Fortunately the typhoon broke more to the south, and had no other result than to sweep away the mist which had been accumulating during the last three days.
In an hour they had traversed the hundred and twenty-five miles of the Korean strait, and while the typhoon was raging on the coast of China, the "Albatross" was over the Yellow Sea. During the 22nd and 23rd she was over the Gulf10 of Pechelee, and on the 24th she was ascending11 the valley of the Peiho on her way to the capital of the Celestial12 Empire.
Leaning over the rail, the two colleagues, as the engineer had told them, could see distinctly the immense city, the wall which divides it into two parts—the Manchu town, and the Chinese town—the twelve suburbs which surround it, the large boulevards which radiate from its center, the temples with their green and yellow roofs bathed in the rising sun, the grounds surrounding the houses of the mandarins; then in the middle of the Manchu town the eighteen hundred acres of the Yellow town, with its pagodas14, its imperial gardens, its artificial lakes, its mountain of coal which towers above the capital; and in the center of the Yellow town, like a square of Chinese puzzle enclosed in another, the Red town, that is the imperial palace, with all the peaks of its outrageous15 architecture.
Below the "Albatross" the air was filled with a singular harmony. It seemed to be a concert of Aeolian harps16. In the air were a hundred kites of different forms, made of sheets of palm-leaf, and having at their upper end a sort of bow of light wood with a thin slip of bamboo beneath. In the breath of the wind these slips, with all their notes varied17 like those of a harmonicon, gave forth18 a most melancholy19 murmuring. It seemed as though they were breathing musical oxygen.
It suited Robur's whim20 to run close up to this aerial orchestra, and the "Albatross" slowed as she glided21 through the sonorous22 waves which the kites gave off through the atmosphere.
But immediately an extraordinary effect was produced amongst the innumerable population. Beatings of the tomtoms and sounds of other formidable instruments of the Chinese orchestra, gun reports by the thousand, mortars23 fired in hundreds, all were brought into play to scare away the aeronef. Although the Chinese astronomers24 may have recognized the aerial machine as the moving body that had given rise to such disputes, it was to the Celestial million, from the humblest tankader to the best-buttoned mandarin13, an apocalyptical monster appearing in the sky of Buddha25.
The crew of the "Albatross" troubled themselves very little about these demonstrations26. But the strings27 which held the kites, and were tied to fixed28 pegs29 in the imperial gardens, were cut or quickly hauled in; and the kites were either drawn30 in rapidly, sounding louder as they sank, or else fell like a bird shot through both wings, whose song ends with its last sigh.
A noisy fanfare31 escaped from Tom Turner's trumpet32, and drowned the final notes of the aerial concert. It did not interrupt the terrestrial fusillade. At last a shell exploded a few feet below the "Albatross," and then she mounted into the inaccessible33 regions of the sky.
Nothing happened during the few following days of which the prisoners could take advantage. The aeronef kept on her course to the southwest, thereby34 showing that it was intended to take her to India. Twelve hours after leaving Peking, Uncle Prudent35 and Phil Evans caught a glimpse of the Great Wall in the neighborhood of Chen-Si. Then, avoiding the Lung Mountains, they passed over the valley of the Hoangho and crossed the Chinese border on the Tibet side.
Tibet consists of high table-lands without vegetation, with here and there snowy peaks and barren ravines, torrents36 fed by glaciers37, depressions with glittering beds of salt, lakes surrounded by luxurious38 forests, with icy winds sweeping39 over all.
The barometer indicated an altitude of thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. At that height the temperature, although it was in the warmest months of the northern hemisphere, was only a little above freezing. This cold, combined with the speed of the "Albatross," made the voyage somewhat trying, and although the friends had warm traveling wraps, they preferred to keep to their cabin.
It need hardly be said that to keep the aeronef in this rarefied atmosphere the suspensory screws had to be driven at extreme speed. But they worked with perfect regularity40, and the sound of their wings almost acted as a lullaby.
During this day, appearing from below about the size of a carrier pigeon, she passed over Garlock, a town of western Tibet, the capital of the province of Cari Khorsum.
On the 27th of June, Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans sighted an enormous barrier, broken here and there by several peaks, lost in the snows that bounded the horizon.
Leaning against the fore-cabin, so as to keep their places notwithstanding the speed of the ship, they watched these colossal41 masses, which seemed to be running away from the aeronef.
"The Himalayas, evidently," said Phil Evans; "and probably Robur is going round their base, so as to pass into India."
"So much the worse," answered Uncle Prudent. "On that immense territory we shall perhaps be able to—"
"Unless he goes round by Burma to the east, or Nepal to the west."
"Anyhow, I defy him to go through them."
"Indeed!" said a voice.
The next day, the 28th of June, the "Albatross" was in front of the huge mass above the province of Zang. On the other side of the chain was the province of Nepal. These ranges block the road into India from the north. The two northern ones, between which the aeronef was gliding42 like a ship between enormous reefs are the first steps of the Central Asian barrier. The first was the Kuen Lung, the other the Karakorum, bordering the longitudinal valley parallel to the Himalayas, from which the Indus flows to the west and the Brahmapootra to the east.
What a superb orographical system! More than two hundred summits have been measured, seventeen of which exceed twenty-five thousand feet. In front of the "Albatross," at a height of twenty-nine thousand feet, towered Mount Everest. To the right was Dhawalagiri, reaching twenty-six thousand eight hundred feet, and relegated43 to second place since the measurement of Mount Everest.
Evidently Robur did not intend to go over the top of these peaks; but probably he knew the passes of the Himalayas, among others that of Ibi Ganim, which the brothers Schlagintweit traversed in 1856 at a height of twenty-two thousand feet. And towards it he went.
Several hours of palpitation, becoming quite painful, followed; and although the rarefaction of the air was not such as to necessitate44 recourse being had to the special apparatus45 for renewing oxygen in the cabins, the cold was excessive.
Robur stood in the bow, his sturdy figure wrapped in a great-coat. He gave the orders, while Tom Turner was at the helm. The engineer kept an attentive46 watch on his batteries, the acid in which fortunately ran no risk of congelation. The screws, running at the full strength of the current, gave forth a note of intense shrillness47 in spite of the trifling48 density49 of the air. The barometer showed twenty-three thousand feet in altitude.
Magnificent was the grouping of the chaos50 of mountains! Everywhere were brilliant white summits. There were no lakes, but glaciers descending52 ten thousand feet towards the base. There was no herbage, only a few phanerogams on the limit of vegetable life. Down on the lower flanks of the range were splendid forests of pines and cedars53. Here were none of the gigantic ferns and interminable parasites54 stretching from tree to tree as in the thickets55 of the jungle. There were no animals—no wild horses, or yaks56, or Tibetan bulls. Occasionally a scared gazelle showed itself far down the slopes. There were no birds, save a couple of those crows which can rise to the utmost limits of the respirable air.
The pass at last was traversed. The "Albatross" began to descend51. Coming from the hills out of the forest region there was now beneath them an immense plain stretching far and wide.
Then Robur stepped up to his guests, and in a pleasant voice remarked, "India, gentlemen!"
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1
barometer
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| n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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carmine
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| n.深红色，洋红色 | |
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sector
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| n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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Mandarin
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| n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
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pagodas
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| 塔，宝塔( pagoda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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harps
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| abbr.harpsichord 拨弦古钢琴n.竖琴( harp的名词复数 ) | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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mortars
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| n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵 | |
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astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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Buddha
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| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
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demonstrations
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| 证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威 | |
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strings
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| n.弦 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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fanfare
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| n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布 | |
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trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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glaciers
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| 冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 ) | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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43
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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44
necessitate
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| v.使成为必要，需要 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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46
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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shrillness
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| 尖锐刺耳 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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50
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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51
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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52
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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53
cedars
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| 雪松，西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
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54
parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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56
yaks
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| 牦牛( yak的名词复数 )； 笑话 | |
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