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16 - The Eastern Tunnel - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen, The Eastern Tunnel. The next day was Tuesday,
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  Speaker 1: the thirtieth of June, and at six o'clock in the
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  Speaker 1: morning we resumed our journey. We still continued to follow
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  Speaker 1: the gallery of Lava, a perfect natural pathway, as easy
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  Speaker 1: of descent as some of those inclined plains which in
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  Speaker 1: very old German houses serve the purpose of staircases. This
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  Speaker 1: went on until seventeen minutes past twelve, the precise instant
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  Speaker 1: at which we rejoined Hans, who having been somewhat in advance,
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  Speaker 1: had suddenly stopped. At last cried, my uncle, we have
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  Speaker 1: reached the end of the shaft. I looked wonderingly about me.
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  Speaker 1: We were in the center of forecrooth, past somber and
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  Speaker 1: narrow tunnels. The question now arose as to which it
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  Speaker 1: was wise to take, and this of itself was no
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  Speaker 1: small difficulty. My uncle, who did not wish to appear
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  Speaker 1: to have any hesitation about the matter before myself or
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  Speaker 1: the guide, at once made up his mind. He pointed
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  Speaker 1: quietly to the Eastern Tunnel, and without delay we entered
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  Speaker 1: within its gloomy recesses. Besides, had he entertained any feeling
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  Speaker 1: of hesitation, it might have been prolonged indefinitely, for there
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  Speaker 1: was no indication by which to determine on a choice.
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  Speaker 1: It was absolutely necessary to trust to chance and good fortune.
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  Speaker 1: The descent of this obscure and narrow gallery was very gradual, unwinding.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes we gazed through a succession of arches, its course
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  Speaker 1: very like the aells of a Gothic cathedral. The great
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  Speaker 1: artistic sculptors and builders of the Middle Ages might have
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  Speaker 1: here completed their studies with advantage. Many most beautiful and
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  Speaker 1: suggestive ideas of architectural beauty would have been discussed by them.
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  Speaker 1: After passing through this face of the cavernous way, we
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  Speaker 1: suddenly came about a mile farther on upon a square
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  Speaker 1: system of arch adopted by the early Romans. Projecting from
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  Speaker 1: the solid rock and keeping up the weight of the roof,
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  Speaker 1: suddenly we would come upon a serious of low subterranean tunnels,
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  Speaker 1: which looked like beaver holes or the work of foxes,
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  Speaker 1: through whose narrow and winding ways we had literally to crawl.
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  Speaker 1: The heat still remained at quite a supportable degree. With
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  Speaker 1: an involuntarily shudder, I reflected on what the heat must
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  Speaker 1: have been when the volcano of Sneffels was pouring its smoke,
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  Speaker 1: flames and streams of boiling lava, all of which must
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  Speaker 1: have come up by the road we were now following.
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  Speaker 1: I could imagine the torrents of hot, seething stone darting on,
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  Speaker 1: bubbling up with accompaniments of smoke, steam, and sulfurous stenchh
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  Speaker 1: only to think of the consequences, I mused, if the
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  Speaker 1: old volcano were once more to set to work. I
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  Speaker 1: did not communicate these rather unpleasant reflections to my uncle.
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  Speaker 1: He not only would not have understood them, but would
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  Speaker 1: have been intensely disgusted. His only idea was to go ahead.
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  Speaker 1: He walked his slid, He clambered over piles of fragments,
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  Speaker 1: He rolled down heaps of broken lava with an earnestness
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  Speaker 1: and conviction. It was impossible not to admire. At six
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  Speaker 1: o'clock in the evening, after a very wearisome journey, but
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  Speaker 1: one not so fatiguing as before, we had made six
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  Speaker 1: miles towards the southward, but had not gone more than
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  Speaker 1: a mile downwards. My uncle, as usual, gave the signal
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  Speaker 1: to halt. We ate our meal in thoughtful silence, and
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  Speaker 1: then retired to sleep. Our arrangements for the night were
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  Speaker 1: very primitive and simple. A traveling rug in which each
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  Speaker 1: rolled himself was all our bedding. We had no necessity
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  Speaker 1: to fear cold or any unpleasant visit. Travelers who bury
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  Speaker 1: themselves in the wilds and depths of the African desert,
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  Speaker 1: who seek profit and pleasures in the forests of the
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  Speaker 1: New World, are compelled to take it in turn to
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  Speaker 1: watch during the hours of sleep. But in this reading
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  Speaker 1: of the earth, absolute solitude and complete security reigned supreme.
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  Speaker 1: We had nothing to fear, either from savages or from
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  Speaker 1: wild beasts. After a night's sweet repose, we woke fresh
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  Speaker 1: and ready for action. There being nothing to detain us,
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  Speaker 1: we started on our journey. We continued to burrow through
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  Speaker 1: the lava tunnel. As before, it was impossible to make
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  Speaker 1: out through what soil we were making way. The tunnel. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: instead of going down into the bar of the earth,
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  Speaker 1: became absolutely horizontal. I even thought, after some examination, that
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  Speaker 1: we were actually tending upwards. About ten o'clock in the day,
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  Speaker 1: this state of things became so clear that, finding the
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  Speaker 1: change very fatiguing, I was obliged to slacken my pace
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  Speaker 1: and finally come to a halt well, said the professor quickly.
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  Speaker 1: What is the matter. The fact is I am dreadfully tired,
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  Speaker 1: was my earnest reply. What, cried my uncle? Tired after
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  Speaker 1: a three hours walk and by so easy a road,
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  Speaker 1: Easy enough, I dare say, but very fatiguing. But how
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  Speaker 1: can that be when all we have to do is
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  Speaker 1: to go downwards? I beg your pardon, sir, for some
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  Speaker 1: time I have noticed that we are going upwards. Upwards,
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  Speaker 1: cried my uncle, shrugging his shoulders. How can that be?
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  Speaker 1: There can be no doubt about For the last half
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  Speaker 1: hour the slopes had been upward, and if we go
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  Speaker 1: on in this way much longer, we shall find ourselves
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  Speaker 1: back in Iceland. My uncle shook his head with the
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  Speaker 1: air of a man who does not want to be convinced.
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  Speaker 1: I tried to continue the conversation. He would not answer me,
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  Speaker 1: but once more gave the signal for departure. His silence,
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  Speaker 1: I thought, was only caused by concentrated ill temper, however
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  Speaker 1: this might be, I once more took up my load
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  Speaker 1: and boldly and resolutely followed Hans, who was now in
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  Speaker 1: advance of my uncle. I did not like to be
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  Speaker 1: beaten or even distanced, I was naturally anxious not to
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  Speaker 1: lose sight of my companions. The very idea of being
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  Speaker 1: left behind, lost in that terrible labyrinth made me shiver,
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  Speaker 1: as with the agge. Besides, if the ascending path was
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  Speaker 1: more arduous and painful to Clamber, I had once source
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  Speaker 1: of secret, consolation and delight. It was to all appearance,
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  Speaker 1: taking us back to the surface of the earth, that
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  Speaker 1: of itself was hopeful. Every step I took confirmed me
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  Speaker 1: in my belief, and I began already to build castles
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  Speaker 1: in the air in relation to my marriage with my
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  Speaker 1: pretty little cousin. About twelve o'clock there was a great
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  Speaker 1: and sudden change in the aspect of the rocky sides
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  Speaker 1: of the gallery. I first noticed it from the diminution
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  Speaker 1: of the rays of light, which cast back the reflection
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  Speaker 1: of the lamp. From being coated with shining and replendant lava,
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  Speaker 1: it became living rock. The sides were sloping walls, which
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  Speaker 1: sometimes became quite vertical. We were now in what the
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  Speaker 1: geological professors call a state of transition in the period
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  Speaker 1: of Silurian stones, so called because this specimen of early
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  Speaker 1: formation is very common in England, in the countries formerly
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  Speaker 1: inhabited by the Celtic nation known as Silures. I can
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  Speaker 1: see clearly now, I cried, the sediment from the waters
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  Speaker 1: which once covered the whole earth formed during the second
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  Speaker 1: period of its existence. These schists and these caulcerous rocks.
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  Speaker 1: We are turning our backs on the Grannite rocks, and
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  Speaker 1: are like people from Hamburg who would go to Liebeck
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  Speaker 1: by way of an offer. I might just as well
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  Speaker 1: have kept my observations to myself. My geological enthusiasm got
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  Speaker 1: the better however, of my cooler judgment, and Professor Hartwick
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  Speaker 1: heard my observations. What is the matter now? He said,
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  Speaker 1: in a tone of great gravity, Well, cried I, do
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  Speaker 1: you not see these different layers of calcerous rocks and
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  Speaker 1: the first indication of slate strata? Well? What then, we
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  Speaker 1: have arrived at that period of the world's existence when
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  Speaker 1: the first plants and the first animals made their appearance.
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  Speaker 1: You think so, yes, Look examine and judge for yourself.
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  Speaker 1: I induced the professor, with some difficulty to cast the
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  Speaker 1: light of his lamp on the sides of the long
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  Speaker 1: winding gallery. I expected some exclamation to burst from his lips.
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  Speaker 1: I was very much mistaken. The worthy professor never spoke
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  Speaker 1: a word. It was impossible to say whether he understood
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  Speaker 1: me or not. Perhaps it was possible that, in his
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  Speaker 1: pride my uncle and a learned professor, he did not
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  Speaker 1: like to own that he was wrong in having chosen
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  Speaker 1: the Eastern tunnel, or was he determined at any price
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  Speaker 1: to go to the end of it. It was quite
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  Speaker 1: evident we had left the region of Lava, and that
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  Speaker 1: the road by which we were going could not take
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  Speaker 1: us back to the great crater of mounts Neeffeld's. As
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  Speaker 1: as we went along, I could not help ruminating on
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  Speaker 1: the whole question, and asked myself if I did not
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  Speaker 1: lay too great a stress on these sudden and peculiar
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  Speaker 1: modifications of the Earth's crust. After all, I was very
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  Speaker 1: likely to be mistaken, and it was within the range
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  Speaker 1: of probability and possibility that we were not making our
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  Speaker 1: way through the strata rocks which I believed I recognized
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  Speaker 1: piled on the lower layer of Granitiq formation. At all events,
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  Speaker 1: if I am right, I thought to myself, I must
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  Speaker 1: certainly find some remains of primitive plants, and it will
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  Speaker 1: be absolutely necessary to give way to such indubitable evidence.
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  Speaker 1: Let us have a good search. I accordingly lost no
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  Speaker 1: opportunity of searching, and had not gone more than about
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  Speaker 1: a hundred yards when the evidence I sought for cropped
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  Speaker 1: up in the most incontestable manner before my eyes. It
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  Speaker 1: was quite natural that I should expect to find these signs,
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  Speaker 1: for during the Silurian period the seas contained a fewer
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  Speaker 1: than fifteen hundred different animal and vegetable species. My feet,
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  Speaker 1: so long accustomed to the hard and arid lava soil,
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  Speaker 1: suddenly found themselves treading on a kind of soft dust.
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  Speaker 1: The remains of plants and shells upon the walls themselves.
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  Speaker 1: I could clearly make out the outline as plain as
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  Speaker 1: the sun picture of the fucus and the liquepods. The
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  Speaker 1: worthy and excellent Professor Hartwick could not, of course, make
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  Speaker 1: any mistake about the matter. But I believe he deliberately
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  Speaker 1: closed his eyes and continued on his way with a
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  Speaker 1: firm and unalterable step. I began to think that he
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  Speaker 1: was carrying his obstinacy a great deal too far. I
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  Speaker 1: could no longer act with prudence or composure. I stooped
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  Speaker 1: on a sudden and picked up an almost effect shell
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  Speaker 1: which had undoubtedly belonged to some animal very much resembling
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  Speaker 1: some of the present day. Having secured the price, I
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  Speaker 1: followed in the wake of my uncle. Do you see this,
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  Speaker 1: I said, Well, said the professor, with the most imperturbable tranquility.
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  Speaker 1: It is the shell of a crustaceus, animal of the
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  Speaker 1: distinct order of the trilobites. Nothing more, I assure you,
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  Speaker 1: But cried I, much troubled at his coolness. Do you
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  Speaker 1: not draw any conclusion from it? Well? If I may ask,
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  Speaker 1: what conclusion do you draw from it yourself? Well? I thought,
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  Speaker 1: I know, my boy, what you would say. And you
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  Speaker 1: are right, perfectly and incontestably right. We have finally abandoned
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  Speaker 1: the crust of lava and the road by which the
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  Speaker 1: lava ascended. It is quite possible that I may have
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  Speaker 1: been mistaken, but I shall be unable to discover my
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  Speaker 1: error until I get to the end of this gallery.
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  Speaker 1: You are quite right as far as that is concerned,
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  Speaker 1: I replied, And I should highly prove of your decision
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  Speaker 1: if we had not to fear the greatest of all dangers.
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  Speaker 1: And what is that want of water? Well, my dear Henry,
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  Speaker 1: it can't be helped. We must put ourselves on rations,
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  Speaker 1: and on he went. End of Chapter sixteen,