A Walk On The Bottom Of The Sea
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PART ONE
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the
Nautilus. A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition waiting
our use.
Ned Land, on seeing them, showed evident repugnance to dress himself in
one.
"But, my worthy Ned, the forests of the Island of Crespo are nothing
but submarine forests."
"Good!" said the disappointed harpooner, who saw hi
dreams of fresh
meat fade away. "And you, M. Aronnax, are you going to dress yourself
in those clothes?"
"There is no alternative, Master Ned."
"As you please, sir," replied the harpooner, shrugging his shoulders;
"but, as for me, unless I am forced, I will never get into one."
"No one will force you, Master Ned," said Captain Nemo.
"Is Conseil going to risk it?" asked Ned.
"I follow my master wherever he goes," replied Conseil.
At the Captain's call two of the ship's crew came to help us dress in
these heavy and impervious clothes, made of india-rubber without seam,
and constructed expressly to resist considerable pressure. One would
have thought it a suit of armour, both supple and resisting. This suit
formed trousers and waistcoat. The trousers were finished off with
thick boots, weighted with heavy leaden soles. The texture of the
waistcoat was held together by bands of copper, which crossed the
chest, protecting it from the great pressure of the water, and leaving
the lungs free to act; the sleeves ended in gloves, which in no way
restrained the movement of the hands. There was a vast difference
noticeable between these consummate apparatuses and the old cork
breastplates, jackets, and other contrivances in vogue during the
eighteenth century.
Captain Nemo and one of his companions (a sort of Hercules, who must
have possessed great strength), Conseil and myself were soon enveloped
in the dresses. There remained nothing more to be done but to enclose
our heads in the metal box. But, before proceeding to this operation,
I asked the Captain's permission to examine the guns.
One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which,
made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large. It served as a
reservoir for compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring,
allowed to escape into a metal tube. A box of projectiles in a groove
in the thickness of the butt end contained about twenty of these
electric balls, which, by means of a spring, were forced into the
barrel of the gun. As soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.
"Captain Nemo," said I, "this arm is perfect, and easily handled: I
only ask to be allowed to try it. But how shall we gain the bottom of
the sea?"
"At this moment, Professor, the Nautilus is stranded in five fathoms,
and we have nothing to do but to start."
"But how shall we get off?"
"You shall see."
Captain Nemo thrust his head into the helmet, Conseil and I did the
same, not without hearing an ironical "Good sport!" from the Canadian.
The upper part of our dress terminated in a copper collar upon which
was screwed the metal helmet. Three holes, protected by thick glass,
allowed us to see in all directions, by simply turning our head in the
interior of the head-dress. As soon as it was in position, the
Rouquayrol apparatus on our backs began to act; and, for my part, I
could breathe with ease.
With the Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, and the gun in my hand, I
was ready to set out. But to speak the truth, imprisoned in these
heavy garments, and glued to the deck by my leaden soles, it was
impossible for me to take a step.
But this state of things was provided for. I felt myself being pushed
into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe room. My companions
followed, towed along in the same way. I heard a water-tight door,
furnished with stopper plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in
profound darkness.
After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard. I felt the cold mount
from my feet to my chest. Evidently from some part of the vessel they
had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading
us, and with which the room was soon filled. A second door cut in the
side of the Nautilus then opened. We saw a faint light. In another
instant our feet trod the bottom of the sea.
And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
under the waters? Words are impotent to relate such wonders! Captain
Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind.
Conseil and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words had
been possible through our metallic cases. I no longer felt the weight
of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir of air, or my thick
helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond in its
shell.
The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the
ocean, astonished me by its power. The solar rays shone through the
watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly
distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.
Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine, and
faded into vague obscurity. Truly this water which surrounded me was
but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere, but almost as
transparent. Above me was the calm surface of the sea. We were
walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore, which
retains the impression of the billows. This dazzling carpet, really a
reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity, which
accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid.
Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet, I
could see as if I was in broad daylight?
For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
dust of shells. The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake
us in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible. I
recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the
most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect
of this medium.
It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their
light, decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks,
plants, shells, and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar
colours. It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of
coloured tints, a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange,
violet, indigo, and blue; in one word, the whole palette of an
enthusiastic colourist! Why could I not communicate to Conseil the
lively sensations which were mounting to my brain, and rival him in
expressions of admiration? For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his
companion might be able to exchange thoughts by means of signs
previously agreed upon. So, for want of better, I talked to myself; I
declaimed in the copper box which covered my head, thereby expending
more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi, and
anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom. It
was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens
of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammerheads,
donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases, and red
helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this
inexhaustible ocean. But we were bound to walk, so we went on, whilst
above our heads waved medusae whose umbrellas of opal or rose-pink,
escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from the rays of the sun
and fiery pelagiae, which, in the darkness, would have strewn our path
with phosphorescent light.
All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely
stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs.
Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an
extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze," composed of equal
parts of silicious and calcareous shells. We then travelled over a
plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation. This sward was of
close texture, and soft to the feet, and rivalled the softest carpet
woven by the hand of man. But whilst verdure was spread at our feet,
it did not abandon our heads. A light network of marine plants, of
that inexhaustible family of seaweeds of which more than two thousand
kinds are known, grew on the surface of the water.
I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea, whilst
the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black or brown the care
of forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half. It was near
noon; I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays, which were no
longer refracted. The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the
shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced. We walked with a regular
step, which rang upon the ground with astonishing intensity; the
slightest noise was transmitted with a quickness to which the ear is
unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water is a better conductor of sound
than air, in the ratio of four to one. At this period the earth sloped
downwards; the light took a uniform tint. We were at a depth of a
hundred and five yards and twenty inches, undergoing a pressure of six
atmospheres.
At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to
their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
state between day and night; but we could still see well enough; it was
not necessary to resort to the Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet. At this
moment Captain Nemo stopped; he waited till I joined him, and then
pointed to an obscure mass, looming in the shadow, at a short distance.
"It is the forest of the Island of Crespo," thought I; and I was not
mistaken.