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，是诺第留斯号在航程中碰到的一连串海中灾祸的开始，自从它到了船只往来比较多的海中，我们时常看见遇难的船只在海水中腐烂了，在更深的地方，海底下面，看到上了锈的大炮、子弹、锚、链以及其他许多铁器。
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.
不过，诺第留斯号总是带着我们前进。我们在船上很孤独地生活。12月11日，我们望见了帕摩图群岛，这群岛位于南纬13度30分和23度50分之间，西经125度30分和151度30分之间，从度西岛直至拉查列岛，由东南偏东至西北偏西，在长五百里的海面上罗列起来。群岛的面积共三百七十平方里，由约莫六十个小群岛组成，在这些小群岛中间，我看到了法国占领的作为它的保护地的甘比尔群岛。这些小群岛全是珊瑚岛。由于珊瑚这种腔肠动物所起的作用，造成地面缓慢地，但连续地上升，因此，将来一定有一天会把这些小岛连接起来。以后，连接起来的新岛又跟邻近的群岛衔接，久而久之，从新西兰和新喀里多尼亚岛起，至马贵斯群岛止，便要出现一个新大陆，那就是未来的第五大洲。
The day I expounded this theory to Captain Nemo, he answered me coldly:
那天，我在尼摩船长面前谈我的新大陆构成的理论，他很冷淡地这样回答我：
"The earth doesn't need new continents, but new men!"
“地球上所需要的并不是新的大陆，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.
在这次航行中，诺第留斯号偶然开到克列蒙端尼岛——群岛中最有兴昧的一个岛-它是18年，曲米涅娃号船长贝尔发现的。我因此得以研究太平洋中的小岛所构成的造礁珊瑚体系。
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为一谈，它们的纤维组织蒙上一层石灰质的表皮，表皮构造的各种变化使我著名的老师密尔-爱德华先生把它们分为五部。这些以分泌物累积成珊瑚树的细小微生动物，是数以亿万计地生活在细胞里面。它们分泌的石灰质逐渐累积，组成了岩石、礁石、小岛、岛屿。在某一处，它们形成一个圆形的环，围绕着一个珊瑚洲或一个内湖，边缘有缺口，可与大海相通。在另一处，它们形成一些礁石的悬崖，跟新喀里多尼。亚海岸和帕摩图群岛好些小岛所有的情形相仿。在别的地方，比如在联合岛和毛利斯岛，它们筑起礁石脉，跟壁立的）高墙一样，高墙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.
沿着克列蒙端尼岛的悬崖仅仅走了几百米，我对于这些微生物中的劳动者所完成的巨大工程十分赞赏。这些悬崖大半是称为千孔珊瑚、滨珊瑚、星珊瑚和脑形珊瑚的造礁珊瑚类的杰作。造礁珊瑚类动物在海波激荡的表面一层特别繁衍，因此，它们的造礁工作是从上层开始，渐次及于下层的，上层带着剩余的分泌物，渐渐沉到下面去。达尔文的学说就是这样，他应用这学说来说明环状珊瑚岛的构成——照我的意思，这学说比那以海面下几米有浮出的山岭或火山的峰顶作为造礁珊瑚的工作基地的学说，较为优越，较为合理。
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.
我可以挨近这些新奇的墙垣观察，因为它们是垂直的，测探器指示的深度超过三百米，我们船上的阵阵电光把这光辉的石灰石照亮了。
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.
康塞尔问我这些巨大的墙垣积累起来要花多少时间，我回答他的这个问题说，根据学者们的意见，积累八分之一寸厚的珊瑚墙需要一个世纪，即一百年左右的时间，他十分惊异。
"Therefore," he said to me, "to build these walls, it took . . . ?"
“那么，”他问我，“造成这些墙垣要多少时间呢？”
"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."
”要十九万二千年，老实的康塞尔，这就把《圣经》记载的时间特别拉长了。此外，煤炭的形成，即被洪水冲积的森林的矿化作用，玄武岩的冷化作用，需要更长久的时间。再说，《圣经》中的时间只是表明一个一个时期，并不指两次旧出之间的时间，因为，照《圣经》的说法，太阳并不是开夭，辟地第一天就存在。”
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.
当诺第留斯号回到海面上来的时候，我可以望见这个低洼的和多树的克列蒙瑞尼岛发展的全部过程。岛上的珊瑚石显然是由于旋风和风暴的冲刷，变成了肥饶的沃上。不知什么时候，一些谷粒果核被暴风带到邻近土地，落在石灰质的地上，地里夹杂了鱼类和海产植物分解出来的渣滓，成为很好的草木肥料。随后又有一些可可果核被波浪冲来，漂到了这边新开辟的海岸。不久种子发芽生根，渐渐长大，成树，成林，贮蓄了水蒸气。水流于是形成了。植物也就渐渐生长繁殖。叉有些微生动物，爬虫，昆虫，附在被大风吹倒的其他海岛的树干上，输送到这边。龟鳖到这里来下蛋，禽鸟在嫩枝上结巢。动物就这样在岛上活跃起来。不久，人类被岛上的青葱和肥饶的土地所吸引，也在岛上出现了。这就是群岛——微生动物的惊人杰作的形成过程。
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.
傍晚时候，克列蒙端尼岛在远处隐没不见了，诺第留斯号的航路显然是改变了方向。在西经135度上接触到南回归线的时候，船又上溯南北两回归线间的海水，向西北偏西驶去。虽然夏季的太阳光十分厉害，但我们一点不受炎热的影响，因为在水底三十至四十米的深度，温度总不超过十度到十二度。
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，我们在东边望到了使人留恋的社会群岛和作为太平洋玉后的啊娜多姿的塔希提岛。我早晨在距离几里的下方，望见了这岛上的高耸的山峰。沿岛水产供应我们船上餐桌许多美味的鱼，鳍鱼、鲤鱼、侞白鱼，以及好几种属于鳗鱼类的海蛇。
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.
诺第留斯号已经走了八千一百海里的海程了。当它穿过东加塔布群岛和航海家群岛之间的时候，测程器的记录已经到了九千七百二十海里；汤加塔布群岛是从前阿尔戈号、太子港号和博兰公爵号的船员丧生的地方，航海家群岛是拉-白鲁斯的朋友、郎格尔船长被杀的所在。不久我又望见了维蒂群岛，岛上的土人曾经屠杀过和合号的水手和指挥可爱的约瑟芬号的南特人布罗船长。
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.
这群岛所占的面积，从北至南为一百里，从东至西为九十里，位于南纬6度至2度，西经174度至179度之间。这群岛是由很多小岛如维蒂岛、万奴岛和甘杜朋等岛组成的。
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.
这群小岛是塔斯曼在1643年发现的，那一年也就是托利色利发明风雨表和路易十四即位的一年。人们可以想一想，这三件事究竟那一件对人类最有益处、”随后，库克在1714年，当土尔加斯朵在1793年，杜蒙-居维尔在1827年都曾来过，群岛的地理形势是经杜蒙-居维尔勘察后，才弄清楚的。诺第留斯号驶近了魏利阿湾，那位狄勇船长在这里遇到过惊人冒险的事件，狄勇船长就是第一个把拉白鲁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.
在海湾中我们打了好几次鱼，我们打到很多好吃的牡蛎我们是按照薛尼克的方法，在饭桌上把牡蛎剥开，尽量无节制地吃。大家知道，这种软体动物是属于贝壳蛇类，在地中海科西嘉岛非常普遍。魏利阿海湾中一定有十分丰富的壮蜗，如果没有各种消灭它们的原因，这些团结成群的动物必然要把这一带海湾都填满，因为光是一个牡蜗就可以产两百万个卵。
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-兰师傅在这次大吃牡蛎中，对于他的贪食没有后悔，因为牡蛎是从来不使人饱胀的唯一的食品。是的，供给一个人每日营养所需的三百一十五克氮素，要二百个左右牡蛎呢。
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，诺第留斯号在新赫布里底群岛间行驶，这群岛在1606年由居洛斯发见，1768年，布几威尔来探险，1773年，库克才把现在新赫布里底的名字给了它。这一群岛屿由丸个主要大岛组成，形成一条从西北偏北至东南偏南的一百二十里的长带，位于南纬15度至2度，西经164度至168度之间。我们的船沿着奥卢岛岸边走过，在正午时刻观察，这岛好像一堆青绿的树林，有一座很高的山峰耸立在上面。
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.
这一天是圣诞节，尼德-兰似乎很后悔不能过节，因为圣诞节是基督教徒所热爱的家庭团聚节。
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:
我有七八天没有看到尼摩船长了，27H早晨，他进客厅来，脸上的神气总是像跟你分手不过五分钟时间的样子。 我正在看那平面图上的诺第留斯号所走的航路。船长走向前来，手指着地图上的一点，单单说出了这个名字：
"Vanikoro."
“万尼科罗群岛。”
This name was magic! It was the name of those islets where vessels under the Count de La Pérouse had miscarried. I straightened suddenly.
万尼科罗这名字是有迷惑力的；它是拉-白鲁斯的探险船只在那里失踪的群岛的名字。我立即站起来。
"The Nautilus is bringing us to Vanikoro?" I asked.
“诺第留斯号带我们到万尼科罗群岛吗？”我问。
"Yes, professor," the captain replied.
“是的，教授。”船长回答。
"And I'll be able to visit those famous islands where the Compass and the Astrolabe came to grief?"
“我可以去访问罗盘号和浑天仪号毁坏沉没的有名的岛屿吗？”
"If you like, professor."
“如果您高兴，教授，我们可以去访问。”
"When will we reach Vanikoro?"
“我们什么时候到万尼科罗群岛呢？”
"We already have, professor."
“我们就到了，教授。”
Followed by Captain Nemo, I climbed onto the platform, and from there my eyes eagerly scanned the horizon.
我跟着尼摩船长，走上平台，从平台上，我眼光急急地向天际了望。
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.
在东北方，现出两座大小不等的由火山形成的岛屿，有四十海里长的环形珊瑚礁围绕。我们现在就在万尼科罗岛面前了，杜蒙-屠维尔一定要叫它搜索岛，它是在万奴岛的天然小港前面，位于南纬16度4分和东经164度32分之间。岛上土地从岸边的海滩，一直到内部的高峰，都好像有青纱帐蒙起来，岛上有高九百米左右的加波哥山矗立，俯视全岛。
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?
诺第留斯号从窄狭的水道，穿过外围的一道石带，走在暗礁岩石里面了，这里的海水深度为五十米至六十五米左右。我看见红树荫下有十二三个土人，他们看见我们的船开来，表示极端惊怪。看见这长长的灰黑东西在水面上行走，他们可能认为是他们应当警戒的一条很厉害的鲸科动物呢？
Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the shipwreck of the Count de La Pérouse.
这个时候，尼摩船长向我打听拉-白鲁斯失事遇难的情形，这事我是知道的。
"What everybody knows, captain," I answered him.
“船长，我所知道的不过是大家都知道的罢了。”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诉我吗？”他带些讥讽的神气说。
"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-居维尔关于这事的最后著作中所谈到的情形告诉了他，下面就是简单的概述。
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-白鲁斯和他的副手郎格尔船长于1785年受路易十六的派遣，作环游地球的航行。他们乘罗盘号和浑天仪号两艘三级舰出发，以后就再没有听见他们的消息了。
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，法国政府很关心这两艘战舰的命运，装备了两艘大运输舰，搜索号和希望号，准备出发，做寻找的工作。，这两艘大运输舰于9月28日离开布勒斯特海港，由当上尔加斯朵指挥。“但两个月后，从指挥阿伯马尔号船的船长，名叫波温的这个人送来的报告知道，失事的两艘战舰的残骸在新佐治岛沿岸看到了。当，土尔加斯朵并不知道这个报告——而且这报告也不很可靠——他向海军部群岛出发，前去找寻，固他根据韩德船长的一个报告，说这群岛是拉-白鲁斯失事遇难的地点。
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.
他的搜寻完全没有结果，完全落空了。希望号和搜索号甚至于经过万尼科罗群岛面前没有停留，总起来说，这次、航行很不幸，因为当土尔加斯朵，他的两名副手和他船员中的好几名水手都丢了性命。
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.
第一个把这次遇难人的无可争辩的可靠遗物找出来的，是一位经常航行在太平洋上的老航海家狄勇船长。1824年5月15日，他的船圣巴土利克号，经过新赫布里底群岛之一的第克贝亚岛附近。在那里，一个印第安人乘着独木舟，靠近他的船边，卖给他－把银质的刀柄，柄上有镂别的文字痕迹。这个印第安人又说，六年前，他在万尼科罗岛住下来的时候，曾看见过两个欧洲人，他们是一只遇难船砌船员，这船多年前撞在岛附近的暗礁上了。
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，这一定是拉白鲁斯船上的遇难人员，周为这些船只的失踪是众所周知的，曾经震动世界。他打算到万尼科罗群岛去，据印第安人说，那里还有遇难船只的、许多遗物，可是大风和海浪阻挡了他，无法前往。
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.
狄勇回到加尔备答。在加尔各答；他想法使亚洲学会和印度公司注意他的发现。他于是得到一只船，这只船命名为搜索号，由他指挥，1827年1月23月，他由一个法国人陪着，乘船出发，前往搜寻。
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.
搜索号在太平洋好几处停锚找寻，于1827年7月了日：到万尼科罗群岛前面停泊了，地点就是此刻诺第留斯号所在的这个万奴岛的天然小港中。
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.
在这个地方，狄勇收集了遇难船只的许多遗物：铁制的用具，锚，滑车的铁链环，小炮，一颗十八号炮弹，残破的天文仪器，船后部断片：另外还有一口铜钟，上面有款识，写着“巴赞给我造的”，这是1785年左右，布勒斯特军械局铸造厂的标记。这事是十分明确，不可以怀疑的了。
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.
狄勇为了使自己所获得的材料更完备起见，他在这遇难的地方留下，一直到同年十月。然后他离开了万尼科罗群岛，去新西兰，1828年4月7日到了加尔各答，然后回法掴，到了法国，他受到查理十世的热情招待。
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，这个时候，杜蒙。居惟尔不知道狄勇所作的工作结果，已经先出发向别处找寻失事的地点了。因为他从一只捕鲸船的报告知道，有好些徽章和一种圣路易十字勋章在路易西安尼省和新喀里多尼亚岛的土人手里发现。
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。居维尔于是指挥着浑天仪号，向大洋出发，在狄勇离开了万尼科罗群岛两个月后，他的船停在何巴市面前。在何已市，他知道了狄勇所获得的结果，此夕）他又从加尔各答轮船公司的和合号的船副——个名叫何伯斯的人那里知道，他在南纬8度18分和东经：56度30分之间的一个小岛，看到这些地方的土人使用一些铁条和红色毛布。
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，居维尔心中相当为难，不知道对于这些不太可靠的报刊所登载的记事是否应该相信，最后他决定开到狄勇曾经到过的地方去。
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，浑天仪号到了提科皮亚岛面前，请了一个落户在岛上的逃兵作向导和翻译，他向万尼科罗群岛出发，2月12日，望见了万尼科罗群岛，直至14日他都是沿着群岛的礁石脉行驶，到20日，才停泊在礁石圈里面，即万奴岛的天然港内。
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，好几名船上的人员在岛上走了一圈，得到一些不重要的残余物品。当地土人采取一种不认账和逃避的方法，不愿意带他们到遇难失事的地方去看。这种暖昧不明的行为更让人相信他们是曾经虐待过船中的遇难人员，他们也正是好像伯杜蒙-居维尔要给拉-白鲁斯和他的苦命同伴报仇似的。
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，土人由于得到了礼物，并且知道他们不至于受到任何报复，他们这才带领船副雅居诺，到了船只遇难的地方。
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.
在这个地方，五米至六米半的水深处，在巴古和万奴两岛的礁石间，堆积着的锚、炮、铁块和铅块都被石灰质的沉积层粘住了。浑夭仪号的大艇和捕鲸船开到了这个地方，费了很大气力，船上人员才把一个重一千八百斤的锚，一门口径八分的铁铸大炮，一大块铅和两尊铜炮打捞上来。
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-居维尔详细询问土人，知道拉-白鲁斯在岛附近暗礁上损失了他的两只船后，又造了一只较小的船，他乘新造的船出发，第二次又失踪了……在什么地方失踪呢？没有人知道。
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.
这位指挥浑天仪号的船长于是在一株红树华盖下，建造了一座衣冠墓，纪念那位著名的航海家和他的同伴。家是一座简单的四角形金字塔，建筑在珊瑚石的基地上，上面没有竖立什么可以引起土人的贪心的铁架。
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-居维尔要离开这岛出发了；但他的船员受了海岛不良气候的影响，很多人患了热病，他本人也病得很厉害，一直到8月17日才拔锚动身。
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.
当时法国政府怕杜蒙-屠维尔不知道狄勇的工作结果，派出巴沿尼号小战舰到万尼科罗群岛，战舰由列哥郎-德-土浪美林指挥，当时停在美洲西部海岸。巴沿尼号在浑天仪号离开了几个月后，开到了万尼科罗岛面前，并没有找到什么新的材料，仅仅看见土人对于拉-白鲁斯的墓没有破坏。
This is the substance of the account I gave Captain Nemo.
上面就是我给尼摩船长说的关于这件事的材料。
"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?"
“那么，“他对我说，“在万尼科罗群岛失事的遇难人所建造的第三只船，究竟在什么地方遇难沉没了，人们还是不知道吗？”
"Nobody knows."
“人们还是不知道。”
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.
尼摩船长并不答话，他对我做个手势，要我跟他到客厅中去。诺第留斯号潜入海水下几米深，嵌板打开了。
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观看，只见珊瑚礁石的基地盖满了菌生植物、管状植物、翡翠海草、石竹小草，在它下面，在成千成万物十分可爱的鱼类《鲍鱼、雕纹鱼、卿筒鱼、裂骨鱼、金鱼）中间，我认出了打捞机无法打捞的一些残废物品，如铁马磴、锚、炮、炮弹、绞盘架、船头废料等等，全是遇难船只留下的东西，现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:
当我注视这些使人心中难受的遇难船只的残骸时，尼摩船长用很严肃的声音对我说：
"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-白鲁斯船长于1785年12月7日率领了罗盘号和浑夭仪号两船出发。他最初停泊在植物湾，访问了友爱群岛，新喀里多尼亚，向圣克鲁斯群岛出发，停在哈巴衣群岛的奈摩加岛面前。然后，到了以前不知道的万尼科罗群岛的礁石上面。走在前头的罗盘号撞在南边海岸的礁石上。浑天仪号前来援救，但也碰上暗礁。第一只船罗盘号立即撞破沉下去，第二只船浑天仪号搁浅在下方，仍然支持了好几天。当地土人对遇难船员相当欢迎，善意招待。遇难船员便住在岛上，利用两艘破损的大船，把材料拼凑起来，建造了一只较小的船。有些水手愿意居住在万尼科罗群岛上，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!"
别的船员，体弱有病，跟拉-白鲁斯一同出发。他们向所罗门群岛开去，他们所有的一切，身体和财物，都在这群岛的主岛的西部海岸，失望呷和满意呷之间沉没了。
"And how do you know all this?" I exclaimed.
“您怎么知道呢？”我喊道。；
"Here's what I found at the very site of that final shipwreck!"
“这不是我在那最后遇难失事的地方所找到的文件吗！”
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.
尼摩船长给我看一个白铁盒，上面印有法国国徽的标记，全都被盐水所侵蚀了。他打开铁盒，我看见一卷公文，虽然纸色发黄，但字迹还清楚可读。
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!
这公文是法国海军大臣给拉，白鲁斯船长的训令，边缘还有路易十六亲笔的批语呢！
"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！”尼摩船长于是说，“对于一位海员来说，这真是死得漂亮：这座珊瑚坟墓实在是太幽静了！愿上天让我的同伴和我不要葬在别样的坟墓中！”