Ewriting Format by Carl Peterson © 2001

PART ONE
CHAPTER I
A SHIFTING REEF
The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident,
a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon,
which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.

Not
to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the public mind,
even in the interior of continents,
seafaring men were particularly excited.

Merchants,
common sailors,
captains of vessels,
skippers,
both of Europe and America,
naval officers of all countries,
and the Governments of several States on the two continents,
were deeply interested in the matter.
for some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing," a long object,
spindle-shaped,
occasionally phosphorescent,
and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.The facts relating
to this apparition (entered in various log-books) agreed in most respects as
to the shape of the object or creature in question,
the untiring rapidity of its movements,
its surprising power of locomotion,
and the peculiar life
with which it seemed endowed.

If it was a whale,
it surpassed in size all those hither
to classified in science.

Taking in
to consideration the mean of observations made at divers times-- rejecting the timid estimate of those who assigned
to this object a length of two hundred feet,
equally
with the exaggerated opinions which set it down as a mile in width and three in length--we might fairly conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly all dimensions admitted by the learned ones of the day,
if it existed at all.

And that it DID exist was an undeniable fact;
and,

with that tendency which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvellous,
we can understand the excitement produced in the entire world by this supernatural apparition.

As
to classing it in the list of fables,
the idea was out of the question.On the 20th of July,
1866,
the steamer Governor Higginson,
of the Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company,
had met this moving mass five miles off the east coast of Australia.

Captain Baker thought at first that he was in the presence of an unknown sandbank;
he even prepared
to determine its exact position when two columns of water,
projected by the mysterious object,
shot
with a hissing noise a hundred and fifty feet up in
to the air.

Now,
unless the sandbank had been submitted
to the intermittent eruption of a geyser,
the Governor Higginson had
to do neither more nor less than
with an aquatic mammal,
unknown till then,
which threw up from its blow-holes columns of water mixed
with air and vapour.Similar facts were observed on the 23rd of July in the same year,
in the Pacific Ocean,
by the Columbus,
of the West India and Pacific Steam Navigation Company.

But this extraordinary creature could transport itself from one place
to another
with surprising velocity;
as,
in an interval of three days,
the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had observed it at two different points of the chart,
separated by a distance of more than seven hundred nautical leagues.Fifteen days later,
two thousand miles farther off,
the Helvetia,
of the Compagnie-Nationale,
and the Shannon,
of the Royal Mail Steamship Company,
sailing
to windward in that portion of the Atlantic lying between the United States and Europe,
respectively signalled the monster
to each other in 42@ 15' N.

lat.

and 60@ 35' W.

long.

In these simultaneous observations they thought themselves justified in estimating the minimum length of the mammal at more than three hundred and fifty feet,
as the Shannon and Helvetia were of smaller dimensions than it,
though they measured three hundred feet over all.Now the largest whales,
those which frequent those parts of the sea round the Aleutian,
Kulammak,
and Umgullich islands,
have never exceeded the length of sixty yards,
if they attain that.In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion.

They sang of it in the cafes,
ridiculed it in the papers,
and represented it on the stage.

All kinds of stories were circulated regarding it.

There appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary creature,
from the white whale,
the terrible "Moby Dick" of sub-arctic regions,

to the immense kraken,
whose tentacles could entangle a ship of five hundred tons and hurry it in
to the abyss of the ocean.

The legends of ancient times were even revived.Then burst forth the unending argument between the believers and the unbelievers in the societies of the wise and the scientific journals.

"The question of the monster" inflamed all minds.

Editors of scientific journals,
quarrelling
with believers in the supernatural,
spilled seas of ink during this memorable campaign,
some even drawing blood;

for from the sea-serpent they came
to direct personalities.During the first months of the year 1867 the question seemed buried,
never
to revive,
when new facts were brought before the public.

It was then no longer a scientific problem
to be solved,
but a real danger seriously
to be avoided.

The question took quite another shape.

The monster became a small island,
a rock,
a reef,
but a reef of indefinite and shifting proportions.On the 5th of March,
1867,
the Moravian,
of the Montreal Ocean Company,
finding herself during the night in 27@ 30' lat.

and 72@ 15' long.,
struck on her starboard quarter a rock,
marked in no chart
for that part of the sea.

Under the combined efforts of the wind and its four hundred horse power,
it was going at the rate of thirteen knots.

Had it not been
for the superior strength of the hull of the Moravian,
she would have been broken by the shock and gone down
with the 237 passengers she was bringing home from Canada.The accident happened about five o'clock in the morning,
as the day was breaking.

The officers of the quarter-deck hurried
to the after-part of the vessel.

They examined the sea
with the most careful attention.

They saw nothing but a strong eddy about three cables' length distant,
as if the surface had been violently agitated.

The bearings of the place were taken exactly,
and the Moravian continued its route without apparent damage.

Had it struck on a submerged rock,
or on an enormous wreck?

They could not tell;
but,
on examination of the ship's bottom when undergoing repairs,
it was found that part of her keel was broken.This fact,
so grave in itself,
might perhaps have been forgotten like many others if,
three weeks after,
it had not been re-enacted under similar circumstances.

But,
thanks
to the nationality of the victim of the shock,
thanks
to the reputation of the company
to which the vessel belonged,
the circumstance became extensively circulated.The 13th of April,
1867,
the sea being beautiful,
the breeze favourable,
the Scotia,
of the Cunard Company's line,
found herself in 15@ 12' long.

and 45@ 37' lat.

She was going at the speed of thirteen knots and a half.At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon,
whilst the passengers were assembled at lunch in the great saloon,
a slight shock was felt on the hull of the Scotia,
on her quarter,
a little aft of the port-paddle.The Scotia had not struck,
but she had been struck,
and seemingly by something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt.

The shock had been so slight that no one had been alarmed,
had it not been
for the shouts of the carpenter's watch,
who rushed on
to the bridge,
exclaiming,
"We are sinking!

we are sinking!" At first the passengers were much frightened,
but Captain Anderson hastened
to reassure them.

The danger could not be imminent.

The Scotia,
divided in
to seven compartments by strong partitions,
could brave
with impunity any leak.

Captain Anderson went down immediately in
to the hold.

He found that the sea was pouring in
to the fifth compartment;
and the rapidity of the influx proved that the force of the water was considerable.

Fortunately this compartment did not hold the boilers,
or the fires would have been immediately extinguished.

Captain Anderson ordered the engines
to be stopped at once,
and one of the men went down
to ascertain the extent of the injury.

Some minutes afterwards they discovered the existence of a large hole,
two yards in diameter,
in the ship's bottom.

Such a leak could not be stopped;
and the Scotia,
her paddles half submerged,
was obliged
to continue her course.

She was then three hundred miles from Cape Clear,
and,
after three days' delay,
which caused great uneasiness in Liverpool,
she entered the basin of the company.The engineers visited the Scotia,
which was put in dry dock.

They could scarcely believe it possible;
at two yards and a half below water-mark was a regular rent,
in the form of an isosceles triangle.

The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined that it could not have been more neatly done by a punch.

It was clear,
then,
that the instrument producing the perforation was not of a common stamp and,
after having been driven
with prodigious strength,
and piercing an iron plate 1 3/8 inches thick,
had withdrawn itself by a backward motion.Such was the last fact,
which resulted in exciting once more the torrent of public opinion.

From this moment all unlucky casualties which could not be otherwise accounted
for were put down
to the monster.Upon this imaginary creature rested the responsibility of all these shipwrecks,
which unfortunately were considerable;

for of three thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded at Lloyd's,
the number of sailing and steam-ships supposed
to be totally lost,
from the absence of all news,
amounted
to not less than two hundred!
Now,
it was the "monster" who,
justly or unjustly,
was accused of their disappearance,
and,
thanks
to it,
communication between the different continents became more and more dangerous.

The public demanded sharply that the seas should at any price be relieved from this formidable cetacean.

[1]
[1] Member of the whale family.


CHAPTER II
PRO AND CON
At the period when these events took place,
I had just returned from a scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska,
in the United States.

In virtue of my office as Assistant Professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris,
the French Government had attached me
to that expedition.

After six months in Nebraska,
I arrived in New York towards the end of March,
laden
with a precious collection.

My departure
for France was fixed
for the first days in May.

Meanwhile I was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical,
botanical,
and zoological riches,
when the accident happened
to the Scotia.I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day.

How could I be otherwise?

I had read and reread all the American and European papers without being any nearer a conclusion.

This mystery puzzled me.

Under the impossibility of forming an opinion,
I jumped from one extreme
to the other.

That there really was something could not be doubted,
and the incredulous were invited
to put their finger on the wound of the Scotia.On my arrival at New York the question was at its height.

The theory of the floating island,
and the unapproachable sandbank,
supported by minds little competent
to form a judgment,
was abandoned.

And,
indeed,
unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach,
how could it change its position
with such astonishing rapidity?
From the same cause,
the idea of a floating hull of an enormous wreck was given up.There remained,
then,
only two possible solutions of the question,
which created two distinct parties:

on one side,
those who were
for a monster of colossal strength;
on the other,
those who were
for a submarine vessel of enormous motive power.But this last theory,
plausible as it was,
could not stand against inquiries made in both worlds.

That a private gentleman should have such a machine at his command was not likely.

Where,
when,
and how was it built?

and how could its construction have been kept secret?

Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine.

And in these disastrous times,
when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the power of weapons of war,
it was possible that,
without the knowledge of others,
a State might try
to work such a formidable engine.But the idea of a war machine fell before the declaration of Governments.

As public interest was in question,
and transatlantic communications suffered,
their veracity could not be doubted.

But how admit that the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the public eye?


for a private gentleman
to keep the secret under such circumstances would be very difficult,
and
for a State whose every act is persistently watched by powerful rivals,
certainly impossible.Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honour of consulting me on the phenomenon in question.

I had published in France a work in quarto,
in two volumes,
entitled Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.

This book,
highly approved of in the learned world,
gained
for me a special reputation in this rather obscure branch of Natural History.

My advice was asked.

As long as I could deny the reality of the fact,
I confined myself
to a decided negative.

But soon,
finding myself driven in
to a corner,
I was obliged
to explain myself point by point.

I discussed the question in all its forms,
politically and scientifically;
and I give here an extract from a carefully-studied article which I published in the number of the 30th of April.

It ran as follows:
"After examining one by one the different theories,
rejecting all other suggestions,
it becomes necessary
to admit the existence of a marine animal of enormous power."

The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown
to us.

Soundings cannot reach them.

What passes in those remote depths-- what beings live,
or can live,
twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the waters--what is the organisation of these animals,
we can scarcely conjecture.

However,
the solution of the problem submitted
to me may modify the form of the dilemma.

Either we do know all the varieties of beings which people our planet,
or we do not.

If we do NOT know them all--if Nature has still secrets in the deeps
for us,
nothing is more conformable
to reason than
to admit the existence of fishes,
or cetaceans of other kinds,
or even of new species,
of an organisation formed
to inhabit the strata inaccessible
to soundings,
and which an accident of some sort has brought at long intervals
to the upper level of the ocean."

If,
on the contrary,
we DO know all living kinds,
we must necessarily seek
for the animal in question amongst those marine beings already classed;
and,
in that case,
I should be disposed
to admit the existence of a gigantic narwhal."

The common narwhal,
or unicorn of the sea,
often attains a length of sixty feet.

Increase its size fivefold or tenfold,
give it strength proportionate
to its size,
lengthen its destructive weapons,
and you obtain the animal required.

It will have the proportions determined by the officers of the Shannon,
the instrument required by the perforation of the Scotia,
and the power necessary
to pierce the hull of the steamer."

Indeed,
the narwhal is armed
with a sort of ivory sword,
a halberd,
according
to the expression of certain naturalists.

The principal tusk has the hardness of steel.

Some of these tusks have been found buried in the bodies of whales,
which the unicorn always attacks
with success.

Others have been drawn out,
not without trouble,
from the bottoms of ships,
which they had pierced through and through,
as a gimlet pierces a barrel.

The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one of these defensive weapons,
two yards and a quarter in length,
and fifteen inches in diameter at the base."

Very well!

suppose this weapon
to be six times stronger and the animal ten times more powerful;
launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required.

Until further information,
therefore,
I shall maintain it
to be a sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions,
armed not
with a halberd,
but
with a real spur,
as the armoured frigates,
or the `rams' of war,
whose massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time.

Thus may this puzzling phenomenon be explained,
unless there be something over and above all that one has ever conjectured,
seen,
perceived,
or experienced;
which is just within the bounds of possibility."


These last words were cowardly on my part;
but,
up
to a certain point,
I wished
to shelter my dignity as professor,
and not give too much cause
for laughter
to the Americans,
who laugh well when they do laugh.

I reserved
for myself a way of escape.

In effect,
however,
I admitted the existence of the "monster."

My article was warmly discussed,
which procured it a high reputation.

It rallied round it a certain number of partisans.

The solution it proposed gave,
at least,
full liberty
to the imagination.

The human mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings.

And the sea is precisely their best vehicle,
the only medium through which these giants (against which terrestrial animals,
such as elephants or rhinoceroses,
are as nothing) can be produced or developed.The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this point of view.

The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette,
the Lloyd's List,
the Packet-Boat,
and the Maritime and Colonial Review,
all papers devoted
to insurance companies which threatened
to raise their rates of premium,
were unanimous on this point.

Public opinion had been pronounced.

The United States were the first in the field;
and in New York they made preparations
for an expedition destined
to pursue this narwhal.

A frigate of great speed,
the Abraham Lincoln,
was put in commission as soon as possible.

The arsenals were opened
to Commander Farragut,
who hastened the arming of his frigate;
but,
as it always happens,
the moment it was decided
to pursue the monster,
the monster did not appear.


for two months no one heard it spoken of.

No ship met
with it.

It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around it.

It had been so much talked of,
even through the Atlantic cable,
that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on its passage and was making the most of it.So when the frigate had been armed
for a long campaign,
and provided
with formidable fishing apparatus,
no one could tell what course
to pursue.

Impatience grew apace,
when,
on the 2nd of July,
they learned that a steamer of the line of San Francisco,
from California
to Shanghai,
had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean.

The excitement caused by this news was extreme.

The ship was revictualled and well stocked
with coal.Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier,
I received a letter worded as follows:

to M.

ARONNAX,
Professor in the Museum of Paris,
Fifth Avenue Hotel,
New York.SIR,--If you will consent
to join the Abraham Lincoln in this expedition,
the Government of the United States will
with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise.

Commander Farragut has a cabin at your disposal.Very cordially yours,
J.B.

HOBSON,
Secretary of Marine.


CHAPTER III
I FORM MY RESOLUTION
Three seconds before the arrival of J.

B.

Hobson's letter I no more thought of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the North Sea.

Three seconds after reading the letter of the honourable Secretary of Marine,
I felt that my true vocation,
the sole end of my life,
was
to chase this disturbing monster and purge it from the world.But I had just returned from a fatiguing journey,
weary and longing
for repose.

I aspired
to nothing more than again seeing my country,
my friends,
my little lodging by the Jardin des Plantes,
my dear and precious collections--but nothing could keep me back!

I forgot all--fatigue,
friends and collections--and accepted without hesitation the offer of the American Government."

Besides," thought I,
"all roads lead back
to Europe;
and the unicorn may be amiable enough
to hurry me towards the coast of France.

This worthy animal may allow itself
to be caught in the seas of Europe (
for my particular benefit),
and I will not bring back less than half a yard of his ivory halberd
to the Museum of Natural History."

But in the meanwhile I must seek this narwhal in the North Pacific Ocean,
which,

to return
to France,
was taking the road
to the antipodes."

Conseil," I called in an impatient voice.Conseil was my servant,
a true,
devoted Flemish boy,
who had accompanied me in all my travels.

I liked him,
and he returned the liking well.

He was quiet by nature,
regular from principle,
zealous from habit,
evincing little disturbance at the different surprises of life,
very quick
with his hands,
and apt at any service required of him;
and,
despite his name,
never giving advice--even when asked
for it.Conseil had followed me
for the last ten years wherever science led.

Never once did he complain of the length or fatigue of a journey,
never make an objection
to pack his portmanteau
for whatever country it might be,
or however far away,
whether China or Congo.

Besides all this,
he had good health,
which defied all sickness,
and solid muscles,
but no nerves;
good morals are understood.

This boy was thirty years old,
and his age
to that of his master as fifteen
to twenty.

May I be excused
for saying that I was forty years old?
But Conseil had one fault:

he was ceremonious
to a degree,
and would never speak
to me but in the third person,
which was sometimes provoking."

Conseil," said I again,
beginning
with feverish hands
to make preparations
for my departure.Certainly I was sure of this devoted boy.

As a rule,
I never asked him if it were convenient
for him or not
to follow me in my travels;
but this time the expedition in question might be prolonged,
and the enterprise might be hazardous in pursuit of an animal capable of sinking a frigate as easily as a nutshell.

Here there was matter
for reflection even
to the most impassive man in the world.

What would Conseil say?
"Conseil," I called a third time.Conseil appeared."

Did you call,
sir?"

said he,
entering."

Yes,
my boy;
make preparations
for me and yourself too.

We leave in two hours."


"As you please,
sir," replied Conseil,
quietly."

Not an instant
to lose;
lock in my trunk all travelling utensils,
coats,
shirts,
and stockings--without counting,
as many as you can,
and make haste."


"And your collections,
sir?"

observed Conseil."

They will keep them at the hotel."


"We are not returning
to Paris,
then?"

said Conseil."

Oh!

certainly," I answered,
evasively,
"by making a curve."


"Will the curve please you,
sir?"


"Oh!

it will be nothing;
not quite so direct a road,
that is all.

We take our passage in the Abraham,
Lincoln."


"As you think proper,
sir," coolly replied Conseil."

You see,
my friend,
it has
to do
with the monster-- the famous narwhal.

We are going
to purge it from the seas.

A glorious mission,
but a dangerous one!

We cannot tell where we may go;
these animals can be very capricious.

But we will go whether or no;
we have got a captain who is pretty wide-awake."


Our luggage was transported
to the deck of the frigate immediately.

I hastened on board and asked
for Commander Farragut.

One of the sailors conducted me
to the poop,
where I found myself in the presence of a good-looking officer,
who held out his hand
to me."

Monsieur Pierre Aronnax?"

said he."

Himself," replied I.

"Commander Farragut?"


"You are welcome,
Professor;
your cabin is ready
for you."


I bowed,
and desired
to be conducted
to the cabin destined
for me.The Abraham Lincoln had been well chosen and equipped
for her new destination.

She was a frigate of great speed,
fitted
with high-pressure engines which admitted a pressure of seven atmospheres.

Under this the Abraham Lincoln attained the mean speed of nearly eighteen knots and a third an hour-- a considerable speed,
but,
nevertheless,
insufficient
to grapple
with this gigantic cetacean.The interior arrangements of the frigate corresponded
to its nautical qualities.

I was well satisfied
with my cabin,
which was in the after part,
opening upon the gunroom."

We shall be well off here," said I
to Conseil."

As well,
by your honour's leave,
as a hermit-crab in the shell of a whelk," said Conseil.I left Conseil
to stow our trunks conveniently away,
and remounted the poop in order
to survey the preparations
for departure.At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings
to be cast loose which held the Abraham Lincoln
to the pier of Brooklyn.

So in a quarter of an hour,
perhaps less,
the frigate would have sailed without me.

I should have missed this extraordinary,
supernatural,
and incredible expedition,
the recital of which may well meet
with some suspicion.But Commander Farragut would not lose a day nor an hour in scouring the seas in which the animal had been sighted.

He sent
for the engineer."

Is the steam full on?"

asked he."

Yes,
sir," replied the engineer."

Go ahead," cried Commander Farragut.


CHAPTER IV
NED LAND
Captain Farragut was a good seaman,
worthy of the frigate he commanded.

His vessel and he were one.

He was the soul of it.

On the question of the monster there was no doubt in his mind,
and he would not allow the existence of the animal
to be disputed on board.

He believed in it,
as certain good women believe in the leviathan--by faith,
not by reason.

The monster did exist,
and he had sworn
to rid the seas of it.

Either Captain Farragut would kill the narwhal,
or the narwhal would kill the captain.

There was no third course.The officers on board shared the opinion of their chief.

They were ever chatting,
discussing,
and calculating the various chances of a meeting,
watching narrowly the vast surface of the ocean.

More than one took up his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees,
who would have cursed such a berth under any other circumstances.

As long as the sun described its daily course,
the rigging was crowded
with sailors,
whose feet were burnt
to such an extent by the heat of the deck as
to render it unbearable;
still the Abraham Lincoln had not yet breasted the suspected waters of the Pacific.

As
to the ship's company,
they desired nothing better than
to meet the unicorn,

to harpoon it,
hoist it on board,
and despatch it.

They watched the sea
with eager attention.Besides,
Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand dollars,
set apart
for whoever should first sight the monster,
were he cabin-boy,
common seaman,
or officer.I leave you
to judge how eyes were used on board the Abraham Lincoln.
for my own part I was not behind the others,
and,
left
to no one my share of daily observations.

The frigate might have been called the Argus,

for a hundred reasons.

Only one amongst us,
Conseil,
seemed
to protest by his indifference against the question which so interested us all,
and seemed
to be out of keeping
with the general enthusiasm on board.I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his ship
with every apparatus
for catching the gigantic cetacean.

No whaler had ever been better armed.

We possessed every known engine,
from the harpoon thrown by the hand
to the barbed arrows of the blunderbuss,
and the explosive balls of the duck-gun.

On the forecastle lay the perfection of a breech-loading gun,
very thick at the breech,
and very narrow in the bore,
the model of which had been in the Exhibition of 1867.

This precious weapon of American origin could throw
with ease a conical projectile of nine pounds
to a mean distance of ten miles.Thus the Abraham Lincoln wanted
for no means of destruction;
and,
what was better still she had on board Ned Land,
the prince of harpooners.Ned Land was a Canadian,

with an uncommon quickness of hand,
and who knew no equal in his dangerous occupation.

Skill,
coolness,
audacity,
and cunning he possessed in a superior degree,
and it must be a cunning whale
to escape the stroke of his harpoon.Ned Land was about forty years of age;
he was a tall man (more than six feet high),
strongly built,
grave and taciturn,
occasionally violent,
and very passionate when contradicted.

His person attracted attention,
but above all the boldness of his look,
which gave a singular expression
to his face.Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French;
and,
little communicative as Ned Land was,
I must admit that he took a certain liking
for me.

My nationality drew him
to me,
no doubt.

It was an opportunity
for him
to talk,
and
for me
to hear,
that old language of Rabelais,
which is still in use in some Canadian provinces.

The harpooner's family was originally from Quebec,
and was already a tribe of hardy fishermen when this town belonged
to France.Little by little,
Ned Land acquired a taste
for chatting,
and I loved
to hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas.

He related his fishing,
and his combats,

with natural poetry of expression;
his recital took the form of an epic poem,
and I seemed
to be listening
to a Canadian Homer singing the Iliad of the regions of the North.I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him.

We are old friends now,
united in that unchangeable friendship which is born and cemented amidst extreme dangers.

Ah,
brave Ned!

I ask no more than
to live a hundred years longer,
that I may have more time
to dwell the longer on your memory.Now,
what was Ned Land's opinion upon the question of the marine monster?

I must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn,
and was the only one on board who did not share that universal conviction.

He even avoided the subject,
which I one day thought it my duty
to press upon him.

One magnificent evening,
the 30th July (that is
to say,
three weeks after our departure),
the frigate was abreast of Cape Blanc,
thirty miles
to leeward of the coast of Patagonia.

We had crossed the tropic of Capricorn,
and the Straits of Magellan opened less than seven hundred miles
to the south.

Before eight days were over the Abraham Lincoln would be ploughing the waters of the Pacific.Seated on the poop,
Ned Land and I were chatting of one thing and another as we looked at this mysterious sea,
whose great depths had up
to this time been inaccessible
to the eye of man.

I naturally led up the conversation
to the giant unicorn,
and examined the various chances of success or failure of the expedition.

But,
seeing that Ned Land let me speak without saying too much himself,
I pressed him more closely."

Well,
Ned," said I,
"is it possible that you are not convinced of the existence of this cetacean that we are following?

Have you any particular reason
for being so incredulous?"


The harpooner looked at me fixedly
for some moments before answering,
struck his broad forehead
with his hand (a habit of his),
as if
to collect himself,
and said at last,
"Perhaps I have,
Mr. Aronnax."


"But,
Ned,
you,
a whaler by profession,
familiarised
with all the great marine mammalia--YOU ought
to be the last
to doubt under such circumstances!"
"That is just what deceives you,
Professor," replied Ned.

"As a whaler I have followed many a cetacean,
harpooned a great number,
and killed several;
but,
however strong or well-armed they may have been,
neither their tails nor their weapons would have been able even
to scratch the iron plates of a steamer."


"But,
Ned,
they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal have pierced through and through."


"Wooden ships--that is possible," replied the Canadian,
"but I have never seen it done;
and,
until further proof,
I deny that whales,
cetaceans,
or sea-unicorns could ever produce the effect you describe."


"Well,
Ned,
I repeat it
with a conviction resting on the logic of facts.

I believe in the existence of a mammal power fully organised,
belonging
to the branch of vertebrata,
like the whales,
the cachalots,
or the dolphins,
and furnished
with a horn of defence of great penetrating power."


"Hum!" said the harpooner,
shaking his head
with the air of a man who would not be convinced."

Notice one thing,
my worthy Canadian," I resumed.

"If such an animal is in existence,
if it inhabits the depths of the ocean,
if it frequents the strata lying miles below the surface of the water,
it must necessarily possess an organisation the strength of which would defy all comparison."


"And why this powerful organisation?"

demanded Ned."

Because it requires incalculable strength
to keep one's self in these strata and resist their pressure.

Listen
to me.

Let us admit that the pressure of the atmosphere is represented by the weight of a column of water thirty-two feet high.

In reality the column of water would be shorter,
as we are speaking of sea water,
the density of which is greater than that of fresh water.

Very well,
when you dive,
Ned,
as many times 32 feet of water as there are above you,
so many times does your body bear a pressure equal
to that of the atmosphere,
that is
to say,
15 lb.


for each square inch of its surface.

It follows,
then,
that at 320 feet this pressure equals that of 10 atmospheres,
of 100 atmospheres at 3,200 feet,
and of 1,000 atmospheres at 32,000 feet,
that is,
about 6 miles;
which is equivalent
to saying that if you could attain this depth in the ocean,
each square three-eighths of an inch of the surface of your body would bear a pressure of 5,600 lb.

Ah!

my brave Ned,
do you know how many square inches you carry on the surface of your body?"


"I have no idea,
Mr. Aronnax."


"About 6,500;
and as in reality the atmospheric pressure is about 15 lb.


to the square inch,
your 6,500 square inches bear at this moment a pressure of 97,500 lb."


"Without my perceiving it?"


"Without your perceiving it.

And if you are not crushed by such a pressure,
it is because the air penetrates the interior of your body
with equal pressure.

Hence perfect equilibrium between the interior and exterior pressure,
which thus neutralise each other,
and which allows you
to bear it without inconvenience.

But in the water it is another thing."


"Yes,
I understand," replied Ned,
becoming more attentive;
"because the water surrounds me,
but does not penetrate."


"Precisely,
Ned:

so that at 32 feet beneath the surface of the sea you would undergo a pressure of 97,500 lb.;
at 320 feet,
ten times that pressure;
at 3,200 feet,
a hundred times that pressure;
lastly,
at 32,000 feet,
a thousand times that pressure would be 97,500,000 lb.--that is
to say,
that you would be flattened as if you had been drawn from the plates of a hydraulic machine!"
"The devil!" exclaimed Ned."

Very well,
my worthy harpooner,
if some vertebrate,
several hundred yards long,
and large in proportion,
can maintain itself in such depths-- of those whose surface is represented by millions of square inches,
that is by tens of millions of pounds,
we must estimate the pressure they undergo.

Consider,
then,
what must be the resistance of their bony structure,
and the strength of their organisation
to withstand such pressure!"
"Why!" exclaimed Ned Land,
"they must be made of iron plates eight inches thick,
like the armoured frigates."


"As you say,
Ned.

And think what destruction such a mass would cause,
if hurled
with the speed of an express train against the hull of a vessel."


"Yes--certainly--perhaps," replied the Canadian,
shaken by these figures,
but not yet willing
to give in."

Well,
have I convinced you?"


"You have convinced me of one thing,
sir,
which is that,
if such animals do exist at the bottom of the seas,
they must necessarily be as strong as you say."


"But if they do not exist,
mine obstinate harpooner,
how explain the accident
to the Scotia?"


CHAPTER V
AT A VENTURE
The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was
for a long time marked by no special incident.

But one circumstance happened which showed the wonderful dexterity of Ned Land,
and proved what confidence we might place in him.The 30th of June,
the frigate spoke some American whalers,
from whom we learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal.

But one of them,
the captain of the Monroe,
knowing that Ned Land had shipped on board the Abraham Lincoln,
begged
for his help in chasing a whale they had in sight.

Commander Farragut,
desirous of seeing Ned Land at work,
gave him permission
to go on board the Monroe.

And fate served our Canadian so well that,
instead of one whale,
he harpooned two
with a double blow,
striking one straight
to the heart,
and catching the other after some minutes' pursuit.Decidedly,
if the monster ever had
to do
with Ned Land's harpoon,
I would not bet in its favour.The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America
with great rapidity.

The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of Magellan,
level
with Cape Vierges.

But Commander Farragut would not take a tortuous passage,
but doubled Cape Horn.The ship's crew agreed
with him.

And certainly it was possible that they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.

Many of the sailors affirmed that the monster could not pass there,
"that he was too big
for that!"
The 6th of July,
about three o'clock in the afternoon,
the Abraham Lincoln,
at fifteen miles
to the south,
doubled the solitary island,
this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent,

to which some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town,
Cape Horn.

The course was taken towards the north-west,
and the next day the screw of the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific."

Keep your eyes open!" called out the sailors.And they were opened widely.

Both eyes and glasses,
a little dazzled,
it is true,
by the prospect of two thousand dollars,
had not an instant's repose.I myself,

for whom money had no charms,
was not the least attentive on board.

Giving but few minutes
to my meals,
but a few hours
to sleep,
indifferent
to either rain or sunshine,
I did not leave the poop of the vessel.

Now leaning on the netting of the forecastle,
now on the taffrail,
I devoured
with eagerness the soft foam which whitened the sea as far as the eye could reach;
and how often have I shared the emotion of the majority of the crew,
when some capricious whale raised its black back above the waves!

The poop of the vessel was crowded on a moment.

The cabins poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers,
each
with heaving breast and troubled eye watching the course of the cetacean.

I looked and looked till I was nearly blind,
whilst Conseil kept repeating in a calm voice:
"If,
sir,
you would not squint so much,
you would see better!"
But vain excitement!

The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made
for the animal signalled,
a simple whale,
or common cachalot,
which soon disappeared amidst a storm of abuse.But the weather was good.

The voyage was being accomplished under the most favourable auspices.

It was then the bad season in Australia,
the July of that zone corresponding
to our January in Europe,
but the sea was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.The 20th of July,
the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105d of longitude,
and the 27th of the same month we crossed the Equator on the 110th meridian.

This passed,
the frigate took a more decided westerly direction,
and scoured the central waters of the Pacific.

Commander Farragut thought,
and
with reason,
that it was better
to remain in deep water,
and keep clear of continents or islands,
which the beast itself seemed
to shun (perhaps because there was not enough water
for him!

suggested the greater part of the crew).

The frigate passed at some distance from the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands,
crossed the tropic of Cancer,
and made
for the China Seas.

We were on the theatre of the last diversions of the monster:

and,

to say truth,
we no longer LIVED on board.

The entire ship's crew were undergoing a nervous excitement,
of which I can give no idea:

they could not eat,
they could not sleep--twenty times a day,
a misconception or an optical illusion of some sailor seated on the taffrail,
would cause dreadful perspirations,
and these emotions,
twenty times repeated,
kept us in a state of excitement so violent that a reaction was unavoidable.And truly,
reaction soon showed itself.


for three months,
during which a day seemed an age,
the Abraham Lincoln furrowed all the waters of the Northern Pacific,
running at whales,
making sharp deviations from her course,
veering suddenly from one tack
to another,
stopping suddenly,
putting on steam,
and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging her machinery,
and not one point of the Japanese or American coast was left unexplored.The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most ardent detractors.

Reaction mounted from the crew
to the captain himself,
and certainly,
had it not been
for the resolute determination on the part of Captain Farragut,
the frigate would have headed due southward.

This useless search could not last much longer.

The Abraham Lincoln had nothing
to reproach herself with,
she had done her best
to succeed.

Never had an American ship's crew shown more zeal or patience;
its failure could not be placed
to their charge--there remained nothing but
to return.This was represented
to the commander.

The sailors could not hide their discontent,
and the service suffered.

I will not say there was a mutiny on board,
but after a reasonable period of obstinacy,
Captain Farragut (as Columbus did) asked
for three days' patience.

If in three days the monster did not appear,
the man at the helm should give three turns of the wheel,
and the Abraham Lincoln would make
for the European seas.This promise was made on the 2nd of November.

It had the effect of rallying the ship's crew.

The ocean was watched
with renewed attention.

Each one wished
for a last glance in which
to sum up his remembrance.

Glasses were used
with feverish activity.

It was a grand defiance given
to the giant narwhal,
and he could scarcely fail
to answer the summons and "appear."


Two days passed,
the steam was at half pressure;
a thousand schemes were tried
to attract the attention and stimulate the apathy of the animal in case it should be met in those parts.

Large quantities of bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship,

to the great satisfaction (I must say) of the sharks.

Small craft radiated in all directions round the Abraham Lincoln as she lay to,
and did not leave a spot of the sea unexplored.

But the night of the 4th of November arrived without the unveiling of this submarine mystery.The next day,
the 5th of November,
at twelve,
the delay would (morally speaking) expire;
after that time,
Commander Farragut,
faithful
to his promise,
was
to turn the course
to the south-east and abandon
for ever the northern regions of the Pacific.The frigate was then in 31@ 15' N.

lat.

and 136@ 42' E.

long.

The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles
to leeward.

Night was approaching.

They had just struck eight bells;
large clouds veiled the face of the moon,
then in its first quarter.

The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting.

Conseil,
standing near me,
was looking straight before him.

The crew,
perched in the ratlines,
examined the horizon which contracted and darkened by degrees.

Officers
with their night glasses scoured the growing darkness:

sometimes the ocean sparkled under the rays of the moon,
which darted between two clouds,
then all trace of light was lost in the darkness.In looking at Conseil,
I could see he was undergoing a little of the general influence.

At least I thought so.

Perhaps
for the first time his nerves vibrated
to a sentiment of curiosity."

Come,
Conseil," said I,
"this is the last chance of pocketing the two thousand dollars."


"May I be permitted
to say,
sir," replied Conseil,
"that I never reckoned on getting the prize;
and,
had the government of the Union offered a hundred thousand dollars,
it would have been none the poorer."


"You are right,
Conseil.

It is a foolish affair after all,
and one upon which we entered too lightly.

What time lost,
what useless emotions!

We should have been back in France six months ago."


"In your little room,
sir," replied Conseil,
"and in your museum,
sir;
and I should have already classed all your fossils,
sir.

And the Babiroussa would have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des Plantes,
and have drawn all the curious people of the capital!"
"As you say,
Conseil.

I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being laughed at
for our pains."


"That's tolerably certain," replied Conseil,
quietly;
"I think they will make fun of you,
sir.

And,
must I say it----?"


"Go on,
my good friend."


"Well,
sir,
you will only get your deserts."


"Indeed!"
"When one has the honour of being a savant as you are,
sir,
one should not expose one's self to----"
Conseil had not time
to finish his compliment.

In the midst of general silence a voice had just been heard.

It was the voice of Ned Land shouting:
"Look out there!

The very thing we are looking for-- on our weather beam!"
CHAPTER VI
AT FULL STEAM
At this cry the whole ship's crew hurried towards the harpooner-- commander,
officers,
masters,
sailors,
cabin boys;
even the engineers left their engines,
and the stokers their furnaces.The order
to stop her had been given,
and the frigate now simply went on by her own momentum.

The darkness was then profound,
and,
however good the Canadian's eyes were,
I asked myself how he had managed
to see,
and what he had been able
to see.

My heart beat as if it would break.

But Ned Land was not mistaken,
and we all perceived the object he pointed to.

At two cables' length from the Abraham Lincoln,
on the starboard quarter,
the sea seemed
to be illuminated all over.

It was not a mere phosphoric phenomenon.

The monster emerged some fathoms from the water,
and then threw out that very intense but mysterious light mentioned in the report of several captains.

This magnificent irradiation must have been produced by an agent of great SHINING power.

The luminous part traced on the sea an immense oval,
much elongated,
the centre of which condensed a burning heat,
whose overpowering brilliancy died out by successive gradations."

It is only a massing of phosphoric particles," cried one of the officers."

No,
sir,
certainly not," I replied.

"That brightness is of an essentially electrical nature.

Besides,
see,
see!

it moves;
it is moving forwards,
backwards;
it is darting towards us!"
A general cry arose from the frigate."

Silence!" said the captain.

"Up
with the helm,
reverse the engines."


The steam was shut off,
and the Abraham Lincoln,
beating
to port,
described a semicircle."

Right the helm,
go ahead," cried the captain.These orders were executed,
and the frigate moved rapidly from the burning light.I was mistaken.

She tried
to sheer off,
but the supernatural animal approached
with a velocity double her own.We gasped
for breath.

Stupefaction more than fear made us dumb and motionless.

The animal gained on us,
sporting
with the waves.

It made the round of the frigate,
which was then making fourteen knots,
and enveloped it
with its electric rings like luminous dust.Then it moved away two or three miles,
leaving a phosphorescent track,
like those volumes of steam that the express trains leave behind.

All at once from the dark line of the horizon whither it retired
to gain its momentum,
the monster rushed suddenly towards the Abraham Lincoln
with alarming rapidity,
stopped suddenly about twenty feet from the hull,
and died out--not diving under the water,

for its brilliancy did not abate--but suddenly,
and as if the source of this brilliant emanation was exhausted.

Then it reappeared on the other side of the vessel,
as if it had turned and slid under the hull.

Any moment a collision might have occurred which would have been fatal
to us.

However,
I was astonished at the manoeuvres of the frigate.

She fled and did not attack.On the captain's face,
generally so impassive,
was an expression of unaccountable astonishment."

Mr. Aronnax," he said,
"I do not know
with what formidable being I have
to deal,
and I will not imprudently risk my frigate in the midst of this darkness.

Besides,
how attack this unknown thing,
how defend one's self from it?

Wait
for daylight,
and the scene will change."


"You have no further doubt,
captain,
of the nature of the animal?"


"No,
sir;
it is evidently a gigantic narwhal,
and an electric one."


"Perhaps," added I,
"one can only approach it
with a torpedo."


"Undoubtedly," replied the captain,
"if it possesses such dreadful power,
it is the most terrible animal that ever was created.

That is why,
sir,
I must be on my guard."


The crew were on their feet all night.

No one thought of sleep.

The Abraham Lincoln,
not being able
to struggle
with such velocity,
had moderated its pace,
and sailed at half speed.


for its part,
the narwhal,
imitating the frigate,
let the waves rock it at will,
and seemed decided not
to leave the scene of the struggle.

Towards midnight,
however,
it disappeared,
or,

to use a more appropriate term,
it "died out" like a large glow-worm.

Had it fled?

One could only fear,
not hope it.

But at seven minutes
to one o'clock in the morning a deafening whistling was heard,
like that produced by a body of water rushing
with great violence.The captain,
Ned Land,
and I were then on the poop,
eagerly peering through the profound darkness."

Ned Land," asked the commander,
"you have often heard the roaring of whales?"


"Often,
sir;
but never such whales the sight of which brought me in two thousand dollars.

If I can only approach within four harpoons' length of it!"
"But
to approach it," said the commander,
"I ought
to put a whaler at your disposal?"


"Certainly,
sir."


"That will be trifling
with the lives of my men."


"And mine too," simply said the harpooner.Towards two o'clock in the morning,
the burning light reappeared,
not less intense,
about five miles
to windward of the Abraham Lincoln.

Notwithstanding the distance,
and the noise of the wind and sea,
one heard distinctly the loud strokes of the animal's tail,
and even its panting breath.

It seemed that,
at the moment that the enormous narwhal had come
to take breath at the surface of the water,
the air was engulfed in its lungs,
like the steam in the vast cylinders of a machine of two thousand horse-power."

Hum!" thought I,
"a whale
with the strength of a cavalry regiment would be a pretty whale!"
We were on the qui vive till daylight,
and prepared
for the combat.

The fishing implements were laid along the hammock nettings.

The second lieutenant loaded the blunder busses,
which could throw harpoons
to the distance of a mile,
and long duck-guns,

with explosive bullets,
which inflicted mortal wounds even
to the most terrible animals.

Ned Land contented himself
with sharpening his harpoon--a terrible weapon in his hands.At six o'clock day began
to break;
and,

with the first glimmer of light,
the electric light of the narwhal disappeared.

At seven o'clock the day was sufficiently advanced,
but a very thick sea fog obscured our view,
and the best spy glasses could not pierce it.

That caused disappointment and anger.I climbed the mizzen-mast.

Some officers were already perched on the mast-heads.

At eight o'clock the fog lay heavily on the waves,
and its thick scrolls rose little by little.

The horizon grew wider and clearer at the same time.

Suddenly,
just as on the day before,
Ned Land's voice was heard:
"The thing itself on the port quarter!" cried the harpooner.Every eye was turned towards the point indicated.

There,
a mile and a half from the frigate,
a long blackish body emerged a yard above the waves.

Its tail,
violently agitated,
produced a considerable eddy.

Never did a tail beat the sea
with such violence.

An immense track,
of dazzling whiteness,
marked the passage of the animal,
and described a long curve.The frigate approached the cetacean.

I examined it thoroughly.The reports of the Shannon and of the Helvetia had rather exaggerated its size,
and I estimated its length at only two hundred and fifty feet.

As
to its dimensions,
I could only conjecture them
to be admirably proportioned.

While I watched this phenomenon,
two jets of steam and water were ejected from its vents,
and rose
to the height of 120 feet;
thus I ascertained its way of breathing.

I concluded definitely that it belonged
to the vertebrate branch,
class mammalia.The crew waited impatiently
for their chief's orders.

The latter,
after having observed the animal attentively,
called the engineer.

The engineer ran
to him."

Sir," said the commander,
"you have steam up?"


"Yes,
sir," answered the engineer."

Well,
make up your fires and put on all steam."


Three hurrahs greeted this order.

The time
for the struggle had arrived.

Some moments after,
the two funnels of the frigate vomited torrents of black smoke,
and the bridge quaked under the trembling of the boilers.The Abraham Lincoln,
propelled by her wonderful screw,
went straight at the animal.

The latter allowed it
to come within half a cable's length;
then,
as if disdaining
to dive,
it took a little turn,
and stopped a short distance off.This pursuit lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour,
without the frigate gaining two yards on the cetacean.

It was quite evident that at that rate we should never come up
with it."

Well,
Mr. Land," asked the captain,
"do you advise me
to put the boats out
to sea?"


"No,
sir," replied Ned Land;
"because we shall not take that beast easily."


"What shall we do then?"


"Put on more steam if you can,
sir.


with your leave,
I mean
to post myself under the bowsprit,
and,
if we get within harpooning distance,
I shall throw my harpoon."


"Go,
Ned," said the captain.

"Engineer,
put on more pressure."


Ned Land went
to his post.

The fires were increased,
the screw revolved forty-three times a minute,
and the steam poured out of the valves.

We heaved the log,
and calculated that the Abraham Lincoln was going at the rate of 18 1/2 miles an hour.But the accursed animal swam at the same speed.
for a whole hour the frigate kept up this pace,
without gaining six feet.

It was humiliating
for one of the swiftest sailers in the American navy.

A stubborn anger seized the crew;
the sailors abused the monster,
who,
as before,
disdained
to answer them;
the captain no longer contented himself
with twisting his beard--he gnawed it.The engineer was called again."

You have turned full steam on?"


"Yes,
sir," replied the engineer.The speed of the Abraham Lincoln increased.

Its masts trembled down
to their stepping holes,
and the clouds of smoke could hardly find way out of the narrow funnels.They heaved the log a second time."

Well?"

asked the captain of the man at the wheel."

Nineteen miles and three-tenths,
sir."


"Clap on more steam."


The engineer obeyed.

The manometer showed ten degrees.

But the cetacean grew warm itself,
no doubt;

for without straining itself,
it made 19 3/10 miles.What a pursuit!

No,
I cannot describe the emotion that vibrated through me.

Ned Land kept his post,
harpoon in hand.

Several times the animal let us gain upon it.--"We shall catch it!

we shall catch it!" cried the Canadian.

But just as he was going
to strike,
the cetacean stole away
with a rapidity that could not be estimated at less than thirty miles an hour,
and even during our maximum of speed,
it bullied the frigate,
going round and round it.

A cry of fury broke from everyone!
At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o'clock in the morning.The captain then decided
to take more direct means."

Ah!" said he,
"that animal goes quicker than the Abraham Lincoln.

Very well!

we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets.

Send your men
to the forecastle,
sir."


The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round.

But the shot passed some feet above the cetacean,
which was half a mile off."

Another,
more
to the right," cried the commander,
"and five dollars
to whoever will hit that infernal beast."


An old gunner
with a grey beard--that I can see now--
with steady eye and grave face,
went up
to the gun and took a long aim.

A loud report was heard,

with which were mingled the cheers of the crew.The bullet did its work;
it hit the animal,
and,
sliding off the rounded surface,
was lost in two miles depth of sea.The chase began again,
and the captain,
leaning towards me,
said:
"I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up."


"Yes," answered I;
"and you will be quite right
to do it."


I wished the beast would exhaust itself,
and not be insensible
to fatigue like a steam engine.

But it was of no use.

Hours passed,
without its showing any signs of exhaustion.However,
it must be said in praise of the Abraham Lincoln that she struggled on indefatigably.

I cannot reckon the distance she made under three hundred miles during this unlucky day,
November the 6th.

But night came on,
and overshadowed the rough ocean.Now I thought our expedition was at an end,
and that we should never again see the extraordinary animal.

I was mistaken.

At ten minutes
to eleven in the evening,
the electric light reappeared three miles
to windward of the frigate,
as pure,
as intense as during the preceding night.The narwhal seemed motionless;
perhaps,
tired
with its day's work,
it slept,
letting itself float
with the undulation of the waves.

Now was a chance of which the captain resolved
to take advantage.He gave his orders.

The Abraham Lincoln kept up half steam,
and advanced cautiously so as not
to awake its adversary.

It is no rare thing
to meet in the middle of the ocean whales so sound asleep that they can be successfully attacked,
and Ned Land had harpooned more than one during its sleep.

The Canadian went
to take his place again under the bowsprit.The frigate approached noiselessly,
stopped at two cables' lengths from the animal,
and following its track.

No one breathed;
a deep silence reigned on the bridge.

We were not a hundred feet from the burning focus,
the light of which increased and dazzled our eyes.At this moment,
leaning on the forecastle bulwark,
I saw below me Ned Land grappling the martingale in one hand,
brandishing his terrible harpoon in the other,
scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal.

Suddenly his arm straightened,
and the harpoon was thrown;
I heard the sonorous stroke of the weapon,
which seemed
to have struck a hard body.

The electric light went out suddenly,
and two enormous waterspouts broke over the bridge of the frigate,
rushing like a torrent from stem
to stern,
overthrowing men,
and breaking the lashings of the spars.

A fearful shock followed,
and,
thrown over the rail without having time
to stop myself,
I fell in
to the sea.


CHAPTER VII
AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE
This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of my sensations at the time.

I was at first drawn down
to a depth of about twenty feet.

I am a good swimmer (though without pretending
to rival Byron or Edgar Poe,
who were masters of the art),
and in that plunge I did not lose my presence of mind.

Two vigorous strokes brought me
to the surface of the water.

My first care was
to look
for the frigate.

Had the crew seen me disappear?

Had the Abraham Lincoln veered round?

Would the captain put out a boat?

Might I hope
to be saved?
The darkness was intense.

I caught a glimpse of a black mass disappearing in the east,
its beacon lights dying out in the distance.

It was the frigate!

I was lost."

Help,
help!" I shouted,
swimming towards the Abraham Lincoln in desperation.My clothes encumbered me;
they seemed glued
to my body,
and paralysed my movements.I was sinking!

I was suffocating!
"Help!"
This was my last cry.

My mouth filled
with water;
I struggled against being drawn down the abyss.

Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong hand,
and I felt myself quickly drawn up
to the surface of the sea;
and I heard,
yes,
I heard these words pronounced in my ear:
"If master would be so good as
to lean on my shoulder,
master would swim
with much greater ease."


I seized
with one hand my faithful Conseil's arm."

Is it you?"

said I,
"you?"


"Myself," answered Conseil;
"and waiting master's orders."


"That shock threw you as well as me in
to the sea?"


"No;
but,
being in my master's service,
I followed him."


The worthy fellow thought that was but natural."

And the frigate?"

I asked."

The frigate?"

replied Conseil,
turning on his back;
"I think that master had better not count too much on her."


"You think so?"


"I say that,
at the time I threw myself in
to the sea,
I heard the men at the wheel say,
`The screw and the rudder are broken.'
"Broken?"


"Yes,
broken by the monster's teeth.

It is the only injury the Abraham Lincoln has sustained.

But it is a bad look-out
for us-- she no longer answers her helm."


"Then we are lost!"
"Perhaps so," calmly answered Conseil.

"However,
we have still several hours before us,
and one can do a good deal in some hours."


Conseil's imperturbable coolness set me up again.

I swam more vigorously;
but,
cramped by my clothes,
which stuck
to me like a leaden weight,
I felt great difficulty in bearing up.

Conseil saw this."

Will master let me make a slit?"

said he;
and,
slipping an open knife under my clothes,
he ripped them up from top
to bottom very rapidly.

Then he cleverly slipped them off me,
while I swam
for both of us.Then I did the same
for Conseil,
and we continued
to swim near
to each other.Nevertheless,
our situation was no less terrible.

Perhaps our disappearance had not been noticed;
and,
if it had been,
the frigate could not tack,
being without its helm.

Conseil argued on this supposition,
and laid his plans accordingly.

This quiet boy was perfectly self-possessed.

We then decided that,
as our only chance of safety was being picked up by the Abraham Lincoln's boats,
we ought
to manage so as
to wait
for them as long as possible.

I resolved then
to husband our strength,
so that both should not be exhausted at the same time;
and this is how we managed:

while one of us lay on our back,
quite still,

with arms crossed,
and legs stretched out,
the other would swim and push the other on in front.

This towing business did not last more than ten minutes each;
and relieving each other thus,
we could swim on
for some hours,
perhaps till day-break.

Poor chance!

but hope is so firmly rooted in the heart of man!

Moreover,
there were two of us.

Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable) if I sought
to destroy all hope--if I wished
to despair,
I could not.The collision of the frigate
with the cetacean had occurred about eleven o'clock in the evening before.

I reckoned then we should have eight hours
to swim before sunrise,
an operation quite practicable if we relieved each other.

The sea,
very calm,
was in our favour.

Sometimes I tried
to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled by the phosphorescence caused by our movements.

I watched the luminous waves that broke over my hand,
whose mirror-like surface was spotted
with silvery rings.

One might have said that we were in a bath of quicksilver.Near one o'clock in the morning,
I was seized
with dreadful fatigue.

My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp.

Conseil was obliged
to keep me up,
and our preservation devolved on him alone.

I heard the poor boy pant;
his breathing became short and hurried.

I found that he could not keep up much longer."

Leave me!

leave me!" I said
to him."

Leave my master?

Never!" replied he.

"I would drown first."


Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that the wind was driving
to the east.

The surface of the sea glittered
with its rays.

This kindly light reanimated us.

My head got better again.

I looked at all points of the horizon.

I saw the frigate!

She was five miles from us,
and looked like a dark mass,
hardly discernible.

But no boats!
I would have cried out.

But what good would it have been at such a distance!

My swollen lips could utter no sounds.

Conseil could articulate some words,
and I heard him repeat at intervals,
"Help!

help!"
Our movements were suspended
for an instant;
we listened.

It might be only a singing in the ear,
but it seemed
to me as if a cry answered the cry from Conseil."

Did you hear?"

I murmured."

Yes!

Yes!"
And Conseil gave one more despairing cry.This time there was no mistake!

A human voice responded
to ours!

Was it the voice of another unfortunate creature,
abandoned in the middle of the ocean,
some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel?

Or rather was it a boat from the frigate,
that was hailing us in the darkness?
Conseil made a last effort,
and,
leaning on my shoulder,
while I struck out in a desperate effort,
he raised himself half out of the water,
then fell back exhausted."

What did you see?"


"I saw----" murmured he;
"I saw--but do not talk--reserve all your strength!"
What had he seen?

Then,
I know not why,
the thought of the monster came in
to my head
for the first time!

But that voice!

The time is past
for Jonahs
to take refuge in whales' bellies!

However,
Conseil was towing me again.

He raised his head sometimes,
looked before us,
and uttered a cry of recognition,
which was responded
to by a voice that came nearer and nearer.

I scarcely heard it.

My strength was exhausted;
my fingers stiffened;
my hand afforded me support no longer;
my mouth,
convulsively opening,
filled
with salt water.

Cold crept over me.

I raised my head
for the last time,
then I sank.At this moment a hard body struck me.

I clung
to it:

then I felt that I was being drawn up,
that I was brought
to the surface of the water,
that my chest collapsed--I fainted.It is certain that I soon came to,
thanks
to the vigorous rubbings that I received.

I half opened my eyes."

Conseil!" I murmured."

Does master call me?"

asked Conseil.Just then,
by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down
to the horizon,
I saw a face which was not Conseil's and which I immediately recognised."

Ned!" I cried."

The same,
sir,
who is seeking his prize!" replied the Canadian."

Were you thrown in
to the sea by the shock
to the frigate?"


"Yes,
Professor;
but more fortunate than you,
I was able
to find a footing almost directly upon a floating island."


"An island?"


"Or,
more correctly speaking,
on our gigantic narwhal."


"Explain yourself,
Ned!"
"Only I soon found out why my harpoon had not entered its skin and was blunted."


"Why,
Ned,
why?"


"Because,
Professor,
that beast is made of sheet iron."


The Canadian's last words produced a sudden revolution in my brain.

I wriggled myself quickly
to the top of the being,
or object,
half out of the water,
which served us
for a refuge.

I kicked it.

It was evidently a hard,
impenetrable body,
and not the soft substance that forms the bodies of the great marine mammalia.

But this hard body might be a bony covering,
like that of the antediluvian animals;
and I should be free
to class this monster among amphibious reptiles,
such as tortoises or alligators.Well,
no!

the blackish back that supported me was smooth,
polished,
without scales.

The blow produced a metallic sound;
and,
incredible though it may be,
it seemed,
I might say,
as if it was made of riveted plates.There was no doubt about it!

This monster,
this natural phenomenon that had puzzled the learned world,
and over thrown and misled the imagination of seamen of both hemispheres,
it must be owned was a still more astonishing phenomenon,
inasmuch as it was a simply human construction.We had no time
to lose,
however.

We were lying upon the back of a sort of submarine boat,
which appeared (as far as I could judge) like a huge fish of steel.

Ned Land's mind was made up on this point.

Conseil and I could only agree
with him.Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was evidently propelled by a screw),
and it began
to move.

We had only just time
to seize hold of the upper part,
which rose about seven feet out of the water,
and happily its speed was not great."

As long as it sails horizontally," muttered Ned Land,
"I do not mind;
but,
if it takes a fancy
to dive,
I would not give two straws
for my life."


The Canadian might have said still less.

It became really necessary
to communicate
with the beings,
whatever they were,
shut up inside the machine.

I searched all over the outside
for an aperture,
a panel,
or a manhole,

to use a technical expression;
but the lines of the iron rivets,
solidly driven in
to the joints of the iron plates,
were clear and uniform.

Besides,
the moon disappeared then,
and left us in total darkness.At last this long night passed.

My indistinct remembrance prevents my describing all the impressions it made.

I can only recall one circumstance.

During some lulls of the wind and sea,
I fancied I heard several times vague sounds,
a sort of fugitive harmony produced by words of command.

What was,
then,
the mystery of this submarine craft,
of which the whole world vainly sought an explanation?

What kind of beings existed in this strange boat?

What mechanical agent caused its prodigious speed?
Daybreak appeared.

The morning mists surrounded us,
but they soon cleared off.

I was about
to examine the hull,
which formed on deck a kind of horizontal platform,
when I felt it gradually sinking."

Oh!

confound it!" cried Ned Land,
kicking the resounding plate.

"Open,
you inhospitable rascals!"
Happily the sinking movement ceased.

Suddenly a noise,
like iron works violently pushed aside,
came from the interior of the boat.

One iron plate was moved,
a man appeared,
uttered an odd cry,
and disappeared immediately.Some moments after,
eight strong men,

with masked faces,
appeared noiselessly,
and drew us down in
to their formidable machine.


CHAPTER VIII
MOBILIS IN MOBILI
This forcible abduction,
so roughly carried out,
was accomplished
with the rapidity of lightning.

I shivered all over.

Whom had we
to deal with?

No doubt some new sort of pirates,
who explored the sea in their own way.

Hardly had the narrow panel closed upon me,
when I was enveloped in darkness.

My eyes,
dazzled
with the outer light,
could distinguish nothing.

I felt my naked feet cling
to the rungs of an iron ladder.

Ned Land and Conseil,
firmly seized,
followed me.

At the bottom of the ladder,
a door opened,
and shut after us immediately
with a bang.We were alone.

Where,
I could not say,
hardly imagine.

All was black,
and such a dense black that,
after some minutes,
my eyes had not been able
to discern even the faintest glimmer.Meanwhile,
Ned Land,
furious at these proceedings,
gave free vent
to his indignation."

Confound it!" cried he,
"here are people who come up
to the Scotch
for hospitality.

They only just miss being cannibals.

I should not be surprised at it,
but I declare that they shall not eat me without my protesting."


"Calm yourself,
friend Ned,
calm yourself," replied Conseil,
quietly.

"Do not cry out before you are hurt.

We are not quite done
for yet."


"Not quite," sharply replied the Canadian,
"but pretty near,
at all events.

Things look black.

Happily,
my bowie knife I have still,
and I can always see well enough
to use it.

The first of these pirates who lays a hand on me----"
"Do not excite yourself,
Ned," I said
to the harpooner,
"and do not compromise us by useless violence.

Who knows that they will not listen
to us?

Let us rather try
to find out where we are."


I groped about.

In five steps I came
to an iron wall,
made of plates bolted together.

Then turning back I struck against a wooden table,
near which were ranged several stools.

The boards of this prison were concealed under a thick mat,
which deadened the noise of the feet.

The bare walls revealed no trace of window or door.

Conseil,
going round the reverse way,
met me,
and we went back
to the middle of the cabin,
which measured about twenty feet by ten.

As
to its height,
Ned Land,
in spite of his own great height,
could not measure it.Half an hour had already passed without our situation being bettered,
when the dense darkness suddenly gave way
to extreme light.

Our prison was suddenly lighted,
that is
to say,
it became filled
with a luminous matter,
so strong that I could not bear it at first.

In its whiteness and intensity I recognised that electric light which played round the submarine boat like a magnificent phenomenon of phosphorescence.

After shutting my eyes involuntarily,
I opened them,
and saw that this luminous agent came from a half globe,
unpolished,
placed in the roof of the cabin."

At last one can see," cried Ned Land,
who,
knife in hand,
stood on the defensive."

Yes," said I;
"but we are still in the dark about ourselves."


"Let master have patience," said the imperturbable Conseil.The sudden lighting of the cabin enabled me
to examine it minutely.

It only contained a table and five stools.

The invisible door might be hermetically sealed.

No noise was heard.

All seemed dead in the interior of this boat.

Did it move,
did it float on the surface of the ocean,
or did it dive in
to its depths?

I could not guess.A noise of bolts was now heard,
the door opened,
and two men appeared.One was short,
very muscular,
broad-shouldered,

with robust limbs,
strong head,
an abundance of black hair,
thick moustache,
a quick penetrating look,
and the vivacity which characterises the population of Southern France.The second stranger merits a more detailed description.

I made out his prevailing qualities directly:

self-confidence--because his head was well set on his shoulders,
and his black eyes looked around
with cold assurance;
calmness--
for his skin,
rather pale,
showed his coolness of blood;
energy--evinced by the rapid contraction of his lofty brows;
and courage--because his deep breathing denoted great power of lungs.Whether this person was thirty-five or fifty years of age,
I could not say.

He was tall,
had a large forehead,
straight nose,
a clearly cut mouth,
beautiful teeth,

with fine taper hands,
indicative of a highly nervous temperament.

This man was certainly the most admirable specimen I had ever met.

One particular feature was his eyes,
rather far from each other,
and which could take in nearly a quarter of the horizon at once.This faculty--(I verified it later)--gave him a range of vision far superior
to Ned Land's.

When this stranger fixed upon an object,
his eyebrows met,
his large eyelids closed around so as
to contract the range of his vision,
and he looked as if he magnified the objects lessened by distance,
as if he pierced those sheets of water so opaque
to our eyes,
and as if he read the very depths of the seas.The two strangers,

with caps made from the fur of the sea otter,
and shod
with sea boots of seal's skin,
were dressed in clothes of a particular texture,
which allowed free movement of the limbs.

The taller of the two,
evidently the chief on board,
examined us
with great attention,
without saying a word;
then,
turning
to his companion,
talked
with him in an unknown tongue.

It was a sonorous,
harmonious,
and flexible dialect,
the vowels seeming
to admit of very varied accentuation.The other replied by a shake of the head,
and added two or three perfectly incomprehensible words.

Then he seemed
to question me by a look.I replied in good French that I did not know his language;
but he seemed not
to understand me,
and my situation became more embarrassing."

If master were
to tell our story," said Conseil,
"perhaps these gentlemen may understand some words."


I began
to tell our adventures,
articulating each syllable clearly,
and without omitting one single detail.

I announced our names and rank,
introducing in person Professor Aronnax,
his servant Conseil,
and master Ned Land,
the harpooner.The man
with the soft calm eyes listened
to me quietly,
even politely,
and
with extreme attention;
but nothing in his countenance indicated that he had understood my story.

When I finished,
he said not a word.There remained one resource,

to speak English.

Perhaps they would know this almost universal language.

I knew it--as well as the German language--well enough
to read it fluently,
but not
to speak it correctly.

But,
anyhow,
we must make ourselves understood."

Go on in your turn," I said
to the harpooner;
"speak your best Anglo-Saxon,
and try
to do better than I."


Ned did not beg off,
and recommenced our story.
to his great disgust,
the harpooner did not seem
to have made himself more intelligible than I had.

Our visitors did not stir.

They evidently understood neither the language of England nor of France.Very much embarrassed,
after having vainly exhausted our speaking resources,
I knew not what part
to take,
when Conseil said:
"If master will permit me,
I will relate it in German."


But in spite of the elegant terms and good accent of the narrator,
the German language had no success.

At last,
nonplussed,
I tried
to remember my first lessons,
and
to narrate our adventures in Latin,
but
with no better success.

This last attempt being of no avail,
the two strangers exchanged some words in their unknown language,
and retired.The door shut."

It is an infamous shame," cried Ned Land,
who broke out
for the twentieth time.

"We speak
to those rogues in French,
English,
German,
and Latin,
and not one of them has the politeness
to answer!"
"Calm yourself," I said
to the impetuous Ned;
"anger will do no good."


"But do you see,
Professor," replied our irascible companion,
"that we shall absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?"


"Bah!" said Conseil,
philosophically;
"we can hold out some time yet."


"My friends," I said,
"we must not despair.

We have been worse off than this.

Do me the favour
to wait a little before forming an opinion upon the commander and crew of this boat."


"My opinion is formed," replied Ned Land,
sharply.

"They are rascals."


"Good!

and from what country?"


"From the land of rogues!"
"My brave Ned,
that country is not clearly indicated on the map of the world;
but I admit that the nationality of the two strangers is hard
to determine.

Neither English,
French,
nor German,
that is quite certain.

However,
I am inclined
to think that the commander and his companion were born in low latitudes.

There is southern blood in them.

But I cannot decide by their appearance whether they are Spaniards,
Turks,
Arabians,
or Indians.

As
to their language,
it is quite incomprehensible."


"There is the disadvantage of not knowing all languages," said Conseil,
"or the disadvantage of not having one universal language."


As he said these words,
the door opened.

A steward entered.

He brought us clothes,
coats and trousers,
made of a stuff I did not know.

I hastened
to dress myself,
and my companions followed my example.

During that time,
the steward--dumb,
perhaps deaf--had arranged the table,
and laid three plates."

This is something like!" said Conseil."

Bah!" said the angry harpooner,
"what do you suppose they eat here?

Tortoise liver,
filleted shark,
and beef steaks from seadogs."


"We shall see," said Conseil.The dishes,
of bell metal,
were placed on the table,
and we took our places.

Undoubtedly we had
to do
with civilised people,
and,
had it not been
for the electric light which flooded us,
I could have fancied I was in the dining-room of the Adelphi Hotel at Liverpool,
or at the Grand Hotel in Paris.

I must say,
however,
that there was neither bread nor wine.

The water was fresh and clear,
but it was water and did not suit Ned Land's taste.

Amongst the dishes which were brought
to us,
I recognised several fish delicately dressed;
but of some,
although excellent,
I could give no opinion,
neither could I tell
to what kingdom they belonged,
whether animal or vegetable.

As
to the dinner-service,
it was elegant,
and in perfect taste.

Each utensil--spoon,
fork,
knife,
plate--had a letter engraved on it,

with a mot
to above it,
of which this is an exact facsimile:
MOBILIS IN MOBILI N
The letter N was no doubt the initial of the name of the enigmatical person who commanded at the bottom of the seas.Ned and Conseil did not reflect much.

They devoured the food,
and I did likewise.

I was,
besides,
reassured as
to our fate;
and it seemed evident that our hosts would not let us die of want.However,
everything has an end,
everything passes away,
even the hunger of people who have not eaten
for fifteen hours.

Our appetites satisfied,
we felt overcome
with sleep."

Faith!

I shall sleep well," said Conseil."

So shall I," replied Ned Land.My two companions stretched themselves on the cabin carpet,
and were soon sound asleep.


for my own part,
too many thoughts crowded my brain,
too many insoluble questions pressed upon me,
too many fancies kept my eyes half open.

Where were we?

What strange power carried us on?

I felt--or rather fancied I felt-- the machine sinking down
to the lowest beds of the sea.

Dreadful nightmares beset me;
I saw in these mysterious asylums a world of unknown animals,
amongst which this submarine boat seemed
to be of the same kind,
living,
moving,
and formidable as they.

Then my brain grew calmer,
my imagination wandered in
to vague unconsciousness,
and I soon fell in
to a deep sleep.


CHAPTER IX
NED LAND'S TEMPERS
How long we slept I do not know;
but our sleep must have lasted long,

for it rested us completely from our fatigues.

I woke first.

My companions had not moved,
and were still stretched in their corner.Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch,
I felt my brain freed,
my mind clear.

I then began an attentive examination of our cell.

Nothing was changed inside.

The prison was still a prison-- the prisoners,
prisoners.

However,
the steward,
during our sleep,
had cleared the table.

I breathed
with difficulty.

The heavy air seemed
to oppress my lungs.

Although the cell was large,
we had evidently consumed a great part of the oxygen that it contained.

Indeed,
each man consumes,
in one hour,
the oxygen contained in more than 176 pints of air,
and this air,
charged (as then)
with a nearly equal quantity of carbonic acid,
becomes unbreathable.It became necessary
to renew the atmosphere of our prison,
and no doubt the whole in the submarine boat.

That gave rise
to a question in my mind.

How would the commander of this floating dwelling-place proceed?

Would he obtain air by chemical means,
in getting by heat the oxygen contained in chlorate of potash,
and in absorbing carbonic acid by caustic potash?

Or--a more convenient,
economical,
and consequently more probable alternative-- would he be satisfied
to rise and take breath at the surface of the water,
like a whale,
and so renew
for twenty-four hours the atmospheric provision?
In fact,
I was already obliged
to increase my respirations
to eke out of this cell the little oxygen it contained,
when suddenly I was refreshed by a current of pure air,
and perfumed
with saline emanations.

It was an invigorating sea breeze,
charged
with iodine.

I opened my mouth wide,
and my lungs saturated themselves
with fresh particles.At the same time I felt the boat rolling.

The iron-plated monster had evidently just risen
to the surface of the ocean
to breathe,
after the fashion of whales.

I found out from that the mode of ventilating the boat.When I had inhaled this air freely,
I sought the conduit pipe,
which conveyed
to us the beneficial whiff,
and I was not long in finding it.

Above the door was a ventilator,
through which volumes of fresh air renewed the impoverished atmosphere of the cell.I was making my observations,
when Ned and Conseil awoke almost at the same time,
under the influence of this reviving air.

They rubbed their eyes,
stretched themselves,
and were on their feet in an instant."

Did master sleep well?"

asked Conseil,

with his usual politeness."

Very well,
my brave boy.

And you,
Mr. Land?"


"Soundly,
Professor.

But,
I don't know if I am right or not,
there seems
to be a sea breeze!"
A seaman could not be mistaken,
and I told the Canadian all that had passed during his sleep."

Good!" said he.

"That accounts
for those roarings we heard,
when the supposed narwhal sighted the Abraham Lincoln."


"Quite so,
Master Land;
it was taking breath."


"Only,
Mr. Aronnax,
I have no idea what o'clock it is,
unless it is dinner-time."


"Dinner-time!

my good fellow?

Say rather breakfast-time,

for we certainly have begun another day."


"So," said Conseil,
"we have slept twenty-four hours?"


"That is my opinion."


"I will not contradict you," replied Ned Land.

"But,
dinner or breakfast,
the steward will be welcome,
whichever he brings."


"Master Land,
we must conform
to the rules on board,
and I suppose our appetites are in advance of the dinner hour."


"That is just like you,
friend Conseil," said Ned,
impatiently.

"You are never out of temper,
always calm;
you would return thanks before grace,
and die of hunger rather than complain!"
Time was getting on,
and we were fearfully hungry;
and this time the steward did not appear.

It was rather too long
to leave us,
if they really had good intentions towards us.

Ned Land,
tormented by the cravings of hunger,
got still more angry;
and,
notwithstanding his promise,
I dreaded an explosion when he found himself
with one of the crew.
for two hours more Ned Land's temper increased;
he cried,
he shouted,
but in vain.

The walls were deaf.

There was no sound
to be heard in the boat;
all was still as death.

It did not move,

for I should have felt the trembling motion of the hull under the influence of the screw.

Plunged in the depths of the waters,
it belonged no longer
to earth:

this silence was dreadful.I felt terrified,
Conseil was calm,
Ned Land roared.Just then a noise was heard outside.

Steps sounded on the metal flags.

The locks were turned,
the door opened,
and the steward appeared.Before I could rush forward
to stop him,
the Canadian had thrown him down,
and held him by the throat.

The steward was choking under the grip of his powerful hand.Conseil was already trying
to unclasp the harpooner's hand from his half-suffocated victim,
and I was going
to fly
to the rescue,
when suddenly I was nailed
to the spot by hearing these words in French:
"Be quiet,
Master Land;
and you,
Professor,
will you be so good as
to listen
to me?"


CHAPTER X
THE MAN OF THE SEAS
It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke.At these words,
Ned Land rose suddenly.

The steward,
nearly strangled,
tottered out on a sign from his master.

But such was the power of the commander on board,
that not a gesture betrayed the resentment which this man must have felt towards the Canadian.

Conseil interested in spite of himself,
I stupefied,
awaited in silence the result of this scene.The commander,
leaning against the corner of a table
with his arms folded,
scanned us
with profound attention.

Did he hesitate
to speak?

Did he regret the words which he had just spoken in French?

One might almost think so.After some moments of silence,
which not one of us dreamed of breaking,
"Gentlemen," said he,
in a calm and penetrating voice,
"I speak French,
English,
German,
and Latin equally well.

I could,
therefore,
have answered you at our first interview,
but I wished
to know you first,
then
to reflect.

The story told by each one,
entirely agreeing in the main points,
convinced me of your identity.

I know now that chance has brought before me M.

Pierre Aronnax,
Professor of Natural History at the Museum of Paris,
entrusted
with a scientific mission abroad,
Conseil,
his servant,
and Ned Land,
of Canadian origin,
harpooner on board the frigate Abraham Lincoln of the navy of the United States of America."


I bowed assent.

It was not a question that the commander put
to me.

Therefore there was no answer
to be made.

This man expressed himself
with perfect ease,
without any accent.

His sentences were well turned,
his words clear,
and his fluency of speech remarkable.

Yet,
I did not recognise in him a fellow-countryman.He continued the conversation in these terms:
"You have doubtless thought,
sir,
that I have delayed long in paying you this second visit.

The reason is that,
your identity recognised,
I wished
to weigh maturely what part
to act towards you.

I have hesitated much.

Most annoying circumstances have brought you in
to the presence of a man who has broken all the ties of humanity.

You have come
to trouble my existence."


"Unintentionally!" said I."

Unintentionally?"

replied the stranger,
raising his voice a little.

"Was it unintentionally that the Abraham Lincoln pursued me all over the seas?

Was it unintentionally that you took passage in this frigate?

Was it unintentionally that your cannon-balls rebounded off the plating of my vessel?

Was it unintentionally that Mr. Ned Land struck me
with his harpoon?"


I detected a restrained irritation in these words.

But
to these recriminations I had a very natural answer
to make,
and I made it."

Sir," said I,
"no doubt you are ignorant of the discussions which have taken place concerning you in America and Europe.

You do not know that divers accidents,
caused by collisions
with your submarine machine,
have excited public feeling in the two continents.

I omit the theories without number by which it was sought
to explain that of which you alone possess the secret.

But you must understand that,
in pursuing you over the high seas of the Pacific,
the Abraham Lincoln believed itself
to be chasing some powerful sea-monster,
of which it was necessary
to rid the ocean at any price."


A half-smile curled the lips of the commander:

then,
in a calmer tone:
"M.

Aronnax," he replied,
"dare you affirm that your frigate would not as soon have pursued and cannonaded a submarine boat as a monster?"


This question embarrassed me,

for certainly Captain Farragut might not have hesitated.

He might have thought it his duty
to destroy a contrivance of this kind,
as he would a gigantic narwhal."

You understand then,
sir," continued the stranger,
"that I have the right
to treat you as enemies?"


I answered nothing,
purposely.


for what good would it be
to discuss such a proposition,
when force could destroy the best arguments?
"I have hesitated some time," continued the commander;
"nothing obliged me
to show you hospitality.

If I chose
to separate myself from you,
I should have no interest in seeing you again;
I could place you upon the deck of this vessel which has served you as a refuge,
I could sink beneath the waters,
and forget that you had ever existed.

Would not that be my right?"


"It might be the right of a savage," I answered,
"but not that of a civilised man."


"Professor," replied the commander,
quickly,
"I am not what you call a civilised man!

I have done
with society entirely,

for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating.

I do not,
therefore,
obey its laws,
and I desire you never
to allude
to them before me again!"
This was said plainly.

A flash of anger and disdain kindled in the eyes of the Unknown,
and I had a glimpse of a terrible past in the life of this man.

Not only had he put himself beyond the pale of human laws,
but he had made himself independent of them,
free in the strictest acceptation of the word,
quite beyond their reach!

Who then would dare
to pursue him at the bottom of the sea,
when,
on its surface,
he defied all attempts made against him?
What vessel could resist the shock of his submarine monitor?

What cuirass,
however thick,
could withstand the blows of his spur?

No man could demand from him an account of his actions;
God,
if he believed in one--his conscience,
if he had one-- were the sole judges
to whom he was answerable.These reflections crossed my mind rapidly,
whilst the stranger personage was silent,
absorbed,
and as if wrapped up in himself.

I regarded him
with fear mingled
with interest,
as,
doubtless,
OEdiphus regarded the Sphinx.After rather a long silence,
the commander resumed the conversation."

I have hesitated," said he,
"but I have thought that my interest might be reconciled
with that pity
to which every human being has a right.

You will remain on board my vessel,
since fate has cast you there.

You will be free;
and,
in exchange
for this liberty,
I shall only impose one single condition.

Your word of honour
to submit
to it will suffice."


"Speak,
sir," I answered.

"I suppose this condition is one which a man of honour may accept?"


"Yes,
sir;
it is this:

It is possible that certain events,
unforeseen,
may oblige me
to consign you
to your cabins
for some hours or some days,
as the case may be.

As I desire never
to use violence,
I expect from you,
more than all the others,
a passive obedience.

In thus acting,
I take all the responsibility:

I acquit you entirely,

for I make it an impossibility
for you
to see what ought not
to be seen.

Do you accept this condition?"


Then things took place on board which,

to say the least,
were singular,
and which ought not
to be seen by people who were not placed beyond the pale of social laws.

Amongst the surprises which the future was preparing
for me,
this might not be the least."

We accept," I answered;
"only I will ask your permission,
sir,

to address one question
to you--one only."


"Speak,
sir."


"You said that we should be free on board."


"Entirely."


"I ask you,
then,
what you mean by this liberty?"


"Just the liberty
to go,

to come,

to see,

to observe even all that passes here save under rare circumstances--the liberty,
in short,
which we enjoy ourselves,
my companions and I."


It was evident that we did not understand one another."

Pardon me,
sir," I resumed,
"but this liberty is only what every prisoner has of pacing his prison.

It cannot suffice us."


"It must suffice you,
however."


"What!

we must renounce
for ever seeing our country,
our friends,
our relations again?"


"Yes,
sir.

But
to renounce that unendurable worldly yoke which men believe
to be liberty is not perhaps so painful as you think."


"Well," exclaimed Ned Land,
"never will I give my word of honour not
to try
to escape."


"I did not ask you
for your word of honour,
Master Land," answered the commander,
coldly."

Sir," I replied,
beginning
to get angry in spite of my self,
"you abuse your situation towards us;
it is cruelty."


"No,
sir,
it is clemency.

You are my prisoners of war.

I keep you,
when I could,
by a word,
plunge you in
to the depths of the ocean.

You attacked me.

You came
to surprise a secret which no man in the world must penetrate--the secret of my whole existence.

And you think that I am going
to send you back
to that world which must know me no more?

Never!

In retaining you,
it is not you whom I guard-- it is myself."


These words indicated a resolution taken on the part of the commander,
against which no arguments would prevail."

So,
sir," I rejoined,
"you give us simply the choice between life and death?"


"Simply."


"My friends," said I,
"
to a question thus put,
there is nothing
to answer.

But no word of honour binds us
to the master of this vessel."


"None,
sir," answered the Unknown.Then,
in a gentler tone,
he continued:
"Now,
permit me
to finish what I have
to say
to you.

I know you,
M.

Aronnax.

You and your companions will not,
perhaps,
have so much
to complain of in the chance which has bound you
to my fate.

You will find amongst the books which are my favourite study the work which you have published on `the depths of the sea.' I have often read it.

You have carried out your work as far as terrestrial science permitted you.

But you do not know all--you have not seen all.

Let me tell you then,
Professor,
that you will not regret the time passed on board my vessel.

You are going
to visit the land of marvels."


These words of the commander had a great effect upon me.

I cannot deny it.

My weak point was touched;
and I forgot,

for a moment,
that the contemplation of these sublime subjects was not worth the loss of liberty.

Besides,
I trusted
to the future
to decide this grave question.

So I contented myself
with saying:
"By what name ought I
to address you?"


"Sir," replied the commander,
"I am nothing
to you but Captain Nemo;
and you and your companions are nothing
to me but the passengers of the Nautilus."


Captain Nemo called.

A steward appeared.

The captain gave him his orders in that strange language which I did not understand.

Then,
turning towards the Canadian and Conseil:
"A repast awaits you in your cabin," said he.

"Be so good as
to follow this man."

And now,
M.

Aronnax,
our breakfast is ready.

Permit me
to lead the way."


"I am at your service,
Captain."


I followed Captain Nemo;
and as soon as I had passed through the door,
I found myself in a kind of passage lighted by electricity,
similar
to the waist of a ship.

After we had proceeded a dozen yards,
a second door opened before me.I then entered a dining-room,
decorated and furnished in severe taste.

High oaken sideboards,
inlaid
with ebony,
stood at the two extremities of the room,
and upon their shelves glittered china,
porcelain,
and glass of inestimable value.

The plate on the table sparkled in the rays which the luminous ceiling shed around,
while the light was tempered and softened by exquisite paintings.In the centre of the room was a table richly laid out.

Captain Nemo indicated the place I was
to occupy.The breakfast consisted of a certain number of dishes,
the contents of which were furnished by the sea alone;
and I was ignorant of the nature and mode of preparation of some of them.

I acknowledged that they were good,
but they had a peculiar flavour,
which I easily became accustomed to.

These different aliments appeared
to me
to be rich in phosphorus,
and I thought they must have a marine origin.Captain Nemo looked at me.

I asked him no questions,
but he guessed my thoughts,
and answered of his own accord the questions which I was burning
to address
to him."

The greater part of these dishes are unknown
to you," he said
to me.

"However,
you may partake of them without fear.

They are wholesome and nourishing.


for a long time I have renounced the food of the earth,
and I am never ill now.

My crew,
who are healthy,
are fed on the same food."


"So," said I,
"all these eatables are the produce of the sea?"


"Yes,
Professor,
the sea supplies all my wants.

Sometimes I cast my nets in tow,
and I draw them in ready
to break.

Sometimes I hunt in the midst of this element,
which appears
to be inaccessible
to man,
and quarry the game which dwells in my submarine forests.

My flocks,
like those of Neptune's old shepherds,
graze fearlessly in the immense prairies of the ocean.

I have a vast property there,
which I cultivate myself,
and which is always sown by the hand of the Creator of all things."


"I can understand perfectly,
sir,
that your nets furnish excellent fish
for your table;
I can understand also that you hunt aquatic game in your submarine forests;
but I cannot understand at all how a particle of meat,
no matter how small,
can figure in your bill of fare."


"This,
which you believe
to be meat,
Professor,
is nothing else than fillet of turtle.

Here are also some dolphins' livers,
which you take
to be ragout of pork.

My cook is a clever fellow,
who excels in dressing these various products of the ocean.

Taste all these dishes.

Here is a preserve of sea-cucumber,
which a Malay would declare
to be unrivalled in the world;
here is a cream,
of which the milk has been furnished by the cetacea,
and the sugar by the great fucus of the North Sea;
and,
lastly,
permit me
to offer you some preserve of anemones,
which is equal
to that of the most delicious fruits."


I tasted,
more from curiosity than as a connoisseur,
whilst Captain Nemo enchanted me
with his extraordinary stories."

You like the sea,
Captain?"


"Yes;
I love it!

The sea is everything.

It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe.

Its breath is pure and healthy.

It is an immense desert,
where man is never lonely,

for he feels life stirring on all sides.

The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence.

It is nothing but love and emotion;
it is the `Living Infinite,' as one of your poets has said.

In fact,
Professor,
Nature manifests herself in it by her three kingdoms--mineral,
vegetable,
and animal.

The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature.

The globe began
with sea,
so
to speak;
and who knows if it will not end
with it?

In it is supreme tranquillity.

The sea does not belong
to despots.

Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws,
fight,
tear one another
to pieces,
and be carried away
with terrestrial horrors.

But at thirty feet below its level,
their reign ceases,
their influence is quenched,
and their power disappears.

Ah!

sir,
live--live in the bosom of the waters!

There only is independence!

There I recognise no masters!

There I am free!"
Captain Nemo suddenly became silent in the midst of this enthusiasm,
by which he was quite carried away.


for a few moments he paced up and down,
much agitated.

Then he became more calm,
regained his accustomed coldness of expression,
and turning towards me:
"Now,
Professor," said he,
"if you wish
to go over the Nautilus,
I am at your service."


Captain Nemo rose.

I followed him.

A double door,
contrived at the back of the dining-room,
opened,
and I entered a room equal in dimensions
to that which I had just quitted.It was a library.

High pieces of furniture,
of black violet ebony inlaid
with brass,
supported upon their wide shelves a great number of books uniformly bound.

They followed the shape of the room,
terminating at the lower part in huge divans,
covered
with brown leather,
which were curved,

to afford the greatest comfort.

Light movable desks,
made
to slide in and out at will,
allowed one
to rest one's book while reading.

In the centre stood an immense table,
covered
with pamphlets,
amongst which were some newspapers,
already of old date.

The electric light flooded everything;
it was shed from four unpolished globes half sunk in the volutes of the ceiling.

I looked
with real admiration at this room,
so ingeniously fitted up,
and I could scarcely believe my eyes."

Captain Nemo," said I
to my host,
who had just thrown himself on one of the divans,
"this is a library which would do honour
to more than one of the continental palaces,
and I am absolutely astounded when I consider that it can follow you
to the bottom of the seas."


"Where could one find greater solitude or silence,
Professor?"

replied Captain Nemo.

"Did your study in the Museum afford you such perfect quiet?"


"No,
sir;
and I must confess that it is a very poor one after yours.

You must have six or seven thousand volumes here."


"Twelve thousand,
M.

Aronnax.

These are the only ties which bind me
to the earth.

But I had done
with the world on the day when my Nautilus plunged
for the first time beneath the waters.

That day I bought my last volumes,
my last pamphlets,
my last papers,
and from that time I wish
to think that men no longer think or write.

These books,
Professor,
are at your service besides,
and you can make use of them freely."


I thanked Captain Nemo,
and went up
to the shelves of the library.

Works on science,
morals,
and literature abounded in every language;
but I did not see one single work on political economy;
that subject appeared
to be strictly proscribed.

Strange
to say,
all these books were irregularly arranged,
in whatever language they were written;
and this medley proved that the Captain of the Nautilus must have read indiscriminately the books which he took up by chance."

Sir," said I
to the Captain,
"I thank you
for having placed this library at my disposal.

It contains treasures of science,
and I shall profit by them."


"This room is not only a library," said Captain Nemo,
"it is also a smoking-room."


"A smoking-room!" I cried.

"Then one may smoke on board?"


"Certainly."


"Then,
sir,
I am forced
to believe that you have kept up a communication
with Havannah."


"Not any," answered the Captain.

"Accept this cigar,
M.

Aronnax;
and,
though it does not come from Havannah,
you will be pleased
with it,
if you are a connoisseur."


I took the cigar which was offered me;
its shape recalled the London ones,
but it seemed
to be made of leaves of gold.

I lighted it at a little brazier,
which was supported upon an elegant bronze stem,
and drew the first whiffs
with the delight of a lover of smoking who has not smoked
for two days."

It is excellent,
but it is not tobacco."


"No!" answered the Captain,
"this tobacco comes neither from Havannah nor from the East.

It is a kind of sea-weed,
rich in nicotine,

with which the sea provides me,
but somewhat sparingly."


At that moment Captain Nemo opened a door which stood opposite
to that by which I had entered the library,
and I passed in
to an immense drawing-room splendidly lighted.It was a vast,
four-sided room,
thirty feet long,
eighteen wide,
and fifteen high.

A luminous ceiling,
decorated
with light arabesques,
shed a soft clear light over all the marvels accumulated in this museum.


for it was in fact a museum,
in which an intelligent and prodigal hand had gathered all the treasures of nature and art,

with the artistic confusion which distinguishes a painter's studio.{several sentences are missing here in the omnibus edition}
Thirty first-rate pictures,
uniformly framed,
separated by bright drapery,
ornamented the walls,
which were hung
with tapestry of severe design.

I saw works of great value,
the greater part of which I had admired in the special collections of Europe,
and in the exhibitions of paintings.Some admirable statues in marble and bronze,
after the finest antique models,
stood upon pedestals in the corners of this magnificent museum.

Amazement,
as the Captain of the Nautilus had predicted,
had already begun
to take possession of me."

Professor," said this strange man,
"you must excuse the unceremonious way in which I receive you,
and the disorder of this room."


"Sir," I answered,
"without seeking
to know who you are,
I recognise in you an artist."


"An amateur,
nothing more,
sir.

Formerly I loved
to collect these beautiful works created by the hand of man.

I sought them greedily,
and ferreted them out indefatigably,
and I have been able
to bring together some objects of great value.

These are my last souvenirs of that world which is dead
to me.

In my eyes,
your modern artists are already old;
they have two or three thousand years of existence;
I confound them in my own mind.

Masters have no age."


{4 paragraphs seem
to be missing from this omnibus text here they have
to do
with musical composers,
a piano,
and a brief revery on the part of Nemo}
Under elegant glass cases,
fixed by copper rivets,
were classed and labelled the most precious productions of the sea which had ever been presented
to the eye of a naturalist.

My delight as a professor may be conceived.{2 long paragraphs seem
to be missing from this omnibus here}
Apart,
in separate compartments,
were spread out chaplets of pearls of the greatest beauty,
which reflected the electric light in little sparks of fire;
pink pearls,
torn from the pinna-marina of the Red Sea;
green pearls,
yellow,
blue,
and black pearls,
the curious productions of the divers molluscs of every ocean,
and certain mussels of the water courses of the North;
lastly,
several specimens of inestimable value.

Some of these pearls were larger than a pigeon's egg,
and were worth millions.{this para has been altered the last sentence reworded}
Therefore,

to estimate the value of this collection was simply impossible.

Captain Nemo must have expended millions in the acquirement of these various specimens,
and I was thinking what source he could have drawn from,

to have been able thus
to gratify his fancy
for collecting,
when I was interrupted by these words:
"You are examining my shells,
Professor?

Unquestionably they must be interesting
to a naturalist;
but
for me they have a far greater charm,

for I have collected them all
with my own hand,
and there is not a sea on the face of the globe which has escaped my researches."


"I can understand,
Captain,
the delight of wandering about in the midst of such riches.

You are one of those who have collected their treasures themselves.

No museum in Europe possesses such a collection of the produce of the ocean.

But if I exhaust all my admiration upon it,
I shall have none left
for the vessel which carries it.

I do not wish
to pry in
to your secrets:

but I must confess that this Nautilus,

with the motive power which is confined in it,
the contrivances which enable it
to be worked,
the powerful agent which propels it,
all excite my curiosity
to the highest pitch.

I see suspended on the walls of this room instruments of whose use I am ignorant."


"You will find these same instruments in my own room,
Professor,
where I shall have much pleasure in explaining their use
to you.

But first come and inspect the cabin which is set apart
for your own use.

You must see how you will be accommodated on board the Nautilus."


I followed Captain Nemo who,
by one of the doors opening from each panel of the drawing-room,
regained the waist.

He conducted me towards the bow,
and there I found,
not a cabin,
but an elegant room,

with a bed,
dressing-table,
and several other pieces of excellent furniture.I could only thank my host."

Your room adjoins mine," said he,
opening a door,
"and mine opens in
to the drawing-room that we have just quitted."


I entered the Captain's room:

it had a severe,
almost a monkish aspect.

A small iron bedstead,
a table,
some articles
for the toilet;
the whole lighted by a skylight.

No comforts,
the strictest necessaries only.Captain Nemo pointed
to a seat."

Be so good as
to sit down," he said.

I seated myself,
and he began thus:


CHAPTER XI
ALL BY ELECTRICITY
"Sir," said Captain Nemo,
showing me the instruments hanging on the walls of his room,
"here are the contrivances required
for the navigation of the Nautilus.

Here,
as in the drawing-room,
I have them always under my eyes,
and they indicate my position and exact direction in the middle of the ocean.

Some are known
to you,
such as the thermometer,
which gives the internal temperature of the Nautilus;
the barometer,
which indicates the weight of the air and foretells the changes of the weather;
the hygrometer,
which marks the dryness of the atmosphere;
the storm-glass,
the contents of which,
by decomposing,
announce the approach of tempests;
the compass,
which guides my course;
the sextant,
which shows the latitude by the altitude of the sun;
chronometers,
by which I calculate the longitude;
and glasses
for day and night,
which I use
to examine the points of the horizon,
when the Nautilus rises
to the surface of the waves."


"These are the usual nautical instruments," I replied,
"and I know the use of them.

But these others,
no doubt,
answer
to the particular requirements of the Nautilus.

This dial
with movable needle is a manometer,
is it not?"


"It is actually a manometer.

But by communication
with the water,
whose external pressure it indicates,
it gives our depth at the same time."


"And these other instruments,
the use of which I cannot guess?"


"Here,
Professor,
I ought
to give you some explanations.

Will you be kind enough
to listen
to me?"


He was silent
for a few moments,
then he said:
"There is a powerful agent,
obedient,
rapid,
easy,
which conforms
to every use,
and reigns supreme on board my vessel.

Everything is done by means of it.

It lights,
warms it,
and is the soul of my mechanical apparatus.

This agent is electricity."


"Electricity?"

I cried in surprise."

Yes,
sir."


"Nevertheless,
Captain,
you possess an extreme rapidity of movement,
which does not agree well
with the power of electricity.

Until now,
its dynamic force has remained under restraint,
and has only been able
to produce a small amount of power."


"Professor," said Captain Nemo,
"my electricity is not everybody's.

You know what sea-water is composed of.

In a thousand grammes are found 96 1/2 per cent.

of water,
and about 2 2/3 per cent.

of chloride of sodium;
then,
in a smaller quantity,
chlorides of magnesium and of potassium,
bromide of magnesium,
sulphate of magnesia,
sulphate and carbonate of lime.

You see,
then,
that chloride of sodium forms a large part of it.

So it is this sodium that I extract from the sea-water,
and of which I compose my ingredients.

I owe all
to the ocean;
it produces electricity,
and electricity gives heat,
light,
motion,
and,
in a word,
life
to the Nautilus."


"But not the air you breathe?"


"Oh!

I could manufacture the air necessary
for my consumption,
but it is useless,
because I go up
to the surface of the water when I please.

However,
if electricity does not furnish me
with air
to breathe,
it works at least the powerful pumps that are stored in spacious reservoirs,
and which enable me
to prolong at need,
and as long as I will,
my stay in the depths of the sea.

It gives a uniform and unintermittent light,
which the sun does not.

Now look at this clock;
it is electrical,
and goes
with a regularity that defies the best chronometers.

I have divided it in
to twenty-four hours,
like the Italian clocks,
because
for me there is neither night nor day,
sun nor moon,
but only that factitious light that I take
with me
to the bottom of the sea.

Look!

just now,
it is ten o'clock in the morning."


"Exactly."


"Another application of electricity.

This dial hanging in front of us indicates the speed of the Nautilus.

An electric thread puts it in communication
with the screw,
and the needle indicates the real speed.

Look!

now we are spinning along
with a uniform speed of fifteen miles an hour."


"It is marvelous!

And I see,
Captain,
you were right
to make use of this agent that takes the place of wind,
water,
and steam."


"We have not finished,
M.

Aronnax," said Captain Nemo,
rising.

"If you will allow me,
we will examine the stern of the Nautilus."


Really,
I knew already the anterior part of this submarine boat,
of which this is the exact division,
starting from the ship's head:

the dining-room,
five yards long,
separated from the library by a water-tight partition;
the library,
five yards long;
the large drawing-room,
ten yards long,
separated from the Captain's room by a second water-tight partition;
the said room,
five yards in length;
mine,
two and a half yards;
and,
lastly a reservoir of air,
seven and a half yards,
that extended
to the bows.

Total length thirty five yards,
or one hundred and five feet.

The partitions had doors that were shut hermetically by means of india-rubber instruments,
and they ensured the safety of the Nautilus in case of a leak.I followed Captain Nemo through the waist,
and arrived at the centre of the boat.

There was a sort of well that opened between two partitions.

An iron ladder,
fastened
with an iron hook
to the partition,
led
to the upper end.

I asked the Captain what the ladder was used for."

It leads
to the small boat," he said."

What!

have you a boat?"

I exclaimed,
in surprise."

Of course;
an excellent vessel,
light and insubmersible,
that serves either as a fishing or as a pleasure boat."


"But then,
when you wish
to embark,
you are obliged
to come
to the surface of the water?"


"Not at all.

This boat is attached
to the upper part of the hull of the Nautilus,
and occupies a cavity made
for it.

It is decked,
quite water-tight,
and held together by solid bolts.

This ladder leads
to a man-hole made in the hull of the Nautilus,
that corresponds
with a similar hole made in the side of the boat.

By this double opening I get in
to the small vessel.

They shut the one belonging
to the Nautilus;
I shut the other by means of screw pressure.

I undo the bolts,
and the little boat goes up
to the surface of the sea
with prodigious rapidity.

I then open the panel of the bridge,
carefully shut till then;
I mast it,
hoist my sail,
take my oars,
and I'm off."


"But how do you get back on board?"


"I do not come back,
M.

Aronnax;
the Nautilus comes
to me."


"By your orders?"


"By my orders.

An electric thread connects us.

I telegraph
to it,
and that is enough."


"Really," I said,
astonished at these marvels,
"nothing can be more simple."


After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led
to the platform,
I saw a cabin six feet long,
in which Conseil and Ned Land,
enchanted
with their repast,
were devouring it
with avidity.

Then a door opened in
to a kitchen nine feet long,
situated between the large store-rooMs. There electricity,
better than gas itself,
did all the cooking.

The streams under the furnaces gave out
to the sponges of platina a heat which was regularly kept up and distributed.

They also heated a distilling apparatus,
which,
by evaporation,
furnished excellent drinkable water.

Near this kitchen was a bathroom comfortably furnished,

with hot and cold water taps.Next
to the kitchen was the berth-room of the vessel,
sixteen feet long.

But the door was shut,
and I could not see the management of it,
which might have given me an idea of the number of men employed on board the Nautilus.At the bottom was a fourth partition that separated this office from the engine-room.

A door opened,
and I found myself in the compartment where Captain Nemo--certainly an engineer of a very high order--had arranged his locomotive machinery.

This engine-room,
clearly lighted,
did not measure less than sixty-five feet in length.

It was divided in
to two parts;
the first contained the materials
for producing electricity,
and the second the machinery that connected it
with the screw.

I examined it
with great interest,
in order
to understand the machinery of the Nautilus."

You see," said the Captain,
"I use Bunsen's contrivances,
not Ruhmkorff's.

Those would not have been powerful enough.

Bunsen's are fewer in number,
but strong and large,
which experience proves
to be the best.

The electricity produced passes forward,
where it works,
by electro-magnets of great size,
on a system of levers and cog-wheels that transmit the movement
to the axle of the screw.

This one,
the diameter of which is nineteen feet,
and the thread twenty-three feet,
performs about 120 revolutions in a second."


"And you get then?"


"A speed of fifty miles an hour."


"I have seen the Nautilus manoeuvre before the Abraham Lincoln,
and I have my own ideas as
to its speed.

But this is not enough.

We must see where we go.

We must be able
to direct it
to the right,

to the left,
above,
below.

How do you get
to the great depths,
where you find an increasing resistance,
which is rated by hundreds of atmospheres?

How do you return
to the surface of the ocean?

And how do you maintain yourselves in the requisite medium?

Am I asking too much?"


"Not at all,
Professor," replied the Captain,

with some hesitation;
"since you may never leave this submarine boat.

Come in
to the saloon,
it is our usual study,
and there you will learn all you want
to know about the Nautilus."


CHAPTER XII
SOME FIGURES
A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking.

The Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan,
section,
and elevation of the Nautilus.

Then he began his description in these words:
"Here,
M.

Aronnax,
are the several dimensions of the boat you are in.

It is an elongated cylinder
with conical ends.

It is very like a cigar in shape,
a shape already adopted in London in several constructions of the same sort.

The length of this cylinder,
from stem
to stern,
is exactly 232 feet,
and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet.

It is not built quite like your long-voyage steamers,
but its lines are sufficiently long,
and its curves prolonged enough,

to allow the water
to slide off easily,
and oppose no obstacle
to its passage.

These two dimensions enable you
to obtain by a simple calculation the surface and cubic contents of the Nautilus.

Its area measures 6,032 feet;
and its contents about 1,500 cubic yards;
that is
to say,
when completely immersed it displaces 50,000 feet of water,
or weighs 1,500 tons."

When I made the plans
for this submarine vessel,
I meant that nine-tenths should be submerged:

consequently it ought only
to displace nine-tenths of its bulk,
that is
to say,
only
to weigh that number of tons.

I ought not,
therefore,

to have exceeded that weight,
constructing it on the aforesaid dimensions."

The Nautilus is composed of two hulls,
one inside,
the other outside,
joined by T-shaped irons,
which render it very strong.

Indeed,
owing
to this cellular arrangement it resists like a block,
as if it were solid.

Its sides cannot yield;
it coheres spontaneously,
and not by the closeness of its rivets;
and its perfect union of the materials enables it
to defy the roughest seas."

These two hulls are composed of steel plates,
whose density is from .7
to .8 that of water.

The first is not less than two inches and a half thick and weighs 394 tons.

The second envelope,
the keel,
twenty inches high and ten thick,
weighs only sixty-two tons.

The engine,
the ballast,
the several accessories and apparatus appendages,
the partitions and bulkheads,
weigh 961.62 tons.

Do you follow all this?"


"I do."


"Then,
when the Nautilus is afloat under these circumstances,
one-tenth is out of the water.

Now,
if I have made reservoirs of a size equal
to this tenth,
or capable of holding 150 tons,
and if I fill them
with water,
the boat,
weighing then 1,507 tons,
will be completely immersed.

That would happen,
Professor.

These reservoirs are in the lower part of the Nautilus.

I turn on taps and they fill,
and the vessel sinks that had just been level
with the surface."


"Well,
Captain,
but now we come
to the real difficulty.

I can understand your rising
to the surface;
but,
diving below the surface,
does not your submarine contrivance encounter a pressure,
and consequently undergo an upward thrust of one atmosphere
for every thirty feet of water,
just about fifteen pounds per square inch?"


"Just so,
sir."


"Then,
unless you quite fill the Nautilus,
I do not see how you can draw it down
to those depths."


"Professor,
you must not confound statics
with dynamics or you will be exposed
to grave errors.

There is very little labour spent in attaining the lower regions of the ocean,

for all bodies have a tendency
to sink.

When I wanted
to find out the necessary increase of weight required
to sink the Nautilus,
I had only
to calculate the reduction of volume that sea-water acquires according
to the depth."


"That is evident."


"Now,
if water is not absolutely incompressible,
it is at least capable of very slight compression.

Indeed,
after the most recent calculations this reduction is only .000436 of an atmosphere
for each thirty feet of depth.

If we want
to sink 3,000 feet,
I should keep account of the reduction of bulk under a pressure equal
to that of a column of water of a thousand feet.

The calculation is easily verified.

Now,
I have supplementary reservoirs capable of holding a hundred tons.

Therefore I can sink
to a considerable depth.

When I wish
to rise
to the level of the sea,
I only let off the water,
and empty all the reservoirs if I want the Nautilus
to emerge from the tenth part of her total capacity."


I had nothing
to object
to these reasonings."

I admit your calculations,
Captain," I replied;
"I should be wrong
to dispute them since daily experience confirms them;
but I foresee a real difficulty in the way."


"What,
sir?"


"When you are about 1,000 feet deep,
the walls of the Nautilus bear a pressure of 100 atmospheres.

If,
then,
just now you were
to empty the supplementary reservoirs,

to lighten the vessel,
and
to go up
to the surface,
the pumps must overcome the pressure of 100 atmospheres,
which is 1,500 lbs.

per square inch.

From that a power----"
"That electricity alone can give," said the Captain,
hastily.

"I repeat,
sir,
that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite.

The pumps of the Nautilus have an enormous power,
as you must have observed when their jets of water burst like a torrent upon the Abraham Lincoln.

Besides,
I use subsidiary reservoirs only
to attain a mean depth of 750
to 1,000 fathoms,
and that
with a view of managing my machines.

Also,
when I have a mind
to visit the depths of the ocean five or six mlles below the surface,
I make use of slower but not less infallible means."


"What are they,
Captain?"


"That involves my telling you how the Nautilus is worked."


"I am impatient
to learn."


"
to steer this boat
to starboard or port,

to turn,
in a word,
following a horizontal plan,
I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back of the stern-post,
and
with one wheel and some tackle
to steer by.

But I can also make the Nautilus rise and sink,
and sink and rise,
by a vertical movement by means of two inclined planes fastened
to its sides,
opposite the centre of flotation,
planes that move in every direction,
and that are worked by powerful levers from the interior.

If the planes are kept parallel
with the boat,
it moves horizontally.

If slanted,
the Nautilus,
according
to this inclination,
and under the influence of the screw,
either sinks diagonally or rises diagonally as it suits me.

And even if I wish
to rise more quickly
to the surface,
I ship the screw,
and the pressure of the water causes the Nautilus
to rise vertically like a balloon filled
with hydrogen."


"Bravo,
Captain!

But how can the steersman follow the route in the middle of the waters?"


"The steersman is placed in a glazed box,
that is raised about the hull of the Nautilus,
and furnished
with lenses."


"Are these lenses capable of resisting such pressure?"


"Perfectly.

Glass,
which breaks at a blow,
is,
nevertheless,
capable of offering considerable resistance.

During some experiments of fishing by electric light in 1864 in the Northern Seas,
we saw plates less than a third of an inch thick resist a pressure of sixteen atmospheres.

Now,
the glass that I use is not less than thirty times thicker."


"Granted.

But,
after all,
in order
to see,
the light must exceed the darkness,
and in the midst of the darkness in the water,
how can you see?"


"Behind the steersman's cage is placed a powerful electric reflector,
the rays from which light up the sea
for half a mile in front."


"Ah!

bravo,
bravo,
Captain!

Now I can account
for this phosphorescence in the supposed narwhal that puzzled us so.

I now ask you if the boarding of the Nautilus and of the Scotia,
that has made such a noise,
has been the result of a chance rencontre?"


"Quite accidental,
sir.

I was sailing only one fathom below the surface of the water when the shock came.

It had no bad result."


"None,
sir.

But now,
about your rencontre
with the Abraham Lincoln?"


"Professor,
I am sorry
for one of the best vessels in the American navy;
but they attacked me,
and I was bound
to defend myself.

I contented myself,
however,

with putting the frigate hors de combat;
she will not have any difficulty in getting repaired at the next port."


"Ah,
Commander!

your Nautilus is certainly a marvellous boat."


"Yes,
Professor;
and I love it as if it were part of myself.

If danger threatens one of your vessels on the ocean,
the first impression is the feeling of an abyss above and below.

On the Nautilus men's hearts never fail them.

No defects
to be afraid of,

for the double shell is as firm as iron;
no rigging
to attend to;
no sails
for the wind
to carry away;
no boilers
to burst;
no fire
to fear,

for the vessel is made of iron,
not of wood;
no coal
to run short,

for electricity is the only mechanical agent;
no collision
to fear,

for it alone swims in deep water;
no tempest
to brave,

for when it dives below the water it reaches absolute tranquillity.

There,
sir!

that is the perfection of vessels!

And if it is true that the engineer has more confidence in the vessel than the builder,
and the builder than the captain himself,
you understand the trust I repose in my Nautilus;

for I am at once captain,
builder,
and engineer."


"But how could you construct this wonderful Nautilus in secret?"


"Each separate portion,
M.

Aronnax,
was brought from different parts of the globe."


"But these parts had
to be put together and arranged?"


"Professor,
I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the ocean.

There my workmen,
that is
to say,
the brave men that I instructed and educated,
and myself have put together our Nautilus.

Then,
when the work was finished,
fire destroyed all trace of our proceedings on this island,
that I could have jumped over if I had liked."


"Then the cost of this vessel is great?"


"M.

Aronnax,
an iron vessel costs L145 per ton.

Now the Nautilus weighed 1,500.

It came therefore
to L67,500,
and L80,000 more
for fitting it up,
and about L200,000,

with the works of art and the collections it contains."


"One last question,
Captain Nemo."


"Ask it,
Professor."


"You are rich?"


"Immensely rich,
sir;
and I could,
without missing it,
pay the national debt of France."


I stared at the singular person who spoke thus.

Was he playing upon my credulity?

The future would decide that.


CHAPTER XIII
THE BLACK RIVER
The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres.

This fluid mass comprises two billions two hundred and fifty millions of cubic miles,
forming a spherical body of a diameter of sixty leagues,
the weight of which would be three quintillions of tons.


to comprehend the meaning of these figures,
it is necessary
to observe that a quintillion is
to a billion as a billion is
to unity;
in other words,
there are as many billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.

This mass of fluid is equal
to about the quantity of water which would be discharged by all the rivers of the earth in forty thousand years.During the geological epochs the ocean originally prevailed everywhere.

Then by degrees,
in the silurian period,
the tops of the mountains began
to appear,
the islands emerged,
then disappeared in partial deluges,
reappeared,
became settled,
formed continents,
till at length the earth became geographically arranged,
as we see in the present day.

The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred and fifty-seven square miles,
equal
to twelve billions nine hundred and sixty millions of acres.The shape of continents allows us
to divide the waters in
to five great portions:

the Arctic or Frozen Ocean,
the Antarctic,
or Frozen Ocean,
the Indian,
the Atlantic,
and the Pacific Oceans.The Pacific Ocean extends from north
to south between the two Polar Circles,
and from east
to west between Asia and America,
over an extent of 145 degrees of longitude.

It is the quietest of seas;
its currents are broad and slow,
it has medium tides,
and abundant rain.

Such was the ocean that my fate destined me first
to travel over under these strange conditions."

Sir," said Captain Nemo,
"we will,
if you please,
take our bearings and fix the starting-point of this voyage.

It is a quarter
to twelve;
I will go up again
to the surface."


The Captain pressed an electric clock three times.

The pumps began
to drive the water from the tanks;
the needle of the manometer marked by a different pressure the ascent of the Nautilus,
then it stopped."

We have arrived," said the Captain.I went
to the central staircase which opened on
to the platform,
clambered up the iron steps,
and found myself on the upper part of the Nautilus.The platform was only three feet out of water.

The front and back of the Nautilus was of that spindle-shape which caused it justly
to be compared
to a cigar.

I noticed that its iron plates,
slightly overlaying each other,
resembled the shell which clothes the bodies of our large terrestrial reptiles.

It explained
to me how natural it was,
in spite of all glasses,
that this boat should have been taken
for a marine animal.Toward the middle of the platform the longboat,
half buried in the hull of the vessel,
formed a slight excrescence.

Fore and aft rose two cages of medium height
with inclined sides,
and partly closed by thick lenticular glasses;
one destined
for the steersman who directed the Nautilus,
the other containing a brilliant lantern
to give light on the road.The sea was beautiful,
the sky pure.

Scarcely could the long vehicle feel the broad undulations of the ocean.

A light breeze from the east rippled the surface of the waters.

The horizon,
free from fog,
made observation easy.

Nothing was in sight.

Not a quicksand,
not an island.

A vast desert.Captain Nemo,
by the help of his sextant,
took the altitude of the sun,
which ought also
to give the latitude.

He waited
for some moments till its disc touched the horizon.

Whilst taking observations not a muscle moved,
the instrument could not have been more motionless in a hand of marble."

Twelve o'clock,
sir," said he.

"When you like----"
I cast a last look upon the sea,
slightly yellowed by the Japanese coast,
and descended
to the saloon."

And now,
sir,
I leave you
to your studies," added the Captain;
"our course is E.N.E.,
our depth is twenty-six fathoMs. Here are maps on a large scale by which you may follow it.

The saloon is at your disposal,
and,

with your permission,
I will retire."

Captain Nemo bowed,
and I remained alone,
lost in thoughts all bearing on the commander of the Nautilus.
for a whole hour was I deep in these reflections,
seeking
to pierce this mystery so interesting
to me.

Then my eyes fell upon the vast planisphere spread upon the table,
and I placed my finger on the very spot where the given latitude and longitude crossed.The sea has its large rivers like the continents.

They are special currents known by their temperature and their colour.

The most remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream.

Science has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents:

one in the North Atlantic,
a second in the South,
a third in the North Pacific,
a fourth in the South,
and a fifth in the Southern Indian Ocean.

It is even probable that a sixth current existed at one time or another in the Northern Indian Ocean,
when the Caspian and Aral Seas formed but one vast sheet of water.At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was rolling,
the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese,
the Black River,
which,
leaving the Gulf of Bengal,
where it is warmed by the perpendicular rays of a tropical sun,
crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast of Asia,
turns in
to the North Pacific
to the Aleutian Islands,
carrying
with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions,
and edging the waves of the ocean
with the pure indigo of its warm water.

It was this current that the Nautilus was
to follow.

I followed it
with my eye;
saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific,
and felt myself drawn
with it,
when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the door of the saloon.My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders spread before them."

Where are we,
where are we?"

exclaimed the Canadian.

"In the museum at Quebec?"


"My friends," I answered,
making a sign
for them
to enter,
"you are not in Canada,
but on board the Nautilus,
fifty yards below the level of the sea."


"But,
M.

Aronnax," said Ned Land,
"can you tell me how many men there are on board?

Ten,
twenty,
fifty,
a hundred?"


"I cannot answer you,
Mr. Land;
it is better
to abandon
for a time all idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it.

This ship is a masterpiece of modern industry,
and I should be sorry not
to have seen it.

Many people would accept the situation forced upon us,
if only
to move amongst such wonders.

So be quiet and let us try and see what passes around us."


"See!" exclaimed the harpooner,
"but we can see nothing in this iron prison!

We are walking--we are sailing--blindly."


Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly darkness.

The luminous ceiling was gone,
and so rapidly that my eyes received a painful impression.We remained mute,
not stirring,
and not knowing what surprise awaited us,
whether agreeable or disagreeable.

A sliding noise was heard:

one would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus."

It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon,
through two oblong openings.

The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam.

Two crystal plates separated us from the sea.

At first I trembled at the thought that this frail partition might break,
but strong bands of copper bound them,
giving an almost infinite power of resistance.The sea was distinctly visible
for a mile all round the Nautilus.

What a spectacle!

What pen can describe it?

Who could paint the effects of the light through those transparent sheets of water,
and the softness of the successive gradations from the lower
to the superior strata of the ocean?
We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far beyond that of rock-water.

The mineral and organic substances which it holds in suspension heightens its transparency.

In certain parts of the ocean at the Antilles,
under seventy-five fathoms of water,
can be seen
with surprising clearness a bed of sand.

The penetrating power of the solar rays does not seem
to cease
for a depth of one hundred and fifty fathoMs. But in this middle fluid travelled over by the Nautilus,
the electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves.

It was no longer luminous water,
but liquid light.On each side a window opened in
to this unexplored abyss.

The obscurity of the saloon showed
to advantage the brightness outside,
and we looked out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium."

You wished
to see,
friend Ned;
well,
you see now."


"Curious!

curious!" muttered the Canadian,
who,
forgetting his ill-temper,
seemed
to submit
to some irresistible attraction;
"and one would come further than this
to admire such a sight!"
"Ah!" thought I
to myself,
"I understand the life of this man;
he has made a world apart
for himself,
in which he treasures all his greatest wonders."



for two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus.

During their games,
their bounds,
while rivalling each other in beauty,
brightness,
and velocity,
I distinguished the green labre;
the banded mullet,
marked by a double line of black;
the round-tailed goby,
of a white colour,

with violet spots on the back;
the Japanese scombrus,
a beautiful mackerel of these seas,

with a blue body and silvery head;
the brilliant azurors,
whose name alone defies description;
some banded spares,

with variegated fins of blue and yellow;
the woodcocks of the seas,
some specimens of which attain a yard in length;
Japanese salamanders,
spider lampreys,
serpents six feet long,

with eyes small and lively,
and a huge mouth bristling
with teeth;

with many other species.Our imagination was kept at its height,
interjections followed quickly on each other.

Ned named the fish,
and Conseil classed them.

I was in ecstasies
with the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their forMs. Never had it been given
to me
to surprise these animals,
alive and at liberty,
in their natural element.

I will not mention all the varieties which passed before my dazzled eyes,
all the collection of the seas of China and Japan.

These fish,
more numerous than the birds of the air,
came,
attracted,
no doubt,
by the brilliant focus of the electric light.Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon,
the iron panels closed again,
and the enchanting vision disappeared.

But
for a long time I dreamt on,
till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the partition.

The compass still showed the course
to be E.N.E.,
the manometer indicated a pressure of five atmospheres,
equivalent
to a depth of twenty five fathoms,
and the electric log gave a speed of fifteen miles an hour.

I expected Captain Nemo,
but he did not appear.

The clock marked the hour of five.Ned Land and Conseil returned
to their cabin,
and I retired
to my chamber.

My dinner was ready.

It was composed of turtle soup made of the most delicate hawks bills,
of a surmullet served
with puff paste (the liver of which,
prepared by itself,
was most delicious),
and fillets of the emperor-holocanthus,
the savour of which seemed
to me superior even
to salmon.I passed the evening reading,
writing,
and thinking.

Then sleep overpowered me,
and I stretched myself on my couch of zostera,
and slept profoundly,
whilst the Nautilus was gliding rapidly through the current of the Black River.


CHAPTER XIV
A NOTE OF INVITATION
The next day was the 9th of November.

I awoke after a long sleep of twelve hours.

Conseil came,
according
to custom,

to know "how I passed the night," and
to offer his services.

He had left his friend the Canadian sleeping like a man who had never done anything else all his life.

I let the worthy fellow chatter as he pleased,
without caring
to answer him.

I was preoccupied by the absence of the Captain during our sitting of the day before,
and hoping
to see him to-day.As soon as I was dressed I went in
to the saloon.

It was deserted.

I plunged in
to the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses.The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain Nemo.

The panels of the saloon did not open.

Perhaps they did not wish us
to tire of these beautiful things.The course of the Nautilus was E.N.E.,
her speed twelve knots,
the depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoMs.The next day,
10th of November,
the same desertion,
the same solitude.

I did not see one of the ship's crew:

Ned and Conseil spent the greater part of the day
with me.

They were astonished at the puzzling absence of the Captain.

Was this singular man ill?--had he altered his intentions
with regard
to us?
After all,
as Conseil said,
we enjoyed perfect liberty,
we were delicately and abundantly fed.

Our host kept
to his terms of the treaty.

We could not complain,
and,
indeed,
the singularity of our fate reserved such wonderful compensation
for us that we had no right
to accuse it as yet.That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled me
to relate them
with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail.11th November,
early in the morning.

The fresh air spreading over the interior of the Nautilus told me that we had come
to the surface of the ocean
to renew our supply of oxygen.

I directed my steps
to the central staircase,
and mounted the platform.It was six o'clock,
the weather was cloudy,
the sea grey,
but calm.

Scarcely a billow.

Captain Nemo,
whom I hoped
to meet,
would he be there?

I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage.

Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace,
I inhaled the salt breeze
with delight.By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun's rays,
the radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon.

The sea flamed under its glance like a train of gunpowder.

The clouds scattered in the heights were coloured
with lively tints of beautiful shades,
and numerous "mare's tails," which betokened wind
for that day.

But what was wind
to this Nautilus,
which tempests could not frighten!
I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun,
so gay,
and so life-giving,
when I heard steps approaching the platform.

I was prepared
to salute Captain Nemo,
but it was his second (whom I had already seen on the Captain's first visit) who appeared.

He advanced on the platform,
not seeming
to see me.


with his powerful glass
to his eye,
he scanned every point of the horizon
with great attention.

This examination over,
he approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in exactly these terMs. I have remembered it,

for every morning it was repeated under exactly the same conditions.

It was thus worded:
"Nautron respoc lorni virch."


What it meant I could not say.These words pronounced,
the second descended.

I thought that the Nautilus was about
to return
to its submarine navigation.

I regained the panel and returned
to my chamber.Five days sped thus,
without any change in our situation.

Every morning I mounted the platform.

The same phrase was pronounced by the same individual.

But Captain Nemo did not appear.I had made up my mind that I should never see him again,
when,
on the 16th November,
on returning
to my room
with Ned and Conseil,
I found upon my table a note addressed
to me.

I opened it impatiently.

It was written in a bold,
clear hand,
the characters rather pointed,
recalling the German type.

The note was worded as follows:

TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX,
On board the Nautilus.

16th of November,
1867.Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax
to a hunting-party,
which will take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo.

He hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present,
and he will
with pleasure see him joined by his companions.CAPTAIN NEMO,
Commander of the Nautilus.

"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned."

And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil."

Oh!

then the gentleman is going on terra firma?"

replied Ned Land."

That seems
to me
to be clearly indicated," said I,
reading the letter once more."

Well,
we must accept," said the Canadian.

"But once more on dry ground,
we shall know what
to do.

Indeed,
I shall not be sorry
to eat a piece of fresh venison."


Without seeking
to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain Nemo's manifest aversion
to islands and continents,
and his invitation
to hunt in a forest,
I contented myself
with replying:
"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."


I consulted the planisphere,
and in 32@ 40' N.

lat.

and 157@ 50' W.

long.,
I found a small island,
recognised in 1801 by Captain Crespo,
and marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata,
the meaning of which is The Silver Rock.

We were then about eighteen hundred miles from our starting-point,
and the course of the Nautilus,
a little changed,
was bringing it back towards the southeast.I showed this little rock,
lost in the midst of the North Pacific,

to my companions."

If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I,
"he at least chooses desert islands."


Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking,
and Conseil and he left me.After supper,
which was served by the steward,
mute and impassive,
I went
to bed,
not without some anxiety.The next morning,
the 17th of November,
on awakening,
I felt that the Nautilus was perfectly still.

I dressed quickly and entered the saloon.Captain Nemo was there,
waiting
for me.

He rose,
bowed,
and asked me if it was convenient
for me
to accompany him.

As he made no allusion
to his absence during the last eight days,
I did not mention it,
and simply answered that my companions and myself were ready
to follow him.We entered the dining-room,
where breakfast was served."

M.

Aronnax," said the Captain,
"pray,
share my breakfast without ceremony;
we will chat as we eat.

For,
though I promised you a walk in the forest,
I did not undertake
to find hotels there.

So breakfast as a man who will most likely not have his dinner till very late."


I did honour
to the repast.

It was composed of several kinds of fish,
and slices of sea-cucumber,
and different sorts of seaweed.

Our drink consisted of pure water,

to which the Captain added some drops of a fermented liquor,
extracted by the Kamschatcha method from a seaweed known under the name of Rhodomenia palmata.

Captain Nemo ate at first without saying a word.

Then he began:
"Sir,
when I proposed
to you
to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
you evidently thought me mad.

Sir,
you should never judge lightly of any man."


"But Captain,
believe me----"
"Be kind enough
to listen,
and you will then see whether you have any cause
to accuse me of folly and contradiction."


"I listen."


"You know as well as I do,
Professor,
that man can live under water,
providing he carries
with him a sufficient supply of breathable air.

In submarine works,
the workman,
clad in an impervious dress,

with his head in a metal helmet,
receives air from above by means of forcing pumps and regulators."


"That is a diving apparatus," said I."

Just so,
but under these conditions the man is not at liberty;
he is attached
to the pump which sends him air through an india-rubber tube,
and if we were obliged
to be thus held
to the Nautilus,
we could not go far."


"And the means of getting free?"

I asked."

It is
to use the Rouquayrol apparatus,
invented by two of your own countrymen,
which I have brought
to perfection
for my own use,
and which will allow you
to risk yourself under these new physiological conditions without any organ whatever suffering.

It consists of a reservoir of thick iron plates,
in which I store the air under a pressure of fifty atmospheres.

This reservoir is fixed on the back by means of braces,
like a soldier's knapsack.

Its upper part forms a box in which the air is kept by means of a bellows,
and therefore cannot escape unless at its normal tension.

In the Rouquayrol apparatus such as we use,
two india rubber pipes leave this box and join a sort of tent which holds the nose and mouth;
one is
to introduce fresh air,
the other
to let out the foul,
and the tongue closes one or the other according
to the wants of the respirator.

But I,
in encountering great pressures at the bottom of the sea,
was obliged
to shut my head,
like that of a diver in a ball of copper;
and it is
to this ball of copper that the two pipes,
the inspirator and the expirator,
open."


"Perfectly,
Captain Nemo;
but the air that you carry
with you must soon be used;
when it only contains fifteen per cent.

of oxygen it is no longer fit
to breathe."


"Right!

But I told you,
M.

Aronnax,
that the pumps of the Nautilus allow me
to store the air under considerable pressure,
and on those conditions the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air
for nine or ten hours."


"I have no further objections
to make," I answered.

"I will only ask you one thing,
Captain--how can you light your road at the bottom of the sea?"


"
with the Ruhmkorff apparatus,
M.

Aronnax;
one is carried on the back,
the other is fastened
to the waist.

It is composed of a Bunsen pile,
which I do not work
with bichromate of potash,
but
with sodium.

A wire is introduced which collects the electricity produced,
and directs it towards a particularly made lantern.

In this lantern is a spiral glass which contains a small quantity of carbonic gas.

When the apparatus is at work this gas becomes luminous,
giving out a white and continuous light.

Thus provided,
I can breathe and I can see."


"Captain Nemo,

to all my objections you make such crushing answers that I dare no longer doubt.

But,
if I am forced
to admit the Rouquayrol and Ruhmkorff apparatus,
I must be allowed some reservations
with regard
to the gun I am
to carry."


"But it is not a gun
for powder," answered the Captain."

Then it is an air-gun."


"Doubtless!

How would you have me manufacture gun powder on board,
without either saltpetre,
sulphur,
or charcoal?"


"Besides," I added,
"
to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and fifty-five times denser than the air,
we must conquer very considerable resistance."


"That would be no difficulty.

There exist guns,
according
to Fulton,
perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley,
in France by Furcy,
and in Italy by Landi,
which are furnished
with a peculiar system of closing,
which can fire under these conditions.

But I repeat,
having no powder,
I use air under great pressure,
which the pumps of the Nautilus furnish abundantly."


"But this air must be rapidly used?"


"Well,
have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir,
which can furnish it at need?

A tap is all that is required.

Besides M.

Aronnax,
you must see yourself that,
during our submarine hunt,
we can spend but little air and but few balls."


"But it seems
to me that in this twilight,
and in the midst of this fluid,
which is very dense compared
with the atmosphere,
shots could not go far,
nor easily prove mortal."


"Sir,
on the contrary,

with this gun every blow is mortal;
and,
however lightly the animal is touched,
it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt."


"Why?"


"Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls,
but little cases of glass.

These glass cases are covered
with a case of steel,
and weighted
with a pellet of lead;
they are real Leyden bottles,
in
to which the electricity is forced
to a very high tension.


with the slightest shock they are discharged,
and the animal,
however strong it may be,
falls dead.

I must tell you that these cases are size number four,
and that the charge
for an ordinary gun would be ten."


"I will argue no longer," I replied,
rising from the table.

"I have nothing left me but
to take my gun.

At all events,
I will go where you go."


Captain Nemo then led me aft;
and in passing before Ned's and Conseil's cabin,
I called my two companions,
who followed promptly.

We then came
to a cell near the machinery-room,
in which we put on our walking-dress.


CHAPTER XV
A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
This cell was,

to speak correctly,
the arsenal and wardrobe of the Nautilus.

A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting our use.Ned Land,
on seeing them,
showed evident repugnance
to dress himself in one."

But,
my worthy Ned,
the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing but submarine forests."


"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner,
who saw his dreams of fresh meat fade away.

"And you,
M.

Aronnax,
are you going
to dress yourself in those clothes?"


"There is no alternative,
Master Ned."


"As you please,
sir," replied the harpooner,
shrugging his shoulders;
"but,
as
for me,
unless I am forced,
I will never get in
to one."


"No one will force you,
Master Ned," said Captain Nemo."

Is Conseil going
to risk it?"

asked Ned."

I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came
to help us dress in these heavy and impervious clothes,
made of india-rubber without seam,
and constructed expressly
to resist considerable pressure.

One would have thought it a suit of armour,
both supple and resisting.

This suit formed trousers and waistcoat.

The trousers were finished off
with thick boots,
weighted
with heavy leaden soles.

The texture of the waistcoat was held together by bands of copper,
which crossed the chest,
protecting it from the great pressure of the water,
and leaving the lungs free
to act;
the sleeves ended in gloves,
which in no way restrained the movement of the hands.

There was a vast difference noticeable between these consummate apparatuses and the old cork breastplates,
jackets,
and other contrivances in vogue during the eighteenth century.Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules,
who must have possessed great strength),
Conseil and myself were soon enveloped in the dresses.

There remained nothing more
to be done but
to enclose our heads in the metal box.

But,
before proceeding
to this operation,
I asked the Captain's permission
to examine the guns.One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun,
the butt end of which,
made of steel,
hollow in the centre,
was rather large.

It served as a reservoir
for compressed air,
which a valve,
worked by a spring,
allowed
to escape in
to a metal tube.

A box of projectiles in a groove in the thickness of the butt end contained about twenty of these electric balls,
which,
by means of a spring,
were forced in
to the barrel of the gun.

As soon as one shot was fired,
another was ready."

Captain Nemo," said I,
"this arm is perfect,
and easily handled:

I only ask
to be allowed
to try it.

But how shall we gain the bottom of the sea?"


"At this moment,
Professor,
the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
and we have nothing
to do but
to start."


"But how shall we get off?"


"You shall see."


Captain Nemo thrust his head in
to the helmet,
Conseil and I did the same,
not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian.

The upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which was screwed the metal helmet.

Three holes,
protected by thick glass,
allowed us
to see in all directions,
by simply turning our head in the interior of the head-dress.

As soon as it was in position,
the Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began
to act;
and,

for my part,
I could breathe
with ease.
with the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt,
and the gun in my hand,
I was ready
to set out.

But
to speak the truth,
imprisoned in these heavy garments,
and glued
to the deck by my leaden soles,
it was impossible
for me
to take a step.But this state of things was provided for.

I felt myself being pushed in
to a little room contiguous
to the wardrobe room.

My companions followed,
towed along in the same way.

I heard a water-tight door,
furnished
with stopper plates,
close upon us,
and we were wrapped in profound darkness.After some minutes,
a loud hissing was heard.

I felt the cold mount from my feet
to my chest.

Evidently from some part of the vessel they had,
by means of a tap,
given entrance
to the water,
which was invading us,
and
with which the room was soon filled.

A second door cut in the side of the Nautilus then opened.

We saw a faint light.

In another instant our feet trod the bottom of the sea.And now,
how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk under the waters?

Words are impotent
to relate such wonders!

Captain Nemo walked in front,
his companion followed some steps behind.

Conseil and I remained near each other,
as if an exchange of words had been possible through our metallic cases.

I no longer felt the weight of my clothing,
or of my shoes,
of my reservoir of air,
or my thick helmet,
in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond in its shell.The light,
which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the ocean,
astonished me by its power.

The solar rays shone through the watery mass easily,
and dissipated all colour,
and I clearly distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.

Beyond that the tints darkened in
to fine gradations of ultramarine,
and faded in
to vague obscurity.

Truly this water which surrounded me was but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere,
but almost as transparent.

Above me was the calm surface of the sea.

We were walking on fine,
even sand,
not wrinkled,
as on a flat shore,
which retains the impression of the billows.

This dazzling carpet,
really a reflector,
repelled the rays of the sun
with wonderful intensity,
which accounted
for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid.

Shall I be believed when I say that,
at the depth of thirty feet,
I could see as if I was in broad daylight?

for a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand,
sown
with the impalpable dust of shells.

The hull of the Nautilus,
resembling a long shoal,
disappeared by degrees;
but its lantern,
when darkness should overtake us in the waters,
would help
to guide us on board by its distinct rays.Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible.

I recognised magnificent rocks,
hung
with a tapestry of zoophytes of the most beautiful kind,
and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect of this medium.It was then ten in the morning;
the rays of the sun struck the surface of the waves at rather an oblique angle,
and at the touch of their light,
decomposed by refraction as through a prism,
flowers,
rocks,
plants,
shells,
and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours.

It was marvellous,
a feast
for the eyes,
this complication of coloured tints,
a perfect kaleidoscope of green,
yellow,
orange,
violet,
indigo,
and blue;
in one word,
the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist!

Why could I not communicate
to Conseil the lively sensations which were mounting
to my brain,
and rival him in expressions of admiration?


for aught I knew,
Captain Nemo and his companion might be able
to exchange thoughts by means of signs previously agreed upon.

So,

for want of better,
I talked
to myself;
I declaimed in the copper box which covered my head,
thereby expending more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.Various kinds of isis,
clusters of pure tuft-coral,
prickly fungi,
and anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers,
decked
with their collarettes of blue tentacles,
sea-stars studding the sandy bottom.

It was a real grief
to me
to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands,
of hammerheads,
donaciae (veritable bounding shells),
of staircases,
and red helmet-shells,
angel-wings,
and many others produced by this inexhaustible ocean.

But we were bound
to walk,
so we went on,
whilst above our heads waved medusae whose umbrellas of opal or rose-pink,
escalloped
with a band of blue,
sheltered us from the rays of the sun and fiery pelagiae,
which,
in the darkness,
would have strewn our path
with phosphorescent light.All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile,
scarcely stopping,
and following Captain Nemo,
who beckoned me on by signs.

Soon the nature of the soil changed;

to the sandy plain succeeded an extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze," composed of equal parts of silicious and calcareous shells.

We then travelled over a plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation.

This sward was of close texture,
and soft
to the feet,
and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of man.

But whilst verdure was spread at our feet,
it did not abandon our heads.

A light network of marine plants,
of that inexhaustible family of seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known,
grew on the surface of the water.I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea,
whilst the red were at a greater depth,
leaving
to the black or brown the care of forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half.

It was near noon;
I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays,
which were no longer refracted.

The magical colours disappeared by degrees,
and the shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced.

We walked
with a regular step,
which rang upon the ground
with astonishing intensity;
the slightest noise was transmitted
with a quickness
to which the ear is unaccustomed on the earth;
indeed,
water is a better conductor of sound than air,
in the ratio of four
to one.

At this period the earth sloped downwards;
the light took a uniform tint.

We were at a depth of a hundred and five yards and twenty inches,
undergoing a pressure of six atmospheres.At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun,
though feebly;

to their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight,
the lowest state between day and night;
but we could still see well enough;
it was not necessary
to resort
to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet.

At this moment Captain Nemo stopped;
he waited till I joined him,
and then pointed
to an obscure mass,
looming in the shadow,
at a short distance."

It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I;
and I was not mistaken.


CHAPTER XVI
A SUBMARINE FOREST
We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest,
doubtless one of the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains.

He looked upon it as his own,
and considered he had the same right over it that the first men had in the first days of the world.

And,
indeed,
who would have disputed
with him the possession of this submarine property?

What other hardier pioneer would come,
hatchet in hand,

to cut down the dark copses?
This forest was composed of large tree-plants;
and the moment we penetrated under its vast arcades,
I was struck by the singular position of their branches--a position I had not yet observed.Not an herb which carpeted the ground,
not a branch which clothed the trees,
was either broken or bent,
nor did they extend horizontally;
all stretched up
to the surface of the ocean.

Not a filament,
not a ribbon,
however thin they might be,
but kept as straight as a rod of iron.

The fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines,
due
to the density of the element which had produced them.

Motionless yet,
when bent
to one side by the hand,
they directly resumed their former position.

Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!
I soon accustomed myself
to this fantastic position,
as well as
to the comparative darkness which surrounded us.

The soil of the forest seemed covered
with sharp blocks,
difficult
to avoid.

The submarine flora struck me as being very perfect,
and richer even than it would have been in the arctic or tropical zones,
where these productions are not so plentiful.

But
for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the genera,
taking animals
for plants;
and who would not have been mistaken?

The fauna and the flora are too closely allied in this submarine world.These plants are self-propagated,
and the principle of their existence is in the water,
which upholds and nourishes them.

The greater number,
instead of leaves,
shoot forth blades of capricious shapes,
comprised within a scale of colours pink,
carmine,
green,
olive,
fawn,
and brown."

Curious anomaly,
fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist,
"in which the animal kingdom blossoms,
and the vegetable does not!"
In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal
to halt;
I,

for my part,
was not sorry,
and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae,
the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.This short rest seemed delicious
to me;
there was nothing wanting but the charm of conversation;
but,
impossible
to speak,
impossible
to answer,
I only put my great copper head
to Conseil's.

I saw the worthy fellow's eyes glistening
with delight,
and,

to show his satisfaction,
he shook himself in his breastplate of air,
in the most comical way in the world.After four hours of this walking,
I was surprised not
to find myself dreadfully hungry.

How
to account
for this state of the stomach I could not tell.

But instead I felt an insurmountable desire
to sleep,
which happens
to all divers.

And my eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses,
and I fell in
to a heavy slumber,
which the movement alone had prevented before.

Captain Nemo and his robust companion,
stretched in the clear crystal,
set us the example.How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge,
but,
when I woke,
the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon.

Captain Nemo had already risen,
and I was beginning
to stretch my limbs,
when an unexpected apparition brought me briskly
to my feet.A few steps off,
a monstrous sea-spider,
about thirty-eight inches high,
was watching me
with squinting eyes,
ready
to spring upon me.

Though my diver's dress was thick enough
to defend me from the bite of this animal,
I could not help shuddering
with horror.

Conseil and the sailor of the Nautilus awoke at this moment.

Captain Nemo pointed out the hideous crustacean,
which a blow from the butt end of the gun knocked over,
and I saw the horrible claws of the monster writhe in terrible convulsions.

This incident reminded me that other animals more
to be feared might haunt these obscure depths,
against whose attacks my diving-dress would not protect me.

I had never thought of it before,
but I now resolved
to be upon my guard.

Indeed,
I thought that this halt would mark the termination of our walk;
but I was mistaken,
for,
instead of returning
to the Nautilus,
Captain Nemo continued his bold excursion.

The ground was still on the incline,
its declivity seemed
to be getting greater,
and
to be leading us
to greater depths.

It must have been about three o'clock when we reached a narrow valley,
between high perpendicular walls,
situated about seventy-five fathoms deep.

Thanks
to the perfection of our apparatus,
we were forty-five fathoms below the limit which nature seems
to have imposed on man as
to his submarine excursions.I say seventy-five fathoms,
though I had no instrument by which
to judge the distance.

But I knew that even in the clearest waters the solar rays could not penetrate further.

And accordingly the darkness deepened.

At ten paces not an object was visible.

I was groping my way,
when I suddenly saw a brilliant white light.

Captain Nemo had just put his electric apparatus in
to use;
his companion did the same,
and Conseil and I followed their example.

By turning a screw I established a communication between the wire and the spiral glass,
and the sea,
lit by our four lanterns,
was illuminated
for a circle of thirty-six yards.As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus could not fail
to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch.

But if they did approach us,
they at least kept at a respectful distance from the hunters.

Several times I saw Captain Nemo stop,
put his gun
to his shoulder,
and after some moments drop it and walk on.

At last,
after about four hours,
this marvellous excursion came
to an end.

A wall of superb rocks,
in an imposing mass,
rose before us,
a heap of gigantic blocks,
an enormous,
steep granite shore,
forming dark grottos,
but which presented no practicable slope;
it was the prop of the Island of Crespo.

It was the earth!

Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.

A gesture of his brought us all
to a halt;
and,
however desirous I might be
to scale the wall,
I was obliged
to stop.

Here ended Captain Nemo's domains.

And he would not go beyond them.

Further on was a portion of the globe he might not trample upon.The return began.

Captain Nemo had returned
to the head of his little band,
directing their course without hesitation.

I thought we were not following the same road
to return
to the Nautilus.

The new road was very steep,
and consequently very painful.

We approached the surface of the sea rapidly.

But this return
to the upper strata was not so sudden as
to cause relief from the pressure too rapidly,
which might have produced serious disorder in our organisation,
and brought on internal lesions,
so fatal
to divers.

Very soon light reappeared and grew,
and,
the sun being low on the horizon,
the refraction edged the different objects
with a spectral ring.

At ten yards and a half deep,
we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes of all kinds,
more numerous than the birds of the air,
and also more agile;
but no aquatic game worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze,
when at that moment I saw the Captain shoulder his gun quickly,
and follow a moving object in
to the shrubs.

He fired;
I heard a slight hissing,
and a creature fell stunned at some distance from us.

It was a magnificent sea-otter,
an enhydrus,
the only exclusively marine quadruped.

This otter was five feet long,
and must have been very valuable.

Its skin,
chestnut-brown above and silvery underneath,
would have made one of those beautiful furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets:

the fineness and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch L80.

I admired this curious mammal,

with its rounded head ornamented
with short ears,
its round eyes,
and white whiskers like those of a cat,

with webbed feet and nails,
and tufted tail.

This precious animal,
hunted and tracked by fishermen,
has now become very rare,
and taken refuge chiefly in the northern parts of the Pacific,
or probably its race would soon become extinct.Captain Nemo's companion took the beast,
threw it over his shoulder,
and we continued our journey.


for one hour a plain of sand lay stretched before us.

Sometimes it rose
to within two yards and some inches of the surface of the water.

I then saw our image clearly reflected,
drawn inversely,
and above us appeared an identical group reflecting our movements and our actions;
in a word,
like us in every point,
except that they walked
with their heads downward and their feet in the air.Another effect I noticed,
which was the passage of thick clouds which formed and vanished rapidly;
but on reflection I understood that these seeming clouds were due
to the varying thickness of the reeds at the bottom,
and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops multiplied on the water,
and the shadows of large birds passing above our heads,
whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.On this occasion I was witness
to one of the finest gun shots which ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill.

A large bird of great breadth of wing,
clearly visible,
approached,
hovering over us.

Captain Nemo's companion shouldered his gun and fired,
when it was only a few yards above the waves.

The creature fell stunned,
and the force of its fall brought it within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp.

It was an albatross of the finest kind.Our march had not been interrupted by this incident.


for two hours we followed these sandy plains,
then fields of algae very disagreeable
to cross.

Candidly,
I could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light,
which,

for a half mile,
broke the darkness of the waters.

It was the lantern of the Nautilus.

Before twenty minutes were over we should be on board,
and I should be able
to breathe
with ease,

for it seemed that my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen.

But I did not reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our arrival
for some time.I had remained some steps behind,
when I presently saw Captain Nemo coming hurriedly towards me.


with his strong hand he bent me
to the ground,
his companion doing the same
to Conseil.

At first I knew not what
to think of this sudden attack,
but I was soon reassured by seeing the Captain lie down beside me,
and remain immovable.I was stretched on the ground,
just under the shelter of a bush of algae,
when,
raising my head,
I saw some enormous mass,
casting phosphorescent gleams,
pass blusteringly by.My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which threatened us.

It was a couple of tintoreas,
terrible creatures,

with enormous tails and a dull glassy stare,
the phosphorescent matter ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle.

Monstrous brutes!

which would crush a whole man in their iron jaws.

I did not know whether Conseil stopped
to classify them;

for my part,
I noticed their silver bellies,
and their huge mouths bristling
with teeth,
from a very unscientific point of view,
and more as a possible victim than as a naturalist.Happily the voracious creatures do not see well.

They passed without seeing us,
brushing us
with their brownish fins,
and we escaped by a miracle from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in the forest.

Half an hour after,
guided by the electric light we reached the Nautilus.

The outside door had been left open,
and Captain Nemo closed it as soon as we had entered the first cell.

He then pressed a knob.

I heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel,
I felt the water sinking from around me,
and in a few moments the cell was entirely empty.

The inside door then opened,
and we entered the vestry.There our diving-dress was taken off,
not without some trouble,
and,
fairly worn out from want of food and sleep,
I returned
to my room,
in great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.


CHAPTER XVII
FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC
The next morning,
the 18th of November,
I had quite recovered from my fatigues of the day before,
and I went up on
to the platform,
just as the second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo appeared.

He did not seem
to be aware of my presence,
and began a series of astronomical observations.

Then,
when he had finished,
he went and leant on the cage of the watch-light,
and gazed abstractedly on the ocean.

In the meantime,
a number of the sailors of the Nautilus,
all strong and healthy men,
had come up on
to the platform.

They came
to draw up the nets that had been laid all night.

These sailors were evidently of different nations,
although the European type was visible in all of them.

I recognised some unmistakable Irishmen,
Frenchmen,
some Sclaves,
and a Greek,
or a Candiote.

They were civil,
and only used that odd language among themselves,
the origin of which I could not guess,
neither could I question them.The nets were hauled in.

They were a large kind of "chaluts," like those on the Normandy coasts,
great pockets that the waves and a chain fixed in the smaller meshes kept open.

These pockets,
drawn by iron poles,
swept through the water,
and gathered in everything in their way.

That day they brought up curious specimens from those productive coasts.I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of fish.

It was a fine haul,
but not
to be wondered at.

Indeed,
the nets are let down
for several hours,
and enclose in their meshes an infinite variety.

We had no lack of excellent food,
and the rapidity of the Nautilus and the attraction of the electric light could always renew our supply.

These several productions of the sea were immediately lowered through the panel
to the steward's room,
some
to be eaten fresh,
and others pickled.The fishing ended,
the provision of air renewed,
I thought that the Nautilus was about
to continue its submarine excursion,
and was preparing
to return
to my room,
when,
without further preamble,
the Captain turned
to me,
saying:
"Professor,
is not this ocean gifted
with real life?

It has its tempers and its gentle moods.

Yesterday it slept as we did,
and now it has woke after a quiet night.

Look!" he continued,
"it wakes under the caresses of the sun.

It is going
to renew its diurnal existence.

It is an interesting study
to watch the play of its organisation.

It has a pulse,
arteries,
spasms;
and I agree
with the learned Maury,
who discovered in it a circulation as real as the circulation of blood in animals."

Yes,
the ocean has indeed circulation,
and
to promote it,
the Creator has caused things
to multiply in it--caloric,
salt,
and animalculae."


When Captain Nemo spoke thus,
he seemed altogether changed,
and aroused an extraordinary emotion in me."

Also," he added,
"true existence is there;
and I can imagine the foundations of nautical towns,
clusters of submarine houses,
which,
like the Nautilus,
would ascend every morning
to breathe at the surface of the water,
free towns,
independent cities.

Yet who knows whether some despot----"
Captain Nemo finished his sentence
with a violent gesture.

Then,
addressing me as if
to chase away some sorrowful thought:
"M.

Aronnax," he asked.

"do you know the depth of the ocean?"


"I only know,
Captain,
what the principal soundings have taught us."


"Could you tell me them,
so that I can suit them
to my purpose?"


"These are some," I replied,
"that I remember.

If I am not mistaken,
a depth of 8,000 yards has been found in the North Atlantic,
and 2,500 yards in the Mediterranean.

The most remarkable soundings have been made in the South Atlantic,
near the thirty-fifth parallel,
and they gave 12,000 yards,
14,000 yards,
and 15,000 yards.


to sum up all,
it is reckoned that if the bottom of the sea were levelled,
its mean depth would be about one and three-quarter leagues."


"Well,
Professor," replied the Captain,
"we shall show you better than that I hope.

As
to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific,
I tell you it is only 4,000 yards."


Having said this,
Captain Nemo went towards the panel,
and disappeared down the ladder.

I followed him,
and went in
to the large drawing-room.

The screw was immediately put in motion,
and the log gave twenty miles an hour.During the days and weeks that passed,
Captain Nemo was very sparing of his visits.

I seldom saw him.

The lieutenant pricked the ship's course regularly on the chart,
so I could always tell exactly the route of the Nautilus.Nearly every day,

for some time,
the panels of the drawing-room were opened,
and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the submarine world.The general direction of the Nautilus was south-east,
and it kept between 100 and 150 yards of depth.

One day,
however,
I do not know why,
being drawn diagonally by means of the inclined planes,
it touched the bed of the sea.

The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25 (cent.):

a temperature that at this depth seemed common
to all latitudes.At three o'clock in the morning of the 26th of November the Nautilus crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172@ long.

On 27th instant it sighted the Sandwich Islands,
where Cook died,
February 14,
1779.

We had then gone 4,860 leagues from our starting-point.

In the morning,
when I went on the platform,
I saw two miles
to windward,
Hawaii,
the largest of the seven islands that form the group.

I saw clearly the cultivated ranges,
and the several mountain-chains that run parallel
with the side,
and the volcanoes that overtop Mouna-Rea,
which rise 5,000 yards above the level of the sea.

Besides other things the nets brought up,
were several flabellariae and graceful polypi,
that are peculiar
to that part of the ocean.

The direction of the Nautilus was still
to the south-east.

It crossed the equator December 1,
in 142@ long.;
and on the 4th of the same month,
after crossing rapidly and without anything in particular occurring,
we sighted the Marquesas group.

I saw,
three miles off,
Martin's peak in Nouka-Hiva,
the largest of the group that belongs
to France.

I only saw the woody mountains against the horizon,
because Captain Nemo did not wish
to bring the ship
to the wind.

There the nets brought up beautiful specimens of fish:

some
with azure fins and tails like gold,
the flesh of which is unrivalled;
some nearly destitute of scales,
but of exquisite flavour;
others,

with bony jaws,
and yellow-tinged gills,
as good as bonitos;
all fish that would be of use
to us.

After leaving these charming islands protected by the French flag,
from the 4th
to the 11th of December the Nautilus sailed over about 2,000 miles.During the daytime of the 11th of December I was busy reading in the large drawing-room.

Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous water through the half-open panels.

The Nautilus was immovable.

While its reservoirs were filled,
it kept at a depth of 1,000 yards,
a region rarely visited in the ocean,
and in which large fish were seldom seen.I was then reading a charming book by Jean Mace,
The Slaves of the Stomach,
and I was learning some valuable lessons from it,
when Conseil interrupted me."

Will master come here a moment?"

he said,
in a curious voice."

What is the matter,
Conseil?"


"I want master
to look."


I rose,
went,
and leaned on my elbows before the panes and watched.In a full electric light,
an enormous black mass,
quite immovable,
was suspended in the midst of the waters.

I watched it attentively,
seeking
to find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean.

But a sudden thought crossed my mind.

"A vessel!" I said,
half aloud."

Yes," replied the Canadian,
"a disabled ship that has sunk perpendicularly."


Ned Land was right;
we were close
to a vessel of which the tattered shrouds still hung from their chains.

The keel seemed
to be in good order,
and it had been wrecked at most some few hours.

Three stumps of masts,
broken off about two feet above the bridge,
showed that the vessel had had
to sacrifice its masts.

But,
lying on its side,
it had filled,
and it was heeling over
to port.

This skeleton of what it had once been was a sad spectacle as it lay lost under the waves,
but sadder still was the sight of the bridge,
where some corpses,
bound
with ropes,
were still lying.

I counted five--four men,
one of whom was standing at the helm,
and a woman standing by the poop,
holding an infant in her arMs. She was quite young.

I could distinguish her features,
which the water had not decomposed,
by the brilliant light from the Nautilus.

In one despairing effort,
she had raised her infant above her head-- poor little thing!--whose arms encircled its mother's neck.

The attitude of the four sailors was frightful,
distorted as they were by their convulsive movements,
whilst making a last effort
to free themselves from the cords that bound them
to the vessel.

The steersman alone,
calm,

with a grave,
clear face,
his grey hair glued
to his forehead,
and his hand clutching the wheel of the helm,
seemed even then
to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths of the ocean.What a scene!

We were dumb;
our hearts beat fast before this shipwreck,
taken as it were from life and photographed in its last moments.

And I saw already,
coming towards it
with hungry eyes,
enormous sharks,
attracted by the human flesh.However,
the Nautilus,
turning,
went round the submerged vessel,
and in one instant I read on the stern--"The Florida,
Sunderland."


CHAPTER XVIII
VANIKORO
This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime catastrophes that the Nautilus was destined
to meet
with in its route.

As long as it went through more frequented waters,
we often saw the hulls of shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths,
and deeper down cannons,
bullets,
anchors,
chains,
and a thousand other iron materials eaten up by rust.

However,
on the 11th of December we sighted the Pomotou Islands,
the old "dangerous group" of Bougainville,
that extend over a space of 500 leagues at E.S.E.


to W.N.W.,
from the Island Ducie
to that of Lazareff.

This group covers an area of 370 square leagues,
and it is formed of sixty groups of islands,
among which the Gambier group is remarkable,
over which France exercises sway.

These are coral islands,
slowly raised,
but continuous,
created by the daily work of polypi.

Then this new island will be joined later on
to the neighboring groups,
and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia,
and from thence
to the Marquesas.One day,
when I was suggesting this theory
to Captain Nemo,
he replied coldly:
"The earth does not want new continents,
but new men."


{5 paragraphs have been stripped from this edition}
On 15th of December,
we left
to the east the bewitching group of the Societies and the graceful Tahiti,
queen of the Pacific.

I saw in the morning,
some miles
to the windward,
the elevated summits of the island.

These waters furnished our table
with excellent fish,
mackerel,
bonitos,
and some varieties of a sea-serpent.On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed in
to the midst of the New Hebrides,
discovered by Quiros in 1606,
and that Bougainville explored in 1768,
and
to which Cook gave its present name in 1773.

This group is composed principally of nine large islands,
that form a band of 120 leagues N.N.S.


to S.S.W.,
between 15@ and 2@ S.

lat.,
and 164@ and 168@ long.

We passed tolerably near
to the Island of Aurou,
that at noon looked like a mass of green woods,
surmounted by a peak of great height.That day being Christmas Day,
Ned Land seemed
to regret sorely the non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fete of which Protestants are so fond.

I had not seen Captain Nemo
for a week,
when,
on the morning of the 27th,
he came in
to the large drawing-room,
always seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before.

I was busily tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere.

The Captain came up
to me,
put his finger on one spot on the chart,
and said this single word."

Vanikoro."


The effect was magical!

It was the name of the islands on which La Perouse had been lost!

I rose suddenly."

The Nautilus has brought us
to Vanikoro?"

I asked."

Yes,
Professor," said the Captain."

And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole and the Astrolabe struck?"


"If you like,
Professor."


"When shall we be there?"


"We are there now."


Followed by Captain Nemo,
I went up on
to the platform,
and greedily scanned the horizon.
to the N.E.

two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size,
surrounded by a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference.

We were close
to Vanikoro,
really the one
to which Dumont d'Urville gave the name of Isle de la Recherche,
and exactly facing the little harbour of Vanou,
situated in 16@ 4' S.

lat.,
and 164@ 32' E.

long.

The earth seemed covered
with verdure from the shore
to the summits in the interior,
that were crowned by Mount Kapogo,
476 feet high.

The Nautilus,
having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait,
found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty
to forty fathoms deep.

Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived some savages,
who appeared greatly surprised at our approach.

In the long black body,
moving between wind and water,
did they not see some formidable cetacean that they regarded
with suspicion?
Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La Perouse."

Only what everyone knows,
Captain," I replied."

And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?"

he inquired,
ironically."

Easily."


I related
to him all that the last works of Dumont d'Urville had made known-- works from which the following is a brief account.La Perouse,
and his second,
Captain de Langle,
were sent by Louis XVI,
in 1785,
on a voyage of circumnavigation.

They embarked in the corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe,
neither of which were again heard of.

In 1791,
the French Government,
justly uneasy as
to the fate of these two sloops,
manned two large merchantmen,
the Recherche and the Esperance,
which left Brest the 28th of September under the command of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.Two months after,
they learned from Bowen,
commander of the Albemarle,
that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts of New Georgia.

But D'Entrecasteaux,
ignoring this communication-- rather uncertain,
besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La Perouse was wrecked.They sought in vain.

The Esperance and the Recherche passed before Vanikoro without stopping there,
and,
in fact,
this voyage was most disastrous,
as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life,
and those of two of his lieutenants,
besides several of his crew.Captain Dillon,
a shrewd old Pacific sailor,
was the first
to find unmistakable traces of the wrecks.

On the 15th of May,
1824,
his vessel,
the St.

Patrick,
passed close
to Tikopia,
one of the New Hebrides.

There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe,
sold him the handle of a sword in silver that bore the print of characters engraved on the hilt.

The Lascar pretended that six years before,
during a stay at Vanikoro,
he had seen two Europeans that belonged
to some vessels that had run aground on the reefs some years ago.Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse,
whose disappearance had troubled the whole world.

He tried
to get on
to Vanikoro,
where,
according
to the Lascar,
he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
but winds and tides prevented him.Dillon returned
to Calcutta.

There he interested the Asiatic Society and the Indian Company in his discovery.

A vessel,

to which was given the name of the Recherche,
was put at his disposal,
and he set out,
23rd January,
1827,
accompanied by a French agent.The Recherche,
after touching at several points in the Pacific,
cast anchor before Vanikoro,
7th July,
1827,
in that same harbour of Vanou where the Nautilus was at this time.There it collected numerous relics of the wreck-- iron utensils,
anchors,
pulley-strops,
swivel-guns,
an 18 lb.

shot,
fragments of astronomical instruments,
a piece of crown work,
and a bronze clock,
bearing this inscription--"Bazin m'a fait," the mark of the foundry of the arsenal at Brest about 1785.

There could be no further doubt.Dillon,
having made all inquiries,
stayed in the unlucky place till October.

Then he quitted Vanikoro,
and directed his course towards New Zealand;
put in
to Calcutta,
7th April,
1828,
and returned
to France,
where he was warmly welcomed by Charles X.But at the same time,
without knowing Dillon's movements,
Dumont d'Urville had already set out
to find the scene of the wreck.

And they had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St.

Louis had been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.

Dumont d'Urville,
commander of the Astrolabe,
had then sailed,
and two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put in
to Hobart Town.

There he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries,
and found that a certain James Hobbs,
second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta,
after landing on an island situated 8@ 18' S.

lat.,
and 156@ 30' E.

long.,
had seen some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these parts.

Dumont d'Urville,
much perplexed,
and not knowing how
to credit the reports of low-class journals,
decided
to follow Dillon's track.On the 10th of February,
1828,
the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia,
and took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island;
made his way
to Vanikoro,
sighted it on the 12th inst.,
lay among the reefs until the 14th,
and not until the 20th did he cast anchor within the barrier in the harbour of Vanou.On the 23rd,
several officers went round the island and brought back some unimportant trifles.

The natives,
adopting a system of denials and evasions,
refused
to take them
to the unlucky place.

This ambiguous conduct led them
to believe that the natives had ill-treated the castaways,
and indeed they seemed
to fear that Dumont d'Urville had come
to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.However,
on the 26th,
appeased by some presents,
and understanding that they had no reprisals
to fear,
they led M.

Jacquireot
to the scene of the wreck.There,
in three or four fathoms of water,
between the reefs of Pacou and Vanou,
lay anchors,
cannons,
pigs of lead and iron,
embedded in the limy concretions.

The large boat and the whaler belonging
to the Astrolabe were sent
to this place,
and,
not without some difficulty,
their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800 lbs.,
a brass gun,
some pigs of iron,
and two copper swivel-guns.Dumont d'Urville,
questioning the natives,
learned too that La Perouse,
after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island,
had constructed a smaller boat,
only
to be lost a second time.

Where,
no one knew.But the French Government,
fearing that Dumont d'Urville was not acquainted
with Dillon's movements,
had sent the sloop Bayonnaise,
commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin,

to Vanikoro,
which had been stationed on the west coast of America.

The Bayonnaise cast her anchor before Vanikoro some months after the departure of the Astrolabe,
but found no new document;
but stated that the savages had respected the monument
to La Perouse.

That is the substance of what I told Captain Nemo."

So," he said,
"no one knows now where the third vessel perished that was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?"


"No one knows."


Captain Nemo said nothing,
but signed
to me
to follow him in
to the large saloon.

The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves,
and the panels were opened.I hastened
to the aperture,
and under the crustations of coral,
covered
with fungi,
I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been able
to tear up--iron stirrups,
anchors,
cannons,
bullets,
capstan fittings,
the stem of a ship,
all objects clearly proving the wreck of some vessel,
and now carpeted
with living flowers.

While I was looking on this desolate scene,
Captain Nemo said,
in a sad voice:
{this above para was edited}
"Commander La Perouse set out 7th December,
1785,

with his vessels La Boussole and the Astrolabe.

He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
visited the Friendly Isles,
New Caledonia,
then directed his course towards Santa Cruz,
and put in
to Namouka,
one of the Hapai group.

Then his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro.

The Boussole,
which went first,
ran aground on the southerly coast.

The Astrolabe went
to its help,
and ran aground too.

The first vessel was destroyed almost immediately.

The second,
stranded under the wind,
resisted some days.

The natives made the castaways welcome.

They installed themselves in the island,
and constructed a smaller boat
with the debris of the two large ones.

Some sailors stayed willingly at Vanikoro;
the others,
weak and ill,
set out
with La Perouse.

They directed their course towards the Solomon Islands,
and there perished,

with everything,
on the westerly coast of the chief island of the group,
between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."


"How do you know that?"


"By this,
that I found on the spot where was the last wreck."


Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box,
stamped
with the French arms,
and corroded by the salt water.

He opened it,
and I saw a bundle of papers,
yellow but still readable.They were the instructions of the naval minister
to Commander La Perouse,
annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting."

Ah!

it is a fine death
for a sailor!" said Captain Nemo,
at last.

"A coral tomb makes a quiet grave;
and I trust that I and my comrades will find no other."


CHAPTER XIX
TORRES STRAITS
During the night of the 27th or 28th of December,
the Nautilus left the shores of Vanikoro
with great speed.

Her course was south-westerly,
and in three days she had gone over the 750 leagues that separated it from La Perouse's group and the south-east point of Papua.Early on the 1st of January,
1863,
Conseil joined me on the platform."

Master,
will you permit me
to wish you a happy New Year?"


"What!

Conseil;
exactly as if I was at Paris in my study at the Jardin des Plantes?

Well,
I accept your good wishes,
and thank you
for them.

Only,
I will ask you what you mean by a `Happy New Year' under our circumstances?

Do you mean the year that will bring us
to the end of our imprisonment,
or the year that sees us continue this strange voyage?"


"Really,
I do not know how
to answer,
master.

We are sure
to see curious things,
and
for the last two months we have not had time
for dullness.

The last marvel is always the most astonishing;
and,
if we continue this progression,
I do not know how it will end.

It is my opinion that we shall never again see the like.

I think then,

with no offence
to master,
that a happy year would be one in which we could see everything."


On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles,
or 5,250 French leagues,
since our starting-point in the Japan Seas.

Before the ship's head stretched the dangerous shores of the coral sea,
on the north-east coast of Australia.

Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank on which Cook's vessel was lost,
10th June,
1770.

The boat in which Cook was struck on a rock,
and,
if it did not sink,
it was owing
to a piece of coral that was broken by the shock,
and fixed itself in the broken keel.I had wished
to visit the reef,
360 leagues long,
against which the sea,
always rough,
broke
with great violence,

with a noise like thunder.

But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down
to a great depth,
and I could see nothing of the high coral walls.

I had
to content myself
with the different specimens of fish brought up by the nets.

I remarked,
among others,
some germons,
a species of mackerel as large as a tunny,

with bluish sides,
and striped
with transverse bands,
that disappear
with the animal's life.

These fish followed us in shoals,
and furnished us
with very delicate food.

We took also a large number of giltheads,
about one and a half inches long,
tasting like dorys;
and flying fire-fish like submarine swallows,
which,
in dark nights,
light alternately the air and water
with their phosphorescent light.{2 sentences missing here}
Two days after crossing the coral sea,
4th January,
we sighted the Papuan coasts.

On this occasion,
Captain Nemo informed me that his intention was
to get in
to the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.

His communication ended there.The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide;
but they are obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands,
islets,
breakers,
and rocks,
that make its navigation almost impracticable;
so that Captain Nemo took all needful precautions
to cross them.

The Nautilus,
floating betwixt wind and water,
went at a moderate pace.

Her screw,
like a cetacean's tail,
beat the waves slowly.Profiting by this,
I and my two companions went up on
to the deserted platform.

Before us was the steersman's cage,
and I expected that Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus.

I had before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres,
and I consulted them attentively.

Round the Nautilus the sea dashed furiously.

The course of the waves,
that went from south-east
to north-west at the rate of two and a half miles,
broke on the coral that showed itself here and there."

This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land."

Detestable indeed,
and one that does not suit a boat like the Nautilus."


"The Captain must be very sure of his route,

for I see there pieces of coral that would do
for its keel if it only touched them slightly."


Indeed the situation was dangerous,
but the Nautilus seemed
to slide like magic off these rocks.

It did not follow the routes of the Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly,

for they proved fatal
to Dumont d'Urville.

It bore more northwards,
coasted the Islands of Murray,
and came back
to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage.

I thought it was going
to pass it by,
when,
going back
to north-west,
it went through a large quantity of islands and islets little known,
towards the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.I wondered if Captain Nemo,
foolishly imprudent,
would steer his vessel in
to that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched;
when,
swerving again,
and cutting straight through
to the west,
he steered
for the Island of Gilboa.It was then three in the afternoon.

The tide began
to recede,
being quite full.

The Nautilus approached the island,
that I still saw,

with its remarkable border of screw-pines.

He stood off it at about two miles distant.

Suddenly a shock overthrew me.

The Nautilus just touched a rock,
and stayed immovable,
laying lightly
to port side.When I rose,
I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the platform.

They were examining the situation of the vessel,
and exchanging words in their incomprehensible dialect.She was situated thus:

Two miles,
on the starboard side,
appeared Gilboa,
stretching from north
to west like an immense arm.

Towards the south and east some coral showed itself,
left by the ebb.

We had run aground,
and in one of those seas where the tides are middling--a sorry matter
for the floating of the Nautilus.

However,
the vessel had not suffered,

for her keel was solidly joined.

But,
if she could neither glide off nor move,
she ran the risk of being
for ever fastened
to these rocks,
and then Captain Nemo's submarine vessel would be done for.I was reflecting thus,
when the Captain,
cool and calm,
always master of himself,
approached me."

An accident?"

I asked."

No;
an incident."


"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps
to become an inhabitant of this land from which you flee?"


Captain Nemo looked at me curiously,
and made a negative gesture,
as much as
to say that nothing would force him
to set foot on terra firma again.

Then he said:
"Besides,
M.

Aronnax,
the Nautilus is not lost;
it will carry you yet in
to the midst of the marvels of the ocean.

Our voyage is only begun,
and I do not wish
to be deprived so soon of the honour of your company."


"However,
Captain Nemo," I replied,
without noticing the ironical turn of his phrase,
"the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.

Now the tides are not strong in the Pacific;
and,
if you cannot lighten the Nautilus,
I do not see how it will be reinflated."


"The tides are not strong in the Pacific:

you are right there,
Professor;
but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference of a yard and a half between the level of high and low seas.

To-day is 4th January,
and in five days the moon will be full.

Now,
I shall be very much astonished if that satellite does not raise these masses of water sufficiently,
and render me a service that I should be indebted
to her for."


Having said this,
Captain Nemo,
followed by his lieutenant,
redescended
to the interior of the Nautilus.

As
to the vessel,
it moved not,
and was immovable,
as if the coralline polypi had already walled it up
with their in destructible cement."

Well,
sir?"

said Ned Land,
who came up
to me after the departure of the Captain."

Well,
friend Ned,
we will wait patiently
for the tide on the 9th instant;

for it appears that the moon will have the goodness
to put it off again."


"Really?"


"Really."


"And this Captain is not going
to cast anchor at all since the tide will suffice?"

said Conseil,
simply.The Canadian looked at Conseil,
then shrugged his shoulders."

Sir,
you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will navigate neither on nor under the sea again;
it is only fit
to be sold
for its weight.

I think,
therefore,
that the time has come
to part company
with Captain Nemo."


"Friend Ned,
I do not despair of this stout Nautilus,
as you do;
and in four days we shall know what
to hold
to on the Pacific tides.

Besides,
flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English or Provencal coast;
but on the Papuan shores,
it is another thing;
and it will be time enough
to come
to that extremity if the Nautilus does not recover itself again,
which I look upon as a grave event."


"But do they know,
at least,
how
to act circumspectly?

There is an island;
on that island there are trees;
under those trees,
terrestrial animals,
bearers of cutlets and roast beef,

to which I would willingly give a trial."


"In this,
friend Ned is right," said Conseil,
"and I agree
with him.

Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo
to put us on land,
if only so as not
to lose the habit of treading on the solid parts of our planet?"


"I can ask him,
but he will refuse."


"Will master risk it?"

asked Conseil,
"and we shall know how
to rely upon the Captain's amiability."



to my great surprise,
Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
and he gave it very agreeably,
without even exacting from me a promise
to return
to the vessel;
but flight across New Guinea might be very perilous,
and I should not have counselled Ned Land
to attempt it.

Better
to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than
to fall in
to the hands of the natives.At eight o'clock,
armed
with guns and hatchets,
we got off the Nautilus.

The sea was pretty calm;
a slight breeze blew on land.

Conseil and I rowing,
we sped along quickly,
and Ned steered in the straight passage that the breakers left between them.

The boat was well handled,
and moved rapidly.Ned Land could not restrain his joy.

He was like a prisoner that had escaped from prison,
and knew not that it was necessary
to re-enter it."

Meat!

We are going
to eat some meat;
and what meat!" he replied.

"Real game!

no,
bread,
indeed."


"I do not say that fish is not good;
we must not abuse it;
but a piece of fresh venison,
grilled on live coals,
will agreeably vary our ordinary course."


"Glutton!" said Conseil,
"he makes my mouth water."


"It remains
to be seen," I said,
"if these forests are full of game,
and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."


"Well said,
M.

Aronnax," replied the Canadian,
whose teeth seemed sharpened like the edge of a hatchet;
"but I will eat tiger-- loin of tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."


"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil."

Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land,
"every animal
with four paws without feathers,
or
with two paws without feathers,
will be saluted by my first shot."


"Very well!

Master Land's imprudences are beginning."


"Never fear,
M.

Aronnax," replied the Canadian;
"I do not want twenty-five minutes
to offer you a dish,
of my sort."


At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly aground on a heavy sand,
after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the Island of Gilboa.


CHAPTER XX
A FEW DAYS ON LAND
I was much impressed on touching land.

Ned Land tried the soil
with his feet,
as if
to take possession of it.

However,
it was only two months before that we had become,
according
to Captain Nemo,
"passengers on board the Nautilus," but,
in reality,
prisoners of its commander.In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast.

The whole horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests.

Enormous trees,
the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet,
were tied
to each other by garlands of bindweed,
real natural hammocks,
which a light breeze rocked.

They were mimosas,
figs,
hibisci,
and palm trees,
mingled together in profusion;
and under the shelter of their verdant vault grew orchids,
leguminous plants,
and ferns.But,
without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
the Canadian abandoned the agreeable
for the useful.

He discovered a coco-tree,
beat down some of the fruit,
broke them,
and we drunk the milk and ate the nut
with a satisfaction that protested against the ordinary food on the Nautilus."

Excellent!" said Ned Land."

Exquisite!" replied Conseil."

And I do not think," said the Canadian,
"that he would object
to our introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board."


"I do not think he would,
but he would not taste them."


"So much the worse
for him," said Conseil."

And so much the better
for us," replied Ned Land.

"There will be more
for us."


"One word only,
Master Land," I said
to the harpooner,
who was beginning
to ravage another coco-nut tree.

"Coco-nuts are good things,
but before filling the canoe
with them it would be wise
to reconnoitre and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.

Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the Nautilus."


"Master is right," replied Conseil;
"and I propose
to reserve three places in our vessel,
one
for fruits,
the other
for vegetables,
and the third
for the venison,
of which I have not yet seen the smallest specimen."


"Conseil,
we must not despair," said the Canadian."

Let us continue," I returned,
"and lie in wait.

Although the island seems uninhabited,
it might still contain some individuals that would be less hard than we on the nature of game."


"Ho!

ho!" said Ned Land,
moving his jaws significantly."

Well,
Ned!" said Conseil."

My word!" returned the Canadian,
"I begin
to understand the charms of anthropophagy."


"Ned!

Ned!

what are you saying?

You,
a man-eater?

I should not feel safe
with you,
especially as I share your cabin.

I might perhaps wake one day
to find myself half devoured."


"Friend Conseil,
I like you much,
but not enough
to eat you unnecessarily."


"I would not trust you," replied Conseil.

"But enough.

We must absolutely bring down some game
to satisfy this cannibal,
or else one of these fine mornings,
master will find only pieces of his servant
to serve him."


While we were talking thus,
we were penetrating the sombre arches of the forest,
and
for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.Chance rewarded our search
for eatable vegetables,
and one of the most useful products of the tropical zones furnished us
with precious food that we missed on board.

I would speak of the bread-fruit tree,
very abundant in the island of Gilboa;
and I remarked chiefly the variety destitute of seeds,
which bears in Malaya the name of "rima."


Ned Land knew these fruits well.

He had already eaten many during his numerous voyages,
and he knew how
to prepare the eatable substance.

Moreover,
the sight of them excited him,
and he could contain himself no longer."

Master," he said,
"I shall die if I do not taste a little of this bread-fruit pie."


"Taste it,
friend Ned--taste it as you want.

We are here
to make experiments--make them."


"It won't take long," said the Canadian.And,
provided
with a lentil,
he lighted a fire of dead wood that crackled joyously.

During this time,
Conseil and I chose the best fruits of the bread-fruit.

Some had not then attained a sufficient degree of maturity;
and their thick skin covered a white but rather fibrous pulp.

Others,
the greater number yellow and gelatinous,
waited only
to be picked.These fruits enclosed no kernel.

Conseil brought a dozen
to Ned Land,
who placed them on a coal fire,
after having cut them in thick slices,
and while doing this repeating:
"You will see,
master,
how good this bread is.

More so when one has been deprived of it so long.

It is not even bread," added he,
"but a delicate pastry.

You have eaten none,
master?"


"No,
Ned."


"Very well,
prepare yourself
for a juicy thing.

If you do not come
for more,
I am no longer the king of harpooners."


After some minutes,
the part of the fruits that was exposed
to the fire was completely roasted.

The interior looked like a white pasty,
a sort of soft crumb,
the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.It must be confessed this bread was excellent,
and I ate of it
with great relish."

What time is it now?"

asked the Canadian."

Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil."

How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned Land."

Let us be off," replied Conseil.We returned through the forest,
and completed our collection by a raid upon the cabbage-palms,
that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
little beans that I recognised as the "abrou" of the Malays,
and yams of a superior quality.We were loaded when we reached the boat.

But Ned Land did not find his provisions sufficient.

Fate,
however,
favoured us.

Just as we were pushing off,
he perceived several trees,
from twenty-five
to thirty feet high,
a species of palm-tree.At last,
at five o'clock in the evening,
loaded
with our riches,
we quitted the shore,
and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus.

No one appeared on our arrival.

The enormous iron-plated cylinder seemed deserted.

The provisions embarked,
I descended
to my chamber,
and after supper slept soundly.The next day,
6th January,
nothing new on board.

Not a sound inside,
not a sign of life.

The boat rested along the edge,
in the same place in which we had left it.

We resolved
to return
to the island.

Ned Land hoped
to be more fortunate than on the day before
with regard
to the hunt,
and wished
to visit another part of the forest.At dawn we set off.

The boat,
carried on by the waves that flowed
to shore,
reached the island in a few minutes.We landed,
and,
thinking that it was better
to give in
to the Canadian,
we followed Ned Land,
whose long limbs threatened
to distance us.

He wound up the coast towards the west:

then,
fording some torrents,
he gained the high plain that was bordered
with admirable forests.

Some kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses,
but they would not let themselves be approached.

Their circumspection proved
to me that these birds knew what
to expect from bipeds of our species,
and I concluded that,
if the island was not inhabited,
at least human beings occasionally frequented it.After crossing a rather large prairie,
we arrived at the skirts of a little wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large number of birds."

There are only birds," said Conseil."

But they are eatable," replied the harpooner."

I do not agree
with you,
friend Ned,

for I see only parrots there."


"Friend Conseil," said Ned,
gravely,
"the parrot is like pheasant
to those who have nothing else."


"And," I added,
"this bird,
suitably prepared,
is worth knife and fork."


Indeed,
under the thick foliage of this wood,
a world of parrots were flying from branch
to branch,
only needing a careful education
to speak the human language.


for the moment,
they were chattering
with parrots of all colours,
and grave cockatoos,
who seemed
to meditate upon some philosophical problem,
whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece of bunting carried away by the breeze,
papuans,

with the finest azure colours,
and in all a variety of winged things most charming
to behold,
but few eatable.However,
a bird peculiar
to these lands,
and which has never passed the limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands,
was wanting in this collection.

But fortune reserved it
for me before long.After passing through a moderately thick copse,
we found a plain obstructed
with bushes.

I saw then those magnificent birds,
the disposition of whose long feathers obliges them
to fly against the wind.

Their undulating flight,
graceful aerial curves,
and the shading of their colours,
attracted and charmed one's looks.

I had no trouble in recognising them."

Birds of paradise!" I exclaimed.The Malays,
who carry on a great trade in these birds
with the Chinese,
have several means that we could not employ
for taking them.

Sometimes they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds of paradise prefer
to frequent.

Sometimes they catch them
with a viscous birdlime that paralyses their movements.

They even go so far as
to poison the fountains that the birds generally drink from.

But we were obliged
to fire at them during flight,
which gave us few chances
to bring them down;
and,
indeed,
we vainly exhausted one half our ammunition.About eleven o'clock in the morning,
the first range of mountains that form the centre of the island was traversed,
and we had killed nothing.

Hunger drove us on.

The hunters had relied on the products of the chase,
and they were wrong.

Happily Conseil,

to his great surprise,
made a double shot and secured breakfast.

He brought down a white pigeon and a wood-pigeon,
which,
cleverly plucked and suspended from a skewer,
was roasted before a red fire of dead wood.

While these interesting birds were cooking,
Ned prepared the fruit of the bread-tree.

Then the wood-pigeons were devoured
to the bones,
and declared excellent.

The nutmeg,

with which they are in the habit of stuffing their crops,
flavours their flesh and renders it delicious eating."

Now,
Ned,
what do you miss now?"


"Some four-footed game,
M.

Aronnax.

All these pigeons are only side-dishes and trifles;
and until I have killed an animal
with cutlets I shall not be content."


"Nor I,
Ned,
if I do not catch a bird of paradise."


"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil.

"Let us go towards the sea.

We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains,
and I think we had better regain the region of forests."


That was sensible advice,
and was followed out.

After walking
for one hour we had attained a forest of sago-trees.

Some inoffensive serpents glided away from us.

The birds of paradise fled at our approach,
and truly I despaired of getting near one when Conseil,
who was walking in front,
suddenly bent down,
uttered a triumphal cry,
and came back
to me bringing a magnificent specimen."

Ah!

bravo,
Conseil!"
"Master is very good."


"No,
my boy;
you have made an excellent stroke.

Take one of these living birds,
and carry it in your hand."


"If master will examine it,
he will see that I have not deserved great merit."


"Why,
Conseil?"


"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."


"Drunk!"
"Yes,
sir;
drunk
with the nutmegs that it devoured under the nutmeg-tree,
under which I found it.

See,
friend Ned,
see the monstrous effects of intemperance!"
"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian,
"because I have drunk gin
for two months,
you must needs reproach me!"
However,
I examined the curious bird.

Conseil was right.

The bird,
drunk
with the juice,
was quite powerless.

It could not fly;
it could hardly walk.This bird belonged
to the most beautiful of the eight species that are found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands.

It was the "large emerald bird,
the most rare kind."

It measured three feet in length.

Its head was comparatively small,
its eyes placed near the opening of the beak,
and also small.

But the shades of colour were beautiful,
having a yellow beak,
brown feet and claws,
nut-coloured wings
with purple tips,
pale yellow at the back of the neck and head,
and emerald colour at the throat,
chestnut on the breast and belly.

Two horned,
downy nets rose from below the tail,
that prolonged the long light feathers of admirable fineness,
and they completed the whole of this marvellous bird,
that the natives have poetically named the "bird of the sun."


But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird of paradise,
the Canadian's were not yet.

Happily,
about two o'clock,
Ned Land brought down a magnificent hog;
from the brood of those the natives call "bari-outang."

The animal came in time
for us
to procure real quadruped meat,
and he was well received.

Ned Land was very proud of his shot.

The hog,
hit by the electric ball,
fell stone dead.

The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly,
after having taken half a dozen cutlets,
destined
to furnish us
with a grilled repast in the evening.

Then the hunt was resumed,
which was still more marked by Ned and Conseil's exploits.Indeed,
the two friends,
beating the bushes,
roused a herd of kangaroos that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws.

But these animals did not take
to flight so rapidly but what the electric capsule could stop their course."

Ah,
Professor!" cried Ned Land,
who was carried away by the delights of the chase,
"what excellent game,
and stewed,
too!

What a supply
for the Nautilus!

Two!

three!

five down!

And
to think that we shall eat that flesh,
and that the idiots on board shall not have a crumb!"
I think that,
in the excess of his joy,
the Canadian,
if he had not talked so much,
would have killed them all.

But he contented himself
with a single dozen of these interesting marsupians.

These animals were small.

They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live habitually in the hollows of trees,
and whose speed is extreme;
but they are moderately fat,
and furnish,
at least,
estimable food.

We were very satisfied
with the results of the hunt.

Happy Ned proposed
to return
to this enchanting island the next day,

for he wished
to depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds.

But he had reckoned without his host.At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore;
our boat was moored
to the usual place.

The Nautilus,
like a long rock,
emerged from the waves two miles from the beach.

Ned Land,
without waiting,
occupied himself about the important dinner business.

He understood all about cooking well.

The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals,
soon scented the air
with a delicious odour.Indeed,
the dinner was excellent.

Two wood-pigeons completed this extraordinary menu.

The sago pasty,
the artocarpus bread,
some mangoes,
half a dozen pineapples,
and the liquor fermented from some coco-nuts,
overjoyed us.

I even think that my worthy companions' ideas had not all the plainness desirable."

Suppose we do not return
to the Nautilus this evening?"

said Conseil."

Suppose we never return?"

added Ned Land.Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's proposition.


CHAPTER XXI
CAPTAIN NEMO'S THUNDERBOLT
We looked at the edge of the forest without rising,
my hand stopping in the action of putting it
to my mouth,
Ned Land's completing its office."

Stones do not fall from the sky," remarked Conseil,
"or they would merit the name aerolites."


A second stone,
carefully aimed,
that made a savoury pigeon's leg fall from Conseil's hand,
gave still more weight
to his observation.

We all three arose,
shouldered our guns,
and were ready
to reply
to any attack."

Are they apes?"

cried Ned Land."

Very nearly--they are savages."


"
to the boat!" I said,
hurrying
to the sea.It was indeed necessary
to beat a retreat,

for about twenty natives armed
with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that masked the horizon
to the right,
hardly a hundred steps from us.Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us.

The savages approached us,
not running,
but making hostile demonstrations.

Stones and arrows fell thickly.Ned Land had not wished
to leave his provisions;
and,
in spite of his imminent danger,
his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other,
he went tolerably fast.

In two minutes we were on the shore.


to load the boat
with provisions and arms,

to push it out
to sea,
and ship the oars,
was the work of an instant.

We had not gone two cable-lengths,
when a hundred savages,
howling and gesticulating,
entered the water up
to their waists.

I watched
to see if their apparition would attract some men from the Nautilus on
to the platform.

But no.

The enormous machine,
lying off,
was absolutely deserted.Twenty minutes later we were on board.

The panels were open.

After making the boat fast,
we entered in
to the interior of the Nautilus.I descended
to the drawing-room,
from whence I heard some chords.

Captain Nemo was there,
bending over his organ,
and plunged in a musical ecstasy."

Captain!"
He did not hear me."

Captain!" I said,
touching his hand.He shuddered,
and,
turning round,
said,
"Ah!

it is you,
Professor?

Well,
have you had a good hunt,
have you botanised successfully?"


"Yes Captain;
but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
whose vicinity troubles me."


"What bipeds?"


"Savages."


"Savages!" he echoed,
ironically.

"So you are astonished,
Professor,
at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages?

Savages!

where are there not any?

Besides,
are they worse than others,
these whom you call savages?"


"But Captain----"
"How many have you counted?"


"A hundred at least."


"M.

Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo,
placing his fingers on the organ stops,
"when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore,
the Nautilus will have nothing
to fear from their attacks."


The Captain's fingers were then running over the keys of the instrument,
and I remarked that he touched only the black keys,
which gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character.

Soon he had forgotten my presence,
and had plunged in
to a reverie that I did not disturb.

I went up again on
to the platform:

night had already fallen;
for,
in this low latitude,
the sun sets rapidly and without twilight.

I could only see the island indistinctly;
but the numerous fires,
lighted on the beach,
showed that the natives did not think of leaving it.

I was alone
for several hours,
sometimes thinking of the natives-- but without any dread of them,

for the imperturbable confidence of the Captain was catching--sometimes forgetting them
to admire the splendours of the night in the tropics.

My remembrances went
to France in the train of those zodiacal stars that would shine in some hours' time.

The moon shone in the midst of the constellations of the zenith.The night slipped away without any mischance,
the islanders frightened no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay.

The panels were open,
and would have offered an easy access
to the interior of the Nautilus.At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up on
to the platform.

The dawn was breaking.

The island soon showed itself through the dissipating fogs,
first the shore,
then the summits.The natives were there,
more numerous than on the day before-- five or six hundred perhaps--some of them,
profiting by the low water,
had come on
to the coral,
at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus.

I distinguished them easily;
they were true Papuans,

with athletic figures,
men of good race,
large high foreheads,
large,
but not broad and flat,
and white teeth.

Their woolly hair,

with a reddish tinge,
showed off on their black shining bodies like those of the Nubians.

From the lobes of their ears,
cut and distended,
hung chaplets of bones.

Most of these savages were naked.

Amongst them,
I remarked some women,
dressed from the hips
to knees in quite a crinoline of herbs,
that sustained a vegetable waistband.

Some chiefs had ornamented their necks
with a crescent and collars of glass beads,
red and white;
nearly all were armed
with bows,
arrows,
and shields and carried on their shoulders a sort of net containing those round stones which they cast from their slings
with great skill.

One of these chiefs,
rather near
to the Nautilus,
examined it attentively.

He was,
perhaps,
a "mado" of high rank,

for he was draped in a mat of banana-leaves,
notched round the edges,
and set off
with brilliant colours.I could easily have knocked down this native,
who was within a short length;
but I thought that it was better
to wait
for real hostile demonstrations.

Between Europeans and savages,
it is proper
for the Europeans
to parry sharply,
not
to attack.During low water the natives roamed about near the Nautilus,
but were not troublesome;
I heard them frequently repeat the word "Assai," and by their gestures I understood that they invited me
to go on land,
an invitation that I declined.So that,
on that day,
the boat did not push off,

to the great displeasure of Master Land,
who could not complete his provisions.This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands and meat that he had brought off the island.

As
for the savages,
they returned
to the shore about eleven o'clock in the morning,
as soon as the coral tops began
to disappear under the rising tide;
but I saw their numbers had increased considerably on the shore.

Probably they came from the neighbouring islands,
or very likely from Papua.

However,
I had not seen a single native canoe.

Having nothing better
to do,
I thought of dragging these beautiful limpid waters,
under which I saw a profusion of shells,
zoophytes,
and marine plants.

Moreover,
it was the last day that the Nautilus would pass in these parts,
if it float in open sea the next day,
according
to Captain Nemo's promise.I therefore called Conseil,
who brought me a little light drag,
very like those
for the oyster fishery.

Now
to work!


for two hours we fished unceasingly,
but without bringing up any rarities.

The drag was filled
with midas-ears,
harps,
melames,
and particularly the most beautiful hammers I have ever seen.

We also brought up some sea-slugs,
pearl-oysters,
and a dozen little turtles that were reserved
for the pantry on board.But just when I expected it least,
I put my hand on a wonder,
I might say a natural deformity,
very rarely met with.

Conseil was just dragging,
and his net came up filled
with divers ordinary shells,
when,
all at once,
he saw me plunge my arm quickly in
to the net,

to draw out a shell,
and heard me utter a cry."

What is the matter,
sir?"

he asked in surprise.

"Has master been bitten?"


"No,
my boy;
but I would willingly have given a finger
for my discovery."


"What discovery?"


"This shell," I said,
holding up the object of my triumph."

It is simply an olive porphyry."

{genus species missing}
"Yes,
Conseil;
but,
instead of being rolled from right
to left,
this olive turns from left
to right."


"Is it possible?"


"Yes,
my boy;
it is a left shell."


Shells are all right-handed,

with rare exceptions;
and,
when by chance their spiral is left,
amateurs are ready
to pay their weight in gold.Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure,
and I was promising myself
to enrich the museum
with it,
when a stone unfortunately thrown by a native struck against,
and broke,
the precious object in Conseil's hand.

I uttered a cry of despair!

Conseil took up his gun,
and aimed at a savage who was poising his sling at ten yards from him.

I would have stopped him,
but his blow took effect and broke the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm of the savage."

Conseil!" cried I.

"Conseil!"
"Well,
sir!

do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?"


"A shell is not worth the life of a man," said I."

Ah!

the scoundrel!" cried Conseil;
"I would rather he had broken my shoulder!"
Conseil was in earnest,
but I was not of his opinion.

However,
the situation had changed some minutes before,
and we had not perceived.

A score of canoes surrounded the Nautilus.

These canoes,
scooped out of the trunk of a tree,
long,
narrow,
well adapted
for speed,
were balanced by means of a long bamboo pole,
which floated on the water.

They were managed by skilful,
half-naked paddlers,
and I watched their advance
with some uneasiness.

It was evident that these Papuans had already had dealings
with the Europeans and knew their ships.

But this long iron cylinder anchored in the bay,
without masts or chimneys,
what could they think of it?

Nothing good,

for at first they kept at a respectful distance.

However,
seeing it motionless,
by degrees they took courage,
and sought
to familiarise themselves
with it.

Now this familiarity was precisely what it was necessary
to avoid.

Our arms,
which were noiseless,
could only produce a moderate effect on the savages,
who have little respect
for aught but blustering things.

The thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man but little,
though the danger lies in the lightning,
not in the noise.At this moment the canoes approached the Nautilus,
and a shower of arrows alighted on her.I went down
to the saloon,
but found no one there.

I ventured
to knock at the door that opened in
to the Captain's room.

"Come in," was the answer.I entered,
and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations of _x_ and other quantities."

I am disturbing you," said I,

for courtesy's sake."

That is true,
M.

Aronnax," replied the Captain;
"but I think you have serious reasons
for wishing
to see me?"


"Very grave ones;
the natives are surrounding us in their canoes,
and in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many hundreds of savages."


"Ah!," said Captain Nemo quietly,
"they are come
with their canoes?"


"Yes,
sir."


"Well,
sir,
we must close the hatches."


"Exactly,
and I came
to say
to you----"
"Nothing can be more simple," said Captain Nemo.

And,
pressing an electric button,
he transmitted an order
to the ship's crew."

It is all done,
sir," said he,
after some moments.

"The pinnace is ready,
and the hatches are closed.

You do not fear,
I imagine,
that these gentlemen could stave in walls on which the balls of your frigate have had no effect?"


"No,
Captain;
but a danger still exists."


"What is that,
sir?"


"It is that to-morrow,
at about this hour,
we must open the hatches
to renew the air of the Nautilus.

Now,
if,
at this moment,
the Papuans should occupy the platform,
I do not see how you could prevent them from entering."


"Then,
sir,
you suppose that they will board us?"


"I am certain of it."


"Well,
sir,
let them come.

I see no reason
for hindering them.

After all,
these Papuans are poor creatures,
and I am unwilling that my visit
to the island should cost the life of a single one of these wretches."


Upon that I was going away;
But Captain Nemo detained me,
and asked me
to sit down by him.

He questioned me
with interest about our excursions on shore,
and our hunting;
and seemed not
to understand the craving
for meat that possessed the Canadian.

Then the conversation turned on various subjects,
and,
without being more communicative,
Captain Nemo showed himself more amiable.Amongst other things,
we happened
to speak of the situation of the Nautilus,
run aground in exactly the same spot in this strait where Dumont d'Urville was nearly lost.

Apropos of this:
"This D'Urville was one of your great sailors," said the Captain
to me,
"one of your most intelligent navigators.

He is the Captain Cook of you Frenchmen.

Unfortunate man of science,
after having braved the icebergs of the South Pole,
the coral reefs of Oceania,
the cannibals of the Pacific,

to perish miserably in a railway train!

If this energetic man could have reflected during the last moments of his life,
what must have been uppermost in his last thoughts,
do you suppose?"


So speaking,
Captain Nemo seemed moved,
and his emotion gave me a better opinion of him.

Then,
chart in hand,
we reviewed the travels of the French navigator,
his voyages of circumnavigation,
his double detention at the South Pole,
which led
to the discovery of Adelaide and Louis Philippe,
and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal islands of Oceania."

That which your D'Urville has done on the surface of the seas," said Captain Nemo,
"that have I done under them,
and more easily,
more completely than he.

The Astrolabe and the Zelee,
incessantly tossed about by the hurricane,
could not be worth the Nautilus,
quiet repository of labour that she is,
truly motionless in the midst of the waters."

To-morrow," added the Captain,
rising,
"to-morrow,
at twenty minutes
to three p.m.,
the Nautilus shall float,
and leave the Strait of Torres uninjured."


Having curtly pronounced these words,
Captain Nemo bowed slightly.

This was
to dismiss me,
and I went back
to my room.There I found Conseil,
who wished
to know the result of my interview
with the Captain."

My boy," said I,
"when I feigned
to believe that his Nautilus was threatened by the natives of Papua,
the Captain answered me very sarcastically.

I have but one thing
to say
to you:

Have confidence in him,
and go
to sleep in peace."


"Have you no need of my services,
sir?"


"No,
my friend.

What is Ned Land doing?"


"If you will excuse me,
sir," answered Conseil,
"friend Ned is busy making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel."


I remained alone and went
to bed,
but slept indifferently.

I heard the noise of the savages,
who stamped on the platform,
uttering deafening cries.

The night passed thus,
without disturbing the ordinary repose of the crew.

The presence of these cannibals affected them no more than the soldiers of a masked battery care
for the ants that crawl over its front.At six in the morning I rose.

The hatches had not been opened.

The inner air was not renewed,
but the reservoirs,
filled ready
for any emergency,
were now resorted to,
and discharged several cubic feet of oxygen in
to the exhausted atmosphere of the Nautilus.I worked in my room till noon,
without having seen Captain Nemo,
even
for an instant.

On board no preparations
for departure were visible.I waited still some time,
then went in
to the large saloon.

The clock marked half-past two.

In ten minutes it would be high-tide:

and,
if Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise,
the Nautilus would be immediately detached.

If not,
many months would pass ere she could leave her bed of coral.However,
some warning vibrations began
to be felt in the vessel.

I heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of the coral reef.At five-and-twenty minutes
to three,
Captain Nemo appeared in the saloon."

We are going
to start," said he."

Ah!" replied I."

I have given the order
to open the hatches."


"And the Papuans?"


"The Papuans?"

answered Captain Nemo,
slightly shrugging his shoulders."

Will they not come inside the Nautilus?"


"How?"


"Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened."


"M.

Aronnax," quietly answered Captain Nemo,
"they will not enter the hatches of the Nautilus in that way,
even if they were open."


I looked at the Captain."

You do not understand?"

said he."

Hardly."


"Well,
come and you will see."


I directed my steps towards the central staircase.

There Ned Land and Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship's crew,
who were opening the hatches,
while cries of rage and fearful vociferations resounded outside.The port lids were pulled down outside.

Twenty horrible faces appeared.

But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail,
struck from behind by some invisible force,
I know not what,
fled,
uttering the most fearful cries and making the wildest contortions.Ten of his companions followed him.

They met
with the same fate.Conseil was in ecstasy.

Ned Land,
carried away by his violent instincts,
rushed on
to the staircase.

But the moment he seized the rail
with both hands,
he,
in his turn,
was overthrown."

I am struck by a thunderbolt," cried he,

with an oath.This explained all.

It was no rail;
but a metallic cable charged
with electricity from the deck communicating
with the platform.

Whoever touched it felt a powerful shock-- and this shock would have been mortal if Captain Nemo had discharged in
to the conductor the whole force of the current.

It might truly be said that between his assailants and himself he had stretched a network of electricity which none could pass
with impunity.Meanwhile,
the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed
with terror.

As
for us,
half laughing,
we consoled and rubbed the unfortunate Ned Land,
who swore like one possessed.But at this moment the Nautilus,
raised by the last waves of the tide,
quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by the Captain.

Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically.

Her speed increased gradually,
and,
sailing on the surface of the ocean,
she quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of Torres.


CHAPTER XXII
"AEGRI SOMNIA"
The following day 10th January,
the Nautilus continued her course between two seas,
but
with such remarkable speed that I could not estimate it at less than thirty-five miles an hour.

The rapidity of her screw was such that I could neither follow nor count its revolutions.

When I reflected that this marvellous electric agent,
after having afforded motion,
heat,
and light
to the Nautilus,
still protected her from outward attack,
and transformed her in
to an ark of safety which no profane hand might touch without being thunderstricken,
my admiration was unbounded,
and from the structure it extended
to the engineer who had called it in
to existence.Our course was directed
to the west,
and on the 11th of January we doubled Cape Wessel,
situation in 135@ long.

and 10@ S.

lat.,
which forms the east point of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The reefs were still numerous,
but more equalised,
and marked on the chart
with extreme precision.

The Nautilus easily avoided the breakers of Money
to port and the Victoria reefs
to starboard,
placed at 130@ long.

and on the 10th parallel,
which we strictly followed.On the 13th of January,
Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor,
and recognised the island of that name in 122@ long.From this point the direction of the Nautilus inclined towards the south-west.

Her head was set
for the Indian Ocean.

Where would the fancy of Captain Nemo carry us next?

Would he return
to the coast of Asia or would he approach again the shores of Europe?

Improbable conjectures both,

to a man who fled from inhabited continents.

Then would he descend
to the south?

Was he going
to double the Cape of Good Hope,
then Cape Horn,
and finally go as far as the Antarctic pole?

Would he come back at last
to the Pacific,
where his Nautilus could sail free and independently?

Time would show.After having skirted the sands of Cartier,
of Hibernia,
Seringapatam,
and Scott,
last efforts of the solid against the liquid element,
on the 14th of January we lost sight of land altogether.

The speed of the Nautilus was considerably abated,
and
with irregular course she sometimes swam in the bosom of the waters,
sometimes floated on their surface.During this period of the voyage,
Captain Nemo made some interesting experiments on the varied temperature of the sea,
in different beds.

Under ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of rather complicated instruments,
and
with somewhat doubtful results,
by means of thermometrical sounding-leads,
the glasses often breaking under the pressure of the water,
or an apparatus grounded on the variations of the resistance of metals
to the electric currents.

Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated.

On the contrary,
Captain Nemo went himself
to test the temperature in the depths of the sea,
and his thermometer,
placed in communication
with the different sheets of water,
gave him the required degree immediately and accurately.It was thus that,
either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending obliquely by means of her inclined planes,
the Nautilus successively attained the depth of three,
four,
five,
seven,
nine,
and ten thousand yards,
and the definite result of this experience was that the sea preserved an average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth of five thousand fathoms under all latitudes.On the 16th of January,
the Nautilus seemed becalmed only a few yards beneath the surface of the waves.

Her electric apparatus remained inactive and her motionless screw left her
to drift at the mercy of the currents.

I supposed that the crew was occupied
with interior repairs,
rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements of the machine.My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle.

The hatches of the saloon were open,
and,
as the beacon light of the Nautilus was not in action,
a dim obscurity reigned in the midst of the waters.

I observed the state of the sea,
under these conditions,
and the largest fish appeared
to me no more than scarcely defined shadows,
when the Nautilus found herself suddenly transported in
to full light.

I thought at first that the beacon had been lighted,
and was casting its electric radiance in
to the liquid mass.

I was mistaken,
and after a rapid survey perceived my error.The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which,
in this obscurity,
became quite dazzling.

It was produced by myriads of luminous animalculae,
whose brilliancy was increased as they glided over the metallic hull of the vessel.

I was surprised by lightning in the midst of these luminous sheets,
as though they bad been rivulets of lead melted in an ardent furnace or metallic masses brought
to a white heat,
so that,
by force of contrast,
certain portions of light appeared
to cast a shade in the midst of the general ignition,
from which all shade seemed banished.

No;
this was not the calm irradiation of our ordinary lightning.

There was unusual life and vigour:

this was truly living light!
In reality,
it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria,
of veritable globules of jelly,
provided
with a threadlike tentacle,
and of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less than two cubic half-inches of water.During several hours the Nautilus floated in these brilliant waves,
and our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters disporting themselves like salamanders.

I saw there in the midst of this fire that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise (the indefatigable clown of the ocean),
and some swordfish ten feet long,
those prophetic heralds of the hurricane whose formidable sword would now and then strike the glass of the saloon.

Then appeared the smaller fish,
the balista,
the leaping mackerel,
wolf-thorn-tails,
and a hundred others which striped the luminous atmosphere as they swam.

This dazzling spectacle was enchanting!

Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased the intensity of this phenomenon.

Perhaps some storm agitated the surface of the waves.

But at this depth of some yards,
the Nautilus was unmoved by its fury and reposed peacefully in still water.So we progressed,
incessantly charmed by some new marvel.

The days passed rapidly away,
and I took no account of them.

Ned,
according
to habit,
tried
to vary the diet on board.

Like snails,
we were fixed
to our shells,
and I declare it is easy
to lead a snail's life.Thus this life seemed easy and natural,
and we thought no longer of the life we led on land;
but something happened
to recall us
to the strangeness of our situation.On the 18th of January,
the Nautilus was in 105@ long.

and 15@ S.

lat.

The weather was threatening,
the sea rough and rolling.

There was a strong east wind.

The barometer,
which had been going down
for some days,
foreboded a coming storm.

I went up on
to the platform just as the second lieutenant was taking the measure of the horary angles,
and waited,
according
to habit till the daily phrase was said.

But on this day it was exchanged
for another phrase not less incomprehensible.

Almost directly,
I saw Captain Nemo appear
with a glass,
looking towards the horizon.
for some minutes he was immovable,
without taking his eye off the point of observation.

Then he lowered his glass and exchanged a few words
with his lieutenant.

The latter seemed
to be a victim
to some emotion that he tried in vain
to repress.

Captain Nemo,
having more command over himself,
was cool.

He seemed,
too,

to be making some objections
to which the lieutenant replied by formal assurances.

At least I concluded so by the difference of their tones and gestures.


for myself,
I had looked carefully in the direction indicated without seeing anything.

The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the horizon.However,
Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform
to the other,
without looking at me,
perhaps without seeing me.

His step was firm,
but less regular than usual.

He stopped sometimes,
crossed his arms,
and observed the sea.

What could he be looking
for on that immense expanse?
The Nautilus was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon steadfastly,
going and coming,
stamping his foot and showing more nervous agitation than his superior officer.

Besides,
this mystery must necessarily be solved,
and before long;
for,
upon an order from Captain Nemo,
the engine,
increasing its propelling power,
made the screw turn more rapidly.Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain's attention again.

The latter stopped walking and directed his glass towards the place indicated.

He looked long.

I felt very much puzzled,
and descended
to the drawing-room,
and took out an excellent telescope that I generally used.

Then,
leaning on the cage of the watch-light that jutted out from the front of the platform,
set myself
to look over all the line of the sky and sea.But my eye was no sooner applied
to the glass than it was quickly snatched out of my hands.I turned round.

Captain Nemo was before me,
but I did not know him.

His face was transfigured.

His eyes flashed sullenly;
his teeth were set;
his stiff body,
clenched fists,
and head shrunk between his shoulders,
betrayed the violent agitation that pervaded his whole frame.

He did not move.

My glass,
fallen from his hands,
had rolled at his feet.Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger?

Did this incomprehensible person imagine that I had discovered some forbidden secret?

No;
I was not the object of this hatred,

for he was not looking at me;
his eye was steadily fixed upon the impenetrable point of the horizon.

At last Captain Nemo recovered himself.

His agitation subsided.

He addressed some words in a foreign language
to his lieutenant,
then turned
to me.

"M.

Aronnax," he said,
in rather an imperious tone,
"I require you
to keep one of the conditions that bind you
to me."


"What is it,
Captain?"


"You must be confined,

with your companions,
until I think fit
to release you."


"You are the master," I replied,
looking steadily at him.

"But may I ask you one question?"


"None,
sir."


There was no resisting this imperious command,
it would have been useless.

I went down
to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil,
and told them the Captain's determination.

You may judge how this communication was received by the Canadian.But there was not time
for altercation.

Four of the crew waited at the door,
and conducted us
to that cell where we had passed our first night on board the Nautilus.Ned Land would have remonstrated,
but the door was shut upon him."

Will master tell me what this means?"

asked Conseil.I told my companions what had passed.

They were as much astonished as I,
and equally at a loss how
to account
for it.Meanwhile,
I was absorbed in my own reflections,
and could think of nothing but the strange fear depicted in the Captain's countenance.

I was utterly at a loss
to account
for it,
when my cogitations were disturbed by these words from Ned Land:
"Hallo!

breakfast is ready."


And indeed the table was laid.

Evidently Captain Nemo had given this order at the same time that he had hastened the speed of the Nautilus."

Will master permit me
to make a recommendation?"

asked Conseil."

Yes,
my boy."


"Well,
it is that master breakfasts.

It is prudent,

for we do not know what may happen."


"You are right,
Conseil."


"Unfortunately," said Ned Land,
"they have only given us the ship's fare."


"Friend Ned," asked Conseil,
"what would you have said if the breakfast had been entirely forgotten?"


This argument cut short the harpooner's recriminations.We sat down
to table.

The meal was eaten in silence.Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out,
and left us in total darkness.

Ned Land was soon asleep,
and what astonished me was that Conseil went off in
to a heavy slumber.

I was thinking what could have caused his irresistible drowsiness,
when I felt my brain becoming stupefied.

In spite of my efforts
to keep my eyes open,
they would close.

A painful suspicion seized me.

Evidently soporific substances had been mixed
with the food we had just taken.

Imprisonment was not enough
to conceal Captain Nemo's projects from us,
sleep was more necessary.

I then heard the panels shut.

The undulations of the sea,
which caused a slight rolling motion,
ceased.

Had the Nautilus quitted the surface of the ocean?

Had it gone back
to the motionless bed of water?

I tried
to resist sleep.

It was impossible.

My breathing grew weak.

I felt a mortal cold freeze my stiffened and half-paralysed limbs.

My eye lids,
like leaden caps,
fell over my eyes.

I could not raise them;
a morbid sleep,
full of hallucinations,
bereft me of my being.

Then the visions disappeared,
and left me in complete insensibility.


CHAPTER XXIII
THE CORAL KINGDOM
The next day I woke
with my head singularly clear.


to my great surprise,
I was in my own room.

My companions,
no doubt,
had been reinstated in their cabin,
without having perceived it any more than I.

Of what had passed during the night they were as ignorant as I was,
and
to penetrate this mystery I only reckoned upon the chances of the future.I then thought of quitting my room.

Was I free again or a prisoner?

Quite free.

I opened the door,
went
to the half-deck,
went up the central stairs.

The panels,
shut the evening before,
were open.

I went on
to the platform.Ned Land and Conseil waited there
for me.

I questioned them;
they knew nothing.

Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had been totally unconscious,
they had been astonished at finding themselves in their cabin.As
for the Nautilus,
it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever.

It floated on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace.

Nothing seemed changed on board.The second lieutenant then came on
to the platform,
and gave the usual order below.As
for Captain Nemo,
he did not appear.Of the people on board,
I only saw the impassive steward,
who served me
with his usual dumb regularity.About two o'clock,
I was in the drawing-room,
busied in arranging my notes,
when the Captain opened the door and appeared.

I bowed.

He made a slight inclination in return,
without speaking.

I resumed my work,
hoping that he would perhaps give me some explanation of the events of the preceding night.

He made none.

I looked at him.

He seemed fatigued;
his heavy eyes had not been refreshed by sleep;
his face looked very sorrowful.

He walked
to and fro,
sat down and got up again,
took a chance book,
put it down,
consulted his instruments without taking his habitual notes,
and seemed restless and uneasy.

At last,
he came up
to me,
and said:
"Are you a doctor,
M.

Aronnax?"


I so little expected such a question that I stared some time at him without answering."

Are you a doctor?"

he repeated.

"Several of your colleagues have studied medicine."


"Well," said I,
"I am a doctor and resident surgeon
to the hospital.

I practised several years before entering the museum."


"Very well,
sir."


My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain.

But,
not knowing what he would say next,
I waited
for other questions,
reserving my answers according
to circumstances."

M.

Aronnax,
will you consent
to prescribe
for one of my men?"

be asked."

Is he ill?"


"Yes."


"I am ready
to follow you."


"Come,
then."


I own my heart beat,
I do not know why.

I saw certain connection between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day before;
and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick man.Captain Nemo conducted me
to the poop of the Nautilus,
and took me in
to a cabin situated near the sailors' quarters.There,
on a bed,
lay a man about forty years of age,

with a resolute expression of countenance,
a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.I leant over him.

He was not only ill,
he was wounded.

His head,
swathed in bandages covered
with blood,
lay on a pillow.

I undid the bandages,
and the wounded man looked at me
with his large eyes and gave no sign of pain as I did it.

It was a horrible wound.

The skull,
shattered by some deadly weapon,
left the brain exposed,
which was much injured.

Clots of blood had formed in the bruised and broken mass,
in colour like the dregs of wine.There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain.

His breathing was slow,
and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face.

I felt his pulse.

It was intermittent.

The extremities of the body were growing cold already,
and I saw death must inevitably ensue.

After dressing the unfortunate man's wounds,
I readjusted the bandages on his head,
and turned
to Captain Nemo."

What caused this wound?"

I asked."

What does it signify?"

he replied,
evasively.

"A shock has broken one of the levers of the engine,
which struck myself.

But your opinion as
to his state?"


I hesitated before giving it."

You may speak," said the Captain.

"This man does not understand French."


I gave a last look at the wounded man."

He will be dead in two hours."


"Can nothing save him?"


"Nothing."


Captain Nemo's hand contracted,
and some tears glistened in his eyes,
which I thought incapable of shedding any.
for some moments I still watched the dying man,
whose life ebbed slowly.

His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed over his death-bed.

I looked at his intelligent forehead,
furrowed
with premature wrinkles,
produced probably by misfortune and sorrow.

I tried
to learn the secret of his life from the last words that escaped his lips."

You can go now,
M.

Aronnax," said the Captain.I left him in the dying man's cabin,
and returned
to my room much affected by this scene.

During the whole day,
I was haunted by uncomfortable suspicions,
and at night I slept badly,
and between my broken dreams I fancied I heard distant sighs like the notes of a funeral psalm.

Were they the prayers of the dead,
murmured in that language that I could not understand?
The next morning I went on
to the bridge.

Captain Nemo was there before me.

As soon as he perceived me he came
to me."

Professor,
will it be convenient
to you
to make a submarine excursion to-day?"


"
with my companions?"

I asked."

If they like."


"We obey your orders,
Captain."


"Will you be so good then as
to put on your cork jackets?"


It was not a question of dead or dying.

I rejoined Ned Land and Conseil,
and told them of Captain Nemo's proposition.

Conseil hastened
to accept it,
and this time the Canadian seemed quite willing
to follow our example.It was eight o'clock in the morning.

At half-past eight we were equipped
for this new excursion,
and provided
with two contrivances
for light and breathing.

The double door was open;
and,
accompanied by Captain Nemo,
who was followed by a dozen of the crew,
we set foot,
at a depth of about thirty feet,
on the solid bottom on which the Nautilus rested.A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom,
at fifteen fathoms depth.

This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Here,
there was no fine sand,
no submarine prairies,
no sea-forest.

I immediately recognised that marvellous region in which,
on that day,
the Captain did the honours
to us.

It was the coral kingdom.The light produced a thousand charming varieties,
playing in the midst of the branches that were so vividly coloured.

I seemed
to see the membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble beneath the undulation of the waters.

I was tempted
to gather their fresh petals,
ornamented
with delicate tentacles,
some just blown,
the others budding,
while a small fish,
swimming swiftly,
touched them slightly,
like flights of birds.

But if my hand approached these living flowers,
these animated,
sensitive plants,
the whole colony took alarm.

The white petals re-entered their red cases,
the flowers faded as I looked,
and the bush changed in
to a block of stony knobs.Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the zoophyte.

This coral was more valuable than that found in the Mediterranean,
on the coasts of France,
Italy and Barbary.

Its tints justified the poetical names of "Flower of Blood," and "Froth of Blood," that trade has given
to its most beautiful productions.

Coral is sold
for L20 per ounce;
and in this place the watery beds would make the fortunes of a company of coral-divers.

This precious matter,
often confused
with other polypi,
formed then the inextricable plots called "macciota," and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens of pink coral.{opening sentence missing} Real petrified thickets,
long joints of fantastic architecture,
were disclosed before us.

Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery,
where by a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards.

The light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects,
following the rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants disposed like lustres,
that were tipped
with points of fire.At last,
after walking two hours,
we had attained a depth of about three hundred yards,
that is
to say,
the extreme limit on which coral begins
to form.

But there was no isolated bush,
nor modest brushwood,
at the bottom of lofty trees.

It was an immense forest of large mineral vegetations,
enormous petrified trees,
united by garlands of elegant sea-bindweed,
all adorned
with clouds and reflections.

We passed freely under their high branches,
lost in the shade of the waves.Captain Nemo had stopped.

I and my companions halted,
and,
turning round,
I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief.

Watching attentively,
I observed that four of them carried on their shoulders an object of an oblong shape.We occupied,
in this place,
the centre of a vast glade surrounded by the lofty foliage of the submarine forest.

Our lamps threw over this place a sort of clear twilight that singularly elongated the shadows on the ground.

At the end of the glade the darkness increased,
and was only relieved by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.Ned Land and Conseil were near me.

We watched,
and I thought I was going
to witness a strange scene.

On observing the ground,
I saw that it was raised in certain places by slight excrescences encrusted
with limy deposits,
and disposed
with a regularity that betrayed the hand of man.In the midst of the glade,
on a pedestal of rocks roughly piled up,
stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms that one might have thought were made of petrified blood.

Upon a sign from Captain Nemo one of the men advanced;
and at some feet from the cross he began
to dig a hole
with a pickaxe that he took from his belt.

I understood all!

This glade was a cemetery,
this hole a tomb,
this oblong object the body of the man who had died in the night!

The Captain and his men had come
to bury their companion in this general resting-place,
at the bottom of this inaccessible ocean!
The grave was being dug slowly;
the fish fled on all sides while their retreat was being thus disturbed;
I heard the strokes of the pickaxe,
which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the waters.

The hole was soon large and deep enough
to receive the body.

Then the bearers approached;
the body,
enveloped in a tissue of white linen,
was lowered in
to the damp grave.

Captain Nemo,

with his arms crossed on his breast,
and all the friends of him who had loved them,
knelt in prayer.The grave was then filled in
with the rubbish taken from the ground,
which formed a slight mound.

When this was done,
Captain Nemo and his men rose;
then,
approaching the grave,
they knelt again,
and all extended their hands in sign of a last adieu.

Then the funeral procession returned
to the Nautilus,
passing under the arches of the forest,
in the midst of thickets,
along the coral bushes,
and still on the ascent.

At last the light of the ship appeared,
and its luminous track guided us
to the Nautilus.

At one o'clock we had returned.As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on
to the platform,
and,
a prey
to conflicting emotions,
I sat down near the binnacle.

Captain Nemo joined me.

I rose and said
to him:
"So,
as I said he would,
this man died in the night?"


"Yes,
M.

Aronnax."


"And he rests now,
near his companions,
in the coral cemetery?"


"Yes,
forgotten by all else,
but not by us.

We dug the grave,
and the polypi undertake
to seal our dead
for eternity."

And,
burying his face quickly in his hands,
he tried in vain
to suppress a sob.

Then he added:

"Our peaceful cemetery is there,
some hundred feet below the surface of the waves."


"Your dead sleep quietly,
at least,
Captain,
out of the reach of sharks."


"Yes,
sir,
of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.


PART TWO
CHAPTER I
THE INDIAN OCEAN
We now come
to the second part of our journey under the sea.

The first ended
with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a deep impression on my mind.

Thus,
in the midst of this great sea,
Captain Nemo's life was passing,
even
to his grave,
which he had prepared in one of its deepest abysses.

There,
not one of the ocean's monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus,
of those friends riveted
to each other in death as in life.

"Nor any man,
either," had added the Captain.

Still the same fierce,
implacable defiance towards human society!
I could no longer content myself
with the theory which satisfied Conseil.That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of the Nautilus one of those unknown servants who return mankind contempt
for indifference.


for him,
he was a misunderstood genius who,
tired of earth's deceptions,
had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium,
where he might follow his instincts freely.


to my mind,
this explains but one side of Captain Nemo's character.

Indeed,
the mystery of that last night during which we had been chained in prison,
the sleep,
and the precaution so violently taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I had raised
to sweep the horizon,
the mortal wound of the man,
due
to an unaccountable shock of the Nautilus,
all put me on a new track.

No;
Captain Nemo was not satisfied
with shunning man.

His formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom,
but perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.At this moment nothing is clear
to me;
I catch but a glimpse of light amidst all the darkness,
and I must confine myself
to writing as events shall dictate.That day,
the 24th of January,
1868,
at noon,
the second officer came
to take the altitude of the sun.

I mounted the platform,
lit a cigar,
and watched the operation.

It seemed
to me that the man did not understand French;

for several times I made remarks in a loud voice,
which must have drawn from him some involuntary sign of attention,
if he had understood them;
but he remained undisturbed and dumb.As he was taking observations
with the sextant,
one of the sailors of the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first submarine excursion
to the Island of Crespo) came
to clean the glasses of the lantern.

I examined the fittings of the apparatus,
the strength of which was increased a hundredfold by lenticular rings,
placed similar
to those in a lighthouse,
and which projected their brilliance in a horizontal plane.

The electric lamp was combined in such a way as
to give its most powerful light.

Indeed,
it was produced in vacuo,
which insured both its steadiness and its intensity.

This vacuum economised the graphite points between which the luminous arc was developed--an important point of economy
for Captain Nemo,
who could not easily have replaced them;
and under these conditions their waste was imperceptible.

When the Nautilus was ready
to continue its submarine journey,
I went down
to the saloon.

The panel was closed,
and the course marked direct west.We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean,
a vast liquid plain,

with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres,
and whose waters are so clear and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy.

The Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep.

We went on so
for some days.


to anyone but myself,
who had a great love
for the sea,
the hours would have seemed long and monotonous;
but the daily walks on the platform,
when I steeped myself in the reviving air of the ocean,
the sight of the rich waters through the windows of the saloon,
the books in the library,
the compiling of my memoirs,
took up all my time,
and left me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
for some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds,
sea-mews or gulls.

Some were cleverly killed and,
prepared in a certain way,
made very acceptable water-game.

Amongst large-winged birds,
carried a long distance from all lands and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their flight,
I saw some magnificent albatrosses,
uttering discordant cries like the braying of an ass,
and birds belonging
to the family of the long-wings.As
to the fish,
they always provoked our admiration when we surprised the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels.

I saw many kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.{3 paragraphs are missing}
From the 21st
to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went at the rate of two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours,
being five hundred and forty miles,
or twenty-two miles an hour.

If we recognised so many different varieties of fish,
it was because,
attracted by the electric light,
they tried
to follow us;
the greater part,
however,
were soon distanced by our speed,
though some kept their place in the waters of the Nautilus
for a time.

The morning of the 24th,
in 12@ 5' S.

lat.,
and 94@ 33' long.,
we observed Keeling Island,
a coral formation,
planted
with magnificent cocos,
and which had been visited by Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy.

The Nautilus skirted the shores of this desert island
for a little distance.

Its nets brought up numerous specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca.

{one sentence stripped here}
Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon,
and our course was directed
to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable,
often taking us in
to great depths.

Several times they made use of the inclined planes,
which certain internal levers placed obliquely
to the waterline.

In that way we went about two miles,
but without ever obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea,
which soundings of seven thousand fathoms have never reached.

As
to the temperature of the lower strata,
the thermometer invariably indicated 4@ above zero.

I only observed that in the upper regions the water was always colder in the high levels than at the surface of the sea.On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted;
the Nautilus passed the day on the surface,
beating the waves
with its powerful screw and making them rebound
to a great height.

Who under such circumstances would not have taken it
for a gigantic cetacean?

Three parts of this day I spent on the platform.

I watched the sea.

Nothing on the horizon,
till about four o'clock a steamer running west on our counter.

Her masts were visible
for an instant,
but she could not see the Nautilus,
being too low in the water.

I fancied this steamboat belonged
to the P.O.

Company,
which runs from Ceylon
to Sydney,
touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.At five o'clock in the evening,
before that fleeting twilight which binds night
to day in tropical zones,
Conseil and I were astonished by a curious spectacle.It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the ocean.

We could count several hundreds.

They belonged
to the tubercle kind which are peculiar
to the Indian seas.These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their locomotive tube,
through which they propelled the water already drawn in.

Of their eight tentacles,
six were elongated,
and stretched out floating on the water,
whilst the other two,
rolled up flat,
were spread
to the wing like a light sail.

I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells,
which Cuvier justly compares
to an elegant skiff.

A boat indeed!

It bears the creature which secretes it without its adhering
to it.
for nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of this shoal of molluscs.

Then I know not what sudden fright they took.

But as if at a signal every sail was furled,
the arms folded,
the body drawn in,
the shells turned over,
changing their centre of gravity,
and the whole fleet disappeared under the waves.

Never did the ships of a squadron manoeuvre
with more unity.At that moment night fell suddenly,
and the reeds,
scarcely raised by the breeze,
lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus.The next day,
26th of January,
we cut the equator at the eighty-second meridian and entered the northern hemisphere.

During the day a formidable troop of sharks accompanied us,
terrible creatures,
which multiply in these seas and make them very dangerous.

They were "cestracio philippi" sharks,

with brown backs and whitish bellies,
armed
with eleven rows of teeth-- eyed sharks--their throat being marked
with a large black spot surrounded
with white like an eye.

There were also some Isabella sharks,

with rounded snouts marked
with dark spots.

These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at the windows of the saloon
with such violence as
to make us feel very insecure.

At such times Ned Land was no longer master of himself.

He wanted
to go
to the surface and harpoon the monsters,
particularly certain smooth-hound sharks,
whose mouth is studded
with teeth like a mosaic;
and large tiger-sharks nearly six yards long,
the last named of which seemed
to excite him more particularly.

But the Nautilus,
accelerating her speed,
easily left the most rapid of them behind.The 27th of January,
at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal,
we met repeatedly a forbidding spectacle,
dead bodies floating on the surface of the water.

They were the dead of the Indian villages,
carried by the Ganges
to the level of the sea,
and which the vultures,
the only undertakers of the country,
had not been able
to devour.

But the sharks did not fail
to help them at their funeral work.About seven o'clock in the evening,
the Nautilus,
half-immersed,
was sailing in a sea of milk.

At first sight the ocean seemed lactified.

Was it the effect of the lunar rays?

No;

for the moon,
scarcely two days old,
was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the sun.

The whole sky,
though lit by the sidereal rays,
seemed black by contrast
with the whiteness of the waters.Conseil could not believe his eyes,
and questioned me as
to the cause of this strange phenomenon.

Happily I was able
to answer him."

It is called a milk sea," I explained.

"A large extent of white wavelets often
to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna,
and in these parts of the sea."


"But,
sir," said Conseil,
"can you tell me what causes such an effect?


for I suppose the water is not really turned in
to milk."


"No,
my boy;
and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by the presence of myriads of infusoria,
a sort of luminous little worm,
gelatinous and without colour,
of the thickness of a hair,
and whose length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch.

These insects adhere
to one another sometimes
for several leagues."


"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil."

Yes,
my boy;
and you need not try
to compute the number of these infusoria.

You will not be able,
for,
if I am not mistaken,
ships have floated on these milk seas
for more than forty miles."


Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour;
but behind us,
even
to the limits of the horizon,
the sky reflected the whitened waves,
and
for a long time seemed impregnated
with the vague glimmerings of an aurora borealis.


CHAPTER II
A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO'S
On the 28th of February,
when at noon the Nautilus came
to the surface of the sea,
in 9@ 4' N.

lat.,
there was land in sight about eight miles
to westward.

The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains about two thousand feet high,
the shapes of which were most capricious.

On taking the bearings,
I knew that we were nearing the island of Ceylon,
the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment.

The Captain glanced at the map.

Then turning
to me,
said:
"The Island of Ceylon,
noted
for its pearl-fisheries.

Would you like
to visit one of them,
M.

Aronnax?"


"Certainly,
Captain."


"Well,
the thing is easy.

Though,
if we see the fisheries,
we shall not see the fishermen.

The annual exportation has not yet begun.

Never mind,
I will give orders
to make
for the Gulf of Manaar,
where we shall arrive in the night."


The Captain said something
to his second,
who immediately went out.

Soon the Nautilus returned
to her native element,
and the manometer showed that she was about thirty feet deep."

Well,
sir," said Captain Nemo,
"you and your companions shall visit the Bank of Manaar,
and if by chance some fisherman should be there,
we shall see him at work."


"Agreed,
Captain!"
"By the bye,
M.

Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?"


"Sharks!" exclaimed I.This question seemed a very hard one."

Well?"

continued Captain Nemo."

I admit,
Captain,
that I am not yet very familiar
with that kind of fish."


"We are accustomed
to them," replied Captain Nemo,
"and in time you will be too.

However,
we shall be armed,
and on the road we may be able
to hunt some of the tribe.

It is interesting.

So,
till to-morrow,
sir,
and early."


This said in a careless tone,
Captain Nemo left the saloon.

Now,
if you were invited
to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland,
what would you say?
"Very well!

to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear."

If you were asked
to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas,
or the tiger in the Indian jungles,
what would you say?
"Ha!

ha!

it seems we are going
to hunt the tiger or the lion!" But when you are invited
to hunt the shark in its natural element,
you would perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation.

As
for myself,
I passed my hand over my forehead,
on which stood large drops of cold perspiration.

"Let us reflect," said I,
"and take our time.

Hunting otters in submarine forests,
as we did in the Island of Crespo,
will pass;
but going up and down at the bottom of the sea,
where one is almost certain
to meet sharks,
is quite another thing!

I know well that in certain countries,
particularly in the Andaman Islands,
the negroes never hesitate
to attack them
with a dagger in one hand and a running noose in the other;
but I also know that few who affront those creatures ever return alive.

However,
I am not a negro,
and if I were I think a little hesitation in this case would not be ill-timed."


At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered,
quite composed,
and even joyous.

They knew not what awaited them."

Faith,
sir," said Ned Land,
"your Captain Nemo--the devil take him!-- has just made us a very pleasant offer."


"Ah!" said I,
"you know?"


"If agreeable
to you,
sir," interrupted Conseil,
"the commander of the Nautilus has invited us
to visit the magnificent Ceylon fisheries to-morrow,
in your company;
he did it kindly,
and behaved like a real gentleman."


"He said nothing more?"


"Nothing more,
sir,
except that he had already spoken
to you of this little walk."


"Sir," said Conseil,
"would you give us some details of the pearl fishery?"


"As
to the fishing itself," I asked,
"or the incidents,
which?"


"On the fishing," replied the Canadian;
"before entering upon the ground,
it is as well
to know something about it."


"Very well;
sit down,
my friends,
and I will teach you."


Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman,
and the first thing the Canadian asked was:
"Sir,
what is a pearl?"


"My worthy Ned," I answered,
"
to the poet,
a pearl is a tear of the sea;

to the Orientals,
it is a drop of dew solidified;

to the ladies,
it is a jewel of an oblong shape,
of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl substance,
which they wear on their fingers,
their necks,
or their ears;

for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime,

with a little gelatine;
and lastly,

for naturalists,
it is simply a morbid secretion of the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl amongst certain bivalves."


"Branch of molluscs," said Conseil."

Precisely so,
my learned Conseil;
and,
amongst these testacea the earshell,
the tridacnae,
the turbots,
in a word,
all those which secrete mother-of-pearl,
that is,
the blue,
bluish,
violet,
or white substance which lines the interior of their shells,
are capable of producing pearls."


"Mussels too?"

asked the Canadian."

Yes,
mussels of certain waters in Scotland,
Wales,
Ireland,
Saxony,
Bohemia,
and France."


"Good!


for the future I shall pay attention," replied the Canadian."

But," I continued,
"the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl is the pearl-oyster.

The pearl is nothing but a formation deposited in a globular form,
either adhering
to the oyster-shell or buried in the folds of the creature.

On the shell it is fast:

in the flesh it is loose;
but always has
for a kernel a small hard substance,
maybe a barren egg,
maybe a grain of sand,
around which the pearly matter deposits itself year after year successively,
and by thin concentric layers."

{this paragraph is edited}
"Are many pearls found in the same oyster?"

asked Conseil."

Yes,
my boy.

Some are a perfect casket.

One oyster has been mentioned,
though I allow myself
to doubt it,
as having contained no less than a hundred and fifty sharks."


"A hundred and fifty sharks!" exclaimed Ned Land."

Did I say sharks?"

said I hurriedly.

"I meant
to say a hundred and fifty pearls.

Sharks would not be sense."


"Certainly not," said Conseil;
"but will you tell us now by what means they extract these pearls?"


"They proceed in various ways.

When they adhere
to the shell,
the fishermen often pull them off
with pincers;
but the most common way is
to lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers the banks.

Thus they die in the open air;
and at the end of ten days they are in a forward state of decomposition.

They are then plunged in
to large reservoirs of sea-water;
then they are opened and washed."


"The price of these pearls varies according
to their size?"

asked Conseil."

Not only according
to their size," I answered,
"but also according
to their shape,
their water (that is,
their colour),
and their lustre:

that is,
that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming
to the eye.

The most beautiful are called virgin pearls,
or paragons.

They are formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc,
are white,
often opaque,
and sometimes have the transparency of an opal;
they are generally round or oval.

The round are made in
to bracelets,
the oval in
to pendants,
and,
being more precious,
are sold singly.

Those adhering
to the shell of the oyster are more irregular in shape,
and are sold by weight.

Lastly,
in a lower order are classed those small pearls known under the name of seed-pearls;
they are sold by measure,
and are especially used in embroidery
for church ornaments."


"But," said Conseil,
"is this pearl-fishery dangerous?"


"No," I answered,
quickly;
"particularly if certain precautions are taken."


"What does one risk in such a calling?"

said Ned Land,
"the swallowing of some mouthfuls of sea-water?"


"As you say,
Ned.

By the bye," said I,
trying
to take Captain Nemo's careless tone,
"are you afraid of sharks,
brave Ned?"


"I!" replied the Canadian;
"a harpooner by profession?

It is my trade
to make light of them."


"But," said I,
"it is not a question of fishing
for them
with an iron-swivel,
hoisting them in
to the vessel,
cutting off their tails
with a blow of a chopper,
ripping them up,
and throwing their heart in
to the sea!"
"Then,
it is a question of----"
"Precisely."


"In the water?"


"In the water."


"Faith,

with a good harpoon!

You know,
sir,
these sharks are ill-fashioned beasts.

They turn on their bellies
to seize you,
and in that time----"
Ned Land had a way of saying "seize" which made my blood run cold."

Well,
and you,
Conseil,
what do you think of sharks?"


"Me!" said Conseil.

"I will be frank,
sir."


"So much the better," thought I."

If you,
sir,
mean
to face the sharks,
I do not see why your faithful servant should not face them
with you."


CHAPTER III
A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS
The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by the steward whom Captain Nemo had placed at my service.

I rose hurriedly,
dressed,
and went in
to the saloon.Captain Nemo was awaiting me."

M.

Aronnax," said he,
"are you ready
to start?"


"I am ready."


"Then please
to follow me."


"And my companions,
Captain?"


"They have been told and are waiting."


"Are we not
to put on our diver's dresses?"

asked I."

Not yet.

I have not allowed the Nautilus
to come too near this coast,
and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank;
but the boat is ready,
and will take us
to the exact point of disembarking,
which will save us a long way.

It carries our diving apparatus,
which we will put on when we begin our submarine journey."


Captain Nemo conducted me
to the central staircase,
which led on the platform.

Ned and Conseil were already there,
delighted at the idea of the "pleasure party" which was preparing.

Five sailors from the Nautilus,

with their oars,
waited in the boat,
which had been made fast against the side.The night was still dark.

Layers of clouds covered the sky,
allowing but few stars
to be seen.

I looked on the side where the land lay,
and saw nothing but a dark line enclosing three parts of the horizon,
from south-west
to north west.

The Nautilus,
having returned during the night up the western coast of Ceylon,
was now west of the bay,
or rather gulf,
formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar.

There,
under the dark waters,
stretched the pintadine bank,
an inexhaustible field of pearls,
the length of which is more than twenty miles.Captain Nemo,
Ned Land,
Conseil,
and I took our places in the stern of the boat.

The master went
to the tiller;
his four companions leaned on their oars,
the painter was cast off,
and we sheered off.The boat went towards the south;
the oarsmen did not hurry.

I noticed that their strokes,
strong in the water,
only followed each other every ten seconds,
according
to the method generally adopted in the navy.

Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity,
the liquid drops struck the dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead.

A little billow,
spreading wide,
gave a slight roll
to the boat,
and some samphire reeds flapped before it.We were silent.

What was Captain Nemo thinking of?

Perhaps of the land he was approaching,
and which he found too near
to him,
contrary
to the Canadian's opinion,
who thought it too far off.

As
to Conseil,
he was merely there from curiosity.About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed the upper line of coast more distinctly.

Flat enough in the east,
it rose a little
to the south.

Five miles still lay between us,
and it was indistinct owing
to the mist on the water.

At six o'clock it became suddenly daylight,

with that rapidity peculiar
to tropical regions,
which know neither dawn nor twilight.

The solar rays pierced the curtain of clouds,
piled up on the eastern horizon,
and the radiant orb rose rapidly.

I saw land distinctly,

with a few trees scattered here and there.

The boat neared Manaar Island,
which was rounded
to the south.

Captain Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea.At a sign from him the anchor was dropped,
but the chain scarcely ran,

for it was little more than a yard deep,
and this spot was one of the highest points of the bank of pintadines."

Here we are,
M.

Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.

"You see that enclosed bay?

Here,
in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of the exporters,
and these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly.

Happily,
this bay is well situated
for that kind of fishing.

It is sheltered from the strongest winds;
the sea is never very rough here,
which makes it favourable
for the diver's work.

We will now put on our dresses,
and begin our walk."


I did not answer,
and,
while watching the suspected waves,
began
with the help of the sailors
to put on my heavy sea-dress.

Captain Nemo and my companions were also dressing.

None of the Nautilus men were
to accompany us on this new excursion.Soon we were enveloped
to the throat in india-rubber clothing;
the air apparatus fixed
to our backs by braces.

As
to the Ruhmkorff apparatus,
there was no necessity
for it.

Before putting my head in
to the copper cap,
I had asked the question of the Captain."

They would be useless," he replied.

"We are going
to no great depth,
and the solar rays will be enough
to light our walk.

Besides,
it would not be prudent
to carry the electric light in these waters;
its brilliancy might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast most inopportunely."


As Captain Nemo pronounced these words,
I turned
to Conseil and Ned Land.

But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap,
and they could neither hear nor answer.One last question remained
to ask of Captain Nemo."

And our arms?"

asked I;
"our guns?"


"Guns!

What for?

Do not mountaineers attack the bear
with a dagger in their hand,
and is not steel surer than lead?

Here is a strong blade;
put it in your belt,
and we start."


I looked at my companions;
they were armed like us,
and,
more than that,
Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon,
which he had placed in the boat before leaving the Nautilus.Then,
following the Captain's example,
I allowed myself
to be dressed in the heavy copper helmet,
and our reservoirs of air were at once in activity.

An instant after we were landed,
one after the other,
in about two yards of water upon an even sand.

Captain Nemo made a sign
with his hand,
and we followed him by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under the waves.{3 paragraphs missing}
At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the oyster-banks on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.Captain Nemo pointed
with his hand
to the enormous heap of oysters;
and I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible,

for Nature's creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction.

Ned Land,
faithful
to his instinct,
hastened
to fill a net which he carried by his side
with some of the finest specimens.

But we could not stop.

We must follow the Captain,
who seemed
to guide him self by paths known only
to himself.

The ground was sensibly rising,
and sometimes,
on holding up my arm,
it was above the surface of the sea.

Then the level of the bank would sink capriciously.

Often we rounded high rocks scarped in
to pyramids.

In their dark fractures huge crustacea,
perched upon their high claws like some war-machine,
watched us
with fixed eyes,
and under our feet crawled various kinds of annelides.At this moment there opened before us a large grot
to dug in a picturesque heap of rocks and carpeted
with all the thick warp of the submarine flora.

At first it seemed very dark
to me.

The solar rays seemed
to be extinguished by successive gradations,
until its vague transparency became nothing more than drowned light.

Captain Nemo entered;
we followed.

My eyes soon accustomed themselves
to this relative state of darkness.

I could distinguish the arches springing capriciously from natural pillars,
standing broad upon their granite base,
like the heavy columns of Tuscan architecture.

Why had our incomprehensible guide led us
to the bottom of this submarine crypt?

I was soon
to know.

After descending a rather sharp declivity,
our feet trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit.

There Captain Nemo stopped,
and
with his hand indicated an object I had not yet perceived.

It was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions,
a gigantic tridacne,
a goblet which could have contained a whole lake of holy-water,
a basin the breadth of which was more than two yards and a half,
and consequently larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus.

I approached this extraordinary mollusc.

It adhered by its filaments
to a table of granite,
and there,
isolated,
it developed itself in the calm waters of the grotto.

I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lb.

Such an oyster would contain 30 lb.

of meat;
and one must have the stomach of a Gargantua
to demolish some dozens of them.Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted
with the existence of this bivalve,
and seemed
to have a particular motive in verifying the actual state of this tridacne.

The shells were a little open;
the Captain came near and put his dagger between
to prevent them from closing;
then
with his hand he raised the membrane
with its fringed edges,
which formed a cloak
for the creature.

There,
between the folded plaits,
I saw a loose pearl,
whose size equalled that of a coco-nut.

Its globular shape,
perfect clearness,
and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of inestimable value.

Carried away by my curiosity,
I stretched out my hand
to seize it,
weigh it,
and touch it;
but the Captain stopped me,
made a sign of refusal,
and quickly withdrew his dagger,
and the two shells closed suddenly.

I then understood Captain Nemo's intention.

In leaving this pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing it
to grow slowly.

Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add new concentric circles.

I estimated its value at L500,000 at least.After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.

I thought he had halted previously
to returning.

No;
by a gesture he bade us crouch beside him in a deep fracture of the rock,
his hand pointed
to one part of the liquid mass,
which I watched attentively.About five yards from me a shadow appeared,
and sank
to the ground.

The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind,
but I was mistaken;
and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything
to do with.It was a man,
a living man,
an Indian,
a fisherman,
a poor devil who,
I suppose,
had come
to glean before the harvest.

I could see the bottom of his canoe anchored some feet above his head.

He dived and went up successively.

A stone held between his feet,
cut in the shape of a sugar loaf,
whilst a rope fastened him
to his boat,
helped him
to descend more rapidly.

This was all his apparatus.

Reaching the bottom,
about five yards deep,
he went on his knees and filled his bag
with oysters picked up at random.

Then he went up,
emptied it,
pulled up his stone,
and began the operation once more,
which lasted thirty seconds.The diver did not see us.

The shadow of the rock hid us from sight.

And how should this poor Indian ever dream that men,
beings like himself,
should be there under the water watching his movements and losing no detail of the fishing?

Several times he went up in this way,
and dived again.

He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge,

for he was obliged
to pull them from the bank
to which they adhered by means of their strong byssus.

And how many of those oysters
for which he risked his life had no pearl in them!

I watched him closely;
his manoeuvres were regular;
and
for the space of half an hour no danger appeared
to threaten him.I was beginning
to accustom myself
to the sight of this interesting fishing,
when suddenly,
as the Indian was on the ground,
I saw him make a gesture of terror,
rise,
and make a spring
to return
to the surface of the sea.I understood his dread.

A gigantic shadow appeared just above the unfortunate diver.

It was a shark of enormous size advancing diagonally,
his eyes on fire,
and his jaws open.

I was mute
with horror and unable
to move.The voracious creature shot towards the Indian,
who threw himself on one side
to avoid the shark's fins;
but not its tail,

for it struck his chest and stretched him on the ground.This scene lasted but a few seconds:

the shark returned,
and,
turning on his back,
prepared himself
for cutting the Indian in two,
when I saw Captain Nemo rise suddenly,
and then,
dagger in hand,
walk straight
to the monster,
ready
to fight face
to face
with him.

The very moment the shark was going
to snap the unhappy fisherman in two,
he perceived his new adversary,
and,
turning over,
made straight towards him.I can still see Captain Nemo's position.

Holding himself well together,
he waited
for the shark
with admirable coolness;
and,
when it rushed at him,
threw himself on one side
with wonderful quickness,
avoiding the shock,
and burying his dagger deep in
to its side.

But it was not all over.

A terrible combat ensued.The shark had seemed
to roar,
if I might say so.

The blood rushed in torrents from its wound.

The sea was dyed red,
and through the opaque liquid I could distinguish nothing more.

Nothing more until the moment when,
like lightning,
I saw the undaunted Captain hanging on
to one of the creature's fins,
struggling,
as it were,
hand
to hand
with the monster,
and dealing successive blows at his enemy,
yet still unable
to give a decisive one.The shark's struggles agitated the water
with such fury that the rocking threatened
to upset me.I wanted
to go
to the Captain's assistance,
but,
nailed
to the spot
with horror,
I could not stir.I saw the haggard eye;
I saw the different phases of the fight.

The Captain fell
to the earth,
upset by the enormous mass which leant upon him.

The shark's jaws opened wide,
like a pair of factory shears,
and it would have been all over
with the Captain;
but,
quick as thought,
harpoon in hand,
Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it
with its sharp point.The waves were impregnated
with a mass of blood.

They rocked under the shark's movements,
which beat them
with indescribable fury.

Ned Land had not missed his aim.

It was the monster's death-rattle.

Struck
to the heart,
it struggled in dreadful convulsions,
the shock of which overthrew Conseil.But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain,
who,
getting up without any wound,
went straight
to the Indian,
quickly cut the cord which held him
to his stone,
took him in his arms,
and,

with a sharp blow of his heel,
mounted
to the surface.We all three followed in a few seconds,
saved by a miracle,
and reached the fisherman's boat.Captain Nemo's first care was
to recall the unfortunate man
to life again.

I did not think he could succeed.

I hoped so,

for the poor creature's immersion was not long;
but the blow from the shark's tail might have been his death-blow.Happily,

with the Captain's and Conseil's sharp friction,
I saw consciousness return by degrees.

He opened his eyes.

What was his surprise,
his terror even,
at seeing four great copper heads leaning over him!

And,
above all,
what must he have thought when Captain Nemo,
drawing from the pocket of his dress a bag of pearls,
placed it in his hand!

This munificent charity from the man of the waters
to the poor Cingalese was accepted
with a trembling hand.

His wondering eyes showed that he knew not
to what super-human beings he owed both fortune and life.At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank,
and,
following the road already traversed,
came in about half an hour
to the anchor which held the canoe of the Nautilus
to the earth.Once on board,
we each,

with the help of the sailors,
got rid of the heavy copper helmet.Captain Nemo's first word was
to the Canadian."

Thank you,
Master Land," said he."

It was in revenge,
Captain," replied Ned Land.

"I owed you that."


A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips,
and that was all."


to the Nautilus," said he.The boat flew over the waves.

Some minutes after we met the shark's dead body floating.

By the black marking of the extremity of its fins,
I recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas,
of the species of shark so properly called.

It was more than twenty-five feet long;
its enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body.

It was an adult,
as was known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles triangle in the upper jaw.Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass,
a dozen of these voracious beasts appeared round the boat;
and,
without noticing us,
threw themselves upon the dead body and fought
with one another
for the pieces.At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus.

There I reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our excursion
to the Manaar Bank.Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it--one bearing upon the unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo,
the other upon his devotion
to a human being,
a representative of that race from which he fled beneath the sea.

Whatever he might say,
this strange man had not yet succeeded in entirely crushing his heart.When I made this observation
to him,
he answered in a slightly moved tone:
"That Indian,
sir,
is an inhabitant of an oppressed country;
and I am still,
and shall be,

to my last breath,
one of them!"
CHAPTER IV
THE RED SEA
In the course of the day of the 29th of January,
the island of Ceylon disappeared under the horizon,
and the Nautilus,
at a speed of twenty miles an hour,
slid in
to the labyrinth of canals which separate the Maldives from the Laccadives.

It coasted even the Island of Kiltan,
a land originally coraline,
discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499,
and one of the nineteen principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago,
situated between 10@ and 14@ 30' N.

lat.,
and 69@ 50' 72" E.

long.We had made 16,220 miles,
or 7,500 (French) leagues from our starting-point in the Japanese Seas.The next day (30th January),
when the Nautilus went
to the surface of the ocean there was no land in sight.

Its course was N.N.E.,
in the direction of the Sea of Oman,
between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula,
which serves as an outlet
to the Persian Gulf.

It was evidently a block without any possible egress.

Where was Captain Nemo taking us to?

I could not say.

This,
however,
did not satisfy the Canadian,
who that day came
to me asking where we were going."

We are going where our Captain's fancy takes us,
Master Ned."


"His fancy cannot take us far,
then," said the Canadian.

"The Persian Gulf has no outlet:

and,
if we do go in,
it will not be long before we are out again."


"Very well,
then,
we will come out again,
Master Land;
and if,
after the Persian Gulf,
the Nautilus would like
to visit the Red Sea,
the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there
to give us entrance."


"I need not tell you,
sir," said Ned Land,
"that the Red Sea is as much closed as the Gulf,
as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut;
and,
if it was,
a boat as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut
with sluices.

And again,
the Red Sea is not the road
to take us back
to Europe."


"But I never said we were going back
to Europe."


"What do you suppose,
then?"


"I suppose that,
after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt,
the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again,
perhaps cross the Channel of Mozambique,
perhaps off the Mascarenhas,
so as
to gain the Cape of Good Hope."


"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?"

asked the Canadian,

with peculiar emphasis."

Well,
we shall penetrate in
to that Atlantic which we do not yet know.

Ah!

friend Ned,
you are getting tired of this journey under the sea;
you are surfeited
with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine wonders.


for my part,
I shall be sorry
to see the end of a voyage which it is given
to so few men
to make."



for four days,
till the 3rd of February,
the Nautilus scoured the Sea of Oman,
at various speeds and at various depths.

It seemed
to go at random,
as if hesitating as
to which road it should follow,
but we never passed the Tropic of Cancer.In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat
for an instant,
one of the most important towns of the country of Oman.

I admired its strange aspect,
surrounded by black rocks upon which its white houses and forts stood in relief.

I saw the rounded domes of its mosques,
the elegant points of its minarets,
its fresh and verdant terraces.

But it was only a vision!

The Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part of the sea.We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut,

for a distance of six miles,
its undulating line of mountains being occasionally relieved by some ancient ruin.

The 5th of February we at last entered the Gulf of Aden,
a perfect funnel introduced in
to the neck of Bab-el-mandeb,
through which the Indian waters entered the Red Sea.The 6th of February,
the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden,
perched upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins
to the mainland,
a kind of inaccessible Gibraltar,
the fortifications of which were rebuilt by the English after taking possession in 1839.

I caught a glimpse of the octagon minarets of this town,
which was at one time the richest commercial magazine on the coast.I certainly thought that Captain Nemo,
arrived at this point,
would back out again;
but I was mistaken,

for he did no such thing,
much
to my surprise.The next day,
the 7th of February,
we entered the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb,
the name of which,
in the Arab tongue,
means The Gate of Tears.
to twenty miles in breadth,
it is only thirty-two in length.

And
for the Nautilus,
starting at full speed,
the crossing was scarcely the work of an hour.

But I saw nothing,
not even the Island of Perim,

with which the British Government has fortified the position of Aden.

There were too many English or French steamers of the line of Suez
to Bombay,
Calcutta
to Melbourne,
and from Bourbon
to the Mauritius,
furrowing this narrow passage,

for the Nautilus
to venture
to show itself.

So it remained prudently below.

At last about noon,
we were in the waters of the Red Sea.I would not even seek
to understand the caprice which had decided Captain Nemo upon entering the gulf.

But I quite approved of the Nautilus entering it.

Its speed was lessened:

sometimes it kept on the surface,
sometimes it dived
to avoid a vessel,
and thus I was able
to observe the upper and lower parts of this curious sea.The 8th of February,
from the first dawn of day,
Mocha came in sight,
now a ruined town,
whose walls would fall at a gunshot,
yet which shelters here and there some verdant date-trees;
once an important city,
containing six public markets,
and twenty-six mosques,
and whose walls,
defended by fourteen forts,
formed a girdle of two miles in circumference.The Nautilus then approached the African shore,
where the depth of the sea was greater.

There,
between two waters clear as crystal,
through the open panels we were allowed
to contemplate the beautiful bushes of brilliant coral and large blocks of rock clothed
with a splendid fur of green variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and algae and fuci.

What an indescribable spectacle,
and what variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and volcanic islands which bound the Libyan coast!

But where these shrubs appeared in all their beauty was on the eastern coast,
which the Nautilus soon gained.

It was on the coast of Tehama,

for there not only did this display of zoophytes flourish beneath the level of the sea,
but they also formed picturesque interlacings which unfolded themselves about sixty feet above the surface,
more capricious but less highly coloured than those whose freshness was kept up by the vital power of the waters.What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon!

What new specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under the brightness of our electric lantern!
The 9th of February the Nautilus floated in the broadest part of the Red Sea,
which is comprised between Souakin,
on the west coast,
and Komfidah,
on the east coast,

with a diameter of ninety miles.That day at noon,
after the bearings were taken,
Captain Nemo mounted the platform,
where I happened
to be,
and I was determined not
to let him go down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior projects.

As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me a cigar."

Well,
sir,
does this Red Sea please you?

Have you sufficiently observed the wonders it covers,
its fishes,
its zoophytes,
its parterres of sponges,
and its forests of coral?

Did you catch a glimpse of the towns on its borders?"


"Yes,
Captain Nemo," I replied;
"and the Nautilus is wonderfully fitted
for such a study.

Ah!

it is an intelligent boat!"
"Yes,
sir,
intelligent and invulnerable.

It fears neither the terrible tempests of the Red Sea,
nor its currents,
nor its sandbanks."


"Certainly," said I,
"this sea is quoted as one of the worst,
and in the time of the ancients,
if I am not mistaken,
its reputation was detestable."


"Detestable,
M.

Aronnax.

The Greek and Latin historians do not speak favourably of it,
and Strabo says it is very dangerous during the Etesian winds and in the rainy season.

The Arabian Edrisi portrays it under the name of the Gulf of Colzoum,
and relates that vessels perished there in great numbers on the sandbanks and that no one would risk sailing in the night.

It is,
he pretends,
a sea subject
to fearful hurricanes,
strewn
with inhospitable islands,
and `which offers nothing good either on its surface or in its depths.'"
"One may see," I replied,
"that these historians never sailed on board the Nautilus."


"Just so," replied the Captain,
smiling;
"and in that respect moderns are not more advanced than the ancients.

It required many ages
to find out the mechanical power of steam.

Who knows if,
in another hundred years,
we may not see a second Nautilus?

Progress is slow,
M.

Aronnax."


"It is true," I answered;
"your boat is at least a century before its time,
perhaps an era.

What a misfortune that the secret of such an invention should die
with its inventor!"
Captain Nemo did not reply.

After some minutes' silence he continued:
"You were speaking of the opinions of ancient historians upon the dangerous navigation of the Red Sea."


"It is true," said I;
"but were not their fears exaggerated?"


"Yes and no,
M.

Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo,
who seemed
to know the Red Sea by heart.

"That which is no longer dangerous
for a modern vessel,
well rigged,
strongly built,
and master of its own course,
thanks
to obedient steam,
offered all sorts of perils
to the ships of the ancients.

Picture
to yourself those first navigators venturing in ships made of planks sewn
with the cords of the palmtree,
saturated
with the grease of the seadog,
and covered
with powdered resin!

They had not even instruments where
with
to take their bearings,
and they went by guess amongst currents of which they scarcely knew anything.

Under such conditions shipwrecks were,
and must have been,
numerous.

But in our time,
steamers running between Suez and the South Seas have nothing more
to fear from the fury of this gulf,
in spite of contrary trade-winds.

The captain and passengers do not prepare
for their departure by offering propitiatory sacrifices;
and,
on their return,
they no longer go ornamented
with wreaths and gilt fillets
to thank the gods in the neighbouring temple."


"I agree
with you," said I;
"and steam seems
to have killed all gratitude in the hearts of sailors.

But,
Captain,
since you seem
to have especially studied this sea,
can you tell me the origin of its name?"


"There exist several explanations on the subject,
M.

Aronnax.

Would you like
to know the opinion of a chronicler of the fourteenth century?"


"Willingly."


"This fanciful writer pretends that its name was given
to it after the passage of the Israelites,
when Pharaoh perished in the waves which closed at the voice of Moses."


"A poet's explanation,
Captain Nemo," I replied;
"but I cannot content myself
with that.

I ask you
for your personal opinion."


"Here it is,
M.

Aronnax.

According
to my idea,
we must see in this appellation of the Red Sea a translation of the Hebrew word `Edom';
and if the ancients gave it that name,
it was on account of the particular colour of its waters."


"But up
to this time I have seen nothing but transparent waves and without any particular colour."


"Very likely;
but as we advance
to the bottom of the gulf,
you will see this singular appearance.

I remember seeing the Bay of Tor entirely red,
like a sea of blood."


"And you attribute this colour
to the presence of a microscopic seaweed?"


"Yes."


"So,
Captain Nemo,
it is not the first time you have overrun the Red Sea on board the Nautilus?"


"No,
sir."


"As you spoke a while ago of the passage of the Israelites and of the catastrophe
to the Egyptians,
I will ask whether you have met
with the traces under the water of this great historical fact?"


"No,
sir;
and
for a good reason."


"What is it?"


"It is that the spot where Moses and his people passed is now so blocked up
with sand that the camels can barely bathe their legs there.

You can well understand that there would not be water enough
for my Nautilus."


"And the spot?"

I asked."

The spot is situated a little above the Isthmus of Suez,
in the arm which formerly made a deep estuary,
when the Red Sea extended
to the Salt Lakes.

Now,
whether this passage were miraculous or not,
the Israelites,
nevertheless,
crossed there
to reach the Promised Land,
and Pharaoh's army perished precisely on that spot;
and I think that excavations made in the middle of the sand would bring
to light a large number of arms and instruments of Egyptian origin."


"That is evident," I replied;
"and
for the sake of archaeologists let us hope that these excavations will be made sooner or later,
when new towns are established on the isthmus,
after the construction of the Suez Canal;
a canal,
however,
very useless
to a vessel like the Nautilus."


"Very likely;
but useful
to the whole world," said Captain Nemo.

"The ancients well understood the utility of a communication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
for their commercial affairs:

but they did not think of digging a canal direct,
and took the Nile as an intermediate.

Very probably the canal which united the Nile
to the Red Sea was begun by Sesostris,
if we may believe tradition.

One thing is certain,
that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ,
Necos undertook the works of an alimentary canal
to the waters of the Nile across the plain of Egypt,
looking towards Arabia.

It took four days
to go up this canal,
and it was so wide that two triremes could go abreast.

It was carried on by Darius,
the son of Hystaspes,
and probably finished by Ptolemy II.

Strabo saw it navigated:

but its decline from the point of departure,
near Bubastes,

to the Red Sea was so slight that it was only navigable
for a few months in the year.

This canal answered all commercial purposes
to the age of Antonius,
when it was abandoned and blocked up
with sand.

Restored by order of the Caliph Omar,
it was definitely destroyed in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor,
who wished
to prevent the arrival of provisions
to Mohammed-ben-Abdallah,
who had revolted against him.

During the expedition in
to Egypt,
your General Bonaparte discovered traces of the works in the Desert of Suez;
and,
surprised by the tide,
he nearly perished before regaining Hadjaroth,
at the very place where Moses had encamped three thousand years before him."


"Well,
Captain,
what the ancients dared not undertake,
this junction between the two seas,
which will shorten the road from Cadiz
to India,
M.

Lesseps has succeeded in doing;
and before long he will have changed Africa in
to an immense island."


"Yes,
M.

Aronnax;
you have the right
to be proud of your countryman.

Such a man brings more honour
to a nation than great captains.

He began,
like so many others,

with disgust and rebuffs;
but he has triumphed,

for he has the genius of will.

And it is sad
to think that a work like that,
which ought
to have been an international work and which would have sufficed
to make a reign illustrious,
should have succeeded by the energy of one man.

All honour
to M.

Lesseps!"
"Yes!

honour
to the great citizen," I replied,
surprised by the manner in which Captain Nemo had just spoken."

Unfortunately," he continued,
"I cannot take you through the Suez Canal;
but you will be able
to see the long jetty of Port Said after to-morrow,
when we shall be in the Mediterranean."


"The Mediterranean!" I exclaimed."

Yes,
sir;
does that astonish you?"


"What astonishes me is
to think that we shall be there the day after to-morrow."


"Indeed?"


"Yes,
Captain,
although by this time I ought
to have accustomed myself
to be surprised at nothing since I have been on board your boat."


"But the cause of this surprise?"


"Well!

it is the fearful speed you will have
to put on the Nautilus,
if the day after to-morrow she is
to be in the Mediterranean,
having made the round of Africa,
and doubled the Cape of Good Hope!"
"Who told you that she would make the round of Africa and double the Cape of Good Hope,
sir?"


"Well,
unless the Nautilus sails on dry land,
and passes above the isthmus----"
"Or beneath it,
M.

Aronnax."


"Beneath it?"


"Certainly," replied Captain Nemo quietly.

"A long time ago Nature made under this tongue of land what man has this day made on its surface."


"What!

such a passage exists?"


"Yes;
a subterranean passage,
which I have named the Arabian Tunnel.

It takes us beneath Suez and opens in
to the Gulf of Pelusium."


"But this isthmus is composed of nothing but quick sands?"


"
to a certain depth.

But at fifty-five yards only there is a solid layer of rock."


"Did you discover this passage by chance?"

I asked more and more surprised."

Chance and reasoning,
sir;
and by reasoning even more than by chance.

Not only does this passage exist,
but I have profited by it several times.

Without that I should not have ventured this day in
to the impassable Red Sea.

I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean there existed a certain number of fishes of a kind perfectly identical.

Certain of the fact,
I asked myself was it possible that there was no communication between the two seas?

If there was,
the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red Sea
to the Mediterranean,
from the sole cause of difference of level.

I caught a large number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez.

I passed a copper ring through their tails,
and threw them back in
to the sea.

Some months later,
on the coast of Syria,
I caught some of my fish ornamented
with the ring.

Thus the communication between the two was proved.

I then sought
for it
with my Nautilus;
I discovered it,
ventured in
to it,
and before long,
sir,
you too will have passed through my Arabian tunnel!"
CHAPTER V
THE ARABIAN TUNNEL
That same evening,
in 21@ 30' N.

lat.,
the Nautilus floated on the surface of the sea,
approaching the Arabian coast.

I saw Djeddah,
the most important counting-house of Egypt,
Syria,
Turkey,
and India.

I distinguished clearly enough its buildings,
the vessels anchored at the quays,
and those whose draught of water obliged them
to anchor in the roads.

The sun,
rather low on the horizon,
struck full on the houses of the town,
bringing out their whiteness.

Outside,
some wooden cabins,
and some made of reeds,
showed the quarter inhabited by the Bedouins.

Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the shadows of night,
and the Nautilus found herself under water slightly phosphorescent.The next day,
the 10th of February,
we sighted several ships running
to windward.

The Nautilus returned
to its submarine navigation;
but at noon,
when her bearings were taken,
the sea being deserted,
she rose again
to her waterline.Accompanied by Ned and Conseil,
I seated myself on the platform.

The coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon a damp fog.We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace,
talking of one thing and another,
when Ned Land,
stretching out his hand towards a spot on the sea,
said:
"Do you see anything there,
sir?"


"No,
Ned," I replied;
"but I have not your eyes,
you know."


"Look well," said Ned,
"there,
on the starboard beam,
about the height of the lantern!

Do you not see a mass which seems
to move?"


"Certainly," said I,
after close attention;
"I see something like a long black body on the top of the water."


And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile from us.

It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea.

It was a gigantic dugong!
Ned Land looked eagerly.

His eyes shone
with covetousness at the sight of the animal.

His hand seemed ready
to harpoon it.

One would have thought he was awaiting the moment
to throw himself in
to the sea and attack it in its element.At this instant Captain Nemo appeared on the platform.

He saw the dugong,
understood the Canadian's attitude,
and,
addressing him,
said:
"If you held a harpoon just now,
Master Land,
would it not burn your hand?"


"Just so,
sir."


"And you would not be sorry
to go back,

for one day,

to your trade of a fisherman and
to add this cetacean
to the list of those you have already killed?"


"I should not,
sir."


"Well,
you can try."


"Thank you,
sir," said Ned Land,
his eyes flaming."

Only," continued the Captain,
"I advise you
for your own sake not
to miss the creature."


"Is the dugong dangerous
to attack?"

I asked,
in spite of the Canadian's shrug of the shoulders."

Yes," replied the Captain;
"sometimes the animal turns upon its assailants and overturns their boat.

But
for Master Land this danger is not
to be feared.

His eye is prompt,
his arm sure."


At this moment seven men of the crew,
mute and immovable as ever,
mounted the platform.

One carried a harpoon and a line similar
to those employed in catching whales.

The pinnace was lifted from the bridge,
pulled from its socket,
and let down in
to the sea.

Six oarsmen took their seats,
and the coxswain went
to the tiller.

Ned,
Conseil,
and I went
to the back of the boat."

You are not coming,
Captain?"

I asked."

No,
sir;
but I wish you good sport."


The boat put off,
and,
lifted by the six rowers,
drew rapidly towards the dugong,
which floated about two miles from the Nautilus.Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean,
the speed slackened,
and the oars dipped noiselessly in
to the quiet waters.

Ned Land,
harpoon in hand,
stood in the fore part of the boat.

The harpoon used
for striking the whale is generally attached
to a very long cord which runs out rapidly as the wounded creature draws it after him.

But here the cord was not more than ten fathoms long,
and the extremity was attached
to a small barrel which,
by floating,
was
to show the course the dugong took under the water.I stood and carefully watched the Canadian's adversary.

This dugong,
which also bears the name of the halicore,
closely resembles the manatee;
its oblong body terminated in a lengthened tail,
and its lateral fins in perfect fingers.

Its difference from the manatee consisted in its upper jaw,
which was armed
with two long and pointed teeth which formed on each side diverging tusks.This dugong which Ned Land was preparing
to attack was of colossal dimensions;
it was more than seven yards long.

It did not move,
and seemed
to be sleeping on the waves,
which circumstance made it easier
to capture.The boat approached within six yards of the animal.

The oars rested on the rowlocks.

I half rose.

Ned Land,
his body thrown a little back,
brandished the harpoon in his experienced hand.Suddenly a hissing noise was heard,
and the dugong disappeared.

The harpoon,
although thrown
with great force;
had apparently only struck the water."

Curse it!" exclaimed the Canadian furiously;
"I have missed it!"
"No," said I;
"the creature is wounded--look at the blood;
but your weapon has not stuck in his body."


"My harpoon!

my harpoon!" cried Ned Land.The sailors rowed on,
and the coxswain made
for the floating barrel.

The harpoon regained,
we followed in pursuit of the animal.The latter came now and then
to the surface
to breathe.

Its wound had not weakened it,

for it shot onwards
with great rapidity.The boat,
rowed by strong arms,
flew on its track.

Several times it approached within some few yards,
and the Canadian was ready
to strike,
but the dugong made off
with a sudden plunge,
and it was impossible
to reach it.Imagine the passion which excited impatient Ned Land!

He hurled at the unfortunate creature the most energetic expletives in the English tongue.


for my part,
I was only vexed
to see the dugong escape all our attacks.We pursued it without relaxation
for an hour,
and I began
to think it would prove difficult
to capture,
when the animal,
possessed
with the perverse idea of vengeance of which he had cause
to repent,
turned upon the pinnace and assailed us in its turn.This manoeuvre did not escape the Canadian."

Look out!" he cried.The coxswain said some words in his outlandish tongue,
doubtless warning the men
to keep on their guard.The dugong came within twenty feet of the boat,
stopped,
sniffed the air briskly
with its large nostrils (not pierced at the extremity,
but in the upper part of its muzzle).

Then,
taking a spring,
he threw himself upon us.The pinnace could not avoid the shock,
and half upset,
shipped at least two tons of water,
which had
to be emptied;
but,
thanks
to the coxswain,
we caught it sideways,
not full front,
so we were not quite overturned.

While Ned Land,
clinging
to the bows,
belaboured the gigantic animal
with blows from his harpoon,
the creature's teeth were buried in the gunwale,
and it lifted the whole thing out of the water,
as a lion does a roebuck.

We were upset over one another,
and I know not how the adventure would have ended,
if the Canadian,
still enraged
with the beast,
had not struck it
to the heart.I heard its teeth grind on the iron plate,
and the dugong disappeared,
carrying the harpoon
with him.

But the barrel soon returned
to the surface,
and shortly after the body of the animal,
turned on its back.

The boat came up
with it,
took it in tow,
and made straight
for the Nautilus.It required tackle of enormous strength
to hoist the dugong on
to the platform.

It weighed 10,000 lb.The next day,
11th February,
the larder of the Nautilus was enriched by some more delicate game.

A flight of sea-swallows rested on the Nautilus.

It was a species of the Sterna nilotica,
peculiar
to Egypt;
its beak is black,
head grey and pointed,
the eye surrounded by white spots,
the back,
wings,
and tail of a greyish colour,
the belly and throat white,
and claws red.

They also took some dozen of Nile ducks,
a wild bird of high flavour,
its throat and upper part of the head white
with black spots.About five o'clock in the evening we sighted
to the north the Cape of Ras-Mohammed.

This cape forms the extremity of Arabia Petraea,
comprised between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Acabah.The Nautilus penetrated in
to the Straits of Jubal,
which leads
to the Gulf of Suez.

I distinctly saw a high mountain,
towering between the two gulfs of Ras-Mohammed.

It was Mount Horeb,
that Sinai at the top of which Moses saw God face
to face.At six o'clock the Nautilus,
sometimes floating,
sometimes immersed,
passed some distance from Tor,
situated at the end of the bay,
the waters of which seemed tinted
with red,
an observation already made by Captain Nemo.

Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence,
sometimes broken by the cries of the pelican and other night-birds,
and the noise of the waves breaking upon the shore,
chafing against the rocks,
or the panting of some far-off steamer beating the waters of the Gulf
with its noisy paddles.From eight
to nine o'clock the Nautilus remained some fathoms under the water.

According
to my calculation we must have been very near Suez.

Through the panel of the saloon I saw the bottom of the rocks brilliantly lit up by our electric lamp.

We seemed
to be leaving the Straits behind us more and more.At a quarter-past nine,
the vessel having returned
to the surface,
I mounted the platform.

Most impatient
to pass through Captain Nemo's tunnel,
I could not stay in one place,
so came
to breathe the fresh night air.Soon in the shadow I saw a pale light,
half discoloured by the fog,
shining about a mile from us."

A floating lighthouse!" said someone near me.I turned,
and saw the Captain."

It is the floating light of Suez," he continued.

"It will not be long before we gain the entrance of the tunnel."


"The entrance cannot be easy?"


"No,
sir;

for that reason I am accustomed
to go in
to the steersman's cage and myself direct our course.

And now,
if you will go down,
M.

Aronnax,
the Nautilus is going under the waves,
and will not return
to the surface until we have passed through the Arabian Tunnel."


Captain Nemo led me towards the central staircase;
half way down he opened a door,
traversed the upper deck,
and landed in the pilot's cage,
which it may be remembered rose at the extremity of the platform.

It was a cabin measuring six feet square,
very much like that occupied by the pilot on the steamboats of the Mississippi or Hudson.

In the midst worked a wheel,
placed vertically,
and caught
to the tiller-rope,
which ran
to the back of the Nautilus.

Four light-ports
with lenticular glasses,
let in a groove in the partition of the cabin,
allowed the man at the wheel
to see in all directions.This cabin was dark;
but soon my eyes accustomed themselves
to the obscurity,
and I perceived the pilot,
a strong man,

with his hands resting on the spokes of the wheel.

Outside,
the sea appeared vividly lit up by the lantern,
which shed its rays from the back of the cabin
to the other extremity of the platform."

Now," said Captain Nemo,
"let us try
to make our passage."


Electric wires connected the pilot's cage
with the machinery room,
and from there the Captain could communicate simultaneously
to his Nautilus the direction and the speed.

He pressed a metal knob,
and at once the speed of the screw diminished.I looked in silence at the high straight wall we were running by at this moment,
the immovable base of a massive sandy coast.

We followed it thus
for an hour only some few yards off.Captain Nemo did not take his eye from the knob,
suspended by its two concentric circles in the cabin.

At a simple gesture,
the pilot modified the course of the Nautilus every instant.I had placed myself at the port-scuttle,
and saw some magnificent substructures of coral,
zoophytes,
seaweed,
and fucus,
agitating their enormous claws,
which stretched out from the fissures of the rock.At a quarter-past ten,
the Captain himself took the helm.

A large gallery,
black and deep,
opened before us.

The Nautilus went boldly in
to it.

A strange roaring was heard round its sides.

It was the waters of the Red Sea,
which the incline of the tunnel precipitated violently towards the Mediterranean.

The Nautilus went
with the torrent,
rapid as an arrow,
in spite of the efforts of the machinery,
which,
in order
to offer more effective resistance,
beat the waves
with reversed screw.On the walls of the narrow passage I could see nothing but brilliant rays,
straight lines,
furrows of fire,
traced by the great speed,
under the brilliant electric light.

My heart beat fast.At thirty-five minutes past ten,
Captain Nemo quitted the helm,
and,
turning
to me,
said:
"The Mediterranean!"
In less than twenty minutes,
the Nautilus,
carried along by the torrent,
had passed through the Isthmus of Suez.


CHAPTER VI
THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO
The next day,
the 12th of February,
at the dawn of day,
the Nautilus rose
to the surface.

I hastened on
to the platform.

Three miles
to the south the dim outline of Pelusium was
to be seen.

A torrent had carried us from one sea
to another.

About seven o'clock Ned and Conseil joined me."

Well,
Sir Naturalist," said the Canadian,
in a slightly jovial tone,
"and the Mediterranean?"


"We are floating on its surface,
friend Ned."


"What!" said Conseil,
"this very night."


"Yes,
this very night;
in a few minutes we have passed this impassable isthmus."


"I do not believe it," replied the Canadian."

Then you are wrong,
Master Land," I continued;
"this low coast which rounds off
to the south is the Egyptian coast.

And you who have such good eyes,
Ned,
you can see the jetty of Port Said stretching in
to the sea."


The Canadian looked attentively."

Certainly you are right,
sir,
and your Captain is a first-rate man.

We are in the Mediterranean.

Good!

Now,
if you please,
let us talk of our own little affair,
but so that no one hears us."


I saw what the Canadian wanted,
and,
in any case,
I thought it better
to let him talk,
as he wished it;
so we all three went and sat down near the lantern,
where we were less exposed
to the spray of the blades."

Now,
Ned,
we listen;
what have you
to tell us?"


"What I have
to tell you is very simple.

We are in Europe;
and before Captain Nemo's caprices drag us once more
to the bottom of the Polar Seas,
or lead us in
to Oceania,
I ask
to leave the Nautilus."


I wished in no way
to shackle the liberty of my companions,
but I certainly felt no desire
to leave Captain Nemo.Thanks
to him,
and thanks
to his apparatus,
I was each day nearer the completion of my submarine studies;
and I was rewriting my book of submarine depths in its very element.

Should I ever again have such an opportunity of observing the wonders of the ocean?

No,
certainly not!

And I could not bring myself
to the idea of abandoning the Nautilus before the cycle of investigation was accomplished."

Friend Ned,
answer me frankly,
are you tired of being on board?

Are you sorry that destiny has thrown us in
to Captain Nemo's hands?"


The Canadian remained some moments without answering.

Then,
crossing his arms,
he said:
"Frankly,
I do not regret this journey under the seas.

I shall be glad
to have made it;
but,
now that it is made,
let us have done
with it.

That is my idea."


"It will come
to an end,
Ned."


"Where and when?"


"Where I do not know--when I cannot say;
or,
rather,
I suppose it will end when these seas have nothing more
to teach us."


"Then what do you hope for?"

demanded the Canadian."

That circumstances may occur as well six months hence as now by which we may and ought
to profit."


"Oh!" said Ned Land,
"and where shall we be in six months,
if you please,
Sir Naturalist?"


"Perhaps in China;
you know the Nautilus is a rapid traveller.

It goes through water as swallows through the air,
or as an express on the land.

It does not fear frequented seas;
who can say that it may not beat the coasts of France,
England,
or America,
on which flight may be attempted as advantageously as here."


"M.

Aronnax," replied the Canadian,
"your arguments are rotten at the foundation.

You speak in the future,
`We shall be there!

we shall be here!' I speak in the present,
`We are here,
and we must profit by it.'"
Ned Land's logic pressed me hard,
and I felt myself beaten on that ground.

I knew not what argument would now tell in my favour."

Sir," continued Ned,
"let us suppose an impossibility:

if Captain Nemo should this day offer you your liberty;
would you accept it?"


"I do not know," I answered."

And if," he added,
"the offer made you this day was never
to be renewed,
would you accept it?"


"Friend Ned,
this is my answer.

Your reasoning is against me.

We must not rely on Captain Nemo's good-will.

Common prudence forbids him
to set us at liberty.

On the other side,
prudence bids us profit by the first opportunity
to leave the Nautilus."


"Well,
M.

Aronnax,
that is wisely said."


"Only one observation--just one.

The occasion must be serious,
and our first attempt must succeed;
if it fails,
we shall never find another,
and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."


"All that is true," replied the Canadian.

"But your observation applies equally
to all attempts at flight,
whether in two years' time,
or in two days'.

But the question is still this:

If a favourable opportunity presents itself,
it must be seized."


"Agreed!

And now,
Ned,
will you tell me what you mean by a favourable opportunity?"


"It will be that which,
on a dark night,
will bring the Nautilus a short distance from some European coast."


"And you will try and save yourself by swimming?"


"Yes,
if we were near enough
to the bank,
and if the vessel was floating at the time.

Not if the bank was far away,
and the boat was under the water."


"And in that case?"


"In that case,
I should seek
to make myself master of the pinnace.

I know how it is worked.

We must get inside,
and the bolts once drawn,
we shall come
to the surface of the water,
without even the pilot,
who is in the bows,
perceiving our flight."


"Well,
Ned,
watch
for the opportunity;
but do not forget that a hitch will ruin us."


"I will not forget,
sir."


"And now,
Ned,
would you like
to know what I think of your project?"


"Certainly,
M.

Aronnax."


"Well,
I think--I do not say I hope--I think that this favourable opportunity will never present itself."


"Why not?"


"Because Captain Nemo cannot hide from himself that we have not given up all hope of regaining our liberty,
and he will be on his guard,
above all,
in the seas and in the sight of European coasts."


"We shall see," replied Ned Land,
shaking his head determinedly."

And now,
Ned Land," I added,
"let us stop here.

Not another word on the subject.

The day that you are ready,
come and let us know,
and we will follow you.

I rely entirely upon you."


Thus ended a conversation which,
at no very distant time,
led
to such grave results.

I must say here that facts seemed
to confirm my foresight,

to the Canadian's great despair.

Did Captain Nemo distrust us in these frequented seas?

or did he only wish
to hide himself from the numerous vessels,
of all nations,
which ploughed the Mediterranean?

I could not tell;
but we were oftener between waters and far from the coast.

Or,
if the Nautilus did emerge,
nothing was
to be seen but the pilot's cage;
and sometimes it went
to great depths,
for,
between the Grecian Archipelago and Asia Minor we could not touch the bottom by more than a thousand fathoMs.Thus I only knew we were near the Island of Carpathos,
one of the Sporades,
by Captain Nemo reciting these lines from Virgil:
"Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates,
Caeruleus Proteus,"
as he pointed
to a spot on the planisphere.It was indeed the ancient abode of Proteus,
the old shepherd of Neptune's flocks,
now the Island of Scarpanto,
situated between Rhodes and Crete.

I saw nothing but the granite base through the glass panels of the saloon.The next day,
the 14th of February,
I resolved
to employ some hours in studying the fishes of the Archipelago;
but
for some reason or other the panels remained hermetically sealed.

Upon taking the course of the Nautilus,
I found that we were going towards Candia,
the ancient Isle of Crete.

At the time I embarked on the Abraham Lincoln,
the whole of this island had risen in insurrection against the despotism of the Turks.

But how the insurgents had fared since that time I was absolutely ignorant,
and it was not Captain Nemo,
deprived of all land communications,
who could tell me.I made no allusion
to this event when that night I found myself alone
with him in the saloon.

Besides,
he seemed
to be taciturn and preoccupied.

Then,
contrary
to his custom,
he ordered both panels
to be opened,
and,
going from one
to the other,
observed the mass of waters attentively.


to what end I could not guess;
so,
on my side,
I employed my time in studying the fish passing before my eyes.In the midst of the waters a man appeared,
a diver,
carrying at his belt a leathern purse.

It was not a body abandoned
to the waves;
it was a living man,
swimming
with a strong hand,
disappearing occasionally
to take breath at the surface.I turned towards Captain Nemo,
and in an agitated voice exclaimed:
"A man shipwrecked!

He must be saved at any price!"
The Captain did not answer me,
but came and leaned against the panel.The man had approached,
and,

with his face flattened against the glass,
was looking at us.
to my great amazement,
Captain Nemo signed
to him.

The diver answered
with his hand,
mounted immediately
to the surface of the water,
and did not appear again."

Do not be uncomfortable," said Captain Nemo.

"It is Nicholas of Cape Matapan,
surnamed Pesca.

He is well known in all the Cyclades.

A bold diver!

water is his element,
and he lives more in it than on land,
going continually from one island
to another,
even as far as Crete."


"You know him,
Captain?"


"Why not,
M.

Aronnax?"


Saying which,
Captain Nemo went towards a piece of furniture standing near the left panel of the saloon.

Near this piece of furniture,
I saw a chest bound
with iron,
on the cover of which was a copper plate,
bearing the cypher of the Nautilus
with its device.At that moment,
the Captain,
without noticing my presence,
opened the piece of furniture,
a sort of strong box,
which held a great many ingots.They were ingots of gold.

From whence came this precious metal,
which represented an enormous sum?

Where did the Captain gather this gold from?

and what was he going
to do
with it?
I did not say one word.

I looked.

Captain Nemo took the ingots one by one,
and arranged them methodically in the chest,
which he filled entirely.

I estimated the contents at more than 4,000 lb.

weight of gold,
that is
to say,
nearly L200,000.The chest was securely fastened,
and the Captain wrote an address on the lid,
in characters which must have belonged
to Modern Greece.This done,
Captain Nemo pressed a knob,
the wire of which communicated
with the quarters of the crew.

Four men appeared,
and,
not without some trouble,
pushed the chest out of the saloon.

Then I heard them hoisting it up the iron staircase by means of pulleys.At that moment,
Captain Nemo turned
to me."

And you were saying,
sir?"

said he."

I was saying nothing,
Captain."


"Then,
sir,
if you will allow me,
I will wish you good night."


Whereupon he turned and left the saloon.I returned
to my room much troubled,
as one may believe.

I vainly tried
to sleep--I sought the connecting link between the apparition of the diver and the chest filled
with gold.

Soon,
I felt by certain movements of pitching and tossing that the Nautilus was leaving the depths and returning
to the surface.Then I heard steps upon the platform;
and I knew they were unfastening the pinnace and launching it upon the waves.


for one instant it struck the side of the Nautilus,
then all noise ceased.Two hours after,
the same noise,
the same going and coming was renewed;
the boat was hoisted on board,
replaced in its socket,
and the Nautilus again plunged under the waves.So these millions had been transported
to their address.


to what point of the continent?

Who was Captain Nemo's correspondent?
The next day I related
to Conseil and the Canadian the events of the night,
which had excited my curiosity
to the highest degree.

My companions were not less surprised than myself."

But where does he take his millions to?"

asked Ned Land.
to that there was no possible answer.

I returned
to the saloon after having breakfast and set
to work.

Till five o'clock in the evening I employed myself in arranging my notes.

At that moment--(ought I
to attribute it
to some peculiar idiosyncrasy)-- I felt so great a heat that I was obliged
to take off my coat.

It was strange,

for we were under low latitudes;
and even then the Nautilus,
submerged as it was,
ought
to experience no change of temperature.

I looked at the manometer;
it showed a depth of sixty feet,

to which atmospheric heat could never attain.I continued my work,
but the temperature rose
to such a pitch as
to be intolerable."

Could there be fire on board?"

I asked myself.I was leaving the saloon,
when Captain Nemo entered;
he approached the thermometer,
consulted it,
and,
turning
to me,
said:
"Forty-two degrees."


"I have noticed it,
Captain," I replied;
"and if it gets much hotter we cannot bear it."


"Oh,
sir,
it will not get better if we do not wish it."


"You can reduce it as you please,
then?"


"No;
but I can go farther from the stove which produces it."


"It is outward,
then!"
"Certainly;
we are floating in a current of boiling water."


"Is it possible!" I exclaimed."

Look."


The panels opened,
and I saw the sea entirely white all round.

A sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves,
which boiled like water in a copper.

I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass,
but the heat was so great that I quickly took it off again."

Where are we?"

I asked."

Near the Island of Santorin,
sir," replied the Captain.

"I wished
to give you a sight of the curious spectacle of a submarine eruption."


"I thought," said I,
"that the formation of these new islands was ended."


"Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea," replied Captain Nemo;
"and the globe is always being worked by subterranean fires.

Already,
in the nineteenth year of our era,
according
to Cassiodorus and Pliny,
a new island,
Theia (the divine),
appeared in the very place where these islets have recently been formed.

Then they sank under the waves,

to rise again in the year 69,
when they again subsided.

Since that time
to our days the Plutonian work has been suspended.

But on the 3rd of February,
1866,
a new island,
which they named George Island,
emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour near Nea Kamenni,
and settled again the 6th of the same month.

Seven days after,
the 13th of February,
the Island of Aphroessa appeared,
leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten yards broad.

I was in these seas when the phenomenon occurred,
and I was able therefore
to observe all the different phases.

The Island of Aphroessa,
of round form,
measured 300 feet in diameter,
and 30 feet in height.

It was composed of black and vitreous lava,
mixed
with fragments of felspar.

And lastly,
on the 10th of March,
a smaller island,
called Reka,
showed itself near Nea Kamenni,
and since then these three have joined together,
forming but one and the same island."


"And the canal in which we are at this moment?"

I asked."

Here it is," replied Captain Nemo,
showing me a map of the Archipelago.

"You see,
I have marked the new islands."


I returned
to the glass.

The Nautilus was no longer moving,
the heat was becoming unbearable.

The sea,
which till now had been white,
was red,
owing
to the presence of salts of iron.

In spite of the ship's being hermetically sealed,
an insupportable smell of sulphur filled the saloon,
and the brilliancy of the electricity was entirely extinguished by bright scarlet flames.

I was in a bath,
I was choking,
I was broiled."

We can remain no longer in this boiling water," said I
to the Captain."

It would not be prudent," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.An order was given;
the Nautilus tacked about and left the furnace it could not brave
with impunity.

A quarter of an hour after we were breathing fresh air on the surface.

The thought then struck me that,
if Ned Land had chosen this part of the sea
for our flight,
we should never have come alive out of this sea of fire.The next day,
the 16th of February,
we left the basin which,
between Rhodes and Alexandria,
is reckoned about 1,500 fathoms in depth,
and the Nautilus,
passing some distance from Cerigo,
quitted the Grecian Archipelago after having doubled Cape Matapan.


CHAPTER VII
THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
The Mediterranean,
the blue sea par excellence,
"the great sea" of the Hebrews,
"the sea" of the Greeks,
the "mare nostrum" of the Romans,
bordered by orange-trees,
aloes,
cacti,
and sea-pines;
embalmed
with the perfume of the myrtle,
surrounded by rude mountains,
saturated
with pure and transparent air,
but incessantly worked by underground fires;
a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Plu
to still dispute the empire of the world!
It is upon these banks,
and on these waters,
says Michelet,
that man is renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe.

But,
beautiful as it was,
I could only take a rapid glance at the basin whose superficial area is two million of square yards.

Even Captain Nemo's knowledge was lost
to me,

for this puzzling person did not appear once during our passage at full speed.

I estimated the course which the Nautilus took under the waves of the sea at about six hundred leagues,
and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours.

Starting on the morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece,
we had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.It was plain
to me that this Mediterranean,
enclosed in the midst of those countries which he wished
to avoid,
was distasteful
to Captain Nemo.

Those waves and those breezes brought back too many remembrances,
if not too many regrets.

Here he had no longer that independence and that liberty of gait which he had when in the open seas,
and his Nautilus felt itself cramped between the close shores of Africa and Europe.Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour.

It may be well understood that Ned Land,

to his great disgust,
was obliged
to renounce his intended flight.

He could not launch the pinnace,
going at the rate of twelve or thirteen yards every second.


to quit the Nautilus under such conditions would be as bad as jumping from a train going at full speed--an imprudent thing,

to say the least of it.

Besides,
our vessel only mounted
to the surface of the waves at night
to renew its stock of air;
it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
that is
to say,
the distant horizon,
and not the nearer objects which pass like a flash of lightning.We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis.

In the narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of the sea rose almost suddenly.

There was a perfect bank,
on which there was not more than nine fathoms of water,
whilst on either side the depth was ninety fathoMs.The Nautilus had
to manoeuvre very carefully so as not
to strike against this submarine barrier.I showed Conseil,
on the map of the Mediterranean,
the spot occupied by this reef."

But if you please,
sir," observed Conseil,
"it is like a real isthmus joining Europe
to Africa."


"Yes,
my boy,
it forms a perfect bar
to the Straits of Lybia,
and the soundings of Smith have proved that in former times the continents between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined."


"I can well believe it," said Conseil."

I will add," I continued,
"that a similar barrier exists between Gibraltar and Ceuta,
which in geological times formed the entire Mediterranean."


"What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers above the waves?"


"It is not probable,
Conseil."


"Well,
but allow me
to finish,
please,
sir;
if this phenomenon should take place,
it will be troublesome
for M.

Lesseps,
who has taken so much pains
to pierce the isthmus."


"I agree
with you;
but I repeat,
Conseil,
this phenomenon will never happen.

The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.

Volcanoes,
so plentiful in the first days of the world,
are being extinguished by degrees;
the internal heat is weakened,
the temperature of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a perceptible quantity every century
to the detriment of our globe,

for its heat is its life."


"But the sun?"


"The sun is not sufficient,
Conseil.

Can it give heat
to a dead body?"


"Not that I know of."


"Well,
my friend,
this earth will one day be that cold corpse;
it will become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon,
which has long since lost all its vital heat."


"In how many centuries?"


"In some hundreds of thousands of years,
my boy."


"Then," said Conseil,
"we shall have time
to finish our journey-- that is,
if Ned Land does not interfere
with it."


And Conseil,
reassured,
returned
to the study of the bank,
which the Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the second Mediterranean basin,
the greatest depth of which was 1,450 fathoMs. The Nautilus,
by the action of its crew,
slid down the inclined planes and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.On the 18th of February,
about three o'clock in the morning,
we were at the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar.

There once existed two currents:

an upper one,
long since recognised,
which conveys the waters of the ocean in
to the basin of the Mediterranean;
and a lower counter-current,
which reasoning has now shown
to exist.

Indeed,
the volume of water in the Mediterranean,
incessantly added
to by the waves of the Atlantic and by rivers falling in
to it,
would each year raise the level of this sea,

for its evaporation is not sufficient
to restore the equilibrium.

As it is not so,
we must necessarily admit the existence of an under-current,
which empties in
to the basin of the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the Mediterranean.

A fact indeed;
and it was this counter-current by which the Nautilus profited.

It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass.


for one instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of Hercules,
buried in the ground,
according
to Pliny,
and
with the low island which supports it;
and a few minutes later we were floating on the Atlantic.


CHAPTER VIII
VIGO BAY
The Atlantic!

a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers twenty-five millions of square miles,
the length of which is nine thousand miles,

with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred-- an ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
watered by the largest rivers of the world,
the St.

Lawrence,
the Mississippi,
the Amazon,
the Plata,
the Orinoco,
the Niger,
the Senegal,
the Elbe,
the Loire,
and the Rhine,
which carry water from the most civilised,
as well as from the most savage,
countries!

Magnificent field of water,
incessantly ploughed by vessels of every nation,
sheltered by the flags of every nation,
and which terminates in those two terrible points so dreaded by mariners,
Cape Horn and the Cape of Tempests.The Nautilus was piercing the water
with its sharp spur,
after having accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half,
a distance greater than the great circle of the earth.

Where were we going now,
and what was reserved
for the future?

The Nautilus,
leaving the Straits of Gibraltar,
had gone far out.

It returned
to the surface of the waves,
and our daily walks on the platform were restored
to us.I mounted at once,
accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil.

At a distance of about twelve miles,
Cape St.

Vincent was dimly
to be seen,
forming the south-western point of the Spanish peninsula.

A strong southerly gale was blowing.

The sea was swollen and billowy;
it made the Nautilus rock violently.

It was almost impossible
to keep one's foot on the platform,
which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every instant.

So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.I returned
to my room,
Conseil
to his cabin;
but the Canadian,

with a preoccupied air,
followed me.

Our rapid passage across the Mediterranean had not allowed him
to put his project in
to execution,
and he could not help showing his disappointment.

When the door of my room was shut,
he sat down and looked at me silently."

Friend Ned," said I,
"I understand you;
but you cannot reproach yourself.


to have attempted
to leave the Nautilus under the circumstances would have been folly."


Ned Land did not answer;
his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
with him the violent possession this fixed idea had taken of his mind."

Let us see," I continued;
"we need not despair yet.

We are going up the coast of Portugal again;
France and England are not far off,
where we can easily find refuge.

Now if the Nautilus,
on leaving the Straits of Gibraltar,
had gone
to the south,
if it had carried us towards regions where there were no continents,
I should share your uneasiness.

But we know now that Captain Nemo does not fly from civilised seas,
and in some days I think you can act
with security."


Ned Land still looked at me fixedly;
at length his fixed lips parted,
and he said,
"It is
for to-night."


I drew myself up suddenly.

I was,
I admit,
little prepared
for this communication.

I wanted
to answer the Canadian,
but words would not come."

We agreed
to wait
for an opportunity," continued Ned Land,
"and the opportunity has arrived.

This night we shall be but a few miles from the Spanish coast.

It is cloudy.

The wind blows freely.

I have your word,
M.

Aronnax,
and I rely upon you."


As I was silent,
the Canadian approached me."

To-night,
at nine o'clock," said he.

"I have warned Conseil.

At that moment Captain Nemo will be shut up in his room,
probably in bed.

Neither the engineers nor the ship's crew can see us.

Conseil and I will gain the central staircase,
and you,
M.

Aronnax,
will remain in the library,
two steps from us,
waiting my signal.

The oars,
the mast,
and the sail are in the canoe.

I have even succeeded in getting some provisions.

I have procured an English wrench,

to unfasten the bolts which attach it
to the shell of the Nautilus.

So all is ready,
till to-night."


"The sea is bad."


"That I allow," replied the Canadian;
"but we must risk that.

Liberty is worth paying for;
besides,
the boat is strong,
and a few miles
with a fair wind
to carry us is no great thing.

Who knows but by to-morrow we may be a hundred leagues away?

Let circumstances only favour us,
and by ten or eleven o'clock we shall have landed on some spot of terra firma,
alive or dead.

But adieu now till to-night."



with these words the Canadian withdrew,
leaving me almost dumb.

I had imagined that,
the chance gone,
I should have time
to reflect and discuss the matter.

My obstinate companion had given me no time;
and,
after all,
what could I have said
to him?

Ned Land was perfectly right.

There was almost the opportunity
to profit by.

Could I retract my word,
and take upon myself the responsibility of compromising the future of my companions?

To-morrow Captain Nemo might take us far from all land.At that moment a rather loud hissing noise told me that the reservoirs were filling,
and that the Nautilus was sinking under the waves of the Atlantic.A sad day I passed,
between the desire of regaining my liberty of action and of abandoning the wonderful Nautilus,
and leaving my submarine studies incomplete.What dreadful hours I passed thus!

Sometimes seeing myself and companions safely landed,
sometimes wishing,
in spite of my reason,
that some unforeseen circumstance,
would prevent the realisation of Ned Land's project.Twice I went
to the saloon.

I wished
to consult the compass.

I wished
to see if the direction the Nautilus was taking was bringing us nearer or taking us farther from the coast.

But no;
the Nautilus kept in Portuguese waters.I must therefore take my part and prepare
for flight.

My luggage was not heavy;
my notes,
nothing more.As
to Captain Nemo,
I asked myself what he would think of our escape;
what trouble,
what wrong it might cause him and what he might do in case of its discovery or failure.

Certainly I had no cause
to complain of him;
on the contrary,
never was hospitality freer than his.

In leaving him I could not be taxed
with ingratitude.

No oath bound us
to him.

It was on the strength of circumstances he relied,
and not upon our word,

to fix us
for ever.I had not seen the Captain since our visit
to the Island of Santorin.

Would chance bring me
to his presence before our departure?

I wished it,
and I feared it at the same time.

I listened if I could hear him walking the room contiguous
to mine.

No sound reached my ear.

I felt an unbearable uneasiness.

This day of waiting seemed eternal.

Hours struck too slowly
to keep pace
with my impatience.My dinner was served in my room as usual.

I ate but little;
I was too preoccupied.

I left the table at seven o'clock.

A hundred and twenty minutes (I counted them) still separated me from the moment in which I was
to join Ned Land.

My agitation redoubled.

My pulse beat violently.

I could not remain quiet.

I went and came,
hoping
to calm my troubled spirit by constant movement.

The idea of failure in our bold enterprise was the least painful of my anxieties;
but the thought of seeing our project discovered before leaving the Nautilus,
of being brought before Captain Nemo,
irritated,
or (what was worse) saddened,
at my desertion,
made my heart beat.I wanted
to see the saloon
for the last time.

I descended the stairs and arrived in the museum,
where I had passed so many useful and agreeable hours.

I looked at all its riches,
all its treasures,
like a man on the eve of an eternal exile,
who was leaving never
to return.These wonders of Nature,
these masterpieces of art,
amongst which
for so many days my life had been concentrated,
I was going
to abandon them
for ever!

I should like
to have taken a last look through the windows of the saloon in
to the waters of the Atlantic:

but the panels were hermetically closed,
and a cloak of steel separated me from that ocean which I had not yet explored.In passing through the saloon,
I came near the door let in
to the angle which opened in
to the Captain's room.


to my great surprise,
this door was ajar.

I drew back involuntarily.

If Captain Nemo should be in his room,
he could see me.

But,
hearing no sound,
I drew nearer.

The room was deserted.

I pushed open the door and took some steps forward.

Still the same monklike severity of aspect.Suddenly the clock struck eight.

The first beat of the hammer on the bell awoke me from my dreaMs. I trembled as if an invisible eye had plunged in
to my most secret thoughts,
and I hurried from the room.There my eye fell upon the compass.

Our course was still north.

The log indicated moderate speed,
the manometer a depth of about sixty feet.I returned
to my room,
clothed myself warmly--sea boots,
an otterskin cap,
a great coat of byssus,
lined
with sealskin;
I was ready,
I was waiting.

The vibration of the screw alone broke the deep silence which reigned on board.

I listened attentively.

Would no loud voice suddenly inform me that Ned Land had been surprised in his projected flight.

A mortal dread hung over me,
and I vainly tried
to regain my accustomed coolness.At a few minutes
to nine,
I put my ear
to the Captain's door.

No noise.

I left my room and returned
to the saloon,
which was half in obscurity,
but deserted.I opened the door communicating
with the library.

The same insufficient light,
the same solitude.

I placed myself near the door leading
to the central staircase,
and there waited
for Ned Land's signal.At that moment the trembling of the screw sensibly diminished,
then it stopped entirely.

The silence was now only disturbed by the beatings of my own heart.

Suddenly a slight shock was felt;
and I knew that the Nautilus had stopped at the bottom of the ocean.

My uneasiness increased.

The Canadian's signal did not come.

I felt inclined
to join Ned Land and beg of him
to put off his attempt.

I felt that we were not sailing under our usual conditions.At this moment the door of the large saloon opened,
and Captain Nemo appeared.

He saw me,
and without further preamble began in an amiable tone of voice:
"Ah,
sir!

I have been looking
for you.

Do you know the history of Spain?"


Now,
one might know the history of one's own country by heart;
but in the condition I was at the time,

with troubled mind and head quite lost,
I could not have said a word of it."

Well," continued Captain Nemo,
"you heard my question!

Do you know the history of Spain?"


"Very slightly," I answered."

Well,
here are learned men having
to learn," said the Captain.

"Come,
sit down,
and I will tell you a curious episode in this history.

Sir,
listen well," said he;
"this history will interest you on one side,

for it will answer a question which doubtless you have not been able
to solve."


"I listen,
Captain," said I,
not knowing what my interlocutor was driving at,
and asking myself if this incident was bearing on our projected flight."

Sir,
if you have no objection,
we will go back
to 1702.

You cannot be ignorant that your king,
Louis XIV,
thinking that the gesture of a potentate was sufficient
to bring the Pyrenees under his yoke,
had imposed the Duke of Anjou,
his grandson,
on the Spaniards.

This prince reigned more or less badly under the name of Philip V,
and had a strong party against him abroad.

Indeed,
the preceding year,
the royal houses of Holland,
Austria,
and England had concluded a treaty of alliance at the Hague,

with the intention of plucking the crown of Spain from the head of Philip V,
and placing it on that of an archduke
to whom they prematurely gave the title of Charles III."

Spain must resist this coalition;
but she was almost entirely unprovided
with either soldiers or sailors.

However,
money would not fail them,
provided that their galleons,
laden
with gold and silver from America,
once entered their ports.

And about the end of 1702 they expected a rich convoy which France was escorting
with a fleet of twenty-three vessels,
commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud,

for the ships of the coalition were already beating the Atlantic.

This convoy was
to go
to Cadiz,
but the Admiral,
hearing that an English fleet was cruising in those waters,
resolved
to make
for a French port."

The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected
to this decision.

They wanted
to be taken
to a Spanish port,
and,
if not
to Cadiz,
in
to Vigo Bay,
situated on the northwest coast of Spain,
and which was not blocked."

Admiral Chateau-Renaud had the rashness
to obey this injunction,
and the galleons entered Vigo Bay."

Unfortunately,
it formed an open road which could not be defended in any way.

They must therefore hasten
to unload the galleons before the arrival of the combined fleet;
and time would not have failed them had not a miserable question of rivalry suddenly arisen."

You are following the chain of events?"

asked Captain Nemo."

Perfectly," said I,
not knowing the end proposed by this historical lesson."

I will continue.

This is what passed.

The merchants of Cadiz had a privilege by which they had the right of receiving all merchandise coming from the West Indies.

Now,

to disembark these ingots at the port of Vigo was depriving them of their rights.

They complained at Madrid,
and obtained the consent of the weak-minded Philip that the convoy,
without discharging its cargo,
should remain sequestered in the roads of Vigo until the enemy had disappeared."

But whilst coming
to this decision,
on the 22nd of October,
1702,
the English vessels arrived in Vigo Bay,
when Admiral Chateau-Renaud,
in spite of inferior forces,
fought bravely.

But,
seeing that the treasure must fall in
to the enemy's hands,
he burnt and scuttled every galleon,
which went
to the bottom
with their immense riches."


Captain Nemo stopped.

I admit I could not see yet why this history should interest me."

Well?"

I asked."

Well,
M.

Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo,
"we are in that Vigo Bay;
and it rests
with yourself whether you will penetrate its mysteries."


The Captain rose,
telling me
to follow him.

I had had time
to recover.

I obeyed.

The saloon was dark,
but through the transparent glass the waves were sparkling.

I looked.
for half a mile around the Nautilus,
the waters seemed bathed in electric light.

The sandy bottom was clean and bright.

Some of the ship's crew in their diving-dresses were clearing away half-rotten barrels and empty cases from the midst of the blackened wrecks.

From these cases and from these barrels escaped ingots of gold and silver,
cascades of piastres and jewels.

The sand was heaped up
with them.

Laden
with their precious booty,
the men returned
to the Nautilus,
disposed of their burden,
and went back
to this inexhaustible fishery of gold and silver.I understood now.

This was the scene of the battle of the 22nd of October,
1702.

Here on this very spot the galleons laden
for the Spanish Government had sunk.

Here Captain Nemo came,
according
to his wants,

to pack up those millions
with which he burdened the Nautilus.

It was
for him and him alone America had given up her precious metals.

He was heir direct,
without anyone
to share,
in those treasures torn from the Incas and from the conquered of Ferdinand Cortez."

Did you know,
sir," he asked,
smiling,
"that the sea contained such riches?"


"I knew," I answered,
"that they value money held in suspension in these waters at two millions."


"Doubtless;
but
to extract this money the expense would be greater than the profit.

Here,
on the contrary,
I have but
to pick up what man has lost--and not only in Vigo Bay,
but in a thousand other ports where shipwrecks have happened,
and which are marked on my submarine map.

Can you understand now the source of the millions I am worth?"


"I understand,
Captain.

But allow me
to tell you that in exploring Vigo Bay you have only been beforehand
with a rival society."


"And which?"


"A society which has received from the Spanish Government the privilege of seeking those buried galleons.

The shareholders are led on by the allurement of an enormous bounty,

for they value these rich shipwrecks at five hundred millions."


"Five hundred millions they were," answered Captain Nemo,
"but they are so no longer."


"Just so," said I;
"and a warning
to those shareholders would be an act of charity.

But who knows if it would be well received?

What gamblers usually regret above all is less the loss of their money than of their foolish hopes.

After all,
I pity them less than the thousands of unfortunates
to whom so much riches well-distributed would have been profitable,
whilst
for them they will be
for ever barren."


I had no sooner expressed this regret than I felt that it must have wounded Captain Nemo."

Barren!" he exclaimed,

with animation.

"Do you think then,
sir,
that these riches are lost because I gather them?

Is it
for myself alone,
according
to your idea,
that I take the trouble
to collect these treasures?

Who told you that I did not make a good use of it?

Do you think I am ignorant that there are suffering beings and oppressed races on this earth,
miserable creatures
to console,
victims
to avenge?

Do you not understand?"


Captain Nemo stopped at these last words,
regretting perhaps that he had spoken so much.

But I had guessed that,
whatever the motive which had forced him
to seek independence under the sea,
it had left him still a man,
that his heart still beat
for the sufferings of humanity,
and that his immense charity was
for oppressed races as well as individuals.

And I then understood
for whom those millions were destined which were forwarded by Captain Nemo when the Nautilus was cruising in the waters of Crete.


CHAPTER IX
A VANISHED CONTINENT
The next morning,
the 19th of February,
I saw the Canadian enter my room.

I expected this visit.

He looked very disappointed."

Well,
sir?"

said he."

Well,
Ned,
fortune was against us yesterday."


"Yes;
that Captain must needs stop exactly at the hour we intended leaving his vessel."


"Yes,
Ned,
he had business at his bankers."


"His bankers!"
"Or rather his banking-house;
by that I mean the ocean,
where his riches are safer than in the chests of the State."


I then related
to the Canadian the incidents of the preceding night,
hoping
to bring him back
to the idea of not abandoning the Captain;
but my recital had no other result than an energetically expressed regret from Ned that he had not been able
to take a walk on the battlefield of Vigo on his own account."

However," said he,
"all is not ended.

It is only a blow of the harpoon lost.

Another time we must succeed;
and to-night,
if necessary----"
"In what direction is the Nautilus going?"

I asked."

I do not know," replied Ned."

Well,
at noon we shall see the point."


The Canadian returned
to Conseil.

As soon as I was dressed,
I went in
to the saloon.

The compass was not reassuring.

The course of the Nautilus was S.S.W.

We were turning our backs on Europe.I waited
with some impatience till the ship's place was pricked on the chart.

At about half-past eleven the reservoirs were emptied,
and our vessel rose
to the surface of the ocean.

I rushed towards the platform.

Ned Land had preceded me.

No more land in sight.

Nothing but an immense sea.

Some sails on the horizon,
doubtless those going
to San Roque in search of favourable winds
for doubling the Cape of Good Hope.

The weather was cloudy.

A gale of wind was preparing.

Ned raved,
and tried
to pierce the cloudy horizon.

He still hoped that behind all that fog stretched the land he so longed for.At noon the sun showed itself
for an instant.

The second profited by this brightness
to take its height.

Then,
the sea becoming more billowy,
we descended,
and the panel closed.An hour after,
upon consulting the chart,
I saw the position of the Nautilus was marked at 16@ 17' long.,
and 33@ 22' lat.,
at 150 leagues from the nearest coast.

There was no means of flight,
and I leave you
to imagine the rage of the Canadian when I informed him of our situation.
for myself,
I was not particularly sorry.

I felt lightened of the load which had oppressed me,
and was able
to return
with some degree of calmness
to my accustomed work.That night,
about eleven o'clock,
I received a most unexpected visit from Captain Nemo.

He asked me very graciously if I felt fatigued from my watch of the preceding night.

I answered in the negative."

Then,
M.

Aronnax,
I propose a curious excursion."


"Propose,
Captain?"


"You have hither
to only visited the submarine depths by daylight,
under the brightness of the sun.

Would it suit you
to see them in the darkness of the night?"


"Most willingly."


"I warn you,
the way will be tiring.

We shall have far
to walk,
and must climb a mountain.

The roads are not well kept."


"What you say,
Captain,
only heightens my curiosity;
I am ready
to follow you."


"Come then,
sir,
we will put on our diving-dresses."


Arrived at the robing-room,
I saw that neither of my companions nor any of the ship's crew were
to follow us on this excursion.

Captain Nemo had not even proposed my taking
with me either Ned or Conseil.In a few moments we had put on our diving-dresses;
they placed on our backs the reservoirs,
abundantly filled
with air,
but no electric lamps were prepared.

I called the Captain's attention
to the fact."

They will be useless," he replied.I thought I had not heard aright,
but I could not repeat my observation,

for the Captain's head had already disappeared in its metal case.

I finished harnessing myself.

I felt them put an iron-pointed stick in
to my hand,
and some minutes later,
after going through the usual form,
we set foot on the bottom of the Atlantic at a depth of 150 fathoMs. Midnight was near.

The waters were profoundly dark,
but Captain Nemo pointed out in the distance a reddish spot,
a sort of large light shining brilliantly about two miles from the Nautilus.

What this fire might be,
what could feed it,
why and how it lit up the liquid mass,
I could not say.

In any case,
it did light our way,
vaguely,
it is true,
but I soon accustomed myself
to the peculiar darkness,
and I understood,
under such circumstances,
the uselessness of the Ruhmkorff apparatus.As we advanced,
I heard a kind of pattering above my head.

The noise redoubling,
sometimes producing a continual shower,
I soon understood the cause.

It was rain falling violently,
and crisping the surface of the waves.

Instinctively the thought flashed across my mind that I should be wet through!

By the water!

in the midst of the water!

I could not help laughing at the odd idea.

But,
indeed,
in the thick diving-dress,
the liquid element is no longer felt,
and one only seems
to be in an atmosphere somewhat denser than the terrestrial atmosphere.

Nothing more.After half an hour's walk the soil became stony.

Medusae,
microscopic crustacea,
and pennatules lit it slightly
with their phosphorescent gleam.

I caught a glimpse of pieces of stone covered
with millions of zoophytes and masses of sea weed.

My feet often slipped upon this sticky carpet of sea weed,
and without my iron-tipped stick I should have fallen more than once.

In turning round,
I could still see the whitish lantern of the Nautilus beginning
to pale in the distance.But the rosy light which guided us increased and lit up the horizon.

The presence of this fire under water puzzled me in the highest degree.

Was I going towards a natural phenomenon as yet unknown
to the savants of the earth?

Or even (
for this thought crossed my brain) had the hand of man aught
to do
with this conflagration?

Had he fanned this flame?

Was I
to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo whom he was going
to visit,
and who,
like him,
led this strange existence?

Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who,
weary of the miseries of this earth,
had sought and found independence in the deep ocean?

All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued me.

And in this condition of mind,
over-excited by the succession of wonders continually passing before my eyes,
I should not have been surprised
to meet at the bottom of the sea one of those submarine towns of which Captain Nemo dreamed.Our road grew lighter and lighter.

The white glimmer came in rays from the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high.

But what I saw was simply a reflection,
developed by the clearness of the waters.

The source of this inexplicable light was a fire on the opposite side of the mountain.In the midst of this stony maze furrowing the bottom of the Atlantic,
Captain Nemo advanced without hesitation.

He knew this dreary road.

Doubtless he had often travelled over it,
and could not lose himself.

I followed him
with unshaken confidence.

He seemed
to me like a genie of the sea;
and,
as he walked before me,
I could not help admiring his stature,
which was outlined in black on the luminous horizon.It was one in the morning when we arrived at the first slopes of the mountain;
but
to gain access
to them we must venture through the difficult paths of a vast copse.Yes;
a copse of dead trees,
without leaves,
without sap,
trees petrified by the action of the water and here and there overtopped by gigantic pines.

It was like a coal-pit still standing,
holding by the roots
to the broken soil,
and whose branches,
like fine black paper cuttings,
showed distinctly on the watery ceiling.

Picture
to yourself a forest in the Hartz hanging on
to the sides of the mountain,
but a forest swallowed up.

The paths were encumbered
with seaweed and fucus,
between which grovelled a whole world of crustacea.

I went along,
climbing the rocks,
striding over extended trunks,
breaking the sea bind-weed which hung from one tree
to the other;
and frightening the fishes,
which flew from branch
to branch.

Pressing onward,
I felt no fatigue.

I followed my guide,
who was never tired.

What a spectacle!

How can I express it?

how paint the aspect of those woods and rocks in this medium--their under parts dark and wild,
the upper coloured
with red tints,
by that light which the reflecting powers of the waters doubled?

We climbed rocks which fell directly after
with gigantic bounds and the low growling of an avalanche.


to right and left ran long,
dark galleries,
where sight was lost.

Here opened vast glades which the hand of man seemed
to have worked;
and I sometimes asked myself if some inhabitant of these submarine regions would not suddenly appear
to me.But Captain Nemo was still mounting.

I could not stay behind.

I followed boldly.

My stick gave me good help.

A false step would have been dangerous on the narrow passes sloping down
to the sides of the gulfs;
but I walked
with firm step,
without feeling any giddiness.

Now I jumped a crevice,
the depth of which would have made me hesitate had it been among the glaciers on the land;
now I ventured on the unsteady trunk of a tree thrown across from one abyss
to the other,
without looking under my feet,
having only eyes
to admire the wild sites of this region.There,
monumental rocks,
leaning on their regularly-cut bases,
seemed
to defy all laws of equilibrium.

From between their stony knees trees sprang,
like a jet under heavy pressure,
and upheld others which upheld them.

Natural towers,
large scarps,
cut perpendicularly,
like a "curtain," inclined at an angle which the laws of gravitation could never have tolerated in terrestrial regions.Two hours after quitting the Nautilus we had crossed the line of trees,
and a hundred feet above our heads rose the top of the mountain,
which cast a shadow on the brilliant irradiation of the opposite slope.

Some petrified shrubs ran fantastically here and there.

Fishes got up under our feet like birds in the long grass.

The massive rocks were rent
with impenetrable fractures,
deep grottos,
and unfathomable holes,
at the bottom of which formidable creatures might be heard moving.

My blood curdled when I saw enormous antennae blocking my road,
or some frightful claw closing
with a noise in the shadow of some cavity.

Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the midst of the darkness.

They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their holes;
giant lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers,
and moving their claws
with the clicking sound of pincers;
titanic crabs,
pointed like a gun on its carriage;
and frightful-looking poulps,
interweaving their tentacles like a living nest of serpents.We had now arrived on the first platform,
where other surprises awaited me.

Before us lay some picturesque ruins,
which betrayed the hand of man and not that of the Creator.

There were vast heaps of stone,
amongst which might be traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles and temples,
clothed
with a world of blossoming zoophytes,
and over which,
instead of ivy,
sea-weed and fucus threw a thick vegetable mantle.

But what was this portion of the globe which had been swallowed by cataclysms?

Who had placed those rocks and stones like cromlechs of prehistoric times?

Where was I?

Whither had Captain Nemo's fancy hurried me?
I would fain have asked him;
not being able to,
I stopped him-- I seized his arm.

But,
shaking his head,
and pointing
to the highest point of the mountain,
he seemed
to say:
"Come,
come along;
come higher!"
I followed,
and in a few minutes I had climbed
to the top,
which
for a circle of ten yards commanded the whole mass of rock.I looked down the side we had just climbed.

The mountain did not rise more than seven or eight hundred feet above the level of the plain;
but on the opposite side it commanded from twice that height the depths of this part of the Atlantic.

My eyes ranged far over a large space lit by a violent fulguration.

In fact,
the mountain was a volcano.At fifty feet above the peak,
in the midst of a rain of stones and scoriae,
a large crater was vomiting forth torrents of lava which fell in a cascade of fire in
to the bosom of the liquid mass.

Thus situated,
this volcano lit the lower plain like an immense torch,
even
to the extreme limits of the horizon.

I said that the submarine crater threw up lava,
but no flames.

Flames require the oxygen of the air
to feed upon and cannot be developed under water;
but streams of lava,
having in themselves the principles of their incandescence,
can attain a white heat,
fight vigorously against the liquid element,
and turn it
to vapour by contact.Rapid currents bearing all these gases in diffusion and torrents of lava slid
to the bottom of the mountain like an eruption of Vesuvius on another Terra del Greco.There indeed under my eyes,
ruined,
destroyed,
lay a town-- its roofs open
to the sky,
its temples fallen,
its arches dislocated,
its columns lying on the ground,
from which one would still recognise the massive character of Tuscan architecture.

Further on,
some remains of a gigantic aqueduct;
here the high base of an Acropolis,

with the floating outline of a Parthenon;
there traces of a quay,
as if an ancient port had formerly abutted on the borders of the ocean,
and disappeared
with its merchant vessels and its war-galleys.

Farther on again,
long lines of sunken walls and broad,
deserted streets-- a perfect Pompeii escaped beneath the waters.

Such was the sight that Captain Nemo brought before my eyes!
Where was I?

Where was I?

I must know at any cost.

I tried
to speak,
but Captain Nemo stopped me by a gesture,
and,
picking up a piece of chalk-stone,
advanced
to a rock of black basalt,
and traced the one word:
ATLANTIS
What a light shot through my mind!

Atlantis!

the Atlantis of Plato,
that continent denied by Origen and Humbolt,
who placed its disappearance amongst the legendary tales.

I had it there now before my eyes,
bearing upon it the unexceptionable testimony of its catastrophe.

The region thus engulfed was beyond Europe,
Asia,
and Lybia,
beyond the columns of Hercules,
where those powerful people,
the Atlantides,
lived,
against whom the first wars of ancient Greeks were waged.Thus,
led by the strangest destiny,
I was treading under foot the mountains of this continent,
touching
with my hand those ruins a thousand generations old and contemporary
with the geological epochs.

I was walking on the very spot where the contemporaries of the first man had walked.Whilst I was trying
to fix in my mind every detail of this grand landscape,
Captain Nemo remained motionless,
as if petrified in mute ecstasy,
leaning on a mossy stone.

Was he dreaming of those generations long since disappeared?

Was he asking them the secret of human destiny?

Was it here this strange man came
to steep himself in historical recollections,
and live again this ancient life--he who wanted no modern one?

What would I not have given
to know his thoughts,

to share them,

to understand them!

We remained
for an hour at this place,
contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of the lava,
which was some times wonderfully intense.

Rapid tremblings ran along the mountain caused by internal bubblings,
deep noise,
distinctly transmitted through the liquid medium were echoed
with majestic grandeur.

At this moment the moon appeared through the mass of waters and threw her pale rays on the buried continent.

It was but a gleam,
but what an indescribable effect!

The Captain rose,
cast one last look on the immense plain,
and then bade me follow him.We descended the mountain rapidly,
and,
the mineral forest once passed,
I saw the lantern of the Nautilus shining like a star.

The Captain walked straight
to it,
and we got on board as the first rays of light whitened the surface of the ocean.


CHAPTER X
THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES
The next day,
the 20th of February,
I awoke very late:

the fatigues of the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o'clock.

I dressed quickly,
and hastened
to find the course the Nautilus was taking.

The instruments showed it
to be still toward the south,

with a speed of twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoMs.The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already noticed.

There were rays of giant size,
five yards long,
and endowed
with great muscular strength,
which enabled them
to shoot above the waves;
sharks of many kinds;
amongst others,
one fifteen feet long,

with triangular sharp teeth,
and whose transparency rendered it almost invisible in the water.Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long,
armed at the upper jaw
with a piercing sword;
other bright-coloured creatures,
known in the time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon,
which are dangerous
to capture on account of the spikes on their back.About four o'clock,
the soil,
generally composed of a thick mud mixed
with petrified wood,
changed by degrees,
and it became more stony,
and seemed strewn
with conglomerate and pieces of basalt,

with a sprinkling of lava.

I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long plains;
and accordingly,
after a few evolutions of the Nautilus,
I saw the southerly horizon blocked by a high wall which seemed
to close all exit.

Its summit evidently passed the level of the ocean.

It must be a continent,
or at least an island--one of the Canaries,
or of the Cape Verde Islands.

The bearings not being yet taken,
perhaps designedly,
I was ignorant of our exact position.

In any case,
such a wall seemed
to me
to mark the limits of that Atlantis,
of which we had in reality passed over only the smallest part.Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring the beauties of sea and sky,
but the panels closed.

At this moment the Nautilus arrived at the side of this high,
perpendicular wall.

What it would do,
I could not guess.

I returned
to my room;
it no longer moved.

I laid myself down
with the full intention of waking after a few hours' sleep;
but it was eight o'clock the next day when I entered the saloon.

I looked at the manometer.

It told me that the Nautilus was floating on the surface of the ocean.

Besides,
I heard steps on the platform.

I went
to the panel.

It was open;
but,
instead of broad daylight,
as I expected,
I was surrounded by profound darkness.

Where were we?

Was I mistaken?

Was it still night?

No;
not a star was shining and night has not that utter darkness.I knew not what
to think,
when a voice near me said:
"Is that you,
Professor?"


"Ah!

Captain," I answered,
"where are we?"


"Underground,
sir."


"Underground!" I exclaimed.

"And the Nautilus floating still?"


"It always floats."


"But I do not understand."


"Wait a few minutes,
our lantern will be lit,
and,
if you like light places,
you will be satisfied."


I stood on the platform and waited.

The darkness was so complete that I could not even see Captain Nemo;
but,
looking
to the zenith,
exactly above my head,
I seemed
to catch an undecided gleam,
a kind of twilight filling a circular hole.

At this instant the lantern was lit,
and its vividness dispelled the faint light.

I closed my dazzled eyes
for an instant,
and then looked again.

The Nautilus was stationary,
floating near a mountain which formed a sort of quay.

The lake,
then,
supporting it was a lake imprisoned by a circle of walls,
measuring two miles in diameter and six in circumference.

Its level (the manometer showed) could only be the same as the outside level,

for there must necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea.

The high partitions,
leaning forward on their base,
grew in
to a vaulted roof bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned upside down,
the height being about five or six hundred yards.

At the summit was a circular orifice,
by which I had caught the slight gleam of light,
evidently daylight."

Where are we?"

I asked."

In the very heart of an extinct volcano,
the interior of which has been invaded by the sea,
after some great convulsion of the earth.

Whilst you were sleeping,
Professor,
the Nautilus penetrated
to this lagoon by a natural canal,
which opens about ten yards beneath the surface of the ocean.

This is its harbour of refuge,
a sure,
commodious,
and mysterious one,
sheltered from all gales.

Show me,
if you can,
on the coasts of any of your continents or islands,
a road which can give such perfect refuge from all storMs."
"Certainly," I replied,
"you are in safety here,
Captain Nemo.

Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano?

But did I not see an opening at its summit?"


"Yes;
its crater,
formerly filled
with lava,
vapour,
and flames,
and which now gives entrance
to the life-giving air we breathe."


"But what is this volcanic mountain?"


"It belongs
to one of the numerous islands
with which this sea is strewn--
to vessels a simple sandbank--
to us an immense cavern.

Chance led me
to discover it,
and chance served me well."


"But of what use is this refuge,
Captain?

The Nautilus wants no port."


"No,
sir;
but it wants electricity
to make it move,
and the wherewithal
to make the electricity--sodium
to feed the elements,
coal from which
to get the sodium,
and a coal-mine
to supply the coal.

And exactly on this spot the sea covers entire forests embedded during the geological periods,
now mineralised and transformed in
to coal;

for me they are an inexhaustible mine."


"Your men follow the trade of miners here,
then,
Captain?"


"Exactly so.

These mines extend under the waves like the mines of Newcastle.

Here,
in their diving-dresses,
pick axe and shovel in hand,
my men extract the coal,
which I do not even ask from the mines of the earth.

When I burn this combustible
for the manufacture of sodium,
the smoke,
escaping from the crater of the mountain,
gives it the appearance of a still-active volcano."


"And we shall see your companions at work?"


"No;
not this time at least;

for I am in a hurry
to continue our submarine tour of the earth.

So I shall content myself
with drawing from the reserve of sodium I already possess.

The time
for loading is one day only,
and we continue our voyage.

So,
if you wish
to go over the cavern and make the round of the lagoon,
you must take advantage of to-day,
M.

Aronnax."


I thanked the Captain and went
to look
for my companions,
who had not yet left their cabin.

I invited them
to follow me without saying where we were.

They mounted the platform.

Conseil,
who was astonished at nothing,
seemed
to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake under a mountain,
after having fallen asleep under the waves.

But Ned Land thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit.

After breakfast,
about ten o'clock,
we went down on
to the mountain."

Here we are,
once more on land," said Conseil."

I do not call this land," said the Canadian.

"And besides,
we are not on it,
but beneath it."


Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a sandy shore which,
at its greatest breadth,
measured five hundred feet.

On this soil one might easily make the tour of the lake.

But the base of the high partitions was stony ground,

with volcanic locks and enormous pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps.

All these detached masses,
covered
with enamel,
polished by the action of the subterraneous fires,
shone resplendent by the light of our electric lantern.

The mica dust from the shore,
rising under our feet,
flew like a cloud of sparks.

The bottom now rose sensibly,
and we soon arrived at long circuitous slopes,
or inclined planes,
which took us higher by degrees;
but we were obliged
to walk carefully among these conglomerates,
bound by no cement,
the feet slipping on the glassy crystal,
felspar,
and quartz.The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all sides,
and I pointed it out
to my companions."

Picture
to yourselves," said I,
"what this crater must have been when filled
with boiling lava,
and when the level of the incandescent liquid rose
to the orifice of the mountain,
as though melted on the top of a hot plate."


"I can picture it perfectly," said Conseil.

"But,
sir,
will you tell me why the Great Architect has suspended operations,
and how it is that the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters of the lake?"


"Most probably,
Conseil,
because some convulsion beneath the ocean produced that very opening which has served as a passage
for the Nautilus.

Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed in
to the interior of the mountain.

There must have been a terrible struggle between the two elements,
a struggle which ended in the victory of Neptune.

But many ages have run out since then,
and the submerged volcano is now a peaceable grotto."


"Very well," replied Ned Land;
"I accept the explanation,
sir;
but,
in our own interests,
I regret that the opening of which you speak was not made above the level of the sea."


"But,
friend Ned," said Conseil,
"if the passage had not been under the sea,
the Nautilus could not have gone through it."


We continued ascending.

The steps became more and more perpendicular and narrow.

Deep excavations,
which we were obliged
to cross,
cut them here and there;
sloping masses had
to be turned.

We slid upon our knees and crawled along.

But Conseil's dexterity and the Canadian's strength surmounted all obstacles.

At a height of about 31 feet the nature of the ground changed without becoming more practicable.


to the conglomerate and trachyte succeeded black basalt,
the first dispread in layers full of bubbles,
the latter forming regular prisms,
placed like a colonnade supporting the spring of the immense vault,
an admirable specimen of natural architecture.

Between the blocks of basalt wound long streams of lava,
long since grown cold,
encrusted
with bituminous rays;
and in some places there were spread large carpets of sulphur.

A more powerful light shone through the upper crater,
shedding a vague glimmer over these volcanic depressions
for ever buried in the bosom of this extinguished mountain.

But our upward march was soon stopped at a height of about two hundred and fifty feet by impassable obstacles.

There was a complete vaulted arch overhanging us,
and our ascent was changed
to a circular walk.

At the last change vegetable life began
to struggle
with the mineral.

Some shrubs,
and even some trees,
grew from the fractures of the walls.

I recognised some euphorbias,

with the caustic sugar coming from them;
heliotropes,
quite incapable of justifying their name,
sadly drooped their clusters of flowers,
both their colour and perfume half gone.

Here and there some chrysanthemums grew timidly at the foot of an aloe
with long,
sickly-looking leaves.

But between the streams of lava,
I saw some little violets still slightly perfumed,
and I admit that I smelt them
with delight.

Perfume is the soul of the flower,
and sea-flowers have no soul.We had arrived at the foot of some sturdy dragon-trees,
which had pushed aside the rocks
with their strong roots,
when Ned Land exclaimed:
"Ah!

sir,
a hive!

a hive!"
"A hive!" I replied,

with a gesture of incredulity."

Yes,
a hive," repeated the Canadian,
"and bees humming round it."


I approached,
and was bound
to believe my own eyes.

There at a hole bored in one of the dragon-trees were some thousands of these ingenious insects,
so common in all the Canaries,
and whose produce is so much esteemed.

Naturally enough,
the Canadian wished
to gather the honey,
and I could not well oppose his wish.

A quantity of dry leaves,
mixed
with sulphur,
he lit
with a spark from his flint,
and he began
to smoke out the bees.

The humming ceased by degrees,
and the hive eventually yielded several pounds of the sweetest honey,

with which Ned Land filled his haversack."

When I have mixed this honey
with the paste of the bread-fruit," said he,
"I shall be able
to offer you a succulent cake."


{`bread-fruit' has been substituted
for `artocarpus' in this ed.}
"'Pon my word," said Conseil,
"it will be gingerbread."


"Never mind the gingerbread," said I;
"let us continue our interesting walk."


At every turn of the path we were following,
the lake appeared in all its length and breadth.

The lantern lit up the whole of its peaceable surface,
which knew neither ripple nor wave.

The Nautilus remained perfectly immovable.

On the platform,
and on the mountain,
the ship's crew were working like black shadows clearly carved against the luminous atmosphere.

We were now going round the highest crest of the first layers of rock which upheld the roof.

I then saw that bees were not the only representatives of the animal kingdom in the interior of this volcano.

Birds of prey hovered here and there in the shadows,
or fled from their nests on the top of the rocks.

There were sparrow hawks,

with white breasts,
and kestrels,
and down the slopes scampered,

with their long legs,
several fine fat bustards.

I leave anyone
to imagine the covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this savoury game,
and whether he did not regret having no gun.

But he did his best
to replace the lead by stones,
and,
after several fruitless attempts,
he succeeded in wounding a magnificent bird.


to say that he risked his life twenty times before reaching it is but the truth;
but he managed so well that the creature joined the honey-cakes in his bag.

We were now obliged
to descend toward the shore,
the crest becoming impracticable.

Above us the crater seemed
to gape like the mouth of a well.

From this place the sky could be clearly seen,
and clouds,
dissipated by the west wind,
leaving behind them,
even on the summit of the mountain,
their misty remnants--certain proof that they were only moderately high,

for the volcano did not rise more than eight hundred feet above the level of the ocean.

Half an hour after the Canadian's last exploit we had regained the inner shore.

Here the flora was represented by large carpets of marine crystal,
a little umbelliferous plant very good
to pickle,
which also bears the name of pierce-stone and sea-fennel.

Conseil gathered some bundles of it.

As
to the fauna,
it might be counted by thousands of crustacea of all sorts,
lobsters,
crabs,
spider-crabs,
chameleon shrimps,
and a large number of shells,
rockfish,
and limpets.

Three-quarters of an hour later we had finished our circuitous walk and were on board.

The crew had just finished loading the sodium,
and the Nautilus could have left that instant.

But Captain Nemo gave no order.

Did he wish
to wait until night,
and leave the submarine passage secretly?

Perhaps so.

Whatever it might be,
the next day,
the Nautilus,
having left its port,
steered clear of all land at a few yards beneath the waves of the Atlantic.


CHAPTER XI
THE SARGASSO SEA
That day the Nautilus crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean.

No one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm water known by the name of the Gulf Stream.

After leaving the Gulf of Florida,
we went in the direction of Spitzbergen.

But before entering the Gulf of Mexico,
about 45@ of N.

lat.,
this current divides in
to two arms,
the principal one going towards the coast of Ireland and Norway,
whilst the second bends
to the south about the height of the Azores;
then,
touching the African shore,
and describing a lengthened oval,
returns
to the Antilles.

This second arm--it is rather a collar than an arm--surrounds
with its circles of warm water that portion of the cold,
quiet,
immovable ocean called the Sargasso Sea,
a perfect lake in the open Atlantic:

it takes no less than three years
for the great current
to pass round it.

Such was the region the Nautilus was now visiting,
a perfect meadow,
a close carpet of seaweed,
fucus,
and tropical berries,
so thick and so compact that the stem of a vessel could hardly tear its way through it.

And Captain Nemo,
not wishing
to entangle his screw in this herbaceous mass,
kept some yards beneath the surface of the waves.

The name Sargasso comes from the Spanish word "sargazzo" which signifies kelp.

This kelp,
or berry-plant,
is the principal formation of this immense bank.

And this is the reason why these plants unite in the peaceful basin of the Atlantic.

The only explanation which can be given,
he says,
seems
to me
to result from the experience known
to all the world.

Place in a vase some fragments of cork or other floating body,
and give
to the water in the vase a circular movement,
the scattered fragments will unite in a group in the centre of the liquid surface,
that is
to say,
in the part least agitated.

In the phenomenon we are considering,
the Atlantic is the vase,
the Gulf Stream the circular current,
and the Sargasso Sea the central point at which the floating bodies unite.I share Maury's opinion,
and I was able
to study the phenomenon in the very midst,
where vessels rarely penetrate.

Above us floated products of all kinds,
heaped up among these brownish plants;
trunks of trees torn from the Andes or the Rocky Mountains,
and floated by the Amazon or the Mississippi;
numerous wrecks,
remains of keels,
or ships' bottoms,
side-planks stove in,
and so weighted
with shells and barnacles that they could not again rise
to the surface.

And time will one day justify Maury's other opinion,
that these substances thus accumulated
for ages will become petrified by the action of the water and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines-- a precious reserve prepared by far-seeing Nature
for the moment when men shall have exhausted the mines of continents.In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed,
I noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae,

with their long tentacles trailing after them,
and medusae,
green,
red,
and blue.All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea,
where such fish as are partial
to marine plants find abundant nourishment.

The next,
the ocean had returned
to its accustomed aspect.

From this time
for nineteen days,
from the 23rd of February
to the 12th of March,
the Nautilus kept in the middle of the Atlantic,
carrying us at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four hours.

Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine programme,
and I imagined that he intended,
after doubling Cape Horn,

to return
to the Australian seas of the Pacific.

Ned Land had cause
for fear.

In these large seas,
void of islands,
we could not attempt
to leave the boat.

Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo's will.

Our only course was
to submit;
but what we could neither gain by force nor cunning,
I liked
to think might be obtained by persuasion.

This voyage ended,
would he not consent
to restore our liberty,
under an oath never
to reveal his existence?--an oath of honour which we should have religiously kept.

But we must consider that delicate question
with the Captain.

But was I free
to claim this liberty?

Had he not himself said from the beginning,
in the firmest manner,
that the secret of his life exacted from him our lasting imprisonment on board the Nautilus?

And would not my four months' silence appear
to him a tacit acceptance of our situation?

And would not a return
to the subject result in raising suspicions which might be hurtful
to our projects,
if at some future time a favourable opportunity offered
to return
to them?
During the nineteen days mentioned above,
no incident of any kind happened
to signalise our voyage.

I saw little of the Captain;
he was at work.

In the library I often found his books left open,
especially those on natural history.

My work on submarine depths,
conned over by him,
was covered
with marginal notes,
often contradicting my theories and systems;
but the Captain contented himself
with thus purging my work;
it was very rare
for him
to discuss it
with me.

Sometimes I heard the melancholy tones of his organ;
but only at night,
in the midst of the deepest obscurity,
when the Nautilus slept upon the deserted ocean.

During this part of our voyage we sailed whole days on the surface of the waves.

The sea seemed abandoned.

A few sailing-vessels,
on the road
to India,
were making
for the Cape of Good Hope.

One day we were followed by the boats of a whaler,
who,
no doubt,
took us
for some enormous whale of great price;
but Captain Nemo did not wish the worthy fellows
to lose their time and trouble,
so ended the chase by plunging under the water.

Our navigation continued until the 13th of March;
that day the Nautilus was employed in taking soundings,
which greatly interested me.

We had then made about 13,000 leagues since our departure from the high seas of the Pacific.

The bearings gave us 45@ 37' S.

lat.,
and 37@ 53' W.

long.

It was the same water in which Captain Denham of the Herald sounded 7,000 fathoms without finding the bottom.

There,
too,
Lieutenant Parker,
of the American frigate Congress,
could not touch the bottom
with 15,140 fathoMs. Captain Nemo intended seeking the bottom of the ocean by a diagonal sufficiently lengthened by means of lateral planes placed at an angle of 45@
with the water-line of the Nautilus.

Then the screw set
to work at its maximum speed,
its four blades beating the waves
with in describable force.

Under this powerful pressure,
the hull of the Nautilus quivered like a sonorous chord and sank regularly under the water.At 7,000 fathoms I saw some blackish tops rising from the midst of the waters;
but these summits might belong
to high mountains like the Himalayas or Mont Blanc,
even higher;
and the depth of the abyss remained incalculable.

The Nautilus descended still lower,
in spite of the great pressure.

I felt the steel plates tremble at the fastenings of the bolts;
its bars bent,
its partitions groaned;
the windows of the saloon seemed
to curve under the pressure of the waters.

And this firm structure would doubtless have yielded,
if,
as its Captain had said,
it had not been capable of resistance like a solid block.

We had attained a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues),
and the sides of the Nautilus then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres,
that is
to say,
3,200 lb.


to each square two-fifths of an inch of its surface."

What a situation
to be in!" I exclaimed.

"
to overrun these deep regions where man has never trod!

Look,
Captain,
look at these magnificent rocks,
these uninhabited grottoes,
these lowest receptacles of the globe,
where life is no longer possible!

What unknown sights are here!

Why should we be unable
to preserve a remembrance of them?"


"Would you like
to carry away more than the remembrance?"

said Captain Nemo."

What do you mean by those words?"


"I mean
to say that nothing is easier than
to make a photographic view of this submarine region."


I had not time
to express my surprise at this new proposition,
when,
at Captain Nemo's call,
an objective was brought in
to the saloon.

Through the widely-opened panel,
the liquid mass was bright
with electricity,
which was distributed
with such uniformity that not a shadow,
not a gradation,
was
to be seen in our manufactured light.

The Nautilus remained motionless,
the force of its screw subdued by the inclination of its planes:

the instrument was propped on the bottom of the oceanic site,
and in a few seconds we had obtained a perfect negative.But,
the operation being over,
Captain Nemo said,
"Let us go up;
we must not abuse our position,
nor expose the Nautilus too long
to such great pressure."


"Go up again!" I exclaimed."

Hold well on."


I had not time
to understand why the Captain cautioned me thus,
when I was thrown forward on
to the carpet.

At a signal from the Captain,
its screw was shipped,
and its blades raised vertically;
the Nautilus shot in
to the air like a balloon,
rising
with stunning rapidity,
and cutting the mass of waters
with a sonorous agitation.

Nothing was visible;
and in four minutes it had shot through the four leagues which separated it from the ocean,
and,
after emerging like a flying-fish,
fell,
making the waves rebound
to an enormous height.


CHAPTER XII
CACHALOTS AND WHALES
During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March,
the Nautilus returned
to its southerly course.

I fancied that,
when on a level
with Cape Horn,
he would turn the helm westward,
in order
to beat the Pacific seas,
and so complete the tour of the world.

He did nothing of the kind,
but continued on his way
to the southern regions.

Where was he going to?


to the pole?

It was madness!

I began
to think that the Captain's temerity justified Ned Land's fears.


for some time past the Canadian had not spoken
to me of his projects of flight;
he was less communicative,
almost silent.

I could see that this lengthened imprisonment was weighing upon him,
and I felt that rage was burning within him.

When he met the Captain,
his eyes lit up
with suppressed anger;
and I feared that his natural violence would lead him in
to some extreme.

That day,
the 14th of March,
Conseil and he came
to me in my room.

I inquired the cause of their visit."

A simple question
to ask you,
sir," replied the Canadian."

Speak,
Ned."


"How many men are there on board the Nautilus,
do you think?"


"I cannot tell,
my friend."


"I should say that its working does not require a large crew."


"Certainly,
under existing conditions,
ten men,
at the most,
ought
to be enough."


"Well,
why should there be any more?"


"Why?"

I replied,
looking fixedly at Ned Land,
whose meaning was easy
to guess.

"Because," I added,
"if my surmises are correct,
and if I have well understood the Captain's existence,
the Nautilus is not only a vessel:

it is also a place of refuge
for those who,
like its commander,
have broken every tie upon earth."


"Perhaps so," said Conseil;
"but,
in any case,
the Nautilus can only contain a certain number of men.

Could not you,
sir,
estimate their maximum?"


"How,
Conseil?"


"By calculation;
given the size of the vessel,
which you know,
sir,
and consequently the quantity of air it contains,
knowing also how much each man expends at a breath,
and comparing these results
with the fact that the Nautilus is obliged
to go
to the surface every twenty-four hours."


Conseil had not finished the sentence before I saw what he was driving at."

I understand," said I;
"but that calculation,
though simple enough,
can give but a very uncertain result."


"Never mind," said Ned Land urgently."

Here it is,
then," said I.

"In one hour each man consumes the oxygen contained in twenty gallons of air;
and in twenty-four,
that contained in 480 gallons.

We must,
therefore find how many times 480 gallons of air the Nautilus contains."


"Just so," said Conseil."

Or," I continued,
"the size of the Nautilus being 1,500 tons;
and one ton holding 200 gallons,
it contains 300,000 gallons of air,
which,
divided by 480,
gives a quotient of 625.

Which means
to say,
strictly speaking,
that the air contained in the Nautilus would suffice
for 625 men
for twenty-four hours."


"Six hundred and twenty-five!" repeated Ned."

But remember that all of us,
passengers,
sailors,
and officers included,
would not form a tenth part of that number."


"Still too many
for three men," murmured Conseil.The Canadian shook his head,
passed his hand across his forehead,
and left the room without answering."

Will you allow me
to make one observation,
sir?"

said Conseil.

"Poor Ned is longing
for everything that he can not have.

His past life is always present
to him;
everything that we are forbidden he regrets.

His head is full of old recollections.

And we must understand him.

What has he
to do here?

Nothing;
he is not learned like you,
sir;
and has not the same taste
for the beauties of the sea that we have.

He would risk everything
to be able
to go once more in
to a tavern in his own country."


Certainly the monotony on board must seem intolerable
to the Canadian,
accustomed as he was
to a life of liberty and activity.

Events were rare which could rouse him
to any show of spirit;
but that day an event did happen which recalled the bright days of the harpooner.

About eleven in the morning,
being on the surface of the ocean,
the Nautilus fell in
with a troop of whales--an encounter which did not astonish me,
knowing that these creatures,
hunted
to death,
had taken refuge in high latitudes.We were seated on the platform,

with a quiet sea.

The month of October in those latitudes gave us some lovely autumnal days.

It was the Canadian-- he could not be mistaken--who signalled a whale on the eastern horizon.

Looking attentively,
one might see its black back rise and fall
with the waves five miles from the Nautilus."

Ah!" exclaimed Ned Land,
"if I was on board a whaler,
now such a meeting would give me pleasure.

It is one of large size.

See
with what strength its blow-holes throw up columns of air an steam!

Confound it,
why am I bound
to these steel plates?"


"What,
Ned," said I,
"you have not forgotten your old ideas of fishing?"


"Can a whale-fisher ever forget his old trade,
sir?

Can he ever tire of the emotions caused by such a chase?"


"You have never fished in these seas,
Ned?"


"Never,
sir;
in the northern only,
and as much in Behring as in Davis Straits."


"Then the southern whale is still unknown
to you.

It is the Greenland whale you have hunted up
to this time,
and that would not risk passing through the warm waters of the equator.

Whales are localised,
according
to their kinds,
in certain seas which they never leave.

And if one of these creatures went from Behring
to Davis Straits,
it must be simply because there is a passage from one sea
to the other,
either on the American or the Asiatic side."


"In that case,
as I have never fished in these seas,
I do not know the kind of whale frequenting them!"
"I have told you,
Ned."


"A greater reason
for making their acquaintance," said Conseil."

Look!

look!" exclaimed the Canadian,
"they approach:

they aggravate me;
they know that I cannot get at them!"
Ned stamped his feet.

His hand trembled,
as he grasped an imaginary harpoon."

Are these cetaceans as large as those of the northern seas?"

asked he."

Very nearly,
Ned."


"Because I have seen large whales,
sir,
whales measuring a hundred feet.

I have even been told that those of Hullamoch and Umgallick,
of the Aleutian Islands,
are sometimes a hundred and fifty feet long."


"That seems
to me exaggeration.

These creatures are generally much smaller than the Greenland whale."

{this paragraph has been edited}
"Ah!" exclaimed the Canadian,
whose eyes had never left the ocean,
"they are coming nearer;
they are in the same water as the Nautilus."


Then,
returning
to the conversation,
he said:
"You spoke of the cachalot as a small creature.

I have heard of gigantic ones.

They are intelligent cetacea.

It is said of some that they cover themselves
with seaweed and fucus,
and then are taken
for islands.

People encamp upon them,
and settle there;
lights a fire----"
"And build houses," said Conseil."

Yes,
joker," said Ned Land.

"And one fine day the creature plunges,
carrying
with it all the inhabitants
to the bottom of the sea."


"Something like the travels of Sinbad the Sailor," I replied,
laughing."

Ah!" suddenly exclaimed Ned Land,
"it is not one whale;
there are ten--there are twenty--it is a whole troop!

And I not able
to do anything!

hands and feet tied!"
"But,
friend Ned," said Conseil,
"why do you not ask Captain Nemo's permission
to chase them?"


Conseil had not finished his sentence when Ned Land had lowered himself through the panel
to seek the Captain.

A few minutes afterwards the two appeared together on the platform.Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea playing on the waters about a mile from the Nautilus."

They are southern whales," said he;
"there goes the fortune of a whole fleet of whalers."


"Well,
sir," asked the Canadian,
"can I not chase them,
if only
to remind me of my old trade of harpooner?"


"And
to what purpose?"

replied Captain Nemo;
"only
to destroy!

We have nothing
to do
with the whale-oil on board."


"But,
sir," continued the Canadian,
"in the Red Sea you allowed us
to follow the dugong."


"Then it was
to procure fresh meat
for my crew.

Here it would be killing
for killing's sake.

I know that is a privilege reserved
for man,
but I do not approve of such murderous pastime.

In destroying the southern whale (like the Greenland whale,
an inoffensive creature),
your traders do a culpable action,
Master Land.

They have already depopulated the whole of Baffin's Bay,
and are annihilating a class of useful animals.

Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone.

They have plenty of natural enemies--cachalots,
swordfish,
and sawfish-- without you troubling them."


The Captain was right.

The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these fishermen will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale in the ocean.

Ned Land whistled "Yankee-doodle" between his teeth,
thrust his hands in
to his pockets,
and turned his back upon us.

But Captain Nemo watched the troop of cetacea,
and,
addressing me,
said:
"I was right in saying that whales had natural enemies enough,
without counting man.

These will have plenty
to do before long.

Do you see,
M.

Aronnax,
about eight miles
to leeward,
those blackish moving points?"


"Yes,
Captain," I replied."

Those are cachalots--terrible animals,
which I have met in troops of two or three hundred.

As
to those,
they are cruel,
mischievous creatures;
they would be right in exterminating them."


The Canadian turned quickly at the last words."

Well,
Captain," said he,
"it is still time,
in the interest of the whales."


"It is useless
to expose one's self,
Professor.

The Nautilus will disperse them.

It is armed
with a steel spur as good as Master Land's harpoon,
I imagine."


The Canadian did not put himself out enough
to shrug his shoulders.

Attack cetacea
with blows of a spur!

Who had ever heard of such a thing?
"Wait,
M.

Aronnax," said Captain Nemo.

"We will show you something you have never yet seen.

We have no pity
for these ferocious creatures.

They are nothing but mouth and teeth."


Mouth and teeth!

No one could better describe the macrocephalous cachalot,
which is sometimes more than seventy-five feet long.

Its enormous head occupies one-third of its entire body.

Better armed than the whale,
whose upper jaw is furnished only
with whalebone,
it is supplied
with twenty-five large tusks,
about eight inches long,
cylindrical and conical at the top,
each weighing two pounds.

It is in the upper part of this enormous head,
in great cavities divided by cartilages,
that is
to be found from six
to eight hundred pounds of that precious oil called spermaceti.

The cachalot is a disagreeable creature,
more tadpole than fish,
according
to Fredol's description.

It is badly formed,
the whole of its left side being (if we may say it),
a "failure," and being only able
to see
with its right eye.

But the formidable troop was nearing us.

They had seen the whales and were preparing
to attack them.

One could judge beforehand that the cachalots would be victorious,
not only because they were better built
for attack than their inoffensive adversaries,
but also because they could remain longer under water without coming
to the surface.

There was only just time
to go
to the help of the whales.

The Nautilus went under water.

Conseil,
Ned Land,
and I took our places before the window in the saloon,
and Captain Nemo joined the pilot in his cage
to work his apparatus as an engine of destruction.

Soon I felt the beatings of the screw quicken,
and our speed increased.

The battle between the cachalots and the whales had already begun when the Nautilus arrived.

They did not at first show any fear at the sight of this new monster joining in the conflict.

But they soon had
to guard against its blows.

What a battle!

The Nautilus was nothing but a formidable harpoon,
brandished by the hand of its Captain.

It hurled itself against the fleshy mass,
passing through from one part
to the other,
leaving behind it two quivering halves of the animal.

It could not feel the formidable blows from their tails upon its sides,
nor the shock which it produced itself,
much more.

One cachalot killed,
it ran at the next,
tacked on the spot that it might not miss its prey,
going forwards and backwards,
answering
to its helm,
plunging when the cetacean dived in
to the deep waters,
coming up
with it when it returned
to the surface,
striking it front or sideways,
cutting or tearing in all directions and at any pace,
piercing it
with its terrible spur.

What carnage!

What a noise on the surface of the waves!

What sharp hissing,
and what snorting peculiar
to these enraged animals!

In the midst of these waters,
generally so peaceful,
their tails made perfect billows.


for one hour this wholesale massacre continued,
from which the cachalots could not escape.

Several times ten or twelve united tried
to crush the Nautilus by their weight.

From the window we could see their enormous mouths,
studded
with tusks,
and their formidable eyes.

Ned Land could not contain himself;
he threatened and swore at them.

We could feel them clinging
to our vessel like dogs worrying a wild boar in a copse.

But the Nautilus,
working its screw,
carried them here and there,
or
to the upper levels of the ocean,
without caring
for their enormous weight,
nor the powerful strain on the vessel.

At length the mass of cachalots broke up,
the waves became quiet,
and I felt that we were rising
to the surface.

The panel opened,
and we hurried on
to the platform.

The sea was covered
with mutilated bodies.

A formidable explosion could not have divided and torn this fleshy mass
with more violence.

We were floating amid gigantic bodies,
bluish on the back and white underneath,
covered
with enormous protuberances.

Some terrified cachalots were flying towards the horizon.

The waves were dyed red
for several miles,
and the Nautilus floated in a sea of blood:

Captain Nemo joined us."

Well,
Master Land?"

said he."

Well,
sir," replied the Canadian,
whose enthusiasm had somewhat calmed;
"it is a terrible spectacle,
certainly.

But I am not a butcher.

I am a hunter,
and I call this a butchery."


"It is a massacre of mischievous creatures," replied the Captain;
"and the Nautilus is not a butcher's knife."


"I like my harpoon better," said the Canadian."

Every one
to his own," answered the Captain,
looking fixedly at Ned Land.I feared he would commit some act of violence,
which would end in sad consequences.

But his anger was turned by the sight of a whale which the Nautilus had just come up with.

The creature had not quite escaped from the cachalot's teeth.

I recognised the southern whale by its flat head,
which is entirely black.

Anatomically,
it is distinguished from the white whale and the North Cape whale by the seven cervical vertebrae,
and it has two more ribs than its congeners.

The unfortunate cetacean was lying on its side,
riddled
with holes from the bites,
and quite dead.

From its mutilated fin still hung a young whale which it could not save from the massacre.

Its open mouth let the water flow in and out,
murmuring like the waves breaking on the shore.

Captain Nemo steered close
to the corpse of the creature.

Two of his men mounted its side,
and I saw,
not without surprise,
that they were drawing from its breasts all the milk which they contained,
that is
to say,
about two or three tons.

The Captain offered me a cup of the milk,
which was still warm.

I could not help showing my repugnance
to the drink;
but he assured me that it was excellent,
and not
to be distinguished from cow's milk.

I tasted it,
and was of his opinion.

It was a useful reserve
to us,

for in the shape of salt butter or cheese it would form an agreeable variety from our ordinary food.

From that day I noticed
with uneasiness that Ned Land's ill-will towards Captain Nemo increased,
and I resolved
to watch the Canadian's gestures closely.


CHAPTER XIII
THE ICEBERG
The Nautilus was steadily pursuing its southerly course,
following the fiftieth meridian
with considerable speed.

Did he wish
to reach the pole?

I did not think so,

for every attempt
to reach that point had hither
to failed.

Again,
the season was far advanced,

for in the Antarctic regions the 13th of March corresponds
with the 13th of September of northern regions,
which begin at the equinoctial season.

On the 14th of March I saw floating ice in latitude 55@,
merely pale bits of debris from twenty
to twenty-five feet long,
forming banks over which the sea curled.

The Nautilus remained on the surface of the ocean.

Ned Land,
who had fished in the Arctic Seas,
was familiar
with its icebergs;
but Conseil and I admired them
for the first time.

In the atmosphere towards the southern horizon stretched a white dazzling band.

English whalers have given it the name of "ice blink."

However thick the clouds may be,
it is always visible,
and announces the presence of an ice pack or bank.

Accordingly,
larger blocks soon appeared,
whose brilliancy changed
with the caprices of the fog.

Some of these masses showed green veins,
as if long undulating lines had been traced
with sulphate of copper;
others resembled enormous amethysts
with the light shining through them.

Some reflected the light of day upon a thousand crystal facets.

Others shaded
with vivid calcareous reflections resembled a perfect town of marble.

The more we neared the south the more these floating islands increased both in number and importance.At 60@ lat.

every pass had disappeared.

But,
seeking carefully,
Captain Nemo soon found a narrow opening,
through which he boldly slipped,
knowing,
however,
that it would close behind him.

Thus,
guided by this clever hand,
the Nautilus passed through all the ice
with a precision which quite charmed Conseil;
icebergs or mountains,
ice-fields or smooth plains,
seeming
to have no limits,
drift-ice or floating ice-packs,
plains broken up,
called palchs when they are circular,
and streams when they are made up of long strips.

The temperature was very low;
the thermometer exposed
to the air marked 2@ or 3@ below zero,
but we were warmly clad
with fur,
at the expense of the sea-bear and seal.

The interior of the Nautilus,
warmed regularly by its electric apparatus,
defied the most intense cold.

Besides,
it would only have been necessary
to go some yards beneath the waves
to find a more bearable temperature.

Two months earlier we should have had perpetual daylight in these latitudes;
but already we had had three or four hours of night,
and by and by there would be six months of darkness in these circumpolar regions.

On the 15th of March we were in the latitude of New Shetland and South Orkney.

The Captain told me that formerly numerous tribes of seals inhabited them;
but that English and American whalers,
in their rage
for destruction,
massacred both old and young;
thus,
where there was once life and animation,
they had left silence and death.About eight o'clock on the morning of the 16th of March the Nautilus,
following the fifty-fifth meridian,
cut the Antarctic polar circle.

Ice surrounded us on all sides,
and closed the horizon.

But Captain Nemo went from one opening
to another,
still going higher.

I cannot express my astonishment at the beauties of these new regions.

The ice took most surprising forMs. Here the grouping formed an oriental town,

with innumerable mosques and minarets;
there a fallen city thrown
to the earth,
as it were,
by some convulsion of nature.

The whole aspect was constantly changed by the oblique rays of the sun,
or lost in the greyish fog amidst hurricanes of snow.

Detonations and falls were heard on all sides,
great overthrows of icebergs,
which altered the whole landscape like a diorama.

Often seeing no exit,
I thought we were definitely prisoners;
but,
instinct guiding him at the slightest indication,
Captain Nemo would discover a new pass.

He was never mistaken when he saw the thin threads of bluish water trickling along the ice-fields;
and I had no doubt that he had already ventured in
to the midst of these Antarctic seas before.

On the 16th of March,
however,
the ice-fields absolutely blocked our road.

It was not the iceberg itself,
as yet,
but vast fields cemented by the cold.

But this obstacle could not stop Captain Nemo:

he hurled himself against it
with frightful violence.

The Nautilus entered the brittle mass like a wedge,
and split it
with frightful crackings.

It was the battering ram of the ancients hurled by infinite strength.

The ice,
thrown high in the air,
fell like hail around us.

By its own power of impulsion our apparatus made a canal
for itself;
some times carried away by its own impetus,
it lodged on the ice-field,
crushing it
with its weight,
and sometimes buried beneath it,
dividing it by a simple pitching movement,
producing large rents in it.

Violent gales assailed us at this time,
accompanied by thick fogs,
through which,
from one end of the platform
to the other,
we could see nothing.

The wind blew sharply from all parts of the compass,
and the snow lay in such hard heaps that we had
to break it
with blows of a pickaxe.

The temperature was always at 5@ below zero;
every outward part of the Nautilus was covered
with ice.

A rigged vessel would have been entangled in the blocked up gorges.

A vessel without sails,

with electricity
for its motive power,
and wanting no coal,
could alone brave such high latitudes.

At length,
on the 18th of March,
after many useless assaults,
the Nautilus was positively blocked.

It was no longer either streams,
packs,
or ice-fields,
but an interminable and immovable barrier,
formed by mountains soldered together."

An iceberg!" said the Canadian
to me.I knew that
to Ned Land,
as well as
to all other navigators who had preceded us,
this was an inevita