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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Chapter 27. THE RED SEA
On the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon disappeared below the horizon.
The Nautilus, moving at twenty miles an hour, slid into the maze of canals that separate the Maldives from the Laccadives.
It passed the Island of Kiltan, a coral island discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499.
It's one of the nineteen main islands of the Laccadive Archipelago, between 10 and 14 30' N. lat. and 69 50' 72'' E. long.
We had traveled 16,220 miles, or 7,500 French leagues, from our starting point in the Japanese Seas.
The next day, the 30th of January, when the Nautilus rose to the surface, there was no land in sight.
Its course was N.N.E. toward the Sea of Oman, between Arabia and the Indian Peninsula.
That sea is an outlet to the Persian Gulf.
It was clearly a dead end with no way out.
Where was Captain Nemo taking us? I couldn't say.
This didn't satisfy the Canadian, who came to me that day and asked where we were going.
"We're going wherever our Captain's fancy takes us, Master Ned."
"His fancy can't take us far, then," said the Canadian.
"The Persian Gulf has no outlet. If we go in, we'll be out again soon."
"Very well, then we'll come out again, Master Land."
"And if, after the Persian Gulf, the Nautilus wants to visit the Red Sea, the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb are there to let us in."
"I don't need to tell you, sir," said Ned Land.
"That the Red Sea is as closed as the Gulf."
"The Isthmus of Suez isn't cut yet."
"And even if it was, a boat as mysterious as ours wouldn't risk a canal with locks."
"Besides, the Red Sea isn't the way back to Europe."
"But I never said we were going back to Europe."
"What do you think, then?"
"I think that after visiting the curious coasts of Arabia and Egypt, the Nautilus will go down the Indian Ocean again."
"Maybe it'll cross the Channel of Mozambique, or go near the Mascarenhas, to reach the Cape of Good Hope."
"And once at the Cape of Good Hope?" asked the Canadian with special emphasis.
"Well, we'll go into that Atlantic we don't know yet."
"Ah! Friend Ned, you're tired of this undersea journey, and I will be sorry when this rare voyage ends".
For four days, until the 3rd of February, the Nautilus traveled through the Sea of Oman at different speeds and depths.
It seemed to go without a plan, as if it couldn't decide which way to go.
But we never passed the Tropic of Cancer.
Leaving this sea, we saw Muscat for a moment.
It's one of the most important towns in the country of Oman.
I admired its strange look, surrounded by black rocks with white houses and forts standing out against them.
I saw the round domes of its mosques, the elegant points of its minarets, and its fresh, green terraces.
But it was only a quick look!
The Nautilus soon sank under the waves of that part of the sea.
We passed along the Arabian coast of Mahrah and Hadramaut, about six miles away.
Its wavy line of mountains was sometimes broken by an old ruin.
On the 5th of February, we finally entered the Gulf of Aden.
It's like a perfect funnel that leads into the neck of Bab-el-mandeb, through which the Indian waters flow into the Red Sea.
On the 6th of February, the Nautilus floated in sight of Aden.
It sits on a promontory that a narrow isthmus joins to the mainland.
It's a kind of impossible-to-reach Gibraltar, whose fortifications the English rebuilt after taking it in 1839.
I caught a glimpse of the octagon minarets of this town, which was once the richest trading center on the coast.
I certainly thought that Captain Nemo, having reached this point, would turn back.
But I was wrong, he didn't do that at all, much to my surprise.
The next day, the 7th of February, we entered the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb.
In Arabic, its name means "The Gate of Tears."
It's twenty miles wide and only thirty-two miles long.
For the Nautilus, moving at full speed, the crossing took barely an hour.
But I saw nothing, not even the Island of Perim, which the British Government has used to strengthen Aden's position.
There were too many English or French steamships on the Suez-to-Bombay, Calcutta-to-Melbourne, and Bourbon-to-Mauritius routes.
They were crossing this narrow passage, so the Nautilus didn't dare show itself.
It stayed safely below, Finally, around noon, we were in the waters of the Red Sea.
I didn't even try to understand the whim that made Captain Nemo decide to enter the gulf.
But I fully approved of the Nautilus going in.
Its speed slowed down, Sometimes it stayed on the surface, sometimes it dived to avoid a ship.
This way, I could observe both the upper and lower parts of this curious sea.
On the 8th of February, at dawn, Mocha came into sight.
It's now a ruined town whose walls would fall at a single gunshot.
Yet here and there, it shelters some green date trees.
It was once an important city with six public markets and twenty-six mosques.
Its walls, defended by fourteen forts, formed a belt two miles around.
The Nautilus then approached the African shore, where the sea was deeper.
Between two layers of water as clear as crystal, we could see through the open panels.
There were beautiful bushes of bright coral and large blocks of rock.
They were covered with a splendid coat of green algae and seaweed.
What an indescribable sight! And what a variety of scenes and landscapes along these sandbanks and volcanic islands that border the Libyan coast!
But where these plants showed their full beauty was on the eastern coast, which the Nautilus soon reached.
It was on the coast of Tehama.
There, not only did these sea creatures grow below the water.
But they also formed beautiful patterns that spread about sixty feet above the surface.
They were more unusual but less colorful than those kept fresh by the life-giving power of the water.
What charming hours I spent at the window of the saloon!
What new examples of underwater plants and animals I admired under the light of our electric lantern!
On the 9th of February, the Nautilus floated in the widest part of the Red Sea.
It lies between Souakin on the west coast and Komfidah on the east coast, with a width of ninety miles.
That day at noon, after the bearings were taken, Captain Nemo came up to the platform, where I happened to be.
I was determined not to let him go down again without at least asking him about his future plans.
As soon as he saw me, he came over and kindly offered me a cigar.
"Well, sir, does this Red Sea please you?"
"Have you seen enough of its wonders, its fish, its sea creatures, its beds of sponges, and its forests of coral?"
"Did you catch a glimpse of the towns on its shores?"
"Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied.
"And the Nautilus is wonderfully suited for such study. Ah! It's a smart boat!"
"Yes, sir. Smart and impossible to hurt. It fears neither the terrible storms of the Red Sea, nor its currents, nor its sandbanks."
"Certainly," I said.
"This sea is known as one of the worst. In the time of the ancients, if I'm not mistaken, its reputation was terrible."
"Terrible, M. Aronnax."
"The Greek and Latin historians don't speak well of it."
"Strabo says it's very dangerous during the Etesian winds and in the rainy season, and the Arabian Edrisi calls it the Gulf of Colzoum."
"He says many ships were lost on the sandbanks, no one risks sailing at night, and the sea is full of hurricanes and unfriendly islands".
"One might say," I replied, "that these historians never sailed on the Nautilus."
"Exactly," replied the Captain, smiling.
"And in that way, modern people are no better off than the ancients, it took many ages to discover the mechanical power of steam."
"Who knows if, in another hundred years, we might see a second Nautilus and, for now, progress is slow, M. Aronnax".
"That's true," I answered.
"Your boat is at least a century ahead of its time, maybe an era."
"What a shame that the secret of such an invention should die with its inventor!"
Captain Nemo didn't reply, After a few minutes of silence, he continued,
"You were talking about the opinions of ancient historians on the dangerous sailing of the Red Sea."
"That's true," I said.
"But weren't their fears exaggerated?"
"Yes and no, M. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, who seemed to know the Red Sea by heart.
What is no longer dangerous for a modern ship, well rigged, strongly built, and controlled by steam, offered many dangers to the ships of the ancients.
"Imagine those first sailors going out in ships made of planks sewn with palm tree cords, soaked in seal fat, and covered with powdered resin!"
"They didn't even have instruments to find their way."
"They sailed by guesswork among currents they barely knew."
"Under those conditions, shipwrecks were many, and they had to be."
"But in our time, steamships running between Suez and the South Seas have nothing more to fear from the fury of this gulf, even with the opposite trade winds."
"The captain and passengers don't prepare for their trip by offering sacrifices."
"And when they return, they no longer wear wreaths and gold ribbons to thank the gods in the nearby temple."
"I agree with you," I said.
"And steam seems to have killed all gratitude in the hearts of sailors."
"But, Captain, since you seem to have studied this sea especially, can you tell me the origin of its name?"
"There are several explanations on the subject, M. Aronnax. Would you like to know the opinion of a writer from the fourteenth century?"
"Gladly."
"This imaginative writer claims that its name was given to it after the passage of the Israelites, when Pharaoh died in the waves that closed at the voice of Moses."
"A poet's explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied.
"But I can't be satisfied with that. I ask for your personal opinion."
"Here it is, M. Aronnax."
"In my view, 'Red Sea' translates the Hebrew 'Edom,' a name the ancients gave because of the special color of its waters".
"But so far, I've seen nothing but clear waves without any special color."
"Very likely. But as we go deeper into the gulf, you'll see this strange appearance. I remember seeing the Bay of Tor completely red, like a sea of blood."
"And you think this color comes from a tiny seaweed?"
"Yes."
"So, Captain Nemo, this isn't the first time you've traveled the Red Sea on the Nautilus?"
"No, sir."
As you spoke earlier about the Israelites' passage and the Egyptians' disaster, I ask if you've found any traces of that event underwater.
"No, sir. And for a good reason."
"What's that?"
"It's that the place where Moses and his people crossed is now so blocked with sand that camels can barely wet their legs there."
"You can understand that there wouldn't be enough water for my Nautilus."
"And the place?" I asked.
"The place is a little above the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm that was once a deep inlet, when the Red Sea reached the Salt Lakes."
"Now, whether this crossing was a miracle or not, the Israelites crossed there to reach the Promised Land."
"And Pharaoh's army died right at that spot."
"I think that digging in the middle of the sand would bring up many weapons and tools of Egyptian origin."
"That's clear," I replied.
"And for the sake of archaeologists, let's hope that these digs will happen sooner or later, when new towns are built on the isthmus after the Suez Canal is finished."
"A canal, however, that's very useless for a ship like the Nautilus."
"Very likely. But useful for the whole world," said Captain Nemo.
"The ancients understood the value of a connection between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean for their trade."
"But they didn't think of digging a direct canal."
"They used the Nile as a middle step."
"Very likely, the canal that joined the Nile to the Red Sea was started by Sesostris, if we can believe tradition."
"One thing is certain, in the year 615 before Jesus Christ, Necos began work on a canal to bring water from the Nile across the plain of Egypt, toward Arabia."
"It took four days to go up this canal, and it was so wide that two ships could go side by side."
"It was continued by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and probably finished by Ptolemy II."
"Strabo saw it being used."
"But the drop from its starting point near Bubastes to the Red Sea was so small that it was only usable for a few months each year."
"This canal served all trade purposes until the time of Antonius, when it was abandoned and blocked with sand."
"It was restored by order of the Caliph Omar, but it was finally destroyed in 761 or 762 by Caliph Al-Mansor."
"He wanted to stop supplies from reaching Mohammed-ben-Abdallah, who had rebelled against him."
"During the expedition into Egypt, your General Bonaparte found traces of the works in the Desert of Suez."
"Surprised by the tide, he almost died before reaching Hadjaroth, the very place where Moses had camped three thousand years before him."
"Well, Captain, what the ancients didn't dare to do, this connection between the two seas that'll shorten the road from Cadiz to India, M."
"Lesseps has succeeded in doing."
"And before long, he'll have turned Africa into a huge island."
"Yes, M. Aronnax, you have the right to be proud of your countryman," said Captain Nemo.
"Such a man brings more honor to a nation than great generals, he began, like many others, with dislike and rejection".
"He won, because he has the genius of will."
"It's sad to think that a work like that should have been an international work."
"It would have been enough to make a reign famous."
"Yet it succeeded by the effort of one man. All honor to M. Lesseps!"
"Yes! Honor to the great citizen," I replied, surprised by the way Captain Nemo had just spoken.
Unfortunately," he continued, "I can't take you through the Suez Canal, but you'll see Port Said's long pier day after tomorrow, when we'll be in the Mediterranean.
"The Mediterranean!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, sir. Does that surprise you?"
"What surprises me is to think that we'll be there the day after tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Yes, Captain. Although by now I should be used to being surprised by nothing since I've been on your boat."
"But what's the reason for this surprise?"
Well! It's the speed the Nautilus must make to be in the Mediterranean the day after tomorrow, after rounding Africa and doubling the Cape of Good Hope!
"Who told you that she'd go around Africa and double the Cape of Good Hope, sir?"
"Well, unless the Nautilus sails on dry land and goes over the isthmus."
"Or under it, M. Aronnax."
"Under it?"
"Certainly," replied Captain Nemo quietly.
"A long time ago, Nature made under this tongue of land what man has made on its surface today."
"What! Such a passage exists?"
"Yes. An underground passage, which I've named the Arabian Tunnel. It takes us under Suez and opens into the Gulf of Pelusium."
"But this isthmus is made of nothing but quicksand!"
"To a certain depth. But at only fifty-five yards down, there's a solid layer of rock."
"Did you discover this passage by chance?" I asked, more and more surprised.
"By chance and by reasoning, sir."
"And more by reasoning than by chance."
"Not only does this passage exist, but I've used it several times."
"Without it, I wouldn't have dared to enter the impassable Red Sea today."
"I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean, there were a certain number of fish of a perfectly identical kind."
"Sure of this fact, I asked myself if there could be no connection between the two seas."
"If there was, the underground current must run from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, simply because of the difference in water levels."
"I caught a large number of fish near Suez."
"I put a copper ring through their tails and threw them back into the sea."
"Some months later, on the coast of Syria, I caught some of my fish with the ring on them."
"So the connection between the two seas was proved."
"Then I searched for it with my Nautilus."
"I found it, went into it, and before long, sir, you too will have passed through my Arabian Tunnel!"