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1It was now eight in the morning. Four hours remained to us before the sun could be observed with advantage. I directed
2our steps towards a vast bay cut in the steep granite shore. There, I can aver that earth and ice were lost to sight by
3the numbers of sea-mammals covering them, and I involuntarily sought for old Proteus, the mythological shepherd who
4watched these immense flocks of Neptune. There were more seals than anything else, forming distinct groups, male and
5female, the father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones, some already strong enough to go a few
6steps. When they wished to change their place, they took little jumps, made by the contraction of their bodies, and
7helped awkwardly enough by their imperfect fin, which, as with the lamantin, their cousins, forms a perfect forearm. I
8should say that, in the water, which is their element--the spine of these creatures is flexible; with smooth and close
9skin and webbed feet--they swim admirably. In resting on the earth they take the most graceful attitudes. Thus the
10ancients, observing their soft and expressive looks, which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look a woman can
11give, their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming positions, and the poetry of their manners, metamorphosed them, the
12male into a triton and the female into a mermaid. I made Conseil notice the considerable development of the lobes of the
13brain in these interesting cetaceans. No mammal, except man, has such a quantity of brain matter; they are also capable
14of receiving a certain amount of education, are easily domesticated, and I think, with other naturalists, that if
15properly taught they would be of great service as fishing-dogs. The greater part of them slept on the rocks or on the
16sand. Amongst these seals, properly so called, which have no external ears (in which they differ from the otter, whose
17ears are prominent), I noticed several varieties of seals about three yards long, with a white coat, bulldog heads,
18armed with teeth in both jaws, four incisors at the top and four at the bottom, and two large canine teeth in the shape
19of a fleur-de-lis. Amongst them glided sea-elephants, a kind of seal, with short, flexible trunks. The giants of this
20species measured twenty feet round and ten yards and a half in length; but they did not move as we approached. "These
21creatures are not dangerous?" asked Conseil. "No; not unless you attack them. When they have to defend their young their
22rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon for them to break the fishing-boats to pieces." "They are quite right," said
23Conseil. "I do not say they are not." Two miles farther on we were stopped by the promontory which shelters the bay from
24the southerly winds. Beyond it we heard loud bellowings such as a troop of ruminants would produce. "Good!" said
25Conseil; "a concert of bulls!" "No; a concert of morses." "They are fighting!" "They are either fighting or playing." We
26now began to climb the blackish rocks, amid unforeseen stumbles, and over stones which the ice made slippery. More than
27once I rolled over at the expense of my loins. Conseil, more prudent or more steady, did not stumble, and helped me up,
28saying: "If, sir, you would have the kindness to take wider steps, you would preserve your equilibrium better." Arrived
29at the upper ridge of the promontory, I saw a vast white plain covered with morses. They were playing amongst
30themselves, and what we heard were bellowings of pleasure, not of anger. As I passed these curious animals I could
31examine them leisurely, for they did not move. Their skins were thick and rugged, of a yellowish tint, approaching to
32red; their hair was short and scant. Some of them were four yards and a quarter long. Quieter and less timid than their
33cousins of the north, they did not, like them, place sentinels round the outskirts of their encampment. After examining
34this city of morses, I began to think of returning. It was eleven o'clock, and, if Captain Nemo found the conditions
35favourable for observations, I wished to be present at the operation. We followed a narrow pathway running along the
36summit of the steep shore. At half-past eleven we had reached the place where we landed. The boat had run aground,
37bringing the Captain. I saw him standing on a block of basalt, his instruments near him, his eyes fixed on the northern
38horizon, near which the sun was then describing a lengthened curve. I took my place beside him, and waited without
39speaking. Noon arrived, and, as before, the sun did not appear. It was a fatality. Observations were still wanting. If
40not accomplished to-morrow, we must give up all idea of taking any. We were indeed exactly at the 20th of March.
41To-morrow, the 21st, would be the equinox; the sun would disappear behind the horizon for six months, and with its
42disappearance the long polar night would begin. Since the September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon,
43rising by lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December. At this period, the summer solstice of the northern regions, it
44had begun to descend; and to-morrow was to shed its last rays upon them. I communicated my fears and observations to
45Captain Nemo. "You are right, M. Aronnax," said he; "if to-morrow I cannot take the altitude of the sun, I shall not be
46able to do it for six months. But precisely because chance has led me into these seas on the 21st of March, my bearings
47will be easy to take, if at twelve we can see the sun." "Why, Captain?" "Because then the orb of day described such
48lengthened curves that it is difficult to measure exactly its height above the horizon, and grave errors may be made
49with instruments." "What will you do then?" "I shall only use my chronometer," replied Captain Nemo. "If to-morrow, the
5021st of March, the disc of the sun, allowing for refraction, is exactly cut by the northern horizon, it will show that I
51am at the South Pole." "Just so," said I. "But this statement is not mathematically correct, because the equinox does
52not necessarily begin at noon." "Very likely, sir; but the error will not be a hundred yards and we do not want more.
53Till to-morrow, then!" Captain Nemo returned on board. Conseil and I remained to survey the shore, observing and
54studying until five o'clock. Then I went to bed, not, however, without invoking, like the Indian, the favour of the
55radiant orb. The next day, the 21st of March, at five in the morning, I mounted the platform. I found Captain Nemo
56there. "The weather is lightening a little," said he. "I have some hope. After breakfast we will go on shore and choose
57a post for observation." That point settled, I sought Ned Land. I wanted to take him with me. But the obstinate Canadian
58refused, and I saw that his taciturnity and his bad humour grew day by day. After all, I was not sorry for his obstinacy
59under the circumstances. Indeed, there were too many seals on shore, and we ought not to lay such temptation in this
60unreflecting fisherman's way. Breakfast over, we went on shore. The Nautilus had gone some miles further up in the
61night. It was a whole league from the coast, above which reared a sharp peak about five hundred yards high. The boat
62took with me Captain Nemo, two men of the crew, and the instruments, which consisted of a chronometer, a telescope, and
63a barometer. While crossing, I saw numerous whales belonging to the three kinds peculiar to the southern seas; the
64whale, or the English "right whale," which has no dorsal fin; the "humpback," with reeved chest and large, whitish fins,
65which, in spite of its name, do not form wings; and the fin-back, of a yellowish brown, the liveliest of all the
66cetacea. This powerful creature is heard a long way off when he throws to a great height columns of air and vapour,
67which look like whirlwinds of smoke. These different mammals were disporting themselves in troops in the quiet waters;
68and I could see that this basin of the Antarctic Pole serves as a place of refuge to the cetacea too closely tracked by
69the hunters. I also noticed large medusæ floating between the reeds.
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