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15 - We Continue Our Descent - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Daily Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, we continue our descent. At eight o'clock the
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  Speaker 1: next morning, a faint kind of dawn of day awoke us.
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  Speaker 1: The thousand and one prisms of the lava collected the
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  Speaker 1: light as it passed, and brought it to us like
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  Speaker 1: a shower of sparks. We were able with ease to
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  Speaker 1: see objects around us. Well, Harry, my boy, cried the
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  Speaker 1: delighted professor, rubbing his hands together. What say you now?
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  Speaker 1: Did you ever pass a more tranquil night in our
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  Speaker 1: house in the Kernigstrasa, No deafening sounds of cart wheels,
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  Speaker 1: no cries of hawkers, no bad language from boatmen or watermen. Well, uncle,
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  Speaker 1: we are quite at the bottom of this well. But
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  Speaker 1: to me there is something terrible in this calm. Why,
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  Speaker 1: said the professor hotly, one would say you were already
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  Speaker 1: beginning to be afraid. How will you get on presently?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know that, as yet we have not penetrated
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  Speaker 1: one inch into the bowels of the earth. What can
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  Speaker 1: you mean, sir, was my bewildered and astonished reply. I
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  Speaker 1: mean to say that we have just reached the soil
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  Speaker 1: of the island itself. This long vertical tube which ends
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  Speaker 1: at the bottom of the crater of Sneffels ceases here
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  Speaker 1: just about on a level with the sea. Are you sure, sir?
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  Speaker 1: Quite sure? Consult the barometer. It was quite true that
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  Speaker 1: the mercury, after rising gradually in the instrument as long
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  Speaker 1: as our descent was taking place, had stopped precisely at
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  Speaker 1: twenty nine degrees. You'll perceive, said the professor, we have
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  Speaker 1: as yet only to endure the pressure of air. I
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  Speaker 1: am curious to replace the barometer by the manometer. The barometer,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, was about to become useless as soon as
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  Speaker 1: the weight of the air was greater than rot was
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  Speaker 1: calculated as above the level of the ocean. But said I,
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  Speaker 1: is it not very much to be feared that this
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  Speaker 1: ever increasing pressure may not, in the end turn out
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  Speaker 1: very painful and inconvenient? No, said he. We shall descend
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  Speaker 1: very slowly, and our lungs will be gradually accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: breathe compressed air. It is well known that air naughts
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  Speaker 1: have gone so high as to be nearly without air
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  Speaker 1: at all. Why then, should we not accustom ourselves to
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  Speaker 1: breathe when we have, say a little too much of it?
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  Speaker 1: For myself, I am certain I shall prefer it. Let
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  Speaker 1: us not lose a moment. Where is the packet which
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  Speaker 1: preceded us in our descent? I smilingly pointed it out
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  Speaker 1: to my uncle. Hans had not seen it and believed
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  Speaker 1: it caught somewhere above us. Up as he phrased it, Now,
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  Speaker 1: said my uncle, let us breakfast, and break fast like
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  Speaker 1: people who have a long day's work before them. Biscuit
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  Speaker 1: and dried meat, washed down by some mouthfuls of water
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  Speaker 1: flavored with sheedam was the material of our luxurious meal.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as it was finished, my uncle took from
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  Speaker 1: his pocket a note book destined to be filled by
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  Speaker 1: memoranda of our travels. He had already placed his instruments
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  Speaker 1: in order, and this is what he wrote. Monday, June
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  Speaker 1: twenty ninth. Chronometer eight hours, seventeen minutes morning barometer twenty
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  Speaker 1: nine point six inches thermomesa six degrees bracket's forty three
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  Speaker 1: degrees fahrenheit, direction east southeast. This last observation referred to
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  Speaker 1: the obscure gallery and was indicated to us by the compass. Now, Harry,
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  Speaker 1: cried the professor, in an enthusiastic tone of voice. We
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  Speaker 1: are truly about to take our first step. Into the
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  Speaker 1: interior of the earth, never before visited by man since
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  Speaker 1: the first creation of the world. You may consider, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: that at this precise moment our travels really commence. As
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  Speaker 1: my uncle made this remark, he took in one hand
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  Speaker 1: the Ruhmkorff coil apparatus, which hung around his neck, and
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  Speaker 1: with the other he put the electric current into communication
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  Speaker 1: with the worm of the lantern, and a bright light
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  Speaker 1: at once illomed that dark and gloomy tunnel. The effect
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  Speaker 1: was magical. Hans, who carried the second apparatus, had it
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  Speaker 1: also put into operation. This ingenious application of electricity to
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  Speaker 1: practic purposes enabled us to move along by the light
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  Speaker 1: of an artificial day, amid even the flow of the
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  Speaker 1: most inflammable and combustible gases. Forward, cried my uncle. Each
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  Speaker 1: took up his burden. Hands went first, My uncle followed,
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  Speaker 1: an I going third. We entered the somber gallery. Just
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  Speaker 1: as we were about to engulf ourselves in this dismal passage,
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  Speaker 1: I lifted up my head and through the tube like shaft,
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  Speaker 1: saw that Iceland sky I was never to see again.
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  Speaker 1: Was it the last I should ever see of any sky?
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  Speaker 1: The stream of lava flowing from the bowels of the
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  Speaker 1: earth in twelve nineteen had forced itself a passage through
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  Speaker 1: the tunnel. It lined the whole of the inside with
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  Speaker 1: its thick and brilliant coating. The electric light added very
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  Speaker 1: greatly to the brilliancy of the effect. The great difficulty
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  Speaker 1: of our journey now began. How were we to prevent
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  Speaker 1: ourselves from slipping down the steeply inclined plane. Happily, some cracks,
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  Speaker 1: abrasures of the soil, and other irregularities served the place
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  Speaker 1: of steps, and we descended slowly, allowing our heavy luggage
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  Speaker 1: to slip on before at the end of a long cord.
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  Speaker 1: But that which served us steps under our feet became
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  Speaker 1: in other places stalactites. The lava very poorous in certain
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  Speaker 1: places took the form of little round blisters, crystals of
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  Speaker 1: a paque quartz, adorned with limpid drops of natural glass,
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  Speaker 1: suspended to the roof like lusters, seemed to take fire
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  Speaker 1: as we passed beneath them. One would have fancied that
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  Speaker 1: the Genii of Romance were illuminating their underground palaces to
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  Speaker 1: receive the sons of men magnificent, glorious. I cried, in
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  Speaker 1: a moment of involuntary enthusiasm. What a spectacle, Uncle, do
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  Speaker 1: you not admire these variegated shades of lava which run
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  Speaker 1: through a whole series of colors, from reddish brown to
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  Speaker 1: pale yellow by the most insensible degrees, and these crystals,
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  Speaker 1: they appear like luminous globes. You are beginning to see
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  Speaker 1: the charms of travel. Master, Harry, cried, my uncle, wait
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  Speaker 1: a bit until we advanced. Father. What we have as
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  Speaker 1: yet discovered is nothing. Onwards, my boy, onwards. It would
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  Speaker 1: have been a far more correct and appropriate expression had
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  Speaker 1: he said, let us slide, for we were going down
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  Speaker 1: an inclined plane with perfect ease. The compass indicated that
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  Speaker 1: we were moving in a southeasterly direction. The flow of
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  Speaker 1: lava had never turned to the right or to the left.
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  Speaker 1: It had the inflexibility of a straight line. Nevertheless, to
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  Speaker 1: my surprise, we found no perceptible increase in heat. This
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  Speaker 1: proved the theories of Humphrey David to be founded on truth.
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  Speaker 1: And more than once, I found myself examining the thermometer
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  Speaker 1: in silent astonishment. Two hours after our departure, it only
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  Speaker 1: marked fifty four degrees fahrenheit. I had every reason to
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  Speaker 1: believe from this that our descent was far more horizontal
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  Speaker 1: than vertical. As for discovering the exact depth to which
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  Speaker 1: we had attained, nothing could be easier. The professor, as
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  Speaker 1: he advanced, measured the angles of deviation and inclination, but
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  Speaker 1: he kept the result of his own observations to himself.
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  Speaker 1: About eight o'clock in the evening, my uncle gave the
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  Speaker 1: signal for halting. Hans seated himself on the ground. The
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  Speaker 1: lamps were hung to fishes in the lava rock. We
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  Speaker 1: were now in a large cavern where air was not wanting.
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  Speaker 1: On the contrary, it abounded what could be the course
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  Speaker 1: of this to what atmospheric agitation could be ascribed this draft?
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  Speaker 1: But this was a question which I did not care
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  Speaker 1: to discuss. Just then, fatigue and hunger made me incapable
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  Speaker 1: of reasoning. An unceasing march of seven hours had not
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  Speaker 1: been kept up without great exhaustion. I was really and
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  Speaker 1: truly worn out and delighted enough I was to hear
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  Speaker 1: the word halt. Hans laid out some provisions on a
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  Speaker 1: lump of lava, and we each supped with keen relish.
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  Speaker 1: One thing, however, caused us great uneasiness. Our water reserve
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  Speaker 1: was already half exhausted. My uncle had full confidence in
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  Speaker 1: finding subterranean resources, but hitherto we had completely failed in
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  Speaker 1: so doing. I could not help call my uncle's attention
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  Speaker 1: to the circumstance. And you are surprised at this total
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  Speaker 1: absence of springs, he said, doubtless, I am very uneasy
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  Speaker 1: on the point. We have certainly not enough water to
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  Speaker 1: last us five days. Be quite easy on that matter,
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  Speaker 1: continued my uncle. I answer for it. We shall find
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  Speaker 1: plenty of water, in fact, far more than we shall want.
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  Speaker 1: But when when we once get through this crust of lava,
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  Speaker 1: how can you expect springs to force their way through
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  Speaker 1: these solid stone walls. But what is there to prove
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  Speaker 1: that this concrete mass of lava does not extend to
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  Speaker 1: the center of the earth. I don't think we have
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  Speaker 1: as yet done much in a vertical way. What puts
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  Speaker 1: that into your head, my boy, asked my uncle mildly. Well,
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  Speaker 1: it appears to me that if we had descended very
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  Speaker 1: far below the level of the sea, we should find
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  Speaker 1: it rather hotter than we have, according to your system,
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  Speaker 1: said my uncle. But what does the thermommyter say, scarcely
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  Speaker 1: fifteen degrees by Raema, which is only an increase of
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  Speaker 1: nine since our departure. Well, and what conclusion does that
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  Speaker 1: bring you to, inquired the professor. The de duttion I
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  Speaker 1: draw from this is very simple. According to the most
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  Speaker 1: exact observations, the augmentation of the temperature of the interior
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  Speaker 1: of the Earth is one degree for every hundred feet,
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  Speaker 1: but certain local causes may considerably modify this figure. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: at yakust In, Siberia, it has been remarked that the
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  Speaker 1: heat increases a degree every thirty six feet. The difference
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  Speaker 1: evidently depends on the conductibility of certain rocks. In the
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood of an extinct volcano, it has been remarked that
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  Speaker 1: the elevation of temperature was only one degree in every
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  Speaker 1: five and twenty feet. Let us then go upon this calculation,
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  Speaker 1: which is the most favorable, and calculate. Calculate away, my boy,
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  Speaker 1: nothing easier, said I, pulling out my notebook and pencil.
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  Speaker 1: Nine times one hundred and twenty five feet makes a
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  Speaker 1: depth of eleven hundred and twenty five feet. Archimedes could
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  Speaker 1: not have spoken more u geometrically well, well, according to
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  Speaker 1: my observations, we are at least ten thousand feet below
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  Speaker 1: the level of the sea. Can it be possible either
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  Speaker 1: my calculation is correct or there is no truth in figures?
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  Speaker 1: The calculations of the Professor were perfectly correct. We were
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  Speaker 1: already six thousand feet deeper down in the bowels of
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  Speaker 1: the earth than any one had ever been before. The
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  Speaker 1: lowest known depth to which man had hitherto penetrated was
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  Speaker 1: in the minds of Kittspool in the Tyrrel and those
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  Speaker 1: of Wurttemberg. The temperature which should have been eighty one,
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  Speaker 1: was in this place only fifteen. This was a matter
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  Speaker 1: for serious consideration. End of Chapter fifteen.