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 a distance of ten paces. I was therefore obliged to grope my way, when I perceived a brilliant white light suddenly appear. Captain Nemo had put his electric apparatus into gear. His companion followed his example, and Conseil and I followed suit. I established the communication by turning a screw, and the sea, lit up by our four lamps, was illuminated to a distance of five-and-twenty yards.

Captain Nemo continued to plunge into the dark depths of the forest, in which the “copses” became fewer and fewer. I noticed that the vegetable disappeared more quickly than animal life. The aquatic plants had already quitted the inhospitable soil, while an immense number of animals, zoophytes, molluscs, fish, &c., were still visible.

All the time we were walking I thought that the lights we carried would probably attract some of the inhabitants of these gloomy depths. But if they did approach, they kept at a safe distance from our guns. Many times I saw the captain stop and bring up his gun, but after a pause he lowered it again and resumed his course.

At length, about four o’clock, the notable excursion reached its limit. A superb wall of rock, and of most imposing appearance, barred our passage. Enormous cliffs of granite, hollowed out into dark caves, presented no practicable breach. This was the shore of the island of Crespo—the earth itself.

Captain Nemo stopped at once. He signed to us to halt, and desirous as I was to cross the wall of rock, I was obliged to comply. Here Captain Nemo’s territory ceased. He had no wish to go farther. Beyond that