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28 - Launching the Raft - Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight, launching the raft. On the morning of
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  Speaker 1: the next day, to my great surprise, I awoke completely restored.
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  Speaker 1: I thought a bath would be delightful after my long
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  Speaker 1: illness and sufferings. So soon after rising I went and
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  Speaker 1: plunged into the waters of this new Mediterranean. The bath
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  Speaker 1: was cool, fresh and inviduating. I came back to breakfast
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  Speaker 1: with an excellent appetite. Hans, our worthy guide, thoroughly understood
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  Speaker 1: how to cook such eatables as we were able to provide.
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  Speaker 1: He had both fire and water, a discretion, so that
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  Speaker 1: he was enabled slightly to weary monotony of our ordinary repast.
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  Speaker 1: Our morning meal was like a capital English breakfast, with
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  Speaker 1: coffee by way of a wind up. And never had
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  Speaker 1: this delicious bever, which been so welcome and refreshing. My
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  Speaker 1: uncle had sufficient regard for my state of health not
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  Speaker 1: to interrupt me in the enjoyment of the meal, But
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  Speaker 1: he was evidently delighted when I had finished. Now then
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  Speaker 1: said he come with me. It is the height of
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  Speaker 1: the tide, and I am anxious to study its curious phenomenon.
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  Speaker 1: What I cried, rising in astonishment, Did you say the tide? Uncle?
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  Speaker 1: Certainly I did you do not mean to say, I replied,
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  Speaker 1: in a tone of respectful doubt, that the influence of
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  Speaker 1: the Sun and moon is felt here below. And pray,
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  Speaker 1: why not are not all bodies influenced by the law
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  Speaker 1: of universal attraction? Why should this vast underground see be
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  Speaker 1: exempt from the general law the rule of the universe. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: there is nothing like that which is proved and demonstrated.
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  Speaker 1: Despite the great atmospheric pressure down here, you will notice
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  Speaker 1: that this inland sea rises and falls with as much
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  Speaker 1: regularity as the Atlantic itself has. My uncle spoke, we
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  Speaker 1: reached the sand on the shore and so and heard
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  Speaker 1: the waves breaking monotonously on the beach. They were evidently rising.
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  Speaker 1: This is truly the flood, I cried, looking at the
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  Speaker 1: water at my feet. Yes, my excellent nephew, replied my uncle,
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  Speaker 1: rubbing his hands with the gusto of a philosopher. And
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  Speaker 1: you see by these several streaks of foam that the
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  Speaker 1: tide rises at least ten or twelve feet. It is
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  Speaker 1: indeed marvelous. By no means, he responded, on the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: it is quite natural. It may appear so in your eyes,
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  Speaker 1: my dear uncle, was my reply. But all the phenomena
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  Speaker 1: of the place appeared to me to partake of the
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  Speaker 1: marvelous It is almost impossible to believe that which I see.
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  Speaker 1: Who in his wildest dreams could have imagined that beneath
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  Speaker 1: the crust of our earth there could exist a real ocean,
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  Speaker 1: with ebbing and flowing tides, with its change of winds,
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  Speaker 1: and even its storms, I, for one, should have left
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  Speaker 1: the suggestion to scorn. But hurry, my boy, why not,
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  Speaker 1: inquired my uncle with a pitying smile. Is there any
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  Speaker 1: physical reason in opposition to it? Well, if we give
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  Speaker 1: up the great theory of the central heat of the Earth,
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  Speaker 1: I certainly can offer no reasons why anything should be
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  Speaker 1: looked upon as impossible. Then you will own He added,
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  Speaker 1: that the system of Sir Humphrey Davy is fully justified
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  Speaker 1: by what we have seen. I allow that it is,
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  Speaker 1: and that point, once granted, I certainly can see no
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  Speaker 1: reason for doubting the existence of seas and other wonders,
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  Speaker 1: even countries in the interior of the globe. That is so,
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  Speaker 1: But of course these varied countries are uninhabited. Well, I
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  Speaker 1: grant that it is more likely than not. Still I
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  Speaker 1: do not see why this sea should not have given
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  Speaker 1: shelter to some species of unknown fish. Hitherto we have
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  Speaker 1: not discovered any, and the probabilities are rather against our
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  Speaker 1: ever doing so, observed the professor. I was losing my
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  Speaker 1: skepticism in the presence of these wonders. Well, I am
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  Speaker 1: determined to solve the question. It is my intention to
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  Speaker 1: try my luck with my fishing line and hook. Certainly
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  Speaker 1: make the experiment, said my uncle, pleased with my enthusiasm.
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  Speaker 1: While we are about it, it will certainly be only
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  Speaker 1: proper to discover all the secrets of this extraordinary region.
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  Speaker 1: But after all, where are we now? I asked, All
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  Speaker 1: this time, I have quite forgotten to ask you a
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  Speaker 1: question which doubtless your philosophical instruments have long since answered. Well,
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  Speaker 1: replied the professor, examining the situation from only one point
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  Speaker 1: of view. We are now distant three hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: leagues from Iceland, So much was my exclamation. I have
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  Speaker 1: gone over the matter several times, and I am sure
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  Speaker 1: not to have made a mistake of five hundred yards,
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  Speaker 1: replied my uncle positively. And as to the direction, are
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  Speaker 1: we still going to the southeast? Yes, with the western
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  Speaker 1: declination of nineteen degrees forty two minutes, just as it
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  Speaker 1: is above. The declination is the variation of the needle
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  Speaker 1: from the true meridian of a place. As for the inclination,
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  Speaker 1: I have discovered a very curious fact. Inclination is the
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  Speaker 1: dip of the magnetic needle with a tendency to incline
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  Speaker 1: towards the Earth. What may that be, Uncle? Your information
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  Speaker 1: interests me. Why that the needle, instead of dipping towards
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  Speaker 1: the pole as it doth on Earth in the northern hemisphere,
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  Speaker 1: has an upward tendency. This proves I cried that the
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  Speaker 1: great point of magnetic attraction lies somewhere between the surface
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  Speaker 1: of the Earth and the spot. We have succeeded in
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  Speaker 1: reaching exactly, my observant nephew exclaimed, My uncle, elated and delighted.
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  Speaker 1: And it is quite probable that if we succeed in
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  Speaker 1: getting toward the polar regions somewhere near the seventy third
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  Speaker 1: degree of latitude where Sir James Ross discovered the magnetic pole,
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  Speaker 1: we shall behold the needle point directly upward. We have
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  Speaker 1: therefore discovered by analogy that this great center of attraction
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  Speaker 1: is not situated at a very great depth. Well said
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  Speaker 1: I rather surprised. This discovery will astonish experimental philosophers. It
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  Speaker 1: was never suspected. Science great, mighty, and in the end honoring,
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  Speaker 1: replied my uncle dogmatically, science has fallen into many errors,
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  Speaker 1: errors which have been fortunate and useful rather than otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: for they have been the stepping stones to truth. After
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  Speaker 1: some further discussion, I turned to another man. Have you
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  Speaker 1: any idea of the depth we have reached? We are now,
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  Speaker 1: continued the professor, exactly thirty five leagues above a hundred
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  Speaker 1: miles down into the interior of the earth, So said I,
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  Speaker 1: after measuring the distance on the map. We are now
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  Speaker 1: beneath the Scottish Highlands and have over our heads the
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  Speaker 1: lofty Grampian hills. You are quite right, said the professor, laughing.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds very alarming, the weight being heavy. But the
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  Speaker 1: vault which supports this vast mass of earth and rock
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  Speaker 1: is solid and safe. The mighty architect of the universe
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  Speaker 1: has constructed it of solid materials. Man, even in his
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  Speaker 1: highest flights of vivid and poetic imagination, never thought of
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  Speaker 1: such things. What are the finest arches of our bridges,
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  Speaker 1: What the vaulted roofs of our cathedrals to that mighty
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  Speaker 1: dome above us and beneath which floats an ocean, with
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  Speaker 1: its storms and calms and tides. I admire it all
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  Speaker 1: as much as you can, uncle, and have no fear
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  Speaker 1: that our granite sky will fall upon our heads. But
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  Speaker 1: now that we have discussed matters of science and discovery,
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  Speaker 1: what are your future intentions? Are you not thinking of
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  Speaker 1: getting back to the surface of our beautiful earth? This
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  Speaker 1: was said more as a feeler than with any hope
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  Speaker 1: of success. Go back, nephew, cried my uncle, in a
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  Speaker 1: tone of alarm. You are not surely thinking of anything
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  Speaker 1: so absurd or cowardly. No, my intention is to advance
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  Speaker 1: and continue our journey. We have as yet been singularly fortunate,
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  Speaker 1: and henceforth I hope we shall be more so. But
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  Speaker 1: said I, how are we to cross yonder liquid plain?
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  Speaker 1: It is not my intention to leap into it head foremost,
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  Speaker 1: or even to swim across it light ly under over
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  Speaker 1: the Hellespont. But as oceans are after all only great
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  Speaker 1: lakes inasmuch as they are surrounded by land, so does
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  Speaker 1: it stand to reason that this central sea is circumscribed
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  Speaker 1: by granite surroundings. Doubtless, was my natural reply. Well, then,
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  Speaker 1: do you not think that when once we reached the
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  Speaker 1: other end, we shall find some means of continuing our journey? Probably,
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  Speaker 1: but what extent do you allow to this internal lotion? Well,
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  Speaker 1: I should fancy to extend about forty or fifty leagues
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  Speaker 1: more or less. But even supposing this approximation to be
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  Speaker 1: a correct one, what, then, I asked, my dear boy.
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  Speaker 1: We have no time for further discussion. We shall embark
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  Speaker 1: to morrow. I looked round with surprise and incredulity. I
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  Speaker 1: could see nothing in the shape of boat or vessel. What,
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  Speaker 1: I cried, We are about to launch out upon an
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  Speaker 1: unknown sea. And where, if I may ask, is the
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  Speaker 1: vessel to carry? Well, my dear boy, it will not
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  Speaker 1: be exactly what you would call a vessel. For the present.
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  Speaker 1: We must be content with a good and solid raft,
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  Speaker 1: A raft, I cried incredulously. But down here a raft
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  Speaker 1: is as impossible a construction as a vessel. And I
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  Speaker 1: am at last to imagine, my good Harry, if you
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  Speaker 1: were to listen instead of talking so much, you would hear,
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  Speaker 1: said my uncle, waxing a little impatient, I should hear, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: certain knocks with the hammer which Hans is now employing
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  Speaker 1: to make the raft. He has been at work for
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  Speaker 1: many hours making a raft. Yes, but where has he
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  Speaker 1: found trees suitable for such a construction. He found the
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  Speaker 1: trees already to his hand. Come, and you shall see
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  Speaker 1: your excellent guide at work. More and more amazed at
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  Speaker 1: what I heard and saw, I followed my uncle like
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  Speaker 1: one in a dream. After a walk of about a
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  Speaker 1: quarter of an hour, I saw hands at work on
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  Speaker 1: the other side of the promontory which formed our natural port.
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  Speaker 1: A few minutes more and I was beside him. To
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  Speaker 1: my great surprise, on the sandy shore lay half finished raft.
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  Speaker 1: It was made from beams of a very peculiar wood,
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  Speaker 1: and a great number of limbs, joins, bows and pieces
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  Speaker 1: lay about, sufficient to have constructed the fleet of ships
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  Speaker 1: and boats. I turned to my uncle, silent with astonishment,
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  Speaker 1: and ave, where did all this wood come from? I cried?
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  Speaker 1: What wood is it? Well? There is pine wood, fir
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  Speaker 1: and the palms of the northern regions, mineralized by the
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  Speaker 1: action of the sea. He replied, sententiously. Can it be possible, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: said the learned professor. What you see is called fossil wood.
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  Speaker 1: But then cried I, after reflecting for a moment, Like
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  Speaker 1: the lignites, it must be as hard and as heavy
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  Speaker 1: as iron, and therefore will certainly not float. Sometimes that
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  Speaker 1: is the case. Many of these woods have become true untracites.
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  Speaker 1: But others, again, like those you see before, you have
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  Speaker 1: only undergone one face of fossil transformation. But there is
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  Speaker 1: no proof like demonstration, added my uncle, picking one or
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  Speaker 1: two of these precious waves and casting them into the sea.
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  Speaker 1: The piece of wood, after having disappeared for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: came to the surface and floated about with the oscillation
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  Speaker 1: produced by wind and tide. Are you convinced, said my
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  Speaker 1: uncle with a self satisfied smile. I am convinced, I
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  Speaker 1: cried that what I see is incredible. The fact was
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  Speaker 1: that my journey into the interior of the Earth was
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  Speaker 1: rapidly changing all preconceived notions, and day by day, preparing
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  Speaker 1: me for the marvelous I should not have been surprised
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  Speaker 1: to have seen a fleet of native canoes afloat upon
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  Speaker 1: that silent sea. The very next evening, thanks to the
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  Speaker 1: industry and ability of hands, the raft was finished. It
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  Speaker 1: was about ten feet long and five feet wide. The
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  Speaker 1: beams bound together with stout ropes, were solid and firm,
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  Speaker 1: and once launched by our united efforts, the improvised vessel
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  Speaker 1: floated tranquility upon the waters for what the Professor had
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  Speaker 1: well named the Central Sea. End of Chapter twenty eight