w yards
beneath the surface of the waves. Her electric apparatus remained
inactive and her motionless screw left her to drift at the mercy of the
currents. I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs,
rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements of the
machine.

My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle. The hatches of
the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light of the Nautilus was not
in action, a dim obscurity reigned in the midst of the waters. I
observed the state of the sea, under these conditions, and the largest
fish appeared to me no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the
Nautilus found herself suddenly transported into full light. I thought
at first that the beacon had been lighted, and was casting its electric
radiance into the liquid mass. I was mistaken, and after a rapid
survey perceived my error.

The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which, in
this obscurity, became quite dazzling. It was produced by myriads of
luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was increased as they glided
over the metallic hull of the vessel. I was surprised by lightning in
the midst of these luminous sheets, as though they had been rivulets of
lead melted in an ardent furnace or metallic masses brought to a white
heat, so that, by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared
to cast a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all
shade seemed banished. No; this was not the calm irradiation of our
ordinary lightning. There was unusual life and vigour: this was truly
living light!

In reality, it was an infinite agglomeration of coloured infusoria, of
veritable globules of jelly, provided with a threadlike tentacle, and
of which as many as twenty-five thousand have been counted in less than
two cubic half-inches of water.

During several hours the Nautilus floated in these brilliant waves, and
our admiration increased as we watched the marine monsters disporting
themselves like salamanders. I saw there in the midst of this fire
that burns not the swift and elegant porpoise (the indefatigable clown
of the ocean), and some swordfish ten feet long, those prophetic
heralds of the hurricane whose formidable sword would now and then
strike the glass of the saloon. Then appeared the smaller fish, the
balista, the leaping mackerel, wolf-thorn-tails, and a hundred others
which striped the luminous atmosphere as they swam. This d