vessel they had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water,
which was invading us, and with which the room was soon filled.
A second door cut in the side of the Nautilus then opened.
We saw a faint light. In another instant our feet trod the bottom
of the sea.

And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk
under the waters? Words are impotent to relate such wonders!
Captain Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind.
Conseil and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words
had been possible through our metallic cases. I no longer felt
the weight of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir of air,
or my thick helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond
in its shell.

The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of
the ocean, astonished me by its power. The solar rays shone through
the watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly
distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards.
Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine,
and faded into vague obscurity. Truly this water which surrounded
me was but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere,
but almost as transparent. Above me was the calm surface of the sea.
We were walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore,
which retains the impression of the billows. This dazzling carpet,
really a reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity,
which accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid.
Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet,
I could see as if I was in broad daylight?

For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable
dust of shells. The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal,
disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake us
in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.

Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible.
I recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes
of the most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar
effect of this medium.

It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface
of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their light,
decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks, plants, shells,
and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours.
It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints,
a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue;
in one word, the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist!
Why could I not communicate to Conseil the lively sensations which were
mounting to my brain, and rival him in expressions of admiration?
For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his companion might be able to exchange
thoughts by means of signs previously agreed upon. So, for want of better,
I talked to myself; I declaimed in the copper box which covered my head,
thereby expending more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.

Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral, prickly fungi,
and anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers, decked with their
collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the sandy bottom.
It was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant
specimens of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands,
of hammerheads, donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases,
and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this
inexhaustible ocean. But we were bound to walk, so we went on,
whilst above our heads waved medusae whose umbrellas of opal
or rose-pink, escalloped with a band of blue, sheltered us from
the rays of the sun and fiery pelagiae, which, in the darkness,
would have strewn our path with phosphorescent light.

All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile,
scarcely stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on
by signs. Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain
succeeded an extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze,"
composed of equal parts of silicious and calcareous shells. We then
travelled over a plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation.
This sward was of close texture, and soft to the feet,
and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of man.
But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not abandon our heads.
A light network of marine plants, of that inexhaustible family
of seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known,
grew on the surface of the water.

I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea,
whilst the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black
or brown the care of forming gardens and parterres in the remote
beds of the ocean.

We had quitted the Nautilus about an hour and a half.
It was near noon; I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun's rays,
which were no longer refracted. The magical colours disappeared
by degrees, and the shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced.
We walked with a regular step, which rang upon the ground with
astonishing intensity; the slightest noise was transmitted with a
quickness to which the ear is unaccustomed on the earth; indeed, water is
a better conductor of sound than air, in the ratio of four to one.
At this period the earth sloped downwards; the light took a uniform tint.
We were at a depth of a hundred and five yards and twenty inches,
undergoing a pressure of six atmospheres.

At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly;
to their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, the lowest
state between day and night; but we could still see well enough;


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