noon
`` Yes , my boy ; and you need not try to compute the number of these infusoria . You will not be able , for , if I am not mistaken , ships have floated on these milk seas for more than forty miles . '' Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour ; but behind us , even to the limits of the horizon , the sky reflected the whitened waves , and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague glimmerings of an aurora borealis . On the 28th of February , when at noon the Nautilus came to the surface of the sea , in 9 ° 4 ' N. lat. , there was land in sight about eight miles to westward . The first thing I noticed was a range of mountains about two thousand feet high , the shapes of which were most capricious . On taking the bearings , I knew that we were nearing the island of Ceylon , the pearl which hangs from the lobe of the Indian Peninsula . Captain Nemo and his second appeared at this moment .