PART II
CHAPTER | |
I | THE INDIAN OCEAN |
II | A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO'S |
III | A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS |
IV | THE RED SEA |
V | THE ARABIAN TUNNEL |
VI | THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO |
VII | THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS |
VIII | VIGO BAY |
IX | A VANISHED CONTINENT |
X | THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES |
XI | THE SARGASSO SEA |
XII | CACHALOTS AND WHALES |
XIII | THE ICEBERG |
XIV | THE SOUTH POLE |
XV | ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT? |
XVI | WANT OF AIR |
XVII | FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON |
XVIII | THE POULPS |
XIX | THE GULF STREAM |
XX | FROM LATITUDE 47° 24' TO LONGITUDE 17° 28' |
XXI | A HECATOMB |
XXII | THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO |
XXIII | CONCLUSION |
PART ONE
CHAPTER I
A SHIFTING REEF
The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were particularly excited. 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 phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
The facts relating 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 whale, it surpassed in size all those hitherto classified in science. Taking into consideration 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