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Chapter 21 From this time Pencroft did not let a single
day pass without going to visit what he gravely called his "corn-field." And woe to the insects
which dared to venture there! No mercy was shown them.
Towards the end of the month of June, after incessant rain, the weather became decidedly
colder, and on the 29th a Fahrenheit thermometer would certainly have announced only twenty
degrees above zero, that is considerably below the freezing-point. The next day, the 30th
of June, the day which corresponds to the 31st of December in the northern year, was
a Friday. Neb remarked that the year finished on a bad day, but Pencroft replied that naturally
the next would begin on a good one, which was better.
At any rate it commenced by very severe cold. Ice accumulated at the mouth of the Mercy,
and it was not long before the whole expanse of the lake was frozen.
The settlers had frequently been obliged to renew their store of wood. Pencroft also had
wisely not waited till the river was frozen, but had brought enormous rafts of wood to
their destination. The current was an indefatigable moving power, and it was employed in conveying
the floating wood to the moment when the frost enchained it. To the fuel which was so abundantly
supplied by the forest, they added several cartloads of coal, which had to be brought
from the foot of the spurs of Mount Franklin. The powerful heat of the coal was greatly
appreciated in the low temperature, which on the 4th of July fell to eight degrees of
Fahrenheit, that is, thirteen degrees below zero. A second fireplace had been established
in the dining-room, where they all worked together at their different avocations. During
this period of cold, Cyrus Harding had great cause to congratulate himself on having brought
to Granite House the little stream of water from Lake Grant. Taken below the frozen surface,
and conducted through the passage, it preserved its fluidity, and arrived at an interior reservoir
which had been hollowed out at the back part of the storeroom, while the overflow ran through
the well to the sea. About this time, the weather being extremely
dry, the colonists, clothed as warmly as possible, resolved to devote a day to the exploration
of that part of the island between the Mercy and Claw Cape. It was a wide extent of marshy
land, and they would probably find good sport, for water-birds ought to swarm there.
They reckoned that it would be about eight or nine miles to go there, and as much to
return, so that the whole of the day would be occupied. As an unknown part of the island
was about to be explored, the whole colony took part in the expedition. Accordingly,
on the 5th of July, at six o'clock in the morning, when day had scarcely broken, Cyrus
Harding, Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Neb, and Pencroft, armed with spears, snares, bows
and arrows, and provided with provisions, left Granite House, preceded by Top, who bounded
before them. Their shortest way was to cross the Mercy
on the ice, which then covered it. "But," as the engineer justly observed, "that
could not take the place of a regular bridge!" So, the construction of a regular bridge was
noted in the list of future works. It was the first time that the settlers had
set foot on the right bank of the Mercy, and ventured into the midst of those gigantic
and superb coniferae now sprinkled over with snow.
But they had not gone half a mile when from a thicket a whole family of quadrupeds, who
had made a home there, disturbed by Top, rushed forth into the open country.
"Ah! I should say those are foxes!" cried Herbert, when he saw the troop rapidly decamping.
They were foxes, but of a very large size, who uttered a sort of barking, at which Top
seemed to be very much astonished, for he stopped short in the chase, and gave the swift
animals time to disappear. The dog had reason to be surprised, as he
did not know Natural History. But, by their barking, these foxes, with reddish-gray hair,
black tails terminating in a white tuft, had betrayed their origin. So Herbert was able,
without hesitating, to give them their real name of "Arctic foxes." They are frequently
met with in Chile, in the Falkland Islands, and in all parts of America traversed by the
thirtieth and fortieth parallels. Herbert much regretted that Top had not been able
to catch one of these carnivora. "Are they good to eat?" asked Pencroft, who
only regarded the representatives of the fauna in the island from one special point of view.
"No," replied Herbert; "but zoologists have not yet found out if the eye of these foxes
is diurnal or nocturnal, or whether it is correct to class them in the genus dog, properly
so called." Harding could not help smiling on hearing
the lad's reflection, which showed a thoughtful mind. As to the sailor, from the moment when
he found that the foxes were not classed in the genus eatable, they were nothing to him.
However, when a poultry-yard was established at Granite House, he observed that it would
be best to take some precautions against a probable visit from these four-legged plunderers,
and no one disputed this. After having turned the point, the settlers
saw a long beach washed by the open sea. It was then eight o'clock in the morning. The
sky was very clear, as it often is after prolonged cold; but warmed by their walk, neither Harding
nor his companions felt the sharpness of the atmosphere too severely. Besides there was
no wind, which made it much more bearable. A brilliant sun, but without any calorific
action, was just issuing from the ocean. The sea was as tranquil and blue as that of a
Mediterranean gulf, when the sky is clear. Claw Cape, bent in the form of a yataghan,
tapered away nearly four miles to the southeast. To the left the edge of the marsh was abruptly
ended by a little point. Certainly, in this part of Union Bay, which nothing sheltered
from the open sea, not even a sandbank, ships beaten by the east winds would have found
no shelter. They perceived by the tranquillity of the sea, in which no shallows troubled
the waters, by its uniform color, which was stained by no yellow shades, by the absence
of even a reef, that the coast was steep and that the ocean there covered a deep abyss.
Behind in the west, but at a distance of four miles, rose the first trees of the forests
of the Far West. They might have believed themselves to be on the desolate coast of
some island in the Antarctic regions which the ice had invaded. The colonists halted
at this place for breakfast. A fire of brushwood and dried seaweed was lighted, and Neb prepared
the breakfast of cold meat, to which he added some cups of Oswego tea.
While eating they looked around them. This part of Lincoln Island was very sterile, and
contrasted with all the western part. The reporter was thus led to observe that if chance
had thrown them at first on the shore, they would have had but a deplorable idea of their
future domain. "I believe that we should not have been able
to reach it," replied the engineer, "for the sea is deep, and there is not a rock on which
we could have taken refuge. Before Granite House, at least, there were sandbanks, an
islet, which multiplied our chances of safety. Here, nothing but the depths!"
"It is singular enough," remarked Spilett, "that this comparatively small island should
present such varied ground. This diversity of aspect, logically only belongs to continents
of a certain extent. One would really say, that the western part of Lincoln Island, so
rich and so fertile, is washed by the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and that its
shores to the north and the southeast extend over a sort of Arctic sea."
"You are right, my dear Spilett," replied Cyrus Harding, "I have also observed this.
I think the form and also the nature of this island strange. It is a summary of all the
aspects which a continent presents, and I should not be surprised if it was a continent
formerly." "What! a continent in the middle of the Pacific?"
cried Pencroft. "Why not?" replied Cyrus Harding. "Why should
not Australia, New Ireland, Australasia, united to the archipelagoes of the Pacific, have
once formed a sixth part of the world, as important as Europe or Asia, as Africa or
the two Americas? To my mind, it is quite possible that all these islands, emerging
from this vast ocean, are but the summits of a continent, now submerged, but which was
above the waters at a prehistoric period." "As the Atlantis was formerly," replied Herbert.
"Yes, my boy... if, however, it existed." "And would Lincoln Island have been a part
of that continent?" asked Pencroft. "It is probable," replied Cyrus Harding, "and
that would sufficiently, explain the variety of productions which are seen on its surface."
"And the great number of animals which still inhabit it," added Herbert.
"Yes, my boy," replied the engineer, "and you furnish me with an argument to support
my theory. It is certain, after what we have seen, that animals are numerous in this island,
and what is more strange, that the species are extremely varied. There is a reason for
that, and to me it is that Lincoln Island may have formerly been a part of some vast
continent which had gradually sunk below the Pacific."
"Then, some fine day," said Pencroft, who did not appear to be entirely convinced, "the
rest of this ancient continent may disappear in its turn, and there will be nothing between
America and Asia." "Yes," replied Harding, "there will be new
continents which millions and millions of animalculae are building at this moment."
"And what are these masons?" asked Pencroft. "Coral insects," replied Cyrus Harding. "By
constant work they made the island of Clermont-Tonnerre, and numerous other coral islands in the Pacific
Ocean. Forty-seven millions of these insects are needed to weigh a grain, and yet, with
the sea-salt they absorb, the solid elements of water which they assimilate, these animalculae
produce limestone, and this limestone forms enormous submarine erections, of which the
hardness and solidity equal granite. Formerly, at the first periods of creation, nature employing
fire, heaved up the land, but now she entrusts to these microscopic creatures the task of
replacing this agent, of which the dynamic power in the interior of the globe has evidently
diminished—which is proved by the number of volcanoes on the surface of the earth,
now actually extinct. And I believe that centuries succeeding to centuries, and insects to insects,
this Pacific may one day be changed into a vast continent, which new generations will
inhabit and civilize in their turn." "That will take a long time," said Pencroft.
"Nature has time for it," replied the engineer. "But what would be the use of new continents?"
asked Herbert. "It appears to me that the present extent of habitable countries is sufficient
for humanity. Yet nature does nothing uselessly." "Nothing uselessly, certainly," replied the
engineer, "but this is how the necessity of new continents for the future, and exactly
on the tropical zone occupied by the coral islands, may be explained. At least to me
this explanation appears plausible." "We are listening, captain," said Herbert.
"This is my idea: philosophers generally admit that some day our globe will end, or rather
that animal and vegetable life will no longer be possible, because of the intense cold to
which it will be subjected. What they are not agreed upon, is the cause of this cold.
Some think that it will arise from the falling of the temperature, which the sun will experience
after millions of years; others, from the gradual extinction of the fires in the interior
of our globe, which have a greater influence on it than is generally supposed. I hold to
this last hypothesis, grounding it on the fact that the moon is really a cold star,
which is no longer habitable, although the sun continues to throw on its surface the
same amount of heat. If, then, the moon has become cold, it is because the interior fires
to which, as do all the stars of the stellar world, it owes its origin, are completely
extinct. Lastly, whatever may be the cause, our globe will become cold some day, but this
cold will only operate gradually. What will happen, then? The temperate zones, at a more
or less distant period, will not be more habitable than the polar regions now are. Then the population
of men, as well as the animals, will flow towards the latitudes which are more directly
under the solar influence. An immense emigration will take place. Europe, Central Asia, North
America, will gradually be abandoned, as well as Australasia and the lower parts of South
America. The vegetation will follow the human emigration. The flora will retreat towards
the Equator at the same time as the fauna. The central parts of South America and Africa
will be the continents chiefly inhabited. The Laplanders and the Samoides will find
the climate of the polar regions on the shores of the Mediterranean. Who can say, that at
this period, the equatorial regions will not be too small, to contain and nourish terrestrial
humanity? Now, may not provident nature, so as to give refuge to all the vegetable and
animal emigration, be at present laying the foundation of a new continent under the Equator,
and may she not have entrusted these insects with the construction of it? I have often
thought of all these things, my friends, and I seriously believe that the aspect of our
globe will some day be completely changed; that by the raising of new continents the
sea will cover the old, and that, in future ages, a Columbus will go to discover the islands
of Chimborazo, of the Himalayas, or of Mont Blanc, remains of a submerged America, Asia,
and Europe. Then these new continents will become, in their turn, uninhabitable; heat
will die away, as does the heat from a body when the soul has left it; and life will disappear
from the globe, if not for ever, at least for a period. Perhaps then, our spheroid will
rest—will be left to death—to revive some day under superior conditions! But all that,
my friends, is the secret of the Author of all things; and beginning by the work of the
insects, I have perhaps let myself be carried too far, in investigating the secrets of the
future. "My dear Cyrus," replied Spilett, "these theories
are prophecies to me, and they will be accomplished some day."
"That is the secret of God," said the engineer. "All that is well and good," then said Pencroft,
who had listened with all his might, "but will you tell me, captain, if Lincoln Island
has been made by your insects?" "No," replied Harding; "it is of a purely
volcanic origin." "Then it will disappear some day?"
"That is probable." "I hope we won't be here then."
"No, don't be uneasy, Pencroft; we shall not be here then, as we have no wish to die here,
and hope to get away some time." "In the meantime," replied Gideon Spilett,
"let us establish ourselves here as if forever. There is no use in doing things by halves."
This ended the conversation. Breakfast was finished, the exploration was continued, and
the settlers arrived at the border of the marshy region. It was a marsh of which the
extent, to the rounded coast which terminated the island at the southeast, was about twenty
square miles. The soil was formed of clayey flint-earth, mingled with vegetable matter,
such as the remains of rushes, reeds, grass, etc. Here and there beds of grass, thick as
a carpet, covered it. In many places icy pools sparkled in the sun. Neither rain nor any
river, increased by a sudden swelling, could supply these ponds. They therefore naturally
concluded that the marsh was fed by the infiltrations of the soil and it was really so. It was also
to be feared that during the heat miasmas would arise, which might produce fevers.
Above the aquatic plants, on the surface of the stagnant water, fluttered numbers of birds.
Wild duck, teal, snipe lived there in flocks, and those fearless birds allowed themselves
to be easily approached. One shot from a gun would certainly have brought
down some dozen of the birds, they were so close together. The explorers were, however,
obliged to content themselves with bows and arrows. The result was less, but the silent
arrow had the advantage of not frightening the birds, while the noise of firearms would
have dispersed them to all parts of the marsh. The hunters were satisfied, for this time,
with a dozen ducks, which had white bodies with a band of cinnamon, a green head, wings
black, white, and red, and flattened beak. Herbert called them tadorns. Top helped in
the capture of these birds, whose name was given to this marshy part of the island. The
settlers had here an abundant reserve of aquatic game. At some future time they meant to explore
it more carefully, and it was probable that some of the birds there might be domesticated,
or at least brought to the shores of the lake, so that they would be more within their reach.
About five o'clock in the evening Cyrus Harding and his companions retraced their steps to
their dwelling by traversing Tadorn's Fens, and crossed the Mercy on the ice-bridge.
At eight in the evening they all entered Granite House.