greater part, however, were soon
distanced by our speed, though some kept their place in the waters of
the Nautilus for a time. The morning of the 24th, in 12 deg. 5' S.
lat., and 94 deg. 33' long., we observed Keeling Island, a coral
formation, planted with magnificent cocos, and which had been visited
by Mr. Darwin and Captain Fitzroy. The Nautilus skirted the shores of
this desert island for a little distance. Its nets brought up numerous
specimens of polypi and curious shells of mollusca. Some precious
productions of the species of delphinulae enriched the treasures of
Captain Nemo, to which I added an astraea punctifera, a kind of
parasite polypus often found fixed to a shell.

Soon Keeling Island disappeared from the horizon, and our course was
directed to the north-west in the direction of the Indian Peninsula.

From Keeling Island our course was slower and more variable, often
taking us into great depths. Several times they made use of the
inclined planes, which certain internal levers placed obliquely to the
waterline. In that way we went about two miles, but without ever
obtaining the greatest depths of the Indian Sea, which soundings of
seven thousand fathoms have never reached. As to the temperature of
the lower strata, the thermometer invariably indicated 4 deg. above
zero. I only observed that in the upper regions the water was always
colder in the high levels than at the surface of the sea.

On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted; the Nautilus
passed the day on the surface, beating the waves with its powerful
screw and making them rebound to a great height. Who under such
circumstances would not have taken it for a gigantic cetacean? Three
parts of this day I spent on the platform. I watched the sea. Nothing
on the horizon, till about four o'clock a steamer running west on our
counter. Her masts were visible for an instant, but she could not see
the Nautilus, being too low in the water. I fancied this steamboat
belonged to the P.O. Company, which runs from Ceylon to Sydney,
touching at King George's Point and Melbourne.

At five o'clock in the evening, before that fleeting twilight which
binds night to day in tropical zones, Conseil and I were astonished by
a curious spectacle.

It was a shoal of argonauts travelling along on the surface of the
ocean. We could count several hundreds. They belonged to the tubercle
kind which are peculiar to the Indian seas.

These gra