THIS DREADFUL SIGHT was the first of a whole series of maritime catastrophes that the Nautilus would encounter on its run. When it plied more heavily traveled seas, we often saw wrecked hulls rotting in midwater, and farther down, cannons, shells, anchors, chains, and a thousand other iron objects rusting away.
上面看到的可怕景象，是諾第留斯號在航程中碰到的一連串海中災禍的開始，自從它到了船隻往來比較多的海中，我們時常看見遇難的船隻在海水中腐爛了，在更深的地方，海底下面，看到上了銹的大炮、子彈、錨、鏈以及其他許多鐵器。
Meanwhile, continuously swept along by the Nautilus, where we lived in near isolation, we raised the Tuamotu Islands on December 11, that old "dangerous group" associated with the French global navigator Commander Bougainville; it stretches from Ducie Island to Lazareff Island over an area of 500 leagues from the east-southeast to the west-northwest, between latitude 13 degrees 30' and 23 degrees 50' south, and between longitude 125 degrees 30' and 151 degrees 30' west. This island group covers a surface area of 370 square leagues, and it's made up of some sixty subgroups, among which we noted the Gambier group, which is a French protectorate. These islands are coral formations. Thanks to the work of polyps, a slow but steady upheaval will someday connect these islands to each other. Later on, this new island will be fused to its neighboring island groups, and a fifth continent will stretch from New Zealand and New Caledonia as far as the Marquesas Islands.
不過，諾第留斯號總是帶著我們前進。我們在船上很孤獨地生活。12月11日，我們望見了帕摩圖群島，這群島位於南緯13度30分和23度50分之間，西經125度30分和151度30分之間，從度西島直至拉查列島，由東南偏東至西北偏西，在長五百里的海面上羅列起來。群島的面積共三百七十平方裡，由約莫六十個小群島組成，在這些小群島中間，我看到了法國佔領的作為它的保護地的甘比爾群島。這些小群島全是珊瑚島。由於珊瑚這種腔腸動物所起的作用，造成地面緩慢地，但連續地上升，因此，將來一定有一天會把這些小島連接起來。以後，連接起來的新島又跟鄰近的群島銜接，久而久之，從新西蘭和新喀裡多尼亞島起，至馬貴斯群島止，便要出現一個新大陸，那就是未來的第五大洲。
The day I expounded this theory to Captain Nemo, he answered me coldly:
那天，我在尼摩船長面前談我的新大陸構成的理論，他很冷淡地這樣回答我：
"The earth doesn't need new continents, but new men!"
“地球上所需要的並不是新的大陸，而是新的人！”
Sailors' luck led the Nautilus straight to Reao Island, one of the most unusual in this group, which was discovered in 1822 by Captain Bell aboard the Minerva. So I was able to study the madreporic process that has created the islands in this ocean.
在這次航行中，諾第留斯號偶然開到克列蒙端尼島——群島中最有興昧的一個島-它是18年，曲米涅娃號船長貝爾發現的。我因此得以研究太平洋中的小島所構成的造礁珊瑚體系。
Madrepores, which one must guard against confusing with precious coral, clothe their tissue in a limestone crust, and their variations in structure have led my famous mentor Professor Milne-Edwards to classify them into five divisions. The tiny microscopic animals that secrete this polypary live by the billions in the depths of their cells. Their limestone deposits build up into rocks, reefs, islets, islands. In some places, they form atolls, a circular ring surrounding a lagoon or small inner lake that gaps place in contact with the sea. Elsewhere, they take the shape of barrier reefs, such as those that exist along the coasts of New Caledonia and several of the Tuamotu Islands. In still other localities, such as Réunion Island and the island of Mauritius, they build fringing reefs, high, straight walls next to which the ocean's depth is considerable.
造礁珊瑚跟普通珊瑚不能混為一談，它們的纖維組織蒙上一層石灰質的表皮，表皮構造的各種變化使我著名的老師密爾-愛德華先生把它們分為五部。這些以分泌物累積成珊瑚樹的細小微生動物，是數以億萬計地生活在細胞裡面。它們分泌的石灰質逐漸累積，組成了岩石、礁石、小島、島嶼。在某一處，它們形成一個圓形的環，圍繞着一個珊瑚洲或一個內湖，邊緣有缺口，可與大海相通。在另一處，它們形成一些礁石的懸崖，跟新喀裡多尼。亞海岸和帕摩圖群島好些小島所有的情形相仿。在別的地方，比如在聯合島和毛利斯島，它們築起礁石脈，跟壁立的）高牆一樣，高牆附近的海是非常之深的。
While cruising along only a few cable lengths from the underpinning of Reao Island, I marveled at the gigantic piece of work accomplished by these microscopic laborers. These walls were the express achievements of madrepores known by the names fire coral, finger coral, star coral, and stony coral. These polyps grow exclusively in the agitated strata at the surface of the sea, and so it's in the upper reaches that they begin these substructures, which sink little by little together with the secreted rubble binding them. This, at least, is the theory of Mr. Charles Darwin, who thus explains the formation of atolls--a theory superior, in my view, to the one that says these madreporic edifices sit on the summits of mountains or volcanoes submerged a few feet below sea level.
沿著克列蒙端尼島的懸崖僅僅走了幾百米，我對於這些微生物中的勞動者所完成的巨大工程十分讚賞。這些懸崖大半是稱為千孔珊瑚、濱珊瑚、星珊瑚和腦形珊瑚的造礁珊瑚類的傑作。造礁珊瑚類動物在海波激蕩的表面一層特別繁衍，因此，它們的造礁工作是從上層開始，漸次及于下層的，上層帶著剩餘的分泌物，漸漸沉到下面去。達爾文的學說就是這樣，他應用這學說來說明環狀珊瑚島的構成——照我的意思，這學說比那以海面下幾米有浮出的山嶺或火山的峰頂作為造礁珊瑚的工作基地的學說，較為優越，較為合理。
I could observe these strange walls quite closely: our sounding lines indicated that they dropped perpendicularly for more than 300 meters, and our electric beams made the bright limestone positively sparkle.
我可以挨近這些新奇的牆垣觀察，因為它們是垂直的，測探器指示的深度超過三百米，我們船上的陣陣電光把這光輝的石灰石照亮了。
In reply to a question Conseil asked me about the growth rate of these colossal barriers, I thoroughly amazed him by saying that scientists put it at an eighth of an inch per biennium.
康塞爾問我這些巨大的牆垣積累起來要花多少時間，我回答他的這個問題說，根據學者們的意見，積累八分之一寸厚的珊瑚牆需要一個世紀，即一百年左右的時間，他十分驚異。
"Therefore," he said to me, "to build these walls, it took . . . ?"
“那麼，”他問我，“造成這些牆垣要多少時間呢？”
"192,000 years, my gallant Conseil, which significantly extends the biblical Days of Creation. What's more, the formation of coal-- in other words, the petrification of forests swallowed by floods-- and the cooling of basaltic rocks likewise call for a much longer period of time. I might add that those 'days' in the Bible must represent whole epochs and not literally the lapse of time between two sunrises, because according to the Bible itself, the sun doesn't date from the first day of Creation."
”要十九萬二千年，老實的康塞爾，這就把《聖經》記載的時間特別拉長了。此外，煤炭的形成，即被洪水沖積的森林的礦化作用，玄武岩的冷化作用，需要更長久的時間。再說，《聖經》中的時間只是表明一個一個時期，並不指兩次舊出之間的時間，因為，照《聖經》的說法，太陽並不是開夭，闢地第一天就存在。”
When the Nautilus returned to the surface of the ocean, I could take in Reao Island over its whole flat, wooded expanse. Obviously its madreporic rocks had been made fertile by tornadoes and thunderstorms. One day, carried off by a hurricane from neighboring shores, some seed fell onto these limestone beds, mixing with decomposed particles of fish and marine plants to form vegetable humus. Propelled by the waves, a coconut arrived on this new coast. Its germ took root. Its tree grew tall, catching steam off the water. A brook was born. Little by little, vegetation spread. Tiny animals--worms, insects--rode ashore on tree trunks snatched from islands to windward. Turtles came to lay their eggs. Birds nested in the young trees. In this way animal life developed, and drawn by the greenery and fertile soil, man appeared. And that's how these islands were formed, the immense achievement of microscopic animals.
當諾第留斯號回到海面上來的時候，我可以望見這個低窪的和多樹的克列蒙瑞尼島發展的全部過程。島上的珊瑚石顯然是由於旋風和風暴的沖刷，變成了肥饒的沃上。不知什麼時候，一些穀粒果核被暴風帶到鄰近土地，落在石灰質的地上，地裡夾雜了魚類和海產植物分解出來的渣滓，成為很好的草木肥料。隨後又有一些可可果核被波浪衝來，漂到了這邊新開闢的海岸。不久種子發芽生根，漸漸長大，成樹，成林，貯蓄了水蒸氣。水流於是形成了。植物也就漸漸生長繁殖。叉有些微生動物，爬蟲，昆蟲，附在被大風吹倒的其他海島的樹幹上，輸送到這邊。龜鱉到這裡來下蛋，禽鳥在嫩枝上結巢。動物就這樣在島上活躍起來。不久，人類被島上的青蔥和肥饒的土地所吸引，也在島上出現了。這就是群島——微生動物的驚人傑作的形成過程。
Near evening Reao Island melted into the distance, and the Nautilus noticeably changed course. After touching the Tropic of Capricorn at longitude 135 degrees, it headed west-northwest, going back up the whole intertropical zone. Although the summer sun lavished its rays on us, we never suffered from the heat, because thirty or forty meters underwater, the temperature didn't go over 10 degrees to 12 degrees centigrade.
傍晚時候，克列蒙端尼島在遠處隱沒不見了，諾第留斯號的航路顯然是改變了方向。在西經135度上接觸到南回歸綫的時候，船又上溯南北兩回歸綫間的海水，向西北偏西駛去。雖然夏季的太陽光十分厲害，但我們一點不受炎熱的影響，因為在水底三十至四十米的深度，溫度總不超過十度到十二度。
By December 15 we had left the alluring Society Islands in the west, likewise elegant Tahiti, queen of the Pacific. In the morning I spotted this island's lofty summits a few miles to leeward. Its waters supplied excellent fish for the tables on board: mackerel, bonito, albacore, and a few varieties of that sea serpent named the moray eel.
12月15日，我們在東邊望到了使人留戀的社會群島和作為太平洋玉後的啊娜多姿的塔希提島。我早晨在距離幾里的下方，望見了這島上的高聳的山峰。沿島水產供應我們船上餐桌許多美味的魚，鰭魚、鯉魚、侞白魚，以及好幾種屬於鰻魚類的海蛇。
The Nautilus had cleared 8,100 miles. We logged 9,720 miles when we passed between the Tonga Islands, where crews from the Argo, Port-au-Prince, and Duke of Portland had perished, and the island group of Samoa, scene of the slaying of Captain de Langle, friend of that long-lost navigator, the Count de La Pérouse. Then we raised the Fiji Islands, where savages slaughtered sailors from the Union, as well as Captain Bureau, commander of the Darling Josephine out of Nantes, France.
諾第留斯號已經走了八千一百海里的海程了。當它穿過東加塔布群島和航海家群島之間的時候，測程器的記錄已經到了九千七百二十海里；湯加塔布群島是從前阿爾戈號、太子港號和博蘭公爵號的船員喪生的地方，航海家群島是拉-白魯斯的朋友、郎格爾船長被殺的所在。不久我又望見了維蒂群島，島上的土人曾經屠殺過和合號的水手和指揮可愛的約瑟芬號的南特人布羅船長。
Extending over an expanse of 100 leagues north to south, and over 90 leagues east to west, this island group lies between latitude 2 degrees and 6 degrees south, and between longitude 174 degrees and 179 degrees west. It consists of a number of islands, islets, and reefs, among which we noted the islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, and Kadavu.
這群島所占的面積，從北至南為一百里，從東至西為九十里，位於南緯6度至2度，西經174度至179度之間。這群島是由很多小島如維蒂島、萬奴島和甘杜朋等島組成的。
It was the Dutch navigator Tasman who discovered this group in 1643, the same year the Italian physicist Torricelli invented the barometer and King Louis XIV ascended the French throne. I'll let the reader decide which of these deeds was more beneficial to humanity. Coming later, Captain Cook in 1774, Rear Admiral d'Entrecasteaux in 1793, and finally Captain Dumont d'Urville in 1827, untangled the whole chaotic geography of this island group. The Nautilus drew near Wailea Bay, an unlucky place for England's Captain Dillon, who was the first to shed light on the longstanding mystery surrounding the disappearance of ships under the Count de La Pérouse.
這群小島是塔斯曼在1643年發現的，那一年也就是托利色利發明風雨表和路易十四即位的一年。人們可以想一想，這三件事究竟那一件對人類最有益處、”隨後，庫克在1714年，當土爾加斯朵在1793年，杜蒙-居維爾在1827年都曾來過，群島的地理形勢是經杜蒙-居維爾勘察後，才弄清楚的。諾第留斯號駛近了魏利阿灣，那位狄勇船長在這裡遇到過驚人冒險的事件，狄勇船長就是第一個把拉白魯斯沉船的秘密弄明白的人。
This bay, repeatedly dredged, furnished a huge supply of excellent oysters. As the Roman playwright Seneca recommended, we opened them right at our table, then stuffed ourselves. These mollusks belonged to the species known by name as Ostrea lamellosa, whose members are quite common off Corsica. This Wailea oysterbank must have been extensive, and for certain, if they hadn't been controlled by numerous natural checks, these clusters of shellfish would have ended up jam-packing the bay, since as many as 2,000,000 eggs have been counted in a single individual.
在海灣中我們打了好幾次魚，我們打到很多好吃的牡蠣我們是按照薛尼克的方法，在飯桌上把牡蠣剝開，儘量無節制地吃。大家知道，這種軟體動物是屬於貝殼蛇類，在地中海科西嘉島非常普遍。魏利阿海灣中一定有十分豐富的壯蝸，如果沒有各種消滅它們的原因，這些團結成群的動物必然要把這一帶海灣都填滿，因為光是一個牡蝸就可以產兩百萬個卵。
And if Mr. Ned Land did not repent of his gluttony at our oyster fest, it's because oysters are the only dish that never causes indigestion. In fact, it takes no less than sixteen dozen of these headless mollusks to supply the 315 grams that satisfy one man's minimum daily requirement for nitrogen.
尼德-蘭師傅在這次大吃牡蠣中，對於他的貪食沒有後悔，因為牡蠣是從來不使人飽脹的唯一的食品。是的，供給一個人每日營養所需的三百一十五克氮素，要二百個左右牡蠣呢。
On December 25 the Nautilus navigated amid the island group of the New Hebrides, which the Portuguese seafarer Queirós discovered in 1606, which Commander Bougainville explored in 1768, and to which Captain Cook gave its current name in 1773. This group is chiefly made up of nine large islands and forms a 120-league strip from the north-northwest to the south-southeast, lying between latitude 2 degrees and 15 degrees south, and between longitude 164 degrees and 168 degrees. At the moment of our noon sights, we passed fairly close to the island of Aurou, which looked to me like a mass of green woods crowned by a peak of great height.
12月25日，諾第留斯號在新赫布里底群島間行駛，這群島在1606年由居洛斯發見，1768年，布幾威爾來探險，1773年，庫克才把現在新赫布里底的名字給了它。這一群島嶼由丸個主要大島組成，形成一條從西北偏北至東南偏南的一百二十里的長帶，位於南緯15度至2度，西經164度至168度之間。我們的船沿著奧盧島岸邊走過，在正午時刻觀察，這島好像一堆青綠的樹林，有一座很高的山峰聳立在上面。
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.
這一天是聖誕節，尼德-蘭似乎很後悔不能過節，因為聖誕節是基督教徒所熱愛的家庭團聚節。
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，27H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，手指着地圖上的一點，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 Pérouse had miscarried. I straightened suddenly.
萬尼科羅這名字是有迷惑力的；它是拉-白魯斯的探險船隻在那裡失蹤的群島的名字。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?"
“我們什麼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.
我跟着尼摩船長，走上平台，從平台上，我眼光急急地向天際瞭望。
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，現出兩座大小不等的由火山形成的島嶼，有四十海里長的環形珊瑚礁圍繞。我們現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，位於南緯16度4分和東經164度32分之間。島上土地從岸邊的海灘，一直到內部的高峰，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。
After clearing the outer belt of rocks via a narrow passageway, the Nautilus lay inside the breakers where the sea had a depth of thirty to forty fathoms. Under the green shade of some tropical evergreens, I spotted a few savages who looked extremely startled at our approach. In this long, blackish object advancing flush with the water, didn't they see some fearsome cetacean that they were obliged to view with distrust?
諾第留斯號從窄狹的水道，穿過外圍的一道石帶，走在暗礁岩石裡面了，這裡的海水深度為五十米至六十五米左右。我看見紅樹蔭下有十二三個土人，他們看見我們的船開來，表示極端驚怪。看見這長長的灰黑東西在水面上行走，他們可能認為是他們應當警戒的一條很厲害的鯨科動物呢？
Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the shipwreck of the Count de La Pérouse.
這個時候，尼摩船長向我打聽拉-白魯斯失事遇難的情形，這事我是知道的。
"What everybody knows, captain," I answered him.
“船長，我所知道的不過是大家都知道的罷了。”我回答他。
"And could you kindly tell me what everybody knows?" he asked me in a gently ironic tone.
“您可以把大家知道的情形告訴我嗎？”他帶些譏諷的神氣說。
"Very easily."
“那很容易。”
I related to him what the final deeds of Captain Dumont d'Urville had brought to light, deeds described here in this heavily condensed summary of the whole matter.
我把杜蒙-居維爾關於這事的最後著作中所談到的情形告訴了他，下面就是簡單的概述。
In 1785 the Count de La Pérouse and his subordinate, Captain de Langle, were sent by King Louis XVI of France on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe. They boarded two sloops of war, the Compass and the Astrolabe, which were never seen again.
拉-白魯斯和他的副手郎格爾船長於1785年受路易十六的派遣，作環遊地球的航行。他們乘羅盤號和渾天儀號兩艘三級艦出發，以後就再沒有聽見他們的消息了。
In 1791, justly concerned about the fate of these two sloops of war, the French government fitted out two large cargo boats, the Search and the Hope, which left Brest on September 28 under orders from Rear Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. Two months later, testimony from a certain Commander Bowen, aboard the Albemarle, alleged that rubble from shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coast of New Georgia. But d'Entrecasteaux was unaware of this news--which seemed a bit dubious anyhow--and headed toward the Admiralty Islands, which had been named in a report by one Captain Hunter as the site of the Count de La Pérouse's shipwreck.
1791年，法國政府很關心這兩艘戰艦的命運，裝備了兩艘大運輸艦，搜索號和希望號，準備出發，做尋找的工作。，這兩艘大運輸艦于9月28日離開布勒斯特海港，由當上爾加斯朵指揮。“但兩個月後，從指揮阿伯馬爾號船的船長，名叫波溫的這個人送來的報告知道，失事的兩艘戰艦的殘骸在新佐治島沿岸看到了。當，土爾加斯朵並不知道這個報告——而且這報告也不很可靠——他向海軍部群島出發，前去找尋，固他根據韓德船長的一個報告，說這群島是拉-白魯斯失事遇難的地點。
They looked in vain. The Hope and the Search passed right by Vanikoro without stopping there; and overall, this voyage was plagued by misfortune, ultimately costing the lives of Rear Admiral d'Entrecasteaux, two of his subordinate officers, and several seamen from his crew.
他的搜尋完全沒有結果，完全落空了。希望號和搜索號甚至于經過萬尼科羅群島面前沒有停留，總起來說，這次、航行很不幸，因為當土爾加斯朵，他的兩名副手和他船員中的好幾名水手都丟了性命。
It was an old hand at the Pacific, the English adventurer Captain Peter Dillon, who was the first to pick up the trail left by castaways from the wrecked vessels. On May 15, 1824, his ship, the St. Patrick, passed by Tikopia Island, one of the New Hebrides. There a native boatman pulled alongside in a dugout canoe and sold Dillon a silver sword hilt bearing the imprint of characters engraved with a cutting tool known as a burin. Furthermore, this native boatman claimed that during a stay in Vanikoro six years earlier, he had seen two Europeans belonging to ships that had run aground on the island's reefs many years before.
第一個把這次遇難人的無可爭辯的可靠遺物找出來的，是一位經常航行在太平洋上的老航海家狄勇船長。1824年5月15日，他的船聖巴土利克號，經過新赫布里底群島之一的第克貝亞島附近。在那裡，一個印第安人乘着獨木舟，靠近他的船邊，賣給他－把銀質的刀柄，柄上有鏤別的文字痕跡。這個印第安人又說，六年前，他在萬尼科羅島住下來的時候，曾看見過兩個歐洲人，他們是一隻遇難船砌船員，這船多年前撞在島附近的暗礁上了。
Dillon guessed that the ships at issue were those under the Count de La Pérouse, ships whose disappearance had shaken the entire world. He tried to reach Vanikoro, where, according to the native boatman, a good deal of rubble from the shipwreck could still be found, but winds and currents prevented his doing so.
狄勇立即猜想到，這一定是拉白魯斯船上的遇難人員，周為這些船隻的失蹤是眾所周知的，曾經震動世界。他打算到萬尼科羅群島去，據印第安人說，那裡還有遇難船隻的、許多遺物，可是大風和海浪阻擋了他，無法前往。
Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he was able to interest the Asiatic Society and the East India Company in his discovery. A ship named after the Search was placed at his disposal, and he departed on January 23, 1827, accompanied by a French deputy.
狄勇回到加爾備答。在加爾各答；他想法使亞洲學會和印度公司注意他的發現。他於是得到一隻船，這只船命名為搜索號，由他指揮，1827年1月23月，他由一個法國人陪着，乘船出發，前往搜尋。
This new Search, after putting in at several stops over the Pacific, dropped anchor before Vanikoro on July 7, 1827, in the same harbor of Vana where the Nautilus was currently floating.
搜索號在太平洋好幾處停錨找尋，于1827年7月了日：到萬尼科羅群島前面停泊了，地點就是此刻諾第留斯號所在的這個萬奴島的天然小港中。
There Dillon collected many relics of the shipwreck: iron utensils, anchors, eyelets from pulleys, swivel guns, an eighteen-pound shell, the remains of some astronomical instruments, a piece of sternrail, and a bronze bell bearing the inscription "Made by Bazin," the foundry mark at Brest Arsenal around 1785. There could no longer be any doubt.
在這個地方，狄勇收集了遇難船隻的許多遺物：鐵製的用具，錨，滑車的鐵鏈環，小炮，一顆十八號炮彈，殘破的天文儀器，船後部斷片：另外還有一口銅鐘，上面有款識，寫着“巴贊給我造的”，這是1785年左右，布勒斯特軍械局鑄造廠的標記。這事是十分明確，不可以懷疑的了。
Finishing his investigations, Dillon stayed at the site of the casualty until the month of October. Then he left Vanikoro, headed toward New Zealand, dropped anchor at Calcutta on April 7, 1828, and returned to France, where he received a very cordial welcome from King Charles X.
狄勇為了使自己所獲得的材料更完備起見，他在這遇難的地方留下，一直到同年十月。然後他離開了萬尼科羅群島，去新西蘭，1828年4月7日到了加爾各答，然後回法摑，到了法國，他受到查理十世的熱情招待。
But just then the renowned French explorer Captain Dumont d'Urville, unaware of Dillon's activities, had already set sail to search elsewhere for the site of the shipwreck. In essence, a whaling vessel had reported that some medals and a Cross of St. Louis had been found in the hands of savages in the Louisiade Islands and New Caledonia.
可是，這個時候，杜蒙。居惟爾不知道狄勇所作的工作結果，已經先出發向別處找尋失事的地點了。因為他從一隻捕鯨船的報告知道，有好些徽章和一種聖路易十字勛章在路易西安尼省和新喀裡多尼亞島的土人手裡發現。
So Captain Dumont d'Urville had put to sea in command of a vessel named after the Astrolabe, and just two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro, Dumont d'Urville dropped anchor before Hobart. There he heard about Dillon's findings, and he further learned that a certain James Hobbs, chief officer on the Union out of Calcutta, had put to shore on an island located in latitude 8 degrees 18' south and longitude 156 degrees 30' east, and had noted the natives of those waterways making use of iron bars and red fabrics.
杜蒙。居維爾於是指揮着渾天儀號，向大洋出發，在狄勇離開了萬尼科羅群島兩個月後，他的船停在何巴市面前。在何已市，他知道了狄勇所獲得的結果，此夕）他又從加爾各答輪船公司的和合號的船副——個名叫何伯斯的人那裡知道，他在南緯8度18分和東經：56度30分之間的一個小島，看到這些地方的土人使用一些鐵條和紅色毛布。
Pretty perplexed, Dumont d'Urville didn't know if he should give credence to these reports, which had been carried in some of the less reliable newspapers; nevertheless, he decided to start on Dillon's trail.
杜蒙，居維爾心中相當為難，不知道對於這些不太可靠的報刊所登載的記事是否應該相信，最後他決定開到狄勇曾經到過的地方去。
On February 10, 1828, the new Astrolabe hove before Tikopia Island, took on a guide and interpreter in the person of a deserter who had settled there, plied a course toward Vanikoro, raised it on February 12, sailed along its reefs until the 14th, and only on the 20th dropped anchor inside its barrier in the harbor of Vana.
1828年2月10n日，渾天儀號到了提科皮亞島面前，請了一個落戶在島上的逃兵作嚮導和翻譯，他向萬尼科羅群島出發，2月12日，望見了萬尼科羅群島，直至14日他都是沿著群島的礁石脈行駛，到20日，才停泊在礁石圈裡面，即萬奴島的天然港內。
On the 23rd, several officers circled the island and brought back some rubble of little importance. The natives, adopting a system of denial and evasion, refused to guide them to the site of the casualty. This rather shady conduct aroused the suspicion that the natives had mistreated the castaways; and in truth, the natives seemed afraid that Dumont d'Urville had come to avenge the Count de La Pérouse and his unfortunate companions.
23日，好幾名船上的人員在島上走了一圈，得到一些不重要的殘餘物品。當地土人採取一種不認賬和逃避的方法，不願意帶他們到遇難失事的地方去看。這種暖昧不明的行為更讓人相信他們是曾經虐待過船中的遇難人員，他們也正是好像伯杜蒙-居維爾要給拉-白魯斯和他的苦命同伴報仇似的。
But on the 26th, appeased with gifts and seeing that they didn't need to fear any reprisals, the natives led the chief officer, Mr. Jacquinot, to the site of the shipwreck.
但在26日，土人由於得到了禮物，並且知道他們不至于受到任何報復，他們這才帶領船副雅居諾，到了船隻遇難的地方。
At this location, in three or four fathoms of water between the Paeu and Vana reefs, there lay some anchors, cannons, and ingots of iron and lead, all caked with limestone concretions. A launch and whaleboat from the new Astrolabe were steered to this locality, and after going to exhausting lengths, their crews managed to dredge up an anchor weighing 1,800 pounds, a cast-iron eight-pounder cannon, a lead ingot, and two copper swivel guns.
在這個地方，五米至六米半的水深處，在巴古和萬奴兩島的礁石間，堆積着的錨、炮、鐵塊和鉛塊都被石灰質的沉積層粘住了。渾夭儀號的大艇和捕鯨船開到了這個地方，費了很大氣力，船上人員才把一個重一千八百斤的錨，一門口徑八分的鐵鑄大炮，一大塊鉛和兩尊銅炮打撈上來。
Questioning the natives, Captain Dumont d'Urville also learned that after La Pérouse's two ships had miscarried on the island's reefs, the count had built a smaller craft, only to go off and miscarry a second time. Where? Nobody knew.
杜蒙-居維爾詳細詢問土人，知道拉-白魯斯在島附近暗礁上損失了他的兩隻船後，又造了一隻較小的船，他乘新造的船出發，第二次又失蹤了……在什麼地方失蹤呢？沒有人知道。
The commander of the new Astrolabe then had a monument erected under a tuft of mangrove, in memory of the famous navigator and his companions. It was a simple quadrangular pyramid, set on a coral base, with no ironwork to tempt the natives' avarice.
這位指揮渾天儀號的船長於是在一株紅樹華蓋下，建造了一座衣冠墓，紀念那位著名的航海家和他的同伴。家是一座簡單的四角形金字塔，建築在珊瑚石的基地上，上面沒有豎立什麼可以引起土人的貪心的鐵架。
Then Dumont d'Urville tried to depart; but his crews were run down from the fevers raging on these unsanitary shores, and quite ill himself, he was unable to weigh anchor until March 17.
杜蒙-居維爾要離開這島出發了；但他的船員受了海島不良氣候的影響，很多人患了熱病，他本人也病得很厲害，一直到8月17日才拔錨動身。
Meanwhile, fearing that Dumont d'Urville wasn't abreast of Dillon's activities, the French government sent a sloop of war to Vanikoro, the Bayonnaise under Commander Legoarant de Tromelin, who had been stationed on the American west coast. Dropping anchor before Vanikoro a few months after the new Astrolabe's departure, the Bayonnaise didn't find any additional evidence but verified that the savages hadn't disturbed the memorial honoring the Count de La Pérouse.
當時法國政府怕杜蒙-屠維爾不知道狄勇的工作結果，派出巴沿尼號小戰艦到萬尼科羅群島，戰艦由列哥郎-德-土浪美林指揮，當時停在美洲西部海岸。巴沿尼號在渾天儀號離開了幾個月後，開到了萬尼科羅島面前，並沒有找到什麼新的材料，僅僅看見土人對於拉-白魯斯的墓沒有破壞。
This is the substance of the account I gave Captain Nemo.
上面就是我給尼摩船長說的關於這件事的材料。
"So," he said to me, "the castaways built a third ship on Vanikoro Island, and to this day, nobody knows where it went and perished?"
“那麼，“他對我說，“在萬尼科羅群島失事的遇難人所建造的第三隻船，究竟在什麼地方遇難沉沒了，人們還是不知道嗎？”
"Nobody knows."
“人們還是不知道。”
Captain Nemo didn't reply but signaled me to follow him to the main lounge. The Nautilus sank a few meters beneath the waves, and the panels opened.
尼摩船長並不答話，他對我做個手勢，要我跟他到客廳中去。諾第留斯號潛入海水下幾米深，嵌板打開了。
I rushed to the window and saw crusts of coral: fungus coral, siphonula coral, alcyon coral, sea anemone from the genus Caryophylia, plus myriads of charming fish including greenfish, damselfish, sweepers, snappers, and squirrelfish; underneath this coral covering I detected some rubble the old dredges hadn't been able to tear free-- iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, shells, tackle from a capstan, a stempost, all objects hailing from the wrecked ships and now carpeted in moving flowers.
我急急走到玻璃隔板面前觀看，只見珊瑚礁石的基地蓋滿了菌生植物、管狀植物、翡翠海草、石竹小草，在它下面，在成千成萬物十分可愛的魚類《鮑魚、雕紋魚、卿筒魚、裂骨魚、金魚）中間，我認出了打撈機無法打撈的一些殘廢物品，如鐵馬磴、錨、炮、炮彈、絞盤架、船頭廢料等等，全是遇難船隻留下的東西，現在都披上活生生的花朵了。
And as I stared at this desolate wreckage, Captain Nemo told me in a solemn voice:
當我注視這些使人心中難受的遇難船隻的殘骸時，尼摩船長用很嚴肅的聲音對我說：
"Commander La Pérouse set out on December 7, 1785, with his ships, the Compass and the Astrolabe. He dropped anchor first at Botany Bay, visited the Tonga Islands and New Caledonia, headed toward the Santa Cruz Islands, and put in at Nomuka, one of the islands in the Ha'apai group. Then his ships arrived at the unknown reefs of Vanikoro. Traveling in the lead, the Compass ran afoul of breakers on the southerly coast. The Astrolabe went to its rescue and also ran aground. The first ship was destroyed almost immediately. The second, stranded to leeward, held up for some days. The natives gave the castaways a fair enough welcome. The latter took up residence on the island and built a smaller craft with rubble from the two large ones. A few seamen stayed voluntarily in Vanikoro.
“拉-白魯斯船長於1785年12月7日率領了羅盤號和渾夭儀號兩船出發。他最初停泊在植物灣，訪問了友愛群島，新喀裡多尼亞，向聖克魯斯群島出發，停在哈巴衣群島的奈摩加島面前。然後，到了以前不知道的萬尼科羅群島的礁石上面。走在前頭的羅盤號撞在南邊海岸的礁石上。渾天儀號前來援救，但也碰上暗礁。第一隻船羅盤號立即撞破沉下去，第二隻船渾天儀號擱淺在下方，仍然支持了好幾天。當地土人對遇難船員相當歡迎，善意招待。遇難船員便住在島上，利用兩艘破損的大船，把材料拼湊起來，建造了一隻較小的船。有些水手願意居住在萬尼科羅群島上，不想走了。
The others, weak and ailing, set sail with the Count de La Pérouse. They headed to the Solomon Islands, and they perished with all hands on the westerly coast of the chief island in that group, between Cape Deception and Cape Satisfaction!"
別的船員，體弱有病，跟拉-白魯斯一同出發。他們向所羅門群島開去，他們所有的一切，身體和財物，都在這群島的主島的西部海岸，失望呷和滿意呷之間沉沒了。
"And how do you know all this?" I exclaimed.
“您怎麼知道呢？”我喊道。；
"Here's what I found at the very site of that final shipwreck!"
“這不是我在那最後遇難失事的地方所找到的檔案嗎！”
Captain Nemo showed me a tin box, stamped with the coat of arms of France and all corroded by salt water. He opened it and I saw a bundle of papers, yellowed but still legible.
尼摩船長給我看一個白鐵盒，上面印有法國國徽的標記，全都被鹽水所侵蝕了。他打開鐵盒，我看見一卷公文，雖然紙色發黃，但字跡還清楚可讀。
They were the actual military orders given by France's Minister of the Navy to Commander La Pérouse, with notes along the margin in the handwriting of King Louis XVI!
這公文是法國海軍大臣給拉，白魯斯船長的訓令，邊緣還有路易十六親筆的批語呢！
"Ah, what a splendid death for a seaman!" Captain Nemo then said. "A coral grave is a tranquil grave, and may Heaven grant that my companions and I rest in no other!"
“啊！”尼摩船長於是說，“對於一位海員來說，這真是死得漂亮：這座珊瑚墳墓實在是太幽靜了！願上天讓我的同伴和我不要葬在別樣的墳墓中！”