mackerel, bonitos, and some varieties of a sea-serpent.
On the 25th of December the Nautilus sailed into the midst of the New
Hebrides, discovered by Quiros in 1606, and that Bougainville explored
in 1768, and to which Cook gave its present name in 1773. This group
is composed principally of nine large islands, that form a band of 120
leagues N.N.S. to S.S.W., between 15° and 2° S. lat., and 164
deg. and 168° long. We passed tolerably near to the Island of
Aurou, that at noon looked like a mass of green woods, surmounted by a
peak of great height.
That day being Christmas Day, Ned Land seemed to regret sorely the
non-celebration of "Christmas," the family fete of which Protestants
are so fond. I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week, when, on the
morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room, always
seeming as if he had seen you five minutes before. I was busily
tracing the route of the Nautilus on the planisphere. The Captain came
up to me, put his finger on one spot on the chart, and said this single
word.
"Vanikoro."
The effect was magical! It was the name of the islands on which La
Perouse had been lost! I rose suddenly.
"The Nautilus has brought us to Vanikoro?" I asked.
"Yes, Professor," said the Captain.
"And I can visit the celebrated islands where the Boussole and the
Astrolabe struck?"
"If you like, Professor."
"When shall we be there?"
"We are there now."
Followed by Captain Nemo, I went up on to the platform, and greedily
scanned the horizon.
To the N.E. two volcanic islands emerged of unequal size, surrounded by
a coral reef that measured forty miles in circumference. We were close
to Vanikoro, really the one to which Dumont d'Urville gave the name of
Isle de la Recherche, and exactly facing the little harbour of Vanou,
situated in 16° 4' S. lat., and 164° 32' E. long. The earth
seemed covered with verdure from the shore to the summits in the
interior, that were crowned by Mount Kapogo, 476 feet high. The
Nautilus, having passed the outer belt of rocks by a narrow strait,
found itself among breakers where the sea was from thirty to forty
fathoms deep. Under the verdant shade of some mangroves I perceived
some savages, who appeared greatly surprised at our approach. In the
long black body, moving between wind and water, did they not see some
formidable cetacean that they regarded with suspicion?
Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the wreck of La
Perouse.
"Only what everyone knows, Captain," I replied.
"And could you tell me what everyone knows about it?" he inquired,
ironically.
"Easily."
I related to him all that the last works of Dumont d'Urville had made
known--works from which the following is a brief account.
La Perouse, and his second, Captain de Langle, were sent by Louis XVI,
in 1785, on a voyage of circumnavigation. They embarked in the
corvettes Boussole and the Astrolabe, neither of which were again heard
of. In 1791, the French Government, justly uneasy as to the fate of
these two sloops, manned two large merchantmen, the Recherche and the
Esperance, which left Brest the 28th of September under the command of
Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
Two months after, they learned from Bowen, commander of the Albemarle,
that the debris of shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coasts of
New Georgia. But D'Entrecasteaux, ignoring this communication--rather
uncertain, besides--directed his course towards the Admiralty Islands,
mentioned in a report of Captain Hunter's as being the place where La
Perouse was wrecked.
They sought in vain. The Esperance and the Recherche passed before
Vanikoro without stopping there, and, in fact, this voyage was most
disastrous, as it cost D'Entrecasteaux his life, and those of two of
his lieutenants, besides several of his crew.
Captain Dillon, a shrewd old Pacific sailor, was the first to find
unmistakable traces of the wrecks. On the 15th of May, 1824, his
vessel, the St. Patrick, passed close to Tikopia, one of the New
Hebrides. There a Lascar came alongside in a canoe, sold him the
handle of a sword in silver that bore the print of characters engraved
on the hilt. The Lascar pretended that six years before, during a stay
at Vanikoro, he had seen two Europeans that belonged to some vessels
that had run aground on the reefs some years ago.
Dillon guessed that he meant La Perouse, whose disappearance had
troubled the whole world. He tried to get on to Vanikoro, where,
according to the Lascar, he would find numerous debris of the wreck,
but winds and tides prevented him.
Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he interested the Asiatic Society
and the Indian Company in his discovery. A vessel, to which was given
the name of the Recherche, was put at his disposal, and he set out,
23rd January, 1827, accompanied by a French agent.
The Recherche, after touching at several points in the Pacific, cast
anchor before Vanikoro, 7th July, 1827, in that same harbour of Vanou
where the Nautilus was at this time.
There it collected numerous relics of the wreck--iron utensils,
anchors, pulley-strops, swivel-guns, an 18 lb. shot, fragments of
astronomical instruments, a piece of crown work, and a bronze clock,
bearing this inscription--"Bazin m'a fait," the mark of the foundry of
the arsenal at Brest about 1785. There could be no further doubt.
Dillon, having made all inquiries, stayed in the unlucky place till
October. Then he quitted Vanikoro, and directed his course towards New
Zealand; put into Calcutta, 7th April, 1828, and returned to France,
where he was warmly welcomed by Charles X.
But at the same time, without knowing Dillon's movements, Dumont
d'Urville had already set out to find the scene of the wreck. And they
had learned from a whaler that some medals and a cross of St. Louis had
been found in the hands of some savages of Louisiade and New Caledonia.
Dumont d'Urville, commander of the Astrolabe, had then sailed, and two
months after Dillon had left Vanikoro he put into Hobart Town. There
he learned the results of Dillon's inquiries, and found that a certain
James Hobbs, second lieutenant of the Union of Calcutta, after landing
on an island situated 8° 18' S. lat., and 156° 30' E. long.,
had seen some iron bars and red stuffs used by the natives of these
parts. Dumont d'Urville, much perplexed, and not knowing how to credit
the reports of low-class journals, decided to follow Dillon's track.
On the 10th of February, 1828, the Astrolabe appeared off Tikopia, and
took as guide and interpreter a deserter found on the island; made his
way to Vanikoro, sighted it on the 12th inst., lay among the reefs
until the 14th, and not until the 20th did he cast anchor within the
barrier in the harbour of Vanou.
On the 23rd, several officers went round the island and brought back
some unimportant trifles. The natives, adopting a system of denials
and evasions, refused to take them to the unlucky place. This
ambiguous conduct led them to believe that the natives had ill-treated
the castaways, and indeed they seemed to fear that Dumont d'Urville had
come to avenge La Perouse and his unfortunate crew.
However, on the 26th, appeased by some presents, and understanding that
they had no reprisals to fear, they led M. Jacquireot to the scene of
the wreck.
There, in three or four fathoms of water, between the reefs of Pacou
and Vanou, lay anchors, cannons, pigs of lead and iron, embedded in the
limy concretions. The large boat and the whaler belonging to the
Astrolabe were sent to this place, and, not without some difficulty,
their crews hauled up an anchor weighing 1,800 lbs., a brass gun, some
pigs of iron, and two copper swivel-guns.
Dumont d'Urville, questioning the natives, learned too that La Perouse,
after losing both his vessels on the reefs of this island, had
constructed a smaller boat, only to be lost a second time. Where, no
one knew.
But the French Government, fearing that Dumont d'Urville was not
acquainted with Dillon's movements, had sent the sloop Bayonnaise,
commanded by Legoarant de Tromelin, to Vanikoro, which had been
stationed on the west coast of America. The Bayonnaise cast her anchor
before Vanikoro some months after the departure of the Astrolabe, but
found no new document; but stated that the savages had respected the
monument to La Perouse. That is the substance of what I told Captain
Nemo.
"So," he said, "no one knows now where the third vessel perished that
was constructed by the castaways on the island of Vanikoro?"
"No one knows."
Captain Nemo said nothing, but signed to me to follow him into the
large saloon. The Nautilus sank several yards below the waves, and the
panels were opened.
I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral, covered
with fungi, syphonules, alcyons, madrepores, through myriads of
charming fish--girelles, glyphisidri, pompherides, diacopes, and
holocentres--I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been
able to tear up--iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan
fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck of
some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers. While I was looking
on this desolate scene, Captain Nemo said, in a sad voice:
"Commander La Perouse set out 7th December, 1785, with his vessels La
Boussole and the Astrolabe. He first cast anchor at Botany Bay,
visited the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, then directed his course
towards Santa Cruz, and put into Namouka, one of the Hapai group. Then
his vessels struck on the unknown reefs of Vanikoro. The Boussole,
which went first, ran aground on the southerly coast. The Astrolabe
went to its help, and ran aground too. The first vessel was destroyed
almost immediately. The second, stranded under the wind, resisted some
days. The natives made the castaways welcome. They installed
themselves in the island, and constructed a smaller boat with the
debris of the two large ones. Some sailors stayed willingly at
Vanikoro; the others, weak and ill, set out with La Perouse. They
directed their course towards the Solomon Islands, and there perished,
with everything, on the westerly coast of the chief island of the
group, between Capes Deception and Satisfaction."
"How do you know that?"
"By this, that I found on the spot where was the last wreck."
Captain Nemo showed me a tin-plate box, stamped with the French arms,
and corroded by the salt water. He opened it, and I saw a bundle of
papers, yellow but still readable.
They were the instructions of the naval minister to Commander La
Perouse, annotated in the margin in Louis XVI's handwriting.
"Ah! it is a fine death for a sailor!" said Captain Nemo, at last. "A
coral tomb makes a quiet grave; and I trust that I and my comrades will
find no other."
CHAPTER XIX
TORRES STRAITS
During the night of the 27th or 28th of December, the Nautilus left the
shores of Vanikoro with great speed. Her course was south-westerly,
and in three days she had gone over the 750 leagues that separated it
from La Perouse's group and the south-east point of Papua.
Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.
"Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?"
"What! Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my study at the Jardin
des Plantes? Well, I accept your good wishes, and thank you for them.
Only, I will ask you what you mean by a `Happy New Year' under our
circumstances? Do you mean the year that will bring us to the end of
our imprisonment, or the year that sees us continue this strange
voyage?"
"Really, I do not know how to answer, master. We are sure to see
curious things, and for the last two months we have not had time for
dullness. The last marvel is always the most astonishing; and, if we
continue this progression, I do not know how it will end. It is my
opinion that we shall never again see the like. I think then, with no
offence to master, that a happy year would be one in which we could see
everything."
On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250 French leagues, since
our starting-point in the Japan Seas. Before the ship's head stretched
the dangerous shores of the coral sea, on the north-east coast of
Australia. Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bank on
which Cook's vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770. The boat in which Cook
was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink, it was owing to a piece
of coral that was broken by the shock, and fixed itself in the broken
keel.
I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the
sea, always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like
thunder. But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a
great depth, and I could see nothing of the high coral walls. I had to
content myself with the different specimens of fish brought up by the
nets. I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel as
large as a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands,
that disappear with the animal's life.
These fish followed us in shoals, and furnished us with very delicate
food. We took also a large number of gilt-heads, about one and a half
inches long, tasting like dorys; and flying pyrapeds like submarine
swallows, which, in dark nights, light alternately the air and water
with their phosphorescent light. Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I
found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini,
hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented
by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and macrocystes,
impregnated with the mucilage that transudes through their pores; and
among which I gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois, that was
classed among the natural curiosities of the museum.
Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sighted the
Papuan coasts. On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that his
intention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.
His communication ended there.
The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they are
obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers, and
rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable; so that Captain
Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them. The Nautilus,
floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace. Her screw,
like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.
Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to the deserted
platform. Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expected that
Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus. I had
before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and I
consulted them attentively. Round the Nautilus the sea dashed
furiously. The course of the waves, that went from south-east to
north-west at the rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that
showed itself here and there.
"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.
"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the
Nautilus."
"The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of
coral that would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly."
Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus seemed to slide
like magic off these rocks. It did not follow the routes of the
Astrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumont
d'Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray, and
came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage. I thought it
was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west, it went
through a large quantity of islands and islets little known, towards
the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.
I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer his vessel
into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched; when,
swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west, he steered
for the Island of Gilboa.
It was then three in the afternoon. The tide began to recede, being
quite full. The Nautilus approached the island, that I still saw, with
its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood off it at about two
miles distant. Suddenly a shock overthrew me. The Nautilus just
touched a rock, and stayed immovable, laying lightly to port side.
When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the
platform. They were examining the situation of the vessel, and
exchanging words in their incomprehensible dialect.
She was situated thus: Two miles, on the starboard side, appeared
Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm. Towards the
south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb. We had run
aground, and in one of those seas where the tides are middling--a sorry
matter for the floating of the Nautilus. However, the vessel had not
suffered, for her keel was solidly joined. But, if she could neither
glide off nor move, she ran the risk of being for ever fastened to
these rocks, and then Captain Nemo's submarine vessel would be done for.
I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm, always master
of himself, approached me.
"An accident?" I asked.
"No; an incident."
"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitant
of this land from which you flee?"
Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as
much as to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma
again. Then he said:
"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it will carry you yet
into the midst of the marvels of the ocean. Our voyage is only begun,
and I do not wish to be deprived so soon of the honour of your company."
"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironical turn
of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea. Now the tides
are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannot lighten the Nautilus,
I do not see how it will be reinflated."
"The tides are not strong in the Pacific: you are right there,
Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a difference of a yard
and a half between the level of high and low seas. To-day is 4th
January, and in five days the moon will be full. Now, I shall be very
much astonished if that satellite does not raise these masses of water
sufficiently, and render me a service that I should be indebted to her
for."
Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant, redescended
to the interior of the Nautilus. As to the vessel, it moved not, and
was immovable, as if the coralline polypi had already walled it up with
their in destructible cement.
"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departure of
the Captain.
"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th
instant; for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it
off again."
"Really?"
"Really."
"And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tide
will suffice?" said Conseil, simply.
The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.
"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will
navigate neither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold
for its weight. I think, therefore, that the time has come to part
company with Captain Nemo."
"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus, as you do; and in
four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides. Besides,
flight might be possible if we were in sight of the English or
Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing; and it
will be time enough to come to that extremity if the Nautilus does not
recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event."
"But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly? There is an
island; on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial
animals, bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly
give a trial."
"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil, "and I agree with him.
Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put
us on land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the
solid parts of our planet?"
"I can ask him, but he will refuse."
"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and we shall know how to rely
upon the Captain's amiability."
To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,
and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promise
to return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might be very
perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.
Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than to fall into the
hands of the natives.
At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the
Nautilus. The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.
Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steered in the
straight passage that the breakers left between them. The boat was
well handled, and moved rapidly.
Ned Land could not restrain his joy. He was like a prisoner that had
escaped from prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.
"Meat! We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!" he replied.
"Real game! no, bread, indeed."
"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it; but a piece
of fresh venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably vary our
ordinary course."
"Glutton!" said Conseil, "he makes my mouth water."
"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these forests are full of game,
and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."
"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemed
sharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger--loin of
tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."
"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.
"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land, "every animal with four paws
without feathers, or with two paws without feathers, will be saluted by
my first shot."
"Very well! Master Land's imprudences are beginning."
"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian; "I do not want
twenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort."
At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly aground on a heavy
sand, after having happily passed the coral reef that surrounds the
Island of Gilboa.
CHAPTER XX
A FEW DAYS ON LAND
I was much impressed on touching land. Ned Land tried the soil with
his feet, as if to take possession of it. However, it was only two
months before that we had become, according to Captain Nemo,
"passengers on board the Nautilus," but, in reality, prisoners of its
commander.
In a few minutes we were within musket-shot of the coast. The whole
horizon was hidden behind a beautiful curtain of forests. Enormous
trees, the trunks of which attained a height of 200 feet, were tied to
each other by garlands of bindweed, real natural hammocks, which a
light breeze rocked. They were mimosas, figs, hibisci, and palm trees,
mingled together in profusion; and under the shelter of their verdant
vault grew orchids, leguminous plants, and ferns.
But, without noticing all these beautiful specimens of Papuan flora,
the Canadian abandoned the agreeable for the useful. He discovered a
coco-tree, beat down some of the fruit, broke them, and we drunk the
milk and ate the nut with a satisfaction that protested against the
ordinary food on the Nautilus.
"Excellent!" said Ned Land.
"Exquisite!" replied Conseil.
"And I do not think," said the Canadian, "that he would object to our
introducing a cargo of coco-nuts on board."
"I do not think he would, but he would not taste them."
"So much the worse for him," said Conseil.
"And so much the better for us," replied Ned Land. "There will be more
for us."
"One word only, Master Land," I said to the harpooner, who was
beginning to ravage another coco-nut tree. "Coco-nuts are good things,
but before filling the canoe with them it would be wise to reconnoitre
and see if the island does not produce some substance not less useful.
Fresh vegetables would be welcome on board the Nautilus."
"Master is right," replied Conseil; "and I propose to reserve three
places in our vessel, one for fruits, the other for vegetables, and the
third for the venison, of which I have not yet seen the smallest
specimen."
"Conseil, we must not despair," said the Canadian.
"Let us continue," I returned, "and lie in wait. Although the island
seems uninhabited, it might still contain some individuals that would
be less hard than we on the nature of game."
"Ho! ho!" said Ned Land, moving his jaws significantly.
"Well, Ned!" said Conseil.
"My word!" returned the Canadian, "I begin to understand the charms of
anthropophagy."
"Ned! Ned! what are you saying? You, a man-eater? I should not feel
safe with you, especially as I share your cabin. I might perhaps wake
one day to find myself half devoured."
"Friend Conseil, I like you much, but not enough to eat you
unnecessarily."
"I would not trust you," replied Conseil. "But enough. We must
absolutely bring down some game to satisfy this cannibal, or else one
of these fine mornings, master will find only pieces of his servant to
serve him."
While we were talking thus, we were penetrating the sombre arches of
the forest, and for two hours we surveyed it in all directions.
Chance rewarded our search for eatable vegetables, and one of the most
useful products of the tropical zones furnished us with precious food
that we missed on board. I would speak of the bread-fruit tree, very
abundant in the island of Gilboa; and I remarked chiefly the variety
destitute of seeds, which bears in Malaya the name of "rima."
Ned Land knew these fruits well. He had already eaten many during his
numerous voyages, and he knew how to prepare the eatable substance.
Moreover, the sight of them excited him, and he could contain himself
no longer.
"Master," he said, "I shall die if I do not taste a little of this
bread-fruit pie."
"Taste it, friend Ned--taste it as you want. We are here to make
experiments--make them."
"It won't take long," said the Canadian.
And, provided with a lentil, he lighted a fire of dead wood that
crackled joyously. During this time, Conseil and I chose the best
fruits of the bread-fruit. Some had not then attained a sufficient
degree of maturity; and their thick skin covered a white but rather
fibrous pulp. Others, the greater number yellow and gelatinous, waited
only to be picked.
These fruits enclosed no kernel. Conseil brought a dozen to Ned Land,
who placed them on a coal fire, after having cut them in thick slices,
and while doing this repeating:
"You will see, master, how good this bread is. More so when one has
been deprived of it so long. It is not even bread," added he, "but a
delicate pastry. You have eaten none, master?"
"No, Ned."
"Very well, prepare yourself for a juicy thing. If you do not come for
more, I am no longer the king of harpooners."
After some minutes, the part of the fruits that was exposed to the fire
was completely roasted. The interior looked like a white pasty, a sort
of soft crumb, the flavour of which was like that of an artichoke.
It must be confessed this bread was excellent, and I ate of it with
great relish.
"What time is it now?" asked the Canadian.
"Two o'clock at least," replied Conseil.
"How time flies on firm ground!" sighed Ned Land.
"Let us be off," replied Conseil.
We returned through the forest, and completed our collection by a raid
upon the cabbage-palms, that we gathered from the tops of the trees,
little beans that I recognised as the "abrou" of the Malays, and yams
of a superior quality.
We were loaded when we reached the boat. But Ned Land did not find his
provisions sufficient. Fate, however, favoured us. Just as we were
pushing off, he perceived several trees, from twenty-five to thirty
feet high, a species of palm-tree.
At last, at five o'clock in the evening, loaded with our riches, we
quitted the shore, and half an hour after we hailed the Nautilus. No
one appeared on our arrival. The enormous iron-plated cylinder seemed
deserted. The provisions embarked, I descended to my chamber, and
after supper slept soundly.
The next day, 6th January, nothing new on board. Not a sound inside,
not a sign of life. The boat rested along the edge, in the same place
in which we had left it. We resolved to return to the island. Ned
Land hoped to be more fortunate than on the day before with regard to
the hunt, and wished to visit another part of the forest.
At dawn we set off. The boat, carried on by the waves that flowed to
shore, reached the island in a few minutes.
We landed, and, thinking that it was better to give in to the Canadian,
we followed Ned Land, whose long limbs threatened to distance us. He
wound up the coast towards the west: then, fording some torrents, he
gained the high plain that was bordered with admirable forests. Some
kingfishers were rambling along the water-courses, but they would not
let themselves be approached. Their circumspection proved to me that
these birds knew what to expect from bipeds of our species, and I
concluded that, if the island was not inhabited, at least human beings
occasionally frequented it.
After crossing a rather large prairie, we arrived at the skirts of a
little wood that was enlivened by the songs and flight of a large
number of birds.
"There are only birds," said Conseil.
"But they are eatable," replied the harpooner.
"I do not agree with you, friend Ned, for I see only parrots there."
"Friend Conseil," said Ned, gravely, "the parrot is like pheasant to
those who have nothing else."
"And," I added, "this bird, suitably prepared, is worth knife and fork."
Indeed, under the thick foliage of this wood, a world of parrots were
flying from branch to branch, only needing a careful education to speak
the human language. For the moment, they were chattering with parrots
of all colours, and grave cockatoos, who seemed to meditate upon some
philosophical problem, whilst brilliant red lories passed like a piece
of bunting carried away by the breeze, papuans, with the finest azure
colours, and in all a variety of winged things most charming to behold,
but few eatable.
However, a bird peculiar to these lands, and which has never passed the
limits of the Arrow and Papuan islands, was wanting in this collection.
But fortune reserved it for me before long.
After passing through a moderately thick copse, we found a plain
obstructed with bushes. I saw then those magnificent birds, the
disposition of whose long feathers obliges them to fly against the
wind. Their undulating flight, graceful aerial curves, and the shading
of their colours, attracted and charmed one's looks. I had no trouble
in recognising them.
"Birds of paradise!" I exclaimed.
The Malays, who carry on a great trade in these birds with the Chinese,
have several means that we could not employ for taking them. Sometimes
they put snares on the top of high trees that the birds of paradise
prefer to frequent. Sometimes they catch them with a viscous birdlime
that paralyses their movements. They even go so far as to poison the
fountains that the birds generally drink from. But we were obliged to
fire at them during flight, which gave us few chances to bring them
down; and, indeed, we vainly exhausted one half our ammunition.
About eleven o'clock in the morning, the first range of mountains that
form the centre of the island was traversed, and we had killed nothing.
Hunger drove us on. The hunters had relied on the products of the
chase, and they were wrong. Happily Conseil, to his great surprise,
made a double shot and secured breakfast. He brought down a white
pigeon and a wood-pigeon, which, cleverly plucked and suspended from a
skewer, was roasted before a red fire of dead wood. While these
interesting birds were cooking, Ned prepared the fruit of the
bread-tree. Then the wood-pigeons were devoured to the bones, and
declared excellent. The nutmeg, with which they are in the habit of
stuffing their crops, flavours their flesh and renders it delicious
eating.
"Now, Ned, what do you miss now?"
"Some four-footed game, M. Aronnax. All these pigeons are only
side-dishes and trifles; and until I have killed an animal with cutlets
I shall not be content."
"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise."
"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil. "Let us go towards the
sea. We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I
think we had better regain the region of forests."
That was sensible advice, and was followed out. After walking for one
hour we had attained a forest of sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents
glided away from us. The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and
truly I despaired of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in
front, suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
bringing a magnificent specimen.
"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"
"Master is very good."
"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke. Take one of these
living birds, and carry it in your hand."
"If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great
merit."
"Why, Conseil?"
"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."
"Drunk!"
"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under the
nutmeg-tree, under which I found it. See, friend Ned, see the
monstrous effects of intemperance!"
"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because I have drunk gin for two
months, you must needs reproach me!"
However, I examined the curious bird. Conseil was right. The bird,
drunk with the juice, was quite powerless. It could not fly; it could
hardly walk.
This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species that are
found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands. It was the "large
emerald bird, the most rare kind." It measured three feet in length.
Its head was comparatively small, its eyes placed near the opening of
the beak, and also small. But the shades of colour were beautiful,
having a yellow beak, brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with
purple tips, pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly. Two horned,
downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged the long light
feathers of admirable fineness, and they completed the whole of this
marvellous bird, that the natives have poetically named the "bird of
the sun."
But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird of
paradise, the Canadian's were not yet. Happily, about two o'clock, Ned
Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood of those the
natives call "bari-outang." The animal came in time for us to procure
real quadruped meat, and he was well received. Ned Land was very proud
of his shot. The hog, hit by the electric ball, fell stone dead. The
Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly, after having taken half a
dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us with a grilled repast in the
evening. Then the hunt was resumed, which was still more marked by Ned
and Conseil's exploits.
Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd of kangaroos
that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws. But these animals
did not take to flight so rapidly but what the electric capsule could
stop their course.
"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the delights
of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed, too! What a supply for
the Nautilus! Two! three! five down! And to think that we shall eat
that flesh, and that the idiots on board shall not have a crumb!"
I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian, if he had not
talked so much, would have killed them all. But he contented himself
with a single dozen of these interesting marsupians. These animals
were small. They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live
habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme; but
they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food. We
were very satisfied with the results of the hunt. Happy Ned proposed
to return to this enchanting island the next day, for he wished to
depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds. But he had reckoned
without his host.
At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore; our boat was
moored to the usual place. The Nautilus, like a long rock, emerged
from the waves two miles from the beach. Ned Land, without waiting,
occupied himself about the important dinner business. He understood
all about cooking well. The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon
scented the air with a delicious odour.
Indeed, the dinner was excellent. Two wood-pigeons completed this
extraordinary menu. The sago pasty, the artocarpus bread, some
mangoes, half a dozen pineapples, and the liquor fermented from some
coco-nuts, overjoyed us. I even think that my worthy companions' ideas
had not all the plainness desirable.
"Suppose we do not return to the Nautilus this evening?" said Conseil.
"Suppose we never return?" added Ned Land.
Just then a stone fell at our feet and cut short the harpooner's
proposition.
CHAPTER XXI
CAPTAIN NEMO'S THUNDERBOLT
We looked at the edge of the forest without rising, my hand stopping in
the action of putting it to my mouth, Ned Land's completing its office.
"Stones do not fall from the sky," remarked Conseil, "or they would
merit the name aerolites."
A second stone, carefully aimed, that made a savoury pigeon's leg fall
from Conseil's hand, gave still more weight to his observation. We all
three arose, shouldered our guns, and were ready to reply to any attack.
"Are they apes?" cried Ned Land.
"Very nearly--they are savages."
"To the boat!" I said, hurrying to the sea.
It was indeed necessary to beat a retreat, for about twenty natives
armed with bows and slings appeared on the skirts of a copse that
masked the horizon to the right, hardly a hundred steps from us.
Our boat was moored about sixty feet from us. The savages approached
us, not running, but making hostile demonstrations. Stones and arrows
fell thickly.
Ned Land had not wished to leave his provisions; and, in spite of his
imminent danger, his pig on one side and kangaroos on the other, he
went tolerably fast. In two minutes we were on the shore. To load the
boat with provisions and arms, to push it out to sea, and ship the
oars, was the work of an instant. We had not gone two cable-lengths,
when a hundred savages, howling and gesticulating, entered the water up
to their waists. I watched to see if their apparition would attract
some men from the Nautilus on to the platform. But no. The enormous
machine, lying off, was absolutely deserted.
Twenty minutes later we were on board. The panels were open. After
making the boat fast, we entered into the interior of the Nautilus.
I descended to the drawing-room, from whence I heard some chords.
Captain Nemo was there, bending over his organ, and plunged in a
musical ecstasy.
"Captain!"
He did not hear me.
"Captain!" I said, touching his hand.
He shuddered, and, turning round, said, "Ah! it is you, Professor?
Well, have you had a good hunt, have you botanised successfully?"
"Yes Captain; but we have unfortunately brought a troop of bipeds,
whose vicinity troubles me."
"What bipeds?"
"Savages."
"Savages!" he echoed, ironically. "So you are astonished, Professor,
at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages? Savages!
where are there not any? Besides, are they worse than others, these
whom you call savages?"
"But Captain----"
"How many have you counted?"
"A hundred at least."
"M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, placing his fingers on the organ
stops, "when all the natives of Papua are assembled on this shore, the
Nautilus will have nothing to fear from their attacks."
The Captain's fingers were then running over the keys of the
instrument, and I remarked that he touched only the black keys, which
gave his melodies an essentially Scotch character. Soon he had
forgotten my presence, and had plunged into a reverie that I did not
disturb. I went up again on to the platform: night had already fallen;
for, in this low latitude, the sun sets rapidly and without twilight.
I could only see the island indistinctly; but the numerous fires,
lighted on the beach, showed that the natives did not think of leaving
it. I was alone for several hours, sometimes thinking of the
natives--but without any dread of them, for the imperturbable
confidence of the Captain was catching--sometimes forgetting them to
admire the splendours of the night in the tropics. My remembrances
went to France in the train of those zodiacal stars that would shine in
some hours' time. The moon shone in the midst of the constellations of
the zenith.
The night slipped away without any mischance, the islanders frightened
no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay. The panels were
open, and would have offered an easy access to the interior of the
Nautilus.
At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up on to the
platform. The dawn was breaking. The island soon showed itself
through the dissipating fogs, first the shore, then the summits.
The natives were there, more numerous than on the day before--five or
six hundred perhaps--some of them, profiting by the low water, had come
on to the coral, at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus. I
distinguished them easily; they were true Papuans, with athletic
figures, men of good race, large high foreheads, large, but not broad
and flat, and white teeth. Their woolly hair, with a reddish tinge,
showed off on their black shining bodies like those of the Nubians.
From the lobes of their ears, cut and distended, hung chaplets of
bones. Most of these savages were naked. Amongst them, I remarked
some women, dressed from the hips to knees in quite a crinoline of
herbs, that sustained a vegetable waistband. Some chiefs had
ornamented their necks with a crescent and collars of glass beads, red
and white; nearly all were armed with bows, arrows, and shields and
carried on their shoulders a sort of net containing those round stones
which they cast from their slings with great skill. One of these
chiefs, rather near to the Nautilus, examined it attentively. He was,
perhaps, a "mado" of high rank, for he was draped in a mat of
banana-leaves, notched round the edges, and set off with brilliant
colours.
I could easily have knocked down this native, who was within a short
length; but I thought that it was better to wait for real hostile
demonstrations. Between Europeans and savages, it is proper for the
Europeans to parry sharply, not to attack.
During low water the natives roamed about near the Nautilus, but were
not troublesome; I heard them frequently repeat the word "Assai," and
by their gestures I understood that they invited me to go on land, an
invitation that I declined.
So that, on that day, the boat did not push off, to the great
displeasure of Master Land, who could not complete his provisions.
This adroit Canadian employed his time in preparing the viands and meat
that he had brought off the island. As for the savages, they returned
to the shore about eleven o'clock in the morning, as soon as the coral
tops began to disappear under the rising tide; but I saw their numbers
had increased considerably on the shore. Probably they came from the
neighbouring islands, or very likely from Papua. However, I had not
seen a single native canoe. Having nothing better to do, I thought of
dragging these beautiful limpid waters, under which I saw a profusion
of shells, zoophytes, and marine plants. Moreover, it was the last day
that the Nautilus would pass in these parts, if it float in open sea
the next day, according to Captain Nemo's promise.
I therefore called Conseil, who brought me a little light drag, very
like those for the oyster fishery. Now to work! For two hours we
fished unceasingly, but without bringing up any rarities. The drag was
filled with midas-ears, harps, melames, and particularly the most
beautiful hammers I have ever seen. We also brought up some sea-slugs,
pearl-oysters, and a dozen little turtles that were reserved for the
pantry on board.
But just when I expected it least, I put my hand on a wonder, I might
say a natural deformity, very rarely met with. Conseil was just
dragging, and his net came up filled with divers ordinary shells, when,
all at once, he saw me plunge my arm quickly into the net, to draw out
a shell, and heard me utter a cry.
"What is the matter, sir?" he asked in surprise. "Has master been
bitten?"
"No, my boy; but I would willingly have given a finger for my
discovery."
"What discovery?"
"This shell," I said, holding up the object of my triumph.
"It is simply an olive porphyry, genus olive, order of the
pectinibranchidae, class of gasteropods, sub-class mollusca."
"Yes, Conseil; but, instead of being rolled from right to left, this
olive turns from left to right."
"Is it possible?"
"Yes, my boy; it is a left shell."
Shells are all right-handed, with rare exceptions; and, when by chance
their spiral is left, amateurs are ready to pay their weight in gold.
Conseil and I were absorbed in the contemplation of our treasure, and I
was promising myself to enrich the museum with it, when a stone
unfortunately thrown by a native struck against, and broke, the
precious object in Conseil's hand. I uttered a cry of despair!
Conseil took up his gun, and aimed at a savage who was poising his
sling at ten yards from him. I would have stopped him, but his blow
took effect and broke the bracelet of amulets which encircled the arm
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