Latest / Science Fiction Books / 17 - Deeper and Deeper - The Coal Mine - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

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17 - Deeper and Deeper - The Coal Mine - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, deeper and deeper the coal mine. In truth,
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  Speaker 1: we were compelled to put ourselves upon rations. Our supply
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  Speaker 1: would certainly last no more than three days. I found
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  Speaker 1: this out about supper time. The worst part of the
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  Speaker 1: matter was that in what is called the transition rocks,
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  Speaker 1: it was hardly to be expected we should meet with water.
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  Speaker 1: I had read of the horrors of thirst, and I
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  Speaker 1: knew that where we were, a brief trial of its
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  Speaker 1: sufferings would put an end to our adventures and our lives.
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  Speaker 1: But it was utterly useless to discuss the matter with
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  Speaker 1: my uncle. He would have answered by some maximom from Plato.
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  Speaker 1: During the whole of next day we proceeded on our
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  Speaker 1: journey through this interminable gallery, arch after arch tunnel of
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  Speaker 1: the tunnel, we journeyed without exchanging a word. We had
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  Speaker 1: become as mute and reticent as ants. Our guide. The
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  Speaker 1: road had no longer an upward tendency at all events.
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  Speaker 1: If it had, it was not to be made out
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  Speaker 1: very clearly. Sometimes there could be no doubt that we
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  Speaker 1: were going downwards. But this inclination was scarcely to be distinguished,
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  Speaker 1: and was by no means reassuring to the professor, because
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  Speaker 1: the character of the strata was in no wise modified,
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  Speaker 1: and the transition character of the rocks became more and
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  Speaker 1: more marked. It was a glorious sight to see how
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  Speaker 1: the electric light brought out the sparkles in the walls
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  Speaker 1: of the calcerous rocks and the old red sandstone. One
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  Speaker 1: might have fancied oneself in one of those deep cuttings
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  Speaker 1: in Devonshire which have given their name to this kind
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  Speaker 1: of soil. Some magnificent specimens of marble protected from the
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  Speaker 1: sides of the gallery, some of an agate gray with
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  Speaker 1: white veins of variegated character, the others of a yellow
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  Speaker 1: spotted color with red veins. Farther off might be seen
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  Speaker 1: samples of color in which charity hinted seams were to
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  Speaker 1: be found in all their brightest shades. The greater number
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  Speaker 1: of these marbles were stamped with the marks of primitive animals.
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  Speaker 1: Since the previous evening, nature and creation had made considerable progress.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of the rudimentary trilovites, I perceived the remains of
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  Speaker 1: a more perfect order. Among others, the fish in which
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  Speaker 1: the eye of a geologist has been able to discover
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  Speaker 1: the first form of the reptile. The Devonian seas were
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  Speaker 1: inhabited by a vast number of animals of this species,
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  Speaker 1: which were deposited in tens of thousands in the rocks
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  Speaker 1: of New Formation. It was quite evident to me that
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  Speaker 1: we were ascending the scale of animal life of which
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  Speaker 1: man forms the summit. My excellent uncle, the Professor, appeared
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  Speaker 1: not to take notice of these warnings. He was determined,
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  Speaker 1: at any risk to proceed. He must have been in
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  Speaker 1: expectation of one of two things, either that a vertical
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  Speaker 1: well was about to open under his feet and thus
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  Speaker 1: allow him to continue his descent, or that some insurmountable
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  Speaker 1: obstacle would compel us to stop and go back by
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  Speaker 1: the road we had so long traveled. But evening came again,
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  Speaker 1: and to my horror, neither hope was doomed to be realized.
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  Speaker 1: On Friday after night, when I began to feel the
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  Speaker 1: gnawing agony of thirst, and when in consequence appetite decreased,
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  Speaker 1: our little band rose and once more followed the turnings
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  Speaker 1: and windings, the ascents and descents of this interminable gallery
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  Speaker 1: all were silent and gloomy. I could see that even
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  Speaker 1: my uncle had ventured too far. After about ten hours
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  Speaker 1: of further progress, a progress dull and monotonous to the
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  Speaker 1: last degree, I remarked that the reverberation and reflection of
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  Speaker 1: our lamps upon the sides of the tunnel had singularly diminished.
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  Speaker 1: The marble discussed the calcerous rocks the red sandstone had disappeared,
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  Speaker 1: leaving in their places a dark and gloomy wall, somber
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  Speaker 1: and without brightness. When we reached a remarkably narrow part
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  Speaker 1: of the tunnel, I leaned my left hand against the rock.
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  Speaker 1: When I took my hand away and happened to glance
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  Speaker 1: at it, it was quite black. We had reached the
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  Speaker 1: coal strata of the central earth. A coal mine, I cried,
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  Speaker 1: A coal mine without miners, responded my uncle a little severely.
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  Speaker 1: How can we tell? I can tell?
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  Speaker 2: Replied my uncle, in a sharp and doctoral tone. I
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  Speaker 2: am perfectly certain that this gallery, through successive layers of coal,
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  Speaker 2: was not cut by the hand of man. But whether
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  Speaker 2: it is the work of nature or not is of
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  Speaker 2: little concern to us. The hour for our evening meal
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  Speaker 2: has come, let us up. Hence the guide occupied himself
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  Speaker 2: in preparing food. I had come to that point when
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  Speaker 2: I could no longer eat. All I cared about were
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  Speaker 2: the few drops of water which fell to my share.
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  Speaker 2: What I suffered, it is useless to record. The guide
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  Speaker 2: scored not quite half full. Was all that was left
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  Speaker 2: for us three. Having finished the repast, my two companions
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  Speaker 2: laid themselves down upon their rugs and found in sleep
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  Speaker 2: a remedy for their fatigue and sufferings. As for me,
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  Speaker 2: I could not sleep. I lay count the hours until morning.
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  Speaker 2: The next morning, Saturday, at six o'clock we started again.
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  Speaker 2: Twenty minutes later we suddenly came upon a vast excavation.
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  Speaker 2: From its mighty extent, I saw at once that the
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  Speaker 2: hand of man could have had nothing to do with
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  Speaker 2: his coal mine. The vault above would have fallen in
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  Speaker 2: as it was. It was only held together by some
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  Speaker 2: miracle of nature. This mighty natural cavern was about a
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  Speaker 2: hundred feet wide by about a hundred and fifty high.
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  Speaker 2: The earth had evidently been cast apart by some violent
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  Speaker 2: subterranean commotion. The mass, giving way to some prodigious upheaving
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  Speaker 2: of nature, had split in two, leaving the vast gap
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  Speaker 2: into which we inhabitants of the earth had penetrated for
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  Speaker 2: the first time the whole singular history of the Cold
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  Speaker 2: Period was written on those dark and gloomy walls, a
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  Speaker 2: geologist would have been able easily to follow the different
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  Speaker 2: phases of its formation. The seams of coal were separated
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  Speaker 2: by strata of sandstone, a compact clay which appeared to
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  Speaker 2: be crushed down by the weight from above. At that
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  Speaker 2: period of the world which preceded the Secondary Epoch, the
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  Speaker 2: Earth was covered by a coating of enormous and rich vegetation.
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  Speaker 2: Due to the double action of tropical heat and perpetual humidity.
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  Speaker 2: A vast atmospheric cloud of vapor surrounded the Earth on
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  Speaker 2: all sides, preventing the rays of the Sun from ever
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  Speaker 2: reaching it. Hence the conclusion that these intense heats did
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  Speaker 2: not arise from this.
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  Speaker 1: New source of calorie. Perhaps even the Star of Day
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  Speaker 1: was not quite ready for its brilliant work to illumine
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  Speaker 1: a universe. Climates did not as yet exist, and a
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  Speaker 1: level heat pervaded the whole surface of the lobe, the
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  Speaker 1: same heat existing at the north pole as at the equator.
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  Speaker 1: Whence did it come from the interior of the Earth.
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  Speaker 1: In spite of all the learned theories of Professor Hartwig
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  Speaker 1: a fierce and vehement fire certainly burned within the entrails
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  Speaker 1: of the great spheroid. Its action was felt even to
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  Speaker 1: the very topmost crust of the earth. The plants then
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  Speaker 1: in existence, being deprived of the vivifying grays of the sun,
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  Speaker 1: had neither buds, nor flowers, nor odor, But the roots
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  Speaker 1: drew a strong and vigorous life from the burning earth.
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  Speaker 1: Of early days, there were but few of what may
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  Speaker 1: be called trees, only herbaceous plants, immense turfs, brears, mosses,
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  Speaker 1: rare families, which, however, in those days, were counted by
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  Speaker 1: tens and tens of thousands. It is entirely to this
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  Speaker 1: exurberant vegetation that coal owes its origin. The crust of
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  Speaker 1: the vast globe still yielded under the influence of the
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  Speaker 1: seeding boiling mass, which was forever at work beneath. Hence
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  Speaker 1: arose numerous fistures and continual falling in of the upper earth.
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  Speaker 1: The dense mouth of plants, being beneath the waters, soon
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  Speaker 1: formed themselves into vast agglomerations. Then came about the action
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  Speaker 1: of natural chemistry in the depths of the ocean. The
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  Speaker 1: vegetable mass had first became turf. Then, thanks to the
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  Speaker 1: influence of gases and subterranean fermentation, they underwent the complete
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  Speaker 1: process of mineralization. In this manner. In early days were
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  Speaker 1: formed those vast and prodigious layers of coal, which an
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  Speaker 1: ever increasing consumption must utterly use up in about three
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  Speaker 1: centuries more if people do not find some more economic
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  Speaker 1: light than gas and some cheaper multi power than steam.
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  Speaker 1: All these reflections, the memories of my school studies, came
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  Speaker 1: to my mind while I gazed upon these mighty accumulations
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  Speaker 1: of coal, whose riches, however, are scarcely likely to be
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  Speaker 1: ever utilized. The working of these mines could only be
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  Speaker 1: carried out at an expense that would never yield a profit.
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  Speaker 1: The matter, however, is scarcely worthy consideration when coal is
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  Speaker 1: scattered over the whole surface of the globe, within a
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  Speaker 1: few yards of the upper crust. As I looked at
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  Speaker 1: this untouched strata, therefore, I knew they would remain as
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  Speaker 1: long as the world lasts. While we still continued our journey,
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  Speaker 1: I alone forgot the length of the road by giving
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  Speaker 1: myself up folly to these geological considerations. The temperature continued
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  Speaker 1: to be very much the same as while we were
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  Speaker 1: traveling amid the lava and the skists. On the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: my sense of smell was much affected by a very
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  Speaker 1: powerful odor. I immediately knew that the gallery was filled
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  Speaker 1: to overflowing with that dangerous gas the miners called fire damp,
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  Speaker 1: the explosion of which has caused such fearful and terrible accidents,
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  Speaker 1: making a hundred widows and hundreds of orphans in a
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  Speaker 1: single hour. Happily we were able to illumine our progress
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  Speaker 1: by means of the Ruhmkorff apparatus. If we had been
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  Speaker 1: so rush and imprudent as to explore this gallery torch
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  Speaker 1: in hand, a terrible explosion would have put an end
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  Speaker 1: to our travels, simply because no travelers would be left.
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  Speaker 1: Our excursion through this wondrous coal mine in the very
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  Speaker 1: bowels of the earth lasted until evening. My uncle was
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  Speaker 1: scarcely able to conceal his impatience and dissatisfaction at the road,
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  Speaker 1: continuing still to advance in a horizontal direction. The darkness dense,
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  Speaker 1: and a park a few yards in advance and in
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  Speaker 1: the rear, rendered it impossible to make out what was
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  Speaker 1: the length of the gallery. For myself, I began to
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  Speaker 1: believe that it was simply interminable, and would go on
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  Speaker 1: in the same manner for months. Suddenly, at six o'clock
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  Speaker 1: we stood in front of a wall to the right,
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  Speaker 1: to the left, above below. Nowhere was there any passage.
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  Speaker 1: We had reached a spot where the rocks said, in
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  Speaker 1: unmistakable accents, no thoroughfare. I stood stupefied. The guide simply
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  Speaker 1: folded his arms. My uncle was silent. Well, well, so
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  Speaker 1: much the better, cried my uncle. At last, I now
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  Speaker 1: know what we are about. We are decidedly not upon
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  Speaker 1: the road followed by sugnusum. All we have to do
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  Speaker 1: is to go back. Let us take one night's good rest,
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  Speaker 1: and before three days are over, I promise you we
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  Speaker 1: shall have regained the point where the gallery is divided.
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  Speaker 1: Yes we may, if our strength lasts as long, I
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  Speaker 1: cried in a lamentable voice. And why not to morrow
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  Speaker 1: among us three there will not be a drop of water.
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  Speaker 1: It is just gone, and your courage with it, said
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  Speaker 1: my uncle, speaking in a severe tone. What could I say?
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  Speaker 1: I turned round on my side, and from sheer exhaution,
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  Speaker 1: fell into a heavy sleep, disturbed by dreams of water,
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  Speaker 1: and I awoke, unrefreshed, I would have bartered a diamond
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  Speaker 1: mine for a glass of pure spring water. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen,