarter of an hour. The
-monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and disappeared under the
-waves. Captain Nemo, covered with blood, nearly exhausted, gazed upon the sea
-that had swallowed up one of his companions, and great tears gathered in his
-eyes.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap42"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br/>
-THE GULF STREAM</h2>
-
-<p>
-This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget. I have
-written it under the influence of violent emotion. Since then I have revised
-the recital; I have read it to Conseil and to the Canadian. They found it exact
-as to facts, but insufficient as to effect. To paint such pictures, one must
-have the pen of the most illustrious of our poets, the author of The Toilers of
-the Deep.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I have said that Captain Nemo wept while watching the waves; his grief was
-great. It was the second companion he had lost since our arrival on board, and
-what a death! That friend, crushed, stifled, bruised by the dreadful arms of a
-poulp, pounded by his iron jaws, would not rest with his comrades in the
-peaceful coral cemetery! In the midst of the struggle, it was the despairing
-cry uttered by the unfortunate man that had torn my heart. The poor Frenchman,
-forgetting his conventional language, had taken to his own mother tongue, to
-utter a last appeal! Amongst the crew of the <i>Nautilus</i>, associated with
-the body and soul of the Captain, recoiling like him from all contact with men,
-I had a fellow-countryman. Did he alone represent France in this mysterious
-association, evidently composed of individuals of divers nationalities? It was
-one of these insoluble problems that rose up unceasingly before my mind!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo entered his room, and I saw him no more for some time. But that he
-was sad and irresolute I could see by the vessel, of which he was the soul, and
-which received all his impressions. The <i>Nautilus</i> did not keep on in its
-settled course; it floated about like a corpse at the will of the waves. It
-went at random. He could not tear himself away from the scene of the last
-struggle, from this sea that had devoured one of his men. Ten days passed thus.
-It was not till the 1st of May that the <i>Nautilus</i> resumed its northerly
-course, after having sighted the Bahamas at the mouth of the Bahama Canal. We
-were then following the current from the largest river to the sea, that has its
-banks, its fish, and its proper temperatures. I mean the Gulf Stream. It is
-really a river, that flows freely to the middle of the Atlantic, and whose
-waters do not mix with the ocean waters. It is a salt river, salter than the
-surrounding sea. Its mean depth is 1,500 fathoms, its mean breadth ten miles.
-In certain places the current flows with the speed of two miles and a half an
-hour. The body of its waters is more considerable than that of all the rivers
-in the globe. It was on this ocean river that the <i>Nautilus</i> then sailed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I must add that, during the night, the phosphorescent waters of the Gulf Stream
-rivalled the electric power of our watch-light, especially in the stormy
-weather that threatened us so frequently. May 8th, we were still crossing Cape
-Hatteras, at the height of the North Caroline. The width of the Gulf Stream
-there is seventy-five miles, and its depth 210 yards. The <i>Nautilus</i> still
-went at random; all supervision seemed abandoned. I thought that, under these
-circumstances, escape would be possible. Indeed, the inhabited shores offered
-anywhere an easy refuge. The sea was incessantly ploughed by the steamers that
-ply between New York or Boston and the Gulf of Mexico, and overrun day and
-night by the little schooners coasting about the several parts of the American
-coast. We could hope to be picked up. It was a favourable opportunity,
-notwithstanding the thirty miles that separated the <i>Nautilus</i> from the
-coasts of the Union. One unfortunate circumstance thwarted the Canadian’s
-plans. The weather was very bad. We were nearing those shores where tempests
-are so frequent, that country of waterspouts and cyclones actually engendered
-by the current of the Gulf Stream. To tempt the sea in a frail boat was certain
-destruction. Ned Land owned this himself. He fretted, seized with nostalgia
-that flight only could cure.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Master,” he said that day to me, “this must come to an end. I must make a
-clean breast of it. This Nemo is leaving land and going up to the north. But I
-declare to you that I have had enough of the South Pole, and I will not follow
-him to the North.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is to be done, Ned, since flight is impracticable just now?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We must speak to the Captain,” said he; “you said nothing when we were in your
-native seas. I will speak, now we are in mine. When I think that before long
-the <i>Nautilus</i> will be by Nova Scotia, and that there near New foundland
-is a large bay, and into that bay the St. Lawrence empties itself, and that the
-St. Lawrence is my river, the river by Quebec, my native town—when I think of
-this, I feel furious, it makes my hair stand on end. Sir, I would rather throw
-myself into the sea! I will not stay here! I am stifled!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian was evidently losing all patience. His vigorous nature could not
-stand this prolonged imprisonment. His face altered daily; his temper became
-more surly. I knew what he must suffer, for I was seized with home-sickness
-myself. Nearly seven months had passed without our having had any news from
-land; Captain Nemo’s isolation, his altered spirits, especially since the fight
-with the poulps, his taciturnity, all made me view things in a different light.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, sir?” said Ned, seeing I did not reply.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Well, Ned, do you wish me to ask Captain Nemo his intentions concerning us?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Although he has already made them known?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; I wish it settled finally. Speak for me, in my name only, if you like.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But I so seldom meet him. He avoids me.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is all the more reason for you to go to see him.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I went to my room. From thence I meant to go to Captain Nemo’s. It would not do
-to let this opportunity of meeting him slip. I knocked at the door. No answer.
-I knocked again, then turned the handle. The door opened, I went in. The
-Captain was there. Bending over his work-table, he had not heard me. Resolved
-not to go without having spoken, I approached him. He raised his head quickly,
-frowned, and said roughly, “You here! What do you want?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To speak to you, Captain.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But I am busy, sir; I am working. I leave you at liberty to shut yourself up;
-cannot I be allowed the same?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This reception was not encouraging; but I was determined to hear and answer
-everything.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” I said coldly, “I have to speak to you on a matter that admits of no
-delay.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is that, sir?” he replied, ironically. “Have you discovered something
-that has escaped me, or has the sea delivered up any new secrets?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were at cross-purposes. But, before I could reply, he showed me an open
-manuscript on his table, and said, in a more serious tone, “Here, M. Aronnax,
-is a manuscript written in several languages. It contains the sum of my studies
-of the sea; and, if it please God, it shall not perish with me. This
-manuscript, signed with my name, complete with the history of my life, will be
-shut up in a little floating case. The last survivor of all of us on board the
-<i>Nautilus</i> will throw this case into the sea, and it will go whither it is
-borne by the waves.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-This man’s name! his history written by himself! His mystery would then be
-revealed some day.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Captain,” I said, “I can but approve of the idea that makes you act thus. The
-result of your studies must not be lost. But the means you employ seem to me to
-be primitive. Who knows where the winds will carry this case, and in whose
-hands it will fall? Could you not use some other means? Could not you, or one
-of yours——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Never, sir!” he said, hastily interrupting me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But I and my companions are ready to keep this manuscript in store; and, if
-you will put us at liberty——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“At liberty?” said the Captain, rising.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir; that is the subject on which I wish to question you. For seven
-months we have been here on board, and I ask you to-day, in the name of my
-companions and in my own, if your intention is to keep us here always?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“M. Aronnax, I will answer you to-day as I did seven months ago: Whoever enters
-the <i>Nautilus</i>, must never quit it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You impose actual slavery upon us!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Give it what name you please.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But everywhere the slave has the right to regain his liberty.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Who denies you this right? Have I ever tried to chain you with an oath?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He looked at me with his arms crossed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” I said, “to return a second time to this subject will be neither to your
-nor to my taste; but, as we have entered upon it, let us go through with it. I
-repeat, it is not only myself whom it concerns. Study is to me a relief, a
-diversion, a passion that could make me forget everything. Like you, I am
-willing to live obscure, in the frail hope of bequeathing one day, to future
-time, the result of my labours. But it is otherwise with Ned Land. Every man,
-worthy of the name, deserves some consideration. Have you thought that love of
-liberty, hatred of slavery, can give rise to schemes of revenge in a nature
-like the Canadian’s; that he could think, attempt, and try——”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was silenced; Captain Nemo rose.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Whatever Ned Land thinks of, attempts, or tries, what does it matter to me? I
-did not seek him! It is not for my pleasure that I keep him on board! As for
-you, M. Aronnax, you are one of those who can understand everything, even
-silence. I have nothing more to say to you. Let this first time you have come
-to treat of this subject be the last, for a second time I will not listen to
-you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I retired. Our situation was critical. I related my conversation to my two
-companions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We know now,” said Ned, “that we can expect nothing from this man. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> is nearing Long Island. We will escape, whatever the weather
-may be.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But the sky became more and more threatening. Symptoms of a hurricane became
-manifest. The atmosphere was becoming white and misty. On the horizon fine
-streaks of cirrhous clouds were succeeded by masses of cumuli. Other low clouds
-passed swiftly by. The swollen sea rose in huge billows. The birds disappeared
-with the exception of the petrels, those friends of the storm. The barometer
-fell sensibly, and indicated an extreme extension of the vapours. The mixture
-of the storm glass was decomposed under the influence of the electricity that
-pervaded the atmosphere. The tempest burst on the 18th of May, just as the
-<i>Nautilus</i> was floating off Long Island, some miles from the port of New
-York. I can describe this strife of the elements! for, instead of fleeing to
-the depths of the sea, Captain Nemo, by an unaccountable caprice, would brave
-it at the surface. The wind blew from the south-west at first. Captain Nemo,
-during the squalls, had taken his place on the platform. He had made himself
-fast, to prevent being washed overboard by the monstrous waves. I had hoisted
-myself up, and made myself fast also, dividing my admiration between the
-tempest and this extraordinary man who was coping with it. The raging sea was
-swept by huge cloud-drifts, which were actually saturated with the waves. The
-<i>Nautilus</i>, sometimes lying on its side, sometimes standing up like a
-mast, rolled and pitched terribly. About five o’clock a torrent of rain fell,
-that lulled neither sea nor wind. The hurri cane blew nearly forty leagues an
-hour. It is under these conditions that it overturns houses, breaks iron gates,
-displaces twenty-four pounders. However, the <i>Nautilus</i>, in the midst of
-the tempest, confirmed the words of a clever engineer, “There is no
-well-constructed hull that cannot defy the sea.” This was not a resisting rock;
-it was a steel spindle, obedient and movable, without rigging or masts, that
-braved its fury with impunity. However, I watched these raging waves
-attentively. They measured fifteen feet in height, and 150 to 175 yards long,
-and their speed of propagation was thirty feet per second. Their bulk and power
-increased with the depth of the water. Such waves as these, at the Hebrides,
-have displaced a mass weighing 8,400 lbs. They are they which, in the tempest
-of December 23rd, 1864, after destroying the town of Yeddo, in Japan, broke the
-same day on the shores of America. The intensity of the tempest increased with
-the night. The barometer, as in 1860 at Reunion during a cyclone, fell
-seven-tenths at the close of day. I saw a large vessel pass the horizon
-struggling painfully. She was trying to lie to under half steam, to keep up
-above the waves. It was probably one of the steamers of the line from New York
-to Liverpool, or Havre. It soon disappeared in the gloom. At ten o’clock in the
-evening the sky was on fire. The atmosphere was streaked with vivid lightning.
-I could not bear the brightness of it; while the captain, looking at it, seemed
-to envy the spirit of the tempest. A terrible noise filled the air, a complex
-noise, made up of the howls of the crushed waves, the roaring of the wind, and
-the claps of thunder. The wind veered suddenly to all points of the horizon;
-and the cyclone, rising in the east, returned after passing by the north, west,
-and south, in the inverse course pursued by the circular storm of the southern
-hemisphere. Ah, that Gulf Stream! It deserves its name of the King of Tempests.
-It is that which causes those formidable cyclones, by the difference of
-temperature between its air and its currents. A shower of fire had succeeded
-the rain. The drops of water were changed to sharp spikes. One would have
-thought that Captain Nemo was courting a death worthy of himself, a death by
-lightning. As the <i>Nautilus</i>, pitching dreadfully, raised its steel spur
-in the air, it seemed to act as a conductor, and I saw long sparks burst from
-it. Crushed and without strength I crawled to the panel, opened it, and
-descended to the saloon. The storm was then at its height. It was impossible to
-stand upright in the interior of the <i>Nautilus</i>. Captain Nemo came down
-about twelve. I heard the reservoirs filling by degrees, and the
-<i>Nautilus</i> sank slowly beneath the waves. Through the open windows in the
-saloon I saw large fish terrified, passing like phantoms in the water. Some
-were struck before my eyes. The <i>Nautilus</i> was still descending. I thought
-that at about eight fathoms deep we should find a calm. But no! the upper beds
-were too violently agitated for that. We had to seek repose at more than
-twenty-five fathoms in the bowels of the deep. But there, what quiet, what
-silence, what peace! Who could have told that such a hurricane had been let
-loose on the surface of that ocean?
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap43"></a>CHAPTER XX<br/>
-FROM LATITUDE 47° 24&#x2032; TO LONGITUDE 17° 28&#x2032;</h2>
-
-<p>
-In consequence of the storm, we had been thrown eastward once more. All hope of
-escape on the shores of New York or St. Lawrence had faded away; and poor Ned,
-in despair, had isolated himself like Captain Nemo. Conseil and I, however,
-never left each other. I said that the <i>Nautilus</i> had gone aside to the
-east. I should have said (to be more exact) the north-east. For some days, it
-wandered first on the surface, and then beneath it, amid those fogs so dreaded
-by sailors. What accidents are due to these thick fogs! What shocks upon these
-reefs when the wind drowns the breaking of the waves! What collisions between
-vessels, in spite of their warning lights, whistles, and alarm bells! And the
-bottoms of these seas look like a field of battle, where still lie all the
-conquered of the ocean; some old and already encrusted, others fresh and
-reflecting from their iron bands and copper plates the brilliancy of our
-lantern.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 15th of May we were at the extreme south of the Bank of Newfoundland.
-This bank consists of alluvia, or large heaps of organic matter, brought either
-from the Equator by the Gulf Stream, or from the North Pole by the
-counter-current of cold water which skirts the American coast. There also are
-heaped up those erratic blocks which are carried along by the broken ice; and
-close by, a vast charnel-house of molluscs, which perish here by millions. The
-depth of the sea is not great at Newfoundland—not more than some hundreds of
-fathoms; but towards the south is a depression of 1,500 fathoms. There the Gulf
-Stream widens. It loses some of its speed and some of its temperature, but it
-becomes a sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was on the 17th of May, about 500 miles from Heart’s Content, at a depth of
-more than 1,400 fathoms, that I saw the electric cable lying on the bottom.
-Conseil, to whom I had not mentioned it, thought at first that it was a
-gigantic sea-serpent. But I undeceived the worthy fellow, and by way of
-consolation related several particulars in the laying of this cable. The first
-one was laid in the years 1857 and 1858; but, after transmitting about 400
-telegrams, would not act any longer. In 1863 the engineers constructed an other
-one, measuring 2,000 miles in length, and weighing 4,500 tons, which was
-embarked on the Great Eastern. This attempt also failed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 25th of May the <i>Nautilus</i>, being at a depth of more than 1,918
-fathoms, was on the precise spot where the rupture occurred which ruined the
-enterprise. It was within 638 miles of the coast of Ireland; and at half-past
-two in the afternoon they discovered that communication with Europe had ceased.
-The electricians on board resolved to cut the cable before fishing it up, and
-at eleven o’clock at night they had recovered the damaged part. They made
-another point and spliced it, and it was once more submerged. But some days
-after it broke again, and in the depths of the ocean could not be recaptured.
-The Americans, however, were not discouraged. Cyrus Field, the bold promoter of
-the enterprise, as he had sunk all his own fortune, set a new subscription on
-foot, which was at once answered, and another cable was constructed on better
-principles. The bundles of conducting wires were each enveloped in
-gutta-percha, and protected by a wadding of hemp, contained in a metallic
-covering. The Great Eastern sailed on the 13th of July, 1866. The operation
-worked well. But one incident occurred. Several times in unrolling the cable
-they observed that nails had recently been forced into it, evidently with the
-motive of destroying it. Captain Anderson, the officers, and engineers
-consulted together, and had it posted up that, if the offender was surprised on
-board, he would be thrown without further trial into the sea. From that time
-the criminal attempt was never repeated.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-On the 23rd of July the Great Eastern was not more than 500 miles from
-Newfoundland, when they telegraphed from Ireland the news of the armistice
-concluded between Prussia and Austria after Sadowa. On the 27th, in the midst
-of heavy fogs, they reached the port of Heart’s Content. The enterprise was
-successfully terminated; and for its first despatch, young America addressed
-old Europe in these words of wisdom, so rarely understood: “Glory to God in the
-highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I did not expect to find the electric cable in its primitive state, such as it
-was on leaving the manufactory. The long serpent, covered with the remains of
-shells, bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted with a strong coating which
-served as a protection against all boring molluscs. It lay quietly sheltered
-from the motions of the sea, and under a favourable pressure for the
-transmission of the electric spark which passes from Europe to America in .32
-of a second. Doubtless this cable will last for a great length of time, for
-they find that the gutta-percha covering is improved by the sea-water. Besides,
-on this level, so well chosen, the cable is never so deeply submerged as to
-cause it to break. The <i>Nautilus</i> followed it to the lowest depth, which
-was more than 2,212 fathoms, and there it lay without any anchorage; and then
-we reached the spot where the accident had taken place in 1863. The bottom of
-the ocean then formed a valley about 100 miles broad, in which Mont Blanc might
-have been placed without its summit appearing above the waves. This valley is
-closed at the east by a perpendicular wall more than 2,000 yards high. We
-arrived there on the 28th of May, and the <i>Nautilus</i> was then not more
-than 120 miles from Ireland.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Was Captain Nemo going to land on the British Isles? No. To my great surprise
-he made for the south, once more coming back towards European seas. In rounding
-the Emerald Isle, for one instant I caught sight of Cape Clear, and the light
-which guides the thousands of vessels leaving Glasgow or Liverpool. An
-important question then arose in my mind. Did the <i>Nautilus</i> dare entangle
-itself in the Manche? Ned Land, who had re-appeared since we had been nearing
-land, did not cease to question me. How could I answer? Captain Nemo remained
-invisible. After having shown the Canadian a glimpse of American shores, was he
-going to show me the coast of France?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But the <i>Nautilus</i> was still going southward. On the 30th of May, it
-passed in sight of Land’s End, between the extreme point of England and the
-Scilly Isles, which were left to starboard. If we wished to enter the Manche,
-he must go straight to the east. He did not do so.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-During the whole of the 31st of May, the <i>Nautilus</i> described a series of
-circles on the water, which greatly interested me. It seemed to be seeking a
-spot it had some trouble in finding. At noon, Captain Nemo himself came to work
-the ship’s log. He spoke no word to me, but seemed gloomier than ever. What
-could sadden him thus? Was it his proxim ity to European shores? Had he some
-recollections of his abandoned country? If not, what did he feel? Remorse or
-regret? For a long while this thought haunted my mind, and I had a kind of
-presentiment that before long chance would betray the captain’s secrets.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The next day, the 1st of June, the <i>Nautilus</i> continued the same process.
-It was evidently seeking some particular spot in the ocean. Captain Nemo took
-the sun’s altitude as he had done the day before. The sea was beautiful, the
-sky clear. About eight miles to the east, a large steam vessel could be
-discerned on the horizon. No flag fluttered from its mast, and I could not
-discover its nationality. Some minutes before the sun passed the meridian,
-Captain Nemo took his sextant, and watched with great attention. The perfect
-rest of the water greatly helped the operation. The <i>Nautilus</i> was
-motionless; it neither rolled nor pitched.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was on the platform when the altitude was taken, and the Captain pronounced
-these words: “It is here.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He turned and went below. Had he seen the vessel which was changing its course
-and seemed to be nearing us? I could not tell. I returned to the saloon. The
-panels closed, I heard the hissing of the water in the reservoirs. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> began to sink, following a vertical line, for its screw
-communicated no motion to it. Some minutes later it stopped at a depth of more
-than 420 fathoms, resting on the ground. The luminous ceiling was darkened,
-then the panels were opened, and through the glass I saw the sea brilliantly
-illuminated by the rays of our lantern for at least half a mile round us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked to the port side, and saw nothing but an immensity of quiet waters.
-But to starboard, on the bottom appeared a large protuberance, which at once
-attracted my attention. One would have thought it a ruin buried under a coating
-of white shells, much resembling a covering of snow. Upon examining the mass
-attentively, I could recognise the ever-thickening form of a vessel bare of its
-masts, which must have sunk. It certainly belonged to past times. This wreck,
-to be thus encrusted with the lime of the water, must already be able to count
-many years passed at the bottom of the ocean.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What was this vessel? Why did the <i>Nautilus</i> visit its tomb? Could it have
-been aught but a shipwreck which had drawn it under the water? I knew not what
-to think, when near me in a slow voice I heard Captain Nemo say:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“At one time this ship was called the Marseillais. It carried seventy-four
-guns, and was launched in 1762. In 1778, the 13th of August, commanded by La
-Poype-Ver trieux, it fought boldly against the Preston. In 1779, on the 4th of
-July, it was at the taking of Grenada, with the squadron of Admiral Estaing. In
-1781, on the 5th of September, it took part in the battle of Comte de Grasse,
-in Chesapeake Bay. In 1794, the French Republic changed its name. On the 16th
-of April, in the same year, it joined the squadron of Villaret Joyeuse, at
-Brest, being entrusted with the escort of a cargo of corn coming from America,
-under the command of Admiral Van Stebel. On the 11th and 12th Prairal of the
-second year, this squadron fell in with an English vessel. Sir, to-day is the
-13th Prairal, the first of June, 1868. It is now seventy-four years ago, day
-for day on this very spot, in latitude 47° 24&#x2032;, longitude 17°
-28&#x2032;, that this vessel, after fighting heroically, losing its three
-masts, with the water in its hold, and the third of its crew disabled,
-preferred sinking with its 356 sailors to surrendering; and, nailing its
-colours to the poop, disappeared under the waves to the cry of �Long live the
-Republic!’”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The Avenger!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, sir, the Avenger! A good name!” muttered Captain Nemo, crossing his arms.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap44"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br/>
-A HECATOMB</h2>
-
-<p>
-The way of describing this unlooked-for scene, the history of the patriot ship,
-told at first so coldly, and the emotion with which this strange man pronounced
-the last words, the name of the Avenger, the significance of which could not
-escape me, all impressed itself deeply on my mind. My eyes did not leave the
-Captain, who, with his hand stretched out to sea, was watching with a glowing
-eye the glorious wreck. Perhaps I was never to know who he was, from whence he
-came, or where he was going to, but I saw the man move, and apart from the
-<i>savant</i>. It was no common misanthropy which had shut Captain Nemo and his
-companions within the <i>Nautilus</i>, but a hatred, either monstrous or
-sublime, which time could never weaken. Did this hatred still seek for
-vengeance? The future would soon teach me that. But the <i>Nautilus</i> was
-rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the form of the Avenger
-disappeared by degrees from my sight. Soon a slight rolling told me that we
-were in the open air. At that moment a dull boom was heard. I looked at the
-Captain. He did not move.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Captain?” said I.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He did not answer. I left him and mounted the platform. Conseil and the
-Canadian were already there.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Where did that sound come from?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It was a gunshot,” replied Ned Land.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I looked in the direction of the vessel I had already seen. It was nearing the
-<i>Nautilus</i>, and we could see that it was putting on steam. It was within
-six miles of us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is that ship, Ned?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“By its rigging, and the height of its lower masts,” said the Canadian, “I bet
-she is a ship-of-war. May it reach us; and, if necessary, sink this cursed
-<i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Friend Ned,” replied Conseil, “what harm can it do to the <i>Nautilus?</i> Can
-it attack it beneath the waves? Can its cannonade us at the bottom of the sea?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Tell me, Ned,” said I, “can you recognise what country she belongs to?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian knitted his eyebrows, dropped his eyelids, and screwed up the
-corners of his eyes, and for a few moments fixed a piercing look upon the
-vessel.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“No, sir,” he replied; “I cannot tell what nation she belongs to, for she shows
-no colours. But I can declare she is a man-of-war, for a long pennant flutters
-from her main mast.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For a quarter of an hour we watched the ship which was steaming towards us. I
-could not, however, believe that she could see the <i>Nautilus</i> from that
-distance; and still less that she could know what this submarine engine was.
-Soon the Canadian informed me that she was a large, armoured, two-decker ram. A
-thick black smoke was pouring from her two funnels. Her closely-furled sails
-were stopped to her yards. She hoisted no flag at her mizzen-peak. The distance
-prevented us from distinguishing the colours of her pennant, which floated like
-a thin ribbon. She advanced rapidly. If Captain Nemo allowed her to approach,
-there was a chance of salvation for us.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” said Ned Land, “if that vessel passes within a mile of us I shall throw
-myself into the sea, and I should advise you to do the same.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I did not reply to the Canadian’s suggestion, but continued watching the ship.
-Whether English, French, American, or Russian, she would be sure to take us in
-if we could only reach her. Presently a white smoke burst from the fore part of
-the vessel; some seconds after, the water, agitated by the fall of a heavy
-body, splashed the stern of the <i>Nautilus</i>, and shortly afterwards a loud
-explosion struck my ear.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What! they are firing at us!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“So please you, sir,” said Ned, “they have recognised the unicorn, and they are
-firing at us.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But,” I exclaimed, “surely they can see that there are men in the case?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“It is, perhaps, because of that,” replied Ned Land, looking at me.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-A whole flood of light burst upon my mind. Doubtless they knew now how to
-believe the stories of the pretended monster. No doubt, on board the <i>Abraham
-Lincoln</i>, when the Canadian struck it with the harpoon, Commander Farragut
-had recognised in the supposed narwhal a submarine vessel, more dangerous than
-a supernatural cetacean. Yes, it must have been so; and on every sea they were
-now seeking this engine of destruction. Terrible indeed! if, as we supposed,
-Captain Nemo employed the <i>Nautilus</i> in works of vengeance. On the night
-when we were imprisoned in that cell, in the midst of the Indian Ocean, had he
-not attacked some vessel? The man buried in the coral cemetery, had he not been
-a victim to the shock caused by the <i>Nautilus?</i> Yes, I repeat it, it must
-be so. One part of the mysterious existence of Captain Nemo had been unveiled;
-and, if his identity had not been recognised, at least, the nations united
-against him were no longer hunting a chimerical creature, but a man who had
-vowed a deadly hatred against them. All the formidable past rose before me.
-Instead of meeting friends on board the approaching ship, we could only expect
-pitiless enemies. But the shot rattled about us. Some of them struck the sea
-and ricochetted, losing themselves in the distance. But none touched the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. The vessel was not more than three miles from us. In spite of
-the serious cannonade, Captain Nemo did not appear on the platform; but, if one
-of the conical projectiles had struck the shell of the <i>Nautilus</i>, it
-would have been fatal. The Canadian then said, “Sir, we must do all we can to
-get out of this dilemma. Let us signal them. They will then, perhaps,
-understand that we are honest folks.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land took his handkerchief to wave in the air; but he had scarcely
-displayed it, when he was struck down by an iron hand, and fell, in spite of
-his great strength, upon the deck.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Fool!” exclaimed the Captain, “do you wish to be pierced by the spur of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> before it is hurled at this vessel?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Captain Nemo was terrible to hear; he was still more terrible to see. His face
-was deadly pale, with a spasm at his heart. For an instant it must have ceased
-to beat. His pupils were fearfully contracted. He did not speak, he roared, as,
-with his body thrown forward, he wrung the Canadian’s shoulders. Then, leaving
-him, and turning to the ship of war, whose shot was still raining around him,
-he exclaimed, with a powerful voice, “Ah, ship of an accursed nation, you know
-who I am! I do not want your colours to know you by! Look! and I will show you
-mine!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And on the fore part of the platform Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag,
-similar to the one he had placed at the South Pole. At that moment a shot
-struck the shell of the <i>Nautilus</i> obliquely, without piercing it; and,
-rebounding near the Captain, was lost in the sea. He shrugged his shoulders;
-and, addressing me, said shortly, “Go down, you and your companions, go down!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir,” I cried, “are you going to attack this vessel?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Sir, I am going to sink it.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You will not do that?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I shall do it,” he replied coldly. “And I advise you not to judge me, sir.
-Fate has shown you what you ought not to have seen. The attack has begun; go
-down.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What is this vessel?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“You do not know? Very well! so much the better! Its nationality to you, at
-least, will be a secret. Go down!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We could but obey. About fifteen of the sailors surrounded the Captain, looking
-with implacable hatred at the vessel nearing them. One could feel that the same
-desire of vengeance animated every soul. I went down at the moment another
-projectile struck the <i>Nautilus</i>, and I heard the Captain exclaim:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Strike, mad vessel! Shower your useless shot! And then, you will not escape
-the spur of the <i>Nautilus</i>. But it is not here that you shall perish! I
-would not have your ruins mingle with those of the Avenger!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I reached my room. The Captain and his second had remained on the platform. The
-screw was set in motion, and the <i>Nautilus</i>, moving with speed, was soon
-beyond the reach of the ship’s guns. But the pursuit continued, and Captain
-Nemo contented himself with keeping his distance.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-About four in the afternoon, being no longer able to contain my impatience, I
-went to the central staircase. The panel was open, and I ventured on to the
-platform. The Captain was still walking up and down with an agitated step. He
-was looking at the ship, which was five or six miles to leeward.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He was going round it like a wild beast, and, drawing it eastward, he allowed
-them to pursue. But he did not attack. Perhaps he still hesitated? I wished to
-mediate once more. But I had scarcely spoken, when Captain Nemo imposed
-silence, saying:
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the
-oppressor! Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished, and
-venerated—country, wife, children, father, and mother. I saw all perish! All
-that I hate is there! Say no more!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I cast a last look at the man-of-war, which was putting on steam, and rejoined
-Ned and Conseil.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We will fly!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Good!” said Ned. “What is this vessel?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not know; but, whatever it is, it will be sunk before night. In any case,
-it is better to perish with it, than be made accomplices in a retaliation the
-justice of which we cannot judge.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“That is my opinion too,” said Ned Land, coolly. “Let us wait for night.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Night arrived. Deep silence reigned on board. The compass showed that the
-<i>Nautilus</i> had not altered its course. It was on the surface, rolling
-slightly. My companions and I resolved to fly when the vessel should be near
-enough either to hear us or to see us; for the moon, which would be full in two
-or three days, shone brightly. Once on board the ship, if we could not prevent
-the blow which threatened it, we could, at least we would, do all that
-circumstances would allow. Several times I thought the <i>Nautilus</i> was
-preparing for attack; but Captain Nemo contented himself with allowing his
-adversary to approach, and then fled once more before it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Part of the night passed without any incident. We watched the opportunity for
-action. We spoke little, for we were too much moved. Ned Land would have thrown
-himself into the sea, but I forced him to wait. According to my idea, the
-<i>Nautilus</i> would attack the ship at her waterline, and then it would not
-only be possible, but easy to fly.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At three in the morning, full of uneasiness, I mounted the platform. Captain
-Nemo had not left it. He was standing at the fore part near his flag, which a
-slight breeze displayed above his head. He did not take his eyes from the
-vessel. The intensity of his look seemed to attract, and fascinate, and draw it
-onward more surely than if he had been towing it. The moon was then passing the
-meridian. Jupiter was rising in the east. Amid this peaceful scene of nature,
-sky and ocean rivalled each other in tranquillity, the sea offering to the orbs
-of night the finest mirror they could ever have in which to reflect their
-image. As I thought of the deep calm of these elements, compared with all those
-passions brooding imperceptibly within the <i>Nautilus</i>, I shuddered.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The vessel was within two miles of us. It was ever nearing that phosphorescent
-light which showed the presence of the <i>Nautilus</i>. I could see its green
-and red lights, and its white lantern hanging from the large foremast. An
-indistinct vibration quivered through its rigging, showing that the furnaces
-were heated to the uttermost. Sheaves of sparks and red ashes flew from the
-funnels, shining in the atmosphere like stars.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I remained thus until six in the morning, without Captain Nemo noticing me. The
-ship stood about a mile and a half from us, and with the first dawn of day the
-firing began afresh. The moment could not be far off when, the <i>Nautilus</i>
-attacking its adversary, my companions and myself should for ever leave this
-man. I was preparing to go down to remind them, when the second mounted the
-platform, accompanied by several sailors. Captain Nemo either did not or would
-not see them. Some steps were taken which might be called the signal for
-action. They were very simple. The iron balustrade around the platform was
-lowered, and the lantern and pilot cages were pushed within the shell until
-they were flush with the deck. The long surface of the steel cigar no longer
-offered a single point to check its manœuvres. I returned to the saloon. The
-<i>Nautilus</i> still floated; some streaks of light were filtering through the
-liquid beds. With the undulations of the waves the windows were brightened by
-the red streaks of the rising sun, and this dreadful day of the 2nd of June had
-dawned.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At five o’clock, the log showed that the speed of the <i>Nautilus</i> was
-slackening, and I knew that it was allowing them to draw nearer. Besides, the
-reports were heard more distinctly, and the projectiles, labouring through the
-ambient water, were extinguished with a strange hissing noise.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“My friends,” said I, “the moment is come. One grasp of the hand, and may God
-protect us!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Ned Land was resolute, Conseil calm, myself so nervous that I knew not how to
-contain myself. We all passed into the library; but the moment I pushed the
-door opening on to the central staircase, I heard the upper panel close
-sharply. The Canadian rushed on to the stairs, but I stopped him. A well-known
-hissing noise told me that the water was running into the reservoirs, and in a
-few minutes the <i>Nautilus</i> was some yards beneath the surface of the
-waves. I understood the manœuvre. It was too late to act. The <i>Nautilus</i>
-did not wish to strike at the impenetrable cuirass, but below the water-line,
-where the metallic covering no longer protected it.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were again imprisoned, unwilling witnesses of the dreadful drama that was
-preparing. We had scarcely time to reflect; taking refuge in my room, we looked
-at each other without speaking. A deep stupor had taken hold of my mind:
-thought seemed to stand still. I was in that painful state of expectation
-preceding a dreadful report. I waited, I listened, every sense was merged in
-that of hearing! The speed of the <i>Nautilus</i> was accelerated. It was
-preparing to rush. The whole ship trembled. Suddenly I screamed. I felt the
-shock, but comparatively light. I felt the penetrating power of the steel spur.
-I heard rattlings and scrapings. But the <i>Nautilus</i>, carried along by its
-propelling power, passed through the mass of the vessel like a needle through
-sailcloth!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I could stand it no longer. Mad, out of my mind, I rushed from my room into the
-saloon. Captain Nemo was there, mute, gloomy, implacable; he was looking
-through the port panel. A large mass cast a shadow on the water; and, that it
-might lose nothing of her agony, the <i>Nautilus</i> was going down into the
-abyss with her. Ten yards from me I saw the open shell, through which the water
-was rushing with the noise of thunder, then the double line of guns and the
-netting. The bridge was covered with black, agitated shadows.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The water was rising. The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines, clinging
-to the masts, struggling under the water. It was a human ant-heap overtaken by
-the sea. Paralysed, stiffened with anguish, my hair standing on end, with eyes
-wide open, panting, without breath, and without voice, I too was watching! An
-irresistible attraction glued me to the glass! Suddenly an explosion took
-place. The compressed air blew up her decks, as if the magazines had caught
-fire. Then the unfortunate vessel sank more rapidly. Her topmast, laden with
-victims, now appeared; then her spars, bending under the weight of men; and,
-last of all, the top of her mainmast. Then the dark mass disappeared, and with
-it the dead crew, drawn down by the strong eddy.
-</p>
-
-<div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
-<a name="illus12"></a>
-<img src="images/img12.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
-<p class="caption">The unfortunate vessel sank more rapidly
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-I turned to Captain Nemo. That terrible avenger, a perfect archangel of hatred,
-was still looking. When all was over, he turned to his room, opened the door,
-and entered. I followed him with my eyes. On the end wall beneath his heroes, I
-saw the portrait of a woman, still young, and two little children. Captain Nemo
-looked at them for some moments, stretched his arms towards them, and, kneeling
-down, burst into deep sobs.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap45"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br/>
-THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO</h2>
-
-<p>
-The panels had closed on this dreadful vision, but light had not returned to
-the saloon: all was silence and darkness within the <i>Nautilus</i>. At
-wonderful speed, a hundred feet beneath the water, it was leaving this desolate
-spot. Whither was it going? To the north or south? Where was the man flying to
-after such dreadful retaliation? I had returned to my room, where Ned and
-Conseil had remained silent enough. I felt an insurmountable horror for Captain
-Nemo. Whatever he had suffered at the hands of these men, he had no right to
-punish thus. He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least a witness of his
-vengeance. At eleven the electric light reappeared. I passed into the saloon.
-It was deserted. I consulted the different instruments. The <i>Nautilus</i> was
-flying northward at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, now on the surface,
-and now thirty feet below it. On taking the bearings by the chart, I saw that
-we were passing the mouth of the Manche, and that our course was hurrying us
-towards the northern seas at a frightful speed. That night we had crossed two
-hundred leagues of the Atlantic. The shadows fell, and the sea was covered with
-darkness until the rising of the moon. I went to my room, but could not sleep.
-I was troubled with dreadful nightmare. The horrible scene of destruction was
-continually before my eyes. From that day, who could tell into what part of the
-North Atlantic basin the <i>Nautilus</i> would take us? Still with
-unaccountable speed. Still in the midst of these northern fogs. Would it touch
-at Spitzbergen, or on the shores of Nova Zembla? Should we explore those
-unknown seas, the White Sea, the Sea of Kara, the Gulf of Obi, the Archipelago
-of Liarrov, and the unknown coast of Asia? I could not say. I could no longer
-judge of the time that was passing. The clocks had been stopped on board. It
-seemed, as in polar countries, that night and day no longer followed their
-regular course. I felt myself being drawn into that strange region where the
-foundered imagination of Edgar Poe roamed at will. Like the fabulous Gordon
-Pym, at every moment I expected to see “that veiled human figure, of larger
-proportions than those of any inhabitant of the earth, thrown across the
-cataract which defends the approach to the pole.” I estimated (though, perhaps,
-I may be mistaken)—I estimated this adventurous course of the <i>Nautilus</i>
-to have lasted fifteen or twenty days. And I know not how much longer it might
-have lasted, had it not been for the catastrophe which ended this voyage. Of
-Captain Nemo I saw nothing whatever now, nor of his second. Not a man of the
-crew was visible for an instant. The <i>Nautilus</i> was almost incessantly
-under water. When we came to the surface to renew the air, the panels opened
-and shut mechanically. There were no more marks on the planisphere. I knew not
-where we were. And the Canadian, too, his strength and patience at an end,
-appeared no more. Conseil could not draw a word from him; and, fearing that, in
-a dreadful fit of madness, he might kill himself, watched him with constant
-devotion. One morning (what date it was I could not say) I had fallen into a
-heavy sleep towards the early hours, a sleep both painful and unhealthy, when I
-suddenly awoke. Ned Land was leaning over me, saying, in a low voice, “We are
-going to fly.” I sat up.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“When shall we go?” I asked.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“To-night. All inspection on board the <i>Nautilus</i> seems to have ceased.
-All appear to be stupefied. You will be ready, sir?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes; where are we?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“In sight of land. I took the reckoning this morning in the fog—twenty miles to
-the east.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“What country is it?”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I do not know; but, whatever it is, we will take refuge there.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes, Ned, yes. We will fly to-night, even if the sea should swallow us up.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The sea is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light boat of the
-<i>Nautilus</i> does not frighten me. Unknown to the crew, I have been able to
-procure food and some bottles of water.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“I will follow you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“But,” continued the Canadian, “if I am surprised, I will defend myself; I will
-force them to kill me.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We will die together, friend Ned.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I had made up my mind to all. The Canadian left me. I reached the platform, on
-which I could with difficulty support myself against the shock of the waves.
-The sky was threatening; but, as land was in those thick brown shadows, we must
-fly. I returned to the saloon, fearing and yet hoping to see Captain Nemo,
-wishing and yet not wishing to see him. What could I have said to him? Could I
-hide the involuntary horror with which he inspired me? No. It was better that I
-should not meet him face to face; better to forget him. And yet—— How long
-seemed that day, the last that I should pass in the <i>Nautilus</i>. I remained
-alone. Ned Land and Conseil avoided speaking, for fear of betraying themselves.
-At six I dined, but I was not hungry; I forced myself to eat in spite of my
-disgust, that I might not weaken myself. At half-past six Ned Land came to my
-room, saying, “We shall not see each other again before our departure. At ten
-the moon will not be risen. We will profit by the darkness. Come to the boat;
-Conseil and I will wait for you.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian went out without giving me time to answer. Wishing to verify the
-course of the <i>Nautilus</i>, I went to the saloon. We were running N.N.E. at
-frightful speed, and more than fifty yards deep. I cast a last look on these
-wonders of nature, on the riches of art heaped up in this museum, upon the
-unrivalled collection destined to perish at the bottom of the sea, with him who
-had formed it. I wished to fix an indelible impression of it in my mind. I
-remained an hour thus, bathed in the light of that luminous ceiling, and
-passing in review those treasures shining under their glasses. Then I returned
-to my room.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I dressed myself in strong sea clothing. I collected my notes, placing them
-carefully about me. My heart beat loudly. I could not check its pulsations.
-Certainly my trouble and agitation would have betrayed me to Captain Nemo’s
-eyes. What was he doing at this moment? I listened at the door of his room. I
-heard steps. Captain Nemo was there. He had not gone to rest. At every moment I
-expected to see him appear, and ask me why I wished to fly. I was constantly on
-the alert. My imagination magnified everything. The impression became at last
-so poignant that I asked myself if it would not be better to go to the
-Captain’s room, see him face to face, and brave him with look and gesture.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was the inspiration of a madman; fortunately I resisted the desire, and
-stretched myself on my bed to quiet my bodily agitation. My nerves were
-somewhat calmer, but in my excited brain I saw over again all my existence on
-board the <i>Nautilus;</i> every incident, either happy or unfortunate, which
-had happened since my disappearance from the <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>—the
-submarine hunt, the Torres Straits, the savages of Papua, the running ashore,
-the coral cemetery, the passage of Suez, the Island of Santorin, the Cretan
-diver, Vigo Bay, Atlantis, the iceberg, the South Pole, the imprisonment in the
-ice, the fight among the poulps, the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, and
-the horrible scene of the vessel sunk with all her crew. All these events
-passed before my eyes like scenes in a drama. Then Captain Nemo seemed to grow
-enormously, his features to assume superhuman proportions. He was no longer my
-equal, but a man of the waters, the genie of the sea.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was then half-past nine. I held my head between my hands to keep it from
-bursting. I closed my eyes; I would not think any longer. There was another
-half-hour to wait, another half-hour of a nightmare, which might drive me mad.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment I heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony to an
-undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break these earthly bonds. I
-listened with every sense, scarcely breathing; plunged, like Captain Nemo, in
-that musical ecstasy, which was drawing him in spirit to the end of life.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Then a sudden thought terrified me. Captain Nemo had left his room. He was in
-the saloon, which I must cross to fly. There I should meet him for the last
-time. He would see me, perhaps speak to me. A gesture of his might destroy me,
-a single word chain me on board.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But ten was about to strike. The moment had come for me to leave my room, and
-join my companions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I must not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo himself should rise before me. I
-opened my door carefully; and even then, as it turned on its hinges, it seemed
-to me to make a dreadful noise. Perhaps it only existed in my own imagination.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I crept along the dark stairs of the <i>Nautilus</i>, stopping at each step to
-check the beating of my heart. I reached the door of the saloon, and opened it
-gently. It was plunged in profound darkness. The strains of the organ sounded
-faintly. Captain Nemo was there. He did not see me. In the full light I do not
-think he would have noticed me, so entirely was he absorbed in the ecstasy.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I crept along the carpet, avoiding the slightest sound which might betray my
-presence. I was at least five minutes reaching the door, at the opposite side,
-opening into the library.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I was going to open it, when a sigh from Captain Nemo nailed me to the spot. I
-knew that he was rising. I could even see him, for the light from the library
-came through to the saloon. He came towards me silently, with his arms crossed,
-gliding like a spectre rather than walking. His breast was swelling with sobs;
-and I heard him murmur these words (the last which ever struck my ear):
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Almighty God! enough! enough!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Was it a confession of remorse which thus escaped from this man’s conscience?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-In desperation, I rushed through the library, mounted the central staircase,
-and, following the upper flight, reached the boat. I crept through the opening,
-which had already admitted my two companions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Let us go! let us go!” I exclaimed.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Directly!” replied the Canadian.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The orifice in the plates of the <i>Nautilus</i> was first closed, and fastened
-down by means of a false key, with which Ned Land had provided himself; the
-opening in the boat was also closed. The Canadian began to loosen the bolts
-which still held us to the submarine boat.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Suddenly a noise was heard. Voices were answering each other loudly. What was
-the matter? Had they discovered our flight? I felt Ned Land slipping a dagger
-into my hand.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Yes,” I murmured, “we know how to die!”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The Canadian had stopped in his work. But one word many times repeated, a
-dreadful word, revealed the cause of the agitation spreading on board the
-<i>Nautilus</i>. It was not we the crew were looking after!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“The maelstrom! the maelstrom!” Could a more dreadful word in a more dreadful
-situation have sounded in our ears! We were then upon the dangerous coast of
-Norway. Was the <i>Nautilus</i> being drawn into this gulf at the moment our
-boat was going to leave its sides? We knew that at the tide the pent-up waters
-between the islands of Ferroe and Loffoden rush with irresistible violence,
-forming a whirlpool from which no vessel ever escapes. From every point of the
-horizon enormous waves were meeting, forming a gulf justly called the “Navel of
-the Ocean,” whose power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve miles.
-There, not only vessels, but whales are sacrificed, as well as white bears from
-the northern regions.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It is thither that the <i>Nautilus</i>, voluntarily or involuntarily, had been
-run by the Captain.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-It was describing a spiral, the circumference of which was lessening by
-degrees, and the boat, which was still fastened to its side, was carried along
-with giddy speed. I felt that sickly giddiness which arises from long-continued
-whirling round.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-We were in dread. Our horror was at its height, circulation had stopped, all
-nervous influence was annihilated, and we were covered with cold sweat, like a
-sweat of agony! And what noise around our frail bark! What roarings repeated by
-the echo miles away! What an uproar was that of the waters broken on the sharp
-rocks at the bottom, where the hardest bodies are crushed, and trees worn away,
-“with all the fur rubbed off,” according to the Norwegian phrase!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-What a situation to be in! We rocked frightfully. The <i>Nautilus</i> defended
-itself like a human being. Its steel muscles cracked. Sometimes it seemed to
-stand upright, and we with it!
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“We must hold on,” said Ned, “and look after the bolts. We may still be saved
-if we stick to the <i>Nautilus</i>.”
-</p>
-
-<p>
-He had not finished the words, when we heard a crashing noise, the bolts gave
-way, and the boat, torn from its groove, was hurled like a stone from a sling
-into the midst of the whirlpool.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-My head struck on a piece of iron, and with the violent shock I lost all
-consciousness.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2><a name="chap46"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br/>
-CONCLUSION</h2>
-
-<p>
-Thus ends the voyage under the seas. What passed during that night—how the boat
-escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom—how Ned Land, Conseil, and myself ever
-came out of the gulf, I cannot tell.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But when I returned to consciousness, I was lying in a fisherman’s hut, on the
-Loffoden Isles. My two companions, safe and sound, were near me holding my
-hands. We embraced each other heartily.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-At that moment we could not think of returning to France. The means of
-communication between the north of Norway and the south are rare. And I am
-therefore obliged to wait for the steamboat running monthly from Cape North.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-And, among the worthy people who have so kindly received us, I revise my record
-of these adventures once more. Not a fact has been omitted, not a detail
-exaggerated. It is a faithful narrative of this incredible expedition in an
-element inaccessible to man, but to which Progress will one day open a road.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Shall I be believed? I do not know. And it matters little, after all. What I
-now affirm is, that I have a right to speak of these seas, under which, in less
-than ten months, I have crossed 20,000 leagues in that submarine tour of the
-world, which has revealed so many wonders.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-But what has become of the <i>Nautilus?</i> Did it resist the pressure of the
-maelstrom? Does Captain Nemo still live? And does he still follow under the
-ocean those frightful retaliations? Or, did he stop after the last hecatomb?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Will the waves one day carry to him this manuscript containing the history of
-his life? Shall I ever know the name of this man? Will the missing vessel tell
-us by its nationality that of Captain Nemo?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I hope so. And I also hope that his powerful vessel has conquered the sea at
-its most terrible gulf, and that the <i>Nautilus</i> has survived where so many
-other vessels have been lost! If it be so—if Captain Nemo still inhabits the
-ocean, his adopted country, may hatred be appeased in that savage heart! May
-the contemplation of so many wonders extinguish for ever the spirit of
-vengeance! May the judge disappear, and the philosopher continue the peaceful
-exploration of the sea! If his destiny be strange, it is also sublime. Have I
-not understood it myself? Have I not lived ten months of this unnatural life?
-And to the question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago, “That which
-is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?” two men alone of all now
-living have the right to give an answer——
-</p>
-
-<p>
-CAPTAIN NEMO AND MYSELF.
-</p>
-
-</div><!--end chapter-->
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA ***</div>
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