“Oh, I am not going to dive head foremost. But if all oceans are properly speaking but lakes, since they are encompassed by land, of course this internal sea will be surrounded by a coast of granite, and on the opposite shores we shall find fresh passages opening.”

“How long do you suppose this sea to be?”

“Thirty or forty leagues; so that we have no time to lose, and we shall set sail tomorrow.”

I looked about for a ship.

“Set sail, shall we? But I should like to see my boat first.”

“It will not be a boat at all, but a good, well-made raft.”

“Why,” I said, “a raft would be just as hard to make as a boat, and I don’t see⁠—”