The Mysterious Island Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Captain Grant's Children

Chapter 106: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (37)
I have some heartbeats, can we float up to the surface of the sea smoothly, to breathe the free air of Antarctica?At this time, there was a muffled crash, and I knew that the "Nautilus" had hit the ice.We were still at a depth of three thousand feet, which meant that the ice above us was four thousand feet thick, of which a thousand feet were above the water.We can't break through this thickness, and I feel a little uneasy in my heart.Throughout the next day, the "Nautilus" tried to float up many times, always hitting the upper ice wall.The thickness of the ice layer is gradually decreasing, and one of them was encountered at a depth of 900 meters underwater.I carefully recorded the depth at which I hit the ice every time I went up, so that I could see the seabed silhouette of this iceberg mountain range after connecting each depth.

At night, our situation did not improve fundamentally. After several ascents, we encountered the ice at depths of 400 meters and 500 meters.The thickness of the ice is decreasing, but it's still an inaccessible distance.At eight o'clock in the evening, according to the old custom, the interior air of the "Nautilus" should have been changed four hours ago.Captain Nemo was very calm, he didn't release the oxygen in the storage tank to supplement it, and I didn't feel that my breathing was not smooth.Hope and fear alternately haunted me that night, and I could not sleep.In between, I got up several times, and I could feel that the Nautilus's attempted ascent was still going on.At about three o'clock in the morning, I observed that the "Nautilus" did not touch the ice at a depth of 50 meters underwater, which indicated that the distance between us and the water surface was only 150 feet, and the iceberg was gradually turning into an ice field.My eyes are glued to the pressure gauge, and the iceberg is like a long, winding railing, thinning from mile to mile. Six o'clock in the morning on March 3th is memorable. At that moment, the living room door was opened, and Captain Nemo came in. He said to me calmly: "Professor, we are on the surface of the sea!"

Antarctic
I was so excited that I ran up to the platform without saying hello to Captain Nemo.

Yes, there is a free sea in front of you. On both sides of the "Nautilus", there are only some scattered ice blocks and floating ice layers.In the distance, the sea and sky are the same color, birds are flying in the sky, and there is a world of fish under the water.The color of the water varies with the depth, from deep indigo to olive green.I obviously felt that the sea breeze was soft and warm, and the thermometer pointed to three degrees Celsius.Behind the iceberg seems to be a different world, tens of kilometers to the north is still extremely cold, although here is closer to the extreme, but the spring is sultry.

"Mr. Captain, are we still in Antarctica?" I asked the captain suspiciously, my heart was still pounding because I was so excited.

"It should be, but I can't be sure," he replied, "I'll take a bearing at noon."

"Does the sun go through these clouds?" I said looking up at the gray sky.

"A little exposure is enough," replied the captain.

On the surface of the sea two nautical miles south of the "Nautilus", there is an isolated small island, the highest point on the island is about 200 meters.We headed for the island, the Nautilus moving slowly and cautiously, for the sea was full of hidden reefs.An hour later, we arrived at the island and spent another two hours circling the island.The circumference of the island is about four or five nautical miles, and a narrow channel separates it from the mainland.This continent may be a continent whose boundaries cannot be seen at a glance.

The existence of this piece of land proves that Morley's hypothesis is correct. The American scholar pointed out that there are a large number of ice groups floating on the sea between the South Pole and 60° south latitude.These ice packs are huge, but they are never encountered in the northern Atlantic Ocean.From this fact, he drew a hypothetical conclusion that there is a large landmass in the Antarctic Circle.Because icebergs cannot form in the middle of the sea, they can only exist near the edge of the land.According to his calculations, the ice mass covering Antarctica formed a spherical dome up to four thousand kilometers wide.

In order to avoid running aground, the "Nautilus" is moored in the sea six meters away from this land.The boat was lowered into the sea, and the captain, two crew members, Conseil and I came into the boat together with some equipment.It was ten o'clock in the morning, and the Canadian didn't show up. He wanted to see the captain's joke, and he must be unwilling to admit that he had reached the South Pole.The boat quickly landed on the beach, and when Conseil was about to go ashore, I grabbed him and said to the captain:

"I think the honor of man's first setting foot on this land should belong to you, Mr. Captain."

"Yes, I think I am entitled. So far, no human footprint has been left on this land."

After saying that, the captain jumped lightly and landed on the beach. Then he climbed up a rock and stood there, scanning the virgin land with eager eyes.I believe that at this moment, his heart was immersed in extreme joy, and he silently named himself the master of this land. After 5 minutes, he calmed down, turned around and shouted to us:
"Mr. Professor, please go ashore too."

Conseil and I jumped out of the boat, and the two crew members stayed in the boat and waited.

Walking to the end of the beach, I first noticed the soil of the land under my feet.The soil here is mostly ocher red tuff, which looks like layers of masonry structures.In addition, the pumice and stone chips produced by volcanic activities are all over the ground. It seems that the formation of this land is also the result of volcanic activities.In some places, there are slight white smoke and a strong sulfur smell, which proves that there is still volcanic activity in the interior of this land, and it is ready to go.I climbed up a high cliff, and as far as I could see, there was no sign of a volcano within a radius of several nautical miles.As we all know, in Antarctica, the British explorer James Ross once found the very active Erebes and Tirol craters at 160° east longitude and 77°32′ latitude.

This desolate continent has extremely few plant species due to its harsh climate.The most widely distributed species are moss species that grow on black rocks, as well as some kind of microbial vegetation and primitive diatoms, as well as quartzy cell plants gathered between two shells.Then there was the black carnelian which washed ashore with the tide, and all these made up the whole vegetable kingdom of this barren place.

After studying geology and botany, I began to pay attention to some molluscs along the coast, including clams, sea snakes, heart-shaped smooth clams, and oblong tentacle shells with two rounded ear lobes.I have seen countless tentacle clams in the northern seas, each three centimeters long, and an average-sized whale could devour a large group in one bite.The main species of zoophytes are corals, and according to James Ross, these coral trees can grow in the Antarctic sea to a depth of 1000 meters.In addition, there are small emerald corals belonging to the sea cell family and many starfish scattered on the ground.

The most abundant species here are the birds that live in the air and on the ground. Looking up, countless seabirds of various types are soaring in the air, and their singing is very noisy, reaching the point of deafening.There are also groups of birds standing on the rocks. They are not afraid of humans. When they see us approaching, they gather around very affectionately. These birds are penguins. They hunt in the water and rest and reproduce on the shore.

I saw an Antarctic waterfowl, about the size of a pigeon, all white, with a short conical beak and red rings around the eyes.Conseil had caught several Antarctic waterfowl, whose meat, when properly cooked, was delicious.There are huge albatrosses flying in the sky. Their wingspan is more than four meters wide. Some people call them sea vultures. This name is very appropriate, because albatrosses like to snatch the food caught by other birds in the air by virtue of their physical strength. It is an out-and-out "sea vulture".There are also many varieties of petrels, among which there is a bow-shaped petrel with arched wings, which likes to eat seal meat the most.Sea chess birds are like ducklings, with a mixture of white and black.In addition, there is a special gray-white petrel, which is a specialty of the Southern Ocean, and the edges of its wings are chestnut-colored.I told Conseil: "This gray-white petrel has a lot of fat in its body. In the Ferroe Islands, after people catch them, they will put wicks on their abdomens and they can be directly ignited."

"I hope that this kind of bird will not go to the Ferroe Islands in the future," Conseil said. One wick, and they're totally flying oil lamps."

We went on for another half a mile, and there appeared on the ground the nests of brachypterous divers, the nests of which the females lay their eggs.Lots of loons flew out of the nest as we walked by.The meat of this bird is black and edible.Later, when we returned, Captain Nemo had the crew shoot hundreds of loons with shotguns for the ship's meat reserves.These loons are fairly handsome, with slate-coloured bodies, white feet, and lemon-coloured markings around their necks.

When it was almost eleven o'clock, the clouds and mists did not dissipate, and the sun did not appear for a long time.Without the sun, it is impossible to make various observations and measurements to determine whether we are stepping on the land of the Antarctic. I can't help feeling a little anxious.

When I got back to Captain Nemo, he was leaning on one arm on the rock, looking up at the sky, morose.He is also looking forward to the appearance of the sun in his heart, but we cannot direct the sun's movements like conquering the ocean.

At noon, the sun still didn’t come as promised, we couldn’t even find where it was hiding, and the sky was still shrouded in clouds and fog.Soon, the fog turned to snowflakes as the temperature dropped.

"We'll come back tomorrow." The captain made a decisive decision. After making this not-so-difficult decision, we all looked at the "Nautilus" moored in the distance.

When we went ashore for a hiking survey, the crew of the "Nautilus" took the time to lower the fishing nets into the sea.When we returned to the boat, they were catching up with their first nets, and I was very interested in the fish they caught.There are many fish that like to migrate long distances in the Antarctic waters. They often migrate to the shallow waters of the Southern Ocean to avoid storms in the low-latitude oceans.But it's not without threats, seals and penguins are good fishers in the sea.Among the salvaged fish are Antarctic spiny-finned fishes, which are generally ten centimeters long, off-white, cartilaginous, with oblique pale white stripes and sharp spines.Also, there are cartilaginous anomalies, which are very long, up to three feet in length.It has silver-white, smooth skin, a round head, three fins on the back, and a trumpet pipe bent towards the mouth at the front end of the face.The flesh of this fish was bland, but Conseil, who disagreed with me, liked it.

With the falling snow, the wind speed increased, and then a blizzard blew, and we all retreated to the cabin.The bad weather lasted until the next day. I wrote down my travel notes on the Antarctic continent in the warm living room. From time to time, I could hear petrels and albatrosses singing in my ears. These strong ones. The "Nautilus" did not stand still, it continued to sail south along the coast for ten nautical miles.

On March 3th, the blizzard passed, the temperature dropped a little, and the thick fog was blown away by the wind. I hope there will be a sunny day today, so that we can measure the direction.

Captain Nemo did not show up, and Conseil and I first came to land in a small boat.The soil here is the same as yesterday's. It is the product of volcanic eruption, mainly volcanic rock and basalt. Similarly, I still haven't found where the crater is.Overhead and on the rocks, countless birds add vitality to the land.Along with the birds, there is also a large group of marine mammals, which are various seals. They have never seen people, so they look at us very gently.Some of them were lying on the ground, and some were lying on the slanted ice, half up.Some seals have just returned from predation in the sea, and some are just about to go into the sea excitedly.In Antarctica, they occupy a high position in the food chain, feeding on fish and penguins.When they saw us approaching, they didn't panic and run away.There are almost tens of thousands of seals here, which can load hundreds of ships.

It was eight o'clock in the morning, and there were still four hours before we used the sun to observe the direction.Conseil and I walked towards a wide bay surrounded by granite cliffs and shaped like a crescent moon.

All the open spaces in this bay are crowded with seals.I couldn't help but think of Proud, the shepherd in Greek mythology, who was responsible for guarding the livestock for the sea god.Seals are not all huddled together, they probably form several large groups.In the seal group, the male seal is the leader, it is responsible for guarding the young and old of a group, and the female seal is responsible for feeding the young seals.The young seals that have grown up are walking around randomly. They are clumsy when they are on land, and they are far less flexible in sea water. They use their underdeveloped fins to support their bodies, and they move forward jump by jump by stretching and contracting their bodies. .In seawater, their bodies are long and narrow, and their bodies are covered with shiny fur to ensure that they maintain a basic body temperature in the cold sea. Such physical characteristics make them excellent swimmers.Overall, their appearance is funny, but cute.

I told Conseil that seals are very intelligent animals with well-developed brains. Except for humans and primates, no other mammals have such developed brain nerves.So, a lot of people are domesticating seals, giving them some sort of education to be house pets or circus stars.Also, I agree with some biologists that seals can be trained to be helpers in fishing, just as fishermen in the old Eastern countries trained ospreys to fish for them.

When seals are resting, they like to lie on rocks or sand. Their external characteristics are obviously different from those of sea otters, that is, they do not have protruding outer ears.In this bay, I also saw some variants of sea otters, three feet long, white fur, a head resembling a hound, and a total of ten teeth in the upper and lower jaws, including four incisors, and two large lily-shaped canines , These are sharp weapons for sea otters to gnaw on food.Among the sea otters I saw walruses scrambling about, probably the largest of Antarctic animals, ten feet long, with short movable snouts.They ignored us as we approached.

"Do they never attack humans?" Conseil asked me.

"No," I answered, "unless men attack them actively, a walrus is terrible when it defends its offspring, and it can bite a fisherman's skiff to pieces."

"My God! But that's its legitimate right of self-defense." Conseil sighed.

"Absolutely." I nodded.

We went on, and after two nautical miles we were stopped by a sharp head.This promontory stands close to the sea and protects the harbor from the southerly winds.Here the waves splash, accompanied by rumbling roars, like the sound made by a herd of cattle and sheep chewing their cud.

"What's that?" Conseil asked. "A buffalo?"

"No," I said, "it's a sea lion concert."

"Are they fighting?"

"It could have been a fight, it could have been a romp."

"Sir, we should go and see."

"Yes, Conseil, these animals are not usually seen."

We stepped over the rocks, stepped on the gravel that was beaten slippery by the sea, and walked through the gray and black rocky terrain.I was unsteady on my feet and slipped and fell more than once, resulting in a sore lower back.Conseil was different from me, perhaps he was more careful, or because of his strong body and strong legs, he did not fall.

He helped me up and said, "If you're not so gentlemanly, you can keep your body balanced by spreading your legs a little while walking."

When we came to the ridge of the pointed headland, there was a large plain in front of us, where groups of sea lions lived. The roar we heard just now was not their angry howling, but their happy voice.

In appearance, sea lions are very similar to seals. They have no canines and incisors in their lower jaws. The biggest feature of their faces is the pair of canines on the upper jaw, which are about [-] cm long. The texture of these teeth is flawless and harder than ivory. It is not easy to turn yellow, and it is a treasure that people are vying for.So these sea lions were once killed indiscriminately.Because of the blind slaughter of hunters and their merciless treatment of pregnant female sea lions, the number of hunted and killed more than [-] sea lions per year is quickly reduced to the point of extinction.

Walking by these animals, I can observe them with confidence and ease.Their skin is thick, wrinkled, dark brown in color similar to ochre, and the fur on the skin is short and sparse.The largest sea lion is four meters long. The sea lion species here are quieter than those in the Arctic Ocean. It may be that there is a lack of natural enemies here. They are leisurely and content, and they do not send special sentries to guard their camping surroundings.

After walking through this sea lion habitat, I thought it was time to go back.It is eleven o'clock, and if the weather permits, Captain Nemo will be able to make observations, and I will go up to him and watch him do it.However, the current weather is still very bad, with thick clouds accumulating in the sky, and the sky seems to cherish the sun too much, and is unwilling to let it visit this place that cannot be easily reached by human beings.

Conseil and I descended a narrow slope at the top of the cliff, and by 11:30 we were back where the skiff had landed us.I saw the captain standing on a piece of basalt, with the measuring instrument beside him, and his eyes fixed on the northern sky, which was still covered with fog.

I stood beside him quietly, without saying anything. When noon came, the sun was still hiding behind the thick clouds, and the observation failed again. If we are still so unlucky tomorrow, we will give up.

(End of this chapter)