Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen Kuroshio Warm Current

The total area occupied by the sea water on the earth is 38.32558 billion square kilometers.The volume of seawater has a total of 2.25 billion cubic meters. It can become a ball. The diameter of this ball is sixty miles and weighs 30 billion tons.In order to understand the above number, it must be imagined that the ratio of this number to billions is the same as the ratio of billions to units, that is, all the billions in this number are equal to all the units in a billion.And this amount of sea water is equal to the amount of water that all the rivers on the earth have flowed down in 40,000 years.

In the geological epoch, the age of fire was followed by the age of water.First, there is ocean everywhere. "Then, in the early Silurian period, the mountain peaks gradually emerged, the islands emerged, were submerged under partial floods, reappeared, joined to form continents, and finally the land was fixed into geographical continents , the same as we see today. The area obtained by the solid continents from the fluid seawater is 37,006,570 square miles, or 12,916,000 hectares. The continents on the earth have different shapes and divide the sea water into five major parts, namely the Arctic Ocean, Southern Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

From north to south, the Pacific Ocean is between the North and South Poles, and from west to east, between Asia and America, with a total length of 145 degrees of longitude.The Pacific Ocean is the calmest sea, with broad and slow tides, constant tides, and abundant rainfall.It is this ocean that my fate has called me to cross first under the strangest circumstances. "Professor," Captain Nemo said to me, "if you like, let us take our present bearings and determine the point of departure for this journey. The time is a quarter to noon." I will now bring the boat to the surface. "

The captain pressed the electric bell three times; the pumps began to discharge the water in the reservoir, and the needle on the barometer indicated the upward movement of the Nautilus from different degrees of pressure, and then the ship came to a halt. "Here we are," said the captain. I went up the central ladder leading to the platform; I stepped up the steel steps, from the open iron covers, to the upper part of the Nautilus. The platform is only eighty centimeters above the water.The front and back of the Nautilus appeared like spindles, just like a long cigar.I saw the steel plates on the hull, scaled slightly against each other, much like all the scales on the large reptiles of the earth.So I naturally understood that, even with the best telescope, the boat would always be recognized as a sea animal.

About the middle of the platform, there was the small boat half hidden in the hull, which seemed to be a slightly protruding tumor.At the front and back of the platform, a small cage is installed, inclined to the side, and a part of it is equipped with a thick concave-convex glass mirror: the next of these two cages is used for the Nautilus pilot, and the other is used for the Nautilus. Powerful electric lights, shining radiantly, search for the route. The sea was calm and the sky was clear and cloudless.The long hull can hardly feel the wide fluctuations of the ocean.A slight easterly wind ruffled the ocean.There is no smoke at all, and you can see very far.

We can't see anything.Can't see the reef, can't see the island.The Lincoln was gone; all there was to see was a vast ocean. Captain Nemo had brought his sextant with him to measure the altitude of the sun, so he could.Know the latitude where the ship is located.He waited a few minutes for the sun to be level with the horizon.When he observed, his muscles did not move, and the instrument seemed to be held in the hands of iron stone, absolutely stable. "Noon," he said, "professor, do you want us to start at this time?" I take one last look at the sea, which is slightly numb because of the proximity to the coast of Japan, and then I return to the living room.

In the living room, the captain recorded the position on the map, and calculated the longitude according to the time calculation. At the same time, he used the "hour angle" observation records he made before to check.Then he said to me: "Mr. Aronnax, we are at longitude 137 degrees 15 minutes west..." "Which meridian do you base your calculation on?" I asked eagerly, wanting to know from the captain's answer his nationality. "Sir," he replied, "I have various timepieces, and I can calculate from the Paris, Greenwich, and Washington meridians. But because of you, I will calculate from the Paris meridian."

This answer gets me nowhere.I nodded my thanks, and the captain said: "We are at longitude 137° 15' west of the meridian of Paris, latitude 30° 7' north, that is to say, about 300 nautical miles from the coast of Japan. Today, November 8, at noon, we begin our expedition to explore the seabed." "God bless us!" I replied. "Professor," continued the captain, "I will now let you do your research. I want the boat to sail east-northeast at a depth of fifty meters. Here is a well-marked map so you can follow our voyage. You can use the living room as you like, and I bid you farewell."

Captain Nemo saluted me and went out.I was left alone, silently meditating.All he could think about was the captain of the Nautilus.Is this queer man who thinks he is of no nationality, and I shall never know what country he is from?Does he seek terrible vengeance for that hatred of man, or against those who have caused him that hatred?Is he, as Conseil said, a despised scholar, a genius, a modern-day Galileo, "whom he suffered"?Or is he a scientist, like American Morley) whose academic research career has been frustrated by political changes?I can't even say that.I was cast overboard by chance, my life was in his hands, and he took me in coldly but politely.But he never shook my outstretched hand, and he never held out his hand.

For a whole hour, I was immersed in deep thoughts, trying to figure out the secret that interested me so much.Then I fixed my eyes on the large flat map on the table, and I put my finger on the point where the latitude and longitude intersected. Oceans, like continents, have rivers.These rivers are special currents, recognizable by their temperature, their color, the most notable of which are known as "warm currents".Science has determined that there are five main current routes on the earth: the first is in the northern Atlantic Ocean, the second is in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the third is in the northern Pacific Ocean, the fourth is in the southern Pacific Ocean, and the fifth is in the southern Indian Ocean.It is probable that a sixth current once existed in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, when the Caspian and Arabian Seas were connected with the great lakes of Asia and formed one great sea.

It is precisely at the point recorded on the planar map that the warm current mentioned above unfolds. The Japanese call it the black current. The black current comes out of the Bay of Bengal and is very warm under the direct rays of the tropical sun. It crosses the Strait of Malacca and goes along the Advancing along the coast of Asia, it loops into the northern part of the Pacific Ocean until it reaches the Aleutian Islands.It conveys the trunks of camphor trees and the produce of various lands, and the pure indigo color of its warm currents is clearly separated from the currents of the ocean.It was this current that the Nautilus was going to sail.I kept my eyes on it, I saw it sinking in the boundless waters of the Pacific; just as I felt myself running with the current, Ned Land and Conseil appeared at the door of the living room. My two honest companions were dumbfounded when they saw the magical objects piled up before their eyes: "Where are we? Where are we?" cried the Canadian. "Are we at the Quebec Museum?" "If Monsieur thinks so," Conseil replied, "it might as well be the Samila Mansion!" "Friends," I replied, and at the same time I gestured for them to come in, "you are not in Canada, nor in France, but on board the Nautilus, fifty meters below the sea." "Of course you have to believe what you say, because you are so sure." Conseil replied, "To be honest, this living room is surprising even to me, a Flemish." "My friend, be amazed, and take a good look, for there is a lot of work here for a classifier as capable as you are." I don't need to encourage Conseil to do it.The honest man had already bent over the glass cabinet, whispering the words used by biologists: gastropod, snail family, genus, Madagascar clam species, etc... at this time.Ned Land - who is not a conchologist - asked me about my meeting with Captain Nemo.He asked me, did I find out what country he was from, where did he come from, where did he go, and to what depths did he drag us down?He asked so many questions that I barely had time to answer him. I told him all I knew, or rather, all I didn't know.I asked him again what he saw or heard. "I saw nothing, I heard nothing!" replied the Canadian, "I didn't even see a shadow of the crew on this ship. Really, are they all Electromen?" "Electric man!" "Really, that's what I'm going to think. But you, Mr. Aronnakin," asked Ned Land, who never forgot his thought, "can't you tell me how many people there are on this ship?" ? Ten people, twenty people, fifty people, one hundred people?" "Master Ned Land, I can't answer that for you. And you have to believe me, you must abandon your idea of ​​capturing or escaping the Nautilus at this moment. This ship is a masterpiece of modern industry. If I have not seen It, I don't know how to regret it! Many people, just to be able to see these marvelous things, are willing to accept our situation. So you must keep calm, we try to see all the things around us." "Watch!" cried the harpooner. "We see nothing, and we shall see nothing, but this prison of steel! We run, we drive blind..." When Ned Land said these last words, the whole hall suddenly went dark. It was absolute darkness.The bright ceiling was extinguished, and so rapidly that it gave my eyes the same aching sensation that occurs in the reverse case, when the most brilliant light is suddenly seen out of lacquer darkness. We all kept silent and dared not move, not knowing what unexpected event, good or bad, awaited us.We hear a sound of sliding away.It was almost as if the panels had moved on either side of the Nautilus. "Now it's all over!" said Ned Land. "Jellyfish!" Conseil whispered. Suddenly, the light passed through two rectangular holes and shot in from the side of the hall.The sea water is illuminated by the electric light, and the whole body appears brightly.Two glass wafers separate us from the sea.At first I trembled with fear at the thought that this flimsy partition might splinter; but the strong frame of copper against which it rests makes it almost infinitely resistant. The water was now clearly visible for a nautical mile around the Nautilus.What a grotesque sight!No matter how clever the pen is, it cannot be described!Who can describe the novelty produced by the light passing through the transparent water? Who can describe the soft luminosity with which the light falls on both sides of the sea! We recognize the transparency of the ocean, and we know that the sea water is clearer than the clear springs in the mountains.The minerals and organic substances contained in seawater can even increase its transparency.In some parts of the Pacific Ocean, such as in the Antilles, the sand bed below the bottom is visible at a depth of 145 meters, and the sun's rays do not appear to be as strong until a depth of 300 meters. stop.But in the sea where the Nautilus traveled, the electric light shone right in the middle of the waves:This is not bright water, but flowing light. If we accept the hypothesis of Elamber, that the bottom of the sea is illuminated with brilliant phosphorescence, then nature must reserve to the inhabitants of the sea one of the most amazing spectacle, of which I now see infinite variations, I can think of. What a beautiful sight.Windows on each side of the living room opened into this unexplored abyss.The darkness in the hall revealed the brilliance outside. When we looked closely, it seemed that this piece of pure crystal was really the glass of that huge aquarium. The Nautilus seemed to be motionless because there were no signs in the water.However, from time to time there are those waterline lines where the bow angles are separated, and they pass quickly back before our eyes. We were so ecstatic that we leaned against the glass window from time to time, and we all paid back.The silence caused by the astonishment and stupefaction was not broken.At this point Conseil said: "My friend Ned Land, don't you want to see it? Now do it!" "Fresh! Fresh!" said the Canadian, forgetting his anger and his plan of escape, under an irresistible temptation, "we shall come from farther and farther to admire the sight! " "Ah!" I exclaimed, "I understand the life of this man now! He has made another world of his own, and has preserved for him the most astonishing wonders!" "But where are the fish?" said the Canadian, "I can't see any fish!" "Ned Land's good friends," Conseil replied, "that's all right, because you don't know them." "I don't know fish! I'm a fisherman!" cried Ned Land. On this subject a dispute arose between the two of their friends, since they both knew each other, but in different ways. Everyone knows that fishes are the fourth and last class in the vertebrate phylum.The exact definition of fish is: "dual-circulatory, cold-blooded, gill-breathing, water-dwelling vertebrates".Fish are made up of two distinct groups: bony fishes—that is, the backbone is a bony spine—and cartilaginous—that is, the backbone is cartilage. The Canadians might understand the difference, but Conseil knew better, and now he and Ned.Land had a friendship, and everyone was on good terms. He couldn't admit that his knowledge was inferior to Ned Land's, so he said this: "Old friend Ned Land, yes, you're a thousand fishers, and a very capable fisherman. You've caught many of these interesting animals. But I'll bet you that you don't know what people do with them." Classification." "I know," replied the harpooner solemnly, "people divide them into edible fish and unedible fish!" "It is a classification of eaters," replied Conseil, "tell me, do you know the difference between bony fishes and cartilaginous fishes?" "Conseil, I might know." "Do you know the subclassifications of these two large groups of fish?" "I don't think I don't know," replied the Canadian. "Old friend Ned Land, well, please listen to me, please take note! The bony fishes can be divided into six orders. The first order is the bony fin fishes, the upper gills are complete, Movable, with comb-shaped gills. There are fifteen families in this order, that is to say, including three-quarters of the known fish. The type of this order is: common crucian carp." "Pretty good fish." Ned.Lan replied. Conseil added: "The second order is the pelvic fishes, whose pelvic fins hang under the belly and behind the thorax instead of on the shoulder bones; this order is divided into five families and includes most of the freshwater fishes. This The target types are: carp, male fish." "Bah!" said the Canadian with contempt. "Freshwater fish!" "The third order is the parafin fishes," said Conseil, "the pelvic fins are attached to the underside of the pectoral eels and hang from the shoulder bones. There are four families in this order. The types are: butterfly fish, flounder, sole fish, halibut Wait." "Delicious fish! Delicious fish!" cried the harpooner, who was looking at the fish only from the point of view of taste. "The fourth order is the pelvic fishes," Conseil went on with no less interest, "the fish are very long, without pelvic fins, and have a thick sticky skin; this order has only one family. The types are: Eels, eels, electric eels." "Ordinary taste! Ordinary taste!" replied Ned Land. "The fifth order is the total gill fishes," said Conseil, "the gills being complete and free, but consisting of many small brushes arranged in pairs at the gill segments.This item has only one subject.The types are: seahorse fish, dragon horse fish. " "Not good! Not good!" replied the harpooner. Conseil said: "The last sixth order is the fixed jaw fish. The jaw bone is fixed on the edge of the intermaxillary bone of the tooth jaw, and the arch bone of the upper jaw is connected with the suture of the cranium, so! Fixed, this order has no There are two families of true pelvic fins. The types are: soul fish and silver eel." "These fish are cooked in a pot, and the pot is ashamed!" cried the Canadian. "Do you understand, old friend Ned Land?" asked the learned Conseil. "Not at all, Conseil old friend," replied the harpooner, "please go on, because you are very interested in this." "As for the cartilaginous fishes," Conseil continued calmly, "there are only three eyes." "It's easier," said Ned Land. "First order, round-mouthed fish, the gills are combined into a rotating ring, and there are many small holes in the opening and closing of the gills. There is only one family in this order. Type: Anthropoid eel." This fish, we like to eat very much. ' replied Ned Land. "Second order, Jun fish, its gills are similar to those of round mouth fishes, but the lower gills are movable. This order is the most important of cartilaginous fishes, and there are two families. Types: sharks, gill fishes." "What!" cried Ned Land, "sharks and gill fish are in the same order, old Conseil, well, for the gill fish's sake, I advise you not to put them in the same tank." !" Conseil replied: "Order III: Finned fishes, with gills as usual, meeting only by a covered opening; this order has four families. Type: Sulfur fish." "Ah! my friend Conseil, you saved the best for last—at least in my opinion. Are you done now?" "Yes, it's over, good friend Ned Land, but you must pay attention, even if you know this, you still don't know anything, because families are divided into genera, and genuses are divided into subgenera, species, varieties... ...""... "Well, my friend Conseil," said the harpooner, leaning over the glass, "this is where all kinds of fish come!" "Really! Fish," cried Conseil, "as if we were in front of a fishbowl!" "No," I replied, "because the fish tank is a cage, but the fish are as free as the birds in the sky." "Well, my friend Conseil, tell me the names of these fish now, tell me the names of these fish!" said Ned Land. Conseil replied: "Then I can't tell. This is my master's business!", "It's a swordfish," I said. Admittedly, Conseil is an avid taxonomist, not a biologist, and I don't think he can necessarily tell the difference between carps and finfishes.In short he was the exact opposite of the Canadian, who could name the fish without hesitation. Ned Land replied, "It's a Chinese swordfish." Conseil then said in a low voice: "Swordfish genus, Sclerodermaceae, Phytognathidae." There was no doubt that Ned Land and Conseil, taken together, would make an excellent biologist. Canadians were not mistaken.In front of me was a school of swordfish, squashed bodies.Wrinkled skin, with arrow-chain weapons on their backs, swam around the Nautilus, drumming the four rows of spikes on either side of their tails.There is nothing more admirable than their appearance, the upper part is gray, the lower part is all white, and the dots of golden yellow are shining in the middle of the vortex of the waves, how beautiful!Among the swordfish, there are gill fish, like a tablecloth unfurled by a phoenix. There were three spines on the back; this fish was so rare that Lasabide could not even believe it existed at that time, he had only seen it in a Japanese picture book. Within two hours, a whole swarm of Aquatic troops surrounded the Nautilus.In their play, in their leaps, as they raced against each other with beauty, brilliance and speed, I recognized: the blue sea granny, the sea scorpion with double black lines, the round Tail, white color, goby with purple spots on the back, blue body, silver-white head, beautiful fin fish in the Sea of ​​Japan, no need to describe, the brilliant blue glass fish that can be seen from the name alone, or blue or the striped gill fish with yellow fins, the line gill fish with a particularly black band on the tail, the line gill fish beautifully wrapped in six bands, the real flute-mouthed gill fish with some up to a meter long Sea quails, Japanese fire snakes, spiny eels, six-foot snakes with tiny vivid eyes, fangs in huge mouths, and more. Our praise has always been the highest.We were constantly awed.Ned Land named the fish, and Conseil classified them; I felt great joy right in front of the pseudo-lively gestures and beautiful shapes of these fish. I have never had the opportunity to watch these fish at will Animals, alive and free, swim in the sea water in which they were born. The various types of aquariums that swam before my dim eyes were so complete that I could not enumerate them all from the Japan Sea and the China Sea.There were more fish than birds in the air, probably attracted by the electric light, they all ran towards the boat. The living room suddenly brightened.The side covers are closed.The ecstasy was gone.But I continued to think about it dreamily for a long time, until my eyes caught the machines hanging on the wall panels.The compass is still pointing to the east-northeast, and the barometer is pointing at 5 barometric pressure, indicating that the ship is at a depth of 50 meters. The electric odometer lets us know that the ship is traveling at 15 knots per hour. I waited for Captain Nemo, but he didn't come out.The big clock is pointing to five o'clock. Ned Land and Conseil returned to their cabins.I also went into my room.Dinner was already prepared in the room: among them was the most delicious sea turtle soup, a plate of thinly sliced ​​white meat of sea carp, the carp liver was prepared separately, very delicious, and a plate of fillets of golden silk fish, I think Tastes better than salmon. I read at night, write notes, and think about problems.After a while I fell asleep, and I lay on a bed made of seaweed leaves, sleeping soundly. At this time, the Nautilus was sailing quickly through the warm Kuroshio Current.