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Home -> Jules Verne -> 20,000 Leagues under the Sea -> Chapter 13

20,000 Leagues under the Sea - Chapter 13

1. Part I Chapter 1

2. Chapter 2

3. Chapter 3

4. Chapter 4

5. Chapter 5

6. Chapter 6

7. Chapter 7

8. Chapter 8

9. Chapter 9

10. Chapter 10

11. Chapter 11

12. Chapter 12

13. Chapter 13

14. Chapter 14

15. Chapter 15

16. Chapter 16

17. Chapter 17

18. Chapter 18

19. Chapter 19

20. Chapter 20

21. Chapter 21

22. Chapter 22

23. Chapter 23

24. Part II Chapter 1

25. Chapter 2

26. Chapter 3

27. Chapter 4

28. Chapter 5

29. Chapter 6

30. Chapter 7

31. Chapter 8

32. Chapter 9

33. Chapter 10

34. Chapter 11

35. Chapter 12

36. Chapter 13

37. Chapter 14

38. Chapter 15

39. Chapter 16

40. Chapter 17

41. Chapter 18

42. Chapter 19

43. Chapter 20

44. Chapter 21

45. Chapter 22

46. Chapter 23







CHAPTER XIII

THE BLACK RIVER

The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by
water is estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres.
This fluid mass comprises two billions two hundred and fifty
millions of cubic miles, forming a spherical body of a diameter
of sixty leagues, the weight of which would be three quintillions
of tons. To comprehend the meaning of these figures,
it is necessary to observe that a quintillion is to a billion
as a billion is to unity; in other words, there are as many
billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.
This mass of fluid is equal to about the quantity of water
which would be discharged by all the rivers of the earth in
forty thousand years.

During the geological epochs the ocean originally prevailed everywhere.
Then by degrees, in the silurian period, the tops of the mountains began
to appear, the islands emerged, then disappeared in partial deluges,
reappeared, became settled, formed continents, till at length the earth
became geographically arranged, as we see in the present day.
The solid had wrested from the liquid thirty-seven million six hundred
and fifty-seven square miles, equal to twelve billions nine hundred
and sixty millions of acres.

The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five
great portions: the Arctic or Frozen Ocean, the Antarctic,
or Frozen Ocean, the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.

The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two
Polar Circles, and from east to west between Asia and America,
over an extent of 145 degrees of longitude. It is the quietest of seas;
its currents are broad and slow, it has medium tides, and abundant rain.
Such was the ocean that my fate destined me first to travel over under
these strange conditions.

"Sir," said Captain Nemo, "we will, if you please,
take our bearings and fix the starting-point of this voyage.
It is a quarter to twelve; I will go up again to the surface."

The Captain pressed an electric clock three times.
The pumps began to drive the water from the tanks; the needle
of the manometer marked by a different pressure the ascent
of the Nautilus, then it stopped.

"We have arrived," said the Captain.

I went to the central staircase which opened on to the platform,
clambered up the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part
of the Nautilus.

The platform was only three feet out of water. The front
and back of the Nautilus was of that spindle-shape which caused
it justly to be compared to a cigar. I noticed that its
iron plates, slightly overlaying each other, resembled the shell
which clothes the bodies of our large terrestrial reptiles.
It explained to me how natural it was, in spite of all glasses,
that this boat should have been taken for a marine animal.

Toward the middle of the platform the longboat, half buried
in the hull of the vessel, formed a slight excrescence.
Fore and aft rose two cages of medium height with inclined sides,
and partly closed by thick lenticular glasses; one destined for
the steersman who directed the Nautilus, the other containing a
brilliant lantern to give light on the road.

The sea was beautiful, the sky pure. Scarcely could
the long vehicle feel the broad undulations of the ocean.
A light breeze from the east rippled the surface of the waters.
The horizon, free from fog, made observation easy.
Nothing was in sight. Not a quicksand, not an island.
A vast desert.

Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude
of the sun, which ought also to give the latitude.
He waited for some moments till its disc touched the horizon.
Whilst taking observations not a muscle moved, the instrument
could not have been more motionless in a hand of marble.

"Twelve o'clock, sir," said he. "When you like----"

I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the Japanese coast,
and descended to the saloon.

"And now, sir, I leave you to your studies," added the Captain;
"our course is E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms.
Here are maps on a large scale by which you may follow it.
The saloon is at your disposal, and, with your permission,
I will retire." Captain Nemo bowed, and I remained alone,
lost in thoughts all bearing on the commander of the Nautilus.

For a whole hour was I deep in these reflections,
seeking to pierce this mystery so interesting to me.
Then my eyes fell upon the vast planisphere spread upon the table,
and I placed my finger on the very spot where the given latitude
and longitude crossed.

The sea has its large rivers like the continents. They are
special currents known by their temperature and their colour.
The most remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream.
Science has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents:
one in the North Atlantic, a second in the South, a third in the North
Pacific, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the Southern Indian Ocean.
It is even probable that a sixth current existed at one time or another
in the Northern Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Aral Seas formed but
one vast sheet of water.

At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents
was rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which,
leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular
rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast
of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands,
carrying with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions,
and edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.
It was this current that the Nautilus was to follow. I followed
it with my eye; saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific,
and felt myself drawn with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared at
the door of the saloon.

My two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders
spread before them.

"Where are we, where are we?" exclaimed the Canadian.
"In the museum at Quebec?"

"My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter,
"you are not in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards
below the level of the sea."

"But, M. Aronnax," said Ned Land, "can you tell me how many men
there are on board? Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred?"

"I cannot answer you, Mr. Land; it is better to abandon for a
time all idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it.
This ship is a masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be
sorry not to have seen it. Many people would accept the situation
forced upon us, if only to move amongst such wonders.
So be quiet and let us try and see what passes around us."

"See!" exclaimed the harpooner, "but we can see nothing in this iron prison!
We are walking--we are sailing--blindly."

Ned Land had scarcely pronounced these words when all was suddenly darkness.
The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes received
a painful impression.

We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited us,
whether agreeable or disagreeable. A sliding noise was heard:
one would have said that panels were working at the sides of the Nautilus.

"It is the end of the end!" said Ned Land.

Suddenly light broke at each side of the saloon, through two oblong openings.
The liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam. Two crystal
plates separated us from the sea. At first I trembled at the thought that
this frail partition might break, but strong bands of copper bound them,
giving an almost infinite power of resistance.

The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all round the Nautilus.
What a spectacle! What pen can describe it? Who could paint
the effects of the light through those transparent sheets of water,
and the softness of the successive gradations from the lower
to the superior strata of the ocean?

We know the transparency of the sea and that its clearness is far
beyond that of rock-water. The mineral and organic substances
which it holds in suspension heightens its transparency.
In certain parts of the ocean at the Antilles, under seventy-five
fathoms of water, can be seen with surprising clearness a bed
of sand. The penetrating power of the solar rays does not
seem to cease for a depth of one hundred and fifty fathoms.
But in this middle fluid travelled over by the Nautilus,
the electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves.
It was no longer luminous water, but liquid light.

On each side a window opened into this unexplored abyss.
The obscurity of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside,
and we looked out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of
an immense aquarium.

"You wished to see, friend Ned; well, you see now."

"Curious! curious!" muttered the Canadian, who, forgetting his
ill-temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction;
"and one would come further than this to admire such a sight!"

"Ah!" thought I to myself, "I understand the life of this man;
he has made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all
his greatest wonders."

For two whole hours an aquatic army escorted the Nautilus.
During their games, their bounds, while rivalling each other
in beauty, brightness, and velocity, I distinguished the green labre;
the banded mullet, marked by a double line of black; the round-tailed goby,
of a white colour, with violet spots on the back; the Japanese scombrus,
a beautiful mackerel of these seas, with a blue body and silvery head;
the brilliant azurors, whose name alone defies description;
some banded spares, with variegated fins of blue and yellow;
the woodcocks of the seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in length;
Japanese salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents six feet long,
with eyes small and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth;
with many other species.

Our imagination was kept at its height, interjections followed quickly
on each other. Ned named the fish, and Conseil classed them.
I was in ecstasies with the vivacity of their movements and the
beauty of their forms. Never had it been given to me to surprise
these animals, alive and at liberty, in their natural element.
I will not mention all the varieties which passed before my dazzled eyes,
all the collection of the seas of China and Japan. These fish,
more numerous than the birds of the air, came, attracted, no doubt,
by the brilliant focus of the electric light.

Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed again,
and the enchanting vision disappeared. But for a long time I dreamt on,
till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the partition.
The compass still showed the course to be E.N.E., the manometer
indicated a pressure of five atmospheres, equivalent to a depth
of twenty five fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of fifteen
miles an hour. I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear.
The clock marked the hour of five.

Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabin, and I retired to my chamber.
My dinner was ready. It was composed of turtle soup made of the
most delicate hawks bills, of a surmullet served with puff paste
(the liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious), and fillets
of the emperor-holocanthus, the savour of which seemed to me superior
even to salmon.

I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking.
Then sleep overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch
of zostera, and slept profoundly, whilst the Nautilus was gliding
rapidly through the current of the Black River.




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