Chapter 23
"Aegri Somnia"THE FOLLOWING DAY, January 10, the Nautilus resumed its travels
in midwater but at a remarkable speed that I estimated to be at
least thirty–five miles per hour. The propeller was going so fast I
could neither follow nor count its revolutions.
I thought about how this marvelous electric force not only gave
motion, heat, and light to the Nautilus but even protected it
against outside attack, transforming it into a sacred ark no
profane hand could touch without being blasted; my wonderment was
boundless, and it went from the submersible itself to the engineer
who had created it.
We were traveling due west and on January 11 we doubled Cape
Wessel, located in longitude 135° and latitude 10° north, the
western tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Reefs were stil
