CHAPTER VI.
The Author departs from Token Island, in search of an internal continent.—Wind, weather, and other phenomena of the internal seas.—Great alarm of the crew.—Discovery of an inhabited country.
We were soon under weigh again, and steered due north, as well to seek for a new region of land, as to get into a more temperate climate; it being obvious that the internal equator must correspond in phenomena to the external pole, and consequently the more we approached the former, and receded from the latter, the cooler we should find the weather.
Soon after leaving the island, the weather became exceedingly unpleasant; the atmosphere was loaded with dense black clouds, and we were annoyed with torrents of rain, together with very vivid lightning and heavy thunder. We lay to the greater part of three days, thinking it imprudent to run into unexplored seas in dark weather. The fourth day it brightened up a little, when we pushed on to the northward.
After two days of unsettled weather, we were favoured with a fine westerly wind, blowing steady and pleasant like a trade wind, which continued during the remainder of this passage. For three days more we continued steering to the northward, when we found the weather delightfully pleasant. We had the direct rays of the sun nearly one fourth part of the time, and its reflected light the remainder. This last was the most pleasant, being something between sunshine and bright moonlight, without the glare of the one or the indistinctness of the other. Satisfied with the climate, I determined to keep in it, and run before the wind due east, until I discovered land, or circumnavigated this part of the globe.
I found the latitude this day, carefully computed from the sun’s altitude, with due allowance for refraction, to be 65° 17′ south internal. We ran on very pleasantly for seven days, but saw nothing. It was now the 17th December. The sun had nearly attained its most southern declination, and would soon be receding to the north.
The curious fact, that we could see the sun directly but for a short part of the day, at this season of the year, in a high southern latitude, astonished and alarmed my officers and people. It was a matter of continual debate amongst them on the forecastle, where Slim and even Albicore sometimes took a part in those grave and learned disquisitions. In one of their conferences, Slim advanced the opinion, that, as the sun was now near its extreme southern declination, and we could see it but a small part of the time, we must be in some great hole in the earth; and that when the sun returned to the north, which would soon take place, we should for a certainty be involved in total darkness, and never be able to find our way out again. This idea struck the whole ship’s company with horror. Even Albicore was infected with the panic. Will Mackerel and Jack Whiffle were the only ones among them who expressed a ready determination to stand by their commander, wheresoever he might lead them. Numerous propositions were advanced and rejected by this council on the forecastle; but it was finally concluded that they would go aft in a body, and insist upon my immediately returning to Seaborn’s Land, or they would heave me overboard, without further delay.
I was accordingly called from my cabin to hear this wise determination of my people. After hearing what they had to say, I asked them very coolly, how they intended to proceed when they had thrown me overboard? There was no one of them who could determine the ship’s place, who had a sufficient knowledge of astronomy and natural philosophy, to account for the extraordinary phenomena that constantly occurred, or who had skill enough to ascertain any one point of the compass. How then were they to find their way home without my aid? Perceiving that this made a deep impression on their minds, I proceeded to dispel their fears, by assuring them that I felt no more disposition to perish in a sea of utter darkness than they did, but that so far from my having any apprehension of such an event, it appeared to me that we should find the winter in that region much more pleasant than at Seaborn’s Land, if we could but discover land and a harbour, where we could moor in safety; that I had never been in a climate so perfectly agreeable to my feelings; that the air was so soft, so elastic, and temperate, it was a luxury to sit still and inhale the sweet breath of heaven; that so far from being in haste to get out of so salubrious a climate, I should be glad to pass my days in it; and, at all events, the sun would be no further north after the expiration of a month, than at the time of our departure from Boneto’s station. Finally, I told them that, should I not make any discovery by the 1st of January, I would then return to Seaborn’s Land, where, in the quarters erected for Mr. Boneto’s party, we could all winter very comfortably; but, on the other hand, should they persist in their mutinous course, I would break my instruments, throw my books overboard, and leave them to help themselves as they could.
They all knew my determined and inflexible disposition, and that their best way was not to provoke it. The men went forward without reply. Albicore was the only one who opened his lips, and that was only to express his astonishment that he could have permitted himself to be led away from his duty for a moment, by any circumstance. It was all owing, he said, to that evil spirit, Slim, whose suggestion of total and perpetual darkness had frightened him.
We ran on for five days more, when “a sail ho!” rang through the ship. The stranger vessel was standing obliquely athwart our course, and we were soon near enough to see her distinctly from the deck. She had five masts, with narrow sails attached to each. When we were within three miles of the stranger, she tacked and stood from us to the southward, wind S. W. Feeling confident that the speed of my vessel was superior to that of any thing on the face of the globe, inside or out, I gave chase, in expectation of bringing her to, in a short time.