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diff --git a/old/2488.txt b/old/2488.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..639bfad --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2488.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19494 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of 20000 Leagues Under the Seas by Jules +Verne + +Copyright (C) 1999, Frederick Paul Walter. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + +Twenty Thousand + +Leagues Under + +the Seas + + + + + +JULES VERNE + + + +An Underwater Tour of the World + + + + +Translated from the Original French + +by F. P. Walter + + + + +With the Paintings of Milo Winter + + +___________________________________________________________________ + + + +CEDAR POST PUBLISHING * HOUSTON, TEXAS + + + +A complete, unabridged translation of Vingt milles lieues sous les +mers by Jules Verne, based on the original French texts published +in Paris by J. Hetzel et Cie. over the period 1869-71. + + +The paintings of Illinois watercolorist Milo Winter (1888-1956) first +appeared in a 1922 juvenile edition published by Rand McNally & Company. + + +VERNE'S TITLE + +The French title of this novel is Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. +This is accurately translated as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under +the SEAS--rather than the SEA, as with many English editions. +Verne's novel features a tour of the major oceans, and the term Leagues +in its title is used as a measure not of depth but distance. Ed. + + +Contents + + +Color Plates vii + +Introduction ix + +Units of Measure xii + + + +FIRST PART + + + +1. A Runaway Reef 1 + +2. The Pros and Cons 6 + +3. As Master Wishes 10 + +4. Ned Land 14 + +5. At Random! 19 + +6. At Full Steam 24 + +7. A Whale of Unknown Species 30 + +8. "Mobilis in Mobili" 35 + +9. The Tantrums of Ned Land 41 + +10. The Man of the Waters 46 + +11. The Nautilus 53 + +12. Everything through Electricity 58 + +13. Some Figures 63 + +14. The Black Current 68 + +15. An Invitation in Writing 76 + +16. Strolling the Plains 82 + +17. An Underwater Forest 86 + +18. Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific 91 + +19. Vanikoro 96 + +20. The Torres Strait 103 + +21. Some Days Ashore 109 + +22. The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo 117 + +23. "Aegri Somnia" 126 + +24. The Coral Realm 132 + + + + +SECOND PART + + +1. The Indian Ocean 138 + +2. A New Proposition from Captain Nemo 145 + +3. A Pearl Worth Ten Million 152 + +4. The Red Sea 160 + +5. Arabian Tunnel 170 + +6. The Greek Islands 176 + +7. The Mediterranean in Forty-Eight Hours 184 + +8. The Bay of Vigo 191 + +9. A Lost Continent 199 + +10. The Underwater Coalfields 206 + +11. The Sargasso Sea 214 + +12. Sperm Whales and Baleen Whales 220 + +13. The Ice Bank 228 + +14. The South Pole 236 + +15. Accident or Incident? 246 + +16. Shortage of Air 252 + +17. From Cape Horn to the Amazon 259 + +18. The Devilfish 266 + +19. The Gulf Stream 274 + +20. In Latitude 47? 24' and Longitude 17? 28' 282 + +21. A Mass Execution 287 + +22. The Last Words of Captain Nemo 294 + +23. Conclusion 299 + + + +Color Plates + + +Facing Page + +The Bay of Vigo. iii + +Ned Land stayed at his post. 28 + +"I've collected every one of them." 56 + +We walked with steady steps. 84 + +The dugout canoes drew nearer. 122 + +A dreadful battle was joined. 158 + +Picturesque ruins took shape. 202 + +"Farewell, O sun!" he called. 244 + +The poor fellow was done for. 272 + + +An engaving by Guillaumot. + + + + +Introduction + + + +"The deepest parts of the ocean are totally unknown to us," +admits Professor Aronnax early in this novel. "What goes on in +those distant depths? What creatures inhabit, or could inhabit, +those regions twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the water? +It's almost beyond conjecture." + +Jules Verne (1828-1905) published the French equivalents of these words +in 1869, and little has changed since. 126 years later, a Time +cover story on deep-sea exploration made much the same admission: +"We know more about Mars than we know about the oceans." +This reality begins to explain the dark power and otherworldly +fascination of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. + +Born in the French river town of Nantes, Verne had a lifelong +passion for the sea. First as a Paris stockbroker, later as a +celebrated author and yachtsman, he went on frequent voyages-- +to Britain, America, the Mediterranean. But the specific stimulus +for this novel was an 1865 fan letter from a fellow writer, +Madame George Sand. She praised Verne's two early novels Five Weeks +in a Balloon (1863) and Journey to the Center of the Earth +(1864), then added: "Soon I hope you'll take us into the ocean depths, +your characters traveling in diving equipment perfected by your +science and your imagination." Thus inspired, Verne created one +of literature's great rebels, a freedom fighter who plunged beneath +the waves to wage a unique form of guerilla warfare. + +Initially, Verne's narrative was influenced by the 1863 uprising of +Poland against Tsarist Russia. The Poles were quashed with a violence +that appalled not only Verne but all Europe. As originally conceived, +Verne's Captain Nemo was a Polish nobleman whose entire family +had been slaughtered by Russian troops. Nemo builds a fabulous +futuristic submarine, the Nautilus, then conducts an underwater +campaign of vengeance against his imperialist oppressor. + +But in the 1860s France had to treat the Tsar as an ally, +and Verne's publisher Pierre Hetzel pronounced the book unprintable. +Verne reworked its political content, devising new nationalities for +Nemo and his great enemy--information revealed only in a later novel, +The Mysterious Island (1875); in the present work Nemo's background +remains a dark secret. In all, the novel had a difficult gestation. +Verne and Hetzel were in constant conflict and the book went +through multiple drafts, struggles reflected in its several +working titles over the period 1865-69: early on, it was variously +called Voyage Under the Waters, Twenty-five Thousand Leagues Under +the Waters, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Waters, +and A Thousand Leagues Under the Oceans. + +Verne is often dubbed, in Isaac Asimov's phrase, "the world's +first science-fiction writer." And it's true, many of his +sixty-odd books do anticipate future events and technologies: +From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Hector Servadac (1877) deal +in space travel, while Journey to the Center + +of the Earth features travel to the earth's core. But with Verne +the operative word is "travel," and some of his best-known titles +don't really qualify as sci-fi: Around the World in Eighty Days +(1872) and Michael Strogoff (1876) are closer to "travelogs"-- +adventure yarns in far-away places. + +These observations partly apply here. The subtitle of the present +book is An Underwater Tour of the World, so in good travelog style, +the Nautilus's exploits supply an episodic story line. +Shark attacks, giant squid, cannibals, hurricanes, whale hunts, +and other rip-roaring adventures erupt almost at random. Yet this loose +structure gives the novel an air of documentary realism. What's more, +Verne adds backbone to the action by developing three recurring motifs: +the deepening mystery of Nemo's past life and future intentions, +the mounting tension between Nemo and hot-tempered harpooner Ned Land, +and Ned's ongoing schemes to escape from the Nautilus. These unifying +threads tighten the narrative and accelerate its momentum. + +Other subtleties occur inside each episode, the textures sparkling +with wit, information, and insight. Verne regards the sea from +many angles: in the domain of marine biology, he gives us thumbnail +sketches of fish, seashells, coral, sometimes in great catalogs +that swirl past like musical cascades; in the realm of geology, +he studies volcanoes literally inside and out; in the world of commerce, +he celebrates the high-energy entrepreneurs who lay the Atlantic Cable +or dig the Suez Canal. And Verne's marine engineering proves +especially authoritative. His specifications for an open-sea submarine +and a self-contained diving suit were decades before their time, +yet modern technology bears them out triumphantly. + +True, today's scientists know a few things he didn't: the South Pole +isn't at the water's edge but far inland; sharks don't flip +over before attacking; giant squid sport ten tentacles not eight; +sperm whales don't prey on their whalebone cousins. This notwithstanding, +Verne furnishes the most evocative portrayal of the ocean depths +before the arrival of Jacques Cousteau and technicolor film. + +Lastly the book has stature as a novel of character. Even the +supporting cast is shrewdly drawn: Professor Aronnax, the career +scientist caught in an ethical conflict; Conseil, the compulsive +classifier who supplies humorous tag lines for Verne's fast facts; +the harpooner Ned Land, a creature of constant appetites, +man as heroic animal. + +But much of the novel's brooding power comes from Captain Nemo. +Inventor, musician, Renaissance genius, he's a trail-blazing creation, +the prototype not only for countless renegade scientists in +popular fiction, but even for such varied figures as Sherlock Holmes +or Wolf Larsen. However, Verne gives his hero's brilliance +and benevolence a dark underside--the man's obsessive hate for his +old enemy. This compulsion leads Nemo into ugly contradictions: +he's a fighter for freedom, yet all who board his ship are imprisoned +there for good; he works to save lives, both human and animal, +yet he himself creates a holocaust; he detests imperialism, +yet he lays personal claim to the South Pole. And in this last action +he falls into the classic sin of Pride. He's swiftly punished. +The Nautilus nearly perishes in the Antarctic and Nemo sinks into +a growing depression. + +Like Shakespeare's King Lear he courts death and madness in a great storm, +then commits mass murder, collapses in catatonic paralysis, +and suicidally runs his ship into the ocean's most dangerous whirlpool. +Hate swallows him whole. + +For many, then, this book has been a source of fascination, +surely one of the most influential novels ever written, an inspiration +for such scientists and discoverers as engineer Simon Lake, +oceanographer William Beebe, polar traveler Sir Ernest Shackleton. +Likewise Dr. Robert D. Ballard, finder of the sunken Titanic, +confesses that this was his favorite book as a teenager, +and Cousteau himself, most renowned of marine explorers, called it +his shipboard bible. + +The present translation is a faithful yet communicative rendering +of the original French texts published in Paris by J. Hetzel et Cie.-- +the hardcover first edition issued in the autumn of 1871, +collated with the softcover editions of the First and Second Parts +issued separately in the autumn of 1869 and the summer of 1870. +Although prior English versions have often been heavily abridged, +this new translation is complete to the smallest substantive detail. + +Because, as that Time cover story suggests, we still haven't caught +up with Verne. Even in our era of satellite dishes and video games, +the seas keep their secrets. We've seen progress in sonar, torpedoes, +and other belligerent machinery, but sailors and scientists-- +to say nothing of tourists--have yet to voyage in a submarine +with the luxury and efficiency of the Nautilus. + +F. P. WALTER + + + + +Units of Measure + +CABLE LENGTH In Verne's context, 600 feet + +CENTIGRADE 0 degrees centigrade = freezing water + +37 degrees centigrade = human body temperature + +100 degrees centigrade = boiling water + +FATHOM 6 feet + +GRAM Roughly 1/28 of an ounce + +- MILLIGRAM Roughly 1/28,000 of an ounce + +- KILOGRAM (KILO) Roughly 2.2 pounds + +HECTARE Roughly 2.5 acres + +KNOT 1.15 miles per hour + +LEAGUE In Verne's context, 2.16 miles + +LITER Roughly 1 quart + +METER Roughly 1 yard, 3 inches + +- MILLIMETER Roughly 1/25 of an inch + +- CENTIMETER Roughly 2/5 of an inch + +- DECIMETER Roughly 4 inches + +- KILOMETER Roughly 6/10 of a mile + +- MYRIAMETER Roughly 6.2 miles + +TON, METRIC Roughly 2,200 pounds viii + + + +FIRST PART + +___________________________________________________________________ + + + +CHAPTER 1 + + + +A Runaway Reef + + + +THE YEAR 1866 was marked by a bizarre development, an unexplained +and downright inexplicable phenomenon that surely no one has forgotten. +Without getting into those rumors that upset civilians +in the seaports and deranged the public mind even far inland, +it must be said that professional seamen were especially alarmed. +Traders, shipowners, captains of vessels, skippers, and master mariners +from Europe and America, naval officers from every country, and at +their heels the various national governments on these two continents, +were all extremely disturbed by the business. + +In essence, over a period of time several ships had encountered +"an enormous thing" at sea, a long spindle-shaped object, +sometimes giving off a phosphorescent glow, infinitely bigger +and faster than any whale. + +The relevant data on this apparition, as recorded in various logbooks, +agreed pretty closely as to the structure of the object or creature +in question, its unprecedented speed of movement, its startling +locomotive power, and the unique vitality with which it seemed +to be gifted. If it was a cetacean, it exceeded in bulk any whale +previously classified by science. No naturalist, neither Cuvier nor +Lacépède, neither Professor Dumeril nor Professor de Quatrefages, +would have accepted the existence of such a monster sight unseen-- +specifically, unseen by their own scientific eyes. + +Striking an average of observations taken at different times-- +rejecting those timid estimates that gave the object a length +of 200 feet, and ignoring those exaggerated views that saw it +as a mile wide and three long--you could still assert that this +phenomenal creature greatly exceeded the dimensions of anything +then known to ichthyologists, if it existed at all. + +Now then, it did exist, this was an undeniable fact; and since +the human mind dotes on objects of wonder, you can understand +the worldwide excitement caused by this unearthly apparition. +As for relegating it to the realm of fiction, that charge had +to be dropped. + +In essence, on July 20, 1866, the steamer Governor Higginson, +from the Calcutta & Burnach Steam Navigation Co., encountered this +moving mass five miles off the eastern shores of Australia. + +Captain Baker at first thought he was in the presence of an unknown reef; +he was even about to fix its exact position when two waterspouts +shot out of this inexplicable object and sprang hissing into the air +some 150 feet. So, unless this reef was subject to the intermittent +eruptions of a geyser, the Governor Higginson had fair and honest +dealings with some aquatic mammal, until then unknown, that could +spurt from its blowholes waterspouts mixed with air and steam. + +Similar events were likewise observed in Pacific seas, on July 23 +of the same year, by the Christopher Columbus from the West India +& Pacific Steam Navigation Co. Consequently, this extraordinary +cetacean could transfer itself from one locality to another with +startling swiftness, since within an interval of just three days, +the Governor Higginson and the Christopher Columbus had observed +it at two positions on the charts separated by a distance of more +than 700 nautical leagues. + +Fifteen days later and 2,000 leagues farther, the Helvetia from +the Compagnie Nationale and the Shannon from the Royal Mail line, +running on opposite tacks in that part of the Atlantic lying +between the United States and Europe, respectively signaled each +other that the monster had been sighted in latitude 42 degrees 15' +north and longitude 60 degrees 35' west of the meridian +of Greenwich. From their simultaneous observations, they were able +to estimate the mammal's minimum length at more than 350 English +feet;* this was because both the Shannon and the Helvetia were of +smaller dimensions, although each measured 100 meters stem to stern. +Now then, the biggest whales, those rorqual whales that frequent +the waterways of the Aleutian Islands, have never exceeded a length +of 56 meters--if they reach even that. + +*Author's Note: About 106 meters. An English foot is +only 30.4 centimeters. + +One after another, reports arrived that would profoundly affect +public opinion: new observations taken by the transatlantic +liner Pereire, the Inman line's Etna running afoul of the monster, +an official report drawn up by officers on the French frigate Normandy, +dead-earnest reckonings obtained by the general staff of +Commodore Fitz-James aboard the Lord Clyde. In lighthearted countries, +people joked about this phenomenon, but such serious, practical countries +as England, America, and Germany were deeply concerned. + +In every big city the monster was the latest rage; they sang +about it in the coffee houses, they ridiculed it in the newspapers, +they dramatized it in the theaters. The tabloids found it a fine +opportunity for hatching all sorts of hoaxes. In those newspapers +short of copy, you saw the reappearance of every gigantic +imaginary creature, from "Moby Dick," that dreadful white whale from +the High Arctic regions, to the stupendous kraken whose tentacles +could entwine a 500-ton craft and drag it into the ocean depths. +They even reprinted reports from ancient times: the views +of Aristotle and Pliny accepting the existence of such monsters, +then the Norwegian stories of Bishop Pontoppidan, the narratives +of Paul Egede, and finally the reports of Captain Harrington-- +whose good faith is above suspicion--in which he claims he saw, +while aboard the Castilian in 1857, one of those enormous +serpents that, until then, had frequented only the seas of France's +old extremist newspaper, The Constitutionalist. + +An interminable debate then broke out between believers and +skeptics in the scholarly societies and scientific journals. +The "monster question" inflamed all minds. During this +memorable campaign, journalists making a profession of science +battled with those making a profession of wit, spilling waves of ink +and some of them even two or three drops of blood, since they went +from sea serpents to the most offensive personal remarks. + +For six months the war seesawed. With inexhaustible zest, +the popular press took potshots at feature articles from +the Geographic Institute of Brazil, the Royal Academy of Science +in Berlin, the British Association, the Smithsonian Institution +in Washington, D.C., at discussions in The Indian Archipelago, +in Cosmos published by Father Moigno, in Petermann's Mittheilungen,* +and at scientific chronicles in the great French and foreign newspapers. +When the monster's detractors cited a saying by the botanist Linnaeus +that "nature doesn't make leaps," witty writers in the popular +periodicals parodied it, maintaining in essence that "nature doesn't +make lunatics," and ordering their contemporaries never to give +the lie to nature by believing in krakens, sea serpents, "Moby Dicks," +and other all-out efforts from drunken seamen. Finally, in a much-feared +satirical journal, an article by its most popular columnist finished +off the monster for good, spurning it in the style of Hippolytus +repulsing the amorous advances of his stepmother Phaedra, and giving +the creature its quietus amid a universal burst of laughter. +Wit had defeated science. + +*German: "Bulletin." Ed. + +During the first months of the year 1867, the question seemed to +be buried, and it didn't seem due for resurrection, when new facts +were brought to the public's attention. But now it was no longer +an issue of a scientific problem to be solved, but a quite real and +serious danger to be avoided. The question took an entirely new turn. +The monster again became an islet, rock, or reef, but a runaway reef, +unfixed and elusive. + +On March 5, 1867, the Moravian from the Montreal Ocean Co., lying +during the night in latitude 27 degrees 30' and longitude 72 +degrees 15', ran its starboard quarter afoul of a rock marked on no +charts of these waterways. Under the combined efforts of wind and +400-horsepower steam, it was traveling at a speed of thirteen knots. +Without the high quality of its hull, the Moravian would surely have +split open from this collision and gone down together with those 237 +passengers it was bringing back from Canada. + +This accident happened around five o'clock in the morning, just as day was +beginning to break. The officers on watch rushed to the craft's stern. +They examined the ocean with the most scrupulous care. +They saw nothing except a strong eddy breaking three cable +lengths out, as if those sheets of water had been violently churned. +The site's exact bearings were taken, and the Moravian continued on +course apparently undamaged. Had it run afoul of an underwater rock +or the wreckage of some enormous derelict ship? They were unable to say. +But when they examined its undersides in the service yard, +they discovered that part of its keel had been smashed. + +This occurrence, extremely serious in itself, might perhaps have +been forgotten like so many others, if three weeks later it hadn't +been reenacted under identical conditions. Only, thanks to the +nationality of the ship victimized by this new ramming, and thanks +to the reputation of the company to which this ship belonged, +the event caused an immense uproar. + +No one is unaware of the name of that famous English shipowner, +Cunard. In 1840 this shrewd industrialist founded a postal service +between Liverpool and Halifax, featuring three wooden ships with +400-horsepower paddle wheels and a burden of 1,162 metric tons. +Eight years later, the company's assets were increased by four +650-horsepower ships at 1,820 metric tons, and in two more years, +by two other vessels of still greater power and tonnage. +In 1853 the Cunard Co., whose mail-carrying charter had just been renewed, +successively added to its assets the Arabia, the Persia, the China, +the Scotia, the Java, and the Russia, all ships of top speed and, +after the Great Eastern, the biggest ever to plow the seas. +So in 1867 this company owned twelve ships, eight with paddle wheels +and four with propellers. + +If I give these highly condensed details, it is so everyone can fully +understand the importance of this maritime transportation company, +known the world over for its shrewd management. No transoceanic +navigational undertaking has been conducted with more ability, +no business dealings have been crowned with greater success. +In twenty-six years Cunard ships have made 2,000 Atlantic crossings +without so much as a voyage canceled, a delay recorded, a man, a craft, +or even a letter lost. Accordingly, despite strong competition +from France, passengers still choose the Cunard line in preference +to all others, as can be seen in a recent survey of official documents. +Given this, no one will be astonished at the uproar provoked by this +accident involving one of its finest steamers. + +On April 13, 1867, with a smooth sea and a moderate breeze, +the Scotia lay in longitude 15 degrees 12' and latitude 45 degrees +37'. It was traveling at a speed of 13.43 knots under the thrust +of its 1,000-horsepower engines. Its paddle wheels were churning +the sea with perfect steadiness. It was then drawing 6.7 meters +of water and displacing 6,624 cubic meters. + +At 4:17 in the afternoon, during a high tea for passengers gathered +in the main lounge, a collision occurred, scarcely noticeable +on the whole, affecting the Scotia's hull in that quarter a little +astern of its port paddle wheel. + +The Scotia hadn't run afoul of something, it had been fouled, +and by a cutting or perforating instrument rather than a blunt one. +This encounter seemed so minor that nobody on board would have been +disturbed by it, had it not been for the shouts of crewmen in the hold, +who climbed on deck yelling: + +"We're sinking! We're sinking!" + +At first the passengers were quite frightened, but Captain Anderson +hastened to reassure them. In fact, there could be no immediate danger. +Divided into seven compartments by watertight bulkheads, the Scotia +could brave any leak with impunity. + +Captain Anderson immediately made his way into the hold. +He discovered that the fifth compartment had been invaded by the sea, +and the speed of this invasion proved that the leak was considerable. +Fortunately this compartment didn't contain the boilers, +because their furnaces would have been abruptly extinguished. + +Captain Anderson called an immediate halt, and one of his sailors +dived down to assess the damage. Within moments they had +located a hole two meters in width on the steamer's underside. +Such a leak could not be patched, and with its paddle wheels +half swamped, the Scotia had no choice but to continue its voyage. +By then it lay 300 miles from Cape Clear, and after three days +of delay that filled Liverpool with acute anxiety, it entered +the company docks. + +The engineers then proceeded to inspect the Scotia, which had +been put in dry dock. They couldn't believe their eyes. +Two and a half meters below its waterline, there gaped +a symmetrical gash in the shape of an isosceles triangle. +This breach in the sheet iron was so perfectly formed, no punch +could have done a cleaner job of it. Consequently, it must +have been produced by a perforating tool of uncommon toughness-- +plus, after being launched with prodigious power and then piercing +four centimeters of sheet iron, this tool had needed to withdraw +itself by a backward motion truly inexplicable. + +This was the last straw, and it resulted in arousing public passions +all over again. Indeed, from this moment on, any maritime casualty +without an established cause was charged to the monster's account. +This outrageous animal had to shoulder responsibility for all +derelict vessels, whose numbers are unfortunately considerable, +since out of those 3,000 ships whose losses are recorded annually +at the marine insurance bureau, the figure for steam or sailing +ships supposedly lost with all hands, in the absence of any news, +amounts to at least 200! + +Now then, justly or unjustly, it was the "monster" who stood accused +of their disappearance; and since, thanks to it, travel between +the various continents had become more and more dangerous, +the public spoke up and demanded straight out that, at all cost, +the seas be purged of this fearsome cetacean. + + + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + + + +The Pros and Cons + + + +DURING THE PERIOD in which these developments were occurring, +I had returned from a scientific undertaking organized to explore +the Nebraska badlands in the United States. In my capacity as +Assistant Professor at the Paris Museum of Natural History, I had +been attached to this expedition by the French government. +After spending six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York laden +with valuable collections near the end of March. My departure +for France was set for early May. In the meantime, then, I was busy +classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and zoological treasures +when that incident took place with the Scotia. + +I was perfectly abreast of this question, which was the big news +of the day, and how could I not have been? I had read and reread every +American and European newspaper without being any farther along. +This mystery puzzled me. Finding it impossible to form any views, +I drifted from one extreme to the other. Something was out there, +that much was certain, and any doubting Thomas was invited to place +his finger on the Scotia's wound. + +When I arrived in New York, the question was at the boiling point. +The hypothesis of a drifting islet or an elusive reef, put forward +by people not quite in their right minds, was completely eliminated. +And indeed, unless this reef had an engine in its belly, how could +it move about with such prodigious speed? + +Also discredited was the idea of a floating hull or some other +enormous wreckage, and again because of this speed of movement. + +So only two possible solutions to the question were left, +creating two very distinct groups of supporters: on one side, +those favoring a monster of colossal strength; on the other, +those favoring an "underwater boat" of tremendous motor power. + +Now then, although the latter hypothesis was completely admissible, +it couldn't stand up to inquiries conducted in both the New World +and the Old. That a private individual had such a mechanism at his +disposal was less than probable. Where and when had he built it, +and how could he have built it in secret? + +Only some government could own such an engine of destruction, +and in these disaster-filled times, when men tax their ingenuity to +build increasingly powerful aggressive weapons, it was possible that, +unknown to the rest of the world, some nation could have been testing +such a fearsome machine. The Chassepot rifle led to the torpedo, +and the torpedo has led to this underwater battering ram, +which in turn will lead to the world putting its foot down. +At least I hope it will. + +But this hypothesis of a war machine collapsed in the face of formal +denials from the various governments. Since the public interest +was at stake and transoceanic travel was suffering, the sincerity +of these governments could not be doubted. Besides, how could +the assembly of this underwater boat have escaped public notice? +Keeping a secret under such circumstances would be difficult enough +for an individual, and certainly impossible for a nation whose +every move is under constant surveillance by rival powers. + +So, after inquiries conducted in England, France, Russia, Prussia, +Spain, Italy, America, and even Turkey, the hypothesis of an underwater +Monitor was ultimately rejected. + +And so the monster surfaced again, despite the endless witticisms +heaped on it by the popular press, and the human imagination soon +got caught up in the most ridiculous ichthyological fantasies. + +After I arrived in New York, several people did me the honor +of consulting me on the phenomenon in question. In France I had +published a two-volume work, in quarto, entitled The Mysteries +of the Great Ocean Depths. Well received in scholarly circles, +this book had established me as a specialist in this pretty obscure field +of natural history. My views were in demand. As long as I could deny +the reality of the business, I confined myself to a flat "no comment." +But soon, pinned to the wall, I had to explain myself straight out. +And in this vein, "the honorable Pierre Aronnax, Professor at +the Paris Museum," was summoned by The New York Herald to formulate +his views no matter what. + +I complied. Since I could no longer hold my tongue, I let it wag. +I discussed the question in its every aspect, both political +and scientific, and this is an excerpt from the well-padded article +I published in the issue of April 30. + +"Therefore," I wrote, "after examining these different hypotheses one +by one, we are forced, every other supposition having been refuted, +to accept the existence of an extremely powerful marine animal. + +"The deepest parts of the ocean are totally unknown to us. +No soundings have been able to reach them. What goes on in +those distant depths? What creatures inhabit, or could inhabit, +those regions twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface +of the water? What is the constitution of these animals? +It's almost beyond conjecture. + +"However, the solution to this problem submitted to me can take +the form of a choice between two alternatives. + +"Either we know every variety of creature populating our planet, +or we do not. + +"If we do not know every one of them, if nature still keeps +ichthyological secrets from us, nothing is more admissible than to accept +the existence of fish or cetaceans of new species or even new genera, +animals with a basically 'cast-iron' constitution that inhabit +strata beyond the reach of our soundings, and which some development +or other, an urge or a whim if you prefer, can bring to the upper +level of the ocean for long intervals. + +"If, on the other hand, we do know every living species, we must +look for the animal in question among those marine creatures +already cataloged, and in this event I would be inclined to accept +the existence of a giant narwhale. + +"The common narwhale, or sea unicorn, often reaches a length of +sixty feet. Increase its dimensions fivefold or even tenfold, then give +this cetacean a strength in proportion to its size while enlarging +its offensive weapons, and you have the animal we're looking for. +It would have the proportions determined by the officers of the Shannon, +the instrument needed to perforate the Scotia, and the power +to pierce a steamer's hull. + +"In essence, the narwhale is armed with a sort of ivory sword, +or lance, as certain naturalists have expressed it. +It's a king-sized tooth as hard as steel. Some of these teeth have +been found buried in the bodies of baleen whales, which the narwhale +attacks with invariable success. Others have been wrenched, +not without difficulty, from the undersides of vessels that narwhales +have pierced clean through, as a gimlet pierces a wine barrel. +The museum at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris owns one of these +tusks with a length of 2.25 meters and a width at its base +of forty-eight centimeters! + +"All right then! Imagine this weapon to be ten times stronger and +the animal ten times more powerful, launch it at a speed of twenty +miles per hour, multiply its mass times its velocity, and you get +just the collision we need to cause the specified catastrophe. + +"So, until information becomes more abundant, I plump for a sea +unicorn of colossal dimensions, no longer armed with a mere lance +but with an actual spur, like ironclad frigates or those warships called +'rams,' whose mass and motor power it would possess simultaneously. + +"This inexplicable phenomenon is thus explained away--unless it's +something else entirely, which, despite everything that has +been sighted, studied, explored and experienced, is still possible!" + +These last words were cowardly of me; but as far as I could, +I wanted to protect my professorial dignity and not lay myself open +to laughter from the Americans, who when they do laugh, laugh raucously. +I had left myself a loophole. Yet deep down, I had accepted +the existence of "the monster." + +My article was hotly debated, causing a fine old uproar. +It rallied a number of supporters. Moreover, the solution +it proposed allowed for free play of the imagination. +The human mind enjoys impressive visions of unearthly creatures. +Now then, the sea is precisely their best medium, the only setting +suitable for the breeding and growing of such giants--next to which +such land animals as elephants or rhinoceroses are mere dwarves. +The liquid masses support the largest known species of mammals and perhaps +conceal mollusks of incomparable size or crustaceans too frightful +to contemplate, such as 100-meter lobsters or crabs weighing 200 +metric tons! Why not? Formerly, in prehistoric days, land animals +(quadrupeds, apes, reptiles, birds) were built on a gigantic scale. +Our Creator cast them using a colossal mold that time has gradually +made smaller. With its untold depths, couldn't the sea keep alive +such huge specimens of life from another age, this sea that never +changes while the land masses undergo almost continuous alteration? +Couldn't the heart of the ocean hide the last-remaining +varieties of these titanic species, for whom years are centuries +and centuries millennia? + +But I mustn't let these fantasies run away with me! Enough of these +fairy tales that time has changed for me into harsh realities. +I repeat: opinion had crystallized as to the nature of this phenomenon, +and the public accepted without argument the existence of a prodigious +creature that had nothing in common with the fabled sea serpent. + +Yet if some saw it purely as a scientific problem to be solved, +more practical people, especially in America and England, +were determined to purge the ocean of this daunting monster, to insure +the safety of transoceanic travel. The industrial and commercial +newspapers dealt with the question chiefly from this viewpoint. +The Shipping & Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd's List, France's Packetboat +and Maritime & Colonial Review, all the rags devoted to +insurance companies--who threatened to raise their premium rates-- +were unanimous on this point. + +Public opinion being pronounced, the States of the Union were +the first in the field. In New York preparations were under way for +an expedition designed to chase this narwhale. A high-speed frigate, +the Abraham Lincoln, was fitted out for putting to sea as soon +as possible. The naval arsenals were unlocked for Commander Farragut, +who pressed energetically forward with the arming of his frigate. + +But, as it always happens, just when a decision had been made to chase +the monster, the monster put in no further appearances. For two months +nobody heard a word about it. Not a single ship encountered it. +Apparently the unicorn had gotten wise to these plots being woven +around it. People were constantly babbling about the creature, +even via the Atlantic Cable! Accordingly, the wags claimed that this +slippery rascal had waylaid some passing telegram and was making +the most of it. + +So the frigate was equipped for a far-off voyage and armed +with fearsome fishing gear, but nobody knew where to steer it. +And impatience grew until, on June 2, word came that the Tampico, +a steamer on the San Francisco line sailing from California to Shanghai, +had sighted the animal again, three weeks before in the northerly +seas of the Pacific. + +This news caused intense excitement. Not even a 24-hour breather was +granted to Commander Farragut. His provisions were loaded on board. +His coal bunkers were overflowing. Not a crewman was missing +from his post. To cast off, he needed only to fire and stoke +his furnaces! Half a day's delay would have been unforgivable! +But Commander Farragut wanted nothing more than to go forth. + +I received a letter three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left +its Brooklyn pier;* the letter read as follows: + +*Author's Note: A pier is a type of wharf expressly set aside +for an individual vessel. + +Pierre Aronnax + +Professor at the Paris Museum + +Fifth Avenue Hotel + +New York + +Sir: + +If you would like to join the expedition on the Abraham Lincoln, +the government of the Union will be pleased to regard you as France's +representative in this undertaking. Commander Farragut has a cabin +at your disposal. + +Very cordially yours, + +J. B. HOBSON, + +Secretary of the Navy. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + + + +As Master Wishes + + + +THREE SECONDS before the arrival of J. B. Hobson's letter, +I no more dreamed of chasing the unicorn than of trying for +the Northwest Passage. Three seconds after reading this letter +from the honorable Secretary of the Navy, I understood at last that +my true vocation, my sole purpose in life, was to hunt down this +disturbing monster and rid the world of it. + +Even so, I had just returned from an arduous journey, exhausted and badly +needing a rest. I wanted nothing more than to see my country again, +my friends, my modest quarters by the Botanical Gardens, +my dearly beloved collections! But now nothing could hold me back. +I forgot everything else, and without another thought of exhaustion, +friends, or collections, I accepted the American government's offer. + +"Besides," I mused, "all roads lead home to Europe, and our unicorn +may be gracious enough to take me toward the coast of France! That fine +animal may even let itself be captured in European seas--as a personal +favor to me--and I'll bring back to the Museum of Natural History +at least half a meter of its ivory lance!" + +But in the meantime I would have to look for this narwhale in +the northern Pacific Ocean; which meant returning to France by way +of the Antipodes. + +"Conseil!" I called in an impatient voice. + +Conseil was my manservant. A devoted lad who went with me on all +my journeys; a gallant Flemish boy whom I genuinely liked and who +returned the compliment; a born stoic, punctilious on principle, +habitually hardworking, rarely startled by life's surprises, +very skillful with his hands, efficient in his every duty, and despite +his having a name that means "counsel," never giving advice-- +not even the unsolicited kind! + +From rubbing shoulders with scientists in our little universe +by the Botanical Gardens, the boy had come to know a thing or two. +In Conseil I had a seasoned specialist in biological classification, +an enthusiast who could run with acrobatic agility up and down +the whole ladder of branches, groups, classes, subclasses, +orders, families, genera, subgenera, species, and varieties. +But there his science came to a halt. Classifying was everything +to him, so he knew nothing else. Well versed in the theory +of classification, he was poorly versed in its practical application, +and I doubt that he could tell a sperm whale from a baleen whale! +And yet, what a fine, gallant lad! + +For the past ten years, Conseil had gone with me wherever +science beckoned. Not once did he comment on the length or the hardships +of a journey. Never did he object to buckling up his suitcase for any +country whatever, China or the Congo, no matter how far off it was. +He went here, there, and everywhere in perfect contentment. +Moreover, he enjoyed excellent health that defied all ailments, +owned solid muscles, but hadn't a nerve in him, not a sign of nerves-- +the mental type, I mean. + +The lad was thirty years old, and his age to that of his employer +was as fifteen is to twenty. Please forgive me for this underhanded +way of admitting I had turned forty. + +But Conseil had one flaw. He was a fanatic on formality, +and he only addressed me in the third person--to the point where +it got tiresome. + +"Conseil!" I repeated, while feverishly beginning my preparations +for departure. + +To be sure, I had confidence in this devoted lad. Ordinarily, I never +asked whether or not it suited him to go with me on my journeys; +but this time an expedition was at issue that could drag on indefinitely, +a hazardous undertaking whose purpose was to hunt an animal that could +sink a frigate as easily as a walnut shell! There was good reason +to stop and think, even for the world's most emotionless man. +What would Conseil say? + +"Conseil!" I called a third time. + +Conseil appeared. + +"Did master summon me?" he said, entering. + +"Yes, my boy. Get my things ready, get yours ready. +We're departing in two hours." + +"As master wishes," Conseil replied serenely. + +"We haven't a moment to lose. Pack as much into my trunk as you can, +my traveling kit, my suits, shirts, and socks, don't bother counting, +just squeeze it all in--and hurry!" + +"What about master's collections?" Conseil ventured to observe. + +"We'll deal with them later." + +"What! The archaeotherium, hyracotherium, oreodonts, cheiropotamus, +and master's other fossil skeletons?" + +"The hotel will keep them for us." + +"What about master's live babirusa?" + +"They'll feed it during our absence. Anyhow, we'll leave instructions +to ship the whole menagerie to France." + +"Then we aren't returning to Paris?" Conseil asked. + +"Yes, we are . . . certainly . . . ," I replied evasively, +"but after we make a detour." + +"Whatever detour master wishes." + +"Oh, it's nothing really! A route slightly less direct, that's all. +We're leaving on the Abraham Lincoln." + +"As master thinks best," Conseil replied placidly. + +"You see, my friend, it's an issue of the monster, +the notorious narwhale. We're going to rid the seas of it! +The author of a two-volume work, in quarto, on The Mysteries +of the Great Ocean Depths has no excuse for not setting sail +with Commander Farragut. It's a glorious mission but also a +dangerous one! We don't know where it will take us! These beasts +can be quite unpredictable! But we're going just the same! +We have a commander who's game for anything!" + +"What master does, I'll do," Conseil replied. + +"But think it over, because I don't want to hide anything from you. +This is one of those voyages from which people don't always come back!" + +"As master wishes." + +A quarter of an hour later, our trunks were ready. Conseil did +them in a flash, and I was sure the lad hadn't missed a thing, +because he classified shirts and suits as expertly as birds and mammals. + +The hotel elevator dropped us off in the main vestibule on the mezzanine. +I went down a short stair leading to the ground floor. +I settled my bill at that huge counter that was always under siege +by a considerable crowd. I left instructions for shipping my containers +of stuffed animals and dried plants to Paris, France. I opened a line +of credit sufficient to cover the babirusa and, Conseil at my heels, +I jumped into a carriage. + +For a fare of twenty francs, the vehicle went down Broadway +to Union Square, took Fourth Ave. to its junction with Bowery St., +turned into Katrin St. and halted at Pier 34. There the Katrin ferry +transferred men, horses, and carriage to Brooklyn, that great New York +annex located on the left bank of the East River, and in a few +minutes we arrived at the wharf next to which the Abraham Lincoln +was vomiting torrents of black smoke from its two funnels. + +Our baggage was immediately carried to the deck of the frigate. +I rushed aboard. I asked for Commander Farragut. One of the sailors led +me to the afterdeck, where I stood in the presence of a smart-looking +officer who extended his hand to me. + +"Professor Pierre Aronnax?" he said to me. + +"The same," I replied. "Commander Farragut?" + +"In person. Welcome aboard, professor. Your cabin is waiting for you." + +I bowed, and letting the commander attend to getting under way, +I was taken to the cabin that had been set aside for me. + +The Abraham Lincoln had been perfectly chosen and fitted out +for its new assignment. It was a high-speed frigate furnished +with superheating equipment that allowed the tension of its steam +to build to seven atmospheres. Under this pressure the Abraham Lincoln +reached an average speed of 18.3 miles per hour, a considerable +speed but still not enough to cope with our gigantic cetacean. + +The frigate's interior accommodations complemented its nautical virtues. +I was well satisfied with my cabin, which was located in the stern +and opened into the officers' mess. + +"We'll be quite comfortable here," I told Conseil. + +"With all due respect to master," Conseil replied, "as comfortable +as a hermit crab inside the shell of a whelk." + +I left Conseil to the proper stowing of our luggage and climbed +on deck to watch the preparations for getting under way. + +Just then Commander Farragut was giving orders to cast off the last +moorings holding the Abraham Lincoln to its Brooklyn pier. +And so if I'd been delayed by a quarter of an hour or even less, +the frigate would have gone without me, and I would have missed +out on this unearthly, extraordinary, and inconceivable expedition, +whose true story might well meet with some skepticism. + +But Commander Farragut didn't want to waste a single day, +or even a single hour, in making for those seas where the animal +had just been sighted. He summoned his engineer. + +"Are we up to pressure?" he asked the man. + +"Aye, sir," the engineer replied. + +"Go ahead, then!" Commander Farragut called. + +At this order, which was relayed to the engine by means of a +compressed-air device, the mechanics activated the start-up wheel. +Steam rushed whistling into the gaping valves. Long horizontal +pistons groaned and pushed the tie rods of the drive shaft. +The blades of the propeller churned the waves with increasing speed, +and the Abraham Lincoln moved out majestically amid a spectator-laden +escort of some 100 ferries and tenders.* + +*Author's Note: Tenders are small steamboats that assist +the big liners. + +The wharves of Brooklyn, and every part of New York bordering +the East River, were crowded with curiosity seekers. +Departing from 500,000 throats, three cheers burst forth in succession. +Thousands of handkerchiefs were waving above these tightly packed masses, +hailing the Abraham + +Lincoln until it reached the waters of the Hudson River, at the tip +of the long peninsula that forms New York City. + +The frigate then went along the New Jersey coast--the wonderful +right bank of this river, all loaded down with country homes-- +and passed by the forts to salutes from their biggest cannons. +The Abraham Lincoln replied by three times lowering and hoisting +the American flag, whose thirty-nine stars gleamed from the gaff of +the mizzen sail; then, changing speed to take the buoy-marked channel +that curved into the inner bay formed by the spit of Sandy Hook, +it hugged this sand-covered strip of land where thousands of spectators +acclaimed us one more time. + +The escort of boats and tenders still followed the frigate and only +left us when we came abreast of the lightship, whose two signal +lights mark the entrance of the narrows to Upper New York Bay. + +Three o'clock then sounded. The harbor pilot went down into his +dinghy and rejoined a little schooner waiting for him to leeward. +The furnaces were stoked; the propeller churned the waves more swiftly; +the frigate skirted the flat, yellow coast of Long Island; +and at eight o'clock in the evening, after the lights of Fire Island +had vanished into the northwest, we ran at full steam onto the dark +waters of the Atlantic. + + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + + + +Ned Land + + + +COMMANDER FARRAGUT was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate +he commanded. His ship and he were one. He was its very soul. +On the cetacean question no doubts arose in his mind, and he didn't +allow the animal's existence to be disputed aboard his vessel. +He believed in it as certain pious women believe in the leviathan +from the Book of Job--out of faith, not reason. The monster existed, +and he had vowed to rid the seas of it. The man was a sort of +Knight of Rhodes, a latter-day Sir Dieudonné of Gozo, on his way +to fight an encounter with the dragon devastating the island. +Either Commander Farragut would slay the narwhale, or the narwhale +would slay Commander Farragut. No middle of the road for these two. + +The ship's officers shared the views of their leader. They could +be heard chatting, discussing, arguing, calculating the different +chances of an encounter, and observing the vast expanse of the ocean. +Voluntary watches from the crosstrees of the topgallant sail +were self-imposed by more than one who would have cursed such toil +under any other circumstances. As often as the sun swept over +its daily arc, the masts were populated with sailors whose feet +itched and couldn't hold still on the planking of the deck below! +And the Abraham Lincoln's stempost hadn't even cut the suspected +waters of the Pacific. + +As for the crew, they only wanted to encounter the unicorn, +harpoon it, haul it on board, and carve it up. They surveyed the sea +with scrupulous care. Besides, Commander Farragut had mentioned +that a certain sum of $2,000.00 was waiting for the man who first +sighted the animal, be he cabin boy or sailor, mate or officer. +I'll let the reader decide whether eyes got proper exercise aboard +the Abraham Lincoln. + +As for me, I didn't lag behind the others and I yielded to no +one my share in these daily observations. Our frigate would +have had fivescore good reasons for renaming itself the Argus, +after that mythological beast with 100 eyes! The lone rebel among +us was Conseil, who seemed utterly uninterested in the question +exciting us and was out of step with the general enthusiasm on board. + +As I said, Commander Farragut had carefully equipped his ship +with all the gear needed to fish for a gigantic cetacean. +No whaling vessel could have been better armed. We had every +known mechanism, from the hand-hurled harpoon, to the blunderbuss +firing barbed arrows, to the duck gun with exploding bullets. +On the forecastle was mounted the latest model breech-loading cannon, +very heavy of barrel and narrow of bore, a weapon that would figure +in the Universal Exhibition of 1867. Made in America, this valuable +instrument could fire a four-kilogram conical projectile an average +distance of sixteen kilometers without the least bother. + +So the Abraham Lincoln wasn't lacking in means of destruction. +But it had better still. It had Ned Land, the King of Harpooners. + +Gifted with uncommon manual ability, Ned Land was a Canadian who had +no equal in his dangerous trade. Dexterity, coolness, bravery, +and cunning were virtues he possessed to a high degree, and it took +a truly crafty baleen whale or an exceptionally astute sperm whale +to elude the thrusts of his harpoon. + +Ned Land was about forty years old. A man of great height--over six +English feet--he was powerfully built, serious in manner, not very +sociable, sometimes headstrong, and quite ill-tempered when crossed. +His looks caught the attention, and above all the strength of his gaze, +which gave a unique emphasis to his facial appearance. + +Commander Farragut, to my thinking, had made a wise move in hiring +on this man. With his eye and his throwing arm, he was worth +the whole crew all by himself. I can do no better than to compare +him with a powerful telescope that could double as a cannon always +ready to fire. + +To say Canadian is to say French, and as unsociable as +Ned Land was, I must admit he took a definite liking to me. +No doubt it was my nationality that attracted him. +It was an opportunity for him to speak, and for me to hear, +that old Rabelaisian dialect still used in some Canadian provinces. +The harpooner's family originated in Quebec, and they were already +a line of bold fishermen back in the days when this town still +belonged to France. + +Little by little Ned developed a taste for chatting, and I loved +hearing the tales of his adventures in the polar seas. He described +his fishing trips and his battles with great natural lyricism. +His tales took on the form of an epic poem, and I felt I was hearing +some Canadian Homer reciting his Iliad of the High Arctic regions. + +I'm writing of this bold companion as I currently know him. +Because we've become old friends, united in that permanent +comradeship born and cemented during only the most frightful crises! +Ah, my gallant Ned! I ask only to live 100 years more, the longer +to remember you! + +And now, what were Ned Land's views on this question of a marine monster? +I must admit that he flatly didn't believe in the unicorn, +and alone on board, he didn't share the general conviction. +He avoided even dealing with the subject, for which one day I felt +compelled to take him to task. + +During the magnificent evening of June 25--in other words, three weeks +after our departure--the frigate lay abreast of Cabo Blanco, +thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia. We had crossed +the Tropic of Capricorn, and the Strait of Magellan opened +less than 700 miles to the south. Before eight days were out, +the Abraham Lincoln would plow the waves of the Pacific. + +Seated on the afterdeck, Ned Land and I chatted about one thing +and another, staring at that mysterious sea whose depths to this +day are beyond the reach of human eyes. Quite naturally, +I led our conversation around to the giant unicorn, and I weighed +our expedition's various chances for success or failure. +Then, seeing that Ned just let me talk without saying much himself, +I pressed him more closely. + +"Ned," I asked him, "how can you still doubt the reality of this +cetacean we're after? Do you have any particular reasons for +being so skeptical?" + +The harpooner stared at me awhile before replying, slapped his +broad forehead in one of his standard gestures, closed his eyes +as if to collect himself, and finally said: + +"Just maybe, Professor Aronnax." + +"But Ned, you're a professional whaler, a man familiar with all +the great marine mammals--your mind should easily accept this +hypothesis of an enormous cetacean, and you ought to be the last +one to doubt it under these circumstances!" + +"That's just where you're mistaken, professor," Ned replied. +"The common man may still believe in fabulous comets crossing +outer space, or in prehistoric monsters living at the earth's core, +but astronomers and geologists don't swallow such fairy tales. +It's the same with whalers. I've chased plenty of cetaceans, +I've harpooned a good number, I've killed several. But no matter +how powerful and well armed they were, neither their tails or their +tusks could puncture the sheet-iron plates of a steamer." + +"Even so, Ned, people mention vessels that narwhale tusks have +run clean through." + +"Wooden ships maybe," the Canadian replied. "But I've never seen +the like. So till I have proof to the contrary, I'll deny that +baleen whales, sperm whales, or unicorns can do any such thing." + +"Listen to me, Ned--" + +"No, no, professor. I'll go along with anything you want except that. +Some gigantic devilfish maybe . . . ?" + +"Even less likely, Ned. The devilfish is merely a mollusk, and even this +name hints at its semiliquid flesh, because it's Latin meaning soft one. +The devilfish doesn't belong to the vertebrate branch, and even if it +were 500 feet long, it would still be utterly harmless to ships +like the Scotia or the Abraham Lincoln. Consequently, the feats +of krakens or other monsters of that ilk must be relegated to +the realm of fiction." + +"So, Mr. Naturalist," Ned Land continued in a bantering tone, +"you'll just keep on believing in the existence of some +enormous cetacean . . . ?" + +"Yes, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction backed by factual logic. +I believe in the existence of a mammal with a powerful constitution, +belonging to the vertebrate branch like baleen whales, sperm whales, +or dolphins, and armed with a tusk made of horn that has +tremendous penetrating power." + +"Humph!" the harpooner put in, shaking his head with the attitude +of a man who doesn't want to be convinced. + +"Note well, my fine Canadian," I went on, "if such an animal exists, +if it lives deep in the ocean, if it frequents the liquid strata +located miles beneath the surface of the water, it needs to have +a constitution so solid, it defies all comparison." + +"And why this powerful constitution?" Ned asked. + +"Because it takes incalculable strength just to live in those deep +strata and withstand their pressure." + +"Oh really?" Ned said, tipping me a wink. + +"Oh really, and I can prove it to you with a few simple figures." + +"Bosh!" Ned replied. "You can make figures do anything you want!" + +"In business, Ned, but not in mathematics. Listen to me. +Let's accept that the pressure of one atmosphere is represented +by the pressure of a column of water thirty-two feet high. +In reality, such a column of water wouldn't be quite so high because +here we're dealing with salt water, which is denser than fresh water. +Well then, when you dive under the waves, Ned, for every thirty-two +feet of water above you, your body is tolerating the pressure +of one more atmosphere, in other words, one more kilogram per +each square centimeter on your body's surface. So it follows +that at 320 feet down, this pressure is equal to ten atmospheres, +to 100 atmospheres at 3,200 feet, and to 1,000 atmospheres at +32,000 feet, that is, at about two and a half vertical leagues down. +Which is tantamount to saying that if you could reach such a depth +in the ocean, each square centimeter on your body's surface would +be experiencing 1,000 kilograms of pressure. Now, my gallant Ned, +do you know how many square centimeters you have on your bodily surface?" + +"I haven't the foggiest notion, Professor Aronnax." + +"About 17,000." + +"As many as that?" + +"Yes, and since the atmosphere's pressure actually weighs slightly +more than one kilogram per square centimeter, your 17,000 square +centimeters are tolerating 17,568 kilograms at this very moment." + +"Without my noticing it?" + +"Without your noticing it. And if you aren't crushed by so much pressure, +it's because the air penetrates the interior of your body with +equal pressure. When the inside and outside pressures are in +perfect balance, they neutralize each other and allow you to tolerate +them without discomfort. But in the water it's another story." + +"Yes, I see," Ned replied, growing more interested. +"Because the water surrounds me but doesn't penetrate me." + +"Precisely, Ned. So at thirty-two feet beneath the surface of the sea, +you'll undergo a pressure of 17,568 kilograms; at 320 feet, or ten times +greater pressure, it's 175,680 kilograms; at 3,200 feet, or 100 times +greater pressure, it's 1,756,800 kilograms; finally, at 32,000 feet, +or 1,000 times greater pressure, it's 17,568,000 kilograms; +in other words, you'd be squashed as flat as if you'd just been +yanked from between the plates of a hydraulic press!" + +"Fire and brimstone!" Ned put in. + +"All right then, my fine harpooner, if vertebrates several hundred +meters long and proportionate in bulk live at such depths, +their surface areas make up millions of square centimeters, +and the pressure they undergo must be assessed in billions of kilograms. +Calculate, then, how much resistance of bone structure and strength +of constitution they'd need in order to withstand such pressures!" + +"They'd need to be manufactured," Ned Land replied, "from sheet-iron +plates eight inches thick, like ironclad frigates." + +"Right, Ned, and then picture the damage such a mass could inflict +if it were launched with the speed of an express train against +a ship's hull." + +"Yes . . . indeed . . . maybe," the Canadian replied, staggered by +these figures but still not willing to give in. + +"Well, have I convinced you?" + +"You've convinced me of one thing, Mr. Naturalist. That deep +in the sea, such animals would need to be just as strong as you say-- +if they exist." + +"But if they don't exist, my stubborn harpooner, how do you explain +the accident that happened to the Scotia?" + +"It's maybe . . . ," Ned said, hesitating. + +"Go on!" + +"Because . . . it just couldn't be true!" the Canadian replied, +unconsciously echoing a famous catchphrase of the scientist Arago. + +But this reply proved nothing, other than how bullheaded the harpooner +could be. That day I pressed him no further. The Scotia's accident +was undeniable. Its hole was real enough that it had to be plugged up, +and I don't think a hole's existence can be more emphatically proven. +Now then, this hole didn't make itself, and since it hadn't resulted +from underwater rocks or underwater machines, it must have been +caused by the perforating tool of some animal. + +Now, for all the reasons put forward to this point, I believed that +this animal was a member of the branch Vertebrata, class Mammalia, +group Pisciforma, and finally, order Cetacea. As for the family +in which it would be placed (baleen whale, sperm whale, or dolphin), +the genus to which it belonged, and the species in which it would +find its proper home, these questions had to be left for later. +To answer them called for dissecting this unknown monster; to dissect +it called for catching it; to catch it called for harpooning it-- +which was Ned Land's business; to harpoon it called for sighting it-- +which was the crew's business; and to sight it called for encountering it-- +which was a chancy business. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + + + +At Random! + + + +FOR SOME WHILE the voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was marked by +no incident. But one circumstance arose that displayed Ned Land's +marvelous skills and showed just how much confidence we could +place in him. + +Off the Falkland Islands on June 30, the frigate came in contact +with a fleet of American whalers, and we learned that they hadn't +seen the narwhale. But one of them, the captain of the Monroe, +knew that Ned Land had shipped aboard the Abraham Lincoln +and asked his help in hunting a baleen whale that was in sight. +Anxious to see Ned Land at work, Commander Farragut authorized him +to make his way aboard the Monroe. And the Canadian had such good luck +that with a right-and-left shot, he harpooned not one whale but two, +striking the first straight to the heart and catching the other +after a few minutes' chase! + +Assuredly, if the monster ever had to deal with Ned Land's harpoon, +I wouldn't bet on the monster. + +The frigate sailed along the east coast of South America with +prodigious speed. By July 3 we were at the entrance to the Strait +of Magellan, abreast of Cabo de las Virgenes. But Commander Farragut +was unwilling to attempt this tortuous passageway and maneuvered +instead to double Cape Horn. + +The crew sided with him unanimously. Indeed, were we +likely to encounter the narwhale in such a cramped strait? +Many of our sailors swore that the monster couldn't negotiate this +passageway simply because "he's too big for it!" + +Near three o'clock in the afternoon on July 6, fifteen miles south +of shore, the Abraham Lincoln doubled that solitary islet at the tip +of the South American continent, that stray rock Dutch seamen had +named Cape Horn after their hometown of Hoorn. Our course was set +for the northwest, and the next day our frigate's propeller finally +churned the waters of the Pacific. + +"Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" repeated the sailors of +the Abraham Lincoln. + +And they opened amazingly wide. Eyes and spyglasses (a bit dazzled, +it is true, by the vista of $2,000.00) didn't remain at rest for +an instant. Day and night we observed the surface of the ocean, +and those with nyctalopic eyes, whose ability to see in the dark +increased their chances by fifty percent, had an excellent shot +at winning the prize. + +As for me, I was hardly drawn by the lure of money and yet was far from +the least attentive on board. Snatching only a few minutes for meals +and a few hours for sleep, come rain or come shine, I no longer left +the ship's deck. Sometimes bending over the forecastle railings, +sometimes leaning against the sternrail, I eagerly scoured that +cotton-colored wake that whitened the ocean as far as the eye could see! +And how many times I shared the excitement of general staff and crew +when some unpredictable whale lifted its blackish back above the waves. +In an instant the frigate's deck would become densely populated. +The cowls over the companionways would vomit a torrent of sailors +and officers. With panting chests and anxious eyes, we each would +observe the cetacean's movements. I stared; I stared until I nearly +went blind from a worn-out retina, while Conseil, as stoic as ever, +kept repeating to me in a calm tone: + +"If master's eyes would kindly stop bulging, master will see farther!" + +But what a waste of energy! The Abraham Lincoln would change +course and race after the animal sighted, only to find an ordinary +baleen whale or a common sperm whale that soon disappeared amid +a chorus of curses! + +However, the weather held good. Our voyage was proceeding under +the most favorable conditions. By then it was the bad season +in these southernmost regions, because July in this zone corresponds +to our January in Europe; but the sea remained smooth and easily +visible over a vast perimeter. + +Ned Land still kept up the most tenacious skepticism; beyond his +spells on watch, he pretended that he never even looked at +the surface of the waves, at least while no whales were in sight. +And yet the marvelous power of his vision could have performed +yeoman service. But this stubborn Canadian spent eight +hours out of every twelve reading or sleeping in his cabin. +A hundred times I chided him for his unconcern. + +"Bah!" he replied. "Nothing's out there, Professor Aronnax, +and if there is some animal, what chance would we have of spotting it? +Can't you see we're just wandering around at random? People say +they've sighted this slippery beast again in the Pacific high seas-- +I'm truly willing to believe it, but two months have already gone +by since then, and judging by your narwhale's personality, it hates +growing moldy from hanging out too long in the same waterways! +It's blessed with a terrific gift for getting around. +Now, professor, you know even better than I that nature doesn't +violate good sense, and she wouldn't give some naturally slow animal +the ability to move swiftly if it hadn't a need to use that talent. +So if the beast does exist, it's already long gone!" + +I had no reply to this. Obviously we were just groping blindly. +But how else could we go about it? All the same, our chances were +automatically pretty limited. Yet everyone still felt confident +of success, and not a sailor on board would have bet against +the narwhale appearing, and soon. + +On July 20 we cut the Tropic of Capricorn at longitude 105 +degrees, and by the 27th of the same month, we had cleared +the equator on the 110th meridian. These bearings determined, +the frigate took a more decisive westward heading and tackled +the seas of the central Pacific. Commander Farragut felt, +and with good reason, that it was best to stay in deep waters and +keep his distance from continents or islands, whose neighborhoods +the animal always seemed to avoid--"No doubt," our bosun said, +"because there isn't enough water for him!" So the frigate kept +well out when passing the Tuamotu, Marquesas, and Hawaiian Islands, +then cut the Tropic of Cancer at longitude 132 degrees and headed +for the seas of China. + +We were finally in the area of the monster's latest antics! +And in all honesty, shipboard conditions became life-threatening. +Hearts were pounding hideously, gearing up for futures full +of incurable aneurysms. The entire crew suffered from a nervous +excitement that it's beyond me to describe. Nobody ate, nobody slept. +Twenty times a day some error in perception, or the optical +illusions of some sailor perched in the crosstrees, would cause +intolerable anguish, and this emotion, repeated twenty times over, +kept us in a state of irritability so intense that a reaction was +bound to follow. + +And this reaction wasn't long in coming. For three months, +during which each day seemed like a century, the Abraham Lincoln plowed +all the northerly seas of the Pacific, racing after whales sighted, +abruptly veering off course, swerving sharply from one tack to another, +stopping suddenly, putting on steam and reversing engines in quick +succession, at the risk of stripping its gears, and it didn't leave +a single point unexplored from the beaches of Japan to the coasts +of America. And we found nothing! Nothing except an immenseness +of deserted waves! Nothing remotely resembling a gigantic narwhale, +or an underwater islet, or a derelict shipwreck, or a runaway reef, +or anything the least bit unearthly! + +So the reaction set in. At first, discouragement took hold of +people's minds, opening the door to disbelief. A new feeling appeared +on board, made up of three-tenths shame and seven-tenths fury. +The crew called themselves "out-and-out fools" for being +hoodwinked by a fairy tale, then grew steadily more furious! +The mountains of arguments amassed over a year collapsed all at once, +and each man now wanted only to catch up on his eating and sleeping, +to make up for the time he had so stupidly sacrificed. + +With typical human fickleness, they jumped from one extreme +to the other. Inevitably, the most enthusiastic supporters +of the undertaking became its most energetic opponents. +This reaction mounted upward from the bowels of the ship, from the +quarters of the bunker hands to the messroom of the general staff; +and for certain, if it hadn't been for Commander Farragut's +characteristic stubbornness, the frigate would ultimately have put +back to that cape in the south. + +But this futile search couldn't drag on much longer. +The Abraham Lincoln had done everything it could to succeed and +had no reason to blame itself. Never had the crew of an American +naval craft shown more patience and zeal; they weren't responsible +for this failure; there was nothing to do but go home. + +A request to this effect was presented to the commander. +The commander stood his ground. His sailors couldn't hide +their discontent, and their work suffered because of it. +I'm unwilling to say that there was mutiny on board, but after +a reasonable period of intransigence, Commander Farragut, +like Christopher Columbus before him, asked for a grace period +of just three days more. After this three-day delay, if the monster +hadn't appeared, our helmsman would give three turns of the wheel, +and the Abraham Lincoln would chart a course toward European seas. + +This promise was given on November 2. It had the immediate effect +of reviving the crew's failing spirits. The ocean was observed +with renewed care. Each man wanted one last look with which to sum +up his experience. Spyglasses functioned with feverish energy. +A supreme challenge had been issued to the giant narwhale, and the latter +had no acceptable excuse for ignoring this Summons to Appear! + +Two days passed. The Abraham Lincoln stayed at half steam. +On the offchance that the animal might be found in these waterways, +a thousand methods were used to spark its interest or rouse it +from its apathy. Enormous sides of bacon were trailed in our wake, +to the great satisfaction, I must say, of assorted sharks. +While the Abraham Lincoln heaved to, its longboats radiated +in every direction around it and didn't leave a single point +of the sea unexplored. But the evening of November 4 arrived +with this underwater mystery still unsolved. + +At noon the next day, November 5, the agreed-upon delay expired. +After a position fix, true to his promise, Commander Farragut would +have to set his course for the southeast and leave the northerly +regions of the Pacific decisively behind. + +By then the frigate lay in latitude 31 degrees 15' north and longitude +136 degrees 42' east. The shores of Japan were less than 200 miles +to our leeward. Night was coming on. Eight o'clock had just struck. +Huge clouds covered the moon's disk, then in its first quarter. +The sea undulated placidly beneath the frigate's stempost. + +Just then I was in the bow, leaning over the starboard rail. +Conseil, stationed beside me, stared straight ahead. +Roosting in the shrouds, the crew examined the horizon, which shrank +and darkened little by little. Officers were probing the increasing +gloom with their night glasses. Sometimes the murky ocean sparkled +beneath moonbeams that darted between the fringes of two clouds. +Then all traces of light vanished into the darkness. + +Observing Conseil, I discovered that, just barely, the gallant lad +had fallen under the general influence. At least so I thought. +Perhaps his nerves were twitching with curiosity for the first +time in history. + +"Come on, Conseil!" I told him. "Here's your last chance to +pocket that $2,000.00!" + +"If master will permit my saying so," Conseil replied, "I never +expected to win that prize, and the Union government could have +promised $100,000.00 and been none the poorer." + +"You're right, Conseil, it turned out to be a foolish business +after all, and we jumped into it too hastily. What a waste of time, +what a futile expense of emotion! Six months ago we could have been +back in France--" + +"In master's little apartment," Conseil answered. "In master's museum! +And by now I would have classified master's fossils. +And master's babirusa would be ensconced in its cage at the zoo +in the Botanical Gardens, and it would have attracted every curiosity +seeker in town!" + +"Quite so, Conseil, and what's more, I imagine that people will soon +be poking fun at us!" + +"To be sure," Conseil replied serenely, "I do think they'll have fun +at master's expense. And must it be said . . . ?" + +"It must be said, Conseil." + +"Well then, it will serve master right!" + +"How true!" + +"When one has the honor of being an expert as master is, one mustn't +lay himself open to--" + +Conseil didn't have time to complete the compliment. +In the midst of the general silence, a voice became audible. +It was Ned Land's voice, and it shouted: + +"Ahoy! There's the thing in question, abreast of us to leeward!" + + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + + + +At Full Steam + + + +AT THIS SHOUT the entire crew rushed toward the harpooner-- +commander, officers, mates, + +sailors, cabin boys, down to engineers leaving their machinery +and stokers neglecting their furnaces. The order was given to stop, +and the frigate merely coasted. + +By then the darkness was profound, and as good as the Canadian's +eyes were, I still wondered how he could see--and what he had seen. +My heart was pounding fit to burst. + +But Ned Land was not mistaken, and we all spotted the object his +hand was indicating. + +Two cable lengths off the Abraham Lincoln's starboard quarter, +the sea seemed to be lit up from underneath. This was no +mere phosphorescent phenomenon, that much was unmistakable. +Submerged some fathoms below the surface of the water, the monster +gave off that very intense but inexplicable glow that several +captains had mentioned in their reports. This magnificent radiance +had to come from some force with a great illuminating capacity. +The edge of its light swept over the sea in an immense, +highly elongated oval, condensing at the center into a blazing core +whose unbearable glow diminished by degrees outward. + +"It's only a cluster of phosphorescent particles!" exclaimed one +of the officers. + +"No, sir," I answered with conviction. "Not even angel-wing +clams or salps have ever given off such a powerful light. +That glow is basically electric in nature. Besides . . . look, look! +It's shifting! It's moving back and forth! It's darting at us!" + +A universal shout went up from the frigate. + +"Quiet!" Commander Farragut said. "Helm hard to leeward! +Reverse engines!" + +Sailors rushed to the helm, engineers to their machinery. +Under reverse steam immediately, the Abraham Lincoln beat to port, +sweeping in a semicircle. + +"Right your helm! Engines forward!" Commander Farragut called. + +These orders were executed, and the frigate swiftly retreated +from this core of light. + +My mistake. It wanted to retreat, but the unearthly animal came +at us with a speed double our own. + +We gasped. More stunned than afraid, we stood mute and motionless. +The animal caught up with us, played with us. It made a full +circle around the frigate--then doing fourteen knots--and wrapped +us in sheets of electricity that were like luminous dust. +Then it retreated two or three miles, leaving a phosphorescent +trail comparable to those swirls of steam that shoot behind +the locomotive of an express train. Suddenly, all the way from +the dark horizon where it had gone to gather momentum, the monster +abruptly dashed toward the Abraham Lincoln with frightening speed, +stopped sharply twenty feet from our side plates, and died out-- +not by diving under the water, since its glow did not recede gradually-- +but all at once, as if the source of this brilliant emanation had +suddenly dried up. Then it reappeared on the other side of the ship, +either by circling around us or by gliding under our hull. +At any instant a collision could have occurred that would have been +fatal to us. + +Meanwhile I was astonished at the frigate's maneuvers. It was fleeing, +not fighting. Built to pursue, it was being pursued, and I commented +on this to Commander Farragut. His face, ordinarily so emotionless, +was stamped with indescribable astonishment. + +"Professor Aronnax," he answered me, "I don't know what kind of +fearsome creature I'm up against, and I don't want my frigate running +foolish risks in all this darkness. Besides, how should we attack +this unknown creature, how should we defend ourselves against it? +Let's wait for daylight, and then we'll play a different role." + +"You've no further doubts, commander, as to the nature of this animal?" + +"No, sir, it's apparently a gigantic narwhale, and an electric +one to boot." + +"Maybe," I added, "it's no more approachable than an electric eel +or an electric ray!" + +"Right," the commander replied. "And if it has their power +to electrocute, it's surely the most dreadful animal ever conceived +by our Creator. That's why I'll keep on my guard, sir." + +The whole crew stayed on their feet all night long. No one even +thought of sleeping. Unable to compete with the monster's speed, +the Abraham Lincoln slowed down and stayed at half steam. +For its part, the narwhale mimicked the frigate, simply rode with +the waves, and seemed determined not to forsake the field of battle. + +However, near midnight it disappeared, or to use a more appropriate +expression, "it went out," like a huge glowworm. Had it fled from us? +We were duty bound to fear so rather than hope so. But at 12:53 +in the morning, a deafening hiss became audible, resembling the sound +made by a waterspout expelled with tremendous intensity. + +By then Commander Farragut, Ned Land, and I were on the afterdeck, +peering eagerly into the profound gloom. + +"Ned Land," the commander asked, "you've often heard whales bellowing?" + +"Often, sir, but never a whale like this, whose sighting +earned me $2,000.00." + +"Correct, the prize is rightfully yours. But tell me, isn't that +the noise cetaceans make when they spurt water from their blowholes?" + +"The very noise, sir, but this one's way louder. So there can +be no mistake. There's definitely a whale lurking in our waters. +With your permission, sir," the harpooner added, "tomorrow at daybreak +we'll have words with it." + +"If it's in a mood to listen to you, Mr. Land," I replied in a tone +far from convinced. + +"Let me get within four harpoon lengths of it," the Canadian shot back, +"and it had better listen!" + +"But to get near it," the commander went on, "I'd have to put +a whaleboat at your disposal?" + +"Certainly, sir." + +"That would be gambling with the lives of my men." + +"And with my own!" the harpooner replied simply. + +Near two o'clock in the morning, the core of light reappeared, +no less intense, five miles to windward of the Abraham Lincoln. +Despite the distance, despite the noise of wind and sea, we could +distinctly hear the fearsome thrashings of the animal's tail, +and even its panting breath. Seemingly, the moment this enormous +narwhale came up to breathe at the surface of the ocean, +air was sucked into its lungs like steam into the huge cylinders +of a 2,000-horsepower engine. + +"Hmm!" I said to myself. "A cetacean as powerful as a whole +cavalry regiment--now that's a whale of a whale!" + +We stayed on the alert until daylight, getting ready for action. +Whaling gear was set up along the railings. Our chief officer loaded +the blunderbusses, which can launch harpoons as far as a mile, +and long duck guns with exploding bullets that can mortally wound +even the most powerful animals. Ned Land was content to sharpen +his harpoon, a dreadful weapon in his hands. + +At six o'clock day began to break, and with the dawn's early light, +the narwhale's electric glow disappeared. At seven o'clock the day +was well along, but a very dense morning mist shrank the horizon, +and our best spyglasses were unable to pierce it. The outcome: +disappointment and anger. + +I hoisted myself up to the crosstrees of the mizzen sail. +Some officers were already perched on the mastheads. + +At eight o'clock the mist rolled ponderously over the waves, +and its huge curls were lifting little by little. The horizon grew +wider and clearer all at once. + +Suddenly, just as on the previous evening, Ned Land's voice was audible. + +"There's the thing in question, astern to port!" the harpooner shouted. + +Every eye looked toward the point indicated. + +There, a mile and a half from the frigate, a long blackish body +emerged a meter above the waves. Quivering violently, its tail was +creating a considerable eddy. Never had caudal equipment thrashed +the sea with such power. An immense wake of glowing whiteness +marked the animal's track, sweeping in a long curve. + +Our frigate drew nearer to the cetacean. I examined it with a completely +open mind. Those reports from the Shannon and the Helvetia had slightly +exaggerated its dimensions, and I put its length at only 250 feet. +Its girth was more difficult to judge, but all in all, the animal +seemed to be wonderfully proportioned in all three dimensions. + +While I was observing this phenomenal creature, two jets of steam +and water sprang from its blowholes and rose to an altitude +of forty meters, which settled for me its mode of breathing. +From this I finally concluded that it belonged to the branch Vertebrata, +class Mammalia, subclass Monodelphia, group Pisciforma, +order Cetacea, family . . . but here I couldn't make up my mind. +The order Cetacea consists of three families, baleen whales, +sperm whales, dolphins, and it's in this last group that narwhales +are placed. Each of these families is divided into several genera, +each genus into species, each species into varieties. +So I was still missing variety, species, genus, and family, +but no doubt I would complete my classifying with the aid of Heaven +and Commander Farragut. + +The crew were waiting impatiently for orders from their leader. +The latter, after carefully observing the animal, called for +his engineer. The engineer raced over. + +"Sir," the commander said, "are you up to pressure?" + +"Aye, sir," the engineer replied. + +"Fine. Stoke your furnaces and clap on full steam!" + +Three cheers greeted this order. The hour of battle had sounded. +A few moments later, the frigate's two funnels vomited torrents +of black smoke, and its deck quaked from the trembling of its boilers. + +Driven forward by its powerful propeller, the Abraham Lincoln headed +straight for the animal. Unconcerned, the latter let us come +within half a cable length; then, not bothering to dive, it got up +a little speed, retreated, and was content to keep its distance. + +This chase dragged on for about three-quarters of an hour without +the frigate gaining two fathoms on the cetacean. At this rate, +it was obvious that we would never catch up with it. + +Infuriated, Commander Farragut kept twisting the thick tuft of hair +that flourished below his chin. + +"Ned Land!" he called. + +The Canadian reported at once. + +"Well, Mr. Land," the commander asked, "do you still advise putting +my longboats to sea?" + +"No, sir," Ned Land replied, "because that beast won't be caught +against its will." + +"Then what should we do?" + +"Stoke up more steam, sir, if you can. As for me, with your +permission I'll go perch on the bobstays under the bowsprit, +and if we can get within a harpoon length, I'll harpoon the brute." + +"Go to it, Ned," Commander Farragut replied. "Engineer," he called, +"keep the pressure mounting!" + +Ned Land made his way to his post. The furnaces were urged +into greater activity; our propeller did forty-three revolutions +per minute, and steam shot from the valves. Heaving the log, +we verified that the Abraham Lincoln was going at the rate of 18.5 +miles per hour. + +But that damned animal also did a speed of 18.5. + +For the next hour our frigate kept up this pace without gaining a fathom! +This was humiliating for one of the fastest racers in the American navy. +The crew were working up into a blind rage. Sailor after sailor heaved +insults at the monster, which couldn't be bothered with answering back. +Commander Farragut was no longer content simply to twist his goatee; +he chewed on it. + +The engineer was summoned once again. + +"You're up to maximum pressure?" the commander asked him. + +"Aye, sir," the engineer replied. + +"And your valves are charged to . . . ?" + +"To six and a half atmospheres." + +"Charge them to ten atmospheres." + +A typical American order if I ever heard one. It would have +sounded just fine during some Mississippi paddle-wheeler race, +to "outstrip the competition!" + +"Conseil," I said to my gallant servant, now at my side, "you realize +that we'll probably blow ourselves skyhigh?" + +"As master wishes!" Conseil replied. + +All right, I admit it: I did wish to run this risk! + +The valves were charged. More coal was swallowed by the furnaces. +Ventilators shot torrents of air over the braziers. +The Abraham Lincoln's speed increased. Its masts trembled down +to their blocks, and swirls of smoke could barely squeeze through +the narrow funnels. + +We heaved the log a second time. + +"Well, helmsman?" Commander Farragut asked. + +"19.3 miles per hour, sir." + +"Keep stoking the furnaces." + +The engineer did so. The pressure gauge marked ten atmospheres. +But no doubt the cetacean itself had "warmed up," because without +the least trouble, it also did 19.3. + +What a chase! No, I can't describe the excitement that shook +my very being. Ned Land stayed at his post, harpoon in hand. +Several times the animal let us approach. + +"We're overhauling it!" the Canadian would shout. + +Then, just as he was about to strike, the cetacean would steal off +with a swiftness I could estimate at no less than thirty miles per hour. +And even at our maximum speed, it took the liberty of thumbing +its nose at the frigate by running a full circle around us! +A howl of fury burst from every throat! + +By noon we were no farther along than at eight o'clock in the morning. + +Commander Farragut then decided to use more direct methods. + +"Bah!" he said. "So that animal is faster than the Abraham Lincoln. +All right, we'll see if it can outrun our conical shells! +Mate, man the gun in the bow!" + +Our forecastle cannon was immediately loaded and leveled. +The cannoneer fired a shot, but his shell passed some feet above +the cetacean, which stayed half a mile off. + +"Over to somebody with better aim!" the commander shouted. +"And $500.00 to the man who can pierce that infernal beast!" + + + + +Calm of eye, cool of feature, an old gray-bearded gunner-- +I can see him to this day--approached the cannon, put it in position, +and took aim for a good while. There was a mighty explosion, +mingled with cheers from the crew. + +The shell reached its target; it hit the animal, but not in the +usual fashion--it bounced off that rounded surface and vanished +into the sea two miles out. + +"Oh drat!" said the old gunner in his anger. "That rascal must +be covered with six-inch armor plate!" + +"Curse the beast!" Commander Farragut shouted. + +The hunt was on again, and Commander Farragut leaned over to me, saying: + +"I'll chase that animal till my frigate explodes!" + +"Yes," I replied, "and nobody would blame you!" + +We could still hope that the animal would tire out and not be as +insensitive to exhaustion as our steam engines. But no such luck. +Hour after hour went by without it showing the least sign of weariness. + +However, to the Abraham Lincoln's credit, it must be said that we +struggled on with tireless persistence. I estimate that we covered +a distance of at least 500 kilometers during this ill-fated day +of November 6. But night fell and wrapped the surging ocean +in its shadows. + +By then I thought our expedition had come to an end, that we would +never see this fantastic animal again. I was mistaken. + +At 10:50 in the evening, that electric light reappeared three +miles to windward of the frigate, just as clear and intense +as the night before. + +The narwhale seemed motionless. Was it asleep perhaps, weary from +its workday, just riding with the waves? This was our chance, +and Commander Farragut was determined to take full advantage of it. + +He gave his orders. The Abraham Lincoln stayed at half steam, +advancing cautiously so as not to awaken its adversary. +In midocean it's not unusual to encounter whales so sound asleep +they can successfully be attacked, and Ned Land had harpooned +more than one in its slumber. The Canadian went to resume his post +on the bobstays under the bowsprit. + +The frigate approached without making a sound, stopped two cable +lengths from the animal and coasted. Not a soul breathed on board. +A profound silence reigned over the deck. We were not 100 feet +from the blazing core of light, whose glow grew stronger and +dazzled the eyes. + +Just then, leaning over the forecastle railing, I saw Ned Land +below me, one hand grasping the martingale, the other brandishing +his dreadful harpoon. Barely twenty feet separated him from +the motionless animal. + +All at once his arm shot forward and the harpoon was launched. +I heard the weapon collide resonantly, as if it had hit +some hard substance. + + + + +The electric light suddenly went out, and two enormous waterspouts +crashed onto the deck of the frigate, racing like a torrent from +stem to stern, toppling crewmen, breaking spare masts and yardarms +from their lashings. + +A hideous collision occurred, and thrown over the rail with no time +to catch hold of it, I was hurled into the sea. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + + + +A Whale of Unknown Species + + + +ALTHOUGH I WAS startled by this unexpected descent, I at least +have a very clear recollection of my sensations during it. + +At first I was dragged about twenty feet under. I'm a good swimmer, +without claiming to equal such other authors as Byron and Edgar Allan Poe, +who were master divers, and I didn't lose my head on the way down. +With two vigorous kicks of the heel, I came back to the surface +of the sea. + +My first concern was to look for the frigate. Had the crew +seen me go overboard? Was the Abraham Lincoln tacking about? +Would Commander Farragut put a longboat to sea? Could I hope +to be rescued? + +The gloom was profound. I glimpsed a black mass disappearing eastward, +where its running lights were fading out in the distance. +It was the frigate. I felt I was done for. + +"Help! Help!" I shouted, swimming desperately toward the Abraham Lincoln. + +My clothes were weighing me down. The water glued them to +my body, they were paralyzing my movements. I was sinking! +I was suffocating . . . ! + +"Help!" + +This was the last shout I gave. My mouth was filling with water. +I struggled against being dragged into the depths. . . . + +Suddenly my clothes were seized by energetic hands, I felt myself +pulled abruptly back to the surface of the sea, and yes, I heard +these words pronounced in my ear: + +"If master would oblige me by leaning on my shoulder, master will +swim with much greater ease." + +With one hand I seized the arm of my loyal Conseil. + +"You!" I said. "You!" + +"Myself," Conseil replied, "and at master's command." + +"That collision threw you overboard along with me?" + +"Not at all. But being in master's employ, I followed master." + +The fine lad thought this only natural! + +"What about the frigate?" I asked. + +"The frigate?" Conseil replied, rolling over on his back. +"I think master had best not depend on it to any great extent!" + +"What are you saying?" + +"I'm saying that just as I jumped overboard, I heard the men at +the helm shout, 'Our propeller and rudder are smashed!' " + +"Smashed?" + +"Yes, smashed by the monster's tusk! I believe it's the sole injury +the Abraham Lincoln has sustained. But most inconveniently for us, +the ship can no longer steer." + +"Then we're done for!" + +"Perhaps," Conseil replied serenely. "However, we still have a few +hours before us, and in a few hours one can do a great many things!" + +Conseil's unflappable composure cheered me up. I swam more vigorously, +but hampered by clothes that were as restricting as a cloak made +of lead, I was managing with only the greatest difficulty. +Conseil noticed as much. + +"Master will allow me to make an incision," he said. + +And he slipped an open clasp knife under my clothes, slitting them +from top to bottom with one swift stroke. Then he briskly undressed +me while I swam for us both. + +I then did Conseil the same favor, and we continued to "navigate" +side by side. + +But our circumstances were no less dreadful. Perhaps they +hadn't seen us go overboard; and even if they had, the frigate-- +being undone by its rudder--couldn't return to leeward after us. +So we could count only on its longboats. + +Conseil had coolly reasoned out this hypothesis and laid his +plans accordingly. An amazing character, this boy; in midocean, +this stoic lad seemed right at home! + +So, having concluded that our sole chance for salvation +lay in being picked up by the Abraham Lincoln's longboats, +we had to take steps to wait for them as long as possible. +Consequently, I decided to divide our energies so we wouldn't +both be worn out at the same time, and this was the arrangement: +while one of us lay on his back, staying motionless with arms crossed and +legs outstretched, the other would swim and propel his partner forward. +This towing role was to last no longer than ten minutes, and by +relieving each other in this way, we could stay afloat for hours, +perhaps even until daybreak. + +Slim chance, but hope springs eternal in the human breast! +Besides, there were two of us. Lastly, I can vouch--as improbable +as it seems--that even if I had wanted to destroy all my illusions, +even if I had been willing to "give in to despair," I could not +have done so! + +The cetacean had rammed our frigate at about eleven o'clock +in the evening. I therefore calculated on eight hours of swimming +until sunrise. A strenuous task, but feasible, thanks to our +relieving each other. The sea was pretty smooth and barely tired us. +Sometimes I tried to peer through the dense gloom, which was broken +only by the phosphorescent flickers coming from our movements. +I stared at the luminous ripples breaking over my hands, +shimmering sheets spattered with blotches of bluish gray. +It seemed as if we'd plunged into a pool of quicksilver. + +Near one o'clock in the morning, I was overcome with +tremendous exhaustion. My limbs stiffened in the grip of intense cramps. +Conseil had to keep me going, and attending to our self-preservation +became his sole responsibility. I soon heard the poor lad gasping; +his breathing became shallow and quick. I didn't think he could +stand such exertions for much longer. + +"Go on! Go on!" I told him. + +"Leave master behind?" he replied. "Never! I'll drown before he does!" + +Just then, past the fringes of a large cloud that the wind was +driving eastward, the moon appeared. The surface of the sea +glistened under its rays. That kindly light rekindled our strength. +I held up my head again. My eyes darted to every point of the horizon. +I spotted the frigate. It was five miles from us and formed no +more than a dark, barely perceptible mass. But as for longboats, +not a one in sight! + +I tried to call out. What was the use at such a distance! +My swollen lips wouldn't let a single sound through. Conseil could +still articulate a few words, and I heard him repeat at intervals: + +"Help! Help!" + +Ceasing all movement for an instant, we listened. And it may have +been a ringing in my ear, from this organ filling with impeded blood, +but it seemed to me that Conseil's shout had received an answer back. + +"Did you hear that?" I muttered. + +"Yes, yes!" + +And Conseil hurled another desperate plea into space. + +This time there could be no mistake! A human voice had answered us! +Was it the voice of some poor devil left behind in midocean, +some other victim of that collision suffered by our ship? +Or was it one of the frigate's longboats, hailing us out of the gloom? + +Conseil made one final effort, and bracing his hands on my shoulders, +while I offered resistance with one supreme exertion, he raised +himself half out of the water, then fell back exhausted. + +"What did you see?" + +"I saw . . . ," he muttered, "I saw . . . but we mustn't talk . . . +save our strength . . . !" + +What had he seen? Then, lord knows why, the thought of the monster came +into my head for the first time . . . ! But even so, that voice . . . ? +Gone are the days when Jonahs took refuge in the bellies of whales! + +Nevertheless, Conseil kept towing me. Sometimes he looked up, +stared straight ahead, and shouted a request for directions, +which was answered by a voice that was getting closer and closer. +I could barely hear it. I was at the end of my strength; my fingers +gave out; my hands were no help to me; my mouth opened convulsively, +filling with brine; its coldness ran through me; I raised my head +one last time, then I collapsed. . . . + +Just then something hard banged against me. I clung to it. +Then I felt myself being pulled upward, back to the surface of the water; +my chest caved in, and I fainted. . . . + +For certain, I came to quickly, because someone was massaging me +so vigorously it left furrows in my flesh. I half opened my eyes. . . . + +"Conseil!" I muttered. + +"Did master ring for me?" Conseil replied. + +Just then, in the last light of a moon settling on the horizon, +I spotted a face that wasn't Conseil's but which I recognized at once. + +"Ned!" I exclaimed. + +"In person, sir, and still after his prize!" the Canadian replied. + +"You were thrown overboard after the frigate's collision?" + +"Yes, professor, but I was luckier than you, and right away I was +able to set foot on this floating islet." + +"Islet?" + +"Or in other words, on our gigantic narwhale." + +"Explain yourself, Ned." + +"It's just that I soon realized why my harpoon got blunted and couldn't +puncture its hide." + +"Why, Ned, why?" + +"Because, professor, this beast is made of boilerplate steel!" + +At this point in my story, I need to get a grip on myself, +reconstruct exactly what I experienced, and make doubly sure +of everything I write. + +The Canadian's last words caused a sudden upheaval in my brain. +I swiftly hoisted myself to the summit of this half-submerged creature +or object that was serving as our refuge. I tested it with my foot. +Obviously it was some hard, impenetrable substance, not the soft +matter that makes up the bodies of our big marine mammals. + +But this hard substance could have been a bony carapace, like those +that covered some prehistoric animals, and I might have left it +at that and classified this monster among such amphibious reptiles +as turtles or alligators. + +Well, no. The blackish back supporting me was smooth and polished +with no overlapping scales. On impact, it gave off a metallic sonority, +and as incredible as this sounds, it seemed, I swear, to be made +of riveted plates. + +No doubts were possible! This animal, this monster, this natural +phenomenon that had puzzled the whole scientific world, that had +muddled and misled the minds of seamen in both hemispheres, was, +there could be no escaping it, an even more astonishing phenomenon-- +a phenomenon made by the hand of man. + +Even if I had discovered that some fabulous, mythological creature +really existed, it wouldn't have given me such a terrific mental jolt. +It's easy enough to accept that prodigious things can come from +our Creator. But to find, all at once, right before your eyes, +that the impossible had been mysteriously achieved by man himself: +this staggers the mind! + +But there was no question now. We were stretched out on the back +of some kind of underwater boat that, as far as I could judge, +boasted the shape of an immense steel fish. Ned Land had clear +views on the issue. Conseil and I could only line up behind him. + +"But then," I said, "does this contraption contain some sort +of locomotive mechanism, and a crew to run it?" + +"Apparently," the harpooner replied. "And yet for the three hours +I've lived on this floating island, it hasn't shown a sign of life." + +"This boat hasn't moved at all?" + +"No, Professor Aronnax. It just rides with the waves, but otherwise +it hasn't stirred." + +"But we know that it's certainly gifted with great speed. +Now then, since an engine is needed to generate that speed, +and a mechanic to run that engine, I conclude: we're saved." + +"Humph!" Ned Land put in, his tone denoting reservations. + +Just then, as if to take my side in the argument, a bubbling began +astern of this strange submersible--whose drive mechanism was obviously +a propeller--and the boat started to move. We barely had time to hang +on to its topside, which emerged about eighty centimeters above water. +Fortunately its speed was not excessive. + +"So long as it navigates horizontally," Ned Land muttered, +"I've no complaints. But if it gets the urge to dive, I wouldn't +give $2.00 for my hide!" + +The Canadian might have quoted a much lower price. +So it was imperative to make contact with whatever beings were +confined inside the plating of this machine. I searched its surface +for an opening or a hatch, a "manhole," to use the official term; +but the lines of rivets had been firmly driven into the sheet-iron +joins and were straight and uniform. + +Moreover, the moon then disappeared and left us in profound darkness. +We had to wait for daylight to find some way of getting inside +this underwater boat. + +So our salvation lay totally in the hands of the mysterious helmsmen +steering this submersible, and if it made a dive, we were done for! +But aside from this occurring, I didn't doubt the possibility +of our making contact with them. In fact, if they didn't produce +their own air, they inevitably had to make periodic visits +to the surface of the ocean to replenish their oxygen supply. +Hence the need for some opening that put the boat's interior +in contact with the atmosphere. + +As for any hope of being rescued by Commander Farragut, that had to be +renounced completely. We were being swept westward, and I estimate +that our comparatively moderate speed reached twelve miles per hour. +The propeller churned the waves with mathematical regularity, +sometimes emerging above the surface and throwing phosphorescent +spray to great heights. + +Near four o'clock in the morning, the submersible picked up speed. +We could barely cope with this dizzying rush, and the waves battered +us at close range. Fortunately Ned's hands came across a big +mooring ring fastened to the topside of this sheet-iron back, +and we all held on for dear life. + +Finally this long night was over. My imperfect memories won't let me +recall my every impression of it. A single detail comes back to me. +Several times, during various lulls of wind and sea, I thought I +heard indistinct sounds, a sort of elusive harmony produced by +distant musical chords. What was the secret behind this underwater +navigating, whose explanation the whole world had sought in vain? +What beings lived inside this strange boat? What mechanical force +allowed it to move about with such prodigious speed? + +Daylight appeared. The morning mists surrounded us, but they +soon broke up. I was about to proceed with a careful examination +of the hull, whose topside formed a sort of horizontal platform, +when I felt it sinking little by little. + +"Oh, damnation!" Ned Land shouted, stamping his foot on the resonant +sheet iron. "Open up there, you antisocial navigators!" + +But it was difficult to make yourself heard above the deafening beats +of the propeller. Fortunately this submerging movement stopped. + +From inside the boat, there suddenly came noises of iron fastenings +pushed roughly aside. One of the steel plates flew up, a man appeared, +gave a bizarre yell, and instantly disappeared. + +A few moments later, eight strapping fellows appeared silently, +their faces like masks, and dragged us down into their fearsome machine. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + + + +"Mobilis in Mobili" + + + +THIS BRUTALLY EXECUTED capture was carried out with lightning speed. +My companions and I had no time to collect ourselves. I don't +know how they felt about being shoved inside this aquatic prison, +but as for me, I was shivering all over. With whom were we dealing? +Surely with some new breed of pirates, exploiting the sea after +their own fashion. + +The narrow hatch had barely closed over me when I was surrounded by +profound darkness. Saturated with the outside light, my eyes couldn't +make out a thing. I felt my naked feet clinging to the steps of an +iron ladder. Forcibly seized, Ned Land and Conseil were behind me. +At the foot of the ladder, a door opened and instantly closed behind +us with a loud clang. + +We were alone. Where? I couldn't say, could barely even imagine. +All was darkness, but such utter darkness that after several minutes, +my eyes were still unable to catch a single one of those hazy gleams +that drift through even the blackest nights. + +Meanwhile, furious at these goings on, Ned Land gave free rein +to his indignation. + +"Damnation!" he exclaimed. "These people are about as hospitable +as the savages of New Caledonia! All that's lacking is for them +to be cannibals! I wouldn't be surprised if they were, but believe +you me, they won't eat me without my kicking up a protest!" + +"Calm yourself, Ned my friend," Conseil replied serenely. +"Don't flare up so quickly! We aren't in a kettle yet!" + +"In a kettle, no," the Canadian shot back, "but in an oven for sure. +It's dark enough for one. Luckily my Bowie knife hasn't left me, +and I can still see well enough to put it to use.* The first one +of these bandits who lays a hand on me--" + +*Author's Note: A Bowie knife is a wide-bladed dagger that Americans +are forever carrying around. + +"Don't be so irritable, Ned," I then told the harpooner, +"and don't ruin things for us with pointless violence. +Who knows whether they might be listening to us? Instead, let's try +to find out where we are!" + +I started moving, groping my way. After five steps I encountered +an iron wall made of riveted boilerplate. Then, turning around, +I bumped into a wooden table next to which several stools had been set. +The floor of this prison lay hidden beneath thick, hempen matting +that deadened the sound of footsteps. Its naked walls didn't reveal +any trace of a door or window. Going around the opposite way, +Conseil met up with me, and we returned to the middle of this cabin, +which had to be twenty feet long by ten wide. As for its height, +not even Ned Land, with his great stature, was able to determine it. + +Half an hour had already gone by without our situation changing, +when our eyes were suddenly spirited from utter darkness into +blinding light. Our prison lit up all at once; in other words, +it filled with luminescent matter so intense that at first I +couldn't stand the brightness of it. From its glare and whiteness, +I recognized the electric glow that had played around this +underwater boat like some magnificent phosphorescent phenomenon. +After involuntarily closing my eyes, I reopened them and saw +that this luminous force came from a frosted half globe curving +out of the cabin's ceiling. + +"Finally! It's light enough to see!" Ned Land exclaimed, knife in hand, +staying on the defensive. + +"Yes," I replied, then ventured the opposite view. "But as for +our situation, we're still in the dark." + + + + +"Master must learn patience," said the emotionless Conseil. + +This sudden illumination of our cabin enabled me to examine its +tiniest details. It contained only a table and five stools. +Its invisible door must have been hermetically sealed. +Not a sound reached our ears. Everything seemed dead inside this boat. +Was it in motion, or stationary on the surface of the ocean, +or sinking into the depths? I couldn't tell. + +But this luminous globe hadn't been turned on without good reason. +Consequently, I hoped that some crewmen would soon make an appearance. +If you want to consign people to oblivion, you don't light +up their dungeons. + +I was not mistaken. Unlocking noises became audible, a door opened, +and two men appeared. + +One was short and stocky, powerfully muscled, broad shouldered, +robust of limbs, the head squat, the hair black and luxuriant, +the mustache heavy, the eyes bright and penetrating, and his +whole personality stamped with that southern-blooded zest that, +in France, typifies the people of Provence. The philosopher +Diderot has very aptly claimed that a man's bearing is the clue +to his character, and this stocky little man was certainly +a living proof of this claim. You could sense that his everyday +conversation must have been packed with such vivid figures of +speech as personification, symbolism, and misplaced modifiers. +But I was never in a position to verify this because, around me, +he used only an odd and utterly incomprehensible dialect. + +The second stranger deserves a more detailed description. +A disciple of such character-judging anatomists as Gratiolet +or Engel could have read this man's features like an open book. +Without hesitation, I identified his dominant qualities-- +self-confidence, since his head reared like a nobleman's above the arc +formed by the lines of his shoulders, and his black eyes gazed +with icy assurance; calmness, since his skin, pale rather than ruddy, +indicated tranquility of blood; energy, shown by the swiftly knitting +muscles of his brow; and finally courage, since his deep breathing +denoted tremendous reserves of vitality. + +I might add that this was a man of great pride, that his calm, +firm gaze seemed to reflect thinking on an elevated plane, +and that the harmony of his facial expressions and bodily +movements resulted in an overall effect of unquestionable candor-- +according to the findings of physiognomists, those analysts +of facial character. + +I felt "involuntarily reassured" in his presence, and this boded +well for our interview. + +Whether this individual was thirty-five or fifty years of age, +I could not precisely state. He was tall, his forehead broad, +his nose straight, his mouth clearly etched, his teeth magnificent, +his hands refined, tapered, and to use a word from palmistry, +highly "psychic," in other words, worthy of serving a lofty +and passionate spirit. This man was certainly the most wonderful +physical specimen I had ever encountered. One unusual detail: +his eyes were spaced a little far from each other and could +instantly take in nearly a quarter of the horizon. This ability-- +as I later verified--was strengthened by a range of vision even greater +than Ned Land's. When this stranger focused his gaze on an object, +his eyebrow lines gathered into a frown, his heavy eyelids closed +around his pupils to contract his huge field of vision, and he looked! +What a look--as if he could magnify objects shrinking into the distance; +as if he could probe your very soul; as if he could pierce those sheets +of water so opaque to our eyes and scan the deepest seas . . . ! + +Wearing caps made of sea-otter fur, and shod in sealskin fishing boots, +these two strangers were dressed in clothing made from some unique +fabric that flattered the figure and allowed great freedom of movement. + +The taller of the two--apparently the leader on board--examined us +with the greatest care but without pronouncing a word. Then, turning to +his companion, he conversed with him in a language I didn't recognize. +It was a sonorous, harmonious, flexible dialect whose vowels seemed +to undergo a highly varied accentuation. + +The other replied with a shake of the head and added two or three +utterly incomprehensible words. Then he seemed to question me +directly with a long stare. + +I replied in clear French that I wasn't familiar with his language; +but he didn't seem to understand me, and the situation +grew rather baffling. + +"Still, master should tell our story," Conseil said to me. +"Perhaps these gentlemen will grasp a few words of it!" + +I tried again, telling the tale of our adventures, clearly articulating +my every syllable, and not leaving out a single detail. I stated +our names and titles; then, in order, I introduced Professor Aronnax, +his manservant Conseil, and Mr. Ned Land, harpooner. + +The man with calm, gentle eyes listened to me serenely, +even courteously, and paid remarkable attention. But nothing +in his facial expression indicated that he understood my story. +When I finished, he didn't pronounce a single word. + +One resource still left was to speak English. Perhaps they would +be familiar with this nearly universal language. But I only knew it, +as I did the German language, well enough to read it fluently, +not well enough to speak it correctly. Here, however, our overriding +need was to make ourselves understood. + +"Come on, it's your turn," I told the harpooner. "Over to you, +Mr. Land. Pull out of your bag of tricks the best English ever spoken +by an Anglo-Saxon, and try for a more favorable result than mine." + +Ned needed no persuading and started our story all over again, +most of which I could follow. Its content was the same, +but the form differed. Carried away by his volatile temperament, +the Canadian put great animation into it. He complained +vehemently about being imprisoned in defiance of his civil rights, +asked by virtue of which law he was hereby detained, invoked writs +of habeas corpus, threatened to press charges against anyone holding +him in illegal custody, ranted, gesticulated, shouted, and finally +conveyed by an expressive gesture that we were dying of hunger. + +This was perfectly true, but we had nearly forgotten the fact. + +Much to his amazement, the harpooner seemed no more intelligible +than I had been. Our visitors didn't bat an eye. Apparently they +were engineers who understood the languages of neither the French +physicist Arago nor the English physicist Faraday. + +Thoroughly baffled after vainly exhausting our philological resources, +I no longer knew what tactic to pursue, when Conseil told me: + +"If master will authorize me, I'll tell the whole business in German." + +"What! You know German?" I exclaimed. + +"Like most Flemish people, with all due respect to master." + +"On the contrary, my respect is due you. Go to it, my boy." + +And Conseil, in his serene voice, described for the third time +the various vicissitudes of our story. But despite our narrator's +fine accent and stylish turns of phrase, the German language met +with no success. + +Finally, as a last resort, I hauled out everything I could +remember from my early schooldays, and I tried to narrate our +adventures in Latin. Cicero would have plugged his ears and sent +me to the scullery, but somehow I managed to pull through. +With the same negative result. + +This last attempt ultimately misfiring, the two strangers exchanged +a few words in their incomprehensible language and withdrew, +not even favoring us with one of those encouraging gestures that are +used in every country in the world. The door closed again. + +"This is outrageous!" Ned Land shouted, exploding for the +twentieth time. "I ask you! We speak French, English, German, +and Latin to these rogues, and neither of them has the decency +to even answer back!" + +"Calm down, Ned," I told the seething harpooner. "Anger won't +get us anywhere." + +"But professor," our irascible companion went on, "can't you see +that we could die of hunger in this iron cage?" + +"Bah!" Conseil put in philosophically. "We can hold out a +good while yet!" + +"My friends," I said, "we mustn't despair. We've gotten out of +tighter spots. So please do me the favor of waiting a bit before +you form your views on the commander and crew of this boat." + +"My views are fully formed," Ned Land shot back. "They're rogues!" + +"Oh good! And from what country?" + +"Roguedom!" + +"My gallant Ned, as yet that country isn't clearly marked on maps of +the world, but I admit that the nationality of these two strangers is hard +to make out! Neither English, French, nor German, that's all we can say. +But I'm tempted to think that the commander and his chief officer +were born in the low latitudes. There must be southern blood in them. +But as to whether they're Spaniards, Turks, Arabs, or East Indians, +their physical characteristics don't give me enough to go on. +And as for their speech, it's utterly incomprehensible." + +"That's the nuisance in not knowing every language," Conseil replied, +"or the drawback in not having one universal language!" + +"Which would all go out the window!" Ned Land replied. +"Don't you see, these people have a language all to themselves, +a language they've invented just to cause despair in decent people +who ask for a little dinner! Why, in every country on earth, +when you open your mouth, snap your jaws, smack your lips and teeth, +isn't that the world's most understandable message? From Quebec +to the Tuamotu Islands, from Paris to the Antipodes, doesn't it mean: +I'm hungry, give me a bite to eat!" + +"Oh," Conseil put in, "there are some people so unintelligent +by nature . . ." + +As he was saying these words, the door opened. A steward +entered.* He brought us some clothes, jackets and sailor's pants, +made out of a fabric whose nature I didn't recognize. +I hurried to change into them, and my companions followed suit. + +*Author's Note: A steward is a waiter on board a steamer. + +Meanwhile our silent steward, perhaps a deaf-mute, set the table +and laid three place settings. + +"There's something serious afoot," Conseil said, "and it bodes well." + +"Bah!" replied the rancorous harpooner. "What the devil do you suppose +they eat around here? Turtle livers, loin of shark, dogfish steaks?" + +"We'll soon find out!" Conseil said. + +Overlaid with silver dish covers, various platters had been +neatly positioned on the table cloth, and we sat down to eat. +Assuredly, we were dealing with civilized people, and if it hadn't +been for this electric light flooding over us, I would have thought +we were in the dining room of the Hotel Adelphi in Liverpool, +or the Grand Hotel in Paris. However, I feel compelled to mention +that bread and wine were totally absent. The water was fresh and clear, +but it was still water--which wasn't what Ned Land had in mind. +Among the foods we were served, I was able to identify various +daintily dressed fish; but I couldn't make up my mind about certain +otherwise excellent dishes, and I couldn't even tell whether +their contents belonged to the vegetable or the animal kingdom. +As for the tableware, it was elegant and in perfect taste. +Each utensil, spoon, fork, knife, and plate, bore on its reverse +a letter encircled by a Latin motto, and here is its exact duplicate: + + + +MOBILIS IN MOBILI + +N + + + +Moving within the moving element! It was a highly appropriate +motto for this underwater machine, so long as the preposition +in is translated as within and not upon. The letter N was no doubt +the initial of the name of that mystifying individual in command +beneath the seas! + +Ned and Conseil had no time for such musings. They were wolfing +down their food, and without further ado I did the same. +By now I felt reassured about our fate, and it seemed obvious +that our hosts didn't intend to let us die of starvation. + +But all earthly things come to an end, all things must pass, +even the hunger of people who haven't eaten for fifteen hours. +Our appetites appeased, we felt an urgent need for sleep. +A natural reaction after that interminable night of fighting +for our lives. + +"Ye gods, I'll sleep soundly," Conseil said. + +"Me, I'm out like a light!" Ned Land replied. + +My two companions lay down on the cabin's carpeting and were soon +deep in slumber. + +As for me, I gave in less readily to this intense need for sleep. +Too many thoughts had piled up in my mind, too many insoluble +questions had arisen, too many images were keeping my eyelids open! +Where were we? What strange power was carrying us along? +I felt--or at least I thought I did--the submersible sinking +toward the sea's lower strata. Intense nightmares besieged me. +In these mysterious marine sanctuaries, I envisioned hosts +of unknown animals, and this underwater boat seemed to be a blood +relation of theirs: living, breathing, just as fearsome . . . ! +Then my mind grew calmer, my imagination melted into hazy drowsiness, +and I soon fell into an uneasy slumber. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + + + +The Tantrums of Ned Land + + + +I HAVE NO IDEA how long this slumber lasted; but it must have been +a good while, since we were + +completely over our exhaustion. I was the first one to wake up. +My companions weren't yet stirring and still lay in their corners +like inanimate objects. + +I had barely gotten up from my passably hard mattress when I felt +my mind clear, my brain go on the alert. So I began a careful +reexamination of our cell. + +Nothing had changed in its interior arrangements. +The prison was still a prison and its prisoners still prisoners. +But, taking advantage of our slumber, the steward had cleared the table. +Consequently, nothing indicated any forthcoming improvement in +our situation, and I seriously wondered if we were doomed to spend +the rest of our lives in this cage. + +This prospect seemed increasingly painful to me because, even though +my brain was clear of its obsessions from the night before, +I was feeling an odd short-windedness in my chest. It was becoming +hard for me to breathe. The heavy air was no longer sufficient +for the full play of my lungs. Although our cell was large, +we obviously had used up most of the oxygen it contained. +In essence, over an hour's time a single human being consumes +all the oxygen found in 100 liters of air, at which point that air +has become charged with a nearly equal amount of carbon dioxide +and is no longer fit for breathing. + +So it was now urgent to renew the air in our prison, and no doubt +the air in this whole underwater boat as well. + +Here a question popped into my head. How did the commander of this +aquatic residence go about it? Did he obtain air using chemical methods, +releasing the oxygen contained in potassium chlorate by heating it, +meanwhile absorbing the carbon dioxide with potassium hydroxide? +If so, he would have to keep up some kind of relationship with +the shore, to come by the materials needed for such an operation. +Did he simply limit himself to storing the air in high-pressure +tanks and then dispense it according to his crew's needs? +Perhaps. Or, proceeding in a more convenient, more economical, +and consequently more probable fashion, was he satisfied with merely +returning to breathe at the surface of the water like a cetacean, +renewing his oxygen supply every twenty-four hours? In any event, +whatever his method was, it seemed prudent to me that he use this +method without delay. + +In fact, I had already resorted to speeding up my inhalations in order +to extract from the cell what little oxygen it contained, when suddenly +I was refreshed by a current of clean air, scented with a salty aroma. +It had to be a sea breeze, life-giving and charged with iodine! +I opened my mouth wide, and my lungs glutted themselves +on the fresh particles. At the same time, I felt a swaying, +a rolling of moderate magnitude but definitely noticeable. +This boat, this sheet-iron monster, had obviously just risen to +the surface of the ocean, there to breathe in good whale fashion. +So the ship's mode of ventilation was finally established. + +When I had absorbed a chestful of this clean air, I looked +for the conduit--the "air carrier," if you prefer--that allowed +this beneficial influx to reach us, and I soon found it. +Above the door opened an air vent that let in a fresh current of oxygen, +renewing the thin air in our cell. + +I had gotten to this point in my observations when Ned and Conseil +woke up almost simultaneously, under the influence of this reviving +air purification. They rubbed their eyes, stretched their arms, +and sprang to their feet. + +"Did master sleep well?" Conseil asked me with his perennial +good manners. + +"Extremely well, my gallant lad," I replied. "And how about you, +Mr. Ned Land?" + +"Like a log, professor. But I must be imagining things, because it +seems like I'm breathing a sea breeze!" + +A seaman couldn't be wrong on this topic, and I told the Canadian +what had gone on while he slept. + +"Good!" he said. "That explains perfectly all that bellowing we heard, +when our so-called narwhale lay in sight of the Abraham Lincoln." + +"Perfectly, Mr. Land. It was catching its breath!" + +"Only I've no idea what time it is, Professor Aronnax, +unless maybe it's dinnertime?" + +"Dinnertime, my fine harpooner? I'd say at least breakfast time, +because we've certainly woken up to a new day." + +"Which indicates," Conseil replied, "that we've spent twenty-four +hours in slumber." + +"That's my assessment," I replied. + +"I won't argue with you," Ned Land answered. "But dinner or breakfast, +that steward will be plenty welcome whether he brings the one +or the other." + +"The one and the other," Conseil said. + +"Well put," the Canadian replied. "We deserve two meals, +and speaking for myself, I'll do justice to them both." + +"All right, Ned, let's wait and see!" I replied. "It's clear +that these strangers don't intend to let us die of hunger, +otherwise last evening's dinner wouldn't make any sense." + +"Unless they're fattening us up!" Ned shot back. + +"I object," I replied. "We have not fallen into the hands of cannibals." + +"Just because they don't make a habit of it," the Canadian replied +in all seriousness, "doesn't mean they don't indulge from time to time. +Who knows? Maybe these people have gone without fresh meat for a +long while, and in that case three healthy, well-built specimens +like the professor, his manservant, and me ---" + +"Get rid of those ideas, Mr. Land," I answered the harpooner. +"And above all, don't let them lead you to flare up against our hosts, +which would only make our situation worse." + +"Anyhow," the harpooner said, "I'm as hungry as all Hades, +and dinner or breakfast, not one puny meal has arrived!" + +"Mr. Land," I answered, "we have to adapt to the schedule on board, +and I imagine our stomachs are running ahead of the chief +cook's dinner bell." + +"Well then, we'll adjust our stomachs to the chef's timetable!" +Conseil replied serenely. + +"There you go again, Conseil my friend!" the impatient Canadian +shot back. "You never allow yourself any displays of bile or attacks +of nerves! You're everlastingly calm! You'd say your after-meal +grace even if you didn't get any food for your before-meal blessing-- +and you'd starve to death rather than complain!" + +"What good would it do?" Conseil asked. + +"Complaining doesn't have to do good, it just feels good! +And if these pirates--I say pirates out of consideration for the +professor's feelings, since he doesn't want us to call them cannibals-- +if these pirates think they're going to smother me in this cage +without hearing what cusswords spice up my outbursts, they've got +another think coming! Look here, Professor Aronnax, speak frankly. +How long do you figure they'll keep us in this iron box?" + +"To tell the truth, friend Land, I know little more about it +than you do." + +"But in a nutshell, what do you suppose is going on?" + +"My supposition is that sheer chance has made us privy to an +important secret. Now then, if the crew of this underwater +boat have a personal interest in keeping that secret, +and if their personal interest is more important than the lives +of three men, I believe that our very existence is in jeopardy. +If such is not the case, then at the first available opportunity, +this monster that has swallowed us will return us to the world +inhabited by our own kind." + +"Unless they recruit us to serve on the crew," Conseil said, +"and keep us here--" + +"Till the moment," Ned Land answered, "when some frigate that's faster +or smarter than the Abraham Lincoln captures this den of buccaneers, +then hangs all of us by the neck from the tip of a mainmast yardarm!" + +"Well thought out, Mr. Land," I replied. "But as yet, I don't believe +we've been tendered any enlistment offers. Consequently, it's pointless +to argue about what tactics we should pursue in such a case. +I repeat: let's wait, let's be guided by events, and let's do nothing, +since right now there's nothing we can do." + +"On the contrary, professor," the harpooner replied, not wanting +to give in. "There is something we can do." + +"Oh? And what, Mr. Land?" + +"Break out of here!" + +"Breaking out of a prison on shore is difficult enough, but with +an underwater prison, it strikes me as completely unworkable." + +"Come now, Ned my friend," Conseil asked, "how would you answer +master's objection? I refuse to believe that an American is at +the end of his tether." + +Visibly baffled, the harpooner said nothing. Under the conditions +in which fate had left us, it was absolutely impossible to escape. +But a Canadian's wit is half French, and Mr. Ned Land made this +clear in his reply. + +"So, Professor Aronnax," he went on after thinking for a few moments, +"you haven't figured out what people do when they can't escape +from their prison?" + +"No, my friend." + +"Easy. They fix things so they stay there." + +"Of course!" Conseil put in. "Since we're deep in the ocean, +being inside this boat is vastly preferable to being above it +or below it!" + +"But we fix things by kicking out all the jailers, guards, and wardens," +Ned Land added. + +"What's this, Ned?" I asked. "You'd seriously consider taking +over this craft?" + +"Very seriously," the Canadian replied. + +"It's impossible." + +"And why is that, sir? Some promising opportunity might come up, +and I don't see what could stop us from taking advantage of it. +If there are only about twenty men on board this machine, I don't +think they can stave off two Frenchmen and a Canadian!" + +It seemed wiser to accept the harpooner's proposition than to debate it. +Accordingly, I was content to reply: + +"Let such circumstances come, Mr. Land, and we'll see. But until then, +I beg you to control your impatience. We need to act shrewdly, +and your flare-ups won't give rise to any promising opportunities. +So swear to me that you'll accept our situation without throwing +a tantrum over it." + +"I give you my word, professor," Ned Land replied in an +unenthusiastic tone. "No vehement phrases will leave my mouth, +no vicious gestures will give my feelings away, not even when they +don't feed us on time." + +"I have your word, Ned," I answered the Canadian. + +Then our conversation petered out, and each of us withdrew +into his own thoughts. For my part, despite the harpooner's +confident talk, I admit that I entertained no illusions. +I had no faith in those promising opportunities that Ned Land mentioned. +To operate with such efficiency, this underwater boat had to have +a sizeable crew, so if it came to a physical contest, we would +be facing an overwhelming opponent. Besides, before we could +do anything, we had to be free, and that we definitely were not. +I didn't see any way out of this sheet-iron, hermetically sealed cell. +And if the strange commander of this boat did have a secret to keep-- +which seemed rather likely--he would never give us freedom of movement +aboard his vessel. Now then, would he resort to violence in order +to be rid of us, or would he drop us off one day on some remote coast? +There lay the unknown. All these hypotheses seemed extremely +plausible to me, and to hope for freedom through use of force, +you had to be a harpooner. + +I realized, moreover, that Ned Land's brooding was getting +him madder by the minute. Little by little, I heard those +aforesaid cusswords welling up in the depths of his gullet, +and I saw his movements turn threatening again. He stood up, +pacing in circles like a wild beast in a cage, striking the walls +with his foot and fist. Meanwhile the hours passed, our hunger +nagged unmercifully, and this time the steward did not appear. +Which amounted to forgetting our castaway status for much too long, +if they really had good intentions toward us. + +Tortured by the growling of his well-built stomach, Ned Land +was getting more and more riled, and despite his word of honor, +I was in real dread of an explosion when he stood in the presence +of one of the men on board. + +For two more hours Ned Land's rage increased. The Canadian shouted +and pleaded, but to no avail. The sheet-iron walls were deaf. +I didn't hear a single sound inside this dead-seeming boat. +The vessel hadn't stirred, because I obviously would have felt its hull +vibrating under the influence of the propeller. It had undoubtedly +sunk into the watery deep and no longer belonged to the outside world. +All this dismal silence was terrifying. + +As for our neglect, our isolation in the depths of this cell, +I was afraid to guess at how long it might last. Little by little, +hopes I had entertained after our interview with the ship's commander +were fading away. The gentleness of the man's gaze, the generosity +expressed in his facial features, the nobility of his bearing, +all vanished from my memory. I saw this mystifying individual +anew for what he inevitably must be: cruel and merciless. +I viewed him as outside humanity, beyond all feelings of compassion, +the implacable foe of his fellow man, toward whom he must have sworn +an undying hate! + +But even so, was the man going to let us die of starvation, +locked up in this cramped prison, exposed to those horrible +temptations to which people are driven by extreme hunger? +This grim possibility took on a dreadful intensity in my mind, +and fired by my imagination, I felt an unreasoning terror run through me. +Conseil stayed calm. Ned Land bellowed. + +Just then a noise was audible outside. Footsteps rang on +the metal tiling. The locks were turned, the door opened, +the steward appeared. + +Before I could make a single movement to prevent him, the Canadian +rushed at the poor man, threw him down, held him by the throat. +The steward was choking in the grip of those powerful hands. + +Conseil was already trying to loosen the harpooner's hands from his +half-suffocated victim, and I had gone to join in the rescue, when I +was abruptly nailed to the spot by these words pronounced in French: + +"Calm down, Mr. Land! And you, professor, kindly listen to me!" + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + + + +The Man of the Waters + + + +IT WAS THE ship's commander who had just spoken. + +At these words Ned Land stood up quickly. Nearly strangled, +the steward staggered out at a signal from his superior; +but such was the commander's authority aboard his vessel, +not one gesture gave away the resentment that this man must have +felt toward the Canadian. In silence we waited for the outcome +of this scene; Conseil, in spite of himself, seemed almost fascinated, +I was stunned. + +Arms crossed, leaning against a corner of the table, the commander +studied us with great care. Was he reluctant to speak further? +Did he regret those words he had just pronounced in French? You would +have thought so. + +After a few moments of silence, which none of us would have +dreamed of interrupting: + +"Gentlemen," he said in a calm, penetrating voice, +"I speak French, English, German, and Latin with equal fluency. +Hence I could have answered you as early as our initial interview, +but first I wanted to make your acquaintance and then think things over. +Your four versions of the same narrative, perfectly consistent by +and large, established your personal identities for me. I now know +that sheer chance has placed in my presence Professor Pierre Aronnax, +specialist in natural history at the Paris Museum and entrusted with +a scientific mission abroad, his manservant Conseil, and Ned Land, +a harpooner of Canadian origin aboard the Abraham Lincoln, +a frigate in the national navy of the United States of America." + +I bowed in agreement. The commander hadn't put a question to me. +So no answer was called for. This man expressed himself with perfect +ease and without a trace of an accent. His phrasing was clear, +his words well chosen, his facility in elocution remarkable. +And yet, to me, he didn't have "the feel" of a fellow countryman. + +He went on with the conversation as follows: + +"No doubt, sir, you've felt that I waited rather too long before +paying you this second visit. After discovering your identities, +I wanted to weigh carefully what policy to pursue toward you. +I had great difficulty deciding. Some extremely inconvenient +circumstances have brought you into the presence of a man who +has cut himself off from humanity. Your coming has disrupted +my whole existence." + +"Unintentionally," I said. + +"Unintentionally?" the stranger replied, raising his voice a little. +"Was it unintentionally that the Abraham Lincoln hunted me on every sea? +Was it unintentionally that you traveled aboard that frigate? +Was it unintentionally that your shells bounced off my ship's hull? +Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land hit me with his harpoon?" + +I detected a controlled irritation in these words. But there was +a perfectly natural reply to these charges, and I made it. + +"Sir," I said, "you're surely unaware of the discussions that have +taken place in Europe and America with yourself as the subject. +You don't realize that various accidents, caused by collisions with your +underwater machine, have aroused public passions on those two continents. +I'll spare you the innumerable hypotheses with which we've tried +to explain this inexplicable phenomenon, whose secret is yours alone. +But please understand that the Abraham Lincoln chased you over +the Pacific high seas in the belief it was hunting some powerful +marine monster, which had to be purged from the ocean at all cost." + +A half smile curled the commander's lips; then, in a calmer tone: + +"Professor Aronnax," he replied, "do you dare claim that your frigate +wouldn't have chased and cannonaded an underwater boat as readily +as a monster?" + +This question baffled me, since Commander Farragut would certainly +have shown no such hesitation. He would have seen it as his sworn +duty to destroy a contrivance of this kind just as promptly +as a gigantic narwhale. + +"So you understand, sir," the stranger went on, "that I have a right +to treat you as my enemy." + +I kept quiet, with good reason. What was the use of debating such +a proposition, when superior force can wipe out the best arguments? + +"It took me a good while to decide," the commander went on. +"Nothing obliged me to grant you hospitality. If I were to part company +with you, I'd have no personal interest in ever seeing you again. +I could put you back on the platform of this ship that has served +as your refuge. I could sink under the sea, and I could forget +you ever existed. Wouldn't that be my right?" + +"Perhaps it would be the right of a savage," I replied. +"But not that of a civilized man." + +"Professor," the commander replied swiftly, "I'm not what you +term a civilized man! I've severed all ties with society, +for reasons that I alone have the right to appreciate. +Therefore I obey none of its regulations, and I insist that you +never invoke them in front of me!" + +This was plain speaking. A flash of anger and scorn lit up the +stranger's eyes, and I glimpsed a fearsome past in this man's life. +Not only had he placed himself beyond human laws, he had rendered +himself independent, out of all reach, free in the strictest sense +of the word! For who would dare chase him to the depths of the sea +when he thwarted all attacks on the surface? What ship could +withstand a collision with his underwater Monitor? What armor plate, +no matter how heavy, could bear the thrusts of his spur? +No man among men could call him to account for his actions. +God, if he believed in Him, his conscience if he had one-- +these were the only judges to whom he was answerable. + +These thoughts swiftly crossed my mind while this strange individual +fell silent, like someone completely self-absorbed. I regarded him +with a mixture of fear and fascination, in the same way, no doubt, +that Oedipus regarded the Sphinx. + +After a fairly long silence, the commander went on with our conversation. + +"So I had difficulty deciding," he said. "But I concluded +that my personal interests could be reconciled with that +natural compassion to which every human being has a right. +Since fate has brought you here, you'll stay aboard my vessel. +You'll be free here, and in exchange for that freedom, +moreover totally related to it, I'll lay on you just one condition. +Your word that you'll submit to it will be sufficient." + +"Go on, sir," I replied. "I assume this condition is one an honest +man can accept?" + +"Yes, sir. Just this. It's possible that certain unforeseen events +may force me to confine you to your cabins for some hours, or even for +some days as the case may be. Since I prefer never to use violence, +I expect from you in such a case, even more than in any other, +your unquestioning obedience. By acting in this way, I shield you +from complicity, I absolve you of all responsibility, since I myself +make it impossible for you to see what you aren't meant to see. +Do you accept this condition?" + +So things happened on board that were quite odd to say the least, +things never to be seen by people not placing themselves beyond +society's laws! Among all the surprises the future had in store +for me, this would not be the mildest. + +"We accept," I replied. "Only, I'll ask your permission, sir, +to address a question to you, just one." + +"Go ahead, sir." + +"You said we'd be free aboard your vessel?" + +"Completely." + +"Then I would ask what you mean by this freedom." + +"Why, the freedom to come, go, see, and even closely observe +everything happening here--except under certain rare circumstances-- +in short, the freedom we ourselves enjoy, my companions and I." + +It was obvious that we did not understand each other. + +"Pardon me, sir," I went on, "but that's merely the freedom +that every prisoner has, the freedom to pace his cell! +That's not enough for us." + +"Nevertheless, it will have to do!" + +"What! We must give up seeing our homeland, friends, and relatives +ever again?" + +"Yes, sir. But giving up that intolerable earthly yoke that some +men call freedom is perhaps less painful than you think!" + +"By thunder!" Ned Land shouted. "I'll never promise I won't try +getting out of here!" + +"I didn't ask for such a promise, Mr. Land," the commander replied coldly. + +"Sir," I replied, flaring up in spite of myself, "you're taking +unfair advantage of us! This is sheer cruelty!" + +"No, sir, it's an act of mercy! You're my prisoners of war! +I've cared for you when, with a single word, I could plunge you back +into the ocean depths! You attacked me! You've just stumbled on +a secret no living man must probe, the secret of my entire existence! +Do you think I'll send you back to a world that must know nothing +more of me? Never! By keeping you on board, it isn't you whom I +care for, it's me!" + +These words indicated that the commander pursued a policy +impervious to arguments. + +"Then, sir," I went on, "you give us, quite simply, a choice between +life and death?" + +"Quite simply." + +"My friends," I said, "to a question couched in these terms, +our answer can be taken for granted. But no solemn promises bind +us to the commander of this vessel." + +"None, sir," the stranger replied. + +Then, in a gentler voice, he went on: + +"Now, allow me to finish what I have to tell you. I've heard of you, +Professor Aronnax. You, if not your companions, won't perhaps complain +too much about the stroke of fate that has brought us together. +Among the books that make up my favorite reading, you'll find the work +you've published on the great ocean depths. I've pored over it. +You've taken your studies as far as terrestrial science can go. +But you don't know everything because you haven't seen everything. +Let me tell you, professor, you won't regret the time you spend +aboard my vessel. You're going to voyage through a land of wonders. +Stunned amazement will probably be your habitual state of mind. +It will be a long while before you tire of the sights constantly before +your eyes. I'm going to make another underwater tour of the world-- +perhaps my last, who knows?--and I'll review everything I've studied +in the depths of these seas that I've crossed so often, and you +can be my fellow student. Starting this very day, you'll enter +a new element, you'll see what no human being has ever seen before-- +since my men and I no longer count--and thanks to me, you're going +to learn the ultimate secrets of our planet." + +I can't deny it; the commander's words had a tremendous effect on me. +He had caught me on my weak side, and I momentarily forgot that not +even this sublime experience was worth the loss of my freedom. +Besides, I counted on the future to resolve this important question. +So I was content to reply: + +"Sir, even though you've cut yourself off from humanity, I can +see that you haven't disowned all human feeling. We're castaways +whom you've charitably taken aboard, we'll never forget that. +Speaking for myself, I don't rule out that the interests of science +could override even the need for freedom, which promises me that, +in exchange, our encounter will provide great rewards." + +I thought the commander would offer me his hand, to seal our agreement. +He did nothing of the sort. I regretted that. + +"One last question," I said, just as this inexplicable being seemed +ready to withdraw. + +"Ask it, professor." + +"By what name am I to call you?" + +"Sir," the commander replied, "to you, I'm simply Captain Nemo;* to me, +you and your companions are simply passengers on the Nautilus." + +*Latin: nemo means "no one." Ed. + +Captain Nemo called out. A steward appeared. The captain gave +him his orders in that strange language I couldn't even identify. +Then, turning to the Canadian and Conseil: + +"A meal is waiting for you in your cabin," he told them. +"Kindly follow this man." + +"That's an offer I can't refuse!" the harpooner replied. + +After being confined for over thirty hours, he and Conseil were +finally out of this cell. + +"And now, Professor Aronnax, our own breakfast is ready. +Allow me to lead the way." + +"Yours to command, captain." + +I followed Captain Nemo, and as soon as I passed through the doorway, +I went down a kind of electrically lit passageway that resembled +a gangway on a ship. After a stretch of some ten meters, a second +door opened before me. + +I then entered a dining room, decorated and furnished in austere +good taste. Inlaid with ebony trim, tall oaken sideboards stood at +both ends of this room, and sparkling on their shelves were staggered +rows of earthenware, porcelain, and glass of incalculable value. +There silver-plated dinnerware gleamed under rays pouring from light +fixtures in the ceiling, whose glare was softened and tempered +by delicately painted designs. + +In the center of this room stood a table, richly spread. +Captain Nemo indicated the place I was to occupy. + +"Be seated," he told me, "and eat like the famished man you must be." + +Our breakfast consisted of several dishes whose contents +were all supplied by the sea, and some foods whose nature +and derivation were unknown to me. They were good, I admit, +but with a peculiar flavor to which I would soon grow accustomed. +These various food items seemed to be rich in phosphorous, and I +thought that they, too, must have been of marine origin. + +Captain Nemo stared at me. I had asked him nothing, but he read +my thoughts, and on his own he answered the questions I was itching +to address him. + +"Most of these dishes are new to you," he told me. "But you can +consume them without fear. They're healthy and nourishing. +I renounced terrestrial foods long ago, and I'm none the worse for it. +My crew are strong and full of energy, and they eat what I eat." + +"So," I said, "all these foods are products of the sea?" + +"Yes, professor, the sea supplies all my needs. Sometimes I cast my nets +in our wake, and I pull them up ready to burst. Sometimes I go hunting +right in the midst of this element that has long seemed so far out of +man's reach, and I corner the game that dwells in my underwater forests. +Like the flocks of old Proteus, King Neptune's shepherd, +my herds graze without fear on the ocean's immense prairies. +There I own vast properties that I harvest myself, and which are +forever sown by the hand of the Creator of All Things." + +I stared at Captain Nemo in definite astonishment, and I answered him: + +"Sir, I understand perfectly how your nets can furnish excellent +fish for your table; I understand less how you can chase aquatic +game in your underwater forests; but how a piece of red meat, +no matter how small, can figure in your menu, that I don't +understand at all." + +"Nor I, sir," Captain Nemo answered me. "I never touch the flesh +of land animals." + +"Nevertheless, this . . . ," I went on, pointing to a dish where +some slices of loin were still left. + +"What you believe to be red meat, professor, is nothing other than loin +of sea turtle. Similarly, here are some dolphin livers you might mistake +for stewed pork. My chef is a skillful food processor who excels +at pickling and preserving these various exhibits from the ocean. +Feel free to sample all of these foods. Here are some preserves +of sea cucumber that a Malaysian would declare to be unrivaled +in the entire world, here's cream from milk furnished by the udders +of cetaceans, and sugar from the huge fucus plants in the North Sea; +and finally, allow me to offer you some marmalade of sea anemone, +equal to that from the tastiest fruits." + +So I sampled away, more as a curiosity seeker than an epicure, +while Captain Nemo delighted me with his incredible anecdotes. + +"But this sea, Professor Aronnax," he told me, "this prodigious, +inexhaustible wet nurse of a sea not only feeds me, she dresses +me as well. That fabric covering you was woven from the masses +of filaments that anchor certain seashells; as the ancients +were wont to do, it was dyed with purple ink from the murex snail +and shaded with violet tints that I extract from a marine slug, +the Mediterranean sea hare. The perfumes you'll find on the washstand +in your cabin were produced from the oozings of marine plants. +Your mattress was made from the ocean's softest eelgrass. +Your quill pen will be whalebone, your ink a juice secreted +by cuttlefish or squid. Everything comes to me from the sea, +just as someday everything will return to it!" + +"You love the sea, captain." + +"Yes, I love it! The sea is the be all and end all! It covers +seven-tenths of the planet earth. Its breath is clean and healthy. +It's an immense wilderness where a man is never lonely, because he +feels life astir on every side. The sea is simply the vehicle +for a prodigious, unearthly mode of existence; it's simply movement +and love; it's living infinity, as one of your poets put it. +And in essence, professor, nature is here made manifest +by all three of her kingdoms, mineral, vegetable, and animal. +The last of these is amply represented by the four zoophyte groups, +three classes of articulates, five classes of mollusks, and three +vertebrate classes: mammals, reptiles, and those countless +legions of fish, an infinite order of animals totaling more than +13,000 species, of which only one-tenth belong to fresh water. +The sea is a vast pool of nature. Our globe began with the sea, +so to speak, and who can say we won't end with it! +Here lies supreme tranquility. The sea doesn't belong to tyrants. +On its surface they can still exercise their iniquitous claims, +battle each other, devour each other, haul every earthly horror. +But thirty feet below sea level, their dominion ceases, +their influence fades, their power vanishes! Ah, sir, live! +Live in the heart of the seas! Here alone lies independence! +Here I recognize no superiors! Here I'm free!" + +Captain Nemo suddenly fell silent in the midst of this +enthusiastic outpouring. Had he let himself get carried away, +past the bounds of his habitual reserve? Had he said too much? +For a few moments he strolled up and down, all aquiver. +Then his nerves grew calmer, his facial features recovered their +usual icy composure, and turning to me: + +"Now, professor," he said, "if you'd like to inspect the Nautilus, I'm +yours to command." + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + + + +The Nautilus + + + +CAPTAIN NEMO stood up. I followed him. Contrived at the rear +of the dining room, a double door opened, and I entered a room +whose dimensions equaled the one I had just left. + +It was a library. Tall, black-rosewood bookcases, inlaid with copperwork, +held on their wide shelves a large number of uniformly bound books. +These furnishings followed the contours of the room, their lower +parts leading to huge couches upholstered in maroon leather +and curved for maximum comfort. Light, movable reading stands, +which could be pushed away or pulled near as desired, +allowed books to be positioned on them for easy study. +In the center stood a huge table covered with pamphlets, +among which some newspapers, long out of date, were visible. +Electric light flooded this whole harmonious totality, falling from +four frosted half globes set in the scrollwork of the ceiling. +I stared in genuine wonderment at this room so ingeniously laid out, +and I couldn't believe my eyes. + +"Captain Nemo," I told my host, who had just stretched out on +a couch, "this is a library that would do credit to more than one +continental palace, and I truly marvel to think it can go with you +into the deepest seas." + +"Where could one find greater silence or solitude, professor?" +Captain Nemo replied. "Did your study at the museum afford you +such a perfect retreat?" + +"No, sir, and I might add that it's quite a humble one next to yours. +You own 6,000 or 7,000 volumes here . . ." + +"12,000, Professor Aronnax. They're my sole remaining ties +with dry land. But I was done with the shore the day my Nautilus +submerged for the first time under the waters. That day I purchased +my last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last newspapers, and ever +since I've chosen to believe that humanity no longer thinks or writes. +In any event, professor, these books are at your disposal, and you +may use them freely." + +I thanked Captain Nemo and approached the shelves of this library. +Written in every language, books on science, ethics, and literature +were there in abundance, but I didn't see a single work on economics-- +they seemed to be strictly banned on board. One odd detail: +all these books were shelved indiscriminately without regard +to the language in which they were written, and this jumble proved +that the Nautilus's captain could read fluently whatever volumes +he chanced to pick up. + +Among these books I noted masterpieces by the greats of ancient +and modern times, in other words, all of humanity's finest +achievements in history, poetry, fiction, and science, +from Homer to Victor Hugo, from Xenophon to Michelet, +from Rabelais to Madame George Sand. But science, in particular, +represented the major investment of this library: books on mechanics, +ballistics, hydrography, meteorology, geography, geology, etc., held +a place there no less important than works on natural history, +and I realized that they made up the captain's chief reading. +There I saw the complete works of Humboldt, the complete Arago, +as well as works by Foucault, Henri Sainte-Claire Deville, Chasles, +Milne-Edwards, Quatrefages, John Tyndall, Faraday, Berthelot, +Father Secchi, Petermann, Commander Maury, Louis Agassiz, +etc., plus the transactions of France's Academy of Sciences, +bulletins from the various geographical societies, etc., and in +a prime location, those two volumes on the great ocean depths +that had perhaps earned me this comparatively charitable welcome +from Captain Nemo. Among the works of Joseph Bertrand, his book +entitled The Founders of Astronomy even gave me a definite date; +and since I knew it had appeared in the course of 1865, I concluded +that the fitting out of the Nautilus hadn't taken place before then. +Accordingly, three years ago at the most, Captain Nemo had begun +his underwater existence. Moreover, I hoped some books even +more recent would permit me to pinpoint the date precisely; +but I had plenty of time to look for them, and I didn't want to put +off any longer our stroll through the wonders of the Nautilus. + +"Sir," I told the captain, "thank you for placing this library +at my disposal. There are scientific treasures here, and I'll take +advantage of them." + +"This room isn't only a library," Captain Nemo said, "it's also +a smoking room." + +"A smoking room?" I exclaimed. "Then one may smoke on board?" + +"Surely." + +"In that case, sir, I'm forced to believe that you've kept up +relations with Havana." + +"None whatever," the captain replied. "Try this cigar, +Professor Aronnax, and even though it doesn't come from Havana, +it will satisfy you if you're a connoisseur." + +I took the cigar offered me, whose shape recalled those from Cuba; +but it seemed to be made of gold leaf. I lit it at a small brazier +supported by an elegant bronze stand, and I inhaled my first whiffs +with the relish of a smoker who hasn't had a puff in days. + +"It's excellent," I said, "but it's not from the tobacco plant." + +"Right," the captain replied, "this tobacco comes from neither +Havana nor the Orient. It's a kind of nicotine-rich seaweed +that the ocean supplies me, albeit sparingly. Do you still miss +your Cubans, sir?" + +"Captain, I scorn them from this day forward." + +"Then smoke these cigars whenever you like, without debating +their origin. They bear no government seal of approval, but I +imagine they're none the worse for it." + +"On the contrary." + +Just then Captain Nemo opened a door facing the one by which I had entered +the library, and I passed into an immense, splendidly lit lounge. + +It was a huge quadrilateral with canted corners, ten meters long, +six wide, five high. A luminous ceiling, decorated with +delicate arabesques, distributed a soft, clear daylight over all +the wonders gathered in this museum. For a museum it truly was, +in which clever hands had spared no expense to amass every natural +and artistic treasure, displaying them with the helter-skelter +picturesqueness that distinguishes a painter's studio. + +Some thirty pictures by the masters, uniformly framed and separated +by gleaming panoplies of arms, adorned walls on which were stretched +tapestries of austere design. There I saw canvases of the highest value, +the likes of which I had marveled at in private European collections +and art exhibitions. The various schools of the old masters +were represented by a Raphael Madonna, a Virgin by Leonardo +da Vinci, a nymph by Correggio, a woman by Titian, an adoration +of the Magi by Veronese, an assumption of the Virgin by Murillo, +a Holbein portrait, a monk by Velazquez, a martyr by Ribera, +a village fair by Rubens, two Flemish landscapes by Teniers, +three little genre paintings by Gerard Dow, Metsu, and Paul Potter, +two canvases by Gericault and Prud'hon, plus seascapes by Backhuysen +and Vernet. Among the works of modern art were pictures signed +by Delacroix, Ingres, Decamps, Troyon, Meissonier, Daubigny, +etc., and some wonderful miniature statues in marble or bronze, +modeled after antiquity's finest originals, stood on their pedestals +in the corners of this magnificent museum. As the Nautilus's +commander had predicted, my mind was already starting to fall +into that promised state of stunned amazement. + +"Professor," this strange man then said, "you must excuse +the informality with which I receive you, and the disorder reigning +in this lounge." + +"Sir," I replied, "without prying into who you are, might I venture +to identify you as an artist?" + +"A collector, sir, nothing more. Formerly I loved acquiring +these beautiful works created by the hand of man. +I sought them greedily, ferreted them out tirelessly, +and I've been able to gather some objects of great value. +They're my last mementos of those shores that are now dead for me. +In my eyes, your modern artists are already as old as the ancients. +They've existed for 2,000 or 3,000 years, and I mix them up in my mind. +The masters are ageless." + +"What about these composers?" I said, pointing to sheet music +by Weber, Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, Hérold, Wagner, +Auber, Gounod, Victor Massé, and a number of others scattered +over a full size piano-organ, which occupied one of the wall panels +in this lounge. + +"These composers," Captain Nemo answered me, "are the contemporaries +of Orpheus, because in the annals of the dead, all chronological +differences fade; and I'm dead, professor, quite as dead as those +friends of yours sleeping six feet under!" + +Captain Nemo fell silent and seemed lost in reverie. I regarded him with +intense excitement, silently analyzing his strange facial expression. +Leaning his elbow on the corner of a valuable mosaic table, +he no longer saw me, he had forgotten my very presence. + +I didn't disturb his meditations but continued to pass in review +the curiosities that enriched this lounge. + +After the works of art, natural rarities predominated. +They consisted chiefly of plants, shells, and other exhibits from +the ocean that must have been Captain Nemo's own personal finds. +In the middle of the lounge, a jet of water, electrically lit, +fell back into a basin made from a single giant clam. The delicately +festooned rim of this shell, supplied by the biggest mollusk +in the class Acephala, measured about six meters in circumference; +so it was even bigger than those fine giant clams given to King François I +by the Republic of Venice, and which the Church of Saint-Sulpice +in Paris has made into two gigantic holy-water fonts. + +Around this basin, inside elegant glass cases fastened with +copper bands, there were classified and labeled the most valuable +marine exhibits ever put before the eyes of a naturalist. +My professorial glee may easily be imagined. + +The zoophyte branch offered some very unusual specimens from its +two groups, the polyps and the echinoderms. In the first group: +organ-pipe coral, gorgonian coral arranged into fan shapes, +soft sponges from Syria, isis coral from the Molucca Islands, +sea-pen coral, wonderful coral of the genus Virgularia from +the waters of Norway, various coral of the genus Umbellularia, +alcyonarian coral, then a whole series of those madrepores that my mentor +Professor Milne-Edwards has so shrewdly classified into divisions +and among which I noted the wonderful genus Flabellina as well as +the genus Oculina from Réunion Island, plus a "Neptune's chariot" +from the Caribbean Sea--every superb variety of coral, and in short, +every species of these unusual polyparies that congregate +to form entire islands that will one day turn into continents. +Among the echinoderms, notable for being covered with spines: +starfish, feather stars, sea lilies, free-swimming crinoids, +brittle stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, etc., represented +a complete collection of the individuals in this group. + +An excitable conchologist would surely have fainted dead away +before other, more numerous glass cases in which were classified +specimens from the mollusk branch. There I saw a collection +of incalculable value that I haven't time to describe completely. +Among these exhibits I'll mention, just for the record: +an elegant royal hammer shell from the Indian Ocean, whose evenly +spaced white spots stood out sharply against a base of red and brown; +an imperial spiny oyster, brightly colored, bristling with thorns, +a specimen rare to European museums, whose value I estimated at +20,000 francs; a common hammer shell from the seas near Queensland, +very hard to come by; exotic cockles from Senegal, fragile white +bivalve shells that a single breath could pop like a soap bubble; +several varieties of watering-pot shell from Java, a sort of limestone +tube fringed with leafy folds and much fought over by collectors; +a whole series of top-shell snails--greenish yellow ones fished up +from American seas, others colored reddish brown that patronize +the waters off Queensland, the former coming from the Gulf +of Mexico and notable for their overlapping shells, the latter +some sun-carrier shells found in the southernmost seas, finally and +rarest of all, the magnificent spurred-star shell from New Zealand; +then some wonderful peppery-furrow shells; several valuable species +of cythera clams and venus clams; the trellis wentletrap snail from +Tranquebar on India's eastern shore; a marbled turban snail gleaming +with mother-of-pearl; green parrot shells from the seas of China; +the virtually unknown cone snail from the genus Coenodullus; +every variety of cowry used as money in India and Africa; +a "glory-of-the-seas," the most valuable shell in the East Indies; +finally, common periwinkles, delphinula snails, turret snails, +violet snails, European cowries, volute snails, olive shells, +miter shells, helmet shells, murex snails, whelks, harp shells, +spiky periwinkles, triton snails, horn shells, spindle shells, +conch shells, spider conchs, limpets, glass snails, sea butterflies-- +every kind of delicate, fragile seashell that science has baptized +with its most delightful names. + +Aside and in special compartments, strings of supremely beautiful +pearls were spread out, the electric light flecking them with +little fiery sparks: pink pearls pulled from saltwater fan +shells in the Red Sea; green pearls from the rainbow abalone; +yellow, blue, and black pearls, the unusual handiwork of various +mollusks from every ocean and of certain mussels from rivers up north; +in short, several specimens of incalculable worth that had been +oozed by the rarest of shellfish. Some of these pearls were +bigger than a pigeon egg; they more than equaled the one that +the explorer Tavernier sold the Shah of Persia for 3,000,000 francs, +and they surpassed that other pearl owned by the Imam of Muscat, +which I had believed to be unrivaled in the entire world. + +Consequently, to calculate the value of this collection was, +I should say, impossible. Captain Nemo must have spent millions +in acquiring these different specimens, and I was wondering what +financial resources he tapped to satisfy his collector's fancies, +when these words interrupted me: + +"You're examining my shells, professor? They're indeed able +to fascinate a naturalist; but for me they have an added charm, +since I've collected every one of them with my own two hands, +and not a sea on the globe has escaped my investigations." + +"I understand, captain, I understand your delight at strolling +in the midst of this wealth. You're a man who gathers his +treasure in person. No museum in Europe owns such a collection +of exhibits from the ocean. But if I exhaust all my wonderment +on them, I'll have nothing left for the ship that carries them! +I have absolutely no wish to probe those secrets of yours! +But I confess that my curiosity is aroused to the limit by this Nautilus, +the motor power it contains, the equipment enabling it to operate, +the ultra powerful force that brings it to life. I see some instruments +hanging on the walls of this lounge whose purposes are unknown to me. +May I learn--" + +"Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo answered me, "I've said you'd be free +aboard my vessel, so no part of the Nautilus is off-limits to you. +You may inspect it in detail, and I'll be delighted to act +as your guide." + +"I don't know how to thank you, sir, but I won't abuse your good nature. +I would only ask you about the uses intended for these instruments +of physical measure--" + +"Professor, these same instruments are found in my stateroom, +where I'll have the pleasure of explaining their functions to you. +But beforehand, come inspect the cabin set aside for you. +You need to learn how you'll be lodged aboard the Nautilus." + +I followed Captain Nemo, who, via one of the doors cut into +the lounge's canted corners, led me back down the ship's gangways. +He took me to the bow, and there I found not just a cabin but an elegant +stateroom with a bed, a washstand, and various other furnishings. + +I could only thank my host. + +"Your stateroom adjoins mine," he told me, opening a door, +"and mine leads into that lounge we've just left." + +I entered the captain's stateroom. It had an austere, +almost monastic appearance. An iron bedstead, a worktable, +some washstand fixtures. Subdued lighting. No luxuries. +Just the bare necessities. + +Captain Nemo showed me to a bench. + +"Kindly be seated," he told me. + +I sat, and he began speaking as follows: + + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + + + +Everything through Electricity + + + +"SIR," CAPTAIN NEMO SAID, showing me the instruments hanging on +the walls of his stateroom, + +"these are the devices needed to navigate the Nautilus. Here, as in +the lounge, I always have them before my eyes, and they indicate +my position and exact heading in the midst of the ocean. +You're familiar with some of them, such as the thermometer, +which gives the temperature inside the Nautilus; the barometer, +which measures the heaviness of the outside air and forecasts changes +in the weather; the humidistat, which indicates the degree of dryness +in the atmosphere; the storm glass, whose mixture decomposes to +foretell the arrival of tempests; the compass, which steers my course; +the sextant, which takes the sun's altitude and tells me my latitude; +chronometers, which allow me to calculate my longitude; and finally, +spyglasses for both day and night, enabling me to scrutinize every +point of the horizon once the Nautilus has risen to the surface +of the waves." + +"These are the normal navigational instruments," I replied, +"and I'm familiar with their uses. But no doubt these others answer +pressing needs unique to the Nautilus. That dial I see there, +with the needle moving across it--isn't it a pressure gauge?" + +"It is indeed a pressure gauge. It's placed in contact with the water, +and it indicates the outside pressure on our hull, which in turn +gives me the depth at which my submersible is sitting." + +"And these are some new breed of sounding line?" + +"They're thermometric sounding lines that report water temperatures +in the different strata." + +"And these other instruments, whose functions I can't even guess?" + +"Here, professor, I need to give you some background information," +Captain Nemo said. "So kindly hear me out." + +He fell silent for some moments, then he said: + +"There's a powerful, obedient, swift, and effortless force that can +be bent to any use and which reigns supreme aboard my vessel. +It does everything. It lights me, it warms me, it's the soul +of my mechanical equipment. This force is electricity." + +"Electricity!" I exclaimed in some surprise. + +"Yes, sir." + +"But, captain, you have a tremendous speed of movement that doesn't +square with the strength of electricity. Until now, its dynamic +potential has remained quite limited, capable of producing only small +amounts of power!" + +"Professor," Captain Nemo replied, "my electricity isn't +the run-of-the-mill variety, and with your permission, I'll leave +it at that." + +"I won't insist, sir, and I'll rest content with simply being +flabbergasted at your results. I would ask one question, however, +which you needn't answer if it's indiscreet. The electric cells you +use to generate this marvelous force must be depleted very quickly. +Their zinc component, for example: how do you replace it, +since you no longer stay in contact with the shore?" + +"That question deserves an answer," Captain Nemo replied. +"First off, I'll mention that at the bottom of the sea there exist veins +of zinc, iron, silver, and gold whose mining would quite certainly +be feasible. But I've tapped none of these land-based metals, +and I wanted to make demands only on the sea itself for the sources +of my electricity." + +"The sea itself?" + +"Yes, professor, and there was no shortage of such sources. +In fact, by establishing a circuit between two wires immersed +to different depths, I'd be able to obtain electricity through +the diverging temperatures they experience; but I preferred to use +a more practical procedure." + +"And that is?" + +"You're familiar with the composition of salt water. In 1,000 grams +one finds 96.5% water and about 2.66% sodium chloride; then small +quantities of magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium bromide, +sulfate of magnesia, calcium sulfate, and calcium carbonate. +Hence you observe that sodium chloride is encountered there in +significant proportions. Now then, it's this sodium that I extract +from salt water and with which I compose my electric cells." + +"Sodium?" + +"Yes, sir. Mixed with mercury, it forms an amalgam that takes +the place of zinc in Bunsen cells. The mercury is never depleted. +Only the sodium is consumed, and the sea itself gives me that. +Beyond this, I'll mention that sodium batteries have been found +to generate the greater energy, and their electro-motor strength +is twice that of zinc batteries." + +"Captain, I fully understand the excellence of sodium under the conditions +in which you're placed. The sea contains it. Fine. But it still has +to be produced, in short, extracted. And how do you accomplish this? +Obviously your batteries could do the extracting; but if I'm +not mistaken, the consumption of sodium needed by your electric +equipment would be greater than the quantity you'd extract. +It would come about, then, that in the process of producing your sodium, +you'd use up more than you'd make!" + +"Accordingly, professor, I don't extract it with batteries; +quite simply, I utilize the heat of coal from the earth." + +"From the earth?" I said, my voice going up on the word. + +"We'll say coal from the seafloor, if you prefer," Captain Nemo replied. + +"And you can mine these veins of underwater coal?" + +"You'll watch me work them, Professor Aronnax. I ask only a little +patience of you, since you'll have ample time to be patient. +Just remember one thing: I owe everything to the ocean; +it generates electricity, and electricity gives the Nautilus heat, +light, motion, and, in a word, life itself." + +"But not the air you breathe?" + +"Oh, I could produce the air needed on board, but it would be pointless, +since I can rise to the surface of the sea whenever I like. +However, even though electricity doesn't supply me with breathable air, +it at least operates the powerful pumps that store it under pressure +in special tanks; which, if need be, allows me to extend my stay +in the lower strata for as long as I want." + +"Captain," I replied, "I'll rest content with marveling. +You've obviously found what all mankind will surely find one day, +the true dynamic power of electricity." + +"I'm not so certain they'll find it," Captain Nemo replied icily. +"But be that as it may, you're already familiar with the first use I've +found for this valuable force. It lights us, and with a uniformity +and continuity not even possessed by sunlight. Now, look at that clock: +it's electric, it runs with an accuracy rivaling the finest chronometers. +I've had it divided into twenty-four hours like Italian clocks, +since neither day nor night, sun nor moon, exist for me, but only +this artificial light that I import into the depths of the seas! +See, right now it's ten o'clock in the morning." + +"That's perfect." + +"Another use for electricity: that dial hanging before our eyes +indicates how fast the Nautilus is going. An electric wire puts +it in contact with the patent log; this needle shows me the actual +speed of my submersible. And . . . hold on . . . just now we're +proceeding at the moderate pace of fifteen miles per hour." + +"It's marvelous," I replied, "and I truly see, captain, how right +you are to use this force; it's sure to take the place of wind, +water, and steam." + +"But that's not all, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo said, standing up. +"And if you'd care to follow me, we'll inspect the Nautilus's stern." + +In essence, I was already familiar with the whole forward part +of this underwater boat, and here are its exact subdivisions going +from amidships to its spur: the dining room, 5 meters long and +separated from the library by a watertight bulkhead, in other words, +it couldn't be penetrated by the sea; the library, 5 meters long; +the main lounge, 10 meters long, separated from the captain's +stateroom by a second watertight bulkhead; the aforesaid stateroom, +5 meters long; mine, 2.5 meters long; and finally, air tanks 7.5 meters +long and extending to the stempost. Total: a length of 35 meters. +Doors were cut into the watertight bulkheads and were shut hermetically +by means of india-rubber seals, which insured complete safety aboard +the Nautilus in the event of a leak in any one section. + +I followed Captain Nemo down gangways located for easy transit, +and I arrived amidships. There I found a sort of shaft heading upward +between two watertight bulkheads. An iron ladder, clamped to the wall, +led to the shaft's upper end. I asked the captain what this +ladder was for. + +"It goes to the skiff," he replied. + +"What! You have a skiff?" I replied in some astonishment. + +"Surely. An excellent longboat, light and unsinkable, which is used +for excursions and fishing trips." + +"But when you want to set out, don't you have to return to the surface +of the sea?" + +"By no means. The skiff is attached to the topside of the Nautilus's hull +and is set in a cavity expressly designed to receive it. It's completely +decked over, absolutely watertight, and held solidly in place by bolts. +This ladder leads to a manhole cut into the Nautilus's hull and +corresponding to a comparable hole cut into the side of the skiff. +I insert myself through this double opening into the longboat. +My crew close up the hole belonging to the Nautilus; I close up +the one belonging to the skiff, simply by screwing it into place. +I undo the bolts holding the skiff to the submersible, and the +longboat rises with prodigious speed to the surface of the sea. +I then open the deck paneling, carefully closed until that point; +I up mast and hoist sail--or I take out my oars--and I go for a spin." + +"But how do you return to the ship?" + +"I don't, Professor Aronnax; the Nautilus returns to me." + +"At your command?" + +"At my command. An electric wire connects me to the ship. +I fire off a telegram, and that's that." + +"Right," I said, tipsy from all these wonders, "nothing to it!" + +After passing the well of the companionway that led to the platform, +I saw a cabin 2 meters long in which Conseil and Ned Land, +enraptured with their meal, were busy devouring it to the last crumb. +Then a door opened into the galley, 3 meters long and located +between the vessel's huge storage lockers. + +There, even more powerful and obedient than gas, electricity did +most of the cooking. Arriving under the stoves, wires transmitted +to platinum griddles a heat that was distributed and sustained +with perfect consistency. It also heated a distilling +mechanism that, via evaporation, supplied excellent drinking water. +Next to this galley was a bathroom, conveniently laid out, +with faucets supplying hot or cold water at will. + +After the galley came the crew's quarters, 5 meters long. +But the door was closed and I couldn't see its accommodations, which might +have told me the number of men it took to operate the Nautilus. + +At the far end stood a fourth watertight bulkhead, separating the crew's +quarters from the engine room. A door opened, and I stood in the +compartment where Captain Nemo, indisputably a world-class engineer, +had set up his locomotive equipment. + +Brightly lit, the engine room measured at least 20 meters in length. +It was divided, by function, into two parts: the first contained +the cells for generating electricity, the second that mechanism +transmitting movement to the propeller. + +Right off, I detected an odor permeating the compartment that was +sui generis.* Captain Nemo noticed the negative impression it +made on me. + +*Latin: "in a class by itself." Ed. + +"That," he told me, "is a gaseous discharge caused by our use of sodium, +but it's only a mild inconvenience. In any event, every morning +we sanitize the ship by ventilating it in the open air." + +Meanwhile I examined the Nautilus's engine with a fascination +easy to imagine. + +"You observe," Captain Nemo told me, "that I use Bunsen cells, +not Ruhmkorff cells. The latter would be ineffectual. One uses fewer +Bunsen cells, but they're big and strong, and experience has proven +their superiority. The electricity generated here makes its way to +the stern, where electromagnets of huge size activate a special system +of levers and gears that transmit movement to the propeller's shaft. +The latter has a diameter of 6 meters, a pitch of 7.5 meters, +and can do up to 120 revolutions per minute." + +"And that gives you?" + +"A speed of fifty miles per hour." + +There lay a mystery, but I didn't insist on exploring it. +How could electricity work with such power? Where did this +nearly unlimited energy originate? Was it in the extraordinary +voltage obtained from some new kind of induction coil? +Could its transmission have been immeasurably increased by some +unknown system of levers?** This was the point I couldn't grasp. + +**Author's Note: And sure enough, there's now talk of such a discovery, +in which a new set of levers generates considerable power. +Did its inventor meet up with Captain Nemo? + +"Captain Nemo," I said, "I'll vouch for the results and not try +to explain them. I've seen the Nautilus at work out in front +of the Abraham Lincoln, and I know where I stand on its speed. +But it isn't enough just to move, we have to see where we're going! +We must be able to steer right or left, up or down! +How do you reach the lower depths, where you meet an increasing +resistance that's assessed in hundreds of atmospheres? +How do you rise back to the surface of the ocean? +Finally, how do you keep your ship at whatever level suits you? +Am I indiscreet in asking you all these things?" + +"Not at all, professor," the captain answered me after a +slight hesitation, "since you'll never leave this underwater boat. +Come into the lounge. It's actually our work room, and there you'll +learn the full story about the Nautilus!" + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + + + +Some Figures + + + +A MOMENT LATER we were seated on a couch in the lounge, cigars between +our lips. The + +captain placed before my eyes a working drawing that gave the ground plan, +cross section, and side view of the Nautilus. Then he began his +description as follows: + +"Here, Professor Aronnax, are the different dimensions of this boat +now transporting you. It's a very long cylinder with conical ends. +It noticeably takes the shape of a cigar, a shape already +adopted in London for several projects of the same kind. +The length of this cylinder from end to end is exactly seventy meters, +and its maximum breadth of beam is eight meters. So it isn't +quite built on the ten-to-one ratio of your high-speed steamers; +but its lines are sufficiently long, and their tapering gradual enough, +so that the displaced water easily slips past and poses no obstacle +to the ship's movements. + +"These two dimensions allow you to obtain, via a simple calculation, +the surface area and volume of the Nautilus. Its surface area +totals 1,011.45 square meters, its volume 1,507.2 cubic meters-- +which is tantamount to saying that when it's completely submerged, +it displaces 1,500 cubic meters of water, or weighs 1,500 metric tons. + +"In drawing up plans for a ship meant to navigate underwater, +I wanted it, when floating on the waves, to lie nine-tenths below +the surface and to emerge only one-tenth. Consequently, under these +conditions it needed to displace only nine-tenths of its volume, +hence 1,356.48 cubic meters; in other words, it was to weigh only +that same number of metric tons. So I was obliged not to exceed +this weight while building it to the aforesaid dimensions. + +"The Nautilus is made up of two hulls, one inside the other; +between them, joining them together, are iron T-bars that give this ship +the utmost rigidity. In fact, thanks to this cellular arrangement, +it has the resistance of a stone block, as if it were completely solid. +Its plating can't give way; it's self-adhering and not dependent +on the tightness of its rivets; and due to the perfect union +of its materials, the solidarity of its construction allows it +to defy the most violent seas. + +"The two hulls are manufactured from boilerplate steel, whose relative +density is 7.8 times that of water. The first hull has a thickness +of no less than five centimeters and weighs 394.96 metric tons. +My second hull, the outer cover, includes a keel fifty centimeters high +by twenty-five wide, which by itself weighs 62 metric tons; this hull, +the engine, the ballast, the various accessories and accommodations, +plus the bulkheads and interior braces, have a combined weight +of 961.52 metric tons, which when added to 394.96 metric tons, +gives us the desired total of 1,356.48 metric tons. Clear?" + +"Clear," I replied. + +"So," the captain went on, "when the Nautilus lies on the waves +under these conditions, one-tenth of it does emerge above water. +Now then, if I provide some ballast tanks equal in capacity +to that one-tenth, hence able to hold 150.72 metric tons, and if I +fill them with water, the boat then displaces 1,507.2 metric tons-- +or it weighs that much--and it would be completely submerged. +That's what comes about, professor. These ballast tanks exist +within easy access in the lower reaches of the Nautilus. I open +some stopcocks, the tanks fill, the boat sinks, and it's exactly +flush with the surface of the water." + +"Fine, captain, but now we come to a genuine difficulty. You're able +to lie flush with the surface of the ocean, that I understand. +But lower down, while diving beneath that surface, isn't your +submersible going to encounter a pressure, and consequently +undergo an upward thrust, that must be assessed at one atmosphere +per every thirty feet of water, hence at about one kilogram per +each square centimeter?" + +"Precisely, sir." + +"Then unless you fill up the whole Nautilus, I don't see how you +can force it down into the heart of these liquid masses." + +"Professor," Captain Nemo replied, "static objects mustn't be +confused with dynamic ones, or we'll be open to serious error. +Comparatively little effort is spent in reaching the ocean's +lower regions, because all objects have a tendency to become 'sinkers.' +Follow my logic here." + +"I'm all ears, captain." + +"When I wanted to determine what increase in weight the Nautilus +needed to be given in order to submerge, I had only to take note +of the proportionate reduction in volume that salt water experiences +in deeper and deeper strata." + +"That's obvious," I replied. + +"Now then, if water isn't absolutely incompressible, at least +it compresses very little. In fact, according to the most +recent calculations, this reduction is only .0000436 per atmosphere, +or per every thirty feet of depth. For instance, to go 1,000 +meters down, I must take into account the reduction in volume +that occurs under a pressure equivalent to that from a 1,000-meter +column of water, in other words, under a pressure of 100 atmospheres. +In this instance the reduction would be .00436. Consequently, I'd have +to increase my weight from 1,507.2 metric tons to 1,513.77. So +the added weight would only be 6.57 metric tons." + +"That's all?" + +"That's all, Professor Aronnax, and the calculation is easy to check. +Now then, I have supplementary ballast tanks capable of shipping 100 +metric tons of water. So I can descend to considerable depths. +When I want to rise again and lie flush with the surface, all I +have to do is expel that water; and if I desire that the Nautilus +emerge above the waves to one-tenth of its total capacity, I empty +all the ballast tanks completely." + +This logic, backed up by figures, left me without a single objection. + +"I accept your calculations, captain," I replied, "and I'd be ill-mannered +to dispute them, since your daily experience bears them out. +But at this juncture, I have a hunch that we're still left with +one real difficulty." + +"What's that, sir?" + +"When you're at a depth of 1,000 meters, the Nautilus's plating +bears a pressure of 100 atmospheres. If at this point you want +to empty the supplementary ballast tanks in order to lighten your +boat and rise to the surface, your pumps must overcome that pressure +of 100 atmospheres, which is 100 kilograms per each square centimeter. +This demands a strength--" + +"That electricity alone can give me," Captain Nemo said swiftly. +"Sir, I repeat: the dynamic power of my engines is nearly infinite. +The Nautilus's pumps have prodigious strength, as you must +have noticed when their waterspouts swept like a torrent over +the Abraham Lincoln. Besides, I use my supplementary ballast +tanks only to reach an average depth of 1,500 to 2,000 meters, +and that with a view to conserving my machinery. Accordingly, when I +have a mind to visit the ocean depths two or three vertical leagues +beneath the surface, I use maneuvers that are more time-consuming +but no less infallible." + +"What are they, captain?" I asked. + +"Here I'm naturally led into telling you how the Nautilus is maneuvered." + +"I can't wait to find out." + +"In order to steer this boat to port or starboard, in short, to make +turns on a horizontal plane, I use an ordinary, wide-bladed rudder +that's fastened to the rear of the sternpost and worked by a wheel +and tackle. But I can also move the Nautilus upward and downward +on a vertical plane by the simple method of slanting its two fins, +which are attached to its sides at its center of flotation; +these fins are flexible, able to assume any position, and can be +operated from inside by means of powerful levers. If these fins +stay parallel with the boat, the latter moves horizontally. +If they slant, the Nautilus follows the angle of that slant and, +under its propeller's thrust, either sinks on a diagonal as steep +as it suits me, or rises on that diagonal. And similarly, if I want +to return more swiftly to the surface, I throw the propeller in gear, +and the water's pressure makes the Nautilus rise vertically, as an air +balloon inflated with hydrogen lifts swiftly into the skies." + +"Bravo, captain!" I exclaimed. "But in the midst of the waters, +how can your helmsman follow the course you've given him?" + +"My helmsman is stationed behind the windows of a pilothouse, +which protrudes from the topside of the Nautilus's hull and is fitted +with biconvex glass." + +"Is glass capable of resisting such pressures?" + +"Perfectly capable. Though fragile on impact, crystal can still +offer considerable resistance. In 1864, during experiments on +fishing by electric light in the middle of the North Sea, glass panes +less than seven millimeters thick were seen to resist a pressure +of sixteen atmospheres, all the while letting through strong, +heat-generating rays whose warmth was unevenly distributed. +Now then, I use glass windows measuring no less than twenty-one +centimeters at their centers; in other words, they've thirty +times the thickness." + +"Fair enough, captain, but if we're going to see, we need light +to drive away the dark, and in the midst of the murky waters, +I wonder how your helmsman can--" + +"Set astern of the pilothouse is a powerful electric reflector +whose rays light up the sea for a distance of half a mile." + +"Oh, bravo! Bravo three times over, captain! That explains +the phosphorescent glow from this so-called narwhale that so puzzled +us scientists! Pertinent to this, I'll ask you if the Nautilus's +running afoul of the Scotia, which caused such a great uproar, +was the result of an accidental encounter?" + +"Entirely accidental, sir. I was navigating two meters beneath +the surface of the water when the collision occurred. However, I could +see that it had no dire consequences." + +"None, sir. But as for your encounter with the Abraham Lincoln . . . ?" + +"Professor, that troubled me, because it's one of the best ships in the +gallant American navy, but they attacked me and I had to defend myself! +All the same, I was content simply to put the frigate in a condition +where it could do me no harm; it won't have any difficulty getting +repairs at the nearest port." + +"Ah, commander," I exclaimed with conviction, "your Nautilus is truly +a marvelous boat!" + +"Yes, professor," Captain Nemo replied with genuine excitement, +"and I love it as if it were my own flesh and blood! Aboard a +conventional ship, facing the ocean's perils, danger lurks everywhere; +on the surface of the sea, your chief sensation is the constant feeling +of an underlying chasm, as the Dutchman Jansen so aptly put it; +but below the waves aboard the Nautilus, your heart never fails you! +There are no structural deformities to worry about, +because the double hull of this boat has the rigidity of iron; +no rigging to be worn out by rolling and pitching on the waves; +no sails for the wind to carry off; no boilers for steam to burst open; +no fires to fear, because this submersible is made of sheet iron not wood; +no coal to run out of, since electricity is its mechanical force; +no collisions to fear, because it navigates the watery deep all by itself; +no storms to brave, because just a few meters beneath the waves, +it finds absolute tranquility! There, sir. There's the ideal ship! +And if it's true that the engineer has more confidence in a craft +than the builder, and the builder more than the captain himself, +you can understand the utter abandon with which I place my trust +in this Nautilus, since I'm its captain, builder, and engineer +all in one!" + +Captain Nemo spoke with winning eloquence. The fire in his eyes +and the passion in his gestures transfigured him. Yes, he loved +his ship the same way a father loves his child! + +But one question, perhaps indiscreet, naturally popped up, and I +couldn't resist asking it. + +"You're an engineer, then, Captain Nemo?" + +"Yes, professor," he answered me. "I studied in London, Paris, +and New York back in the days when I was a resident of +the earth's continents." + +"But how were you able to build this wonderful Nautilus in secret?" + +"Each part of it, Professor Aronnax, came from a different spot +on the globe and reached me at a cover address. Its keel was forged +by Creusot in France, its propeller shaft by Pen & Co. in London, +the sheet-iron plates for its hull by Laird's in Liverpool, its propeller +by Scott's in Glasgow. Its tanks were manufactured by Cail & Co. +in Paris, its engine by Krupp in Prussia, its spur by the Motala +workshops in Sweden, its precision instruments by Hart Bros. +in New York, etc.; and each of these suppliers received my +specifications under a different name." + +"But," I went on, "once these parts were manufactured, didn't they +have to be mounted and adjusted?" + +"Professor, I set up my workshops on a deserted islet in midocean. +There our Nautilus was completed by me and my workmen, in other words, +by my gallant companions whom I've molded and educated. +Then, when the operation was over, we burned every trace of our stay +on that islet, which if I could have, I'd have blown up." + +"From all this, may I assume that such a boat costs a fortune?" + +"An iron ship, Professor Aronnax, runs 1,125 francs per metric ton. +Now then, the Nautilus has a burden of 1,500 metric tons. +Consequently, it cost 1,687,000 francs, hence 2,000,000 francs +including its accommodations, and 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 with all +the collections and works of art it contains." + +"One last question, Captain Nemo." + +"Ask, professor." + +"You're rich, then?" + +"Infinitely rich, sir, and without any trouble, I could pay off +the ten-billion-franc French national debt!" + +I gaped at the bizarre individual who had just spoken these words. +Was he playing on my credulity? Time would tell. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + + + +The Black Current + + + +THE PART OF THE planet earth that the seas occupy has been assessed at +3,832,558 square myriameters, hence more than 38,000,000,000 hectares. +This liquid mass totals 2,250,000,000 cubic miles and could form +a sphere with a diameter of sixty leagues, whose weight would +be three quintillion metric tons. To appreciate such a number, +we should remember that a quintillion is to a billion what a billion +is to one, in other words, there are as many billions in a quintillion +as ones in a billion! Now then, this liquid mass nearly equals +the total amount of water that has poured through all the earth's +rivers for the past 40,000 years! + +During prehistoric times, an era of fire was followed by an era of water. +At first there was ocean everywhere. Then, during the Silurian period, +the tops of mountains gradually appeared above the waves, +islands emerged, disappeared beneath temporary floods, rose again, +were fused to form continents, and finally the earth's geography +settled into what we have today. Solid matter had wrested from liquid +matter some 37,657,000 square miles, hence 12,916,000,000 hectares. + +The outlines of the continents allow the seas to be divided +into five major parts: the frozen Arctic and Antarctic oceans, +the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. + +The Pacific Ocean extends north to south between the two polar circles +and east to west between America and Asia over an expanse of 145 +degrees of longitude. It's the most tranquil of the seas; its currents +are wide and slow-moving, its tides moderate, its rainfall abundant. +And this was the ocean that I was first destined to cross under +these strangest of auspices. + +"If you don't mind, professor," Captain Nemo told me, "we'll determine +our exact position and fix the starting point of our voyage. +It's fifteen minutes before noon. I'm going to rise to the surface +of the water." + +The captain pressed an electric bell three times. The pumps began +to expel water from the ballast tanks; on the pressure gauge, +a needle marked the decreasing pressures that indicated the Nautilus's +upward progress; then the needle stopped. + +"Here we are," the captain said. + +I made my way to the central companionway, which led to the platform. +I climbed its metal steps, passed through the open hatches, +and arrived topside on the Nautilus. + +The platform emerged only eighty centimeters above the waves. +The Nautilus's bow and stern boasted that spindle-shaped outline +that had caused the ship to be compared appropriately to a long cigar. +I noted the slight overlap of its sheet-iron plates, which resembled +the scales covering the bodies of our big land reptiles. So I had +a perfectly natural explanation for why, despite the best spyglasses, +this boat had always been mistaken for a marine animal. + +Near the middle of the platform, the skiff was half set in the +ship's hull, making a slight bulge. Fore and aft stood two cupolas +of moderate height, their sides slanting and partly inset with heavy +biconvex glass, one reserved for the helmsman steering the Nautilus, +the other for the brilliance of the powerful electric beacon +lighting his way. + +The sea was magnificent, the skies clear. This long aquatic +vehicle could barely feel the broad undulations of the ocean. +A mild breeze out of the east rippled the surface of the water. +Free of all mist, the horizon was ideal for taking sights. + +There was nothing to be seen. Not a reef, not an islet. +No more Abraham Lincoln. A deserted immenseness. + +Raising his sextant, Captain Nemo took the altitude of the sun, +which would give him his latitude. He waited for a few minutes +until the orb touched the rim of the horizon. While he was taking +his sights, he didn't move a muscle, and the instrument couldn't +have been steadier in hands made out of marble. + +"Noon," he said. "Professor, whenever you're ready. . . ." + +I took one last look at the sea, a little yellowish near the landing +places of Japan, and I went below again to the main lounge. + +There the captain fixed his position and used a chronometer +to calculate his longitude, which he double-checked against his +previous observations of hour angles. Then he told me: + +"Professor Aronnax, we're in longitude 137 degrees 15' west--" + +"West of which meridian?" I asked quickly, hoping the captain's +reply might give me a clue to his nationality. + +"Sir," he answered me, "I have chronometers variously set to the +meridians of Paris, Greenwich, and Washington, D.C. But in your honor, +I'll use the one for Paris." + +This reply told me nothing. I bowed, and the commander went on: + +"We're in longitude 137 degrees 15' west of the meridian of Paris, +and latitude 30 degrees 7' north, in other words, about 300 miles +from the shores of Japan. At noon on this day of November 8, +we hereby begin our voyage of exploration under the waters." + +"May God be with us!" I replied. + +"And now, professor," the captain added, "I'll leave you to your +intellectual pursuits. I've set our course east-northeast at a depth +of fifty meters. Here are some large-scale charts on which you'll +be able to follow that course. The lounge is at your disposal, +and with your permission, I'll take my leave." + +Captain Nemo bowed. I was left to myself, lost in my thoughts. +They all centered on the Nautilus's commander. Would I ever learn +the nationality of this eccentric man who had boasted of having none? +His sworn hate for humanity, a hate that perhaps was bent +on some dreadful revenge--what had provoked it? Was he one of +those unappreciated scholars, one of those geniuses "embittered +by the world," as Conseil expressed it, a latter-day Galileo, +or maybe one of those men of science, like America's Commander Maury, +whose careers were ruined by political revolutions? I couldn't say yet. +As for me, whom fate had just brought aboard his vessel, +whose life he had held in the balance: he had received me coolly +but hospitably. Only, he never took the hand I extended to him. +He never extended his own. + +For an entire hour I was deep in these musings, trying to probe this +mystery that fascinated me so. Then my eyes focused on a huge world +map displayed on the table, and I put my finger on the very spot +where our just-determined longitude and latitude intersected. + +Like the continents, the sea has its rivers. These are exclusive +currents that can be identified by their temperature and color, +the most remarkable being the one called the Gulf Stream. +Science has defined the global paths of five chief currents: +one in the north Atlantic, a second in the south Atlantic, +a third in the north Pacific, a fourth in the south Pacific, +and a fifth in the southern Indian Ocean. Also it's likely +that a sixth current used to exist in the northern Indian Ocean, +when the Caspian and Aral Seas joined up with certain large Asian +lakes to form a single uniform expanse of water. + +Now then, at the spot indicated on the world map, one of these seagoing +rivers was rolling by, the Kuroshio of the Japanese, the Black Current: +heated by perpendicular rays from the tropical sun, it leaves the Bay +of Bengal, crosses the Strait of Malacca, goes up the shores of Asia, +and curves into the north Pacific as far as the Aleutian Islands, +carrying along trunks of camphor trees and other local items, the pure +indigo of its warm waters sharply contrasting with the ocean's waves. +It was this current the Nautilus was about to cross. +I watched it on the map with my eyes, I saw it lose itself in the +immenseness of the Pacific, and I felt myself swept along with it, +when Ned Land and Conseil appeared in the lounge doorway. + +My two gallant companions stood petrified at the sight of the +wonders on display. + +"Where are we?" the Canadian exclaimed. "In the Quebec Museum?" + +"Begging master's pardon," Conseil answered, "but this seems more +like the Sommerard artifacts exhibition!" + +"My friends," I replied, signaling them to enter, "you're in neither +Canada nor France, but securely aboard the Nautilus, fifty meters +below sea level." + +"If master says so, then so be it," Conseil answered. +"But in all honesty, this lounge is enough to astonish even someone +Flemish like myself." + +"Indulge your astonishment, my friend, and have a look, because there's +plenty of work here for a classifier of your talents." + +Conseil needed no encouraging. Bending over the glass cases, +the gallant lad was already muttering choice words from the +naturalist's vocabulary: class Gastropoda, family Buccinoidea, +genus cowry, species Cypraea madagascariensis, etc. + +Meanwhile Ned Land, less dedicated to conchology, questioned me +about my interview with Captain Nemo. Had I discovered who he was, +where he came from, where he was heading, how deep he was taking us? +In short, a thousand questions I had no time to answer. + +I told him everything I knew--or, rather, everything I didn't know-- +and I asked him what he had seen or heard on his part. + +"Haven't seen or heard a thing!" the Canadian replied. +"I haven't even spotted the crew of this boat. By any chance, +could they be electric too?" + +"Electric?" + +"Oh ye gods, I'm half tempted to believe it! But back to you, +Professor Aronnax," Ned Land said, still hanging on to his ideas. +"Can't you tell me how many men are on board? Ten, twenty, +fifty, a hundred?" + +"I'm unable to answer you, Mr. Land. And trust me on this: +for the time being, get rid of these notions of taking over +the Nautilus or escaping from it. This boat is a masterpiece +of modern technology, and I'd be sorry to have missed it! +Many people would welcome the circumstances that have been handed us, +just to walk in the midst of these wonders. So keep calm, +and let's see what's happening around us." + +"See!" the harpooner exclaimed. "There's nothing to see, +nothing we'll ever see from this sheet-iron prison! We're simply +running around blindfolded--" + +Ned Land was just pronouncing these last words when we were +suddenly plunged into darkness, utter darkness. The ceiling lights +went out so quickly, my eyes literally ached, just as if we had +experienced the opposite sensation of going from the deepest gloom +to the brightest sunlight. + +We stood stock-still, not knowing what surprise was waiting for us, +whether pleasant or unpleasant. But a sliding sound became audible. +You could tell that some panels were shifting over the Nautilus's sides. + +"It's the beginning of the end!" Ned Land said. + +". . . order Hydromedusa," Conseil muttered. + +Suddenly, through two oblong openings, daylight appeared on both +sides of the lounge. The liquid masses came into view, brightly lit +by the ship's electric outpourings. We were separated from the sea +by two panes of glass. Initially I shuddered at the thought +that these fragile partitions could break; but strong copper bands +secured them, giving them nearly infinite resistance. + +The sea was clearly visible for a one-mile radius around +the Nautilus. What a sight! What pen could describe it? +Who could portray the effects of this light through these translucent +sheets of water, the subtlety of its progressive shadings into +the ocean's upper and lower strata? + +The transparency of salt water has long been recognized. +Its clarity is believed to exceed that of spring water. +The mineral and organic substances it holds in suspension actually +increase its translucency. In certain parts of the Caribbean Sea, +you can see the sandy bottom with startling distinctness as deep +as 145 meters down, and the penetrating power of the sun's +rays seems to give out only at a depth of 300 meters. +But in this fluid setting traveled by the Nautilus, our electric +glow was being generated in the very heart of the waves. +It was no longer illuminated water, it was liquid light. + +If we accept the hypotheses of the microbiologist Ehrenberg-- +who believes that these underwater depths are lit up by +phosphorescent organisms--nature has certainly saved one of her +most prodigious sights for residents of the sea, and I could +judge for myself from the thousandfold play of the light. +On both sides I had windows opening over these unexplored depths. +The darkness in the lounge enhanced the brightness outside, and we +stared as if this clear glass were the window of an immense aquarium. + +The Nautilus seemed to be standing still. This was due to the lack +of landmarks. But streaks of water, parted by the ship's spur, +sometimes threaded before our eyes with extraordinary speed. + +In wonderment, we leaned on our elbows before these show windows, +and our stunned silence remained unbroken until Conseil said: + +"You wanted to see something, Ned my friend; well, now you have +something to see!" + +"How unusual!" the Canadian put in, setting aside his tantrums +and getaway schemes while submitting to this irresistible allure. +"A man would go an even greater distance just to stare at such a sight!" + +"Ah!" I exclaimed. "I see our captain's way of life! +He's found himself a separate world that saves its most astonishing +wonders just for him!" + +"But where are the fish?" the Canadian ventured to observe. +"I don't see any fish!" + +"Why would you care, Ned my friend?" Conseil replied. +"Since you have no knowledge of them." + +"Me? A fisherman!" Ned Land exclaimed. + +And on this subject a dispute arose between the two friends, since both +were knowledgeable about fish, but from totally different standpoints. + +Everyone knows that fish make up the fourth and last class in +the vertebrate branch. They have been quite aptly defined as: +"cold-blooded vertebrates with a double circulatory system, +breathing through gills, and designed to live in water." +They consist of two distinct series: the series of bony fish, +in other words, those whose spines have vertebrae made of bone; +and cartilaginous fish, in other words, those whose spines have +vertebrae made of cartilage. + +Possibly the Canadian was familiar with this distinction, but Conseil +knew far more about it; and since he and Ned were now fast friends, +he just had to show off. So he told the harpooner: + +"Ned my friend, you're a slayer of fish, a highly skilled fisherman. +You've caught a large number of these fascinating animals. +But I'll bet you don't know how they're classified." + +"Sure I do," the harpooner replied in all seriousness. +"They're classified into fish we eat and fish we don't eat!" + +"Spoken like a true glutton," Conseil replied. "But tell me, +are you familiar with the differences between bony fish +and cartilaginous fish?" + +"Just maybe, Conseil." + +"And how about the subdivisions of these two large classes?" + +"I haven't the foggiest notion," the Canadian replied. + +"All right, listen and learn, Ned my friend! Bony fish are subdivided +into six orders. Primo, the acanthopterygians, whose upper jaw is fully +formed and free-moving, and whose gills take the shape of a comb. +This order consists of fifteen families, in other words, +three-quarters of all known fish. Example: the common perch." + +"Pretty fair eating," Ned Land replied. + +"Secundo," Conseil went on, "the abdominals, whose pelvic fins hang +under the abdomen to the rear of the pectorals but aren't attached to +the shoulder bone, an order that's divided into five families and makes +up the great majority of freshwater fish. Examples: carp, pike." + +"Ugh!" the Canadian put in with distinct scorn. "You can keep +the freshwater fish!" + +"Tertio," Conseil said, "the subbrachians, whose pelvic fins are +attached under the pectorals and hang directly from the shoulder bone. +This order contains four families. Examples: flatfish such +as sole, turbot, dab, plaice, brill, etc." + +"Excellent, really excellent!" the harpooner exclaimed, interested in +fish only from an edible viewpoint. + +"Quarto," Conseil went on, unabashed, "the apods, with long bodies +that lack pelvic fins and are covered by a heavy, often glutinous skin, +an order consisting of only one family. Examples: common eels +and electric eels." + +"So-so, just so-so!" Ned Land replied. + +"Quinto," Conseil said, "the lophobranchians, which have fully formed, +free-moving jaws but whose gills consist of little tufts arranged +in pairs along their gill arches. This order includes only +one family. Examples: seahorses and dragonfish." + +"Bad, very bad!" the harpooner replied. + +"Sexto and last," Conseil said, "the plectognaths, whose maxillary +bone is firmly attached to the side of the intermaxillary that forms +the jaw, and whose palate arch is locked to the skull by sutures +that render the jaw immovable, an order lacking true pelvic fins +and which consists of two families. Examples: puffers and moonfish." + +"They're an insult to a frying pan!" the Canadian exclaimed. + +"Are you grasping all this, Ned my friend?" asked the scholarly Conseil. + +"Not a lick of it, Conseil my friend," the harpooner replied. +"But keep going, because you fill me with fascination." + +"As for cartilaginous fish," Conseil went on unflappably, +"they consist of only three orders." + +"Good news," Ned put in. + +"Primo, the cyclostomes, whose jaws are fused into a flexible +ring and whose gill openings are simply a large number of holes, +an order consisting of only one family. Example: the lamprey." + +"An acquired taste," Ned Land replied. + +"Secundo, the selacians, with gills resembling those of the cyclostomes +but whose lower jaw is free-moving. This order, which is the most +important in the class, consists of two families. Examples: the ray +and the shark." + +"What!" Ned Land exclaimed. "Rays and man-eaters in the same order? +Well, Conseil my friend, on behalf of the rays, I wouldn't advise +you to put them in the same fish tank!" + +"Tertio," Conseil replied, "The sturionians, whose gill opening is +the usual single slit adorned with a gill cover, an order consisting +of four genera. Example: the sturgeon." + +"Ah, Conseil my friend, you saved the best for last, in my +opinion anyhow! And that's all of 'em?" + +"Yes, my gallant Ned," Conseil replied. "And note well, even when one +has grasped all this, one still knows next to nothing, because these +families are subdivided into genera, subgenera, species, varieties--" + +"All right, Conseil my friend," the harpooner said, leaning toward +the glass panel, "here come a couple of your varieties now!" + +"Yes! Fish!" Conseil exclaimed. "One would think he was in front +of an aquarium!" + +"No," I replied, "because an aquarium is nothing more than a cage, +and these fish are as free as birds in the air!" + +"Well, Conseil my friend, identify them! Start naming them!" +Ned Land exclaimed. + +"Me?" Conseil replied. "I'm unable to! That's my employer's bailiwick!" + +And in truth, although the fine lad was a classifying maniac, he was +no naturalist, and I doubt that he could tell a bonito from a tuna. +In short, he was the exact opposite of the Canadian, who knew nothing +about classification but could instantly put a name to any fish. + +"A triggerfish," I said. + +"It's a Chinese triggerfish," Ned Land replied. + +"Genus Balistes, family Scleroderma, order Plectognatha," +Conseil muttered. + +Assuredly, Ned and Conseil in combination added up to +one outstanding naturalist. + +The Canadian was not mistaken. Cavorting around the Nautilus +was a school of triggerfish with flat bodies, grainy skins, +armed with stings on their dorsal fins, and with four prickly +rows of quills quivering on both sides of their tails. +Nothing could have been more wonderful than the skin covering them: +white underneath, gray above, with spots of gold sparkling in +the dark eddies of the waves. Around them, rays were undulating +like sheets flapping in the wind, and among these I spotted, +much to my glee, a Chinese ray, yellowish on its topside, a dainty +pink on its belly, and armed with three stings behind its eyes; +a rare species whose very existence was still doubted in Lacépède's day, +since that pioneering classifier of fish had seen one only in a +portfolio of Japanese drawings. + +For two hours a whole aquatic army escorted the Nautilus. In the midst +of their leaping and cavorting, while they competed with each other +in beauty, radiance, and speed, I could distinguish some green wrasse, +bewhiskered mullet marked with pairs of black lines, white gobies from +the genus Eleotris with curved caudal fins and violet spots on the back, +wonderful Japanese mackerel from the genus Scomber with blue bodies +and silver heads, glittering azure goldfish whose name by itself +gives their full description, several varieties of porgy or gilthead +(some banded gilthead with fins variously blue and yellow, +some with horizontal heraldic bars and enhanced by a black strip +around their caudal area, some with color zones and elegantly corseted +in their six waistbands), trumpetfish with flutelike beaks that looked +like genuine seafaring woodcocks and were sometimes a meter long, +Japanese salamanders, serpentine moray eels from the genus Echidna +that were six feet long with sharp little eyes and a huge mouth +bristling with teeth; etc. + +Our wonderment stayed at an all-time fever pitch. +Our exclamations were endless. Ned identified the fish, +Conseil classified them, and as for me, I was in ecstasy over +the verve of their movements and the beauty of their forms. +Never before had I been given the chance to glimpse these animals +alive and at large in their native element. + +Given such a complete collection from the seas of Japan and China, I +won't mention every variety that passed before our dazzled eyes. +More numerous than birds in the air, these fish raced right up to us, +no doubt attracted by the brilliant glow of our electric beacon. + +Suddenly daylight appeared in the lounge. The sheet-iron panels +slid shut. The magical vision disappeared. But for a good +while I kept dreaming away, until the moment my eyes focused on +the instruments hanging on the wall. The compass still showed our +heading as east-northeast, the pressure gauge indicated a pressure +of five atmospheres (corresponding to a depth of fifty meters), +and the electric log gave our speed as fifteen miles per hour. + +I waited for Captain Nemo. But he didn't appear. The clock marked +the hour of five. + +Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin. As for me, +I repaired to my stateroom. There I found dinner ready for me. +It consisted of turtle soup made from the daintiest hawksbill, +a red mullet with white, slightly flaky flesh, whose liver, +when separately prepared, makes delicious eating, plus loin of +imperial angelfish, whose flavor struck me as even better than salmon. + +I spent the evening in reading, writing, and thinking. +Then drowsiness overtook me, I stretched out on my eelgrass mattress, +and I fell into a deep slumber, while the Nautilus glided through +the swiftly flowing Black Current. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + + + +An Invitation in Writing + + + +THE NEXT DAY, November 9, I woke up only after a long, +twelve-hour slumber. Conseil, a creature of habit, came to +ask "how master's night went," and to offer his services. +He had left his Canadian friend sleeping like a man who had never +done anything else. + +I let the gallant lad babble as he pleased, without giving him +much in the way of a reply. I was concerned about Captain Nemo's +absence during our session the previous afternoon, and I hoped +to see him again today. + +Soon I had put on my clothes, which were woven from strands of +seashell tissue. More than once their composition provoked comments +from Conseil. I informed him that they were made from the smooth, +silken filaments with which the fan mussel, a type of seashell quite +abundant along Mediterranean beaches, attaches itself to rocks. +In olden times, fine fabrics, stockings, and gloves were made from +such filaments, because they were both very soft and very warm. +So the Nautilus's crew could dress themselves at little cost, +without needing a thing from cotton growers, sheep, or silkworms on shore. + +As soon as I was dressed, I made my way to the main lounge. +It was deserted. + +I dove into studying the conchological treasures amassed inside +the glass cases. I also investigated the huge plant albums that +were filled with the rarest marine herbs, which, although they +were pressed and dried, still kept their wonderful colors. +Among these valuable water plants, I noted various seaweed: +some Cladostephus verticillatus, peacock's tails, fig-leafed caulerpa, +grain-bearing beauty bushes, delicate rosetangle tinted scarlet, +sea colander arranged into fan shapes, mermaid's cups that looked +like the caps of squat mushrooms and for years had been classified +among the zoophytes; in short, a complete series of algae. + +The entire day passed without my being honored by a visit +from Captain Nemo. The panels in the lounge didn't open. +Perhaps they didn't want us to get tired of these beautiful things. + +The Nautilus kept to an east-northeasterly heading, a speed of twelve +miles per hour, and a depth between fifty and sixty meters. + +Next day, November 10: the same neglect, the same solitude. +I didn't see a soul from the crew. Ned and Conseil spent +the better part of the day with me. They were astonished at +the captain's inexplicable absence. Was this eccentric man ill? +Did he want to change his plans concerning us? + +But after all, as Conseil noted, we enjoyed complete freedom, +we were daintily and abundantly fed. Our host had kept to the terms +of his agreement. We couldn't complain, and moreover the very +uniqueness of our situation had such generous rewards in store for us, +we had no grounds for criticism. + +That day I started my diary of these adventures, which has enabled me +to narrate them with the most scrupulous accuracy; and one odd detail: +I wrote it on paper manufactured from marine eelgrass. + +Early in the morning on November 11, fresh air poured through +the Nautilus's interior, informing me that we had returned +to the surface of the ocean to renew our oxygen supply. +I headed for the central companionway and climbed onto the platform. + +It was six o'clock. I found the weather overcast, the sea gray but calm. +Hardly a billow. I hoped to encounter Captain Nemo there--would he come? +I saw only the helmsman imprisoned in his glass-windowed pilothouse. +Seated on the ledge furnished by the hull of the skiff, I inhaled +the sea's salty aroma with great pleasure. + +Little by little, the mists were dispersed under the action +of the sun's rays. The radiant orb cleared the eastern horizon. +Under its gaze, the sea caught on fire like a trail of gunpowder. +Scattered on high, the clouds were colored in bright, wonderfully +shaded hues, and numerous "ladyfingers" warned of daylong winds.* + +*Author's Note: "Ladyfingers" are small, thin, white clouds +with ragged edges. + +But what were mere winds to this Nautilus, which no storms +could intimidate! + +So I was marveling at this delightful sunrise, so life-giving +and cheerful, when I heard someone climbing onto the platform. + +I was prepared to greet Captain Nemo, but it was his chief +officer who appeared--whom I had already met during our first +visit with the captain. He advanced over the platform, +not seeming to notice my presence. A powerful spyglass to his eye, +he scrutinized every point of the horizon with the utmost care. +Then, his examination over, he approached the hatch and pronounced +a phrase whose exact wording follows below. I remember it because, +every morning, it was repeated under the same circumstances. +It ran like this: + +"Nautron respoc lorni virch." + +What it meant I was unable to say. + +These words pronounced, the chief officer went below again. +I thought the Nautilus was about to resume its underwater navigating. +So I went down the hatch and back through the gangways to my stateroom. + +Five days passed in this way with no change in our situation. +Every morning I climbed onto the platform. The same phrase was +pronounced by the same individual. Captain Nemo did not appear. + +I was pursuing the policy that we had seen the last of him, +when on November 16, while reentering my stateroom with Ned +and Conseil, I found a note addressed to me on the table. + +I opened it impatiently. It was written in a script that was clear +and neat but a bit "Old English" in style, its characters reminding +me of German calligraphy. + +The note was worded as follows: + +Professor Aronnax + +Aboard the Nautilus + +November 16, 1867 + + + +Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax on a hunting trip that +will take place tomorrow morning in his Crespo Island forests. +He hopes nothing will prevent the professor from attending, and he looks +forward with pleasure to the professor's companions joining him. + + + +CAPTAIN NEMO, + +Commander of the Nautilus. + + + +"A hunting trip!" Ned exclaimed. + +"And in his forests on Crespo Island!" Conseil added. + +"But does this mean the old boy goes ashore?" Ned Land went on. + +"That seems to be the gist of it," I said, rereading the letter. + +"Well, we've got to accept!" the Canadian answered. +"Once we're on solid ground, we'll figure out a course of action. +Besides, it wouldn't pain me to eat a couple slices of fresh venison!" + +Without trying to reconcile the contradictions between Captain Nemo's +professed horror of continents or islands and his invitation to go +hunting in a forest, I was content to reply: + +"First let's look into this Crespo Island." + +I consulted the world map; and in latitude 32 degrees 40' +north and longitude 167 degrees 50' west, I found an islet that had +been discovered in 1801 by Captain Crespo, which old Spanish charts +called Rocca de la Plata, in other words, "Silver Rock." So we were +about 1,800 miles from our starting point, and by a slight change +of heading, the Nautilus was bringing us back toward the southeast. + +I showed my companions this small, stray rock in the middle +of the north Pacific. + +"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go ashore," I told them, "at least +he only picks desert islands!" + +Ned Land shook his head without replying; then he and Conseil left me. +After supper was served me by the mute and emotionless steward, +I fell asleep; but not without some anxieties. + +When I woke up the next day, November 17, I sensed that the Nautilus +was completely motionless. I dressed hurriedly and entered +the main lounge. + +Captain Nemo was there waiting for me. He stood up, bowed, and asked +if it suited me to come along. + +Since he made no allusion to his absence the past eight days, +I also refrained from mentioning it, and I simply answered that my +companions and I were ready to go with him. + +"Only, sir," I added, "I'll take the liberty of addressing +a question to you." + +"Address away, Professor Aronnax, and if I'm able to answer, I will." + +"Well then, captain, how is it that you've severed all ties with +the shore, yet you own forests on Crespo Island?" + +"Professor," the captain answered me, "these forests of mine +don't bask in the heat and light of the sun. They aren't +frequented by lions, tigers, panthers, or other quadrupeds. +They're known only to me. They grow only for me. These forests +aren't on land, they're actual underwater forests." + +"Underwater forests!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes, professor." + +"And you're offering to take me to them?" + +"Precisely." + +"On foot?" + +"Without getting your feet wet." + +"While hunting?" + +"While hunting." + +"Rifles in hand?" + +"Rifles in hand." + +I stared at the Nautilus's commander with an air anything but +flattering to the man. + +"Assuredly," I said to myself, "he's contracted some mental illness. +He's had a fit that's lasted eight days and isn't over even yet. +What a shame! I liked him better eccentric than insane!" + +These thoughts were clearly readable on my face; but Captain Nemo +remained content with inviting me to follow him, and I did so like +a man resigned to the worst. + +We arrived at the dining room, where we found breakfast served. + +"Professor Aronnax," the captain told me, "I beg you to share +my breakfast without formality. We can chat while we eat. +Because, although I promised you a stroll in my forests, I made +no pledge to arrange for your encountering a restaurant there. +Accordingly, eat your breakfast like a man who'll probably eat +dinner only when it's extremely late." + +I did justice to this meal. It was made up of various fish +and some slices of sea cucumber, that praiseworthy zoophyte, +all garnished with such highly appetizing seaweed as the Porphyra +laciniata and the Laurencia primafetida. Our beverage consisted +of clear water to which, following the captain's example, I added +some drops of a fermented liquor extracted by the Kamchatka process +from the seaweed known by name as Rhodymenia palmata. + +At first Captain Nemo ate without pronouncing a single word. +Then he told me: + +"Professor, when I proposed that you go hunting in my Crespo forests, +you thought I was contradicting myself. When I informed you that it +was an issue of underwater forests, you thought I'd gone insane. +Professor, you must never make snap judgments about your fellow man." + +"But, captain, believe me--" + +"Kindly listen to me, and you'll see if you have grounds for accusing +me of insanity or self-contradiction." + +"I'm all attention." + +"Professor, you know as well as I do that a man can live underwater +so long as he carries with him his own supply of breathable air. +For underwater work projects, the workman wears a waterproof suit +with his head imprisoned in a metal capsule, while he receives air +from above by means of force pumps and flow regulators." + +"That's the standard equipment for a diving suit," I said. + +"Correct, but under such conditions the man has no freedom. +He's attached to a pump that sends him air through an india-rubber hose; +it's an actual chain that fetters him to the shore, and if we were +to be bound in this way to the Nautilus, we couldn't go far either." + +"Then how do you break free?" I asked. + +"We use the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze device, invented by two of your +fellow countrymen but refined by me for my own special uses, +thereby enabling you to risk these new physiological conditions +without suffering any organic disorders. It consists of a tank +built from heavy sheet iron in which I store air under a pressure +of fifty atmospheres. This tank is fastened to the back by means +of straps, like a soldier's knapsack. Its top part forms a box +where the air is regulated by a bellows mechanism and can be +released only at its proper tension. In the Rouquayrol device +that has been in general use, two india-rubber hoses leave this +box and feed to a kind of tent that imprisons the operator's nose +and mouth; one hose is for the entrance of air to be inhaled, +the other for the exit of air to be exhaled, and the tongue closes +off the former or the latter depending on the breather's needs. +But in my case, since I face considerable pressures at the bottom +of the sea, I needed to enclose my head in a copper sphere, +like those found on standard diving suits, and the two hoses +for inhalation and exhalation now feed to that sphere." + +"That's perfect, Captain Nemo, but the air you carry must be +quickly depleted; and once it contains no more than 15% oxygen, +it becomes unfit for breathing." + +"Surely, but as I told you, Professor Aronnax, the Nautilus's +pumps enable me to store air under considerable pressure, +and given this circumstance, the tank on my diving equipment can +supply breathable air for nine or ten hours." + +"I've no more objections to raise," I replied. "I'll only +ask you, captain: how can you light your way at the bottom +of the ocean?" + +"With the Ruhmkorff device, Professor Aronnax. If the first +is carried on the back, the second is fastened to the belt. +It consists of a Bunsen battery that I activate not with potassium +dichromate but with sodium. An induction coil gathers the electricity +generated and directs it to a specially designed lantern. +In this lantern one finds a glass spiral that contains only +a residue of carbon dioxide gas. When the device is operating, +this gas becomes luminous and gives off a continuous whitish light. +Thus provided for, I breathe and I see." + +"Captain Nemo, to my every objection you give such crushing answers, +I'm afraid to entertain a single doubt. However, though I have no +choice but to accept both the Rouquayrol and Ruhmkorff devices, +I'd like to register some reservations about the rifle with which +you'll equip me." + +"But it isn't a rifle that uses gunpowder," the captain replied. + +"Then it's an air gun?" + +"Surely. How can I make gunpowder on my ship when I have no saltpeter, +sulfur, or charcoal?" + +"Even so," I replied, "to fire underwater in a medium that's 855 times +denser than air, you'd have to overcome considerable resistance." + +"That doesn't necessarily follow. There are certain Fulton-style +guns perfected by the Englishmen Philippe-Coles and Burley, +the Frenchman Furcy, and the Italian Landi; they're equipped +with a special system of airtight fastenings and can fire +in underwater conditions. But I repeat: having no gunpowder, +I've replaced it with air at high pressure, which is abundantly +supplied me by the Nautilus's pumps." + +"But this air must be swiftly depleted." + +"Well, in a pinch can't my Rouquayrol tank supply me with more? All I +have to do is draw it from an ad hoc spigot.* Besides, Professor Aronnax, +you'll see for yourself that during these underwater hunting trips, +we make no great expenditure of either air or bullets." + +*Latin: a spigot "just for that purpose." Ed. + +"But it seems to me that in this semidarkness, amid this liquid +that's so dense in comparison to the atmosphere, a gunshot couldn't +carry far and would prove fatal only with difficulty!" + +"On the contrary, sir, with this rifle every shot is fatal; +and as soon as the animal is hit, no matter how lightly, it falls +as if struck by lightning." + +"Why?" + +"Because this rifle doesn't shoot ordinary bullets but little +glass capsules invented by the Austrian chemist Leniebroek, +and I have a considerable supply of them. These glass capsules +are covered with a strip of steel and weighted with a lead base; +they're genuine little Leyden jars charged with high-voltage electricity. +They go off at the slightest impact, and the animal, no matter +how strong, drops dead. I might add that these capsules are no +bigger than number 4 shot, and the chamber of any ordinary rifle +could hold ten of them." + +"I'll quit debating," I replied, getting up from the table. +"And all that's left is for me to shoulder my rifle. +So where you go, I'll go." + +Captain Nemo led me to the Nautilus's stern, and passing +by Ned and Conseil's cabin, I summoned my two companions, +who instantly followed us. + +Then we arrived at a cell located within easy access of the engine room; +in this cell we were to get dressed for our stroll. + + + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + + + +Strolling the Plains + + + +THIS CELL, properly speaking, was the Nautilus's arsenal and wardrobe. +Hanging from its walls, a dozen diving outfits were waiting for +anybody who wanted to take a stroll. + +After seeing these, Ned Land exhibited an obvious distaste for the idea +of putting one on. + +"But my gallant Ned," I told him, "the forests of Crespo Island +are simply underwater forests!" + +"Oh great!" put in the disappointed harpooner, watching his dreams +of fresh meat fade away. "And you, Professor Aronnax, are you +going to stick yourself inside these clothes?" + +"It has to be, Mr. Ned." + +"Have it your way, sir," the harpooner replied, shrugging his shoulders. +"But speaking for myself, I'll never get into those things unless +they force me!" + +"No one will force you, Mr. Land," Captain Nemo said. + +"And is Conseil going to risk it?" Ned asked. + +"Where master goes, I go," Conseil replied. + +At the captain's summons, two crewmen came to help us put +on these heavy, waterproof clothes, made from seamless india +rubber and expressly designed to bear considerable pressures. +They were like suits of armor that were both yielding and resistant, +you might say. These clothes consisted of jacket and pants. +The pants ended in bulky footwear adorned with heavy lead soles. +The fabric of the jacket was reinforced with copper mail that shielded +the chest, protected it from the water's pressure, and allowed +the lungs to function freely; the sleeves ended in supple gloves +that didn't impede hand movements. + +These perfected diving suits, it was easy to see, were a far cry from +such misshapen costumes as the cork breastplates, leather jumpers, +seagoing tunics, barrel helmets, etc., invented and acclaimed +in the 18th century. + +Conseil and I were soon dressed in these diving suits, as were +Captain Nemo and one of his companions--a herculean type who must +have been prodigiously strong. All that remained was to encase one's +head in its metal sphere. But before proceeding with this operation, +I asked the captain for permission to examine the rifles set +aside for us. + +One of the Nautilus's men presented me with a streamlined rifle +whose butt was boilerplate steel, hollow inside, and of fairly +large dimensions. This served as a tank for the compressed air, +which a trigger-operated valve could release into the metal chamber. +In a groove where the butt was heaviest, a cartridge clip +held some twenty electric bullets that, by means of a spring, +automatically took their places in the barrel of the rifle. +As soon as one shot had been fired, another was ready to go off. + + + + +"Captain Nemo," I said, "this is an ideal, easy-to-use weapon. +I ask only to put it to the test. But how will we reach the bottom +of the sea?" + +"Right now, professor, the Nautilus is aground in ten meters of water, +and we've only to depart." + +"But how will we set out?" + +"You'll see." + +Captain Nemo inserted his cranium into its spherical headgear. +Conseil and I did the same, but not without hearing the Canadian +toss us a sarcastic "happy hunting." On top, the suit ended in a +collar of threaded copper onto which the metal helmet was screwed. +Three holes, protected by heavy glass, allowed us to see in any +direction with simply a turn of the head inside the sphere. +Placed on our backs, the Rouquayrol device went into operation as soon +as it was in position, and for my part, I could breathe with ease. + +The Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, my rifle in hand, +I was ready to go forth. But in all honesty, while imprisoned +in these heavy clothes and nailed to the deck by my lead soles, +it was impossible for me to take a single step. + +But this circumstance had been foreseen, because I felt +myself propelled into a little room adjoining the wardrobe. +Towed in the same way, my companions went with me. I heard a door +with watertight seals close after us, and we were surrounded +by profound darkness. + +After some minutes a sharp hissing reached my ears. +I felt a distinct sensation of cold rising from my feet to my chest. +Apparently a stopcock inside the boat was letting in water +from outside, which overran us and soon filled up the room. +Contrived in the Nautilus's side, a second door then opened. +We were lit by a subdued light. An instant later our feet were +treading the bottom of the sea. + +And now, how can I convey the impressions left on me by this stroll +under the waters. Words are powerless to describe such wonders! +When even the painter's brush can't depict the effects unique to +the liquid element, how can the writer's pen hope to reproduce them? + +Captain Nemo walked in front, and his companion followed us a few steps +to the rear. Conseil and I stayed next to each other, as if daydreaming +that through our metal carapaces, a little polite conversation +might still be possible! Already I no longer felt the bulkiness +of my clothes, footwear, and air tank, nor the weight of the heavy +sphere inside which my head was rattling like an almond in its shell. +Once immersed in water, all these objects lost a part of their +weight equal to the weight of the liquid they displaced, and thanks +to this law of physics discovered by Archimedes, I did just fine. +I was no longer an inert mass, and I had, comparatively speaking, +great freedom of movement. + +Lighting up the seafloor even thirty feet beneath the surface +of the ocean, the sun astonished me with its power. The solar rays +easily crossed this aqueous mass and dispersed its dark colors. +I could easily distinguish objects 100 meters away. Farther on, +the bottom was tinted with fine shades of ultramarine; then, off in +the distance, it turned blue and faded in the midst of a hazy darkness. +Truly, this water surrounding me was just a kind of air, +denser than the atmosphere on land but almost as transparent. +Above me I could see the calm surface of the ocean. + +We were walking on sand that was fine-grained and smooth, +not wrinkled like beach sand, which preserves the impressions +left by the waves. This dazzling carpet was a real mirror, +throwing back the sun's rays with startling intensity. The outcome: +an immense vista of reflections that penetrated every liquid molecule. +Will anyone believe me if I assert that at this thirty-foot depth, +I could see as if it was broad daylight? + +For a quarter of an hour, I trod this blazing sand, which was +strewn with tiny crumbs of seashell. Looming like a long reef, +the Nautilus's hull disappeared little by little, but when night fell +in the midst of the waters, the ship's beacon would surely facilitate +our return on board, since its rays carried with perfect distinctness. +This effect is difficult to understand for anyone who has never +seen light beams so sharply defined on shore. There the dust that +saturates the air gives such rays the appearance of a luminous fog; +but above water as well as underwater, shafts of electric light +are transmitted with incomparable clarity. + +Meanwhile we went ever onward, and these vast plains of sand +seemed endless. My hands parted liquid curtains that closed again +behind me, and my footprints faded swiftly under the water's pressure. + +Soon, scarcely blurred by their distance from us, the forms of some +objects took shape before my eyes. I recognized the lower slopes +of some magnificent rocks carpeted by the finest zoophyte specimens, +and right off, I was struck by an effect unique to this medium. + +By then it was ten o'clock in the morning. The sun's rays hit +the surface of the waves at a fairly oblique angle, decomposing by +refraction as though passing through a prism; and when this light came +in contact with flowers, rocks, buds, seashells, and polyps, the edges +of these objects were shaded with all seven hues of the solar spectrum. +This riot of rainbow tints was a wonder, a feast for the eyes: +a genuine kaleidoscope of red, green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, +and blue; in short, the whole palette of a color-happy painter! +If only I had been able to share with Conseil the intense sensations +rising in my brain, competing with him in exclamations of wonderment! +If only I had known, like Captain Nemo and his companion, +how to exchange thoughts by means of prearranged signals! +So, for lack of anything better, I talked to myself: I declaimed +inside this copper box that topped my head, spending more air +on empty words than was perhaps advisable. + +Conseil, like me, had stopped before this splendid sight. +Obviously, in the presence of these zoophyte and mollusk specimens, +the fine lad was classifying his head off. Polyps and echinoderms +abounded on the seafloor: various isis coral, cornularian coral +living in isolation, tufts of virginal genus Oculina formerly +known by the name "white coral," prickly fungus coral in the shape +of mushrooms, sea anemone holding on by their muscular disks, +providing a literal flowerbed adorned by jellyfish from the genus +Porpita wearing collars of azure tentacles, and starfish that spangled +the sand, including veinlike feather stars from the genus Asterophyton +that were like fine lace embroidered by the hands of water nymphs, +their festoons swaying to the faint undulations caused by our walking. +It filled me with real chagrin to crush underfoot the gleaming +mollusk samples that littered the seafloor by the thousands: +concentric comb shells, hammer shells, coquina (seashells that actually +hop around), top-shell snails, red helmet shells, angel-wing conchs, +sea hares, and so many other exhibits from this inexhaustible ocean. +But we had to keep walking, and we went forward while overhead there +scudded schools of Portuguese men-of-war that let their ultramarine +tentacles drift in their wakes, medusas whose milky white or dainty +pink parasols were festooned with azure tassels and shaded us from +the sun's rays, plus jellyfish of the species Pelagia panopyra that, +in the dark, would have strewn our path with phosphorescent glimmers! + +All these wonders I glimpsed in the space of a quarter of a mile, +barely pausing, following Captain Nemo whose gestures kept beckoning +me onward. Soon the nature of the seafloor changed. The plains of sand +were followed by a bed of that viscous slime Americans call "ooze," +which is composed exclusively of seashells rich in limestone or silica. +Then we crossed a prairie of algae, open-sea plants that the waters +hadn't yet torn loose, whose vegetation grew in wild profusion. +Soft to the foot, these densely textured lawns would have +rivaled the most luxuriant carpets woven by the hand of man. +But while this greenery was sprawling under our steps, it didn't +neglect us overhead. The surface of the water was crisscrossed +by a floating arbor of marine plants belonging to that superabundant +algae family that numbers more than 2,000 known species. +I saw long ribbons of fucus drifting above me, some globular, +others tubular: Laurencia, Cladostephus with the slenderest foliage, +Rhodymenia palmata resembling the fan shapes of cactus. +I observed that green-colored plants kept closer to the surface +of the sea, while reds occupied a medium depth, which left +blacks and browns in charge of designing gardens and flowerbeds +in the ocean's lower strata. + +These algae are a genuine prodigy of creation, one of the wonders +of world flora. This family produces both the biggest and smallest +vegetables in the world. Because, just as 40,000 near-invisible +buds have been counted in one five-square-millimeter space, so also +have fucus plants been gathered that were over 500 meters long! + +We had been gone from the Nautilus for about an hour and a half. +It was almost noon. I spotted this fact in the perpendicularity +of the sun's rays, which were no longer refracted. The magic +of these solar colors disappeared little by little, with emerald +and sapphire shades vanishing from our surroundings altogether. +We walked with steady steps that rang on the seafloor with +astonishing intensity. The tiniest sounds were transmitted +with a speed to which the ear is unaccustomed on shore. +In fact, water is a better conductor of sound than air, and under +the waves noises carry four times as fast. + +Just then the seafloor began to slope sharply downward. +The light took on a uniform hue. We reached a depth of 100 meters, +by which point we were undergoing a pressure of ten atmospheres. +But my diving clothes were built along such lines that I never +suffered from this pressure. I felt only a certain tightness in +the joints of my fingers, and even this discomfort soon disappeared. +As for the exhaustion bound to accompany a two-hour stroll +in such unfamiliar trappings--it was nil. Helped by the water, +my movements were executed with startling ease. + +Arriving at this 300-foot depth, I still detected the sun's rays, +but just barely. Their intense brilliance had been followed +by a reddish twilight, a midpoint between day and night. +But we could see well enough to find our way, and it still wasn't +necessary to activate the Ruhmkorff device. + +Just then Captain Nemo stopped. He waited until I joined him, +then he pointed a finger at some dark masses outlined in the shadows +a short distance away. + +"It's the forest of Crespo Island," I thought; and I was not mistaken. + + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + + + +An Underwater Forest + + + +WE HAD FINALLY arrived on the outskirts of this forest, +surely one of the finest in Captain Nemo's immense domains. +He regarded it as his own and had laid the same claim to it that, +in the first days of the world, the first men had to their forests +on land. Besides, who else could dispute his ownership of this +underwater property? What other, bolder pioneer would come, +ax in hand, to clear away its dark underbrush? + +This forest was made up of big treelike plants, and when we +entered beneath their huge arches, my eyes were instantly struck +by the unique arrangement of their branches--an arrangement that I +had never before encountered. + +None of the weeds carpeting the seafloor, none of the branches bristling +from the shrubbery, crept, or leaned, or stretched on a horizontal plane. +They all rose right up toward the surface of the ocean. +Every filament or ribbon, no matter how thin, stood ramrod straight. +Fucus plants and creepers were growing in stiff perpendicular lines, +governed by the density of the element that generated them. +After I parted them with my hands, these otherwise motionless +plants would shoot right back to their original positions. +It was the regime of verticality. + +I soon grew accustomed to this bizarre arrangement, likewise to +the comparative darkness surrounding us. The seafloor in this forest +was strewn with sharp chunks of stone that were hard to avoid. +Here the range of underwater flora seemed pretty comprehensive to me, +as well as more abundant than it might have been in the arctic +or tropical zones, where such exhibits are less common. +But for a few minutes I kept accidentally confusing the two kingdoms, +mistaking zoophytes for water plants, animals for vegetables. +And who hasn't made the same blunder? Flora and fauna are so closely +associated in the underwater world! + +I observed that all these exhibits from the vegetable kingdom +were attached to the seafloor by only the most makeshift methods. +They had no roots and didn't care which solid objects +secured them, sand, shells, husks, or pebbles; they didn't +ask their hosts for sustenance, just a point of purchase. +These plants are entirely self-propagating, and the principle of +their existence lies in the water that sustains and nourishes them. +In place of leaves, most of them sprouted blades of unpredictable shape, +which were confined to a narrow gamut of colors consisting only +of pink, crimson, green, olive, tan, and brown. There I saw again, +but not yet pressed and dried like the Nautilus's specimens, +some peacock's tails spread open like fans to stir up a cooling breeze, +scarlet rosetangle, sea tangle stretching out their young and +edible shoots, twisting strings of kelp from the genus Nereocystis +that bloomed to a height of fifteen meters, bouquets of mermaid's cups +whose stems grew wider at the top, and a number of other open-sea plants, +all without flowers. "It's an odd anomaly in this bizarre element!" +as one witty naturalist puts it. "The animal kingdom blossoms, +and the vegetable kingdom doesn't!" + +These various types of shrubbery were as big as trees in the +temperate zones; in the damp shade between them, there were clustered +actual bushes of moving flowers, hedges of zoophytes in which there +grew stony coral striped with twisting furrows, yellowish sea anemone +from the genus Caryophylia with translucent tentacles, plus anemone +with grassy tufts from the genus Zoantharia; and to complete the illusion, +minnows flitted from branch to branch like a swarm of hummingbirds, +while there rose underfoot, like a covey of snipe, yellow fish +from the genus Lepisocanthus with bristling jaws and sharp scales, +flying gurnards, and pinecone fish. + +Near one o'clock, Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt. +Speaking for myself, I was glad to oblige, and we stretched out +beneath an arbor of winged kelp, whose long thin tendrils stood +up like arrows. + +This short break was a delight. It lacked only the charm +of conversation. But it was impossible to speak, impossible to reply. +I simply nudged my big copper headpiece against Conseil's headpiece. +I saw a happy gleam in the gallant lad's eyes, and to communicate +his pleasure, he jiggled around inside his carapace in the +world's silliest way. + +After four hours of strolling, I was quite astonished not +to feel any intense hunger. What kept my stomach in such a +good mood I'm unable to say. But, in exchange, I experienced +that irresistible desire for sleep that comes over every diver. +Accordingly, my eyes soon closed behind their heavy glass windows +and I fell into an uncontrollable doze, which until then I had been +able to fight off only through the movements of our walking. +Captain Nemo and his muscular companion were already stretched +out in this clear crystal, setting us a fine naptime example. + +How long I was sunk in this torpor I cannot estimate; but when I awoke, +it seemed as if the sun were settling toward the horizon. +Captain Nemo was already up, and I had started to stretch my limbs, +when an unexpected apparition brought me sharply to my feet. + +A few paces away, a monstrous, meter-high sea spider was +staring at me with beady eyes, poised to spring at me. +Although my diving suit was heavy enough to protect me from this +animal's bites, I couldn't keep back a shudder of horror. +Just then Conseil woke up, together with the Nautilus's sailor. +Captain Nemo alerted his companion to this hideous crustacean, +which a swing of the rifle butt quickly brought down, and I watched +the monster's horrible legs writhing in dreadful convulsions. + +This encounter reminded me that other, more daunting animals must +be lurking in these dark reaches, and my diving suit might not be +adequate protection against their attacks. Such thoughts hadn't +previously crossed my mind, and I was determined to keep on my guard. +Meanwhile I had assumed this rest period would be the turning point +in our stroll, but I was mistaken; and instead of heading back +to the Nautilus, Captain Nemo continued his daring excursion. + +The seafloor kept sinking, and its significantly steeper slope took +us to greater depths. It must have been nearly three o'clock when we +reached a narrow valley gouged between high, vertical walls and +located 150 meters down. Thanks to the perfection of our equipment, +we had thus gone ninety meters below the limit that nature had, +until then, set on man's underwater excursions. + +I say 150 meters, although I had no instruments for estimating +this distance. But I knew that the sun's rays, even in +the clearest seas, could reach no deeper. So at precisely +this point the darkness became profound. Not a single object +was visible past ten paces. Consequently, I had begun to grope +my way when suddenly I saw the glow of an intense white light. +Captain Nemo had just activated his electric device. +His companion did likewise. Conseil and I followed suit. +By turning a switch, I established contact between the induction +coil and the glass spiral, and the sea, lit up by our four lanterns, +was illuminated for a radius of twenty-five meters. + +Captain Nemo continued to plummet into the dark depths of this forest, +whose shrubbery grew ever more sparse. I observed that vegetable +life was disappearing more quickly than animal life. The open-sea +plants had already left behind the increasingly arid seafloor, +where a prodigious number of animals were still swarming: +zoophytes, articulates, mollusks, and fish. + +While we were walking, I thought the lights of our Ruhmkorff devices +would automatically attract some inhabitants of these dark strata. +But if they did approach us, at least they kept at a distance regrettable +from the hunter's standpoint. Several times I saw Captain Nemo stop +and take aim with his rifle; then, after sighting down its barrel +for a few seconds, he would straighten up and resume his walk. + +Finally, at around four o'clock, this marvelous excursion came to an end. +A wall of superb rocks stood before us, imposing in its sheer mass: +a pile of gigantic stone blocks, an enormous granite cliffside pitted +with dark caves but not offering a single gradient we could climb up. +This was the underpinning of Crespo Island. This was land. + +The captain stopped suddenly. A gesture from him brought us to a halt, +and however much I wanted to clear this wall, I had to stop. +Here ended the domains of Captain Nemo. He had no desire to pass +beyond them. Farther on lay a part of the globe he would no +longer tread underfoot. + +Our return journey began. Captain Nemo resumed the lead +in our little band, always heading forward without hesitation. +I noted that we didn't follow the same path in returning to +the Nautilus. This new route, very steep and hence very arduous, +quickly took us close to the surface of the sea. But this +return to the upper strata wasn't so sudden that decompression +took place too quickly, which could have led to serious organic +disorders and given us those internal injuries so fatal to divers. +With great promptness, the light reappeared and grew stronger; +and the refraction of the sun, already low on the horizon, again ringed +the edges of various objects with the entire color spectrum. + +At a depth of ten meters, we walked amid a swarm of small fish from +every species, more numerous than birds in the air, more agile too; +but no aquatic game worthy of a gunshot had yet been offered +to our eyes. + +Just then I saw the captain's weapon spring to his shoulder +and track a moving object through the bushes. A shot went off, +I heard a faint hissing, and an animal dropped a few paces away, +literally struck by lightning. + +It was a magnificent sea otter from the genus Enhydra, the only +exclusively marine quadruped. One and a half meters long, this otter +had to be worth a good high price. Its coat, chestnut brown above and +silver below, would have made one of those wonderful fur pieces so much +in demand in the Russian and Chinese markets; the fineness and luster +of its pelt guaranteed that it would go for at least 2,000 francs. +I was full of wonderment at this unusual mammal, with its circular +head adorned by short ears, its round eyes, its white whiskers +like those on a cat, its webbed and clawed feet, its bushy tail. +Hunted and trapped by fishermen, this valuable carnivore has become +extremely rare, and it takes refuge chiefly in the northernmost +parts of the Pacific, where in all likelihood its species will soon +be facing extinction. + +Captain Nemo's companion picked up the animal, loaded it on his shoulder, +and we took to the trail again. + +For an hour plains of sand unrolled before our steps. +Often the seafloor rose to within two meters of the surface of the water. +I could then see our images clearly mirrored on the underside +of the waves, but reflected upside down: above us there appeared +an identical band that duplicated our every movement and gesture; +in short, a perfect likeness of the quartet near which it walked, +but with heads down and feet in the air. + +Another unusual effect. Heavy clouds passed above us, forming and +fading swiftly. But after thinking it over, I realized that these +so-called clouds were caused simply by the changing densities of +the long ground swells, and I even spotted the foaming "white caps" +that their breaking crests were proliferating over the surface +of the water. Lastly, I couldn't help seeing the actual shadows +of large birds passing over our heads, swiftly skimming the surface +of the sea. + +On this occasion I witnessed one of the finest gunshots ever to +thrill the marrow of a hunter. A large bird with a wide wingspan, +quite clearly visible, approached and hovered over us. When it was just a +few meters above the waves, Captain Nemo's companion took aim and fired. +The animal dropped, electrocuted, and its descent brought it within +reach of our adroit hunter, who promptly took possession of it. +It was an albatross of the finest species, a wonderful specimen +of these open-sea fowl. + +This incident did not interrupt our walk. For two hours we were +sometimes led over plains of sand, sometimes over prairies of seaweed +that were quite arduous to cross. In all honesty, I was dead tired +by the time I spotted a hazy glow half a mile away, cutting through +the darkness of the waters. It was the Nautilus's beacon. +Within twenty minutes we would be on board, and there I could +breathe easy again--because my tank's current air supply seemed +to be quite low in oxygen. But I was reckoning without an encounter +that slightly delayed our arrival. + +I was lagging behind some twenty paces when I saw Captain Nemo suddenly +come back toward me. With his powerful hands he sent me buckling +to the ground, while his companion did the same to Conseil. At first I +didn't know what to make of this sudden assault, but I was reassured +to observe the captain lying motionless beside me. + +I was stretched out on the seafloor directly beneath some bushes of algae, +when I raised my head and spied two enormous masses hurtling by, +throwing off phosphorescent glimmers. + +My blood turned cold in my veins! I saw that we were under threat from +a fearsome pair of sharks. They were blue sharks, dreadful man-eaters +with enormous tails, dull, glassy stares, and phosphorescent matter +oozing from holes around their snouts. They were like monstrous +fireflies that could thoroughly pulverize a man in their iron jaws! +I don't know if Conseil was busy with their classification, +but as for me, I looked at their silver bellies, their fearsome +mouths bristling with teeth, from a viewpoint less than scientific-- +more as a victim than as a professor of natural history. + +Luckily these voracious animals have poor eyesight. They went +by without noticing us, grazing us with their brownish fins; +and miraculously, we escaped a danger greater than encountering +a tiger deep in the jungle. + +Half an hour later, guided by its electric trail, we reached +the Nautilus. The outside door had been left open, and Captain Nemo +closed it after we reentered the first cell. Then he pressed a button. +I heard pumps operating within the ship, I felt the water lowering +around me, and in a few moments the cell was completely empty. +The inside door opened, and we passed into the wardrobe. + +There our diving suits were removed, not without difficulty; +and utterly exhausted, faint from lack of food and rest, I repaired +to my stateroom, full of wonder at this startling excursion on +the bottom of the sea. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + + + +Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific + + + +BY THE NEXT MORNING, November 18, I was fully recovered from my +exhaustion of the day before, and I climbed onto the platform just +as the Nautilus's chief officer was pronouncing his daily phrase. +It then occurred to me that these words either referred to the state +of the sea, or that they meant: "There's nothing in sight." + +And in truth, the ocean was deserted. Not a sail on the horizon. +The tips of Crespo Island had disappeared during the night. +The sea, absorbing every color of the prism except its blue rays, +reflected the latter in every direction and sported a wonderful +indigo tint. The undulating waves regularly took on the appearance +of watered silk with wide stripes. + +I was marveling at this magnificent ocean view when +Captain Nemo appeared. He didn't seem to notice my presence and began +a series of astronomical observations. Then, his operations finished, +he went and leaned his elbows on the beacon housing, his eyes +straying over the surface of the ocean. + +Meanwhile some twenty of the Nautilus's sailors--all energetic, +well-built fellows--climbed onto the platform. They had come +to pull up the nets left in our wake during the night. +These seamen obviously belonged to different nationalities, although +indications of European physical traits could be seen in them all. +If I'm not mistaken, I recognized some Irishmen, some Frenchmen, +a few Slavs, and a native of either Greece or Crete. Even so, +these men were frugal of speech and used among themselves +only that bizarre dialect whose origin I couldn't even guess. +So I had to give up any notions of questioning them. + +The nets were hauled on board. They were a breed of trawl resembling +those used off the Normandy coast, huge pouches held half open +by a floating pole and a chain laced through the lower meshes. +Trailing in this way from these iron glove makers, the resulting +receptacles scoured the ocean floor and collected every marine exhibit +in their path. That day they gathered up some unusual specimens +from these fish-filled waterways: anglerfish whose comical movements +qualify them for the epithet "clowns," black Commerson anglers equipped +with their antennas, undulating triggerfish encircled by little +red bands, bloated puffers whose venom is extremely insidious, +some olive-hued lampreys, snipefish covered with silver scales, +cutlass fish whose electrocuting power equals that of the electric eel +and the electric ray, scaly featherbacks with brown crosswise bands, +greenish codfish, several varieties of goby, etc.; finally, some fish +of larger proportions: a one-meter jack with a prominent head, +several fine bonito from the genus Scomber decked out in the colors +blue and silver, and three magnificent tuna whose high speeds +couldn't save them from our trawl. + +I estimate that this cast of the net brought in more than 1,000 +pounds of fish. It was a fine catch but not surprising. +In essence, these nets stayed in our wake for several hours, +incarcerating an entire aquatic world in prisons made of thread. +So we were never lacking in provisions of the highest quality, +which the Nautilus's speed and the allure of its electric light +could continually replenish. + +These various exhibits from the sea were immediately lowered +down the hatch in the direction of the storage lockers, some to be +eaten fresh, others to be preserved. + +After its fishing was finished and its air supply renewed, +I thought the Nautilus would resume its underwater excursion, +and I was getting ready to return to my stateroom, when Captain Nemo +turned to me and said without further preamble: + +"Look at this ocean, professor! Doesn't it have the actual +gift of life? Doesn't it experience both anger and affection? +Last evening it went to sleep just as we did, and there it is, +waking up after a peaceful night!" + +No hellos or good mornings for this gent! You would have thought +this eccentric individual was simply continuing a conversation +we'd already started! + +"See!" he went on. "It's waking up under the sun's caresses! +It's going to relive its daily existence! What a fascinating +field of study lies in watching the play of its organism. +It owns a pulse and arteries, it has spasms, and I side with the +scholarly Commander Maury, who discovered that it has a circulation +as real as the circulation of blood in animals." + +I'm sure that Captain Nemo expected no replies from me, and it +seemed pointless to pitch in with "Ah yes," "Exactly," or "How +right you are!" Rather, he was simply talking to himself, +with long pauses between sentences. He was meditating out loud. + +"Yes," he said, "the ocean owns a genuine circulation, +and to start it going, the Creator of All Things has only +to increase its heat, salt, and microscopic animal life. +In essence, heat creates the different densities that lead +to currents and countercurrents. Evaporation, which is nil +in the High Arctic regions and very active in equatorial zones, +brings about a constant interchange of tropical and polar waters. +What's more, I've detected those falling and rising currents that make +up the ocean's true breathing. I've seen a molecule of salt water +heat up at the surface, sink into the depths, reach maximum density +at -2 degrees centigrade, then cool off, grow lighter, and rise again. +At the poles you'll see the consequences of this phenomenon, +and through this law of farseeing nature, you'll understand why +water can freeze only at the surface!" + +As the captain was finishing his sentence, I said to myself: +"The pole! Is this brazen individual claiming he'll take us even +to that location?" + +Meanwhile the captain fell silent and stared at the element he had +studied so thoroughly and unceasingly. Then, going on: + +"Salts," he said, "fill the sea in considerable quantities, professor, +and if you removed all its dissolved saline content, you'd create +a mass measuring 4,500,000 cubic leagues, which if it were spread +all over the globe, would form a layer more than ten meters high. +And don't think that the presence of these salts is due merely +to some whim of nature. No. They make ocean water less open to +evaporation and prevent winds from carrying off excessive amounts +of steam, which, when condensing, would submerge the temperate zones. +Salts play a leading role, the role of stabilizer for the general +ecology of the globe!" + +Captain Nemo stopped, straightened up, took a few steps along +the platform, and returned to me: + +"As for those billions of tiny animals," he went on, "those infusoria +that live by the millions in one droplet of water, 800,000 of which +are needed to weigh one milligram, their role is no less important. +They absorb the marine salts, they assimilate the solid elements +in the water, and since they create coral and madrepores, +they're the true builders of limestone continents! And so, +after they've finished depriving our water drop of its mineral nutrients, +the droplet gets lighter, rises to the surface, there absorbs more +salts left behind through evaporation, gets heavier, sinks again, +and brings those tiny animals new elements to absorb. The outcome: +a double current, rising and falling, constant movement, constant life! +More intense than on land, more abundant, more infinite, such life +blooms in every part of this ocean, an element fatal to man, +they say, but vital to myriads of animals--and to me!" + +When Captain Nemo spoke in this way, he was transfigured, +and he filled me with extraordinary excitement. + +"There," he added, "out there lies true existence! And I can imagine +the founding of nautical towns, clusters of underwater households that, +like the Nautilus, would return to the surface of the sea to breathe +each morning, free towns if ever there were, independent cities! +Then again, who knows whether some tyrant . . ." + +Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a vehement gesture. +Then, addressing me directly, as if to drive away an ugly thought: + +"Professor Aronnax," he asked me, "do you know the depth of +the ocean floor?" + +"At least, captain, I know what the major soundings tell us." + +"Could you quote them to me, so I can double-check them as +the need arises?" + +"Here," I replied, "are a few of them that stick in my memory. +If I'm not mistaken, an average depth of 8,200 meters was found in +the north Atlantic, and 2,500 meters in the Mediterranean. The most +remarkable soundings were taken in the south Atlantic near the 35th +parallel, and they gave 12,000 meters, 14,091 meters, and 15,149 meters. +All in all, it's estimated that if the sea bottom were made level, +its average depth would be about seven kilometers." + +"Well, professor," Captain Nemo replied, "we'll show you better +than that, I hope. As for the average depth of this part of +the Pacific, I'll inform you that it's a mere 4,000 meters." + +This said, Captain Nemo headed to the hatch and disappeared down +the ladder. I followed him and went back to the main lounge. +The propeller was instantly set in motion, and the log gave our speed +as twenty miles per hour. + +Over the ensuing days and weeks, Captain Nemo was very frugal +with his visits. I saw him only at rare intervals. His chief +officer regularly fixed the positions I found reported on the chart, +and in such a way that I could exactly plot the Nautilus's course. + +Conseil and Land spent the long hours with me. Conseil had told +his friend about the wonders of our undersea stroll, and the Canadian +was sorry he hadn't gone along. But I hoped an opportunity would +arise for a visit to the forests of Oceania. + +Almost every day the panels in the lounge were open for some hours, +and our eyes never tired of probing the mysteries of the underwater world. + +The Nautilus's general heading was southeast, and it stayed at a depth +between 100 and 150 meters. However, from lord-knows-what whim, +one day it did a diagonal dive by means of its slanting fins, +reaching strata located 2,000 meters underwater. The thermometer +indicated a temperature of 4.25 degrees centigrade, which at this +depth seemed to be a temperature common to all latitudes. + +On November 26, at three o'clock in the morning, the Nautilus +cleared the Tropic of Cancer at longitude 172 degrees. On the 27th +it passed in sight of the Hawaiian Islands, where the famous +Captain Cook met his death on February 14, 1779. By then we +had fared 4,860 leagues from our starting point. When I arrived +on the platform that morning, I saw the Island of Hawaii two miles +to leeward, the largest of the seven islands making up this group. +I could clearly distinguish the tilled soil on its outskirts, +the various mountain chains running parallel with its coastline, +and its volcanoes, crowned by Mauna Kea, whose elevation is 5,000 +meters above sea level. Among other specimens from these waterways, +our nets brought up some peacock-tailed flabellarian coral, +polyps flattened into stylish shapes and unique to this part +of the ocean. + +The Nautilus kept to its southeasterly heading. On December 1 +it cut the equator at longitude 142 degrees, and on the 4th +of the same month, after a quick crossing marked by no incident, +we raised the Marquesas Islands. Three miles off, in latitude 8 +degrees 57' south and longitude 139 degrees 32' west, I spotted +Martin Point on Nuku Hiva, chief member of this island group +that belongs to France. I could make out only its wooded mountains +on the horizon, because Captain Nemo hated to hug shore. +There our nets brought up some fine fish samples: dolphinfish with +azure fins, gold tails, and flesh that's unrivaled in the entire world, +wrasse from the genus Hologymnosus that were nearly denuded +of scales but exquisite in flavor, knifejaws with bony beaks, +yellowish albacore that were as tasty as bonito, all fish worth +classifying in the ship's pantry. + +After leaving these delightful islands to the protection of the French +flag, the Nautilus covered about 2,000 miles from December 4 to the 11th. +Its navigating was marked by an encounter with an immense school +of squid, unusual mollusks that are near neighbors of the cuttlefish. +French fishermen give them the name "cuckoldfish," and they +belong to the class Cephalopoda, family Dibranchiata, +consisting of themselves together with cuttlefish and argonauts. +The naturalists of antiquity made a special study of them, +and these animals furnished many ribald figures of speech for soapbox +orators in the Greek marketplace, as well as excellent dishes +for the tables of rich citizens, if we're to believe Athenaeus, +a Greek physician predating Galen. + +It was during the night of December 9-10 that the Nautilus encountered +this army of distinctly nocturnal mollusks. They numbered in +the millions. They were migrating from the temperate zones toward +zones still warmer, following the itineraries of herring and sardines. +We stared at them through our thick glass windows: they swam backward +with tremendous speed, moving by means of their locomotive tubes, +chasing fish and mollusks, eating the little ones, eaten by the big ones, +and tossing in indescribable confusion the ten feet that nature +has rooted in their heads like a hairpiece of pneumatic snakes. +Despite its speed, the Nautilus navigated for several hours +in the midst of this school of animals, and its nets brought up +an incalculable number, among which I recognized all nine species +that Professor Orbigny has classified as native to the Pacific Ocean. + +During this crossing, the sea continually lavished us +with the most marvelous sights. Its variety was infinite. +It changed its setting and decor for the mere pleasure of our eyes, +and we were called upon not simply to contemplate the works of our +Creator in the midst of the liquid element, but also to probe +the ocean's most daunting mysteries. + +During the day of December 11, I was busy reading in the main lounge. +Ned Land and Conseil were observing the luminous waters +through the gaping panels. The Nautilus was motionless. +Its ballast tanks full, it was sitting at a depth of 1,000 meters +in a comparatively unpopulated region of the ocean where only larger +fish put in occasional appearances. + +Just then I was studying a delightful book by Jean Macé, The Servants +of the Stomach, and savoring its ingenious teachings, when Conseil +interrupted my reading. + +"Would master kindly come here for an instant?" he said to me +in an odd voice. + +"What is it, Conseil?" + +"It's something that master should see." + +I stood up, went, leaned on my elbows before the window, and I saw it. + +In the broad electric daylight, an enormous black mass, quite motionless, +hung suspended in the midst of the waters. I observed it carefully, +trying to find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean. +Then a sudden thought crossed my mind. + +"A ship!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes," the Canadian replied, "a disabled craft that's +sinking straight down!" + +Ned Land was not mistaken. We were in the presence of a ship whose +severed shrouds still hung from their clasps. Its hull looked in +good condition, and it must have gone under only a few hours before. +The stumps of three masts, chopped off two feet above the deck, +indicated a flooding ship that had been forced to sacrifice its masting. +But it had heeled sideways, filling completely, and it was listing +to port even yet. A sorry sight, this carcass lost under the waves, +but sorrier still was the sight on its deck, where, lashed with ropes +to prevent their being washed overboard, some human corpses still lay! +I counted four of them--four men, one still standing at the helm-- +then a woman, halfway out of a skylight on the afterdeck, +holding a child in her arms. This woman was young. +Under the brilliant lighting of the Nautilus's rays, I could +make out her features, which the water hadn't yet decomposed. +With a supreme effort, she had lifted her child above her head, +and the poor little creature's arms were still twined around its +mother's neck! The postures of the four seamen seemed ghastly to me, +twisted from convulsive movements, as if making a last effort +to break loose from the ropes that bound them to their ship. +And the helmsman, standing alone, calmer, his face smooth and serious, +his grizzled hair plastered to his brow, his hands clutching the wheel, +seemed even yet to be guiding his wrecked three-master through +the ocean depths! + +What a scene! We stood dumbstruck, hearts pounding, before this +shipwreck caught in the act, as if it had been photographed in its +final moments, so to speak! And already I could see enormous sharks +moving in, eyes ablaze, drawn by the lure of human flesh! + +Meanwhile, turning, the Nautilus made a circle around the sinking ship, +and for an instant I could read the board on its stern: + + + +The Florida + +Sunderland, England + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + + + +Vanikoro + + + +THIS DREADFUL SIGHT was the first of a whole series of maritime +catastrophes that the Nautilus would encounter on its run. +When it plied more heavily traveled seas, we often saw wrecked hulls +rotting in midwater, and farther down, cannons, shells, anchors, chains, +and a thousand other iron objects rusting away. + +Meanwhile, continuously swept along by the Nautilus, where we lived +in near isolation, we raised the Tuamotu Islands on December 11, +that old "dangerous group" associated with the French global +navigator Commander Bougainville; it stretches from Ducie Island +to Lazareff Island over an area of 500 leagues from the east-southeast +to the west-northwest, between latitude 13 degrees 30' +and 23 degrees 50' south, and between longitude 125 degrees 30' +and 151 degrees 30' west. This island group covers a surface area +of 370 square leagues, and it's made up of some sixty subgroups, +among which we noted the Gambier group, which is a French protectorate. +These islands are coral formations. Thanks to the work of polyps, a slow +but steady upheaval will someday connect these islands to each other. +Later on, this new island will be fused to its neighboring island groups, +and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia +as far as the Marquesas Islands. + +The day I expounded this theory to Captain Nemo, he answered me coldly: + +"The earth doesn't need new continents, but new men!" + +Sailors' luck led the Nautilus straight to Reao Island, one of the most +unusual in this group, which was discovered in 1822 by Captain Bell +aboard the Minerva. So I was able to study the madreporic process +that has created the islands in this ocean. + +Madrepores, which one must guard against confusing with precious coral, +clothe their tissue in a limestone crust, and their variations in +structure have led my famous mentor Professor Milne-Edwards to classify +them into five divisions. The tiny microscopic animals that secrete +this polypary live by the billions in the depths of their cells. +Their limestone deposits build up into rocks, reefs, islets, islands. +In some places, they form atolls, a circular ring surrounding +a lagoon or small inner lake that gaps place in contact with +the sea. Elsewhere, they take the shape of barrier reefs, +such as those that exist along the coasts of New Caledonia +and several of the Tuamotu Islands. In still other localities, +such as Réunion Island and the island of Mauritius, they build +fringing reefs, high, straight walls next to which the ocean's +depth is considerable. + +While cruising along only a few cable lengths from the underpinning +of Reao Island, I marveled at the gigantic piece of work accomplished +by these microscopic laborers. These walls were the express +achievements of madrepores known by the names fire coral, +finger coral, star coral, and stony coral. These polyps grow +exclusively in the agitated strata at the surface of the sea, +and so it's in the upper reaches that they begin these substructures, +which sink little by little together with the secreted rubble +binding them. This, at least, is the theory of Mr. Charles Darwin, +who thus explains the formation of atolls--a theory superior, +in my view, to the one that says these madreporic edifices sit +on the summits of mountains or volcanoes submerged a few feet +below sea level. + +I could observe these strange walls quite closely: our sounding lines +indicated that they dropped perpendicularly for more than 300 meters, +and our electric beams made the bright limestone positively sparkle. + +In reply to a question Conseil asked me about the growth rate +of these colossal barriers, I thoroughly amazed him by saying +that scientists put it at an eighth of an inch per biennium. + +"Therefore," he said to me, "to build these walls, it took . . . ?" + +"192,000 years, my gallant Conseil, which significantly extends +the biblical Days of Creation. What's more, the formation of coal-- +in other words, the petrification of forests swallowed by floods-- +and the cooling of basaltic rocks likewise call for a much longer +period of time. I might add that those 'days' in the Bible +must represent whole epochs and not literally the lapse of time +between two sunrises, because according to the Bible itself, +the sun doesn't date from the first day of Creation." + +When the Nautilus returned to the surface of the ocean, I could take +in Reao Island over its whole flat, wooded expanse. Obviously its +madreporic rocks had been made fertile by tornadoes and thunderstorms. +One day, carried off by a hurricane from neighboring shores, +some seed fell onto these limestone beds, mixing with decomposed +particles of fish and marine plants to form vegetable humus. +Propelled by the waves, a coconut arrived on this new coast. +Its germ took root. Its tree grew tall, catching steam off the water. +A brook was born. Little by little, vegetation spread. +Tiny animals--worms, insects--rode ashore on tree trunks snatched +from islands to windward. Turtles came to lay their eggs. +Birds nested in the young trees. In this way animal life developed, +and drawn by the greenery and fertile soil, man appeared. +And that's how these islands were formed, the immense achievement +of microscopic animals. + +Near evening Reao Island melted into the distance, and the Nautilus +noticeably changed course. After touching the Tropic of Capricorn +at longitude 135 degrees, it headed west-northwest, going back up +the whole intertropical zone. Although the summer sun lavished +its rays on us, we never suffered from the heat, because thirty +or forty meters underwater, the temperature didn't go over 10 +degrees to 12 degrees centigrade. + +By December 15 we had left the alluring Society Islands in the west, +likewise elegant Tahiti, queen of the Pacific. In the morning +I spotted this island's lofty summits a few miles to leeward. +Its waters supplied excellent fish for the tables on board: +mackerel, bonito, albacore, and a few varieties of that sea serpent +named the moray eel. + +The Nautilus had cleared 8,100 miles. We logged 9,720 miles +when we passed between the Tonga Islands, where crews from +the Argo, Port-au-Prince, and Duke of Portland had perished, +and the island group of Samoa, scene of the slaying of Captain +de Langle, friend of that long-lost navigator, the Count de +La Pérouse. Then we raised the Fiji Islands, where savages +slaughtered sailors from the Union, as well as Captain Bureau, +commander of the Darling Josephine out of Nantes, France. + +Extending over an expanse of 100 leagues north to south, and over 90 +leagues east to west, this island group lies between latitude 2 +degrees and 6 degrees south, and between longitude 174 degrees and 179 +degrees west. It consists of a number of islands, islets, and reefs, +among which we noted the islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, and Kadavu. + +It was the Dutch navigator Tasman who discovered this group in 1643, +the same year the Italian physicist Torricelli invented the barometer +and King Louis XIV ascended the French throne. I'll let the reader +decide which of these deeds was more beneficial to humanity. +Coming later, Captain Cook in 1774, Rear Admiral d'Entrecasteaux in 1793, +and finally Captain Dumont d'Urville in 1827, untangled the whole +chaotic geography of this island group. The Nautilus drew near +Wailea Bay, an unlucky place for England's Captain Dillon, who was +the first to shed light on the longstanding mystery surrounding +the disappearance of ships under the Count de La Pérouse. + +This bay, repeatedly dredged, furnished a huge supply of +excellent oysters. As the Roman playwright Seneca recommended, +we opened them right at our table, then stuffed ourselves. +These mollusks belonged to the species known by name as Ostrea lamellosa, +whose members are quite common off Corsica. This Wailea oysterbank +must have been extensive, and for certain, if they hadn't been +controlled by numerous natural checks, these clusters of shellfish +would have ended up jam-packing the bay, since as many as 2,000,000 +eggs have been counted in a single individual. + +And if Mr. Ned Land did not repent of his gluttony at our oyster fest, +it's because oysters are the only dish that never causes indigestion. +In fact, it takes no less than sixteen dozen of these headless +mollusks to supply the 315 grams that satisfy one man's minimum +daily requirement for nitrogen. + +On December 25 the Nautilus navigated amid the island group +of the New Hebrides, which the Portuguese seafarer Queirós +discovered in 1606, which Commander Bougainville explored in 1768, +and to which Captain Cook gave its current name in 1773. +This group is chiefly made up of nine large islands and forms a +120-league strip from the north-northwest to the south-southeast, lying +between latitude 2 degrees and 15 degrees south, and between longitude +164 degrees and 168 degrees. At the moment of our noon sights, +we passed fairly close to the island of Aurou, which looked to me +like a mass of green woods crowned by a peak of great height. + +That day it was yuletide, and it struck me that Ned Land badly +missed celebrating "Christmas," that genuine family holiday where +Protestants are such zealots. + +I hadn't seen Captain Nemo for over a week, when, on the morning +of the 27th, he entered the main lounge, as usual acting as if he'd +been gone for just five minutes. I was busy tracing the Nautilus's +course on the world map. The captain approached, placed a finger +over a position on the chart, and pronounced just one word: + +"Vanikoro." + +This name was magic! It was the name of those islets +where vessels under the Count de La Pérouse had miscarried. +I straightened suddenly. + +"The Nautilus is bringing us to Vanikoro?" I asked. + +"Yes, professor," the captain replied. + +"And I'll be able to visit those famous islands where the Compass +and the Astrolabe came to grief?" + +"If you like, professor." + +"When will we reach Vanikoro?" + +"We already have, professor." + +Followed by Captain Nemo, I climbed onto the platform, and from there +my eyes eagerly scanned the horizon. + +In the northeast there emerged two volcanic islands of unequal size, +surrounded by a coral reef whose circuit measured forty miles. +We were facing the island of Vanikoro proper, to which +Captain Dumont d'Urville had given the name "Island of the Search"; +we lay right in front of the little harbor of Vana, located in latitude +16 degrees 4' south and longitude 164 degrees 32' east. Its shores +seemed covered with greenery from its beaches to its summits inland, +crowned by Mt. Kapogo, which is 476 fathoms high. + +After clearing the outer belt of rocks via a narrow passageway, +the Nautilus lay inside the breakers where the sea had a depth of thirty +to forty fathoms. Under the green shade of some tropical evergreens, +I spotted a few savages who looked extremely startled at our approach. +In this long, blackish object advancing flush with the water, +didn't they see some fearsome cetacean that they were obliged +to view with distrust? + +Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the shipwreck +of the Count de La Pérouse. + +"What everybody knows, captain," I answered him. + +"And could you kindly tell me what everybody knows?" he asked me +in a gently ironic tone. + +"Very easily." + +I related to him what the final deeds of Captain Dumont d'Urville +had brought to light, deeds described here in this heavily condensed +summary of the whole matter. + +In 1785 the Count de La Pérouse and his subordinate, Captain de Langle, +were sent by King Louis XVI of France on a voyage to circumnavigate +the globe. They boarded two sloops of war, the Compass and the Astrolabe, +which were never seen again. + +In 1791, justly concerned about the fate of these two sloops +of war, the French government fitted out two large cargo boats, +the Search and the Hope, which left Brest on September 28 under +orders from Rear Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. Two months later, +testimony from a certain Commander Bowen, aboard the Albemarle, +alleged that rubble from shipwrecked vessels had been seen +on the coast of New Georgia. But d'Entrecasteaux was unaware +of this news--which seemed a bit dubious anyhow--and headed toward +the Admiralty Islands, which had been named in a report by one +Captain Hunter as the site of the Count de La Pérouse's shipwreck. + +They looked in vain. The Hope and the Search passed right +by Vanikoro without stopping there; and overall, this voyage +was plagued by misfortune, ultimately costing the lives of +Rear Admiral d'Entrecasteaux, two of his subordinate officers, +and several seamen from his crew. + +It was an old hand at the Pacific, the English adventurer +Captain Peter Dillon, who was the first to pick up the trail left +by castaways from the wrecked vessels. On May 15, 1824, his ship, +the St. Patrick, passed by Tikopia Island, one of the New Hebrides. +There a native boatman pulled alongside in a dugout canoe and sold +Dillon a silver sword hilt bearing the imprint of characters engraved +with a cutting tool known as a burin. Furthermore, this native +boatman claimed that during a stay in Vanikoro six years earlier, +he had seen two Europeans belonging to ships that had run aground +on the island's reefs many years before. + + + + +Dillon guessed that the ships at issue were those under the Count de +La Pérouse, ships whose disappearance had shaken the entire world. +He tried to reach Vanikoro, where, according to the native boatman, +a good deal of rubble from the shipwreck could still be found, +but winds and currents prevented his doing so. + +Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he was able to interest +the Asiatic Society and the East India Company in his discovery. +A ship named after the Search was placed at his disposal, +and he departed on January 23, 1827, accompanied by a French deputy. + +This new Search, after putting in at several stops over the Pacific, +dropped anchor before Vanikoro on July 7, 1827, in the same harbor +of Vana where the Nautilus was currently floating. + +There Dillon collected many relics of the shipwreck: +iron utensils, anchors, eyelets from pulleys, swivel guns, +an eighteen-pound shell, the remains of some astronomical instruments, +a piece of sternrail, and a bronze bell bearing the inscription +"Made by Bazin," the foundry mark at Brest Arsenal around 1785. +There could no longer be any doubt. + +Finishing his investigations, Dillon stayed at the site of +the casualty until the month of October. Then he left Vanikoro, +headed toward New Zealand, dropped anchor at Calcutta on April 7, +1828, and returned to France, where he received a very cordial +welcome from King Charles X. + +But just then the renowned French explorer Captain Dumont d'Urville, +unaware of Dillon's activities, had already set sail to search +elsewhere for the site of the shipwreck. In essence, a whaling +vessel had reported that some medals and a Cross of St. Louis +had been found in the hands of savages in the Louisiade Islands +and New Caledonia. + +So Captain Dumont d'Urville had put to sea in command of a vessel +named after the Astrolabe, and just two months after Dillon had +left Vanikoro, Dumont d'Urville dropped anchor before Hobart. There he +heard about Dillon's findings, and he further learned that a +certain James Hobbs, chief officer on the Union out of Calcutta, +had put to shore on an island located in latitude 8 degrees 18' +south and longitude 156 degrees 30' east, and had noted the natives +of those waterways making use of iron bars and red fabrics. + +Pretty perplexed, Dumont d'Urville didn't know if he should give +credence to these reports, which had been carried in some of +the less reliable newspapers; nevertheless, he decided to start +on Dillon's trail. + +On February 10, 1828, the new Astrolabe hove before Tikopia Island, +took on a guide and interpreter in the person of a deserter who had +settled there, plied a course toward Vanikoro, raised it on February 12, +sailed along its reefs until the 14th, and only on the 20th dropped +anchor inside its barrier in the harbor of Vana. + +On the 23rd, several officers circled the island and brought back some +rubble of little importance. The natives, adopting a system of denial +and evasion, refused to guide them to the site of the casualty. +This rather shady conduct aroused the suspicion that the natives +had mistreated the castaways; and in truth, the natives seemed afraid +that Dumont d'Urville had come to avenge the Count de La Pérouse +and his unfortunate companions. + +But on the 26th, appeased with gifts and seeing that they didn't +need to fear any reprisals, the natives led the chief officer, +Mr. Jacquinot, to the site of the shipwreck. + +At this location, in three or four fathoms of water between the Paeu +and Vana reefs, there lay some anchors, cannons, and ingots +of iron and lead, all caked with limestone concretions. A launch +and whaleboat from the new Astrolabe were steered to this locality, +and after going to exhausting lengths, their crews managed to dredge +up an anchor weighing 1,800 pounds, a cast-iron eight-pounder cannon, +a lead ingot, and two copper swivel guns. + +Questioning the natives, Captain Dumont d'Urville also learned that +after La Pérouse's two ships had miscarried on the island's reefs, +the count had built a smaller craft, only to go off and miscarry +a second time. Where? Nobody knew. + +The commander of the new Astrolabe then had a monument erected under a +tuft of mangrove, in memory of the famous navigator and his companions. +It was a simple quadrangular pyramid, set on a coral base, +with no ironwork to tempt the natives' avarice. + +Then Dumont d'Urville tried to depart; but his crews were run down from +the fevers raging on these unsanitary shores, and quite ill himself, +he was unable to weigh anchor until March 17. + +Meanwhile, fearing that Dumont d'Urville wasn't abreast of +Dillon's activities, the French government sent a sloop of war +to Vanikoro, the Bayonnaise under Commander Legoarant de Tromelin, +who had been stationed on the American west coast. Dropping anchor +before Vanikoro a few months after the new Astrolabe's departure, +the Bayonnaise didn't find any additional evidence but verified +that the savages hadn't disturbed the memorial honoring the Count +de La Pérouse. + +This is the substance of the account I gave Captain Nemo. + +"So," he said to me, "the castaways built a third ship on Vanikoro Island, +and to this day, nobody knows where it went and perished?" + +"Nobody knows." + +Captain Nemo didn't reply but signaled me to follow him to the +main lounge. The Nautilus sank a few meters beneath the waves, +and the panels opened. + +I rushed to the window and saw crusts of coral: fungus coral, +siphonula coral, alcyon coral, sea anemone from the genus Caryophylia, +plus myriads of charming fish including greenfish, damselfish, +sweepers, snappers, and squirrelfish; underneath this coral covering +I detected some rubble the old dredges hadn't been able to tear free-- +iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, shells, tackle from a capstan, +a stempost, all objects hailing from the wrecked ships and now +carpeted in moving flowers. + +And as I stared at this desolate wreckage, Captain Nemo told me +in a solemn voice: + +"Commander La Pérouse set out on December 7, 1785, with his ships, +the Compass and the Astrolabe. He dropped anchor first at Botany Bay, +visited the Tonga Islands and New Caledonia, headed toward +the Santa Cruz Islands, and put in at Nomuka, one of the islands +in the Ha'apai group. Then his ships arrived at the unknown reefs +of Vanikoro. Traveling in the lead, the Compass ran afoul of breakers +on the southerly coast. The Astrolabe went to its rescue and also +ran aground. The first ship was destroyed almost immediately. +The second, stranded to leeward, held up for some days. +The natives gave the castaways a fair enough welcome. +The latter took up residence on the island and built a smaller +craft with rubble from the two large ones. A few seamen stayed +voluntarily in Vanikoro. The others, weak and ailing, set sail +with the Count de La Pérouse. They headed to the Solomon Islands, +and they perished with all hands on the westerly coast of the chief +island in that group, between Cape Deception and Cape Satisfaction!" + +"And how do you know all this?" I exclaimed. + +"Here's what I found at the very site of that final shipwreck!" + +Captain Nemo showed me a tin box, stamped with the coat of arms +of France and all corroded by salt water. He opened it and I saw +a bundle of papers, yellowed but still legible. + +They were the actual military orders given by France's Minister +of the Navy to Commander La Pérouse, with notes along the margin +in the handwriting of King Louis XVI! + +"Ah, what a splendid death for a seaman!" Captain Nemo then said. +"A coral grave is a tranquil grave, and may Heaven grant that my +companions and I rest in no other!" + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 20 + + + +The Torres Strait + + + +DURING THE NIGHT of December 27-28, the Nautilus left +the waterways of Vanikoro behind with extraordinary speed. +Its heading was southwesterly, and in three days it had cleared the 750 +leagues that separated La Pérouse's islands from the southeastern +tip of Papua. + +On January 1, 1868, bright and early, Conseil joined me on the platform. + +"Will master," the gallant lad said to me, "allow me to wish him +a happy new year?" + +"Good heavens, Conseil, it's just like old times in my office +at the Botanical Gardens in Paris! I accept your kind wishes +and I thank you for them. Only, I'd like to know what you mean +by a 'happy year' under the circumstances in which we're placed. +Is it a year that will bring our imprisonment to an end, or a year +that will see this strange voyage continue?" + +"Ye gods," Conseil replied, "I hardly know what to tell master. +We're certainly seeing some unusual things, and for two months +we've had no time for boredom. The latest wonder is always +the most astonishing, and if this progression keeps up, I can't +imagine what its climax will be. In my opinion, we'll never again +have such an opportunity." + +"Never, Conseil." + +"Besides, Mr. Nemo really lives up to his Latin name, since he couldn't +be less in the way if he didn't exist." + +"True enough, Conseil." + +"Therefore, with all due respect to master, I think a 'happy year' +would be a year that lets us see everything--" + +"Everything, Conseil? No year could be that long. But what does +Ned Land think about all this?" + +"Ned Land's thoughts are exactly the opposite of mine," +Conseil replied. "He has a practical mind and a demanding stomach. +He's tired of staring at fish and eating them day in and day out. +This shortage of wine, bread, and meat isn't suitable for an upstanding +Anglo-Saxon, a man accustomed to beefsteak and unfazed by regular +doses of brandy or gin!" + +"For my part, Conseil, that doesn't bother me in the least, +and I've adjusted very nicely to the diet on board." + +"So have I," Conseil replied. "Accordingly, I think as much about +staying as Mr. Land about making his escape. Thus, if this new year +isn't a happy one for me, it will be for him, and vice versa. +No matter what happens, one of us will be pleased. So, in conclusion, +I wish master to have whatever his heart desires." + +"Thank you, Conseil. Only I must ask you to postpone the question of new +year's gifts, and temporarily accept a hearty handshake in their place. +That's all I have on me." + +"Master has never been more generous," Conseil replied. + +And with that, the gallant lad went away. + +By January 2 we had fared 11,340 miles, hence 5,250 leagues, +from our starting point in the seas of Japan. Before the Nautilus's +spur there stretched the dangerous waterways of the Coral Sea, +off the northeast coast of Australia. Our boat cruised along a few +miles away from that daunting shoal where Captain Cook's ships +wellnigh miscarried on June 10, 1770. The craft that Cook was aboard +charged into some coral rock, and if his vessel didn't go down, +it was thanks to the circumstance that a piece of coral broke off +in the collision and plugged the very hole it had made in the hull. + +I would have been deeply interested in visiting this long, +360-league reef, against which the ever-surging sea broke +with the fearsome intensity of thunderclaps. But just then +the Nautilus's slanting fins took us to great depths, and I could +see nothing of those high coral walls. I had to rest content +with the various specimens of fish brought up by our nets. +Among others I noted some long-finned albacore, a species in the +genus Scomber, as big as tuna, bluish on the flanks, and streaked +with crosswise stripes that disappear when the animal dies. +These fish followed us in schools and supplied our table with very +dainty flesh. We also caught a large number of yellow-green gilthead, +half a decimeter long and tasting like dorado, plus some +flying gurnards, authentic underwater swallows that, on dark nights, +alternately streak air and water with their phosphorescent glimmers. +Among mollusks and zoophytes, I found in our trawl's meshes +various species of alcyonarian coral, sea urchins, hammer shells, +spurred-star shells, wentletrap snails, horn shells, glass snails. +The local flora was represented by fine floating algae: +sea tangle, and kelp from the genus Macrocystis, saturated with +the mucilage their pores perspire, from which I selected a wonderful +Nemastoma geliniaroidea, classifying it with the natural curiosities +in the museum. + +On January 4, two days after crossing the Coral Sea, we raised the coast +of Papua. On this occasion Captain Nemo told me that he intended +to reach the Indian Ocean via the Torres Strait. This was the extent +of his remarks. Ned saw with pleasure that this course would bring us, +once again, closer to European seas. + +The Torres Strait is regarded as no less dangerous for its +bristling reefs than for the savage inhabitants of its coasts. +It separates Queensland from the huge island of Papua, +also called New Guinea. + +Papua is 400 leagues long by 130 leagues wide, with a surface area of +40,000 geographic leagues. It's located between latitude 0 degrees 19' +and 10 degrees 2' south, and between longitude 128 degrees 23' +and 146 degrees 15'. At noon, while the chief officer was taking +the sun's altitude, I spotted the summits of the Arfak Mountains, +rising in terraces and ending in sharp peaks. + +Discovered in 1511 by the Portuguese Francisco Serrano, these shores +were successively visited by Don Jorge de Meneses in 1526, by Juan +de Grijalva in 1527, by the Spanish general Alvaro de Saavedra +in 1528, by Inigo Ortiz in 1545, by the Dutchman Schouten in 1616, +by Nicolas Sruick in 1753, by Tasman, Dampier, Fumel, Carteret, +Edwards, Bougainville, Cook, McClure, and Thomas Forrest, +by Rear Admiral d'Entrecasteaux in 1792, by Louis-Isidore Duperrey +in 1823, and by Captain Dumont d'Urville in 1827. "It's the heartland +of the blacks who occupy all Malaysia," Mr. de Rienzi has said; +and I hadn't the foggiest inkling that sailors' luck was about +to bring me face to face with these daunting Andaman aborigines. + +So the Nautilus hove before the entrance to the world's +most dangerous strait, a passageway that even the boldest +navigators hesitated to clear: the strait that Luis Vaez de +Torres faced on returning from the South Seas in Melanesia, +the strait in which sloops of war under Captain Dumont d'Urville +ran aground in 1840 and nearly miscarried with all hands. +And even the Nautilus, rising superior to every danger in the sea, +was about to become intimate with its coral reefs. + +The Torres Strait is about thirty-four leagues wide, but it's obstructed +by an incalculable number of islands, islets, breakers, and rocks +that make it nearly impossible to navigate. Consequently, Captain Nemo +took every desired precaution in crossing it. Floating flush +with the water, the Nautilus moved ahead at a moderate pace. +Like a cetacean's tail, its propeller churned the waves slowly. + +Taking advantage of this situation, my two companions and I found seats +on the ever-deserted platform. In front of us stood the pilothouse, +and unless I'm extremely mistaken, Captain Nemo must have been inside, +steering his Nautilus himself. + +Under my eyes I had the excellent charts of the Torres Strait +that had been surveyed and drawn up by the hydrographic engineer +Vincendon Dumoulin and Sublieutenant (now Admiral) Coupvent-Desbois, who +were part of Dumont d'Urville's general staff during his final +voyage to circumnavigate the globe. These, along with the efforts +of Captain King, are the best charts for untangling the snarl of this +narrow passageway, and I consulted them with scrupulous care. + +Around the Nautilus the sea was boiling furiously. A stream of waves, +bearing from southeast to northwest at a speed of two and a half +miles per hour, broke over heads of coral emerging here and there. + +"That's one rough sea!" Ned Land told me. + +"Abominable indeed," I replied, "and hardly suitable for a craft +like the Nautilus." + +"That damned captain," the Canadian went on, "must really be sure +of his course, because if these clumps of coral so much as brush us, +they'll rip our hull into a thousand pieces!" + +The situation was indeed dangerous, but as if by magic, the Nautilus +seemed to glide right down the middle of these rampaging reefs. +It didn't follow the exact course of the Zealous and the new Astrolabe, +which had proved so ill-fated for Captain Dumont d'Urville. It went +more to the north, hugged the Murray Islands, and returned to the +southwest near Cumberland Passage. I thought it was about to charge +wholeheartedly into this opening, but it went up to the northwest, +through a large number of little-known islands and islets, +and steered toward Tound Island and the Bad Channel. + +I was already wondering if Captain Nemo, rash to the point +of sheer insanity, wanted his ship to tackle the narrows +where Dumont d'Urville's two sloops of war had gone aground, +when he changed direction a second time and cut straight to the west, +heading toward Gueboroa Island. + +By then it was three o'clock in the afternoon. The current was slacking +off, it was almost full tide. The Nautilus drew near this island, +which I can see to this day with its remarkable fringe of screw pines. +We hugged it from less than two miles out. + +A sudden jolt threw me down. The Nautilus had just struck a reef, +and it remained motionless, listing slightly to port. + +When I stood up, I saw Captain Nemo and his chief officer on +the platform. They were examining the ship's circumstances, +exchanging a few words in their incomprehensible dialect. + +Here is what those circumstances entailed. Two miles to starboard lay +Gueboroa Island, its coastline curving north to west like an immense arm. +To the south and east, heads of coral were already on display, +left uncovered by the ebbing waters. We had run aground at full tide +and in one of those seas whose tides are moderate, an inconvenient +state of affairs for floating the Nautilus off. However, the ship +hadn't suffered in any way, so solidly joined was its hull. +But although it could neither sink nor split open, it was in serious +danger of being permanently attached to these reefs, and that would +have been the finish of Captain Nemo's submersible. + +I was mulling this over when the captain approached, cool and calm, +forever in control of himself, looking neither alarmed nor annoyed. + +"An accident?" I said to him. + +"No, an incident," he answered me. + +"But an incident," I replied, "that may oblige you to become +a resident again of these shores you avoid!" + +Captain Nemo gave me an odd look and gestured no. Which told +me pretty clearly that nothing would ever force him to set foot +on a land mass again. Then he said: + +"No, Professor Aronnax, the Nautilus isn't consigned to perdition. +It will still carry you through the midst of the ocean's wonders. +Our voyage is just beginning, and I've no desire to deprive myself +so soon of the pleasure of your company." + +"Even so, Captain Nemo," I went on, ignoring his ironic turn of phrase, +"the Nautilus has run aground at a moment when the sea is full. +Now then, the tides aren't strong in the Pacific, and if you can't +unballast the Nautilus, which seems impossible to me, I don't see +how it will float off." + +"You're right, professor, the Pacific tides aren't strong," +Captain Nemo replied. "But in the Torres Strait, one still finds +a meter-and-a-half difference in level between high and low seas. +Today is January 4, and in five days the moon will be full. +Now then, I'll be quite astonished if that good-natured satellite +doesn't sufficiently raise these masses of water and do me a favor +for which I'll be forever grateful." + +This said, Captain Nemo went below again to the Nautilus's interior, +followed by his chief officer. As for our craft, it no longer stirred, +staying as motionless as if these coral polyps had already walled +it in with their indestructible cement. + +"Well, sir?" Ned Land said to me, coming up after +the captain's departure. + +"Well, Ned my friend, we'll serenely wait for the tide on the 9th, +because it seems the moon will have the good nature to float us away!" + +"As simple as that?" + +"As simple as that." + +"So our captain isn't going to drop his anchors, put his engines +on the chains, and do anything to haul us off?" + +"Since the tide will be sufficient," Conseil replied simply. + +The Canadian stared at Conseil, then he shrugged his shoulders. +The seaman in him was talking now. + +"Sir," he answered, "you can trust me when I say this hunk +of iron will never navigate again, on the seas or under them. +It's only fit to be sold for its weight. So I think it's time +we gave Captain Nemo the slip." + +"Ned my friend," I replied, "unlike you, I haven't given up on +our valiant Nautilus, and in four days we'll know where we stand +on these Pacific tides. Besides, an escape attempt might be +timely if we were in sight of the coasts of England or Provence, +but in the waterways of Papua it's another story. And we'll always +have that as a last resort if the Nautilus doesn't right itself, +which I'd regard as a real calamity." + +"But couldn't we at least get the lay of the land?" Ned went on. +"Here's an island. On this island there are trees. +Under those trees land animals loaded with cutlets and roast beef, +which I'd be happy to sink my teeth into." + +"In this instance our friend Ned is right," Conseil said, "and I side +with his views. Couldn't master persuade his friend Captain Nemo +to send the three of us ashore, if only so our feet don't lose +the knack of treading on the solid parts of our planet?" + +"I can ask him," I replied, "but he'll refuse." + +"Let master take the risk," Conseil said, "and we'll know where we +stand on the captain's affability." + +Much to my surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for, +and he did so with grace and alacrity, not even exacting my promise +to return on board. But fleeing across the New Guinea territories would +be extremely dangerous, and I wouldn't have advised Ned Land to try it. +Better to be prisoners aboard the Nautilus than to fall into the hands +of Papuan natives. + +The skiff was put at our disposal for the next morning. +I hardly needed to ask whether Captain Nemo would be coming along. +I likewise assumed that no crewmen would be assigned to us, +that Ned Land would be in sole charge of piloting the longboat. +Besides, the shore lay no more than two miles off, and it would +be child's play for the Canadian to guide that nimble skiff through +those rows of reefs so ill-fated for big ships. + +The next day, January 5, after its deck paneling was opened, +the skiff was wrenched from its socket and launched to sea from +the top of the platform. Two men were sufficient for this operation. +The oars were inside the longboat and we had only to take our seats. + +At eight o'clock, armed with rifles and axes, we pulled clear +of the Nautilus. The sea was fairly calm. A mild breeze blew +from shore. In place by the oars, Conseil and I rowed vigorously, +and Ned steered us into the narrow lanes between the breakers. +The skiff handled easily and sped swiftly. + +Ned Land couldn't conceal his glee. He was a prisoner escaping +from prison and never dreaming he would need to reenter it. + +"Meat!" he kept repeating. "Now we'll eat red meat! Actual game! +A real mess call, by thunder! I'm not saying fish aren't good for you, +but we mustn't overdo 'em, and a slice of fresh venison grilled +over live coals will be a nice change from our standard fare." + +"You glutton," Conseil replied, "you're making my mouth water!" + + + + +"It remains to be seen," I said, "whether these forests do contain game, +and if the types of game aren't of such size that they can +hunt the hunter." + +"Fine, Professor Aronnax!" replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed +to be as honed as the edge of an ax. "But if there's no other +quadruped on this island, I'll eat tiger--tiger sirloin." + +"Our friend Ned grows disturbing," Conseil replied. + +"Whatever it is," Ned Land went on, "any animal having four feet +without feathers, or two feet with feathers, will be greeted by my +very own one-gun salute." + +"Oh good!" I replied. "The reckless Mr. Land is at it again!" + +"Don't worry, Professor Aronnax, just keep rowing!" the Canadian replied. +"I only need twenty-five minutes to serve you one of my +own special creations." + +By 8:30 the Nautilus's skiff had just run gently aground on +a sandy strand, after successfully clearing the ring of coral +that surrounds Gueboroa Island. + + + + + +CHAPTER 21 + + + +Some Days Ashore + + + +STEPPING ASHORE had an exhilarating effect on me. Ned Land +tested the soil with his foot, as if he were laying claim to it. +Yet it had been only two months since we had become, as Captain Nemo +expressed it, "passengers on the Nautilus," in other words, +the literal prisoners of its commander. + +In a few minutes we were a gunshot away from the coast. The soil was +almost entirely madreporic, but certain dry stream beds were strewn +with granite rubble, proving that this island was of primordial origin. +The entire horizon was hidden behind a curtain of wonderful forests. +Enormous trees, sometimes as high as 200 feet, were linked to each +other by garlands of tropical creepers, genuine natural hammocks +that swayed in a mild breeze. There were mimosas, banyan trees, +beefwood, teakwood, hibiscus, screw pines, palm trees, all mingling +in wild profusion; and beneath the shade of their green canopies, +at the feet of their gigantic trunks, there grew orchids, +leguminous plants, and ferns. + +Meanwhile, ignoring all these fine specimens of Papuan flora, +the Canadian passed up the decorative in favor of the functional. +He spotted a coconut palm, beat down some of its fruit, broke them open, +and we drank their milk and ate their meat with a pleasure that was +a protest against our standard fare on the Nautilus. + +"Excellent!" Ned Land said. + + + + +"Exquisite!" Conseil replied. + +"And I don't think," the Canadian said, "that your Nemo would object +to us stashing a cargo of coconuts aboard his vessel?" + +"I imagine not," I replied, "but he won't want to sample them." + +"Too bad for him!" Conseil said. + +"And plenty good for us!" Ned Land shot back. "There'll be +more left over!" + +"A word of caution, Mr. Land," I told the harpooner, who was about +to ravage another coconut palm. "Coconuts are admirable things, +but before we stuff the skiff with them, it would be wise to find +out whether this island offers other substances just as useful. +Some fresh vegetables would be well received in the Nautilus's pantry." + +"Master is right," Conseil replied, "and I propose that we set aside +three places in our longboat: one for fruit, another for vegetables, +and a third for venison, of which I still haven't glimpsed +the tiniest specimen." + +"Don't give up so easily, Conseil," the Canadian replied. + +"So let's continue our excursion," I went on, "but keep a sharp lookout. +This island seems uninhabited, but it still might harbor certain +individuals who aren't so finicky about the sort of game they eat!" + +"Hee hee!" Ned put in, with a meaningful movement of his jaws. + +"Ned! Oh horrors!" Conseil exclaimed. + +"Ye gods," the Canadian shot back, "I'm starting to appreciate +the charms of cannibalism!" + +"Ned, Ned! Don't say that!" Conseil answered. "You a cannibal? +Why, I'll no longer be safe next to you, I who share your cabin! +Does this mean I'll wake up half devoured one fine day?" + +"I'm awfully fond of you, Conseil my friend, but not enough to eat +you when there's better food around." + +"Then I daren't delay," Conseil replied. "The hunt is on! +We absolutely must bag some game to placate this man-eater, or one +of these mornings master won't find enough pieces of his manservant +to serve him." + +While exchanging this chitchat, we entered beneath the dark canopies +of the forest, and for two hours we explored it in every direction. + +We couldn't have been luckier in our search for edible vegetation, +and some of the most useful produce in the tropical zones supplied +us with a valuable foodstuff missing on board. + +I mean the breadfruit tree, which is quite abundant on Gueboroa Island, +and there I chiefly noted the seedless variety that in Malaysia +is called "rima." + +This tree is distinguished from other trees by a straight trunk forty +feet high. To the naturalist's eye, its gracefully rounded crown, +formed of big multilobed leaves, was enough to denote the artocarpus +that has been so successfully transplanted to the Mascarene Islands east of + +Madagascar. From its mass of greenery, huge globular fruit stood out, +a decimeter wide and furnished on the outside with creases that +assumed a hexangular pattern. It's a handy plant that nature gives +to regions lacking in wheat; without needing to be cultivated, +it bears fruit eight months out of the year. + +Ned Land was on familiar terms with this fruit. He had already eaten +it on his many voyages and knew how to cook its edible substance. +So the very sight of it aroused his appetite, and he couldn't +control himself. + +"Sir," he told me, "I'll die if I don't sample a little breadfruit pasta!" + +"Sample some, Ned my friend, sample all you like. We're here +to conduct experiments, let's conduct them." + +"It won't take a minute," the Canadian replied. + +Equipped with a magnifying glass, he lit a fire of deadwood +that was soon crackling merrily. Meanwhile Conseil and I selected +the finest artocarpus fruit. Some still weren't ripe enough, +and their thick skins covered white, slightly fibrous pulps. +But a great many others were yellowish and gelatinous, just begging +to be picked. + +This fruit contained no pits. Conseil brought a dozen of them +to Ned Land, who cut them into thick slices and placed them over +a fire of live coals, all the while repeating: + +"You'll see, sir, how tasty this bread is!" + +"Especially since we've gone without baked goods for so long," +Conseil said. + +"It's more than just bread," the Canadian added. "It's a dainty pastry. +You've never eaten any, sir?" + +"No, Ned." + +"All right, get ready for something downright delectable! +If you don't come back for seconds, I'm no longer the King of Harpooners!" + +After a few minutes, the parts of the fruit exposed to the fire were +completely toasted. On the inside there appeared some white pasta, +a sort of soft bread center whose flavor reminded me of artichoke. + +This bread was excellent, I must admit, and I ate it with great pleasure. + +"Unfortunately," I said, "this pasta won't stay fresh, so it seems +pointless to make a supply for on board." + +"By thunder, sir!" Ned Land exclaimed. "There you go, +talking like a naturalist, but meantime I'll be acting like a baker! +Conseil, harvest some of this fruit to take with us when we go back." + +"And how will you prepare it?" I asked the Canadian. + +"I'll make a fermented batter from its pulp that'll keep +indefinitely without spoiling. When I want some, I'll just cook +it in the galley on board--it'll have a slightly tart flavor, +but you'll find it excellent." + + + + +"So, Mr. Ned, I see that this bread is all we need--" + +"Not quite, professor," the Canadian replied. "We need some fruit +to go with it, or at least some vegetables." + +"Then let's look for fruit and vegetables." + +When our breadfruit harvesting was done, we took to the trail +to complete this "dry-land dinner." + +We didn't search in vain, and near noontime we had an ample supply +of bananas. This delicious produce from the Torrid Zones ripens +all year round, and Malaysians, who give them the name "pisang," +eat them without bothering to cook them. In addition to bananas, +we gathered some enormous jackfruit with a very tangy flavor, +some tasty mangoes, and some pineapples of unbelievable size. +But this foraging took up a good deal of our time, which, even so, +we had no cause to regret. + +Conseil kept Ned under observation. The harpooner walked in the lead, +and during his stroll through this forest, he gathered with sure hands +some excellent fruit that should have completed his provisions. + +"So," Conseil asked, "you have everything you need, Ned my friend?" + +"Humph!" the Canadian put in. + +"What! You're complaining?" + +"All this vegetation doesn't make a meal," Ned replied. +"Just side dishes, dessert. But where's the soup course? +Where's the roast?" + +"Right," I said. "Ned promised us cutlets, which seems highly +questionable to me." + +"Sir," the Canadian replied, "our hunting not only isn't over, +it hasn't even started. Patience! We're sure to end up bumping +into some animal with either feathers or fur, if not in this locality, +then in another." + +"And if not today, then tomorrow, because we mustn't wander too far off," +Conseil added. "That's why I propose that we return to the skiff." + +"What! Already!" Ned exclaimed. + +"We ought to be back before nightfall," I said. + +"But what hour is it, then?" the Canadian asked. + +"Two o'clock at least," Conseil replied. + +"How time flies on solid ground!" exclaimed Mr. Ned Land with a +sigh of regret. + +"Off we go!" Conseil replied. + +So we returned through the forest, and we completed our harvest +by making a clean sweep of some palm cabbages that had to be picked +from the crowns of their trees, some small beans that I recognized +as the "abrou" of the Malaysians, and some high-quality yams. + +We were overloaded when we arrived at the skiff. However, Ned Land +still found these provisions inadequate. But fortune smiled on him. +Just as we were boarding, he spotted several trees twenty-five +to thirty feet high, belonging to the palm species. +As valuable as the artocarpus, these trees are justly ranked among +the most useful produce in Malaysia. + +They were sago palms, vegetation that grows without being cultivated; +like mulberry trees, they reproduce by means of shoots and seeds. + +Ned Land knew how to handle these trees. Taking his ax and wielding +it with great vigor, he soon stretched out on the ground two or +three sago palms, whose maturity was revealed by the white dust +sprinkled over their palm fronds. + +I watched him more as a naturalist than as a man in hunger. +He began by removing from each trunk an inch-thick strip of bark that +covered a network of long, hopelessly tangled fibers that were puttied +with a sort of gummy flour. This flour was the starch-like sago, +an edible substance chiefly consumed by the Melanesian peoples. + +For the time being, Ned Land was content to chop these trunks into pieces, +as if he were making firewood; later he would extract the flour +by sifting it through cloth to separate it from its fibrous ligaments, +let it dry out in the sun, and leave it to harden inside molds. + +Finally, at five o'clock in the afternoon, laden with all our treasures, +we left the island beach and half an hour later pulled alongside +the Nautilus. Nobody appeared on our arrival. The enormous +sheet-iron cylinder seemed deserted. Our provisions loaded on board, +I went below to my stateroom. There I found my supper ready. +I ate and then fell asleep. + +The next day, January 6: nothing new on board. Not a sound inside, +not a sign of life. The skiff stayed alongside in the same place +we had left it. We decided to return to Gueboroa Island. Ned Land +hoped for better luck in his hunting than on the day before, +and he wanted to visit a different part of the forest. + +By sunrise we were off. Carried by an inbound current, the longboat +reached the island in a matter of moments. + +We disembarked, and thinking it best to abide by the Canadian's instincts, +we followed Ned Land, whose long legs threatened to outpace us. + +Ned Land went westward up the coast; then, fording some stream beds, +he reached open plains that were bordered by wonderful forests. +Some kingfishers lurked along the watercourses, but they didn't +let us approach. Their cautious behavior proved to me that these +winged creatures knew where they stood on bipeds of our species, +and I concluded that if this island wasn't inhabited, at least +human beings paid it frequent visits. + +After crossing a pretty lush prairie, we arrived on the outskirts +of a small wood, enlivened by the singing and soaring of a large +number of birds. + +"Still, they're merely birds," Conseil said. + +"But some are edible," the harpooner replied. + +"Wrong, Ned my friend," Conseil answered, "because I see only +ordinary parrots here." + + + + +"Conseil my friend," Ned replied in all seriousness, "parrots are +like pheasant to people with nothing else on their plates." + +"And I might add," I said, "that when these birds are properly cooked, +they're at least worth a stab of the fork." + +Indeed, under the dense foliage of this wood, a whole host of parrots +fluttered from branch to branch, needing only the proper upbringing +to speak human dialects. At present they were cackling in chorus +with parakeets of every color, with solemn cockatoos that seemed to be +pondering some philosophical problem, while bright red lories passed +by like pieces of bunting borne on the breeze, in the midst of kalao +parrots raucously on the wing, Papuan lories painted the subtlest +shades of azure, and a whole variety of delightful winged creatures, +none terribly edible. + +However, one bird unique to these shores, which never passes +beyond the boundaries of the Aru and Papuan Islands, was missing +from this collection. But I was given a chance to marvel at +it soon enough. + +After crossing through a moderately dense thicket, we again found +some plains obstructed by bushes. There I saw some magnificent birds +soaring aloft, the arrangement of their long feathers causing them to head +into the wind. Their undulating flight, the grace of their aerial curves, +and the play of their colors allured and delighted the eye. +I had no trouble identifying them. + +"Birds of paradise!" I exclaimed. + +"Order Passeriforma, division Clystomora," Conseil replied. + +"Partridge family?" Ned Land asked. + +"I doubt it, Mr. Land. Nevertheless, I'm counting on your dexterity +to catch me one of these delightful representatives of tropical nature!" + +"I'll give it a try, professor, though I'm handier with a harpoon +than a rifle." + +Malaysians, who do a booming business in these birds with the Chinese, +have various methods for catching them that we couldn't use. +Sometimes they set snares on the tops of the tall trees that +the bird of paradise prefers to inhabit. At other times they +capture it with a tenacious glue that paralyzes its movements. +They will even go so far as to poison the springs where these fowl +habitually drink. But in our case, all we could do was fire +at them on the wing, which left us little chance of getting one. +And in truth, we used up a good part of our ammunition in vain. + +Near eleven o'clock in the morning, we cleared the lower +slopes of the mountains that form the island's center, +and we still hadn't bagged a thing. Hunger spurred us on. +The hunters had counted on consuming the proceeds of their hunting, +and they had miscalculated. Luckily, and much to his surprise, +Conseil pulled off a right-and-left shot and insured our breakfast. +He brought down a white pigeon and a ringdove, which were briskly plucked, +hung from a spit, and roasted over a blazing fire of deadwood. +While these fascinating animals were cooking, Ned prepared some bread +from the artocarpus. Then the pigeon and ringdove were devoured +to the bones and declared excellent. Nutmeg, on which these birds +habitually gorge themselves, sweetens their flesh and makes +it delicious eating. + +"They taste like chicken stuffed with truffles," Conseil said. + +"All right, Ned," I asked the Canadian, "now what do you need?" + +"Game with four paws, Professor Aronnax," Ned Land replied. +"All these pigeons are only appetizers, snacks. So till I've bagged +an animal with cutlets, I won't be happy!" + +"Nor I, Ned, until I've caught a bird of paradise." + +"Then let's keep hunting," Conseil replied, "but while heading back +to the sea. We've arrived at the foothills of these mountains, +and I think we'll do better if we return to the forest regions." + +It was good advice and we took it. After an hour's walk we reached +a genuine sago palm forest. A few harmless snakes fled underfoot. +Birds of paradise stole off at our approach, and I was in real +despair of catching one when Conseil, walking in the lead, +stooped suddenly, gave a triumphant shout, and came back to me, +carrying a magnificent bird of paradise. + +"Oh bravo, Conseil!" I exclaimed. + +"Master is too kind," Conseil replied. + +"Not at all, my boy. That was a stroke of genius, catching one +of these live birds with your bare hands!" + +"If master will examine it closely, he'll see that I deserve +no great praise." + +"And why not, Conseil?" + +"Because this bird is as drunk as a lord." + +"Drunk?" + +"Yes, master, drunk from the nutmegs it was devouring under that nutmeg +tree where I caught it. See, Ned my friend, see the monstrous +results of intemperance!" + +"Damnation!" the Canadian shot back. "Considering the amount of gin +I've had these past two months, you've got nothing to complain about!" + +Meanwhile I was examining this unusual bird. Conseil was not mistaken. +Tipsy from that potent juice, our bird of paradise had been reduced +to helplessness. It was unable to fly. It was barely able to walk. +But this didn't alarm me, and I just let it sleep off its nutmeg. + +This bird belonged to the finest of the eight species credited +to Papua and its neighboring islands. It was a "great emerald," +one of the rarest birds of paradise. It measured three decimeters long. +Its head was comparatively small, and its eyes, placed near the opening of +its beak, were also small. But it offered a wonderful mixture of hues: +a yellow beak, brown feet and claws, hazel wings with purple tips, +pale yellow head and scruff of the neck, emerald throat, the belly +and chest maroon to brown. Two strands, made of a horn substance +covered with down, rose over its tail, which was lengthened by long, +very light feathers of wonderful fineness, and they completed +the costume of this marvelous bird that the islanders have poetically +named "the sun bird." + + + + +How I wished I could take this superb bird of paradise back to Paris, +to make a gift of it to the zoo at the Botanical Gardens, +which doesn't own a single live specimen. + +"So it must be a rarity or something?" the Canadian asked, +in the tone of a hunter who, from the viewpoint of his art, +gives the game a pretty low rating. + +"A great rarity, my gallant comrade, and above all very hard to +capture alive. And even after they're dead, there's still a major +market for these birds. So the natives have figured out how to create +fake ones, like people create fake pearls or diamonds." + +"What!" Conseil exclaimed. "They make counterfeit birds of paradise?" + +"Yes, Conseil." + +"And is master familiar with how the islanders go about it?" + +"Perfectly familiar. During the easterly monsoon season, +birds of paradise lose the magnificent feathers around their tails +that naturalists call 'below-the-wing' feathers. These feathers +are gathered by the fowl forgers and skillfully fitted onto some poor +previously mutilated parakeet. Then they paint over the suture, +varnish the bird, and ship the fruits of their unique labors +to museums and collectors in Europe." + +"Good enough!" Ned Land put in. "If it isn't the right bird, +it's still the right feathers, and so long as the merchandise isn't +meant to be eaten, I see no great harm!" + +But if my desires were fulfilled by the capture of this bird of paradise, +those of our Canadian huntsman remained unsatisfied. Luckily, near two +o'clock Ned Land brought down a magnificent wild pig of the type +the natives call "bari-outang." This animal came in the nick of time +for us to bag some real quadruped meat, and it was warmly welcomed. +Ned Land proved himself quite gloriously with his gunshot. +Hit by an electric bullet, the pig dropped dead on the spot. + +The Canadian properly skinned and cleaned it, after removing half +a dozen cutlets destined to serve as the grilled meat course of our +evening meal. Then the hunt was on again, and once more would +be marked by the exploits of Ned and Conseil. + +In essence, beating the bushes, the two friends flushed a herd +of kangaroos that fled by bounding away on their elastic paws. +But these animals didn't flee so swiftly that our electric capsules +couldn't catch up with them. + +"Oh, professor!" shouted Ned Land, whose hunting fever had gone +to his brain. "What excellent game, especially in a stew! +What a supply for the Nautilus! Two, three, five down! +And just think how we'll devour all this meat ourselves, +while those numbskulls on board won't get a shred!" + +In his uncontrollable glee, I think the Canadian might have +slaughtered the whole horde, if he hadn't been so busy talking! +But he was content with a dozen of these fascinating marsupials, +which make up the first order of aplacental mammals, as Conseil +just had to tell us. + +These animals were small in stature. They were a species of those +"rabbit kangaroos" that usually dwell in the hollows of trees +and are tremendously fast; but although of moderate dimensions, +they at least furnish a meat that's highly prized. + +We were thoroughly satisfied with the results of our hunting. +A gleeful Ned proposed that we return the next day to this magic island, +which he planned to depopulate of its every edible quadruped. +But he was reckoning without events. + +By six o'clock in the evening, we were back on the beach. +The skiff was aground in its usual place. The Nautilus, looking like +a long reef, emerged from the waves two miles offshore. + +Without further ado, Ned Land got down to the important business +of dinner. He came wonderfully to terms with its entire cooking. +Grilling over the coals, those cutlets from the "bari-outang" soon +gave off a succulent aroma that perfumed the air. + +But I catch myself following in the Canadian's footsteps. +Look at me--in ecstasy over freshly grilled pork! +Please grant me a pardon as I've already granted one to Mr. Land, +and on the same grounds! + +In short, dinner was excellent. Two ringdoves rounded out this +extraordinary menu. Sago pasta, bread from the artocarpus, mangoes, +half a dozen pineapples, and the fermented liquor from certain +coconuts heightened our glee. I suspect that my two fine companions +weren't quite as clearheaded as one could wish. + +"What if we don't return to the Nautilus this evening?" Conseil said. + +"What if we never return to it?" Ned Land added. + +Just then a stone whizzed toward us, landed at our feet, and cut +short the harpooner's proposition. + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 22 + + + +The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo + + + +WITHOUT STANDING UP, we stared in the direction of the forest, my hand +stopping halfway to my mouth, Ned Land's completing its assignment. + +"Stones don't fall from the sky," Conseil said, "or else they +deserve to be called meteorites." + +A second well-polished stone removed a tasty ringdove leg from +Conseil's hand, giving still greater relevance to his observation. + +We all three stood up, rifles to our shoulders, ready to +answer any attack. + +"Apes maybe?" Ned Land exclaimed. + +"Nearly," Conseil replied. "Savages." + +"Head for the skiff!" I said, moving toward the sea. + +Indeed, it was essential to beat a retreat because some twenty natives, +armed with bows and slings, appeared barely a hundred paces off, +on the outskirts of a thicket that masked the horizon to our right. + +The skiff was aground ten fathoms away from us. + +The savages approached without running, but they favored us with a +show of the greatest hostility. It was raining stones and arrows. + +Ned Land was unwilling to leave his provisions behind, and despite +the impending danger, he clutched his pig on one side, his kangaroos +on the other, and scampered off with respectable speed. + +In two minutes we were on the strand. Loading provisions and weapons +into the skiff, pushing it to sea, and positioning its two oars +were the work of an instant. We hadn't gone two cable lengths +when a hundred savages, howling and gesticulating, entered the water +up to their waists. I looked to see if their appearance might +draw some of the Nautilus's men onto the platform. But no. +Lying well out, that enormous machine still seemed completely deserted. + +Twenty minutes later we boarded ship. The hatches were open. +After mooring the skiff, we reentered the Nautilus's interior. + +I went below to the lounge, from which some chords were wafting. +Captain Nemo was there, leaning over the organ, deep in a musical trance. + +"Captain!" I said to him. + +He didn't hear me. + +"Captain!" I went on, touching him with my hand. + +He trembled, and turning around: + +"Ah, it's you, professor!" he said to me. "Well, did you have +a happy hunt? Was your herb gathering a success?" + +"Yes, captain," I replied, "but unfortunately we've brought back +a horde of bipeds whose proximity worries me." + +"What sort of bipeds?" + +"Savages." + +"Savages!" Captain Nemo replied in an ironic tone. "You set +foot on one of the shores of this globe, professor, and you're +surprised to find savages there? Where aren't there savages? +And besides, are they any worse than men elsewhere, these people +you call savages?" + +"But captain--" + +"Speaking for myself, sir, I've encountered them everywhere." + +"Well then," I replied, "if you don't want to welcome them aboard +the Nautilus, you'd better take some precautions!" + +"Easy, professor, no cause for alarm." + +"But there are a large number of these natives." + + + + +"What's your count?" + +"At least a hundred." + +"Professor Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, whose fingers took +their places again on the organ keys, "if every islander in Papua +were to gather on that beach, the Nautilus would still have nothing +to fear from their attacks!" + +The captain's fingers then ran over the instrument's keyboard, +and I noticed that he touched only its black keys, which gave +his melodies a basically Scottish color. Soon he had forgotten my +presence and was lost in a reverie that I no longer tried to dispel. + +I climbed onto the platform. Night had already fallen, because in +this low latitude the sun sets quickly, without any twilight. +I could see Gueboroa Island only dimly. But numerous fires had been +kindled on the beach, attesting that the natives had no thoughts +of leaving it. + +For several hours I was left to myself, sometimes musing on the islanders-- +but no longer fearing them because the captain's unflappable confidence +had won me over--and sometimes forgetting them to marvel at the splendors +of this tropical night. My memories took wing toward France, in the wake +of those zodiacal stars due to twinkle over it in a few hours. +The moon shone in the midst of the constellations at their zenith. +I then remembered that this loyal, good-natured satellite +would return to this same place the day after tomorrow, +to raise the tide and tear the Nautilus from its coral bed. +Near midnight, seeing that all was quiet over the darkened waves +as well as under the waterside trees, I repaired to my cabin and fell +into a peaceful sleep. + +The night passed without mishap. No doubt the Papuans had been +frightened off by the mere sight of this monster aground in +the bay, because our hatches stayed open, offering easy access +to the Nautilus's interior. + +At six o'clock in the morning, January 8, I climbed onto the platform. +The morning shadows were lifting. The island was soon on view +through the dissolving mists, first its beaches, then its summits. + +The islanders were still there, in greater numbers than on the day before, +perhaps 500 or 600 of them. Taking advantage of the low tide, +some of them had moved forward over the heads of coral to within +two cable lengths of the Nautilus. I could easily distinguish them. +They obviously were true Papuans, men of fine stock, athletic in build, +forehead high and broad, nose large but not flat, teeth white. +Their woolly, red-tinted hair was in sharp contrast to their bodies, which +were black and glistening like those of Nubians. Beneath their pierced, +distended earlobes there dangled strings of beads made from bone. +Generally these savages were naked. I noted some women among them, +dressed from hip to knee in grass skirts held up by belts made +of vegetation. Some of the chieftains adorned their necks with +crescents and with necklaces made from beads of red and white glass. +Armed with bows, arrows, and shields, nearly all of them carried +from their shoulders a sort of net, which held those polished stones +their slings hurl with such dexterity. + + + + +One of these chieftains came fairly close to the Nautilus, +examining it with care. He must have been a "mado" of high rank, +because he paraded in a mat of banana leaves that had ragged edges +and was accented with bright colors. + +I could easily have picked off this islander, he stood at such close +range; but I thought it best to wait for an actual show of hostility. +Between Europeans and savages, it's acceptable for Europeans to shoot +back but not to attack first. + +During this whole time of low tide, the islanders lurked near +the Nautilus, but they weren't boisterous. I often heard them repeat +the word "assai," and from their gestures I understood they were +inviting me to go ashore, an invitation I felt obliged to decline. + +So the skiff didn't leave shipside that day, much to the +displeasure of Mr. Land who couldn't complete his provisions. +The adroit Canadian spent his time preparing the meat and flour +products he had brought from Gueboroa Island. As for the savages, +they went back to shore near eleven o'clock in the morning, when the heads +of coral began to disappear under the waves of the rising tide. +But I saw their numbers swell considerably on the beach. +It was likely that they had come from neighboring islands +or from the mainland of Papua proper. However, I didn't see one +local dugout canoe. + +Having nothing better to do, I decided to dredge these beautiful, +clear waters, which exhibited a profusion of shells, zoophytes, +and open-sea plants. Besides, it was the last day the Nautilus +would spend in these waterways, if, tomorrow, it still floated off +to the open sea as Captain Nemo had promised. + +So I summoned Conseil, who brought me a small, light dragnet similar +to those used in oyster fishing. + +"What about these savages?" Conseil asked me. "With all due +respect to master, they don't strike me as very wicked!" + +"They're cannibals even so, my boy." + +"A person can be both a cannibal and a decent man," Conseil replied, +"just as a person can be both gluttonous and honorable. +The one doesn't exclude the other." + +"Fine, Conseil! And I agree that there are honorable cannibals who +decently devour their prisoners. However, I'm opposed to being devoured, +even in all decency, so I'll keep on my guard, especially since +the Nautilus's commander seems to be taking no precautions. +And now let's get to work!" + +For two hours our fishing proceeded energetically but without +bringing up any rarities. Our dragnet was filled with Midas abalone, +harp shells, obelisk snails, and especially the finest hammer shells +I had seen to that day. We also gathered in a few sea cucumbers, +some pearl oysters, and a dozen small turtles that we saved for +the ship's pantry. + +But just when I least expected it, I laid my hands on a wonder, a natural +deformity I'd have to call it, something very seldom encountered. +Conseil had just made a cast of the dragnet, and his gear had +come back up loaded with a variety of fairly ordinary seashells, +when suddenly he saw me plunge my arms swiftly into the net, pull out +a shelled animal, and give a conchological yell, in other words, +the most piercing yell a human throat can produce. + +"Eh? What happened to master?" Conseil asked, very startled. +"Did master get bitten?" + +"No, my boy, but I'd gladly have sacrificed a finger for such a find!" + +"What find?" + +"This shell," I said, displaying the subject of my triumph. + +"But that's simply an olive shell of the 'tent olive' species, +genus Oliva, order Pectinibranchia, class Gastropoda, branch Mollusca--" + +"Yes, yes, Conseil! But instead of coiling from right to left, +this olive shell rolls from left to right!" + +"It can't be!" Conseil exclaimed. + +"Yes, my boy, it's a left-handed shell!" + +"A left-handed shell!" Conseil repeated, his heart pounding. + +"Look at its spiral!" + +"Oh, master can trust me on this," Conseil said, taking the valuable +shell in trembling hands, "but never have I felt such excitement!" + +And there was good reason to be excited! In fact, as naturalists +have ventured to observe, "dextrality" is a well-known law of nature. +In their rotational and orbital movements, stars and their satellites go +from right to left. Man uses his right hand more often than his left, +and consequently his various instruments and equipment (staircases, locks, +watch springs, etc.) are designed to be used in a right-to-left manner. +Now then, nature has generally obeyed this law in coiling her shells. +They're right-handed with only rare exceptions, and when by chance +a shell's spiral is left-handed, collectors will pay its weight +in gold for it. + +So Conseil and I were deep in the contemplation of our treasure, +and I was solemnly promising myself to enrich the Paris Museum +with it, when an ill-timed stone, hurled by one of the islanders, +whizzed over and shattered the valuable object in Conseil's hands. + +I gave a yell of despair! Conseil pounced on his rifle and aimed +at a savage swinging a sling just ten meters away from him. +I tried to stop him, but his shot went off and shattered a bracelet +of amulets dangling from the islander's arm. + +"Conseil!" I shouted. "Conseil!" + +"Eh? What? Didn't master see that this man-eater initiated the attack?" + +"A shell isn't worth a human life!" I told him. + +"Oh, the rascal!" Conseil exclaimed. "I'd rather he cracked +my shoulder!" + +Conseil was in dead earnest, but I didn't subscribe to his views. +However, the situation had changed in only a short time and we +hadn't noticed. Now some twenty dugout canoes were surrounding +the Nautilus. Hollowed from tree trunks, these dugouts were long, +narrow, and well designed for speed, keeping their balance by means +of two bamboo poles that floated on the surface of the water. +They were maneuvered by skillful, half-naked paddlers, and I viewed +their advance with definite alarm. + +It was obvious these Papuans had already entered into relations with +Europeans and knew their ships. But this long, iron cylinder lying +in the bay, with no masts or funnels--what were they to make of it? +Nothing good, because at first they kept it at a respectful distance. +However, seeing that it stayed motionless, they regained confidence +little by little and tried to become more familiar with it. +Now then, it was precisely this familiarity that we needed to prevent. +Since our weapons made no sound when they went off, they would +have only a moderate effect on these islanders, who reputedly +respect nothing but noisy mechanisms. Without thunderclaps, +lightning bolts would be much less frightening, although the danger +lies in the flash, not the noise. + +Just then the dugout canoes drew nearer to the Nautilus, and a cloud +of arrows burst over us. + +"Fire and brimstone, it's hailing!" Conseil said. +"And poisoned hail perhaps!" + +"We've got to alert Captain Nemo," I said, reentering the hatch. + +I went below to the lounge. I found no one there. I ventured +a knock at the door opening into the captain's stateroom. + +The word "Enter!" answered me. I did so and found Captain Nemo +busy with calculations in which there was no shortage of X and +other algebraic signs. + +"Am I disturbing you?" I said out of politeness. + +"Correct, Professor Aronnax," the captain answered me. +"But I imagine you have pressing reasons for looking me up?" + +"Very pressing. Native dugout canoes are surrounding us, and in a few +minutes we're sure to be assaulted by several hundred savages." + +"Ah!" Captain Nemo put in serenely. "They've come in their dugouts?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, sir, closing the hatches should do the trick." + +"Precisely, and that's what I came to tell you--" + +"Nothing easier," Captain Nemo said. + +And he pressed an electric button, transmitting an order to +the crew's quarters. + +"There, sir, all under control!" he told me after a few moments. +"The skiff is in place and the hatches are closed. I don't imagine +you're worried that these gentlemen will stave in walls that shells +from your frigate couldn't breach?" + +"No, captain, but one danger still remains." + +"What's that, sir?" + + + + +"Tomorrow at about this time, we'll need to reopen the hatches +to renew the Nautilus's air." + +"No argument, sir, since our craft breathes in the manner +favored by cetaceans." + +"But if these Papuans are occupying the platform at that moment, +I don't see how you can prevent them from entering." + +"Then, sir, you assume they'll board the ship?" + +"I'm certain of it." + +"Well, sir, let them come aboard. I see no reason to prevent them. +Deep down they're just poor devils, these Papuans, and I don't +want my visit to Gueboroa Island to cost the life of a single one +of these unfortunate people!" + +On this note I was about to withdraw; but Captain Nemo detained +me and invited me to take a seat next to him. He questioned me +with interest on our excursions ashore and on our hunting, but seemed +not to understand the Canadian's passionate craving for red meat. +Then our conversation skimmed various subjects, and without being +more forthcoming, Captain Nemo proved more affable. + +Among other things, we came to talk of the Nautilus's circumstances, +aground in the same strait where Captain Dumont d'Urville had +nearly miscarried. Then, pertinent to this: + +"He was one of your great seamen," the captain told me, +"one of your shrewdest navigators, that d'Urville! He was +the Frenchman's Captain Cook. A man wise but unlucky! +Braving the ice banks of the South Pole, the coral of Oceania, +the cannibals of the Pacific, only to perish wretchedly in a train wreck! +If that energetic man was able to think about his life in its +last seconds, imagine what his final thoughts must have been!" + +As he spoke, Captain Nemo seemed deeply moved, an emotion I felt +was to his credit. + +Then, chart in hand, we returned to the deeds of the French navigator: +his voyages to circumnavigate the globe, his double attempt at +the South Pole, which led to his discovery of the Adélie Coast +and the Louis-Philippe Peninsula, finally his hydrographic surveys +of the chief islands in Oceania. + +"What your d'Urville did on the surface of the sea," Captain Nemo +told me, "I've done in the ocean's interior, but more easily, +more completely than he. Constantly tossed about by hurricanes, +the Zealous and the new Astrolabe couldn't compare with the Nautilus, +a quiet work room truly at rest in the midst of the waters!" + +"Even so, captain," I said, "there is one major similarity between +Dumont d'Urville's sloops of war and the Nautilus." + +"What's that, sir?" + +"Like them, the Nautilus has run aground!" + +"The Nautilus is not aground, sir," Captain Nemo replied icily. +"The Nautilus was built to rest on the ocean floor, and I don't +need to undertake the arduous labors, the maneuvers d'Urville +had to attempt in order to float off his sloops of war. +The Zealous and the new Astrolabe wellnigh perished, but my Nautilus +is in no danger. Tomorrow, on the day stated and at the hour stated, +the tide will peacefully lift it off, and it will resume its navigating +through the seas." + +"Captain," I said, "I don't doubt--" + +"Tomorrow," Captain Nemo added, standing up, "tomorrow at +2:40 in the afternoon, the Nautilus will float off and exit +the Torres Strait undamaged." + +Pronouncing these words in an extremely sharp tone, Captain Nemo gave +me a curt bow. This was my dismissal, and I reentered my stateroom. + +There I found Conseil, who wanted to know the upshot of my interview +with the captain. + +"My boy," I replied, "when I expressed the belief that these Papuan +natives were a threat to his Nautilus, the captain answered +me with great irony. So I've just one thing to say to you: +have faith in him and sleep in peace." + +"Master has no need for my services?" + +"No, my friend. What's Ned Land up to?" + +"Begging master's indulgence," Conseil replied, "but our friend Ned +is concocting a kangaroo pie that will be the eighth wonder!" + +I was left to myself; I went to bed but slept pretty poorly. +I kept hearing noises from the savages, who were stamping on +the platform and letting out deafening yells. The night passed +in this way, without the crew ever emerging from their usual inertia. +They were no more disturbed by the presence of these man-eaters +than soldiers in an armored fortress are troubled by ants running +over the armor plate. + +I got up at six o'clock in the morning. The hatches weren't open. +So the air inside hadn't been renewed; but the air tanks were kept +full for any eventuality and would function appropriately to shoot +a few cubic meters of oxygen into the Nautilus's thin atmosphere. + +I worked in my stateroom until noon without seeing Captain Nemo +even for an instant. Nobody on board seemed to be making any +preparations for departure. + +I still waited for a while, then I made my way to the main lounge. +Its timepiece marked 2:30. In ten minutes the tide would reach its +maximum elevation, and if Captain Nemo hadn't made a rash promise, +the Nautilus would immediately break free. If not, many months +might pass before it could leave its coral bed. + +But some preliminary vibrations could soon be felt over the boat's hull. +I heard its plating grind against the limestone roughness of +that coral base. + +At 2:35 Captain Nemo appeared in the lounge. + +"We're about to depart," he said. + +"Ah!" I put in. + +"I've given orders to open the hatches." + + + + +"What about the Papuans?" + +"What about them?" Captain Nemo replied, with a light shrug +of his shoulders. + +"Won't they come inside the Nautilus?" + +"How will they manage that?" + +"By jumping down the hatches you're about to open." + +"Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo replied serenely, "the Nautilus's +hatches aren't to be entered in that fashion even when they're open." + +I gaped at the captain. + +"You don't understand?" he said to me. + +"Not in the least." + +"Well, come along and you'll see!" + +I headed to the central companionway. There, very puzzled, +Ned Land and Conseil watched the crewmen opening the hatches, +while a frightful clamor and furious shouts resounded outside. + +The hatch lids fell back onto the outer plating. +Twenty horrible faces appeared. But when the first islander laid +hands on the companionway railing, he was flung backward by some +invisible power, lord knows what! He ran off, howling in terror +and wildly prancing around. + +Ten of his companions followed him. All ten met the same fate. + +Conseil was in ecstasy. Carried away by his violent instincts, +Ned Land leaped up the companionway. But as soon as his hands +seized the railing, he was thrown backward in his turn. + +"Damnation!" he exclaimed. "I've been struck by a lightning bolt!" + +These words explained everything to me. It wasn't just a railing +that led to the platform, it was a metal cable fully charged with +the ship's electricity. Anyone who touched it got a fearsome shock-- +and such a shock would have been fatal if Captain Nemo had thrown +the full current from his equipment into this conducting cable! +It could honestly be said that he had stretched between himself and his +assailants a network of electricity no one could clear with impunity. + +Meanwhile, crazed with terror, the unhinged Papuans beat a retreat. +As for us, half laughing, we massaged and comforted poor Ned Land, +who was swearing like one possessed. + +But just then, lifted off by the tide's final undulations, the Nautilus +left its coral bed at exactly that fortieth minute pinpointed +by the captain. Its propeller churned the waves with lazy majesty. +Gathering speed little by little, the ship navigated on the surface +of the ocean, and safe and sound, it left behind the dangerous +narrows of the Torres Strait. + + +CHAPTER 23 + +"Aegri Somnia"* + +*Latin: "troubled dreams." Ed. + + +THE FOLLOWING DAY, January 10, the Nautilus resumed its travels +in midwater but at a remarkable speed that I estimated to be at +least thirty-five miles per hour. The propeller was going so fast +I could neither follow nor count its revolutions. + +I thought about how this marvelous electric force not only +gave motion, heat, and light to the Nautilus but even protected it +against outside attack, transforming it into a sacred ark no profane +hand could touch without being blasted; my wonderment was boundless, +and it went from the submersible itself to the engineer who +had created it. + +We were traveling due west and on January 11 we doubled Cape Wessel, +located in longitude 135 degrees and latitude 10 degrees north, +the western tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Reefs were still +numerous but more widely scattered and were fixed on the chart +with the greatest accuracy. The Nautilus easily avoided +the Money breakers to port and the Victoria reefs to starboard, +positioned at longitude 130 degrees on the tenth parallel, +which we went along rigorously. + +On January 13, arriving in the Timor Sea, Captain Nemo raised +the island of that name at longitude 122 degrees. This island, +whose surface area measures 1,625 square leagues, is governed by rajahs. +These aristocrats deem themselves the sons of crocodiles, in other words, +descendants with the most exalted origins to which a human +being can lay claim. Accordingly, their scaly ancestors infest +the island's rivers and are the subjects of special veneration. +They are sheltered, nurtured, flattered, pampered, and offered +a ritual diet of nubile maidens; and woe to the foreigner who lifts +a finger against these sacred saurians. + +But the Nautilus wanted nothing to do with these nasty animals. +Timor Island was visible for barely an instant at noon while the chief +officer determined his position. I also caught only a glimpse +of little Roti Island, part of this same group, whose women have a +well-established reputation for beauty in the Malaysian marketplace. + +After our position fix, the Nautilus's latitude bearings were modulated +to the southwest. Our prow pointed to the Indian Ocean. Where would +Captain Nemo's fancies take us? Would he head up to the shores +of Asia? Would he pull nearer to the beaches of Europe? Unlikely choices +for a man who avoided populated areas! So would he go down south? +Would he double the Cape of Good Hope, then Cape Horn, and push +on to the Antarctic pole? Finally, would he return to the seas +of the Pacific, where his Nautilus could navigate freely and easily? +Time would tell. + +After cruising along the Cartier, Hibernia, Seringapatam, and Scott reefs, +the solid element's last exertions against the liquid element, +we were beyond all sight of shore by January 14. The Nautilus +slowed down in an odd manner, and very unpredictable in its ways, +it sometimes swam in the midst of the waters, sometimes drifted +on their surface. + +During this phase of our voyage, Captain Nemo conducted interesting +experiments on the different temperatures in various strata of the sea. +Under ordinary conditions, such readings are obtained using +some pretty complicated instruments whose findings are dubious +to say the least, whether they're thermometric sounding lines, +whose glass often shatters under the water's pressure, or those devices +based on the varying resistance of metals to electric currents. +The results so obtained can't be adequately double-checked. By contrast, +Captain Nemo would seek the sea's temperature by going himself +into its depths, and when he placed his thermometer in contact +with the various layers of liquid, he found the sought-for degree +immediately and with certainty. + +And so, by loading up its ballast tanks, or by sinking obliquely +with its slanting fins, the Nautilus successively reached +depths of 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 7,000, 9,000, and 10,000 meters, +and the ultimate conclusion from these experiments was that, +in all latitudes, the sea had a permanent temperature of 4.5 degrees +centigrade at a depth of 1,000 meters. + +I watched these experiments with the most intense fascination. +Captain Nemo brought a real passion to them. I often wondered +why he took these observations. Were they for the benefit +of his fellow man? It was unlikely, because sooner or later +his work would perish with him in some unknown sea! +Unless he intended the results of his experiments for me. +But that meant this strange voyage of mine would come to an end, +and no such end was in sight. + +Be that as it may, Captain Nemo also introduced me to the different +data he had obtained on the relative densities of the water +in our globe's chief seas. From this news I derived some personal +enlightenment having nothing to do with science. + +It happened the morning of January 15. The captain, with whom I +was strolling on the platform, asked me if I knew how salt water +differs in density from sea to sea. I said no, adding that there +was a lack of rigorous scientific observations on this subject. + +"I've taken such observations," he told me, "and I can vouch +for their reliability." + +"Fine," I replied, "but the Nautilus lives in a separate world, +and the secrets of its scientists don't make their way ashore." + +"You're right, professor," he told me after a few moments of silence. +"This is a separate world. It's as alien to the earth as the planets +accompanying our globe around the sun, and we'll never become +familiar with the work of scientists on Saturn or Jupiter. But since +fate has linked our two lives, I can reveal the results of my +observations to you." + +"I'm all attention, captain." + +"You're aware, professor, that salt water is denser than fresh water, +but this density isn't uniform. In essence, if I represent +the density of fresh water by 1.000, then I find 1.028 for +the waters of the Atlantic, 1.026 for the waters of the Pacific, +1.030 for the waters of the Mediterranean--" + +Aha, I thought, so he ventures into the Mediterranean? + +"--1.018 for the waters of the Ionian Sea, and 1.029 for the waters +of the Adriatic." + +Assuredly, the Nautilus didn't avoid the heavily traveled seas +of Europe, and from this insight I concluded that the ship would +take us back--perhaps very soon--to more civilized shores. +I expected Ned Land to greet this news with unfeigned satisfaction. + +For several days our work hours were spent in all sorts of experiments, +on the degree of salinity in waters of different depths, +or on their electric properties, coloration, and transparency, +and in every instance Captain Nemo displayed an ingenuity equaled +only by his graciousness toward me. Then I saw no more of him +for some days and again lived on board in seclusion. + +On January 16 the Nautilus seemed to have fallen asleep just a few meters +beneath the surface of the water. Its electric equipment had been +turned off, and the motionless propeller let it ride with the waves. +I assumed that the crew were busy with interior repairs, +required by the engine's strenuous mechanical action. + +My companions and I then witnessed an unusual sight. +The panels in the lounge were open, and since the Nautilus's beacon +was off, a hazy darkness reigned in the midst of the waters. +Covered with heavy clouds, the stormy sky gave only the faintest +light to the ocean's upper strata. + +I was observing the state of the sea under these conditions, +and even the largest fish were nothing more than ill-defined shadows, +when the Nautilus was suddenly transferred into broad daylight. +At first I thought the beacon had gone back on and was casting +its electric light into the liquid mass. I was mistaken, +and after a hasty examination I discovered my error. + +The Nautilus had drifted into the midst of some phosphorescent +strata, which, in this darkness, came off as positively dazzling. +This effect was caused by myriads of tiny, luminous animals +whose brightness increased when they glided over the metal hull +of our submersible. In the midst of these luminous sheets of water, +I then glimpsed flashes of light, like those seen inside a blazing +furnace from streams of molten lead or from masses of metal +brought to a white heat--flashes so intense that certain areas +of the light became shadows by comparison, in a fiery setting +from which every shadow should seemingly have been banished. +No, this was no longer the calm emission of our usual lighting! +This light throbbed with unprecedented vigor and activity! +You sensed that it was alive! + +In essence, it was a cluster of countless open-sea infusoria, +of noctiluca an eighth of an inch wide, actual globules of +transparent jelly equipped with a threadlike tentacle, up to 25,000 +of which have been counted in thirty cubic centimeters of water. +And the power of their light was increased by those glimmers +unique to medusas, starfish, common jellyfish, angel-wing clams, +and other phosphorescent zoophytes, which were saturated with grease +from organic matter decomposed by the sea, and perhaps with mucus +secreted by fish. + +For several hours the Nautilus drifted in this brilliant tide, +and our wonderment grew when we saw huge marine animals +cavorting in it, like the fire-dwelling salamanders of myth. +In the midst of these flames that didn't burn, I could see swift, +elegant porpoises, the tireless pranksters of the seas, +and sailfish three meters long, those shrewd heralds of hurricanes, +whose fearsome broadswords sometimes banged against the lounge window. +Then smaller fish appeared: miscellaneous triggerfish, +leather jacks, unicornfish, and a hundred others that left stripes +on this luminous atmosphere in their course. + +Some magic lay behind this dazzling sight! Perhaps some +atmospheric condition had intensified this phenomenon? +Perhaps a storm had been unleashed on the surface of the waves? +But only a few meters down, the Nautilus felt no tempest's fury, +and the ship rocked peacefully in the midst of the calm waters. + +And so it went, some new wonder constantly delighting us. +Conseil observed and classified his zoophytes, articulates, mollusks, +and fish. The days passed quickly, and I no longer kept track of them. +Ned, as usual, kept looking for changes of pace from our standard fare. +Like actual snails, we were at home in our shell, and I can vouch +that it's easy to turn into a full-fledged snail. + +So this way of living began to seem simple and natural to us, +and we no longer envisioned a different lifestyle on the surface +of the planet earth, when something happened to remind us of +our strange circumstances. + +On January 18 the Nautilus lay in longitude 105 degrees and latitude 15 +degrees south. The weather was threatening, the sea rough and billowy. +The wind was blowing a strong gust from the east. The barometer, +which had been falling for some days, forecast an approaching +struggle of the elements. + +I had climbed onto the platform just as the chief officer was taking +his readings of hour angles. Out of habit I waited for him to pronounce +his daily phrase. But that day it was replaced by a different phrase, +just as incomprehensible. Almost at once I saw Captain Nemo appear, +lift his spyglass, and inspect the horizon. + +For some minutes the captain stood motionless, rooted to the spot +contained within the field of his lens. Then he lowered his +spyglass and exchanged about ten words with his chief officer. +The latter seemed to be in the grip of an excitement he tried in vain +to control. More in command of himself, Captain Nemo remained cool. +Furthermore, he seemed to be raising certain objections that his +chief officer kept answering with flat assurances. At least that's +what I gathered from their differences in tone and gesture. + +As for me, I stared industriously in the direction under observation +but without spotting a thing. Sky and water merged into a perfectly +clean horizon line. + +Meanwhile Captain Nemo strolled from one end of the platform +to the other, not glancing at me, perhaps not even seeing me. +His step was firm but less regular than usual. Sometimes he +would stop, cross his arms over his chest, and observe the sea. +What could he be looking for over that immense expanse? +By then the Nautilus lay hundreds of miles from the nearest coast! + +The chief officer kept lifting his spyglass and stubbornly +examining the horizon, walking up and down, stamping his foot, +in his nervous agitation a sharp contrast to his superior. + +But this mystery would inevitably be cleared up, and soon, +because Captain Nemo gave orders to increase speed; at once the engine +stepped up its drive power, setting the propeller in swifter rotation. + +Just then the chief officer drew the captain's attention anew. +The latter interrupted his strolling and aimed his spyglass +at the point indicated. He observed it a good while. +As for me, deeply puzzled, I went below to the lounge and brought +back an excellent long-range telescope I habitually used. +Leaning my elbows on the beacon housing, which jutted from the stern +of the platform, I got set to scour that whole stretch of sky and sea. + +But no sooner had I peered into the eyepiece than the instrument +was snatched from my hands. + +I spun around. Captain Nemo was standing before me, but I almost +didn't recognize him. His facial features were transfigured. +Gleaming with dark fire, his eyes had shrunk beneath his frowning brow. +His teeth were half bared. His rigid body, clenched fists, +and head drawn between his shoulders, all attested to a fierce +hate breathing from every pore. He didn't move. My spyglass fell +from his hand and rolled at his feet. + +Had I accidentally caused these symptoms of anger? Did this +incomprehensible individual think I had detected some secret +forbidden to guests on the Nautilus? + +No! I wasn't the subject of his hate because he wasn't even looking +at me; his eyes stayed stubbornly focused on that inscrutable point +of the horizon. + +Finally Captain Nemo regained his self-control. His facial appearance, +so profoundly changed, now resumed its usual calm. He addressed +a few words to his chief officer in their strange language, +then he turned to me: + +"Professor Aronnax," he told me in a tone of some urgency, "I ask +that you now honor one of the binding agreements between us." + +"Which one, captain?" + +"You and your companions must be placed in confinement until I see +fit to set you free." + +"You're in command," I answered, gaping at him. "But may I address +a question to you?" + +"You may not, sir." + +After that, I stopped objecting and started obeying, +since resistance was useless. + +I went below to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil, +and I informed them of the captain's decision. I'll let the reader +decide how this news was received by the Canadian. In any case, +there was no time for explanations. Four crewmen were waiting +at the door, and they led us to the cell where we had spent our +first night aboard the Nautilus. + +Ned Land tried to lodge a complaint, but the only answer he got +was a door shut in his face. + +"Will master tell me what this means?" Conseil asked me. + +I told my companions what had happened. They were as astonished +as I was, but no wiser. + +Then I sank into deep speculation, and Captain Nemo's strange facial +seizure kept haunting me. I was incapable of connecting two ideas +in logical order, and I had strayed into the most absurd hypotheses, +when I was snapped out of my mental struggles by these words +from Ned Land: + +"Well, look here! Lunch is served!" + +Indeed, the table had been laid. Apparently Captain Nemo had given +this order at the same time he commanded the Nautilus to pick up speed. + +"Will master allow me to make him a recommendation?" +Conseil asked me. + +"Yes, my boy," I replied. + +"Well, master needs to eat his lunch! It's prudent, because we +have no idea what the future holds." + +"You're right, Conseil." + +"Unfortunately," Ned Land said, "they've only given us the standard menu." + +"Ned my friend," Conseil answered, "what would you say if they'd +given us no lunch at all?" + +This dose of sanity cut the harpooner's complaints clean off. + +We sat down at the table. Our meal proceeded pretty much in silence. +I ate very little. Conseil, everlastingly prudent, "force-fed" himself; +and despite the menu, Ned Land didn't waste a bite. Then, lunch over, +each of us propped himself in a corner. + +Just then the luminous globe lighting our cell went out, +leaving us in profound darkness. Ned Land soon dozed off, +and to my astonishment, Conseil also fell into a heavy slumber. +I was wondering what could have caused this urgent need +for sleep, when I felt a dense torpor saturate my brain. +I tried to keep my eyes open, but they closed in spite of me. +I was in the grip of anguished hallucinations. Obviously some +sleep-inducing substance had been laced into the food we'd just eaten! +So imprisonment wasn't enough to conceal Captain Nemo's plans from us-- +sleep was needed as well! + +Then I heard the hatches close. The sea's undulations, +which had been creating a gentle rocking motion, now ceased. +Had the Nautilus left the surface of the ocean? Was it reentering +the motionless strata deep in the sea? + +I tried to fight off this drowsiness. It was impossible. +My breathing grew weaker. I felt a mortal chill freeze +my dull, nearly paralyzed limbs. Like little domes of lead, +my lids fell over my eyes. I couldn't raise them. +A morbid sleep, full of hallucinations, seized my whole being. +Then the visions disappeared and left me in utter oblivion. + + + + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 24 + + + +The Coral Realm + + + +THE NEXT DAY I woke up with my head unusually clear. Much to +my surprise, I was in my stateroom. No doubt my companions had been +put back in their cabin without noticing it any more than I had. +Like me, they would have no idea what took place during the night, and to +unravel this mystery I could count only on some future happenstance. + +I then considered leaving my stateroom. Was I free or still a prisoner? +Perfectly free. I opened my door, headed down the gangways, +and climbed the central companionway. Hatches that had been closed +the day before were now open. I arrived on the platform. + +Ned Land and Conseil were there waiting for me. I questioned them. +They knew nothing. Lost in a heavy sleep of which they had no memory, +they were quite startled to be back in their cabin. + +As for the Nautilus, it seemed as tranquil and mysterious as ever. +It was cruising on the surface of the waves at a moderate speed. +Nothing seemed to have changed on board. + +Ned Land observed the sea with his penetrating eyes. It was deserted. +The Canadian sighted nothing new on the horizon, neither sail nor shore. +A breeze was blowing noisily from the west, and disheveled by the wind, +long billows made the submersible roll very noticeably. + +After renewing its air, the Nautilus stayed at an average depth +of fifteen meters, enabling it to return quickly to the surface +of the waves. And, contrary to custom, it executed such a maneuver +several times during that day of January 19. The chief officer +would then climb onto the platform, and his usual phrase would ring +through the ship's interior. + +As for Captain Nemo, he didn't appear. Of the other men on board, +I saw only my emotionless steward, who served me with his +usual mute efficiency. + +Near two o'clock I was busy organizing my notes in the lounge, +when the captain opened the door and appeared. I bowed to him. +He gave me an almost imperceptible bow in return, without saying a word +to me. I resumed my work, hoping he might give me some explanation +of the previous afternoon's events. He did nothing of the sort. +I stared at him. His face looked exhausted; his reddened eyes +hadn't been refreshed by sleep; his facial features expressed +profound sadness, real chagrin. He walked up and down, +sat and stood, picked up a book at random, discarded it immediately, +consulted his instruments without taking his customary notes, +and seemed unable to rest easy for an instant. + +Finally he came over to me and said: + +"Are you a physician, Professor Aronnax?" + +This inquiry was so unexpected that I stared at him a good +while without replying. + +"Are you a physician?" he repeated. "Several of your +scientific colleagues took their degrees in medicine, +such as Gratiolet, Moquin-Tandon, and others." + +"That's right," I said, "I am a doctor, I used to be on call +at the hospitals. I was in practice for several years before +joining the museum." + +"Excellent, sir." + +My reply obviously pleased Captain Nemo. But not knowing what +he was driving at, I waited for further questions, ready to reply +as circumstances dictated. + +"Professor Aronnax," the captain said to me, "would you consent +to give your medical attentions to one of my men?" + +"Someone is sick?" + +"Yes." + +"I'm ready to go with you." + +"Come." + +I admit that my heart was pounding. Lord knows why, but I saw a definite +connection between this sick crewman and yesterday's happenings, +and the mystery of those events concerned me at least as much +as the man's sickness. + +Captain Nemo led me to the Nautilus's stern and invited me into +a cabin located next to the sailors' quarters. + +On a bed there lay a man some forty years old, with strongly +molded features, the very image of an Anglo-Saxon. + +I bent over him. Not only was he sick, he was wounded. +Swathed in blood-soaked linen, his head was resting on a folded pillow. +I undid the linen bandages, while the wounded man gazed with great +staring eyes and let me proceed without making a single complaint. + +It was a horrible wound. The cranium had been smashed open +by some blunt instrument, leaving the naked brains exposed, +and the cerebral matter had suffered deep abrasions. Blood clots had +formed in this dissolving mass, taking on the color of wine dregs. +Both contusion and concussion of the brain had occurred. The sick +man's breathing was labored, and muscle spasms quivered in his face. +Cerebral inflammation was complete and had brought on a paralysis +of movement and sensation. + +I took the wounded man's pulse. It was intermittent. +The body's extremities were already growing cold, and I saw that death +was approaching without any possibility of my holding it in check. +After dressing the poor man's wound, I redid the linen bandages +around his head, and I turned to Captain Nemo. + +"How did he get this wound?" I asked him. + +"That's not important," the captain replied evasively. +"The Nautilus suffered a collision that cracked one of the engine levers, +and it struck this man. My chief officer was standing beside him. +This man leaped forward to intercept the blow. A brother lays down his +life for his brother, a friend for his friend, what could be simpler? +That's the law for everyone on board the Nautilus. But what's +your diagnosis of his condition?" + +I hesitated to speak my mind. + +"You may talk freely," the captain told me. "This man +doesn't understand French." + +I took a last look at the wounded man, then I replied: + +"This man will be dead in two hours." + +"Nothing can save him?" + +"Nothing." + +Captain Nemo clenched his fists, and tears slid from his eyes, +which I had thought incapable of weeping. + +For a few moments more I observed the dying man, whose life was +ebbing little by little. He grew still more pale under the electric +light that bathed his deathbed. I looked at his intelligent head, +furrowed with premature wrinkles that misfortune, perhaps misery, +had etched long before. I was hoping to detect the secret of his +life in the last words that might escape from his lips! + +"You may go, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo told me. + +I left the captain in the dying man's cabin and I repaired +to my stateroom, very moved by this scene. All day long I was +aquiver with gruesome forebodings. That night I slept poorly, +and between my fitful dreams, I thought I heard a distant moaning, +like a funeral dirge. Was it a prayer for the dead, murmured in +that language I couldn't understand? + +The next morning I climbed on deck. Captain Nemo was already there. +As soon as he saw me, he came over. + +"Professor," he said to me, "would it be convenient for you to make +an underwater excursion today?" + +"With my companions?" I asked. + +"If they're agreeable." + +"We're yours to command, captain." + +"Then kindly put on your diving suits." + +As for the dead or dying man, he hadn't come into the picture. I rejoined +Ned Land and Conseil. I informed them of Captain Nemo's proposition. +Conseil was eager to accept, and this time the Canadian proved +perfectly amenable to going with us. + +It was eight o'clock in the morning. By 8:30 we were suited up for this +new stroll and equipped with our two devices for lighting and breathing. +The double door opened, and accompanied by Captain Nemo with a dozen +crewmen following, we set foot on the firm seafloor where the Nautilus +was resting, ten meters down. + +A gentle slope gravitated to an uneven bottom whose depth was +about fifteen fathoms. This bottom was completely different +from the one I had visited during my first excursion under +the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here I saw no fine-grained sand, +no underwater prairies, not one open-sea forest. I immediately recognized +the wondrous region in which Captain Nemo did the honors that day. +It was the coral realm. + +In the zoophyte branch, class Alcyonaria, one finds the order Gorgonaria, +which contains three groups: sea fans, isidian polyps, and coral polyps. +It's in this last that precious coral belongs, an unusual substance that, +at different times, has been classified in the mineral, vegetable, +and animal kingdoms. Medicine to the ancients, jewelry to the moderns, +it wasn't decisively placed in the animal kingdom until 1694, +by Peysonnel of Marseilles. + +A coral is a unit of tiny animals assembled over a polypary +that's brittle and stony in nature. These polyps have a unique +generating mechanism that reproduces them via the budding process, +and they have an individual existence while also participating +in a communal life. Hence they embody a sort of natural socialism. +I was familiar with the latest research on this bizarre zoophyte-- +which turns to stone while taking on a tree form, as some naturalists +have very aptly observed--and nothing could have been more fascinating +to me than to visit one of these petrified forests that nature has +planted on the bottom of the sea. + +We turned on our Ruhmkorff devices and went along a coral shoal +in the process of forming, which, given time, will someday close +off this whole part of the Indian Ocean. Our path was bordered +by hopelessly tangled bushes, formed from snarls of shrubs +all covered with little star-shaped, white-streaked flowers. +Only, contrary to plants on shore, these tree forms become attached +to rocks on the seafloor by heading from top to bottom. + +Our lights produced a thousand delightful effects while playing over +these brightly colored boughs. I fancied I saw these cylindrical, +membrane-filled tubes trembling beneath the water's undulations. +I was tempted to gather their fresh petals, which were adorned with +delicate tentacles, some newly in bloom, others barely opened, while +nimble fish with fluttering fins brushed past them like flocks of birds. +But if my hands came near the moving flowers of these sensitive, +lively creatures, an alarm would instantly sound throughout the colony. +The white petals retracted into their red sheaths, the flowers vanished +before my eyes, and the bush changed into a chunk of stony nipples. + +Sheer chance had placed me in the presence of the most valuable +specimens of this zoophyte. This coral was the equal of those fished +up from the Mediterranean off the Barbary Coast or the shores +of France and Italy. With its bright colors, it lived up to those +poetic names of blood flower and blood foam that the industry +confers on its finest exhibits. Coral sells for as much as 500 +francs per kilogram, and in this locality the liquid strata hid +enough to make the fortunes of a whole host of coral fishermen. +This valuable substance often merges with other polyparies, +forming compact, hopelessly tangled units known as "macciota," +and I noted some wonderful pink samples of this coral. + +But as the bushes shrank, the tree forms magnified. +Actual petrified thickets and long alcoves from some fantastic +school of architecture kept opening up before our steps. +Captain Nemo entered beneath a dark gallery whose gentle slope +took us to a depth of 100 meters. The light from our glass coils +produced magical effects at times, lingering on the wrinkled roughness +of some natural arch, or some overhang suspended like a chandelier, +which our lamps flecked with fiery sparks. Amid these shrubs +of precious coral, I observed other polyps no less unusual: +melita coral, rainbow coral with jointed outgrowths, then a few +tufts of genus Corallina, some green and others red, actually a type +of seaweed encrusted with limestone salts, which, after long disputes, +naturalists have finally placed in the vegetable kingdom. +But as one intellectual has remarked, "Here, perhaps, is the actual +point where life rises humbly out of slumbering stone, but without +breaking away from its crude starting point." + +Finally, after two hours of walking, we reached a depth of about +300 meters, in other words, the lowermost limit at which coral +can begin to form. But here it was no longer some isolated bush +or a modest grove of low timber. It was an immense forest, +huge mineral vegetation, enormous petrified trees linked by garlands +of elegant hydras from the genus Plumularia, those tropical +creepers of the sea, all decked out in shades and gleams. +We passed freely under their lofty boughs, lost up in the shadows +of the waves, while at our feet organ-pipe coral, stony coral, +star coral, fungus coral, and sea anemone from the genus Caryophylia +formed a carpet of flowers all strewn with dazzling gems. + +What an indescribable sight! Oh, if only we could share our feelings! +Why were we imprisoned behind these masks of metal and glass! +Why were we forbidden to talk with each other! At least let us +lead the lives of the fish that populate this liquid element, +or better yet, the lives of amphibians, which can spend long hours +either at sea or on shore, traveling through their double domain +as their whims dictate! + +Meanwhile Captain Nemo had called a halt. My companions and I +stopped walking, and turning around, I saw the crewmen form +a semicircle around their leader. Looking with greater care, +I observed that four of them were carrying on their shoulders +an object that was oblong in shape. + +At this locality we stood in the center of a huge clearing +surrounded by the tall tree forms of this underwater forest. +Our lamps cast a sort of brilliant twilight over the area, +making inordinately long shadows on the seafloor. Past the boundaries +of the clearing, the darkness deepened again, relieved only by little +sparkles given off by the sharp crests of coral. + +Ned Land and Conseil stood next to me. We stared, and it +dawned on me that I was about to witness a strange scene. +Observing the seafloor, I saw that it swelled at certain points from +low bulges that were encrusted with limestone deposits and arranged +with a symmetry that betrayed the hand of man. + +In the middle of the clearing, on a pedestal of roughly piled rocks, +there stood a cross of coral, extending long arms you would have +thought were made of petrified blood. + +At a signal from Captain Nemo, one of his men stepped forward and, +a few feet from this cross, detached a mattock from his belt +and began to dig a hole. + +I finally understood! This clearing was a cemetery, this hole a grave, +that oblong object the body of the man who must have died during +the night! Captain Nemo and his men had come to bury their companion +in this communal resting place on the inaccessible ocean floor! + +No! My mind was reeling as never before! Never had ideas of such impact +raced through my brain! I didn't want to see what my eyes saw! + +Meanwhile the grave digging went slowly. Fish fled here and +there as their retreat was disturbed. I heard the pick ringing +on the limestone soil, its iron tip sometimes giving off sparks +when it hit a stray piece of flint on the sea bottom. The hole +grew longer, wider, and soon was deep enough to receive the body. + +Then the pallbearers approached. Wrapped in white fabric made from +filaments of the fan mussel, the body was lowered into its watery grave. +Captain Nemo, arms crossed over his chest, knelt in a posture +of prayer, as did all the friends of him who had loved them. . . . +My two companions and I bowed reverently. + +The grave was then covered over with the rubble dug from the seafloor, +and it formed a low mound. + +When this was done, Captain Nemo and his men stood up; then they +all approached the grave, sank again on bended knee, and extended +their hands in a sign of final farewell. . . . + +Then the funeral party went back up the path to the Nautilus, +returning beneath the arches of the forest, through the thickets, +along the coral bushes, going steadily higher. + +Finally the ship's rays appeared. Their luminous trail guided us +to the Nautilus. By one o'clock we had returned. + +After changing clothes, I climbed onto the platform, and in the grip +of dreadfully obsessive thoughts, I sat next to the beacon. + +Captain Nemo rejoined me. I stood up and said to him: + +"So, as I predicted, that man died during the night?" + +"Yes, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo replied. + +"And now he rests beside his companions in that coral cemetery?" + +"Yes, forgotten by the world but not by us! We dig the graves, +then entrust the polyps with sealing away our dead for eternity!" + +And with a sudden gesture, the captain hid his face in his clenched fists, +vainly trying to hold back a sob. Then he added: + +"There lies our peaceful cemetery, hundreds of feet beneath +the surface of the waves!" + +"At least, captain, your dead can sleep serenely there, out of +the reach of sharks!" + +"Yes, sir," Captain Nemo replied solemnly, "of sharks and men!" + + + + + +END OF THE FIRST PART + + + + + *Author's Note: About 106 meters. An English foot is only 30.4 centimeters. + *German: "Bulletin." Ed. + *Author's Note: A pier is a type of wharf expressly set aside for an individual vessel. + *Author's Note: Tenders are small steamboats that assist the big liners. + *Author's Note: A Bowie knife is a wide-bladed dagger that Americans are forever carrying around. + *Author's Note: A steward is a waiter on board a steamer. + *Latin: nemo means "no one." Ed. + *Latin: "in a class by itself." Ed. + **Author's Note: And sure enough, there's now talk of such a discovery, in which a new set of levers generates +considerable power. Did its inventor meet up with Captain Nemo? + *Author's Note: "Ladyfingers" are small, thin, white clouds with ragged edges. + *Latin: a spigot "just for that purpose." Ed. + *Latin: "troubled dreams." Ed. +2 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +8 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +A Runaway Reef · 9 + + + + + +A Runaway Reef · 11 + + + +16 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Pros and Cons · 17 + + + +18 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +As Master Wishes · 19 + + + +22 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +As Master Wishes · 23 + + + +28 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +Ned Land · 27 + + + +30 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +At Random! · 29 + + + +· Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +At Random! · 31 + + + +32 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +At Random! · 35 + + + + + +At Random! · 37 + + + +42 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +At Full Steam · 43 + + + +46 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +At Full Steam · 47 + + + +52 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +A Whale of Unknown Species · 53 + + + +54 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + +"Mobilis in Mobili" · 54 + + + +"Mobilis in Mobili" · 53 + + + +54 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + +60 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +"Mobilis in Mobili" · 61 + + + +62 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + +The Tantrums of Ned Land · 62 + + + +The Tantrums of Ned Land · 61 + + + +64 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + +70 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Tantrums of Ned Land · 69 + + + +76 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Man of the Waters · 77 + + + +78 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + +80 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + +86 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Nautilus · 87 + + + +94 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +Everything through Electricity · 93 + + + +96 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + +Some Figures · 96 + + + +Some Figures · 95 + + + +102 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +Some Figures · 101 + + + + + +Some Figures · 103 + + + +112 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Black Current · 111 + + + + + +The Black Current · + + + +114 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +An Invitation in Writing · 113 + + + + + +Strolling the Plains · 121 + + + +122 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +Strolling the Plains · 123 + + + +124 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + +Strolling the Plains · 124 + + + +Strolling the Plains · 125 + + + +126 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + +130 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +An Underwater Forest · 129 + + + +94 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas 94 · +Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +131 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + + + +140 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific · 139 + + + +148 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +Vanikoro · 147 + + + +· Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + +The Torres Strait · + + + +The Torres Strait · 149 + + + +156 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Torres Strait · 155 + + + +158 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + +Some Days Ashore · 158 + + + +Some Days Ashore · 157 + + + +168 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +Some Days Ashore · 167 + + + +170 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + +The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo · 170 + + + +The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo · 169 + + + +180 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo · 179 + + + +182 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + + + + + +184 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +"Aegri Somnia" · 131 + + + +186 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + +190 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +"Aegri Somnia" · 189 + + + + + + + +192 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Coral Realm · 193 + + + +194 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + + + +198 · Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas + + + +The Coral Realm · 197 + + + + + + + +SECOND PART + +______________________________________________________________ + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +The Indian Ocean + + +NOW WE BEGIN the second part of this voyage under the seas. +The first ended in that moving scene at the coral cemetery, +which left a profound impression on my mind. And so Captain Nemo +would live out his life entirely in the heart of this immense sea, +and even his grave lay ready in its impenetrable depths. +There the last sleep of the Nautilus's occupants, friends bound together +in death as in life, would be disturbed by no monster of the deep! +"No man either!" the captain had added. + +Always that same fierce, implacable defiance of human society! + +As for me, I was no longer content with the hypotheses +that satisfied Conseil. That fine lad persisted in seeing +the Nautilus's commander as merely one of those unappreciated +scientists who repay humanity's indifference with contempt. +For Conseil, the captain was still a misunderstood genius who, +tired of the world's deceptions, had been driven to take refuge in this +inaccessible environment where he was free to follow his instincts. +But to my mind, this hypothesis explained only one side of Captain Nemo. + +In fact, the mystery of that last afternoon when we were locked in +prison and put to sleep, the captain's violent precaution of snatching +from my grasp a spyglass poised to scour the horizon, and the fatal +wound given that man during some unexplained collision suffered +by the Nautilus, all led me down a plain trail. No! Captain Nemo +wasn't content simply to avoid humanity! His fearsome submersible +served not only his quest for freedom, but also, perhaps, it was +used in lord-knows-what schemes of dreadful revenge. + +Right now, nothing is clear to me, I still glimpse only glimmers +in the dark, and I must limit my pen, as it were, to taking +dictation from events. + +But nothing binds us to Captain Nemo. He believes that escaping from +the Nautilus is impossible. We are not even constrained by our word +of honor. No promises fetter us. We're simply captives, prisoners +masquerading under the name "guests" for the sake of everyday courtesy. +Even so, Ned Land hasn't given up all hope of recovering his freedom. +He's sure to take advantage of the first chance that comes his way. +No doubt I will do likewise. And yet I will feel some regret at making +off with the Nautilus's secrets, so generously unveiled for us by +Captain Nemo! Because, ultimately, should we detest or admire this man? +Is he the persecutor or the persecuted? And in all honesty, +before I leave him forever, I want to finish this underwater +tour of the world, whose first stages have been so magnificent. +I want to observe the full series of these wonders gathered under +the seas of our globe. I want to see what no man has seen yet, +even if I must pay for this insatiable curiosity with my life! +What are my discoveries to date? Nothing, relatively speaking-- +since so far we've covered only 6,000 leagues across the Pacific! + +Nevertheless, I'm well aware that the Nautilus is drawing near +to populated shores, and if some chance for salvation becomes +available to us, it would be sheer cruelty to sacrifice my +companions to my passion for the unknown. I must go with them, +perhaps even guide them. But will this opportunity ever arise? +The human being, robbed of his free will, craves such an opportunity; +but the scientist, forever inquisitive, dreads it. + +That day, January 21, 1868, the chief officer went at noon to take +the sun's altitude. I climbed onto the platform, lit a cigar, +and watched him at work. It seemed obvious to me that this man didn't +understand French, because I made several remarks in a loud voice +that were bound to provoke him to some involuntary show of interest +had he understood them; but he remained mute and emotionless. + +While he took his sights with his sextant, one of the Nautilus's sailors-- +that muscular man who had gone with us to Crespo Island during our first +underwater excursion--came up to clean the glass panes of the beacon. +I then examined the fittings of this mechanism, whose power was +increased a hundredfold by biconvex lenses that were designed +like those in a lighthouse and kept its rays productively focused. +This electric lamp was so constructed as to yield its maximum +illuminating power. In essence, its light was generated in a vacuum, +insuring both its steadiness and intensity. Such a vacuum also reduced +wear on the graphite points between which the luminous arc expanded. +This was an important savings for Captain Nemo, who couldn't +easily renew them. But under these conditions, wear and tear +were almost nonexistent. + +When the Nautilus was ready to resume its underwater travels, +I went below again to the lounge. The hatches closed once more, +and our course was set due west. + +We then plowed the waves of the Indian Ocean, vast liquid plains +with an area of 550,000,000 hectares, whose waters are so transparent +it makes you dizzy to lean over their surface. There the Nautilus +generally drifted at a depth between 100 and 200 meters. +It behaved in this way for some days. To anyone without my grand +passion for the sea, these hours would surely have seemed long +and monotonous; but my daily strolls on the platform where I was +revived by the life-giving ocean air, the sights in the rich waters +beyond the lounge windows, the books to be read in the library, +and the composition of my memoirs, took up all my time and left me +without a moment of weariness or boredom. + +All in all, we enjoyed a highly satisfactory state of health. +The diet on board agreed with us perfectly, and for my part, +I could easily have gone without those changes of pace that Ned Land, +in a spirit of protest, kept taxing his ingenuity to supply us. +What's more, in this constant temperature we didn't even have to +worry about catching colds. Besides, the ship had a good stock of +the madrepore Dendrophylia, known in Provence by the name sea fennel, +and a poultice made from the dissolved flesh of its polyps will +furnish an excellent cough medicine. + +For some days we saw a large number of aquatic birds with webbed feet, +known as gulls or sea mews. Some were skillfully slain, and when cooked +in a certain fashion, they make a very acceptable platter of water game. +Among the great wind riders--carried over long distances from every +shore and resting on the waves from their exhausting flights-- +I spotted some magnificent albatross, birds belonging to the Longipennes +(long-winged) family, whose discordant calls sound like the braying +of an ass. The Totipalmes (fully webbed) family was represented +by swift frigate birds, nimbly catching fish at the surface, +and by numerous tropic birds of the genus Phaeton, among others +the red-tailed tropic bird, the size of a pigeon, its white plumage +shaded with pink tints that contrasted with its dark-hued wings. + +The Nautilus's nets hauled up several types of sea turtle from +the hawksbill genus with arching backs whose scales are highly prized. +Diving easily, these reptiles can remain a good while underwater +by closing the fleshy valves located at the external openings of their +nasal passages. When they were captured, some hawksbills were still +asleep inside their carapaces, a refuge from other marine animals. +The flesh of these turtles was nothing memorable, but their eggs +made an excellent feast. + +As for fish, they always filled us with wonderment when, staring through +the open panels, we could unveil the secrets of their aquatic lives. +I noted several species I hadn't previously been able to observe. + +I'll mention chiefly some trunkfish unique to the Red Sea, the sea +of the East Indies, and that part of the ocean washing the coasts +of equinoctial America. Like turtles, armadillos, sea urchins, +and crustaceans, these fish are protected by armor plate that's +neither chalky nor stony but actual bone. Sometimes this armor takes +the shape of a solid triangle, sometimes that of a solid quadrangle. +Among the triangular type, I noticed some half a decimeter long, +with brown tails, yellow fins, and wholesome, exquisitely tasty flesh; +I even recommend that they be acclimatized to fresh water, a change, +incidentally, that a number of saltwater fish can make with ease. +I'll also mention some quadrangular trunkfish topped by four large +protuberances along the back; trunkfish sprinkled with white spots on +the underside of the body, which make good house pets like certain birds; +boxfish armed with stings formed by extensions of their bony crusts, +and whose odd grunting has earned them the nickname "sea pigs"; +then some trunkfish known as dromedaries, with tough, leathery flesh +and big conical humps. + +From the daily notes kept by Mr. Conseil, I also retrieve +certain fish from the genus Tetradon unique to these seas: +southern puffers with red backs and white chests distinguished by +three lengthwise rows of filaments, and jugfish, seven inches long, +decked out in the brightest colors. Then, as specimens of other genera, +blowfish resembling a dark brown egg, furrowed with white bands, +and lacking tails; globefish, genuine porcupines of the sea, +armed with stings and able to inflate themselves until they look +like a pin cushion bristling with needles; seahorses common to +every ocean; flying dragonfish with long snouts and highly distended +pectoral fins shaped like wings, which enable them, if not to fly, +at least to spring into the air; spatula-shaped paddlefish whose +tails are covered with many scaly rings; snipefish with long jaws, +excellent animals twenty-five centimeters long and gleaming with +the most cheerful colors; bluish gray dragonets with wrinkled heads; +myriads of leaping blennies with black stripes and long pectoral fins, +gliding over the surface of the water with prodigious speed; +delicious sailfish that can hoist their fins in a favorable current +like so many unfurled sails; splendid nurseryfish on which nature +has lavished yellow, azure, silver, and gold; yellow mackerel +with wings made of filaments; bullheads forever spattered with mud, +which make distinct hissing sounds; sea robins whose livers are thought +to be poisonous; ladyfish that can flutter their eyelids; finally, +archerfish with long, tubular snouts, real oceangoing flycatchers, +armed with a rifle unforeseen by either Remington or Chassepot: +it slays insects by shooting them with a simple drop of water. + +From the eighty-ninth fish genus in Lacépède's system of classification, +belonging to his second subclass of bony fish (characterized by gill +covers and a bronchial membrane), I noted some scorpionfish whose +heads are adorned with stings and which have only one dorsal fin; +these animals are covered with small scales, or have none at all, +depending on the subgenus to which they belong. The second subgenus +gave us some Didactylus specimens three to four decimeters long, +streaked with yellow, their heads having a phantasmagoric appearance. +As for the first subgenus, it furnished several specimens of that +bizarre fish aptly nicknamed "toadfish," whose big head is sometimes +gouged with deep cavities, sometimes swollen with protuberances; +bristling with stings and strewn with nodules, it sports hideously +irregular horns; its body and tail are adorned with callosities; +its stings can inflict dangerous injuries; it's repulsive and horrible. + +From January 21 to the 23rd, the Nautilus traveled at the rate of 250 +leagues in twenty-four hours, hence 540 miles at twenty-two miles +per hour. If, during our trip, we were able to identify these different +varieties of fish, it's because they were attracted by our electric +light and tried to follow alongside; but most of them were outdistanced +by our speed and soon fell behind; temporarily, however, a few +managed to keep pace in the Nautilus's waters. + +On the morning of the 24th, in latitude 12 degrees 5' +south and longitude 94 degrees 33', we raised Keeling Island, +a madreporic upheaving planted with magnificent coconut trees, +which had been visited by Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy. The Nautilus +cruised along a short distance off the shore of this desert island. +Our dragnets brought up many specimens of polyps and echinoderms +plus some unusual shells from the branch Mollusca. Captain Nemo's +treasures were enhanced by some valuable exhibits from the delphinula +snail species, to which I joined some pointed star coral, a sort +of parasitic polypary that often attaches itself to seashells. + +Soon Keeling Island disappeared below the horizon, and our course +was set to the northwest, toward the tip of the Indian peninsula. + +"Civilization!" Ned Land told me that day. "Much better than +those Papuan Islands where we ran into more savages than venison! +On this Indian shore, professor, there are roads and railways, +English, French, and Hindu villages. We wouldn't go five miles +without bumping into a fellow countryman. Come on now, isn't it +time for our sudden departure from Captain Nemo?" + +"No, no, Ned," I replied in a very firm tone. "Let's ride it out, +as you seafaring fellows say. The Nautilus is approaching +populated areas. It's going back toward Europe, let it take us there. +After we arrive in home waters, we can do as we see fit. +Besides, I don't imagine Captain Nemo will let us go hunting +on the coasts of Malabar or Coromandel as he did in the forests +of New Guinea." + +"Well, sir, can't we manage without his permission?" + +I didn't answer the Canadian. I wanted no arguments. Deep down, +I was determined to fully exploit the good fortune that had put me +on board the Nautilus. + +After leaving Keeling Island, our pace got generally slower. +It also got more unpredictable, often taking us to great depths. +Several times we used our slanting fins, which internal levers could +set at an oblique angle to our waterline. Thus we went as deep +as two or three kilometers down but without ever verifying the lowest +depths of this sea near India, which soundings of 13,000 meters have +been unable to reach. As for the temperature in these lower strata, +the thermometer always and invariably indicated 4 degrees centigrade. +I merely observed that in the upper layers, the water was always +colder over shallows than in the open sea. + +On January 25, the ocean being completely deserted, the Nautilus spent +the day on the surface, churning the waves with its powerful propeller +and making them spurt to great heights. Under these conditions, +who wouldn't have mistaken it for a gigantic cetacean? I spent +three-quarters of the day on the platform. I stared at the sea. +Nothing on the horizon, except near four o'clock in the afternoon +a long steamer to the west, running on our opposite tack. +Its masting was visible for an instant, but it couldn't have +seen the Nautilus because we were lying too low in the water. +I imagine that steamboat belonged to the Peninsular & Oriental line, +which provides service from the island of Ceylon to Sidney, +also calling at King George Sound and Melbourne. + +At five o'clock in the afternoon, just before that brief twilight +that links day with night in tropical zones, Conseil and I marveled +at an unusual sight. + +It was a delightful animal whose discovery, according to the ancients, +is a sign of good luck. Aristotle, Athenaeus, Pliny, and Oppian +studied its habits and lavished on its behalf all the scientific poetry +of Greece and Italy. They called it "nautilus" and "pompilius." +But modern science has not endorsed these designations, and this +mollusk is now known by the name argonaut. + +Anyone consulting Conseil would soon learn from the gallant lad +that the branch Mollusca is divided into five classes; that the first +class features the Cephalopoda (whose members are sometimes naked, +sometimes covered with a shell), which consists of two families, +the Dibranchiata and the Tetrabranchiata, which are distinguished +by their number of gills; that the family Dibranchiata includes +three genera, the argonaut, the squid, and the cuttlefish, and that +the family Tetrabranchiata contains only one genus, the nautilus. +After this catalog, if some recalcitrant listener confuses +the argonaut, which is acetabuliferous (in other words, a bearer +of suction tubes), with the nautilus, which is tentaculiferous +(a bearer of tentacles), it will be simply unforgivable. + +Now, it was a school of argonauts then voyaging on the surface +of the ocean. We could count several hundred of them. +They belonged to that species of argonaut covered with protuberances +and exclusive to the seas near India. + +These graceful mollusks were swimming backward by means of their +locomotive tubes, sucking water into these tubes and then expelling it. +Six of their eight tentacles were long, thin, and floated +on the water, while the other two were rounded into palms +and spread to the wind like light sails. I could see perfectly +their undulating, spiral-shaped shells, which Cuvier aptly +compared to an elegant cockleboat. It's an actual boat indeed. +It transports the animal that secretes it without the animal +sticking to it. + +"The argonaut is free to leave its shell," I told Conseil, +"but it never does." + +"Not unlike Captain Nemo," Conseil replied sagely. "Which is why +he should have christened his ship the Argonaut." + +For about an hour the Nautilus cruised in the midst of this school +of mollusks. Then, lord knows why, they were gripped with a sudden fear. +As if at a signal, every sail was abruptly lowered; arms folded, +bodies contracted, shells turned over by changing their center +of gravity, and the whole flotilla disappeared under the waves. +It was instantaneous, and no squadron of ships ever maneuvered +with greater togetherness. + +Just then night fell suddenly, and the waves barely surged in the breeze, +spreading placidly around the Nautilus's side plates. + +The next day, January 26, we cut the equator on the 82nd meridian +and we reentered the northern hemisphere. + +During that day a fearsome school of sharks provided us with an escort. +Dreadful animals that teem in these seas and make them +extremely dangerous. There were Port Jackson sharks with a brown back, +a whitish belly, and eleven rows of teeth, bigeye sharks with necks +marked by a large black spot encircled in white and resembling an eye, +and Isabella sharks whose rounded snouts were strewn with dark speckles. +Often these powerful animals rushed at the lounge window with a +violence less than comforting. By this point Ned Land had lost +all self-control. He wanted to rise to the surface of the waves +and harpoon the monsters, especially certain smooth-hound sharks whose +mouths were paved with teeth arranged like a mosaic, and some big +five-meter tiger sharks that insisted on personally provoking him. +But the Nautilus soon picked up speed and easily left astern +the fastest of these man-eaters. + +On January 27, at the entrance to the huge Bay of Bengal, +we repeatedly encountered a gruesome sight: human corpses floating +on the surface of the waves! Carried by the Ganges to the high seas, +these were deceased Indian villagers who hadn't been fully devoured +by vultures, the only morticians in these parts. But there was no +shortage of sharks to assist them with their undertaking chores. + +Near seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus lay +half submerged, navigating in the midst of milky white waves. +As far as the eye could see, the ocean seemed lactified. +Was it an effect of the moon's rays? No, because the new moon was barely +two days old and was still lost below the horizon in the sun's rays. +The entire sky, although lit up by stellar radiation, seemed pitch-black +in comparison with the whiteness of these waters. + +Conseil couldn't believe his eyes, and he questioned me about +the causes of this odd phenomenon. Luckily I was in a position +to answer him. + +"That's called a milk sea," I told him, "a vast expanse of white waves +often seen along the coasts of Amboina and in these waterways." + +"But," Conseil asked, "could master tell me the cause of this effect, +because I presume this water hasn't really changed into milk!" + +"No, my boy, and this whiteness that amazes you is merely due +to the presence of myriads of tiny creatures called infusoria, +a sort of diminutive glowworm that's colorless and gelatinous +in appearance, as thick as a strand of hair, and no longer than +one-fifth of a millimeter. Some of these tiny creatures stick +together over an area of several leagues." + +"Several leagues!" Conseil exclaimed. + +"Yes, my boy, and don't even try to compute the number of +these infusoria. You won't pull it off, because if I'm not mistaken, +certain navigators have cruised through milk seas for more +than forty miles." + +I'm not sure that Conseil heeded my recommendation, because he seemed +to be deep in thought, no doubt trying to calculate how many +one-fifths of a millimeter are found in forty square miles. +As for me, I continued to observe this phenomenon. For several +hours the Nautilus's spur sliced through these whitish waves, +and I watched it glide noiselessly over this soapy water, as if it +were cruising through those foaming eddies that a bay's currents +and countercurrents sometimes leave between each other. + +Near midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual hue, but behind us +all the way to the horizon, the skies kept mirroring the whiteness +of those waves and for a good while seemed imbued with the hazy +glow of an aurora borealis. + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +A New Proposition from Captain Nemo + +ON JANUARY 28, in latitude 9 degrees 4' north, when the Nautilus returned +at noon to the surface of the sea, it lay in sight of land some eight +miles to the west. Right off, I observed a cluster of mountains +about 2,000 feet high, whose shapes were very whimsically sculpted. +After our position fix, I reentered the lounge, and when our bearings +were reported on the chart, I saw that we were off the island of Ceylon, +that pearl dangling from the lower lobe of the Indian peninsula. + +I went looking in the library for a book about this island, one of +the most fertile in the world. Sure enough, I found a volume entitled +Ceylon and the Singhalese by H. C. Sirr, Esq. Reentering the lounge, +I first noted the bearings of Ceylon, on which antiquity lavished +so many different names. It was located between latitude 5 degrees 55' +and 9 degrees 49' north, and between longitude 79 degrees 42' +and 82 degrees 4' east of the meridian of Greenwich; its length +is 275 miles; its maximum width, 150 miles; its circumference, +900 miles; its surface area, 24,448 square miles, in other words, +a little smaller than that of Ireland. + +Just then Captain Nemo and his chief officer appeared. + +The captain glanced at the chart. Then, turning to me: + +"The island of Ceylon," he said, "is famous for its pearl fisheries. +Would you be interested, Professor Aronnax, in visiting one +of those fisheries?" + +"Certainly, captain." + +"Fine. It's easily done. Only, when we see the fisheries, +we'll see no fishermen. The annual harvest hasn't yet begun. +No matter. I'll give orders to make for the Gulf of Mannar, +and we'll arrive there late tonight." + +The captain said a few words to his chief officer who went +out immediately. Soon the Nautilus reentered its liquid element, +and the pressure gauge indicated that it was staying at a depth +of thirty feet. + +With the chart under my eyes, I looked for the Gulf of Mannar. I found +it by the 9th parallel off the northwestern shores of Ceylon. It was +formed by the long curve of little Mannar Island. To reach it we +had to go all the way up Ceylon's west coast. + +"Professor," Captain Nemo then told me, "there are pearl fisheries +in the Bay of Bengal, the seas of the East Indies, the seas +of China and Japan, plus those seas south of the United States, +the Gulf of Panama and the Gulf of California; but it's off Ceylon +that such fishing reaps its richest rewards. No doubt we'll be +arriving a little early. Fishermen gather in the Gulf of Mannar +only during the month of March, and for thirty days some 300 boats +concentrate on the lucrative harvest of these treasures from the sea. +Each boat is manned by ten oarsmen and ten fishermen. +The latter divide into two groups, dive in rotation, and descend +to a depth of twelve meters with the help of a heavy stone clutched +between their feet and attached by a rope to their boat." + +"You mean," I said, "that such primitive methods are still all +that they use?" + +"All," Captain Nemo answered me, "although these fisheries belong +to the most industrialized people in the world, the English, +to whom the Treaty of Amiens granted them in 1802." + +"Yet it strikes me that diving suits like yours could perform yeoman +service in such work." + +"Yes, since those poor fishermen can't stay long underwater. +On his voyage to Ceylon, the Englishman Percival made much of a Kaffir +who stayed under five minutes without coming up to the surface, +but I find that hard to believe. I know that some divers can last up +to fifty-seven seconds, and highly skillful ones to eighty-seven; +but such men are rare, and when the poor fellows climb back on board, +the water coming out of their noses and ears is tinted with blood. +I believe the average time underwater that these fishermen can +tolerate is thirty seconds, during which they hastily stuff +their little nets with all the pearl oysters they can tear loose. +But these fishermen generally don't live to advanced age: +their vision weakens, ulcers break out on their eyes, sores form +on their bodies, and some are even stricken with apoplexy on +the ocean floor." + +"Yes," I said, "it's a sad occupation, and one that exists only +to gratify the whims of fashion. But tell me, captain, how many +oysters can a boat fish up in a workday?" + +"About 40,000 to 50,000. It's even said that in 1814, when the English +government went fishing on its own behalf, its divers worked just +twenty days and brought up 76,000,000 oysters." + +"At least," I asked, "the fishermen are well paid, aren't they?" + +"Hardly, professor. In Panama they make just $1.00 per week. +In most places they earn only a penny for each oyster that has a pearl, +and they bring up so many that have none!" + +"Only one penny to those poor people who make their employers rich! +That's atrocious!" + +"On that note, professor," Captain Nemo told me, "you and your +companions will visit the Mannar oysterbank, and if by chance some +eager fisherman arrives early, well, we can watch him at work." + +"That suits me, captain." + +"By the way, Professor Aronnax, you aren't afraid of sharks, are you?" + +"Sharks?" I exclaimed. + +This struck me as a pretty needless question, to say the least. + +"Well?" Captain Nemo went on. + +"I admit, captain, I'm not yet on very familiar terms with that +genus of fish." + +"We're used to them, the rest of us," Captain Nemo answered. +"And in time you will be too. Anyhow, we'll be armed, and on our +way we might hunt a man-eater or two. It's a fascinating sport. +So, professor, I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early." + +This said in a carefree tone, Captain Nemo left the lounge. + +If you're invited to hunt bears in the Swiss mountains, you might say: +"Oh good, I get to go bear hunting tomorrow!" If you're invited +to hunt lions on the Atlas plains or tigers in the jungles of India, +you might say: "Ha! Now's my chance to hunt lions and tigers!" +But if you're invited to hunt sharks in their native element, +you might want to think it over before accepting. + +As for me, I passed a hand over my brow, where beads of cold sweat +were busy forming. + +"Let's think this over," I said to myself, "and let's take our time. +Hunting otters in underwater forests, as we did in the forests +of Crespo Island, is an acceptable activity. But to roam +the bottom of the sea when you're almost certain to meet man-eaters +in the neighborhood, that's another story! I know that in +certain countries, particularly the Andaman Islands, Negroes don't +hesitate to attack sharks, dagger in one hand and noose in the other; +but I also know that many who face those fearsome animals don't come +back alive. Besides, I'm not a Negro, and even if I were a Negro, +in this instance I don't think a little hesitation on my part would +be out of place." + +And there I was, fantasizing about sharks, envisioning huge jaws armed +with multiple rows of teeth and capable of cutting a man in half. +I could already feel a definite pain around my pelvic girdle. +And how I resented the offhand manner in which the captain had +extended his deplorable invitation! You would have thought it +was an issue of going into the woods on some harmless fox hunt! + +"Thank heavens!" I said to myself. "Conseil will never want to +come along, and that'll be my excuse for not going with the captain." + +As for Ned Land, I admit I felt less confident of his wisdom. +Danger, however great, held a perennial attraction for +his aggressive nature. + +I went back to reading Sirr's book, but I leafed through it mechanically. +Between the lines I kept seeing fearsome, wide-open jaws. + +Just then Conseil and the Canadian entered with a calm, even gleeful air. +Little did they know what was waiting for them. + +"Ye gods, sir!" Ned Land told me. "Your Captain Nemo--the devil +take him--has just made us a very pleasant proposition!" + +"Oh!" I said "You know about--" + +"With all due respect to master," Conseil replied, "the Nautilus's +commander has invited us, together with master, for a visit tomorrow +to Ceylon's magnificent pearl fisheries. He did so in the most +cordial terms and conducted himself like a true gentleman." + +"He didn't tell you anything else?" + +"Nothing, sir," the Canadian replied. "He said you'd already +discussed this little stroll." + +"Indeed," I said. "But didn't he give you any details on--" + +"Not a one, Mr. Naturalist. You will be going with us, right?" + +"Me? Why yes, certainly, of course! I can see that you like +the idea, Mr. Land." + +"Yes! It will be a really unusual experience!" + +"And possibly dangerous!" I added in an insinuating tone. + +"Dangerous?" Ned Land replied. "A simple trip to an oysterbank?" + +Assuredly, Captain Nemo hadn't seen fit to plant the idea of sharks +in the minds of my companions. For my part, I stared at them +with anxious eyes, as if they were already missing a limb or two. +Should I alert them? Yes, surely, but I hardly knew how to go about it. + +"Would master," Conseil said to me, "give us some background +on pearl fishing?" + +"On the fishing itself?" I asked. "Or on the occupational hazards that--" + +"On the fishing," the Canadian replied. "Before we tackle the terrain, +it helps to be familiar with it." + +"All right, sit down, my friends, and I'll teach you everything I +myself have just been taught by the Englishman H. C. Sirr!" + +Ned and Conseil took seats on a couch, and right off the Canadian +said to me: + +"Sir, just what is a pearl exactly?" + +"My gallant Ned," I replied, "for poets a pearl is a tear from the sea; +for Orientals it's a drop of solidified dew; for the ladies it's +a jewel they can wear on their fingers, necks, and ears that's +oblong in shape, glassy in luster, and formed from mother-of-pearl; +for chemists it's a mixture of calcium phosphate and calcium +carbonate with a little gelatin protein; and finally, for naturalists +it's a simple festering secretion from the organ that produces +mother-of-pearl in certain bivalves." + +"Branch Mollusca," Conseil said, "class Acephala, order Testacea." + +"Correct, my scholarly Conseil. Now then, those Testacea capable +of producing pearls include rainbow abalone, turbo snails, +giant clams, and saltwater scallops--briefly, all those that secrete +mother-of-pearl, in other words, that blue, azure, violet, or white +substance lining the insides of their valves." + +"Are mussels included too?" the Canadian asked. + +"Yes! The mussels of certain streams in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, +Saxony, Bohemia, and France." + +"Good!" the Canadian replied. "From now on we'll pay closer +attention to 'em." + +"But," I went on, "for secreting pearls, the ideal mollusk is the pearl +oyster Meleagrina margaritifera, that valuable shellfish. Pearls result +simply from mother-of-pearl solidifying into a globular shape. +Either they stick to the oyster's shell, or they become embedded +in the creature's folds. On the valves a pearl sticks fast; +on the flesh it lies loose. But its nucleus is always some small, +hard object, say a sterile egg or a grain of sand, around which +the mother-of-pearl is deposited in thin, concentric layers over +several years in succession." + +"Can one find several pearls in the same oyster?" Conseil asked. + +"Yes, my boy. There are some shellfish that turn into real +jewel coffers. They even mention one oyster, about which I +remain dubious, that supposedly contained at least 150 sharks." + +"150 sharks!" Ned Land yelped. + +"Did I say sharks?" I exclaimed hastily. "I meant 150 pearls. +Sharks wouldn't make sense." + +"Indeed," Conseil said. "But will master now tell us how one goes +about extracting these pearls?" + +"One proceeds in several ways, and often when pearls stick +to the valves, fishermen even pull them loose with pliers. +But usually the shellfish are spread out on mats made from the esparto +grass that covers the beaches. Thus they die in the open air, +and by the end of ten days they've rotted sufficiently. Next they're +immersed in huge tanks of salt water, then they're opened up and washed. +At this point the sorters begin their twofold task. First they +remove the layers of mother-of-pearl, which are known in the industry +by the names legitimate silver, bastard white, or bastard black, +and these are shipped out in cases weighing 125 to 150 kilograms. +Then they remove the oyster's meaty tissue, boil it, and finally +strain it, in order to extract even the smallest pearls." + +"Do the prices of these pearls differ depending on their size?" +Conseil asked. + +"Not only on their size," I replied, "but also according to their shape, +their water--in other words, their color--and their orient-- +in other words, that dappled, shimmering glow that makes them so +delightful to the eye. The finest pearls are called virgin pearls, +or paragons; they form in isolation within the mollusk's tissue. +They're white, often opaque but sometimes of opalescent transparency, +and usually spherical or pear-shaped. The spherical ones +are made into bracelets; the pear-shaped ones into earrings, +and since they're the most valuable, they're priced individually. +The other pearls that stick to the oyster's shell are more erratically +shaped and are priced by weight. Finally, classed in the lowest order, +the smallest pearls are known by the name seed pearls; they're priced +by the measuring cup and are used mainly in the creation of embroidery +for church vestments." + +"But it must be a long, hard job, sorting out these pearls by size," +the Canadian said. + +"No, my friend. That task is performed with eleven strainers, +or sieves, that are pierced with different numbers of holes. +Those pearls staying in the strainers with twenty to eighty holes +are in the first order. Those not slipping through the sieves pierced +with 100 to 800 holes are in the second order. Finally, those pearls +for which one uses strainers pierced with 900 to 1,000 holes make +up the seed pearls." + +"How ingenious," Conseil said, "to reduce dividing and classifying +pearls to a mechanical operation. And could master tell us the profits +brought in by harvesting these banks of pearl oysters?" + +"According to Sirr's book," I replied, "these Ceylon fisheries +are farmed annually for a total profit of 3,000,000 man-eaters." + +"Francs!" Conseil rebuked. + +"Yes, francs! 3,000,000 francs!" I went on. "But I don't +think these fisheries bring in the returns they once did. +Similarly, the Central American fisheries used to make an annual +profit of 4,000,000 francs during the reign of King Charles V, +but now they bring in only two-thirds of that amount. All in all, +it's estimated that 9,000,000 francs is the current yearly return +for the whole pearl-harvesting industry." + +"But," Conseil asked, "haven't certain famous pearls been quoted +at extremely high prices?" + +"Yes, my boy. They say Julius Caesar gave Servilia a pearl worth +120,000 francs in our currency." + +"I've even heard stories," the Canadian said, "about some lady +in ancient times who drank pearls in vinegar." + +"Cleopatra," Conseil shot back. + +"It must have tasted pretty bad," Ned Land added. + +"Abominable, Ned my friend," Conseil replied. "But when a little +glass of vinegar is worth 1,500,000 francs, its taste is a small +price to pay." + +"I'm sorry I didn't marry the gal," the Canadian said, throwing up +his hands with an air of discouragement. + +"Ned Land married to Cleopatra?" Conseil exclaimed. + +"But I was all set to tie the knot, Conseil," the Canadian replied in +all seriousness, "and it wasn't my fault the whole business fell through. +I even bought a pearl necklace for my fiancée, Kate Tender, +but she married somebody else instead. Well, that necklace cost +me only $1.50, but you can absolutely trust me on this, professor, +its pearls were so big, they wouldn't have gone through that strainer +with twenty holes." + +"My gallant Ned," I replied, laughing, "those were artificial pearls, +ordinary glass beads whose insides were coated with Essence of Orient." + +"Wow!" the Canadian replied. "That Essence of Orient must sell +for quite a large sum." + +"As little as zero! It comes from the scales of a European carp, +it's nothing more than a silver substance that collects in the water +and is preserved in ammonia. It's worthless." + +"Maybe that's why Kate Tender married somebody else," +replied Mr. Land philosophically. + +"But," I said, "getting back to pearls of great value, I don't +think any sovereign ever possessed one superior to the pearl owned +by Captain Nemo." + +"This one?" Conseil said, pointing to a magnificent jewel in +its glass case. + +"Exactly. And I'm certainly not far off when I estimate its value +at 2,000,000 . . . uh . . ." + +"Francs!" Conseil said quickly. + +"Yes," I said, "2,000,000 francs, and no doubt all it cost our +captain was the effort to pick it up." + +"Ha!" Ned Land exclaimed. "During our stroll tomorrow, who says +we won't run into one just like it?" + +"Bah!" Conseil put in. + +"And why not?" + +"What good would a pearl worth millions do us here on the Nautilus?" + +"Here, no," Ned Land said. "But elsewhere. . . ." + +"Oh! Elsewhere!" Conseil put in, shaking his head. + +"In fact," I said, "Mr. Land is right. And if we ever brought back +to Europe or America a pearl worth millions, it would make the story +of our adventures more authentic--and much more rewarding." + +"That's how I see it," the Canadian said. + +"But," said Conseil, who perpetually returned to the didactic side +of things, "is this pearl fishing ever dangerous?" + +"No," I replied quickly, "especially if one takes certain precautions." + +"What risks would you run in a job like that?" Ned Land said. +"Swallowing a few gulps of salt water?" + +"Whatever you say, Ned." Then, trying to imitate Captain Nemo's +carefree tone, I asked, "By the way, gallant Ned, are you +afraid of sharks?" + +"Me?" the Canadian replied. "I'm a professional harpooner! +It's my job to make a mockery of them!" + +"It isn't an issue," I said, "of fishing for them with a swivel hook, +hoisting them onto the deck of a ship, chopping off the tail +with a sweep of the ax, opening the belly, ripping out the heart, +and tossing it into the sea." + +"So it's an issue of . . . ?" + +"Yes, precisely." + +"In the water?" + +"In the water." + +"Ye gods, just give me a good harpoon! You see, sir, these sharks +are badly designed. They have to roll their bellies over to snap +you up, and in the meantime . . ." + +Ned Land had a way of pronouncing the word "snap" that sent chills +down the spine. + +"Well, how about you, Conseil? What are your feelings +about these man-eaters?" + +"Me?" Conseil said. "I'm afraid I must be frank with master." + +Good for you, I thought. + +"If master faces these sharks," Conseil said, "I think his loyal +manservant should face them with him!" + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +A Pearl Worth Ten Million + + + +NIGHT FELL. I went to bed. I slept pretty poorly. Man-eaters played +a major role in my dreams. And I found it more or less appropriate +that the French word for shark, requin, has its linguistic roots +in the word requiem. + +The next day at four o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by +the steward whom Captain Nemo had placed expressly at my service. +I got up quickly, dressed, and went into the lounge. + +Captain Nemo was waiting for me. + +"Professor Aronnax," he said to me, "are you ready to start?" + +"I'm ready." + +"Kindly follow me." + +"What about my companions, captain?" + +"They've been alerted and are waiting for us." + +"Aren't we going to put on our diving suits?" I asked. + +"Not yet. I haven't let the Nautilus pull too near the coast, +and we're fairly well out from the Mannar oysterbank. +But I have the skiff ready, and it will take us to the exact spot +where we'll disembark, which will save us a pretty long trek. +It's carrying our diving equipment, and we'll suit up just before we +begin our underwater exploring." + +Captain Nemo took me to the central companionway whose steps led +to the platform. Ned and Conseil were there, enraptured with +the "pleasure trip" getting under way. Oars in position, +five of the Nautilus's sailors were waiting for us aboard the skiff, +which was moored alongside. The night was still dark. +Layers of clouds cloaked the sky and left only a few stars in view. +My eyes flew to the side where land lay, but I saw only a blurred line +covering three-quarters of the horizon from southwest to northwest. +Going up Ceylon's west coast during the night, the Nautilus lay +west of the bay, or rather that gulf formed by the mainland +and Mannar Island. Under these dark waters there stretched +the bank of shellfish, an inexhaustible field of pearls more than +twenty miles long. + +Captain Nemo, Conseil, Ned Land, and I found seats in the stern +of the skiff. The longboat's coxswain took the tiller; his four +companions leaned into their oars; the moorings were cast off +and we pulled clear. + +The skiff headed southward. The oarsmen took their time. +I watched their strokes vigorously catch the water, and they +always waited ten seconds before rowing again, following the +practice used in most navies. While the longboat coasted, +drops of liquid flicked from the oars and hit the dark troughs +of the waves, pitter-pattering like splashes of molten lead. +Coming from well out, a mild swell made the skiff roll gently, +and a few cresting billows lapped at its bow. + +We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking? Perhaps that +this approaching shore was too close for comfort, contrary to +the Canadian's views in which it still seemed too far away. +As for Conseil, he had come along out of simple curiosity. + +Near 5:30 the first glimmers of light on the horizon defined +the upper lines of the coast with greater distinctness. +Fairly flat to the east, it swelled a little toward the south. +Five miles still separated it from us, and its beach merged with +the misty waters. Between us and the shore, the sea was deserted. +Not a boat, not a diver. Profound solitude reigned over this +gathering place of pearl fishermen. As Captain Nemo had commented, +we were arriving in these waterways a month too soon. + +At six o'clock the day broke suddenly, with that speed unique +to tropical regions, which experience no real dawn or dusk. +The sun's rays pierced the cloud curtain gathered on the easterly horizon, +and the radiant orb rose swiftly. + +I could clearly see the shore, which featured a few sparse trees +here and there. + +The skiff advanced toward Mannar Island, which curved to the south. +Captain Nemo stood up from his thwart and studied the sea. + +At his signal the anchor was lowered, but its chain barely ran +because the bottom lay no more than a meter down, and this locality +was one of the shallowest spots near the bank of shellfish. +Instantly the skiff wheeled around under the ebb tide's outbound thrust. + +"Here we are, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo then said. +"You observe this confined bay? A month from now in this very place, +the numerous fishing boats of the harvesters will gather, +and these are the waters their divers will ransack so daringly. +This bay is felicitously laid out for their type of fishing. +It's sheltered from the strongest winds, and the sea is never +very turbulent here, highly favorable conditions for diving work. +Now let's put on our underwater suits, and we'll begin our stroll." + +I didn't reply, and while staring at these suspicious waves, I began +to put on my heavy aquatic clothes, helped by the longboat's sailors. +Captain Nemo and my two companions suited up as well. +None of the Nautilus's men were to go with us on this new excursion. + +Soon we were imprisoned up to the neck in india-rubber clothing, +and straps fastened the air devices onto our backs. +As for the Ruhmkorff device, it didn't seem to be in the picture. +Before inserting my head into its copper capsule, I commented +on this to the captain. + +"Our lighting equipment would be useless to us," the captain answered me. +"We won't be going very deep, and the sun's rays will be sufficient +to light our way. Besides, it's unwise to carry electric lanterns +under these waves. Their brightness might unexpectedly attract +certain dangerous occupants of these waterways." + +As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and +Ned Land. But my two friends had already encased their craniums +in their metal headgear, and they could neither hear nor reply. + +I had one question left to address to Captain Nemo. + +"What about our weapons?" I asked him. "Our rifles?" + +"Rifles! What for? Don't your mountaineers attack bears dagger in hand? +And isn't steel surer than lead? Here's a sturdy blade. +Slip it under your belt and let's be off." + +I stared at my companions. They were armed in the same fashion, +and Ned Land was also brandishing an enormous harpoon he had stowed +in the skiff before leaving the Nautilus. + +Then, following the captain's example, I let myself be crowned with my +heavy copper sphere, and our air tanks immediately went into action. + +An instant later, the longboat's sailors helped us overboard one after +the other, and we set foot on level sand in a meter and a half of water. +Captain Nemo gave us a hand signal. We followed him down a gentle +slope and disappeared under the waves. + +There the obsessive fears in my brain left me. I became surprisingly +calm again. The ease with which I could move increased my confidence, +and the many strange sights captivated my imagination. + +The sun was already sending sufficient light under these waves. +The tiniest objects remained visible. After ten minutes of walking, +we were in five meters of water, and the terrain had become almost flat. + +Like a covey of snipe over a marsh, there rose underfoot schools +of unusual fish from the genus Monopterus, whose members have no fin +but their tail. I recognized the Javanese eel, a genuine eight-decimeter +serpent with a bluish gray belly, which, without the gold lines +over its flanks, could easily be confused with the conger eel. +From the butterfish genus, whose oval bodies are very flat, +I observed several adorned in brilliant colors and sporting a dorsal +fin like a sickle, edible fish that, when dried and marinated, make an +excellent dish known by the name "karawade"; then some sea poachers, +fish belonging to the genus Aspidophoroides, whose bodies are covered +with scaly armor divided into eight lengthwise sections. + +Meanwhile, as the sun got progressively higher, it lit up the watery +mass more and more. The seafloor changed little by little. +Its fine-grained sand was followed by a genuine causeway +of smooth crags covered by a carpet of mollusks and zoophytes. +Among other specimens in these two branches, I noted some windowpane +oysters with thin valves of unequal size, a type of ostracod unique +to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, then orange-hued lucina with +circular shells, awl-shaped auger shells, some of those Persian +murex snails that supply the Nautilus with such wonderful dye, +spiky periwinkles fifteen centimeters long that rose under the waves +like hands ready to grab you, turban snails with shells made of horn +and bristling all over with spines, lamp shells, edible duck clams +that feed the Hindu marketplace, subtly luminous jellyfish of the species +Pelagia panopyra, and finally some wonderful Oculina flabelliforma, +magnificent sea fans that fashion one of the most luxuriant tree +forms in this ocean. + +In the midst of this moving vegetation, under arbors of water plants, +there raced legions of clumsy articulates, in particular some fanged +frog crabs whose carapaces form a slightly rounded triangle, +robber crabs exclusive to these waterways, and horrible +parthenope crabs whose appearance was repulsive to the eye. +One animal no less hideous, which I encountered several times, +was the enormous crab that Mr. Darwin observed, to which nature +has given the instinct and requisite strength to eat coconuts; +it scrambles up trees on the beach and sends the coconuts tumbling; +they fracture in their fall and are opened by its powerful pincers. +Here, under these clear waves, this crab raced around with +matchless agility, while green turtles from the species frequenting +the Malabar coast moved sluggishly among the crumbling rocks. + +Near seven o'clock we finally surveyed the bank of shellfish, +where pearl oysters reproduce by the millions. These valuable +mollusks stick to rocks, where they're strongly attached +by a mass of brown filaments that forbids their moving about. +In this respect oysters are inferior even to mussels, to whom nature +has not denied all talent for locomotion. + +The shellfish Meleagrina, that womb for pearls whose valves are +nearly equal in size, has the shape of a round shell with thick +walls and a very rough exterior. Some of these shells were furrowed +with flaky, greenish bands that radiated down from the top. +These were the young oysters. The others had rugged black surfaces, +measured up to fifteen centimeters in width, and were ten or +more years old. + +Captain Nemo pointed to this prodigious heap of shellfish, and I +saw that these mines were genuinely inexhaustible, since nature's +creative powers are greater than man's destructive instincts. +True to those instincts, Ned Land greedily stuffed the finest +of these mollusks into a net he carried at his side. + +But we couldn't stop. We had to follow the captain, +who headed down trails seemingly known only to himself. +The seafloor rose noticeably, and when I lifted my arms, +sometimes they would pass above the surface of the sea. +Then the level of the oysterbank would lower unpredictably. +Often we went around tall, pointed rocks rising like pyramids. +In their dark crevices huge crustaceans, aiming their long legs +like heavy artillery, watched us with unblinking eyes, while underfoot +there crept millipedes, bloodworms, aricia worms, and annelid worms, +whose antennas and tubular tentacles were incredibly long. + +Just then a huge cave opened up in our path, hollowed from a +picturesque pile of rocks whose smooth heights were completely +hung with underwater flora. At first this cave looked pitch-black +to me. Inside, the sun's rays seemed to diminish by degrees. +Their hazy transparency was nothing more than drowned light. + +Captain Nemo went in. We followed him. My eyes soon grew accustomed +to this comparative gloom. I distinguished the unpredictably contoured +springings of a vault, supported by natural pillars firmly based on +a granite foundation, like the weighty columns of Tuscan architecture. +Why had our incomprehensible guide taken us into the depths of this +underwater crypt? I would soon find out. + +After going down a fairly steep slope, our feet trod the floor +of a sort of circular pit. There Captain Nemo stopped, and his hand +indicated an object that I hadn't yet noticed. + +It was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a titanic giant clam, +a holy-water font that could have held a whole lake, a basin +more than two meters wide, hence even bigger than the one adorning +the Nautilus's lounge. + +I approached this phenomenal mollusk. Its mass of filaments attached +it to a table of granite, and there it grew by itself in the midst +of the cave's calm waters. I estimated the weight of this giant clam +at 300 kilograms. Hence such an oyster held fifteen kilos of meat, +and you'd need the stomach of King Gargantua to eat a couple dozen. + +Captain Nemo was obviously familiar with this bivalve's existence. +This wasn't the first time he'd paid it a visit, and I thought +his sole reason for leading us to this locality was to show +us a natural curiosity. I was mistaken. Captain Nemo had an +explicit personal interest in checking on the current condition +of this giant clam. + +The mollusk's two valves were partly open. The captain approached +and stuck his dagger vertically between the shells to discourage +any ideas about closing; then with his hands he raised the fringed, +membrane-filled tunic that made up the animal's mantle. + +There, between its leaflike folds, I saw a loose pearl as big as +a coconut. Its globular shape, perfect clarity, and wonderful orient +made it a jewel of incalculable value. Carried away by curiosity, +I stretched out my hand to take it, weigh it, fondle it! +But the captain stopped me, signaled no, removed his dagger in one +swift motion, and let the two valves snap shut. + +I then understood Captain Nemo's intent. By leaving the pearl buried +beneath the giant clam's mantle, he allowed it to grow imperceptibly. +With each passing year the mollusk's secretions added new +concentric layers. The captain alone was familiar with the cave +where this wonderful fruit of nature was "ripening"; he alone +reared it, so to speak, in order to transfer it one day to his +dearly beloved museum. Perhaps, following the examples of oyster +farmers in China and India, he had even predetermined the creation +of this pearl by sticking under the mollusk's folds some piece +of glass or metal that was gradually covered with mother-of-pearl. +In any case, comparing this pearl to others I already knew about, +and to those shimmering in the captain's collection, I estimated +that it was worth at least 10,000,000 francs. It was a superb +natural curiosity rather than a luxurious piece of jewelry, +because I don't know of any female ear that could handle it. + +Our visit to this opulent giant clam came to an end. +Captain Nemo left the cave, and we climbed back up the bank +of shellfish in the midst of these clear waters not yet disturbed +by divers at work. + +We walked by ourselves, genuine loiterers stopping or straying +as our fancies dictated. For my part, I was no longer worried +about those dangers my imagination had so ridiculously exaggerated. +The shallows drew noticeably closer to the surface of the sea, +and soon, walking in only a meter of water, my head passed well above +the level of the ocean. Conseil rejoined me, and gluing his huge +copper capsule to mine, his eyes gave me a friendly greeting. +But this lofty plateau measured only a few fathoms, and soon we +reentered Our Element. I think I've now earned the right to +dub it that. + +Ten minutes later, Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. I thought he'd +called a halt so that we could turn and start back. No. With a gesture +he ordered us to crouch beside him at the foot of a wide crevice. +His hand motioned toward a spot within the liquid mass, +and I looked carefully. + +Five meters away a shadow appeared and dropped to the seafloor. +The alarming idea of sharks crossed my mind. But I was mistaken, +and once again we didn't have to deal with monsters of the deep. + +It was a man, a living man, a black Indian fisherman, a poor devil +who no doubt had come to gather what he could before harvest time. +I saw the bottom of his dinghy, moored a few feet above his head. +He would dive and go back up in quick succession. A stone cut +in the shape of a sugar loaf, which he gripped between his feet +while a rope connected it to his boat, served to lower him more +quickly to the ocean floor. This was the extent of his equipment. +Arriving on the seafloor at a depth of about five meters, he fell +to his knees and stuffed his sack with shellfish gathered at random. +Then he went back up, emptied his sack, pulled up his stone, and started +all over again, the whole process lasting only thirty seconds. + +This diver didn't see us. A shadow cast by our crag hid us from +his view. And besides, how could this poor Indian ever have guessed +that human beings, creatures like himself, were near him under +the waters, eavesdropping on his movements, not missing a single +detail of his fishing! + +So he went up and down several times. He gathered only about +ten shellfish per dive, because he had to tear them from +the banks where each clung with its tough mass of filaments. +And how many of these oysters for which he risked his life would +have no pearl in them! + +I observed him with great care. His movements were systematically +executed, and for half an hour no danger seemed to threaten him. +So I had gotten used to the sight of this fascinating fishing +when all at once, just as the Indian was kneeling on the seafloor, +I saw him make a frightened gesture, stand, and gather himself +to spring back to the surface of the waves. + +I understood his fear. A gigantic shadow appeared above the poor diver. +It was a shark of huge size, moving in diagonally, eyes ablaze, +jaws wide open! + +I was speechless with horror, unable to make a single movement. + +With one vigorous stroke of its fins, the voracious animal shot +toward the Indian, who jumped aside and avoided the shark's bite +but not the thrashing of its tail, because that tail struck him +across the chest and stretched him out on the seafloor. + +This scene lasted barely a few seconds. The shark returned, +rolled over on its back, and was getting ready to cut the Indian in half, +when Captain Nemo, who was stationed beside me, suddenly stood up. +Then he strode right toward the monster, dagger in hand, ready to +fight it at close quarters. + +Just as it was about to snap up the poor fisherman, the man-eater +saw its new adversary, repositioned itself on its belly, and headed +swiftly toward him. + +I can see Captain Nemo's bearing to this day. Bracing himself, +he waited for the fearsome man-eater with wonderful composure, +and when the latter rushed at him, the captain leaped aside +with prodigious quickness, avoided a collision, and sank his +dagger into its belly. But that wasn't the end of the story. +A dreadful battle was joined. + +The shark bellowed, so to speak. Blood was pouring into the waves +from its wounds. The sea was dyed red, and through this opaque +liquid I could see nothing else. + +Nothing else until the moment when, through a rift in the clouds, +I saw the daring captain clinging to one of the animal's fins, +fighting the monster at close quarters, belaboring his +enemy's belly with stabs of the dagger yet unable to deliver +the deciding thrust, in other words, a direct hit to the heart. +In its struggles the man-eater churned the watery mass so furiously, +its eddies threatened to knock me over. + +I wanted to run to the captain's rescue. But I was transfixed +with horror, unable to move. + +I stared, wild-eyed. I saw the fight enter a new phase. +The captain fell to the seafloor, toppled by the enormous mass +weighing him down. Then the shark's jaws opened astoundingly wide, +like a pair of industrial shears, and that would have been +the finish of Captain Nemo had not Ned Land, quick as thought, +rushed forward with his harpoon and driven its dreadful point +into the shark's underside. + +The waves were saturated with masses of blood. The waters +shook with the movements of the man-eater, which thrashed about +with indescribable fury. Ned Land hadn't missed his target. +This was the monster's death rattle. Pierced to the heart, +it was struggling with dreadful spasms whose aftershocks knocked +Conseil off his feet. + +Meanwhile Ned Land pulled the captain clear. Uninjured, the latter +stood up, went right to the Indian, quickly cut the rope binding +the man to his stone, took the fellow in his arms, and with a vigorous +kick of the heel, rose to the surface of the sea. + +The three of us followed him, and a few moments later, miraculously safe, +we reached the fisherman's longboat. + +Captain Nemo's first concern was to revive this unfortunate man. +I wasn't sure he would succeed. I hoped so, since the poor devil +hadn't been under very long. But that stroke from the shark's tail +could have been his deathblow. + +Fortunately, after vigorous massaging by Conseil and the captain, +I saw the nearly drowned man regain consciousness little by little. +He opened his eyes. How startled he must have felt, how frightened even, +at seeing four huge, copper craniums leaning over him! + +And above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo pulled +a bag of pearls from a pocket in his diving suit and placed it +in the fisherman's hands? This magnificent benefaction from +the Man of the Waters to the poor Indian from Ceylon was accepted +by the latter with trembling hands. His bewildered eyes indicated +that he didn't know to what superhuman creatures he owed both his +life and his fortune. + +At the captain's signal we returned to the bank of shellfish, +and retracing our steps, we walked for half an hour until we encountered +the anchor connecting the seafloor with the Nautilus's skiff. + +Back on board, the sailors helped divest us of our heavy copper carapaces. + +Captain Nemo's first words were spoken to the Canadian. + +"Thank you, Mr. Land," he told him. + +"Tit for tat, captain," Ned Land replied. "I owed it to you." + +The ghost of a smile glided across the captain's lips, and that was all. + +"To the Nautilus," he said. + +The longboat flew over the waves. A few minutes later we encountered +the shark's corpse again, floating. + +From the black markings on the tips of its fins, I recognized +the dreadful Squalus melanopterus from the seas of the East Indies, +a variety in the species of sharks proper. It was more than twenty-five +feet long; its enormous mouth occupied a third of its body. +It was an adult, as could be seen from the six rows of teeth forming +an isosceles triangle in its upper jaw. + +Conseil looked at it with purely scientific fascination, +and I'm sure he placed it, not without good reason, in the class +of cartilaginous fish, order Chondropterygia with fixed gills, +family Selacia, genus Squalus. + +While I was contemplating this inert mass, suddenly a dozen of these +voracious melanoptera appeared around our longboat; but, paying no +attention to us, they pounced on the corpse and quarreled over every +scrap of it. + +By 8:30 we were back on board the Nautilus. + +There I fell to thinking about the incidents that marked our excursion +over the Mannar oysterbank. Two impressions inevitably stood out. +One concerned Captain Nemo's matchless bravery, the other his devotion +to a human being, a representative of that race from which he had +fled beneath the seas. In spite of everything, this strange man +hadn't yet succeeded in completely stifling his heart. + +When I shared these impressions with him, he answered me in a tone +touched with emotion: + +"That Indian, professor, lives in the land of the oppressed, +and I am to this day, and will be until my last breath, a native +of that same land!" + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +The Red Sea + + +DURING THE DAY of January 29, the island of Ceylon disappeared +below the horizon, and at a speed of twenty miles per hour, +the Nautilus glided into the labyrinthine channels that separate +the Maldive and Laccadive Islands. It likewise hugged Kiltan Island, +a shore of madreporic origin discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499 and +one of nineteen chief islands in the island group of the Laccadives, +located between latitude 10 degrees and 14 degrees 30' north, and between +longitude 50 degrees 72' and 69 degrees east. + +By then we had fared 16,220 miles, or 7,500 leagues, from our starting +point in the seas of Japan. + +The next day, January 30, when the Nautilus rose to the surface +of the ocean, there was no more land in sight. Setting its course +to the north-northwest, the ship headed toward the Gulf of Oman, +carved out between Arabia and the Indian peninsula and providing +access to the Persian Gulf. + +This was obviously a blind alley with no possible outlet. +So where was Captain Nemo taking us? I was unable to say. +Which didn't satisfy the Canadian, who that day asked me where +we were going. + +"We're going, Mr. Ned, where the captain's fancy takes us." + +"His fancy," the Canadian replied, "won't take us very far. +The Persian Gulf has no outlet, and if we enter those waters, +it won't be long before we return in our tracks." + +"All right, we'll return, Mr. Land, and after the Persian Gulf, +if the Nautilus wants to visit the Red Sea, the Strait of Bab el +Mandeb is still there to let us in!" + +"I don't have to tell you, sir," Ned Land replied, "that the Red Sea +is just as landlocked as the gulf, since the Isthmus of Suez hasn't +been cut all the way through yet; and even if it was, a boat +as secretive as ours wouldn't risk a canal intersected with locks. +So the Red Sea won't be our way back to Europe either." + +"But I didn't say we'd return to Europe." + +"What do you figure, then?" + +"I figure that after visiting these unusual waterways of Arabia +and Egypt, the Nautilus will go back down to the Indian Ocean, +perhaps through Mozambique Channel, perhaps off the Mascarene Islands, +and then make for the Cape of Good Hope." + +"And once we're at the Cape of Good Hope?" the Canadian asked +with typical persistence. + +"Well then, we'll enter that Atlantic Ocean with which we +aren't yet familiar. What's wrong, Ned my friend? +Are you tired of this voyage under the seas? Are you bored +with the constantly changing sight of these underwater wonders? +Speaking for myself, I'll be extremely distressed to see the end +of a voyage so few men will ever have a chance to make." + +"But don't you realize, Professor Aronnax," the Canadian replied, +"that soon we'll have been imprisoned for three whole months +aboard this Nautilus?" + +"No, Ned, I didn't realize it, I don't want to realize it, and I +don't keep track of every day and every hour." + +"But when will it be over?" + +"In its appointed time. Meanwhile there's nothing we can do about it, +and our discussions are futile. My gallant Ned, if you come and tell me, +'A chance to escape is available to us,' then I'll discuss it with you. +But that isn't the case, and in all honesty, I don't think Captain Nemo +ever ventures into European seas." + +This short dialogue reveals that in my mania for the Nautilus, I was +turning into the spitting image of its commander. + +As for Ned Land, he ended our talk in his best speechifying style: +"That's all fine and dandy. But in my humble opinion, a life +in jail is a life without joy." + +For four days until February 3, the Nautilus inspected the Gulf of Oman +at various speeds and depths. It seemed to be traveling at random, +as if hesitating over which course to follow, but it never crossed +the Tropic of Cancer. + +After leaving this gulf we raised Muscat for an instant, +the most important town in the country of Oman. I marveled at its +strange appearance in the midst of the black rocks surrounding it, +against which the white of its houses and forts stood out sharply. +I spotted the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant tips +of its minarets, and its fresh, leafy terraces. But it was only +a fleeting vision, and the Nautilus soon sank beneath the dark +waves of these waterways. + +Then our ship went along at a distance of six miles from the Arabic +coasts of Mahra and Hadhramaut, their undulating lines of mountains +relieved by a few ancient ruins. On February 5 we finally put +into the Gulf of Aden, a genuine funnel stuck into the neck of Bab +el Mandeb and bottling these Indian waters in the Red Sea. + +On February 6 the Nautilus cruised in sight of the city of Aden, +perched on a promontory connected to the continent by a narrow isthmus, +a sort of inaccessible Gibraltar whose fortifications the English +rebuilt after capturing it in 1839. I glimpsed the octagonal +minarets of this town, which used to be one of the wealthiest, +busiest commercial centers along this coast, as the Arab historian +Idrisi tells it. + +I was convinced that when Captain Nemo reached this point, +he would back out again; but I was mistaken, and much to my surprise, +he did nothing of the sort. + +The next day, February 7, we entered the Strait of Bab el Mandeb, +whose name means "Gate of Tears" in the Arabic language. +Twenty miles wide, it's only fifty-two kilometers long, +and with the Nautilus launched at full speed, clearing it was +the work of barely an hour. But I didn't see a thing, not even +Perim Island where the British government built fortifications +to strengthen Aden's position. There were many English and French +steamers plowing this narrow passageway, liners going from Suez +to Bombay, Calcutta, Melbourne, Réunion Island, and Mauritius; far too +much traffic for the Nautilus to make an appearance on the surface. +So it wisely stayed in midwater. + +Finally, at noon, we were plowing the waves of the Red Sea. + +The Red Sea: that great lake so famous in biblical traditions, +seldom replenished by rains, fed by no important rivers, +continually drained by a high rate of evaporation, its water level +dropping a meter and a half every year! If it were fully landlocked +like a lake, this odd gulf might dry up completely; on this score +it's inferior to its neighbors, the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea, +whose levels lower only to the point where their evaporation exactly +equals the amounts of water they take to their hearts. + +This Red Sea is 2,600 kilometers long with an average width of 240. +In the days of the + +Ptolemies and the Roman emperors, it was a great commercial +artery for the world, and when its isthmus has been cut through, +it will completely regain that bygone importance that the Suez +railways have already brought back in part. + +I would not even attempt to understand the whim that induced +Captain Nemo to take us into this gulf. But I wholeheartedly +approved of the Nautilus's entering it. It adopted a medium pace, +sometimes staying on the surface, sometimes diving to avoid some ship, +and so I could observe both the inside and topside of this +highly unusual sea. + +On February 8, as early as the first hours of daylight, +Mocha appeared before us: a town now in ruins, whose walls +would collapse at the mere sound of a cannon, and which shelters +a few leafy date trees here and there. This once-important city +used to contain six public marketplaces plus twenty-six mosques, +and its walls, protected by fourteen forts, fashioned a three-kilometer +girdle around it. + +Then the Nautilus drew near the beaches of Africa, where the sea is +considerably deeper. There, through the open panels and in a midwater +of crystal clarity, our ship enabled us to study wonderful bushes +of shining coral and huge chunks of rock wrapped in splendid green +furs of algae and fucus. What an indescribable sight, and what +a variety of settings and scenery where these reefs and volcanic +islands leveled off by the Libyan coast! But soon the Nautilus hugged +the eastern shore where these tree forms appeared in all their glory. +This was off the coast of Tihama, and there such zoophyte displays +not only flourished below sea level but they also fashioned +picturesque networks that unreeled as high as ten fathoms above it; +the latter were more whimsical but less colorful than the former, +which kept their bloom thanks to the moist vitality of the waters. + +How many delightful hours I spent in this way at the lounge window! +How many new specimens of underwater flora and fauna I +marveled at beneath the light of our electric beacon! +Mushroom-shaped fungus coral, some slate-colored sea anemone including +the species Thalassianthus aster among others, organ-pipe coral +arranged like flutes and just begging for a puff from the god Pan, +shells unique to this sea that dwell in madreporic cavities +and whose bases are twisted into squat spirals, and finally +a thousand samples of a polypary I hadn't observed until then: +the common sponge. + +First division in the polyp group, the class Spongiaria has been +created by scientists precisely for this unusual exhibit whose +usefulness is beyond dispute. The sponge is definitely not a plant, +as some naturalists still believe, but an animal of the lowest order, +a polypary inferior even to coral. Its animal nature isn't in doubt, +and we can't accept even the views of the ancients, who regarded +it as halfway between plant and animal. But I must say that +naturalists are not in agreement on the structural mode of sponges. +For some it's a polypary, and for others, such as Professor Milne-Edwards, +it's a single, solitary individual. + +The class Spongiaria contains about 300 species that are encountered +in a large number of seas and even in certain streams, where they've +been given the name freshwater sponges. But their waters of choice are +the Red Sea and the Mediterranean near the Greek Islands or the coast +of Syria. These waters witness the reproduction and growth of soft, +delicate bath sponges whose prices run as high as 150 francs apiece: +the yellow sponge from Syria, the horn sponge from Barbary, etc. +But since I had no hope of studying these zoophytes in the seaports +of the Levant, from which we were separated by the insuperable Isthmus +of Suez, I had to be content with observing them in the waters +of the Red Sea. + +So I called Conseil to my side, while at an average depth of eight +to nine meters, the Nautilus slowly skimmed every beautiful rock +on the easterly coast. + +There sponges grew in every shape, globular, stalklike, +leaflike, fingerlike. With reasonable accuracy, they lived up to +their nicknames of basket sponges, chalice sponges, distaff sponges, +elkhorn sponges, lion's paws, peacock's tails, and Neptune's gloves-- +designations bestowed on them by fishermen, more poetically inclined +than scientists. A gelatinous, semifluid substance coated the fibrous +tissue of these sponges, and from this tissue there escaped a steady +trickle of water that, after carrying sustenance to each cell, +was being expelled by a contracting movement. This jellylike substance +disappears when the polyp dies, emitting ammonia as it rots. +Finally nothing remains but the fibers, either gelatinous or made +of horn, that constitute your household sponge, which takes on +a russet hue and is used for various tasks depending on its degree +of elasticity, permeability, or resistance to saturation. + +These polyparies were sticking to rocks, shells of mollusks, and even +the stalks of water plants. They adorned the smallest crevices, +some sprawling, others standing or hanging like coral outgrowths. +I told Conseil that sponges are fished up in two ways, either by dragnet +or by hand. The latter method calls for the services of a diver, +but it's preferable because it spares the polypary's tissue, +leaving it with a much higher market value. + +Other zoophytes swarming near the sponges consisted chiefly of a very +elegant species of jellyfish; mollusks were represented by varieties +of squid that, according to Professor Orbigny, are unique to the Red Sea; +and reptiles by virgata turtles belonging to the genus Chelonia, +which furnished our table with a dainty but wholesome dish. + +As for fish, they were numerous and often remarkable. Here are +the ones that the Nautilus's nets most frequently hauled on board: +rays, including spotted rays that were oval in shape and brick +red in color, their bodies strewn with erratic blue speckles and +identifiable by their jagged double stings, silver-backed skates, +common stingrays with stippled tails, butterfly rays that looked +like huge two-meter cloaks flapping at middepth, toothless guitarfish +that were a type of cartilaginous fish closer to the shark, +trunkfish known as dromedaries that were one and a half feet long +and had humps ending in backward-curving stings, serpentine moray +eels with silver tails and bluish backs plus brown pectorals trimmed +in gray piping, a species of butterfish called the fiatola decked +out in thin gold stripes and the three colors of the French flag, +Montague blennies four decimeters long, superb jacks handsomely +embellished by seven black crosswise streaks with blue and yellow +fins plus gold and silver scales, snooks, standard mullet with +yellow heads, parrotfish, wrasse, triggerfish, gobies, etc., plus +a thousand other fish common to the oceans we had already crossed. + +On February 9 the Nautilus cruised in the widest part of the Red Sea, +measuring 190 miles straight across from Suakin on the west coast +to Qunfidha on the east coast. + +At noon that day after our position fix, Captain Nemo climbed onto +the platform, where I happened to be. I vowed not to let him go +below again without at least sounding him out on his future plans. +As soon as he saw me, he came over, graciously offered me a cigar, +and said to me: + +"Well, professor, are you pleased with this Red Sea? Have you seen +enough of its hidden wonders, its fish and zoophytes, its gardens +of sponges and forests of coral? Have you glimpsed the towns built +on its shores?" + +"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied, "and the Nautilus is wonderfully +suited to this whole survey. Ah, it's a clever boat!" + +"Yes, sir, clever, daring, and invulnerable! It fears neither +the Red Sea's dreadful storms nor its currents and reefs." + +"Indeed," I said, "this sea is mentioned as one of the worst, +and in the days of the ancients, if I'm not mistaken, it had +an abominable reputation." + +"Thoroughly abominable, Professor Aronnax. The Greek and Latin +historians can find nothing to say in its favor, and the Greek +geographer Strabo adds that it's especially rough during +the rainy season and the period of summer prevailing winds. +The Arab Idrisi, referring to it by the name Gulf of Colzoum, +relates that ships perished in large numbers on its sandbanks +and that no one risked navigating it by night. This, he claims, +is a sea subject to fearful hurricanes, strewn with inhospitable islands, +and 'with nothing good to offer,' either on its surface or in +its depths. As a matter of fact, the same views can also be found +in Arrian, Agatharchides, and Artemidorus." + +"One can easily see," I answered, "that those historians didn't +navigate aboard the Nautilus." + +"Indeed," the captain replied with a smile, "and in this respect, +the moderns aren't much farther along than the ancients. +It took many centuries to discover the mechanical power of steam! +Who knows whether we'll see a second Nautilus within the next 100 years! +Progress is slow, Professor Aronnax." + +"It's true," I replied. "Your ship is a century ahead of its time, +perhaps several centuries. It would be most unfortunate if such +a secret were to die with its inventor!" + +Captain Nemo did not reply. After some minutes of silence: + +"We were discussing," he said, "the views of ancient historians +on the dangers of navigating this Red Sea?" + +"True," I replied. "But weren't their fears exaggerated?" + +"Yes and no, Professor Aronnax," answered Captain Nemo, +who seemed to know "his Red Sea" by heart. "To a modern ship, +well rigged, solidly constructed, and in control of its course +thanks to obedient steam, some conditions are no longer hazardous +that offered all sorts of dangers to the vessels of the ancients. +Picture those early navigators venturing forth in sailboats +built from planks lashed together with palm-tree ropes, +caulked with powdered resin, and coated with dogfish grease. +They didn't even have instruments for taking their bearings, +they went by guesswork in the midst of currents they barely knew. +Under such conditions, shipwrecks had to be numerous. +But nowadays steamers providing service between Suez and the South Seas +have nothing to fear from the fury of this gulf, despite the contrary +winds of its monsoons. Their captains and passengers no longer +prepare for departure with sacrifices to placate the gods, +and after returning, they don't traipse in wreaths and gold ribbons +to say thanks at the local temple." + +"Agreed," I said. "And steam seems to have killed off all gratitude +in seamen's hearts. But since you seem to have made a special study +of this sea, captain, can you tell me how it got its name?" + +"Many explanations exist on the subject, Professor Aronnax. Would you +like to hear the views of one chronicler in the 14th century?" + +"Gladly." + +"This fanciful fellow claims the sea was given its name after +the crossing of the Israelites, when the Pharaoh perished in those +waves that came together again at Moses' command: + +To mark that miraculous sequel, the sea turned a red without equal. + +Thus no other course would do but to name it for its hue." + +"An artistic explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied, "but I'm unable +to rest content with it. So I'll ask you for your own personal views." + +"Here they come. To my thinking, Professor Aronnax, this 'Red Sea' +designation must be regarded as a translation of the Hebrew word +'Edrom,' and if the ancients gave it that name, it was because of +the unique color of its waters." + +"Until now, however, I've seen only clear waves, without any unique hue." + +"Surely, but as we move ahead to the far end of this gulf, +you'll note its odd appearance. I recall seeing the bay of El Tur +completely red, like a lake of blood." + +"And you attribute this color to the presence of microscopic algae?" + +"Yes. It's a purplish, mucilaginous substance produced by those tiny +buds known by the name trichodesmia, 40,000 of which are needed +to occupy the space of one square millimeter. Perhaps you'll +encounter them when we reach El Tur." + +"Hence, Captain Nemo, this isn't the first time you've gone through +the Red Sea aboard the Nautilus?" + +"No, sir." + +"Then, since you've already mentioned the crossing of the Israelites +and the catastrophe that befell the Egyptians, I would ask if you've ever +discovered any traces under the waters of that great historic event?" + +"No, professor, and for an excellent reason." + +"What's that?" + +"It's because that same locality where Moses crossed with all his people +is now so clogged with sand, camels can barely get their legs wet. +You can understand that my Nautilus wouldn't have enough +water for itself." + +"And that locality is . . . ?" I asked. + +"That locality lies a little above Suez in a sound that used to form +a deep estuary when the Red Sea stretched as far as the Bitter Lakes. +Now, whether or not their crossing was literally miraculous, +the Israelites did cross there in returning to the Promised Land, +and the Pharaoh's army did perish at precisely that locality. +So I think that excavating those sands would bring to light a great +many weapons and tools of Egyptian origin." + +"Obviously," I replied. "And for the sake of archaeology, let's hope +that sooner or later such excavations do take place, once new towns +are settled on the isthmus after the Suez Canal has been cut through-- +a canal, by the way, of little use to a ship such as the Nautilus!" + +"Surely, but of great use to the world at large," Captain Nemo said. +"The ancients well understood the usefulness to commerce of connecting +the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, but they never dreamed of cutting +a canal between the two, and instead they picked the Nile as their link. +If we can trust tradition, it was probably Egypt's King Sesostris +who started digging the canal needed to join the Nile with +the Red Sea. What's certain is that in 615 B.C. King Necho II +was hard at work on a canal that was fed by Nile water and ran +through the Egyptian plains opposite Arabia. This canal could +be traveled in four days, and it was so wide, two triple-tiered +galleys could pass through it abreast. Its construction was +continued by Darius the Great, son of Hystaspes, and probably +completed by King Ptolemy II. Strabo saw it used for shipping; +but the weakness of its slope between its starting point, near Bubastis, +and the Red Sea left it navigable only a few months out of the year. +This canal served commerce until the century of Rome's Antonine emperors; +it was then abandoned and covered with sand, subsequently reinstated +by Arabia's Caliph Omar I, and finally filled in for good in 761 +or 762 A.D. by Caliph Al-Mansur, in an effort to prevent supplies +from reaching Mohammed ibn Abdullah, who had rebelled against him. +During his Egyptian campaign, your General Napoleon Bonaparte +discovered traces of this old canal in the Suez desert, and when +the tide caught him by surprise, he wellnigh perished just a few +hours before rejoining his regiment at Hadjaroth, the very place +where Moses had pitched camp 3,300 years before him." + +"Well, captain, what the ancients hesitated to undertake, Mr. de +Lesseps is now finishing up; his joining of these two seas will +shorten the route from Cadiz to the East Indies by 9,000 kilometers, +and he'll soon change Africa into an immense island." + +"Yes, Professor Aronnax, and you have every right to be proud of your +fellow countryman. Such a man brings a nation more honor than the +greatest commanders! Like so many others, he began with difficulties +and setbacks, but he triumphed because he has the volunteer spirit. +And it's sad to think that this deed, which should have been an +international deed, which would have insured that any administration +went down in history, will succeed only through the efforts of one man. +So all hail to Mr. de Lesseps!" + +"Yes, all hail to that great French citizen," I replied, +quite startled by how emphatically Captain Nemo had just spoken. + +"Unfortunately," he went on, "I can't take you through that Suez Canal, +but the day after tomorrow, you'll be able to see the long jetties +of Port Said when we're in the Mediterranean." + +"In the Mediterranean!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes, professor. Does that amaze you?" + +"What amazes me is thinking we'll be there the day after tomorrow." + +"Oh really?" + +"Yes, captain, although since I've been aboard your vessel, +I should have formed the habit of not being amazed by anything!" + +"But what is it that startles you?" + +"The thought of how hideously fast the Nautilus will need to go, +if it's to double the Cape of Good Hope, circle around Africa, +and lie in the open Mediterranean by the day after tomorrow." + +"And who says it will circle Africa, professor? What's this talk +about doubling the Cape of Good Hope?" + +"But unless the Nautilus navigates on dry land and crosses +over the isthmus--" + +"Or under it, Professor Aronnax." + +"Under it?" + +"Surely," Captain Nemo replied serenely. "Under that tongue of land, +nature long ago made what man today is making on its surface." + +"What! There's a passageway?" + +"Yes, an underground passageway that I've named the Arabian Tunnel. +It starts below Suez and leads to the Bay of Pelusium." + +"But isn't that isthmus only composed of quicksand?" + +"To a certain depth. But at merely fifty meters, one encounters +a firm foundation of rock." + +"And it's by luck that you discovered this passageway?" +I asked, more and more startled. + +"Luck plus logic, professor, and logic even more than luck." + +"Captain, I hear you, but I can't believe my ears." + +"Oh, sir! The old saying still holds good: Aures habent et non +audient!* Not only does this passageway exist, but I've taken +advantage of it on several occasions. Without it, I wouldn't +have ventured today into such a blind alley as the Red Sea." + +*Latin: "They have ears but hear not." Ed. + +"Is it indiscreet to ask how you discovered this tunnel?" + +"Sir," the captain answered me, "there can be no secrets between men +who will never leave each other." + +I ignored this innuendo and waited for Captain Nemo's explanation. + +"Professor," he told me, "the simple logic of the naturalist led +me to discover this passageway, and I alone am familiar with it. +I'd noted that in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean there exist +a number of absolutely identical species of fish: eels, butterfish, +greenfish, bass, jewelfish, flying fish. Certain of this fact, +I wondered if there weren't a connection between the two seas. +If there were, its underground current had to go from the Red Sea +to the Mediterranean simply because of their difference in level. +So I caught a large number of fish in the vicinity of Suez. I slipped +copper rings around their tails and tossed them back into the sea. +A few months later off the coast of Syria, I recaptured a few +specimens of my fish, adorned with their telltale rings. +So this proved to me that some connection existed between the two seas. +I searched for it with my Nautilus, I discovered it, I ventured into it; +and soon, professor, you also will have cleared my Arabic tunnel!" + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +Arabian Tunnel + + +THE SAME DAY, I reported to Conseil and Ned Land that part of +the foregoing conversation directly concerning them. When I told +them we would be lying in Mediterranean waters within two days, +Conseil clapped his hands, but the Canadian shrugged his shoulders. + +"An underwater tunnel!" he exclaimed. "A connection between two seas! +Who ever heard of such malarkey!" + +"Ned my friend," Conseil replied, "had you ever heard of +the Nautilus? No, yet here it is! So don't shrug your shoulders +so blithely, and don't discount something with the feeble excuse +that you've never heard of it." + +"We'll soon see!" Ned Land shot back, shaking his head. +"After all, I'd like nothing better than to believe in your captain's +little passageway, and may Heaven grant it really does take us +to the Mediterranean." + +The same evening, at latitude 21 degrees 30' north, the Nautilus was +afloat on the surface of the sea and drawing nearer to the Arab coast. +I spotted Jidda, an important financial center for Egypt, Syria, Turkey, +and the East Indies. I could distinguish with reasonable clarity +the overall effect of its buildings, the ships made fast along +its wharves, and those bigger vessels whose draft of water +required them to drop anchor at the port's offshore mooring. +The sun, fairly low on the horizon, struck full force on the houses +in this town, accenting their whiteness. Outside the city limits, +some wood or reed huts indicated the quarter where the bedouins lived. + +Soon Jidda faded into the shadows of evening, and the Nautilus went +back beneath the mildly phosphorescent waters. + +The next day, February 10, several ships appeared, running on our +opposite tack. The Nautilus resumed its underwater navigating; +but at the moment of our noon sights, the sea was deserted and the ship +rose again to its waterline. + +With Ned and Conseil, I went to sit on the platform. The coast +to the east looked like a slightly blurred mass in a damp fog. + +Leaning against the sides of the skiff, we were chatting of one +thing and another, when Ned Land stretched his hand toward a point +in the water, saying to me: + +"See anything out there, professor?" + +"No, Ned," I replied, "but you know I don't have your eyes." + +"Take a good look," Ned went on. "There, ahead to starboard, +almost level with the beacon! Don't you see a mass that seems +to be moving around?" + +"Right," I said after observing carefully, "I can make out something +like a long, blackish object on the surface of the water." + +"A second Nautilus?" Conseil said. + +"No," the Canadian replied, "unless I'm badly mistaken, +that's some marine animal." + +"Are there whales in the Red Sea?" Conseil asked. + +"Yes, my boy," I replied, "they're sometimes found here." + +"That's no whale," continued Ned Land, whose eyes never strayed +from the object they had sighted. "We're old chums, whales and I, +and I couldn't mistake their little ways." + +"Let's wait and see," Conseil said. "The Nautilus is heading +that direction, and we'll soon know what we're in for." + +In fact, that blackish object was soon only a mile away from us. +It looked like a huge reef stranded in midocean. What was it? +I still couldn't make up my mind. + +"Oh, it's moving off! It's diving!" Ned Land exclaimed. +"Damnation! What can that animal be? It doesn't have a forked +tail like baleen whales or sperm whales, and its fins look +like sawed-off limbs." + +"But in that case--" I put in. + +"Good lord," the Canadian went on, "it's rolled over on its back, +and it's raising its breasts in the air!" + +"It's a siren!" Conseil exclaimed. "With all due respect to master, +it's an actual mermaid!" + +That word "siren" put me back on track, and I realized that the animal +belonged to the order Sirenia: marine creatures that legends +have turned into mermaids, half woman, half fish. + +"No," I told Conseil, "that's no mermaid, it's an unusual creature +of which only a few specimens are left in the Red Sea. That's a dugong." + +"Order Sirenia, group Pisciforma, subclass Monodelphia, class Mammalia, +branch Vertebrata," Conseil replied. + +And when Conseil has spoken, there's nothing else to be said. + +Meanwhile Ned Land kept staring. His eyes were gleaming with desire +at the sight of that animal. His hands were ready to hurl a harpoon. +You would have thought he was waiting for the right moment to jump +overboard and attack the creature in its own element. + +"Oh, sir," he told me in a voice trembling with excitement, +"I've never killed anything like that!" + +His whole being was concentrated in this last word. + +Just then Captain Nemo appeared on the platform. He spotted the dugong. +He understood the Canadian's frame of mind and addressed him directly: + +"If you held a harpoon, Mr. Land, wouldn't your hands be itching +to put it to work?" + +"Positively, sir." + +"And just for one day, would it displease you to return to your +fisherman's trade and add this cetacean to the list of those you've +already hunted down?" + +"It wouldn't displease me one bit." + +"All right, you can try your luck!" + +"Thank you, sir," Ned Land replied, his eyes ablaze. + +"Only," the captain went on, "I urge you to aim carefully at this animal, +in your own personal interest." + +"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?" I asked, despite the Canadian's +shrug of the shoulders. + +"Yes, sometimes," the captain replied. "These animals have been +known to turn on their assailants and capsize their longboats. +But with Mr. Land that danger isn't to be feared. His eye is sharp, +his arm is sure. If I recommend that he aim carefully at this dugong, +it's because the animal is justly regarded as fine game, and I know +Mr. Land doesn't despise a choice morsel." + +"Aha!" the Canadian put in. "This beast offers the added luxury +of being good to eat?" + +"Yes, Mr. Land. Its flesh is actual red meat, highly prized, +and set aside throughout Malaysia for the tables of aristocrats. +Accordingly, this excellent animal has been hunted so bloodthirstily that, +like its manatee relatives, it has become more and more scarce." + +"In that case, captain," Conseil said in all seriousness, +"on the offchance that this creature might be the last of its line, +wouldn't it be advisable to spare its life, in the interests of science?" + +"Maybe," the Canadian answered, "it would be better to hunt it down, +in the interests of mealtime." + +"Then proceed, Mr. Land," Captain Nemo replied. + +Just then, as mute and emotionless as ever, seven crewmen climbed +onto the platform. One carried a harpoon and line similar +to those used in whale fishing. Its deck paneling opened, +the skiff was wrenched from its socket and launched to sea. +Six rowers sat on the thwarts, and the coxswain took the tiller. +Ned, Conseil, and I found seats in the stern. + +"Aren't you coming, captain?" I asked. + +"No, sir, but I wish you happy hunting." + +The skiff pulled clear, and carried off by its six oars, it headed +swiftly toward the dugong, which by then was floating two miles +from the Nautilus. + +Arriving within a few cable lengths of the cetacean, our longboat +slowed down, and the sculls dipped noiselessly into the tranquil waters. +Harpoon in hand, Ned Land went to take his stand in the skiff's bow. +Harpoons used for hunting whales are usually attached to a very long +rope that pays out quickly when the wounded animal drags it with him. +But this rope measured no more than about ten fathoms, and its end +had simply been fastened to a small barrel that, while floating, +would indicate the dugong's movements beneath the waters. + +I stood up and could clearly observe the Canadian's adversary. +This dugong--which also boasts the name halicore--closely resembled +a manatee. Its oblong body ended in a very long caudal fin and +its lateral fins in actual fingers. It differs from the manatee +in that its upper jaw is armed with two long, pointed teeth that form +diverging tusks on either side. + +This dugong that Ned Land was preparing to attack was of +colossal dimensions, easily exceeding seven meters in length. +It didn't stir and seemed to be sleeping on the surface of the waves, +a circumstance that should have made it easier to capture. + +The skiff approached cautiously to within three fathoms of the animal. +The oars hung suspended above their rowlocks. I was crouching. +His body leaning slightly back, Ned Land brandished his harpoon +with expert hands. + +Suddenly a hissing sound was audible, and the dugong disappeared. +Although the harpoon had been forcefully hurled, it apparently +had hit only water. + +"Damnation!" exclaimed the furious Canadian. "I missed it!" + +"No," I said, "the animal's wounded, there's its blood; but your +weapon didn't stick in its body." + +"My harpoon! Get my harpoon!" Ned Land exclaimed. + +The sailors went back to their sculling, and the coxswain steered +the longboat toward the floating barrel. We fished up the harpoon, +and the skiff started off in pursuit of the animal. + +The latter returned from time to time to breathe at the surface +of the sea. Its wound hadn't weakened it because it went with +tremendous speed. Driven by energetic arms, the longboat flew +on its trail. Several times we got within a few fathoms of it, +and the Canadian hovered in readiness to strike; but then the dugong +would steal away with a sudden dive, and it proved impossible +to overtake the beast. + +I'll let you assess the degree of anger consuming our impatient +Ned Land. He hurled at the hapless animal the most potent swearwords +in the English language. For my part, I was simply distressed +to see this dugong outwit our every scheme. + +We chased it unflaggingly for a full hour, and I'd begun to think it would +prove too difficult to capture, when the animal got the untimely idea +of taking revenge on us, a notion it would soon have cause to regret. +It wheeled on the skiff, to assault us in its turn. + +This maneuver did not escape the Canadian. + +"Watch out!" he said. + +The coxswain pronounced a few words in his bizarre language, +and no doubt he alerted his men to keep on their guard. + +Arriving within twenty feet of the skiff, the dugong stopped, +sharply sniffing the air with its huge nostrils, pierced not at +the tip of its muzzle but on its topside. Then it gathered itself +and sprang at us. + +The skiff couldn't avoid the collision. Half overturned, +it shipped a ton or two of water that we had to bail out. +But thanks to our skillful coxswain, we were fouled on the bias rather +than broadside, so we didn't capsize. Clinging to the stempost, +Ned Land thrust his harpoon again and again into the gigantic animal, +which imbedded its teeth in our gunwale and lifted the longboat +out of the water as a lion would lift a deer. We were thrown on +top of each other, and I have no idea how the venture would have +ended had not the Canadian, still thirsting for the beast's blood, +finally pierced it to the heart. + +I heard its teeth grind on sheet iron, and the dugong disappeared, +taking our harpoon along with it. But the barrel soon popped up +on the surface, and a few moments later the animal's body appeared +and rolled over on its back. Our skiff rejoined it, took it in tow, +and headed to the Nautilus. + +It took pulleys of great strength to hoist this dugong onto the platform. +The beast weighed 5,000 kilograms. It was carved up in sight of +the Canadian, who remained to watch every detail of the operation. +At dinner the same day, my steward served me some slices of this flesh, +skillfully dressed by the ship's cook. I found it excellent, +even better than veal if not beef. + +The next morning, February 11, the Nautilus's pantry was +enriched by more dainty game. A covey of terns alighted on +the Nautilus. They were a species of Sterna nilotica unique to Egypt: +beak black, head gray and stippled, eyes surrounded by white dots, +back, wings, and tail grayish, belly and throat white, feet red. +Also caught were a couple dozen Nile duck, superior-tasting wildfowl +whose neck and crown of the head are white speckled with black. + +By then the Nautilus had reduced speed. It moved ahead at a saunter, +so to speak. I observed that the Red Sea's water was becoming less +salty the closer we got to Suez. + +Near five o'clock in the afternoon, we sighted Cape Ras Mohammed +to the north. This cape forms the tip of Arabia Petraea, which lies +between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. + +The Nautilus entered the Strait of Jubal, which leads to the Gulf +of Suez. I could clearly make out a high mountain crowning Ras Mohammed +between the two gulfs. It was Mt. Horeb, that biblical Mt. Sinai on +whose summit Moses met God face to face, that summit the mind's +eye always pictures as wreathed in lightning. + +At six o'clock, sometimes afloat and sometimes submerged, the Nautilus +passed well out from El Tur, which sat at the far end of a bay whose +waters seemed to be dyed red, as Captain Nemo had already mentioned. +Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence occasionally broken +by the calls of pelicans and nocturnal birds, by the sound of surf +chafing against rocks, or by the distant moan of a steamer churning +the waves of the gulf with noisy blades. + +From eight to nine o'clock, the Nautilus stayed a few meters +beneath the waters. According to my calculations, we had +to be quite close to Suez. Through the panels in the lounge, +I spotted rocky bottoms brightly lit by our electric rays. +It seemed to me that the strait was getting narrower and narrower. + +At 9:15 when our boat returned to the surface, I climbed onto +the platform. I was quite impatient to clear Captain Nemo's tunnel, +couldn't sit still, and wanted to breathe the fresh night air. + +Soon, in the shadows, I spotted a pale signal light glimmering +a mile away, half discolored by mist. + +"A floating lighthouse," said someone next to me. + +I turned and discovered the captain. + +"That's the floating signal light of Suez," he went on. +"It won't be long before we reach the entrance to the tunnel." + +"It can't be very easy to enter it." + +"No, sir. Accordingly, I'm in the habit of staying in the pilothouse +and directing maneuvers myself. And now if you'll kindly go below, +Professor Aronnax, the Nautilus is about to sink beneath the waves, +and it will only return to the surface after we've cleared +the Arabian Tunnel." + +I followed Captain Nemo. The hatch closed, the ballast tanks filled +with water, and the submersible sank some ten meters down. + +Just as I was about to repair to my stateroom, the captain stopped me. + +"Professor," he said to me, "would you like to go with me +to the wheelhouse?" + +"I was afraid to ask," I replied. + +"Come along, then. This way, you'll learn the full story about this +combination underwater and underground navigating." + +Captain Nemo led me to the central companionway. In midstair +he opened a door, went along the upper gangways, and arrived at +the wheelhouse, which, as you know, stands at one end of the platform. + +It was a cabin measuring six feet square and closely resembling +those occupied by the helmsmen of steamboats on the Mississippi +or Hudson rivers. In the center stood an upright wheel +geared to rudder cables running to the Nautilus's stern. +Set in the cabin's walls were four deadlights, windows of biconvex +glass that enabled the man at the helm to see in every direction. + +The cabin was dark; but my eyes soon grew accustomed to its darkness +and I saw the pilot, a muscular man whose hands rested on the pegs +of the wheel. Outside, the sea was brightly lit by the beacon +shining behind the cabin at the other end of the platform. + +"Now," Captain Nemo said, "let's look for our passageway." + +Electric wires linked the pilothouse with the engine room, +and from this cabin the captain could simultaneously signal heading +and speed to his Nautilus. He pressed a metal button and at once +the propeller slowed down significantly. + +I stared in silence at the high, sheer wall we were skirting just then, +the firm base of the sandy mountains on the coast. For an hour we +went along it in this fashion, staying only a few meters away. +Captain Nemo never took his eyes off the two concentric circles +of the compass hanging in the cabin. At a mere gesture from him, +the helmsman would instantly change the Nautilus's heading. + +Standing by the port deadlight, I spotted magnificent coral substructures, +zoophytes, algae, and crustaceans with enormous quivering claws +that stretched forth from crevices in the rock. + +At 10:15 Captain Nemo himself took the helm. Dark and deep, a wide +gallery opened ahead of us. The Nautilus was brazenly swallowed up. +Strange rumblings were audible along our sides. It was the water +of the Red Sea, hurled toward the Mediterranean by the tunnel's slope. +Our engines tried to offer resistance by churning the waves +with propeller in reverse, but the Nautilus went with the torrent, +as swift as an arrow. + +Along the narrow walls of this passageway, I saw only brilliant streaks, +hard lines, fiery furrows, all scrawled by our speeding electric light. +With my hand I tried to curb the pounding of my heart. + +At 10:35 Captain Nemo left the steering wheel and turned to me: + +"The Mediterranean," he told me. + +In less than twenty minutes, swept along by the torrent, the Nautilus +had just cleared the Isthmus of Suez. + + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +The Greek Islands + + +AT SUNRISE the next morning, February 12, the Nautilus rose +to the surface of the waves. + +I rushed onto the platform. The hazy silhouette of Pelusium was +outlined three miles to the south. A torrent had carried us from +one sea to the other. But although that tunnel was easy to descend, +going back up must have been impossible. + +Near seven o'clock Ned and Conseil joined me. Those two inseparable +companions had slept serenely, utterly unaware of the Nautilus's feat. + +"Well, Mr. Naturalist," the Canadian asked in a gently mocking tone, +"and how about that Mediterranean?" + +"We're floating on its surface, Ned my friend." + +"What!" Conseil put in. "Last night . . . ?" + +"Yes, last night, in a matter of minutes, we cleared +that insuperable isthmus." + +"I don't believe a word of it," the Canadian replied. + +"And you're in the wrong, Mr. Land," I went on. "That flat coastline +curving southward is the coast of Egypt." + +"Tell it to the marines, sir," answered the stubborn Canadian. + +"But if master says so," Conseil told him, "then so be it." + +"What's more, Ned," I said, "Captain Nemo himself did the honors +in his tunnel, and I stood beside him in the pilothouse while +he steered the Nautilus through that narrow passageway." + +"You hear, Ned?" Conseil said. + +"And you, Ned, who have such good eyes," I added, "you can spot +the jetties of Port Said stretching out to sea." + +The Canadian looked carefully. + +"Correct," he said. "You're right, professor, and your captain's +a superman. We're in the Mediterranean. Fine. So now let's have +a chat about our little doings, if you please, but in such a way +that nobody overhears." + +I could easily see what the Canadian was driving at. In any event, +I thought it best to let him have his chat, and we all three went +to sit next to the beacon, where we were less exposed to the damp +spray from the billows. + +"Now, Ned, we're all ears," I said. "What have you to tell us?" + +"What I've got to tell you is very simple," the Canadian replied. +"We're in Europe, and before Captain Nemo's whims take us deep into +the polar seas or back to Oceania, I say we should leave this Nautilus." + +I confess that such discussions with the Canadian always baffled me. +I didn't want to restrict my companions' freedom in any way, +and yet I had no desire to leave Captain Nemo. Thanks to him +and his submersible, I was finishing my undersea research by +the day, and I was rewriting my book on the great ocean depths +in the midst of its very element. Would I ever again have such +an opportunity to observe the ocean's wonders? Absolutely not! +So I couldn't entertain this idea of leaving the Nautilus before +completing our course of inquiry. + +"Ned my friend," I said, "answer me honestly. Are you bored +with this ship? Are you sorry that fate has cast you into +Captain Nemo's hands?" + +The Canadian paused for a short while before replying. +Then, crossing his arms: + +"Honestly," he said, "I'm not sorry about this voyage under the seas. +I'll be glad to have done it, but in order to have done it, +it has to finish. That's my feeling." + +"It will finish, Ned." + +"Where and when?" + +"Where? I don't know. When? I can't say. Or, rather, I suppose +it will be over when these seas have nothing more to teach us. +Everything that begins in this world must inevitably come to an end." + +"I think as master does," Conseil replied, "and it's extremely +possible that after crossing every sea on the globe, Captain Nemo +will bid the three of us a fond farewell." + +"Bid us a fond farewell?" the Canadian exclaimed. "You mean beat +us to a fare-thee-well!" + +"Let's not exaggerate, Mr. Land," I went on. "We have nothing +to fear from the captain, but neither do I share Conseil's views. +We're privy to the Nautilus's secrets, and I don't expect that +its commander, just to set us free, will meekly stand by while we +spread those secrets all over the world." + +"But in that case what do you expect?" the Canadian asked. + +"That we'll encounter advantageous conditions for escaping just +as readily in six months as now." + +"Great Scott!" Ned Land put in. "And where, if you please, +will we be in six months, Mr. Naturalist?" + +"Perhaps here, perhaps in China. You know how quickly the +Nautilus moves. It crosses oceans like swallows cross the air or +express trains continents. It doesn't fear heavily traveled seas. +Who can say it won't hug the coasts of France, England, or America, +where an escape attempt could be carried out just as effectively as here." + +"Professor Aronnax," the Canadian replied, "your arguments +are rotten to the core. You talk way off in the future: +'We'll be here, we'll be there!' Me, I'm talking about right now: +we are here, and we must take advantage of it!" + +I was hard pressed by Ned Land's common sense, and I felt myself +losing ground. I no longer knew what arguments to put forward +on my behalf. + +"Sir," Ned went on, "let's suppose that by some impossibility, +Captain Nemo offered your freedom to you this very day. +Would you accept?" + +"I don't know," I replied. + +"And suppose he adds that this offer he's making you today won't +ever be repeated, then would you accept?" + +I did not reply. + +"And what thinks our friend Conseil?" Ned Land asked. + +"Your friend Conseil," the fine lad replied serenely, "has nothing to say +for himself. He's a completely disinterested party on this question. +Like his master, like his comrade Ned, he's a bachelor. +Neither wife, parents, nor children are waiting for him back home. +He's in master's employ, he thinks like master, he speaks like master, +and much to his regret, he can't be counted on to form a majority. +Only two persons face each other here: master on one side, +Ned Land on the other. That said, your friend Conseil is listening, +and he's ready to keep score." + +I couldn't help smiling as Conseil wiped himself out of existence. +Deep down, the Canadian must have been overjoyed at not having +to contend with him. + +"Then, sir," Ned Land said, "since Conseil is no more, we'll have this +discussion between just the two of us. I've talked, you've listened. +What's your reply?" + +It was obvious that the matter had to be settled, and evasions +were distasteful to me. + +"Ned my friend," I said, "here's my reply. You have right +on your side and my arguments can't stand up to yours. +It will never do to count on Captain Nemo's benevolence. +The most ordinary good sense would forbid him to set us free. +On the other hand, good sense decrees that we take advantage of our +first opportunity to leave the Nautilus." + +"Fine, Professor Aronnax, that's wisely said." + +"But one proviso," I said, "just one. The opportunity must +be the real thing. Our first attempt to escape must succeed, +because if it misfires, we won't get a second chance, and Captain Nemo +will never forgive us." + +"That's also well put," the Canadian replied. "But your proviso applies +to any escape attempt, whether it happens in two years or two days. +So this is still the question: if a promising opportunity comes up, +we have to grab it." + +"Agreed. And now, Ned, will you tell me what you mean by +a promising opportunity?" + +"One that leads the Nautilus on a cloudy night within a short +distance of some European coast." + +"And you'll try to get away by swimming?" + +"Yes, if we're close enough to shore and the ship's afloat on +the surface. No, if we're well out and the ship's navigating +under the waters." + +"And in that event?" + +"In that event I'll try to get hold of the skiff. I know how to +handle it. We'll stick ourselves inside, undo the bolts, and rise +to the surface, without the helmsman in the bow seeing a thing." + +"Fine, Ned. Stay on the lookout for such an opportunity, +but don't forget, one slipup will finish us." + +"I won't forget, sir." + +"And now, Ned, would you like to know my overall thinking on your plan?" + +"Gladly, Professor Aronnax." + +"Well then, I think--and I don't mean 'I hope'--that your promising +opportunity won't ever arise." + +"Why not?" + +"Because Captain Nemo recognizes that we haven't given up all +hope of recovering our freedom, and he'll keep on his guard, +above all in seas within sight of the coasts of Europe." + +"I'm of master's opinion," Conseil said. + +"We'll soon see," Ned Land replied, shaking his head with +a determined expression. + +"And now, Ned Land," I added, "let's leave it at that. Not another word +on any of this. The day you're ready, alert us and we're with you. +I turn it all over to you." + +That's how we ended this conversation, which later was to have +such serious consequences. At first, I must say, events seemed +to confirm my forecasts, much to the Canadian's despair. +Did Captain Nemo view us with distrust in these heavily traveled seas, +or did he simply want to hide from the sight of those ships +of every nation that plowed the Mediterranean? I have no idea, +but usually he stayed in midwater and well out from any coast. +Either the Nautilus surfaced only enough to let its pilothouse emerge, +or it slipped away to the lower depths, although, between the +Greek Islands and Asia Minor, we didn't find bottom even at +2,000 meters down. + +Accordingly, I became aware of the isle of Karpathos, one of +the Sporades Islands, only when Captain Nemo placed his finger +over a spot on the world map and quoted me this verse from Virgil: + +Est in Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates + +Caeruleus Proteus . . .* + +*Latin: "There in King Neptune's domain by Karpathos, his spokesman +/ is azure-hued Proteus . . . " Ed. + +It was indeed that bygone abode of Proteus, the old shepherd of +King Neptune's flocks: an island located between Rhodes and Crete, +which Greeks now call Karpathos, Italians Scarpanto. Through the lounge +window I could see only its granite bedrock. + +The next day, February 14, I decided to spend a few hours studying +the fish of this island group; but for whatever reason, the panels +remained hermetically sealed. After determining the Nautilus's heading, +I noted that it was proceeding toward the ancient island of Crete, +also called Candia. At the time I had shipped aboard the Abraham Lincoln, +this whole island was in rebellion against its tyrannical rulers, +the Ottoman Empire of Turkey. But since then I had absolutely no idea +what happened to this revolution, and Captain Nemo, deprived of all +contact with the shore, was hardly the man to keep me informed. + +So I didn't allude to this event when, that evening, I chanced to be +alone with the captain in the lounge. Besides, he seemed silent +and preoccupied. Then, contrary to custom, he ordered that both +panels in the lounge be opened, and going from the one to the other, +he carefully observed the watery mass. For what purpose? +I hadn't a guess, and for my part, I spent my time studying the fish +that passed before my eyes. + +Among others I noted that sand goby mentioned by Aristotle and commonly +known by the name sea loach, which is encountered exclusively in the salty +waters next to the Nile Delta. Near them some semiphosphorescent red +porgy rolled by, a variety of gilthead that the Egyptians ranked among +their sacred animals, lauding them in religious ceremonies when their +arrival in the river's waters announced the fertile flood season. +I also noticed some wrasse known as the tapiro, three decimeters long, +bony fish with transparent scales whose bluish gray color is mixed +with red spots; they're enthusiastic eaters of marine vegetables, +which gives them an exquisite flavor; hence these tapiro were much +in demand by the epicures of ancient Rome, and their entrails +were dressed with brains of peacock, tongue of flamingo, +and testes of moray to make that divine platter that so enraptured +the Roman emperor Vitellius. + +Another resident of these seas caught my attention and revived +all my memories of antiquity. This was the remora, which travels +attached to the bellies of sharks; as the ancients tell it, +when these little fish cling to the undersides of a ship, they can +bring it to a halt, and by so impeding + +Mark Antony's vessel during the Battle of Actium, one of them facilitated +the victory of Augustus Caesar. From such slender threads hang +the destinies of nations! I also observed some wonderful snappers +belonging to the order Lutianida, sacred fish for the Greeks, who claimed +they could drive off sea monsters from the waters they frequent; +their Greek name anthias means "flower," and they live up to it +in the play of their colors and in those fleeting reflections that +turn their dorsal fins into watered silk; their hues are confined +to a gamut of reds, from the pallor of pink to the glow of ruby. +I couldn't take my eyes off these marine wonders, when I was suddenly +jolted by an unexpected apparition. + +In the midst of the waters, a man appeared, a diver carrying a little +leather bag at his belt. It was no corpse lost in the waves. +It was a living man, swimming vigorously, sometimes disappearing +to breathe at the surface, then instantly diving again. + +I turned to Captain Nemo, and in an agitated voice: + +"A man! A castaway!" I exclaimed. "We must rescue him at all cost!" + +The captain didn't reply but went to lean against the window. + +The man drew near, and gluing his face to the panel, he stared at us. + +To my deep astonishment, Captain Nemo gave him a signal. +The diver answered with his hand, immediately swam up to the surface +of the sea, and didn't reappear. + +"Don't be alarmed," the captain told me. "That's Nicolas from +Cape Matapan, nicknamed 'Il Pesce.'* He's well known throughout +the Cyclades Islands. A bold diver! Water is his true element, +and he lives in the sea more than on shore, going constantly from +one island to another, even to Crete." + +*Italian: "The Fish." Ed. + +"You know him, captain?" + +"Why not, Professor Aronnax?" + +This said, Captain Nemo went to a cabinet standing near the lounge's +left panel. Next to this cabinet I saw a chest bound with hoops +of iron, its lid bearing a copper plaque that displayed the Nautilus's +monogram with its motto Mobilis in Mobili. + +Just then, ignoring my presence, the captain opened this cabinet, +a sort of safe that contained a large number of ingots. + +They were gold ingots. And they represented an enormous sum of money. +Where had this precious metal come from? How had the captain +amassed this gold, and what was he about to do with it? + +I didn't pronounce a word. I gaped. Captain Nemo took out the ingots +one by one and arranged them methodically inside the chest, filling it +to the top. At which point I estimate that it held more than 1,000 +kilograms of gold, in other words, close to 5,000,000 francs. + +After securely fastening the chest, Captain Nemo wrote an address +on its lid in characters that must have been modern Greek. + +This done, the captain pressed a button whose wiring was in +communication with the crew's quarters. Four men appeared and, +not without difficulty, pushed the chest out of the lounge. +Then I heard them hoist it up the iron companionway by means of pulleys. + +Just then Captain Nemo turned to me: + +"You were saying, professor?" he asked me. + +"I wasn't saying a thing, captain." + +"Then, sir, with your permission, I'll bid you good evening." + +And with that, Captain Nemo left the lounge. + +I reentered my stateroom, very puzzled, as you can imagine. +I tried in vain to fall asleep. I kept searching for a relationship +between the appearance of the diver and that chest filled with gold. +Soon, from certain rolling and pitching movements, I sensed that +the Nautilus had left the lower strata and was back on the surface +of the water. + +Then I heard the sound of footsteps on the platform. +I realized that the skiff was being detached and launched to sea. +For an instant it bumped the Nautilus's side, then all sounds ceased. + +Two hours later, the same noises, the same comings and goings, +were repeated. Hoisted on board, the longboat was readjusted into +its socket, and the Nautilus plunged back beneath the waves. + +So those millions had been delivered to their address. At what spot +on the continent? Who was the recipient of Captain Nemo's gold? + +The next day I related the night's events to Conseil and the Canadian, +events that had aroused my curiosity to a fever pitch. +My companions were as startled as I was. + +"But where does he get those millions?" Ned Land asked. + +To this no reply was possible. After breakfast I made my way +to the lounge and went about my work. I wrote up my notes until +five o'clock in the afternoon. Just then--was it due to some +personal indisposition?--I felt extremely hot and had to take off +my jacket made of fan mussel fabric. A perplexing circumstance +because we weren't in the low latitudes, and besides, once the Nautilus +was submerged, it shouldn't be subject to any rise in temperature. +I looked at the pressure gauge. It marked a depth of sixty feet, +a depth beyond the reach of atmospheric heat. + +I kept on working, but the temperature rose to the point +of becoming unbearable. + +"Could there be a fire on board?" I wondered. + +I was about to leave the lounge when Captain Nemo entered. +He approached the thermometer, consulted it, and turned to me: + +"42 degrees centigrade," he said. + +"I've detected as much, captain," I replied, "and if it gets even +slightly hotter, we won't be able to stand it." + +"Oh, professor, it won't get any hotter unless we want it to!" + +"You mean you can control this heat?" + +"No, but I can back away from the fireplace producing it." + +"So it's outside?" + +"Surely. We're cruising in a current of boiling water." + +"It can't be!" I exclaimed. + +"Look." + +The panels had opened, and I could see a completely white +sea around the Nautilus. Steaming sulfurous fumes uncoiled +in the midst of waves bubbling like water in a boiler. +I leaned my hand against one of the windows, but the heat was so great, +I had to snatch it back. + +"Where are we?" I asked. + +"Near the island of Santorini, professor," the captain answered me, +"and right in the channel that separates the volcanic islets +of Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni. I wanted to offer you the unusual +sight of an underwater eruption." + +"I thought," I said, "that the formation of such new islands had +come to an end." + +"Nothing ever comes to an end in these volcanic waterways," +Captain Nemo replied, "and thanks to its underground fires, +our globe is continuously under construction in these regions. +According to the Latin historians Cassiodorus and Pliny, by the year +19 of the Christian era, a new island, the divine Thera, had already +appeared in the very place these islets have more recently formed. +Then Thera sank under the waves, only to rise and sink once more +in the year 69 A.D. From that day to this, such plutonic construction +work has been in abeyance. But on February 3, 1866, a new islet +named George Island emerged in the midst of sulfurous steam near +Nea Kameni and was fused to it on the 6th of the same month. +Seven days later, on February 13, the islet of Aphroessa appeared, +leaving a ten-meter channel between itself and Nea Kameni. I was +in these seas when that phenomenon occurred and I was able to observe +its every phase. The islet of Aphroessa was circular in shape, +measuring 300 feet in diameter and thirty feet in height. +It was made of black, glassy lava mixed with bits of feldspar. +Finally, on March 10, a smaller islet called Reka appeared next to +Nea Kameni, and since then, these three islets have fused to form +one single, selfsame island." + +"What about this channel we're in right now?" I asked. + +"Here it is," Captain Nemo replied, showing me a chart of the +Greek Islands. "You observe that I've entered the new islets +in their place." + +"But will this channel fill up one day?" + +"Very likely, Professor Aronnax, because since 1866 eight little +lava islets have surged up in front of the port of St. Nicolas +on Palea Kameni. So it's obvious that Nea and Palea will join +in days to come. In the middle of the Pacific, tiny infusoria +build continents, but here they're built by volcanic phenomena. +Look, sir! Look at the construction work going on under these waves." + +I returned to the window. The Nautilus was no longer moving. +The heat had become unbearable. From the white it had recently been, +the sea was turning red, a coloration caused by the presence +of iron salts. Although the lounge was hermetically sealed, it was +filling with an intolerable stink of sulfur, and I could see scarlet +flames of such brightness, they overpowered our electric light. + +I was swimming in perspiration, I was stifling, I was about to be cooked. +Yes, I felt myself cooking in actual fact! + +"We can't stay any longer in this boiling water," I told the captain. + +"No, it wouldn't be advisable," replied Nemo the Emotionless. + +He gave an order. The Nautilus tacked about and retreated from this +furnace it couldn't brave with impunity. A quarter of an hour later, +we were breathing fresh air on the surface of the waves. + +It then occurred to me that if Ned had chosen these waterways +for our escape attempt, we wouldn't have come out alive from this +sea of fire. + +The next day, February 16, we left this basin, which tallies depths +of 3,000 meters between Rhodes and Alexandria, and passing well out +from Cerigo Island after doubling Cape Matapan, the Nautilus left +the Greek Islands behind. + + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +The Mediterranean in Forty-Eight Hours + + +THE MEDITERRANEAN, your ideal blue sea: to Greeks simply "the sea," +to Hebrews "the great sea," to Romans mare nostrum.* Bordered +by orange trees, aloes, cactus, and maritime pine trees, +perfumed with the scent of myrtle, framed by rugged mountains, +saturated with clean, transparent air but continuously under +construction by fires in the earth, this sea is a genuine battlefield +where Neptune and Pluto still struggle for world domination. +Here on these beaches and waters, says the French historian Michelet, +a man is revived by one of the most invigorating climates in the world. + +*Latin: "our sea." Ed. + +But as beautiful as it was, I could get only a quick look at this +basin whose surface area comprises 2,000,000 square kilometers. +Even Captain Nemo's personal insights were denied me, +because that mystifying individual didn't appear one single time +during our high-speed crossing. I estimate that the Nautilus +covered a track of some 600 leagues under the waves of this sea, +and this voyage was accomplished in just twenty-four hours times two. +Departing from the waterways of Greece on the morning of February 16, +we cleared the Strait of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th. + +It was obvious to me that this Mediterranean, pinned in the middle +of those shores he wanted to avoid, gave Captain Nemo no pleasure. +Its waves and breezes brought back too many memories, if not too +many regrets. Here he no longer had the ease of movement and freedom +of maneuver that the oceans allowed him, and his Nautilus felt +cramped so close to the coasts of both Africa and Europe. + +Accordingly, our speed was twenty-five miles (that is, +twelve four-kilometer leagues) per hour. Needless to say, +Ned Land had to give up his escape plans, much to his distress. +Swept along at the rate of twelve to thirteen meters per second, +he could hardly make use of the skiff. Leaving the Nautilus +under these conditions would have been like jumping off a train +racing at this speed, a rash move if there ever was one. +Moreover, to renew our air supply, the submersible rose to the surface +of the waves only at night, and relying solely on compass and log, +it steered by dead reckoning. + +Inside the Mediterranean, then, I could catch no more of +its fast-passing scenery than a traveler might see from an +express train; in other words, I could view only the distant +horizons because the foregrounds flashed by like lightning. +But Conseil and I were able to observe those Mediterranean fish +whose powerful fins kept pace for a while in the Nautilus's waters. +We stayed on watch before the lounge windows, and our notes enable +me to reconstruct, in a few words, the ichthyology of this sea. + +Among the various fish inhabiting it, some I viewed, others I glimpsed, +and the rest I missed completely because of the Nautilus's speed. +Kindly allow me to sort them out using this whimsical system +of classification. It will at least convey the quickness +of my observations. + +In the midst of the watery mass, brightly lit by our electric beams, +there snaked past those one-meter lampreys that are common +to nearly every clime. A type of ray from the genus Oxyrhynchus, +five feet wide, had a white belly with a spotted, ash-gray back +and was carried along by the currents like a huge, wide-open shawl. +Other rays passed by so quickly I couldn't tell if they deserved that +name "eagle ray" coined by the ancient Greeks, or those designations +of "rat ray," "bat ray," and "toad ray" that modern fishermen +have inflicted on them. Dogfish known as topes, twelve feet long +and especially feared by divers, were racing with each other. +Looking like big bluish shadows, thresher sharks went by, +eight feet long and gifted with an extremely acute sense of smell. +Dorados from the genus Sparus, some measuring up to thirteen +decimeters, appeared in silver and azure costumes encircled +with ribbons, which contrasted with the dark color of their fins; +fish sacred to the goddess Venus, their eyes set in brows of gold; +a valuable species that patronizes all waters fresh or salt, +equally at home in rivers, lakes, and oceans, living in every clime, +tolerating any temperature, their line dating back to prehistoric times +on this earth yet preserving all its beauty from those far-off days. +Magnificent sturgeons, nine to ten meters long and extremely fast, +banged their powerful tails against the glass of our panels, +showing bluish backs with small brown spots; they resemble sharks, +without equaling their strength, and are encountered in every sea; +in the spring they delight in swimming up the great rivers, +fighting the currents of the Volga, Danube, Po, Rhine, Loire, and Oder, +while feeding on herring, mackerel, salmon, and codfish; although they +belong to the class of cartilaginous fish, they rate as a delicacy; +they're eaten fresh, dried, marinated, or salt-preserved, +and in olden times they were borne in triumph to the table of +the Roman epicure Lucullus. + +But whenever the Nautilus drew near the surface, those denizens +of the Mediterranean I could observe most productively belonged +to the sixty-third genus of bony fish. These were tuna from +the genus Scomber, blue-black on top, silver on the belly armor, +their dorsal stripes giving off a golden gleam. They are said to +follow ships in search of refreshing shade from the hot tropical sun, +and they did just that with the Nautilus, as they had once done +with the vessels of the Count de La Pérouse. For long hours they +competed in speed with our submersible. I couldn't stop marveling +at these animals so perfectly cut out for racing, their heads small, +their bodies sleek, spindle-shaped, and in some cases over three +meters long, their pectoral fins gifted with remarkable strength, +their caudal fins forked. Like certain flocks of birds, whose speed +they equal, these tuna swim in triangle formation, which prompted +the ancients to say they'd boned up on geometry and military strategy. +And yet they can't escape the Provençal fishermen, who prize them +as highly as did the ancient inhabitants of Turkey and Italy; +and these valuable animals, as oblivious as if they were deaf +and blind, leap right into the Marseilles tuna nets and perish +by the thousands. + +Just for the record, I'll mention those Mediterranean fish +that Conseil and I barely glimpsed. There were whitish eels +of the species Gymnotus fasciatus that passed like elusive wisps +of steam, conger eels three to four meters long that were tricked +out in green, blue, and yellow, three-foot hake with a liver +that makes a dainty morsel, wormfish drifting like thin seaweed, +sea robins that poets call lyrefish and seamen pipers and whose snouts +have two jagged triangular plates shaped like old Homer's lyre, +swallowfish swimming as fast as the bird they're named after, +redheaded groupers whose dorsal fins are trimmed with filaments, +some shad (spotted with black, gray, brown, blue, yellow, and green) +that actually respond to tinkling handbells, splendid diamond-shaped +turbot that were like aquatic pheasants with yellowish fins stippled +in brown and the left topside mostly marbled in brown and yellow, +finally schools of wonderful red mullet, real oceanic birds of paradise +that ancient Romans bought for as much as 10,000 sesterces apiece, +and which they killed at the table, so they could heartlessly watch it +change color from cinnabar red when alive to pallid white when dead. + +And as for other fish common to the Atlantic and Mediterranean, I was +unable to observe miralets, triggerfish, puffers, seahorses, +jewelfish, trumpetfish, blennies, gray mullet, wrasse, smelt, +flying fish, anchovies, sea bream, porgies, garfish, or any of +the chief representatives of the order Pleuronecta, such as sole, +flounder, plaice, dab, and brill, simply because of the dizzying +speed with which the Nautilus hustled through these opulent waters. + +As for marine mammals, on passing by the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, I +thought I recognized two or three sperm whales equipped with the single +dorsal fin denoting the genus Physeter, some pilot whales from +the genus Globicephalus exclusive to the Mediterranean, the forepart +of the head striped with small distinct lines, and also a dozen +seals with white bellies and black coats, known by the name monk +seals and just as solemn as if they were three-meter Dominicans. + +For his part, Conseil thought he spotted a turtle six feet wide +and adorned with three protruding ridges that ran lengthwise. +I was sorry to miss this reptile, because from Conseil's description, +I believe I recognized the leatherback turtle, a pretty rare species. +For my part, I noted only some loggerhead turtles with long carapaces. + +As for zoophytes, for a few moments I was able to marvel at a wonderful, +orange-hued hydra from the genus Galeolaria that clung to the glass +of our port panel; it consisted of a long, lean filament that spread +out into countless branches and ended in the most delicate lace +ever spun by the followers of Arachne. Unfortunately I couldn't +fish up this wonderful specimen, and surely no other Mediterranean +zoophytes would have been offered to my gaze, if, on the evening +of the 16th, the Nautilus hadn't slowed down in an odd fashion. +This was the situation. + +By then we were passing between Sicily and the coast +of Tunisia. In the cramped space between Cape Bon and the +Strait of Messina, the sea bottom rises almost all at once. +It forms an actual ridge with only seventeen meters of water +remaining above it, while the depth on either side is 170 meters. +Consequently, the Nautilus had to maneuver with caution so as not +to bump into this underwater barrier. + +I showed Conseil the position of this long reef on our chart +of the Mediterranean. + +"But with all due respect to master," Conseil ventured to observe, +"it's like an actual isthmus connecting Europe to Africa." + +"Yes, my boy," I replied, "it cuts across the whole Strait of Sicily, +and Smith's soundings prove that in the past, these two continents +were genuinely connected between Cape Boeo and Cape Farina." + +"I can easily believe it," Conseil said. + +"I might add," I went on, "that there's a similar barrier between +Gibraltar and Ceuta, and in prehistoric times it closed off +the Mediterranean completely." + +"Gracious!" Conseil put in. "Suppose one day some volcanic upheaval +raises these two barriers back above the waves!" + +"That's most unlikely, Conseil." + +"If master will allow me to finish, I mean that if this phenomenon occurs, +it might prove distressing to Mr. de Lesseps, who has gone to such +pains to cut through his isthmus!" + +"Agreed, but I repeat, Conseil: such a phenomenon won't occur. +The intensity of these underground forces continues to diminish. +Volcanoes were quite numerous in the world's early days, but they're +going extinct one by one; the heat inside the earth is growing weaker, +the temperature in the globe's lower strata is cooling appreciably +every century, and to our globe's detriment, because its heat +is its life." + +"But the sun--" + +"The sun isn't enough, Conseil. Can it restore heat to a corpse?" + +"Not that I've heard." + +"Well, my friend, someday the earth will be just such a cold corpse. +Like the moon, which long ago lost its vital heat, our globe will +become lifeless and unlivable." + +"In how many centuries?" Conseil asked. + +"In hundreds of thousands of years, my boy." + +"Then we have ample time to finish our voyage," Conseil replied, +"if Ned Land doesn't mess things up!" + +Thus reassured, Conseil went back to studying the shallows that +the Nautilus was skimming at moderate speed. + +On the rocky, volcanic seafloor, there bloomed quite a collection +of moving flora: sponges, sea cucumbers, jellyfish called sea +gooseberries that were adorned with reddish tendrils and gave off +a subtle phosphorescence, members of the genus Beroe that are commonly +known by the name melon jellyfish and are bathed in the shimmer +of the whole solar spectrum, free-swimming crinoids one meter wide +that reddened the waters with their crimson hue, treelike basket +stars of the greatest beauty, sea fans from the genus Pavonacea +with long stems, numerous edible sea urchins of various species, +plus green sea anemones with a grayish trunk and a brown disk lost +beneath the olive-colored tresses of their tentacles. + +Conseil kept especially busy observing mollusks and articulates, +and although his catalog is a little dry, I wouldn't want to wrong +the gallant lad by leaving out his personal observations. + +From the branch Mollusca, he mentions numerous comb-shaped scallops, +hooflike spiny oysters piled on top of each other, triangular coquina, +three-pronged glass snails with yellow fins and transparent shells, +orange snails from the genus Pleurobranchus that looked like eggs spotted +or speckled with greenish dots, members of the genus Aplysia also known +by the name sea hares, other sea hares from the genus Dolabella, +plump paper-bubble shells, umbrella shells exclusive to the Mediterranean, +abalone whose shell produces a mother-of-pearl much in demand, +pilgrim scallops, saddle shells that diners in the French +province of Languedoc are said to like better than oysters, +some of those cockleshells so dear to the citizens of Marseilles, +fat white venus shells that are among the clams so abundant off +the coasts of North America and eaten in such quantities by New Yorkers, +variously colored comb shells with gill covers, burrowing date +mussels with a peppery flavor I relish, furrowed heart cockles whose +shells have riblike ridges on their arching summits, triton shells +pocked with scarlet bumps, carniaira snails with backward-curving +tips that make them resemble flimsy gondolas, crowned ferola snails, +atlanta snails with spiral shells, gray nudibranchs from the genus +Tethys that were spotted with white and covered by fringed mantles, +nudibranchs from the suborder Eolidea that looked like small slugs, +sea butterflies crawling on their backs, seashells from the genus Auricula +including the oval-shaped Auricula myosotis, tan wentletrap snails, +common periwinkles, violet snails, cineraira snails, rock borers, +ear shells, cabochon snails, pandora shells, etc. + +As for the articulates, in his notes Conseil has very appropriately +divided them into six classes, three of which belong to the marine world. +These classes are the Crustacea, Cirripedia, and Annelida. + +Crustaceans are subdivided into nine orders, and the first of +these consists of the decapods, in other words, animals whose head +and thorax are usually fused, whose cheek-and-mouth mechanism is +made up of several pairs of appendages, and whose thorax has four, +five, or six pairs of walking legs. Conseil used the methods +of our mentor Professor Milne-Edwards, who puts the decapods +in three divisions: Brachyura, Macrura, and Anomura. These names +may look a tad fierce, but they're accurate and appropriate. +Among the Brachyura, Conseil mentions some amanthia crabs whose fronts +were armed with two big diverging tips, those inachus scorpions that-- +lord knows why--symbolized wisdom to the ancient Greeks, spider crabs +of the massena and spinimane varieties that had probably gone astray +in these shallows because they usually live in the lower depths, +xanthid crabs, pilumna crabs, rhomboid crabs, granular box crabs +(easy on the digestion, as Conseil ventured to observe), toothless +masked crabs, ebalia crabs, cymopolia crabs, woolly-handed crabs, etc. +Among the Macrura (which are subdivided into five families: +hardshells, burrowers, crayfish, prawns, and ghost crabs) +Conseil mentions some common spiny lobsters whose females supply a meat +highly prized, slipper lobsters or common shrimp, waterside gebia shrimp, +and all sorts of edible species, but he says nothing of the crayfish +subdivision that includes the true lobster, because spiny lobsters +are the only type in the Mediterranean. Finally, among the Anomura, +he saw common drocina crabs dwelling inside whatever abandoned +seashells they could take over, homola crabs with spiny fronts, +hermit crabs, hairy porcelain crabs, etc. + +There Conseil's work came to a halt. He didn't have time to finish +off the class Crustacea through an examination of its stomatopods, +amphipods, homopods, isopods, trilobites, branchiopods, ostracods, +and entomostraceans. And in order to complete his study of +marine articulates, he needed to mention the class Cirripedia, +which contains water fleas and carp lice, plus the class Annelida, +which he would have divided without fail into tubifex worms and +dorsibranchian worms. But having gone past the shallows of the Strait +of Sicily, the Nautilus resumed its usual deep-water speed. +From then on, no more mollusks, no more zoophytes, no more articulates. +Just a few large fish sweeping by like shadows. + +During the night of February 16-17, we entered the second +Mediterranean basin, whose maximum depth we found at 3,000 meters. +The Nautilus, driven downward by its propeller and slanting fins, +descended to the lowest strata of this sea. + +There, in place of natural wonders, the watery mass offered +some thrilling and dreadful scenes to my eyes. In essence, +we were then crossing that part of the whole Mediterranean so fertile +in casualties. From the coast of Algiers to the beaches of Provence, +how many ships have wrecked, how many vessels have vanished! +Compared to the vast liquid plains of the Pacific, the Mediterranean +is a mere lake, but it's an unpredictable lake with fickle waves, +today kindly and affectionate to those frail single-masters drifting +between a double ultramarine of sky and water, tomorrow bad-tempered +and turbulent, agitated by the winds, demolishing the strongest +ships beneath sudden waves that smash down with a headlong wallop. + +So, in our swift cruise through these deep strata, how many vessels I +saw lying on the seafloor, some already caked with coral, others clad +only in a layer of rust, plus anchors, cannons, shells, iron fittings, +propeller blades, parts of engines, cracked cylinders, staved-in boilers, +then hulls floating in midwater, here upright, there overturned. + +Some of these wrecked ships had perished in collisions, others from +hitting granite reefs. I saw a few that had sunk straight down, +their masting still upright, their rigging stiffened by the water. +They looked like they were at anchor by some immense, open, +offshore mooring where they were waiting for their departure time. +When the Nautilus passed between them, covering them with sheets +of electricity, they seemed ready to salute us with their colors +and send us their serial numbers! But no, nothing but silence +and death filled this field of catastrophes! + +I observed that these Mediterranean depths became more and more +cluttered with such gruesome wreckage as the Nautilus drew nearer +to the Strait of Gibraltar. By then the shores of Africa and Europe +were converging, and in this narrow space collisions were commonplace. +There I saw numerous iron undersides, the phantasmagoric ruins +of steamers, some lying down, others rearing up like fearsome animals. +One of these boats made a dreadful first impression: +sides torn open, funnel bent, paddle wheels stripped to the mountings, +rudder separated from the sternpost and still hanging from an +iron chain, the board on its stern eaten away by marine salts! +How many lives were dashed in this shipwreck! How many victims +were swept under the waves! Had some sailor on board lived +to tell the story of this dreadful disaster, or do the waves still +keep this casualty a secret? It occurred to me, lord knows why, +that this boat buried under the sea might have been the Atlas, +lost with all hands some twenty years ago and never heard from again! +Oh, what a gruesome tale these Mediterranean depths could tell, +this huge boneyard where so much wealth has been lost, where so many +victims have met their deaths! + +Meanwhile, briskly unconcerned, the Nautilus ran at full propeller +through the midst of these ruins. On February 18, near three o'clock +in the morning, it hove before the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. + +There are two currents here: an upper current, long known to exist, +that carries the ocean's waters into the Mediterranean basin; +then a lower countercurrent, the only present-day proof of its existence +being logic. In essence, the Mediterranean receives a continual influx +of water not only from the Atlantic but from rivers emptying into it; +since local evaporation isn't enough to restore the balance, the total +amount of added water should make this sea's level higher every year. +Yet this isn't the case, and we're naturally forced to believe in +the existence of some lower current that carries the Mediterranean's +surplus through the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic basin. + +And so it turned out. The Nautilus took full advantage of +this countercurrent. It advanced swiftly through this narrow passageway. +For an instant I could glimpse the wonderful ruins of the Temple +of Hercules, buried undersea, as Pliny and Avianus have mentioned, +together with the flat island they stand on; and a few minutes later, +we were floating on the waves of the Atlantic. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +The Bay of Vigo + + +THE ATLANTIC! A vast expanse of water whose surface area is 25,000,000 +square miles, with a length of 9,000 miles and an average width +of 2,700. A major sea nearly unknown to the ancients, except perhaps +the Carthaginians, those Dutchmen of antiquity who went along +the west coasts of Europe and Africa on their commercial junkets! +An ocean whose parallel winding shores form an immense perimeter +fed by the world's greatest rivers: the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, +Amazon, Plata, Orinoco, Niger, Senegal, Elbe, Loire, and Rhine, +which bring it waters from the most civilized countries as well +as the most undeveloped areas! A magnificent plain of waves plowed +continuously by ships of every nation, shaded by every flag in the world, +and ending in those two dreadful headlands so feared by navigators, +Cape Horn and the Cape of Tempests! + +The Nautilus broke these waters with the edge of its spur after +doing nearly 10,000 leagues in three and a half months, a track +longer than a great circle of the earth. Where were we heading now, +and what did the future have in store for us? + +Emerging from the Strait of Gibraltar, the Nautilus took to the +high seas. It returned to the surface of the waves, so our daily +strolls on the platform were restored to us. + +I climbed onto it instantly, Ned Land and Conseil along with me. +Twelve miles away, Cape St. Vincent was hazily visible, the southwestern +tip of the Hispanic peninsula. The wind was blowing a pretty +strong gust from the south. The sea was swelling and surging. +Its waves made the Nautilus roll and jerk violently. +It was nearly impossible to stand up on the platform, +which was continuously buffeted by this enormously heavy sea. +After inhaling a few breaths of air, we went below once more. + +I repaired to my stateroom. Conseil returned to his cabin; +but the Canadian, looking rather worried, followed me. Our quick +trip through the Mediterranean hadn't allowed him to put his plans +into execution, and he could barely conceal his disappointment. + +After the door to my stateroom was closed, he sat and stared +at me silently. + +"Ned my friend," I told him, "I know how you feel, but you mustn't +blame yourself. Given the way the Nautilus was navigating, +it would have been sheer insanity to think of escaping!" + +Ned Land didn't reply. His pursed lips and frowning brow indicated +that he was in the grip of his monomania. + +"Look here," I went on, "as yet there's no cause for despair. +We're going up the coast of Portugal. France and England aren't +far off, and there we'll easily find refuge. Oh, I grant you, +if the Nautilus had emerged from the Strait of Gibraltar and made +for that cape in the south, if it were taking us toward those +regions that have no continents, then I'd share your alarm. +But we now know that Captain Nemo doesn't avoid the seas of civilization, +and in a few days I think we can safely take action." + +Ned Land stared at me still more intently and finally unpursed his lips: + +"We'll do it this evening," he said. + +I straightened suddenly. I admit that I was less than ready +for this announcement. I wanted to reply to the Canadian, +but words failed me. + +"We agreed to wait for the right circumstances," Ned Land went on. +"Now we've got those circumstances. This evening we'll be just +a few miles off the coast of Spain. It'll be cloudy tonight. +The wind's blowing toward shore. You gave me your promise, +Professor Aronnax, and I'm counting on you." + +Since I didn't say anything, the Canadian stood up and approached me: + +"We'll do it this evening at nine o'clock," he said. +"I've alerted Conseil. By that time Captain Nemo will be locked in his +room and probably in bed. Neither the mechanics or the crewmen will be +able to see us. Conseil and I will go to the central companionway. +As for you, Professor Aronnax, you'll stay in the library two +steps away and wait for my signal. The oars, mast, and sail are +in the skiff. I've even managed to stow some provisions inside. +I've gotten hold of a monkey wrench to unscrew the nuts bolting +the skiff to the Nautilus's hull. So everything's ready. +I'll see you this evening." + +"The sea is rough," I said. + +"Admitted," the Canadian replied, "but we've got to risk it. +Freedom is worth paying for. Besides, the longboat's solidly built, +and a few miles with the wind behind us is no big deal. +By tomorrow, who knows if this ship won't be 100 leagues out to sea? +If circumstances are in our favor, between ten and eleven this evening +we'll be landing on some piece of solid ground, or we'll be dead. +So we're in God's hands, and I'll see you this evening!" + +This said, the Canadian withdrew, leaving me close to dumbfounded. +I had imagined that if it came to this, I would have time to think +about it, to talk it over. My stubborn companion hadn't granted +me this courtesy. But after all, what would I have said to him? +Ned Land was right a hundred times over. These were near-ideal +circumstances, and he was taking full advantage of them. +In my selfish personal interests, could I go back on my word +and be responsible for ruining the future lives of my companions? +Tomorrow, might not Captain Nemo take us far away from any shore? + +Just then a fairly loud hissing told me that the ballast tanks +were filling, and the Nautilus sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic. + +I stayed in my stateroom. I wanted to avoid the captain, to hide from +his eyes the agitation overwhelming me. What an agonizing day I spent, +torn between my desire to regain my free will and my regret at abandoning +this marvelous Nautilus, leaving my underwater research incomplete! +How could I relinquish this ocean--"my own Atlantic," as I liked +to call it--without observing its lower strata, without wresting +from it the kinds of secrets that had been revealed to me by the seas +of the East Indies and the Pacific! I was putting down my novel +half read, I was waking up as my dream neared its climax! +How painfully the hours passed, as I sometimes envisioned myself +safe on shore with my companions, or, despite my better judgment, +as I sometimes wished that some unforeseen circumstances would +prevent Ned Land from carrying out his plans. + +Twice I went to the lounge. I wanted to consult the compass. +I wanted to see if the Nautilus's heading was actually taking +us closer to the coast or spiriting us farther away. But no. +The Nautilus was still in Portuguese waters. Heading north, +it was cruising along the ocean's beaches. + +So I had to resign myself to my fate and get ready to escape. +My baggage wasn't heavy. My notes, nothing more. + +As for Captain Nemo, I wondered what he would make of our escaping, +what concern or perhaps what distress it might cause him, and what +he would do in the twofold event of our attempt either failing or being +found out! Certainly I had no complaints to register with him, +on the contrary. Never was hospitality more wholehearted than his. +Yet in leaving him I couldn't be accused of ingratitude. +No solemn promises bound us to him. In order to keep us captive, +he had counted only on the force of circumstances and not on our +word of honor. But his avowed intention to imprison us forever +on his ship justified our every effort. + +I hadn't seen the captain since our visit to the island of Santorini. +Would fate bring me into his presence before our departure? +I both desired and dreaded it. I listened for footsteps +in the stateroom adjoining mine. Not a sound reached my ear. +His stateroom had to be deserted. + +Then I began to wonder if this eccentric individual was even on board. +Since that night when the skiff had left the Nautilus on some +mysterious mission, my ideas about him had subtly changed. +In spite of everything, I thought that Captain Nemo must +have kept up some type of relationship with the shore. +Did he himself never leave the Nautilus? Whole weeks had often gone +by without my encountering him. What was he doing all the while? +During all those times I'd thought he was convalescing in the grip +of some misanthropic fit, was he instead far away from the ship, +involved in some secret activity whose nature still eluded me? + +All these ideas and a thousand others assaulted me at the same time. +In these strange circumstances the scope for conjecture was unlimited. +I felt an unbearable queasiness. This day of waiting seemed endless. +The hours struck too slowly to keep up with my impatience. + +As usual, dinner was served me in my stateroom. Full of anxiety, +I ate little. I left the table at seven o'clock. 120 minutes-- +I was keeping track of them--still separated me from the +moment I was to rejoin Ned Land. My agitation increased. +My pulse was throbbing violently. I couldn't stand still. +I walked up and down, hoping to calm my troubled mind with movement. +The possibility of perishing in our reckless undertaking was the least +of my worries; my heart was pounding at the thought that our plans +might be discovered before we had left the Nautilus, at the thought +of being hauled in front of Captain Nemo and finding him angered, +or worse, saddened by my deserting him. + +I wanted to see the lounge one last time. I went down the gangways +and arrived at the museum where I had spent so many pleasant and +productive hours. I stared at all its wealth, all its treasures, like a +man on the eve of his eternal exile, a man departing to return no more. +For so many days now, these natural wonders and artistic masterworks had +been central to my life, and I was about to leave them behind forever. +I wanted to plunge my eyes through the lounge window and into +these Atlantic waters; but the panels were hermetically sealed, +and a mantle of sheet iron separated me from this ocean with which I +was still unfamiliar. + +Crossing through the lounge, I arrived at the door, contrived in one +of the canted corners, that opened into the captain's stateroom. +Much to my astonishment, this door was ajar. I instinctively recoiled. +If Captain Nemo was in his stateroom, he might see me. +But, not hearing any sounds, I approached. The stateroom was deserted. +I pushed the door open. I took a few steps inside. +Still the same austere, monastic appearance. + +Just then my eye was caught by some etchings hanging on the wall, +which I hadn't noticed during my first visit. They were portraits +of great men of history who had spent their lives in perpetual +devotion to a great human ideal: Thaddeus Kosciusko, the hero +whose dying words had been Finis Poloniae;* Markos Botzaris, +for modern Greece the reincarnation of Sparta's King Leonidas; +Daniel O'Connell, Ireland's defender; George Washington, +founder of the American Union; Daniele Manin, the Italian patriot; +Abraham Lincoln, dead from the bullet of a believer in slavery; +and finally, that martyr for the redemption of the black race, +John Brown, hanging from his gallows as Victor Hugo's pencil has +so terrifyingly depicted. + +*Latin: "Save Poland's borders." Ed. + +What was the bond between these heroic souls and the soul +of Captain Nemo? From this collection of portraits could I +finally unravel the mystery of his existence? Was he a fighter +for oppressed peoples, a liberator of enslaved races? Had he figured +in the recent political or social upheavals of this century? +Was he a hero of that dreadful civil war in America, a war lamentable +yet forever glorious . . . ? + +Suddenly the clock struck eight. The first stroke of its hammer +on the chime snapped me out of my musings. I shuddered as if some +invisible eye had plunged into my innermost thoughts, and I rushed +outside the stateroom. + +There my eyes fell on the compass. Our heading was still northerly. +The log indicated a moderate speed, the pressure gauge a depth of about +sixty feet. So circumstances were in favor of the Canadian's plans. + +I stayed in my stateroom. I dressed warmly: fishing boots, otter cap, +coat of fan-mussel fabric lined with sealskin. I was ready. +I was waiting. Only the propeller's vibrations disturbed the deep +silence reigning on board. I cocked an ear and listened. +Would a sudden outburst of voices tell me that Ned Land's escape plans +had just been detected? A ghastly uneasiness stole through me. +I tried in vain to recover my composure. + +A few minutes before nine o'clock, I glued my ear to the captain's door. +Not a sound. I left my stateroom and returned to the lounge, +which was deserted and plunged in near darkness. + +I opened the door leading to the library. The same inadequate light, +the same solitude. I went to man my post near the door opening into +the well of the central companionway. I waited for Ned Land's signal. + +At this point the propeller's vibrations slowed down appreciably, +then they died out altogether. Why was the Nautilus stopping? +Whether this layover would help or hinder Ned Land's schemes I +couldn't have said. + +The silence was further disturbed only by the pounding of my heart. + +Suddenly I felt a mild jolt. I realized the Nautilus had come +to rest on the ocean floor. My alarm increased. The Canadian's +signal hadn't reached me. I longed to rejoin Ned Land and urge him +to postpone his attempt. I sensed that we were no longer navigating +under normal conditions. + +Just then the door to the main lounge opened and Captain Nemo appeared. +He saw me, and without further preamble: + +"Ah, professor," he said in an affable tone, "I've been looking for you. +Do you know your Spanish history?" + +Even if he knew it by heart, a man in my disturbed, befuddled condition +couldn't have quoted a syllable of his own country's history. + +"Well?" Captain Nemo went on. "Did you hear my question? +Do you know the history of Spain?" + +"Very little of it," I replied. + +"The most learned men," the captain said, "still have much to learn. +Have a seat," he added, "and I'll tell you about an unusual episode +in this body of history." + +The captain stretched out on a couch, and I mechanically took a seat +near him, but half in the shadows. + +"Professor," he said, "listen carefully. This piece of history +concerns you in one definite respect, because it will answer +a question you've no doubt been unable to resolve." + +"I'm listening, captain," I said, not knowing what my partner +in this dialogue was driving at, and wondering if this incident +related to our escape plans. + +"Professor," Captain Nemo went on, "if you're amenable, we'll go +back in time to 1702. You're aware of the fact that in those days +your King Louis XIV thought an imperial gesture would suffice +to humble the Pyrenees in the dust, so he inflicted his grandson, +the Duke of Anjou, on the Spaniards. Reigning more or less +poorly under the name King Philip V, this aristocrat had to deal +with mighty opponents abroad. + +"In essence, the year before, the royal houses of Holland, Austria, +and England had signed a treaty of alliance at The Hague, aiming to +wrest the Spanish crown from King Philip V and to place it on the head +of an archduke whom they prematurely dubbed King Charles III. + +"Spain had to withstand these allies. But the country had practically no +army or navy. Yet it wasn't short of money, provided that its galleons, +laden with gold and silver from America, could enter its ports. +Now then, late in 1702 Spain was expecting a rich convoy, +which France ventured to escort with a fleet of twenty-three vessels +under the command of Admiral de Chateau-Renault, because by that time +the allied navies were roving the Atlantic. + +"This convoy was supposed to put into Cadiz, but after learning +that the English fleet lay across those waterways, the admiral +decided to make for a French port. + +"The Spanish commanders in the convoy objected to this decision. +They wanted to be taken to a Spanish port, if not to Cadiz, +then to the Bay of Vigo, located on Spain's northwest coast +and not blockaded. + +"Admiral de Chateau-Renault was so indecisive as to obey this directive, +and the galleons entered the Bay of Vigo. + +"Unfortunately this bay forms an open, offshore mooring that's +impossible to defend. So it was essential to hurry and empty +the galleons before the allied fleets arrived, and there would +have been ample time for this unloading, if a wretched question +of trade agreements hadn't suddenly come up. + +"Are you clear on the chain of events?" Captain Nemo asked me. + +"Perfectly clear," I said, not yet knowing why I was being given +this history lesson. + +"Then I'll continue. Here's what came to pass. The tradesmen +of Cadiz had negotiated a charter whereby they were to receive all +merchandise coming from the West Indies. Now then, unloading the +ingots from those galleons at the port of Vigo would have been +a violation of their rights. So they lodged a complaint in Madrid, +and they obtained an order from the indecisive King Philip V: +without unloading, the convoy would stay in custody at the offshore +mooring of Vigo until the enemy fleets had retreated. + +"Now then, just as this decision was being handed down, English vessels +arrived in the Bay of Vigo on October 22, 1702. Despite his +inferior forces, Admiral de Chateau-Renault fought courageously. +But when he saw that the convoy's wealth was about to fall into +enemy hands, he burned and scuttled the galleons, which went +to the bottom with their immense treasures." + +Captain Nemo stopped. I admit it: I still couldn't see how this +piece of history concerned me. + +"Well?" I asked him. + +"Well, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo answered me, "we're actually +in that Bay of Vigo, and all that's left is for you to probe +the mysteries of the place." + +The captain stood up and invited me to follow him. I'd had time +to collect myself. I did so. The lounge was dark, but the sea's +waves sparkled through the transparent windows. I stared. + +Around the Nautilus for a half-mile radius, the waters seemed saturated +with electric light. The sandy bottom was clear and bright. +Dressed in diving suits, crewmen were busy clearing away half-rotted +barrels and disemboweled trunks in the midst of the dingy hulks of ships. +Out of these trunks and kegs spilled ingots of gold and silver, +cascades of jewels, pieces of eight. The sand was heaped with them. +Then, laden with these valuable spoils, the men returned to the Nautilus, +dropped off their burdens inside, and went to resume this inexhaustible +fishing for silver and gold. + +I understood. This was the setting of that battle on October +22, 1702. Here, in this very place, those galleons carrying +treasure to the Spanish government had gone to the bottom. +Here, whenever he needed, Captain Nemo came to withdraw these +millions to ballast his Nautilus. It was for him, for him alone, +that America had yielded up its precious metals. He was the direct, +sole heir to these treasures wrested from the Incas and those peoples +conquered by Hernando Cortez! + +"Did you know, professor," he asked me with a smile, "that the sea +contained such wealth?" + +"I know it's estimated," I replied, "that there are 2,000,000 metric +tons of silver held in suspension in seawater." + +"Surely, but in extracting that silver, your expenses would +outweigh your profits. Here, by contrast, I have only to pick up +what other men have lost, and not only in this Bay of Vigo but at +a thousand other sites where ships have gone down, whose positions +are marked on my underwater chart. Do you understand now that I'm +rich to the tune of billions?" + +"I understand, captain. Nevertheless, allow me to inform you +that by harvesting this very Bay of Vigo, you're simply forestalling +the efforts of a rival organization." + +"What organization?" + +"A company chartered by the Spanish government to search for these +sunken galleons. The company's investors were lured by the bait +of enormous gains, because this scuttled treasure is estimated +to be worth 500,000,000 francs." + +"It was 500,000,000 francs," Captain Nemo replied, "but no more!" + +"Right," I said. "Hence a timely warning to those investors would +be an act of charity. Yet who knows if it would be well received? +Usually what gamblers regret the most isn't the loss of their money +so much as the loss of their insane hopes. But ultimately I feel +less sorry for them than for the thousands of unfortunate people +who would have benefited from a fair distribution of this wealth, +whereas now it will be of no help to them!" + +No sooner had I voiced this regret than I felt it must have +wounded Captain Nemo. + +"No help!" he replied with growing animation. "Sir, what makes you +assume this wealth goes to waste when I'm the one amassing it? +Do you think I toil to gather this treasure out of selfishness? +Who says I don't put it to good use? Do you think I'm unaware +of the suffering beings and oppressed races living on this earth, +poor people to comfort, victims to avenge? Don't you understand . . . ?" + +Captain Nemo stopped on these last words, perhaps sorry that he had said +too much. But I had guessed. Whatever motives had driven him to seek +independence under the seas, he remained a human being before all else! +His heart still throbbed for suffering humanity, and his immense +philanthropy went out both to downtrodden races and to individuals! + +And now I knew where Captain Nemo had delivered those millions, +when the Nautilus navigated the waters where Crete was in rebellion +against the Ottoman Empire! + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +A Lost Continent + + +THE NEXT MORNING, February 19, I beheld the Canadian entering +my stateroom. I was expecting this visit. He wore an expression +of great disappointment. + +"Well, sir?" he said to me. + +"Well, Ned, the fates were against us yesterday." + +"Yes! That damned captain had to call a halt just as we were going +to escape from his boat." + +"Yes, Ned, he had business with his bankers." + +"His bankers?" + +"Or rather his bank vaults. By which I mean this ocean, where his +wealth is safer than in any national treasury." + +I then related the evening's incidents to the Canadian, secretly hoping +he would come around to the idea of not deserting the captain; +but my narrative had no result other than Ned's voicing deep regret +that he hadn't strolled across the Vigo battlefield on his own behalf. + +"Anyhow," he said, "it's not over yet! My first harpoon missed, +that's all! We'll succeed the next time, and as soon as this evening, +if need be . . ." + +"What's the Nautilus's heading?" I asked. + +"I've no idea," Ned replied. + +"All right, at noon we'll find out what our position is!" + +The Canadian returned to Conseil's side. As soon as I was dressed, +I went into the lounge. The compass wasn't encouraging. +The Nautilus's course was south-southwest. We were turning our +backs on Europe. + +I could hardly wait until our position was reported on the chart. +Near 11:30 the ballast tanks emptied, and the submersible rose +to the surface of the ocean. I leaped onto the platform. +Ned Land was already there. + +No more shore in sight. Nothing but the immenseness of the sea. +A few sails were on the horizon, no doubt ships going as far +as Cape São Roque to find favorable winds for doubling the Cape +of Good Hope. The sky was overcast. A squall was on the way. + +Furious, Ned tried to see through the mists on the horizon. +He still hoped that behind all that fog there lay those shores +he longed for. + +At noon the sun made a momentary appearance. Taking advantage of this +rift in the clouds, the chief officer took the orb's altitude. +Then the sea grew turbulent, we went below again, and the hatch +closed once more. + +When I consulted the chart an hour later, I saw that the Nautilus's +position was marked at longitude 16 degrees 17' and latitude +33 degrees 22', a good 150 leagues from the nearest coast. +It wouldn't do to even dream of escaping, and I'll let the reader +decide how promptly the Canadian threw a tantrum when I ventured +to tell him our situation. + +As for me, I wasn't exactly grief-stricken. I felt as if a heavy +weight had been lifted from me, and I was able to resume my regular +tasks in a state of comparative calm. + +Near eleven o'clock in the evening, I received a most unexpected +visit from Captain Nemo. He asked me very graciously if I felt +exhausted from our vigil the night before. I said no. + +"Then, Professor Aronnax, I propose an unusual excursion." + +"Propose away, captain." + +"So far you've visited the ocean depths only by day and under sunlight. +Would you like to see these depths on a dark night?" + +"Very much." + +"I warn you, this will be an exhausting stroll. We'll need to walk +long hours and scale a mountain. The roads aren't terribly +well kept up." + +"Everything you say, captain, just increases my curiosity. +I'm ready to go with you." + +"Then come along, professor, and we'll go put on our diving suits." + +Arriving at the wardrobe, I saw that neither my companions +nor any crewmen would be coming with us on this excursion. +Captain Nemo hadn't even suggested my fetching Ned or Conseil. + +In a few moments we had put on our equipment. Air tanks, +abundantly charged, were placed on our backs, but the electric lamps +were not in readiness. I commented on this to the captain. + +"They'll be useless to us," he replied. + +I thought I hadn't heard him right, but I couldn't repeat +my comment because the captain's head had already disappeared +into its metal covering. I finished harnessing myself, I felt +an alpenstock being placed in my hand, and a few minutes later, +after the usual procedures, we set foot on the floor of the Atlantic, +300 meters down. + +Midnight was approaching. The waters were profoundly dark, +but Captain Nemo pointed to a reddish spot in the distance, a sort +of wide glow shimmering about two miles from the Nautilus. What this +fire was, what substances fed it, how and why it kept burning +in the liquid mass, I couldn't say. Anyhow it lit our way, +although hazily, but I soon grew accustomed to this unique gloom, +and in these circumstances I understood the uselessness of +the Ruhmkorff device. + +Side by side, Captain Nemo and I walked directly toward this +conspicuous flame. The level seafloor rose imperceptibly. +We took long strides, helped by our alpenstocks; but in general +our progress was slow, because our feet kept sinking into a kind +of slimy mud mixed with seaweed and assorted flat stones. + +As we moved forward, I heard a kind of pitter-patter above my head. +Sometimes this noise increased and became a continuous crackle. +I soon realized the cause. It was a heavy rainfall rattling +on the surface of the waves. Instinctively I worried that I +might get soaked! By water in the midst of water! I couldn't +help smiling at this outlandish notion. But to tell the truth, +wearing these heavy diving suits, you no longer feel the liquid element, +you simply think you're in the midst of air a little denser than air +on land, that's all. + +After half an hour of walking, the seafloor grew rocky. +Jellyfish, microscopic crustaceans, and sea-pen coral lit it faintly +with their phosphorescent glimmers. I glimpsed piles of stones +covered by a couple million zoophytes and tangles of algae. +My feet often slipped on this viscous seaweed carpet, +and without my alpenstock I would have fallen more than once. +When I turned around, I could still see the Nautilus's whitish beacon, +which was starting to grow pale in the distance. + +Those piles of stones just mentioned were laid out on the ocean floor +with a distinct but inexplicable symmetry. I spotted gigantic furrows +trailing off into the distant darkness, their length incalculable. +There also were other peculiarities I couldn't make sense of. +It seemed to me that my heavy lead soles were crushing a litter +of bones that made a dry crackling noise. So what were these vast +plains we were now crossing? I wanted to ask the captain, but I still +didn't grasp that sign language that allowed him to chat with his +companions when they went with him on his underwater excursions. + +Meanwhile the reddish light guiding us had expanded and inflamed +the horizon. The presence of this furnace under the waters had me +extremely puzzled. Was it some sort of electrical discharge? +Was I approaching some natural phenomenon still unknown +to scientists on shore? Or, rather (and this thought did +cross my mind), had the hand of man intervened in that blaze? +Had human beings fanned those flames? In these deep strata would +I meet up with more of Captain Nemo's companions, friends he was +about to visit who led lives as strange as his own? Would I find +a whole colony of exiles down here, men tired of the world's woes, +men who had sought and found independence in the ocean's lower depths? +All these insane, inadmissible ideas dogged me, and in this frame +of mind, continually excited by the series of wonders passing +before my eyes, I wouldn't have been surprised to find on this sea +bottom one of those underwater towns Captain Nemo dreamed about! + +Our path was getting brighter and brighter. The red glow had turned +white and was radiating from a mountain peak about 800 feet high. +But what I saw was simply a reflection produced by the crystal +waters of these strata. The furnace that was the source of this +inexplicable light occupied the far side of the mountain. + +In the midst of the stone mazes furrowing this Atlantic seafloor, +Captain Nemo moved forward without hesitation. He knew this dark path. +No doubt he had often traveled it and was incapable of losing his way. +I followed him with unshakeable confidence. He seemed like some +Spirit of the Sea, and as he walked ahead of me, I marveled at his +tall figure, which stood out in black against the glowing background +of the horizon. + +It was one o'clock in the morning. We arrived at the mountain's +lower gradients. But in grappling with them, we had to venture up +difficult trails through a huge thicket. + +Yes, a thicket of dead trees! Trees without leaves, without sap, +turned to stone by the action of the waters, and crowned here +and there by gigantic pines. It was like a still-erect coalfield, +its roots clutching broken soil, its boughs clearly outlined +against the ceiling of the waters like thin, black, paper cutouts. +Picture a forest clinging to the sides of a peak in the Harz Mountains, +but a submerged forest. The trails were cluttered with algae +and fucus plants, hosts of crustaceans swarming among them. +I plunged on, scaling rocks, straddling fallen tree trunks, +snapping marine creepers that swayed from one tree to another, +startling the fish that flitted from branch to branch. +Carried away, I didn't feel exhausted any more. I followed a guide +who was immune to exhaustion. + +What a sight! How can I describe it! How can I portray these +woods and rocks in this liquid setting, their lower parts dark +and sullen, their upper parts tinted red in this light whose +intensity was doubled by the reflecting power of the waters! +We scaled rocks that crumbled behind us, collapsing in enormous +sections with the hollow rumble of an avalanche. To our right and left +there were carved gloomy galleries where the eye lost its way. +Huge glades opened up, seemingly cleared by the hand of man, +and I sometimes wondered whether some residents of these underwater +regions would suddenly appear before me. + +But Captain Nemo kept climbing. I didn't want to fall behind. +I followed him boldly. My alpenstock was a great help. +One wrong step would have been disastrous on the narrow paths cut +into the sides of these chasms, but I walked along with a firm +tread and without the slightest feeling of dizziness. Sometimes I +leaped over a crevasse whose depth would have made me recoil had I +been in the midst of glaciers on shore; sometimes I ventured out on +a wobbling tree trunk fallen across a gorge, without looking down, +having eyes only for marveling at the wild scenery of this region. +There, leaning on erratically cut foundations, monumental rocks +seemed to defy the laws of balance. From between their stony knees, +trees sprang up like jets under fearsome pressure, supporting other +trees that supported them in turn. Next, natural towers with wide, +steeply carved battlements leaned at angles that, on dry land, +the laws of gravity would never have authorized. + +And I too could feel the difference created by the water's +powerful density--despite my heavy clothing, copper headpiece, +and metal soles, I climbed the most impossibly steep gradients with all +the nimbleness, I swear it, of a chamois or a Pyrenees mountain goat! + +As for my account of this excursion under the waters, I'm well aware +that it sounds incredible! I'm the chronicler of deeds seemingly +impossible and yet incontestably real. This was no fantasy. +This was what I saw and felt! + +Two hours after leaving the Nautilus, we had cleared the timberline, +and 100 feet above our heads stood the mountain peak, forming a dark +silhouette against the brilliant glare that came from its far slope. +Petrified shrubs rambled here and there in sprawling zigzags. Fish rose +in a body at our feet like birds startled in tall grass. The rocky mass +was gouged with impenetrable crevices, deep caves, unfathomable holes +at whose far ends I could hear fearsome things moving around. +My blood would curdle as I watched some enormous antenna bar my path, +or saw some frightful pincer snap shut in the shadow of some cavity! +A thousand specks of light glittered in the midst of the gloom. +They were the eyes of gigantic crustaceans crouching in their lairs, +giant lobsters rearing up like spear carriers and moving their claws +with a scrap-iron clanking, titanic crabs aiming their bodies +like cannons on their carriages, and hideous devilfish intertwining +their tentacles like bushes of writhing snakes. + +What was this astounding world that I didn't yet know? +In what order did these articulates belong, these creatures +for which the rocks provided a second carapace? Where had nature +learned the secret of their vegetating existence, and for how many +centuries had they lived in the ocean's lower strata? + +But I couldn't linger. Captain Nemo, on familiar terms with +these dreadful animals, no longer minded them. We arrived at a +preliminary plateau where still other surprises were waiting for me. +There picturesque ruins took shape, betraying the hand of man, +not our Creator. They were huge stacks of stones in which you +could distinguish the indistinct forms of palaces and temples, +now arrayed in hosts of blossoming zoophytes, and over it all, +not ivy but a heavy mantle of algae and fucus plants. + +But what part of the globe could this be, this land swallowed +by cataclysms? Who had set up these rocks and stones like the dolmens +of prehistoric times? Where was I, where had Captain Nemo's +fancies taken me? + +I wanted to ask him. Unable to, I stopped him. I seized his arm. +But he shook his head, pointed to the mountain's topmost peak, +and seemed to tell me: + +"Come on! Come with me! Come higher!" + +I followed him with one last burst of energy, and in a few +minutes I had scaled the peak, which crowned the whole rocky mass +by some ten meters. + +I looked back down the side we had just cleared. There the mountain rose +only 700 to 800 feet above the plains; but on its far slope it crowned +the receding bottom of this part of the Atlantic by a height twice that. +My eyes scanned the distance and took in a vast area lit by intense +flashes of light. In essence, this mountain was a volcano. +Fifty feet below its peak, amid a shower of stones and slag, +a wide crater vomited torrents of lava that were dispersed in +fiery cascades into the heart of the liquid mass. So situated, +this volcano was an immense torch that lit up the lower plains +all the way to the horizon. + +As I said, this underwater crater spewed lava, but not flames. +Flames need oxygen from the air and are unable to spread underwater; +but a lava flow, which contains in itself the principle of its +incandescence, can rise to a white heat, overpower the liquid element, +and turn it into steam on contact. Swift currents swept away all this +diffuse gas, and torrents of lava slid to the foot of the mountain, +like the disgorgings of a Mt. Vesuvius over the city limits +of a second Torre del Greco. + +In fact, there beneath my eyes was a town in ruins, demolished, +overwhelmed, laid low, its roofs caved in, its temples pulled down, +its arches dislocated, its columns stretching over the earth; +in these ruins you could still detect the solid proportions +of a sort of Tuscan architecture; farther off, the remains of a +gigantic aqueduct; here, the caked heights of an acropolis along +with the fluid forms of a Parthenon; there, the remnants of a wharf, +as if some bygone port had long ago harbored merchant vessels +and triple-tiered war galleys on the shores of some lost ocean; +still farther off, long rows of collapsing walls, deserted thoroughfares, +a whole Pompeii buried under the waters, which Captain Nemo had +resurrected before my eyes! + +Where was I? Where was I? I had to find out at all cost, I wanted +to speak, I wanted to rip off the copper sphere imprisoning my head. + +But Captain Nemo came over and stopped me with a gesture. +Then, picking up a piece of chalky stone, he advanced to a black +basaltic rock and scrawled this one word: + +ATLANTIS + +What lightning flashed through my mind! Atlantis, that ancient land +of Meropis mentioned by the historian Theopompus; Plato's Atlantis; +the continent whose very existence has been denied by such philosophers +and scientists as Origen, Porphyry, Iamblichus, d'Anville, Malte-Brun, +and Humboldt, who entered its disappearance in the ledger of myths +and folk tales; the country whose reality has nevertheless been accepted +by such other thinkers as Posidonius, Pliny, Ammianus Marcellinus, +Tertullian, Engel, Scherer, Tournefort, Buffon, and d'Avezac; I had +this land right under my eyes, furnishing its own unimpeachable +evidence of the catastrophe that had overtaken it! So this was +the submerged region that had existed outside Europe, Asia, and Libya, +beyond the Pillars of Hercules, home of those powerful Atlantean +people against whom ancient Greece had waged its earliest wars! + +The writer whose narratives record the lofty deeds of those heroic +times is Plato himself. His dialogues Timaeus and Critias were +drafted with the poet and legislator Solon as their inspiration, +as it were. + +One day Solon was conversing with some elderly wise men in the Egyptian +capital of Sais, a town already 8,000 years of age, as documented +by the annals engraved on the sacred walls of its temples. One of these +elders related the history of another town 1,000 years older still. +This original city of Athens, ninety centuries old, had been invaded +and partly destroyed by the Atlanteans. These Atlanteans, he said, +resided on an immense continent greater than Africa and + +Asia combined, taking in an area that lay between latitude 12 degrees +and 40 degrees north. Their dominion extended even to Egypt. They tried +to enforce their rule as far as Greece, but they had to retreat before +the indomitable resistance of the Hellenic people. Centuries passed. +A cataclysm occurred--floods, earthquakes. A single night and day +were enough to obliterate this Atlantis, whose highest peaks +(Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands) +still emerge above the waves. + +These were the historical memories that Captain Nemo's scrawl sent +rushing through my mind. Thus, led by the strangest of fates, +I was treading underfoot one of the mountains of that continent! +My hands were touching ruins many thousands of years old, +contemporary with prehistoric times! I was walking in the very place +where contemporaries of early man had walked! My heavy soles +were crushing the skeletons of animals from the age of fable, +animals that used to take cover in the shade of these trees now +turned to stone! + +Oh, why was I so short of time! I would have gone down the steep +slopes of this mountain, crossed this entire immense continent, +which surely connects Africa with America, and visited its great +prehistoric cities. Under my eyes there perhaps lay the warlike +town of Makhimos or the pious village of Eusebes, whose gigantic +inhabitants lived for whole centuries and had the strength to raise +blocks of stone that still withstood the action of the waters. +One day perhaps, some volcanic phenomenon will bring these sunken +ruins back to the surface of the waves! Numerous underwater volcanoes +have been sighted in this part of the ocean, and many ships have +felt terrific tremors when passing over these turbulent depths. +A few have heard hollow noises that announced some struggle of +the elements far below, others have hauled in volcanic ash hurled +above the waves. As far as the equator this whole seafloor is still +under construction by plutonic forces. And in some remote epoch, +built up by volcanic disgorgings and successive layers of lava, +who knows whether the peaks of these fire-belching mountains may +reappear above the surface of the Atlantic! + +As I mused in this way, trying to establish in my memory every +detail of this impressive landscape, Captain Nemo was leaning +his elbows on a moss-covered monument, motionless as if petrified +in some mute trance. Was he dreaming of those lost generations, +asking them for the secret of human destiny? Was it here that this +strange man came to revive himself, basking in historical memories, +reliving that bygone life, he who had no desire for our modern one? +I would have given anything to know his thoughts, to share them, +understand them! + +We stayed in this place an entire hour, contemplating its vast plains +in the lava's glow, which sometimes took on a startling intensity. +Inner boilings sent quick shivers running through the mountain's crust. +Noises from deep underneath, clearly transmitted by the liquid medium, +reverberated with majestic amplitude. + +Just then the moon appeared for an instant through the watery mass, +casting a few pale rays over this submerged continent. +It was only a fleeting glimmer, but its effect was indescribable. +The captain stood up and took one last look at these immense plains; +then his hand signaled me to follow him. + +We went swiftly down the mountain. Once past the petrified forest, +I could see the Nautilus's beacon twinkling like a star. +The captain walked straight toward it, and we were back on board +just as the first glimmers of dawn were whitening the surface +of the ocean. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +The Underwater Coalfields + + +THE NEXT DAY, February 20, I overslept. I was so exhausted +from the night before, I didn't get up until eleven o'clock. I +dressed quickly. I hurried to find out the Nautilus's heading. +The instruments indicated that it was running southward at a speed +of twenty miles per hour and a depth of 100 meters. + +Conseil entered. I described our nocturnal excursion to him, +and since the panels were open, he could still catch a glimpse +of this submerged continent. + +In fact, the Nautilus was skimming only ten meters over the soil of +these Atlantis plains. The ship scudded along like an air balloon borne +by the wind over some prairie on land; but it would be more accurate +to say that we sat in the lounge as if we were riding in a coach +on an express train. As for the foregrounds passing before our eyes, +they were fantastically carved rocks, forests of trees that had +crossed over from the vegetable kingdom into the mineral kingdom, +their motionless silhouettes sprawling beneath the waves. +There also were stony masses buried beneath carpets of axidia +and sea anemone, bristling with long, vertical water plants, +then strangely contoured blocks of lava that testified to all the fury +of those plutonic developments. + +While this bizarre scenery was glittering under our electric beams, +I told Conseil the story of the Atlanteans, who had inspired +the old French scientist Jean Bailly to write so many entertaining-- +albeit utterly fictitious--pages.* I told the lad about the wars +of these heroic people. I discussed the question of Atlantis +with the fervor of a man who no longer had any doubts. But Conseil +was so distracted he barely heard me, and his lack of interest +in any commentary on this historical topic was soon explained. + +*Bailly believed that Atlantis was located at the North Pole! Ed. + +In essence, numerous fish had caught his eye, and when fish pass by, +Conseil vanishes into his world of classifying and leaves real +life behind. In which case I could only tag along and resume +our ichthyological research. + +Even so, these Atlantic fish were not noticeably different from those we +had observed earlier. There were rays of gigantic size, five meters +long and with muscles so powerful they could leap above the waves, +sharks of various species including a fifteen-foot glaucous shark +with sharp triangular teeth and so transparent it was almost invisible +amid the waters, brown lantern sharks, prism-shaped humantin sharks +armored with protuberant hides, sturgeons resembling their relatives +in the Mediterranean, trumpet-snouted pipefish a foot and a half long, +yellowish brown with small gray fins and no teeth or tongue, +unreeling like slim, supple snakes. + +Among bony fish, Conseil noticed some blackish marlin three +meters long with a sharp sword jutting from the upper jaw, +bright-colored weevers known in Aristotle's day as sea dragons +and whose dorsal stingers make them quite dangerous to pick up, +then dolphinfish with brown backs striped in blue and edged in gold, +handsome dorados, moonlike opahs that look like azure disks but which +the sun's rays turn into spots of silver, finally eight-meter swordfish +from the genus Xiphias, swimming in schools, sporting yellowish +sickle-shaped fins and six-foot broadswords, stalwart animals, +plant eaters rather than fish eaters, obeying the tiniest signals +from their females like henpecked husbands. + +But while observing these different specimens of marine fauna, +I didn't stop examining the long plains of Atlantis. Sometimes an +unpredictable irregularity in the seafloor would force the Nautilus +to slow down, and then it would glide into the narrow channels +between the hills with a cetacean's dexterity. If the labyrinth +became hopelessly tangled, the submersible would rise above it +like an airship, and after clearing the obstacle, it would resume +its speedy course just a few meters above the ocean floor. +It was an enjoyable and impressive way of navigating that did indeed +recall the maneuvers of an airship ride, with the major difference +that the Nautilus faithfully obeyed the hands of its helmsman. + +The terrain consisted mostly of thick slime mixed with petrified branches, +but it changed little by little near four o'clock in the afternoon; +it grew rockier and seemed to be strewn with pudding stones and a basaltic +gravel called "tuff," together with bits of lava and sulfurous obsidian. +I expected these long plains to change into mountain regions, +and in fact, as the Nautilus was executing certain turns, +I noticed that the southerly horizon was blocked by a high wall +that seemed to close off every exit. Its summit obviously +poked above the level of the ocean. It had to be a continent +or at least an island, either one of the Canaries or one of the +Cape Verde Islands. Our bearings hadn't been marked on the chart-- +perhaps deliberately--and I had no idea what our position was. +In any case this wall seemed to signal the end of Atlantis, of which, +all in all, we had crossed only a small part. + +Nightfall didn't interrupt my observations. I was left to myself. +Conseil had repaired to his cabin. The Nautilus slowed down, +hovering above the muddled masses on the seafloor, sometimes grazing +them as if wanting to come to rest, sometimes rising unpredictably +to the surface of the waves. Then I glimpsed a few bright +constellations through the crystal waters, specifically five or six +of those zodiacal stars trailing from the tail end of Orion. + +I would have stayed longer at my window, marveling at these beauties +of sea and sky, but the panels closed. Just then the Nautilus had +arrived at the perpendicular face of that high wall. How the ship +would maneuver I hadn't a guess. I repaired to my stateroom. +The Nautilus did not stir. I fell asleep with the firm intention +of waking up in just a few hours. + +But it was eight o'clock the next day when I returned to the lounge. +I stared at the pressure gauge. It told me that the Nautilus was +afloat on the surface of the ocean. Furthermore, I heard the sound +of footsteps on the platform. Yet there were no rolling movements +to indicate the presence of waves undulating above me. + +I climbed as far as the hatch. It was open. But instead of +the broad daylight I was expecting, I found that I was surrounded +by total darkness. Where were we? Had I been mistaken? +Was it still night? No! Not one star was twinkling, and nighttime +is never so utterly black. + +I wasn't sure what to think, when a voice said to me: + +"Is that you, professor?" + +"Ah, Captain Nemo!" I replied. "Where are we?" + +"Underground, professor." + +"Underground!" I exclaimed. "And the Nautilus is still floating?" + +"It always floats." + +"But I don't understand!" + +"Wait a little while. Our beacon is about to go on, and if you +want some light on the subject, you'll be satisfied." + +I set foot on the platform and waited. The darkness was so profound +I couldn't see even Captain Nemo. However, looking at the zenith +directly overhead, I thought I caught sight of a feeble glimmer, +a sort of twilight filtering through a circular hole. +Just then the beacon suddenly went on, and its intense brightness +made that hazy light vanish. + +This stream of electricity dazzled my eyes, and after momentarily +shutting them, I looked around. The Nautilus was stationary. +It was floating next to an embankment shaped like a wharf. +As for the water now buoying the ship, it was a lake completely encircled +by an inner wall about two miles in diameter, hence six miles around. +Its level--as indicated by the pressure gauge--would be the same +as the outside level, because some connection had to exist +between this lake and the sea. Slanting inward over their base, +these high walls converged to form a vault shaped like an immense +upside-down funnel that measured 500 or 600 meters in height. +At its summit there gaped the circular opening through which I +had detected that faint glimmer, obviously daylight. + +Before more carefully examining the interior features of this +enormous cavern, and before deciding if it was the work of nature +or humankind, I went over to Captain Nemo. + +"Where are we?" I said. + +"In the very heart of an extinct volcano," the captain answered me, +"a volcano whose interior was invaded by the sea after some convulsion +in the earth. While you were sleeping, professor, the Nautilus +entered this lagoon through a natural channel that opens ten meters +below the surface of the ocean. This is our home port, secure, +convenient, secret, and sheltered against winds from any direction! +Along the coasts of your continents or islands, show me any +offshore mooring that can equal this safe refuge for withstanding +the fury of hurricanes." + +"Indeed," I replied, "here you're in perfect safety, +Captain Nemo. Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano? +But don't I see an opening at its summit?" + +"Yes, its crater, a crater formerly filled with lava, steam, and flames, +but which now lets in this life-giving air we're breathing." + +"But which volcanic mountain is this?" I asked. + +"It's one of the many islets with which this sea is strewn. +For ships a mere reef, for us an immense cavern. I discovered it +by chance, and chance served me well." + +"But couldn't someone enter through the mouth of its crater?" + +"No more than I could exit through it. You can climb about 100 feet +up the inner base of this mountain, but then the walls overhang, +they lean too far in to be scaled." + +"I can see, captain, that nature is your obedient servant, +any time or any place. You're safe on this lake, and nobody else +can visit its waters. But what's the purpose of this refuge? +The Nautilus doesn't need a harbor." + +"No, professor, but it needs electricity to run, batteries to +generate its electricity, sodium to feed its batteries, coal to +make its sodium, and coalfields from which to dig its coal. +Now then, right at this spot the sea covers entire forests that +sank underwater in prehistoric times; today, turned to stone, +transformed into carbon fuel, they offer me inexhaustible coal mines." + +"So, captain, your men practice the trade of miners here?" + +"Precisely. These mines extend under the waves like the coalfields +at Newcastle. Here, dressed in diving suits, pick and mattock in hand, +my men go out and dig this carbon fuel for which I don't need a single +mine on land. When I burn this combustible to produce sodium, +the smoke escaping from the mountain's crater gives it the appearance +of a still-active volcano." + +"And will we see your companions at work?" + +"No, at least not this time, because I'm eager to continue our +underwater tour of the world. Accordingly, I'll rest content +with drawing on my reserve stock of sodium. We'll stay here long +enough to load it on board, in other words, a single workday, +then we'll resume our voyage. So, Professor Aronnax, if you'd +like to explore this cavern and circle its lagoon, seize the day." + +I thanked the captain and went to look for my two companions, +who hadn't yet left their cabin. I invited them to follow me, +not telling them where we were. + +They climbed onto the platform. Conseil, whom nothing could startle, +saw it as a perfectly natural thing to fall asleep under the waves +and wake up under a mountain. But Ned Land had no idea in his head +other than to see if this cavern offered some way out. + +After breakfast near ten o'clock, we went down onto the embankment. + +"So here we are, back on shore," Conseil said. + +"I'd hardly call this shore," the Canadian replied. "And besides, +we aren't on it but under it." + +A sandy beach unfolded before us, measuring 500 feet at its widest point +between the waters of the lake and the foot of the mountain's walls. +Via this strand you could easily circle the lake. But the base +of these high walls consisted of broken soil over which there lay +picturesque piles of volcanic blocks and enormous pumice stones. +All these crumbling masses were covered with an enamel polished by +the action of underground fires, and they glistened under the stream +of electric light from our beacon. Stirred up by our footsteps, +the mica-rich dust on this beach flew into the air like a +cloud of sparks. + +The ground rose appreciably as it moved away from the sand flats +by the waves, and we soon arrived at some long, winding gradients, +genuinely steep paths that allowed us to climb little by little; +but we had to tread cautiously in the midst of pudding stones that weren't +cemented together, and our feet kept skidding on glassy trachyte, +made of feldspar and quartz crystals. + +The volcanic nature of this enormous pit was apparent all around us. +I ventured to comment on it to my companions. + +"Can you picture," I asked them, "what this funnel must have +been like when it was filled with boiling lava, and the level +of that incandescent liquid rose right to the mountain's mouth, +like cast iron up the insides of a furnace?" + +"I can picture it perfectly," Conseil replied. "But will master +tell me why this huge smelter suspended operations, and how it +is that an oven was replaced by the tranquil waters of a lake?" + +"In all likelihood, Conseil, because some convulsion created an opening +below the surface of the ocean, the opening that serves as a passageway +for the Nautilus. Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed inside +the mountain. There ensued a dreadful struggle between the elements +of fire and water, a struggle ending in King Neptune's favor. +But many centuries have passed since then, and this submerged +volcano has changed into a peaceful cavern." + +"That's fine," Ned Land answered. "I accept the explanation, +but in our personal interests, I'm sorry this opening the professor +mentions wasn't made above sea level." + +"But Ned my friend," Conseil answered, "if it weren't an underwater +passageway, the Nautilus couldn't enter it!" + +"And I might add, Mr. Land," I said, "that the waters wouldn't have +rushed under the mountain, and the volcano would still be a volcano. +So you have nothing to be sorry about." + +Our climb continued. The gradients got steeper and narrower. +Sometimes they were cut across by deep pits that had to be cleared. +Masses of overhanging rock had to be gotten around. You slid on +your knees, you crept on your belly. But helped by the Canadian's +strength and Conseil's dexterity, we overcame every obstacle. + +At an elevation of about thirty meters, the nature of the terrain +changed without becoming any easier. Pudding stones and trachyte +gave way to black basaltic rock: here, lying in slabs all swollen +with blisters; there, shaped like actual prisms and arranged into a +series of columns that supported the springings of this immense vault, +a wonderful sample of natural architecture. Then, among this +basaltic rock, there snaked long, hardened lava flows inlaid with veins +of bituminous coal and in places covered by wide carpets of sulfur. +The sunshine coming through the crater had grown stronger, +shedding a hazy light over all the volcanic waste forever buried +in the heart of this extinct mountain. + +But when we had ascended to an elevation of about 250 feet, +we were stopped by insurmountable obstacles. The converging inside +walls changed into overhangs, and our climb into a circular stroll. +At this topmost level the vegetable kingdom began to challenge +the mineral kingdom. Shrubs, and even a few trees, emerged from crevices +in the walls. I recognized some spurges that let their caustic, +purgative sap trickle out. There were heliotropes, very remiss +at living up to their sun-worshipping reputations since no sunlight +ever reached them; their clusters of flowers drooped sadly, +their colors and scents were faded. Here and there chrysanthemums +sprouted timidly at the feet of aloes with long, sad, sickly leaves. +But between these lava flows I spotted little violets that still gave +off a subtle fragrance, and I confess that I inhaled it with delight. +The soul of a flower is its scent, and those splendid water plants, +flowers of the sea, have no souls! + +We had arrived at the foot of a sturdy clump of dragon trees, +which were splitting the rocks with exertions of their muscular roots, +when Ned Land exclaimed: + +"Oh, sir, a hive!" + +"A hive?" I answered, with a gesture of utter disbelief. + +"Yes, a hive," the Canadian repeated, "with bees buzzing around!" + +I went closer and was forced to recognize the obvious. At the mouth +of a hole cut in the trunk of a dragon tree, there swarmed thousands +of these ingenious insects so common to all the Canary Islands, +where their output is especially prized. + +Naturally enough, the Canadian wanted to lay in a supply of honey, +and it would have been ill-mannered of me to say no. He mixed sulfur +with some dry leaves, set them on fire with a spark from his tinderbox, +and proceeded to smoke the bees out. Little by little the buzzing died +down and the disemboweled hive yielded several pounds of sweet honey. +Ned Land stuffed his haversack with it. + +"When I've mixed this honey with our breadfruit batter," he told us, +"I'll be ready to serve you a delectable piece of cake." + +"But of course," Conseil put in, "it will be gingerbread!" + +"I'm all for gingerbread," I said, "but let's resume +this fascinating stroll." + +At certain turns in the trail we were going along, the lake +appeared in its full expanse. The ship's beacon lit up that whole +placid surface, which experienced neither ripples nor undulations. +The Nautilus lay perfectly still. On its platform and on the embankment, +crewmen were bustling around, black shadows that stood out clearly +in the midst of the luminous air. + +Just then we went around the highest ridge of these rocky +foothills that supported the vault. Then I saw that bees weren't +the animal kingdom's only representatives inside this volcano. +Here and in the shadows, birds of prey soared and whirled, +flying away from nests perched on tips of rock. There were +sparrow hawks with white bellies, and screeching kestrels. +With all the speed their stiltlike legs could muster, fine fat bustards +scampered over the slopes. I'll let the reader decide whether +the Canadian's appetite was aroused by the sight of this tasty game, +and whether he regretted having no rifle in his hands. He tried +to make stones do the work of bullets, and after several fruitless +attempts, he managed to wound one of these magnificent bustards. +To say he risked his life twenty times in order to capture this +bird is simply the unadulterated truth; but he fared so well, +the animal went into his sack to join the honeycombs. + +By then we were forced to go back down to the beach because the ridge +had become impossible. Above us, the yawning crater looked like +the wide mouth of a well. From where we stood, the sky was pretty easy +to see, and I watched clouds race by, disheveled by the west wind, +letting tatters of mist trail over the mountain's summit. +Proof positive that those clouds kept at a moderate altitude, +because this volcano didn't rise more than 1,800 feet above the level +of the ocean. + +Half an hour after the Canadian's latest exploits, we were back +on the inner beach. There the local flora was represented by a wide +carpet of samphire, a small umbelliferous plant that keeps quite nicely, +which also boasts the names glasswort, saxifrage, and sea fennel. +Conseil picked a couple bunches. As for the local fauna, +it included thousands of crustaceans of every type: +lobsters, hermit crabs, prawns, mysid shrimps, daddy longlegs, +rock crabs, and a prodigious number of seashells, such as cowries, +murex snails, and limpets. + +In this locality there gaped the mouth of a magnificent cave. +My companions and I took great pleasure in stretching out on its +fine-grained sand. Fire had polished the sparkling enamel of its +inner walls, sprinkled all over with mica-rich dust. Ned Land tapped +these walls and tried to probe their thickness. I couldn't help smiling. +Our conversation then turned to his everlasting escape plans, +and without going too far, I felt I could offer him this hope: +Captain Nemo had gone down south only to replenish his sodium supplies. +So I hoped he would now hug the coasts of Europe and America, +which would allow the Canadian to try again with a greater +chance of success. + +We were stretched out in this delightful cave for an hour. +Our conversation, lively at the outset, then languished. +A definite drowsiness overcame us. Since I saw no good reason +to resist the call of sleep, I fell into a heavy doze. +I dreamed--one doesn't choose his dreams--that my life had been +reduced to the vegetating existence of a simple mollusk. +It seemed to me that this cave made up my double-valved shell. . . . + +Suddenly Conseil's voice startled me awake. + +"Get up! Get up!" shouted the fine lad. + +"What is it?" I asked, in a sitting position. + +"The water's coming up to us!" + +I got back on my feet. Like a torrent the sea was rushing +into our retreat, and since we definitely were not mollusks, +we had to clear out. + +In a few seconds we were safe on top of the cave. + +"What happened?" Conseil asked. "Some new phenomenon?" + +"Not quite, my friends!" I replied. "It was the tide, +merely the tide, which wellnigh caught us by surprise just as it +did Sir Walter Scott's hero! The ocean outside is rising, +and by a perfectly natural law of balance, the level of this +lake is also rising. We've gotten off with a mild dunking. +Let's go change clothes on the Nautilus." + +Three-quarters of an hour later, we had completed our circular stroll +and were back on board. Just then the crewmen finished loading +the sodium supplies, and the Nautilus could have departed immediately. + +But Captain Nemo gave no orders. Would he wait for nightfall +and exit through his underwater passageway in secrecy? Perhaps. + +Be that as it may, by the next day the Nautilus had left its home +port and was navigating well out from any shore, a few meters +beneath the waves of the Atlantic. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +The Sargasso Sea + + +THE NAUTILUS didn't change direction. For the time being, then, +we had to set aside any hope of returning to European seas. +Captain Nemo kept his prow pointing south. Where was he taking us? +I was afraid to guess. + +That day the Nautilus crossed an odd part of the Atlantic Ocean. No one +is unaware of the existence of that great warm-water current known +by name as the Gulf Stream. After emerging from channels off Florida, +it heads toward Spitzbergen. But before entering the Gulf of Mexico +near latitude 44 degrees north, this current divides into two arms; +its chief arm makes for the shores of Ireland and Norway +while the second flexes southward at the level of the Azores; +then it hits the coast of Africa, sweeps in a long oval, and returns +to the Caribbean Sea. + +Now then, this second arm--more accurately, a collar--forms a ring +of warm water around a section of cool, tranquil, motionless ocean +called the Sargasso Sea. This is an actual lake in the open Atlantic, +and the great current's waters take at least three years to circle it. + +Properly speaking, the Sargasso Sea covers every submerged part +of Atlantis. Certain authors have even held that the many weeds +strewn over this sea were torn loose from the prairies of that +ancient continent. But it's more likely that these grasses, algae, +and fucus plants were carried off from the beaches of Europe and America, +then taken as far as this zone by the Gulf Stream. This is one +of the reasons why Christopher Columbus assumed the existence +of a New World. When the ships of that bold investigator arrived +in the Sargasso Sea, they had great difficulty navigating in the midst +of these weeds, which, much to their crews' dismay, slowed them down +to a halt; and they wasted three long weeks crossing this sector. + +Such was the region our Nautilus was visiting just then: +a genuine prairie, a tightly woven carpet of algae, gulfweed, +and bladder wrack so dense and compact a craft's stempost couldn't +tear through it without difficulty. Accordingly, not wanting +to entangle his propeller in this weed-choked mass, Captain Nemo +stayed at a depth some meters below the surface of the waves. + +The name Sargasso comes from the Spanish word "sargazo," +meaning gulfweed. This gulfweed, the swimming gulfweed or +berry carrier, is the chief substance making up this immense shoal. +And here's why these water plants collect in this placid Atlantic basin, +according to the expert on the subject, Commander Maury, author of +The Physical Geography of the Sea. + +The explanation he gives seems to entail a set of conditions that +everybody knows: "Now," Maury says, "if bits of cork or chaff, +or any floating substance, be put into a basin, and a circular motion +be given to the water, all the light substances will be found crowding +together near the center of the pool, where there is the least motion. +Just such a basin is the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf Stream, +and the Sargasso Sea is the center of the whirl." + +I share Maury's view, and I was able to study the phenomenon in this +exclusive setting where ships rarely go. Above us, huddled among +the brown weeds, there floated objects originating from all over: +tree trunks ripped from the Rocky Mountains or the Andes and sent +floating down the Amazon or the Mississippi, numerous pieces +of wreckage, remnants of keels or undersides, bulwarks staved +in and so weighed down with seashells and barnacles, they couldn't +rise to the surface of the ocean. And the passing years will someday +bear out Maury's other view that by collecting in this way over +the centuries, these substances will be turned to stone by the action +of the waters and will then form inexhaustible coalfields. +Valuable reserves prepared by farseeing nature for that time when man +will have exhausted his mines on the continents. + +In the midst of this hopelessly tangled fabric of weeds and fucus plants, +I noted some delightful pink-colored, star-shaped alcyon coral, +sea anemone trailing the long tresses of their tentacles, +some green, red, and blue jellyfish, and especially those big +rhizostome jellyfish that Cuvier described, whose bluish parasols +are trimmed with violet festoons. + +We spent the whole day of February 22 in the Sargasso Sea, where fish +that dote on marine plants and crustaceans find plenty to eat. +The next day the ocean resumed its usual appearance. + +From this moment on, for nineteen days from February 23 to March 12, +the Nautilus stayed in the middle of the Atlantic, hustling us +along at a constant speed of 100 leagues every twenty-four hours. +It was obvious that Captain Nemo wanted to carry out his underwater +program, and I had no doubt that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, +to return to the Pacific South Seas. + +So Ned Land had good reason to worry. In these wide seas empty +of islands, it was no longer feasible to jump ship. Nor did we +have any way to counter Captain Nemo's whims. We had no choice +but to acquiesce; but if we couldn't attain our end through force +or cunning, I liked to think we might achieve it through persuasion. +Once this voyage was over, might not Captain Nemo consent to set +us free in return for our promise never to reveal his existence? +Our word of honor, which we sincerely would have kept. +However, this delicate question would have to be negotiated with +the captain. But how would he receive our demands for freedom? +At the very outset and in no uncertain terms, hadn't he declared +that the secret of his life required that we be permanently imprisoned +on board the Nautilus? Wouldn't he see my four-month silence +as a tacit acceptance of this situation? Would my returning to this +subject arouse suspicions that could jeopardize our escape plans, +if we had promising circumstances for trying again later on? +I weighed all these considerations, turned them over in my mind, +submitted them to Conseil, but he was as baffled as I was. +In short, although I'm not easily discouraged, I realized that my +chances of ever seeing my fellow men again were shrinking by the day, +especially at a time when Captain Nemo was recklessly racing toward +the south Atlantic! + +During those nineteen days just mentioned, no unique incidents +distinguished our voyage. I saw little of the captain. +He was at work. In the library I often found books he had left open, +especially books on natural history. He had thumbed through my work +on the great ocean depths, and the margins were covered with his notes, +which sometimes contradicted my theories and formulations. +But the captain remained content with this method of refining my work, +and he rarely discussed it with me. Sometimes I heard melancholy +sounds reverberating from the organ, which he played very expressively, +but only at night in the midst of the most secretive darkness, +while the Nautilus slumbered in the wilderness of the ocean. + +During this part of our voyage, we navigated on the surface of the waves +for entire days. The sea was nearly deserted. A few sailing ships, +laden for the East Indies, were heading toward the Cape of +Good Hope. One day we were chased by the longboats of a whaling vessel, +which undoubtedly viewed us as some enormous baleen whale of great value. +But Captain Nemo didn't want these gallant gentlemen wasting their +time and energy, so he ended the hunt by diving beneath the waters. +This incident seemed to fascinate Ned Land intensely. +I'm sure the Canadian was sorry that these fishermen couldn't +harpoon our sheet-iron cetacean and mortally wound it. + +During this period the fish Conseil and I observed differed little +from those we had already studied in other latitudes. Chief among +them were specimens of that dreadful cartilaginous genus that's +divided into three subgenera numbering at least thirty-two species: +striped sharks five meters long, the head squat and wider than +the body, the caudal fin curved, the back with seven big, black, +parallel lines running lengthwise; then perlon sharks, ash gray, +pierced with seven gill openings, furnished with a single dorsal +fin placed almost exactly in the middle of the body. + +Some big dogfish also passed by, a voracious species of shark if there +ever was one. With some justice, fishermen's yarns aren't to be trusted, +but here's what a few of them relate. Inside the corpse of one +of these animals there were found a buffalo head and a whole calf; +in another, two tuna and a sailor in uniform; in yet another, +a soldier with his saber; in another, finally, a horse with its rider. +In candor, none of these sounds like divinely inspired truth. +But the fact remains that not a single dogfish let itself get caught +in the Nautilus's nets, so I can't vouch for their voracity. + +Schools of elegant, playful dolphin swam alongside for entire days. +They went in groups of five or six, hunting in packs like wolves +over the countryside; moreover, they're just as voracious as dogfish, +if I can believe a certain Copenhagen professor who says that from one +dolphin's stomach, he removed thirteen porpoises and fifteen seals. +True, it was a killer whale, belonging to the biggest known species, +whose length sometimes exceeds twenty-four feet. The family +Delphinia numbers ten genera, and the dolphins I saw were akin +to the genus Delphinorhynchus, remarkable for an extremely narrow +muzzle four times as long as the cranium. Measuring three meters, +their bodies were black on top, underneath a pinkish white strewn +with small, very scattered spots. + +From these seas I'll also mention some unusual specimens of croakers, +fish from the order Acanthopterygia, family Scienidea. Some authors-- +more artistic than scientific--claim that these fish are +melodious singers, that their voices in unison put on concerts +unmatched by human choristers. I don't say nay, but to my regret +these croakers didn't serenade us as we passed. + +Finally, to conclude, Conseil classified a large number +of flying fish. Nothing could have made a more unusual sight +than the marvelous timing with which dolphins hunt these fish. +Whatever the range of its flight, however evasive its trajectory +(even up and over the Nautilus), the hapless flying fish always found +a dolphin to welcome it with open mouth. These were either flying +gurnards or kitelike sea robins, whose lips glowed in the dark, +at night scrawling fiery streaks in the air before plunging into +the murky waters like so many shooting stars. + +Our navigating continued under these conditions until March 13. +That day the Nautilus was put to work in some depth-sounding +experiments that fascinated me deeply. + +By then we had fared nearly 13,000 leagues from our starting point +in the Pacific high seas. Our position fix placed us in latitude +45 degrees 37' south and longitude 37 degrees 53' west. These were +the same waterways where Captain Denham, aboard the Herald, +payed out 14,000 meters of sounding line without finding bottom. +It was here too that Lieutenant Parker, aboard the American +frigate Congress, was unable to reach the underwater soil +at 15,149 meters. + +Captain Nemo decided to take his Nautilus down to the lowest +depths in order to double-check these different soundings. +I got ready to record the results of this experiment. +The panels in the lounge opened, and maneuvers began for reaching +those strata so prodigiously far removed. + +It was apparently considered out of the question to dive by filling +the ballast tanks. Perhaps they wouldn't sufficiently increase +the Nautilus's specific gravity. Moreover, in order to come back up, +it would be necessary to expel the excess water, and our pumps +might not have been strong enough to overcome the outside pressure. + +Captain Nemo decided to make for the ocean floor by submerging on +an appropriately gradual diagonal with the help of his side fins, +which were set at a 45 degrees angle to the Nautilus's waterline. +Then the propeller was brought to its maximum speed, and its four +blades churned the waves with indescribable violence. + +Under this powerful thrust the Nautilus's hull quivered like a +resonating chord, and the ship sank steadily under the waters. +Stationed in the lounge, the captain and I watched the needle +swerving swiftly over the pressure gauge. Soon we had gone below +the livable zone where most fish reside. Some of these animals +can thrive only at the surface of seas or rivers, but a minority +can dwell at fairly great depths. Among the latter I observed +a species of dogfish called the cow shark that's equipped with six +respiratory slits, the telescope fish with its enormous eyes, +the armored gurnard with gray thoracic fins plus black pectoral +fins and a breastplate protected by pale red slabs of bone, +then finally the grenadier, living at a depth of 1,200 meters, +by that point tolerating a pressure of 120 atmospheres. + +I asked Captain Nemo if he had observed any fish at +more considerable depths. + +"Fish? Rarely!" he answered me. "But given the current state +of marine science, who are we to presume, what do we really know +of these depths?" + +"Just this, captain. In going toward the ocean's lower strata, +we know that vegetable life disappears more quickly than animal life. +We know that moving creatures can still be encountered where water +plants no longer grow. We know that oysters and pilgrim scallops live +in 2,000 meters of water, and that Admiral McClintock, England's hero of +the polar seas, pulled in a live sea star from a depth of 2,500 meters. +We know that the crew of the Royal Navy's Bulldog fished up a starfish +from 2,620 fathoms, hence from a depth of more than one vertical league. +Would you still say, Captain Nemo, that we really know nothing?" + +"No, professor," the captain replied, "I wouldn't be so discourteous. +Yet I'll ask you to explain how these creatures can live at such depths?" + +"I explain it on two grounds," I replied. "In the first place, +because vertical currents, which are caused by differences in the +water's salinity and density, can produce enough motion to sustain +the rudimentary lifestyles of sea lilies and starfish." + +"True," the captain put in. + +"In the second place, because oxygen is the basis of life, and we +know that the amount of oxygen dissolved in salt water increases +rather than decreases with depth, that the pressure in these lower +strata helps to concentrate their oxygen content." + +"Oho! We know that, do we?" Captain Nemo replied in a tone +of mild surprise. "Well, professor, we have good reason to know +it because it's the truth. I might add, in fact, that the air +bladders of fish contain more nitrogen than oxygen when these animals +are caught at the surface of the water, and conversely, more oxygen +than nitrogen when they're pulled up from the lower depths. +Which bears out your formulation. But let's continue our observations." + +My eyes flew back to the pressure gauge. The instrument indicated +a depth of 6,000 meters. Our submergence had been going on for an hour. +The Nautilus slid downward on its slanting fins, still sinking. +These deserted waters were wonderfully clear, with a transparency +impossible to convey. An hour later we were at 13,000 meters-- +about three and a quarter vertical leagues--and the ocean floor +was nowhere in sight. + +However, at 14,000 meters I saw blackish peaks rising in the midst +of the waters. But these summits could have belonged to mountains +as high or even higher than the Himalayas or Mt. Blanc, and the extent +of these depths remained incalculable. + +Despite the powerful pressures it was undergoing, the Nautilus sank +still deeper. I could feel its sheet-iron plates trembling down to +their riveted joins; metal bars arched; bulkheads groaned; the lounge +windows seemed to be warping inward under the water's pressure. +And this whole sturdy mechanism would surely have given way, if, as its +captain had said, it weren't capable of resisting like a solid block. + +While grazing these rocky slopes lost under the waters, I still +spotted some seashells, tube worms, lively annelid worms from +the genus Spirorbis, and certain starfish specimens. + +But soon these last representatives of animal life vanished, +and three vertical leagues down, the Nautilus passed below the limits +of underwater existence just as an air balloon rises above the +breathable zones in the sky. We reached a depth of 16,000 meters-- +four vertical leagues--and by then the Nautilus's plating was +tolerating a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, in other words, +1,600 kilograms per each square centimeter on its surface! + +"What an experience!" I exclaimed. "Traveling these deep +regions where no man has ever ventured before! Look, captain! +Look at these magnificent rocks, these uninhabited caves, +these last global haunts where life is no longer possible! +What unheard-of scenery, and why are we reduced to preserving it +only as a memory?" + +"Would you like," Captain Nemo asked me, "to bring back more than +just a memory?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that nothing could be easier than taking a photograph +of this underwater region!" + +Before I had time to express the surprise this new proposition caused me, +a camera was carried into the lounge at Captain Nemo's request. +The liquid setting, electrically lit, unfolded with perfect +clarity through the wide-open panels. No shadows, no blurs, +thanks to our artificial light. Not even sunshine could have +been better for our purposes. With the thrust of its propeller +curbed by the slant of its fins, the Nautilus stood still. +The camera was aimed at the scenery on the ocean floor, and in a few +seconds we had a perfect negative. + +I attach a print of the positive. In it you can view these primordial +rocks that have never seen the light of day, this nether granite +that forms the powerful foundation of our globe, the deep caves +cut into the stony mass, the outlines of incomparable distinctness +whose far edges stand out in black as if from the brush of certain +Flemish painters. In the distance is a mountainous horizon, a wondrously +undulating line that makes up the background of this landscape. +The general effect of these smooth rocks is indescribable: +black, polished, without moss or other blemish, carved into +strange shapes, sitting firmly on a carpet of sand that sparkled +beneath our streams of electric light. + +Meanwhile, his photographic operations over, Captain Nemo told me: + +"Let's go back up, professor. We mustn't push our luck and expose +the Nautilus too long to these pressures." + +"Let's go back up!" I replied. + +"Hold on tight." + +Before I had time to realize why the captain made this recommendation, +I was hurled to the carpet. + +Its fins set vertically, its propeller thrown in gear at +the captain's signal, the Nautilus rose with lightning speed, +shooting upward like an air balloon into the sky. Vibrating resonantly, +it knifed through the watery mass. Not a single detail was visible. +In four minutes it had cleared the four vertical leagues separating it +from the surface of the ocean, and after emerging like a flying fish, +it fell back into the sea, making the waves leap to prodigious heights. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +Sperm Whales and Baleen Whales + + +DURING THE NIGHT of March 13-14, the Nautilus resumed its +southward heading. Once it was abreast of Cape Horn, I thought it +would strike west of the cape, make for Pacific seas, and complete +its tour of the world. It did nothing of the sort and kept moving +toward the southernmost regions. So where was it bound? The pole? +That was insanity. I was beginning to think that the captain's +recklessness more than justified Ned Land's worst fears. + +For a good while the Canadian had said nothing more to me about +his escape plans. He had become less sociable, almost sullen. +I could see how heavily this protracted imprisonment was weighing on him. +I could feel the anger building in him. Whenever he encountered +the captain, his eyes would flicker with dark fire, and I was +in constant dread that his natural vehemence would cause him +to do something rash. + +That day, March 14, he and Conseil managed to find me in my stateroom. +I asked them the purpose of their visit. + +"To put a simple question to you, sir," the Canadian answered me. + +"Go on, Ned." + +"How many men do you think are on board the Nautilus?" + +"I'm unable to say, my friend." + +"It seems to me," Ned Land went on, "that it wouldn't take much +of a crew to run a ship like this one." + +"Correct," I replied. "Under existing conditions some ten men +at the most should be enough to operate it." + +"All right," the Canadian said, "then why should there be any +more than that?" + +"Why?" I answered. + +I stared at Ned Land, whose motives were easy to guess. + +"Because," I said, "if I can trust my hunches, if I truly understand +the captain's way of life, his Nautilus isn't simply a ship. +It's meant to be a refuge for people like its commander, people who +have severed all ties with the shore." + +"Perhaps," Conseil said, "but in a nutshell, the Nautilus can hold only +a certain number of men, so couldn't master estimate their maximum?" + +"How, Conseil?" + +"By calculating it. Master is familiar with the ship's capacity, +hence the amount of air it contains; on the other hand, +master knows how much air each man consumes in the act of breathing, +and he can compare this data with the fact that the Nautilus must +rise to the surface every twenty-four hours . . ." + +Conseil didn't finish his sentence, but I could easily see what +he was driving at. + +"I follow you," I said. "But while they're simple to do, +such calculations can give only a very uncertain figure." + +"No problem," the Canadian went on insistently. + +"Then here's how to calculate it," I replied. "In one hour +each man consumes the oxygen contained in 100 liters of air, +hence during twenty-four hours the oxygen contained in 2,400 liters. +Therefore, we must look for the multiple of 2,400 liters of air +that gives us the amount found in the Nautilus." + +"Precisely," Conseil said. + +"Now then," I went on, "the Nautilus's capacity is 1,500 metric tons, +and that of a ton is 1,000 liters, so the Nautilus holds 1,500,000 +liters of air, which, divided by 2,400 . . ." + +I did a quick pencil calculation. + +". . . gives us the quotient of 625. Which is tantamount to saying +that the air contained in the Nautilus would be exactly enough +for 625 men over twenty-four hours." + +"625!" Ned repeated. + +"But rest assured," I added, "that between passengers, seamen, +or officers, we don't total one-tenth of that figure." + +"Which is still too many for three men!" Conseil muttered. + +"So, my poor Ned, I can only counsel patience." + +"And," Conseil replied, "even more than patience, resignation." + +Conseil had said the true word. + +"Even so," he went on, "Captain Nemo can't go south forever! +He'll surely have to stop, if only at the Ice Bank, and he'll +return to the seas of civilization! Then it will be time to resume +Ned Land's plans." + +The Canadian shook his head, passed his hand over his brow, +made no reply, and left us. + +"With master's permission, I'll make an observation to him," +Conseil then told me. "Our poor Ned broods about all +the things he can't have. He's haunted by his former life. +He seems to miss everything that's denied us. He's obsessed by his +old memories and it's breaking his heart. We must understand him. +What does he have to occupy him here? Nothing. He isn't a scientist +like master, and he doesn't share our enthusiasm for the sea's wonders. +He would risk anything just to enter a tavern in his own country!" + +To be sure, the monotony of life on board must have seemed unbearable +to the Canadian, who was accustomed to freedom and activity. +It was a rare event that could excite him. That day, however, +a development occurred that reminded him of his happy years +as a harpooner. + +Near eleven o'clock in the morning, while on the surface of +the ocean, the Nautilus fell in with a herd of baleen whales. +This encounter didn't surprise me, because I knew these animals +were being hunted so relentlessly that they took refuge in the ocean +basins of the high latitudes. + +In the maritime world and in the realm of geographic exploration, +whales have played a major role. This is the animal that first +dragged the Basques in its wake, then Asturian Spaniards, Englishmen, +and Dutchmen, emboldening them against the ocean's perils, +and leading them to the ends of the earth. Baleen whales like +to frequent the southernmost and northernmost seas. Old legends +even claim that these cetaceans led fishermen to within a mere +seven leagues of the North Pole. Although this feat is fictitious, +it will someday come true, because it's likely that by hunting +whales in the Arctic or Antarctic regions, man will finally reach +this unknown spot on the globe. + +We were seated on the platform next to a tranquil sea. The month +of March, since it's the equivalent of October in these latitudes, +was giving us some fine autumn days. It was the Canadian-- +on this topic he was never mistaken--who sighted a baleen whale +on the eastern horizon. If you looked carefully, you could see +its blackish back alternately rise and fall above the waves, +five miles from the Nautilus. + +"Wow!" Ned Land exclaimed. "If I were on board a whaler, +there's an encounter that would be great fun! That's one big animal! +Look how high its blowholes are spouting all that air and steam! +Damnation! Why am I chained to this hunk of sheet iron!" + +"Why, Ned!" I replied. "You still aren't over your old fishing urges?" + +"How could a whale fisherman forget his old trade, sir? Who could +ever get tired of such exciting hunting?" + +"You've never fished these seas, Ned?" + +"Never, sir. Just the northernmost seas, equally in the Bering Strait +and the Davis Strait." + +"So the southern right whale is still unknown to you. +Until now it's the bowhead whale you've hunted, and it won't risk +going past the warm waters of the equator." + +"Oh, professor, what are you feeding me?" the Canadian answered +in a tolerably skeptical tone. + +"I'm feeding you the facts." + +"By thunder! In '65, just two and a half years ago, I to whom you speak, +I myself stepped onto the carcass of a whale near Greenland, +and its flank still carried the marked harpoon of a whaling ship +from the Bering Sea. Now I ask you, after it had been wounded +west of America, how could this animal be killed in the east, +unless it had cleared the equator and doubled Cape Horn or the Cape +of Good Hope?" + +"I agree with our friend Ned," Conseil said, "and I'm waiting +to hear how master will reply to him." + +"Master will reply, my friends, that baleen whales are localized, +according to species, within certain seas that they never leave. +And if one of these animals went from the Bering Strait +to the Davis Strait, it's quite simply because there's some +passageway from the one sea to the other, either along the coasts +of Canada or Siberia." + +"You expect us to fall for that?" the Canadian asked, tipping me a wink. + +"If master says so," Conseil replied. + +"Which means," the Canadian went on, "since I've never fished +these waterways, I don't know the whales that frequent them?" + +"That's what I've been telling you, Ned." + +"All the more reason to get to know them," Conseil answered. + +"Look! Look!" the Canadian exclaimed, his voice full of excitement. +"It's approaching! It's coming toward us! It's thumbing its nose at me! +It knows I can't do a blessed thing to it!" + +Ned stamped his foot. Brandishing an imaginary harpoon, +his hands positively trembled. + +"These cetaceans," he asked, "are they as big as the ones in +the northernmost seas?" + +"Pretty nearly, Ned." + +"Because I've seen big baleen whales, sir, whales measuring up +to 100 feet long! I've even heard that those rorqual whales off +the Aleutian Islands sometimes get over 150 feet." + +"That strikes me as exaggerated," I replied. "Those animals are +only members of the genus Balaenoptera furnished with dorsal fins, +and like sperm whales, they're generally smaller than the bowhead whale." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the Canadian, whose eyes hadn't left the ocean. +"It's getting closer, it's coming into the Nautilus's waters!" + +Then, going on with his conversation: + +"You talk about sperm whales," he said, "as if they were +little beasts! But there are stories of gigantic sperm whales. +They're shrewd cetaceans. I hear that some will cover themselves +with algae and fucus plants. People mistake them for islets. +They pitch camp on top, make themselves at home, light a fire--" + +"Build houses," Conseil said. + +"Yes, funny man," Ned Land replied. "Then one fine day the animal +dives and drags all its occupants down into the depths." + +"Like in the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor," I answered, laughing. +"Oh, Mr. Land, you're addicted to tall tales! What sperm whales +you're handing us! I hope you don't really believe in them!" + +"Mr. Naturalist," the Canadian replied in all seriousness, "when it +comes to whales, you can believe anything! (Look at that one move! +Look at it stealing away!) People claim these animals can circle +around the world in just fifteen days." + +"I don't say nay." + +"But what you undoubtedly don't know, Professor Aronnax, is that at +the beginning of the world, whales traveled even quicker." + +"Oh really, Ned! And why so?" + +"Because in those days their tails moved side to side, +like those on fish, in other words, their tails were straight up, +thrashing the water from left to right, right to left. +But spotting that they swam too fast, our Creator twisted their tails, +and ever since they've been thrashing the waves up and down, +at the expense of their speed." + +"Fine, Ned," I said, then resurrected one of the Canadian's expressions. +"You expect us to fall for that?" + +"Not too terribly," Ned Land replied, "and no more than if I told you +there are whales that are 300 feet long and weigh 1,000,000 pounds." + +"That's indeed considerable," I said. "But you must admit that +certain cetaceans do grow to significant size, since they're said +to supply as much as 120 metric tons of oil." + +"That I've seen," the Canadian said. + +"I can easily believe it, Ned, just as I can believe that certain +baleen whales equal 100 elephants in bulk. Imagine the impact +of such a mass if it were launched at full speed!" + +"Is it true," Conseil asked, "that they can sink ships?" + +"Ships? I doubt it," I replied. "However, they say that in 1820, +right in these southern seas, a baleen whale rushed at the Essex +and pushed it backward at a speed of four meters per second. +Its stern was flooded, and the Essex went down fast." + +Ned looked at me with a bantering expression. + +"Speaking for myself," he said, "I once got walloped by a whale's tail-- +in my longboat, needless to say. My companions and I were launched +to an altitude of six meters. But next to the professor's whale, +mine was just a baby." + +"Do these animals live a long time?" Conseil asked. + +"A thousand years," the Canadian replied without hesitation. + +"And how, Ned," I asked, "do you know that's so?" + +"Because people say so." + +"And why do people say so?" + +"Because people know so." + +"No, Ned! People don't know so, they suppose so, and here's the logic +with which they back up their beliefs. When fishermen first hunted whales +400 years ago, these animals grew to bigger sizes than they do today. +Reasonably enough, it's assumed that today's whales are smaller +because they haven't had time to reach their full growth. +That's why the Count de Buffon's encyclopedia says that cetaceans +can live, and even must live, for a thousand years. You understand?" + +Ned Land didn't understand. He no longer even heard me. +That baleen whale kept coming closer. His eyes devoured it. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed. "It's not just one whale, it's ten, twenty, +a whole gam! And I can't do a thing! I'm tied hand and foot!" + +"But Ned my friend," Conseil said, "why not ask Captain Nemo +for permission to hunt--" + +Before Conseil could finish his sentence, Ned Land scooted down +the hatch and ran to look for the captain. A few moments later, +the two of them reappeared on the platform. + +Captain Nemo observed the herd of cetaceans cavorting on the waters +a mile from the Nautilus. + +"They're southern right whales," he said. "There goes the fortune +of a whole whaling fleet." + +"Well, sir," the Canadian asked, "couldn't I hunt them, just so I +don't forget my old harpooning trade?" + +"Hunt them? What for?" Captain Nemo replied. "Simply to destroy them? +We have no use for whale oil on this ship." + +"But, sir," the Canadian went on, "in the Red Sea you authorized +us to chase a dugong!" + +"There it was an issue of obtaining fresh meat for my crew. +Here it would be killing for the sake of killing. I'm well aware +that's a privilege reserved for mankind, but I don't allow such +murderous pastimes. When your peers, Mr. Land, destroy decent, +harmless creatures like the southern right whale or the bowhead whale, +they commit a reprehensible offense. Thus they've already depopulated +all of Baffin Bay, and they'll wipe out a whole class of useful animals. +So leave these poor cetaceans alone. They have quite enough +natural enemies, such as sperm whales, swordfish, and sawfish, +without you meddling with them." + +I'll let the reader decide what faces the Canadian made during this +lecture on hunting ethics. Furnishing such arguments to a professional +harpooner was a waste of words. Ned Land stared at Captain Nemo +and obviously missed his meaning. But the captain was right. +Thanks to the mindless, barbaric bloodthirstiness of fishermen, +the last baleen whale will someday disappear from the ocean. + +Ned Land whistled "Yankee Doodle" between his teeth, stuffed his +hands in his pockets, and turned his back on us. + +Meanwhile Captain Nemo studied the herd of cetaceans, then addressed me: + +"I was right to claim that baleen whales have enough natural enemies +without counting man. These specimens will soon have to deal +with mighty opponents. Eight miles to leeward, Professor Aronnax, +can you see those blackish specks moving about?" + +"Yes, captain," I replied. + +"Those are sperm whales, dreadful animals that I've sometimes +encountered in herds of 200 or 300! As for them, they're cruel, +destructive beasts, and they deserve to be exterminated." + +The Canadian turned swiftly at these last words. + +"Well, captain," I said, "on behalf of the baleen whales, +there's still time--" + +"It's pointless to run any risks, professor. The Nautilus will +suffice to disperse these sperm whales. It's armed with a steel +spur quite equal to Mr. Land's harpoon, I imagine." + +The Canadian didn't even bother shrugging his shoulders. +Attacking cetaceans with thrusts from a spur! Who ever heard +of such malarkey! + +"Wait and see, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo said. +"We'll show you a style of hunting with which you aren't yet familiar. +We'll take no pity on these ferocious cetaceans. They're merely +mouth and teeth!" + +Mouth and teeth! There's no better way to describe the long-skulled +sperm whale, whose length sometimes exceeds twenty-five meters. +The enormous head of this cetacean occupies about a third of its body. +Better armed than a baleen whale, whose upper jaw is adorned solely +with whalebone, the sperm whale is equipped with twenty-five +huge teeth that are twenty centimeters high, have cylindrical, +conical summits, and weigh two pounds each. In the top part of this +enormous head, inside big cavities separated by cartilage, you'll find +300 to 400 kilograms of that valuable oil called "spermaceti." +The sperm whale is an awkward animal, more tadpole than fish, +as Professor Frédol has noted. It's poorly constructed, +being "defective," so to speak, over the whole left side of its frame, +with good eyesight only in its right eye. + +Meanwhile that monstrous herd kept coming closer. +It had seen the baleen whales and was preparing to attack. +You could tell in advance that the sperm whales would be victorious, +not only because they were better built for fighting than their +harmless adversaries, but also because they could stay longer +underwater before returning to breathe at the surface. + +There was just time to run to the rescue of the baleen whales. +The Nautilus proceeded to midwater. Conseil, Ned, and I sat in front +of the lounge windows. Captain Nemo made his way to the helmsman's +side to operate his submersible as an engine of destruction. +Soon I felt the beats of our propeller getting faster, and we +picked up speed. + +The battle between sperm whales and baleen whales had already begun +when the Nautilus arrived. It maneuvered to cut into the herd +of long-skulled predators. At first the latter showed little +concern at the sight of this new monster meddling in the battle. +But they soon had to sidestep its thrusts. + +What a struggle! Ned Land quickly grew enthusiastic and even ended +up applauding. Brandished in its captain's hands, the Nautilus was +simply a fearsome harpoon. He hurled it at those fleshy masses and ran +them clean through, leaving behind two squirming animal halves. +As for those daunting strokes of the tail hitting our sides, +the ship never felt them. No more than the collisions it caused. +One sperm whale exterminated, it ran at another, tacked on the spot +so as not to miss its prey, went ahead or astern, obeyed its rudder, +dived when the cetacean sank to deeper strata, rose with it +when it returned to the surface, struck it head-on or slantwise, +hacked at it or tore it, and from every direction and at any speed, +skewered it with its dreadful spur. + +What bloodshed! What a hubbub on the surface of the waves! +What sharp hisses and snorts unique to these frightened animals! +Their tails churned the normally peaceful strata into actual billows. + +This Homeric slaughter dragged on for an hour, and the long-skulled +predators couldn't get away. Several times ten or twelve of them +teamed up, trying to crush the Nautilus with their sheer mass. +Through the windows you could see their enormous mouths paved +with teeth, their fearsome eyes. Losing all self-control, Ned Land +hurled threats and insults at them. You could feel them clinging +to the submersible like hounds atop a wild boar in the underbrush. +But by forcing the pace of its propeller, the Nautilus carried them off, +dragged them under, or brought them back to the upper level of the waters, +untroubled by their enormous weight or their powerful grip. + +Finally this mass of sperm whales thinned out. The waves grew +tranquil again. I felt us rising to the surface of the ocean. +The hatch opened and we rushed onto the platform. + +The sea was covered with mutilated corpses. A fearsome explosion +couldn't have slashed, torn, or shredded these fleshy masses with +greater violence. We were floating in the midst of gigantic bodies, +bluish on the back, whitish on the belly, and all deformed +by enormous protuberances. A few frightened sperm whales were +fleeing toward the horizon. The waves were dyed red over an area +of several miles, and the Nautilus was floating in the middle +of a sea of blood. + +Captain Nemo rejoined us. + +"Well, Mr. Land?" he said. + +"Well, sir," replied the Canadian, whose enthusiasm had subsided, +"it's a dreadful sight for sure. But I'm a hunter not a butcher, +and this is plain butchery." + +"It was a slaughter of destructive animals," the captain replied, +"and the Nautilus is no butcher knife." + +"I prefer my harpoon," the Canadian answered. + +"To each his own," the captain replied, staring intently at Ned Land. + +I was in dread the latter would give way to some violent outburst +that might have had deplorable consequences. But his anger was +diverted by the sight of a baleen whale that the Nautilus had pulled +alongside of just then. + +This animal had been unable to escape the teeth of those sperm whales. +I recognized the southern right whale, its head squat, its body dark +all over. Anatomically, it's distinguished from the white whale and +the black right whale by the fusion of its seven cervical vertebrae, +and it numbers two more ribs than its relatives. Floating on its side, +its belly riddled with bites, the poor cetacean was dead. +Still hanging from the tip of its mutilated fin was a little baby +whale that it had been unable to rescue from the slaughter. +Its open mouth let water flow through its whalebone like a murmuring surf. + +Captain Nemo guided the Nautilus next to the animal's corpse. +Two of his men climbed onto the whale's flank, and to my astonishment, +I saw them draw from its udders all the milk they held, in other words, +enough to fill two or three casks. + +The captain offered me a cup of this still-warm milk. +I couldn't help showing my distaste for such a beverage. +He assured me that this milk was excellent, no different from cow's milk. + +I sampled it and agreed. So this milk was a worthwhile reserve +ration for us, because in the form of salt butter or cheese, +it would provide a pleasant change of pace from our standard fare. + +From that day on, I noted with some uneasiness that Ned Land's +attitudes toward Captain Nemo grew worse and worse, and I decided +to keep a close watch on the Canadian's movements and activities. + + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +The Ice Bank + + +THE NAUTILUS resumed its unruffled southbound heading. +It went along the 50th meridian with considerable speed. +Would it go to the pole? I didn't think so, because every previous +attempt to reach this spot on the globe had failed. Besides, the season +was already quite advanced, since March 13 on Antarctic shores +corresponds with September 13 in the northernmost regions, +which marks the beginning of the equinoctial period. + +On March 14 at latitude 55 degrees, I spotted floating ice, +plain pale bits of rubble twenty to twenty-five feet long, +which formed reefs over which the sea burst into foam. The Nautilus +stayed on the surface of the ocean. Having fished in the Arctic seas, +Ned Land was already familiar with the sight of icebergs. +Conseil and I were marveling at them for the first time. + +In the sky toward the southern horizon, there stretched a dazzling +white band. English whalers have given this the name "ice blink." +No matter how heavy the clouds may be, they can't obscure +this phenomenon. It announces the presence of a pack, or shoal, of ice. + +Indeed, larger blocks of ice soon appeared, their brilliance varying +at the whim of the mists. Some of these masses displayed green veins, +as if scrawled with undulating lines of copper sulfate. Others looked +like enormous amethysts, letting the light penetrate their insides. +The latter reflected the sun's rays from the thousand facets of +their crystals. The former, tinted with a bright limestone sheen, +would have supplied enough building material to make a whole marble town. + +The farther down south we went, the more these floating islands grew +in numbers and prominence. Polar birds nested on them by the thousands. +These were petrels, cape pigeons, or puffins, and their calls +were deafening. Mistaking the Nautilus for the corpse of a whale, +some of them alighted on it and prodded its resonant sheet iron +with pecks of their beaks. + +During this navigating in the midst of the ice, Captain Nemo +often stayed on the platform. He observed these deserted +waterways carefully. I saw his calm eyes sometimes perk up. +In these polar seas forbidden to man, did he feel right at home, +the lord of these unreachable regions? Perhaps. But he didn't say. +He stood still, reviving only when his pilot's instincts took over. +Then, steering his Nautilus with consummate dexterity, he skillfully +dodged the masses of ice, some of which measured several miles +in length, their heights varying from seventy to eighty meters. +Often the horizon seemed completely closed off. Abreast of latitude +60 degrees, every passageway had disappeared. Searching with care, +Captain Nemo soon found a narrow opening into which he brazenly slipped, +well aware, however, that it would close behind him. + +Guided by his skillful hands, the Nautilus passed by all these different +masses of ice, which are classified by size and shape with a precision +that enraptured Conseil: "icebergs," or mountains; "ice fields," +or smooth, limitless tracts; "drift ice," or floating floes; +"packs," or broken tracts, called "patches" when they're circular +and "streams" when they form long strips. + +The temperature was fairly low. Exposed to the outside air, +the thermometer marked -2 degrees to + +-3 degrees centigrade. But we were warmly dressed in furs, +for which seals and aquatic bears had paid the price. Evenly heated +by all its electric equipment, the Nautilus's interior defied +the most intense cold. Moreover, to find a bearable temperature, +the ship had only to sink just a few meters beneath the waves. + +Two months earlier we would have enjoyed perpetual daylight in +this latitude; but night already fell for three or four hours, and later +it would cast six months of shadow over these circumpolar regions. + +On March 15 we passed beyond the latitude of the South Shetland and +South Orkney Islands. The captain told me that many tribes of seals +used to inhabit these shores; but English and American whalers, +in a frenzy of destruction, slaughtered all the adults, +including pregnant females, and where life and activity once existed, +those fishermen left behind only silence and death. + +Going along the 55th meridian, the Nautilus cut the Antarctic Circle +on March 16 near eight o'clock in the morning. Ice completely +surrounded us and closed off the horizon. Nevertheless, Captain Nemo +went from passageway to passageway, always proceeding south. + +"But where's he going?" I asked. + +"Straight ahead," Conseil replied. "Ultimately, when he can't go +any farther, he'll stop." + +"I wouldn't bet on it!" I replied. + +And in all honesty, I confess that this venturesome excursion +was far from displeasing to me. I can't express the intensity +of my amazement at the beauties of these new regions. +The ice struck superb poses. Here, its general effect suggested +an oriental town with countless minarets and mosques. There, a city +in ruins, flung to the ground by convulsions in the earth. +These views were varied continuously by the sun's oblique rays, +or were completely swallowed up by gray mists in the middle of blizzards. +Then explosions, cave-ins, and great iceberg somersaults would occur +all around us, altering the scenery like the changing landscape +in a diorama. + +If the Nautilus was submerged during these losses of balance, we heard +the resulting noises spread under the waters with frightful intensity, +and the collapse of these masses created daunting eddies down +to the ocean's lower strata. The Nautilus then rolled and pitched +like a ship left to the fury of the elements. + +Often, no longer seeing any way out, I thought we were imprisoned +for good, but Captain Nemo, guided by his instincts, discovered new +passageways from the tiniest indications. He was never wrong +when he observed slender threads of bluish water streaking through +these ice fields. Accordingly, I was sure that he had already +risked his Nautilus in the midst of the Antarctic seas. + +However, during the day of March 16, these tracts of ice completely +barred our path. It wasn't the Ice Bank as yet, just huge ice +fields cemented together by the cold. This obstacle couldn't stop +Captain Nemo, and he launched his ship against the ice fields +with hideous violence. The Nautilus went into these brittle +masses like a wedge, splitting them with dreadful cracklings. +It was an old-fashioned battering ram propelled with infinite power. +Hurled aloft, ice rubble fell back around us like hail. +Through brute force alone, the submersible carved out a channel +for itself. Carried away by its momentum, the ship sometimes mounted +on top of these tracts of ice and crushed them with its weight, +or at other times, when cooped up beneath the ice fields, it split +them with simple pitching movements, creating wide punctures. + +Violent squalls assaulted us during the daytime. Thanks to certain +heavy mists, we couldn't see from one end of the platform to the other. +The wind shifted abruptly to every point on the compass. +The snow was piling up in such packed layers, it had to be chipped +loose with blows from picks. Even in a temperature of merely -5 +degrees centigrade, every outside part of the Nautilus was covered +with ice. A ship's rigging would have been unusable, because all +its tackle would have jammed in the grooves of the pulleys. +Only a craft without sails, driven by an electric motor that needed +no coal, could face such high latitudes. + +Under these conditions the barometer generally stayed quite low. +It fell as far as 73.5 centimeters. Our compass indications +no longer offered any guarantees. The deranged needles would +mark contradictory directions as we approached the southern +magnetic pole, which doesn't coincide with the South Pole proper. +In fact, according to the astronomer Hansteen, this magnetic pole is +located fairly close to latitude 70 degrees and longitude 130 degrees, +or abiding by the observations of Louis-Isidore Duperrey, in longitude +135 degrees and latitude 70 degrees 30'. Hence we had to transport +compasses to different parts of the ship, take many readings, +and strike an average. Often we could chart our course only by guesswork, +a less than satisfactory method in the midst of these winding +passageways whose landmarks change continuously. + +At last on March 18, after twenty futile assaults, the Nautilus +was decisively held in check. No longer was it an ice stream, +patch, or field--it was an endless, immovable barrier formed by ice +mountains fused to each other. + +"The Ice Bank!" the Canadian told me. + +For Ned Land, as well as for every navigator before us, I knew +that this was the great insurmountable obstacle. When the sun +appeared for an instant near noon, Captain Nemo took a reasonably +accurate sight that gave our position as longitude 51 degrees 30' +and latitude 67 degrees 39' south. This was a position already +well along in these Antarctic regions. + +As for the liquid surface of the sea, there was no longer +any semblance of it before our eyes. Before the Nautilus's +spur there lay vast broken plains, a tangle of confused chunks +with all the helter-skelter unpredictability typical of a river's +surface a short while before its ice breakup; but in this case +the proportions were gigantic. Here and there stood sharp peaks, +lean spires that rose as high as 200 feet; farther off, a succession +of steeply cut cliffs sporting a grayish tint, huge mirrors +that reflected the sparse rays of a sun half drowned in mist. +Beyond, a stark silence reigned in this desolate natural setting, +a silence barely broken by the flapping wings of petrels or puffins. +By this point everything was frozen, even sound. + +So the Nautilus had to halt in its venturesome course among these +tracts of ice. + +"Sir," Ned Land told me that day, "if your captain goes any farther . . ." + +"Yes?" + +"He'll be a superman." + +"How so, Ned?" + +"Because nobody can clear the Ice Bank. Your captain's a +powerful man, but damnation, he isn't more powerful than nature. +If she draws a boundary line, there you stop, like it or not!" + +"Correct, Ned Land, but I still want to know what's behind this +Ice Bank! Behold my greatest source of irritation--a wall!" + +"Master is right," Conseil said. "Walls were invented simply +to frustrate scientists. All walls should be banned." + +"Fine!" the Canadian put in. "But we already know what's behind +this Ice Bank." + +"What?" I asked. + +"Ice, ice, and more ice." + +"You may be sure of that, Ned," I answered, "but I'm not. +That's why I want to see for myself." + +"Well, professor," the Canadian replied, "you can just drop that idea! +You've made it to the Ice Bank, which is already far enough, +but you won't get any farther, neither your Captain Nemo or +his Nautilus. And whether he wants to or not, we'll head north again, +in other words, to the land of sensible people." + +I had to agree that Ned Land was right, and until ships are built +to navigate over tracts of ice, they'll have to stop at the Ice Bank. + +Indeed, despite its efforts, despite the powerful methods it +used to split this ice, the Nautilus was reduced to immobility. +Ordinarily, when someone can't go any farther, he still has +the option of returning in his tracks. But here it was just +as impossible to turn back as to go forward, because every +passageway had closed behind us, and if our submersible remained +even slightly stationary, it would be frozen in without delay. +Which is exactly what happened near two o'clock in the afternoon, +and fresh ice kept forming over the ship's sides with astonishing speed. +I had to admit that Captain Nemo's leadership had been most injudicious. + +Just then I was on the platform. Observing the situation for some while, +the captain said to me: + +"Well, professor! What think you?" + +"I think we're trapped, captain." + +"Trapped! What do you mean?" + +"I mean we can't go forward, backward, or sideways. +I think that's the standard definition of 'trapped,' at least +in the civilized world." + +"So, Professor Aronnax, you think the Nautilus won't be able +to float clear?" + +"Only with the greatest difficulty, captain, since the season +is already too advanced for you to depend on an ice breakup." + +"Oh, professor," Captain Nemo replied in an ironic tone, +"you never change! You see only impediments and obstacles! +I promise you, not only will the Nautilus float clear, it will +go farther still!" + +"Farther south?" I asked, gaping at the captain. + +"Yes, sir, it will go to the pole." + +"To the pole!" I exclaimed, unable to keep back a movement of disbelief. + +"Yes," the captain replied coolly, "the Antarctic pole, +that unknown spot crossed by every meridian on the globe. +As you know, I do whatever I like with my Nautilus." + +Yes, I did know that! I knew this man was daring to the point +of being foolhardy. But to overcome all the obstacles around +the South Pole--even more unattainable than the North Pole, +which still hadn't been reached by the boldest navigators-- +wasn't this an absolutely insane undertaking, one that could occur +only in the brain of a madman? + +It then dawned on me to ask Captain Nemo if he had already discovered +this pole, which no human being had ever trod underfoot. + +"No, sir," he answered me, "but we'll discover it together. +Where others have failed, I'll succeed. Never before has my +Nautilus cruised so far into these southernmost seas, but I repeat: +it will go farther still." + +"I'd like to believe you, captain," I went on in a tone of some sarcasm. +"Oh I do believe you! Let's forge ahead! There are no obstacles for us! +Let's shatter this Ice Bank! Let's blow it up, and if it still resists, +let's put wings on the Nautilus and fly over it!" + +"Over it, professor?" Captain Nemo replied serenely. +"No, not over it, but under it." + +"Under it!" I exclaimed. + +A sudden insight into Captain Nemo's plans had just flashed through +my mind. I understood. The marvelous talents of his Nautilus +would be put to work once again in this superhuman undertaking! + +"I can see we're starting to understand each other, professor," +Captain Nemo told me with a half smile. "You already glimpse +the potential--myself, I'd say the success--of this attempt. +Maneuvers that aren't feasible for an ordinary ship are easy for +the Nautilus. If a continent emerges at the pole, we'll stop at +that continent. But on the other hand, if open sea washes the pole, +we'll go to that very place!" + +"Right," I said, carried away by the captain's logic. +"Even though the surface of the sea has solidified into ice, +its lower strata are still open, thanks to that divine justice that puts +the maximum density of salt water one degree above its freezing point. +And if I'm not mistaken, the submerged part of this Ice Bank is +in a four-to-one ratio to its emerging part." + +"Very nearly, professor. For each foot of iceberg above the sea, +there are three more below. Now then, since these ice mountains don't +exceed a height of 100 meters, they sink only to a depth of 300 meters. +And what are 300 meters to the Nautilus?" + +"A mere nothing, sir." + +"We could even go to greater depths and find that temperature layer +common to all ocean water, and there we'd brave with impunity +the -30 degrees or -40 degrees cold on the surface." + +"True, sir, very true," I replied with growing excitement. + +"Our sole difficulty," Captain Nemo went on, "lies in our staying +submerged for several days without renewing our air supply." + +"That's all?" I answered. "The Nautilus has huge air tanks; +we'll fill them up and they'll supply all the oxygen we need." + +"Good thinking, Professor Aronnax," the captain replied with a smile. +"But since I don't want to be accused of foolhardiness, I'm giving +you all my objections in advance." + +"You have more?" + +"Just one. If a sea exists at the South Pole, it's possible +this sea may be completely frozen over, so we couldn't come up +to the surface!" + +"My dear sir, have you forgotten that the Nautilus is armed +with a fearsome spur? Couldn't it be launched diagonally against +those tracts of ice, which would break open from the impact?" + +"Ah, professor, you're full of ideas today!" + +"Besides, captain," I added with still greater enthusiasm, +"why wouldn't we find open sea at the South Pole just as at +the North Pole? The cold-temperature poles and the geographical +poles don't coincide in either the northern or southern hemispheres, +and until proof to the contrary, we can assume these two spots +on the earth feature either a continent or an ice-free ocean." + +"I think as you do, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo replied. +"I'll only point out that after raising so many objections against +my plan, you're now crushing me under arguments in its favor." + +Captain Nemo was right. I was outdoing him in daring! +It was I who was sweeping him to the pole. I was leading +the way, I was out in front . . . but no, you silly fool! +Captain Nemo already knew the pros and cons of this question, +and it amused him to see you flying off into impossible fantasies! + +Nevertheless, he didn't waste an instant. At his signal, +the chief officer appeared. The two men held a quick exchange +in their incomprehensible language, and either the chief officer +had been alerted previously or he found the plan feasible, +because he showed no surprise. + +But as unemotional as he was, he couldn't have been more impeccably +emotionless than Conseil when I told the fine lad our intention +of pushing on to the South Pole. He greeted my announcement with +the usual "As master wishes," and I had to be content with that. +As for Ned Land, no human shoulders ever executed a higher shrug +than the pair belonging to our Canadian. + +"Honestly, sir," he told me. "You and your Captain Nemo, I +pity you both!" + +"But we will go to the pole, Mr. Land." + +"Maybe, but you won't come back!" + +And Ned Land reentered his cabin, "to keep from doing +something desperate," he said as he left me. + +Meanwhile preparations for this daring attempt were getting under way. +The Nautilus's powerful pumps forced air down into the tanks +and stored it under high pressure. Near four o'clock Captain Nemo +informed me that the platform hatches were about to be closed. +I took a last look at the dense Ice Bank we were going to conquer. +The weather was fair, the skies reasonably clear, the cold quite brisk, +namely -12 degrees centigrade; but after the wind had lulled, +this temperature didn't seem too unbearable. + +Equipped with picks, some ten men climbed onto the Nautilus's +sides and cracked loose the ice around the ship's lower plating, +which was soon set free. This operation was swiftly executed +because the fresh ice was still thin. We all reentered the interior. +The main ballast tanks were filled with the water that hadn't yet +congealed at our line of flotation. The Nautilus submerged without delay. + +I took a seat in the lounge with Conseil. Through the open +window we stared at the lower strata of this southernmost ocean. +The thermometer rose again. The needle on the pressure gauge +swerved over its dial. + +About 300 meters down, just as Captain Nemo had predicted, +we cruised beneath the undulating surface of the Ice Bank. But the +Nautilus sank deeper still. It reached a depth of 800 meters. +At the surface this water gave a temperature of -12 degrees centigrade, +but now it gave no more than -10 degrees. Two degrees had already +been gained. Thanks to its heating equipment, the Nautilus's +temperature, needless to say, stayed at a much higher degree. +Every maneuver was accomplished with extraordinary precision. + +"With all due respect to master," Conseil told me, "we'll pass it by." + +"I fully expect to!" I replied in a tone of deep conviction. + +Now in open water, the Nautilus took a direct course to the pole +without veering from the 52nd meridian. From 67 degrees 30' +to 90 degrees, twenty-two and a half degrees of latitude were +left to cross, in other words, slightly more than 500 leagues. +The Nautilus adopted an average speed of twenty-six miles per hour, +the speed of an express train. If it kept up this pace, forty hours +would do it for reaching the pole. + +For part of the night, the novelty of our circumstances kept Conseil +and me at the lounge window. The sea was lit by our beacon's +electric rays. But the depths were deserted. Fish didn't linger +in these imprisoned waters. Here they found merely a passageway +for going from the Antarctic Ocean to open sea at the pole. +Our progress was swift. You could feel it in the vibrations +of the long steel hull. + +Near two o'clock in the morning, I went to snatch a few hours of sleep. +Conseil did likewise. I didn't encounter Captain Nemo while going +down the gangways. I assumed that he was keeping to the pilothouse. + +The next day, March 19, at five o'clock in the morning, I was back +at my post in the lounge. The electric log indicated that the +Nautilus had reduced speed. By then it was rising to the surface, +but cautiously, while slowly emptying its ballast tanks. + +My heart was pounding. Would we emerge into the open and find +the polar air again? + +No. A jolt told me that the Nautilus had bumped the underbelly +of the Ice Bank, still quite thick to judge from the hollowness +of the accompanying noise. Indeed, we had "struck bottom," +to use nautical terminology, but in the opposite direction +and at a depth of 3,000 feet. That gave us 4,000 feet +of ice overhead, of which 1,000 feet emerged above water. +So the Ice Bank was higher here than we had found it on the outskirts. +A circumstance less than encouraging. + +Several times that day, the Nautilus repeated the same experiment and +always it bumped against this surface that formed a ceiling above it. +At certain moments the ship encountered ice at a depth of 900 meters, +denoting a thickness of 1,200 meters, of which 300 meters rose above +the level of the ocean. This height had tripled since the moment +the Nautilus had dived beneath the waves. + +I meticulously noted these different depths, obtaining the underwater +profile of this upside-down mountain chain that stretched +beneath the sea. + +By evening there was still no improvement in our situation. +The ice stayed between 400 and 500 meters deep. It was obviously +shrinking, but what a barrier still lay between us and the surface +of the ocean! + +By then it was eight o'clock. The air inside the Nautilus should have +been renewed four hours earlier, following daily practice on board. +But I didn't suffer very much, although Captain Nemo hadn't yet +made demands on the supplementary oxygen in his air tanks. + +That night my sleep was fitful. Hope and fear besieged me by turns. +I got up several times. The Nautilus continued groping. +Near three o'clock in the morning, I observed that we encountered +the Ice Bank's underbelly at a depth of only fifty meters. +So only 150 feet separated us from the surface of the water. +Little by little the Ice Bank was turning into an ice field again. +The mountains were changing back into plains. + +My eyes didn't leave the pressure gauge. We kept rising on a diagonal, +going along this shiny surface that sparkled beneath our electric rays. +Above and below, the Ice Bank was subsiding in long gradients. +Mile after mile it was growing thinner. + +Finally, at six o'clock in the morning on that memorable day of March 19, +the lounge door opened. Captain Nemo appeared. + +"Open sea!" he told me. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +The South Pole + + +I RUSHED UP onto the platform. Yes, open sea! Barely a few +sparse floes, some moving + +icebergs; a sea stretching into the distance; hosts of birds +in the air and myriads of fish under the waters, which varied +from intense blue to olive green depending on the depth. +The thermometer marked 3 degrees centigrade. It was as if a +comparative springtime had been locked up behind that Ice Bank, +whose distant masses were outlined on the northern horizon. + +"Are we at the pole?" I asked the captain, my heart pounding. + +"I've no idea," he answered me. "At noon we'll fix our position." + +"But will the sun show through this mist?" I said, staring at +the grayish sky. + +"No matter how faintly it shines, it will be enough for me," +the captain replied. + +To the south, ten miles from the Nautilus, a solitary islet rose +to a height of 200 meters. We proceeded toward it, but cautiously, +because this sea could have been strewn with reefs. + +In an hour we had reached the islet. Two hours later we had completed a +full circle around it. It measured four to five miles in circumference. +A narrow channel separated it from a considerable shore, +perhaps a continent whose limits we couldn't see. The existence +of this shore seemed to bear out Commander Maury's hypotheses. +In essence, this ingenious American has noted that between +the South Pole and the 60th parallel, the sea is covered +with floating ice of dimensions much greater than any found +in the north Atlantic. From this fact he drew the conclusion +that the Antarctic Circle must contain considerable shores, +since icebergs can't form on the high seas but only along coastlines. +According to his calculations, this frozen mass enclosing the southernmost +pole forms a vast ice cap whose width must reach 4,000 kilometers. + +Meanwhile, to avoid running aground, the Nautilus halted three +cable lengths from a strand crowned by superb piles of rocks. +The skiff was launched to sea. Two crewmen carrying instruments, +the captain, Conseil, and I were on board. It was ten o'clock +in the morning. I hadn't seen Ned Land. No doubt, in the presence +of the South Pole, the Canadian hated having to eat his words. + +A few strokes of the oar brought the skiff to the sand, +where it ran aground. Just as Conseil was about to jump ashore, +I held him back. + +"Sir," I told Captain Nemo, "to you belongs the honor of first +setting foot on this shore." + +"Yes, sir," the captain replied, "and if I have no hesitation +in treading this polar soil, it's because no human being until +now has left a footprint here." + +So saying, he leaped lightly onto the sand. His heart must +have been throbbing with intense excitement. He scaled an +overhanging rock that ended in a small promontory and there, +mute and motionless, with crossed arms and blazing eyes, +he seemed to be laying claim to these southernmost regions. +After spending five minutes in this trance, he turned to us. + +"Whenever you're ready, sir," he called to me. + +I got out, Conseil at my heels, leaving the two men in the skiff. + +Over an extensive area, the soil consisted of that igneous gravel +called "tuff," reddish in color as if made from crushed bricks. +The ground was covered with slag, lava flows, and pumice stones. +Its volcanic origin was unmistakable. In certain localities thin smoke +holes gave off a sulfurous odor, showing that the inner fires still kept +their wide-ranging power. Nevertheless, when I scaled a high escarpment, +I could see no volcanoes within a radius of several miles. +In these Antarctic districts, as is well known, Sir James Clark Ross +had found the craters of Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror in fully active +condition on the 167th meridian at latitude 77 degrees 32'. + +The vegetation on this desolate continent struck me as quite limited. +A few lichens of the species Usnea melanoxanthra sprawled over +the black rocks. The whole meager flora of this region consisted +of certain microscopic buds, rudimentary diatoms made up of a type +of cell positioned between two quartz-rich shells, plus long purple +and crimson fucus plants, buoyed by small air bladders and washed +up on the coast by the surf. + +The beach was strewn with mollusks: small mussels, limpets, smooth +heart-shaped cockles, and especially some sea butterflies with oblong, +membrane-filled bodies whose heads are formed from two rounded lobes. +I also saw myriads of those northernmost sea butterflies three +centimeters long, which a baleen whale can swallow by the thousands +in one gulp. The open waters at the shoreline were alive with +these delightful pteropods, true butterflies of the sea. + +Among other zoophytes present in these shallows, there were +a few coral tree forms that, according to Sir James Clark Ross, +live in these Antarctic seas at depths as great as 1,000 meters; +then small alcyon coral belonging to the species Procellaria pelagica, +also a large number of starfish unique to these climes, plus some +feather stars spangling the sand. + +But it was in the air that life was superabundant. +There various species of birds flew and fluttered by the thousands, +deafening us with their calls. Crowding the rocks, other fowl watched +without fear as we passed and pressed familiarly against our feet. +These were auks, as agile and supple in water, where they are sometimes +mistaken for fast bonito, as they are clumsy and heavy on land. +They uttered outlandish calls and participated in numerous public +assemblies that featured much noise but little action. + +Among other fowl I noted some sheathbills from the wading-bird family, +the size of pigeons, white in color, the beak short and conical, the eyes +framed by red circles. Conseil laid in a supply of them, because when +they're properly cooked, these winged creatures make a pleasant dish. +In the air there passed sooty albatross with four-meter wingspans, +birds aptly dubbed "vultures of the ocean," also gigantic petrels +including several with arching wings, enthusiastic eaters of seal +that are known as quebrantahuesos,* and cape pigeons, a sort +of small duck, the tops of their bodies black and white--in short, +a whole series of petrels, some whitish with wings trimmed in brown, +others blue and exclusive to these Antarctic seas, the former "so oily," +I told Conseil, "that inhabitants of the Faroe Islands simply fit +the bird with a wick, then light it up." + +*Spanish: "ospreys." Ed. + +"With that minor addition," Conseil replied, "these fowl would make +perfect lamps! After this, we should insist that nature equip them +with wicks in advance!" + +Half a mile farther on, the ground was completely riddled with +penguin nests, egg-laying burrows from which numerous birds emerged. +Later Captain Nemo had hundreds of them hunted because their +black flesh is highly edible. They brayed like donkeys. +The size of a goose with slate-colored bodies, white undersides, +and lemon-colored neck bands, these animals let themselves be stoned +to death without making any effort to get away. + +Meanwhile the mists didn't clear, and by eleven o'clock the sun +still hadn't made an appearance. Its absence disturbed me. +Without it, no sights were possible. Then how could we tell whether +we had reached the pole? + +When I rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning silently against +a piece of rock and staring at the sky. He seemed impatient, baffled. +But what could we do? This daring and powerful man couldn't control +the sun as he did the sea. + +Noon arrived without the orb of day appearing for a single instant. +You couldn't even find its hiding place behind the curtain of mist. +And soon this mist began to condense into snow. + +"Until tomorrow," the captain said simply; and we went back +to the Nautilus, amid flurries in the air. + +During our absence the nets had been spread, and I observed with +fascination the fish just hauled on board. The Antarctic seas +serve as a refuge for an extremely large number of migratory fish +that flee from storms in the subpolar zones, in truth only to slide +down the gullets of porpoises and seals. I noted some one-decimeter +southern bullhead, a species of whitish cartilaginous fish overrun +with bluish gray stripes and armed with stings, then some Antarctic +rabbitfish three feet long, the body very slender, the skin a smooth +silver white, the head rounded, the topside furnished with three fins, +the snout ending in a trunk that curved back toward the mouth. +I sampled its flesh but found it tasteless, despite Conseil's views, +which were largely approving. + +The blizzard lasted until the next day. It was impossible to stay +on the platform. From the lounge, where I was writing up the incidents +of this excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the calls +of petrel and albatross cavorting in the midst of the turmoil. +The Nautilus didn't stay idle, and cruising along the coast, +it advanced some ten miles farther south amid the half light left +by the sun as it skimmed the edge of the horizon. + +The next day, March 20, it stopped snowing. The cold was a little +more brisk. The thermometer marked -2 degrees centigrade. +The mist had cleared, and on that day I hoped our noon sights +could be accomplished. + +Since Captain Nemo hadn't yet appeared, only Conseil and I +were taken ashore by the skiff. The soil's nature was still +the same: volcanic. Traces of lava, slag, and basaltic rock +were everywhere, but I couldn't find the crater that had vomited +them up. There as yonder, myriads of birds enlivened this part +of the polar continent. But they had to share their dominion with +huge herds of marine mammals that looked at us with gentle eyes. +These were seals of various species, some stretched out on the ground, +others lying on drifting ice floes, several leaving or reentering +the sea. Having never dealt with man, they didn't run off at +our approach, and I counted enough of them thereabouts to provision +a couple hundred ships. + +"Ye gods," Conseil said, "it's fortunate that Ned Land didn't +come with us!" + +"Why so, Conseil?" + +"Because that madcap hunter would kill every animal here." + +"Every animal may be overstating it, but in truth I doubt we could keep +our Canadian friend from harpooning some of these magnificent cetaceans. +Which would be an affront to Captain Nemo, since he hates to slay +harmless beasts needlessly." + +"He's right." + +"Certainly, Conseil. But tell me, haven't you finished classifying +these superb specimens of marine fauna?" + +"Master is well aware," Conseil replied, "that I'm not seasoned in +practical application. When master has told me these animals' names . . ." + +"They're seals and walruses." + +"Two genera," our scholarly Conseil hastened to say, "that belong +to the family Pinnipedia, order Carnivora, group Unguiculata, +subclass Monodelphia, class Mammalia, branch Vertebrata." + +"Very nice, Conseil," I replied, "but these two genera of seals +and walruses are each divided into species, and if I'm not mistaken, +we now have a chance to actually look at them. Let's." + +It was eight o'clock in the morning. We had four hours +to ourselves before the sun could be productively observed. +I guided our steps toward a huge bay that made a crescent-shaped +incision in the granite cliffs along the beach. + +There, all about us, I swear that the shores and ice floes +were crowded with marine mammals as far as the eye could see, +and I involuntarily looked around for old Proteus, that mythological +shepherd who guarded King Neptune's immense flocks. To be specific, +these were seals. They formed distinct male-and-female groups, +the father watching over his family, the mother suckling her +little ones, the stronger youngsters emancipated a few paces away. +When these mammals wanted to relocate, they moved in little jumps made +by contracting their bodies, clumsily helped by their imperfectly +developed flippers, which, as with their manatee relatives, +form actual forearms. In the water, their ideal element, I must say +these animals swim wonderfully thanks to their flexible backbones, +narrow pelvises, close-cropped hair, and webbed feet. +Resting on shore, they assumed extremely graceful positions. +Consequently, their gentle features, their sensitive expressions +equal to those of the loveliest women, their soft, limpid eyes, +their charming poses, led the ancients to glorify them by metamorphosing +the males into sea gods and the females into mermaids. + +I drew Conseil's attention to the considerable growth +of the cerebral lobes found in these intelligent cetaceans. +No mammal except man has more abundant cerebral matter. +Accordingly, seals are quite capable of being educated; +they make good pets, and together with certain other naturalists, +I think these animals can be properly trained to perform yeoman +service as hunting dogs for fishermen. + +Most of these seals were sleeping on the rocks or the sand. +Among those properly termed seals--which have no external ears, +unlike sea lions whose ears protrude--I observed several varieties +of the species stenorhynchus, three meters long, with white hair, +bulldog heads, and armed with ten teeth in each jaw: four incisors +in both the upper and lower, plus two big canines shaped like the +fleur-de-lis. Among them slithered some sea elephants, a type of seal +with a short, flexible trunk; these are the giants of the species, +with a circumference of twenty feet and a length of ten meters. +They didn't move as we approached. + +"Are these animals dangerous?" Conseil asked me. + +"Only if they're attacked," I replied. "But when these giant seals +defend their little ones, their fury is dreadful, and it isn't rare +for them to smash a fisherman's longboat to bits." + +"They're within their rights," Conseil answered. + +"I don't say nay." + +Two miles farther on, we were stopped by a promontory that screened +the bay from southerly winds. It dropped straight down to the sea, +and surf foamed against it. From beyond this ridge there came +fearsome bellows, such as a herd of cattle might produce. + +"Gracious," Conseil put in, "a choir of bulls?" + +"No," I said, "a choir of walruses." + +"Are they fighting with each other?" + +"Either fighting or playing." + +"With all due respect to master, this we must see." + +"Then see it we must, Conseil." + +And there we were, climbing these blackish rocks amid sudden landslides +and over stones slippery with ice. More than once I took a tumble +at the expense of my backside. Conseil, more cautious or more stable, +barely faltered and would help me up, saying: + +"If master's legs would kindly adopt a wider stance, master will +keep his balance." + +Arriving at the topmost ridge of this promontory, I could see vast +white plains covered with walruses. These animals were playing +among themselves. They were howling not in anger but in glee. + +Walruses resemble seals in the shape of their bodies and the arrangement +of their limbs. But their lower jaws lack canines and incisors, and as +for their upper canines, they consist of two tusks eighty centimeters +long with a circumference of thirty-three centimeters at the socket. +Made of solid ivory, without striations, harder than elephant tusks, +and less prone to yellowing, these teeth are in great demand. +Accordingly, walruses are the victims of a mindless hunting that +soon will destroy them all, since their hunters indiscriminately +slaughter pregnant females and youngsters, and over 4,000 individuals +are destroyed annually. + +Passing near these unusual animals, I could examine them at my +leisure since they didn't stir. Their hides were rough and heavy, +a tan color leaning toward a reddish brown; their coats were +short and less than abundant. Some were four meters long. +More tranquil and less fearful than their northern relatives, +they posted no sentinels on guard duty at the approaches +to their campsite. + +After examining this community of walruses, I decided to return in +my tracks. It was eleven o'clock, and if Captain Nemo found conditions +favorable for taking his sights, I wanted to be present at the operation. +But I held no hopes that the sun would make an appearance that day. +It was hidden from our eyes by clouds squeezed together on the horizon. +Apparently the jealous orb didn't want to reveal this inaccessible +spot on the globe to any human being. + +Yet I decided to return to the Nautilus. We went along a steep, +narrow path that ran over the cliff's summit. By 11:30 we had arrived +at our landing place. The beached skiff had brought the captain ashore. +I spotted him standing on a chunk of basalt. His instruments +were beside him. His eyes were focused on the northern horizon, +along which the sun was sweeping in its extended arc. + +I found a place near him and waited without speaking. Noon arrived, +and just as on the day before, the sun didn't put in an appearance. + +It was sheer bad luck. Our noon sights were still lacking. +If we couldn't obtain them tomorrow, we would finally have to give +up any hope of fixing our position. + +In essence, it was precisely March 20. Tomorrow, the 21st, +was the day of the equinox; the sun would disappear below the horizon +for six months not counting refraction, and after its disappearance +the long polar night would begin. Following the September equinox, +the sun had emerged above the northerly horizon, rising in long +spirals until December 21. At that time, the summer solstice +of these southernmost districts, the sun had started back down, +and tomorrow it would cast its last rays. + +I shared my thoughts and fears with Captain Nemo. + +"You're right, Professor Aronnax," he told me. "If I can't take the sun's +altitude tomorrow, I won't be able to try again for another six months. +But precisely because sailors' luck has led me into these seas +on March 21, it will be easy to get our bearings if the noonday +sun does appear before our eyes." + +"Why easy, captain?" + +"Because when the orb of day sweeps in such long spirals, +it's difficult to measure its exact altitude above the horizon, +and our instruments are open to committing serious errors." + +"Then what can you do?" + +"I use only my chronometer," Captain Nemo answered me. +"At noon tomorrow, March 21, if, after accounting for refraction, +the sun's disk is cut exactly in half by the northern horizon, +that will mean I'm at the South Pole." + +"Right," I said. "Nevertheless, it isn't mathematically exact proof, +because the equinox needn't fall precisely at noon." + +"No doubt, sir, but the error will be under 100 meters, and that's +close enough for us. Until tomorrow then." + +Captain Nemo went back on board. Conseil and I stayed behind +until five o'clock, surveying the beach, observing and studying. +The only unusual object I picked up was an auk's egg of remarkable size, +for which a collector would have paid more than 1,000 francs. +Its cream-colored tint, plus the streaks and markings that +decorated it like so many hieroglyphics, made it a rare trinket. +I placed it in Conseil's hands, and holding it like precious +porcelain from China, that cautious, sure-footed lad got it back +to the Nautilus in one piece. + +There I put this rare egg inside one of the glass cases in the museum. +I ate supper, feasting with appetite on an excellent piece of seal +liver whose flavor reminded me of pork. Then I went to bed; +but not without praying, like a good Hindu, for the favors of +the radiant orb. + +The next day, March 21, bright and early at five o'clock in the morning, +I climbed onto the platform. I found Captain Nemo there. + +"The weather is clearing a bit," he told me. "I have high hopes. +After breakfast we'll make our way ashore and choose an observation post." + +This issue settled, I went to find Ned Land. I wanted to take him +with me. The obstinate Canadian refused, and I could clearly see +that his tight-lipped mood and his bad temper were growing by the day. +Under the circumstances I ultimately wasn't sorry that he refused. +In truth, there were too many seals ashore, and it would never do +to expose this impulsive fisherman to such temptations. + +Breakfast over, I made my way ashore. The Nautilus had gone a few +more miles during the night. It lay well out, a good league from +the coast, which was crowned by a sharp peak 400 to 500 meters high. +In addition to me, the skiff carried Captain Nemo, two crewmen, +and the instruments--in other words, a chronometer, a spyglass, +and a barometer. + +During our crossing I saw numerous baleen whales belonging to the +three species unique to these southernmost seas: the bowhead whale +(or "right whale," according to the English), which has no dorsal fin; +the humpback whale from the genus Balaenoptera (in other words, +"winged whales"), beasts with wrinkled bellies and huge whitish +fins that, genus name regardless, do not yet form wings; +and the finback whale, yellowish brown, the swiftest of all cetaceans. +This powerful animal is audible from far away when it sends up +towering spouts of air and steam that resemble swirls of smoke. +Herds of these different mammals were playing about in the +tranquil waters, and I could easily see that this Antarctic polar +basin now served as a refuge for those cetaceans too relentlessly +pursued by hunters. + +I also noted long, whitish strings of salps, a type of mollusk +found in clusters, and some jellyfish of large size that swayed +in the eddies of the billows. + +By nine o'clock we had pulled up to shore. The sky was growing brighter. +Clouds were fleeing to the south. Mists were rising from +the cold surface of the water. Captain Nemo headed toward +the peak, which he no doubt planned to make his observatory. +It was an arduous climb over sharp lava and pumice stones in the midst +of air often reeking with sulfurous fumes from the smoke holes. +For a man out of practice at treading land, the captain scaled +the steepest slopes with a supple agility I couldn't equal, +and which would have been envied by hunters of Pyrenees mountain goats. + +It took us two hours to reach the summit of this half-crystal, +half-basalt peak. From there our eyes scanned a vast sea, which scrawled +its boundary line firmly against the background of the northern sky. +At our feet: dazzling tracts of white. Over our heads: +a pale azure, clear of mists. North of us: the sun's disk, +like a ball of fire already cut into by the edge of the horizon. +From the heart of the waters: jets of liquid rising like hundreds +of magnificent bouquets. Far off, like a sleeping cetacean: +the Nautilus. Behind us to the south and east: an immense shore, +a chaotic heap of rocks and ice whose limits we couldn't see. + +Arriving at the summit of this peak, Captain Nemo carefully determined +its elevation by means of his barometer, since he had to take this +factor into account in his noon sights. + +At 11:45 the sun, by then seen only by refraction, looked like a +golden disk, dispersing its last rays over this deserted continent +and down to these seas not yet plowed by the ships of man. + +Captain Nemo had brought a spyglass with a reticular eyepiece, +which corrected the sun's refraction by means of a mirror, +and he used it to observe the orb sinking little by little +along a very extended diagonal that reached below the horizon. +I held the chronometer. My heart was pounding mightily. +If the lower half of the sun's disk disappeared just as the chronometer +said noon, we were right at the pole. + +"Noon!" I called. + +"The South Pole!" Captain Nemo replied in a solemn voice, +handing me the spyglass, which showed the orb of day cut into two +exactly equal parts by the horizon. + +I stared at the last rays wreathing this peak, while shadows were +gradually climbing its gradients. + +Just then, resting his hand on my shoulder, Captain Nemo said to me: + +"In 1600, sir, the Dutchman Gheritk was swept by storms +and currents, reaching latitude 64 degrees south and discovering +the South Shetland Islands. On January 17, 1773, the famous Captain Cook +went along the 38th meridian, arriving at latitude 67 degrees 30'; +and on January 30, 1774, along the 109th meridian, he reached +latitude 71 degrees 15'. In 1819 the Russian Bellinghausen lay on +the 69th parallel, and in 1821 on the 66th at longitude 111 degrees west. +In 1820 the Englishman Bransfield stopped at 65 degrees. +That same year the American Morrel, whose reports are dubious, +went along the 42nd meridian, finding open sea at latitude 70 degrees +14'. In 1825 the Englishman Powell was unable to get beyond 62 degrees. +That same year a humble seal fisherman, the Englishman Weddell, +went as far as latitude 72 degrees 14' on the 35th meridian, and as +far as 74 degrees 15' on the 36th. In 1829 the Englishman Forster, +commander of the Chanticleer, laid claim to the Antarctic continent +in latitude 63 degrees 26' and longitude 66 degrees 26'. On February 1, +1831, the Englishman Biscoe discovered Enderby Land at latitude 68 +degrees 50', Adelaide Land at latitude 67 degrees on February 5, +1832, and Graham Land at latitude 64 degrees 45' on February 21. +In 1838 the Frenchman Dumont d'Urville stopped at the Ice Bank +in latitude 62 degrees 57', sighting the Louis-Philippe Peninsula; +on January 21 two years later, at a new southerly position of 66 +degrees 30', he named the Adélie Coast and eight days later, +the Clarie Coast at 64 degrees 40'. In 1838 the American Wilkes +advanced as far as the 69th parallel on the 100th meridian. +In 1839 the Englishman Balleny discovered the Sabrina Coast at the edge +of the polar circle. Lastly, on January 12, 1842, with his ships, +the Erebus and the Terror, the Englishman Sir James Clark Ross found +Victoria Land in latitude 70 degrees 56' and longitude 171 degrees 7' +east; on the 23rd of that same month, he reached the 74th parallel, +a position denoting the Farthest South attained until then; +on the 27th he lay at 76 degrees 8'; on the 28th at 77 degrees 32'; +on February 2 at 78 degrees 4'; and late in 1842 he returned to 71 +degrees but couldn't get beyond it. Well now! In 1868, on this 21st +day of March, I myself, Captain Nemo, have reached the South Pole +at 90 degrees, and I hereby claim this entire part of the globe, +equal to one-sixth of the known continents." + +"In the name of which sovereign, captain?" + +"In my own name, sir!" + +So saying, Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag bearing a gold "N" +on its quartered bunting. Then, turning toward the orb of day, +whose last rays were licking at the sea's horizon: + +"Farewell, O sun!" he called. "Disappear, O radiant orb! +Retire beneath this open sea, and let six months of night spread +their shadows over my new domains!" + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +Accident or Incident? + + +THE NEXT DAY, March 22, at six o'clock in the morning, preparations for +departure began. The last gleams of twilight were melting into night. +The cold was brisk. The constellations were glittering with +startling intensity. The wonderful Southern Cross, polar star +of the Antarctic regions, twinkled at its zenith. + +The thermometer marked -12 degrees centigrade, and a fresh breeze +left a sharp nip in the air. Ice floes were increasing over +the open water. The sea was starting to congeal everywhere. +Numerous blackish patches were spreading over its surface, +announcing the imminent formation of fresh ice. Obviously this +southernmost basin froze over during its six-month winter and became +utterly inaccessible. What happened to the whales during this period? +No doubt they went beneath the Ice Bank to find more feasible seas. +As for seals and walruses, they were accustomed to living +in the harshest climates and stayed on in these icy waterways. +These animals know by instinct how to gouge holes in the ice fields +and keep them continually open; they go to these holes to breathe. +Once the birds have migrated northward to escape the cold, +these marine mammals remain as sole lords of the polar continent. + +Meanwhile the ballast tanks filled with water and the Nautilus +sank slowly. At a depth of 1,000 feet, it stopped. Its propeller churned +the waves and it headed due north at a speed of fifteen miles per hour. +Near the afternoon it was already cruising under the immense frozen +carapace of the Ice Bank. + +As a precaution, the panels in the lounge stayed closed, +because the Nautilus's hull could run afoul of some submerged block +of ice. So I spent the day putting my notes into final form. +My mind was completely wrapped up in my memories of the pole. +We had reached that inaccessible spot without facing exhaustion +or danger, as if our seagoing passenger carriage had glided there on +railroad tracks. And now we had actually started our return journey. +Did it still have comparable surprises in store for me? I felt sure +it did, so inexhaustible is this series of underwater wonders! +As it was, in the five and a half months since fate had brought us +on board, we had cleared 14,000 leagues, and over this track longer +than the earth's equator, so many fascinating or frightening incidents +had beguiled our voyage: that hunting trip in the Crespo forests, +our running aground in the Torres Strait, the coral cemetery, +the pearl fisheries of Ceylon, the Arabic tunnel, the fires of Santorini, +those millions in the Bay of Vigo, Atlantis, the South Pole! During the +night all these memories crossed over from one dream to the next, +not giving my brain a moment's rest. + +At three o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by a violent collision. +I sat up in bed, listening in the darkness, and then was suddenly +hurled into the middle of my stateroom. Apparently the Nautilus +had gone aground, then heeled over sharply. + +Leaning against the walls, I dragged myself down the gangways +to the lounge, whose ceiling lights were on. The furniture had been +knocked over. Fortunately the glass cases were solidly secured +at the base and had stood fast. Since we were no longer vertical, +the starboard pictures were glued to the tapestries, while those +to port had their lower edges hanging a foot away from the wall. +So the Nautilus was lying on its starboard side, completely +stationary to boot. + +In its interior I heard the sound of footsteps and muffled voices. +But Captain Nemo didn't appear. Just as I was about to leave +the lounge, Ned Land and Conseil entered. + +"What happened?" I instantly said to them. + +"I came to ask master that," Conseil replied. + +"Damnation!" the Canadian exclaimed. "I know full well what happened! +The Nautilus has gone aground, and judging from the way it's listing, +I don't think it'll pull through like that first time in +the Torres Strait." + +"But," I asked, "are we at least back on the surface of the sea?" + +"We have no idea," Conseil replied. + +"It's easy to find out," I answered. + +I consulted the pressure gauge. Much to my surprise, it indicated +a depth of 360 meters. + +"What's the meaning of this?" I exclaimed. + +"We must confer with Captain Nemo," Conseil said. + +"But where do we find him?" Ned Land asked. + +"Follow me," I told my two companions. + +We left the lounge. Nobody in the library. Nobody by the central +companionway or the crew's quarters. I assumed that Captain Nemo +was stationed in the pilothouse. Best to wait. The three of us +returned to the lounge. + +I'll skip over the Canadian's complaints. He had good grounds +for an outburst. I didn't answer him back, letting him blow off +all the steam he wanted. + +We had been left to ourselves for twenty minutes, trying to detect +the tiniest noises inside the Nautilus, when Captain Nemo entered. +He didn't seem to see us. His facial features, usually so emotionless, +revealed a certain uneasiness. He studied the compass and pressure +gauge in silence, then went and put his finger on the world map +at a spot in the sector depicting the southernmost seas. + +I hesitated to interrupt him. But some moments later, when he turned +to me, I threw back at him a phrase he had used in the Torres Strait: + +"An incident, captain?" + +"No, sir," he replied, "this time an accident." + +"Serious?" + +"Perhaps." + +"Is there any immediate danger?" + +"No." + +"The Nautilus has run aground?" + +"Yes." + +"And this accident came about . . . ?" + +"Through nature's unpredictability not man's incapacity. +No errors were committed in our maneuvers. Nevertheless, we can't +prevent a loss of balance from taking its toll. One may defy +human laws, but no one can withstand the laws of nature." + +Captain Nemo had picked an odd time to philosophize. All in all, +this reply told me nothing. + +"May I learn, sir," I asked him, "what caused this accident?" + +"An enormous block of ice, an entire mountain, has toppled over," +he answered me. "When an iceberg is eroded at the base by warmer +waters or by repeated collisions, its center of gravity rises. +Then it somersaults, it turns completely upside down. +That's what happened here. When it overturned, one of these +blocks hit the Nautilus as it was cruising under the waters. +Sliding under our hull, this block then raised us with irresistible power, +lifting us into less congested strata where we now lie on our side." + +"But can't we float the Nautilus clear by emptying its ballast tanks, +to regain our balance?" + +"That, sir, is being done right now. You can hear the pumps working. +Look at the needle on the pressure gauge. It indicates that the Nautilus +is rising, but this block of ice is rising with us, and until some +obstacle halts its upward movement, our position won't change." + +Indeed, the Nautilus kept the same heel to starboard. +No doubt it would straighten up once the block came to a halt. +But before that happened, who knew if we might not hit the underbelly +of the Ice Bank and be hideously squeezed between two frozen surfaces? + +I mused on all the consequences of this situation. Captain Nemo +didn't stop studying the pressure gauge. Since the toppling +of this iceberg, the Nautilus had risen about 150 feet, but it +still stayed at the same angle to the perpendicular. + +Suddenly a slight movement could be felt over the hull. +Obviously the Nautilus was straightening a bit. Objects hanging +in the lounge were visibly returning to their normal positions. +The walls were approaching the vertical. Nobody said a word. +Hearts pounding, we could see and feel the ship righting itself. +The floor was becoming horizontal beneath our feet. +Ten minutes went by. + +"Finally, we're upright!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes," Captain Nemo said, heading to the lounge door. + +"But will we float off?" I asked him. + +"Certainly," he replied, "since the ballast tanks aren't yet empty, +and when they are, the Nautilus must rise to the surface of the sea." + +The captain went out, and soon I saw that at his orders, the Nautilus +had halted its upward movement. In fact, it soon would have hit +the underbelly of the Ice Bank, but it had stopped in time and was +floating in midwater. + +"That was a close call!" Conseil then said. + +"Yes. We could have been crushed between these masses of ice, +or at least imprisoned between them. And then, with no way to renew +our air supply. . . . Yes, that was a close call!" + +"If it's over with!" Ned Land muttered. + +I was unwilling to get into a pointless argument with the Canadian +and didn't reply. Moreover, the panels opened just then, +and the outside light burst through the uncovered windows. + +We were fully afloat, as I have said; but on both sides of the Nautilus, +about ten meters away, there rose dazzling walls of ice. +There also were walls above and below. Above, because the +Ice Bank's underbelly spread over us like an immense ceiling. +Below, because the somersaulting block, shifting little by little, +had found points of purchase on both side walls and had gotten +jammed between them. The Nautilus was imprisoned in a genuine +tunnel of ice about twenty meters wide and filled with quiet water. +So the ship could easily exit by going either ahead or astern, +sinking a few hundred meters deeper, and then taking an open +passageway beneath the Ice Bank. + +The ceiling lights were off, yet the lounge was still brightly lit. +This was due to the reflecting power of the walls of ice, +which threw the beams of our beacon right back at us. Words cannot +describe the effects produced by our galvanic rays on these huge, +whimsically sculpted blocks, whose every angle, ridge, and facet gave +off a different glow depending on the nature of the veins running +inside the ice. It was a dazzling mine of gems, in particular +sapphires and emeralds, whose jets of blue and green crisscrossed. +Here and there, opaline hues of infinite subtlety raced among sparks +of light that were like so many fiery diamonds, their brilliance +more than any eye could stand. The power of our beacon was increased +a hundredfold, like a lamp shining through the biconvex lenses +of a world-class lighthouse. + +"How beautiful!" Conseil exclaimed. + +"Yes," I said, "it's a wonderful sight! Isn't it, Ned?" + +"Oh damnation, yes!" Ned Land shot back. "It's superb! +I'm furious that I have to admit it. Nobody has ever seen the like. +But this sight could cost us dearly. And in all honesty, I think +we're looking at things God never intended for human eyes." + +Ned was right. It was too beautiful. All at once a yell from +Conseil made me turn around. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Master must close his eyes! Master mustn't look!" + +With that, Conseil clapped his hands over his eyes. + +"But what's wrong, my boy?" + +"I've been dazzled, struck blind!" + +Involuntarily my eyes flew to the window, but I couldn't stand +the fire devouring it. + +I realized what had happened. The Nautilus had just started off +at great speed. All the tranquil glimmers of the ice walls had then +changed into blazing streaks. The sparkles from these myriads of +diamonds were merging with each other. Swept along by its propeller, +the Nautilus was traveling through a sheath of flashing light. + +Then the panels in the lounge closed. We kept our hands over our eyes, +which were utterly saturated with those concentric gleams that +swirl before the retina when sunlight strikes it too intensely. +It took some time to calm our troubled vision. + +Finally we lowered our hands. + +"Ye gods, I never would have believed it," Conseil said. + +"And I still don't believe it!" the Canadian shot back. + +"When we return to shore, jaded from all these natural wonders," +Conseil added, "think how we'll look down on those pitiful land masses, +those puny works of man! No, the civilized world won't be good +enough for us!" + +Such words from the lips of this emotionless Flemish boy showed +that our enthusiasm was near the boiling point. But the Canadian +didn't fail to throw his dram of cold water over us. + +"The civilized world!" he said, shaking his head. "Don't worry, +Conseil my friend, we're never going back to that world!" + +By this point it was five o'clock in the morning. +Just then there was a collision in the Nautilus's bow. +I realized that its spur had just bumped a block of ice. +It must have been a faulty maneuver because this underwater tunnel +was obstructed by such blocks and didn't make for easy navigating. +So I had assumed that Captain Nemo, in adjusting his course, would go +around each obstacle or would hug the walls and follow the windings +of the tunnel. In either case our forward motion wouldn't receive +an absolute check. Nevertheless, contrary to my expectations, +the Nautilus definitely began to move backward. + +"We're going astern?" Conseil said. + +"Yes," I replied. "Apparently the tunnel has no way out at this end." + +"And so . . . ?" + +"So," I said, "our maneuvers are quite simple. We'll return in our +tracks and go out the southern opening. That's all." + +As I spoke, I tried to sound more confident than I really felt. +Meanwhile the Nautilus accelerated its backward movement, and running +with propeller in reverse, it swept us along at great speed. + +"This'll mean a delay," Ned said. + +"What are a few hours more or less, so long as we get out." + +"Yes," Ned Land repeated, "so long as we get out!" + +I strolled for a little while from the lounge into the library. +My companions kept their seats and didn't move. Soon I threw myself +down on a couch and picked up a book, which my eyes skimmed mechanically. + +A quarter of an hour later, Conseil approached me, saying: + +"Is it deeply fascinating, this volume master is reading?" + +"Tremendously fascinating," I replied. + +"I believe it. Master is reading his own book!" + +"My own book?" + +Indeed, my hands were holding my own work on the great ocean depths. +I hadn't even suspected. I closed the book and resumed my strolling. +Ned and Conseil stood up to leave. + +"Stay here, my friends," I said, stopping them. "Let's stay together +until we're out of this blind alley." + +"As master wishes," Conseil replied. + +The hours passed. I often studied the instruments hanging on +the lounge wall. The pressure gauge indicated that the Nautilus +stayed at a constant depth of 300 meters, the compass that it kept +heading south, the log that it was traveling at a speed of twenty +miles per hour, an excessive speed in such a cramped area. +But Captain Nemo knew that by this point there was no such thing +as too fast, since minutes were now worth centuries. + +At 8:25 a second collision took place. This time astern. +I grew pale. My companions came over. I clutched Conseil's hand. +Our eyes questioned each other, and more directly than if our thoughts +had been translated into words. + +Just then the captain entered the lounge. I went to him. + +"Our path is barred to the south?" I asked him. + +"Yes, sir. When it overturned, that iceberg closed off every exit." + +"We're boxed in?" + +"Yes." + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +Shortage of Air + + +CONSEQUENTLY, above, below, and around the Nautilus, there were +impenetrable frozen walls. We were the Ice Bank's prisoners! +The Canadian banged a table with his fearsome fist. Conseil kept still. +I stared at the captain. His face had resumed its usual emotionlessness. +He crossed his arms. He pondered. The Nautilus did not stir. + +The captain then broke into speech: + +"Gentlemen," he said in a calm voice, "there are two ways of dying +under the conditions in which we're placed." + +This inexplicable individual acted like a mathematics professor +working out a problem for his pupils. + +"The first way," he went on, "is death by crushing. The second +is death by asphyxiation. I don't mention the possibility of death +by starvation because the Nautilus's provisions will certainly last +longer than we will. Therefore, let's concentrate on our chances +of being crushed or asphyxiated." + +"As for asphyxiation, captain," I replied, "that isn't a cause +for alarm, because the air tanks are full." + +"True," Captain Nemo went on, "but they'll supply air for only two days. +Now then, we've been buried beneath the waters for thirty-six hours, +and the Nautilus's heavy atmosphere already needs renewing. +In another forty-eight hours, our reserve air will be used up." + +"Well then, captain, let's free ourselves within forty-eight hours!" + +"We'll try to at least, by cutting through one of these +walls surrounding us." + +"Which one?" I asked. + +"Borings will tell us that. I'm going to ground the Nautilus +on the lower shelf, then my men will put on their diving suits +and attack the thinnest of these ice walls." + +"Can the panels in the lounge be left open?" + +"Without ill effect. We're no longer in motion." + +Captain Nemo went out. Hissing sounds soon told me that water +was being admitted into the ballast tanks. The Nautilus slowly +settled and rested on the icy bottom at a depth of 350 meters, +the depth at which the lower shelf of ice lay submerged. + +"My friends," I said, "we're in a serious predicament, but I'm +counting on your courage and energy." + +"Sir," the Canadian replied, "this is no time to bore you with +my complaints. I'm ready to do anything I can for the common good." + +"Excellent, Ned," I said, extending my hand to the Canadian. + +"I might add," he went on, "that I'm as handy with a pick as a harpoon. +If I can be helpful to the captain, he can use me any way he wants." + +"He won't turn down your assistance. Come along, Ned." + +I led the Canadian to the room where the Nautilus's men were putting +on their diving suits. I informed the captain of Ned's proposition, +which was promptly accepted. The Canadian got into his +underwater costume and was ready as soon as his fellow workers. +Each of them carried on his back a Rouquayrol device that the air +tanks had supplied with a generous allowance of fresh oxygen. +A considerable but necessary drain on the Nautilus's reserves. +As for the Ruhmkorff lamps, they were unnecessary in the midst +of these brilliant waters saturated with our electric rays. + +After Ned was dressed, I reentered the lounge, whose windows had +been uncovered; stationed next to Conseil, I examined the strata +surrounding and supporting the Nautilus. + +Some moments later, we saw a dozen crewmen set foot on the shelf +of ice, among them Ned Land, easily recognized by his tall figure. +Captain Nemo was with them. + +Before digging into the ice, the captain had to obtain borings, +to insure working in the best direction. Long bores were driven into +the side walls; but after fifteen meters, the instruments were still +impeded by the thickness of those walls. It was futile to attack +the ceiling since that surface was the Ice Bank itself, more than +400 meters high. Captain Nemo then bored into the lower surface. +There we were separated from the sea by a ten-meter barrier. +That's how thick the iceberg was. From this point on, it was an issue +of cutting out a piece equal in surface area to the Nautilus's waterline. +This meant detaching about 6,500 cubic meters, to dig a hole through +which the ship could descend below this tract of ice. + +Work began immediately and was carried on with tireless tenacity. +Instead of digging all around the Nautilus, which would have +entailed even greater difficulties, Captain Nemo had an immense +trench outlined on the ice, eight meters from our port quarter. +Then his men simultaneously staked it off at several points around +its circumference. Soon their picks were vigorously attacking +this compact matter, and huge chunks were loosened from its mass. +These chunks weighed less than the water, and by an unusual +effect of specific gravity, each chunk took wing, as it were, +to the roof of the tunnel, which thickened above by as much as it +diminished below. But this hardly mattered so long as the lower +surface kept growing thinner. + +After two hours of energetic work, Ned Land reentered, exhausted. +He and his companions were replaced by new workmen, including Conseil +and me. The Nautilus's chief officer supervised us. + +The water struck me as unusually cold, but I warmed up promptly +while wielding my pick. My movements were quite free, although they +were executed under a pressure of thirty atmospheres. + +After two hours of work, reentering to snatch some food and rest, +I found a noticeable difference between the clean elastic fluid +supplied me by the Rouquayrol device and the Nautilus's atmosphere, +which was already charged with carbon dioxide. The air hadn't +been renewed in forty-eight hours, and its life-giving qualities +were considerably weakened. Meanwhile, after twelve hours had +gone by, we had removed from the outlined surface area a slice +of ice only one meter thick, hence about 600 cubic meters. +Assuming the same work would be accomplished every twelve hours, +it would still take five nights and four days to see the undertaking +through to completion. + +"Five nights and four days!" I told my companions. "And we have +oxygen in the air tanks for only two days." + +"Without taking into account," Ned answered, "that once we're out +of this damned prison, we'll still be cooped up beneath the Ice Bank, +without any possible contact with the open air!" + +An apt remark. For who could predict the minimum time we would need +to free ourselves? Before the Nautilus could return to the surface +of the waves, couldn't we all die of asphyxiation? Were this +ship and everyone on board doomed to perish in this tomb of ice? +It was a dreadful state of affairs. But we faced it head-on, +each one of us determined to do his duty to the end. + +During the night, in line with my forecasts, a new one-meter +slice was removed from this immense socket. But in the morning, +wearing my diving suit, I was crossing through the liquid mass +in a temperature of -6 degrees to -7 degrees centigrade, when I noted +that little by little the side walls were closing in on each other. +The liquid strata farthest from the trench, not warmed by the movements +of workmen and tools, were showing a tendency to solidify. +In the face of this imminent new danger, what would happen to our +chances for salvation, and how could we prevent this liquid medium +from solidifying, then cracking the Nautilus's hull like glass? + +I didn't tell my two companions about this new danger. +There was no point in dampening the energy they were putting +into our arduous rescue work. But when I returned on board, +I mentioned this serious complication to Captain Nemo. + +"I know," he told me in that calm tone the most dreadful outlook +couldn't change. "It's one more danger, but I don't know any way +of warding it off. Our sole chance for salvation is to work faster +than the water solidifies. We've got to get there first, that's all." + +Get there first! By then I should have been used to this type of talk! + +For several hours that day, I wielded my pick doggedly. +The work kept me going. Besides, working meant leaving the Nautilus, +which meant breathing the clean oxygen drawn from the air tanks +and supplied by our equipment, which meant leaving the thin, +foul air behind. + +Near evening one more meter had been dug from the trench. +When I returned on board, I was wellnigh asphyxiated by the carbon +dioxide saturating the air. Oh, if only we had the chemical +methods that would enable us to drive out this noxious gas! +There was no lack of oxygen. All this water contained a considerable +amount, and after it was decomposed by our powerful batteries, +this life-giving elastic fluid could have been restored to us. +I had thought it all out, but to no avail because the carbon dioxide +produced by our breathing permeated every part of the ship. +To absorb it, we would need to fill containers with potassium +hydroxide and shake them continually. But this substance was missing +on board and nothing else could replace it. + +That evening Captain Nemo was forced to open the spigots of his air tanks +and shoot a few spouts of fresh oxygen through the Nautilus's interior. +Without this precaution we wouldn't have awakened the following morning. + +The next day, March 26, I returned to my miner's trade, working to +remove the fifth meter. The Ice Bank's side walls and underbelly +had visibly thickened. Obviously they would come together before +the Nautilus could break free. For an instant I was gripped by despair. +My pick nearly slipped from my hands. What was the point of this +digging if I was to die smothered and crushed by this water turning +to stone, a torture undreamed of by even the wildest savages! +I felt like I was lying in the jaws of a fearsome monster, +jaws irresistibly closing. + +Supervising our work, working himself, Captain Nemo passed near me +just then. I touched him with my hand and pointed to the walls +of our prison. The starboard wall had moved forward to a point +less than four meters from the Nautilus's hull. + +The captain understood and gave me a signal to follow him. +We returned on board. My diving suit removed, I went with him +to the lounge. + +"Professor Aronnax," he told me, "this calls for heroic measures, +or we'll be sealed up in this solidified water as if it were cement." + +"Yes!" I said. "But what can we do?" + +"Oh," he exclaimed, "if only my Nautilus were strong enough to stand +that much pressure without being crushed!" + +"Well?" I asked, not catching the captain's meaning. + +"Don't you understand," he went on, "that the congealing of this +water could come to our rescue? Don't you see that by solidifying, +it could burst these tracts of ice imprisoning us, just as its freezing +can burst the hardest stones? Aren't you aware that this force could +be the instrument of our salvation rather than our destruction?" + +"Yes, captain, maybe so. But whatever resistance to crushing +the Nautilus may have, it still couldn't stand such dreadful pressures, +and it would be squashed as flat as a piece of sheet iron." + +"I know it, sir. So we can't rely on nature to rescue us, +only our own efforts. We must counteract this solidification. +We must hold it in check. Not only are the side walls closing in, +but there aren't ten feet of water ahead or astern of the Nautilus. +All around us, this freeze is gaining fast." + +"How long," I asked, "will the oxygen in the air tanks enable us +to breathe on board?" + +The captain looked me straight in the eye. + +"After tomorrow," he said, "the air tanks will be empty!" + +I broke out in a cold sweat. But why should I have been +startled by this reply? On March 22 the Nautilus had dived +under the open waters at the pole. It was now the 26th. +We had lived off the ship's stores for five days! +And all remaining breathable air had to be saved for the workmen. +Even today as I write these lines, my sensations are so intense +that an involuntary terror sweeps over me, and my lungs still seem +short of air! + +Meanwhile, motionless and silent, Captain Nemo stood lost in thought. +An idea visibly crossed his mind. But he seemed to brush it aside. +He told himself no. At last these words escaped his lips: + +"Boiling water!" he muttered. + +"Boiling water?" I exclaimed. + +"Yes, sir. We're shut up in a relatively confined area. +If the Nautilus's pumps continually injected streams of boiling +water into this space, wouldn't that raise its temperature and +delay its freezing?" + +"It's worth trying!" I said resolutely. + +"So let's try it, professor." + +By then the thermometer gave -7 degrees centigrade outside. +Captain Nemo led me to the galley where a huge distilling +mechanism was at work, supplying drinking water via evaporation. +The mechanism was loaded with water, and the full electric +heat of our batteries was thrown into coils awash in liquid. +In a few minutes the water reached 100 degrees centigrade. +It was sent to the pumps while new water replaced it in the process. +The heat generated by our batteries was so intense that after simply +going through the mechanism, water drawn cold from the sea arrived +boiling hot at the body of the pump. + +The steaming water was injected into the icy water outside, +and after three hours had passed, the thermometer gave the exterior +temperature as -6 degrees centigrade. That was one degree gained. +Two hours later the thermometer gave only -4 degrees. + +After I monitored the operation's progress, double-checking it +with many inspections, I told the captain, "It's working." + +"I think so," he answered me. "We've escaped being crushed. +Now we have only asphyxiation to fear." + +During the night the water temperature rose to -1 degrees centigrade. +The injections couldn't get it to go a single degree higher. +But since salt water freezes only at -2 degrees, I was finally +assured that there was no danger of it solidifying. + +By the next day, March 27, six meters of ice had been torn +from the socket. Only four meters were left to be removed. +That still meant forty-eight hours of work. The air couldn't +be renewed in the Nautilus's interior. Accordingly, that day it +kept getting worse. + +An unbearable heaviness weighed me down. Near three o'clock in +the afternoon, this agonizing sensation affected me to an intense degree. +Yawns dislocated my jaws. My lungs were gasping in their quest +for that enkindling elastic fluid required for breathing, +now growing scarcer and scarcer. My mind was in a daze. +I lay outstretched, strength gone, nearly unconscious. +My gallant Conseil felt the same symptoms, suffered the same sufferings, +yet never left my side. He held my hand, he kept encouraging me, +and I even heard him mutter: + +"Oh, if only I didn't have to breathe, to leave more air for master!" + +It brought tears to my eyes to hear him say these words. + +Since conditions inside were universally unbearable, how eagerly, +how happily, we put on our diving suits to take our turns working! +Picks rang out on that bed of ice. Arms grew weary, hands were +rubbed raw, but who cared about exhaustion, what difference were wounds? +Life-sustaining air reached our lungs! We could breathe! +We could breathe! + +And yet nobody prolonged his underwater work beyond the time +allotted him. His shift over, each man surrendered to a gasping +companion the air tank that would revive him. Captain Nemo set +the example and was foremost in submitting to this strict discipline. +When his time was up, he yielded his equipment to another and reentered +the foul air on board, always calm, unflinching, and uncomplaining. + +That day the usual work was accomplished with even greater energy. +Over the whole surface area, only two meters were left to be removed. +Only two meters separated us from the open sea. But the ship's air +tanks were nearly empty. The little air that remained had to be +saved for the workmen. Not an atom for the Nautilus! + +When I returned on board, I felt half suffocated. What a night! +I'm unable to depict it. Such sufferings are indescribable. +The next day I was short-winded. Headaches and staggering fits of +dizziness made me reel like a drunk. My companions were experiencing +the same symptoms. Some crewmen were at their last gasp. + +That day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo concluded +that picks and mattocks were too slow to deal with the ice layer still +separating us from open water--and he decided to crush this layer. +The man had kept his energy and composure. He had subdued physical +pain with moral strength. He could still think, plan, and act. + +At his orders the craft was eased off, in other words, it was +raised from its icy bed by a change in its specific gravity. +When it was afloat, the crew towed it, leading it right above +the immense trench outlined to match the ship's waterline. +Next the ballast tanks filled with water, the boat sank, and was +fitted into its socket. + +Just then the whole crew returned on board, and the double outside +door was closed. By this point the Nautilus was resting on a bed +of ice only one meter thick and drilled by bores in a thousand places. + +The stopcocks of the ballast tanks were then opened wide, and 100 +cubic meters of water rushed in, increasing the Nautilus's weight +by 100,000 kilograms. + +We waited, we listened, we forgot our sufferings, we hoped once more. +We had staked our salvation on this one last gamble. + +Despite the buzzing in my head, I soon could hear vibrations under the +Nautilus's hull. We tilted. The ice cracked with an odd ripping sound, +like paper tearing, and the Nautilus began settling downward. + +"We're going through!" Conseil muttered in my ear. + +I couldn't answer him. I clutched his hand. I squeezed it +in an involuntary convulsion. + +All at once, carried away by its frightful excess load, +the Nautilus sank into the waters like a cannonball, in other words, +dropping as if in a vacuum! + +Our full electric power was then put on the pumps, +which instantly began to expel water from the ballast tanks. +After a few minutes we had checked our fall. The pressure gauge +soon indicated an ascending movement. Brought to full speed, +the propeller made the sheet-iron hull tremble down to its rivets, +and we sped northward. + +But how long would it take to navigate under the Ice Bank to +the open sea? Another day? I would be dead first! + +Half lying on a couch in the library, I was suffocating. +My face was purple, my lips blue, my faculties in abeyance. +I could no longer see or hear. I had lost all sense of time. +My muscles had no power to contract. + +I'm unable to estimate the hours that passed in this way. +But I was aware that my death throes had begun. I realized that I +was about to die . . . + +Suddenly I regained consciousness. A few whiffs of air had +entered my lungs. Had we risen to the surface of the waves? +Had we cleared the Ice Bank? + +No! Ned and Conseil, my two gallant friends, were sacrificing themselves +to save me. A few atoms of air were still left in the depths +of one Rouquayrol device. Instead of breathing it themselves, +they had saved it for me, and while they were suffocating, they poured +life into me drop by drop! I tried to push the device away. +They held my hands, and for a few moments I could breathe luxuriously. + +My eyes flew toward the clock. It was eleven in the morning. +It had to be March 28. The Nautilus was traveling at the frightful +speed of forty miles per hour. It was writhing in the waters. + +Where was Captain Nemo? Had he perished? Had his companions +died with him? + +Just then the pressure gauge indicated we were no more than twenty +feet from the surface. Separating us from the open air was a mere +tract of ice. Could we break through it? + +Perhaps! In any event the Nautilus was going to try. In fact, +I could feel it assuming an oblique position, lowering its stern +and raising its spur. The admission of additional water was enough +to shift its balance. Then, driven by its powerful propeller, +it attacked this ice field from below like a fearsome battering ram. +It split the barrier little by little, backing up, then putting +on full speed against the punctured tract of ice; and finally, +carried away by its supreme momentum, it lunged through and onto +this frozen surface, crushing the ice beneath its weight. + +The hatches were opened--or torn off, if you prefer--and waves +of clean air were admitted into every part of the Nautilus. + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +From Cape Horn to the Amazon + + +HOW I GOT ONTO the platform I'm unable to say. +Perhaps the Canadian transferred me there. But I could breathe, +I could inhale the life-giving sea air. Next to me my two +companions were getting tipsy on the fresh oxygen particles. +Poor souls who have suffered from long starvation mustn't pounce +heedlessly on the first food given them. We, on the other hand, +didn't have to practice such moderation: we could suck the atoms +from the air by the lungful, and it was the breeze, the breeze itself, +that poured into us this luxurious intoxication! + +"Ahhh!" Conseil was putting in. "What fine oxygen! Let master +have no fears about breathing. There's enough for everyone." + +As for Ned Land, he didn't say a word, but his wide-open jaws +would have scared off a shark. And what powerful inhalations! +The Canadian "drew" like a furnace going full blast. + +Our strength returned promptly, and when I looked around, +I saw that we were alone on the platform. No crewmen. +Not even Captain Nemo. Those strange seamen on the Nautilus +were content with the oxygen circulating inside. Not one of them +had come up to enjoy the open air. + +The first words I pronounced were words of appreciation +and gratitude to my two companions. Ned and Conseil had kept +me alive during the final hours of our long death throes. +But no expression of thanks could repay them fully for such devotion. + +"Good lord, professor," Ned Land answered me, "don't mention it! +What did we do that's so praiseworthy? Not a thing. It was a +question of simple arithmetic. Your life is worth more than ours. +So we had to save it." + +"No, Ned," I replied, "it isn't worth more. Nobody could be better +than a kind and generous man like yourself!" + +"All right, all right!" the Canadian repeated in embarrassment. + +"And you, my gallant Conseil, you suffered a great deal." + +"Not too much, to be candid with master. I was lacking a few +throatfuls of air, but I would have gotten by. Besides, when I saw +master fainting, it left me without the slightest desire to breathe. +It took my breath away, in a manner of . . ." + +Confounded by this lapse into banality, Conseil left his sentence hanging. + +"My friends," I replied, very moved, "we're bound to each other forever, +and I'm deeply indebted to you--" + +"Which I'll take advantage of," the Canadian shot back. + +"Eh?" Conseil put in. + +"Yes," Ned Land went on. "You can repay your debt by coming with me +when I leave this infernal Nautilus." + +"By the way," Conseil said, "are we going in a favorable direction?" + +"Yes," I replied, "because we're going in the direction of the sun, +and here the sun is due north." + +"Sure," Ned Land went on, "but it remains to be seen whether we'll +make for the Atlantic or the Pacific, in other words, whether we'll +end up in well-traveled or deserted seas." + +I had no reply to this, and I feared that Captain Nemo wouldn't +take us homeward but rather into that huge ocean washing the shores +of both Asia and America. In this way he would complete his underwater +tour of the world, going back to those seas where the Nautilus +enjoyed the greatest freedom. But if we returned to the Pacific, +far from every populated shore, what would happen to Ned Land's plans? + +We would soon settle this important point. The Nautilus +traveled swiftly. Soon we had cleared the Antarctic Circle +plus the promontory of Cape Horn. We were abreast of the tip +of South America by March 31 at seven o'clock in the evening. + +By then all our past sufferings were forgotten. The memory +of that imprisonment under the ice faded from our minds. +We had thoughts only of the future. Captain Nemo no longer appeared, +neither in the lounge nor on the platform. The positions reported +each day on the world map were put there by the chief officer, +and they enabled me to determine the Nautilus's exact heading. +Now then, that evening it became obvious, much to my satisfaction, +that we were returning north by the Atlantic route. + +I shared the results of my observations with the Canadian and Conseil. + +"That's good news," the Canadian replied, "but where's +the Nautilus going?" + +"I'm unable to say, Ned." + +"After the South Pole, does our captain want to tackle the North Pole, +then go back to the Pacific by the notorious Northwest Passage?" + +"I wouldn't double dare him," Conseil replied. + +"Oh well," the Canadian said, "we'll give him the slip long before then." + +"In any event," Conseil added, "he's a superman, that Captain Nemo, +and we'll never regret having known him." + +"Especially once we've left him," Ned Land shot back. + +The next day, April 1, when the Nautilus rose to the surface of +the waves a few minutes before noon, we raised land to the west. +It was Tierra del Fuego, the Land of Fire, a name given it +by early navigators after they saw numerous curls of smoke rising +from the natives' huts. This Land of Fire forms a huge cluster +of islands over thirty leagues long and eighty leagues wide, +extending between latitude 53 degrees and 56 degrees south, +and between longitude 67 degrees 50' and 77 degrees 15' west. +Its coastline looked flat, but high mountains rose in the distance. +I even thought I glimpsed Mt. Sarmiento, whose elevation is 2,070 +meters above sea level: a pyramid-shaped block of shale with a +very sharp summit, which, depending on whether it's clear or veiled +in vapor, "predicts fair weather or foul," as Ned Land told me. + +"A first-class barometer, my friend." + +"Yes, sir, a natural barometer that didn't let me down when I +navigated the narrows of the Strait of Magellan." + +Just then its peak appeared before us, standing out distinctly +against the background of the skies. This forecast fair weather. +And so it proved. + +Going back under the waters, the Nautilus drew near the coast, +cruising along it for only a few miles. Through the lounge +windows I could see long creepers and gigantic fucus plants, +bulb-bearing seaweed of which the open sea at the pole had revealed +a few specimens; with their smooth, viscous filaments, they measured +as much as 300 meters long; genuine cables more than an inch thick +and very tough, they're often used as mooring lines for ships. +Another weed, known by the name velp and boasting four-foot leaves, +was crammed into the coral concretions and carpeted the ocean floor. +It served as both nest and nourishment for myriads of crustaceans +and mollusks, for crabs and cuttlefish. Here seals and otters could +indulge in a sumptuous meal, mixing meat from fish with vegetables +from the sea, like the English with their Irish stews. + +The Nautilus passed over these lush, luxuriant depths with +tremendous speed. Near evening it approached the Falkland Islands, +whose rugged summits I recognized the next day. The sea was of +moderate depth. So not without good reason, I assumed that these +two islands, plus the many islets surrounding them, used to be part +of the Magellan coastline. The Falkland Islands were probably +discovered by the famous navigator John Davis, who gave them the name +Davis Southern Islands. Later Sir Richard Hawkins called them +the Maidenland, after the Blessed Virgin. Subsequently, at the beginning +of the 18th century, they were named the Malouines by fishermen +from Saint-Malo in Brittany, then finally dubbed the Falklands +by the English, to whom they belong today. + +In these waterways our nets brought up fine samples of algae, +in particular certain fucus plants whose roots were laden with +the world's best mussels. Geese and duck alighted by the dozens +on the platform and soon took their places in the ship's pantry. +As for fish, I specifically observed some bony fish belonging +to the goby genus, especially some gudgeon two decimeters long, +sprinkled with whitish and yellow spots. + +I likewise marveled at the numerous medusas, including the most beautiful +of their breed, the compass jellyfish, unique to the Falkland seas. +Some of these jellyfish were shaped like very smooth, +semispheric parasols with russet stripes and fringes of twelve +neat festoons. Others looked like upside-down baskets from +which wide leaves and long red twigs were gracefully trailing. +They swam with quiverings of their four leaflike arms, +letting the opulent tresses of their tentacles dangle in the drift. +I wanted to preserve a few specimens of these delicate zoophytes, +but they were merely clouds, shadows, illusions, melting and evaporating +outside their native element. + +When the last tips of the Falkland Islands had disappeared below +the horizon, the Nautilus submerged to a depth between twenty +and twenty-five meters and went along the South American coast. +Captain Nemo didn't put in an appearance. + +We didn't leave these Patagonian waterways until April 3, +sometimes cruising under the ocean, sometimes on its surface. +The Nautilus passed the wide estuary formed by the mouth of the Rio +de la Plata, and on April 4 we lay abreast of Uruguay, albeit fifty +miles out. Keeping to its northerly heading, it followed the long +windings of South America. By then we had fared 16,000 leagues +since coming on board in the seas of Japan. + +Near eleven o'clock in the morning, we cut the Tropic of Capricorn +on the 37th meridian, passing well out from Cape Frio. Much to +Ned Land's displeasure, Captain Nemo had no liking for the neighborhood +of Brazil's populous shores, because he shot by with dizzying speed. +Not even the swiftest fish or birds could keep up with us, and the +natural curiosities in these seas completely eluded our observation. + +This speed was maintained for several days, and on the evening +of April 9, we raised South America's easternmost tip, +Cape São Roque. But then the Nautilus veered away again and went +looking for the lowest depths of an underwater valley gouged between +this cape and Sierra Leone on the coast of Africa. Abreast of +the West Indies, this valley forks into two arms, and to +the north it ends in an enormous depression 9,000 meters deep. +From this locality to the Lesser Antilles, the ocean's geologic +profile features a steeply cut cliff six kilometers high, and abreast +of the Cape Verde Islands, there's another wall just as imposing; +together these two barricades confine the whole submerged continent +of Atlantis. The floor of this immense valley is made picturesque +by mountains that furnish these underwater depths with scenic views. +This description is based mostly on certain hand-drawn charts kept +in the Nautilus's library, charts obviously rendered by Captain Nemo +himself from his own personal observations. + +For two days we visited these deep and deserted waters by means +of our slanting fins. The Nautilus would do long, diagonal dives +that took us to every level. But on April 11 it rose suddenly, +and the shore reappeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, +a huge estuary whose outflow is so considerable, it desalts the sea +over an area of several leagues. + +We cut the Equator. Twenty miles to the west lay Guiana, French +territory where we could easily have taken refuge. +But the wind was blowing a strong gust, and the furious +billows would not allow us to face them in a mere skiff. +No doubt Ned Land understood this because he said nothing to me. +For my part, I made no allusion to his escape plans because I didn't +want to push him into an attempt that was certain to misfire. + +I was readily compensated for this delay by fascinating research. +During those two days of April 11-12, the Nautilus didn't leave +the surface of the sea, and its trawl brought up a simply miraculous +catch of zoophytes, fish, and reptiles. + +Some zoophytes were dredged up by the chain of our trawl. Most were +lovely sea anemone belonging to the family Actinidia, including among +other species, the Phyctalis protexta, native to this part of the ocean: +a small cylindrical trunk adorned with vertical lines, mottled with +red spots, and crowned by a wondrous blossoming of tentacles. +As for mollusks, they consisted of exhibits I had already observed: +turret snails, olive shells of the "tent olive" species with neatly +intersecting lines and russet spots standing out sharply against +a flesh-colored background, fanciful spider conchs that looked +like petrified scorpions, transparent glass snails, argonauts, +some highly edible cuttlefish, and certain species of squid +that the naturalists of antiquity classified with the flying fish, +which are used chiefly as bait for catching cod. + +As for the fish in these waterways, I noted various species that I +hadn't yet had the opportunity to study. Among cartilaginous fish: +some brook lamprey, a type of eel fifteen inches long, head greenish, +fins violet, back bluish gray, belly a silvery brown strewn with +bright spots, iris of the eye encircled in gold, unusual animals +that the Amazon's current must have swept out to sea because their +natural habitat is fresh water; sting rays, the snout pointed, +the tail long, slender, and armed with an extensive jagged sting; +small one-meter sharks with gray and whitish hides, their teeth +arranged in several backward-curving rows, fish commonly known +by the name carpet shark; batfish, a sort of reddish isosceles +triangle half a meter long, whose pectoral fins are attached +by fleshy extensions that make these fish look like bats, +although an appendage made of horn, located near the nostrils, +earns them the nickname of sea unicorns; lastly, a couple species +of triggerfish, the cucuyo whose stippled flanks glitter with a +sparkling gold color, and the bright purple leatherjacket whose +hues glisten like a pigeon's throat. + +I'll finish up this catalog, a little dry but quite accurate, +with the series of bony fish I observed: eels belonging to the genus +Apteronotus whose snow-white snout is very blunt, the body painted +a handsome black and armed with a very long, slender, fleshy whip; +long sardines from the genus Odontognathus, like three-decimeter pike, +shining with a bright silver glow; Guaranian mackerel furnished with two +anal fins; black-tinted rudderfish that you catch by using torches, +fish measuring two meters and boasting white, firm, plump meat that, +when fresh, tastes like eel, when dried, like smoked salmon; +semired wrasse sporting scales only at the bases of their dorsal +and anal fins; grunts on which gold and silver mingle their luster +with that of ruby and topaz; yellow-tailed gilthead whose flesh +is extremely dainty and whose phosphorescent properties give +them away in the midst of the waters; porgies tinted orange, +with slender tongues; croakers with gold caudal fins; black surgeonfish; +four-eyed fish from Surinam, etc. + +This "et cetera" won't keep me from mentioning one more fish +that Conseil, with good reason, will long remember. + +One of our nets had hauled up a type of very flat ray that weighed +some twenty kilograms; with its tail cut off, it would have formed +a perfect disk. It was white underneath and reddish on top, with big +round spots of deep blue encircled in black, its hide quite smooth +and ending in a double-lobed fin. Laid out on the platform, it kept +struggling with convulsive movements, trying to turn over, making such +efforts that its final lunge was about to flip it into the sea. +But Conseil, being very possessive of his fish, rushed at it, +and before I could stop him, he seized it with both hands. + +Instantly there he was, thrown on his back, legs in the air, +his body half paralyzed, and yelling: + +"Oh, sir, sir! Will you help me!" + +For once in his life, the poor lad didn't address me "in +the third person." + +The Canadian and I sat him up; we massaged his contracted arms, +and when he regained his five senses, that eternal classifier +mumbled in a broken voice: + +"Class of cartilaginous fish, order Chondropterygia with fixed gills, +suborder Selacia, family Rajiiforma, genus electric ray." + +"Yes, my friend," I answered, "it was an electric ray that put you +in this deplorable state." + +"Oh, master can trust me on this," Conseil shot back. +"I'll be revenged on that animal!" + +"How?" + +"I'll eat it." + +Which he did that same evening, but strictly as retaliation. +Because, frankly, it tasted like leather. + +Poor Conseil had assaulted an electric ray of the most dangerous species, +the cumana. Living in a conducting medium such as water, this bizarre +animal can electrocute other fish from several meters away, +so great is the power of its electric organ, an organ whose two chief +surfaces measure at least twenty-seven square feet. + +During the course of the next day, April 12, the Nautilus drew near the +coast of Dutch Guiana, by the mouth of the Maroni River. There several +groups of sea cows were living in family units. These were manatees, +which belong to the order Sirenia, like the dugong and Steller's sea cow. +Harmless and unaggressive, these fine animals were six to seven +meters long and must have weighed at least 4,000 kilograms each. +I told Ned Land and Conseil that farseeing nature had given these +mammals a major role to play. In essence, manatees, like seals, +are designed to graze the underwater prairies, destroying the clusters +of weeds that obstruct the mouths of tropical rivers. + +"And do you know," I added, "what happened since man has +almost completely wiped out these beneficial races? +Rotting weeds have poisoned the air, and this poisoned air causes +the yellow fever that devastates these wonderful countries. +This toxic vegetation has increased beneath the seas of the Torrid Zone, +so the disease spreads unchecked from the mouth of the Rio de la +Plata to Florida!" + +And if Professor Toussenel is correct, this plague is nothing +compared to the scourge that will strike our descendants +once the seas are depopulated of whales and seals. By then, +crowded with jellyfish, squid, and other devilfish, the oceans +will have become huge centers of infection, because their waves +will no longer possess "these huge stomachs that God has entrusted +with scouring the surface of the sea." + +Meanwhile, without scorning these theories, the Nautilus's crew captured +half a dozen manatees. In essence, it was an issue of stocking +the larder with excellent red meat, even better than beef or veal. +Their hunting was not a fascinating sport. The manatees let +themselves be struck down without offering any resistance. +Several thousand kilos of meat were hauled below, to be dried and stored. + +The same day an odd fishing practice further increased +the Nautilus's stores, so full of game were these seas. +Our trawl brought up in its meshes a number of fish whose heads were +topped by little oval slabs with fleshy edges. These were suckerfish +from the third family of the subbrachian Malacopterygia. These flat +disks on their heads consist of crosswise plates of movable cartilage, +between which the animals can create a vacuum, enabling them to stick +to objects like suction cups. + +The remoras I had observed in the Mediterranean were related to +this species. But the creature at issue here was an Echeneis osteochara, +unique to this sea. Right after catching them, our seamen dropped +them in buckets of water. + +Its fishing finished, the Nautilus drew nearer to the coast. +In this locality a number of sea turtles were sleeping on the surface +of the waves. It would have been difficult to capture these +valuable reptiles, because they wake up at the slightest sound, +and their solid carapaces are harpoon-proof. But our suckerfish would +effect their capture with extraordinary certainty and precision. +In truth, this animal is a living fishhook, promising wealth +and happiness to the greenest fisherman in the business. + +The Nautilus's men attached to each fish's tail a ring that was big +enough not to hamper its movements, and to this ring a long rope +whose other end was moored on board. + +Thrown into the sea, the suckerfish immediately began to play their roles, +going and fastening themselves onto the breastplates of the turtles. +Their tenacity was so great, they would rip apart rather than let go. +They were hauled in, still sticking to the turtles that came +aboard with them. + +In this way we caught several loggerheads, reptiles a meter +wide and weighing 200 kilos. They're extremely valuable +because of their carapaces, which are covered with big slabs +of horn, thin, brown, transparent, with white and yellow markings. +Besides, they were excellent from an edible viewpoint, with an +exquisite flavor comparable to the green turtle. + +This fishing ended our stay in the waterways of the Amazon, +and that evening the Nautilus took to the high seas once more. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +The Devilfish + + +FOR SOME DAYS the Nautilus kept veering away from the American coast. +It obviously didn't want to frequent the waves of the Gulf of Mexico +or the Caribbean Sea. Yet there was no shortage of water under +its keel, since the average depth of these seas is 1,800 meters; +but these waterways, strewn with islands and plowed by steamers, +probably didn't agree with Captain Nemo. + +On April 16 we raised Martinique and Guadalupe from a distance of +about thirty miles. For one instant I could see their lofty peaks. + +The Canadian was quite disheartened, having counted on putting +his plans into execution in the gulf, either by reaching shore +or by pulling alongside one of the many boats plying a coastal trade +from one island to another. An escape attempt would have been +quite feasible, assuming Ned Land managed to seize the skiff without +the captain's knowledge. But in midocean it was unthinkable. + +The Canadian, Conseil, and I had a pretty long conversation on +this subject. For six months we had been prisoners aboard the Nautilus. +We had fared 17,000 leagues, and as Ned Land put it, there was no +end in sight. So he made me a proposition I hadn't anticipated. +We were to ask Captain Nemo this question straight out: +did the captain mean to keep us on board his vessel permanently? + +This measure was distasteful to me. To my mind it would lead nowhere. +We could hope for nothing from the Nautilus's commander +but could depend only on ourselves. Besides, for some time +now the man had been gloomier, more withdrawn, less sociable. +He seemed to be avoiding me. I encountered him only at rare intervals. +He used to take pleasure in explaining the underwater wonders to me; +now he left me to my research and no longer entered the lounge. + +What changes had come over him? From what cause? I had no reason +to blame myself. Was our presence on board perhaps a burden to him? +Even so, I cherished no hopes that the man would set us free. + +So I begged Ned to let me think about it before taking action. If this +measure proved fruitless, it could arouse the captain's suspicions, make +our circumstances even more arduous, and jeopardize the Canadian's plans. +I might add that I could hardly use our state of health as an argument. +Except for that grueling ordeal under the Ice Bank at the South Pole, +we had never felt better, neither Ned, Conseil, nor I. The +nutritious food, life-giving air, regular routine, and uniform +temperature kept illness at bay; and for a man who didn't miss his +past existence on land, for a Captain Nemo who was at home here, +who went where he wished, who took paths mysterious to others if not +himself in attaining his ends, I could understand such a life. +But we ourselves hadn't severed all ties with humanity. For my part, +I didn't want my new and unusual research to be buried with my bones. +I had now earned the right to pen the definitive book on the sea, +and sooner or later I wanted that book to see the light of day. + +There once more, through the panels opening into these Caribbean +waters ten meters below the surface of the waves, I found +so many fascinating exhibits to describe in my daily notes! +Among other zoophytes there were Portuguese men-of-war known by the name +Physalia pelagica, like big, oblong bladders with a pearly sheen, +spreading their membranes to the wind, letting their blue tentacles +drift like silken threads; to the eye delightful jellyfish, +to the touch actual nettles that ooze a corrosive liquid. +Among the articulates there were annelid worms one and a half +meters long, furnished with a pink proboscis, equipped with 1,700 +organs of locomotion, snaking through the waters, and as they went, +throwing off every gleam in the solar spectrum. From the fish +branch there were manta rays, enormous cartilaginous fish ten +feet long and weighing 600 pounds, their pectoral fin triangular, +their midback slightly arched, their eyes attached to the edges +of the face at the front of the head; they floated like wreckage from +a ship, sometimes fastening onto our windows like opaque shutters. +There were American triggerfish for which nature has ground only black +and white pigments, feather-shaped gobies that were long and plump +with yellow fins and jutting jaws, sixteen-decimeter mackerel +with short, sharp teeth, covered with small scales, and related +to the albacore species. Next came swarms of red mullet corseted +in gold stripes from head to tail, their shining fins all aquiver, +genuine masterpieces of jewelry, formerly sacred to the goddess Diana, +much in demand by rich Romans, and about which the old saying goes: +"He who catches them doesn't eat them!" Finally, adorned with +emerald ribbons and dressed in velvet and silk, golden angelfish +passed before our eyes like courtiers in the paintings of Veronese; +spurred gilthead stole by with their swift thoracic fins; thread herring +fifteen inches long were wrapped in their phosphorescent glimmers; +gray mullet thrashed the sea with their big fleshy tails; +red salmon seemed to mow the waves with their slicing pectorals; +and silver moonfish, worthy of their name, rose on the horizon +of the waters like the whitish reflections of many moons. + +How many other marvelous new specimens I still could have observed if, +little by little, the Nautilus hadn't settled to the lower strata! +Its slanting fins drew it to depths of 2,000 and 3,500 meters. +There animal life was represented by nothing more than sea lilies, +starfish, delightful crinoids with bell-shaped heads like little +chalices on straight stems, top-shell snails, blood-red tooth shells, +and fissurella snails, a large species of coastal mollusk. + +By April 20 we had risen to an average level of 1,500 meters. +The nearest land was the island group of the Bahamas, scattered +like a batch of cobblestones over the surface of the water. +There high underwater cliffs reared up, straight walls made of craggy +chunks arranged like big stone foundations, among which there +gaped black caves so deep our electric rays couldn't light them +to the far ends. + +These rocks were hung with huge weeds, immense sea tangle, gigantic fucus-- +a genuine trellis of water plants fit for a world of giants. + +In discussing these colossal plants, Conseil, Ned, and I were naturally +led into mentioning the sea's gigantic animals. The former were +obviously meant to feed the latter. However, through the windows +of our almost motionless Nautilus, I could see nothing among these long +filaments other than the chief articulates of the division Brachyura: +long-legged spider crabs, violet crabs, and sponge crabs unique +to the waters of the Caribbean. + +It was about eleven o'clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a +fearsome commotion out in this huge seaweed. + +"Well," I said, "these are real devilfish caverns, and I wouldn't +be surprised to see some of those monsters hereabouts." + +"What!" Conseil put in. "Squid, ordinary squid from +the class Cephalopoda?" + +"No," I said, "devilfish of large dimensions. But friend Land +is no doubt mistaken, because I don't see a thing." + +"That's regrettable," Conseil answered. "I'd like to come face +to face with one of those devilfish I've heard so much about, +which can drag ships down into the depths. Those beasts go +by the name of krake--" + +"Fake is more like it," the Canadian replied sarcastically. + +"Krakens!" Conseil shot back, finishing his word without wincing +at his companion's witticism. + +"Nobody will ever make me believe," Ned Land said, "that +such animals exist." + +"Why not?" Conseil replied. "We sincerely believed +in master's narwhale." + +"We were wrong, Conseil." + +"No doubt, but there are others with no doubts who believe +to this day!" + +"Probably, Conseil. But as for me, I'm bound and determined not +to accept the existence of any such monster till I've dissected it +with my own two hands." + +"Yet," Conseil asked me, "doesn't master believe in gigantic devilfish?" + +"Yikes! Who in Hades ever believed in them?" the Canadian exclaimed. + +"Many people, Ned my friend," I said. + +"No fishermen. Scientists maybe!" + +"Pardon me, Ned. Fishermen and scientists!" + +"Why, I to whom you speak," Conseil said with the world's +straightest face, "I recall perfectly seeing a large boat dragged +under the waves by the arms of a cephalopod." + +"You saw that?" the Canadian asked. + +"Yes, Ned." + +"With your own two eyes?" + +"With my own two eyes." + +"Where, may I ask?" + +"In Saint-Malo," Conseil returned unflappably. + +"In the harbor?" Ned Land said sarcastically. + +"No, in a church," Conseil replied. + +"In a church!" the Canadian exclaimed. + +"Yes, Ned my friend. It had a picture that portrayed the +devilfish in question." + +"Oh good!" Ned Land exclaimed with a burst of laughter. +"Mr. Conseil put one over on me!" + +"Actually he's right," I said. "I've heard about that picture. +But the subject it portrays is taken from a legend, and you know +how to rate legends in matters of natural history! Besides, when it's +an issue of monsters, the human imagination always tends to run wild. +People not only claimed these devilfish could drag ships under, +but a certain Olaus Magnus tells of a cephalopod a mile long that looked +more like an island than an animal. There's also the story of how +the Bishop of Trondheim set up an altar one day on an immense rock. +After he finished saying mass, this rock started moving and went +back into the sea. The rock was a devilfish." + +"And that's everything we know?" the Canadian asked. + +"No," I replied, "another bishop, Pontoppidan of Bergen, +also tells of a devilfish so large a whole cavalry regiment could +maneuver on it." + +"They sure did go on, those oldtime bishops!" Ned Land said. + +"Finally, the naturalists of antiquity mention some monsters +with mouths as big as a gulf, which were too huge to get through +the Strait of Gibraltar." + +"Good work, men!" the Canadian put in. + +"But in all these stories, is there any truth?" Conseil asked. + +"None at all, my friends, at least in those that go beyond the bounds +of credibility and fly off into fable or legend. Yet for the imaginings +of these storytellers there had to be, if not a cause, at least +an excuse. It can't be denied that some species of squid and other +devilfish are quite large, though still smaller than cetaceans. +Aristotle put the dimensions of one squid at five cubits, or 3.1 meters. +Our fishermen frequently see specimens over 1.8 meters long. +The museums in Trieste and Montpellier have preserved some devilfish +carcasses measuring two meters. Besides, according to the calculations +of naturalists, one of these animals only six feet long would +have tentacles as long as twenty-seven. Which is enough to make +a fearsome monster." + +"Does anybody fish for 'em nowadays?" the Canadian asked. + +"If they don't fish for them, sailors at least sight them. +A friend of mine, Captain Paul Bos of Le Havre, has often sworn +to me that he encountered one of these monsters of colossal size +in the seas of the East Indies. But the most astonishing event, +which proves that these gigantic animals undeniably exist, +took place a few years ago in 1861." + +"What event was that?" Ned Land asked. + +"Just this. In 1861, to the northeast of Tenerife and fairly +near the latitude where we are right now, the crew of the gunboat +Alecto spotted a monstrous squid swimming in their waters. +Commander Bouguer approached the animal and attacked it with blows +from harpoons and blasts from rifles, but without much success +because bullets and harpoons crossed its soft flesh as if it +were semiliquid jelly. After several fruitless attempts, +the crew managed to slip a noose around the mollusk's body. +This noose slid as far as the caudal fins and came to a halt. +Then they tried to haul the monster on board, but its weight +was so considerable that when they tugged on the rope, the animal +parted company with its tail; and deprived of this adornment, +it disappeared beneath the waters." + +"Finally, an actual event," Ned Land said. + +"An indisputable event, my gallant Ned. Accordingly, people have +proposed naming this devilfish Bouguer's Squid." + +"And how long was it?" the Canadian asked. + +"Didn't it measure about six meters?" said Conseil, who was stationed +at the window and examining anew the crevices in the cliff. + +"Precisely," I replied. + +"Wasn't its head," Conseil went on, "crowned by eight tentacles +that quivered in the water like a nest of snakes?" + +"Precisely." + +"Weren't its eyes prominently placed and considerably enlarged?" + +"Yes, Conseil." + +"And wasn't its mouth a real parrot's beak but of fearsome size?" + +"Correct, Conseil." + +"Well, with all due respect to master," Conseil replied serenely, +"if this isn't Bouguer's Squid, it's at least one of his close relatives!" + +I stared at Conseil. Ned Land rushed to the window. + +"What an awful animal!" he exclaimed. + +I stared in my turn and couldn't keep back a movement of revulsion. +Before my eyes there quivered a horrible monster worthy of a place +among the most farfetched teratological legends. + +It was a squid of colossal dimensions, fully eight meters long. +It was traveling backward with tremendous speed in the same direction +as the Nautilus. It gazed with enormous, staring eyes that were tinted +sea green. Its eight arms (or more accurately, feet) were rooted +in its head, which has earned these animals the name cephalopod; +its arms stretched a distance twice the length of its body and +were writhing like the serpentine hair of the Furies. You could +plainly see its 250 suckers, arranged over the inner sides +of its tentacles and shaped like semispheric capsules. +Sometimes these suckers fastened onto the lounge window by creating +vacuums against it. The monster's mouth--a beak made of horn +and shaped like that of a parrot--opened and closed vertically. +Its tongue, also of horn substance and armed with several rows +of sharp teeth, would flicker out from between these genuine shears. +What a freak of nature! A bird's beak on a mollusk! +Its body was spindle-shaped and swollen in the middle, +a fleshy mass that must have weighed 20,000 to 25,000 kilograms. +Its unstable color would change with tremendous speed as the animal +grew irritated, passing successively from bluish gray to reddish brown. + +What was irritating this mollusk? No doubt the presence +of the Nautilus, even more fearsome than itself, and which it +couldn't grip with its mandibles or the suckers on its arms. +And yet what monsters these devilfish are, what vitality our Creator +has given them, what vigor in their movements, thanks to their owning +a triple heart! + +Sheer chance had placed us in the presence of this squid, and I +didn't want to lose this opportunity to meticulously study such +a cephalopod specimen. I overcame the horror that its appearance +inspired in me, picked up a pencil, and began to sketch it. + +"Perhaps this is the same as the Alecto's," Conseil said. + +"Can't be," the Canadian replied, "because this one's complete +while the other one lost its tail!" + +"That doesn't necessarily follow," I said. "The arms and tails +of these animals grow back through regeneration, and in seven years +the tail on Bouguer's Squid has surely had time to sprout again." + +"Anyhow," Ned shot back, "if it isn't this fellow, maybe it's +one of those!" + +Indeed, other devilfish had appeared at the starboard window. +I counted seven of them. They provided the Nautilus with an escort, +and I could hear their beaks gnashing on the sheet-iron hull. +We couldn't have asked for a more devoted following. + +I continued sketching. These monsters kept pace in our waters +with such precision, they seemed to be standing still, and I +could have traced their outlines in miniature on the window. +But we were moving at a moderate speed. + +All at once the Nautilus stopped. A jolt made it tremble through +its entire framework. + +"Did we strike bottom?" I asked. + +"In any event we're already clear," the Canadian replied, +"because we're afloat." + +The Nautilus was certainly afloat, but it was no longer in motion. +The blades of its propeller weren't churning the waves. A minute passed. +Followed by his chief officer, Captain Nemo entered the lounge. + +I hadn't seen him for a good while. He looked gloomy to me. +Without speaking to us, without even seeing us perhaps, he went +to the panel, stared at the devilfish, and said a few words +to his chief officer. + +The latter went out. Soon the panels closed. The ceiling lit up. + +I went over to the captain. + +"An unusual assortment of devilfish," I told him, as carefree +as a collector in front of an aquarium. + +"Correct, Mr. Naturalist," he answered me, "and we're going to fight +them at close quarters." + +I gaped at the captain. I thought my hearing had gone bad. + +"At close quarters?" I repeated. + +"Yes, sir. Our propeller is jammed. I think the horn-covered +mandibles of one of these squid are entangled in the blades. +That's why we aren't moving." + +"And what are you going to do?" + +"Rise to the surface and slaughter the vermin." + +"A difficult undertaking." + +"Correct. Our electric bullets are ineffective against such +soft flesh, where they don't meet enough resistance to go off. +But we'll attack the beasts with axes." + +"And harpoons, sir," the Canadian said, "if you don't turn +down my help." + +"I accept it, Mr. Land." + +"We'll go with you," I said. And we followed Captain Nemo, +heading to the central companionway. + +There some ten men were standing by for the assault, +armed with boarding axes. Conseil and I picked up two more axes. +Ned Land seized a harpoon. + +By then the Nautilus had returned to the surface of the waves. +Stationed on the top steps, one of the seamen undid the bolts +of the hatch. But he had scarcely unscrewed the nuts when the hatch +flew up with tremendous violence, obviously pulled open by the suckers +on a devilfish's arm. + +Instantly one of those long arms glided like a snake into the opening, +and twenty others were quivering above. With a sweep of the ax, +Captain Nemo chopped off this fearsome tentacle, which slid writhing +down the steps. + +Just as we were crowding each other to reach the platform, two more arms +lashed the air, swooped on the seaman stationed in front of Captain Nemo, +and carried the fellow away with irresistible violence. + +Captain Nemo gave a shout and leaped outside. We rushed after him. + +What a scene! Seized by the tentacle and glued to its suckers, +the unfortunate man was swinging in the air at the mercy +of this enormous appendage. He gasped, he choked, he yelled: +"Help! Help!" These words, pronounced in French, left me deeply stunned! +So I had a fellow countryman on board, perhaps several! +I'll hear his harrowing plea the rest of my life! + +The poor fellow was done for. Who could tear him from such +a powerful grip? Even so, Captain Nemo rushed at the devilfish +and with a sweep of the ax hewed one more of its arms. +His chief officer struggled furiously with other monsters crawling +up the Nautilus's sides. The crew battled with flailing axes. +The Canadian, Conseil, and I sank our weapons into these fleshy masses. +An intense, musky odor filled the air. It was horrible. + +For an instant I thought the poor man entwined by the devilfish +might be torn loose from its powerful suction. Seven arms out of +eight had been chopped off. Brandishing its victim like a feather, +one lone tentacle was writhing in the air. But just as Captain Nemo +and his chief officer rushed at it, the animal shot off a spout +of blackish liquid, secreted by a pouch located in its abdomen. +It blinded us. When this cloud had dispersed, the squid was gone, +and so was my poor fellow countryman! + +What rage then drove us against these monsters! We lost all self-control. +Ten or twelve devilfish had overrun the Nautilus's platform and sides. +We piled helter-skelter into the thick of these sawed-off snakes, +which darted over the platform amid waves of blood and sepia ink. +It seemed as if these viscous tentacles grew back like the many heads +of Hydra. At every thrust Ned Land's harpoon would plunge into +a squid's sea-green eye and burst it. But my daring companion was +suddenly toppled by the tentacles of a monster he could not avoid. + +Oh, my heart nearly exploded with excitement and horror! +The squid's fearsome beak was wide open over Ned Land. The poor +man was about to be cut in half. I ran to his rescue. +But Captain Nemo got there first. His ax disappeared between the two +enormous mandibles, and the Canadian, miraculously saved, stood and +plunged his harpoon all the way into the devilfish's triple heart. + +"Tit for tat," Captain Nemo told the Canadian. "I owed it to myself!" + +Ned bowed without answering him. + +This struggle had lasted a quarter of an hour. Defeated, mutilated, +battered to death, the monsters finally yielded to us and disappeared +beneath the waves. + +Red with blood, motionless by the beacon, Captain Nemo stared at +the sea that had swallowed one of his companions, and large tears +streamed from his eyes. + + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +The Gulf Stream + + +THIS DREADFUL SCENE on April 20 none of us will ever be able to forget. +I wrote it up in a state of intense excitement. Later I reviewed +my narrative. I read it to Conseil and the Canadian. They found it +accurate in detail but deficient in impact. To convey such sights, +it would take the pen of our most famous poet, Victor Hugo, +author of The Toilers of the Sea. + +As I said, Captain Nemo wept while staring at the waves. +His grief was immense. This was the second companion he had +lost since we had come aboard. And what a way to die! +Smashed, strangled, crushed by the fearsome arms of a devilfish, +ground between its iron mandibles, this friend would never rest +with his companions in the placid waters of their coral cemetery! + +As for me, what had harrowed my heart in the thick of this +struggle was the despairing yell given by this unfortunate man. +Forgetting his regulation language, this poor Frenchman had reverted +to speaking his own mother tongue to fling out one supreme plea! +Among the Nautilus's crew, allied body and soul with Captain Nemo and +likewise fleeing from human contact, I had found a fellow countryman! +Was he the only representative of France in this mysterious alliance, +obviously made up of individuals from different nationalities? +This was just one more of those insoluble problems that kept welling +up in my mind! + +Captain Nemo reentered his stateroom, and I saw no more of him +for a good while. But how sad, despairing, and irresolute he must +have felt, to judge from this ship whose soul he was, which reflected +his every mood! The Nautilus no longer kept to a fixed heading. +It drifted back and forth, riding with the waves like a corpse. +Its propeller had been disentangled but was barely put to use. +It was navigating at random. It couldn't tear itself away from +the setting of this last struggle, from this sea that had devoured +one of its own! + +Ten days went by in this way. It was only on May 1 that the Nautilus +openly resumed its northbound course, after raising the Bahamas at +the mouth of Old Bahama Channel. We then went with the current of the +sea's greatest river, which has its own banks, fish, and temperature. +I mean the Gulf Stream. + +It is indeed a river that runs independently through the middle +of the Atlantic, its waters never mixing with the ocean's waters. +It's a salty river, saltier than the sea surrounding it. +Its average depth is 3,000 feet, its average width sixty miles. +In certain localities its current moves at a speed of four kilometers +per hour. The unchanging volume of its waters is greater than +that of all the world's rivers combined. + +As discovered by Commander Maury, the true source of the Gulf Stream, +its starting point, if you prefer, is located in the Bay +of Biscay. There its waters, still weak in temperature and color, +begin to form. It goes down south, skirts equatorial Africa, +warms its waves in the rays of the Torrid Zone, crosses the Atlantic, +reaches Cape São Roque on the coast of Brazil, and forks into +two branches, one going to the Caribbean Sea for further saturation +with heat particles. Then, entrusted with restoring the balance +between hot and cold temperatures and with mixing tropical and +northern waters, the Gulf Stream begins to play its stabilizing role. +Attaining a white heat in the Gulf of Mexico, it heads north up +the American coast, advances as far as Newfoundland, swerves away +under the thrust of a cold current from the Davis Strait, +and resumes its ocean course by going along a great circle +of the earth on a rhumb line; it then divides into two arms near +the 43rd parallel; one, helped by the northeast trade winds, +returns to the Bay of Biscay and the Azores; the other washes the shores +of Ireland and Norway with lukewarm water, goes beyond Spitzbergen, +where its temperature falls to 4 degrees centigrade, and fashions +the open sea at the pole. + +It was on this oceanic river that the Nautilus was then navigating. +Leaving Old Bahama Channel, which is fourteen leagues wide by 350 meters +deep, the Gulf Stream moves at the rate of eight kilometers per hour. +Its speed steadily decreases as it advances northward, and we must +pray that this steadiness continues, because, as experts agree, +if its speed and direction were to change, the climates of Europe +would undergo disturbances whose consequences are incalculable. + +Near noon I was on the platform with Conseil. I shared with him +the relevant details on the Gulf Stream. When my explanation was over, +I invited him to dip his hands into its current. + +Conseil did so, and he was quite astonished to experience no sensation +of either hot or cold. + +"That comes," I told him, "from the water temperature of the Gulf Stream, +which, as it leaves the Gulf of Mexico, is barely different from +your blood temperature. This Gulf Stream is a huge heat generator +that enables the coasts of Europe to be decked in eternal greenery. +And if Commander Maury is correct, were one to harness the full +warmth of this current, it would supply enough heat to keep molten +a river of iron solder as big as the Amazon or the Missouri." + +Just then the Gulf Stream's speed was 2.25 meters per second. +So distinct is its current from the surrounding sea, its confined +waters stand out against the ocean and operate on a different level +from the colder waters. Murky as well, and very rich in saline material, +their pure indigo contrasts with the green waves surrounding them. +Moreover, their line of demarcation is so clear that abreast of +the Carolinas, the Nautilus's spur cut the waves of the Gulf Stream +while its propeller was still churning those belonging to the ocean. + +This current swept along with it a whole host of moving creatures. +Argonauts, so common in the Mediterranean, voyaged here in schools +of large numbers. Among cartilaginous fish, the most remarkable were +rays whose ultra slender tails made up nearly a third of the body, +which was shaped like a huge diamond twenty-five feet long; +then little one-meter sharks, the head large, the snout short +and rounded, the teeth sharp and arranged in several rows, +the body seemingly covered with scales. + +Among bony fish, I noted grizzled wrasse unique to these seas, +deep-water gilthead whose iris has a fiery gleam, one-meter croakers +whose large mouths bristle with small teeth and which let out +thin cries, black rudderfish like those I've already discussed, +blue dorados accented with gold and silver, rainbow-hued parrotfish +that can rival the loveliest tropical birds in coloring, +banded blennies with triangular heads, bluish flounder without scales, +toadfish covered with a crosswise yellow band in the shape of a Greek t, +swarms of little freckled gobies stippled with brown spots, +lungfish with silver heads and yellow tails, various specimens +of salmon, mullet with slim figures and a softly glowing radiance +that Lacépède dedicated to the memory of his wife, and finally +the American cavalla, a handsome fish decorated by every honorary order, +bedizened with their every ribbon, frequenting the shores of this +great nation where ribbons and orders are held in such low esteem. + +I might add that during the night, the Gulf Stream's phosphorescent +waters rivaled the electric glow of our beacon, especially in +the stormy weather that frequently threatened us. + +On May 8, while abreast of North Carolina, we were across from +Cape Hatteras once more. There the Gulf Stream is seventy-five +miles wide and 210 meters deep. The Nautilus continued to wander +at random. Seemingly, all supervision had been jettisoned. +Under these conditions I admit that we could easily have gotten away. +In fact, the populous shores offered ready refuge everywhere. +The sea was plowed continuously by the many steamers providing +service between the Gulf of Mexico and New York or Boston, +and it was crossed night and day by little schooners engaged +in coastal trade over various points on the American shore. +We could hope to be picked up. So it was a promising opportunity, +despite the thirty miles that separated the Nautilus from +these Union coasts. + +But one distressing circumstance totally thwarted the Canadian's plans. +The weather was thoroughly foul. We were approaching waterways +where storms are commonplace, the very homeland of tornadoes +and cyclones specifically engendered by the Gulf Stream's current. +To face a frequently raging sea in a frail skiff was a race +to certain disaster. Ned Land conceded this himself. +So he champed at the bit, in the grip of an intense homesickness +that could be cured only by our escape. + +"Sir," he told me that day, "it's got to stop. I want to get to +the bottom of this. Your Nemo's veering away from shore and heading +up north. But believe you me, I had my fill at the South Pole +and I'm not going with him to the North Pole." + +"What can we do, Ned, since it isn't feasible to escape right now?" + +"I keep coming back to my idea. We've got to talk to the captain. +When we were in your own country's seas, you didn't say a word. +Now that we're in mine, I intend to speak up. Before a few days +are out, I figure the Nautilus will lie abreast of Nova Scotia, +and from there to Newfoundland is the mouth of a large gulf, +and the St. Lawrence empties into that gulf, and the St. Lawrence +is my own river, the river running by Quebec, my hometown-- +and when I think about all this, my gorge rises and my hair +stands on end! Honestly, sir, I'd rather jump overboard! +I can't stay here any longer! I'm suffocating!" + +The Canadian was obviously at the end of his patience. +His vigorous nature couldn't adapt to this protracted imprisonment. +His facial appearance was changing by the day. His moods grew gloomier +and gloomier. I had a sense of what he was suffering because I also was +gripped by homesickness. Nearly seven months had gone by without our +having any news from shore. Moreover, Captain Nemo's reclusiveness, +his changed disposition, and especially his total silence since the battle +with the devilfish all made me see things in a different light. +I no longer felt the enthusiasm of our first days on board. +You needed to be Flemish like Conseil to accept these circumstances, +living in a habitat designed for cetaceans and other denizens +of the deep. Truly, if that gallant lad had owned gills instead +of lungs, I think he would have made an outstanding fish! + +"Well, sir?" Ned Land went on, seeing that I hadn't replied. + +"Well, Ned, you want me to ask Captain Nemo what he intends +to do with us?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Even though he has already made that clear?" + +"Yes. I want it settled once and for all. Speak just for me, +strictly on my behalf, if you want." + +"But I rarely encounter him. He positively avoids me." + +"All the more reason you should go look him up." + +"I'll confer with him, Ned." + +"When?" the Canadian asked insistently. + +"When I encounter him." + +"Professor Aronnax, would you like me to go find him myself?" + +"No, let me do it. Tomorrow--" + +"Today," Ned Land said. + +"So be it. I'll see him today," I answered the Canadian, who, +if he took action himself, would certainly have ruined everything. + +I was left to myself. His request granted, I decided to dispose +of it immediately. I like things over and done with. + +I reentered my stateroom. From there I could hear movements +inside Captain Nemo's quarters. I couldn't pass up this chance +for an encounter. I knocked on his door. I received no reply. +I knocked again, then tried the knob. The door opened. + +I entered. The captain was there. He was bending over his worktable +and hadn't heard me. Determined not to leave without questioning him, +I drew closer. He looked up sharply, with a frowning brow, +and said in a pretty stern tone: + +"Oh, it's you! What do you want?" + +"To speak with you, captain." + +"But I'm busy, sir, I'm at work. I give you the freedom to enjoy +your privacy, can't I have the same for myself?" + +This reception was less than encouraging. But I was determined +to give as good as I got. + +"Sir," I said coolly, "I need to speak with you on a matter that +simply can't wait." + +"Whatever could that be, sir?" he replied sarcastically. +"Have you made some discovery that has escaped me? Has the sea +yielded up some novel secret to you?" + +We were miles apart. But before I could reply, he showed me +a manuscript open on the table and told me in a more serious tone: + +"Here, Professor Aronnax, is a manuscript written in several languages. +It contains a summary of my research under the sea, and God willing, it +won't perish with me. Signed with my name, complete with my life story, +this manuscript will be enclosed in a small, unsinkable contrivance. +The last surviving man on the Nautilus will throw this contrivance +into the sea, and it will go wherever the waves carry it." + +The man's name! His life story written by himself! +So the secret of his existence might someday be unveiled? +But just then I saw this announcement only as a lead-in to my topic. + +"Captain," I replied, "I'm all praise for this idea you're putting +into effect. The fruits of your research must not be lost. +But the methods you're using strike me as primitive. Who knows where +the winds will take that contrivance, into whose hands it may fall? +Can't you find something better? Can't you or one of your men--" + +"Never, sir," the captain said, swiftly interrupting me. + +"But my companions and I would be willing to safeguard this manuscript, +and if you give us back our freedom--" + +"Your freedom!" Captain Nemo put in, standing up. + +"Yes, sir, and that's the subject on which I wanted to confer with you. +For seven months we've been aboard your vessel, and I ask you today, +in the name of my companions as well as myself, if you intend +to keep us here forever." + +"Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo said, "I'll answer you today +just as I did seven months ago: whoever boards the Nautilus must +never leave it." + +"What you're inflicting on us is outright slavery!" + +"Call it anything you like." + +"But every slave has the right to recover his freedom! +By any worthwhile, available means!" + +"Who has denied you that right?" Captain Nemo replied. +"Did I ever try to bind you with your word of honor?" + +The captain stared at me, crossing his arms. + +"Sir," I told him, "to take up this subject a second time would +be distasteful to both of us. So let's finish what we've started. +I repeat: it isn't just for myself that I raise this issue. +To me, research is a relief, a potent diversion, an enticement, +a passion that can make me forget everything else. Like you, I'm a man +neglected and unknown, living in the faint hope that someday I can pass +on to future generations the fruits of my labors--figuratively speaking, +by means of some contrivance left to the luck of winds and waves. +In short, I can admire you and comfortably go with you while playing +a role I only partly understand; but I still catch glimpses +of other aspects of your life that are surrounded by involvements +and secrets that, alone on board, my companions and I can't share. +And even when our hearts could beat with yours, moved by some of your +griefs or stirred by your deeds of courage and genius, we've had to stifle +even the slightest token of that sympathy that arises at the sight +of something fine and good, whether it comes from friend or enemy. +All right then! It's this feeling of being alien to your deepest +concerns that makes our situation unacceptable, impossible, +even impossible for me but especially for Ned Land. Every man, +by virtue of his very humanity, deserves fair treatment. +Have you considered how a love of freedom and hatred of slavery could +lead to plans of vengeance in a temperament like the Canadian's, +what he might think, attempt, endeavor . . . ?" + +I fell silent. Captain Nemo stood up. + +"Ned Land can think, attempt, or endeavor anything he wants, +what difference is it to me? I didn't go looking for him! +I don't keep him on board for my pleasure! As for you, Professor Aronnax, +you're a man able to understand anything, even silence. +I have nothing more to say to you. Let this first time you've come +to discuss this subject also be the last, because a second time I +won't even listen." + +I withdrew. From that day forward our position was very strained. +I reported this conversation to my two companions. + +"Now we know," Ned said, "that we can't expect a thing from this man. +The Nautilus is nearing Long Island. We'll escape, no matter +what the weather." + +But the skies became more and more threatening. There were +conspicuous signs of a hurricane on the way. The atmosphere was +turning white and milky. Slender sheaves of cirrus clouds were +followed on the horizon by layers of nimbocumulus. Other low clouds +fled swiftly. The sea grew towering, inflated by long swells. +Every bird had disappeared except a few petrels, friends of the storms. +The barometer fell significantly, indicating a tremendous tension +in the surrounding haze. The mixture in our stormglass decomposed +under the influence of the electricity charging the air. +A struggle of the elements was approaching. + +The storm burst during the daytime of May 13, just as the Nautilus +was cruising abreast of Long Island, a few miles from the narrows +to Upper New York Bay. I'm able to describe this struggle of +the elements because Captain Nemo didn't flee into the ocean depths; +instead, from some inexplicable whim, he decided to brave it out +on the surface. + +The wind was blowing from the southwest, initially a stiff breeze, +in other words, with a speed of fifteen meters per second, +which built to twenty-five meters near three o'clock in the afternoon. +This is the figure for major storms. + +Unshaken by these squalls, Captain Nemo stationed himself +on the platform. He was lashed around the waist to withstand +the monstrous breakers foaming over the deck. I hoisted and attached +myself to the same place, dividing my wonderment between the storm +and this incomparable man who faced it head-on. + +The raging sea was swept with huge tattered clouds drenched +by the waves. I saw no more of the small intervening billows +that form in the troughs of the big crests. Just long, +soot-colored undulations with crests so compact they didn't foam. +They kept growing taller. They were spurring each other on. +The Nautilus, sometimes lying on its side, sometimes standing on end +like a mast, rolled and pitched frightfully. + +Near five o'clock a torrential rain fell, but it lulled neither +wind nor sea. The hurricane was unleashed at a speed of forty-five +meters per second, hence almost forty leagues per hour. +Under these conditions houses topple, roof tiles puncture doors, +iron railings snap in two, and twenty-four-pounder cannons relocate. +And yet in the midst of this turmoil, the Nautilus lived up to that saying +of an expert engineer: "A well-constructed hull can defy any sea!" +This submersible was no resisting rock that waves could demolish; +it was a steel spindle, obediently in motion, without rigging +or masting, and able to brave their fury with impunity. + +Meanwhile I was carefully examining these unleashed breakers. +They measured up to fifteen meters in height over a length +of 150 to 175 meters, and the speed of their propagation +(half that of the wind) was fifteen meters per second. +Their volume and power increased with the depth of the waters. +I then understood the role played by these waves, which trap air +in their flanks and release it in the depths of the sea where its +oxygen brings life. Their utmost pressure--it has been calculated-- +can build to 3,000 kilograms on every square foot of surface they strike. +It was such waves in the Hebrides that repositioned a stone block +weighing 84,000 pounds. It was their relatives in the tidal wave +on December 23, 1854, that toppled part of the Japanese city of Tokyo, +then went that same day at 700 kilometers per hour to break on +the beaches of America. + +After nightfall the storm grew in intensity. As in the 1860 cyclone +on Réunion Island, the barometer fell to 710 millimeters. At the close +of day, I saw a big ship passing on the horizon, struggling painfully. +It lay to at half steam in an effort to hold steady on the waves. +It must have been a steamer on one of those lines out of New York +to Liverpool or Le Havre. It soon vanished into the shadows. + +At ten o'clock in the evening, the skies caught on fire. +The air was streaked with violent flashes of lightning. +I couldn't stand this brightness, but Captain Nemo stared +straight at it, as if to inhale the spirit of the storm. +A dreadful noise filled the air, a complicated noise made up of the roar +of crashing breakers, the howl of the wind, claps of thunder. +The wind shifted to every point of the horizon, and the cyclone +left the east to return there after passing through north, west, +and south, moving in the opposite direction of revolving storms +in the southern hemisphere. + +Oh, that Gulf Stream! It truly lives up to its nickname, +the Lord of Storms! All by itself it creates these fearsome +cyclones through the difference in temperature between its currents +and the superimposed layers of air. + +The rain was followed by a downpour of fire. Droplets of water +changed into exploding tufts. You would have thought Captain Nemo was +courting a death worthy of himself, seeking to be struck by lightning. +In one hideous pitching movement, the Nautilus reared its steel +spur into the air like a lightning rod, and I saw long sparks +shoot down it. + +Shattered, at the end of my strength, I slid flat on my belly +to the hatch. I opened it and went below to the lounge. +By then the storm had reached its maximum intensity. +It was impossible to stand upright inside the Nautilus. + +Captain Nemo reentered near midnight. I could hear the ballast +tanks filling little by little, and the Nautilus sank gently beneath +the surface of the waves. + +Through the lounge's open windows, I saw large, frightened fish +passing like phantoms in the fiery waters. Some were struck +by lightning right before my eyes! + +The Nautilus kept descending. I thought it would find calm again at +fifteen meters down. No. The upper strata were too violently agitated. +It needed to sink to fifty meters, searching for a resting place +in the bowels of the sea. + +But once there, what tranquility we found, what silence, what peace +all around us! Who would have known that a dreadful hurricane +was then unleashed on the surface of this ocean? + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 20 + +In Latitude 47 degrees 24' and Longitude 17 degrees 28' + + +IN THE AFTERMATH of this storm, we were thrown back to the east. +Away went any hope of + +escaping to the landing places of New York or the St. Lawrence. +In despair, poor Ned went into seclusion like Captain Nemo. Conseil and +I no longer left each other. + +As I said, the Nautilus veered to the east. To be more accurate, +I should have said to the northeast. Sometimes on the surface +of the waves, sometimes beneath them, the ship wandered for days +amid these mists so feared by navigators. These are caused +chiefly by melting ice, which keeps the air extremely damp. +How many ships have perished in these waterways as they +tried to get directions from the hazy lights on the coast! +How many casualties have been caused by these opaque mists! +How many collisions have occurred with these reefs, +where the breaking surf is covered by the noise of the wind! +How many vessels have rammed each other, despite their running lights, +despite the warnings given by their bosun's pipes and alarm bells! + +So the floor of this sea had the appearance of a battlefield where every +ship defeated by the ocean still lay, some already old and encrusted, +others newer and reflecting our beacon light on their ironwork +and copper undersides. Among these vessels, how many went down with +all hands, with their crews and hosts of immigrants, at these trouble +spots so prominent in the statistics: Cape Race, St. Paul Island, +the Strait of Belle Isle, the St. Lawrence estuary! +And in only a few years, how many victims have been furnished to +the obituary notices by the Royal Mail, Inman, and Montreal lines; +by vessels named the Solway, the Isis, the Paramatta, the Hungarian, +the Canadian, the Anglo-Saxon, the Humboldt, and the United States, +all run aground; by the Arctic and the Lyonnais, sunk in collisions; +by the President, the Pacific, and the City of Glasgow, +lost for reasons unknown; in the midst of their gloomy rubble, +the Nautilus navigated as if passing the dead in review! + +By May 15 we were off the southern tip of the Grand Banks +of Newfoundland. These banks are the result of marine sedimentation, +an extensive accumulation of organic waste brought either from +the equator by the Gulf Stream's current, or from the North Pole +by the countercurrent of cold water that skirts the American coast. +Here, too, erratically drifting chunks collect from the ice breakup. +Here a huge boneyard forms from fish, mollusks, and zoophytes dying +over it by the billions. + +The sea is of no great depth at the Grand Banks. A few hundred +fathoms at best. But to the south there is a deep, suddenly occurring +depression, a 3,000-meter pit. Here the Gulf Stream widens. +Its waters come to full bloom. It loses its speed and temperature, +but it turns into a sea. + +Among the fish that the Nautilus startled on its way, I'll mention +a one-meter lumpfish, blackish on top with orange on the belly +and rare among its brethren in that it practices monogamy, +a good-sized eelpout, a type of emerald moray whose flavor is excellent, +wolffish with big eyes in a head somewhat resembling a canine's, +viviparous blennies whose eggs hatch inside their bodies like those +of snakes, bloated gobio (or black gudgeon) measuring two decimeters, +grenadiers with long tails and gleaming with a silvery glow, +speedy fish venturing far from their High Arctic seas. + +Our nets also hauled in a bold, daring, vigorous, and muscular +fish armed with prickles on its head and stings on its fins, +a real scorpion measuring two to three meters, the ruthless enemy +of cod, blennies, and salmon; it was the bullhead of the northerly seas, +a fish with red fins and a brown body covered with nodules. +The Nautilus's fishermen had some trouble getting a grip on +this animal, which, thanks to the formation of its gill covers, +can protect its respiratory organs from any parching contact +with the air and can live out of water for a good while. + +And I'll mention--for the record--some little banded blennies that +follow ships into the northernmost seas, sharp-snouted carp exclusive +to the north Atlantic, scorpionfish, and lastly the gadoid family, +chiefly the cod species, which I detected in their waters of choice +over these inexhaustible Grand Banks. + +Because Newfoundland is simply an underwater peak, you could +call these cod mountain fish. While the Nautilus was clearing +a path through their tight ranks, Conseil couldn't refrain from +making this comment: + +"Mercy, look at these cod!" he said. "Why, I thought cod were flat, +like dab or sole!" + +"Innocent boy!" I exclaimed. "Cod are flat only at the +grocery store, where they're cut open and spread out on display. +But in the water they're like mullet, spindle-shaped and perfectly +built for speed." + +"I can easily believe master," Conseil replied. "But what crowds +of them! What swarms!" + +"Bah! My friend, there'd be many more without their enemies, +scorpionfish and human beings! Do you know how many eggs have been +counted in a single female?" + +"I'll go all out," Conseil replied. "500,000." + +"11,000,000, my friend." + +"11,000,000! I refuse to accept that until I count them myself." + +"So count them, Conseil. But it would be less work to believe me. +Besides, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Americans, Danes, and Norwegians catch +these cod by the thousands. They're eaten in prodigious quantities, +and without the astonishing fertility of these fish, the seas +would soon be depopulated of them. Accordingly, in England and +America alone, 5,000 ships manned by 75,000 seamen go after cod. +Each ship brings back an average catch of 4,400 fish, making 22,000,000. +Off the coast of Norway, the total is the same." + +"Fine," Conseil replied, "I'll take master's word for it. +I won't count them." + +"Count what?" + +"Those 11,000,000 eggs. But I'll make one comment." + +"What's that?" + +"If all their eggs hatched, just four codfish could feed +England, America, and Norway." + +As we skimmed the depths of the Grand Banks, I could see perfectly +those long fishing lines, each armed with 200 hooks, that every +boat dangled by the dozens. The lower end of each line dragged +the bottom by means of a small grappling iron, and at the surface +it was secured to the buoy-rope of a cork float. The Nautilus had +to maneuver shrewdly in the midst of this underwater spiderweb. + +But the ship didn't stay long in these heavily traveled waterways. +It went up to about latitude 42 degrees. This brought it +abreast of St. John's in Newfoundland and Heart's Content, +where the Atlantic Cable reaches its end point. + +Instead of continuing north, the Nautilus took an easterly heading, +as if to go along this plateau on which the telegraph cable rests, +where multiple soundings have given the contours of the terrain +with the utmost accuracy. + +It was on May 17, about 500 miles from Heart's Content and 2,800 +meters down, that I spotted this cable lying on the seafloor. +Conseil, whom I hadn't alerted, mistook it at first for a gigantic +sea snake and was gearing up to classify it in his best manner. +But I enlightened the fine lad and let him down gently by giving +him various details on the laying of this cable. + +The first cable was put down during the years 1857-1858; +but after transmitting about 400 telegrams, it went dead. +In 1863 engineers built a new cable that measured 3,400 kilometers, +weighed 4,500 metric tons, and was shipped aboard the Great Eastern. +This attempt also failed. + +Now then, on May 25 while submerged to a depth of 3,836 meters, +the Nautilus lay in precisely the locality where this second +cable suffered the rupture that ruined the undertaking. +It happened 638 miles from the coast of Ireland. At around two +o'clock in the afternoon, all contact with Europe broke off. +The electricians on board decided to cut the cable before fishing it up, +and by eleven o'clock that evening they had retrieved the damaged part. +They repaired the joint and its splice; then the cable was resubmerged. +But a few days later it snapped again and couldn't be recovered +from the ocean depths. + +These Americans refused to give up. The daring Cyrus Field, +who had risked his whole fortune to promote this undertaking, +called for a new bond issue. It sold out immediately. Another cable +was put down under better conditions. Its sheaves of conducting wire +were insulated within a gutta-percha covering, which was protected +by a padding of textile material enclosed in a metal sheath. +The Great Eastern put back to sea on July 13, 1866. + +The operation proceeded apace. Yet there was one hitch. +As they gradually unrolled this third cable, the electricians observed +on several occasions that someone had recently driven nails into it, +trying to damage its core. Captain Anderson, his officers, +and the engineers put their heads together, then posted a warning that if +the culprit were detected, he would be thrown overboard without a trial. +After that, these villainous attempts were not repeated. + +By July 23 the Great Eastern was lying no farther than 800 +kilometers from Newfoundland when it received telegraphed news from +Ireland of an armistice signed between Prussia and Austria after +the Battle of Sadova. Through the mists on the 27th, it sighted +the port of Heart's Content. The undertaking had ended happily, +and in its first dispatch, young America addressed old Europe with +these wise words so rarely understood: "Glory to God in the highest, +and peace on earth to men of good will." + +I didn't expect to find this electric cable in mint condition, +as it looked on leaving its place of manufacture. The long snake +was covered with seashell rubble and bristling with foraminifera; +a crust of caked gravel protected it from any mollusks that might +bore into it. It rested serenely, sheltered from the sea's motions, +under a pressure favorable to the transmission of that electric +spark that goes from America to Europe in 32/100 of a second. +This cable will no doubt last indefinitely because, as observers note, +its gutta-percha casing is improved by a stay in salt water. + +Besides, on this well-chosen plateau, the cable never lies at +depths that could cause a break. The Nautilus followed it to its +lowest reaches, located 4,431 meters down, and even there it rested +without any stress or strain. Then we returned to the locality +where the 1863 accident had taken place. + +There the ocean floor formed a valley 120 kilometers wide, +into which you could fit Mt. Blanc without its summit poking above +the surface of the waves. This valley is closed off to the east +by a sheer wall 2,000 meters high. We arrived there on May 28, +and the Nautilus lay no farther than 150 kilometers from Ireland. + +Would Captain Nemo head up north and beach us on the British Isles? +No. Much to my surprise, he went back down south and returned +to European seas. As we swung around the Emerald Isle, I spotted +Cape Clear for an instant, plus the lighthouse on Fastnet Rock +that guides all those thousands of ships setting out from +Glasgow or Liverpool. + +An important question then popped into my head. Would the Nautilus +dare to tackle the English Channel? Ned Land (who promptly +reappeared after we hugged shore) never stopped questioning me. +What could I answer him? Captain Nemo remained invisible. +After giving the Canadian a glimpse of American shores, was he about +to show me the coast of France? + +But the Nautilus kept gravitating southward. On May 30, in sight +of Land's End, it passed between the lowermost tip of England +and the Scilly Islands, which it left behind to starboard. + +If it was going to enter the English Channel, it clearly needed +to head east. It did not. + +All day long on May 31, the Nautilus swept around the sea +in a series of circles that had me deeply puzzled. It seemed +to be searching for a locality that it had some trouble finding. +At noon Captain Nemo himself came to take our bearings. +He didn't address a word to me. He looked gloomier than ever. +What was filling him with such sadness? Was it our proximity to +these European shores? Was he reliving his memories of that country +he had left behind? If so, what did he feel? Remorse or regret? +For a good while these thoughts occupied my mind, and I had a hunch +that fate would soon give away the captain's secrets. + +The next day, June 1, the Nautilus kept to the same tack. +It was obviously trying to locate some precise spot in the ocean. +Just as on the day before, Captain Nemo came to take the altitude +of the sun. The sea was smooth, the skies clear. Eight miles +to the east, a big steamship was visible on the horizon line. +No flag was flapping from the gaff of its fore-and-aft sail, +and I couldn't tell its nationality. + +A few minutes before the sun passed its zenith, Captain Nemo +raised his sextant and took his sights with the utmost precision. +The absolute calm of the waves facilitated this operation. +The Nautilus lay motionless, neither rolling nor pitching. + +I was on the platform just then. After determining our position, +the captain pronounced only these words: + +"It's right here!" + +He went down the hatch. Had he seen that vessel change course +and seemingly head toward us? I'm unable to say. + +I returned to the lounge. The hatch closed, and I heard water hissing +in the ballast tanks. The Nautilus began to sink on a vertical line, +because its propeller was in check and no longer furnished +any forward motion. + +Some minutes later it stopped at a depth of 833 meters and came +to rest on the seafloor. + +The ceiling lights in the lounge then went out, the panels opened, +and through the windows I saw, for a half-mile radius, the sea +brightly lit by the beacon's rays. + +I looked to port and saw nothing but the immenseness of +these tranquil waters. + +To starboard, a prominent bulge on the sea bottom caught my attention. +You would have thought it was some ruin enshrouded in a crust +of whitened seashells, as if under a mantle of snow. +Carefully examining this mass, I could identify the swollen outlines +of a ship shorn of its masts, which must have sunk bow first. +This casualty certainly dated from some far-off time. +To be so caked with the limestone of these waters, this wreckage +must have spent many a year on the ocean floor. + +What ship was this? Why had the Nautilus come to visit its grave? +Was it something other than a maritime accident that had dragged +this craft under the waters? + +I wasn't sure what to think, but next to me I heard Captain Nemo's +voice slowly say: + +"Originally this ship was christened the Marseillais. It carried +seventy-four cannons and was launched in 1762. On August 13, +1778, commanded by La Poype-Vertrieux, it fought valiantly +against the Preston. On July 4, 1779, as a member of the squadron +under Admiral d'Estaing, it assisted in the capture of the island +of Grenada. On September 5, 1781, under the Count de Grasse, +it took part in the Battle of Chesapeake Bay. In 1794 the new Republic +of France changed the name of this ship. On April 16 of that same year, +it joined the squadron at Brest under Rear Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse, +who was entrusted with escorting a convoy of wheat coming from +America under the command of Admiral Van Stabel. In this second +year of the French Revolutionary Calendar, on the 11th and 12th +days in the Month of Pasture, this squadron fought an encounter +with English vessels. Sir, today is June 1, 1868, or the 13th +day in the Month of Pasture. Seventy-four years ago to the day, +at this very spot in latitude 47 degrees 24' and longitude 17 degrees +28', this ship sank after a heroic battle; its three masts gone, +water in its hold, a third of its crew out of action, it preferred +to go to the bottom with its 356 seamen rather than surrender; +and with its flag nailed up on the afterdeck, it disappeared beneath +the waves to shouts of 'Long live the Republic!'" + +"This is the Avenger!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes, sir! The Avenger! A splendid name!" Captain Nemo murmured, +crossing his arms. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 21 + +A Mass Execution + + +THE WAY HE SAID THIS, the unexpectedness of this scene, first the +biography of this patriotic ship, then the excitement with which this +eccentric individual pronounced these last words--the name Avenger +whose significance could not escape me--all this, taken together, +had a profound impact on my mind. My eyes never left the captain. +Hands outstretched toward the sea, he contemplated the proud +wreck with blazing eyes. Perhaps I would never learn who he was, +where he came from or where he was heading, but more and more I +could see a distinction between the man and the scientist. +It was no ordinary misanthropy that kept Captain Nemo and his companions +sequestered inside the Nautilus's plating, but a hate so monstrous +or so sublime that the passing years could never weaken it. + +Did this hate also hunger for vengeance? Time would soon tell. + +Meanwhile the Nautilus rose slowly to the surface of the sea, and I +watched the Avenger's murky shape disappearing little by little. +Soon a gentle rolling told me that we were afloat in the open air. + +Just then a hollow explosion was audible. I looked at the captain. +The captain did not stir. + +"Captain?" I said. + +He didn't reply. + +I left him and climbed onto the platform. Conseil and the Canadian +were already there. + +"What caused that explosion?" I asked. + +"A cannon going off," Ned Land replied. + +I stared in the direction of the ship I had spotted. It was heading +toward the Nautilus, and you could tell it had put on steam. +Six miles separated it from us. + +"What sort of craft is it, Ned?" + +"From its rigging and its low masts," the Canadian replied, +"I bet it's a warship. Here's hoping it pulls up and sinks this +damned Nautilus!" + +"Ned my friend," Conseil replied, "what harm could it do +the Nautilus? Will it attack us under the waves? Will it cannonade +us at the bottom of the sea?" + +"Tell me, Ned," I asked, "can you make out the nationality +of that craft?" + +Creasing his brow, lowering his lids, and puckering the corners +of his eyes, the Canadian focused the full power of his gaze on +the ship for a short while. + +"No, sir," he replied. "I can't make out what nation it's from. +It's flying no flag. But I'll swear it's a warship, because there's +a long pennant streaming from the peak of its mainmast." + +For a quarter of an hour, we continued to watch the craft bearing +down on us. But it was inconceivable to me that it had discovered +the Nautilus at such a distance, still less that it knew what this +underwater machine really was. + +Soon the Canadian announced that the craft was a big battleship, +a double-decker ironclad complete with ram. Dark, dense smoke +burst from its two funnels. Its furled sails merged with the lines +of its yardarms. The gaff of its fore-and-aft sail flew no flag. +Its distance still kept us from distinguishing the colors of its pennant, +which was fluttering like a thin ribbon. + +It was coming on fast. If Captain Nemo let it approach, a chance +for salvation might be available to us. + +"Sir," Ned Land told me, "if that boat gets within a mile of us, +I'm jumping overboard, and I suggest you follow suit." + +I didn't reply to the Canadian's proposition but kept watching +the ship, which was looming larger on the horizon. Whether it +was English, French, American, or Russian, it would surely welcome +us aboard if we could just get to it. + +"Master may recall," Conseil then said, "that we have some experience +with swimming. He can rely on me to tow him to that vessel, +if he's agreeable to going with our friend Ned." + +Before I could reply, white smoke streamed from the battleship's bow. +Then, a few seconds later, the waters splashed astern of the Nautilus, +disturbed by the fall of a heavy object. Soon after, an explosion +struck my ears. + +"What's this? They're firing at us!" I exclaimed. + +"Good lads!" the Canadian muttered. + +"That means they don't see us as castaways clinging to some wreckage!" + +"With all due respect to master--gracious!" Conseil put in, +shaking off the water that had sprayed over him from another shell. +"With all due respect to master, they've discovered the narwhale +and they're cannonading the same." + +"But it must be clear to them," I exclaimed, "that they're dealing +with human beings." + +"Maybe that's why!" Ned Land replied, staring hard at me. + +The full truth dawned on me. Undoubtedly people now knew +where they stood on the existence of this so-called monster. +Undoubtedly the latter's encounter with the Abraham Lincoln, +when the Canadian hit it with his harpoon, had led Commander Farragut +to recognize the narwhale as actually an underwater boat, +more dangerous than any unearthly cetacean! + +Yes, this had to be the case, and undoubtedly they were now chasing +this dreadful engine of destruction on every sea! + +Dreadful indeed, if, as we could assume, Captain Nemo +had been using the Nautilus in works of vengeance! +That night in the middle of the Indian Ocean, when he imprisoned +us in the cell, hadn't he attacked some ship? That man now buried +in the coral cemetery, wasn't he the victim of some collision +caused by the Nautilus? Yes, I repeat: this had to be the case. +One part of Captain Nemo's secret life had been unveiled. +And now, even though his identity was still unknown, at least +the nations allied against him knew they were no longer hunting +some fairy-tale monster, but a man who had sworn an implacable +hate toward them! + +This whole fearsome sequence of events appeared in my mind's eye. +Instead of encountering friends on this approaching ship, we would +find only pitiless enemies. + +Meanwhile shells fell around us in increasing numbers. +Some, meeting the liquid surface, would ricochet and vanish into the sea +at considerable distances. But none of them reached the Nautilus. + +By then the ironclad was no more than three miles off. Despite its +violent cannonade, Captain Nemo hadn't appeared on the platform. +And yet if one of those conical shells had scored a routine hit +on the Nautilus's hull, it could have been fatal to him. + +The Canadian then told me: + +"Sir, we've got to do everything we can to get out of this jam! +Let's signal them! Damnation! Maybe they'll realize +we're decent people!" + +Ned Land pulled out his handkerchief to wave it in the air. +But he had barely unfolded it when he was felled by an iron fist, +and despite his great strength, he tumbled to the deck. + +"Scum!" the captain shouted. "Do you want to be nailed to the Nautilus's +spur before it charges that ship?" + +Dreadful to hear, Captain Nemo was even more dreadful to see. +His face was pale from some spasm of his heart, which must have stopped +beating for an instant. His pupils were hideously contracted. +His voice was no longer speaking, it was bellowing. Bending from +the waist, he shook the Canadian by the shoulders. + +Then, dropping Ned and turning to the battleship, whose shells +were showering around him: + +"O ship of an accursed nation, you know who I am!" he shouted +in his powerful voice. "And I don't need your colors to +recognize you! Look! I'll show you mine!" + +And in the bow of the platform, Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag, +like the one he had left planted at the South Pole. + +Just then a shell hit the Nautilus's hull obliquely, failed to breach it, +ricocheted near the captain, and vanished into the sea. + +Captain Nemo shrugged his shoulders. Then, addressing me: + +"Go below!" he told me in a curt tone. "You and your companions, +go below!" + +"Sir," I exclaimed, "are you going to attack this ship?" + +"Sir, I'm going to sink it." + +"You wouldn't!" + +"I will," Captain Nemo replied icily. "You're ill-advised to pass +judgment on me, sir. Fate has shown you what you weren't meant +to see. The attack has come. Our reply will be dreadful. +Get back inside!" + +"From what country is that ship?" + +"You don't know? Fine, so much the better! At least its nationality +will remain a secret to you. Go below!" + +The Canadian, Conseil, and I could only obey. Some fifteen +of the Nautilus's seamen surrounded their captain and stared with +a feeling of implacable hate at the ship bearing down on them. +You could feel the same spirit of vengeance enkindling their every soul. + +I went below just as another projectile scraped the Nautilus's hull, +and I heard the captain exclaim: + +"Shoot, you demented vessel! Shower your futile shells! You won't escape +the Nautilus's spur! But this isn't the place where you'll perish! +I don't want your wreckage mingling with that of the Avenger!" + +I repaired to my stateroom. The captain and his chief officer +stayed on the platform. The propeller was set in motion. +The Nautilus swiftly retreated, putting us outside the range +of the vessel's shells. But the chase continued, and Captain Nemo +was content to keep his distance. + +Near four o'clock in the afternoon, unable to control the impatience +and uneasiness devouring me, I went back to the central companionway. +The hatch was open. I ventured onto the platform. The captain was +still strolling there, his steps agitated. He stared at the ship, +which stayed to his leeward five or six miles off. He was circling it +like a wild beast, drawing it eastward, letting it chase after him. +Yet he didn't attack. Was he, perhaps, still undecided? + +I tried to intervene one last time. But I had barely queried +Captain Nemo when the latter silenced me: + +"I'm the law, I'm the tribunal! I'm the oppressed, and there +are my oppressors! Thanks to them, I've witnessed the destruction +of everything I loved, cherished, and venerated--homeland, wife, +children, father, and mother! There lies everything I hate! +Not another word out of you!" + +I took a last look at the battleship, which was putting on steam. +Then I rejoined Ned and Conseil. + +"We'll escape!" I exclaimed. + +"Good," Ned put in. "Where's that ship from?" + +"I've no idea. But wherever it's from, it will sink before nightfall. +In any event, it's better to perish with it than be accomplices +in some act of revenge whose merits we can't gauge." + +"That's my feeling," Ned Land replied coolly. "Let's wait for nightfall." + +Night fell. A profound silence reigned on board. The compass +indicated that the Nautilus hadn't changed direction. I could hear +the beat of its propeller, churning the waves with steady speed. +Staying on the surface of the water, it rolled gently, sometimes to +one side, sometimes to the other. + +My companions and I had decided to escape as soon as the vessel came +close enough for us to be heard--or seen, because the moon would wax +full in three days and was shining brightly. Once we were aboard +that ship, if we couldn't ward off the blow that threatened it, +at least we could do everything that circumstances permitted. +Several times I thought the Nautilus was about to attack. +But it was content to let its adversary approach, and then it would +quickly resume its retreating ways. + +Part of the night passed without incident. We kept watch for an +opportunity to take action. We talked little, being too keyed up. +Ned Land was all for jumping overboard. I forced him to wait. +As I saw it, the Nautilus would attack the double-decker on +the surface of the waves, and then it would be not only possible +but easy to escape. + +At three o'clock in the morning, full of uneasiness, +I climbed onto the platform. Captain Nemo hadn't left it. +He stood in the bow next to his flag, which a mild breeze was +unfurling above his head. His eyes never left that vessel. +The extraordinary intensity of his gaze seemed to attract it, +beguile it, and draw it more surely than if he had it in tow! + +The moon then passed its zenith. Jupiter was rising in the east. +In the midst of this placid natural setting, sky and ocean competed +with each other in tranquility, and the sea offered the orb of night +the loveliest mirror ever to reflect its image. + +And when I compared this deep calm of the elements with all the fury +seething inside the plating of this barely perceptible Nautilus, I +shivered all over. + +The vessel was two miles off. It drew nearer, always moving toward +the phosphorescent glow that signaled the Nautilus's presence. +I saw its green and red running lights, plus the white lantern hanging +from the large stay of its foremast. Hazy flickerings were reflected +on its rigging and indicated that its furnaces were pushed to the limit. +Showers of sparks and cinders of flaming coal escaped from its funnels, +spangling the air with stars. + +I stood there until six o'clock in the morning, Captain Nemo +never seeming to notice me. The vessel lay a mile and a half off, +and with the first glimmers of daylight, it resumed its cannonade. +The time couldn't be far away when the Nautilus would attack +its adversary, and my companions and I would leave forever this +man I dared not judge. + +I was about to go below to alert them, when the chief officer +climbed onto the platform. Several seamen were with him. +Captain Nemo didn't see them, or didn't want to see them. +They carried out certain procedures that, on the Nautilus, you could +call "clearing the decks for action." They were quite simple. +The manropes that formed a handrail around the platform were lowered. +Likewise the pilothouse and the beacon housing were withdrawn +into the hull until they lay exactly flush with it. The surface +of this long sheet-iron cigar no longer offered a single protrusion +that could hamper its maneuvers. + +I returned to the lounge. The Nautilus still emerged above +the surface. A few morning gleams infiltrated the liquid strata. +Beneath the undulations of the billows, the windows were enlivened +by the blushing of the rising sun. That dreadful day of June +2 had dawned. + +At seven o'clock the log told me that the Nautilus had reduced speed. +I realized that it was letting the warship approach. +Moreover, the explosions grew more intensely audible. +Shells furrowed the water around us, drilling through it with an +odd hissing sound. + +"My friends," I said, "it's time. Let's shake hands, and may God +be with us!" + +Ned Land was determined, Conseil calm, I myself nervous and +barely in control. + +We went into the library. Just as I pushed open the door leading +to the well of the central companionway, I heard the hatch +close sharply overhead. + +The Canadian leaped up the steps, but I stopped him. A well-known +hissing told me that water was entering the ship's ballast tanks. +Indeed, in a few moments the Nautilus had submerged some meters +below the surface of the waves. + +I understood this maneuver. It was too late to take action. +The Nautilus wasn't going to strike the double-decker where it +was clad in impenetrable iron armor, but below its waterline, +where the metal carapace no longer protected its planking. + +We were prisoners once more, unwilling spectators at the performance +of this gruesome drama. But we barely had time to think. Taking refuge +in my stateroom, we stared at each other without pronouncing a word. +My mind was in a total daze. My mental processes came to a dead stop. +I hovered in that painful state that predominates during +the period of anticipation before some frightful explosion. +I waited, I listened, I lived only through my sense of hearing! + +Meanwhile the Nautilus's speed had increased appreciably. +So it was gathering momentum. Its entire hull was vibrating. + +Suddenly I let out a yell. There had been a collision, but it +was comparatively mild. I could feel the penetrating force +of the steel spur. I could hear scratchings and scrapings. +Carried away with its driving power, the Nautilus had passed through +the vessel's mass like a sailmaker's needle through canvas! + +I couldn't hold still. Frantic, going insane, I leaped out of my +stateroom and rushed into the lounge. + +Captain Nemo was there. Mute, gloomy, implacable, he was staring +through the port panel. + +An enormous mass was sinking beneath the waters, and the Nautilus, +missing none of its death throes, was descending into the depths with it. +Ten meters away, I could see its gaping hull, into which water was rushing +with a sound of thunder, then its double rows of cannons and railings. +Its deck was covered with dark, quivering shadows. + +The water was rising. Those poor men leaped up into the shrouds, +clung to the masts, writhed beneath the waters. It was a human +anthill that an invading sea had caught by surprise! + +Paralyzed, rigid with anguish, my hair standing on end, my eyes popping +out of my head, short of breath, suffocating, speechless, I stared-- +I too! I was glued to the window by an irresistible allure! + +The enormous vessel settled slowly. Following it down, the Nautilus +kept watch on its every movement. Suddenly there was an eruption. +The air compressed inside the craft sent its decks flying, +as if the powder stores had been ignited. The thrust of the waters +was so great, the Nautilus swerved away. + +The poor ship then sank more swiftly. Its mastheads appeared, +laden with victims, then its crosstrees bending under clusters of men, +finally the peak of its mainmast. Then the dark mass disappeared, +and with it a crew of corpses dragged under by fearsome eddies. . . . + +I turned to Captain Nemo. This dreadful executioner, this true +archangel of hate, was still staring. When it was all over, +Captain Nemo headed to the door of his stateroom, opened it, and entered. +I followed him with my eyes. + +On the rear paneling, beneath the portraits of his heroes, I saw +the portrait of a still-youthful woman with two little children. +Captain Nemo stared at them for a few moments, stretched out his +arms to them, sank to his knees, and melted into sobs. + + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 22 + +The Last Words of Captain Nemo + + +THE PANELS CLOSED over this frightful view, but the lights didn't go +on in the lounge. Inside the Nautilus all was gloom and silence. +It left this place of devastation with prodigious speed, +100 feet beneath the waters. Where was it going? North or south? +Where would the man flee after this horrible act of revenge? + +I reentered my stateroom, where Ned and Conseil were waiting silently. +Captain Nemo filled me with insurmountable horror. +Whatever he had once suffered at the hands of humanity, +he had no right to mete out such punishment. He had made me, +if not an accomplice, at least an eyewitness to his vengeance! +Even this was intolerable. + +At eleven o'clock the electric lights came back on. I went into +the lounge. It was deserted. I consulted the various instruments. +The Nautilus was fleeing northward at a speed of twenty-five miles +per hour, sometimes on the surface of the sea, sometimes thirty +feet beneath it. + +After our position had been marked on the chart, I saw that we +were passing into the mouth of the English Channel, that our heading +would take us to the northernmost seas with incomparable speed. + +I could barely glimpse the swift passing of longnose sharks, +hammerhead sharks, spotted dogfish that frequent these waters, +big eagle rays, swarms of seahorse looking like knights on a chessboard, +eels quivering like fireworks serpents, armies of crab that fled +obliquely by crossing their pincers over their carapaces, +finally schools of porpoise that held contests of speed with +the Nautilus. But by this point observing, studying, and classifying +were out of the question. + +By evening we had cleared 200 leagues up the Atlantic. Shadows gathered +and gloom overran the sea until the moon came up. + +I repaired to my stateroom. I couldn't sleep. I was assaulted +by nightmares. That horrible scene of destruction kept repeating +in my mind's eye. + +From that day forward, who knows where the Nautilus took us +in the north Atlantic basin? Always at incalculable speed! +Always amid the High Arctic mists! Did it call at the capes +of Spitzbergen or the shores of Novaya Zemlya? Did it visit such +uncharted seas as the White Sea, the Kara Sea, the Gulf of Ob, +the Lyakhov Islands, or those unknown beaches on the Siberian coast? +I'm unable to say. I lost track of the passing hours. Time was +in abeyance on the ship's clocks. As happens in the polar regions, +it seemed that night and day no longer followed their normal sequence. +I felt myself being drawn into that strange domain where +the overwrought imagination of Edgar Allan Poe was at home. +Like his fabled Arthur Gordon Pym, I expected any moment to see +that "shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions +than any dweller among men," thrown across the cataract that protects +the outskirts of the pole! + +I estimate--but perhaps I'm mistaken--that the Nautilus's haphazard +course continued for fifteen or twenty days, and I'm not sure +how long this would have gone on without the catastrophe that ended +our voyage. As for Captain Nemo, he was no longer in the picture. +As for his chief officer, the same applied. Not one crewman +was visible for a single instant. The Nautilus cruised beneath +the waters almost continuously. When it rose briefly to the surface +to renew our air, the hatches opened and closed as if automated. +No more positions were reported on the world map. I didn't know +where we were. + +I'll also mention that the Canadian, at the end of his strength +and patience, made no further appearances. Conseil couldn't coax +a single word out of him and feared that, in a fit of delirium while +under the sway of a ghastly homesickness, Ned would kill himself. +So he kept a devoted watch on his friend every instant. + +You can appreciate that under these conditions, our situation +had become untenable. + +One morning--whose date I'm unable to specify--I was slumbering +near the first hours of daylight, a painful, sickly slumber. +Waking up, I saw Ned Land leaning over me, and I heard him tell me +in a low voice: + +"We're going to escape!" + +I sat up. + +"When?" I asked. + +"Tonight. There doesn't seem to be any supervision left on +the Nautilus. You'd think a total daze was reigning on board. +Will you be ready, sir?" + +"Yes. Where are we?" + +"In sight of land. I saw it through the mists just this morning, +twenty miles to the east." + +"What land is it?" + +"I've no idea, but whatever it is, there we'll take refuge." + +"Yes, Ned! We'll escape tonight even if the sea swallows us up!" + +"The sea's rough, the wind's blowing hard, but a twenty-mile +run in the Nautilus's nimble longboat doesn't scare me. +Unknown to the crew, I've stowed some food and flasks of water inside." + +"I'm with you." + +"What's more," the Canadian added, "if they catch me, I'll defend myself, +I'll fight to the death." + +"Then we'll die together, Ned my friend." + +My mind was made up. The Canadian left me. I went out on the platform, +where I could barely stand upright against the jolts of the billows. +The skies were threatening, but land lay inside those dense mists, +and we had to escape. Not a single day, or even a single hour, +could we afford to lose. + +I returned to the lounge, dreading yet desiring an encounter +with Captain Nemo, wanting yet not wanting to see him. +What would I say to him? How could I hide the involuntary horror +he inspired in me? No! It was best not to meet him face to face! +Best to try and forget him! And yet . . . ! + +How long that day seemed, the last I would spend aboard +the Nautilus! I was left to myself. Ned Land and Conseil avoided +speaking to me, afraid they would give themselves away. + +At six o'clock I ate supper, but I had no appetite. Despite my revulsion, +I forced it down, wanting to keep my strength up. + +At 6:30 Ned Land entered my stateroom. He told me: + +"We won't see each other again before we go. At ten o'clock +the moon won't be up yet. We'll take advantage of the darkness. +Come to the skiff. Conseil and I will be inside waiting for you." + +The Canadian left without giving me time to answer him. + +I wanted to verify the Nautilus's heading. I made my way to the lounge. +We were racing north-northeast with frightful speed, fifty meters down. + +I took one last look at the natural wonders and artistic treasures +amassed in the museum, this unrivaled collection doomed to perish +someday in the depths of the seas, together with its curator. +I wanted to establish one supreme impression in my mind. +I stayed there an hour, basking in the aura of the ceiling lights, +passing in review the treasures shining in their glass cases. +Then I returned to my stateroom. + +There I dressed in sturdy seafaring clothes. I gathered my notes and +packed them tenderly about my person. My heart was pounding mightily. +I couldn't curb its pulsations. My anxiety and agitation would +certainly have given me away if Captain Nemo had seen me. + +What was he doing just then? I listened at the door to his stateroom. +I heard the sound of footsteps. Captain Nemo was inside. +He hadn't gone to bed. With his every movement I imagined he would +appear and ask me why I wanted to escape! I felt in a perpetual +state of alarm. My imagination magnified this sensation. +The feeling became so acute, I wondered whether it wouldn't be +better to enter the captain's stateroom, dare him face to face, +brave it out with word and deed! + +It was an insane idea. Fortunately I controlled myself +and stretched out on the bed to soothe my bodily agitation. +My nerves calmed a little, but with my brain so aroused, +I did a swift review of my whole existence aboard the Nautilus, +every pleasant or unpleasant incident that had crossed my path since I +went overboard from the Abraham Lincoln: the underwater hunting trip, +the Torres Strait, our running aground, the savages of Papua, +the coral cemetery, the Suez passageway, the island of Santorini, +the Cretan diver, the Bay of Vigo, Atlantis, the Ice Bank, the South Pole, +our imprisonment in the ice, the battle with the devilfish, +the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, and that horrible scene +of the vessel sinking with its crew . . . ! All these events passed +before my eyes like backdrops unrolling upstage in a theater. +In this strange setting Captain Nemo then grew fantastically. +His features were accentuated, taking on superhuman proportions. +He was no longer my equal, he was the Man of the Waters, the Spirit +of the Seas. + +By then it was 9:30. I held my head in both hands to keep it +from bursting. I closed my eyes. I no longer wanted to think. +A half hour still to wait! A half hour of nightmares that could +drive me insane! + +Just then I heard indistinct chords from the organ, melancholy harmonies +from some undefinable hymn, actual pleadings from a soul trying +to sever its earthly ties. I listened with all my senses at once, +barely breathing, immersed like Captain Nemo in this musical trance +that was drawing him beyond the bounds of this world. + +Then a sudden thought terrified me. Captain Nemo had left his stateroom. +He was in the same lounge I had to cross in order to escape. +There I would encounter him one last time. He would see me, +perhaps speak to me! One gesture from him could obliterate me, +a single word shackle me to his vessel! + +Even so, ten o'clock was about to strike. It was time to leave +my stateroom and rejoin my companions. + +I dared not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo stood before me. +I opened the door cautiously, but as it swung on its hinges, +it seemed to make a frightful noise. This noise existed, perhaps, +only in my imagination! + +I crept forward through the Nautilus's dark gangways, pausing after +each step to curb the pounding of my heart. + +I arrived at the corner door of the lounge. I opened it gently. +The lounge was plunged in profound darkness. Chords from the organ +were reverberating faintly. Captain Nemo was there. He didn't see me. +Even in broad daylight I doubt that he would have noticed me, +so completely was he immersed in his trance. + +I inched over the carpet, avoiding the tiniest bump whose noise +might give me away. It took me five minutes to reach the door +at the far end, which led into the library. + +I was about to open it when a gasp from Captain Nemo nailed +me to the spot. I realized that he was standing up. +I even got a glimpse of him because some rays of light from +the library had filtered into the lounge. He was coming toward me, +arms crossed, silent, not walking but gliding like a ghost. +His chest was heaving, swelling with sobs. And I heard him murmur +these words, the last of his to reach my ears: + +"O almighty God! Enough! Enough!" + +Was it a vow of repentance that had just escaped from this +man's conscience . . . ? + +Frantic, I rushed into the library. I climbed the central companionway, +and going along the upper gangway, I arrived at the skiff. +I went through the opening that had already given access to +my two companions. + +"Let's go, let's go!" I exclaimed. + +"Right away!" the Canadian replied. + +First, Ned Land closed and bolted the opening cut into the +Nautilus's sheet iron, using the monkey wrench he had with him. +After likewise closing the opening in the skiff, the Canadian began +to unscrew the nuts still bolting us to the underwater boat. + +Suddenly a noise from the ship's interior became audible. +Voices were answering each other hurriedly. What was it? +Had they spotted our escape? I felt Ned Land sliding a dagger +into my hand. + +"Yes," I muttered, "we know how to die!" + +The Canadian paused in his work. But one word twenty times repeated, +one dreadful word, told me the reason for the agitation spreading +aboard the Nautilus. We weren't the cause of the crew's concern. + +"Maelstrom! Maelstrom!" they were shouting. + +The Maelstrom! Could a more frightening name have rung +in our ears under more frightening circumstances? +Were we lying in the dangerous waterways off the Norwegian coast? +Was the Nautilus being dragged into this whirlpool just as the skiff +was about to detach from its plating? + +As you know, at the turn of the tide, the waters confined between +the Faroe and Lofoten Islands rush out with irresistible violence. +They form a vortex from which no ship has ever been able to escape. +Monstrous waves race together from every point of the horizon. +They form a whirlpool aptly called "the ocean's navel," +whose attracting power extends a distance of fifteen kilometers. +It can suck down not only ships but whales, and even polar bears +from the northernmost regions. + +This was where the Nautilus had been sent accidentally-- +or perhaps deliberately--by its captain. It was sweeping around +in a spiral whose radius kept growing smaller and smaller. +The skiff, still attached to the ship's plating, was likewise +carried around at dizzying speed. I could feel us whirling. +I was experiencing that accompanying nausea that follows such +continuous spinning motions. We were in dread, in the last stages +of sheer horror, our blood frozen in our veins, our nerves numb, +drenched in cold sweat as if from the throes of dying! +And what a noise around our frail skiff! What roars echoing from +several miles away! What crashes from the waters breaking against +sharp rocks on the seafloor, where the hardest objects are smashed, +where tree trunks are worn down and worked into "a shaggy fur," +as Norwegians express it! + +What a predicament! We were rocking frightfully. The Nautilus +defended itself like a human being. Its steel muscles were cracking. +Sometimes it stood on end, the three of us along with it! + +"We've got to hold on tight," Ned said, "and screw the nuts down again! +If we can stay attached to the Nautilus, we can still make it . . . !" + +He hadn't finished speaking when a cracking sound occurred. +The nuts gave way, and ripped out of its socket, the skiff was hurled +like a stone from a sling into the midst of the vortex. + +My head struck against an iron timber, and with this violent shock +I lost consciousness. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER 23 + +Conclusion + + +WE COME TO the conclusion of this voyage under the seas. +What happened that night, how the skiff escaped from the Maelstrom's +fearsome eddies, how Ned Land, Conseil, and I got out of that whirlpool, +I'm unable to say. But when I regained consciousness, I was lying +in a fisherman's hut on one of the Lofoten Islands. My two companions, +safe and sound, were at my bedside clasping my hands. +We embraced each other heartily. + +Just now we can't even dream of returning to France. Travel between upper +Norway and the south is limited. So I have to wait for the arrival +of a steamboat that provides bimonthly service from North Cape. + +So it is here, among these gallant people who have taken us in, +that I'm reviewing my narrative of these adventures. It is accurate. +Not a fact has been omitted, not a detail has been exaggerated. +It's the faithful record of this inconceivable expedition into +an element now beyond human reach, but where progress will someday +make great inroads. + +Will anyone believe me? I don't know. Ultimately it's unimportant. +What I can now assert is that I've earned the right to speak +of these seas, beneath which in less than ten months, I've cleared +20,000 leagues in this underwater tour of the world that has +shown me so many wonders across the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, +the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the southernmost +and northernmost seas! + +But what happened to the Nautilus? Did it withstand +the Maelstrom's clutches? Is Captain Nemo alive? +Is he still under the ocean pursuing his frightful program +of revenge, or did he stop after that latest mass execution? +Will the waves someday deliver that manuscript that contains +his full life story? Will I finally learn the man's name? +Will the nationality of the stricken warship tell us the nationality +of Captain Nemo? + +I hope so. I likewise hope that his powerful submersible +has defeated the sea inside its most dreadful whirlpool, +that the Nautilus has survived where so many ships have perished! +If this is the case and Captain Nemo still inhabits the ocean-- +his adopted country--may the hate be appeased in that fierce heart! +May the contemplation of so many wonders extinguish the spirit of +vengeance in him! May the executioner pass away, and the scientist +continue his peaceful exploration of the seas! If his destiny +is strange, it's also sublime. Haven't I encompassed it myself? +Didn't I lead ten months of this otherworldly existence? +Thus to that question asked 6,000 years ago in the Book +of Ecclesiastes--"Who can fathom the soundless depths?"-- +two men out of all humanity have now earned the right to reply. +Captain Nemo and I. + + + + + +END OF THE SECOND PART + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of 20000 Leagues Under the Seas by +Jules Verne |