Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the thirteenth chapter of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

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Today we'll be continuing 20,000 leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne chapter 13.

The Black river the portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is estimated at upwards of 80 millions of acres.

This fluid mass comprises two billions, 250 millions of cubic miles, forming a spherical body of a diameter of 60 leagues, the weight of which would be three quintillions of tons.

To comprehend the meaning of these figures, it is necessary to observe that a quintillion is to a billion as a billion is to unity.

In other words, there are as many billions in a quintillion as there are units in a billion.

This mass of fluid is equal to about the quantity of water which would be discharged by all the rivers of the earth in 40,000 years.

During the geological epics, the igneous period succeeded to the aqueous.

The ocean originally prevailed everywhere, then by degrees in the silurian period, the tops of the mountains began to appear.

The islands emerged, then disappeared in partial deluges, reappeared, became settled form continents, till at length the earth became geographically arranged as we see in the present day the solid had rusted from the liquid.

37,000,657 sq.

Mi.

Equal to 12,000,000,960 millions of acres.

The shape of continents allows us to divide the waters into five great portions.

The Arctic or frozen ocean, the Antarctic or frozen Ocean, the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.

The Pacific Ocean extends from north to south between the two polar circles, and from east to west between Asia and America, over an extent of 145 degrees of longitude.

It is the quietest of seas.

Its currents are broad and slow.

It has medium tides and abundant rain.

Such was the ocean that my fate destined me first to travel over under these strange conditions.

Sir, said Captain Nemo, we will, if you please, take our bearings and fix the starting point of this voyage.

It is a quarter to twelve.

I will go up again to the surface.

The captain pressed an electric clock three times.

The pumps began to drive the water from the tanks.

The needles of the manometer are marked by a different pressure.

The ascent of the Nautilus.

Then it stopped.

We have arrived, said the captain.

I went to the central staircase, which opened onto the platform, clamored up the iron steps, and found myself on the upper part of the Nautilus.

The platform was only 3ft out of water.

The front and back of the nautilus was of that spindle shape, which caused it justly to be compared to a cigar.

I noticed that its iron plates, slightly overlaying each other, resembled the shell which closed the body of our large terrestrial reptiles.

It explained to me how natural it was, in spite of all glasses, that this boat should have been taken for a marine animal.

Toward the middle of the platform, the long boat aft, buried in the hull of the vessel, formed a slight excessance.

Four and aft rose two cages of medium height, with inclined sides and partly closed by thick lenticular glasses, one designed for the steersmen, who directed the nautilus, the other, containing a brilliant lantern to give light on the road.

The sea was beautiful, the sky pure.

Scarcely could the long vehicle feel the broad undulations of the ocean.

A light breeze from the east rippled the surface of the waters.

The horizon, free from fog, made observation easy.

Nothing was in sight.

Not a quicksand, not an island, a vast desert.

Captain Nemo, by the help of his sextant, took the altitude of the sun, which ought also to give the latitude.

He waited for some moments till its disc touched the horizon.

Whilst taking observations, not a muscle moved.

The instrument could not have been more motionless than a hand of marble.

00, sir, said he, when you like I cast a last look upon the sea, slightly yellowed by the japanese coast, and descended to the saloon.

And now, sir, I leave you to your studies, added the captain.

Our course is east northeast.

Our depth is 26 fathoms.

Here are maps on a large scale by which you may follow it.

This loon is at your disposal, and with your permission, I will retire.

Captain Nemo bowed and I remained alone, lost in thoughts, all bearing on the commander of the nautilus.

For a whole hour I was deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce this mystery so interesting to me.

Then my eyes fell upon the vast planosphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very spot where the given latitude and longitude crossed.

The sea had its large rivers, like the continents, their special currents known by their temperature and their color.

The most remarkable of these is known by the name of the Gulf Stream.

Science has decided on the globe the direction of five principal currents, one in the north Atlantic, a second in the south, a third in the north Pacific, a fourth in the south, and a fifth in the southern Indian Ocean.

It is even probable that a 6th current existed at one time or another in the northern Indian Ocean when the caspian and aral seas formed.

But one vast sheet of water at this point indicated on the planosphere.

One of these currents was rolling the Kuroshivo of the Japanese.

The Black river, which, leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast of Asia, turns into the north Pacific of the aleutian islands, carrying with it trunks of camphor trees and other indigenous productions, and edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.

It was this current that the Nautilus was to follow.

I followed it with my eye, saw it lose itself in the vastness of the Pacific, and felt myself drawn with it.

When Ned land and conceal appeared at the door of the saloon, my two brave companions remained petrified at the sight of the wonders spread before them.

Where are we?

Where are we?

Exclaimed the Canadian.

In the museum at Quebec, my friends, I answered, making a sign for them to enter.

You are not in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, 50 yards below the level of the sea.

But Monsieur Aranax, said Ned Land, can you tell me how many men there are on board?

1020?

50?

A hundred?

I cannot answer you, Mr.

Land.

It is better to abandon for a time all idea of seizing the Nautilus or escaping from it.

This ship is a masterpiece of modern industry, and I should be sorry not to have seen it.

Many people would accept the situation forced upon us, if only to move amongst such wonders.

So be quiet, and let us try and see what passes around us.

See.

Exclaimed the harpooner.

But we can see nothing in this iron prison.

We are walking.

We are sailing blindly.

Ned landed scarcely pronounced these words.

When all was suddenly darkness.

The luminous ceiling was gone, and so rapidly that my eyes received a painful impression.

We remained mute, not stirring, and not knowing what surprise awaited us, whether agreeable or disagreeable.

A sliding noise was heard.

One would have said that panels were working at the sides of the nautilus.

It is the end of the end, said Ned land.

Suddenly, light broke at each side of the saloon.

Through two oblong openings, the liquid mass appeared vividly lit up by the electric gleam.

Two crystal plates separated us from the sea.

At first I trembled at the thought that this frail partition might break, but strong bands of copper bound them, giving an almost infinite power of resistance.

The sea was distinctly visible for a mile all around the nautilus.

What a spectacle.

What pen can describe it?

Who could paint the effects of the light through those transparent sheets of water, and the softness of the successive gradations from the lower to the superior strata of the ocean?

We know the transparency of the sea, and that its clearness is far beyond that of rock water.

The mineral and organic substances which it holds in suspension heightens its transparency in certain parts of the ocean.

At the antlees, under 75 fathoms of water can be seen with surprising clearness.

A bed of sand.

The penetrating power of the solar rays does not seem to cease for a depth of 150 fathoms.

But in this middle fluid, traveled over by the nautilus, the electric brightness was produced even in the bosom of the waves.

It was no longer luminous water, but liquid light.

On each side, a window opened into this unexplored abyss.

The obscurity of the saloon showed to advantage the brightness outside, and we looked out as if this pure crystal had been the glass of an immense aquarium.

You wish to see friend Ned?

Well, you see now.

Curious, curious, muttered the Knadian, who, forgetting his ill temper, seemed to submit to some irresistible attraction.

And one would come further than this to admire such a sight.

Ah, thought I to myself, I understand the life of this man.

He has made a world apart for himself, in which he treasures all his greatest wonders.

For two whole hours, an aquatic army escorted the nautilus.

During their games, their bounds, while rivaling each other in beauty, brightness, and velocity, I distinguished the green laborer, the banded mullet marked by a double line of black the roundtailed gobi of a white color, with violet spots on the back the japanese scombras, a beautiful mackerel of those seas, with a blue body and silvery head the brilliant azarors, whose names alone defies description some banded spares with variegated fins of blue and yellow the woodcocks of the seas, some specimens of which attain a yard in length.

Japanese salamanders, spider lampreys, serpents, 6ft long, with eyes small and lively, and a huge mouth bristling with teeth.

With many other species our imagination was kept at its height.

Interjections followed quickly on each other.

Ned named the fish and conceal classed them.

I was in ecstasies, with the vivacity of their movements and the beauty of their forms.

Never had it been given to me to surprise these animals alive and at liberty in their natural element.

I will not mention all the varieties which pass before my dazzled eyes, all the collection of the seas of China and Japan.

These fish, more numerous than the birds of the air, came, attracted no doubt, by the brilliant focus of the electric light.

Suddenly there was daylight in the saloon, the iron panels closed again, and the enchanting vision disappeared.

But for a long time I dreamt on till my eyes fell on the instruments hanging on the partition.

The compass still showed the course to be east northeast.

The monometer indicated a pressure of five atmospheres equivalent to a depth of 25 fathoms, and the electric log gave a speed of 15 miles an hour.

I expected Captain Nemo, but he did not appear.

The clock marked the hour of five.

Ned, land and conceal returned to their cabin, and I retired to my chamber.

My dinner was ready.

It was composed of turtle soup made of the most delicate hawk spills of a thermal.

It served with puff paste, the liver of which, prepared by itself, was most delicious, and fillets of the emperor Helenchethus, the savor of which seemed to me superior even to salmon.

I passed the evening reading, writing, and thinking, and sleep overpowered me, and I stretched myself on my couch of Zostera and slept profoundly whilst the nautilus was gliding rapidly through the current of the Black river.

Thank you for joining Bite at a time books today while we read a bite of one of your favorite classics.

Again, my name is Brie Carlyle, and I hope you come back tomorrow for the next bite of 20,000 leagues under the sea.

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