left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon. The
next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased. The cold was a
little greater, the thermometer showing 2 deg. below zero. The fog
was rising, and I hoped that that day our observations might be taken.
Captain Nemo not having yet appeared, the boat took Conseil and myself
to land. The soil was still of the same volcanic nature; everywhere
were traces of lava, scoriae, and basalt; but the crater which had
vomited them I could not see. Here, as lower down, this continent was
alive with myriads of birds. But their rule was now divided with large
troops of sea-mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes. There were
several kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth, some on flakes of
ice, many going in and out of the sea. They did not flee at our
approach, never having had anything to do with man; and I reckoned that
there were provisions there for hundreds of vessels.

"Sir," said Conseil, "will you tell me the names of these creatures?"

"They are seals and morses."

It was now eight in the morning. Four hours remained to us before the
sun could be observed with advantage. I directed our steps towards a
vast bay cut in the steep granite shore. There, I can aver that earth
and ice were lost to sight by the numbers of sea-mammals covering them,
and I involuntarily sought for old Proteus, the mythological shepherd
who watched these immense flocks of Neptune. There were more seals
than anything else, forming distinct groups, male and female, the
father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones,
some already strong enough to go a few steps. When they wished to
change their place, they took little jumps, made by the contraction of
their bodies, and helped awkwardly enough by their imperfect fin,
which, as with the lamantin, their cousins, forms a perfect forearm. I
should say that, in the water, which is their element--the spine of
these creatures is flexible; with smooth and close skin and webbed
feet--they swim admirably. In resting on the earth they take the most
graceful attitudes. Thus the ancients, observing their soft and
expressive looks, which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look
a woman can give, their clear voluptuous eyes, their charming
positions, and the poetry of their manners, metamorphosed them, the
male into a triton and the female into a mermaid. I made Conseil
notice the considerable development of t