 This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne. First Part. Chapter 14. The Black Current The part of the planet Earth that the seas occupy has been assessed at 3,832,558 square merimeters, hence more than 38 billion hectares. This liquid mass totals 2,250,000,000 cubic miles and could form a sphere with a diameter of 60 leagues, whose weight would be 3 quintillion metric tons. To appreciate such a number, we should remember that a quintillion is to a billion what a billion is to one. In other words, there are as many billions in a quintillion as ones in a billion. Now then, this liquid mass nearly equals the total amount of water that has poured through all the Earth's rivers for the past 40,000 years. During prehistoric times, an era of fire was followed by an era of water. At first, there was ocean everywhere. Then, during the Silurian period, the tops of mountains gradually appeared above the waves. Islands emerged, disappeared beneath temporary floods, rose again, refused to form continents. And finally the Earth's geography settled into what we have today. Solid matter had rested from liquid matter some 37,657,000 square miles, hence 12,916 million hectares. The outlines of the continents allow the seas to be divided into five major parts, the frozen Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean extends north to south between the two polar circles, and east to west between America and Asia, over an expanse of 145 degrees of longitude. It's the most tranquil of the seas. Its currents are wide and slow-moving. Its tides moderate. Its rainfall abundant. And this was the ocean that I was first destined to cross under these strangest of auspices. If you don't mind, Professor, Captain Nemo told me, we'll determine our exact position and fix the starting point of our voyage. It's 15 minutes before noon. I'm going to rise to the surface of the water. The captain pressed an electric bell three times. The pumps began to expel water from the ballast tanks. On the pressure gauge, a needle marked the decreasing pressures that indicated the nautilus' upward progress. Then the needle stopped. Here we are, the captain said. I made my way to the central companionway, which led to the platform. I climbed its metal steps, passed through the open hatches, and arrived topside on the nautilus. The platform emerged only 80 cm above the waves. The nautilus' bow and stern boasted that spindle-shaped outline that had caused the ship to be compared appropriately to a long cigar. I noted the slight overlap of its sheet-iron plates, which resembled the scales covering the bodies of our big land reptiles. So I had a perfectly natural explanation for why, despite the best spy-glasses, this boat had always been mistaken for a marine animal. Near the middle of the platform, the skiff was half-set in the ship's hull, making a slight bulge. Foreign aft stood two cupolas of moderate height, their sides slanting and partly inset with heavy bi-convex glass, one reserved for the helmsman steering the nautilus, the other for the brilliance of the powerful electric beacon lighting his way. The sea was magnificent, the skies clear. This long aquatic vehicle could barely feel the broad undulations of the ocean. A mild breeze out of the east rippled the surface of the water. Free of all mist, the horizon was ideal for taking sights. There was nothing to be seen, not a reef, not an islet, no more Abraham Lincoln, a deserted immenseness. Raising his sextant, Captain Nemo took the altitude of the sun, which would give him his latitude. He waited for a few minutes until the orb touched the rim of the horizon. While he was taking his sights, he didn't move a muscle, and the instrument couldn't have been steadier in hands made out of marble. Noon, he said. Professor, whenever you're ready. I took one last look at the sea, a little yellowish near the landing-places of Japan, and I went below again to the main lounge. There the captain fixed his position and used a chronometer to calculate his longitude, which he double-checked against his previous observations of our angles. Then he told me, Professor Aranax, we're in longitude 137°, 15 minutes west. West of which meridian, I asked quickly, hoping the captain's reply might give me a clue to his nationality. Sir, he answered me, I have chronometers variously set to the meridians of Paris, Greenwich, and Washington, D.C., but in your honour I'll use the one for Paris. This reply told me nothing. I bowed, and the commander went on. We're in longitude 137°, 15 minutes west of the meridian of Paris, and latitude 30°, 7 minutes north, in other words, about 300 miles from the shores of Japan. At noon on this day of November 8, we hereby begin our voyage of exploration under the waters. May God be with us, I replied. And to now, Professor, the captain added, I'll leave you to your intellectual pursuits. I've set our course east-north-east at the depth of 50 metres. Here are some large-scale charts in which you'll be able to follow that course. The lounge is at your disposal, and with your permission I'll take my leave. Captain Nemo bowed. I was left to myself, lost in my thoughts. They all centered on the Nautilus's commander. Would I ever learn the nationality of this eccentric man who had boasted of having none? His sworn hate for humanity, a hate that perhaps was bent on some dreadful revenge. What had provoked it? Was he one of those unappreciated scholars, one of those geniuses embittered by the world, as Consai expressed it, a latter-day Galileo, or maybe one of those men of science, like America's Commander Maori, whose careers were ruined by political revolutions? I couldn't say yet. As for me, whom fate had just brought aboard his vessel, whose life he had held in the balance, he had received me coolly, but hospitably. Only he never took the hand I extended to him. He never extended his own. For an entire hour I was deep in these musings, trying to probe this mystery that fascinated me so. Then my eyes focused on a huge world map displayed on the table, and I put my finger on the very spot where our just-determined longitude and latitude intersected. Like the continents, the sea has its rivers. These are exclusive currents that can be identified by their temperature and colour, the most remarkable being the one called the Gulf Stream. Science has defined the global paths of five chief currents, one in the North Atlantic, a second in the South Atlantic, a third in the North Pacific, a fourth in the South Pacific, and a fifth in the Southern Indian Ocean. Also it's likely that a sixth current used to exist in the Northern Indian Ocean when the Caspian and Aral seas joined up with certain large Asian lakes to form a single uniform expanse of water. Now then, at the spot indicated on the world map, one of these sea-going rivers was rolling by the Kuroshio of the Japanese, the Black Current, heated by perpendicular rays from the tropical sun, it leaves the Bay of Bengal, crosses the Strait of Malacca, goes up the shores of Asia, and curves into the North Pacific as far as the Aleutian Islands, carrying along trunks of campfire trees and other local items, the pure indigo of its warm waters sharply contrasting with the ocean's waves. It was this current the Nautilus was about to cross. I watched it on the map with my eyes, I saw it lose itself in the immenseness of the Pacific, and I felt myself swept along with it, when Nedland and Consa appeared in the lounge doorway. My two gallant companions stood petrified at the site of the wonders on display. Where are we, the Canadian exclaimed, in the Quebec Museum? Begging Masters pardon, Consa answered, but this seems more like the Somerard Artifacts Exhibition. My friends, I replied, signalling them to enter, here in neither Canada nor France, but securely aboard the Nautilus, 50 metres below sea level. If Master says so, then so be it, Consa, I answered. But in all honesty, this lounge is enough to astonish even someone Flemish like myself. Indulge your astonishment, my friend, and have a look, because there's plenty of work here for a classifier of your talents. Consa, you need to know encouraging. Bending over the glass cases, the gallant lad was already muttering choice words from the naturalist's vocabulary. Class, Gastropoda, family Bucanoidea, genus Kauri, species Cypria matagascariensis, etc. Meanwhile, Nedland, less dedicated to concollogy, questioned me about my interview with Captain Nemo. Had I discovered who he was, where he came from, where he was heading, how deep he was taking us? In short, a thousand questions I had no time to answer. I told him everything I knew, or rather, everything I didn't know, and I asked him what he had seen or heard on his part. I haven't seen or heard a thing, the Canadian replied. I haven't even spotted the crew of this boat. By any chance, could they be electric, too? Electric? Oh ye gods, I'm half tempted to believe it. But back to you, Professor Aranax, Nedland said, still hanging on to his ideas. Can't you tell me how many men are on board? Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred? I'm unable to answer you, Mr. Land, and trust me on this. For the time being, get rid of these notions of taking over the Nautilus or escaping from it. This boat is a masterpiece of modern technology, and I'd be sorry to have missed it. Many people would welcome the circumstances that have been handed us just to walk in the midst of these wonders. So keep calm, and let's see what's happening around us. See, the harpooner exclaimed, there's nothing to see. Nothing we'll ever see from the sheet-iron prison. We're simply running around blindfolded. Nedland was just pronouncing these last words when we were suddenly plunged into darkness, utter darkness. The ceiling lights went out so quickly my eyes literally ached, just as if we had experienced the opposite sensation of going from the deepest gloom to the brightest sunlight. We stood stock still, not knowing what surprise was waiting for us, whether pleasant or unpleasant. But a sliding sound became audible. You could tell that some panels were shifting over the Nautilus' sides. It's the beginning of the end, Nedland said. It's the beginning of the end of the Nautilus' border-hydromedusa, Kossai muttered. Suddenly, through two oblong openings, daylight appeared on both sides of the lounge. The liquid masses came into view, brightly lit by the ship's electric outpourings. We were separated from the sea by two panes of glass. Initially I shuddered at the thought that these fragile partitions could break, but strong copper bands secured them, giving them nearly infinite resistance. The sea was clearly visible for a one-mile radius around the Nautilus. What a sight! What pen could describe it? Who could portray the effects of this light through these translucent sheets of water, the subtlety of its progressive shadings into the ocean's upper and lower strata? The transparency of salt water has long been recognized. Its clarity is believed to exceed that of spring water. The mineral and organic substances it holds in suspension actually increase its translucency. In certain parts of the Caribbean Sea you can see the sandy bottom with startling distinctness as deep as 145 meters down, and the penetrating power of the sun's rays seems to give out only the depth of 300 meters. But in this fluid setting, traveled by the Nautilus, our electric glow was being generated in the very heart of the waves. It was no longer illuminated water, it was liquid light. If we accept the hypotheses of theologist Ehrenberg, who believes that these underwater depths are lit up by phosphorescent organisms, nature has certainly saved one of her most prodigious sights for residents of the sea, and I could judge for myself from the thousandfold play of the light. On both sides I had windows opening over these unexplored depths. The darkness in the lounge enhanced the brightness outside, and we stared as if this clear glass were the window of an immense aquarium. This was due to the lack of landmarks, but streaks of water, parted by the ship's spur, sometimes threaded before our eyes with extraordinary speed. In wonderment we leaned on our elbows before these show windows, and our stunned silence remained unbroken until Kossai said, You wanted something to see, Ned, my friend? Well, now you have something to see! How unusual, the Canadian put in, setting aside his tantrums and getaway schemes, while submitting to this irresistible allure. A man would go an even greater distance just to stare at such a sight. Aha! exclaimed, I see our captain's way of life. He's found himself a separate world that saves its most astonishing wonders just for him. But where are the fish, the Canadian ventured to observe? I don't see any fish. Why would you care, Ned, my friend, Kossai replied, since you have no knowledge of them? Me? a fisherman? Nedland exclaimed. They were friends, since both were knowledgeable about fish, but from totally different standpoints. Everyone knows that fish make up the fourth and last class in the vertebrate branch. They've been quite aptly defined as coal-blooded vertebrates with a double circulatory system breathing through gills and designed to live in water. They consist of two distinct series, the series of bony fish, in other words, those whose spines have vertebrate made of cartilage. Possibly the Canadian was familiar with this distinction, but Kossai knew far more about it, and since he and Ned were now fast friends, he just had to show off. So he told the harpooner, Ned, my friend, you're a slayer of fish, a highly skilled fisherman. You've caught a large number of these fascinating animals, but I'll bet you don't know how they're classified. Sure I do, the harpooner replied to us, they're classified into fish we eat and fish we don't eat. Spoken like a true glutton, Kossai replied, but tell me, are you familiar with the differences between bony fish and cartilaginous fish? Just maybe, Kossai. And how about the subdivisions of these two large classes? I have the foggiest notion, the Canadian replied. All right, listen and learn, Ned, my friend. Bony fish are subdivided into second-thopterigians, whose upper jaw is fully formed and free-moving, and whose gills take the shape of a comb. This order consists of fifteen families, in other words, three-quarters of all known fish, example, the common perch. Pretty fair-eating, Ned-land replied. Secundo, Kossai went on, the abdominals, whose pelvic fins hang under the abdomen to the rear of the pectorals, but are detached to the shoulder bone, which contains four families and makes up the great majority of freshwater fish, examples, carp, pike, ug, the Canadian put in with distinct scorn, you can keep the freshwater fish. Tershio, Kossai said, the sabracians, whose pelvic fins are attached under the pectorals and hang directly from the shoulder bone. This order contains four families, examples, flatfish such as sole, turbot, dab, excellent, really excellent, the harpooner exclaimed, interested in fish only from an edible viewpoint. Quarto, Kossai went on, unabashed, the apods, with long bodies that lack pelvic fins and are covered by heavy, often glutinous skin, an order consisting of only one family, examples, common eels and electric eels. So-so, just so-so, Ned-land replied. Quinto, Kossai said, this order includes only one family, examples, seahorses and dragonfish. Bad, very bad, the harpooner replied. Sexto and last, Kossai said, the plectignaths, whose maxillary bone is firmly attached to the side of the intermaxillary that forms the jaw and whose pallet arch is locked to the skull by sutures, that render the jaw immovable, an order lacking true pelvic fins and which consists of two families, examples, puffers and moonfish. They are an insult to a frying pan, the Canadian exclaimed. Are you grasping all this, Ned, my friend? asked the scholarly Kossai. Not a lick of it, Kossai, my friend, the harpooner replied. But keep going, because you fill me with fascination. As for cardilaginous fish, Kossai went on unflappably. They consist of only three orders. Good news, Ned put in. Primo, the cyclostomes, whose jaws are fused into a flexible ring and whose gill openings are simply a large number of holes, an order consisting of only one family, example, the lamprey. An acquired taste, Nedland replied. Secundo, the salacians, with gills resembling those of the cyclostomes, but whose lower jaw is free-moving. This order, which is the most important in the class, consists of two families, examples, the ray and the shark. What, Nedland exclaimed, rays and man-eaters in the same order? Well, Kossai, my friend, on behalf of the rays, I wouldn't advise you to put them in the same fish tank. Tercio, Kossai replied. The Sturionians, whose gill opening is the usual single slit adorned with a gill cover, are consisting of four genera, example, the sturgeon. Ah, Kossai, my friend, you saved the best for last, in my opinion anyhow. And that's all of them? Yes, my galante, Ned, Kossai replied. And note well, even when one has grasped all this, one still knows next to nothing, because these families are subdivided into genera, subgenera, species, varieties. All right, Kossai, my friend, the harpooner said, leaning toward the last panel, here comes a couple of your varieties now. Yes, fish, Kossai exclaimed. What would think he was in front of an aquarium? No, I replied, because an aquarium is nothing more than a cage, and these fish are as free as birds in the air. Well, Kossai, my friend, identify them, start naming them, Nedland exclaimed. Me, Kossai replied, I'm unable to, that's my employer's bailiwick. And in truth, although the fine lad was a classifying maniac, he was no naturalist. And I doubt that he could tell a bonito from a tuna. In short, he was the exact opposite of the Canadian, who knew nothing about classification, but could instantly put a name to any fish. A trigger fish, I said. It's a Chinese trigger fish, Nedland replied. Genus Belistes, family Scleroderma, order Plectonatha, Kossai muttered. Assuredly, Ned and Kossai in combination added up to one outstanding naturalist. The Canadian was not mistaken. Cavorting around the Nautilus was a school of trigger fish with flat bodies, grainy skins, armed with stings on their dorsal fins, and with four prickly rows of quills quivering on both sides of their tails. Nothing could have been more wonderful than the skin covering them, white underneath, grey above, with spots of gold sparkling in their leaves. Around them, rays were undulating like sheets flapping in the wind, and among these I spotted, much to my glee, a Chinese ray, yellowish on its top side, a dainty pink on its belly, and armed with three stings behind its eyes, a rare species whose very existence was still doubted in Lacôde's day, since that pioneering classifier fish had seen one only in a portfolio of Japanese drawings. For hours a whole aquatic army escorted the Nautilus. In the midst of their leaping and cavorting, while they competed with each other in beauty, radiance, and speed, I could distinguish some green wrasse, be whiskered mullet, marked with pairs of black lines, white gobies from the genus Eleotris, with curved coddle fins and violet spots on the back, wonderful Japanese mackerel from the genus Skomber, with blue bodies and silver heads, goldfish, whose name by itself gives their full description. Several varieties of porgy, or gilthead, some banded gilthead with fins variously blue and yellow, some with horizontal heraldic bars, and enhanced by a black strip around the coddle area, some with color zones and elegantly corseted in their six waist bands, trumpetfish with flute-like beaks that looked like genuine seafaring woodcocks, and were sometimes a meter long. Japanese salamanders, serpentine moire eels from the genus Akidna that were six feet long with their sharp little eyes and a huge mouth bristling with teeth, etc. Our wonderment stayed in an all-time fever pitch. Our exclamations were endless. Ned identified the fish, Kansai classified them, and as for me, I was an ecstasy over the verve of their movements and the beauty of their forms. Never before had I been given the chance of seeing animals alive and at large in their native element. Given such a complete collection from the seas of Japan and China, I won't mention every variety that passed before our dazzled eyes. More numerous than birds in the air, these fish raced right up to us, no doubt attracted by the brilliant glow of our electric beacon. Suddenly daylight appeared in the lounge. The sheet-iron panels slid shut. The magical vision disappeared. But for a good while I kept dreaming away until the moment my eyes focused on the instruments hanging on the wall. The compass still showed our heading as east-north-east. The pressure gauge indicated a pressure of five atmospheres, corresponding to a depth of fifty meters, and the electric log gave our speed as fifteen miles per hour. I waited for Captain Nemo, but he didn't appear. The clock marked the hour of five. Ned Land and Kansai returned to their cabin. As for me, I repaired to my state-room. There I found dinner ready for me. It consisted of turtle soup made from the daintiest hawks-bill, a red mullet with white, slightly flaky flesh, whose liver, when separately prepared, makes delicious eating, plus loin of imperial angel-fish whose flavor struck me as even better than salmon. I spent the evening in reading, writing, and thinking. Then drowsiness struck me. I stretched out on my eel-grass mattress, and I fell into a deep slumber while the nautilus glided through the swiftly flowing black currant. End of Chapter 14 This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org Recorded by Keiron Mooney Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Translated from the original French by F.P. Walter Chapter 15 An Invitation in Writing The next day, November 9, I woke up only after a long twelve-hour slumber. Conceal, a creature of habit, came to ask how Master's night went, and to offer his services. He had left his Canadian friend sleeping like a man who had never done anything else. He was glad babble as he pleased, without giving him much in the way of reply. I was concerned about Captain Nemo's absence during our session the previous afternoon, and I hope to see him again today. Soon I put on my clothes, which were woven from strands of seashell tissue. More than once, their composition provoked comments from Conceal. I informed him that they were made from the smooth, silken filaments with which the fan muscle, attached itself to rocks. In olden times, fine fabrics, stockings and gloves were made from such filaments, because they were both very soft and very warm. So the Nautiluses crew could dress themselves at little cost without needing a thing from cotton growers, sheep or silkworms on shore. As soon as I was dressed, I made my way to the main lounge. It was deserted. I dove into studying the concoilogical treasures amassed by the glass cases. I also investigated the huge plant alums that were filled with the rarest marine herbs, which although they were pressed and dried, still kept their wonderful colours. Among these valuable water plants, I noted various seaweed, some cladostepus verticillatus, peacocks tail, figleaf callorpa, grain bearing beauty bushes, delicate rose tangle tinted scarlet, sea colander arranged into fan shapes, mermaid cups that looked like the caps of squat mushrooms, and if the years had been classified among the zoo fights, in short, a complete series of algae. The entire day passed without my being honoured by a visit from Captain Nemo. The panels in the lounge didn't open. Perhaps they didn't want us to get tired of these beautiful things. The Nautilus kept to an northeasterly heading, a speed of 12 miles per hour and 50 and 60 metres. Next day, November 10th, the same neglect, the same solitude. I didn't see a soul from the crew. Ned and Conceal spent the better part of the day with me. They were astonished at the Captain's inexplicable absence. Was this eccentric man ill? Did he want to change his plans concerning us? But after all, as Conceal noted, we enjoyed complete freedom. We were daintily and abundantly fed. Our host had kept to the terms of his agreement. We couldn't complain and, moreover, the very uniqueness of our situation had such generous rewards in store for us. We had no grounds for criticism. The day I started my diary of these adventures, which has enabled me to innovate them with the most scrupulous accuracy and one odd detail, I wrote it on paper manufactured from Marine eelgrass. Early in the morning on November 11, fresh air poured through the nautiluses interior informing me that we had returned to the surface of the ocean to renew our oxygen supply. I headed for the central companion way and climbed onto the platform. It was six o'clock. I found the weather overcast, the sea grey but calm, hardly a billow. I hoped to encounter Captain Nemo there. Would he come? I saw only the helmsman imprisoned in his glass window to pilot house, seated on the ledge furnished by the hull of the skiff. I inhaled the sea's salty aroma with great pleasure. Little by little, the mists were dispersed under the action of the sun's rays. The radiant orb cleared the eastern horizon. Under its gaze, the sea caught on fire like a trail of gunpowder. Scattered on high, the clouds were coloured in bright, wonderfully shaded hues and numerous ladyfingers warned of day-long winds. But what were mere winds to this nautilus, which no storms could intimidate? So I was marvelling at this delightful sunrise, so life-giving and cheerful when I heard someone climbing onto the platform. I was prepared to greet Captain Nemo, but it was his chief officer who appeared, whom I had already met during our first visit with the captain. He advanced over the platform, not seeming to notice my presence. A powerful spyglass to his eye, he scrutinised every point of the horizon with the utmost care. Then, his examination over, he approached the hatch and pronounced a phrase whose exact wording follows below. I remember it because every morning it was repeated under the same circumstances. It ran like this. Nautron respock lawny verge. What it meant I was unable to say. These words pronounced, the chief officer went below again. I thought the nautilus was about to resume its underwater navigating, so I went down the hatch and back through the gangways to my state room. Five days passed in this way with no change in our situation. Every morning I climbed onto the platform. The same phrase was pronounced by the same individual Captain Nemo did not appear. I was pursuing the policy that we had seen the last of him. When on November 16, while re-entering my state room with Ned and Conceal, I found a note addressed to me on the table. I opened it impatiently. It was written in a script that was clear and neat, but a bit old English in style. Its characters reminded me of German calligraphy. The note was worded as follows Professor Aranax aboard the Nautilus, November 16, 1867. Captain Nemo invites Professor Aranax on a hunting trip that will take place tomorrow morning in his Crespo Island forests. He hopes nothing will prevent the professor from attending, and he looks forward with the pleasure to the professor's companions joining him. Captain Nemo commander of the Nautilus a hunting trip, Ned exclaimed, and in his forest on Crespo Island, Conceal added, but does this mean the old boy goes ashore? Ned land went on. That seems to be the gist of it, I said, rereading the letter. Well, we've got to accept it, a Canadian answered. Once we're on solid ground we'll figure out a course of action. Besides, it wouldn't pain me to eat a couple slices of fresh venison. Without trying to reconcile the contradictions between Captain Nemo's professed horror of continents or islands, and his invitation to go hunting in a forest, I was content to reply. First let's look into this Crespo Island. I consulted the world map, and in latitude 32 degrees, 40 minutes north, and longitude 167 degrees, 50 minutes west. I found an islet that had been discovered in 1801 by Captain Crespo, which old Spanish charts called Rocca de la Plata, in other words Silver Rock. So we were about 1,800 miles from our starting point, and by a slight change of heading the Nautilus was bringing us back towards the southeast. I showed my companions this small stray rock in the middle of the North Pacific. If Captain Nemo does sometimes go ashore I told them, at least he only picks desert islands, Ned land shook his head without a reply then he and Conceal left me. After supper was served me by the mute emotionless steward I fell asleep, but not without some anxieties. When I woke up the next day, November 17 I sensed that the Nautilus was completely motionless. I dressed hurriedly and entered the main lounge. Captain Nemo was there waiting for me. He stood up, bowed, and asked if it suited me to come along. Since he had made no illusion to his absence the past 8 days I also refrained from mentioning it and I simply answered that my companions and I were ready to go with him. Only sir I added I will take the liberty of addressing a question to you. Address away Professor Aronax, and if I am able to answer I will. Well then Captain, how is it that you severed all ties with the shore itch you own forests on Crespo Island? Professor, the captain answered me, these forests of mine don't bask in the heat and light of the sun. They aren't frequented by lions, tigers, panthers, or other quadrupeds. They're known only to me. They grow only for me. These forests aren't on land. They're actual underwater forests. Underwater forests I exclaimed yes Professor and you're offering to take me to them precisely, on foot without getting your feet wet. While hunting while hunting rifles in hand I stared at the nautilus's commander with an air of anything but flattering to the man. Assuredly I said to myself he's contracted some mental illness he's had a fit that's lasted eight days and isn't even over yet. What a shame. I liked him better eccentric than insane. These thoughts were clearly readable on my face but Captain Nemo remained content with inviting me to follow him and I did so like a man resigned to the worst. We arrived at the dining room where we found breakfast served. Professor Aranax the captain told me I beg you to share my breakfast without formality. We can chat while we eat because although I promised you were strong in my forests I may no pledge to arrange for your encountering a restaurant there. Accordingly each your breakfast like a man who will probably eat dinner only when it's extremely late. I did justice to this meal. It was made up of various fish that praiseworthy zoo fight all garnished with such highly appetizing seaweed as the porphyra macinata and the Lorencia prima fetida. Our beverage consisted of some clear water to which following the captain's example I added some drops of a fermented liquor extracted by the Kamchatka process from the seaweed known by the name as Rodinomania Palamata. At first Captain Nemo ate without pronouncing a single word then he told me, Professor when I propose that you go hunting in my prespo forests you thought I was contradicting myself. When I informed you that it was an issue of underwater forests you thought I'd got insane. Professor you must never make snap judgments about your fellow man but captain believe me kindly listen to me and you'll see if you have grounds for accusing me of insanity or self-contradiction. I'm all attention. Professor you know as well as I do that a man can live underwater so long as he carries with him his own supply of breathable air. For underwater work projects the workman wears a waterproof suit with his head imprisoned in a metal capsule while he receives air from above by means of force pumps and flow regulators. That's the standard equipment for a diving suit I said. Correct but under such circumstances the man has no freedom. He's attached to a pump that sends him air through an India rubber hose. It's an actual chain that fetters him to the shore and if we were to be bound in this way to the Nautilus we couldn't go far either. Then how do you break free? I asked. We used the Rao Quero Deneruge device invented by two of your fellow countrymen but refined by me for my own special uses thereby enabling you to risk these new physiological conditions without suffering any organic disorders. It consists of a tank built from heavy sheet iron in which I saw air under a pressure of 50 atmospheres. This tank is fastened to the back by means of straps like a soldier's knapsack. Its top part forms a box where the air is regulated by a bellows mechanism and can be released only at its proper tension. In the Rao Quero device that has been in general use two India rubber hoses leave this and feed to a kind of tent that imprisons the operator's nose and mouth. One hose is for the entrance of air to be inhaled, the other for the exit of air to be exhaled and the tongue closes off the former or the latter depending on the breather's needs. But in my case since I face considerable pressures at the bottom of the sea I needed to enclose my head in a copper sphere like those found on standard diving suits. And the two hoses for inhalation and exhalation feed to that sphere. That's perfect Captain Nemo but the air you carry must be quickly depleted and once it contains no more than 15% oxygen it becomes unfit for breathing. Surely but as I which as I told you Professor Aranax the Nautilus's pumps enable me to store air under considerable pressure and given this circumstance the tank on my diving equipment can supply breathable air for 9 to 10 hours. I have no more objections to rays I replied. I'll only ask you Captain how can you light your way at the bottom of the ocean? With the room core device Professor Aranax. If the first is carried on the back the second is fastened to the belt. It consists of a Bunsen battery that I activate not with potassium dichromate but with sodium. An induction coil gathers the electricity generated and directs it to a specially designed lantern. In this lantern one finds a glass spiral that contains only a residue of carbon dioxide gas. When the device is operating this gas becomes luminous and gives off a continuous whitish light thus provided for I breathe and I see. Captain Nemo to my every objection you give such crushing answers I'm afraid to entertain a single doubt. However though I have no choice but to accept both the roll quay roll devices I'd like to register some reservations about the rifle with which you'll equip me. But it isn't a rifle that uses gunpowder Captain replied. Then it's an air gun. Surely how can I make gunpowder on my ship when I have no salt peater sulphur or charcoal? Even so I replied. To fire under water in a medium that's 855 times denser than air you'd have to overcome considerable resistance. This doesn't necessarily follow there are certain Fulton style guns perfected by the Englishman Philippe Coles and Burley, the Frenchman Fursi and the Italian Landy they're equipped with a special system of airtight fastenings and can fire in under water conditions but I repeat I have no gunpowder I've replaced it with air at high pressure which is abundantly supplied me by the Nautilus's pumps. But this air must be swiftly depleted. Well in a pinch can't my Raquay roll tank supply me with more all I have to do is draw it from an ad hoc spigot. Besides Professor Aranax you'll see for yourself that during these underwater hunting trips we make no great expenditure of either air or bullets but it seems to me that in this semi-darkness amid this liquid that's so dense in comparison to the atmosphere a gunshot couldn't carry far and would prove fatal only with difficulty. On the contrary sir with this rifle every shot is fatal and as soon as the animal is hit no matter how lightly it falls as if struck by lightning Why? Because this rifle doesn't shoot ordinary bullets but little glass capsules invented by the Austrian chemist Lenny Broek and I have a considerable supply of them these glass capsules are covered with a strip of steel and weighted with a lead base they are genuine little laden jars charged with high voltage electricity they go off at the slightest impact on the animal no matter how strong drops dead I might add that these capsules are no bigger than a number 4 shot and the chamber of any ordinary rifle could hold 10 of them I'll quit debating I replied getting up from the table and all that's left is for me to shoulder my rifle so where you go I'll go Captain Nemo led me to the Nautilus's stern passing by Ned and Conceal's cabin I summoned my two companions who instantly followed us then we arrived at a cell located within easy access of the engine room in this cell we were to get dressed for our stroll End of Chapter 15 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne First Part Chapter 16 Strolling the Plains This cell, properly speaking was the Nautilus's arsenal and wardrobe hanging from its walls a dozen diving outfits were waiting for anybody who wanted to take a stroll After seeing these Nedland exhibited an obvious distaste for the idea of setting one on But my gallant Ned, I told him the forests of Crespo Island are simply underwater forests Oh, great! put in the disappointed Harpooner, watching his dreams of fresh meat fade away And you, Professor Aranax are you going to stick yourself inside these clothes? It has to be, Mr. Ned Have it your way, sir the Harpooner replied struggling his shoulders But speaking for myself I'll never get into those things unless they force me No one will force you, Mr. Land Captain Nemo said And is Konseya going to risk it? Ned asked Where master goes, I go Konseya replied At the captain's summons two crewmen came to help us put on these heavy, waterproof clothes made from seamless India rubber and expressly designed to bear considerable pressures They were like suits of armor that were both yielding and resistant you might say These clothes consisted of jacket and pants The pants ended in bulky footwear adorned with heavy lead soles The fabric of the jacket was reinforced with copper mail that shielded the chest protected it from the water's pressure and allowed the lungs to function freely The sleeves ended in supple gloves that didn't impede hand movements These perfected diving suits It was easy to see where a far cry from such misshapened costumes as the cork breastplates leather jumpers seagoing tunics barrel helmets, etc. invented and acclaimed in the 18th century Konseya and I were soon dressed in these diving suits as were Captain Nemo and one of his companions an air-culane type who must have been prodigiously strong All that remained was to encase one's head in its metal sphere But before proceeding with this operation I asked the captain for permission to examine the rifles set aside for us One of the Nautilus's men presented me with a streamlined rifle whose butt was boiler-plate steel hollow inside and of fairly large dimensions This served as a tank for the compressed air which a trigger-operated valve could release into the metal chamber In a groove where the butt was heaviest a cartridge clip held some 20 electric bullets that, by means of a spring automatically took their places in the barrel of the rifle As soon as one shot had been fired another was ready to go off Captain Nemo Captain Nemo, I said This is an ideal, easy to use weapon I asked only to put it to the test But how will we reach the bottom of the sea? Right now, Professor the Nautilus is a ground in 10 meters of water and we've only to depart But how will we set out? You'll see Captain Nemo inserted his cranium into its spherical headgear and I did the same But not without hearing the Canadian toss us a sarcastic Happy hunting! On top, the suit ended in a collar of threaded copper onto which the metal helmet was screwed Three holes, protected by heavy glass allowed us to see in any direction with simply a turn of the head inside the sphere Placed on our backs the roll-cray roll device as soon as it was in position and for my part I could breathe with ease The rum-core flamp hanging from my belt, my rifle in hand I was ready to go forth But in all honesty while imprisoned in these heavy clothes and nailed to the deck by my lead souls it was impossible for me to take a single step But this circumstance had been foreseen because I felt myself compelled into a little room adjoining the wardrobe Toed in the same way my companions went with me I heard a door with watertight seals closed after us and we were surrounded by profound darkness After some minutes a sharp hissing reached my ears I felt a distinct sensation of cold rising from my feet to my chest Apparently a stopcock was letting in water from outside which overran us and soon filled up the room Contrived in the nautilus' side a second door then opened We were lit by subdued light An instant later our feet were treading the bottom of the sea And now how can I convey the impressions left on me by this stroll under the waters Words are powerless to describe such wonders When even the painter's brush can't depict the effects unique to the liquid element How can the writer's pen hope to reproduce them Captain Nemo walked in front and his companion followed us a few steps to the rear Kinseya and I stayed next to each other As if daydreaming that through our metal carapaces a little polite conversation might still be possible Already I no longer felt the bookiness of my clothes footwear and air-tank nor the weight of the heavy sphere inside which my head was rattling like an almond in its shell Once immersed in water all these objects lost a part of their weight equal to the weight of the liquid they displaced and thanks to this law of physics discovered by our comedies I did just fine I was no longer an inert mass and I had comparatively speaking great freedom of movement Lighting up the sea floor even thirty feet beneath the surface of the ocean the sun astonished me with its power The solar rays easily crossed this aqueous mass and dispersed its dark colors I could easily distinguish objects a hundred meters away farther on the bottom was tinted with fine shades of ultramarine then often the distance it turned blue and faded in the midst of a hazy darkness Truly this water surrounding me was just a kind of air denser than the atmosphere on land but almost as transparent Above me I could see the calm surface of the ocean We were walking on sand that was fine grained and smooth not wrinkled like beach sand which preserves the impressions left by the waves This dazzling carpet was a real mirror throwing back the sun's rays with startling intensity The outcome an immense vista of reflections that penetrated every liquid molecule Will anyone believe me if I assert that at this thirty foot depth I could see as if it was broad daylight For a quarter of an hour I trod this blazing sand which was strewn with tiny crumbs of seashell looming like a long reef the nautilus's hull disappeared little by little but when night fell in the midst of the waters the ship's beacon would surely facilitate our return on board since its rays carried with perfect distinctness This effect is difficult to understand for anyone who has never seen light beams so sharply defined on shore There the dust that saturates the air gives such rays the appearance of a luminous fog but above water as well as underwater shafts of electric light are transmitted with incomparable clarity Meanwhile we went ever onward and these vast plains of sand seemed endless My hands parted liquid curtains that closed again behind me and my footprints faded swiftly under the water's pressure Soon, scarcely blurred by their distance from us the forms of some objects took shape before my eyes I recognized the lower slopes of some magnificent rocks carpeted by the finest zoo fight specimens and right off I was struck by an effect unique to this medium By then it was ten o'clock in the morning the sun's rays hit the surface of the waves at a fairly oblique angle decomposing by refraction as though passing through a prism and when this light came in contact with flowers, rocks, buds seashells and polyps the edges of these objects were shaded with all seven hues of the solar spectrum This riot of rainbow tints was a wonder a feast for the eyes a genuine kaleidoscope of red, green, yellow orange, violet, indigo and blue In short, the whole palette of a color-happy painter If only I had been able to share with Konsea the intense sensations rising in my brain competing with him in exclamations of wonderment that I had known, like Captain Nemo and his companion how to exchange thoughts by means of prearranged signals So for lack of anything better I talked to myself I declaimed inside this copper box that topped my head spending more air on empty words than was perhaps advisable Konsea, like me had stopped before this splendid sight Obviously in the presence of these zoophyte and mollusk specimens the fine lad was classifying his head off polyps and echinoderms abounded on the sea floor Various Isis coral Cornularian coral living in isolation Tufts of virginal genus oculina, formerly known by the name White Coral Prickly fungus coral shape of mushrooms sea anemone holding on by their muscular discs providing a literal flower bed adorned by jellyfish from the genus Porpita wearing collars of azure tentacles and starfish that spangled the sand including vein-like feather stars from the genus Asterphyton that were like fine lace embroidered by the hands of water-nymphs a stone swaying to the faint undulations caused by our walking It filled me with real chagrin to crush underfoot the gleaming mollusk samples that littered the sea floor by the thousands Concentric comb shells hammer shells Kokina seashells that actually hop around top shell snails red helmet shells angel wing conks sea hairs and the other exhibits from this inexhaustible ocean But we had to keep walking and we went forward while overhead there scutted schools of Portuguese men of war that let their ultramarine tentacles drift in their wakes Medusas, whose milky white or dainty pink parasols were festooned with azure tassels and shaded us from the sun's rays Plus jellyfish of the species Pelagia panopira that in the dark would have strewn our path with phosphorescent glimmers All these wonders I glimpsed in the space of a quarter of a mile barely pausing following Captain Nemo whose gestures kept beckoning me onward Soon the nature of the sea floor changed The planes of sand were followed by a bed of that viscous slime Americans call ooze which is composed exclusively of seashells rich in limestone or silica Then we crossed a prairie of algae open sea plants that the waters hadn't yet torn loose whose vegetation grew in wild profusion Soft to the foot these densely textured lawns would have rivaled the most luxuriant carpets woven by the hand of the man But while this greenery was sprawling under our steps it didn't neglect us overhead The surface of the water was crisscrossed by a floating arbor of marine plants belonging to that superabundant algae family that numbers more than 2,000 known species I saw long ribbons of fukus drifting above me some globular others tubular ansia cladostephas with the slenderest foliage radamenia palmatta resembling the fan shapes of cactus I observed that green colored plants kept closer to the surface of the sea while reds occupied a medium depth which left blacks and browns in charge of designing gardens and flower beds in the ocean's lower strata These algae are a genuine prodigy of creation one of the wonders of world flora This family produces both the biggest and smallest vegetables in the world because just as 40,000 near invisible buds have been counted in one 5 square millimeter space so also have fukus plants been gathered that were over 500 meters long We had been gone from the Nautilus about an hour and a half It was almost noon I spotted this fact in the perpendicularity of the sun's rays which were no longer refracted The magic of these solar colors disappeared little by little with emerald and sapphire shades vanishing from our surroundings all together We walked with steady steps that rang on the sea floor with astonishing intensity The sounds were transmitted with a speed to which the ear is unaccustomed on shore In fact, water is a better conductor of sound than air and under the waves noises carry four times as fast Just then the sea floor began to slope sharply downward The light took on a uniform hue We reached a depth of 100 meters by which point we were undergoing 10 atmospheres But my diving clothes were built along such lines that I never suffered from this pressure I felt only a certain tightness in the joints of my fingers and even this discomfort soon disappeared As for the exhaustion bound to accompany a two-hour stroll in such unfamiliar trappings it was nil helped by the water My movements were executed with startling ease Arriving at this 300 foot depth I still detected the sun's rays but just barely Their intense brilliance had been followed by reddish twilight a midpoint between day and night But we could see well enough to find our way and it still wasn't necessary to activate the rum-corp device Just then Captain Nemo stopped He waited until I joined him Then he pointed a finger at some dark masses outlined in the shadows a short distance away It's the forest of Crespo Island I thought and I was not mistaken End of Chapter 16 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Twenty thousand leagues under the seas by Jules Verne First part Chapter 17 An underwater forest We had finally arrived on the outskirts of this forest surely one of the finest in Captain Nemo's immense domains He regarded it as his own and had laid the same claim to it that in the first days of the world the first men had to their forests to land Besides, who else could dispute his ownership of this underwater property What other bolder pioneer would come axe in hand to clear way its dark underbrush This forest was made up of big tree-like plants and when we entered beneath their huge arches my eyes were instantly struck by the unique arrangement of their branches an arrangement that I had never before encountered None of the weeds carpeting the sea floor None of the branches bristling from the shrubbery crept or leaned or stretched on a horizontal plane They all rose right up towards the surface of the ocean Every filament or ribbon no matter how thin stood ramrod straight Fuchus plants and creepers were growing in stiff perpendicular lines governed by the density of the element that generated them After I parted them with my hands these otherwise motionless plants would shoot right back to their original positions It was the regime of verticality I soon grew accustomed to this bizarre arrangement likewise to the comparative darkness surrounding us The sea floor in this forest was strewn with sharp chunks of stone that were hard to avoid Here the range of underwater flora seemed pretty comprehensive to me as well as more abundant than it might have been in the arctic or tropical zones where such exhibits are less common But for a few minutes I kept accidentally confusing the two kingdoms mistaken zoofights for water plants animals for vegetables and who hasn't made the same blunder flora and fauna are so closely associated in the underwater world I observed that all these exhibits from the vegetable kingdom were attached to the sea floor by only the most makeshift methods They had no roots and didn't care what solid objects secured them sand, shells, husks, or pebbles They didn't ask their hosts for sustenance just a point of purchase These plants are entirely self-propagating because of their existence lies in the water that sustains and nourishes them In place of leaves most of them sprouted blades of unpredictable shape which were confined to a narrow gamut of colors consisting only of pink crimson green, olive, tan, and brown There I saw again but not yet pressed and dried like the Nautilus specimens some peacock tails spread open like fans to stir up a cooling breeze scarlet rose-tangle sea-tangled stretching out their young and edible shoots twisting strings of kelp from the genus naryocytus that bloomed to a height of 15 meters bouquets of mermaid cups whose stems grew wider at the top and a number of other open sea plants all without flowers It's an odd anomaly in this bizarre element as one witty naturalist put it the animal kingdom blossoms and the vegetable kingdom doesn't These various types of shrubbery were as big as trees in the temperate zones in the damp shade between them there were clustered actual bushes of moving flowers hedges of zoo-fights in which there grew stony coral striped with twisting furrows yellowish sea anemone from the genus cariophilia with translucent tentacles plus anemone with grassy tufts from the genus zoantharia and to complete the illusion minnows flitted from branch to branch like a swarm of hummingbirds while there rose underfoot like a covey of snipe yellowfish from the genus lapisocanthus with bristling jaws and sharp scales flying gunards fish near one o'clock captain Nemo gave the signal to halt speaking for myself I was glad to oblige and we stretched out beneath an arbor of winged kelp whose long thin tendrils stood up like arrows this short break was a delight it lacked only the charm of conversation but it was impossible to speak impossible to reply I simply nudged my big copper headpiece against Konseya's headpiece I saw a happy gleam in the gallant lad's eyes and to communicate his pleasure he jiggled around inside his carapace in the world's silliest way after four hours of strolling I was quite astonished not to feel any intense hunger what kept my stomach in such a good mood I'm unable to say in exchange I experienced that irresistible desire for sleep that comes over every diver accordingly my eyes soon closed behind their heavy glass windows and I fell into an uncontrollable doze which until then I had been able to fight off only through the movements of our walking captain Nemo and his muscular companion were already stretched out in this clear crystal a fine nap time example how long I was sunk in this torpor I cannot estimate but when I awoke it seemed as if the sun were settling towards the horizon captain Nemo was already up and I had started to stretch my limbs when an unexpected apparition brought me sharply to my feet a few paces away a monstrous meter high sea spider was staring at me with beady eyes poised to spring at me although my diving suit was heavy enough to protect me from this animal's bites I couldn't keep back a shutter of horror just then Konseya woke up together with the Nautilus's sailor captain Nemo alerted his companion to this hideous crustacean which a swing of the rifle butt quickly brought down and I watched the monster's horrible legs writhing in dreadful convulsions this encounter reminded me that other more daunting animals must be lurking in these dark reaches and my diving suit might not be adequate protection against their attacks such thoughts hadn't previously crossed my mind and I was determined to keep on my guard meanwhile I had assumed this rest period would be the turning point in our stroll but I was mistaken and instead of heading back to the Nautilus captain Nemo continued his daring excursion the sea floor kept sinking and its significantly steeper slope took us to greater depths it must have been nearly three o'clock when we reached a narrow valley gouged between high vertical walls and located a hundred fifty meters down thanks to the perfection of our equipment we had thus gone ninety meters below the limit that nature had until then set on man's underwater excursions I say a hundred fifty meters although I had no instruments for estimating this distance but I knew that the sun's rays even in the clearest seas could reach no deeper so at precisely this point the darkness became profound not a single object was visible past ten paces consequently I had begun to grope my way when suddenly I saw the glow of an intense white light captain Nemo had just activated his electric device his companion did likewise Konseya and I followed suit by turning a switch I established contact between the induction coil and the glass spiral and the sea lit up by our four lanterns was illuminated for a radius of twenty five meters captain Nemo continued to plummet into the dark depths of this forest whose shrubbery grew ever more sparse I observed that vegetable life was disappearing more quickly than animal life the open sea plants had already left behind the increasingly arid sea floor where a prodigious number of animals were still swarming zoofights, articulates mollusks and fish while we were walking I thought the lights of our rum-corp devices would automatically attract some inhabitants of these dark strata but if they did approach us at least they kept at a distance regrettable from the hunter's standpoint several times I saw captain Nemo stop and take aim with his rifle then after sighting down its barrel for a few seconds he would straighten up and resume his walk finally at around four o'clock this marvelous excursion came to an end a wall of superb rocks stood before us imposing in its sheer mass a pile of gigantic stone blocks an enormous granite cliffside pitted with dark caves but not offering a single gradient we could climb up this was the underpinning of Crespo Island this was land the captain stopped suddenly a gesture from him brought us to a halt and however much I wanted to clear this wall I had to stop here ended the domains of captain Nemo he had no desire to pass beyond them farther on lay a part of the globe he would no longer tread underfoot our return journey began captain Nemo resumed the lead in our little band always heading forward without hesitation I noted that we didn't follow the same path in returning to the Nautilus this new route very steep and hence very arduous quickly took us close to the surface of the sea but this return to the upper strata wasn't so sudden that decompression took place too quickly which could have led to serious organic disorders and given us those internal injuries so fatal to divers with great promptness the light reappeared and grew stronger and the refraction of the sun already low on the horizon again ringed the edges of various objects with the entire color spectrum at a depth of ten meters we walked amid a swarm of small fish from every species more numerous than birds in the air more agile too but no aquatic game worthy of a gunshot had yet been offered to our eyes just then I saw the captain's weapon spring to his shoulder and track a moving object through the bushes a shot went off I heard a faint hissing and an animal dropped a few paces away literally struck by lightning it was a magnificent sea otter from the genus and Hydra the only exclusively marine quadruped one and a half meters long this otter had to be worth a good high price its coat just not brown above and silver below would have made one of those wonderful fur pieces so much in demand in the Russian and Chinese markets the fineness and luster of its pelt guaranteed that it would go for at least two thousand francs I was full of wonderment at this unusual mammal with its circular head adorned by short ears its round eyes its white whiskers like those on a cat its webbed and clawed feet its bushy tail hunted and trapped by fishermen this valuable carnivore has become extremely rare and it takes refuge chiefly in the northernmost parts of the Pacific where in all likelihood its species will soon be facing extinction Captain Nemo's companion picked up the animal loaded it on his shoulder and he took to the trail again for an hour planes of sand unrolled before our steps often the sea floor rose to within two meters of the surface of the water I could then see our images clearly mirrored on the underside of the waves but reflected upside down above us there appeared an identical band that duplicated our every movement and gesture in short a perfect likeness to the quartet near which it walked but with heads down and feet in the air another unusual effect heavy clouds passed above us forming and fading swiftly but after thinking it over I realized that these so called clouds were caused simply by the changing densities of the long ground swells and I even spotted the foaming white caps that their breaking crests were proliferating over the surface of the water lastly I couldn't help seeing the actual shadows of large birds passing over our heads swiftly skimming the surface of the sea on this occasion I witnessed one of the finest gunshots ever to thrill the marrow of a hunter a large bird with wide wingspan quite clearly visible approached and hovered over us when it was just a few meters above the waves Captain Nemo's companion took aim and fired the animal dropped, electrocuted and its descent brought it within reach of our adroit hunter who promptly took possession of it it was an albatross of the finest species a wonderful specimen of these open sea fowl this incident did not interrupt our walk for two hours we were sometimes led over planes of sand sometimes over prairies of seaweed that were quite arduous to cross in all honesty, I was dead tired by the time I spotted a hazy glow half a mile away cutting through the darkness of the waters it was the Nautilus's beacon within twenty minutes we would be on board and there I could breathe easy again because my tank's current air supply seemed to be quite low in oxygen but I was reckoning without an encounter that we'd likely delayed our arrival I was lagging behind some twenty paces when I saw Captain Nemo suddenly come back towards me with his powerful hands he sent me buckling to the ground while his companion did the same to Conseia at first I didn't know what to make of this sudden assault but I was reassured to observe the captain lying motionless beside me I was stretched out on the sea floor directly beneath some bushes of algae when I raised my head and spied two enormous masses hurtling by throwing off phosphorescent glimmers my blood turned cold in my veins I saw that we were under threat from a fearsome pair of sharks they were blue sharks dreadful man-eaters with enormous tails, dull glassy stairs and phosphorescent matter oozing from holes around their snouts they were like monstrous fireflies that could thoroughly pulverize a man in their iron jaws I don't know if Conseia was busy with their classification but as for me I looked at their silver bellies their fearsome mouths bristling with teeth from a viewpoint less than scientific more as a victim than as a professor of natural history luckily these voracious animals have poor eyesight they went by without noticing us grazing us with their brownish fins and miraculously we escaped a danger greater than encountering a tiger deep in the jungle half an hour later guided by its electric trail we reached the Nautilus the outside door had been left open and Captain Nemo closed it after we re-entered the first cell then he pressed a button I heard pumps operating within the ship I felt the water lowering around me and in a few moments the cell was completely empty the inside door opened and we passed into the wardrobe there our diving suits were removed not without difficulty and utterly exhausted faint from lack of food and rest I repaired to my stateroom full of wonder at this startling excursion on the bottom of the sea this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org by the next morning November 18th I was fully recovered from my exhaustion of the day before and I climbed onto the platform just as the Nautilus's chief officer was pronouncing his daily phrase it then occurred to me that these words either referred to the state of the sea or that they meant there's nothing in sight and in truth the ocean was deserted not a sail on the horizon the tips of Crespo Island had disappeared during the night the color of the prism except its blue rays reflected the ladder in every direction and sported a wonderful indigo tint the undulating waves regularly took on the appearance of watered silk with wide stripes I was marveling at this magnificent ocean view when Captain Nemo appeared he didn't seem to notice my presence and began a series of astronomical observations then his operations finished he went and leaned his elbows on the beacon housing over the surface of the ocean meanwhile some twenty of the Nautilus's sailors all energetic well built fellows climbed onto the platform they had come to pull up the nets left in our wake during the night these sea men obviously belonged to different nationalities although indications of European physical traits could be seen in all of them if I'm not mistaken I recognize some Irish men, some French men a few Slavs and a native of either Greece even so these men were frugal of speech and used among themselves only that bizarre dialect whose origin I couldn't even guess so I had to give up any notions of questioning them the nets were hauled on board they were a breed of trawl resembling those used off the Normandy coast huge pouches held half open by a floating pole and a chain laced through the lower meshes trailing in this way from these iron glove makers the resulting receptacles scoured the ocean floor and collected every marine exhibit in their path that day they gathered up some unusual specimens from these fish filled waterways angler fish whose comical movements qualified them for the epithet clowns black commerson anglers equipped with their antennas undulating trigger fish encircled by little red bands bloated puffers whose venom is extremely insidious some olive-huled lampreys sniped fish covered with silver scales cutless fish whose electrocuting power equals that of the electric eel and electric ray scaly featherbacks with brown crosswise bands greenish codfish several varieties of gobi etc finally some fish of larger proportions a one meter jack with a prominent head several fine bonito from the genus scomber decked out in the colors blue and silver and three magnificent tuna whose high speeds couldn't save them from our trawl I estimate that this cast of the net brought in more than one thousand pounds of fish it was a fine catch but not surprising in essence these nets stayed in our wake for several hours incarcerating an entire aquatic world in prisons made of thread so we were never lacking in provisions of the highest quality which the nautiluses speed and the allure of its electric lights would continually replenish these various exhibits from the sea were immediately lowered down the hatch in the direction of the storage lockers even fresh, others to be preserved after its fishing was finished and its air supply renewed I thought the nautilus would resume its underwater excursion and I was getting ready to return to my state room when Captain Nemo turned to me and said without further preamble look at this ocean professor doesn't it have the actual gift of life doesn't it experience both anger and affection last evening it went to sleep just as we did and there it is waking up after a peaceful night no hello's or good mornings for this gent you would have thought this eccentric individual was simply continuing a conversation we'd already started see he went on it's waking up under the sun's creses it's going to relive its daily existence what a fascinating field of study lies in watching the play of its organism it owns a pulse and an arteries it has spasms and I sighed with the scholarly Commander Maury who discovered that it has a circulation as real as a circulation of blood and animals I'm sure that Captain Nemo expected no replies from me and it seemed pointless to pitch in with ah yes exactly or how right you are rather he was simply talking to himself with long pauses between sentences he was meditating out loud yes he said the ocean owns a genuine circulation and to start it going the creator of all things has only to increase its heat salt and microscopic animal life in essence he creates the different densities that lead to currents and countercurrents evaporation which is nil in the high arctic regions and very active in the equatorial zones brings about a constant interchange of tropical and polar waters what's more I've detected those falling and rising currents that make up the ocean's true breathing I've seen a molecule of salt water heat up at the surface sink into the depths reach maximum density at negative 2 degrees centigrade then cool off grow lighter and rise again at the poles you'll see the consequences of this phenomenon and through this law of far-seeing nature you'll understand why water can freeze only at the surface as the captain was finishing his sentence I said to myself the pole is this brazen individual claiming he'll take us even to that location meanwhile the captain fell silent and stared at the element he had studied so thoroughly and unceasingly then going on salts he said fill the sea it's a considerable quantity and if you removed all its dissolved saline content you'd create a mass measuring 4,500,000 cubic leeds which if it were spread all over the globe would form a layer more than 10 meters high and don't think that the presence of these salts is due merely to some whim of nature no they make ocean water less open to evaporation and prevent winds from carrying off excessive amounts of steam which when condensing temperate zones salts play a leading role the role of stabilizer for the general ecology of the globe captain Nemo stopped, straightened up took a few steps along the platform and returned to me as for those billions of tiny animals he went on those in furseria that lived by the millions in one droplet of water 800,000 of which are needed to weigh 1 milligram their role is no less important they absorb the marine salts annihilate the solid elements in the water and they create coral and modropores they're the true builders of limestone continents and so after they finish depriving our water drop of its mineral nutrients the droplet gets lighter, rises to the surface there absorbs more salts left behind through evaporation gets heavier, sinks again and brings those tiny animals new elements to absorb the outcome a double current rising and falling constant movement, constant life more intense than on land more abundant, more infinite such life blooms in every part of this ocean an element fatal to man they say but vital to my ridds of animals and to me when captain Nemo spoke in this way he was transfigured and he filled me with the extraordinary excitement there he added, out there lies true existence and I can imagine the founding of nautical towns clusters of underwater households that like the nautilus would return to the surface of the sea to breathe each morning free towns if ever there were independent cities then again who knows whether some tyrant captain Nemo finished his sentence with a vehement gesture then addressing me directly as if to drive away an ugly thought Professor Alnox he asked me do you know the depth of the ocean floor at least captain I know what the major soundings tell us could you quote them to me so I could double check them as the need arises here I replied are a few of them that stick if I'm not mistaken an average depth of 8200 meters was found in the north Atlantic and 2500 meters in the Mediterranean the most remarkable soundings were taken in the south Atlantic near the 35th parallel and they gave 12,000 meters 14,091 meters and 15,149 meters all in all it's estimated that if the sea bottom were made level its average depth would be about 7 kilometers Professor Captain Nemo replied we'll show you better than that I hope as for the average depth of this part of the Pacific inform you that it's a mere 4000 meters this said Captain Nemo headed to the hatch and disappeared down the ladder I followed him and went back to the main lounge the propeller was instantly set in motion and the log gave our speed as 20 miles per hour over the ensuing days and weeks Captain Nemo was very frugal with his visits I saw him only at rare intervals his chief officer regularly fixed the positions I found reported on the chart and in such a way I could exactly plot the Nautiluses course Conceal and land spent the long hours with me Conceal had told his friend about the wonders of our undersea stroll and the Canadian was sorry he hadn't gone along but I hoped an opportunity would arise for a visit to the forest of Oceana almost every day the panels in the lounge were open for some hours and our eyes never tired of probing the mysteries of the underwater world the Nautiluses general heading was southeast and it stayed at a depth between 100 and 150 meters however from Lord knows what Wim one day it did a diagonal drive by means of its slanting fins reaching strata located 2000 meters underwater the thermometer indicated a temperature of 4.25 degrees centigrade which at this depth seemed to be a temperature common to all latitudes on November 26 at three o'clock in the morning the Nautilus cleared the tropic of cancer at longitude 172 degrees on the 27th it passed inside of the Hawaiian islands where the famous Captain Cook met his death on February 14th 1779 by then we had fared 4,860 leagues from our starting point when I arrived on the platform that morning I saw the island of Hawaii two miles to the leeward the largest of the seven islands in this group I could clearly distinguish the tilled soil on its outskirts the various mountain chains running parallel with its coastline and its volcanoes crowned by monarchy whose elevation is 5000 meters above sea level among other specimens from these waterways our nets brought up some peacock tailed flabella and coral polyps flattened into stylish shapes and unique to this part of the ocean the Nautilus kept to its southeast on december 1st it cut the equator at longitude 142 degrees and on the 4th of the same month after a quick crossing marked by no incident we raised the Marquias islands three miles off in latitude 8 degrees 57 minutes south and longitude 139 degrees 32 minutes west I spotted Martin Point on Nuka Hiva chief member of this island group that belongs to France I could make out only its wooden mountains on the horizon because Captain Nemo hated to hug shore there our nets brought up some fine fish samples dolphin fish with azura fins, gold tails and flesh that's unrivaled in the entire world rafts from the genus Hologmonus that were nearly denuded of scales but exquisite in flavor knife jaws with bony beaks yellowish albacore that were as tasty as bonito all fish worthy classifying on the ship's pantry after leaving these delightful islands for the protection of the French flag the Nautilus covered about 2,000 miles from December 4th to the 11th its navigating was marked by an encounter with an immense school of squid unusual mollusks that are near neighbors of the cuttlefish French fishermen gave them the name cuckoldfish and they belonged to the class cephalopada family dibranciata consisting of themselves together with cuttlefish and argonauts the naturalists of this antiquity did a special study of them and these animals furnished many reballed figures of speech for soapbox orators in the Greek marketplaces as well as excellent dishes for the tables of rich citizens if were to believe Athenas, a Greek physician predating Galen it was during the night of December 9th through 10th that the Nautilus encountered this army of distinctly nocturnal mollusks they numbered in the millions they were migrating from the temperate zones towards zones still warmer following the itineraries of herring and sardines we stared at them through our thick glass windows they swam backwards with tremendous speed moving by means of their locomotive tubes chasing fish and mollusks eating the little ones, eating by the big ones and tossing in the indescribable confusion of the 10 feet that nature has rooted in their heads like a hairpiece of nomadic snakes despite its speed the Nautilus navigated for several hours in the midst of this school of animals and its net brought up an incalculable number among which I recognized all nine species that Professor Orbgeny has classified as native to the Pacific Ocean during this crossing the sea continually lavished us with the most marvelous sights its variety was infinite it changed its settings and decor for the mere pleasure of our eyes and we were called upon not simply to contemplate the works of our creator and the mists of the liquid element of our histories during the day of December 11th I was busy reading in the main lounge Nedland and Concile were observing the luminous waters through the gaping panels the Nautilus was motionless its ballast tanks full it was sitting at a depth of 1,000 meters in a comparatively unpopulated region of the ocean where only larger fish put in occasional appearances just then I was studying a delightful book by Jean Massé the servants of the stomach and savoring its ingenious teachings when Concile interrupted my reading would master kindly come here for an instant he said to me in an odd voice what is it Concile? it's something the master should see I stood up, went, leaned on my elbows before the window and I saw it in broad electric daylight an enormous black mass quite motionless hung suspended in the mists of the waters I observed it carefully trying to find out the nature of this gigantic satition then a sudden thought passed my mind a ship I exclaimed yes the Canadian replied a disabled craft that's sinking straight down Nedland was not mistaken we were in the presence of a ship whose severed shroud still hung from their clasps its hull looked in good condition and must have gone under only a few hours before the stumps of three mass chopped off two feet above the deck indicated a flooding ship that had been forced to sacrifice its masting but it healed sideways completely and it was listing to the port even yet a sorry sight this carcass lost under the waves but sorry your still was a sight on its deck where, lashed with ropes to vent their being washed overboard some human corpses still lay I counted four of them four men, one still standing at the helm then a woman, half way out of a skylight on the after deck holding a child in her arms this woman was young under the brilliant lighting of the Nautilus's rays we can make out our features which water hadn't yet decomposed with the supreme effort she had lifted her child above her head and the poor little creatures arms were still twined around its mother's neck the postures of the four seamen seemed ghastly to me twisted from convulsive moments as if making a last effort to break loose from the ropes to bound them to their ship and the helmsman standing alone calmer, his face smooth and serious his grizzled hair plastered to his brow seemed even yet to be guiding his wrecked three masters through the ocean depths what a scene we still had dumbstrucked hearts pounding before the shipwreck caught in the act as if it had already been photographed in its final moments so to speak and already I could see enormous sharks moving in, eyes ablaze drawn by the lure of human flesh meanwhile turning the Nautilus made a circle around the sinking ship and for an instance I could read the board on its stern The Florida Sunderland, England End of Chapter 18