Chapter 27 Chapter 3 A Pearl Worth Ten Million

When night came, I fell asleep, and slept very badly.The mackerel played a major role in my dream. I think it is okay to say that it is right or wrong to use "chaodu" as the etymology of the word "shark". At four o'clock the next morning, Captain Nemo gave special orders to the steward who came to attend to me to wake me up. 6 I got up at once, dressed, and went to the drawing room. Captain Nemo was waiting for me in the hall. "Mr. Aronnax," he said, "are you ready? "Ready." "please follow me." "Captain, where are my companions?

"They have been notified and are waiting for us." I asked, "Aren't we wearing wetsuits?" "No need to wear it." I'm not letting the Nautilus get very close to shore, we're out at sea on the outskirts of the Mannar Reef.But I had ready the boat, which would take us to the launching place, and save us a considerable distance.We put our diving suits in the boat and put them on when we were going to make underwater explorations. " Captain Nemo led me to the central staircase, which led to the platform.Ned Land and Conseil were already there, and they were very happy about the "undersea tour" they were going to do.Five sailors from the Nautilus ship were waiting for us in the dinghy next to the ship with oars.

It was still dark.Pieces of clouds covered the sky, revealing only faint starlight.I turned my eyes landward, and I could see only an erratic line enclosing three-quarters of the horizon from southwest to northwest.The "shark" of the Nautilus is rEqutn in French, which is a common name for a mackerel. Some people believe that its etymology is transformed from the Latin requiem (prayer for the salvation of the dead), because the word "shark" and the word "excellence" The closest, people think, "shark" is the most vicious fish, people are bitten. He will die, and we can only pray for him to sleep forever.This kind of explanation is very unreliable, so the author said that to find out this etymological statement, "it's okay to say it's right, or it's okay to say it's wrong".

By night they went up the western coast of Ceylon, and are now west of this estuary, or rather, of this gulf formed by the land of Mannar.Here, under the deep water, there are small veins of reef rocks, more than twenty miles long, which is really an inexhaustible pearl production field.Captain Nemo, Conseil, Ned Land, and I, we sat in the back of the boat, which was quite long and held the rudder with our hands, while his four companions held the oars, untied the ropes, and we left the ship. . The boat sailed south, and the divers in the boat got into the water in no hurry.Their oars were pumping vigorously through the water, which I noticed was a common practice on naval battleships.

Stroke every inch and second.The boat moved at a certain speed, and the water drops hissed in the black waves like liquid scattered from molten lead.A small wave rushed from the sea, causing the boat to be slightly bumped, and some waves splashed to its front. We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking?Probably thinking about the land that is now close to him, he feels that he is too close to the land, which is contrary to the opinion of the Canadians, but the Canadians feel that they are too far away from the land.As for Conseil, he just sat there ignoring everything, just looking fresh.

At about half past five, the dawn just released from the sky brought out the upper outline of the coast more clearly.On the east side, the coast is fairly flat and rises a bit towards the south.We were still five miles from the shore, whose banks were mingled with mist.Between the shore and us there was nothing at sea, not a single boat, not a single pearl fisherman.In this gathering place of pearl divers, there is a heavy loneliness.Captain Nemo had already told me that we had come to this sea a month too early. At six o'clock, the sky suddenly dawned, and day and night came quickly, which is a unique situation in tropical areas, where there is no morning warmth and dusk.The sun's rays passed through the cloud curtain piled up in the eastern sky, and the brilliant red sun rose soon.

I saw land clearly, with sparse trees here and there.The small boat moved towards Mannar Island, and the southern part of the island gradually expanded.Captain Nemo stood up and looked at the sea. He nodded, and the anchor was dropped, but the chain only sank a little, for the bottom was only a meter or so deep, and here formed the highest peak of a small veined reef rise.The skiff turned her head immediately, under the force of the ebbing tide, which was driving seaward. "Mr. Aronnax, we have arrived," said Captain Nemo. "Now you can see this narrow bay. A month later, at this very place, countless pearl merchants' pearl boats gathered, and the boats picked pearls." It is the sea water in this area that one must boldly search for. The position of the bay is excellent, suitable for this kind of pearl fishing. It is sheltered from the strongest winds, and the sea is never very rough; , these are very favorable conditions. Now let's put on our diving suits and start to swim in the water."

I didn't answer his words, I looked at the suspicious water, and the sailors in the boat helped me put on the heavy diving suit.Captain Nemo and my two companions did the same.None of the crew of the Nautilus accompanied us on this trip. Before long, our bodies were wrapped in rubber suits up to our necks, and the harness strapped the airbox to our backs.But we didn't bring a Lankov lamp.While my head was still in the brass cap, I asked the captain about the lamp. "Lankov lamps are of no use to us," replied the captain, "we don't go very deep, and the sun's rays are sufficient to guide us. Besides, it is not advisable to carry electric lights under the water here. The electric lights may accidentally attract dangerous animals in this part of the sea."

When Captain Nemo said this, I looked back at Conseil and Ned Land, but the two friends had already put their heads in metal ball caps.They could neither hear nor answer.I put one last question to Captain Nemo, and I asked him: "Where are our weapons? Where are our guns?" "Guns: what's the use? Don't you mountain people go out to shoot bears with short knives? Aren't steel knives more reliable than lead bullets? Here's a bayonet, hang it on your belt, and let's go." I look at my companion.They carried short knives as I did, and besides, Ned Land brandished a harpoon he had kept in the skiff before leaving the Nautilus.

Then, following the captain, I also put on the heavy brass ball, and immediately our air reservoirs came into motion. After a while, the sailors on the small boat helped us into the water one by one. At a depth of one and a half meters, our feet stepped on the flat sand.Captain Nemo beckoned to us, and we followed him, down the gradually descending ramp, and we were submerged in the water. Under the water, the thoughts of mackerel entangled in my mind disappeared, and my heart became very quiet.Because of the ease of movement, I increased my confidence, and the strange scene under the water completely attracted my imagination.

The sun has cast enough light down to the bottom of the water that the tiniest objects can be seen.After walking for 10 minutes, we reached a depth of five meters and the bottom was almost flat. On our way, a school of novelty fish of the genus Monofin flew up like a flock of pheasants in a swamp; these fish have no other fins but the one on the tail.I recognized the Javan eel among them. It was really like a snake. It was eight decimeters long and had a pale belly.As for the genus Scleros, where the body is compressed into an egg shape, I see brightly colored chaffinches with a dorsal fin like a sickle, which are edible fish, dried and soaked in salt water, a delicacy called "karava" Delicious dishes; followed by Turangeba, which belongs to the genus Axis, and the carapace, which is covered with scales with eight longitudinal bands. As the sun rises one after another, the bottom of the water becomes brighter, and the bottom of the water gradually changes.After the fine sand, there is a raised rocky road, which is covered with a carpet of molluscs and zoophytes.In between the species of these two phyla I saw the thin-shelled placental oyster of variable size, an oyster endemic to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; the orange full moon oyster with a round shell; The beautiful colors of the Nautilus are provided by these shells; the polygonal rock shell, fifteen centimeters long, stands upright under the water, like a grasping hand; ; the tongue-shaped shell, the duck shell, which is an edible fly shell supplied to the Indian market in Stan; , is one of the most prolific dendritic animals in this sea. Among these living plants, under the cradle of these water beetles, there are innumerable irregular arthropods running, especially the toothed frogs, whose carapaces are curved triangles; fish; and there are those dreadful single-sex fishes, very ugly in shape.Several times I have come across an animal that is as ugly as a single-sex fish, that is, the giant crab that Darwin once observed. Nature gave it an instinct and power to eat coconuts.He climbed up the shore, and climbed up the coconut-tree to get the coconuts down, and when they fell they broke, and with his strong pincers he peeled them open and ate them.Under the bright water here, this crab is very agile when it comes to walking.Incomparable.At the same time there were free-spirited fish and turtles, of the kind that frequent the coast of Malabar, crawling slowly among the vacillating rocks. At around seven o'clock, we finally arrived at the rock veins of the small mollusk reef, where countless hundreds of millions of pearl oysters breed. These precious molluscs cling to the rock, where they are bound firmly by those brown fibers, which cannot be freed.From this point of view, pearl oysters are not even as good as vegetables, because nature also gives mussels the ability to move. The two shells of the so-called mother-of-pearl are almost equal, the shell is circular, the shell wall is very thick, the appearance is very rough, and it is uneven.Some mother-of-pearl shells have light blue lines one by one, and the ends of the lines are a little shiny. This is mother of pearl belonging to the young category. Other mother-of-pearls are thicker and darker on the surface, they are more than ten years old, and can be as wide as fifteen centimeters. Captain Nemo showed me with his fingers a large collection of small mussels, and I realized that this treasure was inexhaustible, because the creativity of nature far exceeds the destructive instinct of man.Exercising this instinct, Ned Land hastily stuffed the best pearl oysters into the fishing net he carried with him. But we cannot stop.We're going to follow the captain, who seems to be following a path only he knows.The underwater ground obviously rose, and my arms sometimes went up and out of the water.Second, the water level of the dike is also arbitrarily low.We often walked around the tall rocks cut into four-sided cones.In the dark concave and convex places of the rock, there is a thick crustacean, with long claws erected like a cannon, and its eyes are fixed, staring at us. Below our feet crawled myriads of spinyfishes, spinyfishes, coiledfishes, and ringfishes, where they especially extended their antennae and tendrils. At this time, a wide stone cave appeared in front of us. The cave was in the rock pile covered with various underwater flowers and plants.At first, I saw that the cave was very dark.The sun's light here seemed to be getting weaker and weaker, and even went out.The rest of the dim light was nothing more than water-soaked light. Captain Nemo entered the cave.We go in with him.My eyes soon got used to this not-so-black darkness.I discerned the broadly vaulted and outlined archstones supported by natural columns, whose broad plinths rested on granite foundations, like the bulky columns of Tuscan architecture.Why did our mysterious guide lead us to this underground cellar?It didn't take long for me to understand. We went down a rather steep slope, our feet treading a kind of circular well floor.At this point, Captain Nemo stopped. He pointed at something, but I couldn't see it clearly. It was a huge pearl oyster, a gigantic cart canal, a holy water tray containing a pool of water, and a large bowl over two meters wide, so the baby oyster in the living room of the Nautilus was still alive. Big. I approached this surprisingly rare mollusc.Its fibrous bands anchor it to the granite slab, and to this slab it grows alone in the still water of the cave.I estimate the shellfish weighs three hundred kilograms.And such a shellfish can have 15 kilograms of clean meat, so there must be a Gargantua's belly to feed on several dozen such huge shellfish. Captain Nemo was clearly aware of the existence of this bivalve.He has been to this place more than once, and I think he brought us here just to show us a natural wonder.I was wrong.Captain Nemo came here for a special purpose, to learn about the situation of the canal. The two shells of this mollusc are half open.Stepping forward, the captain inserted the dagger between the two shells, so that they could no longer close together.Then with his hands he removed the membranes that hung by the sides and served as the animal's coat. Inside the membranous skin, among the leaf-like wrinkles, I saw a freely tossing pearl, as thick as a coconut.It's spherical shape, it's completely transparent: Its incomparable brilliance makes it a rare treasure of inestimable value.Moved by my curiosity, I reached out to get the bead, to weigh its weight, rub it! But the captain stopped me, and with a gesture of not moving, he quickly drew his dagger, and the two shells closed at once. Then I understood what Captain Nemo was trying to do.Stuff this pearl into the coat film of that car canal, and the pearl will gradually grow bigger invisibly.Every year, the mollusk's secretions build up in the membrane that surrounds the pearl.Only Captain Nemo recognized the natural cavities in which the fruit of the Pipit "ripe"; and, so to speak, he alone cultivated this pearl, which he might one day display in his adorned adornment. In the showroom.Even, he can decide the production of a pearl in the same way as the Chinese and Indians.That is to insert a piece of glass and metal objects into the inner folds of the mollusk, and the spiral steel gradually wraps it into pearls.At any rate, the pearl was more precious than any I knew, and the captain's collection.I estimate the value of the pearl to be at least ten million francs. It is a natural treasure, not a luxurious decoration, because I think no woman's ears can hold this big pearl. After watching the fat car canal, Captain Nemo left the cave, and we walked to the little wenbei reef.In the midst of these clear waters, no pearl divers have come to work and muddy the water. We are really like people who come here for a walk with nothing to do. We go our own way, stop or walk as we like. open.As for myself, I no longer care about that very ridiculous incident which was caused by fantasy.The bottom of the sea was obviously close to the surface at this time, and before long, my head was only one meter above the surface.Conseil approached me and put his brass ball cap against mine. He winked his eyes and gave me a friendly salute.But this underwater plateau was only a few meters long, and before long we were back in "our" deep water.I think now I have the right to say so.Ten minutes later, Captain Nemo stopped suddenly.I thought he was going to turn back after a pause.But no.He gestured for us to squat down next to him in a wide nest.He pointed to a point in the water, and I observed it very carefully. Five meters away from us, a dark shadow appeared and sank to the bottom.The thought of the mackerel that terrified me came to me again.However, this time I was wrong again, what is in front of us is not a monster in the ocean. It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a negro, of course a pearl fisherman, a poor man, who came to fish for pearls before he was in season.I saw the bottom of his boat.Moored just a few feet above his head in the water.He dived into the water and then came up again.Between his feet was a stone that had been smashed like a small loaf of bread, and a rope was attached to the stone, which was fastened to his boat so that he could quickly get down to the bottom of the sea.These are all his pearl fishing tools.When he reached the bottom of the sea, about five meters deep, he immediately knelt down and took the small wen beads he got: Bethes in his pocket.Then, he went up, emptied his pockets, pulled out the stones, and started to fish for pearls again. It only took thirty seconds to go up and down. The pearl fisherman can't see us.The shadow of the rock blocked his view.Moreover, how could this poor Indian think that there are people under the water, people like him, watching his movements and carefully observing his pearl picking? Several times, he went up and down like this... Every time he went into the water, he only picked a dozen or so shells, because the shells were stuck to the rocks by strong fiber bands, and he had to pull them down hard.And how many of these snails did not contain the pearls he had taken at the risk of his life! I watched him intently.His work went on with regularity, and for half an hour no danger threatened him.So I got used to this very interesting scene of pearl hunting, when suddenly, while the Indian was kneeling under the water, I saw him make a frightening gesture, immediately stood up, and jumped up hard.To float to the surface of the sea. I understand his fear.A huge black shadow loomed above the unfortunate pearl fisherman.It was a huge shark with bright eyes and an open mouth, rushing forward with a slanting stab!I was so dazed that it was impossible to even move. The hungry animal, snapping its fins vigorously, threw itself on the Indian, and he ducked aside, avoiding the shark's mouth, but not the blow from the shark's tail, which struck him on the chest, and he fell on the ground. underwater. This scene is only a matter of a few seconds.The shark came back, flipped his back, and was about to cut the Indian in two, when I felt Captain Nemo, who was crouching near me, suddenly stand up.Then, with a short knife in his hand, he rushed straight at the shark, ready to fight it hand to hand. Just as the shark was about to bite the unfortunate pearl fisherman, he saw his new enemy, and immediately turned on his stomach again, and made a swift charge at Lachang. I can still see Captain Nemo's attitude at that time.He bent down, with a peculiar calmness, and waited for the gigantic shark, and when the shark charged at him, the captain jumped aside very nimbly, avoiding the impact, and at the same time stabbed the mermaid in the belly with his dagger.However, the matter is not over, and the outcome has not yet been determined.The frightening battle began. The shark roared, so to speak.Blood spurted from its wound like a stream of water.The sea was red, and in this cloudy water I could see nothing, nothing, until a bright spot appeared in the water, and I saw the brave and daring captain, grabbing one of the shark's fins, with this The monsters fought hand-to-hand, stabbing the belly of the shark randomly with short knives, but they couldn't stab the fatal place, that is to say, they couldn't stab the fish's heart.The shark was struggling desperately, churning the water so madly that the eddies it created would knock me over. I'd love to run to meet the captain.But he was deterred by terror and could not move. I stared straight in the eye.I saw the face of the battle change...the captain was overturned by the huge body on top of him, and fell to the bottom of the water.After a while, the shark's teeth were terribly big, like tongs in a factory. Captain Nemo's life was about to be lost. Suddenly, Ned Land took a harpoon in his hand and rushed towards the shark in a flash. Go, he threw his dreadful fork and hit the shark. A large cloud of blood spilled out of the sea.The sea water was violently stirred by the indescribably crazy shark's beating and struggling.Ned Land had achieved his purpose. This is the shark's last gasp.Stabbed in the heart by the fork, the thing made a final struggle in terrifying convulsions, recoiled and knocked Conseil down. However, Ned Land immediately pulled Captain Nemo to his feet.The captain was not injured, so he stood up, went to the Indian, hurriedly cut the rope connecting him with the stone, picked him up, kicked his feet vigorously, and surfaced. The three of us followed him up.Those who were rescued by accident all arrived in the pearl fisher's boat in an instant. Captain Nemo's first concern was to save the unfortunate pearl fisherman. I don't know if he can succeed.I hope he succeeds, because the poor man hasn't been in the water very long.But a blow to the shark's tail can be fatal. By good fortune, I saw the unfortunate man regain consciousness gradually, thanks to the vigorous massages of Conseil and the captain.He opened his eyes and saw four big copper heads bent towards him, how surprised he should be, how horrified he should even be! In particular, what would Captain Nemo think when he took a pearl sac out of his pocket and put it in his hand.With a trembling hand the man in the water received his precious alms to the poor Indians of Ceylon.In his amazed eyes it must have been the unimaginable superhuman spirit that had saved his life and given him his fortune. The captain nodded, and we went down to the rocky veins of the little wembe, and walked along the road we had run. After walking for half an hour, we came across the little Nautilus on the bottom of the water. Anchor for the boat.Once in the boat, each of them, with the help of the sailors on board, untied the heavy copper skullcap.Captain Nemo's first words were addressed to the Canadian, when he said: "Master Lan, thank you." "That's my reward, Captain," Ned Land replied, "I should repay you." A faint smile played on the captain's lips, and there was nothing else--a word. "Go back to the Nautilus," he said. The skiff flew away on the waves.A few minutes later, we came across the shark's carcass floating in the sea.By the blackness at the tips of the fins I recognized this shark as the formidable black shark of the Indian Sea, the real kind of shark that is called.It was twenty-five feet long, and its large mouth made up a third of its length. This is a full-grown shark, as can be seen from its mouth, which has six rows of teeth arranged in an equilateral triangle on the upper jaw. When I looked at the dead shark, more than a dozen hungry and voracious sharks suddenly appeared around the boat, but these creatures ignored us, and they all fell on the dead shark and scrambled to eat it piece by piece. At half past eight we returned to the Nautilus. On board, I recalled the accidents we had encountered during our trip among the reefs and dykes around Mannar.Among them, there are two points worth noting that must be grasped.One is about Captain Nemo's incomparable bravery, and the other is about his sacrifice to mankind, to a representative of this race that has fled to the bottom of the sea.Whatever he said, the eccentric hadn't quite cut his lover's heart. When I brought this up to him, he answered me with a little excitement: "Professor, this Indian is a people of an oppressed country, my heart is still in this country, and, till my last breath, my heart is also in this country!"