Part 1 - Chapter 17
Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific
The next morning, November 18, I had quite recovered from
my fatigues of the day before, and I went up on 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 leaned on the cage of
the watch light, and gazed abstractedly on the ocean. In the meantime, a number of the
sailors of the Nautilus, all strong and healthy men, had come up on to the
platform. They came to draw up the nets that had been laid all night. These sailors were
evidently of different nations, although the European type was visible in all of them. I
recognized some unmistakable Irishmen, Frenchmen, some Slavs, and a Greek or a Candiot.
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- fishing frogs that, from their comical
movements, have acquired the name of buffoons; black commersons, furnished with antennae;
trigger fish, encircled with red bands; orthragorisci, with very subtle venom; some
olive-colored lampreys; macrorhynci, covered with silvery scales; trichiuri, the electric
power of which is equal to that of the gymnotus and cramp fish: scaly notopteri, with
transverse brown bands; greenish cod; several varieties of gobies, etc.; also some larger
fish; a caranx with a prominent head a yard long; several fine bonitos, streaked with blue
and silver; and three splendid tunnies, which, in spite of the swiftness of their motion,
had not escaped the net.
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 inclose in their meshes an infinite variety. We had no
lack of excellent food, and the rapidity of the Nautilus and the attraction of the
electric light could always renew our supply. These several productions of the sea were
immediately lowered through the panel to the steward's room, some to be eaten fresh, and
others pickled.
The fishing ended, the provision air renewed, I thought
that the Nautilus was about to continue its submarine excursion, and was preparing
to return to my room, when, without further preamble, the captain turned to me, saying:
"Professor, is not this ocean gifted with real life?
It has its tempers and its gentle moods. Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it has
waked after a quiet night. Look!" he continued, "it wakes under the caresses of
the sun. It is going to renew its diurnal existence. It is an interesting study to watch
the play of its organization. It has a pulse, arteries, spasms; and I agree with the
learned Maury, who discovered in it a circulation as real as the circulation of blood in
animals.
"Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to
promote it, the Creator has caused things to multiply in it- caloric salt and
animalculae."
When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether
changed, and. aroused an extraordinary emotion in me.
"Also," he added, "true existence is there;
and I can imagine the foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses, which,
like the Nautilus, would ascend every morning to breathe at the surface of the
water, free towns, independent cities. Yet who knows whether some despot"-
Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture.
Then, addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought-
"M. Aronnax," he asked, "do you know the
depth of the ocean?"
"I only know, Captain, what the principal soundings
have taught us."
"Could you tell me them, so that I can suit them to
my purpose?"
"There are some," I replied, "that I
remember. If I am not mistaken, a depth of 8,000 yards has been found in the North
Atlantic, and 2,500 yards in the Mediterranean. The most remarkable soundings have been
made in the South Atlantic, near the 35th parallel, and they gave 12,000 yards, 14,000
yards, and 15,000 yards. To sum up all, it is reckoned that if the bottom of the sea were
leveled, its mean depth would be about one and three quarter leagues."
"Well, Professor," replied the captain, "we
shall show you better than that I hope. As to the mean depth of this part of the Pacific,
I tell you it is only 4,000 yards."
Having said this, Captain Nemo went toward the panel and
disappeared down the ladder. I followed him and went into the large drawing room. The
screw was immediately put in motion, and the log gave twenty miles an hour.
During the days and weeks that passed, Captain Nemo was
very sparing in his visits. I seldom saw him. The lieutenant pricked the ship's course
regularly on the chart, so I could always tell exactly the route of the Nautilus.
Nearly every day, for some time, the panels of the drawing
room were opened, and we were never tired of penetrating the mysteries of the submarine
world.
The general direction of the Nautilus was
southeast, and it kept between 100 and 150 yards of depth. One day, however, I do not know
why, being drawn diagonally by means of the inclined planes, it touched the bed of the
sea. The thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25 (cent.); a temperature that at this
depth seemed common to all latitudes.
At three o'clock in the morning of November 26, the Nautilus
crossed the tropic of Cancer at 172° longitude. On the twenty-seventh instant it sighted
the Sandwich Islands, where Cook died, February 14, 1779. We had then gone 4,860 leagues
from our starting point. In the morning, when I went on the platform, I saw, two miles to
windward, Hawaii, the largest of the seven islands that form the group. I saw clearly the
cultivated ranges, and the several mountain chains that run parallel with the side, and
the volcanoes that overtop Mauna Kea, which rise 5,000 yards above the level of the sea.
Besides other things the nets brought up, were several flabellariae and graceful polypi,
that are peculiar to that part of the ocean. The direction of the Nautilus was
still to the southeast. It crossed the equator December 1, in 142° longitude; and on the
fourth, after crossing rapidly and without anything particular occurring, we sighted the
Marquesas group. I saw, three miles off, at 8° 57' latitude south, and 139° 32' west
longitude, Martin's peak in Nouka Hiva, the largest of the group that belongs to France. I
only saw the woody mountains against the horizon, because Captain Nemo did not wish to
bring the ship to the wind. There the nets brought up beautiful specimens of fish:
choryphenes, with azure fins and tails like gold, the flesh of which is unrivaled;
hologymnoses, nearly destitute of scales, but of exquisite flavor; yellow-tinged thasards,
as good as bonitos; all fish that would be of use to us. After leaving these charming
islands protected by the French flag, from December 4 to December 11, the Nautilus
sailed over about 2,000 miles. This navigation was remarkable for the meeting with an
immense shoal of calmars, near neighbors to the cuttle. The French fishermen call them hornets:
they belong to the cephalopod class, and to the dibranchial family, that comprehends the
cuttles and the argonauts. These animals were particularly studied by students of
antiquity, and they furnished numerous metaphors to the popular orators, as well as
excellent dishes for the tables of the rich citizens, if one can believe Athenaeus, a
Greek doctor, who lived before Galen. It was during the night of December 9 or 10 that the
Nautilus came across this shoal of mollusks, that are, peculiarly nocturnal. One
could count them by millions. They emigrate from the temperate to the warmer zones,
following the track of herrings and sardines. We watched them through the thick crystal
panes, swimming down the wind with great rapidity, moving by means of their locomotive
tube, pursuing fish and mollusks, eating the little ones, eaten by the big ones, and
tossing about in indescribable confusion the ten arms that nature has placed on their
heads like a crest of pneumatic serpents. The Nautilus, in spite of its speed,
sailed for several hours in the midst of these animals, and its nets brought in an
enormous quantity, among which I recognized the nine species that D'Orbigny classed for
the Pacific. One saw, while crossing, that the sea displays the most wonderful sights.
They were in endless variety. The scene changed continually, and we were called upon not
only to contemplate the works of the Creator in the midst of the liquid element, but to
penetrate the awful mysteries of the ocean.
During the daytime of December 11, I was busy reading in
the large drawing room. Ned Land and Conseil watched the luminous water through the
half-open panels. The Nautilus was immovable. While its reservoirs were filled, it
kept at a depth of 1,000 yards, a region rarely visited in the ocean, and in which large
fish were seldom seen.
I was then reading a charming book by Jean Macé, The
Slaves of the Stomach, and I was learning some valuable lessons from it, when Conseil
interrupted me.
"Will master come here a moment?" he said, in a
curious voice.
"What is the matter, Conseil?"
"I want master to look."
I rose, went and leaned on my elbows before the panes and
watched.
In a full electric light, an enormous black mass, quite
immovable, was suspended in the midst of the waters. I watched it attentively, seeking to
find out the nature of this gigantic cetacean. But a sudden thought crossed my mind.
"A vessel!" I said, half aloud.
"Yes," replied the Canadian, "a disabled
ship that has sunk perpendicularly."
Ned Land was right; we were close to a vessel of which the
tattered shrouds still hung from their chains. The keel seemed to be in good order, and it
had been wrecked at most some few hours. Three stumps of masts, broken off about two feet
above the bridge, showed that the vessel had had to sacrifice its masts. But, lying on its
side, it had filled, and it was heeling over to port. This skeleton of what it had once
been, was a sad spectacle as it lay lost under the waves, but sadder still was the sight
of the bridge, where some corpses, bound with ropes, were still lying. I counted five:
four men, one of whom was standing at the helm, and a woman standing by the poop, holding
an infant in her arms. She was quite young. I could distinguish her features, which the
water had not decomposed, by the brilliant light from the Nautilus. In one
despairing effort, she had raised her infant above her head, poor little thing! whose arms
encircled its mother's neck. The attitude of the four sailors was frightful, distorted as
they were by their convulsive movements, while making a last effort to free themselves
from the cords that bound them to the vessel. The steersman alone, calm, with a grave,
clear face, his gray hair glued to his forehead, and his hand clutching the wheel of the
helm, seemed even then to be guiding the three broken masts through the depths of the
ocean.
What a scene! We were dumb; our hearts beat fast before
this shipwreck, taken as it were from life, and photographed in its last moments. And I
saw already, coming toward it with hungry eyes, enormous sharks, attracted by the human
flesh.
However the Nautilus, turning, went round the
submerged vessel, and in one instant I read on the stern: "The Florida,
Sunderland."
Part 1 - Chapter 18
Vanikoro
This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series
of maritime catastrophes that the Nautilus was destined to meet with in its route.
As long as it went through more frequented waters, we often saw the hulls of shipwrecked
vessels that were rotting in the depths, and deeper down, cannon, bullets, anchors,
chains, and a thousand other iron materials eaten up by rust. However, on December 11, we
sighted the Pomotou Islands, the old "dangerous group" of Bougainville, that
extend over a space of 500 leagues at E.S.E. to W.N.W., from the Island Ducie to that of
Lazareff. This group covers an area of 370 square leagues, and it is formed of sixty
groups of islands, among which the Gambier group is remarkable, over which France
exercises sway. These are coral islands, slowly raised, but continuous, created by the
daily work of polypi. Then this new island will be joined later on to the neighboring
groups, and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia, and from
thence to the Marquesas.
One day, when I was suggesting this theory to Captain
Nemo, he replied coldly:
"The earth does not want new continents, but new
men."
Chance had conducted the Nautilus toward the island
of Clermont-Tonnere, one of the most curious of the group, that was discovered in 1822 by
Captain Bell of the Minerva. I could study now the madreporal system, to which are
due the islands in this ocean.
Madrepores (which must not be mistaken for corals) have a
tissue lined with a calcareous crust, and the modifications of its structure have induced
M. Milne Edwards, my worthy master, to class them into five sections. The animalculae that
the marine polypus secretes live by millions at the bottom of their cells. Their
calcareous deposits become rocks, reefs, and large and small islands. Here they form a
ring, surrounding a little inland lake, that communicates with the sea by means of gaps.
There they make barriers of reefs like those on the coasts of New Caledonia and the
various Pomotou islands. In other places, like those at Reunion and at Maurice, they raise
fringed reefs, high, straight walls, near which the depth of the ocean is considerable.
Some cable lengths off the shores of the Island of
Clermont, I admired the gigantic work accomplished by these microscopical workers. These
walls are specially the work of those madrepores known as milleporas, porites, madrepores,
and astraeas. These polypi are found particularly in the rough beds of the sea, near the
surface; and consequently it is from the upper part that they begin their operations, in
which they bury themselves by degrees with the debris of the secretions that support them.
Such is, at least, Darwin's theory, who thus explains the formation of the atolls,
a superior theory, (to my mind) to that given of the foundation of the madreporical works,
summits of mountains or volcanoes, that are submerged some feet below the level of the
sea.
I could observe closely these curious walls, for
perpendicularly they were more than 300 yards deep, and our electric sheets lighted up
this calcareous matter brilliantly. Replying to a question Conseil asked me as to the time
these colossal barriers took to be raised, I astonished him much by telling him that
learned men reckoned it about the eighth of an inch in a hundred years.
Toward evening Clermont-Tonnere was lost in the distance,
and the route of the Nautilus was sensibly changed. After having crossed the tropic
of Capricorn 135° longitude, it sailed W.N.W., making again for the tropical zone.
Although the summer sun was very strong, we did not suffer from heat, for at fifteen or
twenty fathoms below the surface, the temperature did not rise above from ten to twelve
degrees.
On December 15, we left to the east the bewitching group
of the Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific. I saw in the morning, some
miles to the windward, the elevated summits of the island. These waters furnished our
table with excellent fish, mackerel, bonitos, and albicores, and some varieties of a sea
serpent called munirophis.
On December 25, the Nautilus sailed into the midst
of the New Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville explored in 1768,
and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773. This group is composed principally of
nine large islands, that form a band of 120 leagues N.N.E. to S.S.W., between 15° and 2°
south latitude, and 164° and 168° longitude. We passed tolerably near to the island of
Aurou, that at noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a peak of great
height.
That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret
sorely the non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fête of which Protestants
are so fond. I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week when, on the morning of December 27,
he came into the large drawing room, always seeming as if he had seen you five minutes
before. I was busily tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere. The
captain came up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart and said this single word:
"Vanikoro."
The effect was magical it was the name of the islands on
which La Perouse had been lost! I rose suddenly.
"The Nautilus has brought us to
Vanikoro?" I asked.
"Yes, Professor," said the captain.
"And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole
and the Astrolabe struck?"
"If you like, Professor."
"When shall we be there?"
"We are there now."
Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform and
greedily scanned the horizon.
To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size,
surrounded by a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference. We were close to
Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d'Urville gave, the name of Isle de la Recherche,
and exactly facing the little harbor of Vanou, situated in 16° 4' south latitude, and
164° 32' east longitude. The earth seemed covered with verdure from the shore to the
summits in the interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high. The Nautilus,
having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait, found itself among breakers
where the sea was from thirty to forty fathoms deep. Under the verdant shade of some
mangroves, I perceived some savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach. In
the long black body, moving between wind and water, did they not see some formidable
cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the
wreck of La Perouse.
"Only what everyone knows, Captain," I replied.
"And could you tell me what everyone knows about
it?" he inquired, ironically.
"Easily."
I related to him all that the last works of Dumont
d'Urville had made known-works from which the following is a brief account.
La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent
by Louis XVI, in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation. They embarked in the corvettes the
Boussole and the Astrolabe, neither of which were again heard of. In 1791,
the French Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of these two sloops, manned two large
merchantmen, the Recherche and the Espérance, which left Brest September
28, under the command of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of
the Albemarle, that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts of New
Georgia. But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication- rather uncertain, besides-
directed his course toward the Admiralty Isles, mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's
as being the place where La Perouse was wrecked.
They sought in vain. The Espérance and the Recherche
passed before Vanikoro without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most
disastrous, as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life, and, those of two of his lieutenants,
besides several of his crew.
Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first
to find unmistakable traces of the wrecks. On May 15, 1824, his vessel, the St. Patrick,
passed close to Tikopia, one of the New Hebrides. There a Lascar came alongside in a
canoe, sold him the handle of a sword in silver, that bore the print of characters
engraved on the hilt. The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay at
Vanikoro, he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels that had run aground on
the reefs some years ago.
Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose
disappearance had troubled the whole world. He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck, but winds and tide
prevented him.
Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he interested the
Asiatic Society and the Indian Company in his discovery. A vessel, to which was given the
name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out, January 23, 1827,
accompanied by a French agent.
The Recherche, after touching at several points in
the Pacific, cast anchor before Vanikoro, July 7, 1827, in that same harbor of Vanou where
the Nautilus was at this time.
There it collected numerous relics of the wreck- iron
utensils, anchors, pulley straps, swivel guns, an eighteen-pound shot, fragments of
astronomical instruments, a piece of crown work, and a bronze clock, bearing this
inscription- "Bazin m'a fait," the mark of the foundry of the arsenal at
Brest about 1785. There could be no further doubt.
Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky
place till October. Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course toward New Zealand;
put into Calcutta, April 7, 1828, and returned to France, where he was warmly welcomed by
Charles X.
But at the same time, without knowing Dillon's movements,
Dumont d'Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck. And they had learned
from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis had been found in the hands of
some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia. Dumont d'Urville, commander of the Astrolabe,
had then sailed, and two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro, he put into Hobart Town.
There he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries, and found that a certain James Hobbs,
second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing on an island situated 8°
18' south latitude, and 156° 30' east longitude, had seen' some iron bars, and red stuffs
used by the natives of these parts. Dumont d'Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how
to credit the reports of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon's track.
On February 10, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off
Tikopia, and took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island; made his way to
Vanikoro, sighted it on the twelfth inst., lay among the reefs until the fourteenth, and
not until the twentieth did he cast anchor within the barrier in the harbor of Vanou.
On the twenty-third, several officers went round the
island, and brought back some unimportant trifles. The natives, adopting a system of
denials and evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place. This ambiguous conduct
led them to believe that the natives had ill-treated the castaways, and indeed they seemed
to fear that Dumont d'Urville had come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
However, on the twenty-sixth, appeased by some presents,
and understanding that they had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene
of the wreck.
There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the
reefs of Pacou and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron, embedded in the
limy concretions. The large boat and the whaler belonging to the Astrolabe were
sent to this place, and, not without some difficulty, their crews hauled up an anchor
weighing 1,800 pounds, a brass gun, some pigs of iron, and two copper swivel guns.
Dumont d'Urville questioning the natives, learned, to that
La Perouse, after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island, had constructed a
smaller boat, only to be lost a second time. Where?- no one knew.
But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d'Urville
was not acquainted with Dillon's movements, had sent the sloop Bayonnaise,
commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro, which had been stationed on the west
coast of America. The Bayonnaise cast her anchor before Vanikoro some months after
the departure of the Astrolabe, but found no new document; but stated that the
savages had respected the monument to La Perouse. That is the substance of what I told to
Captain Nemo.
"So," he said, "no one knows now where the
third vessel perished that was constructed by the castaways on the island of
Vanikoro?"
"No one knows."
Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him
into the large saloon. The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves, and the
panels were opened.
I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of
coral, covered with fungi, alcyons madrepores, through myriads of charming fish- girelles,
glyphisidri, diacopes, and holocentres- I recognized certain debris that the drags had not
been able to tear up- iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan fittings, the
stern of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck of some vessel, and now carpeted
with living flowers. While I was looking on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a
sad voice:
"Commander La Perouse set out December 7, 1785, with
his vessels La Bousolle and the Astrolabe. He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
visited the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course toward Santa Cruz, and
put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group. Then his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of
Vanikoro. The Bousolle, which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast. The Astrolabe
went to its help, and ran aground too. The first vessel was destroyed almost immediately.
The second, stranded under the wind, resisted some days. The natives made the castaways
welcome. They installed themselves in the island, and constructed a smaller boat with the
debris of the two large ones. Some sailors stayed willingly at Vanikoro; the others, weak
and ill, set out with La Perouse. They directed their course toward the Solomon Isles, and
there perished, with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island of the group,
between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."
"How do you know that?"
"By this, that I found on the spot where was the last
wreck."
Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the
French arms, and corroded by the salt water. He opened it, and I saw a bundle of papers,
yellow, but still readable.
They were the instructions of the naval minister to
Commander La Perouse, annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
"Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!" said
Captain Nemo, at last. "A coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my
comrades will find no other."
Part 1 - Chapter 19
Torres Straits
During the night of December 27 or 28, the Nautilus
left the shores of Vanikoro with great speed. Her course was southwesterly, and in three
days she had gone over the 750 leagues that separated it from La Perouse's group and the
southeast point of Papua.
Early January 1, 1868, Conseil joined me on the platform.
"Master, Master, will you permit me to wish you a
happy new year?"
"What! Conseil; exactly as if I were at Paris in my
study at the Jardin des Plantes? Well, I accept your good wishes, and thank you for them.
Only, I will ask you what you mean by a 'Happy new year,' under our circumstances? Do you
mean the year that will bring us to the end of our imprisonment, or the year that sees us
continue this strange voyage?"
"Really, I do not know how to answer, master. We are
sure to see curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time for ennui.
The last marvel is always the most astonishing; and if we continue this progression, I do
not know how it will end. It is my opinion that we shall never again see the like. I
think, then, with no offense to master, that a happy year would be one in which we could
see everything."
On January 2, we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250 French
leagues, since our starting point in the Japan Seas. Before the ship's head stretched the
dangerous shores of the coral sea, on the northeast coast of Australia. Our boat lay along
some miles from the redoubtable bank on which Cook's vessel was lost, June 10, 1770. The
boat in which Cook was struck on a rock, and if it did not sink, it was owing to a piece
of the coral that was broken by the shock, and fixed itself in the broken keel.
I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against
which the sea, always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like thunder. But
just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a great depth, and I could
see nothing of the high coral walls. I had to content myself with the different specimens
of fish brought up by the nets. I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of
mackerel as large as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands, that
disappear with the animal's life.
These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with
very delicate food. We took also a large number of giltheads, about one and a half inches
long, tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine swallows, which, in dark
nights, light alternately the air and water with their phosphorescent light. Among the
mollusks and zoophytes, I found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonatians,
echini, hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented by
beautiful floating seaweeds, laminaria, and macrocystes, impregnated with the mucilage
that transudes through their pores; and among which I gathered an admirable Nemastoma
Geliniarois, that was classed among the natural curiosities of the museum.
Two days after crossing the coral sea, January 4, we
sighted the Papuan coasts. On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his intention
was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres. His communication ended there.
The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide;
but they are obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers, and
rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable; so that Captain Nemo took all
needful precautions to cross them. The Nautilus, floating betwixt wind and water,
went at a moderate pace. Her screw, like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.
Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to
the deserted platform. Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expected that Captain
Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus. I had before me the excellent
charts of the Strait of Torres made out by the hydrographical engineer Vincendon Dumoulin.
These and Captain King's are the best charts that clear the intricacies of this strait,
and I consulted them attentively. Round the Nautilus the sea dashed furiously. The
course of the waves, that went from southeast to northwest at the rate of two and a half
miles, broke on the coral that showed itself here and there.
"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.
"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat
like the Nautilus."
"The captain must be very sure of his route, for I
see there pieces of coral that would do for its keel if it only touched them
slightly."
Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus
seemed to slide like magic off these rocks. It did not follow the routes of the Astrolabe
and the Zélée exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont d'Urville. It bore more
northwards, coasted the Island of Murray, and came back to the southwest toward Cumberland
Passage. I thought it was going to pass it by, when, going back to northwest, it went
through a large quantity of islands and islets little known, toward the Island Sound and
Canal Mauvais.
I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would
steer his vessel into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched; when,
swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west, he steered for the Island of
Gilboa.
It was then three in the afternoon. The tide began to
recede, being quite full. The Nautilus approached the island, that I still saw with
its remarkable border of screw pines. He stood off it at about two miles distant. Suddenly
a shock overthrew me. The Nautilus just touched a rock, and stayed immovable, lying
lightly to port side.
When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant
on the platform. They were examining the situation of the vessel, and exchanging words in
their incomprehensible dialect.
She was situated thus: Two miles, on the starboard side,
appeared Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm. Toward the south and
east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb. We had run aground, and in one of those
seas where the tides are middling- a sorry matter for the floating of the Nautilus.
However, the vessel had not suffered, for her keel was solidly joined. But if she could
neither glide off nor move, she ran the risk of being forever fastened to these rocks, and
then Captain Nemo's submarine vessel would be done for.
I was reflecting thus, when the captain, cool and calm,
always master of himself, approached me.
"An accident?" I asked.
"No; an incident."
"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to
become an inhabitant of this land from which you flee?"
Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative
gesture, as much as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma
again. Then he said:
"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not
lost; it will carry you yet into the midst of the marvels of the ocean. Our voyage is only
begun, and I do not wish to be deprived so soon of the honor of your company."
"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without
noticing the ironical turn of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open
sea. Now the tides are not strong in the Pacific; and if you cannot lighten the Nautilus,
I do not see how it will be reinflated."
"The tides are not strong in the Pacific; you are
right there, Professor; but in Torres Straits, one finds still a difference of a yard and
a half between the level of high and low seas. Today is January 4, and in five days the
moon will be full. Now, I shall be very much astonished if that complaisant satellite does
not raise these masses of water sufficiently, and render me a service that I should be
indebted to her for."
Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his
lieutenant, redescended to the interior of the Nautilus. As to the vessel, it moved
not, and was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had already walled it up with their
indestructible cement.
"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me
after the departure of the captain.
"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the
tide on the ninth instant; for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it
off again."
"Really?"
"Really."
"And this captain is not going to cast anchor at all,
since the tide will suffice?" said Conseil, simply.
The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his
shoulders.
"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this
piece of iron will navigate neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold
for its weight. I think, therefore, that the time has come to part company with Captain
Nemo."
"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus,
as you do; and in four day's we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides. Besides,
flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English or Provençal coasts; but on
the Papuan shores, it is another thing; and it will be time enough to come to that
extremity if the Nautilus does not recover itself again, which I look upon as a
grave event."
"But do they know, at least, how to act
circumspectly? There is an island; on that island there are trees; under those trees,
terrestrial animals, bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly give a
trial."
"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil,
"and I agree with him. Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain
Nemo to put us on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the solid parts
of our planet?"
"I can ask him, but he will refuse."
"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and
we shall know how to rely upon the captain's amiability."
To my great surprise Captain Nemo gave me the permission I
asked for, and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise to
return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be very perilous, and I should
not have counseled Ned Land to attempt it. Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus,
than to fall into the hands of the natives.
At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off
the Nautilus. The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land. Conseil and I
rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered in the straight passage that the breakers
left between them. The boat was well handled, and moved rapidly.
Ned Land could not restrain his joy. He was like a
prisoner that had escaped from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to reenter it.
"Meat! We are going to eat some meat; and what
meat!" he replied. "Real game! no, bread, indeed."
"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not
abuse it; but a piece of fresh venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably vary our
ordinary course."
"Gourmand!" said Conseil, "he makes my
mouth water."
"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these
forests are full of game, and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter
himself."
"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian,
whose teeth seemed sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger - loin
of tiger - if there is no other quadruped on this island."
"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.
"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land,
"every animal with four paws without feathers, or with two paws without feathers,
will be saluted by my first shot."
"Very well! Master Land's imprudences are
beginning."
"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian;
"I do not want twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish of my sort."
At half after eight the Nautilus boat ran softly
aground, on a heavy sand, after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the
Island of Gilboa.
Part 1 - Chapter 20
A Few Days on Land
I was much impressed on touching land. Ned Land tried the
soil with his feet, as if to take possession of it. However it was only two months before
that we had become, according to Captain Nemo, "passengers on board the Nautilus,"
but in reality, prisoners of its commander.
In a few minutes we were within musket shot of the coast.
The soil was almost entirely madreporical, but certain beds of dried-up torrents, strewn
with debris of granite, showed that this island was of the primary formation. The whole
horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests. Enormous trees, the trunks of
which attained a height of 200 feet, were tied to each other by garlands of bindweed, real
natural hammocks, which a light breeze rocked. They were mimosas, ficuses, casuarinae,
teks, hibisci, and palm trees, mingled together in profusion; and under the shelter of
their verdant vault grew orchids, leguminous plants, and ferns.
But without noticing all these beautiful specimens of
Papuan flora, the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful. He discovered a coconut
tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them, and we drank the milk and ate the nut, with
a satisfaction that protested against the ordinary food on the Nautilus.
"Excellent!" said Ned Land.
"Exquisite!" replied Conseil.
"And I do not think," said the Canadian,
"that he would object to our introducing a cargo of coconuts on board."
"I do not think he would, but he would not taste
them."
"So much the worse for him," said Conseil.
"And so much the better for us," replied Ned
Land. "There will be more for us."
"One word only, Master Land," I said to the
harpooner, who was beginning to ravage another coconut tree. "Coconuts are good
things, but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoiter and see if
the island does not produce some substance not less useful. Fresh vegetables would be
welcome on board the Nautilus."
"Master is right," replied Conseil; "and I
propose to reserve three places in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables,
and the third for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest specimen."
"Conseil, we must not despair," said the
Canadian.
"Let us continue," I returned, "and lie in
wait. Although the island seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that
would be less hard than we on the nature of game."
"Ho! ho!" said Ned Land, moving his jaws
significantly.
"Well, Ned!" cried Conseil.
"My word!" returned the Canadian, "I begin
to understand the charms of anthropophagy."
"Ned! Ned! what are you saying? You, a man-eater? I
should not feel safe with you, especially as I share your cabin. I might perhaps wake one
day to find myself half devoured."
"Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to
eat you unnecessarily."
"I would not trust you," replied Conseil.
"But enough. We must absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal, or
else one of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces of his servant to serve
him."
While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the somber
arches of the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
Chance rewarded our search for edible vegetables, and one
of the most useful products of the tropical zones furnished us with precious food that we
missed on board. I would speak of the breadfruit tree, very abundant in the island of
Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety destitute of seeds, which bears in Malaya the
name of "rima."
Ned Land knew these fruits well. He had already eaten many
during his numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the edible substance. Moreover,
the sight of them excited him, and he could contain himself no longer.
"Master," he said, "I shall die if I do not
taste a little of this breadfruit pie."
"Taste it, friend Ned- taste it as you want. We are
here to make experiments- make them."
"It won't take long," said the Canadian.
And provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead
wood, that crackled joyously. During this time, Conseil and I chose the best fruits of the
artocarpus. Some had not then attained a sufficient degree of maturity; and their thick
skin covered a white but rather fibrous pulp. Others, the greater number yellow and
gelatinous, waited only to be picked.
These fruits inclosed no kernel. Conseil brought a dozen
to Ned Land, who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices, and
while doing this repeating:
"You will see, master, how good this bread is. More
so when one has been deprived of it so long. It is not even bread," added he,
"but a delicate pastry. You have eaten none, master?"
"No, Ned."
"Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing. If
you do not come for more, I am no longer the king of harpooners."
After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was
exposed to the fire was completely roasted. The interior looked like a white pastry, a
sort of soft crumb, the flavor of which was like that of an artichoke.
It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate
of it with great relish.
"What time is it now?" asked the Canadian.
"Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil.
"How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned
Land.
"Let us be off," replied Conseil.
We returned through the forest, and completed our
collection by a raid upon the cabbage palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
little beans that I recognized as the "abrou" of the Malays, and yams of a
superior quality.
We were loaded when we reached the boat. But Ned Land did
not find his provision sufficient. Fate, however, favored us. Just as we were pushing off,
he perceived several trees, from twenty-five to thirty feet high, a species of palm tree.
These trees, as valuable as the artocarpus, justly are reckoned among the most useful
products of Malaya.
At last, at five o'clock in the evening, loaded with our
riches, we quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus. No one
appeared on our arrival. The enormous iron-plated cylinder seemed deserted. The provisions
embarked, I descended to my chamber, and after supper slept soundly.
The next day, January 6, nothing new on board. Not a sound
inside, not a sign of life. The boat rested along the edge, in the same place in which we
had left it. We resolved to return to the island. Ned Land hoped to be more fortunate than
on the day before with regard to the hunt, and wished to visit another part of the forest.
At dawn we set off. The boat, carried on by the waves that
flowed to shore, reached the island in a few minutes.
We landed, and thinking that it was better to give in to
the Canadian, we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us. He wound
up the coast toward the west: then fording some torrents, he gained the high plain that
was bordered with admirable forests. Some kingfishers were rambling along the
watercourses, but they would not let themselves be approached. Their circumspection proved
to me that these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I concluded
that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings occasionally frequented it.
After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the
skirts of a little wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large number of
birds.
"There are only birds," said Conseil.
"But they are edible," replied the harpooner.
"I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only
parrots there."
"Friend Conseil," said Ned, gravely, "the
parrot is like pheasant to those who have nothing else."
"And," I added, "this bird, suitably
prepared, is worth knife and fork."
Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of
parrots were flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful education to speak the
human language. For the moment, they were chattering with parrots of all colors, and grave
cockatoos, who seemed to meditate upon some, philosophical problem, whilst brilliant red
lories passed like a piece of bunting carried away by the breeze; papuans, with the finest
azure colors, and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold, but few
edible.
However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has
never passed the limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
But fortune reserved it for me before long.
After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a
plain obstructed with bushes. I saw then those magnificent birds, the disposition of whose
long feathers obliged them to fly against the wind. Their undulating flight, graceful
aerial curves, and the shading of their colors, attracted and charmed one's looks. I had
no trouble in recognizing them.
"Birds of paradise!" I exclaimed.
The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with
the Chinese, have several means that we could not employ for taking them. Sometimes they
put snares at the top of high trees that the birds of paradise prefer to frequent.
Sometimes they catch them with a viscous birdlime that paralyses their movements. They
even go so far as to poison the fountains that the birds generally drink from. But we were
obliged to fire at them during flight, which gave us few chances to bring them down; and
indeed, we vainly exhausted one half of our ammunition.
About eleven o'clock in the morning, the first range of
mountains that form the center of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
Hunger drove us on. The hunters had relied on the products of the chase, and they were
wrong. Happily, Conseil, to his great surprise, made a double shot and secured breakfast.
He brought down a white pigeon and a wood pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended
from a skewer, were roasted before a red fire of dead wood. While these interesting birds
were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the artocarpus. Then the wood pigeons were
devoured to the bones, and declared excellent. The nutmeg, with which they are in the
habit of stuffing their crops, flavors their flesh and renders it delicious eating.
"Now, Ned, what do you miss now?"
"Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax. All these pigeons
are only side dishes, and trifles; and until I have killed an animal with cutlets, I shall
not be content."
"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of
paradise."
"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil.
"Let us go toward the sea. We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains,
and I think we had better regain the region of forests."
That was sensible advice, and was followed out. After
walking for one hour, we had attained a forest of sago trees. Some inoffensive serpents
glided away from us. The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and truly I despaired of
getting near one, when Conseil, who was walking in front, suddenly bent down, uttered a
triumphal cry, and came back to me bringing a magnificent specimen.
"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"
"Master is very good."
"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke. Take
one of these living birds, and carry it in your hand."
"If master will examine it, he will see that I have
not deserved great merit."
"Why, Conseil?"
"Because the bird is as drunk as a quail."
"Drunk!"
"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured
under the nutmeg tree, under which I found it. See, friend Ned, see the monstrous effects
of intemperance!"
"By jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because
I have drunk gin for two months, you must needs reproach me!"
However, I examined the curious bird. Conseil was right.
The bird, drunk with the juice, was quite powerless. It could not fly; it could hardly
walk.
This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight
species that are found in Papua and in the neighboring islands. It was the "large
emerald bird, the most rare kind." It measured three feet in length. Its head was
comparatively small, its eyes placed near the opening of the beak, and also small. But the
shades of color were beautiful, having a yellow beak brown feet and claws, nut-colored
wings with purple pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, emerald color at the
throat, and chestnut on the breast and belly. Two horned downy nets rose from below the
tail, that prolonged the long light feathers of admirable fineness, and they completed the
whole of this marvelous bird, which the natives have poetically named the "bird of
the sun."
But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the
bird of paradise, the Canadian's were not yet. Happily about two o'clock Ned Land brought
down a magnificent hog, from the brood of those the natives call "bari-outang."
The animal came in time for us to procure real quadruped meat, and he was well received.
Ned Land was very proud of his shot. The hog, hit by the electric ball, fell stone dead.
The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly, after having taken half a dozen cutlets,
destined to furnish us with a grilled repast in the evening. Then the hunt was resumed,
which was still more marked by Ned and Conseil's exploits.
Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes roused a herd
of kangaroos, that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws. But these animals did not
take flight so rapidly but that the electric capsule could stop their course.
"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried
away by the delights of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed too! What a
supply for the Nautilus! two! three! five down! And to think that we shall eat that
flesh, and that the idiots on board shall not have a crumb."
I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian, if
he had not talked so much, would have killed them all. But he contented himself with a
single dozen of these interesting marsupials. These animals were small. They were a
species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live habitually in the hollows of
trees, and whose speed is extreme; but they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least,
estimable food. We were very satisfied with the results of the hunt. Happy Ned proposed to
return to this enchanting island the next day, for he wished to depopulate it of all the
edible quadrupeds. But he reckoned without his host.
At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore,
our boat was moored to the usual place. The Nautilus, like a long rock, emerged
from the waves two miles from the beach. Ned Land, without waiting, occupied himself about
the important dinner business. He understood all about cooking well. The
"bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon scented the air with a delicious odor.
Indeed, the dinner was excellent. Two wood pigeons
completed this extraordinary menu. The sago pasty, the artocarpus bread, some mangoes,
half a dozen pineapples, and the liquor fermented from some coconuts, overjoyed us. I even
think that my worthy companions' ideas had not all the plainness desirable.
"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this
evening?" said Conseil.
"Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land.
Just then a stone fell at our feet, and cut short the
harpooner's proposition.
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