Таємничий острів

           "Whynot?"repliedPencroft."PortNeb,thatwoulddoverywell!AndCapeGideon—"

           "Ishouldpreferborrowingnamesfromourcountry,"saidthereporter,"whichwouldremindusofAmerica."

           "Yes,fortheprincipalones,"thensaidCyrusHarding;"forthoseofthebaysandseas,Iadmititwillingly.WemightgivetothatvastbayontheeastthenameofUnionBay,forexample;tothatlargehollowonthesouth,WashingtonBay;tothemountainuponwhichwearestanding,thatofMountFranklin;tothatlakewhichisextendedunderoureyes,thatofLakeGrant;nothingcouldbebetter,myfriends.Thesenameswillrecallourcountry,andthoseofthegreatcitizenswhohavehonoredit;butfortherivers,gulfs,capes,andpromontories,whichweperceivefromthetopofthismountain,ratherletuschoosenameswhichwillrecalltheirparticularshape.Theywillimpressthemselvesbetteronourmemory,andatthesametimewillbemorepractical.Theshapeoftheislandissostrangethatweshallnotbetroubledtoimaginewhatitresembles.Astothestreamswhichwedonotknowasyet,indifferentpartsoftheforestwhichweshallexplorelater,thecreekswhichafterwardswillhediscovered,wecanchristenthemaswefindthem.Whatdoyouthink,myfriends?"

           Theengineer’sproposalwasunanimouslyagreedtobyhiscompanions.Theislandwasspreadoutundertheireyeslikeamap,andtheyhadonlytogivenamestoallitsanglesandpoints.GideonSpilettwouldwritethemdown,andthegeographicalnomenclatureoftheislandwouldbedefinitelyadopted.First,theynamedthetwobaysandthemountain,UnionBay,WashingtonBay,andMountFranklin,astheengineerhadsuggested.