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1THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late: the fatigues of the previous night had
2prolonged my sleep until eleven o'clock. I dressed quickly, and hastened to find the course the Nautilus was taking. The
3instruments showed it to be still toward the south, with a speed of twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoms.
4The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already noticed. There were rays of giant size, five yards
5long, and endowed with great muscular strength, which enabled them to shoot above the waves; sharks of many kinds;
6amongst others, one fifteen feet long, with triangular sharp teeth, and whose transparency rendered it almost invisible
7in the water. Amongst bony fish Conseil noticed some about three yards long, armed at the upper jaw with a piercing
8sword; other bright-coloured creatures, known in the time of Aristotle by the name of the sea-dragon, which are
9dangerous to capture on account of the spikes on their back. About four o'clock, the soil, generally composed of a thick
10mud mixed with petrified wood, changed by degrees, and it became more stony, and seemed strewn with conglomerate and
11pieces of basalt, with a sprinkling of lava. I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long plains; and
12accordingly, after a few evolutions of the Nautilus, I saw the southerly horizon blocked by a high wall which seemed to
13close all exit. Its summit evidently passed the level of the ocean. It must be a continent, or at least an island--one
14of the Canaries, or of the Cape Verde Islands. The bearings not being yet taken, perhaps designedly, I was ignorant of
15our exact position. In any case, such a wall seemed to me to mark the limits of that Atlantis, of which we had in
16reality passed over only the smallest part. Much longer should I have remained at the window admiring the beauties of
17sea and sky, but the panels closed. At this moment the Nautilus arrived at the side of this high, perpendicular wall.
18What it would do, I could not guess. I returned to my room; it no longer moved. I laid myself down with the full
19intention of waking after a few hours' sleep; but it was eight o'clock the next day when I entered the saloon. I looked
20at the manometer. It told me that the Nautilus was floating on the surface of the ocean. Besides, I heard steps on the
21platform. I went to the panel. It was open; but, instead of broad daylight, as I expected, I was surrounded by profound
22darkness. Where were we? Was I mistaken? Was it still night? No; not a star was shining and night has not that utter
23darkness. [Illustration] The Nautilus was floating near a mountain I knew not what to think, when a voice near me said:
24"Is that you, Professor?" "Ah! Captain," I answered, "where are we?" "Underground, sir." "Underground!" I exclaimed.
25"And the Nautilus floating still?" "It always floats." "But I do not understand." "Wait a few minutes, our lantern will
26be lit, and, if you like light places, you will be satisfied." I stood on the platform and waited. The darkness was so
27complete that I could not even see Captain Nemo; but, looking to the zenith, exactly above my head, I seemed to catch an
28undecided gleam, a kind of twilight filling a circular hole. At this instant the lantern was lit, and its vividness
29dispelled the faint light. I closed my dazzled eyes for an instant, and then looked again. The Nautilus was stationary,
30floating near a mountain which formed a sort of quay. The lake, then, supporting it was a lake imprisoned by a circle of
31walls, measuring two miles in diameter and six in circumference. Its level (the manometer showed) could only be the same
32as the outside level, for there must necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea. The high partitions,
33leaning forward on their base, grew into a vaulted roof bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned upside down, the
34height being about five or six hundred yards. At the summit was a circular orifice, by which I had caught the slight
35gleam of light, evidently daylight. "Where are we?" I asked. "In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of
36which has been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth. Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the
37Nautilus penetrated to this lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards beneath the surface of the ocean.
38This is its harbour of refuge, a sure, commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from all gales. Show me, if you can, on
39the coasts of any of your continents or islands, a road which can give such perfect refuge from all storms."
40"Certainly," I replied, "you are in safety here, Captain Nemo. Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano? But did I
41not see an opening at its summit?" "Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames, and which now gives
42entrance to the life-giving air we breathe." "But what is this volcanic mountain?" "It belongs to one of the numerous
43islands with which this sea is strewn--to vessels a simple sandbank--to us an immense cavern. Chance led me to discover
44it, and chance served me well." "But of what use is this refuge, Captain? The Nautilus wants no port." "No, sir; but it
45wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal to make the electricity--sodium to feed the elements, coal from
46which to get the sodium, and a coal-mine to supply the coal. And exactly on this spot the sea covers entire forests
47embedded during the geological periods, now mineralised and transformed into coal; for me they are an inexhaustible
48mine." "Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?" "Exactly so. These mines extend under the waves like
49the mines of Newcastle. Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand, my men extract the coal, which I do
50not even ask from the mines of the earth. When I burn this combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the smoke,
51escaping from the crater of the mountain, gives it the appearance of a still-active volcano." "And we shall see your
52companions at work?" "No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue our submarine tour of the earth. So I
53shall content myself with drawing from the reserve of sodium I already possess. The time for loading is one day only,
54and we continue our voyage. So, if you wish to go over the cavern and make the round of the lagoon, you must take
55advantage of to-day, M. Aronnax." I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not yet left their
56cabin. I invited them to follow me without saying where we were. They mounted the platform. Conseil, who was astonished
57at nothing, seemed to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake under a mountain, after having fallen asleep
58under the waves. But Ned Land thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit. After breakfast, about ten
59o'clock, we went down on to the mountain. "Here we are, once more on land," said Conseil. "I do not call this land,"
60said the Canadian. "And besides, we are not on it, but beneath it." Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of
61the lake lay a sandy shore which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet. On this soil one might easily
62make the tour of the lake. But the base of the high partitions was stony ground, with volcanic blocks and enormous
63pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps. All these detached masses, covered with enamel, polished by the action of the
64subterraneous fires, shone resplendent by the light of our electric lantern. The mica dust from the shore, rising under
65our feet, flew like a cloud of sparks. The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon arrived at long circuitous slopes, or
66inclined planes, which took us higher by degrees; but we were obliged to walk carefully among these conglomerates, bound
67by no cement, the feet slipping on the glassy crystal, felspar, and quartz. The volcanic nature of this enormous
68excavation was confirmed on all sides, and I pointed it out to my companions. "Picture to yourselves," said I, "what
69this crater must have been when filled with boiling lava, and when the level of the incandescent liquid rose to the
70orifice of the mountain, as though melted on the top of a hot plate." "I can picture it perfectly," said Conseil. "But,
71sir, will you tell me why the Great Architect has suspended operations, and how it is that the furnace is replaced by
72the quiet waters of the lake?"
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