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 he