bearing upon it the unexceptionable testimony of its
catastrophe. The region thus engulfed was beyond Europe, Asia, and
Lybia, beyond the columns of Hercules, where those powerful people, the
Atlantides, lived, against whom the first wars of ancient Greeks were
waged.

Thus, led by the strangest destiny, I was treading under foot the
mountains of this continent, touching with my hand those ruins a
thousand generations old and contemporary with the geological epochs.
I was walking on the very spot where the contemporaries of the first
man had walked.

Whilst I was trying to fix in my mind every detail of this grand
landscape, Captain Nemo remained motionless, as if petrified in mute
ecstasy, leaning on a mossy stone. Was he dreaming of those
generations long since disappeared? Was he asking them the secret of
human destiny? Was it here this strange man came to steep himself in
historical recollections, and live again this ancient life--he who
wanted no modern one? What would I not have given to know his
thoughts, to share them, to understand them! We remained for an hour
at this place, contemplating the vast plains under the brightness of
the lava, which was some times wonderfully intense. Rapid tremblings
ran along the mountain caused by internal bubblings, deep noise,
distinctly transmitted through the liquid medium were echoed with
majestic grandeur. At this moment the moon appeared through the mass
of waters and threw her pale rays on the buried continent. It was but
a gleam, but what an indescribable effect! The Captain rose, cast one
last look on the immense plain, and then bade me follow him.

We descended the mountain rapidly, and, the mineral forest once passed,
I saw the lantern of the Nautilus shining like a star. The Captain
walked straight to it, and we got on board as the first rays of light
whitened the surface of the ocean.

CHAPTER X

THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES

The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late: the fatigues of
the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o'clock. I
dressed quickly, and hastened to find the course the Nautilus was
taking. The instruments showed it to be still toward the south, with a
speed of twenty miles an hour and a depth of fifty fathoms.

The species of fishes here did not differ much from those already
noticed. There were rays of giant size, five yards long, and endowed
with great muscular strength, which enabled them to shoo