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1From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often taking us into great depths. Several times they made
2use of the inclined planes, which certain internal levers placed obliquely to the waterline. In that way we went about
3two miles, but without ever obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea, which soundings of seven thousand fathoms
4have never reached. As to the temperature of the lower strata, the thermometer invariably indicated 4° above zero. I
5only observed that in the upper regions the water was always colder in the high levels than at the surface of the sea.
6On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus passed the day on the surface, beating the waves
7with its powerful screw and making them rebound to a great height. Who under such circumstances would not have taken it
8for a gigantic cetacean? Three parts of this day I spent on the platform. I watched the sea. Nothing on the horizon,
9till about four o'clock a steamer running west on our counter. Her masts were visible for an instant, but she could not
10see the Nautilus, being too low in the water. I fancied this steamboat belonged to the P. O. Company, which runs from
11Ceylon to Sydney, touching at King George's Point and Melbourne. At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting
12twilight which binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by a curious spectacle. It was a
13shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the ocean. We could count several hundreds. They belonged to the
14tubercle kind which are peculiar to the Indian seas. These graceful molluscs moved backwards by means of their
15locomotive tube, through which they propelled the water already drawn in. Of their eight tentacles, six were elongated,
16and stretched out floating on the water, whilst the other two, rolled up flat, were spread to the wing like a light
17sail. I saw their spiral-shaped and fluted shells, which Cuvier justly compares to an elegant skiff. A boat indeed! It
18bears the creature which secretes it without its adhering to it. For nearly an hour the Nautilus floated in the midst of
19this shoal of molluscs. Then I know not what sudden fright they took. But as if at a signal every sail was furled, the
20arms folded, the body drawn in, the shells turned over, changing their centre of gravity, and the whole fleet
21disappeared under the waves. Never did the ships of a squadron manœuvre with more unity. At that moment night fell
22suddenly, and the reeds, scarcely raised by the breeze, lay peaceably under the sides of the Nautilus. The next day,
2326th of January, we cut the equator at the eighty-second meridian and entered the northern hemisphere. During the day a
24formidable troop of sharks accompanied us, terrible creatures, which multiply in these seas and make them very
25dangerous. They were "cestracio philippi" sharks, with brown backs and whitish bellies, armed with eleven rows of
26teeth--eyed sharks--their throat being marked with a large black spot surrounded with white like an eye. There were also
27some Isabella sharks, with rounded snouts marked with dark spots. These powerful creatures often hurled themselves at
28the windows of the saloon with such violence as to make us feel very insecure. At such times Ned Land was no longer
29master of himself. He wanted to go to the surface and harpoon the monsters, particularly certain smooth-hound sharks,
30whose mouth is studded with teeth like a mosaic; and large tiger-sharks nearly six yards long, the last named of which
31seemed to excite him more particularly. But the Nautilus, accelerating her speed, easily left the most rapid of them
32behind. The 27th of January, at the entrance of the vast Bay of Bengal, we met repeatedly a forbidding spectacle, dead
33bodies floating on the surface of the water. They were the dead of the Indian villages, carried by the Ganges to the
34level of the sea, and which the vultures, the only undertakers of the country, had not been able to devour. But the
35sharks did not fail to help them at their funeral work. About seven o'clock in the evening, the Nautilus, half-immersed,
36was sailing in a sea of milk. At first sight the ocean seemed lactified. Was it the effect of the lunar rays? No; for
37the moon, scarcely two days old, was still lying hidden under the horizon in the rays of the sun. The whole sky, though
38lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by contrast with the whiteness of the waters. Conseil could not believe his eyes,
39and questioned me as to the cause of this strange phenomenon. Happily I was able to answer him. "It is called a milk
40sea," I explained. "A large extent of white wavelets often to be seen on the coasts of Amboyna, and in these parts of
41the sea." "But, sir," said Conseil, "can you tell me what causes such an effect? for I suppose the water is not really
42turned into milk." "No, my boy; and the whiteness which surprises you is caused only by the presence of myriads of
43infusoria, a sort of luminous little worm, gelatinous and without colour, of the thickness of a hair, and whose length
44is not more than seven-thousandths of an inch. These insects adhere to one another sometimes for several leagues."
45"Several leagues!" exclaimed Conseil. "Yes, my boy; and you need not try to compute the number of these infusoria. You
46will not be able, for, if I am not mistaken, ships have floated on these milk seas for more than forty miles." Towards
47midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected
48the whitened waves, and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague glimmerings of an aurora borealis.
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