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You're built to win it. Welcome to snoozecast. The podcast is designed to help you fall asleep. Find us at snoozecast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. Ever wanted to listen to 20,000 leaks under the sea, for example, as a playlist so you could either start from the beginning or play multiple episodes from just that story in a row so that you don't need to go searching through the catalog? In case you didn't know dear listeners, besides the primary snoozed cast show, we also produce standalone versions of many of our continuing stories as their own separate podcasts for your convenience. Just search for, snoozecast presents, to find all the options available. And if you subscribe to snoozecast+. You get complete access to all these series, ad free. To learn more, go to snoozecast.com slash plus. This episode is brought to you by Petrols and Puffins. Tonight, we'll read the next part to 20,000 leagues under the sea, a classic science-fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. In the last episode, Aeronax is puzzled over the direction in which the Nautilus is heading, wondering if Nemo is aiming to reach the South Pole. They are so far south that there are only a few hours of darkness per night. The Nautilus navigates through icebergs and Aranaxi cities in their surprising shapes. As the submarine progresses, ice forms over its surface, and Aeronax realizes that they have become trapped in a kind of vice. Nemo, however, is confident that it will come loose and that they will be able to go even further south. The nautilus descends into the icy depths of the sea. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths. Chapter 14 The South Pole I rushed onto the platform. Yes, the open sea, with but a few scattered pieces of ice and moving icebergs, a long stretch of sea, a world of birds in the air, and maryids of fishes under those waters, which varied from intense blue to all of green, according the bottom. The thermometer marked 3 degrees Celsius above zero. It was comparatively spring shut up as we were behind the iceberg whose length and mass was dimly seen on our northern horizon. Are we at the pole? I asked the captain with a beating heart. I do not know," he replied. At noon, I will take our bearings. But will the sun show himself through this fog?

Said I. At noon, I will take our bearings.

But will the sun show himself through this fog?

Said I, looking at the leaden sky?

However little it shows it will be enough, replied the captain. 10 Mile South, a solitary island rose to a height of 104 yards. We made for it, but carefully, for the sea might be strewn with banks. One hour afterwards, we had reached it. Two hours later we had made the round of it. It measured

four or five miles in circumference. A narrow canal separated it from a considerable stretch of land.

Perhaps a continent for we could not see its limits. The existence of this land seemed to give some color to Maurice theory. The ingenious American has remarked that between the South Pole and the 60th parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice of enormous size, which is never met with in the North Atlantic. From this fact, he has drawn the conclusion that the ant-arctic circle encloses considerable continents, as icebergs cannot form an open sea, but only on the coasts. According to these calculations, the mass of ice surrounding the southern pole forms a vast cap, the circumference of which must be at least 2500 miles. But the Nautilus, for fear of running aground, had stopped about three cable lengths from a strand over which reared a superb heap of rocks. The boat was launched, the captain, two of his men bearing instruments, con say, and myself were in it. It was ten in the morning. I had not seen an ad land. Doubtless, the Canadian did not wish to admit the presence of the South Pole. few strokes of the ore brought us to the sand,

where we ran ashore. Conce was going to jump onto the land when I held them back.

Sir, said hi to Captain Nemo. To you belongs the honour of first setting foot on this land. Yes, sir, said the captain, and if I do not hesitate to tread this south pole, it is because up to this time no human being has left a trace there. Saying this, he jumped lightly onto the sand, his heartbeat with emotion. He climbed a rock and there, with his arms crossed, mute and motionless, and with an eager look, he seemed to take possession of these southern regions. After five minutes passed in this ecstasy, he turned to us. you like sir. I landed, followed by Kansai, leaving the two men in the boat. For a long way, the soil was composed of a reddish sandy stone, something like crushed brick, streams of lava, one could not mistake its volcanic origin. In some parts, slight curls of smoke emitted a sulfurous smell, proving that the internal fires had lost nothing of their expansive powers. Though having climbed a high

eclivity, I could see no volcano for a radius of several miles. We know that in those Antarctic countries, James Ross found two craters in full activity on the 167th meridian latitude 77 degrees 32 minutes. The vegetation of this desolate continent seemed to me much restricted. Some like and lay upon the black rocks. microscopic plants, a kind of cell placed between two quartz shells,

long purple and scarlet weed, supported on little swimming bladders, which the breaking of the waves

brought to the shore. These constituted the meager flora of this region. The shore was strewn with mollusks, little muscles, and limpets. I also saw myriads of northern Cleos, one and a quarter inches long, of which a whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful.

And some per- One and a quarter inches long, of which a whale would swallow a whole world at a mouthful, and some perfect sea butterflies, animating the waters on the skirts of the shore. They appeared on the high bottoms some coral shrubs, of the kind which, according to James Ross, lived in the Antarctic seas to the depth of more than 1,000 yards. Then there were little kingfishers and starfish studying the soil, but where life abounded most was in the air. There, thousands of birds fluttered and flew of all kinds, deafening us with their cries. Others crowded the rock, Looking at at us as we passed by without fear, and pressing close by our feet. There were penguins, so agile in the water, heavy and awkward as they are on the ground. They were uttering harsh cries, a large assembly, sober in gesture, but extravagant in clamor. Elbatrosses passed in the air, the expanse of their wings being at least four yards and a half, and justly called the vultures of the ocean. Some gigantic patrols, and some demiers, a kind of small duck, the under part of whose body is black and white. Then there were a whole series of petrels, some whitish with brown-bordered wings, others blue, peculiar to the Antarctic seas. About half a mile farther on the soil was riddled with roughs' nests, a sort of laying ground out of which many birds were issuing. But the fog did not lift, and at 11 the sun had not yet shown itself. Its absence made me uneasy. Without it, no observations were possible. How then could we decide whether we had reached the pole? When I rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning on a piece of rock, silently watching the sky. He seemed impatient and vexed. But what was to be done? This rash and powerful man could not command the sun as he did the sea. noon arrived, without the orb of the day showing itself for an instant. we could not even tell its position behind the curtain of fog, and soon the fog turned to snow.

"'Til tomorrow,' said the captain quietly, and we returned to the notalless amid these atmospheric disturbances. The tempest of snow continued till the next day.

It was impossible to remain on the platform. From the saloon, where I was taking notes of incidents happening during the excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the cries of petrels and albatrosses sporting in the midst of this storm. The notallist did not remain motionless but skirted the coast, advancing ten miles more to the south than the half-light left by the sun as it skirted the edge of the horizon. The next day, the 20th of March, the snow had ceased. The cold was a little greater. The thermometer showing two degrees below zero. and I hoped that that day our observations might be taken. Captain Nemo, not having yet appeared, the boat took Konsei and myself to land. The soil was still of the same volcanic nature, everywhere were traces of lava. Here, as lower down, this continent was alive, with myriads of birds. But their rule was now divided with large troops of sea mammals, looking at us with their soft eyes. There were several kinds of seals, some stretched on the earth, some on flakes of ice, many going in and out of the sea. They did not flee at our approach, never having had anything to do with man. And I reckoned that there were provisions there for hundreds of vessels. Sir, said Kansai. Will you tell me the names of these creatures? They are seals and morsels. It was now eight in the morning. Four hours remained to us before the sun could be observed with advantage. I directed our steps towards a vast bay cut in the steep granite shore. There, I can see that earth and ice were lost to sight by the numbers of sea mammals covering them. And I involuntarily sought for old proteus, the mythological shepherd who watched these immense flocks of Neptune. There were more seals than anything else, forming distinct groups, male and female, the father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones. Some already strong enough to go a few steps. When they wished to change their place, they took little jumps made by the contraction of their bodies and helped awkwardly enough by their imperfect fin. I should say that in the water, which is their element, the spine of these creatures is flexible, with smooth and close skin and webbed feet. They swim admirably, and resting on the earth, they take the most graceful attitudes. Thus, the ancients, observing their soft and expressive looks, which cannot be surpassed by the most beautiful look a woman can give, their clear, voluptuous eyes, their charming positions, and the poetry of their manners. Metamorphist them, the male into a tritan, and the female into a mermaid. I made Konsei notice the considerable development of the lobes of the brain in these interesting cetaceans. No mammal except man has such a quantity of brain matter. They are also capable of receiving a certain amount of education,

are easily domesticated, and I think with other naturalists that if properly taught,

they would be of great service as fishing dogs, the greater part of them slept on the rocks, or on the sand,st these seals, properly so-called, which have no external ears, in which they differ from the order whose ears are prominent, I noticed several varieties of seals, about three yards long. With a white coat, bulldog heads, armed with teeth in both jaws, four incisors at the top and four at the bottom, and two large canine teeth in the shape of a flaredily. Amongst them, gilded sea elephants, a kind of seal, with short flexible trunks. The giants of this species measured 20 feet round in ten yards and a half in length, but they did not move as we approached. Those creatures are not dangerous. Ask Kansai. No, not unless you attack them. When they have to defend their young, their rage is terrible, and it is not uncommon for them to break the fishing boats to pieces. They are quite right," said Kahnze. I do not say they are not. Two miles farther on we were stopped by a rock which shelters the bay from the southerly winds. Beyond it, we could hear loud bellowings,

such as a troop of ruminants would produce.

...