The Black River

: PART ONE
: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

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

billio 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.