Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

海底二萬里

   CHAPTER 4

   第二部 第四章

   The Red Sea

   紅海

   DURING THE DAY of January 29, the island of Ceylon disappeared below the horizon, and at a speed of twenty miles per hour, the Nautilus glided into the labyrinthine channels that separate the Maldive and Laccadive Islands. It likewise hugged Kiltan Island, a shore of madreporic origin discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499 and one of nineteen chief islands in the island group of the Laccadives, located between latitude 10 degrees and 14 degrees 30' north, and between longitude 50 degrees 72' and 69 degrees east.

   1月29日,錫蘭島遠在天邊看不見了,諾第留斯號的速度是每小時二十海里,駛人把馬爾代夫群島和拉克代夫群島分開的彎彎曲曲的水道中。它又沿吉檀島行駛,這島原是珊瑚島,1499年被法斯科-德-嘉馬①發現,為拉克代夫群島的十九座主要島嶼之一,位於北緯10度和14度30分之間,東經69度和50度72分之間。

   By then we had fared 16,220 miles, or 7,500 leagues, from our starting point in the seas of Japan.

   我們從日本海出發以來,到現在,我們已經走了一萬六千二百二十海里,即七千五百里了。

   The next day, January 30, when the Nautilus rose to the surface of the ocean, there was no more land in sight. Setting its course to the north-northwest, the ship headed toward the Gulf of Oman, carved out between Arabia and the Indian peninsula and providing access to the Persian Gulf.

   第二天,1月30日,當諾第留斯號浮出洋面來的時候,看不見陸地了。船對著西北偏北方向,向阿曼海駛去,這海位於阿拉伯和印度島之間,是波斯灣的出口。

   This was obviously a blind alley with no possible outlet. So where was Captain Nemo taking us? I was unable to say. Which didn't satisfy the Canadian, who that day asked me where we were going.

   很明白,波斯灣是不可能有出路的,是不能通行的海灣。那麼尼摩船長帶我們到哪裡去呢?我說不上。這點。 加拿大人很不滿意,因為他那一天問我,我們要到哪裡去。

   "We're going, Mr. Ned, where the captain's fancy takes us."

   “尼德-蘭師傅,隨船長的意思,他願意帶我們到哪裡,我們就到哪裡。”

   "His fancy," the Canadian replied, "won't take us very far. The Persian Gulf has no outlet, and if we enter those waters, it won't be long before we return in our tracks."

   “隨船長的意思,”加拿大人回答,“那他可不能帶我們走得很遠哩。波斯灣是沒有出路的,我們進去,我們不久就要從原路回來。”

   "All right, we'll return, Mr. Land, and after the Persian Gulf, if the Nautilus wants to visit the Red Sea, the Strait of Bab el Mandeb is still there to let us in!"

   “好吧!蘭師傅,我們回來就是了,走過波斯灣,諾第留斯號要走紅海,巴布厄爾曼特海峽總在那裡,可以給它一條通路駛過去。”

   "I don't have to tell you, sir," Ned Land replied, "that the Red Sea is just as landlocked as the gulf, since the Isthmus of Suez hasn't been cut all the way through yet; and even if it was, a boat as secretive as ours wouldn't risk a canal intersected with locks. So the Red Sea won't be our way back to Europe either."

   “先生,”尼德-蘭回答,“我用不着告訴您,紅海跟波斯灣一樣是沒有通路的,因為蘇伊土地峽還沒有鑿通,即使鑿通,我們這只怪船,恐怕也不方便在這些有堤堰和閘口的水道間冒險吧。所以,紅海並不是帶我們回到歐洲的路。”

   "But I didn't say we'd return to Europe."

   “所以,我只是說,我們可能要回歐洲去。”

   "What do you figure, then?"

   “那您是怎麼設想的呢?”

   "I figure that after visiting these unusual waterways of Arabia and Egypt, the Nautilus will go back down to the Indian Ocean, perhaps through Mozambique Channel, perhaps off the Mascarene Islands, and then make for the Cape of Good Hope."

   “我設想,走過阿拉伯和埃及一帶的新奇海水後,諾第留斯號重回到印度洋:或者經莫三鼻給海峽,或者走馬斯加’林群島海面,駛到好望角。”

   "And once we're at the Cape of Good Hope?" the Canadian asked with typical persistence.

   “到了好望角怎樣呢?”加拿大人特別堅持地問。

   "Well then, we'll enter that Atlantic Ocean with which we aren't yet familiar. What's wrong, Ned my friend? Are you tired of this voyage under the seas? Are you bored with the constantly changing sight of these underwater wonders? Speaking for myself, I'll be extremely distressed to see the end of a voyage so few men will ever have a chance to make."

   “那麼我們就要走入我們還不認得的大西洋了。朋友! 您對這種海底旅行感到疲倦了嗎?您看見海底新奇的、時常變換的景象,難道無動于衷嗎?對我來說,這種旅行將來差不多是沒有人能做的了,要是這這樣完結了,我真覺得十分遺憾。”

   "But don't you realize, Professor Aronnax," the Canadian replied, "that soon we'll have been imprisoned for three whole months aboard this Nautilus?"

   “不過,”加拿大人回答,“阿龍納斯先生,您知道我們被禁在這只諾第留斯號船上快要到三個月了嗎?”

   "No, Ned, I didn't realize it, I don't want to realize it, and I don't keep track of every day and every hour."

   “不,尼德,我不知道,我不想知道,我不計日,我也不計“結論呢?”

   "But when will it be over?"

   "In its appointed time. Meanwhile there's nothing we can do about it, and our discussions are futile. My gallant Ned, if you come and tell me, 'A chance to escape is available to us,' then I'll discuss it with you. But that isn't the case, and in all honesty, I don't think Captain Nemo ever ventures into European seas."

   “結論將有一夭到來。並且我們一點不能作主,我們現在討論,完全無用。老實的尼德,如果您來跟我說:‘逃走的機會有了。’那我就來和您討論。可是情形並不是這樣,並且但白地對您說,我想尼摩船長可能永遠不會冒險到歐洲海中去。”

   This short dialogue reveals that in my mania for the Nautilus, I was turning into the spitting image of its commander.

   As for Ned Land, he ended our talk in his best speechifying style: "That's all fine and dandy. But in my humble opinion, a life in jail is a life without joy."

   For four days until February 3, the Nautilus inspected the Gulf of Oman at various speeds and depths. It seemed to be traveling at random, as if hesitating over which course to follow, but it never crossed the Tropic of Cancer.

   在四天內,直至2月3日,諾第留斯號在不同速度和不同深度下走過了阿曼海。船好像是隨意地行駛,因為它沿著走的航線很不一定,不過它從不越過北回歸線。

   After leaving this gulf we raised Muscat for an instant, the most important town in the country of Oman. I marveled at its strange appearance in the midst of the black rocks surrounding it, against which the white of its houses and forts stood out sharply. I spotted the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant tips of its minarets, and its fresh, leafy terraces. But it was only a fleeting vision, and the Nautilus soon sank beneath the dark waves of these waterways.

   離開阿曼海的時候,我們有一個短時間去認識馬斯喀特城,它是阿曼地方最重要的城市。我很讚美它的奇異外表。但這僅僅是一瞬間的感覺,諾第留斯號不久就潛人這海面的深水中。

   Then our ship went along at a distance of six miles from the Arabic coasts of Mahra and Hadhramaut, their undulating lines of mountains relieved by a few ancient ruins. On February 5 we finally put into the Gulf of Aden, a genuine funnel stuck into the neck of Bab el Mandeb and bottling these Indian waters in the Red Sea.

   隨後,它在距岸六海里的海面,沿馬拉和哈達拉毛一帶的阿拉伯海岸行駛,這一帶海岸線上有起伏不平的山嶺,間有一些古代遺蹟。2月5月,我們進人亞丁灣,這灣是巴布厄爾曼特長頸形海峽的真正漏斗,把印度洋的水倒流入紅海中。

   On February 6 the Nautilus cruised in sight of the city of Aden, perched on a promontory connected to the continent by a narrow isthmus, a sort of inaccessible Gibraltar whose fortifications the English rebuilt after capturing it in 1839. I glimpsed the octagonal minarets of this town, which used to be one of the wealthiest, busiest commercial centers along this coast, as the Arab historian Idrisi tells it.

   2月6日,諾第留斯號浮出水面,遠遠看見亞丁港,港築在海呷上,一條很窄的地峽把它跟大陸連接起來。

   I was convinced that when Captain Nemo reached this point, he would back out again; but I was mistaken, and much to my surprise, he did nothing of the sort.

   我認為尼摩船長到了這個地方,一定要退回來,可是我錯了,我很驚異,他並不這樣做。

   The next day, February 7, we entered the Strait of Bab el Mandeb, whose name means "Gate of Tears" in the Arabic language. Twenty miles wide, it's only fifty-two kilometers long, and with the Nautilus launched at full speed, clearing it was the work of barely an hour. But I didn't see a thing, not even Perim Island where the British government built fortifications to strengthen Aden's position. There were many English and French steamers plowing this narrow passageway, liners going from Suez to Bombay, Calcutta, Melbourne, Réunion Island, and Mauritius; far too much traffic for the Nautilus to make an appearance on the surface. So it wisely stayed in midwater.

   第二天,2月7日,我們走進巴布厄爾曼特海峽,這個’名字照阿拉伯語是“淚門”的意思。海峽二十海里寬,只有五十二公里長,對諾底留斯號來說。開足馬力走過去,不過是1小時的事,但是我看不見什麼,就是丕林島也沒有看到這島是英國政府拿來使亞丁港的防衛更加鞏固的。過多的英國船和法國船,從蘇伊士到孟買、到加爾各答、到墨爾本到波旁、到毛利斯,都經過這狹窄的海峽,使諾第留斯號不慈浮出來。所以它很小心地只在水底下行駛。

   Finally, at noon, we were plowing the waves of the Red Sea.

   到了中午,我們就走在紅海裡面了。

   The Red Sea: that great lake so famous in biblical traditions, seldom replenished by rains, fed by no important rivers, continually drained by a high rate of evaporation, its water level dropping a meter and a half every year! If it were fully landlocked like a lake, this odd gulf might dry up completely; on this score it's inferior to its neighbors, the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea, whose levels lower only to the point where their evaporation exactly equals the amounts of water they take to their hearts.

   紅海是《聖經》傳說中的名湖,下雨也不涼爽,又沒有一條大河流入,過度的蒸發使水量不斷消失,平均每年有一米半厚的水面損失呢!真是奇怪的海灣,四面封閉,要是照一般湖沼的情況來說,應當早就完全乾涸了。

   This Red Sea is 2,600 kilometers long with an average width of 240. In the days of the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors, it was a great commercial artery for the world, and when its isthmus has been cut through, it will completely regain that bygone importance that the Suez railways have already brought back in part.

   I would not even attempt to understand the whim that induced Captain Nemo to take us into this gulf. But I wholeheartedly approved of the Nautilus's entering it. It adopted a medium pace, sometimes staying on the surface, sometimes diving to avoid some ship, and so I could observe both the inside and topside of this highly unusual sea.

   我甚至于不想瞭解尼摩船長的意思,他為什麼決定把我們帶到這海灣中來。我完全贊同諾第留斯號進入紅海。 它以中常速度行駛,有時浮出水面,有時潛入水底,躲避往來的船隻,這樣,我可以從水裡面和水面上來觀察這浪新奇的海。

   On February 8, as early as the first hours of daylight, Mocha appeared before us: a town now in ruins, whose walls would collapse at the mere sound of a cannon, and which shelters a few leafy date trees here and there. This once-important city used to contain six public marketplaces plus twenty-six mosques, and its walls, protected by fourteen forts, fashioned a three-kilometer girdle around it.

   2月8日,這一天的早晨,摩卡港出現在我們面前。

   Then the Nautilus drew near the beaches of Africa, where the sea is considerably deeper. There, through the open panels and in a midwater of crystal clarity, our ship enabled us to study wonderful bushes of shining coral and huge chunks of rock wrapped in splendid green furs of algae and fucus. What an indescribable sight, and what a variety of settings and scenery where these reefs and volcanic islands leveled off by the Libyan coast! But soon the Nautilus hugged the eastern shore where these tree forms appeared in all their glory. This was off the coast of Tihama, and there such zoophyte displays not only flourished below sea level but they also fashioned picturesque networks that unreeled as high as ten fathoms above it; the latter were more whimsical but less colorful than the former, which kept their bloom thanks to the moist vitality of the waters.

   隨後,諾第留斯號走近非洲海岸,這一帶的海就深得多了。這裡,在水晶一般清澈的海水中間,從打開的嵌板,我可以細細看那色彩鮮明的珊瑚的奇妙叢林,那披上海帶和黑角萊的華美青綠毛皮的一片片寬大岩石。與利比亞海岸相接的這些火山的暗礁和小島,鋪排成地毯一般,景色變化無窮,真是無法形容,無法描寫!但是,海底這些叢生的枝狀動物表現得最美麗的地方;還是在諾第留斯號就要駛到的東部的海岸附近。那是在鐵哈馬海岸一帶,因為在這一帶海岸,不單海面下有一層一層的花一般的植蟲動物,而且這些植蟲動物在二十米水深左右滿是組成五色斑斕的圖象花紋,但水底下的比接近水面的一層變化更多,顏色較為黯淡,因為近水面的一層受海水的濕潤,保持着鮮艷的顏色。

   How many delightful hours I spent in this way at the lounge window! How many new specimens of underwater flora and fauna I marveled at beneath the light of our electric beacon! Mushroom-shaped fungus coral, some slate-colored sea anemone including the species Thalassianthus aster among others, organ-pipe coral arranged like flutes and just begging for a puff from the god Pan, shells unique to this sea that dwell in madreporic cavities and whose bases are twisted into squat spirals, and finally a thousand samples of a polypary I hadn't observed until then: the common sponge.

   我這樣在客廳的玻璃窗戶邊,不知道度過了多少愜意進人的時間!我在我們的電光探照燈下,不知道欣賞了多少海底下的新品種動植物!有傘形菌;有石板色的多須峭;特別是晶形峭;有管珊瑚,像笛子一般,等着潘神①來吹,有這一帶海中特產的貝殼,附生在造礁珊瑚的空洞中,下部有,很短的螺絲紋環繞,最後有成千成萬的那種水媳類,那些就是我還沒有看到過的普通海綿。

   First division in the polyp group, the class Spongiaria has been created by scientists precisely for this unusual exhibit whose usefulness is beyond dispute. The sponge is definitely not a plant, as some naturalists still believe, but an animal of the lowest order, a polypary inferior even to coral. Its animal nature isn't in doubt, and we can't accept even the views of the ancients, who regarded it as halfway between plant and animal. But I must say that naturalists are not in agreement on the structural mode of sponges. For some it's a polypary, and for others, such as Professor Milne-Edwards, it's a single, solitary individual.

   海綿綱是水熄類的第一綱,這一綱就是由這種非常有用處的新奇產物組成的。海綿並不是植物,像現在還有些……生物學家承認的那樣。它是動物,不過是最低一目的動物,是比珊瑚更低的水熄叢。它的動物性是無可懷疑的,我們不能接受古代人的意見,認為它是動植物間的中介物。不過我要說,關於海綿的機體組織,生物學家還沒有共同一致的意見。有些生物學家說海綿是水熄叢:另外一些,像愛德華先生,卻認為它是獨立的、單一的個體。

   The class Spongiaria contains about 300 species that are encountered in a large number of seas and even in certain streams, where they've been given the name freshwater sponges. But their waters of choice are the Red Sea and the Mediterranean near the Greek Islands or the coast of Syria. These waters witness the reproduction and growth of soft, delicate bath sponges whose prices run as high as 150 francs apiece: the yellow sponge from Syria, the horn sponge from Barbary, etc. But since I had no hope of studying these zoophytes in the seaports of the Levant, from which we were separated by the insuperable Isthmus of Suez, I had to be content with observing them in the waters of the Red Sea.

   海綿綱大約共有三百種,大多數的海中都有,並且也生在某部分淡水流裡面,被稱為”河水海綿”。不過海綿特別“繁殖的地方是地中海、希臘半島、敘利亞海岸和紅海一帶。 在這一帶海中,那些柔軟細嫩的海綿繁殖得很快,每塊價值達一百五十法郎,比如敘利亞的金色海綿,巴巴利亞的堅韌“海綿等。既然我們被蘇伊土地峽分開,走不過去,我不可能-在近東各港灣裡來研究這些植蟲動物,我只得在紅海中來觀察它們了。

   So I called Conseil to my side, while at an average depth of eight to nine meters, the Nautilus slowly skimmed every beautiful rock on the easterly coast.

   所以,當諾第留斯號在平均八至九米的水層,慢慢溜過這些東部海岸的美麗岩石的時候,我叫康塞爾到我身邊來。

   There sponges grew in every shape, globular, stalklike, leaflike, fingerlike. With reasonable accuracy, they lived up to their nicknames of basket sponges, chalice sponges, distaff sponges, elkhorn sponges, lion's paws, peacock's tails, and Neptune's gloves-- designations bestowed on them by fishermen, more poetically inclined than scientists. A gelatinous, semifluid substance coated the fibrous tissue of these sponges, and from this tissue there escaped a steady trickle of water that, after carrying sustenance to each cell, was being expelled by a contracting movement. This jellylike substance disappears when the polyp dies, emitting ammonia as it rots. Finally nothing remains but the fibers, either gelatinous or made of horn, that constitute your household sponge, which takes on a russet hue and is used for various tasks depending on its degree of elasticity, permeability, or resistance to saturation.

   在這一帶海水裡面,生長着各種形狀的海綿,腳形海綿、卅狀海綿、球形海綿、指形海綿。看見這些形狀的海綿,詩人意味比學者意味重的漁人們給它們取的名字很美妙,例如花籃、花棗、羚羊角、獅子蹄、孔雀尾、海王手套等等……——,都是非常恰當的。從它們附有半液體膠質的纖維組織中,不斷流出線一樣的水,這綫水把生命帶進了每一個細胞中,成後就被收縮的運動排除出來。這種半液體膠質在水熄死後便不再分泌,它同時腐爛了,發出阿摩尼亞氣體來。這時候就只剩下那日用海綿所有的角質纖維或膠質纖維了。刀用海綿是茶褐色,根據它的彈力、滲透力或抵抗浸漬力的程度大小,可以安排它作各種不同的用途。

   These polyparies were sticking to rocks, shells of mollusks, and even the stalks of water plants. They adorned the smallest crevices, some sprawling, others standing or hanging like coral outgrowths. I told Conseil that sponges are fished up in two ways, either by dragnet or by hand. The latter method calls for the services of a diver, but it's preferable because it spares the polypary's tissue, leaving it with a much higher market value.

   這些水螅叢附在岩石上,軟體動物的介殼上,並且附在蛇婆莖上它們把最輕微的凹凸都鋪平了,有的是擺開來。 有的是豎起或垂下,像珊瑚形成的瘤一樣。我告訴了康塞爾,海綿可用兩種方法來採取,或用打撈機,或用手。後一種方法要使用潛水的采綿人,這種方法比較好,因為不損傷水螅叢的纖維,可以給它保留了很高的使用價值。

   Other zoophytes swarming near the sponges consisted chiefly of a very elegant species of jellyfish; mollusks were represented by varieties of squid that, according to Professor Orbigny, are unique to the Red Sea; and reptiles by virgata turtles belonging to the genus Chelonia, which furnished our table with a dainty but wholesome dish.

   在海綿類旁邊繁殖着的其他植蟲動物,主要是形狀很美觀的一種水母。軟體類有各種各樣的槍烏賊,據奧比尼①說,這些槍烏賊是紅海的特產。爬蟲類有屬於龜鱉屬的條紋甲魚,這種甲魚可以供應我們餐桌上一盤又衛生又好吃砌食品。”

   As for fish, they were numerous and often remarkable. Here are the ones that the Nautilus's nets most frequently hauled on board: rays, including spotted rays that were oval in shape and brick red in color, their bodies strewn with erratic blue speckles and identifiable by their jagged double stings, silver-backed skates, common stingrays with stippled tails, butterfly rays that looked like huge two-meter cloaks flapping at middepth, toothless guitarfish that were a type of cartilaginous fish closer to the shark, trunkfish known as dromedaries that were one and a half feet long and had humps ending in backward-curving stings, serpentine moray eels with silver tails and bluish backs plus brown pectorals trimmed in gray piping, a species of butterfish called the fiatola decked out in thin gold stripes and the three colors of the French flag, Montague blennies four decimeters long, superb jacks handsomely embellished by seven black crosswise streaks with blue and yellow fins plus gold and silver scales, snooks, standard mullet with yellow heads, parrotfish, wrasse, triggerfish, gobies, etc., plus a thousand other fish common to the oceans we had already crossed.

   至于魚類;這裡有很多,並且很值得注意。下面是諾絡留斯號的魚網時常拉到船上來的魚:鰓魚類,裡面有橢圓形、磚石色,身上有不等的藍黑斑點的穌魚,從它們身上帶有雙重的齒形刺就可以認出來。背色銀白的白鰭魚,尾帶小點的赤醇魚,以及錦帶譚魚,像長兩米的寬大套子,在水中間滾來滾去。沒齒穌,完全沒有牙齒,是跟鮫魚相近的軟骨魚。駝峰牡蠣,峰頂是彎的尖刺,身長一英呎半。蛇魚類,像尾色銀白、背上淡藍、褐色胸部帶灰色邊線的海鰻一樣。有光魚,屬鰭科的一種,身上有窄條的金色紋,帶法國國旗的紅藍白三色。長四分米的楔形硬鰭魚;美麗的加郎魚,身上有漆黑的六條橫帶,藍色和黃色的鰭)金色和銀色的鱗。還有團足魚,黃頭耳形豚魚,硬鰭斯加魚,海婆魚,箭魚,蝦虎魚以及我們已經走過的海洋都有的其他千百種魚類。

   On February 9 the Nautilus cruised in the widest part of the Red Sea, measuring 190 miles straight across from Suakin on the west coast to Qunfidha on the east coast.

   2月9日,諾第留斯號浮出在紅海最寬闊的一部分海面上,海面的西岸是蘇阿京,東岸是光享達,直徑是一百丸十海里。

   At noon that day after our position fix, Captain Nemo climbed onto the platform, where I happened to be. I vowed not to let him go below again without at least sounding him out on his future plans. As soon as he saw me, he came over, graciously offered me a cigar, and said to me:

   這一天中午,在地圖上記錄了船行的方位後,尼摩船長走上平台來,正好我也在那裡。我心中打算,對於他此後的航行計劃如果得不到一些瞭解,我就不讓他回船裡面去。 他一看見我就走向前來,很禮貌地送我一支雪前煙,對我說:

   "Well, professor, are you pleased with this Red Sea? Have you seen enough of its hidden wonders, its fish and zoophytes, its gardens of sponges and forests of coral? Have you glimpsed the towns built on its shores?"

   “喂!教授,您喜歡這紅海嗎?您曾充分觀察它所蘊藏偽奇異東西嗎?它的魚類和它的植蟲類,它的海綿花壇和它的珊瑚森林嗎?您曾望見散在海邊的城市嗎?”

   "Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied, "and the Nautilus is wonderfully suited to this whole survey. Ah, it's a clever boat!"

   “是的,尼摩船長,”我回答,“諾第留斯號是奇妙的最便于做這種研究的。啊!農真是一隻聰明的有智慧的船!”

   "Yes, sir, clever, daring, and invulnerable! It fears neither the Red Sea's dreadful storms nor its currents and reefs."

   “不錯,先生,又聰明,叉大膽,叉是不會受損傷的!它、不伯紅海的厲害風暴,洶湧波濤,危險暗礁。”

   "Indeed," I said, "this sea is mentioned as one of the worst, and in the days of the ancients, if I'm not mistaken, it had an abominable reputation."

   “是的,,我說,“紅海常被稱為最厲害多風浪的海,如果、我沒有記錯,在上古時代,它的聲名聽來就使人討厭。”

   "Thoroughly abominable, Professor Aronnax. The Greek and Latin historians can find nothing to say in its favor, and the Greek geographer Strabo adds that it's especially rough during the rainy season and the period of summer prevailing winds. The Arab Idrisi, referring to it by the name Gulf of Colzoum, relates that ships perished in large numbers on its sandbanks and that no one risked navigating it by night. This, he claims, is a sea subject to fearful hurricanes, strewn with inhospitable islands, and 'with nothing good to offer,' either on its surface or in its depths. As a matter of fact, the same views can also be found in Arrian, Agatharchides, and Artemidorus."

   “阿龍納斯先生,是的,使人討厭。希臘和拉丁的歷史家沒有說它好,史杜拉賓說,紅海在刮北風和雨季的時期特別難航,特別厲害。阿撿伯人艾德利西是用哥爾藏海灣的名字來寫紅海的,他說有很多的船隻在它的浮洲上就沉役了、沒有人敢在夜間冒險航行。他認為,這海受厲害颱風偽控制,處處有損害船隻的小島,不管在海底下和海面上,‘一點都沒有好處。’”

   "One can easily see," I answered, "that those historians didn't navigate aboard the Nautilus."

   “很明白,-我馬上說,“那就是因為這些歷史家並沒有在諾第留斯號船上航行過。”

   "Indeed," the captain replied with a smile, "and in this respect, the moderns aren't much farther along than the ancients. It took many centuries to discover the mechanical power of steam! Who knows whether we'll see a second Nautilus within the next 100 years! Progress is slow, Professor Aronnax."

   “是的,船長帶著微笑回答,“關於這一點,近代人並沒有比古代入進步。發明蒸汽力是要好幾千百年的時間呢! 誰知道在一百年後,是否將有第二隻諾第留斯號出現呢! 啊龍納斯先生,進步是很慢的呢。”

   "It's true," I replied. "Your ship is a century ahead of its time, perhaps several centuries. It would be most unfortunate if such a secret were to die with its inventor!"

   “真的,-我回答,“您的船比它的時代進步了一世紀,或者好幾世紀。這樣一個秘密要跟它的發明人一同消逝,是多麼不幸”

   Captain Nemo did not reply. After some minutes of silence:

   尼摩船長並不回答我的話。

   "We were discussing," he said, "the views of ancient historians on the dangers of navigating this Red Sea?"

   "True," I replied. "But weren't their fears exaggerated?"

   "Yes and no, Professor Aronnax," answered Captain Nemo, who seemed to know "his Red Sea" by heart. "To a modern ship, well rigged, solidly constructed, and in control of its course thanks to obedient steam, some conditions are no longer hazardous that offered all sorts of dangers to the vessels of the ancients. Picture those early navigators venturing forth in sailboats built from planks lashed together with palm-tree ropes, caulked with powdered resin, and coated with dogfish grease. They didn't even have instruments for taking their bearings, they went by guesswork in the midst of currents they barely knew. Under such conditions, shipwrecks had to be numerous. But nowadays steamers providing service between Suez and the South Seas have nothing to fear from the fury of this gulf, despite the contrary winds of its monsoons. Their captains and passengers no longer prepare for departure with sacrifices to placate the gods, and after returning, they don't traipse in wreaths and gold ribbons to say thanks at the local temple."

   "Agreed," I said. "And steam seems to have killed off all gratitude in seamen's hearts. But since you seem to have made a special study of this sea, captain, can you tell me how it got its name?"

   靜默了幾分鐘後,我問:“船長,您好像是特別研究過這海,您可以讓我知道紅海這名字的來源嗎?”

   "Many explanations exist on the subject, Professor Aronnax. Would you like to hear the views of one chronicler in the 14th century?"

   “阿龍納斯先生,關於這問題有很多的解釋。您願意知道一個十四世紀的史學家的意見嗎?”

   "Gladly."

   “當然願意知道。”

   "This fanciful fellow claims the sea was given its name after the crossing of the Israelites, when the Pharaoh perished in those waves that came together again at Moses' command:

   “這位空想家認為‘紅海’這個名字是在以色列人走過這海之後才有的,當時法老軍隊追趕他們到海上,海聽到摩西的聲音就湧上來,把法老軍隊淹沒了①:

   To mark that miraculous sequel, the sea turned a red without equal.
Thus no other course would do but to name it for its hue."

   為表示這種神奇,變成為鮮紅的海,自後除了”紅海’的稱呼再不能叫它別的名字了。”

   "An artistic explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied, "but I'm unable to rest content with it. So I'll ask you for your own personal views."

   “尼摩船長,”我回答,“這是詩人的解釋,我不能滿足。 所以我要問問您個人的意見。”

   "Here they come. To my thinking, Professor Aronnax, this 'Red Sea' designation must be regarded as a translation of the Hebrew word 'Edrom,' and if the ancients gave it that name, it was because of the unique color of its waters."

   “阿龍納斯先生,照我的意思,我們要把紅海名字看作為希伯來語‘愛德龍’一詞的轉譯,古代的人所以稱它這個名字,是由於這海的水有一種特殊顏色。”

   "Until now, however, I've seen only clear waves, without any unique hue."

   “可是,直到目前,我看見的都是清澈的水波,沒有什麼特殊顏色。”

   "Surely, but as we move ahead to the far end of this gulf, you'll note its odd appearance. I recall seeing the bay of El Tur completely red, like a lake of blood."

   “當然,’不過您走進這海灣的內部時,您就會看到這奇異現象。我回想起從前看過的多爾灣,完全紅色,好像血湖一樣。”

   "And you attribute this color to the presence of microscopic algae?"

   “這顏色,您認為是由於海中有某種微生海藻的存在嗎?”

   "Yes. It's a purplish, mucilaginous substance produced by those tiny buds known by the name trichodesmia, 40,000 of which are needed to occupy the space of one square millimeter. Perhaps you'll encounter them when we reach El Tur."

   “是的。那是稱為‘三棱藻’的細小植物所產生的硃紅色的粘性物質,四萬個這種植物,才占面積一平方釐米。說不定我們到多爾灣的時候,您就可以看到這些植物。”

   "Hence, Captain Nemo, this isn't the first time you've gone through the Red Sea aboard the Nautilus?"

   “尼摩船長,這樣說來,您乘諾第留斯號經過紅海,難道這回不是第一次嗎?”

   "No, sir."

   “不是第一次,先生。”

   "Then, since you've already mentioned the crossing of the Israelites and the catastrophe that befell the Egyptians, I would ask if you've ever discovered any traces under the waters of that great historic event?"

   “那麼,您上面說過以色列人走過這海和埃及軍隊淹沒水中的事,我要問問您,您在海底下曾經看到這件歷史大事的一些痕跡嗎?”

   "No, professor, and for an excellent reason."

   “沒看見,教授,因為有一個顯明的理由。”

   "What's that?"

   “什麼理由呢?”

   "It's because that same locality where Moses crossed with all his people is now so clogged with sand, camels can barely get their legs wet. You can understand that my Nautilus wouldn't have enough water for itself."

   “就是賜西帶領他的人民走過的地方,現在完全是沙土了,差不多駱駝的腿也泡不濕了。您很明白,我的諾第留斯號沒有足夠的水,是不可能駛過那裡。”

   "And that locality is . . . ?" I asked.

   “這地方在哪兒?……”我問。

   "That locality lies a little above Suez in a sound that used to form a deep estuary when the Red Sea stretched as far as the Bitter Lakes. Now, whether or not their crossing was literally miraculous, the Israelites did cross there in returning to the Promised Land, and the Pharaoh's army did perish at precisely that locality. So I think that excavating those sands would bring to light a great many weapons and tools of Egyptian origin."

   “這地方在蘇伊士上面一點,在從前是很深的河口的海漢裡面,因為當時紅海的水面還一直伸到這些鹹水湖中。 現在這條水道是不是能發生奇蹟,暫且不管,但從前以色列人就是通過這裡走到巴勒斯但去的,法老的軍隊也就是在這裡被水淹沒的。所以我想,在這些沙土中間來做發掘工作,一定可以發現埃及製造的大量武器和用具。”

   "Obviously," I replied. "And for the sake of archaeology, let's hope that sooner or later such excavations do take place, once new towns are settled on the isthmus after the Suez Canal has been cut through-- a canal, by the way, of little use to a ship such as the Nautilus!"

   “那很顯然,”我回答,”同時希望考古學家有一天要把這種發掘工作趕快進行,因為蘇伊士運flpffi穿後,許多新的城市就要在這地峽上建設起來了。對於諾第留斯號這樣的一隻船來說,這條運河實在沒有什麼用處!”

   "Surely, but of great use to the world at large," Captain Nemo said. "The ancients well understood the usefulness to commerce of connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, but they never dreamed of cutting a canal between the two, and instead they picked the Nile as their link. If we can trust tradition, it was probably Egypt's King Sesostris who started digging the canal needed to join the Nile with the Red Sea. What's certain is that in 615 B.C. King Necho II was hard at work on a canal that was fed by Nile water and ran through the Egyptian plains opposite Arabia. This canal could be traveled in four days, and it was so wide, two triple-tiered galleys could pass through it abreast. Its construction was continued by Darius the Great, son of Hystaspes, and probably completed by King Ptolemy II. Strabo saw it used for shipping; but the weakness of its slope between its starting point, near Bubastis, and the Red Sea left it navigable only a few months out of the year. This canal served commerce until the century of Rome's Antonine emperors; it was then abandoned and covered with sand, subsequently reinstated by Arabia's Caliph Omar I, and finally filled in for good in 761 or 762 A.D. by Caliph Al-Mansur, in an effort to prevent supplies from reaching Mohammed ibn Abdullah, who had rebelled against him. During his Egyptian campaign, your General Napoleon Bonaparte discovered traces of this old canal in the Suez desert, and when the tide caught him by surprise, he wellnigh perished just a few hours before rejoining his regiment at Hadjaroth, the very place where Moses had pitched camp 3,300 years before him."

   “不錯,不過對全世界很有用。”船長回答,“古時的人很明白,在紅海與地中海之間建立交通,對於他們的商業有很大的好處,可是他們沒有想到發掘一條直通的運河,他們是利用尼羅河來作居間。按照傳說,這條連接尼羅河和紅海的運河,很可能在薛索斯土利斯王朝①就開始有了。其中確定的事實是,紀元前615年,尼哥斯②進行了一條運河的工程,引尼羅河水,穿過與阿拉伯相望的埃及平原。這條運河上溯航行需要四天的時間,河寬是兩艘有三排槳的船可以並行無阻。運河工程由伊他斯比的兒子大流士③繼續進行,大約在蒲圖連美二世時代完工,史杜拉賓看見了這河作航行使用。不過在運河近布巴斯提地方的起點和紅海之間的何床坡度大小,一年中只有幾個月可以行船。直到安敦難②時代,這運河一直是商業貿易的途徑:後來,由於‘哈利發’峨默爾⑤命令把運河放棄,就淤塞了,隨後又修復起來;761年或762年,‘哈利發’阿利-蒙索爾要阻止糧食運到反抗他的穆罕默德-賓-阿比多拉那裡,這運河便完全被填平了。”

   "Well, captain, what the ancients hesitated to undertake, Mr. de Lesseps is now finishing up; his joining of these two seas will shorten the route from Cadiz to the East Indies by 9,000 kilometers, and he'll soon change Africa into an immense island."

   “船長,那麼,古代人不敢開鑿的、把兩個海連結起來並使加的斯到印度的航程縮短九千公里的這條運河,現在由德,勒賽普幹起來了,不久,就要把非洲變為一個巨大的海島了。”

   "Yes, Professor Aronnax, and you have every right to be proud of your fellow countryman. Such a man brings a nation more honor than the greatest commanders! Like so many others, he began with difficulties and setbacks, but he triumphed because he has the volunteer spirit. And it's sad to think that this deed, which should have been an international deed, which would have insured that any administration went down in history, will succeed only through the efforts of one man. So all hail to Mr. de Lesseps!"

   "Yes, all hail to that great French citizen," I replied, quite startled by how emphatically Captain Nemo had just spoken.

   "Unfortunately," he went on, "I can't take you through that Suez Canal, but the day after tomorrow, you'll be able to see the long jetties of Port Said when we're in the Mediterranean."

   “很可惜,”他又說,“我不能帶您穿過蘇伊士運河,但後夫,我們在地中海的時候,您可以望見塞得港的長堤。”

   "In the Mediterranean!" I exclaimed.

   “在地中海!”我喊道。

   "Yes, professor. Does that amaze you?"

   “是的,教授,這事您覺得奇怪嗎?”

   "What amazes me is thinking we'll be there the day after tomorrow."

   “我覺得奇怪的是,後天我們就到地中海了。”

   "Oh really?"

   “為什麼要奇怪呢?”

   "Yes, captain, although since I've been aboard your vessel, I should have formed the habit of not being amazed by anything!"

   "But what is it that startles you?"

   "The thought of how hideously fast the Nautilus will need to go, if it's to double the Cape of Good Hope, circle around Africa, and lie in the open Mediterranean by the day after tomorrow."

   “因為諾第留斯號經好望角,繞非洲一周,後天要在地中海,您必定要它以驚人的速度航行!”

   "And who says it will circle Africa, professor? What's this talk about doubling the Cape of Good Hope?"

   “教授誰告訴您,它要繞非洲一周呢?誰告訴您,它要經過好望角呢?”

   "But unless the Nautilus navigates on dry land and crosses over the isthmus--"

   “除非是它在陸地上行駛,和從地峽上面過去,那……”

   "Or under it, Professor Aronnax."

   “或從底下穿過去,阿龍納斯先生。”

   "Under it?"

   “從底下穿過去嗎?”

   "Surely," Captain Nemo replied serenely. "Under that tongue of land, nature long ago made what man today is making on its surface."

   “當然,”尼摩船長用很安靜的語氣回答,“很久以來,人們在這舌形地面上所做的,大自然早就在它底下做了。”

   "What! There's a passageway?"

   “怎麼!原來底下有條通路!”

   "Yes, an underground passageway that I've named the Arabian Tunnel. It starts below Suez and leads to the Bay of Pelusium."

   “是的、底下有一條地道,我稱它為阿拉伯海底地道。 地道在蘇伊士下面,通到北路斯海灣。”

   "But isn't that isthmus only composed of quicksand?"

   “那麼,這地峽只是由鬆動的沙土形成的嗎?”

   "To a certain depth. But at merely fifty meters, one encounters a firm foundation of rock."

   “由沙上形成的部分達到某種深度。但是到了五十米以下,就有一層很堅固的不可動的岩石。”

   "And it's by luck that you discovered this passageway?" I asked, more and more startled.

   “您發現這地道是由於偶然的機會嗎?”我愈來愈驚奇地問。

   "Luck plus logic, professor, and logic even more than luck."

   “由於偶然的機會,同時也由於推理,教授,甚至推理的戍分多於偶然的成分。”

   "Captain, I hear you, but I can't believe my ears."

   “船長,我心裡雖然在聽您講,但我的耳朵卻抗拒它聽到的話。”

   "Oh, sir! The old saying still holds good: Aures habent et non audient! Not only does this passageway exist, but I've taken advantage of it on several occasions. Without it, I wouldn't have ventured today into such a blind alley as the Red Sea."

   “先生啊!‘他們有耳朵,但他們聽不見”③,這種人什麼時代都有的。這條海底地道不僅是存在,並且我也利用過好幾次。如果不是這樣,我今天也不到這無路可通的紅海中來隨便冒險了。”

   "Is it indiscreet to ask how you discovered this tunnel?"

   “問問您怎樣發現這條海底地道,不至于冒昧嗎?”

   "Sir," the captain answered me, "there can be no secrets between men who will never leave each other."

   “先生,”船長回答我,“在彼此不能分開的人們中間,不可以有任何秘密的存在。”

   I ignored this innuendo and waited for Captain Nemo's explanation.

   我不理他這句別有所指的話,我等待尼摩船長關於這事的講述。他說:

   "Professor," he told me, "the simple logic of the naturalist led me to discover this passageway, and I alone am familiar with it. I'd noted that in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean there exist a number of absolutely identical species of fish: eels, butterfish, greenfish, bass, jewelfish, flying fish. Certain of this fact, I wondered if there weren't a connection between the two seas. If there were, its underground current had to go from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean simply because of their difference in level. So I caught a large number of fish in the vicinity of Suez. I slipped copper rings around their tails and tossed them back into the sea. A few months later off the coast of Syria, I recaptured a few specimens of my fish, adorned with their telltale rings. So this proved to me that some connection existed between the two seas. I searched for it with my Nautilus, I discovered it, I ventured into it; and soon, professor, you also will have cleared my Arabic tunnel!"

   “教授,使我發現這條只有我一人認識的海底地道的,是一個生物學家的簡單推理。我曾經注意到,在紅海中和在地中海中有某一些完全相同的魚類,比如蛇魚,車魚,絞車魚,簇魚,愚魚,飛魚。我確定了這事實,我就問,在這兩、個海中間是不是有交通路線的存在。如果有交通路線存在,地下水流僅僅由於兩海的水平面不同,必然要從紅海流到地中海。因此我在蘇伊士附近打了很多魚,我把銅圈套在魚尾上,然後把魚放人海中。幾個月後,在敘利亞海岸,我找到了一些我從前放走的尾上有銅圈的魚。因此兩海之間有路可通的想法就得到了證明小我利用諾第留斯號去找尋這條通路,要于把它發現了,我也冒險走過去了。教授。 不久:您也要通過我的阿拉伯海底地道!”