CHAPTER XVI

A SUBMARINE FOREST



We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest,

doubtless one of the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains.

He looked upon it as his own, and considered he had the same right

over it that the first men had in the first days of the world.

And, indeed, who would have disputed with him the possession

of this submarine property? What other hardier pioneer would come,

hatchet in hand, to cut down the dark copses?



This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment we

penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the singular

position of their branches--a position I had not yet observed.



Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed

the trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally;

all stretched up to the surface of the ocean. Not a filament, not a ribbon,

however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron.

The fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to the density

of the element which had produced them. Motionless yet, when bent

to one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former position.

Truly it was the region of perpendicularity!



I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position,

as well as to the comparative darkness which surrounded us.

The soil of the forest seemed covered with sharp blocks,

difficult to avoid. The submarine flora struck me as being

very perfect, and richer even than it would have been in the arctic

or tropical zones, where these productions are not so plentiful.

But for some minutes I involuntarily confounded the genera,

taking animals for plants; and who would not have been mistaken?

The fauna and the flora are too closely allied in this submarine world.



These plants are self-propagated, and the principle of their

existence is in the water, which upholds and nourishes them.

The greater number, instead of leaves, shoot forth blades

of capricious shapes, comprised within a scale of colours pink,

carmine, green, olive, fawn, and brown.



"Curious anomaly, fantastic element!" said an ingenious naturalist,

"in which the animal kingdom blossoms, and the vegetable does not!"



In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt; I, for my part,

was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbour of alariae,

the long thin blades of which stood up like arrows.



This short rest seemed delicious to me; there was nothing

wanting but the charm of conversation; but, impossible to speak,

impossible to answer, I only put my great copper head to Conseil's.

I saw the worthy fellow's eyes glistening with delight, and, to show

his satisfaction, he shook himself in his breastplate of air,

in the most comical way in the world.



After four hours of this walking, I was surprised not to find

myself dreadfully hungry. How to account for this state

of the stomach I could not tell. But instead I felt an

insurmountable desire to sleep, which happens to all divers.

And my eyes soon closed behind the thick glasses, and I fell into

a heavy slumber, which the movement alone had prevented before.

Captain Nemo and his robust companion, stretched in the clear crystal,

set us the example.



How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge,

but, when I woke, the sun seemed sinking towards the horizon.

Captain Nemo had already risen, and I was beginning to stretch

my limbs, when an unexpected apparition brought me briskly

to my feet.



A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight inches

high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon me.

Though my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from

the bite of this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror.

Conseil and the sailor of the Nautilus awoke at this moment.

Captain Nemo pointed out the hideous crustacean, which a blow

from the butt end of the gun knocked over, and I saw the horrible

claws of the monster writhe in terrible convulsions.

This incident reminded me that other animals more to be feared

might haunt these obscure depths, against whose attacks my

diving-dress would not protect me. I had never thought of it before,

but I now resolved to be upon my guard. Indeed, I thought

that this halt would mark the termination of our walk;

but I was mistaken, for, instead of returning to the Nautilus,

Captain Nemo continued his bold excursion. The ground was still

on the incline, its declivity seemed to be getting greater,

and to be leading us to greater depths. It must have been

about three o'clock when we reached a narrow valley, between high

perpendicular walls, situated about seventy-five fathoms deep.

Thanks to the perfection of our apparatus, we were forty-five

fathoms below the limit which nature seems to have imposed on man

as to his submarine excursions.



I say seventy-five fathoms, though I had no instrument by which to

judge the distance. But I knew that even in the clearest waters

the solar rays could not penetrate further. And accordingly

the darkness deepened. At ten paces not an object was visible.

I was groping my way, when I suddenly saw a brilliant white light.

Captain Nemo had just put his electric apparatus into use;

his companion did the same, and Conseil and I followed their example.

By turning a screw I established a communication between the wire

and the spiral glass, and the sea, lit by our four lanterns,

was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.



As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus

could not fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch.

But if they did approach us, they at least kept at

a respectful distance from the hunters. Several times

I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his shoulder,

and after some moments drop it and walk on. At last,

after about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end.

A wall of superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us,

a heap of gigantic blocks, an enormous, steep granite shore,

forming dark grottos, but which presented no practicable slope;

it was the prop of the Island of Crespo. It was the earth!

Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. A gesture of his brought us all

to a halt; and, however desirous I might be to scale the wall,

I was obliged to stop. Here ended Captain Nemo's domains.

And he would not go beyond them. Further on was a portion of the

globe he might not trample upon.



The return began. Captain Nemo had returned to the head of his little band,

directing their course without hesitation. I thought we were not following

the same road to return to the Nautilus. The new road was very steep,

and consequently very painful. We approached the surface of the sea rapidly.

But this return to the upper strata was not so sudden as to cause relief

from the pressure too rapidly, which might have produced serious disorder

in our organisation, and brought on internal lesions, so fatal to divers.

Very soon light reappeared and grew, and, the sun being low on the horizon,

the refraction edged the different objects with a spectral ring.

At ten yards and a half deep, we walked amidst a shoal of little fishes

of all kinds, more numerous than the birds of the air, and also more agile;

but no aquatic game worthy of a shot had as yet met our gaze, when at

that moment I saw the Captain shoulder his gun quickly, and follow

a moving object into the shrubs. He fired; I heard a slight hissing,

and a creature fell stunned at some distance from us. It was a magnificent

sea-otter, an enhydrus, the only exclusively marine quadruped.

This otter was five feet long, and must have been very valuable.

Its skin, chestnut-brown above and silvery underneath, would have made one

of those beautiful furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets:

the fineness and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch L80.

I admired this curious mammal, with its rounded head ornamented with

short ears, its round eyes, and white whiskers like those of a cat,

with webbed feet and nails, and tufted tail. This precious animal,

hunted and tracked by fishermen, has now become very rare, and taken refuge

chiefly in the northern parts of the Pacific, or probably its race would

soon become extinct.



Captain Nemo's companion took the beast, threw it over his shoulder, and we

continued our journey. For one hour a plain of sand lay stretched before us.

Sometimes it rose to within two yards and some inches of the surface of

the water. I then saw our image clearly reflected, drawn inversely, and above

us appeared an identical group reflecting our movements and our actions;

in a word, like us in every point, except that they walked with their heads

downward and their feet in the air.



Another effect I noticed, which was the passage of thick clouds which formed

and vanished rapidly; but on reflection I understood that these seeming

clouds were due to the varying thickness of the reeds at the bottom,

and I could even see the fleecy foam which their broken tops multiplied

on the water, and the shadows of large birds passing above our heads,

whose rapid flight I could discern on the surface of the sea.



On this occasion I was witness to one of the finest gun

shots which ever made the nerves of a hunter thrill.

A large bird of great breadth of wing, clearly visible, approached,

hovering over us. Captain Nemo's companion shouldered his gun

and fired, when it was only a few yards above the waves.

The creature fell stunned, and the force of its fall

brought it within the reach of dexterous hunter's grasp.

It was an albatross of the finest kind.



Our march had not been interrupted by this incident.

For two hours we followed these sandy plains, then fields of algae

very disagreeable to cross. Candidly, I could do no more when I

saw a glimmer of light, which, for a half mile, broke the

darkness of the waters. It was the lantern of the Nautilus.

Before twenty minutes were over we should be on board,

and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed

that my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen.

But I did not reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our

arrival for some time.



I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain

Nemo coming hurriedly towards me. With his strong hand he bent

me to the ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil.

At first I knew not what to think of this sudden attack, but I

was soon reassured by seeing the Captain lie down beside me,

and remain immovable.



I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush

of algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass,

casting phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.



My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable

sharks which threatened us. It was a couple of tintoreas,

terrible creatures, with enormous tails and a dull glassy stare,

the phosphorescent matter ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle.

Monstrous brutes! which would crush a whole man in their iron jaws.

I did not know whether Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part,

I noticed their silver bellies, and their huge mouths bristling

with teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and more as a

possible victim than as a naturalist.



Happily the voracious creatures do not see well. They passed without

seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a miracle

from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in the forest.

Half an hour after, guided by the electric light we reached the Nautilus.

The outside door had been left open, and Captain Nemo closed it

as soon as we had entered the first cell. He then pressed a knob.

I heard the pumps working in the midst of the vessel, I felt the water

sinking from around me, and in a few moments the cell was entirely empty.

The inside door then opened, and we entered the vestry.



There our diving-dress was taken off, not without some trouble, and,

fairly worn out from want of food and sleep, I returned to my room,

in great wonder at this surprising excursion at the bottom of the sea.

****

Top of Page

< BACK    NEXT >

  | Home | Reading Room | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea