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1NED LAND Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded. His vessel and he were one. He was the
2soul of it. On the question of the cetacean there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow the existence of the
3animal to be disputed on board. He believed in it, as certain good women believe in the leviathan--by faith, not by
4reason. The monster did exist, and he had sworn to rid the seas of it. He was a kind of Knight of Rhodes, a second
5Dieudonné de Gozon, going to meet the serpent which desolated the island. Either Captain Farragut would kill the
6narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the captain. There was no third course. The officers on board shared the opinion of
7their chief. They were ever chatting, discussing, and calculating the various chances of a meeting, watching narrowly
8the vast surface of the ocean. More than one took up his quarters voluntarily in the cross-trees, who would have cursed
9such a berth under any other circumstances. As long as the sun described its daily course, the rigging was crowded with
10sailors, whose feet were burnt to such an extent by the heat of the deck as to render it unbearable; still the Abraham
11Lincoln had not yet breasted the suspected waters of the Pacific. As to the ship's company, they desired nothing better
12than to meet the unicorn, to harpoon it, hoist it on board, and despatch it. They watched the sea with eager attention.
13Besides, Captain Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of two thousand dollars, set apart for whoever should first sight
14the monster, were he cabin-boy, common seaman, or officer. I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the Abraham
15Lincoln. For my own part I was not behind the others, and left to no one my share of daily observations. The frigate
16might have been called the Argus, for a hundred reasons. Only one amongst us, Conseil, seemed to protest by his
17indifference against the question which so interested us all, and seemed to be out of keeping with the general
18enthusiasm on board. I have said that Captain Farragut had carefully provided his ship with every apparatus for catching
19the gigantic cetacean. No whaler had ever been better armed. We possessed every known engine, from the harpoon thrown by
20the hand to the barbed arrows of the blunderbuss, and the explosive balls of the duck-gun. On the forecastle lay the
21perfection of a breech-loading gun, very thick at the breech, and very narrow in the bore, the model of which had been
22in the Exhibition of 1867. This precious weapon of American origin could throw with ease a conical projectile of nine
23pounds to a mean distance of ten miles. Thus the Abraham Lincoln wanted for no means of destruction; and, what was
24better still, she had on board Ned Land, the prince of harpooners. Ned Land was a Canadian, with an uncommon quickness
25of hand, and who knew no equal in his dangerous occupation. Skill, coolness, audacity, and cunning he possessed in a
26superior degree, and it must be a cunning whale or a singularly "cute" cachalot to escape the stroke of his harpoon. Ned
27Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man (more than six feet high), strongly built, grave and taciturn,
28occasionally violent, and very passionate when contradicted. His person attracted attention, but above all the boldness
29of his look, which gave a singular expression to his face. Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French; and, little
30communicative as Ned Land was, I must admit that he took a certain liking for me. My nationality drew him to me, no
31doubt. It was an opportunity for him to talk, and for me to hear, that old language of Rabelais, which is still in use
32in some Canadian provinces. The harpooner's family was originally from Quebec, and was already a tribe of hardy
33fishermen when this town belonged to France. Little by little, Ned Land acquired a taste for chatting, and I loved to
34hear the recital of his adventures in the polar seas. He related his fishing, and his combats, with natural poetry of
35expression; his recital took the form of an epic poem, and I seemed to be listening to a Canadian Homer singing the
36Iliad of the regions of the North. I am portraying this hardy companion as I really knew him. We are old friends now,
37united in that unchangeable friendship which is born and cemented amidst extreme dangers. Ah, brave Ned! I ask no more
38than to live a hundred years longer, that I may have more time to dwell the longer on your memory. Now, what was Ned
39Land's opinion upon the question of the marine monster? I must admit that he did not believe in the unicorn, and was the
40only one on board who did not share that universal conviction. He even avoided the subject, which I one day thought it
41my duty to press upon him. One magnificent evening, the 30th of July--that is to say, three weeks after our
42departure--the frigate was abreast of Cape Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia. We had crossed the
43tropic of Capricorn, and the Straits of Magellan opened less than seven hundred miles to the south. Before eight days
44were over the Abraham Lincoln would be ploughing the waters of the Pacific. Seated on the poop, Ned Land and I were
45chatting of one thing and another as we looked at this mysterious sea, whose great depths had up to this time been
46inaccessible to the eye of man. I naturally led up the conversation to the giant unicorn, and examined the various
47chances of success or failure of the expedition. But, seeing that Ned Land let me speak without saying too much himself,
48I pressed him more closely. "Well, Ned," said I, "is it possible that you are not convinced of the existence of this
49cetacean that we are following? Have you any particular reason for being so incredulous?" The harpooner looked at me
50fixedly for some moments before answering, struck his broad forehead with his hand (a habit of his), as if to collect
51himself, and said at last, "Perhaps I have, M. Aronnax." "But, Ned, you, a whaler by profession, familiarised with all
52the great marine mammalia--you, whose imagination might easily accept the hypothesis of enormous cetaceans, you ought to
53be the last to doubt under such circumstances!" "That is just what deceives you, Professor," replied Ned. "That the
54vulgar should believe in extraordinary comets traversing space, and in the existence of antediluvian monsters in the
55heart of the globe, may well be; but neither astronomer nor geologist believes in such chimeras. As a whaler I have
56followed many a cetacean, harpooned a great number, and killed several; but, however strong or well-armed they may have
57been, neither their tails nor their weapons would have been able even to scratch the iron plates of a steamer." "But,
58Ned, they tell of ships which the teeth of the narwhal have pierced through and through." "Wooden ships--that is
59possible," replied the Canadian, "but I have never seen it done; and, until further proof, I deny that whales,
60cetaceans, or sea-unicorns could ever produce the effect you describe." "Well, Ned, I repeat it with a conviction
61resting on the logic of facts. I believe in the existence of a mammal powerfully organised, belonging to the branch of
62vertebrata, like the whales, the cachalots, or the dolphins, and furnished with a horn of defence of great penetrating
63power." "Hum!" said the harpooner, shaking his head with the air of a man who would not be convinced. "Notice one thing,
64my worthy Canadian," I resumed. "If such an animal is in existence, if it inhabits the depths of the ocean, if it
65frequents the strata lying miles below the surface of the water, it must necessarily possess an organisation the
66strength of which would defy all comparison." "And why this powerful organisation?" demanded Ned.
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