s
as firm as iron; no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to
carry away; no boilers to burst; no fire to fear, for the vessel is
made of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity is the
only mechanical agent; no collision to fear, for it alone swims in deep
water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the water it
reaches absolute tranquillity. There, sir! that is the perfection of
vessels! And if it is true that the engineer has more confidence in
the vessel than the builder, and the builder than the captain himself,
you understand the trust I repose in my Nautilus; for I am at once
captain, builder, and engineer."

"But how could you construct this wonderful Nautilus in secret?"

"Each separate portion, M. Aronnax, was brought from different parts of
the globe."

"But these parts had to be put together and arranged?"

"Professor, I had set up my workshops upon a desert island in the
ocean. There my workmen, that is to say, the brave men that I
instructed and educated, and myself have put together our Nautilus.
Then, when the work was finished, fire destroyed all trace of our
proceedings on this island, that I could have jumped over if I had
liked."

"Then the cost of this vessel is great?"

"M. Aronnax, an iron vessel costs L145 per ton. Now the Nautilus
weighed 1,500. It came therefore to L67,500, and L80,000 more for
fitting it up, and about L200,000, with the works of art and the
collections it contains."

"One last question, Captain Nemo."

"Ask it, Professor."

"You are rich?"

"Immensely rich, sir; and I could, without missing it, pay the national
debt of France."

I stared at the singular person who spoke thus. Was he playing upon my
credulity? The future would decide that.

CHAPTER XIII

THE BLACK RIVER

The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is
estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres. This fluid mass
comprises two billions two hundred and fifty millions of cubic miles,
forming a spherical body of a diameter of sixty 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 eart