as we have been. The temperature has been gradually diminishing;
the heat upon Gourbi Island is not greater now than we might ordinarily

expect to find in Algeria. At the same time, we have the problem
still unsolved that the Mediterranean has evidently" target="_blank" title="ad.明显地">evidently been transported

to the equatorial zone."
Both the count and the captain expressed themselves reassured by

his representations, and observed that they must now do all in their
power to discover what had become of the vast continent of Africa,

of which, they were hitherto failing so completely to find a vestige.
Twenty-four hours after leaving the island, the _Dobryna_ had passed over

the sites where Tenes, Cherchil, Koleah, and Sidi-Feruch once had been,
but of these towns not one appeared within range of the telescope.

Ocean reigned supreme. Lieutenant Procope was absolutely certain that
he had not mistaken his direction; the compass showed that the wind had

never shifted from the west, and this, with the rate of speed as estimated
by the log, combined to assure him that at this date, the 2d of February,

the schooner was in lat. 36 degrees 49 min N. and long. 3 degrees 25 min E.,
the very spot which ought to have been occupied by the Algerian capital.

But Algiers, like all the other coast-towns, had apparently been absorbed
into the bowels of the earth.

Captain Servadac, with clenched teeth and knitted brow, stood sternly,
almost fiercely, regarding the boundless waste of water.

His pulse beat fast as he recalled the friends and comrades
with whom he had spent the last few years in that vanished city.

All the images of his past life floated upon his memory;
his thoughts sped away to his native France, only to return again

to wonder whether the depths of ocean would reveal any traces
of the Algerian metropolis.

"Is it not impossible," he murmured aloud, "that any city
should disappear so completely? Would not the loftiest

eminences of the city at least be visible? Surely some
portion of the Casbah must still rise above the waves?

The imperial fort, too, was built upon an elevation of 750 feet;
it is incredible that it should be so totally submerged.

Unless some vestiges of these are found, I shall begin to suspect
that the whole of Africa has been swallowed in some vast abyss."

Another circumstance was most remarkable. Not a material object
of any kind was to be noticed floating on the surface of the water;

not one branch of a tree had been seen drifting by, nor one spar
belonging to one of the numerous vessels that a month previously had

been moored in the magnificent bay which stretched twelve miles across
from Cape Matafuz to Point Pexade. Perhaps the depths might disclose

what the surface failed to reveal, and Count Timascheff, anxious that
Servadac should have every facility afforded him for solving his doubts,

called for the sounding-line. Forthwith, the lead was greased and lowered.
To the surprise of all, and especially of Lieutenant Procope, the line

indicated a bottom at a nearly uniform depth of from four to five fathoms;
and although the sounding was persevered with continuously for more than two

hours over a considerable area, the differences of level were insignificant,
not corresponding in any degree to what would be expected over the site

of a city that had been terraced like the seats of an amphitheater.
Astounding as it seemed, what alternative was left but to suppose

that the Algerian capital had been completely leveled by the flood?
The sea-bottom was composed of neither rock, mud, sand, nor shells;

the sounding-lead brought up nothing but a kind of metallic dust,
which glittered with a strange iridescence, and the nature of which it

was impossible to determine, as it was totallyunlike what had ever
been known to be raised from the bed of the Mediterranean.

"You must see, lieutenant, I should think, that we are not so near
the coast of Algeria as you imagined."

The lieutenant shook his head. After pondering awhile, he said:
"If we were farther away I should expect to find a depth of two

or three hundred fathoms instead of five fathoms. Five fathoms!
I confess I am puzzled."

For the next thirty-six hours, until the 4th of February, the sea
was examined and explored with the most unflagging perseverance.

Its depth remained invariable, still four, or at most five, fathoms;
and although its bottom was assiduously dredged, it was only to prove

it barren of marine production of any type.
The yacht made its way to lat. 36 degrees, and by reference to the charts

it was tolerably certain that she was cruising over the site of the Sahel,
the ridge that had separated the rich plain of the Mitidja from the sea,

and of which the highest peak, Mount Boujereah, had reached an altitude
of 1,200 feet; but even this peak, which might have been expected to emerge

like an islet above the surface of the sea, was nowhere to be traced.
Nothing was to be done but to put about, and return in disappointment

towards the north.
Thus the _Dobryna_ regained the waters of the Mediterranean without

discovering a trace of the missingprovince of Algeria.
CHAPTER XI

AN ISLAND TOMB
No longer, then, could there be any doubt as to the annihilation of a

considerableportion of the colony. Not merely had there been a submersion
of the land, but the impression was more and more confirmed that the very

bowels of the earth must have yawned and closed again upon a large territory.
Of the rocky substratum of the province it became more evident than ever

that not a trace remained, and a new soil of unknown formation had certainly
taken the place of the old sandy sea-bottom. As it altogether transcended

the powers of those on board to elucidate the origin of this catastrophe,
it was felt to be incumbent on them at least to ascertain its extent.

After a long and somewhat wavering discussion, it was at length
decided that the schooner should take advantage of the favorable wind

and weather, and proceed at first towards the east, thus following
the outline of what had formerly represented the coast of Africa,

until that coast had been lost in boundless sea.
Not a vestige of it all remained; from Cape Matafuz to Tunis it had

all gone, as though it had never been. The maritime town of Dellis,
built like Algiers, amphitheater-wise, had totally disappeared;

the highest points were quite invisible; not a trace on the horizon
was left of the Jurjura chain, the topmost point of which was known

to have an altitude of more than 7,000 feet.
Unsparing of her fuel, the _Dobryna_ made her way at full steam towards

Cape Blanc. Neither Cape Negro nor Cape Serrat was to be seen.
The town of Bizerta, once charming in its oriental beauty,

had vanished utterly; its marabouts, or temple-tombs, shaded
by magnificent palms that fringed the gulf, which by reason of its

narrow mouth had the semblance of a lake, all had disappeared,
giving place to a vast waste of sea, the transparent waves of which,

as still demonstrated by the sounding-line, had ever the same uniform
and arid bottom.

In the course of the day the schooner rounded the point where,
five weeks previously, Cape Blanc had been so conspicuous an object,

and she was now stemming the waters of what once had been
the Bay of Tunis. But bay there was none, and the town from

which it had derived its name, with the Arsenal, the Goletta,
and the two peaks of Bou-Kournein, had all vanished from the view.

Cape Bon, too, the most northern promontory of Africa and
the point of the continent nearest to the island of Sicily,

had been included in the general devastation.
Before the occurrence of the recent prodigy, the bottom of

the Mediterranean just at this point had formed a sudden ridge
across the Straits of Libya. The sides of the ridge had shelved

to so great an extent that, while the depth of water on the summit
had been little more than eleven fathoms, that on either hand

of the elevation was little short of a hundred fathoms.
A formation such as this plainly indicated that at some remote

epoch Cape Bon had been connected with Cape Furina, the extremity
of Sicily, in the same manner as Ceuta has doubtless been

connected with Gibraltar.
Lieutenant Procope was too well acquainted with the Mediterranean

to be unaware of this peculiarity, and would not lose the opportunity
of ascertaining whether the submarine ridge still existed, or whether

the sea-bottom between Sicily and Africa had undergone any modification.
Both Timascheff and Servadac were much interested in watching the operations.

At a sign from the lieutenant, a sailor who was stationed at the foot
of the fore-shrouds dropped the sounding-lead into the water, and in reply