noon
In fact , it takes no less than sixteen dozen of these headless mollusks to supply the 315 grams that satisfy one man 's minimum daily requirement for nitrogen . On December 25 the Nautilus navigated amid the island group of the New Hebrides , which the Portuguese seafarer Queir ≤ s discovered in 1606 , which Commander Bougainville explored in 1768 , and to which Captain Cook gave its current name in 1773 . This group is chiefly made up of nine large islands and forms a 120-league strip from the north-northwest to the south-southeast , lying between latitude 2 degrees and 15 degrees south , and between longitude 164 degrees and 168 degrees . At the moment of our noon sights , we passed fairly close to the island of Aurou , which looked to me like a mass of green woods crowned by a peak of great height . That day it was yuletide , and it struck me that Ned Land badly missed celebrating `` Christmas , '' that genuine family holiday where Protestants are such zealots . I had n't seen Captain Nemo for over a week , when , on the morning of the 27th , he entered the main lounge , as usual acting as if he 'd been gone for just five minutes . I was busy tracing the Nautilus 's course on the world map .