The high partitions, leaning forward on their base, grew into
a vaulted roof bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned
upside down, the height being about five or six hundred yards.
At the summit was a circular orifice, by which I had caught the slight
gleam of light, evidently daylight.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has
been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth.
Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the Nautilus penetrated
to this lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards
beneath the surface of the ocean. This is its harbour of refuge,
a sure, commodious, and mysterious one, sheltered from all gales.
Show me, if you can, on the coasts of any of your continents or islands,
a road which can give such perfect refuge from all storms."

"Certainly," I replied, "you are in safety here, Captain Nemo.
Who could reach you in the heart of a volcano? But did I not see
an opening at its summit?"

"Yes; its crater, formerly filled with lava, vapour, and flames,
and which now gives entrance to the life-giving air we breathe."

"But what is this volcanic mountain?"

"It belongs to one of the numerous islands with which this sea
is strewn--to vessels a simple sandbank--to us an immense cavern.
Chance led me to discover it, and chance served me well."

"But of what use is this refuge, Captain? The Nautilus wants no port."

"No, sir; but it wants electricity to make it move, and the wherewithal
to make the electricity--sodium to feed the elements, coal from
which to get the sodium, and a coal-mine to supply the coal.
And exactly on this spot the sea covers entire forests embedded during
the geological periods, now mineralised and transformed into coal;
for me they are an inexhaustible mine."

"Your men follow the trade of miners here, then, Captain?"

"Exactly so. These mines extend under the waves like the mines of Newcastle.
Here, in their diving-dresses, pick axe and shovel in hand, my men
extract the coal, which I do not even ask from the mines of the earth.
When I burn this combustible for the manufacture of sodium, the smoke,
escaping from the crater of the mountain, gives it the appearance of
a still-active volcano."

"And we shall see your companions at work?"

"No; not this time at least; for I am in a hurry to continue
our submarine tour of the earth. So I shall content myself
with drawing from the reserve of sodium I already possess.
The time for loading is one day only, and we continue our voyage.
So, if you wish to go over the cavern and make the round of
the lagoon, you must take advantage of to-day, M. Aronnax."

I thanked the Captain and went to look for my companions, who had not yet
left their cabin. I invited them to follow me without saying where we were.
They mounted the platform. Conseil, who was astonished at nothing,
seemed to look upon it as quite natural that he should wake under
a mountain, after having fallen asleep under the waves. But Ned Land
thought of nothing but finding whether the cavern had any exit.
After breakfast, about ten o'clock, we went down on to the mountain.

"Here we are, once more on land," said Conseil.

"I do not call this land," said the Canadian. "And besides,
we are not on it, but beneath it."

Between the walls of the mountains and the waters of the lake lay a sandy
shore which, at its greatest breadth, measured five hundred feet.
On this soil one might easily make the tour of the lake. But the base
of the high partitions was stony ground, with volcanic locks and enormous
pumice-stones lying in picturesque heaps. All these detached masses,
covered with enamel, polished by the action of the subterraneous fires,
shone resplendent by the light of our electric lantern. The mica dust
from the shore, rising under our feet, flew like a cloud of sparks.
The bottom now rose sensibly, and we soon arrived at long circuitous slopes,
or inclined planes, which took us higher by degrees; but we were obliged
to walk carefully among these conglomerates, bound by no cement, the feet
slipping on the glassy crystal, felspar, and quartz.

The volcanic nature of this enormous excavation was confirmed on all sides,
and I pointed it out to my companions.

"Picture to yourselves," said I, "what this crater must
have been when filled with boiling lava, and when the level
of the incandescent liquid rose to the orifice of the mountain,
as though melted on the top of a hot plate."

"I can picture it perfectly," said Conseil. "But, sir,
will you tell me why the Great Architect has suspended operations,
and how it is that the furnace is replaced by the quiet waters
of the lake?"

"Most probably, Conseil, because some convulsion beneath the ocean produced
that very opening which has served as a passage for the Nautilus.
Then the waters of the Atlantic rushed into the interior of the mountain.
There must have been a terrible struggle between the two elements, a struggle


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