20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
by
Jules Verne
Part 3 out of 7
"Yes," replied the Canadian, "a disabled ship that has sunk perpendicularly."
Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the tattered
shrouds still hung from their chains. The keel seemed to be
in good order, and it had been wrecked at most some few hours.
Three stumps of masts, broken off about two feet above the bridge,
showed that the vessel had had to sacrifice its masts. But, lying on
its side, it had filled, and it was heeling over to port.
This skeleton of what it had once been was a sad spectacle as it lay
lost under the waves, but sadder still was the sight of the bridge,
where some corpses, bound with ropes, were still lying.
I counted five--four men, one of whom was standing at the helm,
and a woman standing by the poop, holding an infant in her arms.
She was quite young. I could distinguish her features, which the water
had not decomposed, by the brilliant light from the Nautilus.
In one despairing effort, she had raised her infant above her head--
poor little thing!--whose arms encircled its mother's neck.
The attitude of the four sailors was frightful, distorted as they
were by their convulsive movements, whilst making a last effort
to free themselves from the cords that bound them to the vessel.
The steersman alone, calm, with a grave, clear face, his grey hair
glued to his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the helm,
seemed even then to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths
of the ocean.
What a scene! We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before this shipwreck,
taken as it were from life and photographed in its last moments.
And I saw already, coming towards it with hungry eyes, enormous sharks,
attracted by the human flesh.
However, the Nautilus, turning, went round the submerged vessel,
and in one instant I read on the stern--"The Florida, Sunderland."
CHAPTER XVIII
VANIKORO
This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime
catastrophes that the Nautilus was destined to meet with in its route.
As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw
the hulls of shipwrecked vessels that were rotting in the depths,
and deeper down cannons, bullets, anchors, chains, and a thousand
other iron materials eaten up by rust. However, on the 11th of
December we sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old "dangerous group"
of Bougainville, that extend over a space of 500 leagues at
E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the Island Ducie to that of Lazareff.
This group covers an area of 370 square leagues, and it is formed
of sixty groups of islands, among which the Gambier group is remarkable,
over which France exercises sway. These are coral islands,
slowly raised, but continuous, created by the daily work of polypi.
Then this new island will be joined later on to the neighboring groups,
and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia,
and from thence to the Marquesas.
One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain Nemo,
he replied coldly:
"The earth does not want new continents, but new men."
Chance had conducted the Nautilus towards the Island of
Clermont-Tonnere, one of the most curious of the group, that was
discovered in 1822 by Captain Bell of the Minerva. I could study now
the madreporal system, to which are due the islands in this ocean.
Madrepores (which must not be mistaken for corals) have a tissue
lined with a calcareous crust, and the modifications of its
structure have induced M. Milne Edwards, my worthy master, to class
them into five sections. The animalcule that the marine polypus
secretes live by millions at the bottom of their cells. Their
calcareous deposits become rocks, reefs, and large and small
islands. Here they form a ring, surrounding a little inland lake,
that communicates with the sea by means of gaps. There they make
barriers of reefs like those on the coasts of New Caledonia and the
various Pomoton islands. In other places, like those at Reunion and
at Maurice, they raise fringed reefs, high, straight walls, near
which the depth of the ocean is considerable.
Some cable-lengths off the shores of the Island of Clermont I
admired the gigantic work accomplished by these microscopical
workers. These walls are specially the work of those madrepores
known as milleporas, porites, madrepores, and astraeas. These polypi
are found particularly in the rough beds of the sea, near the
surface; and consequently it is from the upper part that they begin
their operations, in which they bury themselves by degrees with the
debris of the secretions that support them. Such is, at least,
Darwin's theory, who thus explains the formation of the _atolls_, a
superior theory (to my mind) to that given of the foundation of the
madreporical works, summits of mountains or volcanoes, that are
submerged some feet below the level of the sea.
I could observe closely these curious walls, for perpendicularly
they were more than 300 yards deep, and our electric sheets lighted
up this calcareous matter brilliantly. Replying to a question
Conseil asked me as to the time these colossal barriers took to be
raised, I astonished him much by telling him that learned men
reckoned it about the eighth of an inch in a hundred years.
Towards evening Clermont-Tonnerre was lost in the distance, and the
route of the Nautilus was sensibly changed. After having crossed the
tropic of Capricorn in 135 deg. longitude, it sailed W.N.W., making
again for the tropical zone. Although the summer sun was very
strong, we did not suffer from heat, for at fifteen or twenty
fathoms below the surface, the temperature did not rise above from
ten to twelve degrees.
On 15th of December, we left to the east the bewitching group
of the Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific.
I saw in the morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated
summits of the island. These waters furnished our table
with excellent fish, mackerel, bonitos, and some varieties
of a sea-serpent.
On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed into the midst of the
New Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville
explored in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773.
This group is composed principally of nine large islands, that form
a band of 120 leagues N.N.S. to S.S.W., between 15@ and 2@ S. lat.,
and 164@ and 168@ long. We passed tolerably near to the Island of Aurou,
that at noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a peak
of great height.
That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely
the non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fete of which
Protestants are so fond. I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week,
when, on the morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room,
always seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before.
I was busily tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere.
The Captain came up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart,
and said this single word.
"Vanikoro."
The effect was magical! It was the name of the islands on which La
Perouse had been lost! I rose suddenly.
"The Nautilus has brought us to Vanikoro?" I asked.
"Yes, Professor," said the Captain.
"And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole
and the Astrolabe struck?"
"If you like, Professor."
"When shall we be there?"
"We are there now."
Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform,
and greedily scanned the horizon.
To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size,
surrounded by a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference.
We were close to Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d'Urville
gave the name of Isle de la Recherche, and exactly facing the little
harbour of Vanou, situated in 16@ 4' S. lat., and 164@ 32' E. long.
The earth seemed covered with verdure from the shore to the summits
in the interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high.
The Nautilus, having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait,
found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty to forty
fathoms deep. Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived
some savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach.
In the long black body, moving between wind and water, did they not see
some formidable cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La Perouse.
"Only what everyone knows, Captain," I replied.
"And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?"
he inquired, ironically.
"Easily."
I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d'Urville had made known--
works from which the following is a brief account.
La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent
by Louis XVI, in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation.
They embarked in the corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe,
neither of which were again heard of. In 1791, the French
Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of these two sloops,
manned two large merchantmen, the Recherche and the Esperance,
which left Brest the 28th of September under the command
of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle,
that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts
of New Georgia. But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication--
rather uncertain, besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La
Perouse was wrecked.
They sought in vain. The Esperance and the Recherche passed before Vanikoro
without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most disastrous,
as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of his lieutenants,
besides several of his crew.
Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find
unmistakable traces of the wrecks. On the 15th of May, 1824, his vessel,
the St. Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New Hebrides.
There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the handle of a sword
in silver that bore the print of characters engraved on the hilt.
The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay at Vanikoro,
he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels that had run
aground on the reefs some years ago.
Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had
troubled the whole world. He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
but winds and tides prevented him.
Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he interested the Asiatic Society
and the Indian Company in his discovery. A vessel, to which was given
the name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out,
23rd January, 1827, accompanied by a French agent.
The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific,
cast anchor before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour
of Vanou where the Nautilus was at this time.
There it collected numerous relics of the wreck--
iron utensils, anchors, pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lb.
shot, fragments of astronomical instruments, a piece of crown work,
and a bronze clock, bearing this inscription--"Bazin m'a fait,"
the mark of the foundry of the arsenal at Brest about 1785.
There could be no further doubt.
Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till October.
Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New Zealand;
put into Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France, where he was
warmly welcomed by Charles X.
But at the same time, without knowing Dillon's movements,
Dumont d'Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck.
And they had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis
had been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.
Dumont d'Urville, commander of the Astrolabe, had then sailed,
and two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put into Hobart Town.
There he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries, and found that a certain
James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing
on an island situated 8@ 18' S. lat., and 156@ 30' E. long., had seen
some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these parts.
Dumont d'Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit the reports
of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon's track.
On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia,
and took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island;
made his way to Vanikoro, sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among
the reefs until the 14th, and not until the 20th did he cast anchor
within the barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought
back some unimportant trifles. The natives, adopting a system
of denials and evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place.
This ambiguous conduct led them to believe that the natives had
ill-treated the castaways, and indeed they seemed to fear that Dumont
d'Urville had come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that they
had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of the wreck.
There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs
of Pacou and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron,
embedded in the limy concretions. The large boat and the whaler
belonging to the Astrolabe were sent to this place, and, not without
some difficulty, their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800
lbs., a brass gun, some pigs of iron, and two copper swivel-guns.
Dumont d'Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse,
after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island,
had constructed a smaller boat, only to be lost a second time.
Where, no one knew.
But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d'Urville was
not acquainted with Dillon's movements, had sent the sloop
Bayonnaise, commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro,
which had been stationed on the west coast of America.
The Bayonnaise cast her anchor before Vanikoro some months
after the departure of the Astrolabe, but found no new document;
but stated that the savages had respected the monument to La Perouse.
That is the substance of what I told Captain Nemo.
"So," he said, "no one knows now where the third vessel perished
that was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?"
"No one knows."
Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into
the large saloon. The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves,
and the panels were opened.
I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral,
covered with fungi, syphonules, alcyons, madrepores, through myriads
of charming fish--girelles, glyphisidri, pompherides, diacopes, and
holocentres--I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been
able to tear up--iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan
fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck
of some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers. While I was
looking on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a sad voice:
"Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels
La Boussole and the Astrolabe. He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
visited the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course
towards Santa Cruz, and put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group.
Then his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro.
The Boussole, which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast.
The Astrolabe went to its help, and ran aground too. The first vessel
was destroyed almost immediately. The second, stranded under the wind,
resisted some days. The natives made the castaways welcome.
They installed themselves in the island, and constructed a smaller boat
with the debris of the two large ones. Some sailors stayed willingly
at Vanikoro; the others, weak and ill, set out with La Perouse.
They directed their course towards the Solomon Islands, and there perished,
with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island of the group,
between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."
"How do you know that?"
"By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck."
Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms,
and corroded by the salt water. He opened it, and I saw a bundle of papers,
yellow but still readable.
They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La Perouse,
annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
"Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!" said Captain Nemo, at last.
"A coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades
will find no other."
CHAPTER XIX
TORRES STRAITS
During the night of the 27th or 28th of December,
the Nautilus left the shores of Vanikoro with great speed.
Her course was south-westerly, and in three days she had gone
over the 750 leagues that separated it from La Perouse's group
and the south-east point of Papua.
Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
"Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?"
"What! Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study
at the Jardin des Plantes? Well, I accept your good wishes,
and thank you for them. Only, I will ask you what you mean
by a `Happy New Year' under our circumstances? Do you mean
the year that will bring us to the end of our imprisonment,
or the year that sees us continue this strange voyage?"
"Really, I do not know how to answer, master. We are sure to see
curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time
for dullness. The last marvel is always the most astonishing;
and, if we continue this progression, I do not know how it will end.
It is my opinion that we shall never again see the like.
I think then, with no offence to master, that a happy year would be
one in which we could see everything."
On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250
French leagues, since our starting-point in the Japan Seas.
Before the ship's head stretched the dangerous shores
of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of Australia.
Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank
on which Cook's vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770. The boat
in which Cook was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink,
it was owing to a piece of coral that was broken by the shock,
and fixed itself in the broken keel.
I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the sea,
always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like thunder.
But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a great depth,
and I could see nothing of the high coral walls. I had to content
myself with the different specimens of fish brought up by the nets.
I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel as large
as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands,
that disappear with the animal's life.
These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with very delicate
food. We took also a large number of gilt-heads, about one and a half
inches long, tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine
swallows, which, in dark nights, light alternately the air and water
with their phosphorescent light. Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I
found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini,
hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented
by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and macrocystes, impregnated
with the mucilage that transudes through their pores; and among which I
gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois, that was classed among the
natural curiosities of the museum.
Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted
the Papuan coasts. On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his
intention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.
His communication ended there.
The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are
obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers,
and rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable;
so that Captain Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them.
The Nautilus, floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace.
Her screw, like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.
Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the
deserted platform. Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expected
that Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus.
I had before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and I
consulted them attentively. Round the Nautilus the sea dashed furiously.
The course of the waves, that went from south-east to north-west at
the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that showed itself
here and there.
"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.
"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the Nautilus."
"The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of coral
that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly."
Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus seemed to slide
like magic off these rocks. It did not follow the routes of the
Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont
d'Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray,
and came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage.
I thought it was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west,
it went through a large quantity of islands and islets little known,
towards the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his
vessel into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched;
when, swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west,
he steered for the Island of Gilboa.
It was then three in the afternoon. The tide began to recede,
being quite full. The Nautilus approached the island, that I
still saw, with its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off
it at about two miles distant. Suddenly a shock overthrew me.
The Nautilus just touched a rock, and stayed immovable,
laying lightly to port side.
When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the platform.
They were examining the situation of the vessel, and exchanging words in
their incomprehensible dialect.
She was situated thus: Two miles, on the starboard side,
appeared Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm.
Towards the south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb.
We had run aground, and in one of those seas where the tides
are middling--a sorry matter for the floating of the Nautilus.
However, the vessel had not suffered, for her keel was solidly joined.
But, if she could neither glide off nor move, she ran the risk
of being for ever fastened to these rocks, and then Captain Nemo's
submarine vessel would be done for.
I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm,
always master of himself, approached me.
"An accident?" I asked.
"No; an incident."
"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
of this land from which you flee?"
Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as much
as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma again.
Then he said:
"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it will
carry you yet into the midst of the marvels of the ocean.
Our voyage is only begun, and I do not wish to be deprived so soon
of the honour of your company."
"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironical
turn of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.
Now the tides are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot
lighten the Nautilus, I do not see how it will be reinflated."
"The tides are not strong in the Pacific: you are right there,
Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference
of a yard and a half between the level of high and low seas.
To-day is 4th January, and in five days the moon will be full.
Now, I shall be very much astonished if that satellite does
not raise these masses of water sufficiently, and render me
a service that I should be indebted to her for."
Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant,
redescended to the interior of the Nautilus. As to the vessel,
it moved not, and was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had
already walled it up with their in destructible cement.
"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure
of the Captain.
"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th instant;
for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it off again."
"Really?"
"Really."
"And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide
will suffice?" said Conseil, simply.
The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will navigate
neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold for its weight.
I think, therefore, that the time has come to part company with Captain Nemo."
"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus, as you do;
and in four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides.
Besides, flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English
or Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing;
and it will be time enough to come to that extremity if the Nautilus
does not recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event."
"But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly? There is an island;
on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial animals,
bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly give a trial."
"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil, "and I agree with him.
Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put us
on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the solid parts
of our planet?"
"I can ask him, but he will refuse."
"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and we shall know how to rely
upon the Captain's amiability."
To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise
to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be
very perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.
Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than to fall into the hands
of the natives.
At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the Nautilus.
The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.
Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered
in the straight passage that the breakers left between them.
The boat was well handled, and moved rapidly.
Ned Land could not restrain his joy. He was like a prisoner that had escaped
from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
"Meat! We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!" he replied.
"Real game! no, bread, indeed."
"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it;
but a piece of fresh venison, grilled on live coals,
will agreeably vary our ordinary course."
"Glutton!" said Conseil, "he makes my mouth water."
"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these forests are full of game,
and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."
"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed
sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger--
loin of tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."
"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.
"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land, "every animal with four
paws without feathers, or with two paws without feathers,
will be saluted by my first shot."
"Very well! Master Land's imprudences are beginning."
"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian; "I do not want
twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort."
At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly aground
on a heavy sand, after having happily passed the coral reef
that surrounds the Island of Gilboa.
CHAPTER XX
A FEW DAYS ON LAND
I was much impressed on touching land. Ned Land tried
the soil with his feet, as if to take possession of it.
However, it was only two months before that we had become,
according to Captain Nemo, "passengers on board the Nautilus,"
but, in reality, prisoners of its commander.
In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast.
The whole horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests.
Enormous trees, the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet,
were tied to each other by garlands of bindweed, real natural
hammocks, which a light breeze rocked. They were mimosas,
figs, hibisci, and palm trees, mingled together in profusion;
and under the shelter of their verdant vault grew orchids,
leguminous plants, and ferns.
But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful.
He discovered a coco-tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them,
and we drunk the milk and ate the nut with a satisfaction that
protested against the ordinary food on the Nautilus.
"Excellent!" said Ned Land.
"Exquisite!" replied Conseil.
"And I do not think," said the Canadian, "that he would object
to our introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board."
"I do not think he would, but he would not taste them."
"So much the worse for him," said Conseil.
"And so much the better for us," replied Ned Land.
"There will be more for us."
"One word only, Master Land," I said to the harpooner, who was
beginning to ravage another coco-nut tree. "Coco-nuts are good things,
but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre
and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.
Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the Nautilus."
"Master is right," replied Conseil; "and I propose to reserve three places
in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the third
for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest specimen."
"Conseil, we must not despair," said the Canadian.
"Let us continue," I returned, "and lie in wait. Although the island
seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would
be less hard than we on the nature of game."
"Ho! ho!" said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
"Well, Ned!" said Conseil.
"My word!" returned the Canadian, "I begin to understand
the charms of anthropophagy."
"Ned! Ned! what are you saying? You, a man-eater? I should
not feel safe with you, especially as I share your cabin.
I might perhaps wake one day to find myself half devoured."
"Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you unnecessarily."
"I would not trust you," replied Conseil. "But enough.
We must absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal,
or else one of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces
of his servant to serve him."
While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches
of the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables,
and one of the most useful products of the tropical zones
furnished us with precious food that we missed on board.
I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very abundant in the island
of Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety destitute of seeds,
which bears in Malaya the name of "rima."
Ned Land knew these fruits well. He had already eaten many during his
numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance.
Moreover, the sight of them excited him, and he could contain
himself no longer.
"Master," he said, "I shall die if I do not taste a little
of this bread-fruit pie."
"Taste it, friend Ned--taste it as you want. We are here
to make experiments--make them."
"It won't take long," said the Canadian.
And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that
crackled joyously. During this time, Conseil and I chose the best
fruits of the bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient
degree of maturity; and their thick skin covered a white but rather
fibrous pulp. Others, the greater number yellow and gelatinous,
waited only to be picked.
These fruits enclosed no kernel. Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land,
who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices,
and while doing this repeating:
"You will see, master, how good this bread is.
More so when one has been deprived of it so long.
It is not even bread," added he, "but a delicate pastry.
You have eaten none, master?"
"No, Ned."
"Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing. If you do not come for more,
I am no longer the king of harpooners."
After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire
was completely roasted. The interior looked like a white pasty,
a sort of soft crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it
with great relish.
"What time is it now?" asked the Canadian.
"Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil.
"How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned Land.
"Let us be off," replied Conseil.
We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid
upon the cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
little beans that I recognised as the "abrou" of the Malays, and yams
of a superior quality.
We were loaded when we reached the boat. But Ned Land did not
find his provisions sufficient. Fate, however, favoured us.
Just as we were pushing off, he perceived several trees,
from twenty-five to thirty feet high, a species of palm-tree.
At last, at five o'clock in the evening, loaded with our riches,
we quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus.
No one appeared on our arrival. The enormous iron-plated cylinder
seemed deserted. The provisions embarked, I descended to my chamber,
and after supper slept soundly.
The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board.
Not a sound inside, not a sign of life. The boat rested
along the edge, in the same place in which we had left it.
We resolved to return to the island. Ned Land hoped to be
more fortunate than on the day before with regard to the hunt,
and wished to visit another part of the forest.
At dawn we set off. The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to shore,
reached the island in a few minutes.
We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian,
we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us.
He wound up the coast towards the west: then, fording some torrents,
he gained the high plain that was bordered with admirable forests.
Some kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses, but they would
not let themselves be approached. Their circumspection proved to me
that these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I
concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings
occasionally frequented it.
After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a little
wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large number of birds.
"There are only birds," said Conseil.
"But they are eatable," replied the harpooner.
"I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there."
"Friend Conseil," said Ned, gravely, "the parrot is like pheasant
to those who have nothing else."
"And," I added, "this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and fork."
Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots
were flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful
education to speak the human language. For the moment, they were
chattering with parrots of all colours, and grave cockatoos,
who seemed to meditate upon some philosophical problem,
whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece of bunting carried
away by the breeze, papuans, with the finest azure colours,
and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold,
but few eatable.
However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed
the limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
But fortune reserved it for me before long.
After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain
obstructed with bushes. I saw then those magnificent birds,
the disposition of whose long feathers obliges them to fly against
the wind. Their undulating flight, graceful aerial curves,
and the shading of their colours, attracted and charmed one's looks.
I had no trouble in recognising them.
"Birds of paradise!" I exclaimed.
The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese,
have several means that we could not employ for taking them.
Sometimes they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds
of paradise prefer to frequent. Sometimes they catch them with a
viscous birdlime that paralyses their movements. They even go so far
as to poison the fountains that the birds generally drink from.
But we were obliged to fire at them during flight, which gave us few
chances to bring them down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one
half our ammunition.
About eleven o'clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that form
the centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
Hunger drove us on. The hunters had relied on the products of the chase,
and they were wrong. Happily Conseil, to his great surprise,
made a double shot and secured breakfast. He brought down a white pigeon
and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended from a skewer,
was roasted before a red fire of dead wood. While these interesting
birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the bread-tree. Then
the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and declared excellent.
The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of stuffing their crops,
flavours their flesh and renders it delicious eating.
"Now, Ned, what do you miss now?"
"Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax. All these pigeons are only
side-dishes and trifles; and until I have killed an animal
with cutlets I shall not be content."
"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise."
"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil. "Let us go towards the sea.
We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I think we had
better regain the region of forests."
That was sensible advice, and was followed out.
After walking for one hour we had attained a forest of
sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents glided away from us.
The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and truly I despaired
of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in front,
suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
bringing a magnificent specimen.
"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"
"Master is very good."
"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke.
Take one of these living birds, and carry it in your hand."
"If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great merit."
"Why, Conseil?"
"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."
"Drunk!"
"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under
the nutmeg-tree, under which I found it. See, friend Ned,
see the monstrous effects of intemperance!"
"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because I have drunk gin for two months,
you must needs reproach me!"
However, I examined the curious bird. Conseil was right.
The bird, drunk with the juice, was quite powerless. It could
not fly; it could hardly walk.
This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species
that are found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands.
It was the "large emerald bird, the most rare kind."
It measured three feet in length. Its head was comparatively small,
its eyes placed near the opening of the beak, and also small.
But the shades of colour were beautiful, having a yellow beak,
brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with purple tips,
pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly.
Two horned, downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged
the long light feathers of admirable fineness, and they
completed the whole of this marvellous bird, that the natives
have poetically named the "bird of the sun."
But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird
of paradise, the Canadian's were not yet. Happily, about two
o'clock, Ned Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood
of those the natives call "bari-outang." The animal came in time
for us to procure real quadruped meat, and he was well received.
Ned Land was very proud of his shot. The hog, hit by the electric ball,
fell stone dead. The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly,
after having taken half a dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us
with a grilled repast in the evening. Then the hunt was resumed,
which was still more marked by Ned and Conseil's exploits.
Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd
of kangaroos that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws.
But these animals did not take to flight so rapidly but what
the electric capsule could stop their course.
"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the
delights of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed, too!
What a supply for the Nautilus! Two! three! five down!
And to think that we shall eat that flesh, and that the idiots on
board shall not have a crumb!"
I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian,
if he had not talked so much, would have killed them all.
But he contented himself with a single dozen of these
interesting marsupians. These animals were small.
They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live
habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme;
but they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food.
We were very satisfied with the results of the hunt.
Happy Ned proposed to return to this enchanting island the next day,
for he wished to depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds.
But he had reckoned without his host.
At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore;
our boat was moored to the usual place. The Nautilus, like a
long rock, emerged from the waves two miles from the beach.
Ned Land, without waiting, occupied himself about the important
dinner business. He understood all about cooking well.
The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon scented the air with
a delicious odour.
Indeed, the dinner was excellent. Two wood-pigeons
completed this extraordinary menu. The sago pasty,
the artocarpus bread, some mangoes, half a dozen pineapples,
and the liquor fermented from some coco-nuts, overjoyed us.
I even think that my worthy companions' ideas had not all
the plainness desirable.
"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this evening?" said Conseil.
"Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land.
Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's proposition.
CHAPTER XXI
CAPTAIN NEMO'S THUNDERBOLT
We looked at the edge of the forest without rising,
my hand stopping in the action of putting it to my mouth,
Ned Land's completing its office.
"Stones do not fall from the sky," remarked Conseil, "or they
would merit the name aerolites."
A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon's leg
fall from Conseil's hand, gave still more weight to his observation.
We all three arose, shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply
to any attack.
"Are they apes?" cried Ned Land.
"Very nearly--they are savages."
"To the boat!" I said, hurrying to the sea.
It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives
armed with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that masked
the horizon to the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us. The savages
approached us, not running, but making hostile demonstrations.
Stones and arrows fell thickly.
Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his
imminent danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other,
he went tolerably fast. In two minutes we were on the shore.
To load the boat with provisions and arms, to push it out
to sea, and ship the oars, was the work of an instant.
We had not gone two cable-lengths, when a hundred savages,
howling and gesticulating, entered the water up to their waists.
I watched to see if their apparition would attract some men from
the Nautilus on to the platform. But no. The enormous machine,
lying off, was absolutely deserted.
Twenty minutes later we were on board. The panels were open.
After making the boat fast, we entered into the interior
of the Nautilus.
I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords.
Captain Nemo was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in
a musical ecstasy.
"Captain!"
He did not hear me.
"Captain!" I said, touching his hand.
He shuddered, and, turning round, said, "Ah! it is you, Professor?
Well, have you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?"
"Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
whose vicinity troubles me."
"What bipeds?"
"Savages."
"Savages!" he echoed, ironically. "So you are astonished, Professor,
at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages?
Savages! where are there not any? Besides, are they worse than others,
these whom you call savages?"
"But Captain----"
"How many have you counted?"
"A hundred at least."
"M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ stops,
"when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the Nautilus
will have nothing to fear from their attacks."
The Captain's fingers were then running over the keys of
the instrument, and I remarked that he touched only the black keys,
which gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character.
Soon he had forgotten my presence, and had plunged into a reverie
that I did not disturb. I went up again on to the platform:
night had already fallen; for, in this low latitude,
the sun sets rapidly and without twilight. I could only see
the island indistinctly; but the numerous fires, lighted on
the beach, showed that the natives did not think of leaving it.
I was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the natives--
but without any dread of them, for the imperturbable
confidence of the Captain was catching--sometimes forgetting
them to admire the splendours of the night in the tropics.
My remembrances went to France in the train of those zodiacal
stars that would shine in some hours' time. The moon shone in
the midst of the constellations of the zenith.
The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders
frightened no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay.
The panels were open, and would have offered an easy access
to the interior of the Nautilus.
At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up
on to the platform. The dawn was breaking. The island soon
showed itself through the dissipating fogs, first the shore,
then the summits.
The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before--
five or six hundred perhaps--some of them, profiting by the low water,
had come on to the coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus.
I distinguished them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic figures,
men of good race, large high foreheads, large, but not broad and flat,
and white teeth. Their woolly hair, with a reddish tinge, showed off on their
black shining bodies like those of the Nubians. From the lobes of their ears,
cut and distended, hung chaplets of bones. Most of these savages were naked.
Amongst them, I remarked some women, dressed from the hips to knees
in quite a crinoline of herbs, that sustained a vegetable waistband.
Some chiefs had ornamented their necks with a crescent and collars
of glass beads, red and white; nearly all were armed with bows, arrows,
and shields and carried on their shoulders a sort of net containing
those round stones which they cast from their slings with great skill.
One of these chiefs, rather near to the Nautilus, examined it attentively.
He was, perhaps, a "mado" of high rank, for he was draped in a mat of
banana-leaves, notched round the edges, and set off with brilliant colours.
I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short length;
but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile demonstrations.
Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the Europeans to parry
sharply, not to attack.
During low water the natives roamed about near the Nautilus,
but were not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word
"Assai," and by their gestures I understood that they invited me
to go on land, an invitation that I declined.
So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great displeasure
of Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands
and meat that he had brought off the island. As for the savages,
they returned to the shore about eleven o'clock in the morning,
as soon as the coral tops began to disappear under the rising tide;
but I saw their numbers had increased considerably on the shore.
Probably they came from the neighbouring islands, or very likely
from Papua. However, I had not seen a single native canoe.
Having nothing better to do, I thought of dragging these beautiful
limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion of shells, zoophytes,
and marine plants. Moreover, it was the last day that the Nautilus
would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea the next day,
according to Captain Nemo's promise.
I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag,
very like those for the oyster fishery. Now to work!
For two hours we fished unceasingly, but without bringing up
any rarities. The drag was filled with midas-ears, harps, melames,
and particularly the most beautiful hammers I have ever seen.
We also brought up some sea-slugs, pearl-oysters, and a dozen little
turtles that were reserved for the pantry on board.
But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder,
I might say a natural deformity, very rarely met with.
Conseil was just dragging, and his net came up filled with
divers ordinary shells, when, all at once, he saw me plunge
my arm quickly into the net, to draw out a shell, and heard me
utter a cry.
"What is the matter, sir?" he asked in surprise.
"Has master been bitten?"
"No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my discovery."
"What discovery?"
"This shell," I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
"It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the
pectinibranchidae, class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca."
"Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left,
this olive turns from left to right."
"Is it possible?"
"Yes, my boy; it is a left shell."
Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure,
and I was promising myself to enrich the museum with it,
when a stone unfortunately thrown by a native struck against,
and broke, the precious object in Conseil's hand.
I uttered a cry of despair! Conseil took up his gun, and aimed
at a savage who was poising his sling at ten yards from him.
I would have stopped him, but his blow took effect and broke
the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm of the savage.
"Conseil!" cried I. "Conseil!"
"Well, sir! do you not see that the cannibal has commenced the attack?"
"A shell is not worth the life of a man," said I.
"Ah! the scoundrel!" cried Conseil; "I would rather he had
broken my shoulder!"
Conseil was in earnest, but I was not of his opinion. However, the situation
had changed some minutes before, and we had not perceived. A score of canoes
surrounded the Nautilus. These canoes, scooped out of the trunk of a tree,
long, narrow, well adapted for speed, were balanced by means of a long
bamboo pole, which floated on the water. They were managed by skilful,
half-naked paddlers, and I watched their advance with some uneasiness.
It was evident that these Papuans had already had dealings with the Europeans
and knew their ships. But this long iron cylinder anchored in the bay,
without masts or chimneys, what could they think of it? Nothing good, for at
first they kept at a respectful distance. However, seeing it motionless,
by degrees they took courage, and sought to familiarise themselves with it.
Now this familiarity was precisely what it was necessary to avoid.
Our arms, which were noiseless, could only produce a moderate effect
on the savages, who have little respect for aught but blustering things.
The thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man
but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise.
At this moment the canoes approached the Nautilus, and a shower
of arrows alighted on her.
I went down to the saloon, but found no one there. I ventured
to knock at the door that opened into the Captain's room.
"Come in," was the answer.
I entered, and found Captain Nemo deep in algebraical calculations
of _x_ and other quantities.
"I am disturbing you," said I, for courtesy's sake.
"That is true, M. Aronnax," replied the Captain; "but I think
you have serious reasons for wishing to see me?"
"Very grave ones; the natives are surrounding us in their canoes,
and in a few minutes we shall certainly be attacked by many
hundreds of savages."
"Ah!" said Captain Nemo quietly, "they are come with their canoes?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, sir, we must close the hatches."
"Exactly, and I came to say to you----"
"Nothing can be more simple," said Captain Nemo. And, pressing an
electric button, he transmitted an order to the ship's crew.
"It is all done, sir," said he, after some moments.
"The pinnace is ready, and the hatches are closed.
You do not fear, I imagine, that these gentlemen could stave in
walls on which the balls of your frigate have had no effect?"
"No, Captain; but a danger still exists."
"What is that, sir?"
"It is that to-morrow, at about this hour, we must open the hatches
to renew the air of the Nautilus. Now, if, at this moment,
the Papuans should occupy the platform, I do not see how you
could prevent them from entering."
"Then, sir, you suppose that they will board us?"
"I am certain of it."
"Well, sir, let them come. I see no reason for hindering them.
After all, these Papuans are poor creatures, and I am unwilling
that my visit to the island should cost the life of a single one
of these wretches."
Upon that I was going away; But Captain Nemo detained me,
and asked me to sit down by him. He questioned me with interest
about our excursions on shore, and our hunting; and seemed not
to understand the craving for meat that possessed the Canadian.
Then the conversation turned on various subjects, and, without being
more communicative, Captain Nemo showed himself more amiable.
Amongst other things, we happened to speak of the situation
of the Nautilus, run aground in exactly the same spot
in this strait where Dumont d'Urville was nearly lost.
Apropos of this:
"This D'Urville was one of your great sailors," said the Captain
to me, "one of your most intelligent navigators. He is the Captain
Cook of you Frenchmen. Unfortunate man of science, after having
braved the icebergs of the South Pole, the coral reefs of Oceania,
the cannibals of the Pacific, to perish miserably in a railway train!
If this energetic man could have reflected during the last moments
of his life, what must have been uppermost in his last thoughts,
do you suppose?"
So speaking, Captain Nemo seemed moved, and his emotion
gave me a better opinion of him. Then, chart in hand,
we reviewed the travels of the French navigator, his voyages
of circumnavigation, his double detention at the South Pole,
which led to the discovery of Adelaide and Louis Philippe,
and fixing the hydrographical bearings of the principal
islands of Oceania.
"That which your D'Urville has done on the surface of the seas," said Captain
Nemo, "that have I done under them, and more easily, more completely than he.
The Astrolabe and the Zelee, incessantly tossed about by the hurricane,
could not be worth the Nautilus, quiet repository of labour that she is,
truly motionless in the midst of the waters.
"To-morrow," added the Captain, rising, "to-morrow, at twenty
minutes to three p.m., the Nautilus shall float, and leave
the Strait of Torres uninjured."
Having curtly pronounced these words, Captain Nemo bowed slightly.
This was to dismiss me, and I went back to my room.
There I found Conseil, who wished to know the result of my interview
with the Captain.
"My boy," said I, "when I feigned to believe that his Nautilus
was threatened by the natives of Papua, the Captain answered
me very sarcastically. I have but one thing to say to you:
Have confidence in him, and go to sleep in peace."
"Have you no need of my services, sir?"
"No, my friend. What is Ned Land doing?"
"If you will excuse me, sir," answered Conseil, "friend Ned is busy
making a kangaroo-pie which will be a marvel."
I remained alone and went to bed, but slept indifferently. I heard the noise
of the savages, who stamped on the platform, uttering deafening cries.
The night passed thus, without disturbing the ordinary repose of the crew.
The presence of these cannibals affected them no more than the soldiers of a
masked battery care for the ants that crawl over its front.
At six in the morning I rose. The hatches had not been opened.
The inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready
for any emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several
cubic feet of oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the Nautilus.
I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo,
even for an instant. On board no preparations for departure were visible.
I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon.
The clock marked half-past two. In ten minutes it would be
high-tide: and, if Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise,
the Nautilus would be immediately detached. If not, many months
would pass ere she could leave her bed of coral.
However, some warning vibrations began to be felt in the vessel.
I heard the keel grating against the rough calcareous bottom of
the coral reef.
At five-and-twenty minutes to three, Captain Nemo appeared in the saloon.
"We are going to start," said he.
"Ah!" replied I.
"I have given the order to open the hatches."
"And the Papuans?"
"The Papuans?" answered Captain Nemo, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
"Will they not come inside the Nautilus?"
"How?"
"Only by leaping over the hatches you have opened."
"M. Aronnax," quietly answered Captain Nemo, "they will not enter
the hatches of the Nautilus in that way, even if they were open."
I looked at the Captain.
"You do not understand?" said he.
"Hardly."
"Well, come and you will see."
I directed my steps towards the central staircase. There Ned
Land and Conseil were slyly watching some of the ship's crew,
who were opening the hatches, while cries of rage and fearful
vociferations resounded outside.
The port lids were pulled down outside. Twenty horrible faces appeared.
But the first native who placed his hand on the stair-rail, struck from behind
by some invisible force, I know not what, fled, uttering the most fearful
cries and making the wildest contortions.
Ten of his companions followed him. They met with the same fate.
Conseil was in ecstasy. Ned Land, carried away by his violent instincts,
rushed on to the staircase. But the moment he seized the rail with
both hands, he, in his turn, was overthrown.
"I am struck by a thunderbolt," cried he, with an oath.
This explained all. It was no rail; but a metallic cable
charged with electricity from the deck communicating with
the platform. Whoever touched it felt a powerful shock--
and this shock would have been mortal if Captain Nemo had
discharged into the conductor the whole force of the current.
It might truly be said that between his assailants and himself
he had stretched a network of electricity which none could
pass with impunity.
Meanwhile, the exasperated Papuans had beaten a retreat paralysed
with terror. As for us, half laughing, we consoled and rubbed
the unfortunate Ned Land, who swore like one possessed.
But at this moment the Nautilus, raised by the last waves of the tide,
quitted her coral bed exactly at the fortieth minute fixed by
the Captain. Her screw swept the waters slowly and majestically.
Her speed increased gradually, and, sailing on the surface of the ocean,
she quitted safe and sound the dangerous passes of the Straits of Torres.
CHAPTER XXII
"AEGRI SOMNIA"
The following day 10th January, the Nautilus continued her
course between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I
could not estimate it at less than thirty-five miles an hour.
The rapidity of her screw was such that I could neither follow
nor count its revolutions. When I reflected that this marvellous
electric agent, after having afforded motion, heat, and light
to the Nautilus, still protected her from outward attack,
and transformed her into an ark of safety which no profane
hand might touch without being thunderstricken, my admiration
was unbounded, and from the structure it extended to the engineer
who had called it into existence.
Our course was directed to the west, and on the 11th of January we doubled
Cape Wessel, situation in 135@ long. and 10@ S. lat., which forms
the east point of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The reefs were still numerous,
but more equalised, and marked on the chart with extreme precision.
The Nautilus easily avoided the breakers of Money to port and the Victoria
reefs to starboard, placed at 130@ long. and on the 10th parallel,
which we strictly followed.
On the 13th of January, Captain Nemo arrived in the Sea of Timor,
and recognised the island of that name in 122@ long.
From this point the direction of the Nautilus inclined towards
the south-west. Her head was set for the Indian Ocean.
Where would the fancy of Captain Nemo carry us next?
Would he return to the coast of Asia or would he approach
again the shores of Europe? Improbable conjectures both,
to a man who fled from inhabited continents. Then would
he descend to the south? Was he going to double the Cape
of Good Hope, then Cape Horn, and finally go as far as the
Antarctic pole? Would he come back at last to the Pacific,
where his Nautilus could sail free and independently?
Time would show.
After having skirted the sands of Cartier, of Hibernia, Seringapatam,
and Scott, last efforts of the solid against the liquid element,
on the 14th of January we lost sight of land altogether.
The speed of the Nautilus was considerably abated, and with
irregular course she sometimes swam in the bosom of the waters,
sometimes floated on their surface.
During this period of the voyage, Captain Nemo made some interesting
experiments on the varied temperature of the sea, in different beds.
Under ordinary conditions these observations are made by means of
rather complicated instruments, and with somewhat doubtful results,
by means of thermometrical sounding-leads, the glasses often breaking
under the pressure of the water, or an apparatus grounded on
the variations of the resistance of metals to the electric currents.
Results so obtained could not be correctly calculated. On the contrary,
Captain Nemo went himself to test the temperature in the depths of the sea,
and his thermometer, placed in communication with the different sheets
of water, gave him the required degree immediately and accurately.
It was thus that, either by overloading her reservoirs or by descending
obliquely by means of her inclined planes, the Nautilus successively attained
the depth of three, four, five, seven, nine, and ten thousand yards,
and the definite result of this experience was that the sea preserved
an average temperature of four degrees and a half at a depth of five
thousand fathoms under all latitudes.
On the 16th of January, the Nautilus seemed becalmed
only a few yards beneath the surface of the waves.
Her electric apparatus remained inactive and her motionless
screw left her to drift at the mercy of the currents.
I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs,
rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements
of the machine.
My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle.
The hatches of the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light
of the Nautilus was not in action, a dim obscurity reigned
in the midst of the waters. I observed the state of the sea,
under these conditions, and the largest fish appeared to me
no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the Nautilus
found herself suddenly transported into full light.
I thought at first that the beacon had been lighted,
and was casting its electric radiance into the liquid mass.
I was mistaken, and after a rapid survey perceived my error.
The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which,
in this obscurity, became quite dazzling. It was produced
by myriads of luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was
increased as they glided over the metallic hull of the vessel.
I was surprised by lightning in the midst of these luminous sheets,
as though they bad been rivulets of lead melted in an ardent
furnace or metallic masses brought to a white heat, so that,
by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared to cast
a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all
shade seemed banished. No; this was not the calm irradiation
of our ordinary lightning. There was unusual life and vigour:
this was truly living light!
In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria,
of veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle,
and of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less
than two cubic half-inches of water.
During several hours the Nautilus floated in these brilliant waves,
and our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters
disporting themselves like salamanders. I saw there in the midst
of this fire that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise
(the indefatigable clown of the ocean), and some swordfish
ten feet long, those prophetic heralds of the hurricane whose
formidable sword would now and then strike the glass of the saloon.
Then appeared the smaller fish, the balista, the leaping mackerel,
wolf-thorn-tails, and a hundred others which striped the luminous
atmosphere as they swam. This dazzling spectacle was enchanting!
Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased the intensity of
this phenomenon. Perhaps some storm agitated the surface of the waves.
But at this depth of some yards, the Nautilus was unmoved by its fury
and reposed peacefully in still water.
So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel.
The days passed rapidly away, and I took no account of them.
Ned, according to habit, tried to vary the diet on board.
Like snails, we were fixed to our shells, and I declare it is easy
to lead a snail's life.
Thus this life seemed easy and natural, and we thought no longer
of the life we led on land; but something happened to recall us
to the strangeness of our situation.
On the 18th of January, the Nautilus was in 105@ long.
and 15@ S. lat. The weather was threatening, the sea rough
and rolling. There was a strong east wind. The barometer,
which had been going down for some days, foreboded a coming storm.
I went up on to the platform just as the second lieutenant
was taking the measure of the horary angles, and waited,
according to habit till the daily phrase was said. But on this day
it was exchanged for another phrase not less incomprehensible.
Almost directly, I saw Captain Nemo appear with a glass, looking
towards the horizon.
For some minutes he was immovable, without taking his eye off
the point of observation. Then he lowered his glass and exchanged
a few words with his lieutenant. The latter seemed to be
a victim to some emotion that he tried in vain to repress.
Captain Nemo, having more command over himself, was cool.
He seemed, too, to be making some objections to which the lieutenant
replied by formal assurances. At least I concluded so by the
difference of their tones and gestures. For myself, I had looked
carefully in the direction indicated without seeing anything.
The sky and water were lost in the clear line of the horizon.
However, Captain Nemo walked from one end of the platform
to the other, without looking at me, perhaps without seeing me.
His step was firm, but less regular than usual.
He stopped sometimes, crossed his arms, and observed the sea.
What could he be looking for on that immense expanse?
The Nautilus was then some hundreds of miles from the nearest coast.
The lieutenant had taken up the glass and examined the horizon steadfastly,
going and coming, stamping his foot and showing more nervous agitation than
his superior officer. Besides, this mystery must necessarily be solved,
and before long; for, upon an order from Captain Nemo, the engine,
increasing its propelling power, made the screw turn more rapidly.
Just then the lieutenant drew the Captain's attention again.
The latter stopped walking and directed his glass towards
the place indicated. He looked long. I felt very much puzzled,
and descended to the drawing-room, and took out an excellent
telescope that I generally used. Then, leaning on the cage
of the watch-light that jutted out from the front of the platform,
set myself to look over all the line of the sky and sea.
But my eye was no sooner applied to the glass than it was quickly
snatched out of my hands.
I turned round. Captain Nemo was before me, but I did not know him.
His face was transfigured. His eyes flashed sullenly; his teeth were set;
his stiff body, clenched fists, and head shrunk between his shoulders,
betrayed the violent agitation that pervaded his whole frame.
He did not move. My glass, fallen from his hands, had rolled at his feet.
Had I unwittingly provoked this fit of anger? Did this incomprehensible
person imagine that I had discovered some forbidden secret?
No; I was not the object of this hatred, for he was not looking at me;
his eye was steadily fixed upon the impenetrable point of the horizon.
At last Captain Nemo recovered himself. His agitation subsided.
He addressed some words in a foreign language to his lieutenant,
then turned to me. "M. Aronnax," he said, in rather an imperious tone,
"I require you to keep one of the conditions that bind you to me."
"What is it, Captain?"
"You must be confined, with your companions, until I think fit
to release you."
"You are the master," I replied, looking steadily at him.
"But may I ask you one question?"
"None, sir."
There was no resisting this imperious command, it would have been useless.
I went down to the cabin occupied by Ned Land and Conseil, and told them
the Captain's determination. You may judge how this communication was
received by the Canadian.
But there was not time for altercation. Four of the crew waited
at the door, and conducted us to that cell where we had passed
our first night on board the Nautilus.
Ned Land would have remonstrated, but the door was shut upon him.
"Will master tell me what this means?" asked Conseil.
I told my companions what had passed. They were as much astonished as I,
and equally at a loss how to account for it.
Meanwhile, I was absorbed in my own reflections, and could think
of nothing but the strange fear depicted in the Captain's countenance.
I was utterly at a loss to account for it, when my cogitations were
disturbed by these words from Ned Land:
"Hallo! breakfast is ready."
And indeed the table was laid. Evidently Captain Nemo had given this order
at the same time that he had hastened the speed of the Nautilus.
"Will master permit me to make a recommendation?" asked Conseil.
"Yes, my boy."
"Well, it is that master breakfasts. It is prudent, for we do not know
what may happen."
"You are right, Conseil."
"Unfortunately," said Ned Land, "they have only given us the ship's fare."
"Friend Ned," asked Conseil, "what would you have said if the breakfast
had been entirely forgotten?"
This argument cut short the harpooner's recriminations.
We sat down to table. The meal was eaten in silence.
Just then the luminous globe that lighted the cell went out, and left us
in total darkness. Ned Land was soon asleep, and what astonished me was
that Conseil went off into a heavy slumber. I was thinking what could have
caused his irresistible drowsiness, when I felt my brain becoming stupefied.
In spite of my efforts to keep my eyes open, they would close.
A painful suspicion seized me. Evidently soporific substances had been
mixed with the food we had just taken. Imprisonment was not enough
to conceal Captain Nemo's projects from us, sleep was more necessary.
I then heard the panels shut. The undulations of the sea, which caused
a slight rolling motion, ceased. Had the Nautilus quitted the surface
of the ocean? Had it gone back to the motionless bed of water?
I tried to resist sleep. It was impossible. My breathing grew weak.
I felt a mortal cold freeze my stiffened and half-paralysed limbs.
My eye lids, like leaden caps, fell over my eyes. I could not raise them;
a morbid sleep, full of hallucinations, bereft me of my being.
Then the visions disappeared, and left me in complete insensibility.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE CORAL KINGDOM
The next day I woke with my head singularly clear.
To my great surprise, I was in my own room. My companions,
no doubt, had been reinstated in their cabin, without having
perceived it any more than I. Of what had passed during the night
they were as ignorant as I was, and to penetrate this mystery I
only reckoned upon the chances of the future.
I then thought of quitting my room. Was I free again or a prisoner?
Quite free. I opened the door, went to the half-deck, went up
the central stairs. The panels, shut the evening before, were open.
I went on to the platform.
Ned Land and Conseil waited there for me. I questioned them;
they knew nothing. Lost in a heavy sleep in which they had
been totally unconscious, they had been astonished at finding
themselves in their cabin.
As for the Nautilus, it seemed quiet and mysterious as ever.
It floated on the surface of the waves at a moderate pace.
Nothing seemed changed on board.
The second lieutenant then came on to the platform, and gave
the usual order below.
As for Captain Nemo, he did not appear.
Of the people on board, I only saw the impassive steward,
who served me with his usual dumb regularity.
About two o'clock, I was in the drawing-room, busied in arranging
my notes, when the Captain opened the door and appeared. I bowed.
He made a slight inclination in return, without speaking.
I resumed my work, hoping that he would perhaps give me some
explanation of the events of the preceding night. He made none.
I looked at him. He seemed fatigued; his heavy eyes had not
been refreshed by sleep; his face looked very sorrowful.
He walked to and fro, sat down and got up again, took a
chance book, put it down, consulted his instruments without
taking his habitual notes, and seemed restless and uneasy.
At last, he came up to me, and said:
"Are you a doctor, M. Aronnax?"
I so little expected such a question that I stared some time
at him without answering.
"Are you a doctor?" he repeated. "Several of your colleagues
have studied medicine."
"Well," said I, "I am a doctor and resident surgeon to the hospital.
I practised several years before entering the museum."
"Very well, sir."
My answer had evidently satisfied the Captain. But, not knowing
what he would say next, I waited for other questions, reserving my
answers according to circumstances.
"M. Aronnax, will you consent to prescribe for one of my men?" he asked.
"Is he ill?"
"Yes."
"I am ready to follow you."
"Come, then."
I own my heart beat, I do not know why. I saw certain connection
between the illness of one of the crew and the events of the day before;
and this mystery interested me at least as much as the sick man.
Captain Nemo conducted me to the poop of the Nautilus,
and took me into a cabin situated near the sailors' quarters.
There, on a bed, lay a man about forty years of age, with a resolute
expression of countenance, a true type of an Anglo-Saxon.
I leant over him. He was not only ill, he was wounded.
His head, swathed in bandages covered with blood, lay on a pillow.
I undid the bandages, and the wounded man looked at me with his large
eyes and gave no sign of pain as I did it. It was a horrible wound.
The skull, shattered by some deadly weapon, left the brain exposed,
which was much injured. Clots of blood had formed in the bruised
and broken mass, in colour like the dregs of wine.
There was both contusion and suffusion of the brain. His breathing
was slow, and some spasmodic movements of the muscles agitated his face.
I felt his pulse. It was intermittent. The extremities of the body
were growing cold already, and I saw death must inevitably ensue.
After dressing the unfortunate man's wounds, I readjusted the bandages
on his head, and turned to Captain Nemo.
"What caused this wound?" I asked.
"What does it signify?" he replied, evasively. "A shock has
broken one of the levers of the engine, which struck myself.
But your opinion as to his state?"
I hesitated before giving it.
"You may speak," said the Captain. "This man does not understand French."
I gave a last look at the wounded man.
"He will be dead in two hours."
"Can nothing save him?"
"Nothing."
Captain Nemo's hand contracted, and some tears glistened in his eyes,
which I thought incapable of shedding any.
For some moments I still watched the dying man, whose life ebbed slowly.
His pallor increased under the electric light that was shed over
his death-bed. I looked at his intelligent forehead, furrowed with
premature wrinkles, produced probably by misfortune and sorrow.
I tried to learn the secret of his life from the last words that
escaped his lips.
"You can go now, M. Aronnax," said the Captain.
I left him in the dying man's cabin, and returned to my
room much affected by this scene. During the whole day,
I was haunted by uncomfortable suspicions, and at night
I slept badly, and between my broken dreams I fancied I
heard distant sighs like the notes of a funeral psalm.
Were they the prayers of the dead, murmured in that language
that I could not understand?
The next morning I went on to the bridge. Captain Nemo was there before me.
As soon as he perceived me he came to me.
"Professor, will it be convenient to you to make a submarine excursion to-day?"
"With my companions?" I asked.
"If they like."
"We obey your orders, Captain."
"Will you be so good then as to put on your cork jackets?"
It was not a question of dead or dying. I rejoined Ned Land
and Conseil, and told them of Captain Nemo's proposition.
Conseil hastened to accept it, and this time the Canadian seemed
quite willing to follow our example.
It was eight o'clock in the morning. At half-past eight we were equipped
for this new excursion, and provided with two contrivances for light
and breathing. The double door was open; and, accompanied by Captain Nemo,
who was followed by a dozen of the crew, we set foot, at a depth of about
thirty feet, on the solid bottom on which the Nautilus rested.
A slight declivity ended in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth.
This bottom differed entirely from the one I had visited on my first excursion
under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here, there was no fine sand,
no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. I immediately recognised that
marvellous region in which, on that day, the Captain did the honours to us.
It was the coral kingdom.
The light produced a thousand charming varieties, playing in
the midst of the branches that were so vividly coloured.
I seemed to see the membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble
beneath the undulation of the waters. I was tempted to gather
their fresh petals, ornamented with delicate tentacles,
some just blown, the others budding, while a small fish,
swimming swiftly, touched them slightly, like flights of birds.
But if my hand approached these living flowers, these animated,
sensitive plants, the whole colony took alarm. The white petals
re-entered their red cases, the flowers faded as I looked,
and the bush changed into a block of stony knobs.
Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the zoophyte.
This coral was more valuable than that found in the Mediterranean,
on the coasts of France, Italy and Barbary. Its tints justified
the poetical names of "Flower of Blood," and "Froth of Blood,"
that trade has given to its most beautiful productions.
Coral is sold for L20 per ounce; and in this place the watery beds would
make the fortunes of a company of coral-divers. This precious matter,
often confused with other polypi, formed then the inextricable plots
called "macciota," and on which I noticed several beautiful specimens
of pink coral.
But soon the bushes contract, and the arborisations increase. Real
petrified thickets, long joints of fantastic architecture, were
disclosed before us. Captain Nemo placed himself under a dark gallery,
where by a slight declivity we reached a depth of a hundred yards. The
light from our lamps produced sometimes magical effects, following the
rough outlines of the natural arches and pendants disposed like lustres,
that were tipped with points of fire.
At last, after walking two hours, we had attained a depth
of about three hundred yards, that is to say, the extreme limit
on which coral begins to form. But there was no isolated bush,
nor modest brushwood, at the bottom of lofty trees.
It was an immense forest of large mineral vegetations,
enormous petrified trees, united by garlands of elegant
sea-bindweed, all adorned with clouds and reflections.
We passed freely under their high branches, lost in the shade
of the waves.
Captain Nemo had stopped. I and my companions halted, and, turning round,
I saw his men were forming a semi-circle round their chief.
Watching attentively, I observed that four of them carried on their
shoulders an object of an oblong shape.
We occupied, in this place, the centre of a vast glade
surrounded by the lofty foliage of the submarine forest.
Our lamps threw over this place a sort of clear twilight
that singularly elongated the shadows on the ground.
At the end of the glade the darkness increased, and was only relieved
by little sparks reflected by the points of coral.
Ned Land and Conseil were near me. We watched,
and I thought I was going to witness a strange scene.
On observing the ground, I saw that it was raised in certain
places by slight excrescences encrusted with limy deposits,
and disposed with a regularity that betrayed the hand of man.
In the midst of the glade, on a pedestal of rocks roughly
piled up, stood a cross of coral that extended its long arms
that one might have thought were made of petrified blood.
Upon a sign from Captain Nemo one of the men advanced;
and at some feet from the cross he began to dig a hole with
a pickaxe that he took from his belt. I understood all!
This glade was a cemetery, this hole a tomb, this oblong
object the body of the man who had died in the night!
The Captain and his men had come to bury their companion in this
general resting-place, at the bottom of this inaccessible ocean!
The grave was being dug slowly; the fish fled on all sides while their
retreat was being thus disturbed; I heard the strokes of the pickaxe,
which sparkled when it hit upon some flint lost at the bottom of the waters.
The hole was soon large and deep enough to receive the body.
Then the bearers approached; the body, enveloped in a tissue of white linen,
was lowered into the damp grave. Captain Nemo, with his arms crossed
on his breast, and all the friends of him who had loved them,
knelt in prayer.
The grave was then filled in with the rubbish taken from the ground,
which formed a slight mound. When this was done, Captain Nemo
and his men rose; then, approaching the grave, they knelt again,
and all extended their hands in sign of a last adieu.
Then the funeral procession returned to the Nautilus,
passing under the arches of the forest, in the midst
of thickets, along the coral bushes, and still on the ascent.
At last the light of the ship appeared, and its luminous track
guided us to the Nautilus. At one o'clock we had returned.
As soon as I had changed my clothes I went up on to the platform,
and, a prey to conflicting emotions, I sat down near the binnacle.
Captain Nemo joined me. I rose and said to him:
"So, as I said he would, this man died in the night?"
"Yes, M. Aronnax."
"And he rests now, near his companions, in the coral cemetery?"
"Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us. We dug the grave,
and the polypi undertake to seal our dead for eternity."
And, burying his face quickly in his hands, he tried in vain to
suppress a sob. Then he added: "Our peaceful cemetery is there,
some hundred feet below the surface of the waves."
"Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of sharks."
"Yes, sir, of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.
PART TWO
CHAPTER I
THE INDIAN OCEAN
We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea.
The first ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left
such a deep impression on my mind. Thus, in the midst of this great sea,
Captain Nemo's life was passing, even to his grave, which he had
prepared in one of its deepest abysses. There, not one of the ocean's
monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus,
of those friends riveted to each other in death as in life.
"Nor any man, either," had added the Captain. Still the same fierce,
implacable defiance towards human society!
I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied Conseil.
That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of
the Nautilus one of those unknown servants who return mankind
contempt for indifference. For him, he was a misunderstood
genius who, tired of earth's deceptions, had taken refuge in this
inaccessible medium, where he might follow his instincts freely.
To my mind, this explains but one side of Captain Nemo's character.
Indeed, the mystery of that last night during which we had been
chained in prison, the sleep, and the precaution so violently
taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I
had raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the man,
due to an unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a
new track. No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man.
His formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom,
but perhaps also the design of some terrible retaliation.
At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse
of light amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself
to writing as events shall dictate.
That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came to take
the altitude of the sun. I mounted the platform, lit a cigar, and watched
the operation. It seemed to me that the man did not understand French;
for several times I made remarks in a loud voice, which must have drawn
from him some involuntary sign of attention, if he had understood them;
but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the
sailors of the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied
us on our first submarine excursion to the Island of Crespo)
came to clean the glasses of the lantern. I examined the fittings
of the apparatus, the strength of which was increased a hundredfold
by lenticular rings, placed similar to those in a lighthouse,
and which projected their brilliance in a horizontal plane.
The electric lamp was combined in such a way as to give
its most powerful light. Indeed, it was produced in vacuo,
which insured both its steadiness and its intensity.
This vacuum economised the graphite points between which
the luminous arc was developed--an important point of economy
for Captain Nemo, who could not easily have replaced them;
and under these conditions their waste was imperceptible.
When the Nautilus was ready to continue its submarine journey,
I went down to the saloon. The panel was closed, and the course
marked direct west.
We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy.
The Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep.
We went on so for some days. To anyone but myself, who had a great
love for the sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous;
but the daily walks on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving
air of the ocean, the sight of the rich waters through the windows
of the saloon, the books in the library, the compiling of my memoirs,
took up all my time, and left me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or gulls.
Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made very acceptable
water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long distance from all lands
and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their flight, I saw some
magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant cries like the braying of an ass,
and birds belonging to the family of the long-wings.
As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels.
I saw many kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
I shall notice chiefly ostracions peculiar to the Red Sea, the Indian
Ocean, and that part which washes the coast of tropical America. These
fishes, like the tortoise, the armadillo, the sea-hedgehog, and the
Crustacea, are protected by a breastplate which is neither chalky nor
stony, but real bone. In some it takes the form of a solid triangle, in
others of a solid quadrangle. Amongst the triangular I saw some an inch
and a half in length, with wholesome flesh and a delicious flavour; they
are brown at the tail, and yellow at the fins, and I recommend their
introduction into fresh water, to which a certain number of sea-fish
easily accustom themselves. I would also mention quadrangular
ostra-cions, having on the back four large tubercles; some dotted over
with white spots on the lower part of the body, and which may be tamed
like birds; trigons provided with spikes formed by the lengthening of
their bony shell, and which, from their strange gruntings, are called
"seapigs"; also dromedaries with large humps in the shape of a cone,
whose flesh is very tough and leathery.
I now borrow from the daily notes of Master Conseil. "Certain fish of
the genus petrodon peculiar to those seas, with red backs and white
chests, which are distinguished by three rows of longitudinal filaments;
and some electrical, seven inches long, decked in the liveliest colours.
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