observation easy. Nothing was in sight. Not a quicksand, not an island. A
vast desert.
Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude of the sun,
which ought also to give the latitude. He waited for some moments till its
disc touched the horizon. Whilst taking observations not a muscle moved,
the instrument could not have been more motionless in a hand of marble.
"Twelve o'clock, sir," said he. "When you like-"
I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese
coast, and descended to the saloon.
"And now, sir, I leave you to your studies," added the Captain; "our
course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms. Here are maps on a
large scale by which you may follow it. The saloon is at your disposal,
and, with your permission, I will retire." Captain Nemo bowed, and I
remained alone, lost in thoughts all bearing on the commander of the
Nautilus.
For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce
this mystery so interesting to me. Then my eyes fell upon the vast
planisphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very spot
where the given latitude and longitude crossed.
The sea has its large rivers like the continents. They are special
currents known by their temperature and their colour. The most remarkable
of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream. Science has decided on
the globe the direction of five principal currents: one in the North
Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North Pacific, a fourth in
the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian Ocean. It is even probable
that a sixth current existed at one time or another in the Northern Indian
Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas formed but one vast sheet of water.
At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was
rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which, leaving
the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular rays of a
tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast of Asia,
turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands, carrying with it
trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions, and edging the
waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water. It was this
current that the Nautilus was to follow. I followed it with my eye; saw it
lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific, and felt myself drawn with it,
when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the door of the saloon.
My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
spread before them.
"Where are we, where are we?" exclaimed the Canadian. "In the museum at
Quebec?"
"My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter, "you are not
in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards below the level of the
sea."
"But, M. Aronnax," said Ned Land, "can you tell me how many men there
are on board? Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?"
"I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a time all
idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it. This ship is a
masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be sorry not to have seen it.
Many people would accept the situation forced upon us, if only to move
amongst such wonders. So be quiet and let us try and see what passes
around us."
"See!" exclaimed the harpooner, "but we can see nothing in this iron
prison! We are walking-we are sailing-blindly."
Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly
darkness. The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes
received a painful impression.
We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited
us, whether agreeable or disagreeable. A sliding noise was heard: one
would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus.
"It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.
Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong
openings. The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam.
Two crystal plates separated us from the sea. At first I trembled at the
thought that this frail partition might break, but strong bands of copper
bound them, giving an almost infinite power of resistance.
The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the Nautilus. What
a spectacle! What pen can describe it? Who could paint the effects of the
light through those transparent sheets of water, and the softness of the
successive gradations from the lower to the superior strata of the ocean?
We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances which it
holds in suspension heightens its transparency. In certain parts of the
ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five fathoms of water, can be seen
with surprising clearness a bed of sand. The penetrating power of the
solar rays does not seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and fifty
fathoms. But in this middle fluid travelled over by the Nautilus, the
electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves. It was no
longer luminous water, but liquid light.
On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss. The obscurity
of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside, and we looked
out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium.
"You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now."
"Curious! curious!" muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction; "and one
would come further than this to admire such a sight!"
"Ah!" thought I to myself, "I understand the life of this man; he has
made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all his greatest
wonders."
For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus. During their
games, their bounds, while rivalling each other in beauty, brightness, and
velocity, I distinguished the green labre; the banded mullet, marked by a
double line of black; the round-tailed goby, of a white colour, with
violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus, a beautiful mackerel of
these seas, with a blue body and silvery head; the brilliant azurors,
whose name alone defies description; some banded spares, with variegated
fins of blue and yellow; the woodcocks of the seas, some specimens of
which attain a yard in length; Japanese salamanders, spider lampreys,
serpents six feet long, with eyes small and lively, and a huge mouth
bristling with teeth; with many other species.
Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
on each other. Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them. I was in
ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their
forms. Never had it been given to me to surprise these animals, alive and
at liberty, in their natural element. I will not mention all the varieties
which passed before my dazzled eyes, all the collection of the seas of
China and Japan. These fish, more numerous than the birds of the air,
came, attracted, no doubt, by the brilliant focus of the electric light.
Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed
again, and the enchanting vision disappeared. But for a long time I dreamt
on, till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the partition. The
compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the manometer indicated a
pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a depth of twenty five
fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of fifteen miles an hour. I
expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear. The clock marked the hour of
five.
Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my
chamber. My dinner was ready. It was composed of turtle soup made of the
most delicate hawks bills, of a surmullet served with puff paste (the
liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and fillets of
the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me superior even to
salmon.
I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking. Then sleep
overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch of zostera, and slept
profoundly, whilst the Nautilus was gliding rapidly through the current of
the Black River.
The next day was the 9th of November. I awoke after a long sleep of
twelve hours. Conseil came, according to custom, to know "how I passed the
night," and to offer his services. He had left his friend the Canadian
sleeping like a man who had never done anything else all his life. I let
the worthy fellow chatter as he pleased, without caring to answer him. I
was preoccupied by the absence of the Captain during our sitting of the
day before, and hoping to see him to-day.
As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon. It was deserted. I
plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses.
The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain
Nemo. The panels of the saloon did not open. Perhaps they did not wish us
to tire of these beautiful things.
The course of the Nautilus was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots, the
depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion, the same solitude.
I did not see one of the ship's crew: Ned and Conseil spent the greater
part of the day with me. They were astonished at the puzzling absence of
the Captain. Was this singular man ill?-had he altered his intentions with
regard to us?
After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were
delicately and abundantly fed. Our host kept to his terms of the treaty.
We could not complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our fate reserved
such wonderful compensation for us that we had no right to accuse it as
yet.
That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled
me to relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail.
11th November, early in the morning. The fresh air spreading over the
interior of the Nautilus told me that we had come to the surface of the
ocean to renew our supply of oxygen. I directed my steps to the central
staircase, and mounted the platform.
It was six o'clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey, but calm.
Scarcely a billow. Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be there?
I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage. Seated upon
the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled the salt
breeze with delight.
By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun's rays, the
radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon. The sea flamed under its
glance like a train of gunpowder. The clouds scattered in the heights were
coloured with lively tints of beautiful shades, and numerous "mare's
tails," which betokened wind for that day. But what was wind to this
Nautilus, which tempests could not frighten!
I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay, and so
life-giving, when I heard steps approaching the platform. I was prepared
to salute Captain Nemo, but it was his second (whom I had already seen on
the Captain's first visit) who appeared. He advanced on the platform, not
seeming to see me. With his powerful glass to his eye, he scanned every
point of the horizon with great attention. This examination over, he
approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in exactly these terms. I
have remembered it, for every morning it was repeated under exactly the
same conditions. It was thus worded:
"Nautron respoc lorni virch."
What it meant I could not say.
These words pronounced, the second descended. I thought that the
Nautilus was about to return to its submarine navigation. I regained the
panel and returned to my chamber.
Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation. Every morning
I mounted the platform. The same phrase was pronounced by the same
individual. But Captain Nemo did not appear.
I had made up my mind that I should never see him again, when, on the
16th November, on returning to my room with Ned and Conseil, I found upon
my table a note addressed to me. I opened it impatiently. It was written
in a bold, clear hand, the characters rather pointed, recalling the German
type. The note was worded as follows:
TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus. 16th of November, 1867.
Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo. He
hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present, and he
will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.
CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.
"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.
"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.
"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.
"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I, reading the letter
once more.
"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian. "But once more on dry
ground, we shall know what to do. Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat a
piece of fresh venison."
Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation to
hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:
"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."
I consulted the planisphere, and in 32O 40' N. lat. and 157O 50' W.
long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801 by Captain Crespo, and
marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata, the meaning of
which is The Silver Rock. We were then about eighteen hundred miles from
our starting-point, and the course of the Nautilus, a little changed, was
bringing it back towards the southeast.
I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific, to
my companions.
"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I, "he at least
chooses desert islands."
Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil and he
left me.
After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive, I
went to bed, not without some anxiety.
The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt that the
Nautilus was perfectly still. I dressed quickly and entered the saloon.
Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me. He rose, bowed, and asked me if
it was convenient for me to accompany him. As he made no allusion to his
absence during the last eight days, I did not mention it, and simply
answered that my companions and myself were ready to follow him.
We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
"M. Aronnax," said the Captain, "pray, share my breakfast without
ceremony; we will chat as we eat. For, though I promised you a walk in the
forest, I did not undertake to find hotels there. So breakfast as a man
who will most likely not have his dinner till very late."
I did honour to the repast. It was composed of several kinds of fish,
and slices of sea-cucumber, and different sorts of seaweed. Our drink
consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added some drops of a
fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha method from a seaweed known
under the name of Rhodomenia palmata. Captain Nemo ate at first without
saying a word. Then he began:
"Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
you evidently thought me mad. Sir, you should never judge lightly of any
man."
"But Captain, believe me-"
"Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you have any
cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction."
"I listen."
"You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air. In
submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress, with his head
in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means of forcing pumps and
regulators."
"That is a diving apparatus," said I.
"Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty; he is
attached to the pump which sends him air through an india-rubber tube, and
if we were obliged to be thus held to the Nautilus, we could not go far."
"And the means of getting free?" I asked.
"It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your own
countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use, and which
will allow you to risk yourself under these new physiological conditions
without any organ whatever suffering. It consists of a reservoir of thick
iron plates, in which I store the air under a pressure of fifty
atmospheres. This reservoir is fixed on the back by means of braces, like
a soldier's knapsack. Its upper part forms a box in which the air is kept
by means of a bellows, and therefore cannot escape unless at its normal
tension. In the Rouquayrol apparatus such as we use, two india rubber
pipes leave this box and join a sort of tent which holds the nose and
mouth; one is to introduce fresh air, the other to let out the foul, and
the tongue closes one or the other according to the wants of the
respirator. But I, in encountering great pressures at the bottom of the
sea, was obliged to shut my head, like that of a diver in a ball of
copper; and it is to this ball of copper that the two pipes, the
inspirator and the expirator, open."
"Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you must soon
be used; when it only contains fifteen per cent. of oxygen it is no longer
fit to breathe."
"Right! But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the Nautilus
allow me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those
conditions the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air for
nine or ten hours."
"I have no further objections to make," I answered. "I will only ask
you one thing, Captain-how can you light your road at the bottom of the
sea?"
"With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back,
the other is fastened to the waist. It is composed of a Bunsen pile, which
I do not work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium. A wire is
introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs it towards
a particularly made lantern. In this lantern is a spiral glass which
contains a small quantity of carbonic gas. When the apparatus is at work
this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous light. Thus
provided, I can breathe and I can see."
"Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers that
I dare no longer doubt. But, if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol and
Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with regard to
the gun I am to carry."
"But it is not a gun for powder," answered the Captain.
"Then it is an air-gun."
"Doubtless! How would you have me manufacture gun powder on board,
without either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?"
"Besides," I added, "to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and
fifty-five times denser than the air, we must conquer very considerable
resistance."
"That would be no difficulty. There exist guns, according to Fulton,
perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy, and
in Italy by Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar system of closing,
which can fire under these conditions. But I repeat, having no powder, I
use air under great pressure, which the pumps of the Nautilus furnish
abundantly."
"But this air must be rapidly used?"
"Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at
need? A tap is all that is required. Besides M. Aronnax, you must see
yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air and
but few balls."
"But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this
fluid, which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could not
go far, nor easily prove mortal."
"Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal; and, however
lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt."
"Why?"
"Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little
cases of glass. These glass cases are covered with a case of steel, and
weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles, into which
the electricity is forced to a very high tension. With the slightest shock
they are discharged, and the animal, however strong it may be, falls dead.
I must tell you that these cases are size number four, and that the charge
for an ordinary gun would be ten."
"I will argue no longer," I replied, rising from the table. "I have
nothing left me but to take my gun. At all events, I will go where you
go."
Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned's and Conseil's
cabin, I called my two companions, who followed promptly. We then came to
a cell near the machinery-room, in which we put on our walking-dress.
This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the
Nautilus. A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting our
use.
Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress himself in
one.
"But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
but submarine forests."
"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams of fresh
meat fade away. "And you, M. Aronnax, are you going to dress yourself in
those clothes?"
"There is no alternative, Master Ned."
"As you please, sir," replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
"but, as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one."
"No one will force you, Master Ned," said Captain Nemo.
"Is Conseil going to risk it?" asked Ned.
"I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.
At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came to help us dress in
these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam, and
constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure. One would have
thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting. This suit formed
trousers and waistcoat. The trousers were finished off with thick boots,
weighted with heavy leaden soles. The texture of the waistcoat was held
together by bands of copper, which crossed the chest, protecting it from
the great pressure of the water, and leaving the lungs free to act; the
sleeves ended in gloves, which in no way restrained the movement of the
hands. There was a vast difference noticeable between these consummate
apparatuses and the old cork breastplates, jackets, and other contrivances
in vogue during the eighteenth century.
Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules, who must
have possessed great strength), Conseil and myself were soon enveloped in
the dresses. There remained nothing more to be done but to enclose our
heads in the metal box. But, before proceeding to this operation, I asked
the Captain's permission to examine the guns.
One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which,
made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large. It served as a
reservoir for compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring, allowed
to escape into a metal tube. A box of projectiles in a groove in the
thickness of the butt end contained about twenty of these electric balls,
which, by means of a spring, were forced into the barrel of the gun. As
soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
"Captain Nemo," said I, "this arm is perfect, and easily handled: I
only ask to be allowed to try it. But how shall we gain the bottom of the
sea?"
"At this moment, Professor, the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
and we have nothing to do but to start."
"But how shall we get off?"
"You shall see."
Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the
same, not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian. The
upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which was
screwed the metal helmet. Three holes, protected by thick glass, allowed
us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head in the interior of
the head-dress. As soon as it was in position, the Rouquayrol apparatus on
our backs began to act; and, for my part, I could breathe with ease.
With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand, I
was ready to set out. But to speak the truth, imprisoned in these heavy
garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles, it was impossible for
me to take a step.
But this state of things was provided for. I felt myself being pushed
into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe room. My companions
followed, towed along in the same way. I heard a water-tight door,
furnished with stopper plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in
profound darkness.
After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard. I felt the cold mount
from my feet to my chest. Evidently from some part of the vessel they had,
by means of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading us, and
with which the room was soon filled. A second door cut in the side of the
Nautilus then opened. We saw a faint light. In another instant our feet
trod the bottom of the sea.
And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
under the waters? Words are impotent to relate such wonders! Captain Nemo
walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind. Conseil and I
remained near each other, as if an exchange of words had been possible
through our metallic cases. I no longer felt the weight of my clothing, or
of my shoes, of my reservoir of air, or my thick helmet, in the midst of
which my head rattled like an almond in its shell.
The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the
ocean, astonished me by its power. The solar rays shone through the watery
mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly distinguished
objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards. Beyond that the tints
darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine, and faded into vague
obscurity. Truly this water which surrounded me was but another air denser
than the terrestrial atmosphere, but almost as transparent. Above me was
the calm surface of the sea. We were walking on fine, even sand, not
wrinkled, as on a flat shore, which retains the impression of the billows.
This dazzling carpet, really a reflector, repelled the rays of the sun
with wonderful intensity, which accounted for the vibration which
penetrated every atom of liquid. Shall I be believed when I say that, at
the depth of thirty feet, I could see as if I was in broad daylight?
For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
dust of shells. The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake us
in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible. I
recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the
most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect of
this medium.
It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their light,
decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks, plants,
shells, and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours. It
was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints,
a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue;
in one word, the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist! Why could I
not communicate to Conseil the lively sensations which were mounting to my
brain, and rival him in expressions of admiration? For aught I knew,
Captain Nemo and his companion might be able to exchange thoughts by means
of signs previously agreed upon. So, for want of better, I talked to
myself; I declaimed in the copper box which covered my head, thereby
expending more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi, and
anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom. It was
a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens of
molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammerheads, donaciae
(veritable bounding shells), of staircases, and red helmet-shells,
angel-wings, and many others produced by this inexhaustible ocean. But we
were bound to walk, so we went on, whilst above our heads waved medusae
whose umbrellas of opal or rose-pink, escalloped with a band of blue,
sheltered us from the rays of the sun and fiery pelagiae, which, in the
darkness, would have strewn our path with phosphorescent light.
All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely
stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs. Soon
the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an extent of
slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze," composed of equal parts of
silicious and calcareous shells. We then travelled over a plain of seaweed
of wild and luxuriant vegetation. This sward was of close texture, and
soft to the feet, and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of
man. But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not abandon our
heads. A light network of marine plants, of that inexhaustible family of
seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known, grew on the
surface of the water.
I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea, whilst
the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black or brown the care of
forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half. It was near noon;
I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays, which were no longer
refracted. The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the shades of
emerald and sapphire were effaced. We walked with a regular step, which
rang upon the ground with astonishing intensity; the slightest noise was
transmitted with a quickness to which the ear is unaccustomed on the
earth; indeed, water is a better conductor of sound than air, in the ratio
of four to one. At this period the earth sloped downwards; the light took
a uniform tint. We were at a depth of a hundred and five yards and twenty
inches, undergoing a pressure of six atmospheres.
At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to
their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
state between day and night; but we could still see well enough; it was
not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet. At this moment
Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him, and then pointed to an
obscure mass, looming in the shadow, at a short distance.
"It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I; and I was not
mistaken.
We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of
the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains. He looked upon it as his
own, and considered he had the same right over it that the first men had
in the first days of the world. And, indeed, who would have disputed with
him the possession of this submarine property? What other hardier pioneer
would come, hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark copses?
This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we
penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular position
of their branches-a position I had not yet observed.
Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the
trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally; all
stretched up to the surface of the ocean. Not a filament, not a ribbon,
however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron. The
fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to the density of
the element which had produced them. Motionless yet, when bent to one side
by the hand, they directly resumed their former position. Truly it was the
region of perpendicularity!
I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the
comparative darkness which surrounded us. The soil of the forest seemed
covered with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid. The submarine flora struck
me as being very perfect, and richer even than it would have been in the
arctic or tropical zones, where these productions are not so plentiful.
But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the genera, taking animals
for plants; and who would not have been mistaken? The fauna and the flora
are too closely allied in this submarine world.
These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their existence
is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them. The greater number,
instead of leaves, shoot forth blades of capricious shapes, comprised
within a scale of colours pink, carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown.
"Curious anomaly, fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist, "in
which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!"
In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt; I, for my part,
was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae, the
long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.
This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing wanting but
the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak, impossible to answer,
I only put my great copper head to Conseil's. I saw the worthy fellow's
eyes glistening with delight, and, to show his satisfaction, he shook
himself in his breastplate of air, in the most comical way in the world.
After four hours of this walking, I was surprised not to find myself
dreadfully hungry. How to account for this state of the stomach I could
not tell. But instead I felt an insurmountable desire to sleep, which
happens to all divers. And my eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses,
and I fell into a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had prevented
before. Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in the clear
crystal, set us the example.
How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge, but, when
I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon. Captain Nemo had
already risen, and I was beginning to stretch my limbs, when an unexpected
apparition brought me briskly to my feet.
A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches
high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me. Though
my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite of this
animal, I could not help shuddering with horror. Conseil and the sailor of
the Nautilus awoke at this moment. Captain Nemo pointed out the hideous
crustacean, which a blow from the butt end of the gun knocked over, and I
saw the horrible claws of the monster writhe in terrible convulsions. This
incident reminded me that other animals more to be feared might haunt
these obscure depths, against whose attacks my diving-dress would not
protect me. I had never thought of it before, but I now resolved to be
upon my guard. Indeed, I thought that this halt would mark the termination
of our walk; but I was mistaken, for, instead of returning to the
Nautilus, Captain Nemo continued his bold excursion. The ground was still
on the incline, its declivity seemed to be getting greater, and to be
leading us to greater depths. It must have been about three o'clock when
we reached a narrow valley, between high perpendicular walls, situated
about seventy-five fathoms deep. Thanks to the perfection of our
apparatus, we were forty-five fathoms below the limit which nature seems
to have imposed on man as to his submarine excursions.
I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to
judge the distance. But I knew that even in the clearest waters the solar
rays could not penetrate further. And accordingly the darkness deepened.
At ten paces not an object was visible. I was groping my way, when I
suddenly saw a brilliant white light. Captain Nemo had just put his
electric apparatus into use; his companion did the same, and Conseil and I
followed their example. By turning a screw I established a communication
between the wire and the spiral glass, and the sea, lit by our four
lanterns, was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.
As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus could not
fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch. But if they did approach
us, they at least kept at a respectful distance from the hunters. Several
times I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his shoulder, and after some
moments drop it and walk on. At last, after about four hours, this
marvellous excursion came to an end. A wall of superb rocks, in an
imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of gigantic blocks, an enormous,
steep granite shore, forming dark grottos, but which presented no
practicable slope; it was the prop of the Island of Crespo. It was the
earth! Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. A gesture of his brought us all to a
halt; and, however desirous I might be to scale the wall, I was obliged to
stop. Here ended Captain Nemo's domains. And he would not go beyond them.
Further on was a portion of the globe he might not trample upon.
The return began. Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little
band, directing their course without hesitation. I thought we were not
following the same road to return to the Nautilus. The new road was very
steep, and consequently very painful. We approached the surface of the sea
rapidly. But this return to the upper strata was not so sudden as to cause
relief from the pressure too rapidly, which might have produced serious
disorder in our organisation, and brought on internal lesions, so fatal to
divers. Very soon light reappeared and grew, and, the sun being low on the
horizon, the refraction edged the different objects with a spectral ring.
At ten yards and a half deep, we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes of
all kinds, more numerous than the birds of the air, and also more agile;
but no aquatic game worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze, when at that
moment I saw the Captain shoulder his gun quickly, and follow a moving
object into the shrubs. He fired; I heard a slight hissing, and a creature
fell stunned at some distance from us. It was a magnificent sea-otter, an
enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped. This otter was five feet
long, and must have been very valuable. Its skin, chestnut-brown above and
silvery underneath, would have made one of those beautiful furs so sought
after in the Russian and Chinese markets: the fineness and the lustre of
its coat would certainly fetch L80. I admired this curious mammal, with
its rounded head ornamented with short ears, its round eyes, and white
whiskers like those of a cat, with webbed feet and nails, and tufted tail.
This precious animal, hunted and tracked by fishermen, has now become very
rare, and taken refuge chiefly in the northern parts of the Pacific, or
probably its race would soon become extinct.
Captain Nemo's companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder,
and we continued our journey. For one hour a plain of sand lay stretched
before us. Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some inches of the
surface of the water. I then saw our image clearly reflected, drawn
inversely, and above us appeared an identical group reflecting our
movements and our actions; in a word, like us in every point, except that
they walked with their heads downward and their feet in the air.
Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which
formed and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these
seeming clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the
bottom, and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops
multiplied on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above our
heads, whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.
On this occasion I was witness to one of the finest gun shots which
ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill. A large bird of great breadth of
wing, clearly visible, approached, hovering over us. Captain Nemo's
companion shouldered his gun and fired, when it was only a few yards above
the waves. The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall brought it
within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp. It was an albatross of the
finest kind.
Our march had not been interrupted by this incident. For two hours we
followed these sandy plains, then fields of algae very disagreeable to
cross. Candidly, I could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light, which,
for a half mile, broke the darkness of the waters. It was the lantern of
the Nautilus. Before twenty minutes were over we should be on board, and I
should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed that my reservoir
supplied air very deficient in oxygen. But I did not reckon on an
accidental meeting which delayed our arrival for some time.
I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain Nemo
coming hurriedly towards me. With his strong hand he bent me to the
ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil. At first I knew not what
to think of this sudden attack, but I was soon reassured by seeing the
Captain lie down beside me, and remain immovable.
I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of
algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass, casting
phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which
threatened us. It was a couple of tintoreas, terrible creatures, with
enormous tails and a dull glassy stare, the phosphorescent matter ejected
from holes pierced around the muzzle. Monstrous brutes! which would crush
a whole man in their iron jaws. I did not know whether Conseil stopped to
classify them; for my part, I noticed their silver bellies, and their huge
mouths bristling with teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and
more as a possible victim than as a naturalist.
Happily the voracious creatures do not see well. They passed without
seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a
miracle from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in
the forest. Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we reached
the Nautilus. The outside door had been left open, and Captain Nemo closed
it as soon as we had entered the first cell. He then pressed a knob. I
heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel, I felt the water
sinking from around me, and in a few moments the cell was entirely empty.
The inside door then opened, and we entered the vestry.
There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and,
fairly worn out from want of food and sleep, I returned to my room, in
great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my
fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform, just as the
second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo
appeared. He did not seem to be aware of my presence, and began a series
of astronomical observations. Then, when he had finished, he went and
leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean.
In the meantime, a number of the sailors of the Nautilus, all strong and
healthy men, had come up onto the platform. They came to draw up the nets
that had been laid all night. These sailors were evidently of different
nations, although the European type was visible in all of them. I
recognised some unmistakable Irishmen, Frenchmen, some Sclaves, and a
Greek, or a Candiote. They were civil, and only used that odd language
among themselves, the origin of which I could not guess, neither could I
question them.
The nets were hauled in. They were a large kind of "chaluts," like
those on the Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain
fixed in the smaller meshes kept open. These pockets, drawn by iron poles,
swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their way. That day
they brought up curious specimens from those productive coasts.
I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of
fish. It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at. Indeed, the nets are
let down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite
vast desert.
Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude of the sun,
which ought also to give the latitude. He waited for some moments till its
disc touched the horizon. Whilst taking observations not a muscle moved,
the instrument could not have been more motionless in a hand of marble.
"Twelve o'clock, sir," said he. "When you like-"
I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese
coast, and descended to the saloon.
"And now, sir, I leave you to your studies," added the Captain; "our
course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms. Here are maps on a
large scale by which you may follow it. The saloon is at your disposal,
and, with your permission, I will retire." Captain Nemo bowed, and I
remained alone, lost in thoughts all bearing on the commander of the
Nautilus.
For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce
this mystery so interesting to me. Then my eyes fell upon the vast
planisphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very spot
where the given latitude and longitude crossed.
The sea has its large rivers like the continents. They are special
currents known by their temperature and their colour. The most remarkable
of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream. Science has decided on
the globe the direction of five principal currents: one in the North
Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North Pacific, a fourth in
the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian Ocean. It is even probable
that a sixth current existed at one time or another in the Northern Indian
Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas formed but one vast sheet of water.
At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was
rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which, leaving
the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular rays of a
tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast of Asia,
turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands, carrying with it
trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions, and edging the
waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water. It was this
current that the Nautilus was to follow. I followed it with my eye; saw it
lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific, and felt myself drawn with it,
when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the door of the saloon.
My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
spread before them.
"Where are we, where are we?" exclaimed the Canadian. "In the museum at
Quebec?"
"My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter, "you are not
in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards below the level of the
sea."
"But, M. Aronnax," said Ned Land, "can you tell me how many men there
are on board? Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?"
"I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a time all
idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it. This ship is a
masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be sorry not to have seen it.
Many people would accept the situation forced upon us, if only to move
amongst such wonders. So be quiet and let us try and see what passes
around us."
"See!" exclaimed the harpooner, "but we can see nothing in this iron
prison! We are walking-we are sailing-blindly."
Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly
darkness. The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes
received a painful impression.
We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited
us, whether agreeable or disagreeable. A sliding noise was heard: one
would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus.
"It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.
Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong
openings. The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam.
Two crystal plates separated us from the sea. At first I trembled at the
thought that this frail partition might break, but strong bands of copper
bound them, giving an almost infinite power of resistance.
The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the Nautilus. What
a spectacle! What pen can describe it? Who could paint the effects of the
light through those transparent sheets of water, and the softness of the
successive gradations from the lower to the superior strata of the ocean?
We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances which it
holds in suspension heightens its transparency. In certain parts of the
ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five fathoms of water, can be seen
with surprising clearness a bed of sand. The penetrating power of the
solar rays does not seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and fifty
fathoms. But in this middle fluid travelled over by the Nautilus, the
electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves. It was no
longer luminous water, but liquid light.
On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss. The obscurity
of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside, and we looked
out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium.
"You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now."
"Curious! curious!" muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction; "and one
would come further than this to admire such a sight!"
"Ah!" thought I to myself, "I understand the life of this man; he has
made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all his greatest
wonders."
For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus. During their
games, their bounds, while rivalling each other in beauty, brightness, and
velocity, I distinguished the green labre; the banded mullet, marked by a
double line of black; the round-tailed goby, of a white colour, with
violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus, a beautiful mackerel of
these seas, with a blue body and silvery head; the brilliant azurors,
whose name alone defies description; some banded spares, with variegated
fins of blue and yellow; the woodcocks of the seas, some specimens of
which attain a yard in length; Japanese salamanders, spider lampreys,
serpents six feet long, with eyes small and lively, and a huge mouth
bristling with teeth; with many other species.
Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
on each other. Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them. I was in
ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their
forms. Never had it been given to me to surprise these animals, alive and
at liberty, in their natural element. I will not mention all the varieties
which passed before my dazzled eyes, all the collection of the seas of
China and Japan. These fish, more numerous than the birds of the air,
came, attracted, no doubt, by the brilliant focus of the electric light.
Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed
again, and the enchanting vision disappeared. But for a long time I dreamt
on, till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the partition. The
compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the manometer indicated a
pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a depth of twenty five
fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of fifteen miles an hour. I
expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear. The clock marked the hour of
five.
Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my
chamber. My dinner was ready. It was composed of turtle soup made of the
most delicate hawks bills, of a surmullet served with puff paste (the
liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and fillets of
the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me superior even to
salmon.
I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking. Then sleep
overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch of zostera, and slept
profoundly, whilst the Nautilus was gliding rapidly through the current of
the Black River.
The next day was the 9th of November. I awoke after a long sleep of
twelve hours. Conseil came, according to custom, to know "how I passed the
night," and to offer his services. He had left his friend the Canadian
sleeping like a man who had never done anything else all his life. I let
the worthy fellow chatter as he pleased, without caring to answer him. I
was preoccupied by the absence of the Captain during our sitting of the
day before, and hoping to see him to-day.
As soon as I was dressed I went into the saloon. It was deserted. I
plunged into the study of the shell treasures hidden behind the glasses.
The whole day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain
Nemo. The panels of the saloon did not open. Perhaps they did not wish us
to tire of these beautiful things.
The course of the Nautilus was E.N.E., her speed twelve knots, the
depth below the surface between twenty-five and thirty fathoms.
The next day, 10th of November, the same desertion, the same solitude.
I did not see one of the ship's crew: Ned and Conseil spent the greater
part of the day with me. They were astonished at the puzzling absence of
the Captain. Was this singular man ill?-had he altered his intentions with
regard to us?
After all, as Conseil said, we enjoyed perfect liberty, we were
delicately and abundantly fed. Our host kept to his terms of the treaty.
We could not complain, and, indeed, the singularity of our fate reserved
such wonderful compensation for us that we had no right to accuse it as
yet.
That day I commenced the journal of these adventures which has enabled
me to relate them with more scrupulous exactitude and minute detail.
11th November, early in the morning. The fresh air spreading over the
interior of the Nautilus told me that we had come to the surface of the
ocean to renew our supply of oxygen. I directed my steps to the central
staircase, and mounted the platform.
It was six o'clock, the weather was cloudy, the sea grey, but calm.
Scarcely a billow. Captain Nemo, whom I hoped to meet, would he be there?
I saw no one but the steersman imprisoned in his glass cage. Seated upon
the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled the salt
breeze with delight.
By degrees the fog disappeared under the action of the sun's rays, the
radiant orb rose from behind the eastern horizon. The sea flamed under its
glance like a train of gunpowder. The clouds scattered in the heights were
coloured with lively tints of beautiful shades, and numerous "mare's
tails," which betokened wind for that day. But what was wind to this
Nautilus, which tempests could not frighten!
I was admiring this joyous rising of the sun, so gay, and so
life-giving, when I heard steps approaching the platform. I was prepared
to salute Captain Nemo, but it was his second (whom I had already seen on
the Captain's first visit) who appeared. He advanced on the platform, not
seeming to see me. With his powerful glass to his eye, he scanned every
point of the horizon with great attention. This examination over, he
approached the panel and pronounced a sentence in exactly these terms. I
have remembered it, for every morning it was repeated under exactly the
same conditions. It was thus worded:
"Nautron respoc lorni virch."
What it meant I could not say.
These words pronounced, the second descended. I thought that the
Nautilus was about to return to its submarine navigation. I regained the
panel and returned to my chamber.
Five days sped thus, without any change in our situation. Every morning
I mounted the platform. The same phrase was pronounced by the same
individual. But Captain Nemo did not appear.
I had made up my mind that I should never see him again, when, on the
16th November, on returning to my room with Ned and Conseil, I found upon
my table a note addressed to me. I opened it impatiently. It was written
in a bold, clear hand, the characters rather pointed, recalling the German
type. The note was worded as follows:
TO PROFESSOR ARONNAX, On board the Nautilus. 16th of November, 1867.
Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax to a hunting-party, which will
take place to-morrow morning in the forests of the Island of Crespo. He
hopes that nothing will prevent the Professor from being present, and he
will with pleasure see him joined by his companions.
CAPTAIN NEMO, Commander of the Nautilus.
"A hunt!" exclaimed Ned.
"And in the forests of the Island of Crespo!" added Conseil.
"Oh! then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.
"That seems to me to be clearly indicated," said I, reading the letter
once more.
"Well, we must accept," said the Canadian. "But once more on dry
ground, we shall know what to do. Indeed, I shall not be sorry to eat a
piece of fresh venison."
Without seeking to reconcile what was contradictory between Captain
Nemo's manifest aversion to islands and continents, and his invitation to
hunt in a forest, I contented myself with replying:
"Let us first see where the Island of Crespo is."
I consulted the planisphere, and in 32O 40' N. lat. and 157O 50' W.
long., I found a small island, recognised in 1801 by Captain Crespo, and
marked in the ancient Spanish maps as Rocca de la Plata, the meaning of
which is The Silver Rock. We were then about eighteen hundred miles from
our starting-point, and the course of the Nautilus, a little changed, was
bringing it back towards the southeast.
I showed this little rock, lost in the midst of the North Pacific, to
my companions.
"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go on dry ground," said I, "he at least
chooses desert islands."
Ned Land shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and Conseil and he
left me.
After supper, which was served by the steward, mute and impassive, I
went to bed, not without some anxiety.
The next morning, the 17th of November, on awakening, I felt that the
Nautilus was perfectly still. I dressed quickly and entered the saloon.
Captain Nemo was there, waiting for me. He rose, bowed, and asked me if
it was convenient for me to accompany him. As he made no allusion to his
absence during the last eight days, I did not mention it, and simply
answered that my companions and myself were ready to follow him.
We entered the dining-room, where breakfast was served.
"M. Aronnax," said the Captain, "pray, share my breakfast without
ceremony; we will chat as we eat. For, though I promised you a walk in the
forest, I did not undertake to find hotels there. So breakfast as a man
who will most likely not have his dinner till very late."
I did honour to the repast. It was composed of several kinds of fish,
and slices of sea-cucumber, and different sorts of seaweed. Our drink
consisted of pure water, to which the Captain added some drops of a
fermented liquor, extracted by the Kamschatcha method from a seaweed known
under the name of Rhodomenia palmata. Captain Nemo ate at first without
saying a word. Then he began:
"Sir, when I proposed to you to hunt in my submarine forest of Crespo,
you evidently thought me mad. Sir, you should never judge lightly of any
man."
"But Captain, believe me-"
"Be kind enough to listen, and you will then see whether you have any
cause to accuse me of folly and contradiction."
"I listen."
"You know as well as I do, Professor, that man can live under water,
providing he carries with him a sufficient supply of breathable air. In
submarine works, the workman, clad in an impervious dress, with his head
in a metal helmet, receives air from above by means of forcing pumps and
regulators."
"That is a diving apparatus," said I.
"Just so, but under these conditions the man is not at liberty; he is
attached to the pump which sends him air through an india-rubber tube, and
if we were obliged to be thus held to the Nautilus, we could not go far."
"And the means of getting free?" I asked.
"It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your own
countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use, and which
will allow you to risk yourself under these new physiological conditions
without any organ whatever suffering. It consists of a reservoir of thick
iron plates, in which I store the air under a pressure of fifty
atmospheres. This reservoir is fixed on the back by means of braces, like
a soldier's knapsack. Its upper part forms a box in which the air is kept
by means of a bellows, and therefore cannot escape unless at its normal
tension. In the Rouquayrol apparatus such as we use, two india rubber
pipes leave this box and join a sort of tent which holds the nose and
mouth; one is to introduce fresh air, the other to let out the foul, and
the tongue closes one or the other according to the wants of the
respirator. But I, in encountering great pressures at the bottom of the
sea, was obliged to shut my head, like that of a diver in a ball of
copper; and it is to this ball of copper that the two pipes, the
inspirator and the expirator, open."
"Perfectly, Captain Nemo; but the air that you carry with you must soon
be used; when it only contains fifteen per cent. of oxygen it is no longer
fit to breathe."
"Right! But I told you, M. Aronnax, that the pumps of the Nautilus
allow me to store the air under considerable pressure, and on those
conditions the reservoir of the apparatus can furnish breathable air for
nine or ten hours."
"I have no further objections to make," I answered. "I will only ask
you one thing, Captain-how can you light your road at the bottom of the
sea?"
"With the Ruhmkorff apparatus, M. Aronnax; one is carried on the back,
the other is fastened to the waist. It is composed of a Bunsen pile, which
I do not work with bichromate of potash, but with sodium. A wire is
introduced which collects the electricity produced, and directs it towards
a particularly made lantern. In this lantern is a spiral glass which
contains a small quantity of carbonic gas. When the apparatus is at work
this gas becomes luminous, giving out a white and continuous light. Thus
provided, I can breathe and I can see."
"Captain Nemo, to all my objections you make such crushing answers that
I dare no longer doubt. But, if I am forced to admit the Rouquayrol and
Ruhmkorff apparatus, I must be allowed some reservations with regard to
the gun I am to carry."
"But it is not a gun for powder," answered the Captain.
"Then it is an air-gun."
"Doubtless! How would you have me manufacture gun powder on board,
without either saltpetre, sulphur, or charcoal?"
"Besides," I added, "to fire under water in a medium eight hundred and
fifty-five times denser than the air, we must conquer very considerable
resistance."
"That would be no difficulty. There exist guns, according to Fulton,
perfected in England by Philip Coles and Burley, in France by Furcy, and
in Italy by Landi, which are furnished with a peculiar system of closing,
which can fire under these conditions. But I repeat, having no powder, I
use air under great pressure, which the pumps of the Nautilus furnish
abundantly."
"But this air must be rapidly used?"
"Well, have I not my Rouquayrol reservoir, which can furnish it at
need? A tap is all that is required. Besides M. Aronnax, you must see
yourself that, during our submarine hunt, we can spend but little air and
but few balls."
"But it seems to me that in this twilight, and in the midst of this
fluid, which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could not
go far, nor easily prove mortal."
"Sir, on the contrary, with this gun every blow is mortal; and, however
lightly the animal is touched, it falls as if struck by a thunderbolt."
"Why?"
"Because the balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little
cases of glass. These glass cases are covered with a case of steel, and
weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles, into which
the electricity is forced to a very high tension. With the slightest shock
they are discharged, and the animal, however strong it may be, falls dead.
I must tell you that these cases are size number four, and that the charge
for an ordinary gun would be ten."
"I will argue no longer," I replied, rising from the table. "I have
nothing left me but to take my gun. At all events, I will go where you
go."
Captain Nemo then led me aft; and in passing before Ned's and Conseil's
cabin, I called my two companions, who followed promptly. We then came to
a cell near the machinery-room, in which we put on our walking-dress.
This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the
Nautilus. A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting our
use.
Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress himself in
one.
"But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
but submarine forests."
"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner, who saw his dreams of fresh
meat fade away. "And you, M. Aronnax, are you going to dress yourself in
those clothes?"
"There is no alternative, Master Ned."
"As you please, sir," replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
"but, as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one."
"No one will force you, Master Ned," said Captain Nemo.
"Is Conseil going to risk it?" asked Ned.
"I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.
At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came to help us dress in
these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam, and
constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure. One would have
thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting. This suit formed
trousers and waistcoat. The trousers were finished off with thick boots,
weighted with heavy leaden soles. The texture of the waistcoat was held
together by bands of copper, which crossed the chest, protecting it from
the great pressure of the water, and leaving the lungs free to act; the
sleeves ended in gloves, which in no way restrained the movement of the
hands. There was a vast difference noticeable between these consummate
apparatuses and the old cork breastplates, jackets, and other contrivances
in vogue during the eighteenth century.
Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules, who must
have possessed great strength), Conseil and myself were soon enveloped in
the dresses. There remained nothing more to be done but to enclose our
heads in the metal box. But, before proceeding to this operation, I asked
the Captain's permission to examine the guns.
One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which,
made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large. It served as a
reservoir for compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring, allowed
to escape into a metal tube. A box of projectiles in a groove in the
thickness of the butt end contained about twenty of these electric balls,
which, by means of a spring, were forced into the barrel of the gun. As
soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
"Captain Nemo," said I, "this arm is perfect, and easily handled: I
only ask to be allowed to try it. But how shall we gain the bottom of the
sea?"
"At this moment, Professor, the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
and we have nothing to do but to start."
"But how shall we get off?"
"You shall see."
Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the
same, not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian. The
upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which was
screwed the metal helmet. Three holes, protected by thick glass, allowed
us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head in the interior of
the head-dress. As soon as it was in position, the Rouquayrol apparatus on
our backs began to act; and, for my part, I could breathe with ease.
With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand, I
was ready to set out. But to speak the truth, imprisoned in these heavy
garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles, it was impossible for
me to take a step.
But this state of things was provided for. I felt myself being pushed
into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe room. My companions
followed, towed along in the same way. I heard a water-tight door,
furnished with stopper plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in
profound darkness.
After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard. I felt the cold mount
from my feet to my chest. Evidently from some part of the vessel they had,
by means of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading us, and
with which the room was soon filled. A second door cut in the side of the
Nautilus then opened. We saw a faint light. In another instant our feet
trod the bottom of the sea.
And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
under the waters? Words are impotent to relate such wonders! Captain Nemo
walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind. Conseil and I
remained near each other, as if an exchange of words had been possible
through our metallic cases. I no longer felt the weight of my clothing, or
of my shoes, of my reservoir of air, or my thick helmet, in the midst of
which my head rattled like an almond in its shell.
The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the
ocean, astonished me by its power. The solar rays shone through the watery
mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly distinguished
objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards. Beyond that the tints
darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine, and faded into vague
obscurity. Truly this water which surrounded me was but another air denser
than the terrestrial atmosphere, but almost as transparent. Above me was
the calm surface of the sea. We were walking on fine, even sand, not
wrinkled, as on a flat shore, which retains the impression of the billows.
This dazzling carpet, really a reflector, repelled the rays of the sun
with wonderful intensity, which accounted for the vibration which
penetrated every atom of liquid. Shall I be believed when I say that, at
the depth of thirty feet, I could see as if I was in broad daylight?
For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
dust of shells. The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake us
in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible. I
recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the
most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect of
this medium.
It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their light,
decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks, plants,
shells, and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours. It
was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints,
a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue;
in one word, the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist! Why could I
not communicate to Conseil the lively sensations which were mounting to my
brain, and rival him in expressions of admiration? For aught I knew,
Captain Nemo and his companion might be able to exchange thoughts by means
of signs previously agreed upon. So, for want of better, I talked to
myself; I declaimed in the copper box which covered my head, thereby
expending more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi, and
anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom. It was
a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens of
molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammerheads, donaciae
(veritable bounding shells), of staircases, and red helmet-shells,
angel-wings, and many others produced by this inexhaustible ocean. But we
were bound to walk, so we went on, whilst above our heads waved medusae
whose umbrellas of opal or rose-pink, escalloped with a band of blue,
sheltered us from the rays of the sun and fiery pelagiae, which, in the
darkness, would have strewn our path with phosphorescent light.
All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely
stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs. Soon
the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an extent of
slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze," composed of equal parts of
silicious and calcareous shells. We then travelled over a plain of seaweed
of wild and luxuriant vegetation. This sward was of close texture, and
soft to the feet, and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of
man. But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not abandon our
heads. A light network of marine plants, of that inexhaustible family of
seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known, grew on the
surface of the water.
I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea, whilst
the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black or brown the care of
forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half. It was near noon;
I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays, which were no longer
refracted. The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the shades of
emerald and sapphire were effaced. We walked with a regular step, which
rang upon the ground with astonishing intensity; the slightest noise was
transmitted with a quickness to which the ear is unaccustomed on the
earth; indeed, water is a better conductor of sound than air, in the ratio
of four to one. At this period the earth sloped downwards; the light took
a uniform tint. We were at a depth of a hundred and five yards and twenty
inches, undergoing a pressure of six atmospheres.
At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to
their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
state between day and night; but we could still see well enough; it was
not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet. At this moment
Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him, and then pointed to an
obscure mass, looming in the shadow, at a short distance.
"It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I; and I was not
mistaken.
We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of
the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains. He looked upon it as his
own, and considered he had the same right over it that the first men had
in the first days of the world. And, indeed, who would have disputed with
him the possession of this submarine property? What other hardier pioneer
would come, hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark copses?
This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we
penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular position
of their branches-a position I had not yet observed.
Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the
trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally; all
stretched up to the surface of the ocean. Not a filament, not a ribbon,
however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron. The
fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to the density of
the element which had produced them. Motionless yet, when bent to one side
by the hand, they directly resumed their former position. Truly it was the
region of perpendicularity!
I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the
comparative darkness which surrounded us. The soil of the forest seemed
covered with sharp blocks, difficult to avoid. The submarine flora struck
me as being very perfect, and richer even than it would have been in the
arctic or tropical zones, where these productions are not so plentiful.
But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the genera, taking animals
for plants; and who would not have been mistaken? The fauna and the flora
are too closely allied in this submarine world.
These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their existence
is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them. The greater number,
instead of leaves, shoot forth blades of capricious shapes, comprised
within a scale of colours pink, carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown.
"Curious anomaly, fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist, "in
which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!"
In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt; I, for my part,
was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae, the
long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.
This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing wanting but
the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak, impossible to answer,
I only put my great copper head to Conseil's. I saw the worthy fellow's
eyes glistening with delight, and, to show his satisfaction, he shook
himself in his breastplate of air, in the most comical way in the world.
After four hours of this walking, I was surprised not to find myself
dreadfully hungry. How to account for this state of the stomach I could
not tell. But instead I felt an insurmountable desire to sleep, which
happens to all divers. And my eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses,
and I fell into a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had prevented
before. Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in the clear
crystal, set us the example.
How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge, but, when
I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon. Captain Nemo had
already risen, and I was beginning to stretch my limbs, when an unexpected
apparition brought me briskly to my feet.
A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches
high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me. Though
my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite of this
animal, I could not help shuddering with horror. Conseil and the sailor of
the Nautilus awoke at this moment. Captain Nemo pointed out the hideous
crustacean, which a blow from the butt end of the gun knocked over, and I
saw the horrible claws of the monster writhe in terrible convulsions. This
incident reminded me that other animals more to be feared might haunt
these obscure depths, against whose attacks my diving-dress would not
protect me. I had never thought of it before, but I now resolved to be
upon my guard. Indeed, I thought that this halt would mark the termination
of our walk; but I was mistaken, for, instead of returning to the
Nautilus, Captain Nemo continued his bold excursion. The ground was still
on the incline, its declivity seemed to be getting greater, and to be
leading us to greater depths. It must have been about three o'clock when
we reached a narrow valley, between high perpendicular walls, situated
about seventy-five fathoms deep. Thanks to the perfection of our
apparatus, we were forty-five fathoms below the limit which nature seems
to have imposed on man as to his submarine excursions.
I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to
judge the distance. But I knew that even in the clearest waters the solar
rays could not penetrate further. And accordingly the darkness deepened.
At ten paces not an object was visible. I was groping my way, when I
suddenly saw a brilliant white light. Captain Nemo had just put his
electric apparatus into use; his companion did the same, and Conseil and I
followed their example. By turning a screw I established a communication
between the wire and the spiral glass, and the sea, lit by our four
lanterns, was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.
As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus could not
fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch. But if they did approach
us, they at least kept at a respectful distance from the hunters. Several
times I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his shoulder, and after some
moments drop it and walk on. At last, after about four hours, this
marvellous excursion came to an end. A wall of superb rocks, in an
imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of gigantic blocks, an enormous,
steep granite shore, forming dark grottos, but which presented no
practicable slope; it was the prop of the Island of Crespo. It was the
earth! Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. A gesture of his brought us all to a
halt; and, however desirous I might be to scale the wall, I was obliged to
stop. Here ended Captain Nemo's domains. And he would not go beyond them.
Further on was a portion of the globe he might not trample upon.
The return began. Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little
band, directing their course without hesitation. I thought we were not
following the same road to return to the Nautilus. The new road was very
steep, and consequently very painful. We approached the surface of the sea
rapidly. But this return to the upper strata was not so sudden as to cause
relief from the pressure too rapidly, which might have produced serious
disorder in our organisation, and brought on internal lesions, so fatal to
divers. Very soon light reappeared and grew, and, the sun being low on the
horizon, the refraction edged the different objects with a spectral ring.
At ten yards and a half deep, we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes of
all kinds, more numerous than the birds of the air, and also more agile;
but no aquatic game worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze, when at that
moment I saw the Captain shoulder his gun quickly, and follow a moving
object into the shrubs. He fired; I heard a slight hissing, and a creature
fell stunned at some distance from us. It was a magnificent sea-otter, an
enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped. This otter was five feet
long, and must have been very valuable. Its skin, chestnut-brown above and
silvery underneath, would have made one of those beautiful furs so sought
after in the Russian and Chinese markets: the fineness and the lustre of
its coat would certainly fetch L80. I admired this curious mammal, with
its rounded head ornamented with short ears, its round eyes, and white
whiskers like those of a cat, with webbed feet and nails, and tufted tail.
This precious animal, hunted and tracked by fishermen, has now become very
rare, and taken refuge chiefly in the northern parts of the Pacific, or
probably its race would soon become extinct.
Captain Nemo's companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder,
and we continued our journey. For one hour a plain of sand lay stretched
before us. Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some inches of the
surface of the water. I then saw our image clearly reflected, drawn
inversely, and above us appeared an identical group reflecting our
movements and our actions; in a word, like us in every point, except that
they walked with their heads downward and their feet in the air.
Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which
formed and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these
seeming clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the
bottom, and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops
multiplied on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above our
heads, whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.
On this occasion I was witness to one of the finest gun shots which
ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill. A large bird of great breadth of
wing, clearly visible, approached, hovering over us. Captain Nemo's
companion shouldered his gun and fired, when it was only a few yards above
the waves. The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall brought it
within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp. It was an albatross of the
finest kind.
Our march had not been interrupted by this incident. For two hours we
followed these sandy plains, then fields of algae very disagreeable to
cross. Candidly, I could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light, which,
for a half mile, broke the darkness of the waters. It was the lantern of
the Nautilus. Before twenty minutes were over we should be on board, and I
should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed that my reservoir
supplied air very deficient in oxygen. But I did not reckon on an
accidental meeting which delayed our arrival for some time.
I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain Nemo
coming hurriedly towards me. With his strong hand he bent me to the
ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil. At first I knew not what
to think of this sudden attack, but I was soon reassured by seeing the
Captain lie down beside me, and remain immovable.
I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush of
algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass, casting
phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable sharks which
threatened us. It was a couple of tintoreas, terrible creatures, with
enormous tails and a dull glassy stare, the phosphorescent matter ejected
from holes pierced around the muzzle. Monstrous brutes! which would crush
a whole man in their iron jaws. I did not know whether Conseil stopped to
classify them; for my part, I noticed their silver bellies, and their huge
mouths bristling with teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and
more as a possible victim than as a naturalist.
Happily the voracious creatures do not see well. They passed without
seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a
miracle from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in
the forest. Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we reached
the Nautilus. The outside door had been left open, and Captain Nemo closed
it as soon as we had entered the first cell. He then pressed a knob. I
heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel, I felt the water
sinking from around me, and in a few moments the cell was entirely empty.
The inside door then opened, and we entered the vestry.
There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and,
fairly worn out from want of food and sleep, I returned to my room, in
great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.
The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my
fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform, just as the
second lieutenant was uttering his daily phrase.
I was admiring the magnificent aspect of the ocean when Captain Nemo
appeared. He did not seem to be aware of my presence, and began a series
of astronomical observations. Then, when he had finished, he went and
leant on the cage of the watch-light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean.
In the meantime, a number of the sailors of the Nautilus, all strong and
healthy men, had come up onto the platform. They came to draw up the nets
that had been laid all night. These sailors were evidently of different
nations, although the European type was visible in all of them. I
recognised some unmistakable Irishmen, Frenchmen, some Sclaves, and a
Greek, or a Candiote. They were civil, and only used that odd language
among themselves, the origin of which I could not guess, neither could I
question them.
The nets were hauled in. They were a large kind of "chaluts," like
those on the Normandy coasts, great pockets that the waves and a chain
fixed in the smaller meshes kept open. These pockets, drawn by iron poles,
swept through the water, and gathered in everything in their way. That day
they brought up curious specimens from those productive coasts.
I reckoned that the haul had brought in more than nine hundredweight of
fish. It was a fine haul, but not to be wondered at. Indeed, the nets are
let down for several hours, and enclose in their meshes an infinite