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Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Vanikoro Islands

The terrible sight seen above was the beginning of a series of misfortunes at sea that the Nautilus encountered during its voyage. Since it entered the sea with more traffic, we often see the shipwrecked ships rotting in the sea water, and in the deeper waters. place, beneath the ocean floor, saw rusted cannons, bullets, anchors, chains, and many other iron objects. However, the Nautilus always leads us forward.We live alone on the boat. On December 11th we sighted the Pamotu Islands, which lie between latitude 13° 30' and 23° 50' south, and longitude 125° 30' and 151° 30' west, from Dusi Island to Racha Islands, from the east-southeast to the west-northwest, are arranged on the sea five hundred miles long.The archipelago covers an area of ​​370 square miles, and is composed of about sixty small islands. Among these small islands, I saw the Gambier Islands, which were occupied by France as a protectorate.These small archipelagos are all coral islands.The slow but continuous rise of the ground due to the action of the coelenterate corals must one day connect the islets.Later, the connected new islands will be connected with the neighboring archipelago. Over time, from New Zealand and New Caledonia to the Marqueses Islands, a new continent will appear, which will be the fifth continent in the future.

That day, I was talking about my theory of the formation of the New World in front of Captain Nemo, and he answered me indifferently like this: "What the earth needs is not new continents, but new people!" During this voyage, the Nautilus accidentally sailed to Clementine Island, the most interesting island in the archipelago. It was discovered by Bell, the captain of the Qumineva, in 1818.This allowed me to study the reef-building coral systems of small islands in the Pacific Ocean.Reef-building corals, not to be confused with common corals, have a calcareous cuticle over their fibrous tissue, and the variations in the structure of the cuticle have led my eminent teacher, Mr. Mill Edwards, to divide them into five parts.These tiny micro-organisms that accumulate into coral trees with their secretions live in billions in their cells.The limestone they secrete gradually accumulates to form rocks, reefs, islets, and islands.At one point they form a circular ring around a coral reef or an inner lake, notched at the edge to communicate with the sea.In another place, they form some rocky cliffs, similar to New Caledonia.The same is true of some of the small islands on the coast of Asia and the Pamotus.In other places, as in Union and Maurice Islands, they build reefs, like high walls, near which the sea is very deep.

Walking just a few hundred meters along the Clementine cliffs, I admired the gigantic work done by these microbial laborers.Most of these cliffs are the work of reef-building corals known as milliporas, porites, star corals and brain corals.Reef-building coral animals especially multiply in the surface layer where the waves are turbulent. Therefore, their reef-building work starts from the upper layer and gradually reaches the lower layer. The upper layer gradually sinks to the bottom with the remaining secretions.This is the case with Darwin's theory, which he applied to account for the formation of atolls--a theory which, in my opinion, is much better than that of those who, a few meters below the sea level, have raised mountains or volcanic peaks as working bases for reef-building corals. Doctrine is more superior and more reasonable.

I could observe these strange walls, because they were vertical, and the sounder indicated a depth of more than three hundred meters, and the brilliant limestone was illuminated by the electric lights of our ship. Conseil asked me how long it would take for these huge walls to accumulate. I answered his question by saying that, according to the opinions of scholars, it would take a century, that is, about a hundred years, to accumulate coral walls one-eighth of an inch thick. time, he was amazed. "So," he asked me, "how long will it take to build these walls?" "One hundred and ninety-two thousand years, my frank Conseil, and that makes the biblical record extraordinarily long. Besides, the formation of coal, the mineralization of flooded forests, the cooling of basalt It will take a longer time. Besides, the time in the "Bible" only indicates a period, not the time between the two old times, because, according to the "Bible", the sun does not open, but The earth existed from day one."

When the Nautilus came back to the surface, I could see the whole development of the low-lying and tree-covered Clementine Island.The coral rocks on the island are obviously washed away by cyclones and storms and turned into fertile fertile land.At some point, some grain and fruit stones were carried by the storm to the adjacent land, and fell on the limestone ground. The ground was mixed with the decomposed dregs of fish and marine plants, which became a good fertilizer for plants and trees.Then some cocoa kernels were washed by the waves and drifted to the newly opened coast here.Soon the seeds germinated and took root, and gradually grew into trees and forests, storing water vapor.A stream of water is thus formed.Plants will gradually grow and multiply.Fork some microorganisms, reptiles, insects, attached to the trunks of other islands blown down by strong winds, transported here.Turtles come here to lay their eggs, and birds build their nests on the twigs.This is how the animals come alive on the island.Soon, human beings, attracted by the green onions and fertile land on the island, also appeared on the island.This is how the archipelago - an astonishing masterpiece of microbes - came into being.

In the evening, the island of Clementine disappeared in the distance, and the course of the Nautilus apparently changed direction.When it touched the Tropic of Capricornus at 135 degrees west longitude, the ship went up the sea water between the two Tropic of Cancer lines, and headed west-northwest.Although the sun is very strong in summer, we are not affected by the heat at all, because at a depth of 30 to 40 meters under the water, the temperature never exceeds ten to twelve degrees. On December 15th, we saw in the east the haunting Society Islands and the awe-inspiring Tahiti, the queen of the Pacific Ocean.In the morning, from a distance of several miles below, I saw the towering peaks of this island.The aquatic products along the island supplied our table with many delicious fish, finfish, carp, milkfish, and several kinds of sea snakes belonging to the family of eels.

The Nautilus had covered eight thousand and one hundred nautical miles.The odometer recorded 9,720 nautical miles when it passed between the Eastern Gatapu Islands and the Voyager Islands; The Voyager Islands is where La Perouse's friend, Captain Langel, was killed.I soon saw the Viti Islands, where the natives had massacred the sailors of the Harmony, and Captain Bro, the Nantes, who commanded the lovely Josephine. The area occupied by these islands is one hundred miles from north to south and ninety miles from east to west, and is located between 6° and 2° south latitude and 174° and 179° west longitude.The archipelago is made up of many small islands such as Viti Levu, Vanuatu and Gandubon.

The group of islets was discovered by Tasman in 1643, the same year that Toleseri invented the barometer and Louis XIV came to power.People can think about which of these three things is the most beneficial to mankind." The geography of the archipelago, however, was only ascertained after the survey of Dumont Cuvier. The Nautilus approached the Gulf of Velia, where the captain of Dijon had had amazing adventures. Captain Yong was the first to figure out the secret of the La Perouse shipwreck. We fished several times in the bay, and we caught a lot of delicious oysters. We followed Schneck's method, peeled the oysters at the dinner table, and ate them as much as possible.As you know, this mollusk belongs to the shell snake family, which is very common in Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea.There must be a great abundance of strong snails in the bay of Velia, and if there were no causes for their extermination, these cohesive groups of animals would surely fill up the bay, for a single snail can produce two million an egg.

Master Ned Land had no regrets about his gluttony during this oyster gorge, because oysters are the only food that never satiates a person.Yes, it takes about 200 oysters to supply the 315 grams of nitrogen needed by a person for daily nutrition. On December 25th, the Nautilus sailed among the New Hebrides, which were discovered by Culos in 1606. In 1768, Bushwell came to explore. In 1773, Cook brought the present New Hebrides. The name of the Hebrides was given to it.This group of islands consists of the three main large islands, forming a long strip of 120 miles from north-northwest to south-southeast, between latitude 15° and 2° south and longitude 164° and 168° west.Our boat passed along the shore of Oulu Island, and when we observed it at noon, the island looked like a pile of green forests, with a tall mountain towering above it.This day was Christmas, and Ned Land seemed to regret not being able to celebrate it, because Christmas is a family reunion festival loved by Christians.

I have not seen Captain Nemo for seven or eight days, and when he came into the drawing-room on the morning of the 27th, he always looked as if he had not parted with you for five minutes. I'm looking at the course of the Nautilus on that plan.The captain came forward, pointed to a point on the map, and said the name alone: "Vanikoro Islands." The name Vanicoro is deceptive; it is the name of the archipelago where La Perouse's expedition ship disappeared.I stood up immediately. "Did the Nautilus take us to the Vanikoro Islands?" I asked. "Yes, Professor," replied the captain.

"Can I visit the famous island that the Compass and Armillary Sphere destroyed and sank?" "If you please, Professor, we can visit." "When shall we arrive at the Vanikoro Islands?" "There we are, Professor." I followed Captain Nemo onto the platform, and from the platform I looked eagerly toward the sky. In the northeast, there are two volcanic islands of different sizes, surrounded by a forty-nautical-mile-long ring of coral reefs.We are now in front of Vanikoro Island, which Dumont Tourville insisted on calling Search Island, which is in front of the small natural harbor of Vannu Island, between latitude 16° 4' south and longitude 164° 32' east .From the beach on the shore to the peak inside, the land on the island seems to be covered with a green veil. On the island, there is Mount Gaboko, which is about 900 meters high, overlooking the whole island. The Nautilus passed through the narrow waterway, passed through a stone belt outside, and walked inside the reef rocks. The depth of the sea here is about 50 to 65 meters.I saw twelve or thirteen natives under the shade of the mangrove trees, and they were extremely surprised to see our boat approaching.Seeing this long gray and black thing walking on the water, they might think it was a very serious cetacean they should be wary of? At this time, Captain Nemo asked me about the circumstances of La Perouse's wreck and death, which I knew. "Captain, all I know is what everybody knows," I answered him. "Can you tell me what everyone knows?" he said with some sarcasm. "That's easy." I told him what Dumont Cuvier had to say in his last book on the matter, a brief summary of which follows. In 1785, La Bailusi and his deputy Captain Langer were sent by Louis XVI to sail around the world.They set off on two third-class ships, the Compass and the Armillary Sphere, and we haven't heard from them since. In 1791, the French government was very concerned about the fate of these two warships, and equipped two large transport ships, the Search and the Hope, ready to set off to do the search.The two large transports left the harbor of Brest on September 28 under the command of Dale Gasto. "But two months later, from a report from this man named Bowen, the captain of the Abermarle, the wrecks of the two wrecked warships were seen off the coast of New Georgia Island. When, Turga Not knowing the report--and not very reliable--he set out for the Admiralty Islands in search of them, which he had received from a Captain Hand's report, saying that the islands were the wreck of La Perouse. location. His search was utterly fruitless and utterly in vain.The Hope and the Search did not even stop in front of the Vanikoro Islands. On the whole, this voyage was unfortunate, because when Turgasdo, his two mates and several sailors in his crew all died. lost his life. .The first person to find out the undisputed and reliable relics of the victims was Captain Di Yong, an old navigator who often sailed in the Pacific Ocean. On May 15, 1824, his ship St. Patrick passed near Tikbea Island, one of the New Hebrides.There an Indian in a canoe, near his boat, sold him—a silver knife-hilt with engraved inscriptions on it.The Indian also said that six years ago, when he was staying on Vanikoro Island, he had seen two Europeans who were the crew of a wrecked ship that had crashed on a reef near the island many years ago. up. Di Yong immediately guessed that these must be the victims on the La Perouse ship. Zhou Wei's disappearance of these ships is well known and once shocked the world.He intended to go to the Vanikoro Islands, where, according to the Indians, there were still many relics of the shipwreck, but the wind and the sea prevented him from going. Di Yong returned to Galbe to answer.At Calcutta; he tried to bring his discovery to the attention of the Asiatic Society and the Indian Company.He then got a ship, which was named the Search, under his command, and on January 23, 1827, accompanied by a Frenchman, he set off on the ship to search. The Searcher anchored at several places in the Pacific Ocean, and on July 1827, she anchored in front of the Vanikoro Islands, in the natural harbor of the Vanikoro Islands, where the Nautilus is at the moment. In this place, Di Yong collected many relics of the shipwreck: iron utensils, anchors, iron chain rings of the pulley, small cannons, an 18-gauge shell, broken astronomical instruments, fragments of the rear of the ship: in addition A bronze bell bearing the inscription "Made by Bazin" circa 1785, mark of the foundry of the Bureau of Ordnance in Brest.This matter is very clear and cannot be doubted. In order to complete the materials he had obtained, Di Yong stayed at the place where he died until October of the same year.Then he left the Vanikoro Islands, went to New Zealand, arrived in Calcutta on April 7, 1828, and then returned to France, where he was warmly received by Charles X.But, at this time, Du Meng.Juweier didn't know the result of Di Yong's work, and had already set off to find the place where the accident happened.For he knew from a whaler's report that several coats of arms, and a kind of St. Louis Cross, had been found in the hands of the natives of Louisiani and New Caledonia. Dumont.Cuvier then commanded the Armillary Sphere and set out for the ocean. Two months after Di Yong left the Vanikoro Islands, his ship stopped in front of the city of Hobar.In Hejishi, he learned of the results obtained by Di Yong, and (that evening) he was also the mate of the Hehe ship of the Calcutta Shipping Company. —A man named Hobbs knew that he was on a small island between latitude 8° 18' south and longitude 56° 30' east, and saw the natives in these places using some iron bars and red woolen cloth. Dumont and Cuvier were in a dilemma. They didn't know whether they should believe the accounts published in these unreliable newspapers. Finally, he decided to drive to the place where Di Yong had been. On February 10, 1828, the Armillary Sphere arrived in front of Tikopia Island and invited a deserter who settled on the island as a guide and interpreter. He set off for the Vanikoro Islands. On February 12, he saw the Vanni On the Koro Islands, until the 14th, he sailed along the reefs of the archipelago, and on the 20th, he anchored inside the reef circle, that is, in the natural harbor of Vanua Island. On the 23rd, several people on board walked around the island and got some unimportant remnants.The local natives adopted a method of denying their account and escaping, and they were unwilling to take them to the place where they were killed and wrecked.This ambiguous behavior made it more likely that they had abused the shipwrecks, and it was as if Berdumont Cuvier wanted to avenge La Perouse and his wretched companions.But on the 26th, the natives, having received presents and knowing that they would not receive any reprisals, led the mate Yajuno to the place where the ship was wrecked. At this place, at a depth of five to six and a half metres, between the reefs of the islands of Bagu and Vanu, there is a heap of anchors, guns, iron and lead lumps, all stuck in layers of calcareous deposits.The longboat and whaling ship of the Armillary Sphere arrived at this place, and it took a lot of effort for the crew to put an anchor weighing 1,800 catties, a cast iron cannon with an eight-cent caliber, and a large piece of lead. And two bronze cannons were salvaged. Dumont Cuvier asked the natives in detail, and knowing that La Bairousi had lost his two boats on the reef near the island, he built a smaller boat. Missing... Where did it disappear?Nobody knows.The captain who commanded the Armillary Sphere built a tomb under a mangrove canopy to commemorate the famous navigator and his companions.The home was a simple quadrangular pyramid, built on a base of coral stone, with no iron frame erected on it that might arouse the avarice of the natives. Dumont Cuvier was about to leave the island; but his crew, affected by the unfavorable climate of the island, fell ill with fevers, and he himself was very ill, and did not set anchor until the 17th of August. At that time, the French government was afraid that Dumont Tourville would not know the results of Di Yong's work, so they sent the small battleship Baganni to the Vanikoro Islands. The battleship was commanded by Legrand de Toura Merlin, and it stopped in the west of America at that time. coastal.A few months after the Armillary Sphere left, the Bayanne sailed in front of Vanicoro Island, and found no new material, only that the natives did not destroy the tomb of La Perouse. Here is what I told Captain Nemo on the matter. "Then," he said to me, "is it still not known where the third boat built by the Vanikoro Islands was wrecked and sunk?" "People still don't know." Captain Nemo made no answer, but beckoned to me to follow him into the drawing room.The Nautilus dived a few meters below the surface, and the panels opened. I hurried to the glass partition to watch, and saw that the base of the coral reef was covered with fungi, tube plants, emerald seaweed, carnation grass, and under it, there were thousands of very cute fish "abalone, eagle Among them, among the stingrays, kingfishes, crackerfishes, goldfishes), I recognized some remnants that the salvage machine could not salvage, such as iron horses, anchors, guns, shells, capstans, bow scraps, etc., all of which were wrecked What was left of the ship is now covered with living flowers. As I gazed at the wreckage of these distressing ships, Captain Nemo said to me in a very serious voice: "Captain La Perouse set out on December 7, 1785, with the Compass and Armillary Sphere. He first anchored in Botany Bay, visited the Friends Islands, New Caledonia, and made his way to St. Departed from the Isles Islands and stopped in front of Namoga Island in the Habayi Islands. Then, on the reefs of the previously unknown Vanikoro Islands. The Compass, which was walking ahead, crashed on the reefs on the south coast. The Armillary Sphere came to rescue , but also ran into a hidden reef. The first ship, the Compass, crashed and sank immediately, and the second ship, the Armillary Sphere, ran aground below and still supported it for several days. The local natives welcomed the distressed crew very well and entertained them well. The distressed crew So he lived on the island, and using two broken ships, he put together the materials and built a smaller ship. Some sailors were willing to live on the Vanikoro Islands and did not want to go. Others were weak and weak. Illness, they set out with La Perouse. They set out for the Solomon Islands, and all they had, bodies and possessions, sank on the western coast of the main island of the archipelago, between the Cave of Disappointment and the Cave of Satisfaction. "How do you know?" I yelled. "Isn't this the document I found in the place where I was last killed and wrecked!" Captain Nemo showed me a tin box bearing the emblem of the French coat of arms, all corroded by salt water.He opened the iron box, and I saw a roll of official documents. Although the paper was yellow, the handwriting was still legible. This official document is the instruction of the French Minister of the Navy, Captain Bailusi, and there is a comment in Louis XVI's own handwriting on the edge! "Ah!" said Captain Nemo, "that is a beautiful death for a sailor: this coral tomb is too secluded! May Heaven spare my companion and I from being buried in any other tomb." !"
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