Twenty thousand leagues under the seas, or, The marvellous and exciting adventures of Pierre Aronnax, Conseil his servant, and Ned Land, a Canadian harpooner

Part 1 Paob

Chapter I.— The mysterious anri inexplicable Phenomena of 1866. —A Monster of the Sea.— Testimony to its existence. — Facts and Incidents. — Accident to the Scotia. — Public Opinion excited.— Thousands of Ships annuallv lost —Ocean TraA-^el becoming more and more dangerous.— The Sea must be rid of the formidable Ce¬ tacean . . . . . . 13

Chapter IT,— My arrival in New York.— Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.— Am consulted on the Phenomena in Ques¬ tion.— Philosophical Disquisition.— A gigai: ti c N arwhal.or U nlcorn of the Sea.— Public Opinion pronounced.— The United States Frig¬ ate Abraham Lincoln to solve the Mystery.— Preparations to sail. —My Invitation . . . . . . . 19

Chapter III.— My Resolution.— Professor Aronnax accepts the of¬ fer of the American Goveruinent.—Conseil,— What’s in a Name? — "As you please Sir.”— The Archioterium, Hyracotberium, Oreodons, Cheropotamus, and live Babiroussa !— A glorious Life but a dangerous one.- Brooklyn Quay.— Getting off.- Oieers from live hundred thousand Thro.ats.— Down the Bay.— Eight Bells.— Fire Island Lights.— On the dark Atlantic . 24

Chapter I Y.— Commander Farragut. — An enthusiastic Crew.— Two Thousand Dollars Reward.— Ned Land, the Prince of Harpooners.— His Opinion.— What Whales can do and what they can’t.

— Science rs. Superstition.— A little figuring, and what comes of it. 28

Chapter V.— Ned Land at Work.— Doubling Cape Horn.— Hunting the “Sea-Serpent.” — Anxious Hours. — Three Months on the North Pacific.— Great nervous Excitement.— Reaction.— Shall the Search be abandoned?— Tliree decisive days.— Last Chance to pocket the Prize. — The Monster appears . 34

Chapter VI.— Beating Hearts.— An illuminated Sea.— The Nar¬ whal approaches.— We execute a retrogade Movement.— A Night of terrible Suspense.— Exciting Pursuit of a mysterious and for¬ midable Enemy. — Ned Land makes another “Strike.”— A Waste of Ammunition.— Fearful Shock.— I fall into the Sea

Contents

®HAPTER VII.— Not alone.— Faithful Conseil.— A night- 1 5ng Strug¬ gle with Death.— Ned and the ‘ Monster,”— Development extraordinai'y.— The Mystery uuraveled.—A novel Specimen of naval Architecture.— VVe take Passage . 4g

Chapter VIII.— Our new Quarters.— Darkness and Light.— The Submarine Boat and its Commander.— Unsatisfactory Interview. —Clothed and fed.— “ Mobilis in Mobili. N.”—Stax'tling Sensa¬ tions.— Speculations regarding our Situation.— Dreadful Night¬ mares followed by a deep Sleep . . . . 52

Chapter IX.— I awake refreshed.— And Inspect my Surroundings. —The Prison a Prison still.— Ventilatiou.—A fearful Silence and protracted Fast.— Ned Land assaults the Steward.— ‘'Paries vous Francais ?” . . 53

Part II

XHAPTER I.— The Indian Ocean.— Birds and Fishes,— A Shual of Argonauts.— Crossing the Equator. — Forbidding Spectacle.— A Sea of Milk . 165

t^GAPTER II.— The Island of Ceylon.— A novel Proposal from Cap¬ tain Nemo.— Visit to the Banks of Manaar. — A “ Tear of the Sea.” —Sbark-Hnnting.— Pearls.— What they are and how secured.— vomiting the Cost . •' . 1T2

CONTENTS.

PAOa

CHAPTER III.— A visit to the Fisheries.— Oj'ster extraordinary.— A pearl of ten Milliotia.— The Indian Diver.— Terror-stricken.-A fearful Combat.— The Rescue.— Muuificeiit Charity from the Man of the Waters,—“Reveugp.”— Conclusions . 177

*

Chapter IV.— The Laccadive Archii)elago.— Domes and Minarets of the Country of Oman.— Only a Vision.— “The Gate of Tears.”— The Waters of the Red Sea.— An indescribable Spectacle.— The Home of the Sponges.— M. Lessens and the Suez Canal.— Captain Nemo’s Discovery.— The “ Aiabian Tunnel.” . . . . . igp

Chapter V.— Terrific Encounter with a gigantic Dugong. — A Glimpse of Sinai.— The Silence of Night.— The floating Light of Suez.— Under tlie Isthmus.— Captain Nemo at the Helm. — The Torrent of the Tunnel.— In the Mediterranean . 199

Chapter VI.— Ned desires a Change.— Planning for the Future. -Captain Nemo’s Correspondent.— A Chest of Gold.— The Gre¬ cian Archipelago.— Submarine Eruptions.— In a Sulphur Bath,— choking,— broiled ! . 2(^

Chapter VII.— The Mediterranean in forty-eightHours.— Gibral¬ tar.— Ruins of the Temple of Hercules.— Floating on the Atlantic. 213

Chapter VIII.— Arrangements for Escape from the Nautilus.— Conflicting Emotions. — A Chapter in the History of Spain.- Secrets of Vigo Bay.— An inexhaustible Fishery of Gold and Sllver.— Source of Captain Nemo’s Wealth.— A Heart beating for suffering Humanity.— Aid for the Cretans . 219

Chapter IX.— A curious Excursion to a vanished Continent.— The Submarine Deptlis in the Darkness of Niglit. — Rain-shower under the Waves.— A Copse of petrified Trees.— Giant Lobsters and Titanic Crabs.— A Mountain of Fire.— The Atlantis of Plato.— Ruins a thousand Generations old. — Moonliglit through the Waters . 228

Chapter X.— In the Heart of an extinct Volcano.— SubmarlneCoalmines.— Captain Nemo’s Laboratory.— A Dragon-tree Beehive.— Ned Land risks his Life for Game . 236

Chapter XI.— The Sargasso Sea.— A Lake in the open Atlantic.— Dreams of Liberty.— Mehnicholy Tones of the Captain’s Organ.- We are pursued by a Whaler.— Tliree Leagues under Water.— Be¬ low the Limits of submarine Existence.— An Ocean Photograph.

Primitive Rocks wliicii have never looked upon the Light of Heaven.” . 944

Chapter Xll.— a Troop of vv naies.— Pursued by Cachalots.— The Nautilus enters the Field.— inhuman Massacre.— A Sea ol Blood. —Ned Land’s Indignation . 249

CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII.— Journeying South.— “Ice Blink.”— Crossing th® Polar Circle.— Gorgeous Scenery among the Fields of Ice.— Cap¬ tain Nemo’s audacious Project.— To the Antarctic Pole.— Fiv® hundred Leagues under the Icebergs.— la the open Polar Sea . 257

Chapter XIV.— The Antarctic Continent.— Maury’s Hypothesis. — Evidences of volcanic Origin.— Life in the Air.— An introduction to the interesting Seal Family.— A City of Morses.— Scenes and Sensations.— The Vernal Equinox preceding the Polar Night. — Altitude of the Sun.— At the South Pole !— Captain Nemo un¬ furls the Black Banner and takes Possession . 265

Chapter XV.— Return to the Depths.— A Shock.— Overturning of a Mountain of Ice.— “ Things God never intended Man to see.’’—

A fearful Situation.— Blocked fast . 276

Chapter XVI.— An impenetrable Wall of Ice.— Two ways of dy¬ ing.— A living Tomb.— Walls closing in.— One danger more.— Want of Air.— Working with a Will.— Dizziness.— Sulfocation.-Opportune Deliverance . . 281

Chapter XVII.— Thankfulness.— The Northern Sun.- Terra del Fuego.— From Cape Horn to the Equatoi*.— Conseil encounters an electric Fish.— A Herd of Sea-Cows.— Novel Expedient. — Turtle¬ fishing on the Shores of the Amazon.— Return to the high Seas.. 290

Chapter XVIII.— The “Devil Fish.” — Terrible Encounter. — Crushed to Death in the Arms of a Monster.— Ned Land saved by the Captain.— “ Only Revenge. ” . 298

"hapter XIX. — The Gulf Stream. — Phosphoresoent Waters. — Longings for Liberty.— Nostalgia.— “ Whoever enters the Nautilus never quits it. ’’—However, Ned resolves to be free.— Terrific Tem¬ pest ofl; the Long Island Shore . 306

Chapter XX.— A Visit to the Atlantic Cable.— Scene of the Acci¬ dent in 1863.— Toward the British Isles. — Land’s End. — Tho “Avenger.” . 314

Chapter XXI.— Mysterious Existence of Captain Nemo unveiled. —Retaliation.— Ned Land Stricken down with an Iron Hand.— The Black Flag unfurled.— Unwilling witnesses of a dreadful Drama. —The Archangel of Hatred in Tears ! . 319

Chapter XXII.— Rapid Flight of the Nautilus to the Northern Seas.— In Sight of Land.— Plans for Escape perfected. — Last Words of Captain Nemo. — The Maelstrom ! the Maelstrom ! — Into the Midst of the Whirlpool.— I lose ail Consciousness . 327

Chapter XXIII.— A Marvelous Escape, and End of the Votag* Under the Seas . 834

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Twenty Thousand Leagues

UNDER THE SEAS.

Chapter 1. A Shifting Reef

The year 1866 was signalized by a remarkable Incident, d mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to mention rumors which agitated the maritime population, and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were particularly ex¬ cited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries, and the governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.

For some time past, vessels had been met by “ an enormous thing,” a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphores¬ cent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.

The facts reiatin ;• to this apparition (entered in various log¬ books) agreed in most respects as to the shape of the object or creature in question, the untiring rapidity of its movements, its surprising power of locomotion, and the peculiar life with which it seemed endowed. If it was a cetacean, it surpassed in size all those hitherto classified in science. Taking into con¬ sideration the mean of observations made at divers times, — rejecting the timid estimate of those who assigned to this object a length of two hundred feet, equally with the exaggerated opinions which set it down as a mile in width and three in length,— we might fairly conclude that this mysterious being surpassed greatly all dimensions admitted by the ichthyologists of the day, if it existed at all. And that it did exist was an un¬ deniable fact ; and, with that tendency which disposes the human mind in favor of the marvellous, we can understand 2 l;j

the exeitemeut produced in the entire world by &is supec^ natural apparition. As to okssing it in the list of fables, the idea was out of the question.

On the 20th of July, 18(56, the steamer Governor Hi^inson, of the Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had met this moving mass five miles off the east coast of Australia. Captain Baker thought at first that he was in the presence of an unknown sand-bank ; he even prepared to determine its exact position, when two columns of water, projected by the inexplicable object, shot with a hissing noise a hundred and fifty feet up into the air. Now, unless the sand-bank had been submitted to the intermittent eruption of a geyser, the Governor Higginson had to do neither more nor less than with an aquatic mammal, unknown till then, which threw up from its blow-holes columns of water mixed with air and vapor.

Similar facts were observed on the 23d of July in the same year, in the Pacific Ocean, by the Columbus, of the West India and Pacific Steam Navigation Company. But this extraordinary cetaceous creature could transport itself from one place to another with surprising velocity; as, in an interval of three days, the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had observed 4 at two different points of the chart, separated by a distance of more than seven hundred nautical leagues.

Fifteen days later, two thousand miles farther off, the Helvetia, of the Compagnie-Nationale, and the Shannon, of the Royal Mail Steamship Company, sailing to windward in that portion of the Atlantic lying between the United States and Europe, respectively signalled the monster to each other in 42° 15' N. lat. and 60° 35' W. long. In these simultaneous observations, they thought themselves justified in estimating the minimum length of the mammal at more than three hundred and fifty feet, as the Shannon and Helvetia were of smaller dimensions than it, though they measured three hundred feet over all.

Now the largest w^hales, those which frequent those parts of the sea around the Aleutian, Kulammak, and Umgullich Islands, have never exceeded the length of sixty yards, if they attain that

'these reports arriving one after the other, with fresh dbservations made on bbard the franBaflantic ship Pereira, a coRiSioh which occurred between the Etna of the Inman line and the monster, a proce^s verbal directed by the officers of the French frigate Normandie, a very accurate survey made by the staff of Commodore Fitz-James on board the Lord Clyde, greatly in¬ fluenced public opinion. Light-thinking people jested upon the phenomenon, but grave practical countries, such as England, America, and Glermany, treated the matter more seriously.

In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion. Iliey sang of it in the cafes, ridiculed it in the papem, and rep¬ resented it on the stage. All kinds of stories were cu'culated regarding it. There appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary creature, from the white whale, the tenible “ Moby Dick ” of hyperborean regions, to the hnmense kraken whose tentacles could entangle a ship of five hundred tons, and huny it into the abj^ss of the ocean. The legends of ancient times were even resuscitated, and the opinions of Aristotle and Pliny revived, who admitted the existence of these monsters, as well as the Norwegian tales of Bishop Pontoppidan, the accounts of Paul Heggede, and, last of all, the reports of Mr. Harrington (whose good faith no one could suspect), who affirmed that, being on board the Castilian, in .857, he had seen this enormous serpent, which had never until that time frequented any other seas but those of the ancient “ ComtitutioneV'

Then burst forth the interminable controversy between the credulous and the incredulous in the societies of savants and scientific journals. “ The question of the monster ” inflamed all minds. Editors of scientific journals, quarrelling with believers in the supernatural, spilled seas of ink during this memorable campaign, seme even drawing blood; for, from the sea-serpent, tliey came to direct personalities.

For six months war was waged with various fortune in the leading articles of the Geographical Institution of Brazil, the Royal Academy of Science of Berlin, the British Association, the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, in the discussions of the “Indian Archipelago,” of the Cosmos of the Abbe Moigno, in the Mittheilungen of Petermann, in the scientific chronicles of the great journals of France and other countries.

The cheaper journals replied keenly and with inexhaustible zest. These satirical writers parodied a remark of Linnseus, quoted by the adversaries of the monster, maintaining “ that nature did not make fools,” and adjured their contemporaries not to give the lie to nature, by admitting the existence of krakens, sear serpents, “ Moby Dicks,” and other lucubrations of delirious sailors. At length an article in a well-known satirical journal by a favorite contributor, the chief of the stRtf, settled the monster, like Hippolytus, giving it the death-blow amidst a universal burst of laughter. Wit had conquered science.

During the first months of the year 1S67, the question seemed buried never to revive, when new facts were brought before the public. It was then no longer a scientific problem to be solved, but a real danger seriously to be avoided. The question took quite another shape. The monster became a smaU island, a rock, a reef, but a reef of indefinite and shifting proportions.

On the 6th of March, 1867, the Moravian, of the Montreal Ocean Company, finding herself diu'ing the night in 27° 30' lat. and 72° 15' long., struck on her starboard quarter a rock, marked in no chart for that part of the sea. Under the combined efforts of the wind and its four hundred horse-power, it was going at the rate of thirteen knots. Had it not been for the superior strength of the hull of the Moravian, she would have been broken by the shock, and gone down with the 237 passengers she was bringing home from Canada.

The accident happened about five o’clock in the morning, as the day was breaking. The officers of the quarter-deck hurried to the after-part of the vessel. They examined the sea with the most scrupulous attention. They saw notliing but a strong eddy about three cables’ length distant, as if the surface had been violently agitated. The bearings of the place were taken exactly, and the Moravian continued its route without apparent damage. Had it struck on a submerged rock, or on an enor¬ mous wreck? they could not tell; but on examination of the ship’s bottom when undergoing repairs, it was found that part of her keel was broken.

This fact, so grave in itself, might perhaps have been forgot¬ ten lilte many others, if, three weeks after, it had not been relyiactind under similar circumstances. But, thanks to the nation¬ ality of the victim of the shock, thanks to the reputation of the company to which the vessel belonged, the circumstance became extensively circulated.

The 13th of April, 1867, the sea being beautiful, the breeze favorable, the Scotia, of the Cunard Company’s line, found her¬ self in 15° 12' long, and 45° 37' lat. She was going at the speed of thirteen knots and a half.

At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, whilst the passengers were assembled at lunch in the great saloon, a slight shock was felt on the hull of the Scotia, on her quarter, a little aft of the port paddle.

The Scotia had not struck, but she had been struck, and seem¬ ingly by something rather sharp and penetrating than blunt. The shock had been so slight that no one had been alarmed, had it not been for the shouts of the carpenter’s watch, who rushed on to the bridge, exclaiming, “ We are sinking ! we are sink¬ ing !” At first the passengers were much frightened, but Cai)- tain Anderson hastened to reassure them. The danger could not be imminent. The Scotia, divided into seven compartments by strong partitions, could brave with impunity any leak. Cap¬ tain Anderson went down immediately into the hold. He found that the sea was pouring into the fifth compartment; and the rapidity of the influx proved that the force of the water was considerable. Fortunately this compartment did not hold the boilers, or the fires would have been immediately extinguished. Captain Anderson ordered the engines to be stopped at once, and one of the men went down to ascertain the extent of the injury. Some minutes afterwards they discovered the existence of a large hole, of two yards in diameter, in the ship’s bottom. Such a leak could not be stopped; and the Scotia, her paddles half submerged, was obliged to continue her course. She was then three hundred miles from Cape Clear; and after three days’ delay, which caused great uneasiness in Liverpool, she entered the basin of the company.

The engineers visited the Scotia, which was put in dry-dock. They could scarcely believe it possible: at two yards and a half below water-mark was a regular rent, in the form of an isosceles triangle. The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined, that it could not have been more neatly done by a punch. It was clear, then, that the instrument producing the perforation was not of a common stamp; and after having been driven with prodigious strength, and piercing an iron plate 1% inches thick, had withdrawn itself by a retrograde motion truly inexplicable.

Such was the last fact, which resulted in exciting once more the torrent of public opinion. From this moment, all unlucky casualties which could not be otherwise accounted for were put down to the monster.

Upon this imaginary creature rested the responsibility of all these shipwrecks, which unfortunately were considerable; for of three thousand ships whose loss was annually recorded at Lloyds’, the number of sailing and steam ships supposed to be totally lost^ from the absence of all news, amounted to not less than two hundred.

Now, it was the “monster” who, justly or unjustly, was ac¬ cused of their disappearance, and, thanks to it, communication between the different continents became more and more danger¬ ous. The public demanded peremptorily that the seu should at any prioe be relieved from this formidable cetacean.

Chapter II. Pro And Con

At the period when these events took place, I had just re¬ turned from a scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the United States. In virtue of my office as Assist¬ ant Professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French government had attached me to that expedition. After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York towards the end of March, laden with a precious collection. My departure for France was fixed for the first days in May. Meanwhile, I was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and zoological riches, when the accident happened to the Scotia.

I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day. How could I be otherwise ? I had read and re-read all the American and European papers without being any nearer a conclusion. This mystery puzzled me. Under the impossibility of forming an opinion, I jumped from one extreme to the other. That there really was something could not be doubted, and the incredulous were invited to put their finger on the wound of the Scotia.

On my arrival at New York, the question was at its height. The hypothesis of the floating island, and the unapproachable sand-bank, supported by minds little competent to forma judg¬ ment, was abandoned. And, indeed, unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach, how could it change its position with such astonishing rapidity ?

From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enor¬ mous wreck was given up.

There remained then only two possible solutions of the question, which created two distinct parties : on one side,

J9

30 TWENTY THOUSAiO) LEAGUES UNDEE THE SEAS.

those who were for a monster of colossal strength ; on the other, those who were for a submarine vessel of enormous mo¬ tive power.

But this last hjiJothesis, plausible as it was, could not stand against inquiries made in both worlds. That a private gentle¬ man should have such a machine at his command was not likely. Where, when, and how was it built ? and how could its construction have been kept secret ? Certainly a govern¬ ment might possess such a destructive machine. And in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the power of weapons of war, it was possible that, without the knowledge of others, a state might try to work such a formidable engine. After the chassepots came the torpedoes, after the torpedoes the submarine rams, then— the reaction. At least, I hope so.

But the hypothesis of a war-machine fell before the declarar tion of governments. As public interest was in question, and tran»tlantic communications suffered, their veracity could not be doubted. But, how admit that the construction of this sub¬ marine boat had escaped the public eye ? For a private gentle¬ man to keep the secaret under such circumstances would be very difficult, and for a state whose every act is persistently watched by iwwerful rivals, certainly impossible.

After inquiries made in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy, and America, even in Turkey, the hypothesis of a submarine monitor was definitely rejected.

Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honor of consulting me on the phenomenon in question. I had published in France a work in quarto, in two volumes, entitled, “Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.” This book, highly approved of in the learned world, gained for me a special repuUtlon in this rather obscure branch of Natural History. My advice was asked. As long as I could deny the reality of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative. But soon finding myself driven into a corner, I was obliged to exidain myself categorically. And even “ the Honorable Herre Aronnax, Ptnfbssor In the Museum of Paris,” wa^ called upon by the N'eiD York Herald to express a definite opinion of some sort.

TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAS.

I did something. I spoke for want of power to hold my tongue. I discussed the question in all its forms, politically and scientihcally ; and I give here an extract from a carefully studied article which I published in the number of the 30th of April. It ran as follows

“After examining one by one the ditferent hypotheses, rejecting all other suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence of a marine animal of enormous power.

“ The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us. Soundings can not reach them. What passes in those remet,e depths, — what beings live, or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the waters,— what is the organization of these animals,— we can scarcely conjecture. However, the solu¬ tion of the problem submitted to me may modify the form of the dilemma. Either we do know all the varieties of beings which people our planet, or we do not. If we do riot know them all, if Nature has still secrets in ichthyology for us, nothing is more comformable to reason than to admit the existence of fishes, or cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species, of an oi^anization formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to sound¬ ings, and which an accident of somf sort, either fantastical or capricious, has brought at long intervals to the upper level of the ocean.

“ If, on the contrary, we do know all living kinds, we must necessarily seek for the animal in question amongst those marine beings already classed; and, in that case, I should be disposed to admit the existence of a gigantic narwhal.

“ The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of axty feet. Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength proportionate to its size, lengthen its destructive weap¬ ons, and you obtain the animal required. It will have the pro¬ portions determined by the officers of the Shannon, the instru¬ ment required by the perforation of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull of the steamer.

“ Indeed the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword, u Jialberd, according to the expression Of certain naturalists. The t^ncipal tusk has the hardness of steel Some of these tu^iks have been found buried in the bodies of whales, which the am*

22 TWEISITY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAS.

corn always attacks with success. Others have been drawn out not without trouble, from the bottoms of ships, which they had pierced tlurough and through, as a gimlet pierces a barrel The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length, and fifteen inches in diameter at the base.

“ Very well ! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger, and the animal ten times more powerful ; launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and you obtain a shock capable of pro¬ ducing the catastrophe required. Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be a sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed, not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as the armored frigates, or the “rams” of war, whose massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time. Tiaus may tills inexplicable phenomenon be explained, unless there be something over and above all that one has ever conjectured seen, perceived or experienced; which is just within the bounds of possibility.”

These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a cer¬ tain point, I wished to shelter my dignity as Professor, and not give too much cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well when they do laugh. I reserved for myself a way of escape. In effect, however, I admitted the existence of the “ monster.” My article was warmly discussed, which procured it a high rep¬ utation. It rallied round it a certain number of partizans. The solution it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to the imagination. The human mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings. And the sea is precisely their best vehicle, the only medium through which these giants (against which terrestrial animals, such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as notliing) can be produced or developed.

The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this point of view. The SMp'pirig and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyds^ List, the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial lievieio, all papers devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of preniium, were unani¬ mous on this point. Public opinion had been pronounced. The United States were the first in the field; and in New York they made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this narwhal. A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in commission as soon as possible. The arsenals were opened to Commander Farragut, who hastened the arming of his frigate; but, as it always happens, the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster did not appear. For two months no one heard it spoken of. No ship met with it. It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around it. It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable, that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a tele¬ gram on its passage, and was making the m^ost of it.

So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided with formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to pursue. Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2d of June, they learned that a steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to Shanghai, had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean. The excitement caused by this news was extreme. The ship was revictualled and well stocked with coal.

Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier, I received a letter worded as follows : —

“ To M. Aronnax, Professor in tlie Museum of Paris,

Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.

“ Sir, — If you will consent to join the Abraham Lincoln in this expedition, the government of the United States will with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise. Commander Farragut has a cabin at your disposal. Very cordially yours,