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1THE INDIAN OCEAN We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea. The first ended with the moving scene in
2the coral cemetery which left such a deep impression on my mind. Thus, in the midst of this great sea, Captain Nemo's
3life was passing, even to his grave, which he had prepared in one of its deepest abysses. There, not one of the ocean's
4monsters could trouble the last sleep of the crew of the Nautilus, of those friends riveted to each other in death as in
5life. "Nor any man, either," had added the Captain. Still the same fierce, implacable defiance towards human society! I
6could no longer content myself with the theory which satisfied Conseil. That worthy fellow persisted in seeing in the
7Commander of the Nautilus one of those unknown savants who return mankind contempt for indifference. For him, he was a
8misunderstood genius who, tired of earth's deceptions, had taken refuge in this inaccessible medium, where he might
9follow his instincts freely. To my mind, this explains but one side of Captain Nemo's character. Indeed, the mystery of
10that last night during which we had been chained in prison, the sleep, and the precaution so violently taken by the
11Captain of snatching from my eyes the glass I had raised to sweep the horizon, the mortal wound of the man, due to an
12unaccountable shock of the Nautilus, all put me on a new track. No; Captain Nemo was not satisfied with shunning man.
13His formidable apparatus not only suited his instinct of freedom, but perhaps also the design of some terrible
14retaliation. At this moment nothing is clear to me; I catch but a glimpse of light amidst all the darkness, and I must
15confine myself to writing as events shall dictate. That day, the 24th of January, 1868, at noon, the second officer came
16to take the altitude of the sun. I mounted the platform, lit a cigar, and watched the operation. It seemed to me that
17the man did not understand French; for several times I made remarks in a loud voice, which must have drawn from him some
18involuntary sign of attention, if he had understood them; but he remained undisturbed and dumb. As he was taking
19observations with the sextant, one of the sailors of the Nautilus (the strong man who had accompanied us on our first
20submarine excursion to the Island of Crespo) came to clean the glasses of the lantern. I examined the fittings of the
21apparatus, the strength of which was increased a hundredfold by lenticular rings, placed similar to those in a
22lighthouse, and which projected their brilliance in a horizontal plane. The electric lamp was combined in such a way as
23to give its most powerful light. Indeed, it was produced in vacuo, which insured both its steadiness and its intensity.
24This vacuum economised the graphite points between which the luminous arc was developed--an important point of economy
25for Captain Nemo, who could not easily have replaced them; and under these conditions their waste was imperceptible.
26When the Nautilus was ready to continue its submarine journey, I went down to the saloon. The panel was closed, and the
27course marked direct west. We were furrowing the waters of the Indian Ocean, a vast liquid plain, with a surface of
281,200,000,000 of acres, and whose waters are so clear and transparent that any one leaning over them would turn giddy.
29The Nautilus usually floated between fifty and a hundred fathoms deep. We went on so for some days. To any one but
30myself, who had a great love for the sea, the hours would have seemed long and monotonous; but the daily walks on the
31platform, when I steeped myself in the reviving air of the ocean, the sight of the rich waters through the windows of
32the saloon, the books in the library, the compiling of my memoirs, took up all my time, and left me not a moment of
33ennui or weariness. For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or gulls. Some were cleverly killed
34and, prepared in a certain way, made very acceptable water-game. Amongst large-winged birds, carried a long distance
35from all lands and resting upon the waves from the fatigue of their flight, I saw some magnificent albatrosses, uttering
36discordant cries like the braying of an ass, and birds belonging to the family of the long-wings. As to the fish, they
37always provoked our admiration when we surprised the secrets of their aquatic life through the open panels. I saw many
38kinds which I never before had a chance of observing. I shall notice chiefly ostracions peculiar to the Red Sea, the
39Indian Ocean, and that part which washes the coast of tropical America. These fishes, like the tortoise, the armadillo,
40the sea-hedgehog, and the Crustacea, are protected by a breastplate which is neither chalky nor stony, but real bone. In
41some it takes the form of a solid triangle, in others of a solid quadrangle. Amongst the triangular I saw some an inch
42and a half in length, with wholesome flesh and a delicious flavour; they are brown at the tail, and yellow at the fins,
43and I recommend their introduction into fresh water, to which a certain number of sea-fish easily accustom themselves. I
44would also mention quadrangular ostracions, having on the back four large tubercles; some dotted over with white spots
45on the lower part of the body, and which may be tamed like birds; trigons provided with spikes formed by the lengthening
46of their bony shell, and which, from their strange gruntings, are called "seapigs"; also dromedaries with large humps in
47the shape of a cone, whose flesh is very tough and leathery. I now borrow from the daily notes of Master Conseil.
48"Certain fish of the genus petrodon peculiar to those seas, with red backs and white chests, which are distinguished by
49three rows of longitudinal filaments; and some electrical, seven inches long, decked in the liveliest colours. Then, as
50specimens of other kinds, some ovoides, resembling an egg of a dark brown colour, marked with white bands, and without
51tails; diodons, real sea-porcupines, furnished with spikes, and capable of swelling in such a way as to look like
52cushions bristling with darts; hippocampi, common to every ocean; some pegasi with lengthened snouts, which their
53pectoral fins, being much elongated and formed in the shape of wings, allow, if not to fly, at least to shoot into the
54air; pigeon spatulae, with tails covered with many rings of shell; macrognathi with long jaws, an excellent fish, nine
55inches long, and bright with most agreeable colours; pale-coloured calliomores, with rugged heads; and plenty of
56chaetodons, with long and tubular muzzles, which kill insects by shooting them, as from an air-gun, with a single drop
57of water. These we may call the flycatchers of the seas. "In the eighty-ninth genus of fishes, classed by Lacepede,
58belonging to the second lower class of bony, characterised by opercules and bronchial membranes, I remarked the
59scorpaena, the head of which is furnished with spikes, and which has but one dorsal fin; these creatures are covered, or
60not, with little shells, according to the sub-class to which they belong. The second sub-class gives us specimens of
61didactyles fourteen or fifteen inches in length, with yellow rays, and heads of a most fantastic appearance. As to the
62first sub-class, it gives several specimens of that singular looking fish appropriately called a 'seafrog,' with large
63head, sometimes pierced with holes, sometimes swollen with protuberances, bristling with spikes, and covered with
64tubercles; it has irregular and hideous horns; its body and tail are covered with callosities; its sting makes a
65dangerous wound; it is both repugnant and horrible to look at." From the 21st to the 23rd of January the Nautilus went
66at the rate of two hundred and fifty leagues in twenty-four hours, being five hundred and forty miles, or twenty-two
67miles an hour. If we recognised so many different varieties of fish, it was because, attracted by the electric light,
68they tried to follow us; the greater part, however, were soon distanced by our speed, though some kept their place in
69the waters of the Nautilus for a time. The morning of the 24th, in 12° 5′ S. lat., and 94° 33′ long., we observed
70Keeling Island, a coral formation, planted with magnificent cocos, and which had been visited by Mr. Darwin and Captain
71Fitzroy. The Nautilus skirted the shores of this desert island for a little distance. Its nets brought up numerous
72specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca. Some precious productions of the species of delphinulae enriched the
73treasures of Captain Nemo, to which I added an astraea punctifera, a kind of parasite polypus often found fixed to a
74shell. Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was directed to the north-west in the direction
75of the Indian Peninsula.
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