海底兩萬里 第245期 第19章 萬尼科羅群島(7)

That day it was yuletide, and it struck me that Ned Land badly missed celebrating "Christmas," that genuine family holiday where Protestants are such zealots.

這一天是圣誕節(jié)，尼德?蘭似乎很后悔不能過節(jié)，因為圣誕節(jié)是基督教徒所熱愛的家庭團聚節(jié)。

I hadn't seen Captain Nemo for over a week, when, on the morning of the 27th, he entered the main lounge, as usual acting as if he'd been gone for just five minutes. I was busy tracing the Nautilus's course on the world map. The captain approached, placed a finger over a position on the chart, and pronounced just one word:

我有七八天沒有看到尼摩船長了，27 H早晨，他進客廳來，臉上的神氣總是像跟你分手不過五分鐘時間的樣子。我正在看那平面圖上的諾第留斯號所走的航路。船長走向前來，手指著地圖上的一點，單單說出了這個名字：

"Vanikoro."

“萬尼科羅群島。”

This name was magic! It was the name of those islets where vessels under the Count de La Perouse had miscarried. I straightened suddenly.

萬尼科羅這名字是有迷惑力的;它是拉?白魯斯的探險船只在那里失蹤的群島的名字。我立即站起來。

"The Nautilus is bringing us to Vanikoro?" I asked.

“諾第留斯號帶我們到萬尼科羅群島嗎?”我問。

"Yes, professor," the captain replied.

“是的， 教授。”船長回答。

"And I'll be able to visit those famous islands where the Compass and the Astrolabe came to grief?"

"我可以去訪問羅盤號和渾天儀號毀壞沉沒的有名的島嶼嗎?"

"If you like, professor."

“如果您高興，教授，我們可以去訪問。”

"When will we reach Vanikoro?"

“我們什么時候到萬尼科羅群島呢?"

"We already have, professor."

"我們就到了，教授。"

Followed by Captain Nemo, I climbed onto the platform, and from there my eyes eagerly scanned the horizon.

我跟著尼摩船長，走上平臺，從平臺上，我眼光急急地向天際了望。

In the northeast there emerged two volcanic islands of unequal size, surrounded by a coral reef whose circuit measured forty miles. We were facing the island of Vanikoro proper, to which Captain Dumont d'Urville had given the name "Island of the Search"; we lay right in front of the little harbor of Vana, located in latitude 16 degrees 4' south and longitude 164 degrees 32' east. Its shores seemed covered with greenery from its beaches to its summits inland, crowned by Mt. Kapogo, which is 476 fathoms high.

在東北方，現(xiàn)出兩座大小不等的由火山形成的島嶼，有四十海里長的環(huán)形珊瑚礁圍繞。我們現(xiàn)在就在萬尼科羅島面前了，杜蒙屠維爾一定要叫它搜索島，它是在萬奴島的天然小港前面，位于南緯16度4分和東經(jīng)164度32分之間。島上土地從岸邊的海灘，一直到內(nèi)部的高峰，都好像有青紗帳蒙起來，島上有高九百米左右的加波哥山矗立，俯視全島。