Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven: The Nautilus

Captain Nemo rose, and I followed him, two doors at the rear of the dining room: the doors opened.I went into a room about the same size as the dining room I had just come out of. This is the library.The four walls of the library are lined with tall red sandalwood bookshelves inlaid with copper wire, and the shelves are filled with uniformly decorated books on the shelves.Beneath the shelves stood a row of couches covered in sorrel hides;Next to the sofa is a light and movable book case that can be moved around at will, and people can read books on it.In the center of the library was a large table covered with many pamphlets, some of which were old newspapers.Four frosted glass spheres half-embedded in the vaulted ceiling emit a soft electric light, bathing this harmonious whole.When I saw this exquisitely furnished library, I admired it so much that I could hardly believe my own eyes.

"Captain Nemo," I said to my master who had just laid down on the sofa, "such a library would be proud to be placed in a court on the mainland. When I think that it can follow you to the deepest part of the sea, I am really happy." I can't help but feel elated and very happy." "Professor, where can I find a more secluded and quiet place than here?" Captain Nemo replied, "Can your studio in the Museum of Natural History provide you with such a quiet and comfortable environment?" "No, sir, I must say that my studio is obviously very poor compared with this. You have six or seven thousand books in this room..."

"Mr. Aronnax, there are twelve thousand copies. These are the only links I have with the land. But from the day when my Nautilus first dived under the water, for me, the world is everything. It's over. On this day I bought my last books, my last pamphlets, my last daily newspapers, and since then I have thought that man has no thoughts and no writings. Professor, these books You are free to use whatever you want." I thank Captain Nemo.I approach the bookshelf.The shelves were plentiful in science, philosophy, and literature in every language; but I didn't see a single book on political economy, which seemed to have been completely kicked out.Strange to say, all the books, no matter what kind of language they were written in, were randomly mixed together without any obvious classification. Obviously, the captain of the Nautilus could read any book fluently.

Among these books, I saw the masterpieces of ancient and modern masters-these are the fruits of human history, poetry and science accumulated over the years, from Homer to Victor Hugo, from Xenophon to Michele Columns, from Rabelais to Mrs. George Sand.Everything you need.Special science books are the most precious part of this library. Books on mechanics, ballistics, oceanographic cartography, meteorology, geography, geology, etc. occupy no less place than books on natural science. I understand that these are all It is the focus of the captain's research.I saw on the shelves the complete works of Humber, the complete works of Arago, as well as Vogel, Henry St. Clare de Verchassel, Mill Edward, Catfarge, Dundal, Faraday, Bertello@ There are also works by Abbot Schersch@, Petelman, Major Morley, Agassiz, etc.; papers of the Academy of Sciences, journals of various national geographical societies, etc.The two books I wrote are also prominently placed, and it is probably due to these books that I have been able to enjoy Captain Nemo's rather lenient reception.Among Bertrand's works, his "Founder of Astronomy"), led me to calculate the exact date of the ship's construction; I know that this book was published in 1865, so I can conclude that Nord The launch of the Reus was after this period.In this way, Captain Nemo began his life under the sea, at most, only three years.I wish very much that more recent books would enable me to fix this date: but I think I shall have time for such research;

"Sir," I said to the captain, "I thank you for letting me have these books at my disposal. This is a treasury of science, and here I am sure to be of great use. "This is not only a library," said Captain Nemo, "but also a smoking room." "Is there a smoking room?" I called. "Is there smoking on board?" "Smoking, of course." "Then, sir, I cannot help thinking that you are connected with Havana." "No contact at all," replied the captain. "Mr. Aronnax, take a look at this snowflake. Although it is not from Havana, if you are an expert, you will be satisfied."

I took the cigar he gave me, shaped somewhat like a Havana-made London cigar, and with what appeared to be a fine golden leaf.I lit the cigarette over a little brazier on a handsome brass stand.Those who love to smoke have not smoked for two days, and when they pick up a cigarette, they feel happy all over the body, and I took a few puffs to my heart's content.I say: "Excellent, but not tobacco." "Yes," replied the captain, "this tobacco does not come from Havana, nor from the Orient. It is a rich seaweed which is supplied to me by the sea, and which is not abundant. Yours, sir. Don't you feel sorry that you can't smoke the Havana-made Xueqian?"

"Captain, from today onwards I will despise those smokes." "Then smoke what you want! No need to discuss the origin of these cigarettes. They have not been inspected by any tobacco authority, but I guess the quality is not necessarily inferior." "On the contrary, it's fine." At this moment Captain Nemo opened a door opposite the bar by which I entered the library, and I entered the spacious and splendid drawing room. The living room is a large rectangular room, ten meters long, six meters wide, and five meters high. Among the rare treasures.For the drawing-room was in fact a museum, where an intelligent hand had assembled all the curiosities of nature and art, giving it the artistic disorder that is characteristic of a painter's studio.

The surrounding walls are hung with patterned tapestries, and the tapestries are dotted with more than 30 famous paintings. The frames are all the same, and each painting is separated by shiny weapon ornaments.I saw many precious works among them, most of which I have admired in European private collections or in picture exhibitions.The works of masters of the past dynasties are hung here: Raphael's Madonna, Da Vinci's Virgin, Gorich's Maiden, Dietion's Woman, Vilonice An adoration of the Virgin, an Assumption of the Virgin by Miliro, a portrait by Holbein, a monk by Velázquez, a martyr by Ribera, a portrait by Rubens Festivities and feasts, two Flemish landscapes by Daniel and his sons, three "world paintings" by Gyurado, Misso, and Baudel, and two oil paintings by Yericho and Prudhon Bajiusian@ And some pictures of seascapes by Wei [email protected] modern works, there are oil paintings signed by Delacroix, Ingres, Degan, Duroyan, Messonnier, Dobinyi, etc., as well as some miniature bronze and stone statues that imitate the most beautiful ancient models. , on a pedestal in the corner of this splendid museum. The surprise prophesied by the captain of the Nautilus has begun to take hold of my mind.

"Professor," said the queer man, "forgive me for receiving you here so unceremoniously, and for the disorder and disorder in this drawing-room." "Captain, I don't want to know who you are, but I can guess now that you are an artist?" "Sir, I am no more than an amateur. I used to love to collect these most beautiful works of human hands. I was then a passionate touch, a tireless seeker, and so collected some fine arts of great value." These are the last remnants - to me - of dead lands. It seems to me that your modern artists are also ancient, and they have been around for two or three thousand years. Therefore, in my heart, I don’t divide them into ancient and modern. Famous masters have no era.”

"And what about these musicians?" I said, pointing to the scores of Weber, Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, Herrol, Wagner, Obi, Gounod, and many others, which Dispersed on top of a large piano, the piano occupies a square in the living room. Captain Nemo answered me: "These musicians are the contemporaries of Orpheus@, because in the memory of the dead, the difference of age has disappeared-Professor, my friends and I who sleep six feet deep in the ground Same, I was dead!" Captain Nemo was silent, as if lost in a deep reverie.I watched him excitedly, silently analyzing the expression on his face.With his arm resting on an intarsia table, he didn't look at me at all, seeming to forget that I was in front of him.

I didn't dare to disturb his meditation, I continued to look at the treasures in the hall. In addition to works of art, rare products of nature also play an important role.These things were mainly plants, shells, and other products of the sea, probably all discovered by Captain Nemo himself.In the middle of the hall, there is a fountain.The water was illuminated by the electric light and fell again into the circular pool made of a single large shell.The shell of this largest headless mollusc measures about six meters in circumference, measured from its finely patterned rim; it is much larger than the beautiful shells presented to François I by the Republic of Venice In Paris, the St. Hupez Church used this shell to make two huge holy water pools. Around this circular pool, in the glass cabinets with red copper shelves, the most precious seafood items are classified and labeled. These are things that a biologist rarely sees.The joy I feel as a professor is not difficult for anyone to imagine. Two classes of zoophyta, coelenterates and echinoderms, have exotic varieties in the cabinet.Among the coelenterates, there are tubular corals, fan-shaped alums, soft corals of Syria, horsetails of the Moluccas, phosphorescent corals, comma corals, which are beautiful in the Norwegian Sea, various umbrella corals, Eight coral polyps, which my teacher Mill Edward clearly divided into many species of caddis worms (in this, I saw a very beautiful fan-shaped caddis worm): Eye coral of Bourbon Island, Antilles "The Chariot of Neptune" of the Archipelago, beautiful corals of all kinds, and all kinds of queer coelenterates; which together make whole islands which will one day unite into continents.Among the prickly-looking echinoderms, there are echinoderms, sea planets, pentagrams, comets, meteors, seaweeds, sea cucumbers, etc., as a complete set of specimens of this type of animals. A conchologist with a slightly sharper nerve must have swooned with delight at the sight of other glass cases displaying mollusk specimens.The set of specimens I have seen here is simply priceless, and time does not allow me to describe them one by one.Of these treasures I cite only a few for the sake of remembrance: the first is the beautiful king mallet of the Indian Ocean, whose regular white spots stand out against a reddish-brown ground.Second, Echinoderm, brightly colored and covered with spines, is a rare species in European museums) I estimate its value at 20,000 francs.Secondly, the common rough shell in the sea of ​​New Holland Island, this kind of shell is not easy to catch.Secondly, the strange lipped clam in Senegal Island, the two crispy white shells of this clam seem to be soap bubbles, which will dissipate when blown.Next, several Javanese pseudo-watering-can shells, which resemble calcareous tubes with foliate edges, are most popular with shell lovers.Next, a whole group of clams, some bluish-yellow, brought from the American Sea, others brown, bred in the New Holland Sea, the latter from the Gulf of Mexico, the shells of which Shape, the most prominent, the former is a star-shaped shell taken from the Southern Ocean.The rarest and best looking of this group is the New Zealand spur mussel.And secondly, the beautiful sulphurous clams, the precious Sidley and Venus mussels, the plaid clams along the coast of Upper Langeba, the fine-grained clams with mother-of-pearl brilliance, the green scallops of the China Sea, The almost unknown conical shellfish, the various types of magnetic shells used as money in India and Africa, the most precious shell in the East Indies—"the glory of the sea. , Pyramid-shaped snails, sea snails, oval shells, spiral shells, man-of-war shells, iron helmet shells, vermilion shells, oil snails, harp snails, rock snails, French snails, fossil snails, spindle snails, sleeve shells, winged shells Scientists use the most beautiful nouns as their names for these exquisite and crisp alkanes. In addition, in a special lattice, there are placed the most beautiful strings of beads, sparkled by the electric light, among them are rose-red beads from the horned conch of the Red Sea, blue beads from the butterfly conch, There are yellow beads, blue beads, black beads, and various molluscs in various oceans, and novel products of mussels and clams in the northern sea.Lastly, there are orbs of inestimable value, which are taken from the rarest pearl oysters.Some of them were larger than pigeon eggs, and they were worth more than the pearl that the traveler Tanier sold to the king of Persia for three million, and it is the same as the other pearl of Mascarti, which I think is unique in the world. Compared with a single pearl, they are still much more expensive. Therefore, it can be said that it is impossible to estimate the value of all these items.Captain Nemo must have spent millions of dollars to buy these treasures. I thought to myself, where did he get this money to satisfy his collector's desires? I was interrupted by the promise below up: "Professor, are you looking at my shells? Of course, these shells would be of great interest to a biologist: but for me, there is another kind of pleasure, because these things are my own hands!" Part II Arise, there is no sea on earth that escapes my search." "I understand, Captain, I understand the joy you feel when you walk among such rare treasures. You are a man who collected your own treasures with your own hands. No museum in Europe can contain such a precious collection of sea products like yours. .I admire these collections so much, but I don't know how to praise the ship on which they are loaded! I don't want to know all your secrets! But, I must admit, this Nautilus The number, the dynamics within it, the machinery which moves it, the powerful motive force which animates it, all these arouse my greatest curiosity. I see on the walls of this drawing-room many instruments, whose usefulness I am completely ignorant of. I don't understand, can I know?" "Mr. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, "I told you that you are free on board my ship, and therefore you may see any part of the Nautilus. Therefore, you may It is my pleasure to visit it in detail and to be your guide." "I don't know how to thank you, sir, but I can't take advantage of your kindness and ask random questions. I just want to ask what those physical instruments are for..." "Professor, I also have some of these instruments in my house. When I come to my room, I will definitely explain their use to you. Now please go and visit the cabin left for you. You should know that you are in Nuo How's life aboard the Tillius?" I followed Captain Nemo through a door in the hall and returned to the overwatch.He led me forward, where I saw not just a stateroom, but a handsome room with a bed, a dresser, and all kinds of furniture. I cannot fail to thank my master very much. "Your room adjoins mine," he said to me, opening the door. "My room adjoins the drawing-room from which we have just left." I went into the captain's room.The interior of the room is simple and tidy, a bit like a hermit's residence. There is an iron bed, an office desk and some toilet utensils in the room.Faint lights illuminate the interior.There is nothing fancy in it.Just the essentials. Captain Nemo pointed to a chair and said to me: "Please sit down." I sat down and he said the following to me.