THE FOLLOWING DAY, January 10, the Nautilus resumed its travels in midwater but at a remarkable speed that I estimated to be at least thirty-five miles per hour. The propeller was going so fast I could neither follow nor count its revolutions.
第二天,1月10日,諾第留斯號又在水中航行了,它的速度我可以估計,不會少于每小時三十五海里。它的機輪推動得那么快,我簡直不能看出它在運轉,也不能加以計算。
I thought about how this marvelous electric force not only gave motion, heat, and light to the Nautilus but even protected it against outside attack, transforming it into a sacred ark no profane hand could touch without being blasted; my wonderment was boundless, and it went from the submersible itself to the engineer who had created it.
我想到這神奇的電,除了給諾第留斯號以動力、熱力、光明之外,又能保護它不受外界的攻擊,使它變?yōu)樯袷ゲ豢汕址傅拇雭砬址傅娜藳Q不能不受到電擊的,我對它的贊美實在是沒有止境,我的贊美立時又從這船轉到制造這船的工程師。
We were traveling due west and on January 11 we doubled Cape Wessel, located in longitude 135 degrees and latitude 10 degrees north, the western tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Reefs were still numerous but more widely scattered and were fixed on the chart with the greatest accuracy. The Nautilus easily avoided the Money breakers to port and the Victoria reefs to starboard, positioned at longitude 130 degrees on the tenth parallel, which we went along rigorously.
我們一直往西開行,1月11日,我們走過了韋塞爾角, 角在東經(jīng)135度和南緯10度, 是卡彭塔里亞海灣的東尖端。海中的礁石仍然很多,但較為零散,在地圖上記載得很明確。諾第留斯號很容易躲開在它左舷的摩宜礁石,和右舷的維多利亞暗礁,它們同在東經(jīng)130度和南緯10度,這時船正沿著這緯度行駛。
On January 13, arriving in the Timor Sea, Captain Nemo raised the island of that name at longitude 122 degrees. This island, whose surface area measures 1,625 square leagues, is governed by rajahs. These aristocrats deem themselves the sons of crocodiles, in other words, descendants with the most exalted origins to which a human being can lay claim. Accordingly, their scaly ancestors infest the island's rivers and are the subjects of special veneration. They are sheltered, nurtured, flattered, pampered, and offered a ritual diet of nubile maidens; and woe to the foreigner who lifts a finger against these sacred saurians.
1月13日,尼摩船長到了帝位海,在東經(jīng)122度望見了跟海同名的帝文島。這島面積為1,625平方里,由稱為拉夜的王公們統(tǒng)治。這些王公們自稱為鱷魚的子孫,就是說,他們的祖先是人類可能想到的最古的來源。所以。他們的帶鱗甲的祖宗在島上河流中大量繁殖,是人們特殊尊敬的對象。島人保護它們,嬌養(yǎng)它們,奉承它們,給它們食物,把青年女子作它們的食料,如果有外來客人,敢把手去動這些神圣的晰蝎類,那他就將惹下大禍了。