bf
Or Thira, an island in the Cyclades; it was nearly destroyed almost 3,000 years ago by a huge volcanic eruption and today is sometimes associated with the fabled civilization of Atlantis (see endnote 36).
bg
Preeminent; the best of a kind (French).
bh
Roman gods of the sea and the underworld, respectively (known to the Greeks as Poseidon and Hades).
bi
Roman goddess of love and beauty (known to the Greeks as Aphrodite).
bj
Ancient name for the Sea of Marmara in northwestern Turkey, which connects the Black Sea and the Aegean.
bk
Peasant of classical mythology who killed herself after angering Minerva (goddess of wisdom) by besting her in a weaving contest; Minerva took pity on her and transformed her into a spider.
bl
Spanish enclave in northern Morocco, opposite Gibraltar on the Strait of Gibraltar; a barrier here would close off the Mediterranean from the Atlantic.
bm
Contemporary estimates are much higher.
bn
That is, the Cape of Good Hope, off South Africa.
bo
Reference to the ascension of the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV (king of France, 1643-1715), to the Spanish throne as Philip V in 1700, which precipitated the War of the Spanish Succession.
bp
An acropolis (Greek for “uppermost city”) is the fortified height of an ancient Greek city; crowning the famed Acropolis of Athens is the Parthenon, a Doric temple dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
bq
Ancient Roman city destroyed when the volcano Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79; it was preserved by a 20-foot blanket of volcanic ash and debris and has been the site of archaeological excavations since 1748.
br
Or Pillars of Hercules; two rock promontories at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; according to legend, the rocks were placed there by the mythical Greek hero Hercules.
bs
Renowned Greek philosopher (384-322 B.C.)
bt
Clogged with seaweed and kelp, the Sargasso Sea, a large body of relatively still water in the North Atlantic Ocean, was feared by early sailors who thought the seaweed was evidence of a shallow bottom or, more spectacularly, that it would stop their ship dead.
bu
Sperm whales.
bv
Verne means March, which is an autumn month in the Southern Hemisphere.
bw
The blue whale, the largest animal in the world, measures more than 100 feet in length.
bx
White pillar or halo in the sky caused by the reflection of light off icebergs.
by
In 1958 two U.S. nuclear submarines crossed the Northwest Passage (northern sea passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans) by going under the ice. With a nod to Verne’s predictive abilities, one of the submarines was named Nautilus.
bz
Mount Erebus, on Ross Island, Antarctica, is believed to be the only active volcano in the Antarctic; it was discovered by Sir John Ross in 1841.
ca
Conventionalized iris design associated with heraldry; fleur de lis is French for “flower of the lily.”
cb
The disease is actually transmitted by the bite of an infected yellow-fever mosquito.
cc
That is, octopi, or, as Verne probably intended, squids.
cd
1864 is likely a typo. Reference to an earthquake in Japan that caused a wave to hit San Francisco, California, on December 23, 1854.
ce
Or La Manche, French name for the English Channel.
cf
The full name of this French warship was The People’s Avenger; it sank after a fight with the British in 1793.
cg
Ceremonial sacrifice of 100 oxen or cattle, an ancient Greek and Roman ritual meant to appease angry gods.
ch
The narwhale was referred to as ‘the unicorn of the sea’ because of its horn.
ci
For an answer to this question, read Verne’s 1874 novel L‘Île Mystérieuse (The Mysterious Island).
cj
Biblical book that emphasizes the limits of human knowledge.