THE joy on board was universal when Paganel’s resolution was made known.
Little Robert flung himself on his neck in such tumultuous delight that he nearly threw the worthy1 secretary down, and made him say, “Rude petit bonhomme. I’ll teach him geography.”
Robert bade fair to be an accomplished2 gentleman some day, for John Mangles3 was to make a sailor of him, and the Major was to teach him sang-froid, and Glenarvan and Lady Helena were to instil4 into him courage and goodness and generosity5, while Mary was to inspire him with gratitude6 toward such instructors7.
The Duncan soon finished taking in coal, and turned her back on the dismal8 region. She fell in before long with the current from the coast of Brazil, and on the 7th of September entered the Southern hemisphere.
So far, then, the voyage had been made without difficulty. Everybody was full of hope, for in this search for Captain Grant, each day seemed to increase the probability of finding him. The captain was among the most confident on board, but his confidence mainly arose from the longing9 desire he had to see Miss Mary happy. He was smitten10 with quite a peculiar11 interest for this young girl, and managed to conceal12 his sentiments so well that everyone on board saw it except himself and Mary Grant.
As for the learned geographer13, he was probably the happiest man in all the southern hemisphere. He spent the whole day in studying maps, which were spread out on the saloon table, to the great annoyance14 of M. Olbinett, who could never get the cloth laid for meals, without disputes on the subject. But all the passengers took his part except the Major, who was perfectly15 indifferent about geographical16 questions, especially at dinner-time. Paganel also came across a regular cargo17 of old books in the chief officer’s chest. They were in a very damaged condition, but among them he raked out a few Spanish volumes, and determined18 forthwith to set to work to master the language of Cer-vantes, as no one on board understood it, and it would be helpful in their search along the Chilian coast. Thanks to his taste for languages, he did not despair of being able to speak the language fluently when they arrived at Concepcion. He studied it furiously, and kept constantly muttering heterogeneous19 syllables20.
He spent his leisure hours in teaching young Robert, and instructed him in the history of the country they were so rapidly approaching.
On the 25th of September, the yacht arrived off the Straits of Magellan, and entered them without delay. This route is generally preferred by steamers on their way to the Pacific Ocean. The exact length of the straits is 372 miles. Ships of the largest tonnage find, throughout, sufficient depth of water, even close to the shore, and there is a good bottom everywhere, and abundance of fresh water, and rivers abounding21 in fish, and forests in game, and plenty of safe and accessible harbors; in fact a thousand things which are lacking in Strait Lemaire and Cape22 Horn, with its terrible rocks, incessantly23 visited by hurricane and tempest.
For the first three or four hours — that is to say, for about sixty to eighty miles, as far as Cape Gregory — the coast on either side was low and sandy. Jacques Paganel would not lose a single point of view, nor a single detail of the straits. It would scarcely take thirty-six hours to go through them, and the moving panorama24 on both sides, seen in all the clearness and glory of the light of a southern sun, was well worth the trouble of looking at and admiring. On the Terra del Fuego side, a few wretched-looking creatures were wandering about on the rocks, but on the other side not a solitary25 inhabitant was visible.
Paganel was so vexed26 at not being able to catch a glimpse of any Patagonians, that his companions were quite amused at him. He would insist that Patagonia without Patagonians was not Patagonia at all.
But Glenarvan replied:
“Patience, my worthy geographer. We shall see the Patagonians yet.”
“I am not sure of it.”
“But there is such a people, anyhow,” said Lady Helena.
“I doubt it much, madam, since I don’t see them.”
“But surely the very name Patagonia, which means ‘great feet’ in Spanish, would not have been given to imaginary beings.” “Oh, the name is nothing,” said Paganel, who was arguing simply for the sake of arguing. “And besides, to speak the truth, we are not sure if that is their name.”
“What an idea!” exclaimed Glenarvan. “Did you know that, Major?”
“No,” replied McNabbs, “and wouldn’t give a Scotch27 pound-note for the information.”
“You shall hear it, however, Major Indifferent. Though Magellan called the natives Patagonians, the Fuegians called them Tiremenen, the Chilians Caucalhues, the colonists28 of Carmen Tehuelches, the Araucans Huiliches; Bougainville gives them the name of Chauha, and Falkner that of Tehuelhets. The name they give themselves is Inaken. Now, tell me then, how would you recognize them? Indeed, is it likely that a people with so many names has any actual existence?”
“That’s a queer argument, certainly,” said Lady Helena.
“Well, let us admit it,” said her husband, “but our friend Paganel must own that even if there are doubts about the name of the race there is none about their size.”
“Indeed, I will never own anything so outrageous29 as that,” replied Paganel.
“They are tall,” said Glenarvan.
“I don’t know that.”
“Are they little, then?” asked Lady Helena.
“No one can affirm that they are.”
“About the average, then?” said McNabbs.
“I don’t know that either.”
“That’s going a little too far,” said Glenarvan. “Travelers who have seen them tell us.”
“Travelers who have seen them,” interrupted Paganel, “don’t agree at all in their accounts. Magellan said that his head scarcely reached to their waist.”
“Well, then, that proves.”
“Yes, but Drake declares that the English are taller than the tallest Patagonian?”
“Oh, the English — that may be,” replied the Major, disdainfully, “but we are talking of the Scotch.”
“Cavendish assures us that they are tall and robust,” continued Paganel. “Hawkins makes out they are giants. Lemaire and Shouten declare that they are eleven feet high.”
“These are all credible31 witnesses,” said Glenarvan.
“Yes, quite as much as Wood, Narborough, and Falkner, who say they are of medium stature32. Again, Byron, Giraudais, Bougainville, Wallis, and Carteret, declared that the Patagonians are six feet six inches tall.”
“But what is the truth, then, among all these contradictions?” asked Lady Helena.
“Just this, madame; the Patagonians have short legs, and a large bust30; or by way of a joke we might say that these natives are six feet high when they are sitting, and only five when they are standing33.”
“Bravo! my dear geographer,” said Glenarvan. “That is very well put.”
“Unless the race has no existence, that would reconcile all statements,” returned Paganel. “But here is one consolation34, at all events: the Straits of Magellan are very magnificent, even without Patagonians.”
Just at this moment the Duncan was rounding the peninsula of Brunswick between splendid panoramas35.
Seventy miles after doubling Cape Gregory, she left on her starboard the penitentiary36 of Punta Arena37. The church steeple and the Chilian flag gleamed for an instant among the trees, and then the strait wound on between huge granitic38 masses which had an imposing39 effect. Cloud-capped mountains appeared, their heads white with eternal snows, and their feet hid in immense forests. Toward the southwest, Mount Tarn40 rose 6,500 feet high. Night came
V. IV Verne on after a long lingering twilight41, the light insensibly melting away into soft shades. These brilliant constellations42 began to bestud the sky, and the Southern Cross shone out. There were numerous bays along the shore, easy of access, but the yacht did not drop anchor in any; she continued her course fearlessly through the luminous43 darkness. Presently ruins came in sight, crumbling44 buildings, which the night invested with grandeur45, the sad remains46 of a deserted47 settlement, whose name will be an eternal protest against these fertile shores and forests full of game. The Duncan was passing Fort Famine.
It was in that very spot that Sarmiento, a Spaniard, came in 1581, with four hundred emigrants48, to establish a colony. He founded the city of St. Philip, but the extreme severity of winter decimated the inhabitants, and those who had struggled through the cold died subsequently of starvation. Cavendish the Corsair discovered the last survivor49 dying of hunger in the ruins.
After sailing along these deserted shores, the Duncan went through a series of narrow passes, between forests of beech50 and ash and birch, and at length doubled Cape Froward, still bristling51 with the ice of the last winter. On the other side of the strait, in Terra del Fuego, stood Mount Sarmiento, towering to a height of 6,000 feet, an enormous accumulation of rocks, separated by bands of cloud, forming a sort of aerial archipelago in the sky.
It is at Cape Froward that the American continent actually terminates, for Cape Horn is nothing but a rock sunk in the sea in latitude52 52 degrees. At Cape Momax the straits widened, and she was able to get round Narborough Isles53 and advance in a more southerly direction, till at length the rock of Cape Pilares, the extreme point of Desolation Island, came in sight, thirty-six hours after entering the straits. Before her stem lay a broad, open, sparkling ocean, which Jacques Paganel greeted with enthusiastic gestures, feeling kindred emotions with those which stirred the bosom54 of Ferdinand de Magellan himself, when the sails of his ship, the TRINIDAD, first bent55 before the breeze from the great Pacific.
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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mangles
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| n.轧布机，轧板机，碾压机（mangle的复数形式）vt.乱砍（mangle的第三人称单数形式） | |
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instil
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| v.逐渐灌输 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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geographer
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| n.地理学者 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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panorama
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| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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panoramas
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| 全景画( panorama的名词复数 )； 全景照片； 一连串景象或事 | |
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penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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granitic
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| 花岗石的，由花岗岩形成的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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tarn
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| n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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constellations
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| n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人） | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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emigrants
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| n.（从本国移往他国的）移民( emigrant的名词复数 ) | |
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survivor
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| n.生存者，残存者，幸存者 | |
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beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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