Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne
page 116 of 217 (53%)
page 116 of 217 (53%)
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As may be guessed, a sharp look-out was kept on the prisoners, whose
temptation to escape could not but be intensified. Even supposing they jumped overboard they would have been picked up by the india-rubber boat. As there was nothing to do during the fishing, in which Phil Evans intended to take part, Uncle Prudent, raging furiously as usual, retired to his cabin. The Caspian Sea is a volcanic depression. Into it flow the waters of the Volga, the Ural, the Kour, the Kouma, the Jemba, and others. Without the evaporation which relieves it of its overflow, this basin, with an area of 17,000 square miles, and a depth of from sixty to four hundred feet, would flood the low marshy ground to its north and east. Although it is not in communication with the Black Sea or the Sea of Aral, being at a much lower level than they are, it contains an immense number of fish--such fish, be it understood, as can live in its bitter waters, the bitterness being due to the naptha which pours in from the springs on the south. The crew of the "Albatross" made no secret of their delight at the change in their food the fishing would bring them. "Look out!" shouted Turner, as he harpooned a good-size fish, not unlike a shark. It was a splendid sturgeon seven feet long, called by the Russians beluga, the eggs of which mixed up with salt, vinegar, and white wine form caviar. Sturgeons from the river are, it may be, rather better than those from the sea; but these were welcomed warmly enough on board the "Albatross." |
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