Emma Foster

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Unit 2: Space

Source Material Research (Concept 1)-Chapter XXIV: The Coral Kingdom

For my first extract from 20,000 Leagues under the Sea there is a very visual description of an underwater cemetery in some sort of forest clearing. It sounds really magical and there is a lot of contrast especially between the bright coral and the darkness of the edges of the clearing which I think would be a good dramatic juxtaposed piece. I pulled apart the extract finding key descriptions I felt could prove useful for my concept, but not just looking at the clearing. I looked at key descriptions leading up to the clearing to help blend it into the surroundings but also give me some background knowledge and make me feel as I myself was taking this journey. There was a gentle slope leading down to an uneven stretch of land, at a depth of about fifteen fathoms. beneath the waters of the pacific. Here there was no fine sand, no prairie, no pelagian forest.It was the Coral Kingdom. In the branch of zoophytes, class of alcyonaries we find the order of gorgonaries, which comprises three groups: the gorgonians, the isidians, and the coralians. but is jewelry to the modern world. Coral is a colony of individual animalcules, assembled on a brittle, rocklike polypary. These polyps have an unusual type of generator that reproduces them by a continuous process of budding growth; Visit one of these petrified forests, planted by nature at the bottom of the sea. Our path was edged with tangled bushes, due to the intertwining of undersea shrubbery, covered with little starlike flowers studded with white lines. However, unlike plants growing on land, these, rooted in the rocks, grew downward. Our lights created a thousand charming effects as they played among the vividly colored branches. These membranous cylindrical tubes seemed to undulate with the movement of the water. I was tempted to pick the fresh petals, ornamented with delicate tentacles, some in full bloom, others scarcely in bud, while small fish, resembling the flight of birds, darted rapidly among them. This coral.its brilliant delicate tints. The precious substance, often combined with other types of polypary, had formed compact, tangled masses called macciota, among which I noticed some magnificent specimens of pink coral.

Emma Foster

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Unit 2: Space

As we advanced the bushes grew thicker, the treelike formations taller. These were veritable petrified thickets, and long stretches of fantastic shapes opened up before us. Captain Nemo led us through a dark gallery, whose gentle slope brought us down to a depth of about three hundred feet. Our lights at times produced magical effects as they played on the rugged contours of the natural arches and hanging formations, which resembled chaplets tipped with fiery dots. After walking two hours, we had finally reached a depth of approximately nine hundred feet, that is to say, the extreme limit at which coral begins to form. No isolated shrubbery here, no brushwood- nothing but an immense forest of large mineral vegetations, huge petrified trees, bound by garlands of plumarias, tropical creepers, all tinged with hues and reflected light. We walked under high branches, almost invisible in the shade of the waves, while at our feet tubipores, meandrines, stars, fungi, and cariophytes formed a flowery carpet strewn with dazzling gems. We were at the centre of a vast clearing, surrounded by the lofty branches of a submerged forest. The rays of our lights created something resembling a twilight, which lengthened immeasurably the shadows on the bed of the sea. On the edges of the glade complete darkness reigned except for an occasional spark emitted by the living skeletons of the coral. Looking closer at the ground, I saw the surface broken here and there by slight mounds, encrusted with calcareous deposits, but arranged in a regular pattern that betrayed the hand of man. In the middle of the clearing, on a pedestal of rocks thrown on top of each other, stood a cross of coral, whose long arms, one would have thought, were made of petrified blood. This clearing was a cemetery; the hole, a grave; the oblong object, the body of the man who has dies during the night! The body, wrapped in tissue of white byssus When this had been done, Captain Nemo and his men stood up, approached the tomb, knelt once more for a second, and held out their arms as a gesture of final farewell. That is our peaceful cemetery, hundreds of feet below the surface of the waves.