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1THE SOUTH POLE I rushed on to the platform. Yes! the open sea, with but a few scattered pieces of ice and moving
2icebergs--a long stretch of sea; a world of birds in the air, and myriads of fishes under those waters, which varied
3from intense blue to olive green, according to the bottom. The thermometer marked 3° C. above zero. It was comparatively
4spring, shut up as we were behind this iceberg, whose lengthened mass was dimly seen on our northern horizon. "Are we at
5the pole?" I asked the Captain, with a beating heart. "I do not know," he replied. "At noon I will take our bearings."
6"But will the sun show himself through this fog?" said I, looking at the leaden sky. "However little it shows, it will
7be enough," replied the Captain. About ten miles south a solitary island rose to a height of one hundred and four yards.
8We made for it, but carefully, for the sea might be strewn with banks. One hour afterwards we had reached it, two hours
9later we had made the round of it. It measured four or five miles in circumference. A narrow canal separated it from a
10considerable stretch of land, perhaps a continent, for we could not see its limits. The existence of this land seemed to
11give some colour to Maury's theory. The ingenious American has remarked that, between the South Pole and the sixtieth
12parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice of enormous size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic. From
13this fact he has drawn the conclusion that the Antarctic Circle encloses considerable continents, as icebergs cannot
14form in open sea, but only on the coasts. According to these calculations, the mass of ice surrounding the southern pole
15forms a vast cap, the circumference of which must be, at least, 2,500 miles. But the Nautilus, for fear of running
16aground, had stopped about three cable-lengths from a strand over which reared a superb heap of rocks. The boat was
17launched; the Captain, two of his men, bearing instruments, Conseil, and myself were in it. It was ten in the morning. I
18had not seen Ned Land. Doubtless the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of the South Pole. A few strokes of the
19oar brought us to the sand, where we ran ashore. Conseil was going to jump on to the land, when I held him back. "Sir,"
20said I to Captain Nemo, "to you belongs the honour of first setting foot on this land." "Yes, sir," said the Captain,
21"and if I do not hesitate to tread this South Pole, it is because, up to this time, no human being has left a trace
22there." Saying this, he jumped lightly on to the sand. His heart beat with emotion. He climbed a rock, sloping to a
23little promontory, and there, with his arms crossed, mute and motionless, and with an eager look, he seemed to take
24possession of these southern regions. After five minutes passed in this ecstasy, he turned to us. "When you like, sir."
25I landed, followed by Conseil, leaving the two men in the boat. For a long way the soil was composed of a reddish sandy
26stone, something like crushed brick, scoriae, streams of lava, and pumice-stones. One could not mistake its volcanic
27origin. In some parts, slight curls of smoke emitted a sulphurous smell, proving that the internal fires had lost
28nothing of their expansive powers, though, having climbed a high acclivity, I could see no volcano for a radius of
29several miles. We know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found two craters, the Erebus and Terror, in full
30activity, on the 167th meridian, latitude 77° 32′. The vegetation of this desolate continent seemed to me much
31restricted. Some lichens lay upon the black rocks; some microscopic plants, rudimentary diatomas, a kind of cells placed
32between two quartz shells; long purple and scarlet weed, supported on little swimming bladders, which the breaking of
33the waves brought to the shore. These constituted the meagre flora of this region. The shore was strewn with molluscs,
34little mussels, and limpets. I also saw myriads of northern clios, one-and-a-quarter inches long, of which a whale would
35swallow a whole world at a mouthful; and some perfect sea-butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts of the shore.
36There appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs, of the kind which, according to James Ross, live in the Antarctic
37seas to the depth of more than 1,000 yards. Then there were little kingfishers and starfish studding the soil. But where
38life abounded most was in the air. There thousands of birds fluttered and flew of all kinds, deafening us with their
39cries; others crowded the rock, looking at us as we passed by without fear, and pressing familiarly close by our feet.
40There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward as they are on the ground; they were uttering harsh cries,
41a large assembly, sober in gesture, but extravagant in clamour. Albatrosses passed in the air, the expanse of their
42wings being at least four yards and a half, and justly called the vultures of the ocean; some gigantic petrels, and some
43damiers, a kind of small duck, the underpart of whose body is black and white; then there were a whole series of
44petrels, some whitish, with brown-bordered wings, others blue, peculiar to the Antarctic seas, and so oily, as I told
45Conseil, that the inhabitants of the Ferroe Islands had nothing to do before lighting them but to put a wick in. "A
46little more," said Conseil, "and they would be perfect lamps! After that, we cannot expect Nature to have previously
47furnished them with wicks!" About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with ruffs' nests, a sort of
48laying-ground, out of which many birds were issuing. Captain Nemo had some hundreds hunted. They uttered a cry like the
49braying of an ass, were about the size of a goose, slate-colour on the body, white beneath, with a yellow line round
50their throats; they allowed themselves to be killed with a stone, never trying to escape. But the fog did not lift, and
51at eleven the sun had not yet shown itself. Its absence made me uneasy. Without it no observations were possible. How,
52then, could we decide whether we had reached the pole? When I rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of
53rock, silently watching the sky. He seemed impatient and vexed. But what was to be done? This rash and powerful man
54could not command the sun as he did the sea. Noon arrived without the orb of day showing itself for an instant. We could
55not even tell its position behind the curtain of fog; and soon the fog turned to snow. "Till to-morrow," said the
56Captain, quietly, and we returned to the Nautilus amid these atmospheric disturbances. The tempest of snow continued
57till the next day. It was impossible to remain on the platform. From the saloon, where I was taking notes of incidents
58happening during this excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the cries of petrels and albatrosses sporting in
59the midst of this violent storm. The Nautilus did not remain motionless, but skirted the coast, advancing ten miles more
60to the south in the half-light left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon. The next day, the 20th of March,
61the snow had ceased. The cold was a little greater, the thermometer showing 2° below zero. The fog was rising, and I
62hoped that that day our observations might be taken. Captain Nemo not having yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and
63myself to land. The soil was still of the same volcanic nature; everywhere were traces of lava, scoriae, and basalt; but
64the crater which had vomited them I could not see. Here, as lower down, this continent was alive with myriads of birds.
65But their rule was now divided with large troops of sea-mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes. There were several
66kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth, some on flakes of ice, many going in and out of the sea. They did not flee
67at our approach, never having had anything to do with man; and I reckoned that there were provisions there for hundreds
68of vessels. "Sir," said Conseil, "will you tell me the names of these creatures?" "They are seals and morses."
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