INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME FOUR
THE three books gathered under the title "In
Search of the Castaways" occupied much of
Verne's attention during the three years following 1865. The characters used in
these
books were afterwards reintroduced in "The
Mysterious Island," which was in its turn a sequel to
"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Thus this
entire set of books form a united series upon which Verne
worked intermittently during ten years.
"In Search of the Castaways," which has also been published as "The Children of Captain Grant" and as "A Voyage Around the World," is perhaps most
interesting in connection with the last of these titles. It is our author's
first
distinctly geographical romance. By an ingenious device he
sets before the rescuers a search which compels their circumnavigation of the
globe around a certain parallel of the
southern hemisphere. Thus they cross in turn through
South America, Australia and New Zealand, besides visiting
minor islands.
The three great regions form the sub-titles of the three
books which compose the story. In each region the rescuers
meet with adventures characteristic of the land. They encounter Indians in
America; bushrangers in Australia; and
Maoris in New Zealand. The passage of the searching
party gives ground, — one is almost tempted to say, excuse,
— for a close and careful description of each country and of
its inhabitants, step by step. Even the lesser incidents of
the story are employed to emphasise the distinctive features
of each land. The explorers are almost frozen on the
heights of the Andes, and almost drowned in the floods of
the Patagonian Pampas. An avalanche sweeps some of
them away; a condor carries off a lad. In Australia they
are stopped by jungles and by quagmires; they hunt kangaroos. In New Zealand
they take refuge amid hot sulphur
springs and in a house "tabooed"; they escape by starting
a volcano into eruption.
Here then are fancy and extravagance mixed with truth
and information. Verne has done a vast and useful work
in stimulating the interest not only of Frenchmen but of all
civilised nations, with regard to the lesser known regions of
our globe. He has broadened knowledge and guided study.
During the years following 1865 he even, for a time, deserted his favorite field
of labor, fiction, and devoted himself to a popular semi-scientific book, now
superseded by
later works, entitled "The Illustrated Geography of France
and her Colonies."
Verne has perhaps had a larger share than any other single individual in
causing the ever-increasing yearly tide of
international travel. And because with mutual knowledge
among the nations comes mutual understanding and appreciation, mutual
brotherhood; hence Jules Verne was one of
the first and greatest of those teachers who are now leading
us toward International Peace.