Emma Foster
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Unit 2: Space
Source Material Research (Concept 2)-Chapter III: A Priceless Pearl
For my second extract from 20,000 Leagues under the Sea Jules Verne writes of some sort of grotto that houses a giant oyster which Captain Nemo is trying to keep hidden and a secret so that he can continue to allow the pearl the giant mollusk holds growing. It will be really interesting showing the change between sunlight and near darkness in my painting. The sunrays were already penetrating the waters, and their light was enough for us to distinguish even the smallest objects. After walking for ten minutes we were in a depth of about fifteen feet, and the bottom levelled off. Schools of strange fish of the genus of the monopteridae, resembling snipe in a marsh, rose at our feet. These fish have no fins except their tail. I recognized the Javanese, a real serpent, about a yard long, with its livid belly. Stromateid genus, whose bodies are very flat and oval, I noticed some with the most brilliant hues, carrying their dorsal fin like a scythe. Tranquebars, belonging to the apsiphoroidal genus, whose bodies are covered with a scaly armour The sea bottom changed slowly as we went. From a fine sand, we came to an embankment of round-edged rocks, which was covered by a carpet of mollusks and zoophytes. Amidst the sparkling of these two species, I noticed placentae with flimsy and irregular shells- a sort of oyster peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded shells; the awl-like terebellum Cornigerous turbinellae, bristling with spikes; lingulae hyantes; anatinae, mollusks. Which were slightly luminous; and finally, oculines like magnificent fans, which form one of the richest treelike growths of these seas. In the midst of these living plants, and beneath the arbors of hydrophytes, swam legions of clumsy articulates, especially the toothed raninae, whose shell was like a slightly rounded triangle, the birgi, peculiar to these waters; and the loathsome parthenopes, very repugnant to the eye. Towards seven oclock, we finally reached the banks where pearl oysters reproduce by the million. These precious mollusks were clinging to the rocks, attached to them by a browncolored byssus which prevents them from moving; for this reason these oysters are inferior to mussels, which have some freedom of movement. The meleagrina pearl oyster, whose valves are much the same size, has a round thick shell and a corrugated exterior. Some of these shells were flecked and streaked with greenish
Emma Foster
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Unit 2: Space
grooves, radiating from the top down. These were the young oysters. The others, ten years or older, had a rugged black shell and measured as much as six inches in diameter. Ned Land, faithful to this destructive instinct in man, was quickly filling a mesh net with the finest specimens. The bottom rose noticeably, and sometimes I could raise my arm above the surface of the sea. Then the level of the bank would drop suddenly again. We often walked around high rocks tapered like pyramids. In the dark recesses of those rocks, there lurked giant crustaceans, poised on their claws like war machines, staring at us with glaring eyes, and around our feet crawled myrianidae, ariciae, and annelidae, extending their very long antennae and tentacles outward. Just then a vast grotto appeared before us, hollowed out in a picturesque mass of rocks, covered with all the flora of the sea. At first it seemed to be in total darkness. The rays of the sun appeared to be dimmed by degrees, and the light, absorbed by the sea, disappeared beneath the waters. My eyes soon became accustomed to the vague darkness inside. I could make out the contorted and whimsical curves of the vaults, supported by natural pillars resting on a granite foundation, which reminded me of the heavy columns seen in Tuscan architecture. After descending a fairly steep slope, our feet touched the bottom of a sort of circular pit. It was an oyster of extraordinary size, a gigantic clam that could have been made into a holy-water basin, large enough to hold a little lake of holy water, a basin whose diameter was more than seven feet and larger than the one in the saloon of the Nautilus. It was attached by its byssus to a block of granite, and it was growing and living alone in the quiet waters of that grotto. I guessed its weight to be around 650 pounds. Such as oyster would have some 30 pounds of meat, and only a Gargantuan stomach could digest a dozen or so. The two halves of the mollusk were partly open, and the Captain went up to it and inserted his dagger between the valves to prevent them from closing. Then, with his hand, he lifted the covering membrane, which formed a protective layer for the animal. There, between the foliagelike folds, I saw a loose pearl the size of a coconut, Its globular shape, its perfect clarity, its magnificent luster, made it a jewel of inestimable value. He has been breeding that pearl by placing pieces of glass or metal under the fleshy fold of that creature. Our visit to the opulent tridacne was over.
