Latest / Science Fiction Books / 08 - The Eider-Down Hunter-- Off at Last - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

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08 - The Eider-Down Hunter-- Off at Last - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight, The eider Down Hunter off At last. That evening,
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  Speaker 1: I took a brief walk on the shore near Rekyevich,
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  Speaker 1: after which I returned to an early sleep on my
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  Speaker 1: bed of coarse planks, where I slept the sleep of
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  Speaker 1: the just. When I awoke, I heard my uncle speaking
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  Speaker 1: loudly in the next room. I rose hastily and joined him.
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  Speaker 1: He was talking in Danish with a man of tall
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  Speaker 1: stature and of perfectly herculean built. This man appeared to
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  Speaker 1: be possessed of very great strength. His eyes, which started
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  Speaker 1: rather prominently from a very large head, the face belonging
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  Speaker 1: to which was simple and naive, appeared very quick and intelligent.
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  Speaker 1: Very long hair, which even in England would have been
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  Speaker 1: accounted exceedingly red, fell over his athletic shoulders. This native
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  Speaker 1: of Iceland was active and supple in appearance, though he
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  Speaker 1: scarcely moved his arms, being in fact one of those
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  Speaker 1: men who despises the habit of gesticulation common to southern people.
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  Speaker 1: Everything in this man's manner revealed a calm and phlegmatic temperament.
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  Speaker 1: There was nothing indolent about him, but his appearance spoke
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  Speaker 1: of tranquility. He was one of those who never seemed
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  Speaker 1: to expect anything from anybody, who liked to work when
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  Speaker 1: he thought proper, and whose philosophy nothing could astonish or trouble.
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  Speaker 1: I began to comprehend his character simply from the way
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  Speaker 1: in which he listened to the wild and impassioned verbiage
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  Speaker 1: of my worthy uncle. While the excellent professor spoke sentence
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  Speaker 1: after sentence, he stood with folded arms, utterly still, motionless
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  Speaker 1: to all my uncle's gesticulations. When he wanted to say no,
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  Speaker 1: he moved his head from left to right. When he acquiesced,
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  Speaker 1: he nodded so slightly that you could have scarcely seen
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  Speaker 1: the undulation of his head. This economy of motion was
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  Speaker 1: carried to the length of avarice. Judging from his appearance,
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  Speaker 1: I should have been a long time before I had
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  Speaker 1: suspected him to be what he was, A mighty hunter. Certainly,
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  Speaker 1: his manner was not likely to frighten the game. How then,
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  Speaker 1: did he contrive to get at his prey. My surprise
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  Speaker 1: was slightly modified when I knew that this tranquil and
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  Speaker 1: solemn personage was only a hunter of the eider duck,
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  Speaker 1: which is, after all the greatest source of the icelander's wealth.
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  Speaker 1: In the early days of summer, the female of the eider,
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  Speaker 1: a pretty sort of duck, builds its nest amid the
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  Speaker 1: rocks of the Fiords, the name given to all narrow
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  Speaker 1: gulfs in Scandinavian countries, with which every part of the
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  Speaker 1: island is indented. No sooner has the eider duck made
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  Speaker 1: her nest than she lines the inside of it with
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  Speaker 1: the softest down from her breast. Then comes the hunter
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  Speaker 1: or trader, taking away the nest. The poor bereaved female
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  Speaker 1: begins her task over again, and this continues as long
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  Speaker 1: as any eider down is to be found. When she
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  Speaker 1: can find no more, the male bird sets to work
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  Speaker 1: to see what he can do, As however, his down
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  Speaker 1: is not so soft and therefore has no commercial value,
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  Speaker 1: the hunter does not take the trouble to rob him
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  Speaker 1: of his nest. Lining the nest is accordingly finished, the
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  Speaker 1: eggs are laid, the little ones are born, and next
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  Speaker 1: year the harvest of eiderdown is again collected. Now as
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  Speaker 1: the eider duck never selects steep rocks or aspects to
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  Speaker 1: build its nest, but rather sloping and low cliffs near
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  Speaker 1: to the see the Icelandic hunter can carry on his
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  Speaker 1: trade operations without much difficulty. He is like a farmer
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  Speaker 1: who has neither to plow, to sew, nor to harrow,
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  Speaker 1: only to collect his harvest. This grave, sententious, silent person,
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  Speaker 1: as phlegmatic as an englishman on the French stage, was
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  Speaker 1: named Hans Bielke. He had called upon us in consequence
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  Speaker 1: of the recommendation of Miss Friedrichson. He was, in fact
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  Speaker 1: our future guide. It struck me that had I sought
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  Speaker 1: the world over, I could not have found a greater
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  Speaker 1: contradiction to my impulsive uncle. They, however, readily understood one another.
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  Speaker 1: Neither of them had any thought about money. One was
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  Speaker 1: ready to take all that was offered him, the other
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  Speaker 1: ready to offer anything that was asked. It may readily
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  Speaker 1: be conceived, then, that an understanding was soon to come
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  Speaker 1: between them. Now the understanding was that he was to
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  Speaker 1: take us to the village of Stappe, situated on the
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  Speaker 1: southern slope of the Peninsula Sneffels, at the very foot
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  Speaker 1: of the volcano. Hans the guide told us the distance
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  Speaker 1: was about twenty two miles, a journey which my uncle
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  Speaker 1: supposed would take about two days. But when my uncle
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  Speaker 1: came to understand that they were Danish miles of eight
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  Speaker 1: thousand yards each. He was obliged to be more moderate
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  Speaker 1: in his ideas, and, considering the horrible roads we had
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  Speaker 1: to follow, to allow eight or ten days for the journey.
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  Speaker 1: Four horses were prepared for us, two to carry the
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  Speaker 1: baggage and two to bear the important weight of myself
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  Speaker 1: and Uncle. Hans declared that nothing ever would make him
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  Speaker 1: climb on the back of any animal. He knew every
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  Speaker 1: inch of that part of the coast, and promised to
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  Speaker 1: take us the very shortest way. His engagement with my
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  Speaker 1: uncle was by no means to cease with our arrival
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  Speaker 1: at Stoppy. He was further to remain in his service
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  Speaker 1: during the whole time required for the completion of his
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  Speaker 1: scientific investigations, at the fixed salary of three ricks dollars
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  Speaker 1: a week, being exactly fourteen shillings and twopence minus one
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  Speaker 1: farthing English currency. One stipulation, however, was made by the guide.
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  Speaker 1: The money was to be paid to him every Saturday night,
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  Speaker 1: failing which his engagement was at an end. The day
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  Speaker 1: of our departure was fixed. My uncle wished to hand
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  Speaker 1: the eider down hunter in advance but he refused in
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  Speaker 1: one emphetic word efter, which, being translated from Icelandic into
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  Speaker 1: plain English, means after the treaty concluded, our worthy guide
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  Speaker 1: retired without another word. A splendid fellow, said, my uncle,
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  Speaker 1: only he little suspects the marvelous part he is about
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  Speaker 1: to play in the history of the world. You mean, then,
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  Speaker 1: I cried in amazement, that he should accompany us to
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  Speaker 1: the interior of the earth. Yes, replied my uncle, why not?
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  Speaker 1: There were yet forty eight hours to elapse before we
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  Speaker 1: made our final start. To my great regret, our whole
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  Speaker 1: time was taken up in making preparations for our journey.
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  Speaker 1: All our industry and ability were devoted to packing every
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  Speaker 1: object in the most advantageous manner. The instruments on one side,
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  Speaker 1: the arms on the other, the tools here, and the
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  Speaker 1: provisions there. There were in fact four distinct groups. The
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  Speaker 1: instruments were, of course, of the best manufacture. One a
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  Speaker 1: centigrade thermometer of Eigel, counting up to one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty degrees, which to me did not appear half enough
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  Speaker 1: or too much too hot by half if the degree
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  Speaker 1: of heat was to ascend so high, in which case
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  Speaker 1: we would certainly be cooked, not enough if we wanted
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  Speaker 1: to ascertain the exact temperature of springs or metal in
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  Speaker 1: a state of fusion. Two A monometer which worked by
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  Speaker 1: compressed air, an instrument used to ascertain the upper atmospheric
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  Speaker 1: pressure on the level of the ocean. Perhaps a common
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  Speaker 1: barometer would not have done as well, the atmospheric pressure
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  Speaker 1: being likely to increase in proportion as we descended below
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  Speaker 1: the surface of the Earth. Three A first class chronometer
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  Speaker 1: made by Bosanus of Geneva, set at the meridian of Hamburg,
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  Speaker 1: from which Germans calculate as the English jew from Greenwich
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  Speaker 1: and the French from Paris. Four Two compasses, one for
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  Speaker 1: horizontal guidance, the other to ascertain the dip. Five A
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  Speaker 1: night glass. Six two Ruhmkorff coils, which by means of
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  Speaker 1: a current of electricity, would ensure us a very excellent,
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  Speaker 1: easily carried and certain means of obtaining light. Seven A
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  Speaker 1: voltic battery on the newest principle footnote Thermometer thermos and
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  Speaker 1: metron measure an instrument for measuring the temperature of the air.
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  Speaker 1: Monometer monos and metron measure an instrument to show the
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  Speaker 1: density or rarity of gases, chronometer, kronos time and metros measure,
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  Speaker 1: a time measurer or superior watch. Ruhmkorff's coil an instrument
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  Speaker 1: for producing currents of induced electricity of great intensity. It
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  Speaker 1: consists of a coil of copper wire, insulated by being
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  Speaker 1: covered with silk, surrounded by another coil of fine wire,
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  Speaker 1: also insulated, in which a momentary current is induced when
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  Speaker 1: a current is passed through the inner coil from a
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  Speaker 1: voltic battery. When the apparatus is in action, the gas
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  Speaker 1: becomes lumine and produces a white and continued light. The
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  Speaker 1: battery and wire are carried in a leather bag, which
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  Speaker 1: the traveler fastens by a strap to his shoulders. The
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  Speaker 1: lantern is in front and enables the benighted wanderer to
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  Speaker 1: see in the most profound obscurity. He may venture without
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  Speaker 1: fear of explosion into the midst of the most inflammable gases,
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  Speaker 1: and the lantern will burn beneath the deepest waters. H.
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  Speaker 1: D Ruhmkorff, an able and learned chemist, discovered the induction
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  Speaker 1: coil in eighteen sixty four. He won the Quinquinial French
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  Speaker 1: prize of two thousand pounds for this ingenious application of electricity.
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  Speaker 1: A voltic battery, so called from volta its designer, is
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  Speaker 1: an apparatus consisting of a series of metal plates arranged
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  Speaker 1: in pairs and subjected to the action of saline solutions
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  Speaker 1: for producing currents of electricity. End footnote. Our arms consisted
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  Speaker 1: of two rifles with two revolving six shooters. Why these
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  Speaker 1: arms were provided, It was impossible for me to say.
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  Speaker 1: I had every reason to believe that we had neither
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  Speaker 1: wild beast nor savage natives to fear. My uncle, on
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, was quite devoted to his arsenal and
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  Speaker 1: to his collection of instruments, and above all, was very
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  Speaker 1: careful with his provision of fulminating or gun cotton warranted
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  Speaker 1: to keep in any climate, and of which the expansive
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  Speaker 1: force was known to be greater than that of ordinary gunpowder.
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  Speaker 1: Our tools consisted of two pickaxes, two crowbars, a silken ladder,
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  Speaker 1: three iron shod alpine poles, a hatchet, a hammer, a
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  Speaker 1: dozen wedges, some pointed pieces of iron, and a quantity
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  Speaker 1: of strong rope. You may conceive that the hole made
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  Speaker 1: a tolerable parcel, especially when I mentioned that the latter
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  Speaker 1: itself was three hundred feet long. Then there came the
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  Speaker 1: important question of provisions. The hamper was not very large,
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  Speaker 1: but tolerably satisfactory, for I knew that in concentrated essence
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  Speaker 1: of meat and biscuit there was enough to last six months.
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  Speaker 1: The only liquid provided by my uncle was shyem of water,
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  Speaker 1: not a drop. We had, however, an ample supply of gourds,
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  Speaker 1: and my uncle counted on finding water and enough to
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  Speaker 1: fill them as soon as we commenced our downward journey.
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  Speaker 1: My remarks as to the temperature, the quality, and even
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of none being found, remained wholly without effect.
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  Speaker 1: To make up the exact list of our traveling gear
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  Speaker 1: for the guidance of future travelers, add that we carried
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  Speaker 1: a medicine and surgical chest with all apparatus necessary for wounds,
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  Speaker 1: fractures and blows, lint, scissors, lancets, in fact, a perfect
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  Speaker 1: collection of horrible looking instruments, a number of vials containing ammonia, alcohol, ether, gallard, water,
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  Speaker 1: aromatic vinegar, in fact, every possible and impossible drug. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: all materials for work in the Ruhmkorff coil. My uncle
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  Speaker 1: had also been careful to lay in a goodly supply
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  Speaker 1: of tobacco, several flasks of very fine gunpowder, boxes of tinder,
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  Speaker 1: besides a large belt crammed full of notes and gold.
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  Speaker 1: Good boots rendered watertight were to be found to the
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  Speaker 1: number of six in the tool box. My boy, with
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  Speaker 1: such clothing, with such boots and such general equipment, said
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  Speaker 1: my uncle, in a state of rapturous delight, we may
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  Speaker 1: hope to travel far. It took a whole day to
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  Speaker 1: put these matters in order. In the evening we dined
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  Speaker 1: with Baron Tramp, in company with the Mayor of rekuevict
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  Speaker 1: and doctor Hyaltealin, a great medical man of Iceland. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Friederckson was not present, and I was afterwards sorry to
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  Speaker 1: hear that he and the Governor did not agree on
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  Speaker 1: some matters connected with the administration of the island. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: the consequence was that I did not understand a word
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  Speaker 1: that was said at dinner, a kind of semi official reception.
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  Speaker 1: One thing I can say, my uncle never left off speaking.
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  Speaker 1: The next day our labor came to an end. Our
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  Speaker 1: worthy host delighted my uncle, Professor Hardwig by giving him
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  Speaker 1: a good map of Iceland, a most important and precious
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  Speaker 1: document for a mineralogist. Our last evening was spent in
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  Speaker 1: a long conversation with mister Friedericson, whom I liked very much,
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  Speaker 1: the more that I never expected to see him or
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  Speaker 1: any one else again. After this agreeable way of spending
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  Speaker 1: an hour or so, I tried to sleep in vain.
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  Speaker 1: With the exception of a few dozes, My night was miserable.
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  Speaker 1: At five o'clock in the morning, I was awakened from
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  Speaker 1: the only real half hour's sleep of the night by
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  Speaker 1: the loud nighing of horses under my window. I hastily
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  Speaker 1: dressed myself and went down into the street. Hans was
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  Speaker 1: engaged in putting the finishing stroke to our baggage, which
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  Speaker 1: he did in a silent, quiet way that won my admiration.
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  Speaker 1: And yet he did it admirably well. My uncle wasted
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  Speaker 1: a great deal of breath in giving him directions, but
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  Speaker 1: worthy Hans took not the slightest notice of his words.
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  Speaker 1: At six o'clock, all our preparations were completed, and mister
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  Speaker 1: Friedrichson shook hands heartily with us. My uncle thanked him
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  Speaker 1: warmly in Icelandic language for his hospitality, speaking truly from
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  Speaker 1: the heart. As for myself, I put together a few
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  Speaker 1: of my best Latin phrases, and paid him the highest
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  Speaker 1: compliments I could. This fraternal and friendly duty performed, we
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  Speaker 1: sallied forth and mounted our horses. As soon as we
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  Speaker 1: were quite ready. Mister Friederickson advanced, and, by way of farewell,
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  Speaker 1: called after me the words of Virgil, words which appeared
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  Speaker 1: to have been made for us travelers starting for an
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  Speaker 1: uncertain destination at kokunke vum didur it fortuna secuamar, And
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  Speaker 1: whichsoever way thou goest, may fortune follow. End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: eight