While crossing,Isaw numerous whales belonging to the three kinds peculiar to the southern seas;the whale,or the English "right whale,"which has no dorsal fin;the "humpback,"with reeved chest and large,whitish fins,which,in spite of its name,do not form wings;and the fin-back,of a yellowish brown,the liveliest of all the cetacea.
This powerful creature is heard a long way off when he throws to a great height columns of air and vapour,which look like whirlwinds of smoke.
These different mammals were disporting themselves in troops in the quiet waters;and Icould see that this basin of the Antarctic Pole serves as a place of refuge to the cetacea too closely tracked by the hunters.
Ialso noticed large medusae floating between the reeds.
At nine we landed;the sky was brightening,the clouds were flying to the south,and the fog seemed to be leaving the cold surface of the waters.
Captain Nemo went towards the peak,which he doubtless meant to be his observatory.It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava and the pumice-stones,in an atmosphere often impregnated with a sulphurous smell from the smoking cracks.For a man unaccustomed to walk on land,the Captain climbed the steep slopes with an agility Inever saw equalled and which a hunter would have envied.
We were two hours getting to the summit of this peak,which was half porphyry and half basalt.From thence we looked upon a vast sea which,towards the north,distinctly traced its boundary line upon the sky.
At our feet lay fields of dazzling whiteness.Over our heads a pale azure,free from fog.To the north the disc of the sun seemed like a ball of fire,already horned by the cutting of the horizon.
From the bosom of the water rose sheaves of liquid jets by hundreds.
In the distance lay the Nautilus like a cetacean asleep on the water.
Behind us,to the south and east,an immense country and a chaotic heap of rocks and ice,the limits of which were not visible.
On arriving at the summit Captain Nemo carefully took the mean height of the barometer,for he would have to consider that in taking his observations.At a quarter to twelve the sun,then seen only by refraction,looked like a golden disc shedding its last rays upon this deserted continent and seas which never man had yet ploughed.
Captain Nemo,furnished with a lenticular glass which,by means of a mirror,corrected the refraction,watched the orb sinking below the horizon by degrees,following a lengthened diagonal.
Iheld the chronometer.My heart beat fast.If the disappearance of the half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve o'clock on the chronometer,we were at the pole itself.
"Twelve!"Iexclaimed.
"The South Pole!"replied Captain Nemo,in a grave voice,handing me the glass,which showed the orb cut in exactly equal parts by the horizon.
Ilooked at the last rays crowning the peak,and the shadows mounting by degrees up its slopes.At that moment Captain Nemo,resting with his hand on my shoulder,said:
"I,Captain Nemo,on this 21st day of March,1868,have reached the South Pole on the ninetieth degree;and Itake possession of this part of the globe,equal to one-sixth of the known continents.""In whose name,Captain?"
"In my own,sir!"
Saying which,Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner,bearing an "N"in gold quartered on its bunting.Then,turning towards the orb of day,whose last rays lapped the horizon of the sea,he exclaimed:
"Adieu,sun!Disappear,thou radiant orb!rest beneath this open sea,and let a night of six months spread its shadows over my new domains!"
