ightest noise was transmitted with a quickness and
vividness to which the ear is unaccustomed on earth, water being a
better conductor of sound than air in the [v]ratio of four to one. At
this period the earth sloped downward; the light took a uniform tint. We
were at a depth of a hundred and five yards.

At this depth I could still see the rays of the sun, though feebly; to
their intense brilliancy had succeeded a reddish twilight, but we could
find our way well enough. It was not necessary to resort to the
Ruhmkorff apparatus as yet. At this moment Captain Nemo stopped and
waited till I joined him, pointing then to an obscure mass which loomed
in the shadow at a short distance.

"It is the forest of the island of Crespo," thought I, and I was not
mistaken.

This under-sea forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the moment
we penetrated under its vast [v]arcades I was struck by the singular
position of their branches: not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a
branch which clothed the trees was either broken or bent, nor did they
extend in a [v]horizontal direction; all stretched up toward the surface
of the sea. Not a filament, not a ribbon, however thin, but kept as
straight as a rod of iron. They were motionless, yet when bent to one
side by the hand they directly resumed their former position. Truly it
was a region of perpendicularity.

I soon accustomed myself to this fantastic position, as well as to the
comparative darkness which surrounded us. The sights were very
wonderful. Under numerous shrubs as large as trees on land were massed
bushes of living flowers--animals rather than plants--of various colors
and glowing softly in the obscurity of the ocean depth. Fish flies flew
from branch to branch like a swarm of humming-birds, while swarms of
marine creatures rose at our feet like a flight of snipes.

In about an hour Captain Nemo gave the signal to halt. I, for my part,
was not sorry, and we stretched ourselves under an arbor of plants, the
long thin blades of which stood up like arrows. I felt an irresistible
desire to sleep, an experience which happens to all divers. My eyes soon
closed behind the thick glasses and I fell into a heavy slumber. Captain
Nemo and his companion, stretched in the clear crystal, set me the
example.

How long I remained buried in this drowsiness I cannot judge; but when I
woke, the sun seemed sinking toward the horizon. Captain Nemo had
already risen, and I was begin