Conseil and myself ashore. The soil was of the same nature—volcanic. All round were traces of lava, scoriæ, and basalt, although I could see no crater. Here, as lower down, myriads of birds enlivened the scene. But their dominion was here divided with troops of marine mammifers, which gazed at us from their soft eyes. There were various species of seals, some extended on the ground, others on the ice, many plunging in and emerging from the water. They did not move at our approach, never having before encountered man; and I calculated that there were sufficient to fill hundreds of ships.
“Faith,” said Conseil, “it is a very good thing that Ned Land did not come with us.”
“Why, Conseil?”
“Because he would have killed all these.”
“All of them? That is saying a great deal. But I do not think we should have been able to prevent our Canadian friend from harpooning some of these splendid cetaceans. That would have annoyed Captain Nemo, for he does not spill the blood of inoffensive animals wantonly.”
“He is quite right.”
“Certainly, Conseil; but tell me, have you not already classed these magnificent specimens of marine fauna?”
“Monsieur knows,” replied Conseil, “that I am not well up in it. When Monsieur has told me the names of the animals———”
“They are seals and morses,” said I.
“Two genus which belong to the family of pinnipeds,” said Conseil; “order, carnivorous; group, unguiculus; sub-class, monodelphians; class, mammifer; branch, vertebrates.”
“Good, Conseil,” I replied; “but these two genus are divided into species, and, if I am not mistaken, we shall here have the opportunity to observe them. Let us go on.”
