Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/368

 "Sir, it is an idea that has come into my head. We could yoke them to the car, and be dragged by them. What do you think of it?"

"My poor Joe, this idea has been started before. It has been exploded by a very excellent French writer—in a romance, it is true. Travelers harness camels to their balloon; they come in contact with a lion, who eats the camels, swallows the harness, and does the dragging instead of the camels—and so on. You see that all this is imagination, and has nothing in common with our system of locomotion."

Joe, who was somewhat humiliated at the thought that his notion had been already made use of, began to think of some animal who could devour a lion, but, finding none, he set about examining the country again. A lake of moderate extent was now in sight, with an amphitheater of hills, which had not yet attained the dignity of mountains. Here numerous fertile valleys were stretched out, and boasted an inextricable variety of trees.

"The country is splendid," said the doctor.

"Look at those animals; men cannot be far distant," said Joe.

"Ah! what magnificent elephants," said Kennedy. "Is there no chance of a little shooting?"

"How on earth are we to stop, my dear Dick, with a current of this velocity. No, you must taste a little of the torture of Tantalus. You shall have amends by and by."

There was something to excite the hunter's imagination. Dick's breast bounded and his hands mechanically gripped his "Purdey."

The fauna of the country equaled the flora. The wild oxen disported in the thick grass, in which they were entirely concealed; elephants, gray, black, and yellow, of enormous size, passed like a hurricane through the forest, crashing, biting, destroying, as they went, and making their progress by devastation. On the wooded slope of the hills, cascades and streams ran down towards the north. There the hippopotami bathed with much noise; and the manatees, twelve feet in length, with fish-like bodies, disported themselves on the banks, raising towards the sky their rounded breasts distended with milk.

It was a rare menagerie in a wonderful conservatory,