Music Welcome to Snewscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep. Find us at snoozecast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. This episode is brought to you by Sea Porky Pines. Tonight we'll read the next part to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Furn. In the last episode, Nimo invites the captives on another underwater expedition. This time, it is to the Coral Kingdom. Also, Aeronax starts to think that the captain does not just love being away from humanity by being underwater. He may seek revenge against humanity as well. The conversation of escaping the ship is discussed by your ex and Ned.

Let's get cozy.

Close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness. Close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths. Part 2 Chapter 2 A novel proposal of Captain Nemo's. On the 28th of February, when at noon, the Nautilus came to the surface of the sea. In nine degrees for seconds north latitude, there was land in sight about eight miles to westward. The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains about two thousand feet high, the shapes of which were most capricious. On taking the bearings, I knew that we were nearing the island of Salon, the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula. Captain Nemo in his second appeared at this moment. The captain glanced at the map, then turning to me said, the island of Saelon noted for its pearl fisheries, would you like to visit one of them, Messier Aeronax? Certainly captain. Well, the thing is easy, though if we see the fisheries we shall not see the fishermen. They annual exportation has not yet begun. Never mind. I will give orders to make for the Gulf of Manir, where we shall arrive in the night." The captain said something to his second who immediately went out. Soon the Nautilus returned to her native element, and the manometer showed that she was about thirty feet deep. Well, sir, said Captain Nemo, you and your companion shall visit the Bank of Manor, and if by chance some fishermen should be there, we shall see him at work. Agreed, Captain. Captain Nemo left the room. At this moment, Kancei and the Canadian entered. Quite composed, and even joyous. They knew not what awaited them. Fathes are, said Ned Land. Your Captain Nemo, the devil take him, has just made us a very pleasant offer. Ah, said I, you know. If agreeable to you, sir, interrupted Gonzay, the commander of the Nautilus has invited us to visit the magnificent Salon Fisheries tomorrow. In your company, he did it kindly and behaved

like a real gentleman."

He said nothing more. Nothing more, sir, except that he had already spoken to you of this little walk. Sir, said Konsei, would you give us some details of the pearl fishery?

As to the fishing itself, I asked, or the incidents which. On the fishing replied the Canadian, before entering upon the ground, it is as well to know something about it. Very well, sit down, my friends, and I will teach you. Ned and Concey seated themselves on an Ottoman, and the first thing the Canadian asked was, Sir, what is a pearl? My worthy Ned, I answered. To the poet, a pearl is a tear to the sea. To the islanders, it is a drop of dew solidified. To the ladies, it is a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy, of mother of pearl substance, which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their ears. For the chemist, it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a little gelatin, and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply a morbid secretion of the organ that produces the mother of pearl amongst certain bivalves. "'Branch of mosques,' said Conce. "'Precisely so, my learned Conce, and amongst these the ear shell. "'The turbots, in order, all those which secrete mother of pearl, that is the blue, bluish, violet, or white substance which

lines the interior of their shells, are capable of producing pearls. Muscles too? The Assykinadian?

Yes, muscles of certain waters in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Saxony, Bohemia, and France. Good, for the future I shall pay attention." Replied the Canadian, but I continued, the particular mollusk which secretes the pearl is the pearlster. The Pearl is nothing but a necreous formation, deposited in a globular form, either adhering to the Oyster shell or buried in the funnels of the creature. On the shell it is fast, in the flesh it is loose, but always has for a kernel a small hard substance. Maybe a baron egg, maybe a grain of sand, around which the pearly matter deposits itself year after year successfully, and by thin concentric layers. Are many pearls found in the same oyster? Asked Conze? Yes. Some are a perfect casket. One oyster has been mentioned. I'm certainly not. Said Concey, but will you tell us now by what means they extract these pearls? They proceed in various ways. When they adhere to the shell, the fishermen often pull them off with pincers. But the most common way is to lay the oysters on mats of the seaweed, which covers the banks. Thus, they perish in the open air. And at the end of ten days, they are in a forward state of decomposition. They

are then plunged into large reservoirs of seawater, then they are opened and washed. The price of these pearls varies according to their size, as can't say. Not only according to their size, I answered, but also according to their shape, their water, that is their color, and their lustre, that is that bright and diberts sparkle which makes them so charming to the eye. The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons. formed alone in the tissue of the mallasque. Our white, often opaque, and sometimes have the transparency of an oval. They are generally round or oval. The round are made into bracelets. The oval independence, and being more precious, are so singly. Those adhering to the shell of the oyster are more regular in shape and are sold by weight. Lastly, in a lower order, our classed those small pearls known under the name of seed pearls, they are sold by measure, and are especially used in embroidery for church ornaments. Chapter 3 A Pearl of Ten Millions The next morning at four o'clock I was awakened by the steward whom Captain Nemo had placed

at my service.

I rose hurriedly, dressed, and went. See the captain. He was waiting for me. Miss your hair and axe, said he, are you ready to start?

I am ready.

Then please to follow me. And my companions, Captain, they have been told and are waiting. Are we not to put on our divers' dresses? Asked I? Not yet. I have not allowed the Nautilus to come to near this coast, and we are some distance from the Manar Bank. But the boat is ready, and will take us to the exact point of disembarking, which will save us a long way. It carries our diving apparatus, which we will put on when we begin our submarine journey. Captain Nemo conducted me to the central staircase, which led onto the platform. Ned and Konsei were already there, delighted at the idea of the pleasure party, which was preparing. sailors from the N Nautilus, with their ores, waited in the boat, which had been made fast against the side. The night was still dark. Layers of clouds covered the sky, allowing but few stars to be seen. I looked on the side where the land lay and saw nothing, but a dark line in closing three parts of the horizon, from southwest to northwest. The Nautilus having returned during the night up the western coast of Sae Laan was now west of the bay, a rather gulf formed by the mainland and the island.

There. of Salon was now west of the bay, where rather Gulf formed by the mainland and the island.

There, under the dark waters stretched the bank, and inexhaustible field of pearls, the length of which is more than 20 miles. Captain Nemo, Nenland, Conce, and I took our places in the stern of the boat. The master went to the tiller. His four companions leaned on their ores. The painter was cast off, and we sheared off. The boat went towards the south. The ores men did not hurry. I noticed that their strokes, strong in the water, only followed each other every ten seconds, according to the method generally adopted in the navy. Whilst the craft was running by its own velocity, the liquid drops struck the dark depths of the waves crisply like spats of melted lead. A little below, spreading wine, gave a slight roll to the boat, and some Samfire reads flapped before it. We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking of? Perhaps of the land he was approaching and which he found too near to him? Contrary to the Canadian's opinion, who thought it too far off. As to Kahn say, he was merely there from curiosity. About half past five the first tints on their horizon, shone the upper line of coast more distinctly. Flat enough in the east, it rose a little to the south. Five miles still lay between us, and it was indistinct, owing to the mist on the water. At six o'clock, it became suddenly daylight, with that repetitive peculiar to tropical regions, which no neither dawn nor twilight. The solar rays pierced the curtain of clouds, piled up on the eastern horizon, and the radiant ore broughs rapidly. I saw land distinctly with a few trees scattered here and there. boat near near the island, which was rounded to the south, Captain Nemo rose from his seat and watched the sea. At a sign from him the anger was dropped, but the chain scarcely ran. heard was little more than he yard deep, and this spot was one of the highest points of the bank. Here we are, Mr. Aeronax, said Captain Nemo. You see that enclosed bay? Here in a month will be assembled the numerous fishing boats of the exporters, and these are the waters their divers will ransack so boldly. How believe this bay as well situated for that kind of fishing? It is sheltered from the strongest winds, the sea is never very rough here, which makes it favorable for the divers' work. We will now put on our dresses and begin our walk. I did not answer, and while watching the suspected waves began with the help of the sailors to put on my heavy-sea dress, Captain Nemo and my companions were also dressing. None of the notallist men were to accompany us on this new excursion. Soon we were enveloped to the throat in India rubber clothing, the air apparatus fixed to our backs by braces. As to the rum-corp apparatus, there was no necessity for it. Before putting my head into the copper cap, I had asked the question of the captain. They would be useless, he replied, we are going to no great depth, and the solar rays will be enough to light our wok. Besides, it would not be prudent to carry the electric light in these waters. Its brilliancy might attract some of the dangerous inhabitants of the coast, most and opportunely. As Captain Nemo pronounced these words, I turned to con say in that land, but my two friends had already encased their heads in the metal cap, and they could neither hear nor answer. Then following the captain's example, I allowed myself to be dressed in the heavy copper helmet, and our reservoirs of air were at once in activity, an instant after we landed, one after the other, in about two yards of water upon an even sand. Captain Nemo made a sign with his hand, and we followed him by a gentle declivity till we disappeared under the waves. Over our feet. the coveves of snipe in a bog rose a shoals of fish of the genus Monoptera, which have no other fins but their tail. I recognize the javanese, a real serpent, two and a half feet long of a livid color underneath, and which might easily be mistaken for a Congri eel if it were not for the golden stripes on its side. In the genus Stromatius, whose bodies are very flat and oval, I saw some of the most brilliant colors carrying their dorsal fin, like a sithe, an excellent eating fish, which dried and pickled, whose body is covered, with a shell of eight longitudinal plates, a heightening sun with the mass of waters more and more, the soil changed by degrees. To the fine sand succeeded a perfect causeway of boulders, covered with a carpet of mosques and zoolfights. Amongst the specimens of these branches. I noticed some thin unequal shells, a kind of ostracian peculiar to the red sea in the Indian Ocean, some orange rounded shells, rockfish three feet and a half long, which raised themselves under the waves like hands ready to seize one.

There were also some panopires, slightly luminous, and lastly some occupants,

like magnificent fans, forming one of the richest vegetations of these seas.

In the midst of these living plants and under the arbor's of the hydrophytes, Relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax,ace formed a slightly rounded triangle. At about seven o'clock we found ourselves at last surveying the oyster banks, on which the

pearl oysters are reproduced by millions. Captain Nemo pointed with his hand to the enormous heap of oysters, and I could well understand that this mine was inexhaustible, for nature's creative power is far beyond man's instinct of destruction.

...