At this instant
the lantern was lit, and its vividness dispelled the faint light.
I closed my dazzled eyes for an instant, and then looked again.
The Nautilus was stationary, floating near a mountain which formed
a sort of quay. The lake, then, supporting it was a lake
imprisoned by a circle of walls, measuring two miles in diameter
and six in circumference. Its level (the manometer showed)
could only be the same as the outside level, for there must
necessarily be a communication between the lake and the sea.
The high partitions, leaning forward on their base, grew into
a vaulted roof bearing the shape of an immense funnel turned
upside down, the height being about five or six hundred yards.
At the summit was a circular orifice, by which I had caught the slight
gleam of light, evidently daylight.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"In the very heart of an extinct volcano, the interior of which has
been invaded by the sea, after some great convulsion of the earth.
Whilst you were sleeping, Professor, the Nautilus penetrated
to this lagoon by a natural canal, which opens about ten yards
beneath the surface of the ocean.
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