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 in a hand of
marble.

"Twelve o'clock, 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 E.N.E., our depth is twenty-six fathoms. Here are maps on a
large scale by which you may follow it. The saloon 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 was I deep in these reflections, seeking to pierce
this mystery so interesting to me. Then my eyes fell upon the vast
planisphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very
spot where the given latitude and longitude crossed.

The sea has its large rivers like the continents. They are special
currents known by their temperature and their colour. 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 sixth 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 planisphere one of these currents was
rolling, the Kuro-Scivo 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 to 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