海底两万里 第240期 第19章 万尼科罗群岛(2)

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1822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 pisions. 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。