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.
We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea. The first
ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a deep
impression on my mind. Thus, in the midst of this great sea, Captain
Nemo's life was passing, even to his grave, which he had prepared in one
of its deepest abysses. There, not one of the ocean's monsters could
trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus, of those friends
riveted to each other in death as in life. "Nor any man, either," had
added the Captain. Still the same fierce, implacable defiance towards
human society!
I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied
Conseil.
That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of the Nautilus
one of those unknown servants who return mankind contempt for
indifference. For him, he was a misunderstood genius who, tired of earth's
deceptions, had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium, where he might
follow his instincts freely. To my mind, this explains but one side of
Captain Nemo's character. Indeed, the mystery of that last night during
which we had been chained in prison, the sleep, and the precaution so
violently taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I had
raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the man, due to an
unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a new track. No;
Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man. His formidable apparatus
not only suited his instinct of freedom, but perhaps also the design of
some terrible retaliation.
At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse of light
amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself to writing as events
shall dictate.
That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came
to take the altitude of the sun. I mounted the platform, lit a cigar, and
watched the operation. It seemed to me that the man did not understand
French; for several times I made remarks in a loud voice, which must have
drawn from him some involuntary sign of attention, if he had understood
them; but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the sailors of
the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first submarine
excursion to the Island of Crespo) came to clean the glasses of the
lantern. I examined the fittings of the apparatus, the strength of which
was increased a hundredfold by lenticular rings, placed similar to those
in a lighthouse, and which projected their brilliance in a horizontal
plane. The electric lamp was combined in such a way as to give its most
powerful light. Indeed, it was produced in vacuo, which insured both its
steadiness and its intensity. This vacuum economised the graphite points
between which the luminous arc was developed-an important point of economy
for Captain Nemo, who could not easily have replaced them; and under these
conditions their waste was imperceptible. When the Nautilus was ready to
continue its submarine journey, I went down to the saloon. The panel was
closed, and the course marked direct west.
We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy. The
Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep. We went
on so for some days. To anyone but myself, who had a great love for the
sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous; but the daily walks
on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving air of the ocean,
the sight of the rich waters through the windows of the saloon, the books
in the library, the compiling of my memoirs, took up all my time, and left
me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or
gulls. Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made very
acceptable water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long distance
from all lands and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their
flight, I saw some magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant cries like
the braying of an ass, and birds belonging to the family of the
long-wings.
As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels. I saw many
kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
{3 paragraphs are missing}
From the 21st to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went at the rate of
two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours, being five hundred and
forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour. If we recognised so many
different varieties of fish, it was because, attracted by the electric
light, they tried to follow us; the greater part, however, were soon
distanced by our speed, though some kept their place in the waters of the
Nautilus for a time. The morning of the 24th, in 12O 5' S. lat., and 94O
33' long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral formation, planted with
magnificent cocos, and which had been visited by Mr. Darwin and Captain
Fitzroy. The Nautilus skirted the shores of this desert island for a
little distance. Its nets brought up numerous specimens of polypi and
curious shells of mollusca. {one sentence stripped here}
Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was
directed to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often
taking us into great depths. Several times they made use of the inclined
planes, which certain internal levers placed obliquely to the waterline.
In that way we went about two miles, but without ever obtaining the
greatest depths of the Indian Sea, which soundings of seven thousand
fathoms have never reached. As to the temperature of the lower strata, the
thermometer invariably indicated 4O above zero. I only observed that in
the upper regions the water was always colder in the high levels than at
the surface of the sea.
On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus
passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful screw
and making them rebound to a great height. Who under such circumstances
would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean? Three parts of this day I
spent on the platform. I watched the sea. Nothing on the horizon, till
about four o'clock a steamer running west on our counter. Her masts were
visible for an instant, but she could not see the Nautilus, being too low
in the water. I fancied this steamboat belonged to the P.O. Company, which
runs from Ceylon to Sydney, touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.
At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight which
binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by a
curious spectacle.
It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the
ocean. We could count several hundreds. They belonged to the tubercle kind
which are peculiar to the Indian seas.
These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their locomotive
tube, through which they propelled the water already drawn in. Of their
eight tentacles, six were elongated, and stretched out floating on the
water, whilst the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the wing like
a light sail. I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells, which Cuvier
justly compares to an elegant skiff. A boat indeed! It bears the creature
which secretes it without its adhering to it.
For nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of this shoal of
molluscs. Then I know not what sudden fright they took. But as if at a
signal every sail was furled, the arms folded, the body drawn in, the
shells turned over, changing their centre of gravity, and the whole fleet
disappeared under the waves. Never did the ships of a squadron manoeuvre
with more unity.
At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised by
the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus.
The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the eighty-second
meridian and entered the northern hemisphere. During the day a formidable
troop of sharks accompanied us, terrible creatures, which multiply in
these seas and make them very dangerous. They were "cestracio philippi"
sharks, with brown backs and whitish bellies, armed with eleven rows of
teeth- eyed sharks-their throat being marked with a large black spot
surrounded with white like an eye. There were also some Isabella sharks,
with rounded snouts marked with dark spots. These powerful creatures often
hurled themselves at the windows of the saloon with such violence as to
make us feel very insecure. At such times Ned Land was no longer master of
himself. He wanted to go to the surface and harpoon the monsters,
particularly certain smooth-hound sharks, whose mouth is studded with
teeth like a mosaic; and large tiger-sharks nearly six yards long, the
last named of which seemed to excite him more particularly. But the
Nautilus, accelerating her speed, easily left the most rapid of them
behind.
The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal, we met
repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on the surface of
the water. They were the dead of the Indian villages, carried by the
Ganges to the level of the sea, and which the vultures, the only
undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour. But the sharks
did not fail to help them at their funeral work.
About seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus, half-immersed, was
sailing in a sea of milk. At first sight the ocean seemed lactified. Was
it the effect of the lunar rays? No; for the moon, scarcely two days old,
was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the sun. The whole
sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by contrast with the
whiteness of the waters.
Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause
of this strange phenomenon. Happily I was able to answer him.
"It is called a milk sea," I explained. "A large extent of white
wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna, and in these parts of
the sea."
"But, sir," said Conseil, "can you tell me what causes such an effect?
for I suppose the water is not really turned into milk."
"No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by
the presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm,
gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair, and whose
length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch. These insects adhere
to one another sometimes for several leagues."
"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil.
"Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these
infusoria. You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have
floated on these milk seas for more than forty miles."
Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind
us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected the whitened
waves, and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague glimmerings
of an aurora borealis.
On the 28th of February, when at noon the Nautilus came to the surface
of the sea, in 9O 4' N. lat., there was land in sight about eight miles to
westward. The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains about two
thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious. On taking
the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of Ceylon, the pearl
which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.
Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment. The Captain
glanced at the map. Then turning to me, said:
"The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you like to
visit one of them, M. Aronnax?"
"Certainly, Captain."
"Well, the thing is easy. Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall not
see the fishermen. The annual exportation has not yet begun. Never mind, I
will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar, where we shall arrive in
the night."
The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out.
Soon the Nautilus returned to her native element, and the manometer showed
that she was about thirty feet deep.
"Well, sir," said Captain Nemo, "you and your companions shall visit
the Bank of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there, we
shall see him at work."
"Agreed, Captain!"
"By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?"
"Sharks!" exclaimed I.
This question seemed a very hard one.
"Well?" continued Captain Nemo.
"I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of
fish."
"We are accustomed to them," replied Captain Nemo, "and in time you
will be too. However, we shall be armed, and on the road we may be able to
hunt some of the tribe. It is interesting. So, till to-morrow, sir, and
early."
This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon. Now, if you
were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland, what would
you say?
"Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear." If you were asked
to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas, or the tiger in the Indian
jungles, what would you say?
"Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!" But when
you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element, you would
perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation. As for myself, I passed
my hand over my forehead, on which stood large drops of cold perspiration.
"Let us reflect," said I, "and take our time. Hunting otters in submarine
forests, as we did in the Island of Crespo, will pass; but going up and
down at the bottom of the sea, where one is almost certain to meet sharks,
is quite another thing! I know well that in certain countries,
particularly in the Andaman Islands, the negroes never hesitate to attack
them with a dagger in one hand and a running noose in the other; but I
also know that few who affront those creatures ever return alive. However,
I am not a negro, and if I were I think a little hesitation in this case
would not be ill-timed."
At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed, and
even joyous. They knew not what awaited them.
"Faith, sir," said Ned Land, "your Captain Nemo-the devil take him!-
has just made us a very pleasant offer."
"Ah!" said I, "you know?"
"If agreeable to you, sir," interrupted Conseil, "the commander of the
Nautilus has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon fisheries
to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly, and behaved like a real
gentleman."
"He said nothing more?"
"Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you of this
little walk."
"Sir," said Conseil, "would you give us some details of the pearl
fishery?"
"As to the fishing itself," I asked, "or the incidents, which?"
"On the fishing," replied the Canadian; "before entering upon the
ground, it is as well to know something about it."
"Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you."
Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing
the Canadian asked was:
"Sir, what is a pearl?"
"My worthy Ned," I answered, "to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the
sea; to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies, it
is a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl
substance, which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their ears;
for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a
little gelatine; and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply a morbid
secretion of the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl amongst certain
bivalves."
"Branch of molluscs," said Conseil.
"Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea the
earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those which secrete
mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet, or white substance
which lines the interior of their shells, are capable of producing
pearls."
"Mussels too?" asked the Canadian.
"Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Saxony,
Bohemia, and France."
"Good! For the future I shall pay attention," replied the Canadian.
"But," I continued, "the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl is
the pearl-oyster. The pearl is nothing but a formation deposited in a
globular form, either adhering to the oyster-shell or buried in the folds
of the creature. On the shell it is fast: in the flesh it is loose; but
always has for a kernel a small hard substance, maybe a barren egg, maybe
a grain of sand, around which the pearly matter deposits itself year after
year successively, and by thin concentric layers." {this paragraph is
edited}
"Are many pearls found in the same oyster?" asked Conseil.
"Yes, my boy. Some are a perfect casket. One oyster has been mentioned,
though I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no less than a
hundred and fifty sharks."
"A hundred and fifty sharks!" exclaimed Ned Land.
"Did I say sharks?" said I hurriedly. "I meant to say a hundred and
fifty pearls. Sharks would not be sense."
"Certainly not," said Conseil; "but will you tell us now by what means
they extract these pearls?"
"They proceed in various ways. When they adhere to the shell, the
fishermen often pull them off with pincers; but the most common way is to
lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers the banks. Thus they
die in the open air; and at the end of ten days they are in a forward
state of decomposition. They are then plunged into large reservoirs of
sea-water; then they are opened and washed."
"The price of these pearls varies according to their size?" asked
Conseil.
"Not only according to their size," I answered, "but also according to
their shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre: that
is, that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming to the
eye. The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons. They are
formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc, are white, often opaque, and
sometimes have the transparency of an opal; they are generally round or
oval. The round are made into bracelets, the oval into pendants, and,
being more precious, are sold singly. Those adhering to the shell of the
oyster are more irregular in shape, and are sold by weight. Lastly, in a
lower order are classed those small pearls known under the name of
seed-pearls; they are sold by measure, and are especially used in
embroidery for church ornaments."
"But," said Conseil, "is this pearl-fishery dangerous?"
"No," I answered, quickly; "particularly if certain precautions are
taken."
"What does one risk in such a calling?" said Ned Land, "the swallowing
of some mouthfuls of sea-water?"
"As you say, Ned. By the bye," said I, trying to take Captain Nemo's
careless tone, "are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?"
"I!" replied the Canadian; "a harpooner by profession? It is my trade
to make light of them."
"But," said I, "it is not a question of fishing for them with an
iron-swivel, hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off their tails with a
blow of a chopper, ripping them up, and throwing their heart into the
sea!"
"Then, it is a question of-"
"Precisely."
"In the water?"
"In the water."
"Faith, with a good harpoon! You know, sir, these sharks are
ill-fashioned beasts. They turn on their bellies to seize you, and in that
time-"
Ned Land had a way of saying "seize" which made my blood run cold.
"Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?"
"Me!" said Conseil. "I will be frank, sir."
"So much the better," thought I.
"If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful
servant should not face them with you."
The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by the steward whom
Captain Nemo had placed at my service. I rose hurriedly, dressed, and went
into the saloon.
Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
"M. Aronnax," said he, "are you ready to start?"
"I am ready."
"Then please to follow me."
"And my companions, Captain?"
"They have been told and are waiting."
"Are we not to put on our diver's dresses?" asked I.
"Not yet. I have not allowed the Nautilus to come too near this coast,
and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready, and
will take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us a long
way. It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when we begin
our submarine journey."
Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase, which led on the
platform. Ned and Conseil were already there, delighted at the idea of the
"pleasure party" which was preparing. Five sailors from the Nautilus, with
their oars, waited in the boat, which had been made fast against the side.
The night was still dark. Layers of clouds covered the sky, allowing
but few stars to be seen. I looked on the side where the land lay, and saw
nothing but a dark line enclosing three parts of the horizon, from
south-west to north west. The Nautilus, having returned during the night
up the western coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or rather gulf,
formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar. There, under the dark
waters, stretched the pintadine bank, an inexhaustible field of pearls,
the length of which is more than twenty miles.
Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places in the stern of
the boat. The master went to the tiller; his four companions leaned on
their oars, the painter was cast off, and we sheered off.
The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry. I noticed
that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every
ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy. Whilst
the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops struck the
dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead. A little
billow, spreading wide, gave a slight roll to the boat, and some samphire
reeds flapped before it.
We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking of? Perhaps of the land
he was approaching, and which he found too near to him, contrary to the
Canadian's opinion, who thought it too far off. As to Conseil, he was
merely there from curiosity.
About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed the upper
line of coast more distinctly. Flat enough in the east, it rose a little
to the south. Five miles still lay between us, and it was indistinct owing
to the mist on the water. At six o'clock it became suddenly daylight, with
that rapidity peculiar to tropical regions, which know neither dawn nor
twilight. The solar rays pierced the curtain of clouds, piled up on the
eastern horizon, and the radiant orb rose rapidly. I saw land distinctly,
with a few trees scattered here and there. The boat neared Manaar Island,
which was rounded to the south. Captain Nemo rose from his seat and
watched the sea.
At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran,
for it was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the
highest points of the bank of pintadines.
"Here we are, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo. "You see that enclosed
bay? Here, in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of the
exporters, and these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly.
Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing. It is
sheltered from the strongest winds; the sea is never very rough here,
which makes it favourable for the diver's work. We will now put on our
dresses, and begin our walk."
I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves, began with
the help of the sailors to put on my heavy sea-dress. Captain Nemo and my
companions were also dressing. None of the Nautilus men were to accompany
us on this new excursion.
Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing; the air
apparatus fixed to our backs by braces. As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus,
there was no necessity for it. Before putting my head into the copper cap,
I had asked the question of the Captain.
"They would be useless," he replied. "We are going to no great depth,
and the solar rays will be enough to light our walk. Besides, it would not
be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters; its brilliancy
might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast most
inopportunely."
As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned
Land. But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap,
and they could neither hear nor answer.
One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
"And our arms?" asked I; "our guns?"
"Guns! What for? Do not mountaineers attack the bear with a dagger in
their hand, and is not steel surer than lead? Here is a strong blade; put
it in your belt, and we start."
I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than
that, Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed in
the boat before leaving the Nautilus.
Then, following the Captain's example, I allowed myself to be dressed
in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air were at once in
activity. An instant after we were landed, one after the other, in about
two yards of water upon an even sand. Captain Nemo made a sign with his
hand, and we followed him by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under
the waves.
{3 paragraphs missing}
At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the
oyster-banks on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters; and
I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for Nature's
creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction. Ned Land,
faithful to his instinct, hastened to fill a net which he carried by his
side with some of the finest specimens. But we could not stop. We must
follow the Captain, who seemed to guide him self by paths known only to
himself. The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes, on holding up my
arm, it was above the surface of the sea. Then the level of the bank would
sink capriciously. Often we rounded high rocks scarped into pyramids. In
their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched upon their high claws like
some war-machine, watched us with fixed eyes, and under our feet crawled
various kinds of annelides.
At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a
picturesque heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the
submarine flora. At first it seemed very dark to me. The solar rays seemed
to be extinguished by successive gradations, until its vague transparency
became nothing more than drowned light. Captain Nemo entered; we followed.
My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this relative state of darkness. I
could distinguish the arches springing capriciously from natural pillars,
standing broad upon their granite base, like the heavy columns of Tuscan
architecture. Why had our incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of
this submarine crypt? I was soon to know. After descending a rather sharp
declivity, our feet trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit. There
Captain Nemo stopped, and with his hand indicated an object I had not yet
perceived. It was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a gigantic
tridacne, a goblet which could have contained a whole lake of holy-water,
a basin the breadth of which was more than two yards and a half, and
consequently larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus. I
approached this extraordinary mollusc. It adhered by its filaments to a
table of granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in the calm
waters of the grotto. I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lb.
Such an oyster would contain 30 lb. of meat; and one must have the stomach
of a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this
bivalve, and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual
state of this tridacne. The shells were a little open; the Captain came
near and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing; then with
his hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges, which formed a
cloak for the creature. There, between the folded plaits, I saw a loose
pearl, whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular shape, perfect
clearness, and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of inestimable
value. Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched out my hand to seize it,
weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain stopped me, made a sign of
refusal, and quickly withdrew his dagger, and the two shells closed
suddenly. I then understood Captain Nemo's intention. In leaving this
pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing it to grow
slowly. Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add new concentric
circles. I estimated its value at L500,000 at least.
After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. I thought he had
halted previously to returning. No; by a gesture he bade us crouch beside
him in a deep fracture of the rock, his hand pointed to one part of the
liquid mass, which I watched attentively.
About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground. The
disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken; and
once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything to do
with.
It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor devil who, I
suppose, had come to glean before the harvest. I could see the bottom of
his canoe anchored some feet above his head. He dived and went up
successively. A stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a sugar
loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat, helped him to descend more
rapidly. This was all his apparatus. Reaching the bottom, about five yards
deep, he went on his knees and filled his bag with oysters picked up at
random. Then he went up, emptied it, pulled up his stone, and began the
operation once more, which lasted thirty seconds.
The diver did not see us. The shadow of the rock hid us from sight. And
how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like himself,
should be there under the water watching his movements and losing no
detail of the fishing? Several times he went up in this way, and dived
again. He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was
obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by means of their
strong byssus. And how many of those oysters for which he risked his life
had no pearl in them! I watched him closely; his manoeuvres were regular;
and for the space of half an hour no danger appeared to threaten him.
I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting
fishing, when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make a
gesture of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface of the
sea.
I understood his dread. A gigantic shadow appeared just above the
unfortunate diver. It was a shark of enormous size advancing diagonally,
his eyes on fire, and his jaws open. I was mute with horror and unable to
move.
The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw himself on
one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its tail, for it struck his
chest and stretched him on the ground.
This scene lasted but a few seconds: the shark returned, and, turning
on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two, when I saw
Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to the
monster, ready to fight face to face with him. The very moment the shark
was going to snap the unhappy fisherman in two, he perceived his new
adversary, and, turning over, made straight towards him.
I can still see Captain Nemo's position. Holding himself well together,
he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it rushed at
him, threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoiding the
shock, and burying his dagger deep into its side. But it was not all over.
A terrible combat ensued.
The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so. The blood rushed in
torrents from its wound. The sea was dyed red, and through the opaque
liquid I could distinguish nothing more. Nothing more until the moment
when, like lightning, I saw the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of the
creature's fins, struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the monster,
and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to give a
decisive one.
The shark's struggles agitated the water with such fury that the
rocking threatened to upset me.
I wanted to go to the Captain's assistance, but, nailed to the spot
with horror, I could not stir.
I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight. The
Captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant upon
him. The shark's jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and it
would have been all over with the Captain; but, quick as thought, harpoon
in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with its sharp
point.
The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood. They rocked under the
shark's movements, which beat them with indescribable fury. Ned Land had
not missed his aim. It was the monster's death-rattle. Struck to the
heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock of which overthrew
Conseil.
But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any
wound, went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him to
his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel,
mounted to the surface.
We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle, and reached
the fisherman's boat.
Captain Nemo's first care was to recall the unfortunate man to life
again. I did not think he could succeed. I hoped so, for the poor
creature's immersion was not long; but the blow from the shark's tail
might have been his death-blow.
Happily, with the Captain's and Conseil's sharp friction, I saw
consciousness return by degrees. He opened his eyes. What was his
surprise, his terror even, at seeing four great copper heads leaning over
him! And, above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo, drawing
from the pocket of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his hand! This
munificent charity from the man of the waters to the poor Cingalese was
accepted with a trembling hand. His wondering eyes showed that he knew not
to what super-human beings he owed both fortune and life.
At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the
road already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which
held the canoe of the Nautilus to the earth.
Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid of the
heavy copper helmet.
Captain Nemo's first word was to the Canadian.
"Thank you, Master Land," said he.
"It was in revenge, Captain," replied Ned Land. "I owed you that."
A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips, and that was all.
"To the Nautilus," said he.
The boat flew over the waves. Some minutes after we met the shark's
dead body floating. By the black marking of the extremity of its fins, I
recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the species of
shark so properly called. It was more than twenty-five feet long; its
enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body. It was an adult, as was
known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles triangle in the
upper jaw.
Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw themselves
upon the dead body and fought with one another for the pieces.
At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus. There I
reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our excursion to the
Manaar Bank.
Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it-one bearing upon the
unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon his devotion to a
human being, a representative of that race from which he fled beneath the
sea. Whatever he might say, this strange man had not yet succeeded in
entirely crushing his heart.
When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved
tone:
"That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country; and I am
still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!"
In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon
disappeared under the horizon, and the Nautilus, at a speed of twenty
miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth of canals which separate the
Maldives from the Laccadives. It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a land
originally coraline, discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one of the
nineteen principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago, situated between
10O and 14O 30' N. lat., and 69O 50' 72" E. long.
We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our
starting-point in the Japanese Seas.
The next day (30th January), when the Nautilus went to the surface of
the ocean there was no land in sight. Its course was N.N.E., in the
direction of the Sea of Oman, between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula,
which serves as an outlet to the Persian Gulf. It was evidently a block
without any possible egress. Where was Captain Nemo taking us to? I could
not say. This, however, did not satisfy the Canadian, who that day came to
me asking where we were going.
"We are going where our Captain's fancy takes us, Master Ned."
"His fancy cannot take us far, then," said the Canadian. "The Persian
Gulf has no outlet: and, if we do go in, it will not be long before we are
out again."
"Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if, after
the Persian Gulf, the Nautilus would like to visit the Red Sea, the
Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance."
"I need not tell you, sir," said Ned Land, "that the Red Sea is as much
closed as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it was,
a boat as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut with
sluices. And again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back to
Europe."
"But I never said we were going back to Europe."
"What do you suppose, then?"
"I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt,
the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again, perhaps cross the
Channel of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas, so as to gain the Cape
of Good Hope."
"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?" asked the Canadian, with peculiar
emphasis.
"Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know.
Ah! friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea; you
are surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine wonders.
For my part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage which it is given
to so few men to make."
For four days, till the 3rd of February, the Nautilus scoured the Sea
of Oman, at various speeds and at various depths. It seemed to go at
random, as if hesitating as to which road it should follow, but we never
passed the Tropic of Cancer.
In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant, one of the most
important towns of the country of Oman. I admired its strange aspect,
surrounded by black rocks upon which its white houses and forts stood in
relief. I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points of its
minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces. But it was only a vision! The
Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part of the sea.
We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut, for a
distance of six miles, its undulating line of mountains being occasionally
relieved by some ancient ruin. The 5th of February we at last entered the
Gulf of Aden, a perfect funnel introduced into the neck of Bab-el-mandeb,
through which the Indian waters entered the Red Sea.
The 6th of February, the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden, perched
upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland, a kind of
inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which were rebuilt by the
English after taking possession in 1839. I caught a glimpse of the octagon
minarets of this town, which was at one time the richest commercial
magazine on the coast.
I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point, would
back out again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing, much to my
surprise.
The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits of
Bab-el-mandeb, the name of which, in the Arab tongue, means The Gate of
Tears.
To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length. And for
the Nautilus, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely the work
of an hour. But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim, with which
the British Government has fortified the position of Aden. There were too
many English or French steamers of the line of Suez to Bombay, Calcutta to
Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius, furrowing this narrow
passage, for the Nautilus to venture to show itself. So it remained
prudently below. At last about noon, we were in the waters of the Red Sea.
I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided
Captain Nemo upon entering the gulf. But I quite approved of the Nautilus
entering it. Its speed was lessened: sometimes it kept on the surface,
sometimes it dived to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able to observe the
upper and lower parts of this curious sea.
The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came in sight,
now a ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot, yet which shelters
here and there some verdant date-trees; once an important city, containing
six public markets, and twenty-six mosques, and whose walls, defended by
fourteen forts, formed a girdle of two miles in circumference.
The Nautilus then approached the African shore, where the depth of the
sea was greater. There, between two waters clear as crystal, through the
open panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful bushes of
brilliant coral and large blocks of rock clothed with a splendid fur of
green variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and algae and
fuci. What an indescribable spectacle, and what variety of sites and
landscapes along these sandbanks and volcanic islands which bound the
Libyan coast! But where these shrubs appeared in all their beauty was on
the eastern coast, which the Nautilus soon gained. It was on the coast of
Tehama, for there not only did this display of zoophytes flourish beneath
the level of the sea, but they also formed picturesque interlacings which
unfolded themselves about sixty feet above the surface, more capricious
but less highly coloured than those whose freshness was kept up by the
vital power of the waters.
What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon! What new
specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under the brightness
of our electric lantern!
The 9th of February the Nautilus floated in the broadest part of the
Red Sea, which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and
Komfidah, on the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted
the platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let him
go down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior
projects. As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me a
cigar.
"Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you? Have you sufficiently
observed the wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes, its parterres
of sponges, and its forests of coral? Did you catch a glimpse of the towns
on its borders?"
"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied; "and the Nautilus is wonderfully fitted
for such a study. Ah! it is an intelligent boat!"
"Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable. It fears neither the terrible
tempests of the Red Sea, nor its currents, nor its sandbanks."
"Certainly," said I, "this sea is quoted as one of the worst, and in
the time of the ancients, if I am not mistaken, its reputation was
"Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of the reach of
sharks."
"Yes, sir, of sharks and men," gravely replied the Captain.
We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea. The first
ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a deep
impression on my mind. Thus, in the midst of this great sea, Captain
Nemo's life was passing, even to his grave, which he had prepared in one
of its deepest abysses. There, not one of the ocean's monsters could
trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus, of those friends
riveted to each other in death as in life. "Nor any man, either," had
added the Captain. Still the same fierce, implacable defiance towards
human society!
I could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied
Conseil.
That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the Commander of the Nautilus
one of those unknown servants who return mankind contempt for
indifference. For him, he was a misunderstood genius who, tired of earth's
deceptions, had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium, where he might
follow his instincts freely. To my mind, this explains but one side of
Captain Nemo's character. Indeed, the mystery of that last night during
which we had been chained in prison, the sleep, and the precaution so
violently taken by the Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I had
raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the man, due to an
unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a new track. No;
Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man. His formidable apparatus
not only suited his instinct of freedom, but perhaps also the design of
some terrible retaliation.
At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse of light
amidst all the darkness, and I must confine myself to writing as events
shall dictate.
That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came
to take the altitude of the sun. I mounted the platform, lit a cigar, and
watched the operation. It seemed to me that the man did not understand
French; for several times I made remarks in a loud voice, which must have
drawn from him some involuntary sign of attention, if he had understood
them; but he remained undisturbed and dumb.
As he was taking observations with the sextant, one of the sailors of
the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first submarine
excursion to the Island of Crespo) came to clean the glasses of the
lantern. I examined the fittings of the apparatus, the strength of which
was increased a hundredfold by lenticular rings, placed similar to those
in a lighthouse, and which projected their brilliance in a horizontal
plane. The electric lamp was combined in such a way as to give its most
powerful light. Indeed, it was produced in vacuo, which insured both its
steadiness and its intensity. This vacuum economised the graphite points
between which the luminous arc was developed-an important point of economy
for Captain Nemo, who could not easily have replaced them; and under these
conditions their waste was imperceptible. When the Nautilus was ready to
continue its submarine journey, I went down to the saloon. The panel was
closed, and the course marked direct west.
We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain,
with a surface of 1,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear
and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy. The
Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep. We went
on so for some days. To anyone but myself, who had a great love for the
sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous; but the daily walks
on the platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving air of the ocean,
the sight of the rich waters through the windows of the saloon, the books
in the library, the compiling of my memoirs, took up all my time, and left
me not a moment of ennui or weariness.
For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or
gulls. Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made very
acceptable water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long distance
from all lands and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their
flight, I saw some magnificent albatrosses, uttering discordant cries like
the braying of an ass, and birds belonging to the family of the
long-wings.
As to the fish, they always provoked our admiration when we surprised
the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels. I saw many
kinds which I never before had a chance of observing.
{3 paragraphs are missing}
From the 21st to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went at the rate of
two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours, being five hundred and
forty miles, or twenty-two miles an hour. If we recognised so many
different varieties of fish, it was because, attracted by the electric
light, they tried to follow us; the greater part, however, were soon
distanced by our speed, though some kept their place in the waters of the
Nautilus for a time. The morning of the 24th, in 12O 5' S. lat., and 94O
33' long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral formation, planted with
magnificent cocos, and which had been visited by Mr. Darwin and Captain
Fitzroy. The Nautilus skirted the shores of this desert island for a
little distance. Its nets brought up numerous specimens of polypi and
curious shells of mollusca. {one sentence stripped here}
Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was
directed to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.
From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often
taking us into great depths. Several times they made use of the inclined
planes, which certain internal levers placed obliquely to the waterline.
In that way we went about two miles, but without ever obtaining the
greatest depths of the Indian Sea, which soundings of seven thousand
fathoms have never reached. As to the temperature of the lower strata, the
thermometer invariably indicated 4O above zero. I only observed that in
the upper regions the water was always colder in the high levels than at
the surface of the sea.
On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus
passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful screw
and making them rebound to a great height. Who under such circumstances
would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean? Three parts of this day I
spent on the platform. I watched the sea. Nothing on the horizon, till
about four o'clock a steamer running west on our counter. Her masts were
visible for an instant, but she could not see the Nautilus, being too low
in the water. I fancied this steamboat belonged to the P.O. Company, which
runs from Ceylon to Sydney, touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.
At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight which
binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by a
curious spectacle.
It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the
ocean. We could count several hundreds. They belonged to the tubercle kind
which are peculiar to the Indian seas.
These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their locomotive
tube, through which they propelled the water already drawn in. Of their
eight tentacles, six were elongated, and stretched out floating on the
water, whilst the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the wing like
a light sail. I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells, which Cuvier
justly compares to an elegant skiff. A boat indeed! It bears the creature
which secretes it without its adhering to it.
For nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of this shoal of
molluscs. Then I know not what sudden fright they took. But as if at a
signal every sail was furled, the arms folded, the body drawn in, the
shells turned over, changing their centre of gravity, and the whole fleet
disappeared under the waves. Never did the ships of a squadron manoeuvre
with more unity.
At that moment night fell suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised by
the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus.
The next day, 26th of January, we cut the equator at the eighty-second
meridian and entered the northern hemisphere. During the day a formidable
troop of sharks accompanied us, terrible creatures, which multiply in
these seas and make them very dangerous. They were "cestracio philippi"
sharks, with brown backs and whitish bellies, armed with eleven rows of
teeth- eyed sharks-their throat being marked with a large black spot
surrounded with white like an eye. There were also some Isabella sharks,
with rounded snouts marked with dark spots. These powerful creatures often
hurled themselves at the windows of the saloon with such violence as to
make us feel very insecure. At such times Ned Land was no longer master of
himself. He wanted to go to the surface and harpoon the monsters,
particularly certain smooth-hound sharks, whose mouth is studded with
teeth like a mosaic; and large tiger-sharks nearly six yards long, the
last named of which seemed to excite him more particularly. But the
Nautilus, accelerating her speed, easily left the most rapid of them
behind.
The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal, we met
repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead bodies floating on the surface of
the water. They were the dead of the Indian villages, carried by the
Ganges to the level of the sea, and which the vultures, the only
undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour. But the sharks
did not fail to help them at their funeral work.
About seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus, half-immersed, was
sailing in a sea of milk. At first sight the ocean seemed lactified. Was
it the effect of the lunar rays? No; for the moon, scarcely two days old,
was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the sun. The whole
sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by contrast with the
whiteness of the waters.
Conseil could not believe his eyes, and questioned me as to the cause
of this strange phenomenon. Happily I was able to answer him.
"It is called a milk sea," I explained. "A large extent of white
wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna, and in these parts of
the sea."
"But, sir," said Conseil, "can you tell me what causes such an effect?
for I suppose the water is not really turned into milk."
"No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by
the presence of myriads of infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm,
gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair, and whose
length is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch. These insects adhere
to one another sometimes for several leagues."
"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil.
"Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these
infusoria. You will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have
floated on these milk seas for more than forty miles."
Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind
us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected the whitened
waves, and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague glimmerings
of an aurora borealis.
On the 28th of February, when at noon the Nautilus came to the surface
of the sea, in 9O 4' N. lat., there was land in sight about eight miles to
westward. The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains about two
thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious. On taking
the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of Ceylon, the pearl
which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula.
Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment. The Captain
glanced at the map. Then turning to me, said:
"The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Would you like to
visit one of them, M. Aronnax?"
"Certainly, Captain."
"Well, the thing is easy. Though, if we see the fisheries, we shall not
see the fishermen. The annual exportation has not yet begun. Never mind, I
will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manaar, where we shall arrive in
the night."
The Captain said something to his second, who immediately went out.
Soon the Nautilus returned to her native element, and the manometer showed
that she was about thirty feet deep.
"Well, sir," said Captain Nemo, "you and your companions shall visit
the Bank of Manaar, and if by chance some fisherman should be there, we
shall see him at work."
"Agreed, Captain!"
"By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?"
"Sharks!" exclaimed I.
This question seemed a very hard one.
"Well?" continued Captain Nemo.
"I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of
fish."
"We are accustomed to them," replied Captain Nemo, "and in time you
will be too. However, we shall be armed, and on the road we may be able to
hunt some of the tribe. It is interesting. So, till to-morrow, sir, and
early."
This said in a careless tone, Captain Nemo left the saloon. Now, if you
were invited to hunt the bear in the mountains of Switzerland, what would
you say?
"Very well! to-morrow we will go and hunt the bear." If you were asked
to hunt the lion in the plains of Atlas, or the tiger in the Indian
jungles, what would you say?
"Ha! ha! it seems we are going to hunt the tiger or the lion!" But when
you are invited to hunt the shark in its natural element, you would
perhaps reflect before accepting the invitation. As for myself, I passed
my hand over my forehead, on which stood large drops of cold perspiration.
"Let us reflect," said I, "and take our time. Hunting otters in submarine
forests, as we did in the Island of Crespo, will pass; but going up and
down at the bottom of the sea, where one is almost certain to meet sharks,
is quite another thing! I know well that in certain countries,
particularly in the Andaman Islands, the negroes never hesitate to attack
them with a dagger in one hand and a running noose in the other; but I
also know that few who affront those creatures ever return alive. However,
I am not a negro, and if I were I think a little hesitation in this case
would not be ill-timed."
At this moment Conseil and the Canadian entered, quite composed, and
even joyous. They knew not what awaited them.
"Faith, sir," said Ned Land, "your Captain Nemo-the devil take him!-
has just made us a very pleasant offer."
"Ah!" said I, "you know?"
"If agreeable to you, sir," interrupted Conseil, "the commander of the
Nautilus has invited us to visit the magnificent Ceylon fisheries
to-morrow, in your company; he did it kindly, and behaved like a real
gentleman."
"He said nothing more?"
"Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you of this
little walk."
"Sir," said Conseil, "would you give us some details of the pearl
fishery?"
"As to the fishing itself," I asked, "or the incidents, which?"
"On the fishing," replied the Canadian; "before entering upon the
ground, it is as well to know something about it."
"Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you."
Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing
the Canadian asked was:
"Sir, what is a pearl?"
"My worthy Ned," I answered, "to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the
sea; to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies, it
is a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl
substance, which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their ears;
for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a
little gelatine; and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply a morbid
secretion of the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl amongst certain
bivalves."
"Branch of molluscs," said Conseil.
"Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea the
earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those which secrete
mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet, or white substance
which lines the interior of their shells, are capable of producing
pearls."
"Mussels too?" asked the Canadian.
"Yes, mussels of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Saxony,
Bohemia, and France."
"Good! For the future I shall pay attention," replied the Canadian.
"But," I continued, "the particular mollusc which secretes the pearl is
the pearl-oyster. The pearl is nothing but a formation deposited in a
globular form, either adhering to the oyster-shell or buried in the folds
of the creature. On the shell it is fast: in the flesh it is loose; but
always has for a kernel a small hard substance, maybe a barren egg, maybe
a grain of sand, around which the pearly matter deposits itself year after
year successively, and by thin concentric layers." {this paragraph is
edited}
"Are many pearls found in the same oyster?" asked Conseil.
"Yes, my boy. Some are a perfect casket. One oyster has been mentioned,
though I allow myself to doubt it, as having contained no less than a
hundred and fifty sharks."
"A hundred and fifty sharks!" exclaimed Ned Land.
"Did I say sharks?" said I hurriedly. "I meant to say a hundred and
fifty pearls. Sharks would not be sense."
"Certainly not," said Conseil; "but will you tell us now by what means
they extract these pearls?"
"They proceed in various ways. When they adhere to the shell, the
fishermen often pull them off with pincers; but the most common way is to
lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed which covers the banks. Thus they
die in the open air; and at the end of ten days they are in a forward
state of decomposition. They are then plunged into large reservoirs of
sea-water; then they are opened and washed."
"The price of these pearls varies according to their size?" asked
Conseil.
"Not only according to their size," I answered, "but also according to
their shape, their water (that is, their colour), and their lustre: that
is, that bright and diapered sparkle which makes them so charming to the
eye. The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons. They are
formed alone in the tissue of the mollusc, are white, often opaque, and
sometimes have the transparency of an opal; they are generally round or
oval. The round are made into bracelets, the oval into pendants, and,
being more precious, are sold singly. Those adhering to the shell of the
oyster are more irregular in shape, and are sold by weight. Lastly, in a
lower order are classed those small pearls known under the name of
seed-pearls; they are sold by measure, and are especially used in
embroidery for church ornaments."
"But," said Conseil, "is this pearl-fishery dangerous?"
"No," I answered, quickly; "particularly if certain precautions are
taken."
"What does one risk in such a calling?" said Ned Land, "the swallowing
of some mouthfuls of sea-water?"
"As you say, Ned. By the bye," said I, trying to take Captain Nemo's
careless tone, "are you afraid of sharks, brave Ned?"
"I!" replied the Canadian; "a harpooner by profession? It is my trade
to make light of them."
"But," said I, "it is not a question of fishing for them with an
iron-swivel, hoisting them into the vessel, cutting off their tails with a
blow of a chopper, ripping them up, and throwing their heart into the
sea!"
"Then, it is a question of-"
"Precisely."
"In the water?"
"In the water."
"Faith, with a good harpoon! You know, sir, these sharks are
ill-fashioned beasts. They turn on their bellies to seize you, and in that
time-"
Ned Land had a way of saying "seize" which made my blood run cold.
"Well, and you, Conseil, what do you think of sharks?"
"Me!" said Conseil. "I will be frank, sir."
"So much the better," thought I.
"If you, sir, mean to face the sharks, I do not see why your faithful
servant should not face them with you."
The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by the steward whom
Captain Nemo had placed at my service. I rose hurriedly, dressed, and went
into the saloon.
Captain Nemo was awaiting me.
"M. Aronnax," said he, "are you ready to start?"
"I am ready."
"Then please to follow me."
"And my companions, Captain?"
"They have been told and are waiting."
"Are we not to put on our diver's dresses?" asked I.
"Not yet. I have not allowed the Nautilus to come too near this coast,
and we are some distance from the Manaar Bank; but the boat is ready, and
will take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us a long
way. It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when we begin
our submarine journey."
Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase, which led on the
platform. Ned and Conseil were already there, delighted at the idea of the
"pleasure party" which was preparing. Five sailors from the Nautilus, with
their oars, waited in the boat, which had been made fast against the side.
The night was still dark. Layers of clouds covered the sky, allowing
but few stars to be seen. I looked on the side where the land lay, and saw
nothing but a dark line enclosing three parts of the horizon, from
south-west to north west. The Nautilus, having returned during the night
up the western coast of Ceylon, was now west of the bay, or rather gulf,
formed by the mainland and the Island of Manaar. There, under the dark
waters, stretched the pintadine bank, an inexhaustible field of pearls,
the length of which is more than twenty miles.
Captain Nemo, Ned Land, Conseil, and I took our places in the stern of
the boat. The master went to the tiller; his four companions leaned on
their oars, the painter was cast off, and we sheered off.
The boat went towards the south; the oarsmen did not hurry. I noticed
that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every
ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy. Whilst
the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops struck the
dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead. A little
billow, spreading wide, gave a slight roll to the boat, and some samphire
reeds flapped before it.
We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking of? Perhaps of the land
he was approaching, and which he found too near to him, contrary to the
Canadian's opinion, who thought it too far off. As to Conseil, he was
merely there from curiosity.
About half-past five the first tints on the horizon showed the upper
line of coast more distinctly. Flat enough in the east, it rose a little
to the south. Five miles still lay between us, and it was indistinct owing
to the mist on the water. At six o'clock it became suddenly daylight, with
that rapidity peculiar to tropical regions, which know neither dawn nor
twilight. The solar rays pierced the curtain of clouds, piled up on the
eastern horizon, and the radiant orb rose rapidly. I saw land distinctly,
with a few trees scattered here and there. The boat neared Manaar Island,
which was rounded to the south. Captain Nemo rose from his seat and
watched the sea.
At a sign from him the anchor was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran,
for it was little more than a yard deep, and this spot was one of the
highest points of the bank of pintadines.
"Here we are, M. Aronnax," said Captain Nemo. "You see that enclosed
bay? Here, in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of the
exporters, and these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly.
Happily, this bay is well situated for that kind of fishing. It is
sheltered from the strongest winds; the sea is never very rough here,
which makes it favourable for the diver's work. We will now put on our
dresses, and begin our walk."
I did not answer, and, while watching the suspected waves, began with
the help of the sailors to put on my heavy sea-dress. Captain Nemo and my
companions were also dressing. None of the Nautilus men were to accompany
us on this new excursion.
Soon we were enveloped to the throat in india-rubber clothing; the air
apparatus fixed to our backs by braces. As to the Ruhmkorff apparatus,
there was no necessity for it. Before putting my head into the copper cap,
I had asked the question of the Captain.
"They would be useless," he replied. "We are going to no great depth,
and the solar rays will be enough to light our walk. Besides, it would not
be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters; its brilliancy
might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast most
inopportunely."
As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to Conseil and Ned
Land. But my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap,
and they could neither hear nor answer.
One last question remained to ask of Captain Nemo.
"And our arms?" asked I; "our guns?"
"Guns! What for? Do not mountaineers attack the bear with a dagger in
their hand, and is not steel surer than lead? Here is a strong blade; put
it in your belt, and we start."
I looked at my companions; they were armed like us, and, more than
that, Ned Land was brandishing an enormous harpoon, which he had placed in
the boat before leaving the Nautilus.
Then, following the Captain's example, I allowed myself to be dressed
in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air were at once in
activity. An instant after we were landed, one after the other, in about
two yards of water upon an even sand. Captain Nemo made a sign with his
hand, and we followed him by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under
the waves.
{3 paragraphs missing}
At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the
oyster-banks on which the pearl-oysters are reproduced by millions.
Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters; and
I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for Nature's
creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction. Ned Land,
faithful to his instinct, hastened to fill a net which he carried by his
side with some of the finest specimens. But we could not stop. We must
follow the Captain, who seemed to guide him self by paths known only to
himself. The ground was sensibly rising, and sometimes, on holding up my
arm, it was above the surface of the sea. Then the level of the bank would
sink capriciously. Often we rounded high rocks scarped into pyramids. In
their dark fractures huge crustacea, perched upon their high claws like
some war-machine, watched us with fixed eyes, and under our feet crawled
various kinds of annelides.
At this moment there opened before us a large grotto dug in a
picturesque heap of rocks and carpeted with all the thick warp of the
submarine flora. At first it seemed very dark to me. The solar rays seemed
to be extinguished by successive gradations, until its vague transparency
became nothing more than drowned light. Captain Nemo entered; we followed.
My eyes soon accustomed themselves to this relative state of darkness. I
could distinguish the arches springing capriciously from natural pillars,
standing broad upon their granite base, like the heavy columns of Tuscan
architecture. Why had our incomprehensible guide led us to the bottom of
this submarine crypt? I was soon to know. After descending a rather sharp
declivity, our feet trod the bottom of a kind of circular pit. There
Captain Nemo stopped, and with his hand indicated an object I had not yet
perceived. It was an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a gigantic
tridacne, a goblet which could have contained a whole lake of holy-water,
a basin the breadth of which was more than two yards and a half, and
consequently larger than that ornamenting the saloon of the Nautilus. I
approached this extraordinary mollusc. It adhered by its filaments to a
table of granite, and there, isolated, it developed itself in the calm
waters of the grotto. I estimated the weight of this tridacne at 600 lb.
Such an oyster would contain 30 lb. of meat; and one must have the stomach
of a Gargantua to demolish some dozens of them.
Captain Nemo was evidently acquainted with the existence of this
bivalve, and seemed to have a particular motive in verifying the actual
state of this tridacne. The shells were a little open; the Captain came
near and put his dagger between to prevent them from closing; then with
his hand he raised the membrane with its fringed edges, which formed a
cloak for the creature. There, between the folded plaits, I saw a loose
pearl, whose size equalled that of a coco-nut. Its globular shape, perfect
clearness, and admirable lustre made it altogether a jewel of inestimable
value. Carried away by my curiosity, I stretched out my hand to seize it,
weigh it, and touch it; but the Captain stopped me, made a sign of
refusal, and quickly withdrew his dagger, and the two shells closed
suddenly. I then understood Captain Nemo's intention. In leaving this
pearl hidden in the mantle of the tridacne he was allowing it to grow
slowly. Each year the secretions of the mollusc would add new concentric
circles. I estimated its value at L500,000 at least.
After ten minutes Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. I thought he had
halted previously to returning. No; by a gesture he bade us crouch beside
him in a deep fracture of the rock, his hand pointed to one part of the
liquid mass, which I watched attentively.
About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground. The
disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken; and
once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything to do
with.
It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor devil who, I
suppose, had come to glean before the harvest. I could see the bottom of
his canoe anchored some feet above his head. He dived and went up
successively. A stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a sugar
loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat, helped him to descend more
rapidly. This was all his apparatus. Reaching the bottom, about five yards
deep, he went on his knees and filled his bag with oysters picked up at
random. Then he went up, emptied it, pulled up his stone, and began the
operation once more, which lasted thirty seconds.
The diver did not see us. The shadow of the rock hid us from sight. And
how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like himself,
should be there under the water watching his movements and losing no
detail of the fishing? Several times he went up in this way, and dived
again. He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was
obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by means of their
strong byssus. And how many of those oysters for which he risked his life
had no pearl in them! I watched him closely; his manoeuvres were regular;
and for the space of half an hour no danger appeared to threaten him.
I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting
fishing, when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make a
gesture of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface of the
sea.
I understood his dread. A gigantic shadow appeared just above the
unfortunate diver. It was a shark of enormous size advancing diagonally,
his eyes on fire, and his jaws open. I was mute with horror and unable to
move.
The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw himself on
one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its tail, for it struck his
chest and stretched him on the ground.
This scene lasted but a few seconds: the shark returned, and, turning
on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two, when I saw
Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to the
monster, ready to fight face to face with him. The very moment the shark
was going to snap the unhappy fisherman in two, he perceived his new
adversary, and, turning over, made straight towards him.
I can still see Captain Nemo's position. Holding himself well together,
he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it rushed at
him, threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoiding the
shock, and burying his dagger deep into its side. But it was not all over.
A terrible combat ensued.
The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so. The blood rushed in
torrents from its wound. The sea was dyed red, and through the opaque
liquid I could distinguish nothing more. Nothing more until the moment
when, like lightning, I saw the undaunted Captain hanging on to one of the
creature's fins, struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the monster,
and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to give a
decisive one.
The shark's struggles agitated the water with such fury that the
rocking threatened to upset me.
I wanted to go to the Captain's assistance, but, nailed to the spot
with horror, I could not stir.
I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight. The
Captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant upon
him. The shark's jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and it
would have been all over with the Captain; but, quick as thought, harpoon
in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with its sharp
point.
The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood. They rocked under the
shark's movements, which beat them with indescribable fury. Ned Land had
not missed his aim. It was the monster's death-rattle. Struck to the
heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock of which overthrew
Conseil.
But Ned Land had disentangled the Captain, who, getting up without any
wound, went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him to
his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel,
mounted to the surface.
We all three followed in a few seconds, saved by a miracle, and reached
the fisherman's boat.
Captain Nemo's first care was to recall the unfortunate man to life
again. I did not think he could succeed. I hoped so, for the poor
creature's immersion was not long; but the blow from the shark's tail
might have been his death-blow.
Happily, with the Captain's and Conseil's sharp friction, I saw
consciousness return by degrees. He opened his eyes. What was his
surprise, his terror even, at seeing four great copper heads leaning over
him! And, above all, what must he have thought when Captain Nemo, drawing
from the pocket of his dress a bag of pearls, placed it in his hand! This
munificent charity from the man of the waters to the poor Cingalese was
accepted with a trembling hand. His wondering eyes showed that he knew not
to what super-human beings he owed both fortune and life.
At a sign from the Captain we regained the bank, and, following the
road already traversed, came in about half an hour to the anchor which
held the canoe of the Nautilus to the earth.
Once on board, we each, with the help of the sailors, got rid of the
heavy copper helmet.
Captain Nemo's first word was to the Canadian.
"Thank you, Master Land," said he.
"It was in revenge, Captain," replied Ned Land. "I owed you that."
A ghastly smile passed across the Captain's lips, and that was all.
"To the Nautilus," said he.
The boat flew over the waves. Some minutes after we met the shark's
dead body floating. By the black marking of the extremity of its fins, I
recognised the terrible melanopteron of the Indian Seas, of the species of
shark so properly called. It was more than twenty-five feet long; its
enormous mouth occupied one-third of its body. It was an adult, as was
known by its six rows of teeth placed in an isosceles triangle in the
upper jaw.
Whilst I was contemplating this inert mass, a dozen of these voracious
beasts appeared round the boat; and, without noticing us, threw themselves
upon the dead body and fought with one another for the pieces.
At half-past eight we were again on board the Nautilus. There I
reflected on the incidents which had taken place in our excursion to the
Manaar Bank.
Two conclusions I must inevitably draw from it-one bearing upon the
unparalleled courage of Captain Nemo, the other upon his devotion to a
human being, a representative of that race from which he fled beneath the
sea. Whatever he might say, this strange man had not yet succeeded in
entirely crushing his heart.
When I made this observation to him, he answered in a slightly moved
tone:
"That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country; and I am
still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!"
In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon
disappeared under the horizon, and the Nautilus, at a speed of twenty
miles an hour, slid into the labyrinth of canals which separate the
Maldives from the Laccadives. It coasted even the Island of Kiltan, a land
originally coraline, discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499, and one of the
nineteen principal islands of the Laccadive Archipelago, situated between
10O and 14O 30' N. lat., and 69O 50' 72" E. long.
We had made 16,220 miles, or 7,500 (French) leagues from our
starting-point in the Japanese Seas.
The next day (30th January), when the Nautilus went to the surface of
the ocean there was no land in sight. Its course was N.N.E., in the
direction of the Sea of Oman, between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula,
which serves as an outlet to the Persian Gulf. It was evidently a block
without any possible egress. Where was Captain Nemo taking us to? I could
not say. This, however, did not satisfy the Canadian, who that day came to
me asking where we were going.
"We are going where our Captain's fancy takes us, Master Ned."
"His fancy cannot take us far, then," said the Canadian. "The Persian
Gulf has no outlet: and, if we do go in, it will not be long before we are
out again."
"Very well, then, we will come out again, Master Land; and if, after
the Persian Gulf, the Nautilus would like to visit the Red Sea, the
Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to give us entrance."
"I need not tell you, sir," said Ned Land, "that the Red Sea is as much
closed as the Gulf, as the Isthmus of Suez is not yet cut; and, if it was,
a boat as mysterious as ours would not risk itself in a canal cut with
sluices. And again, the Red Sea is not the road to take us back to
Europe."
"But I never said we were going back to Europe."
"What do you suppose, then?"
"I suppose that, after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt,
the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again, perhaps cross the
Channel of Mozambique, perhaps off the Mascarenhas, so as to gain the Cape
of Good Hope."
"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?" asked the Canadian, with peculiar
emphasis.
"Well, we shall penetrate into that Atlantic which we do not yet know.
Ah! friend Ned, you are getting tired of this journey under the sea; you
are surfeited with the incessantly varying spectacle of submarine wonders.
For my part, I shall be sorry to see the end of a voyage which it is given
to so few men to make."
For four days, till the 3rd of February, the Nautilus scoured the Sea
of Oman, at various speeds and at various depths. It seemed to go at
random, as if hesitating as to which road it should follow, but we never
passed the Tropic of Cancer.
In quitting this sea we sighted Muscat for an instant, one of the most
important towns of the country of Oman. I admired its strange aspect,
surrounded by black rocks upon which its white houses and forts stood in
relief. I saw the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant points of its
minarets, its fresh and verdant terraces. But it was only a vision! The
Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part of the sea.
We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut, for a
distance of six miles, its undulating line of mountains being occasionally
relieved by some ancient ruin. The 5th of February we at last entered the
Gulf of Aden, a perfect funnel introduced into the neck of Bab-el-mandeb,
through which the Indian waters entered the Red Sea.
The 6th of February, the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden, perched
upon a promontory which a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland, a kind of
inaccessible Gibraltar, the fortifications of which were rebuilt by the
English after taking possession in 1839. I caught a glimpse of the octagon
minarets of this town, which was at one time the richest commercial
magazine on the coast.
I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, arrived at this point, would
back out again; but I was mistaken, for he did no such thing, much to my
surprise.
The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits of
Bab-el-mandeb, the name of which, in the Arab tongue, means The Gate of
Tears.
To twenty miles in breadth, it is only thirty-two in length. And for
the Nautilus, starting at full speed, the crossing was scarcely the work
of an hour. But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim, with which
the British Government has fortified the position of Aden. There were too
many English or French steamers of the line of Suez to Bombay, Calcutta to
Melbourne, and from Bourbon to the Mauritius, furrowing this narrow
passage, for the Nautilus to venture to show itself. So it remained
prudently below. At last about noon, we were in the waters of the Red Sea.
I would not even seek to understand the caprice which had decided
Captain Nemo upon entering the gulf. But I quite approved of the Nautilus
entering it. Its speed was lessened: sometimes it kept on the surface,
sometimes it dived to avoid a vessel, and thus I was able to observe the
upper and lower parts of this curious sea.
The 8th of February, from the first dawn of day, Mocha came in sight,
now a ruined town, whose walls would fall at a gunshot, yet which shelters
here and there some verdant date-trees; once an important city, containing
six public markets, and twenty-six mosques, and whose walls, defended by
fourteen forts, formed a girdle of two miles in circumference.
The Nautilus then approached the African shore, where the depth of the
sea was greater. There, between two waters clear as crystal, through the
open panels we were allowed to contemplate the beautiful bushes of
brilliant coral and large blocks of rock clothed with a splendid fur of
green variety of sites and landscapes along these sandbanks and algae and
fuci. What an indescribable spectacle, and what variety of sites and
landscapes along these sandbanks and volcanic islands which bound the
Libyan coast! But where these shrubs appeared in all their beauty was on
the eastern coast, which the Nautilus soon gained. It was on the coast of
Tehama, for there not only did this display of zoophytes flourish beneath
the level of the sea, but they also formed picturesque interlacings which
unfolded themselves about sixty feet above the surface, more capricious
but less highly coloured than those whose freshness was kept up by the
vital power of the waters.
What charming hours I passed thus at the window of the saloon! What new
specimens of submarine flora and fauna did I admire under the brightness
of our electric lantern!
The 9th of February the Nautilus floated in the broadest part of the
Red Sea, which is comprised between Souakin, on the west coast, and
Komfidah, on the east coast, with a diameter of ninety miles.
That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo mounted
the platform, where I happened to be, and I was determined not to let him
go down again without at least pressing him regarding his ulterior
projects. As soon as he saw me he approached and graciously offered me a
cigar.
"Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you? Have you sufficiently
observed the wonders it covers, its fishes, its zoophytes, its parterres
of sponges, and its forests of coral? Did you catch a glimpse of the towns
on its borders?"
"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied; "and the Nautilus is wonderfully fitted
for such a study. Ah! it is an intelligent boat!"
"Yes, sir, intelligent and invulnerable. It fears neither the terrible
tempests of the Red Sea, nor its currents, nor its sandbanks."
"Certainly," said I, "this sea is quoted as one of the worst, and in
the time of the ancients, if I am not mistaken, its reputation was