Home Categories science fiction twenty thousand leagues under the sea

Chapter 26 Chapter 2 Captain Nemo's New Proposal

At noon, January 28, when the Nautilus came to the surface, she was in latitude 9° 4' north, and saw land eight miles to the west.I first noticed a group of hills, about two thousand feet high, with very uneven undulations.After measuring the position of the land, I went back to the living room, and when I matched the measured longitude and latitude with the map, I found that we were in front of Ceylon Island, which is a jewel hanging at the lower end of the Indian Peninsula. I went to the library to find a book about this island, the richest of the islands on earth.I happened to find a book by Searle entitled Ceylon and the Ceylonians.Back in the living room, I first took down the direction of Ceylon, and knew that the island had various names in ancient times.Its position is between 5° 55' and 9° 49' north latitude, and between 79° 42' and 82° 4' east longitude. "The length of the island is two hundred and seventy-five miles, and at its widest point a tile and fifty miles, The surrounding area is 24,448 square miles, that is to say, smaller than the island of Ireland. Captain Nemo and his mate came in at this moment. The captain looked at the map, then turned back to I say:

"The island of Ceylon is famous for its pearl-digging. Mr. Coronas, would you like to see the pearling field?" "Captain, of course." "Okay, that's easy. But we can only see the pearling fields, not the pearl divers. The regular annual pearling hasn't started yet. But it doesn't matter. I ordered the boat to sail to the Bay of Mannar , we can reach it by night." The captain said a few words to the mate, who went out immediately.The Nautilus was submerged shortly after, and the pressure gauge indicated it was at a depth of thirty feet. With a map in front of me, I'm looking for the Gulf of Mannar.I found it on the northwest coast of Ceylon, latitude 9°.The bay is formed by the extended coastline of the islet of Mannar.To reach this bay, one must go up the entire western coast of Ceylon.

"Professor," Captain Nemo said at this time, "in the Bay of Bengal, in the Indian Sea, in the China Sea and the Sea of ​​Japan, in the seas south of America, in the Bay of Panama, and in the Gulf of California, there are people who fish for pearls. The best place is in the island of Ceylon. We came here a little early. Every March, the pearl divers gather in the Bay of Mannar for 30 days. Their 300 boats do this together. Profitable business of taking jewels from the sea. There were ten rowers and ten pearl fishers in each boat. The pearl fishers were divided into two groups, and each took turns diving into the water, holding a heavy stone between their feet, and then Tie him to the boat with a long rope, and they went down to a depth of twelve meters for pearls."

"So," I said, "do they always use this primitive method?" "Always use this primitive method," Captain Nemo answered me, "though these pearling fields belong to the most ingenious people on earth—the British—because the Treaty of Armin in 1802 gave them the pearling field. gone." "I think, however, that a diving suit like the one you use could be of great use for pearling." "Yes, it is very useful, because those poor pearl divers can't stay underwater for a long time. In his travel notes on Ceylon Island, the Englishman Percival said that there was a Gabriel who stayed underwater. Five minutes without coming to the surface, I don't think it is very reliable. I know some divers can stay for fifty-six seconds, and the most capable can stay for eighty-six seconds, but such people are very few , and, back in the boat, bloody water was pouring from the nostrils and ears of these poor wretches... I think the average time these pearl divers could endure in the water was thirty seconds, and during those thirty seconds , they had to quickly put the pearl shells they gathered in a small net. Generally speaking, these pearl divers could not live very long, their eyesight failed early, ulcers developed on their eyes, and their bodies had many wounds. They sometimes even get hit underwater."

"Yes," said I, "it is a miserable occupation, catering to the preferences of a few. But tell me, Captain, how many pearl oysters can a boat take in a day?" "About 40,000 to 50,000. Some even say that in 1814, the British government implemented public pearl fishing, and its pearl divers harvested a total of 76 million pearl oysters in 20 days of work." "At least," I asked, "do these pearl divers get enough wages?" "That's not enough, Professor. They get a dollar a week in Panama. Usually, they only get a penny if they pick a shell with pearls, not to mention most of the shells they pick have no pearls in them! "

"These poor wretches, who make their masters rich, only get a penny for sealing a beaded shell! What a shame!" "Professor, so be it," said Captain Nemo to me, "you and your companions will visit the reefs of Mannar, and if any early pearl fishers are already there, we will see them." Picking pearls." "Captain, let's do it." "Excuse me, Mr. Aronnax, are you afraid of sharks?" "Mackerel?" I called. This question, at least to me, is of no interest. "How?" Captain Nemo asked again immediately. "I tell you the truth, Captain, I'm not used to working with this fish."

"We're pretty used to it," replied Captain Nemo, "and you'll get used to it after a while. Besides, we're armed, so we might catch a mackerel that way. That's interesting." Hunting. See you, then, professor, tomorrow morning." Captain Nemo said this in a calm tone, and he left the drawing room. "Let's think about it," said I to myself, "and let's not be too busy, and hunt otters in the undersea forest, as we did in the Crespo Island woods. can go.However, if you go down to the bottom of the sea, you must know whether you will encounter sharks, that's different! "

So I fantasized about sharks, and thought of its big and wide gums with rows of pointed teeth, which can bite a person in two at a time, and I already felt a little pain in my waist.Secondly, Captain Nemo's indifference in making this embarrassing invitation is beyond my comprehension!Don't people think it's as easy as going under a tree to catch a fox that doesn't bite?I thought to myself: "That's right! Conseil must not want to take part, so that I can have an excuse not to accompany the captain." As for Ned Land, to be honest, I don't think it is very reliable whether he will go or not.No matter how great the danger, there is always a temptation to his fighting spirit.

I read Searle's book again, but I just flipped through it carelessly.Between the lines in the book, I saw the terrifying jaws that were wide open.At this moment, Conseil and Ned Land came in with a calm expression and a cheerful voice.They don't know what awaits them. "Well," Ned Land said to me, "sir, your Captain Nemo—a ghost!—has made us a very polite proposal." "Ah!" I said, "you know..." "Excuse me, sir," replied Conseil, "the captain of the Nautilus has asked us to go with you to-morrow, sir, to visit the splendid pearl-fields of Ceylon. He speaks beautifully, and is a real gentleman."

"Did he say nothing else to you?" "Sir," replied the Canadian, "hasn't said anything except what he has told you about this walk." "No," I said, "he didn't give you any details about..." "No, biologist. You're coming with us, aren't you?" I... of course!Master Lan, I think you are very interested in this matter. " "That's right! It's a novelty, a very novelty." "Maybe it's dangerous!" I added in a suggestive tone. "It's dangerous!" Ned Land replied. "Go for a walk on the pearl oyster rock!"

Captain Nemo must have thought it unnecessary to make my companions think of sharks," so he didn't tell them. I looked at them with panicked eyes, as if some of their limbs had been bitten off. Should I have informed them beforehand? Of course it should, but I don't know how to tell them. "Sir," Conseil said to me, "would you like to tell us something about pearl hunting?" "Is it about the pearl-hunting itself," I asked, "or about the story of . . . ?" "Talking about pearl hunting," replied the Canadian, "it's good to know something before you go to see it." "Well, sit down, my friends, and I will tell you everything I know from the books written by the Englishman Searle." Ned Land and Conseil sat down on the couch, and the Canadian said to me first: Sir, what is a pearl? " "Honest Ned," I answered; "to poets a pearl is the tear of the sea; to Orientals it is a drop of solidified dew; to women it is what they wear on their fingers. An oblong, transparent, snailed ornament on the neck or ears; to the chemist, it is a mixture of phosphate and calcium carbonate, somewhat gelatinous; and finally, to the biologist , which is nothing but the morbid secretion of some bivalves' corkscrew-producing organ." "Mollusca," said Conseil, "Anapia, Crustacea." "However," I said again, the best mollusk that can condense into pearls in the body is the pearl oyster, the milky pearl oyster, the precious small oyster.Pearls are nothing but concretions of snails that become round.It is either glued to the shell of the pearl oyster or embedded in the folds of the animal itself.Those on the shell are fixed by adhesion, while those on the flesh are free to move.However, a pearl always has a small solid object, or a pebble, or a grain of sand, as its core, around which the snails accumulate continuously and thinly over several years. stand up. " "Can one find several pearls in the same shell?" asked Conseil. "Yes, honest man. There are some small molluscs, just like a pearl basket." "Some even say that inside a pearl oyster—I doubt it: Contains not less than one hundred and fifty mackerel. " "One hundred and fifty mackerel?" Ned Land called. "Did I mean the mackerel?" I cried hastily. "I meant one hundred and fifty pearls. There would be no point in talking about the mackerel." "Exactly," said Conseil, "may now, sir, let us know how to get the pearl out?" "There are several ways of getting a pearl out. When a pearl sticks to the shell, pearl divers often use pincers to protrude it. However, the most common method is to spread the oyster on a straw mat by the seashore. They died in this way in the open air, and after ten days they were quite rotten; so they were dipped in a wide sea-water pool, and then they were opened and washed. At this time, a double scraping was done. Work. First, separate the snails and uranium flakes, which are called real silver and white mixed white and mixed black in the business, and put them in boxes of 125 kg to 150 kg. Then put the pearl oyster Take out the glandular tissue, decoct it, and sieve it through a sieve to get out the smallest pearls." "Are pearls priced according to their size?" Conseil asked. "Not only their size," I answered, "but their shape, their water quality, their color, their brightness—that is, the changing light that captivates the eye. Most beautiful The pearls of these species are called virgin pearls or model pearls; they grow in isolation on the fibers of molluscs; they are white, often opaque, but sometimes albumen transparent, and most often have a spherical or pear-shaped shape. Spherical, do Hand tin; pear-shaped, for earrings; for these are the most precious pearls, they are sold by the grain. Other pearls, glued to the shell, are less regular in shape, and they are sold by weight. Finally, the small pearls are divided among the lower classes. One category is called small grains. They are sold on piles." "But," said Conseil, "is it dangerous to pick pearls?" "No," I answered hastily, "if some precautions are taken beforehand," there is much less danger. " "What risk is there in such a profession?" said Ned Land. "It's just a few mouthfuls of sea water!" "That's what I told you, Ned Land," I said in Captain Nemo's nonchalant tone. "Honest Ned, let me ask you, are you afraid of sharks?" "I, afraid?" replied the Canadian, "professional harpooner! Catching them is what I do!" "I don't mean hook 'em, I say, 'bring 'em up on deck, and chop their tails with an axe, and cut their bellies open, and take out their hearts and throw them overboard! " "That is to say, met...?" "Exactly." "Meet in the water?" "Meet in the water." "With a good harpoon in hand, no: you know, sir, that sharks are born with a flawed form. To bite, they have to turn their stomachs over and turn them upside down, and at this point..." Ned.Lan said the word "bite" in a certain tone, which almost sent chills down the spine. "Conseil, what about you, what do you think of sharks?" "I always tell the truth to my master," said Conseil. I thought to myself, "That's fine." "If Monsieur goes to hunt mackerel," Conseil said, "I think there's no reason why Sex's assistant shouldn't go with him to hunt them!"
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