In Search of the Castaways

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This etext was prepared by Judy Boss, Omaha, NE

Note: I have made the following changes to the text:
PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
5 31 drank drunk
13 22 shores. shores."
13 27 Lady Glenarvan. Lord Glenarvan.
16 29 up ,Halbert." up, Halbert."
25 13 sang froid. sang-froid.
25 26 maneuvring maneuvering
31 12 unmistakingly unmistakably
34 19 Celedonian Caledonian
36 27 France. France."
40 28 occular ocular
51 38 exceptions exception
52 6 prisoniers, prisonniers,
53 34 reconnoitred reconnoitered
54 38 Corientes Corrientes
56 10 Colts Colt's
63 32 have attempted would have attempted
67 30 Mount Blanc. Mont Blanc.
67 36 Nevados Nevadas
62 38 impassible." impassable."
83 20 returns returned
83 38 Cameans, Camoens,
87 12 Argentile Argentine
96 25 sore of sort of
98 26 had drank had drunk
99 18 Vantana, Ventana,
100 21 drank drunk
102 19 minute's minutes'
103 29 comrades' comrade's
104 21 them. them."
104 24 rio a ramada rio a ramada
109 21 time. time."
110 34 wolf wolf;
112 33 never! never!"
113 38 ramado, ramada,
116 13 drank drunk
116 15 nandou nandou
118 30 estancias, estancias,
120 28 tolderai, tolderia,
133 28 fugitive fugitives
134 21 tumultous tumultuous
135 21 hilgueros, hilgueros,
144 1 thegonie, theogonie,
144 30 Glascow Glasgow
144 36 prisoniers prisonniers
144 39 aplied applied
147 15 sub-species. sub-species."
152 4 aproaching approaching
153 17 mation. mation."
156 36 terra firma. terra firma.
159 1 Glenarvan. Glenarvan,
176 40 Mangle's Mangles'
178 16 debris débris
180 8 ports port
187 33 Purday-Moore Purdy-Moore
190 5 longtitude longitude
191 37 warning warring
193 10 denouement dénouement
195 19 rectillinear rectilinear
196 31 Pour "Pour
199 20 shipwrecked. shipwrecked
200 33 Britany. Britanny.
202 24 handsbreath. handsbreadth.
205 16 kow know
205 39 37°" 37°."
206 42 Glasglow Glasgow
214 41 role role
218 10 mounteback's mountebank's
219 18 day's days'
222 13 monothremes; monotremes;
223 21 mleancholy melancholy
232 35 Glenarvan, Glenarvan
234 32 able but ible but
243 10 Pomoton?" Pomotou?"
243 37 Britanic Britannic
249 6 McNabb's McNabbs
250 24 midst. mist.
251 40 but "but
253 29 terrestial terrestrial
256 11 his oasis, this oasis,
261 28 continuel continual
268 33 alluvion, alluvium,
271 26 aerial aérial
272 3 wagan, wagon,
272 7 gastralobium, gastrolobium,
272 34 Wimmero." Wimmera."
273 37 sang sang-
273 41 wo- woe-
274 40 two "two
280 11 disapepared. disappeared.
281 6 denouement dénouement
281 13 Joye, Joyce,
282 29 It it It is
284 9 sorrrow, sorrow,
284 23 eurus emus
287 35 37 degree 37th degree
288 15 sang froid sang-froid
312 29 wretches?" wretches!"
314 24 impassible. impassive.
316 41 fancy. fancy."
326 35 impossisble impossible
327 41 him. him."
335 27 patience. patience."
339 15 1864. 1864."
339 41 Tarankai Taranaki
340 10 Taranak Taranaki
341 15 Taranki Taranaki
347 11 Waikato?" Waikato!"
347 18 buscuit biscuit
348 30 irrefragable irrefragible
348 37 musquito. mosquito.
350 35 Adressing Addressing
352 42 lines of line of
356 41 Tohongo, Tohonga,
357 8 tuers tures
360 24 McNabb's McNabbs'
364 20 orgie orgy
374 5 piron- Piron-
378 36 Ikana-Mani Ika-na-Mani
386 41 soup ,which soup, which
395 10 "moas' "moas"
402 14 exciting excited
418 13 Juin ,1862 Juin, 1862
On page 390 I have omitted the following redundant line 40,
which properly begins page 391, as in the original text:
and his wonderful instinct shone out anew in this difficult

In addition, I have made the following changes to the chapter headings
and running heads:
PAGE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
24 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"
25 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"
27 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"
35 JAQUES JACQUES
37 JAQUES JACQUES
204 BRITANNIA "BRITANNIA"
398 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"

WORKS
of
JULES VERNE

EDITED BY

CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.

Professor of English, College of the City of New York;
Author of "The Technique of the Novel," etc.

[colophon omitted]

F. TYLER DANIELS COMPANY, INC.

NEW YORK :: :: LONDON

COPYRIGHT, 1911
BY VINCENT PARKE AND COMPANY

CONTENTS

VOLUME FOUR

PAGE
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . 1

IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS

SOUTH AMERICA . . . . . . 3

AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . 165

NEW ZEALAND . . . . . . . 305

[page intentionally blank]

ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME FOUR

PAGE

THE RESCUE . . . . . Frontispiece

THE CONDOR'S PREY . . . . . . 96

"TABOO!" . . . . . . . . . 320

[page intentionally blank]

INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME FOUR

THE three books gathered under the title "In
Search of the Castaways" occupied much of
Verne's attention during the three years fol-
lowing 1865. The characters used in these
books were afterwards reintroduced in "The
Mysterious Island," which was in its turn a sequel to
"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Thus this
entire set of books form a united series upon which Verne
worked intermittently during ten years.
"In Search of the Castaways," which has also been pub-
lished as "The Children of Captain Grant" and as "A Voy-
age Around the World," is perhaps most interesting in con-
nection with the last of these titles. It is our author's first
distinctly geographical romance. By an ingenious device he
sets before the rescuers a search which compels their circum-
navigation of the globe around a certain parallel of the
southern hemisphere. Thus they cross in turn through
South America, Australia and New Zealand, besides visiting
minor islands.
The three great regions form the sub-titles of the three
books which compose the story. In each region the rescuers
meet with adventures characteristic of the land. They en-
counter Indians in America; bushrangers in Australia; and
Maoris in New Zealand. The passage of the searching
party gives ground, -- one is almost tempted to say, excuse,
-- for a close and careful description of each country and of
its inhabitants, step by step. Even the lesser incidents of
the story are employed to emphasise the distinctive features
of each land. The explorers are almost frozen on the
heights of the Andes, and almost drowned in the floods of
the Patagonian Pampas. An avalanche sweeps some of
them away; a condor carries off a lad. In Australia they

1

2 INTRODUCTION

are stopped by jungles and by quagmires; they hunt kan-
garoos. In New Zealand they take refuge amid hot sulphur
springs and in a house "tabooed"; they escape by starting
a volcano into eruption.
Here then are fancy and extravagance mixed with truth
and information. Verne has done a vast and useful work
in stimulating the interest not only of Frenchmen but of all
civilised nations, with regard to the lesser known regions of
our globe. He has broadened knowledge and guided study.
During the years following 1865 he even, for a time, de-
serted his favorite field of labor, fiction, and devoted him-
self to a popular semi-scientific book, now superseded by
later works, entitled "The Illustrated Geography of France
and her Colonies."
Verne has perhaps had a larger share than any other sin-
gle individual in causing the ever-increasing yearly tide of
international travel. And because with mutual knowledge
among the nations comes mutual understanding and appre-
ciation, mutual brotherhood; hence Jules Verne was one of
the first and greatest of those teachers who are now leading
us toward International Peace.

In Search of the Castaways

or

The Children of Captain Grant

South America

CHAPTER I
THE SHARK

ON the 26th of July, 1864, a magnificent yacht
was steaming along the North Channel at full
speed, with a strong breeze blowing from the
N. E. The Union Jack was flying at the
mizzen-mast, and a blue standard bearing the
initials E. G., embroidered in gold, and sur-
mounted by a ducal coronet, floated from the topgallant head
of the main-mast. The name of the yacht was the Duncan,
and the owner was Lord Glenarvan, one of the sixteen
Scotch peers who sit in the Upper House, and the most dis-
tinguished member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, so
famous throughout the United Kingdom.
Lord Edward Glenarvan was on board with his young
wife, Lady Helena, and one of his cousins, Major Mc-
Nabbs.
The Duncan was newly built, and had been making a
trial trip a few miles outside the Firth of Clyde. She was
returning to Glasgow, and the Isle of Arran already loomed
in the distance, when the sailor on watch caught sight of an
enormous fish sporting in the wake of the ship. Lord
Edward, who was immediately apprised of the fact, came
up on the poop a few minutes after with his cousin, and
asked John Mangles, the captain, what sort of an animal he
thought it was.
"Well, since your Lordship asks my opinion," said
Mangles, "I think it is a shark, and a fine large one too."
"A shark on these shores!"
"There is nothing at all improbable in that," returned
the captain. "This fish belongs to a species that is found
in all latitudes and in all seas. It is the 'balance-fish,' or

3

4 IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS

hammer-headed shark, if I am not much mistaken. But if
your Lordship has no objections, and it would give the
smallest pleasure to Lady Helena to see a novelty in the way
of fishing, we'll soon haul up the monster and find out
what it really is."
"What do you say, McNabbs? Shall we try to catch
it?" asked Lord Glenarvan.
"If you like; it's all one to me," was his cousin's cool
reply.
"The more of those terrible creatures that are killed the
better, at all events," said John Mangles, "so let's seize the
chance, and it will not only give us a little diversion, but be
doing a good action."
"Very well, set to work, then," said Glenarvan.
Lady Helena soon joined her husband on deck, quite
charmed at the prospect of such exciting sport. The sea
was splendid, and every movement of the shark was dis-
tinctly visible. In obedience to the captain's orders, the
sailors threw a strong rope over the starboard side of the
yacht, with a big hook at the end of it, concealed in a thick
lump of bacon. The bait took at once, though the shark
was full fifty yards distant. He began to make rapidly
for the yacht, beating the waves violently with his fins, and
keeping his tail in a perfectly straight line. As he got
nearer, his great projecting eyes could be seen inflamed with
greed, and his gaping jaws with their quadruple row of
teeth. His head was large, and shaped like a double ham-
mer at the end of a handle. John Mangles was right.
This was evidently a balance-fish -- the most voracious of
all the squalidae species.
The passengers and sailors on the yacht were watching
all the animal's movements with the liveliest interest. He
soon came within reach of the bait, turned over on his back
to make a good dart at it, and in a second bacon and con-
tents had disappeared. He had hooked himself now, as
the tremendous jerk he gave the cable proved, and the sail-
ors began to haul in the monster by means of tackle attached
to the mainyard. He struggled desperately, but his cap-
tors were prepared for his violence, and had a long rope
ready with a slip knot, which caught his tail and rendered
him powerless at once. In a few minutes more he was
hoisted up over the side of the yacht and thrown on the

THE SHARK 5

deck. A man came forward immediately, hatchet in hand,
and approaching him cautiously, with one powerful stroke
cut off his tail.
This ended the business, for there was no longer any fear
of the shark. But, though the sailors' vengeance was satis-
fied, their curiosity was not; they knew the brute had no
very delicate appetite, and the contents of his stomach might
be worth investigation. This is the common practice on all
ships when a shark is captured, but Lady Glenarvan de-
clined to be present at such a disgusting exploration, and
withdrew to the cabin again. The fish was still breathing;
it measured ten feet in length, and weighed more than six
hundred pounds. This was nothing extraordinary, for
though the hammer-headed shark is not classed among the
most gigantic of the species, it is always reckoned among
the most formidable.
The huge brute was soon ripped up in a very uncere-
monious fashion. The hook had fixed right in the stom-
ach, which was found to be absolutely empty, and the dis-
appointed sailors were just going to throw the remains
overboard, when the boatswain's attention was attracted by
some large object sticking fast in one of the viscera.
"I say! what's this?" he exclaimed.
"That!" replied one of the sailors, "why, it's a piece of
rock the beast swallowed by way of ballast."
"It's just a bottle, neither more nor less, that the fellow
has got in his inside, and couldn't digest," said another of
the crew.
"Hold your tongues, all of you!" said Tom Austin, the
mate of the Duncan. "Don't you see the animal has been
such an inveterate tippler that he has not only drunk the
wine, but swallowed the bottle?"
"What!" said Lord Glenarvan. "Do you mean to say
it is a bottle that the shark has got in his stomach."
"Ay, it is a bottle, most certainly," replied the boatswain,
"but not just from the cellar."
"Well, Tom, be careful how you take it out," said Lord
Glenarvan, "for bottles found in the sea often contain pre-
cious documents."
"Do you think this does?" said Major McNabbs, incred-
ulously.
"It possibly may, at any rate."

6 IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS

"Oh! I'm not saying it doesn't. There may perhaps
be some secret in it," returned the Major.
"That's just what we're to see," said his cousin. "Well,
Tom."
"Here it is," said the mate, holding up a shapeless lump
he had managed to pull out, though with some difficulty.
"Get the filthy thing washed then, and bring it to the
cabin."
Tom obeyed, and in a few minutes brought in the bottle
and laid it on the table, at which Lord Glenarvan and the
Major were sitting ready with the captain, and, of course
Lady Helena, for women, they say, are always a little curi-
ous. Everything is an event at sea. For a moment they
all sat silent, gazing at this frail relic, wondering if it told
the tale of sad disaster, or brought some trifling message
from a frolic-loving sailor, who had flung it into the sea to
amuse himself when he had nothing better to do.
However, the only way to know was to examine the bot-
tle, and Glenarvan set to work without further delay, so
carefully and minutely, that he might have been taken for
a coroner making an inquest.
He commenced by a close inspection of the outside. The
neck was long and slender, and round the thick rim there
was still an end of wire hanging, though eaten away with
rust. The sides were very thick, and strong enough to
bear great pressure. It was evidently of Champagne ori-
gin, and the Major said immediately, "That's one of our
Clicquot's bottles."
Nobody contradicted him, as he was supposed to know;
but Lady Helena exclaimed, "What does it matter about
the bottle, if we don't know where it comes from?"
"We shall know that, too, presently, and we may affirm
this much already -- it comes from a long way off. Look
at those petrifactions all over it, these different substances
almost turned to mineral, we might say, through the action
of the salt water! This waif had been tossing about in the
ocean a long time before the shark swallowed it."
"I quite agree with you," said McNabbs. "I dare say
this frail concern has made a long voyage, protected by this
strong covering."
"But I want to know where from?" said Lady Glenar-
van.

THE SHARK 7

"Wait a little, dear Helena, wait; we must have patience
with bottles; but if I am not much mistaken, this one will
answer all our questions," replied her husband, beginning
to scrape away the hard substances round the neck. Soon
the cork made its appearance, but much damaged by the
water.
"That's vexing," said Lord Edward, "for if papers are
inside, they'll be in a pretty state!"
"It's to be feared they will," said the Major.
"But it is a lucky thing the shark swallowed them, I
must say," added Glenarvan, "for the bottle would have
sunk to the bottom before long with such a cork as this."
"That's true enough," replied John Mangles, "and yet
it would have been better to have fished them up in the open
sea. Then we might have found out the road they had
come by taking the exact latitude and longitude, and study-
ing the atmospheric and submarine currents; but with such
a postman as a shark, that goes against wind and tide,
there's no clew whatever to the starting-point."
"We shall see," said Glenarvan, gently taking out the
cork. A strong odor of salt water pervaded the whole
saloon, and Lady Helena asked impatiently: "Well, what
is there?"
"I was right!" exclaimed Glenarvan. "I see papers
inside. But I fear it will be impossible to remove them,"
he added, "for they appear to have rotted with the damp,
and are sticking to the sides of the bottle."
"Break it," said the Major.
"I would rather preserve the whole if I could."
"No doubt you would," said Lady Helena; "but the
contents are more valuable than the bottle, and we had
better sacrifice the one than the other."
"If your Lordship would simply break off the neck, I
think we might easily withdraw the papers," suggested
John Mangles.
"Try it, Edward, try it," said Lady Helena.
Lord Glenarvan was very unwilling, but he found there
was no alternative; the precious bottle must be broken.
They had to get a hammer before this could be done, though,
for the stony material had acquired the hardness of gran-
ite. A few sharp strokes, however, soon shivered it to
fragments, many of which had pieces of paper sticking to

8 IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS

them. These were carefully removed by Lord Glenarvan,
and separated and spread out on the table before the eager
gaze of his wife and friends.

CHAPTER II
THE THREE DOCUMENTS

ALL that could be discovered, however, on these pieces
of paper was a few words here and there, the remainder of
the lines being almost completely obliterated by the action
of the water. Lord Glenarvan examined them attentively
for a few minutes, turning them over on all sides, holding
them up to the light, and trying to decipher the least scrap
of writing, while the others looked on with anxious eyes.
At last he said: "There are three distinct documents here,
apparently copies of the same document in three different
languages. Here is one in English, one in French, and one
in German."
"But can you make any sense out of them?" asked Lady
Helena.
"That's hard to say, my dear Helena, the words are
quite incomplete."
"Perhaps the one may supplement the other," suggested
Major McNabbs.
"Very likely they will," said the captain. "It is impos-
sible that the very same words should have been effaced in
each document, and by putting the scraps together we
might gather some intelligible meaning out of them."
"That's what we will do," rejoined Lord Glenarvan;
"but let us proceed methodically. Here is the English doc-
ument first."
All that remained of it was the following:
62 Bri gow
sink stra
aland
skipp Gr
that monit of long
and ssistance
lost
"There's not much to be made out of that," said the
Major, looking disappointed.

THE THREE DOCUMENTS 9

"No, but it is good English anyhow," returned the cap-
tain.
"There's no doubt of it," said Glenarvan. "The words
sink, aland, lost are entire; skipp is evidently part of the
word skipper, and that's what they call ship captains often
in England. There seems a Mr. Gr. mentioned, and that
most likely is the captain of the shipwrecked vessel."
"Well, come, we have made out a good deal already,"
said Lady Helena.
"Yes, but unfortunately there are whole lines wanting,"
said the Major, "and we have neither the name of the ship
nor the place where she was shipwrecked."
"We'll get that by and by," said Edward.
"Oh, yes; there is no doubt of it," replied the Major,
who always echoed his neighbor's opinion. "But how?"
"By comparing one document with the other."
"Let us try them," said his wife.
The second piece of paper was even more destroyed
than the first; only a few scattered words remained here
and there.
It ran as follows:
7 Juni Glas
zwei atrosen
graus
bringt ihnen
"This is written in German," said John Mangles the
moment he looked at it.
"And you understand that language, don't you?" asked
Lord Glenarvan.
"Perfectly."
"Come, then, tell us the meaning of these words."
The captain examined the document carefully, and said:
"Well, here's the date of the occurrence first: 7 Juni
means June 7; and if we put that before the figures 62 we
have in the other document, it gives us the exact date, 7th
of June, 1862."
"Capital!" exclaimed Lady Helena. "Go on, John!"
"On the same line," resumed the young captain, "there
is the syllable Glas and if we add that to the gow we found
in the English paper, we get the whole word Glasgow at
once. The documents evidently refer to some ship that
sailed out of the port of Glasgow."

10 IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS

"That is my opinion, too," said the Major.
"The second line is completely effaced," continued the
Captain; "but here are two important words on the third.
There is zwei, which means two, and atrosen or matrosen,
the German for sailors."
"Then I suppose it is about a captain and two sailors,"
said Lady Helena.
"It seems so," replied Lord Glenarvan.
"I must confess, your Lordship, that the next word
puzzles me. I can make nothing of it. Perhaps the third
document may throw some light on it. The last two words
are plain enough. Bringt ihnen means bring them; and, if
you recollect, in the English paper we had ssistance, so by
putting the parts together, it reads thus, I think: 'Bring
them assistance.'"
"Yes, that must be it," replied Lord Glenarvan. "But
where are the poor fellows? We have not the slightest
indication of the place, meantime, nor of where the catas-
trophe happened."
"Perhaps the French copy will be more explicit," sug-
gested Lady Helena.
"Here it is, then," said Lord Glenarvan, "and that is in
a language we all know."
The words it contained were these:
troi ats tannia
gonie austral
abor
contin pr cruel indi
jete ongit
et 37° 11" lat
"There are figures!" exclaimed Lady Helena. "Look!"
"Let us go steadily to work," said Lord Glenarvan,
"and begin at the beginning. I think we can make out
from the incomplete words in the first line that a three-
mast vessel is in question, and there is little doubt about
the name; we get that from the fragments of the other
papers; it is the Britannia. As to the next two words,
gonie and austral, it is only austral that has any meaning
to us."
"But that is a valuable scrap of information," said John
Mangles. "The shipwreck occurred in the southern hemi-
sphere."

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