Accordingly, on the 5th of July, at six o'clock in the morning, when day had scarcely broken, Cyrus Harding, Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Neb, and Pencroft, armed with spears, snares, bows a
Trang 1JULES VERNE THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
CHAPTER 21
From this time Pencroft did not let a single day pass without going to visit what he gravely called his "corn-field." And woe to the insects which dared to venture there! No mercy was shown them
Towards the end of the month of June, after incessant rain, the weather became decidedly colder, and on the 29th a Fahrenheit thermometer would certainly have announced only twenty degrees above zero, that is
considerably below the freezing-point The next day, the 30th of June, the day which corresponds to the 31st of December in the northern year, was a Friday Neb remarked that the year finished on a bad day, but Pencroft replied that naturally the next would begin on a good one, which was better
At any rate it commenced by very severe cold Ice accumulated at the mouth of the Mercy, and it was not long before the whole expanse of the lake was frozen
The settlers had frequently been obliged to renew their store of wood Pencroft also had wisely not waited till the river was frozen, but had
brought enormous rafts of wood to their destination The current was an
Trang 2indefatigable moving power, and it was employed in conveying the floating wood to the moment when the frost enchained it To the fuel which was so abundantly supplied by the forest, they added several cartloads of coal, which had to be brought from the foot of the spurs of Mount Franklin The powerful heat of the coal was greatly appreciated in the low temperature, which on the 4th of July fell to eight degrees of Fahrenheit, that is,
thirteen degrees below zero A second fireplace had been established in the dining-room, where they all worked together at their different avocations During this period of cold, Cyrus Harding had great cause to congratulate himself on having brought to Granite House the little stream of water from Lake Grant Taken below the frozen surface, and conducted through the passage, it preserved its fluidity, and arrived at an interior reservoir
which had been hollowed out at the back part of the storeroom, while the overflow ran through the well to the sea
About this time, the weather being extremely dry, the colonists, clothed
as warmly as possible, resolved to devote a day to the exploration of that part of the island between the Mercy and Claw Cape It was a wide extent of marshy land, and they would probably find good sport, for water-birds ought
to swarm there
They reckoned that it would be about eight or nine miles to go there, and
as much to return, so that the whole of the day would be occupied As an unknown part of the island was about to be explored, the whole colony took part in the expedition Accordingly, on the 5th of July, at six o'clock in
the morning, when day had scarcely broken, Cyrus Harding, Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Neb, and Pencroft, armed with spears, snares, bows and arrows, and
Trang 3provided with provisions, left Granite House, preceded by Top, who
bounded
before them
Their shortest way was to cross the Mercy on the ice, which then covered
it
"But," as the engineer justly observed, "that could not take the place of
a regular bridge!" So, the construction of a regular bridge was noted in
the list of future works
It was the first time that the settlers had set foot on the right bank of
the Mercy, and ventured into the midst of those gigantic and superb
coniferae now sprinkled over with snow
But they had not gone half a mile when from a thicket a whole family of quadrupeds, who had made a home there, disturbed by Top, rushed forth into the open country
"Ah! I should say those are foxes!" cried Herbert, when he saw the troop rapidly decamping
They were foxes, but of a very large size, who uttered a sort of barking,
at which Top seemed to be very much astonished, for he stopped short in the chase, and gave the swift animals time to disappear
The dog had reason to be surprised, as he did not know Natural History
Trang 4But, by their barking, these foxes, with reddish-gray hair, black tails
terminating in a white tuft, had betrayed their origin So Herbert was
able, without hesitating, to give them their real name of "Arctic foxes." They are frequently met with in Chile, in the Falkland Islands, and in all parts of America traversed by the thirtieth and fortieth parallels Herbert much regretted that Top had not been able to catch one of these carnivora
"Are they good to eat?" asked Pencroft, who only regarded the
representatives of the fauna in the island from one special point of view
"No," replied Herbert; "but zoologists have not yet found out if the eye
of these foxes is diurnal or nocturnal, or whether it is correct to class
them in the genus dog, properly so called."
Harding could not help smiling on hearing the lad's reflection, which
showed a thoughtful mind As to the sailor, from the moment when he found that the foxes were not classed in the genus eatable, they were nothing to him However, when a poultry-yard was established at Granite House, he observed that it would be best to take some precautions against a probable visit from these four-legged plunderers, and no one disputed this
After having turned the point, the settlers saw a long beach washed by
the open sea It was then eight o'clock in the morning The sky was very clear, as it often is after prolonged cold; but warmed by their walk,
neither Harding nor his companions felt the sharpness of the atmosphere too severely Besides there was no wind, which made it much more bearable A brilliant sun, but without any calorific action, was just issuing from the
Trang 5ocean The sea was as tranquil and blue as that of a Mediterranean gulf, when the sky is clear Claw Cape, bent in the form of a yataghan, tapered away nearly four miles to the southeast To the left the edge of the marsh was abruptly ended by a little point Certainly, in this part of Union Bay, which nothing sheltered from the open sea, not even a sandbank, ships
beaten by the east winds would have found no shelter They perceived by the tranquillity of the sea, in which no shallows troubled the waters, by its
uniform color, which was stained by no yellow shades, by the absence of even a reef, that the coast was steep and that the ocean there covered a
deep abyss Behind in the west, but at a distance of four miles, rose the
first trees of the forests of the Far West They might have believed
themselves to be on the desolate coast of some island in the Antarctic
regions which the ice had invaded The colonists halted at this place for breakfast A fire of brushwood and dried seaweed was lighted, and Neb prepared the breakfast of cold meat, to which he added some cups of
Oswego
tea
While eating they looked around them This part of Lincoln Island was
very sterile, and contrasted with all the western part The reporter was
thus led to observe that if chance had thrown them at first on the shore,
they would have had but a deplorable idea of their future domain
"I believe that we should not have been able to reach it," replied the
engineer, "for the sea is deep, and there is not a rock on which we could have taken refuge Before Granite House, at least, there were sandbanks, an islet, which multiplied our chances of safety Here, nothing but the
Trang 6depths!"
"It is singular enough," remarked Spilett, "that this comparatively small island should present such varied ground This diversity of aspect,
logically only belongs to continents of a certain extent One would really say, that the western part of Lincoln Island, so rich and so fertile, is
washed by the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and that its shores to the north and the southeast extend over a sort of Arctic sea."
"You are right, my dear Spilett," replied Cyrus Harding, "I have also
observed this I think the form and also the nature of this island strange
It is a summary of all the aspects which a continent presents, and I should not be surprised if it was a continent formerly."
"What! a continent in the middle of the Pacific?" cried Pencroft
"Why not?" replied Cyrus Harding "Why should not Australia, New Ireland, Australasia, united to the archipelagoes of the Pacific, have once formed a sixth part of the world, as important as Europe or Asia, as Africa or the
two Americas? To my mind, it is quite possible that all these islands,
emerging from this vast ocean, are but the summits of a continent, now
submerged, but which was above the waters at a prehistoric period."
"As the Atlantis was formerly," replied Herbert
"Yes, my boy if, however, it existed."
Trang 7"And would Lincoln Island have been a part of that continent?" asked Pencroft
"It is probable," replied Cyrus Harding, "and that would sufficiently,
explain the variety of productions which are seen on its surface."
"And the great number of animals which still inhabit it," added Herbert
"Yes, my boy," replied the engineer, "and you furnish me with an argument
to support my theory It is certain, after what we have seen, that animals are numerous in this island, and what is more strange, that the species are extremely varied There is a reason for that, and to me it is that Lincoln Island may have formerly been a part of some vast continent which had gradually sunk below the Pacific."
"Then, some fine day," said Pencroft, who did not appear to be entirely convinced, "the rest of this ancient continent may disappear in its turn, and there will be nothing between America and Asia."
"Yes," replied Harding, "there will be new continents which millions and millions of animalculae are building at this moment."
"And what are these masons?" asked Pencroft
"Coral insects," replied Cyrus Harding "By constant work they made the island of Clermont-Tonnerre, and numerous other coral islands in the
Pacific Ocean Forty-seven millions of these insects are needed to weigh a
Trang 8grain, and yet, with the sea-salt they absorb, the solid elements of water which they assimilate, these animalculae produce limestone, and this
limestone forms enormous submarine erections, of which the hardness and solidity equal granite Formerly, at the first periods of creation, nature employing fire, heaved up the land, but now she entrusts to these
microscopic creatures the task of replacing this agent, of which the
dynamic power in the interior of the globe has evidently diminished which
is proved by the number of volcanoes on the surface of the earth, now actually extinct And I believe that centuries succeeding to centuries, and insects to insects, this Pacific may one day be changed into a vast
continent, which new generations will inhabit and civilize in their turn."
"That will take a long time," said Pencroft
"Nature has time for it," replied the engineer
"But what would be the use of new continents?" asked Herbert "It appears
to me that the present extent of habitable countries is sufficient for
humanity Yet nature does nothing uselessly."
"Nothing uselessly, certainly," replied the engineer, "but this is how
the necessity of new continents for the future, and exactly on the tropical zone occupied by the coral islands, may be explained At least to me this explanation appears plausible."
"We are listening, captain," said Herbert
Trang 9"This is my idea: philosophers generally admit that some day our globe will end, or rather that animal and vegetable life will no longer be
possible, because of the intense cold to which it will be subjected What they are not agreed upon, is the cause of this cold Some think that it
will arise from the falling of the temperature, which the sun will
experience alter millions of years; others, from the gradual extinction of the fires in the interior of our globe, which have a greater influence on
it than is generally supposed I hold to this last hypothesis, grounding it
on the fact that the moon is really a cold star, which is no longer
habitable, although the sun continues to throw on its surface the same
amount of heat If, then, the moon has become cold, it is because the
interior fires to which, as do all the stars of the stellar world, it owes
its origin, are completely extinct Lastly, whatever may be the cause, our globe will become cold some day, but this cold will only operate gradually What will happen, then? The temperate zones, at a more or less distant
period, will not be more habitable than the polar regions now are Then the population of men, as well as the animals, will flow towards the latitudes which are more directly under the solar influence An immense emigration will take place Europe, Central Asia, North America, will gradually be abandoned, as well as Australasia and the lower parts of South America The vegetation will follow the human emigration The flora will retreat towards the Equator at the same time as the fauna The central parts of South
America and Africa will be the continents chiefly inhabited The Laplanders and the Samoides will find the climate of the polar regions on the shores
of the Mediterranean Who can say, that at this period, the equatorial
regions will not be too small, to contain and nourish terrestrial humanity? Now, may not provident nature, so as to give refuge to all the vegetable
Trang 10and animal emigration, be at present laying the foundation of a new
continent under the Equator, and may she not have entrusted these insects with the construction of it? I have often thought of all these things, my friends, and I seriously believe that the aspect of our globe will some day
be completely changed; that by the raising of new continents the sea will cover the old, and that, in future ages, a Columbus will go to discover the islands of Chimborazo, of the Himalayas, or of Mont Blanc, remains of a submerged America, Asia, and Europe Then these new continents will become,
in their turn, uninhabitable; heat will die away, as does the heat from a body when the soul has left it; and life will disappear from the globe, if not for ever, at least for a period Perhaps then, our spheroid will rest will be left to death to revive some day under superior conditions! But all that, my friends, is the secret of the Author of all things; and beginning
by the work of the insects, I have perhaps let myself be carried too far,
in investigating the secrets of the future
"My dear Cyrus," replied Spilett, "these theories are prophecies to me, and they will be accomplished some day."
"That is the secret of God," said the engineer
"All that is well and good," then said Pencroft, who had listened with all his might, "but will you tell me, captain, if Lincoln Island has been made by your insects?"
"No," replied Harding; "it is of a purely volcanic origin."