Latest / Classic Science Fiction Book Collection / Journey to the Center of the Earth Part 1 - Jules Verne

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Journey to the Center of the Earth Part 1 - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Book Collection

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Chilvern, Chapter one,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: My uncle makes a great discovery. Looking back to all
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: that has occurred to me since that eventful day, I
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: am scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: They were truly so wonderful that even now I am
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: bewildered when I think of them. My uncle was a German,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: having married my mother's sister, an englishwoman. Being very much
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: attached to his fatherless nephew, he invited me to study
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: under him in his home in the fatherland. This home
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: was in a large town, and my uncle a professor
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: of philosophy, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and many other ologies. One day,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: after passing some hours in the laboratory, my uncle, being
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: absent at the time, I suddenly felt the necessity of
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: renovating the tissus. That is, I was hungry and was
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: about to rouse up our old French cook, when my uncle,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Professor von Hartwick, suddenly opened the street door and came
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: rushing upstairs. Now, Professor Hartwig, my worthy uncle, is by
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: no means a bad sort of man. He is, however,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: coleric and original. To bear with him means to obey
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and scarcely had his heavy feet resounded within our joint domisil.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Then he shouted for me to attend upon him. Hurry, hurry, hurry.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I hastened to obey, But before I could reach his room,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: jumping three steps at a time, he was stamping his
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: right foot upon the landing. Hurry, he cried in a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: frantic tone. Are you coming up now? To tell the truth?
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: At that moment, I was far more interested in the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: question as to what was to constitute our dinner than
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: in any problem of science. To me, soup was more
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: interesting than soda, an omelet more tempting than arithmetic, and
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: an artichoke of ten times more value than any amount
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: of asbestos. But my uncle was not a man to
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: be kept waiting so adjourning. Therefore all minor questions I
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: presented myself before him. He was a very learned man. Now,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: most persons in this category supply themselves with information, as
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: peders do with goods for the benefit of others, and
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: lay up stores in order to diffuse them abroad for
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the benefit of society in general. Not so my excellent uncle,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Professor Hartwig. He studied, he consumed the midnight oil. He
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: poured over heavy tomes and digested huge quartos and folios,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: in order to keep the knowledge acquired to himself. There
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: was a reason, and it may be regarded as a
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  Speaker 1: good one, why my uncle objected to display his learning
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: more than was absolutely necessary. He stammered, and, when intent
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: upon explaining the phenomena of the heavens, was apt to
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: find himself at fault and allude in such a vague
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: way to sun, moon and stars that few were able
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to comprehend. This, meaning to tell the honest truth. When
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the right word would not come, it was generally replaced
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: by a very powerful adjective. In connection with the sciences,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: there are many almost unpronounceable names, names very much resembling
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: those of Welsh villages, and my uncle, being very fond
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of using them, his habit of stammering was not thereby improved.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: In fact, there were periods in his discourse when he
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: would finally give up and swallow his discomfiture in a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: glass of water. As I said, my uncle, Professor Hartwig
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: was a very learned man, and I now add a
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: most kind relative. I was bound to him by the
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: double ties of affection and interest. I took deep interest
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  Speaker 1: in all his doings, and hoped some day to be
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: almost as learned myself. It was a rare thing for
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  Speaker 1: me to be absent from his lectures. Like him, I
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: preferred mineralogy to all the other sciences. My anxiety was
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: to gain real knowledge of the earth. Geology and mineralogy
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: were to us the sole objects of life, And in
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: connection with these studies, many a fair specimen of stone, chalk,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: or metal did we break with our hammers, steel rods, loadstones,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: glass pipes, and bottles of various acids were oftener before
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: us than our meals. My uncle Hartwig was once known
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to classify six hundred different geological specimens by their weight, hardness, fusibility, sound, taste,
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  Speaker 1: and smell. He corresponded with all the great learned and
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: scientific men of the age. I was therefore in constant
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  Speaker 1: communication with, at all events the letters of Sir Humphry Davy,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Captain Franklin, and other great men. But before I state
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the subject on which my uncle wished to confer with me,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I must say a word about his personal appearance, alas
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: my readers will see a very different portrait of him
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: at the future time, after he has gone through the
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: fearful adventures yet to be related. My uncle was fifty
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: years old, tall, thin and wiry, large spectacles hid to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: a certain extent, is passed round and goggle eyes, while
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: his nose was irreverently compared to a thin pile. So
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: much indeed did it resemble that useful article that a
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: compass was said in his presence to have made considerable
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: n nasal deviation the truth being told. However, the only
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: article really attracted to my uncle's nose was tobacco. Another
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: peculiarity of his was that he always stepped the yard
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: at a time, clenched his fists as if he were
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: going to hit you, and was, when in one of
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: his peculiar humors, very far from a pleasant companion. It
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: is further necessary to observe that he lived in a
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: very nice house in that very nice street, the kernig Strasse,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: at Hamburg. Though lying in the center of a town,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: it was perfectly rural in its aspect, half wood, half
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: bricks with old fashioned gables, one of the few old
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: houses spared by the great Fire of eighteen forty two.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: When I say a nice house, I mean a handsome house,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: old tottering and not exactly comfortable to English notions. A
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: house a little of the perpendicular and inclined to fall
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: into the neighboring canal, exactly the house for a wandering
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: artist to depict, all the more that you could scarcely
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  Speaker 1: see it for ivy and a magnificent old tree which
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: grew over the door. My uncle was rich. His house
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: was his own property, while he had a considerable private income.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: To my notion, the best part of his possessions was
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: his god daughter Gretchen, and the old cook, the young lady.
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  Speaker 1: The professor and I were the soul inhabitants. I love mineralogy,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: I loved geology. To me, there was nothing like pebbles.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: And if my uncle had been in a little less
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: of a fury, we should have been the happiest of families.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: To prove the Excellent Hartwick's impatience, I solemnly declare that
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: when the flowers in the drawing room pots began to grow,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: he rose every morning at four o'clock to make them
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: grow quicker by pulling the leaves. Having described my uncle,
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  Speaker 1: I will now give an account of our interview. He
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  Speaker 1: received me in his study, a perfect museum containing every
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: natural curiosity that can well be imagined. Minerals, however, predominating
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: every one was familiar to me, having been cataloged by
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: my own hand. My uncle, apparently oblivious of the fact
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: that he had summoned me to his presence, was in
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a book. He was particularly fond of early editions, tall copies,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and unique works. Wonderful, he cried, tapping his forehead. Wonderful, wonderful.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: It was one of those yellow lead volumes now rarely
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: found on stalls, and to me it appeared to possess
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: but little value. My uncle, however, was in raptures. He
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: admired its finding, the clearness of its characters, the ease
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: with which it opened in his hand, and repeated aloud
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: half a dozen times that it was very, very old.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: To my fancy, he was making a great fuss about nothing,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: but it was not my province to say so. On
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the contrary, I professed considerable interest in the subject and
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: asked him what it was about. It is the high scringlaws,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: no retarless on, he said the celebrated Icelandic author of
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: the twelfth century. It is a true and correct account
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: of the Norwegian princess who reigned in Iceland. My next
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: question related to the language in which it was written.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: I hoped, at all events it was translated into German.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: My uncle was indignant at the very thought, and declared
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  Speaker 1: he wouldn't give a penny for a translation. His delight
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: was to have found the original work in the Icelandic tongue,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: which he declared to be one of the most magnificent
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and yet simple idioms in the world, while at the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: same time its grammatical combinations were the most varied known
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to students. About Aesars German was my insidious remark. My
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: uncle shrugged his shoulders. The letters, at all events, I said,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: are rather difficult of comprehension. It is a Runic manuscript,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the language of the original population of Iceland, invented by
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Odin himself, cried my uncle, angry at my ignorance. I
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: was about to venture upon some misplaced yoke on the subject,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: when a small scrap of parchment fell out of the leaves,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: like a hungry man snatching at a morsel of bread.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: The professor seized it. It was about five inches by
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  Speaker 1: three and was scrawled over in the most extraordinary fashion.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: The lines shown here are an exact facsimila. What was
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: written on the venerable piece of parchment, and have wonderful importance,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: as they induced my uncle to undertake the most wonderful
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: series of adventures which ever fell to the lot of
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: human beings. My uncle looked keenly at the document for
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: some moments, and then declared that it was Runic. The
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: letters were similar to those in the book, But then
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: what did they mean? This was exactly what I wanted
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: to know now, as I had a strong conviction that
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the Runic alphabet and dialect were simply an invention to
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  Speaker 1: mystify poor human nature. I was delighted to find that
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  Speaker 1: my uncle knew as much about the matter as I did,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: which was nothing at all. Events, the tremulous motion of
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  Speaker 1: his fingers made me think so, And yet he muttered
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: to himself, it is old Icelandic. I am sure of it.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: And my uncle ought to have known, for he was
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: a perfect polyglotictionary in himself. He did not pretend, like
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  Speaker 1: a certain learned pundit to speak the two thousand languages
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  Speaker 1: and four thousand idioms made use of in different parts
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of the globe. But he did know all the more
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  Speaker 1: important once. It is a matter of great doubt to
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: me now to what violent measures my uncle's impetuosity might
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: have led him, had not The clock struck two, and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: our old French cook called out to let us know
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: that dinner was on the table. Mother the dinner, cried
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  Speaker 1: my uncle, But as I was hungry, I sallied forth
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: to the dining room, where I took up my usual quarters.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Out of politeness, I waited three minutes, but no sign
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: of my uncle. The professor. I was surprised. He was
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: not usually so blind to the pleasure of a good dinner.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: It was the acme of German luxury, parsley soup, a
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: ham omelet with sorrel trimmings, an oyster of veal stewed
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: with prunes, delicious fruit, and sparkling moselle. For the sake
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: of pouring over this musty old piece of parchment, my
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: uncle and forebore to share our meal. To satisfy my conscience,
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  Speaker 1: I ate for both The old cook and housekeeper was
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: nearly out of her mind after taking so much trouble
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: to find her master not appear at dinner was to
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: her a sad disappointment, which, as she occasionally watched the
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: havoc I was making on the vines became also alarm
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: if my uncle were to come to table after all. Suddenly,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: just as I had consumed the last apple and drank
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: the last glass of wine, a terrible voice was heard
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: at no great distance. It was my uncle, roaring for
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: me to come to him. I made very nearly one
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: leap of it. So loud, so fierce was his tone.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter one, Chapter two, The Mysterious Part. I declare,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: cried my uncle, striking the table fiercely with his fist.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I declare to you it is runic and contains some
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: wonderful secret which I must get at at any price.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I was about to reply when he stopped me. Sit down,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: He said, quite fiercely, and write to my dictation. I obeyed.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I will substitute, he said, a letter of our alphabet
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: for that of the runic. We will then see what
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: that will produce. Now begin and make no mistakes. The
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: dictation commenced with a following incomprehensible result M M dot
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: r n l L s is ruel s e E
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  Speaker 1: c j d E s g T s s M
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  Speaker 1: f u n t e I E f n e
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: E d r k E kate T comma s a
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  Speaker 1: m n A t r A t e s s
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  Speaker 1: a O d r r n e m t n
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: a e I n u a e c t r
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: r I l s a a t b a A
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: r dot n s c r c I e a
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: a b s c c d r m I e
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: e U t u I l f r a n
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: t u d t comma I A c O s
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: e I b o k e d i I y.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Scarcely giving me time to finish, my uncle snatched the
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: document from my hands and examined it with the most
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: wrapped and deep attention. I should like to know what
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it means, he said, after a long period. I certainly
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: could not tell him, nor did he expect me to,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: his conversation being uniformly answered by himself. I declare it
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: puts me in mind of a cryptograph, he cried, unless
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: indeed the letters have been written without any real meaning.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: And yet why take so much trouble? Who knows? But
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I may be on the verge of some great discovery.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: My candid opinion was that it was all rubbish. But
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: this opinion I kept carefully to myself, as my uncle's
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: showler was not pleasant to bear. All this time he
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: was comparing the book with a parchment. The manuscript volume
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and the smaller document are written in different hands. He said,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: The cryptograph is of much later date than the book.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: There is an undoubted proof of the correctness of my surmise,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: an ire fragible proof I took it to be. The
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: first letter is a double M, which was only added
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: to the Icelandic language in the twelfth century. This makes
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: the parchment two hundred years posterior to the volume. The
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: circumstances appeared very probable and very logical, but it was
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: all surmised to me. To me, it appears probable that
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: this sentence was written by some owner of the book.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Now who was the owner is the next important question. Perhaps,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: by great good luck, it may be written somewhere in
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: the volume with these words. Professor Hartwick took off his spectacles, and,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: taking a powerful magnifying glass, examined the book carefully. On
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the fly leaf was what appeared to be a blot
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: of ink, but on examination proved to be a line
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: of writing, almost effaced by time. This was what he sought,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and after some considerable time he made out these letters
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: are in a sarknosem. He cried in a joyous and
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: triumphant tone. That is not only an Islandic name, but
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: of a learned professor of the sixteenth century, a celebrated alchemist.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: I bowed as a sign of respect. These alchemists, he continued,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: havichena bacon, lully Paracelsus were the true the only learned
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: men of the day. They made surprising discoveries. May not
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: this sarknosem nephew mine have hidden on this bit of
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: parchment some astounding invention. I believe the cryptograph to have
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: a profound meaning, which I must make out. My uncle
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: walked about the room in a state of excitement, almost
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: impossible to describe. It may be so, sir, I timidly observed,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: But why conceal it from posterity? If it be a useful,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: a worthy discovery? Why how should I know? Did not
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Galileo make a secret of his discoveries in connection with Saturn?
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: But we shall see. Until I discover the meaning of
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: this sentence, I will neither eat nor sleep, my dear uncle,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I began, nor you neither, He added, I was lucky
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: I had taken double allowance that day. In the first place,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: he continued, there must be a clue to the meaning.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: If we could find that the rest would be easy enough.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: I began seriously to reflect the prospect of going without
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: food and sleep was not a promising one, so I
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: determined to do my best to solve the mystery. My
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: uncle meanwhile, went on with his soliloqui. The way to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: discover it is easy enough. In this document there are
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty two letters, giving seventy nine consonants
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to fifty three vowels. This is about the proportion found
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: in most southern languages, the idioms of the North being
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: much more rich in consonants. We may confidently predict, therefore,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: that we have to deal with a Southern dialect. Nothing
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: could be more logical, now, said Professor Hartwick, to trace
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the particular language, as Shakespeare says, that is the question.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Was my rather satirical reply. This man, Sarknussm, he continued,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: was a very learned man. Now, as he did not
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: write in the language of his birthplace, he probably, like
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: most learned men of the sixteenth century, wrote in Latin.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: If however, I prove wrong in this case, we must
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: try Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, and even Hebrew. My own opinion, though,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: is decidedly in favor of Latin. This proposition startled me.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Latin was my favorite study, and it seemed sacrilege to
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: believe this gibberish to belong to the country of Virgil
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: barbarious Latin in all probability, continued my uncle. But still Latin,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: very probably, I replied, not to contradict him. Let us
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: see into the matter, continued my uncle. Here you see
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: we have a series of one hundred and thirty two
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: letters apparently thrown pellmell upon paper without method or organization.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: There are words which are composed folly of consonants, such
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: as M, M, point R, N, l s, others which
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: are nearly all vowels, the fifth, for instance, which is
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: auntief and one of the last orsabo. This appears an
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: extraordinary combination. Probably we shall find that the phrase is
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: arranged according to some thematical plan. No doubt, a certain
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: sentence has been written out and then jumbled up, some
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: plan to which some figure is the clue. Now hurry
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: to show your English wit. What is that figure? I
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: could give him no hint. My thoughts were indeed far away.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: While he was speaking, I had caught sight of the
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: portrait of my cousin Gretchen, and was wondering when she
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: would return. We were affianced and loved one another very sincerely.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: But my uncle, who never thought even of such sublunary matters,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: knew nothing of this. Without noticing my abstraction, the professor
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: began reading the puzzling cryptograph all sorts of ways according
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: to some theory of his own. Presently rousing my wondering attention,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: he dictated one precious attempt to me. I mildly handed
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: it over to him. It read as follows, m m
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: E s s u n k A s e n
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: r A dot i c e f d o k
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: dot s e g n I t A m u
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: r t n e c e r t s E
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: r r e t t E comma r O t
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: a I v s A d u A comma e
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: d n e c s E d s A d
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: n e l a c A r t n i
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: i I l r j s I r A t
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: r A c s a r b m u t
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: a b I l E d m E k m
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: E r e t A r c s I l
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: u c O y s l e f f e
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: n s N I dot, I could scarcely keep from laughing,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: while my uncle, on the contrary, got in a towering passion,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: struck the table with his fist, darted out of the room,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: out of the house, and then taking to his seals,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: was presently lost to sight. End of chapter two, Chapter
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: three an astounding discovery. What is the matter? Cried the cook,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: entering the room. When will master have his dinner? Never
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: and his supper? I don't know. He says he will
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: eat no more, neither shall I. My uncle has determined
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to fast and make me fast until he makes out
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: this abominable inscription. I replied, you will be starved to death,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: she said. I was very much of the same opinion,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: but not liking to say so, sent her away and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: began some of my usual work of classification. But try
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: as I might, nothing could keep me from thinking, alternately
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: of the stupid manuscript and of the pretty gretchen. Several
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: times I thought of going out, but my uncle would
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: have been angry at my absence. At the end of
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: an hour, my allotted task was done. How to pass
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: the time, I began by lightning my pipe. Like all
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: other students, I delighted in tobacco, and seating myself in
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the great arm chair, I began to think where was
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: my uncle? I could easily imagine him tearing along some
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: solitary road, gesticulating, talking to himself, cutting the air with
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: his cane, and still thinking of the absurd bit of hieroglyphics.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Would he heat upon some clue? Would he come home
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: in better humor? While these thought were passing through my brain,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: I mechanically took up the execreable puzzle and tried every
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: imaginable way of grouping the letters. I put them together
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: by twos, by threes, fours, and fives in vain. Nothing
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: intelligible came out, except that the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: made eyes in English, the eighty fourth, eighty fifth, and
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: eighty six the words sir. Then at last I seemed
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: to find the Latin words rota, mutabili era nek atra ah.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: There seems to be some truth in my uncle's notion,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: thought I. Then again I seemed to find the word luco,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: which means sacred wood. Then in the third line I
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: appeared to make up labeled a perfect Hebrew word, and
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: at the last the syllables mayor r mer, which were French.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: It was enough to drive one mad. Four different idioms
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in this absurd phrase. What connection could there be between eyes, sir, anger, cruel,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: sacred wood, changing, mother, r and sea. The first and
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: the last might, in a sentence connected with iceland mean
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: sea of ice. But what of the rest of this
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: monstrous cryptograph? I was, in fact fighting against an insurmountable difficulty.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: My brain was almost on fire. My eyes were strained
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: with staring at the parchment. The whole absurd collection of
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: letters appeared to dance before my vision in a number
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: of black little groups. My mind was possessed with temporary hallucination.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I was stifling. I wanted air. Mechanically, I found myself
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: with the document, of which now I saw the B
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: and then the front. Imagine my surprise when glancing at
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: the back of the wearisome puzzle, the ink having gone through,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I clearly made out Latin words, and among others, caraterem
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: and terrestre. I had discovered the secret. It came upon
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: me like a flash of lightning. I had got the clue.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: All you had to do to understand the document was
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: to read it backwards. All the ingenious ideas of the
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: professor were realized he had dictated it rightly to me.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: By a mere accident, I had discovered what he so
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: much desired. My delight, my emotion may be imagined. My
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: eyes were dazzled, and I trembled, so that at first
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I could make nothing of it. One look, however, would
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: tell me all I wished to know. Let me read, I,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: I said to myself, after drawing a long breath. I
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: spread it before me on the table. I passed my
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: finger over each letter. I spelled it through. In my
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: excitement I read it out. What horror and stupefaction took
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: possession of my soul. I was like a man who
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: had received a knockdown blow. Was it possible that I
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: really read the terrible secret? And it had really been accomplished?
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: A man had dared to do what no living being
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: should ever know? Never cried I, jumping up. Never shall
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: my uncle be made aware of the dreed secret. He
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: would be quite capable of undertaking the terrible journey. Nothing
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: would check him, nothing stop him. Worse, he would compel
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: me to accompany him, and we should be lost for ever.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: But no such folly and madness cannot be allowed. I
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: was almost beside myself with rage and fury. My worthy
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: uncle is already nearly mad, I cried aloud. This would
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: finish him. By some accident. He may make the discovery,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: in which case we are both lost. Perish the fearful secret,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Let the flames forever bury it in oblivion. I snatched
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: up book and parchment and was about to cast them
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: into the fire when the door opened and my uncle entered.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: I had scarcely time to put down the wretched documents
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: before my uncle was by my side. He was profoundly absorbed.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: His thoughts were evidently bent on the terrible parchment. Some
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: new combination had probably struck him while taking his walk.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: He seated himself in his arm chair, and with a pen,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: began to make an altipraical calculation. I watched him with
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: anxious eyes. My flesh crawled as it became probable that
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: he would discover the secret. His combinations, I knew now
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: were useless. I having discovered the one only clue. For
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: three mortal hours, he continued without speaking a word, without
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: raising his head, scratching, rewriting, calculating over and over again.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I knew that in time he must hit upon the
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: right phrase. The letters of every alphabet have only a
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: certain number of combinations. But then years might elapse before
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: he would arrive at the correct solution. Still time went on,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: night came, the sounds in the streets ceased, and still
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: my uncle went on, not even answering our worthy cook.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: When she called us to supper, I did not dare
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: to leave him, so waved her away, and at last
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: fell asleep on the sofa. When I awoke, my uncle
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: was still at work. His red eyes, his pallid countenance,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: his matted hair, his feverish hands, his hectically flushed cheeks
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: showed how terrible had been his struggle with the impossible,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and what fearful fatigue he had undergone during that long
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: sleepless night. It made me quite ill to look at him.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Though he was rather severe with me, I loved him,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: and my heart ached at his sufferings. He was so
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: overcome by one idea that he could not even get
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: in a passion. All his energies were focused on one point,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and I knew that by speaking one little word, all
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: this suffering would cease. I could not speak it. My
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: heart was nevertheless inclining towards him. Why then, did I
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: remain silent in the interest of my uncle himself. Nothing
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: shall make me speak, I muttered. He will want to
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: follow in the footsteps of the other. I know him well.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: His imagination is a perfect volcano, and to make discoveries
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: in the interests of geology, he would sacrifice his life.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: I will therefore be silent and strictly keep the secret
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: I have discovered. To reveal it would be suicidal. He
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: would not only rush himself to destruction, but drag me
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: with him. I crossed my arms, looked another way, and smoked,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: resolved never to speak. When our cook wanted to go
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: out to market or any other errand she found the
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: front door locked and the key taken away. Was this
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: time purposely or not? Surely Professor Hartwick did not intend
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: the old woman and myself to become marches to his
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: obstinate will. Were we to be starved to death, A
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: frightful recollection came to my mind once we had fed
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: on bits and scraps for a week while he sought
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: it some curiosities. It gave me the cramp even to
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: think of it. I wanted my breakfast, and I saw
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: no way of getting it. Still my resolution held good.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: I would starve rather than yield. But the cook began
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: to take me seriously to task what was to be done.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: She could not go out, and I dared not. My
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: uncle continued counting and writing. His imagination seemed to have
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: translated him to the skies. He neither thought of eating
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: nor drinking. In this way. Twelve o'clock came round. I
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: was hungry, and there was nothing in the house. The
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: cook had eaten the last bit of bread. This could
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: not go on. It did, however, until too when my
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: sensations were terrible. After all, I began to think the
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: document very absurd. Perhaps it might only be a gigantic hoax. Besides,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: some means would surely be found to keep my uncle
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: back from attempting any such absurd expedition. On the other hand,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: if it did attempt anything so quixotic, I should not
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: be compelled to accompany him. Another line of reasoning partially
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: decided me very likely he would make the discover himself,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: when I should have suffered starvation for nothing under the
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: influence of hunger. This reasoning appeared admirable. I determined to
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: tell all. The question now arose as to how it
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: was to be done. I was still dwelling on the thought.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: When he rose and put on his hat, What go
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: out and lock us in? Never, Uncle, I began. He
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: did not appear even to hear me. Professor Hartwig, I
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: cried what? He retorted, did you speak? How about the key?
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: What key?
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: The key of the door? No of these horrible hieroglyphics.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: He looked at me from under his spectacles and started
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: at the odd expression of my face. Rushing forward, he
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: clutched me by the arm and keenly examined my countenance.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: His very look was an interrogation. I simply nodded, with
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: an incredulous shrug of the shoulders. He turned upon his heel.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Undoubtedly he thought I had gone mad. I have made
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: a very important discovery. His eyes flashed with excitement. His
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: hand was lifted in a menacing attitude. For a moment,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: neither of us spoke. It is hard to say which
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: was most excited. You don't mean to say that you
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: have any idea of the meaning of the scrawl. I do,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: was my desperate reply. Look at the sentence as dictated
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: by you, well, but it means nothing, was the angry answer.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Nothing if you read from left to right. But Mark
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: if from right to left backwards, cried my uncle in
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: wild amazement, Oh, most cunning sagnossem, and I to be
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: such a blockhead. He snatched up the document, gazed at
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: it with haggard eye, and read it out as I
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: had done. It read as follows in Sneffel's yoculis kratrem
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: kem delibat umbra scartaris yulie intra Kalenda's descent audas viator
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: et terestresentrum attinges called feki arne sagnussem, which dog Latin,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: being translated, reads as follows. Descend into the crater of
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Jokull of Sneffels, which the shade of Scartaris caresses before
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: the canons of July Dasher's Traveler, and you will reach
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: the center of the earth. I did it, arne sagnussem.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: My uncle leaped three feet from the ground with joy.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: He looked ragiant and handsome. He rushed about the room,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: wild with delight and satisfaction. He knocked over tables and chairs,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: He threw his books about, until at last, utterly exhausted,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: he fell into his arm chair. What's o'clock? He asked?
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: About three? My dinner does not seem to have done
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: me much good, he observed. Let me have something to eat.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: We can then start at once. Get my portmanteau ready,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: What for and your own, he continued, We start at once.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: My horror may be conceived. I resolved, however, to show
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: no fear. Scientific reasons were the only ones likely to
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: influence my uncle. Now there were many against this terrible journey.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: The very idea of going down to the center of
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: the earth was simply absurd. I determined, therefore, to argue
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the point after dinner. My uncle's rage was now directed
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: against the cook for having no dinner ready. My explanation, however,
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: satisfied him, and having gotten the key, she soon contrived
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: to get sufficient to satisfy our voracious appetites. During the repast,
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: my uncle was rather gay than otherwise. He made some
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: of those peculiar jokes which belong exclusively to the learning.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: As soon, however, as dessert was over, he called me
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: to his study. We each took a chair on opposite
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: sides of the table. Henry, he said, in a soft
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: and winning voice, I have always believed you ingenious, and
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: you have rendered me a service never to be forgotten.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Without you this great, this wondrous discovery, would never have
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: been made. It is my duty, therefore to insist on
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: your sharing the glory. He's in a good humor, thought I.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: I'll soon let him know my opinion of glory. In
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: the first place, he continued, you must keep the whole
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: affair a profound secret. There is no more envious race
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: of men than scientific discoverers. Many would start on the
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: same journey. At all events, we will be the first
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: in the field. I doubt your having many competitors, was
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: my reply. A man of real scientific acquirements would be
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: delighted at the chance we should find a perfect stream
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: of pilgrims on the traces of Ernest Sutnossom if this
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: document were once made public. But my dear sir, is
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: not this paper very likely to be a hoax? I urged.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: The book in which we find it is sufficient proof
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: of its authenticity. He replied. I thoroughly allowed that the
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: celebrated professor wrote the lines. But only I believe as
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: a kind of mystification, was my answer. Scarcely were the
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: words out of my mouth. When I was sorry I
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: had uttered them. My uncle looked at me with a
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: dark and gloomy scowl, and I began to be alarmed
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: for the results of our conversation. His mood soon changed, however,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: and a smile took the place of a frown. We
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: shall see, he remarked, with decissive emphasis. But see what
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: is all this about Jokul and Sneffels and this cartaris.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: I have never heard anything about them. The very point
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: to which I am coming I lately received from my
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: friend Augustus Piederman of Leipzish a map. Take down the
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: third atlas from the second shelf series, set plate four.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: I rose, went to the shelf, and presently returned with
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: the volume indicated this, said, my uncle, is one of
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: the best maps of Iceland. I believe it will settle
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: all your doubts, difficulties, and objections. With a grim hope
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: to the contrary, I stooped over the map. End of
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: chapter three. Chapter four, we start on the journey. You see,
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: the whole island is composed of volcanos, said the prophet,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: and remark carefully that they all bear the name of Jocal.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: The word is Icelandic and means a glacier in most
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: of the lofty mountains of that region. The volcanic eruptions
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: come forth from ice bound caverns, hence the name applied
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: to every volcano on this extraordinary island. But what does
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: this word Sneffels mean to this question? I expected no
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: rational answer. I was mistaken. Follow my finger to the
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: western coast of Iceland. There you see Raykavik, its capital.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Follow the direction of one of its innumerable fiords or
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: arms of the sea. And what do you see below
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: the sixty fifth degree of latitude a peninsula very like
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: a thigh bone in shape, and in the center of
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: it a mountain. Well, that's Sneffels. I had not to say.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: That is Sneffles, a mountain about five thousand feet in height,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: one of the most remarkable in the whole island, and
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: certainly doomed to be the most celebrated in the world.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: For through its crater we shall reach the center of
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: the Earth. Impossible, cried I startled and shocked at the thought.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: Why impossible, said Professor Hartwig in his severest tones, because
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: its crater is choked with lava, by burning rocks, by
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: infinite dangers. But if it be extinct, that would make
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: a difference. Of course, it would there are about three
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: hundred volcanoes on the whole surface of the globe, but
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: the greater number are extinct. Of these, Sneffles is one.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: No eruption has occurred since twelve hundred and nineteen. In fact,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: it has ceased to be a volcano at all. After this,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: what more could I say? Yes, I thought of another objection,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: But what is all this about Scartaris and the callons
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: of July? My uncle reflected deeply. Presently he gave forth
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: the result of his reflections in a sententious tone. What
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: appears obscure to you, to me is light. This very
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: phrase shows how particular Sacrosom is in his directions. The
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Sneffel's Mountain has many craters. He is careful, therefore, to
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: point the exact one, which is the highway into the
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: interior of the earth. He lets us know for this
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: purpose that about the end of the month of June,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: the shadow of mounts Cartaris falls upon the one crater.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: There can be no doubt about the matter. My uncle
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: had an answer for everything. I accept all your explanations,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: I said, and sadnessm is right. He found out the
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: entrance to the bowels of the earth. He has indicated correctly,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: but that he or any one else ever followed up
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: the discovery is madness to suppose. Why so, young man,
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: All scientific teaching, theoretical and practical, shows it to be impossible.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: I care nothing for theorists, retorted my uncle. But is
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: it not well known that heat increases one degree for
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: every seventy feet you descend into the earth, which gives
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: a fine idea of the central heat. All the matters
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: which compose the globe are in a state of incandescence.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: Even gold, platinum, and the hardest rocks are in a
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: state of fusion. What would become of us? Don't be
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: alarmed at the heat, my boy. How so, neither you
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: nor anybody else know anything about the real state of
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: the Earth's interior. All modern experiments tend to explode the
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: older theories. Were any such heat to exist, the upper
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: crust of the Earth would be shattered to atoms, and
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: the world would be at an end. A long learned
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: and not uninteresting discussion followed, which ended in this wise,
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: I do not believe in the dangers and difficulties which you, Henry,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: seemed to multiply, And the only way to learn is
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: like arnest sacrassen to go and see, well, cried I
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: overcome at last, let us go and see. Though how
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: we can do that in the dark is another mystery.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: Fear nothing. We shall overcome these and many other difficulties. Besides,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: as we approached the center, I expect to find it luminous.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: Nothing is impossible. And now that we have come to
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: a thorough understanding, not a word to any living soul.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Our success depends on secrecy and despatch. Thus ended our
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: memorable conference, which roused a perfect fever in me. Leaving
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: my uncle, I went forth like one possessed. Reaching the
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: banks of the Elbew, I began to think, was all
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: I had heard really and truly possible? Was my uncle
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: in his sober senses? And could the interior of the
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: earth be reached? Was either victim of a madman? Or
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: was he a discoverer of rare courage and grandeur of conception?
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: To a certain extent, I was anxious to be off.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: I was afraid my enthusiasm would cool. I determined to
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: pack up at once at the end of an hour. However,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: on my way home, I found that my feelings had
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: very much changed. I am all abroad. I cried, tis
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: a nightmare. I must have dreamt it. At this moment
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: I came face to face with Gretchen, whom I warmly embraced.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: So you have come to meet me. She said, how
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: good of you, But what is the matter. Well, it
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: was no use mincing the matter. I told her all.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: She listened with ave, and for some minutes she could
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: not speak. Well. I at last said, rather anxiously, what
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: a magnificent journey. If I were only a man, a
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: journey worthy of the nephew of Professor Hartwig, I should
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: look upon it as an honor to accompany him. My
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: dear Gretchen, I thought you would be the first to
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: cry out against this mad enterprise. No, on the contrary,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: I glory in it. It is magnificent, splendid, an idea
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: worthy of my father, Henry Lawson. I envy you. This was,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: as it were, conclusive, the final blow of all. When
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: we entered the house we found my uncles surrounded by
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: workmen and porters who were packing up. He was pulling
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: and hauling at a bell. Where have you been wasting
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: your time? Your portmanteau is not packed, my papers are
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: not in order. The precious tailor has not brought my
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: clothes nor my gaiters. The key of my carpet bag
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: is gone. I looked at him, stupefied, and steely tugged
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: away at the bell. We are really off, then, I said, yes,
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: of course, And yet you go out for a stroll,
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: unfortunate boy. And when do we go the day after
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: to morrow? At daybreak I heard no more, but darted
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: off to my little bed chamber and locked myself in.
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: There was no doubt about it. Now my uncle had
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: been hard at work all the afternoon. The garden was
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: full of ropes, rope ladders, torches, gorge, iron clamps, crowbars, alpenstocks,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: and pickaxes enough to load ten men. I passed a
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: terrible night. I was called early the next day to
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: learn that the resolution of my uncle was unchanged and irrevocable.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: I also found my cousin, an affianced wife, as warm
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: on the subject as was her father. Next day, at
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: five o'clock in the morning, the post chaise was at
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: the door. Gretchen and the old cook received the keys
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: of the house, and, scarcely pausing to wish anyone good bye,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: we started on our adventurous journey into the center of
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: the Earth. End of Chapter four, Chapter five, First Lessons
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: in Climbing at Altona, a suburb of Hamburg, is the
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: chief station of the Keel Railway, which was to take
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: us to the shores of the belt. In twenty minutes
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: from the moment of our departure, we were in Holstein
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: and our carriage entered the station. Our heavy luggage was
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: taken out, weighed, labeled, and placed in a huge van.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: We then took our tickets, and exactly at seven o'clock
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: were seated opposite each other in a first class railway carriage.
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: My uncle said nothing, he was too busy examining his papers,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: among which, of course was the famous parchment and some
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: letters of introduction from the Danish consul, which were to
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: pave the way to an introduction to the Governor of Iceland.
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: My only amusement was looking out of the window, But
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: as we passed through a flat, though fertile country, this
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: occupation was slightly monotonous. In three hours we reached Keel
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: and our baggage was at once transferred to the steamer.
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: We had now a day before us, a delay of
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: about ten hours, which fact put my uncle in a
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: towering passion. We had nothing to do but to walk
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: about the pretty town and bay. At length, however, we
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: went on board, and at half past ten were steaming
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: down the Great Belt. It was a dark night, with
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: a strong breeze and a rough sea, nothing being visible
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: but the occasional fires on shore, with here and there
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: a lighthouse. At seven in the morning we left Corsair,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: a little town on the western side of sea land.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: Here we took another railway, which in three hours brought
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: us to the capital, Copenhagen, where, scarcely taking time for refreshment,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: my uncle hurried out to present one of his letters
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: of introduction. It was to the director of the Museum
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: of Antiquities, who, having been informed that we were tourists
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: bound for Iceland, did all he could to assist us.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: One wretched hope sustained me. Now, perhaps no vessel was
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: bound for such distant parts alas a little Danish schooner,
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: the Valkyria, was to sail on the second of June
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: for Reikavik. The captain M. Bionne was on board and
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: was rather surprised at the energy and cordiality with which
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: his future passenger shook him by the hand to him
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: a voyage to Iceland was merely a matter of course.
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: My uncle, on the other hand, considered the event of
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: sublime importance. The honest sailor took advantage of the professor's
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: enthusiast to double the fare. On Tuesday morning, at seven o'clock,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: beyond board, said Mbionne, handing us our receipts. Excellent capital glorious,
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: remarked my uncle, as we set down to a late breakfast.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: Refresh yourself, my boy, and we will take a run
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: through the town. Our meal concluded, we went to the
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: komins Ntor, to the King's magnificent palace, to the beautiful
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: bridge of the canal near the museum, to the immense
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: cenotaph of Thorwaldsen with its hideous naval groups, to the
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: Castle of Rosenberg, and to all the other lions of
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: the place, none of which my uncle even saw. So
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: absorbed was he in his anticipated triumphs. But one thing
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: struck his fancy, and that was a certain singular steeple
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: situated on the island of Armagh, which is the southeast
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: quarter of the city of Copenhagen. My uncle at once
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: ordered me to turn my steps that way, and accordingly,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: we went on board the steam ferry boat which does
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: duty on the canal, and very soon reached the noted
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: dockyard cave. In the first instance, we crossed some narrow streets,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: where we met numerous groups of galley slaves with party
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: colored trousers gray and yellow, working under the orders and
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: the stitchsk of severe taskmasters, and finally reached the Worfrelsares Kirk.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: This church exhibited nothing remarkable in itself. In fact, the
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: worthy professor had only been attracted to it by one circumstance,
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: which was that its rather elevated steeple started from a
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: circular platform, after which there was an exterior staircase which
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: wound round to the very summit. Let us ascend, said
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: my uncle. But I never could climb church towers, I cried,
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: I'm subject to disiness in my head. The very reason
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: why you should go up. I want to cure you
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: of a bad habit. But my good sir, I tell
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: you to come. What is the use of wasting so
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: much valuable time? It was impossible to dispute the dictatorial
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: commands of my uncle. I yielded with a groan on
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: payment of a fee A Verdure gave us the key. He,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: for one, was not partial to the ascent. My uncle
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: at once showed me the way, running up the steps
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: like a schoolboy. I followed as well as I could,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: though no sooner was I outside the tower than my
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: head began to swim. There was nothing of the eagle
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: about me. The earth was enough for me, and no
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: ambitious desire to soar ever entered my mind. Still, things
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: did not go badly until I had descended hundred and
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: fifty steps and was near the platform. When I began
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: to feel the rush of cold air. I could scarcely stand.
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: When clutching the railings, I looked upwards. The railing was
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: frail enough, but nothing to those which skirted the terrible
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: winding staircase that appeared from where I stood to ascend
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: to the skies. Now, then, Henry, I can't do it,
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: I cried, in accents of despair. Are you, after all
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: a coward? Sir, said my uncle in his pitiless tone,
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: Go up, I say to this. There was no reply possible,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: and yet the keen air acted violently on my nervous system.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: Sky earth all seemed to swim round, while the steeple
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: rocked like a ship. My legs gave way, like those
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: of a drunken man. I crawled upon my hands and knees.
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: I hauled myself up, slowly, crawling like a snake. Presently
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: I closed my eyes and allowed myself to be dragged upwards.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: Look around you, said my uncle in a stern voice.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: Heaven knows what profound abuses you may have to look down.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: This is excellent practice. Slowly, and shivering all the while
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: with cold, I opened my eyes. What then did I see?
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: My first glance was upwards at the cold, fleecy clouds, which,
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: as by some optical delusion, appeared to stand still, while
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: the steeple, the weather cock, and our true selves were
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: carried swiftly along. Far away. On one side could be
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: seen the grassy plain, while on the other laid the sea,
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: bathed in translucent light. The sund or sound as we
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: call it, could be discovered beyond the point of Elsinore,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: crowded with white which at that distance looked like the
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: wings of sea gulls, while to the east could be
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: made out the far off coast of Sweden. The whole
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: appeared a magic panorama, but faint and bewildered as I was,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: there was no remedy for it. Rise and stand up,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: I must, despite my protestations. My first lesson lasted quite
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: an hour. When nearly two hours later I reached the
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: bosom of mother Earth, I was like a rheumatic old man,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: bent double with pain. Enough for one day, said my uncle,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: rubbing his hands. We will begin again to morrow. There
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: was no remedy. My lessons lasted five days, and at
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: the end of that period I ascended blithely enough and
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: found myself able to look down into the depths below
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: without even winking, and with some degree of pleasure. End
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: of Chapter.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 3: Five, Chapter six our voyage to Iceland. The hour of
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 3: departure came at last. The night before the worthy mister
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 3: Thompson brought us the most cordial letters of introduction for
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 3: Baron Tramp, Governor of Iceland, for mister Picterson, coadjutor to
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 3: the Bishop, and for Mins Finsen, mayor of the town
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: of Rekyevik. In return, my uncle nearly crushed his hands
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 3: so warmly did he shake them. On the second of
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 3: the month, at two in the morning, our precious cargo
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 3: of luggage was taken on board the good ship Valkyrie.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 3: We followed and were politely introduced by the captain to
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 3: a small cabin with two standing bed places, neither very
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 3: well ventilated nor very comfortable. But in the cause of science,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 3: men are expected to suffer.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 4: Well.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 3: And have we a fair wind, cried my uncle in
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 3: his most malifluous accents. An excellent wind, cried Captain Bjarn.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 3: We shall leave the sound going free, with all sails set.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 3: A few minutes afterwards, the schooners started before the wind,
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 3: under all the canvas she could carry, and enter the channel.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 3: An hour later, the capital of Denmark seemed to sink
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 3: into the waves, and we were at no great distance
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 3: from the coast of Elsinore. My uncle was delighted, for myself,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 3: moody and dissatisfied. I appeared almost to expect a glimpse
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: of the ghost of Hamlet, sublime madman, thought, I, you
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 3: doubtless would approve our proceedings. You might perhaps even follow
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 3: us to the center of the earth, there to resolve
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 3: your eternal doubts. But no ghost or anything else appeared
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 3: upon the ancient walls. The fact is the castle is
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 3: much later than the time of the heroic Prince of Denmark.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 3: It is now the residence of the keeper of the
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 3: Strait of the Sound, and through that sound more than
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 3: fifteen thousand vessels of all nations pass every year. The
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 3: castle of Kronborg soon disappeared in the murky atmosphere, as
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 3: well as the tower of Helsenborg, which raised its head
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 3: on the Swedish bank. And here the schooner began to
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 3: feel in earnest. The breezes of the katagat the valkyy
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 3: was swift enough, but with all sailing boats there is
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 3: the same uncertainty. Her cargo was coal, furniture, pottery, woolen clothing,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: and a load of corn. As usual, the crew was small,
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 3: five Danes doing the whole of the work. How long
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 3: will the voyage last, asked my uncle. Well, I think
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 3: about ten days, replied the skipper, unless indeed we meet
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 3: with some northeast gales from the Faroe Islands. At all events,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 3: there will be no very considerable delay, cried the impatient professor. No,
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 3: mister Hardwig, said the captain, No fear of that. At
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 3: all events, we shall get there some day towards evening.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 3: The schooner doubled Cape Skagin, the northernmost part of Denmark,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 3: crossed the Skagarat during the night, skirted the extreme point
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 3: of Norway through the gut of Cape Lindis, and then
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 3: reached the northern seas. Two days later. We were not
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 3: far from the coast of Scotland, somewhere near what the
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 3: Danish sailors called Peterhead. And then the Valkyrie stretched out
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 3: for the Pharau Islands, between Orkney and Shetland. Our vessel
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 3: now felt the full force of the ocean waves and
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 3: the wind shifting. We with great difficulty, made the Farau Islands.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 3: On the eighth day. The captain made out mcguinnis, the
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 3: westernmost of the isles, and from that moment had direct
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 3: for Portland, a cape on the southern shores of the
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 3: singular island for which we were bound. The voyage offered
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 3: no incident worthy of record. I bore it very well,
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 3: but my uncle, to his great annoyance and even shame,
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 3: was remarkably seasick. This mal de mer troubled him the
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 3: more that it prevented him from questioning Captain Bjarne as
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 3: to the subject of Sneffels, as to the means of
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 3: communication and the facilities of transport. All these explanations he
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 3: had to adjourn to the period of his arrival. His time,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 3: meanwhile was spent lying in bed, groaning and dwelling anxiously
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: on the hoped for termination of the voyage. I didn't
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 3: pity him. On the eleventh day we sighted Cape Portland,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: over which towered Mount Midril's yokel which, the weather, being clear,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 3: we made out very readily. The cape itself is nothing
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 3: but a huge amount of granite, standing naked and alone
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 3: to meet the Atlantic waves. The Valkyrie kept off the coast,
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 3: steering to the westward. On all sides were to be
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 3: seen whole schools of whales and sharks. After some hours
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: we came in sight of a solitary rock in the ocean,
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 3: forming a mighty vault through which the foaming waves poured
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 3: with intense fury. The islets of Westman appeared to leap
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 3: from the ocean, being so low in the water as
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 3: scarcely to be seen until you were right upon them.
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 3: From that moment, the schooner was steered to the westward
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 3: in order to round Cape Wrekyons, the western point of Iceland.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 3: My uncle, to his great disgust, was unable even to
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 3: crawl on deck so heavy a sea was on and
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 3: thus lost the first view of the land of Promise.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 3: Forty eight hours later, after a storm which drove us
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 3: far to sea under bare poles, we came once more
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 3: in sight of land and were boarded by a pilot, who,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 3: after three hours of dangerous navigation, brought the schooner safely
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 3: to an anchor in the Bay of Foxa. Before Rekievik,
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: my uncle, came out of his cabin, pale, haggard, thin,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 3: but full of enthusiasm, his eyes dilated with pleasure and satisfaction.
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 3: Nearly the whole population of the town was on foot
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 3: to see us land. The fact was that scarcely any
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 3: one of them but expected some goods by the periodical vessel.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 3: Professor Hardwig was in haste to leave his prison, or rather,
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 3: as he called it, his hospital. But before he attempted
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 3: to do so, he caught hold of my hand, led
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 3: me to the quarter deck of the schooner, took my
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 3: arm with his left hand, and pointed inland with his
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 3: right over the northern part of the bay, to where
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 3: rose a high, two peaked mountain, a double cone covered
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 3: with eternal snow bed. He whispered in an awe stricken voice,
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 3: behold mount Sneffels. Then, without further remark, he put his
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 3: finger to his lips, frowned darkly, and descended into the
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 3: small boat which awaited us. I followed, and in a
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 3: few minutes we stood upon the soil of mysterious Iceland.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 3: Scarcely were we fairly on shore, when there appeared before
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 3: us a man of excellent appearance, wearing the costume of
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 3: a military officer. He was, however, but a civil servant,
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 3: a magistrate. The governor of the island, Baron Tramp. The
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 3: professor knew whom he had to deal with. He therefore
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 3: handed him the letters from Copenhagen, and a brief conversation
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 3: in Danish followed, to which I, of course was a stranger,
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 3: and for a very good reason, for I did not
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 3: know the language in which they conversed. I afterwards heard, however,
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 3: that Baron Tramp placed himself entirely at the beck and
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 3: call of Professor Hardwig. My uncle, was most graciously received
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 3: by mister Finsen, the mayor, who, as far as costume,
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 3: was quite as military as the governor, but also from
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 3: character and occupation quite as pacific. As for his Coadjutor
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 3: Monsieur Picterson. He was absent on an episcopal visit to
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 3: the northern portion of the diocese. We were therefore compelled
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 3: to defer the pleasure of being presented to him. His
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 3: absence was, however, more than compensated by the presence of
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 3: mister Friedrichson, Professor of Natural Science in the College of Rekuevic,
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 3: a man of invaluable ability. This modest scholar spoke no
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 3: languages save Icelandic and Latin. When therefore he addressed himself
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 3: to me in the language of Horace, we at once
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 3: came to understand one another. He was, in fact the
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 3: only person that I did thoroughly understand during the whole
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 3: period of my residence in this benighted island. Out of
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 3: three rooms of which his house was composed, two were
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 3: placed at our service, and in a few hours we
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 3: were installed with all our baggage, the amount of which
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 3: rather astonished the simple inhabitants of Rekuevik. Harry said, my uncle,
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 3: rubbing his hands on, goes, well, the worst difficulty is
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 3: now over. How the worst difficulty over, I cried, in
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 3: fresh amazement. Doubtless, here we are at Iceland. Nothing more
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 3: remains but to descend into the bowels of the earth. Well, sir,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 3: to a certain extent, you are right. We have only
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 3: to go down. But as far as I am concerned,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 3: that is not the question. I want to know how
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 3: we are to get up again. That is the least
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 3: part of the business, and does not in any way
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 3: trouble me. In the meantime, there is not an hour
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 3: to lose. I am about to visit the public library.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 3: Very likely I may find there some manuscripts from the
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 3: hand of suck newsom I shall be glad to consult them.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 3: In the meanwhile, I replied, I will take a walk
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 3: through the town, Will you not likewise do so? I
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 3: feel no interest in the subject, said my uncle. What
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 3: for me is curiousness. Island is not what is above
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 3: the surface, but what is below. I bowed by way
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 3: of reply, put on my hat and furred cloak, and
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 3: went out. It was not an easy matter to lose
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 3: one's self from the two streets of Rekievic. I had
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 3: therefore no need to ask my way. The town lies
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 3: on a flat and marshy plain between two hills. A
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 3: vast field of lava skirted on one side, falling away
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 3: in terraces toward the sea. On the other hand, is
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 3: the large Bay of Foxa, bordered on the north by
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 3: the enormous glacier of Sneffels, and in which bay the
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 3: Valkyrie was then the only vessel at anchor. Generally there
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 3: was one or two English or French gunboats to watch
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 3: and protect the fisheries in the offing. They were, now, however,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 3: absent on duty. The longest of the streets of Rekievic
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 3: runs parallel to the shore. In this street, the merchants
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 3: and traders live in wooden huts made with beams of wood,
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 3: painted red mere log huts such as you would find
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 3: in the wilds of America. The other street, situated more
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 3: to the west, runs toward a little lake between the
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 3: residences of the Bishop and the other personages not engaged
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 3: in commerce. I had soon seen all I wanted of
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 3: these weary and dismal thoroughfares. Here and there was a
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 3: strip of discolored turf, like an old, worn out bit
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 3: of woolen carpet, And now and then a bit of
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 3: kitchen garden in which grew potatoes, cabbage, and lettuce, almost
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 3: diminutive enough to suggest the idea of Lilliput. In the
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 3: center of the new commercial street, I found the public cemetery,
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 3: enclosed by an earthen wall. Though not very large, it
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 3: appeared not likely to be filled for centuries. From hence
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 3: I went to the house of the Governor, a mere
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 3: hut in comparison with the mansion house of Hamburg, but
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 3: a palace. Alongside the other Icelandic houses. Between the little
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 3: lake and the town was the church, built in simple
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 3: Protestant style and composed of calcined stones thrown up by
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 3: volcanic action. I have not the slightest doubt that in
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 3: high winds its red tiles were blown out, to the
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 3: great annoyance of the pastor and congregation upon an eminence.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 3: Close at hand was the National School, in which were
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 3: taught Hebrew, English, French and Danish. In three hours my
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 3: tour was complete. The general impression upon my mind was sadness.
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 3: No trees, no vegetation, so to speak. On all sides
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 3: volcanic peaks, the huts of turf and earth more like
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 3: roofs than houses. Thanks to the heat of these residences,
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: grass grows on the roof which grass is carefully cut
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 3: for hay. I saw but few inhabitants during my excursion,
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 3: but I met a crowd on the beach drying, salting
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 3: and loading codfish, the principal article of exportation. The men
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 3: appeared robust but heavy, fair haired like Germans, but of
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 3: pensive mien, exiles of a higher scale in the latter
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 3: of humanity than the Eskimos. But I thought much more unhappy,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 3: since with superior perceptions they are compelled to live within
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 3: the limits of the polar circle. Sometimes they gave vent
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 3: to a convulsive laugh, but by no chance did they smile.
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 3: Their costumes consist of a coarse capode of black wool
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 3: known in Scandinavian countries as the vodmel, a broad brimmed hat,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 3: trousers of red serge, and a piece of leather tied
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 3: with strings for a shoe, a coarse kind of moccasin.
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 3: The women, though sad looking and mournful, had rather agreeable
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 3: features without much expression. They wore a bodice and petticoat
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 3: of somber vaudemel. When unmarried they wear a little brown
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 3: knitted cap over a crown of plaited hair, but when
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 3: married they cover their heads with a colored handkerchief, over
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 3: which they tie a white scarf. End of Chapter six,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 3: Chapter seven, Conversation and Discovery. When I returned, dinner was ready.
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 3: This meal was devoured by my worthy relative with avidity
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 3: and veracity. His shipboard diet had turned his interior into
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 3: a perfect gulf. The repast, which was more Danish than Icelandic,
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 3: was in itself nothing but the excessive hospitality of our
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 3: hosts made us enjoy it doubly. The conversation turned upon
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 3: scientific matters, and Monsieur Fridericson asked my uncle what he
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 3: thought of the public library library, Sir, cried my uncle,
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 3: it appears to me a collection of useless, odd volumes
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 3: and a beggarly amount of empty shelves. What, cried mister Fridericson,
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 3: Why we have eight thousand volumes of most rare and
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 3: valuable works, some in Scandinavian language, besides all the new
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 3: publications from Copenhagen, eight thousand volumes, My dear sir, why
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 3: where are they? Cried my uncle scattered over the country,
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 3: Professor Hardwig, We are very studious, my dear sir. Though
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 3: we do live in Iceland. Every farmer, every laborer, every
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 3: fisherman can both read and write, and we think that books,
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 3: instead of being locked up in cupboards far from the
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 3: site of students, should be distributed as widely as possible.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 3: The books of our library are therefore passed from hand
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 3: to hand without returning to the library shelves, perhaps for years.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 3: Then when foreigners visit you, there is nothing for them
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 3: to see. Well, sir, foreigners have their own libraries, and
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 3: our first consideration is that our humbler classes should be
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 3: highly educated. Fortunately, the love of study is innate in
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 3: the Icelandic people. In eighteen sixteen we found that a
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 3: literary society and mechanics institute, many foreign scholars of eminence
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 3: are honorary members. We publish books destined to educate our people,
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 3: and these books have rendered valuable services to our country.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 3: Allow me to have the honor Professor Hardwig, to enroll
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 3: you as an honorary member. My uncle, who already belonged
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 3: to nearly every literary and scientific institution in Europe, immediately
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 3: yielded to the amiable wishes of the good mister Friedrichsen.
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 3: And now he said, after many expressions of gratitude and
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 3: good will, if you will tell me what books you
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 3: expect to find, perhaps I may be of some assistance
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 3: to you. I watched my uncle keenly for a minute
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 3: or two. He hesitated, as if unwilling to speak, to
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 3: speak openly, was perhaps to unveil his projects. Nevertheless, after
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 3: some reflection he made up his mind. Well, mister Friedrichsen,
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 3: he said, in an easy, unconcerned kind of way, I
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 3: was desirous of ascertaining if, among other valuable works, you
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 3: had any of the learned Arnsocknussom. Arnsocknussom, cried the professor
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 3: of Rekyevich. You speak of one of the most distinguished
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 3: scholars of the sixteenth century, of the great naturalist, the
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 3: great alchemist, the great traveler. Exactly so, one of the
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 3: most distinguished men connected with Icelandic science and literature, as
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 3: you say, sir, a man illustrious above all. Yes, all
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 3: this is true. But his works we have none of them,
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 3: not in Iceland. There are none in Iceland or elsewhere,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 3: answered the other sadly. Why so, because arnstock Newsom was
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 3: persecuted for heresy, and in fifteen seventy three his works
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 3: were publicly burnt at Copenhagen by the hands of the
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 3: common hangman. Very good capital murmured my uncle, to the
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 3: great astonishment of the worthy icelander. You said, sir, Yes, yes,
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 3: all is clear. I see the link in the chain.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 3: Everything is explained, and I now understand why Arnstock Newsom,
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 3: put out of court, forced to hide his magnificent discoveries,
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 3: was compelled to conceal beneath the veil of an incomprehensible cryptograph.
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 3: The secret? What secret? A secret? Which stammered my uncle.
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 3: Have you discovered some wonderful manuscript, cried mister Friedrichson. No, No,
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 3: I was carried by my enthusiasm a mere supposition. Very good, sir,
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 3: But really, to turn to another subject, I hope you
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 3: will not leave our island without examining into its mineralogical riches. Well,
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 3: the fact is I am rather late, so many learned
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 3: men have been here before me. Yes, yes, but there
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 3: is still much to be done, cried mister Friederckson. You
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 3: think so, said my uncle, his eyes twinkling with hidden satisfaction. Yes,
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 3: you have no idea how many unknown mountains, glaciers volcanoes
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 3: there are which remain to be studied. Without moving from
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 3: where we sit, I can show you one yonder on
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 3: the edge of the horizon. You see Sneffeles. Oh, yes, Sneffles,
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 3: said my uncle, one of the most curious volcanoes in existence,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 3: the crater of which has been rarely visited, extinct, extinct
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 3: any time these five hundred years. Was the ready reply. Well,
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 3: said my uncle, who dug his nails into his flesh
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 3: and pressed his niees tightly together to prevent himself leaping
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 3: up with joy. I have a great mind to begin
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 3: my studies with an examination of the geological mysteries of
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 3: this mount sephal Feissel.
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 2: What do you call it?
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 3: Sneffels, My dear sir. This portion of the conversation took
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 3: place in Latin, and I therefore understood all that had
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 3: been said. I could scarcely keep my countenance when I
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 3: found my uncle so cunningly concealing his delight and satisfaction.
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 3: I must confess that his artful grimaces put on to
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 3: conceal his happiness made him look like a new Mephistopheles. Yes, yes,
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 3: he continued, Your proposition delights me. I will endeavor to
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 3: climb to the summit of Sneffels, and, if possible, would
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 3: descend into its crater. I very much regret, continued mister
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 3: friedericson that my occupation will entirely preclude the possibility of
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 3: my accompanying you. It would have been both pleasurable and
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 3: profitable if I could have spared the time. No, No,
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 3: A thousand times no, cried my uncle. I do not
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 3: wish to disturb the serenity of any man. I thank you, however,
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 3: with all my heart. The presence of one so learned
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 3: as yourself would no doubt have been most useful. But
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 3: the duties of your office and profession before everything. In
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 3: the innocence of his simple heart, our host did not
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 3: perceive the irony of these remarks. I entirely approve your project,
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 3: continued the Icelander, after some further remarks. It is a
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 3: good idea to begin by examining this volcano. You will
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 3: make a harvest of curious observations. In the first place,
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 3: how you propose to get to Sneffles by sea? I
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 3: shall cross the bay, of course, that is the most
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 3: rapid route, of course, but still it cannot be done.
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 3: Why we have not an available boat in all Rekievic
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 3: replied the other. What is to be done? You must
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 3: go by land along the coast. It is longer, but
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 3: much more interesting. Then I must have a guide, of course,
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 3: and I have your very man, somebody on whom I
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 3: can depend. Yes, an inhabitant of the peninsula on which
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 3: Sneffels is situated. He is a very shrewd and worthy
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 3: man with whom you will be pleased. He speaks Danish
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 3: like a Dane. When can I see him today? No, tomorrow.
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 3: He will not be here before tomorrow, be it, replied
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 3: my uncle with a deep sigh. The conversation ended by
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 3: compliments on both sides. During the dinner, my uncle had
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 3: learned much as to the history of Arnstock Newsom the
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 3: reasons for his mysterious and hieroglyphical document. He also became
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 3: aware that his host would not accompany him on his
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 3: adventurous expedition, and that next day we should have a guide.
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 3: End of Chapter seven. Chapter eight, the eider Down Hunter off.
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 3: At last that evening, I took a brief walk on
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 3: the shore near Rekievich, after which I returned to an
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 3: early sleep on my bed of coarse planks, where I
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 3: slept the sleep of the Just when I awoke, I
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 3: heard my uncle speaking loudly in the next room. I
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 3: rose hastily and joined him. He was talking in Danish
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 3: with a man of tall stature and of perfectly herculean built.
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 3: This man appeared to be possessed of very great strength.
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 3: His eyes, which started rather prominently from a very large head,
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 3: the face belonging to which was simple and naive, appeared
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 3: very quick and intelligent. Very long hair, which even in
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 3: England would have been accounted exceedingly red, fell over his
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 3: athletic shoulders. This native of Iceland was active and supple
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 3: in appearance, though he scarcely moved his arms, being in
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 3: fact one of those men who despises the habit of
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 3: gesticulation common to southern people. Everything in this man's manner
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 3: revealed a calm and phlegmatic temperament. There was nothing indolent
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 3: about him, but his appearance spoke of tranquility. He was
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 3: one of those who never seemed to expect anything from anybody,
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 3: who liked to work when he thought proper, and whose
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 3: philosophy nothing could astonish or try. I began to comprehend
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 3: his character simply from the way in which he listened
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 3: to the wild and impassioned verbiage of my worthy uncle,
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 3: while the excellent professor spoke sentence after sentence. He stood
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 3: with folded arms, utterly, still motionless to all my uncle's gesticulations.
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 3: When he wanted to say no, he moved his head
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 3: from left to right. When he acquiesced, he nodded so
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 3: slightly that you could have scarcely seen the undulation of
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 3: his head. This economy of motion was carried to the
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 3: length of avarice. Judging from his appearance, I should have
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 3: been a long time before I had suspected him to
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 3: be what he was, a mighty hunter. Certainly, his manner
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 3: was not likely to frighten the game. How then, did
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 3: he contrive to get at his prey. My surprise was
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 3: slightly modified when I knew that this tranquil, solemn personage
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 3: was only a hunter of the eider duck, the down
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 3: of which is after all the greatest source of the
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 3: Icelander's wealth. In the early days of summer, the female
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 3: of the eider, a pretty sort of duck, builds its
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 3: nest amid the rocks of the Fiords, the name given
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 3: to a all narrow gulfs and Scandinavian countries with which
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 3: every part of the island is indented. No sooner has
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 3: the eider duck made her nest, than she lines the
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 3: inside of it with the softest down from her breast.
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 3: Then comes the hunter or trader, taking away the nest.
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 3: The poor bereaved female begins her task over again, and
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 3: this continues as long as any eider down is to
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 3: be found. When she can find no more, the male
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 3: bird sets to work to see what he can do,
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 3: As however, his down is not so soft and therefore
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 3: has no commercial value, the hunter does not take the
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 3: trouble to rob him of his nest. Lining the nest
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 3: is accordingly finished, the eggs are laid, the little ones
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 3: are born, and next year the harvest of eiderdown is
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 3: again collected. Now, as the eider duck never selects steep
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 3: rocks or aspects to build its nest, but rather sloping
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 3: and low cliffs near to the sea, the Icelandic hunter
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 3: can carry on his trade operations without much difficulty. He
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 3: is like a farmer who has neither to plow, to sow,
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 3: nor to harrow, only to collect his harvest. This grave, sententious,
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 3: silent person, as phlegmatic as an englishman on the French stage,
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 3: was named Hans Bielke. He had called upon us in
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 3: consequence of the recommendation of mister Friedrichson. He was, in
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 3: fact our future guide. It struck me that had I
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 3: sought the world over, I could not have found a
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 3: greater contradiction to my impulsive uncle. They, however, readily understood
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 3: one another. Neither of them had any thought about money.
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 3: One was ready to take all that was offered him,
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 3: the other ready to offer anything that was asked. It
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 3: may readily be conceived then that an understanding was soon
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 3: to come between them. Now the understanding was that he
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 3: was to take us to the village of Stappe, situated
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 3: on the southern slope of the peninsula Sneffels, at the
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 3: very foot of the volcano Hans. The guide told us
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 3: the distance was about twenty two miles, a journey which
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 3: my uncle supposed would take about two days. But when
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 3: my uncle came to understand that they were Danish miles
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 3: of eight thousand yards each, he was obliged to be
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 3: more moderate in his eye, and considering the horrible roads
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 3: we had to follow, to allow eight or ten days
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 3: for the journey. Four horses were prepared for us, two
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 3: to carry the baggage and two to bear the important
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 3: weight of myself and uncle. Hans declared that nothing ever
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 3: would make him climb on the back of any animal.
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 3: He knew every inch of that part of the coast,
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 3: and promised to take us the very shortest way. His
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 3: engagement with my uncle was by no means to cease
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 3: with our arrival at Stoppy. He was further to remain
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 3: in his service during the whole time required for the
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 3: completion of his scientific investigations, at the fixed salary of
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 3: three ricks dollars a week, being exactly fourteen shillings and
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 3: twopence minus one farthing English currency. One stipulation, however, was
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 3: made by the guide. The money was to be paid
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 3: to him every Saturday night, failing which his engagement was
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 3: at an end. The day of our departure was fixed.
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 3: My uncle wished to hand the eider down hunter in advance,
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 3: but he refused in one emphetic word efter, which, being
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 3: translated from Icelandic into plain English, means after the treaty concluded,
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 3: our worthy guide retired without another word. A splendid fellow said,
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 3: my uncle, only he little suspects the marvelous part he
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 3: is about to play in the history of the world.
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 3: You mean, then, I cried in amazement, that he should
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 3: accompany us to the interior of the Earth. Yes, replied
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 3: my uncle. Why not there were yet forty eight hours
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 3: to elapse before we made our final start. To my
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 3: great regret, our whole time was taken up in making
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 3: preparations for our journey. All our industry and ability were
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 3: devoted to packing every object in the most advantageous manner.
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 3: The instruments on one side, the arms on the other,
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 3: the tools here and the provisions there. There were in
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 3: fact four distinct groups. The instruments were, of course of
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 3: the best manufacturer. One a centigrade thermometer of Eigel, counting
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 3: up to one hundred and fifty degrees, which to me
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 3: did not appear half enough or too much too hot
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 3: by half if the degree of heat was to a
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 3: sen so high, in which case we would certainly be cooked.
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 3: Not enough if we wanted to ascertain the exact temperature
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 3: of springs or metal in a state of fusion. Two
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 3: a monometer which worked by compressed air, an instrument used
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 3: to ascertain the upper atmospheric pressure on the level of
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 3: the ocean. Perhaps a common barometer would not have done
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 3: as well, the atmospheric pressure being likely to increase in
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 3: proportion as we descended below the surface of the Earth.
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 3: Three A first class chronometer made by Bosanus of Geneva,
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 3: set at the meridian of Hamburg, from which Germans calculate
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 3: as the English jew from Greenwich and the French from Paris.
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 3: Four Two compasses, one for horizontal guidance, the other to
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 3: ascertain the dip. Five A night glass. Six Two Ruhmkorff coils, which,
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 3: by means of a current of electricity, would ensure us
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 3: a very excellent, easily carried and certain means of obtaining light.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 3: Seven A valtic battery on the newest principle footnote. Thermometer,
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 3: thermos and metron measure, an instrument for measuring the temperature
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 3: of the air. Monometer, monos and metron measure, an instrument
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 3: to show the density or rarity of gases. Chronometer, kronos,
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 3: time and metros measure, a time measurer or superior watch.
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 3: Ruhmkorff's coil an instrument for producing currents of induced electricity
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 3: of great intensity. It consists of a coil of copper
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 3: wire insulated by being covered with silk, surrounded by another
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 3: coil of fine wire, also insulated, in which a momentary
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 3: current is induced when a current is passed through the
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 3: inner coil from a voltic battery. When the apparatus is
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 3: in action, the gas becomes luminous and produces a white
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 3: and continued light. The battery and wire are carried in
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 3: a leather bag, which the traveler fastens by a strap
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 3: to his shoulders. The lantern is in front and enables
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 3: the benighted wanderer to see in the most profound obscurity.
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 3: He may venture without fear of explosion into the midst
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 3: of the most inflammable gases, and the lantern will burn
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 3: beneath the deepest waters. H d Ruhmkorff, an able and
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 3: learned chemist, discovered the induction coil in eighteen sixty four.
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 3: He won the Quinquinial French prize of two thousand pounds
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 3: for this ingenious application of electricity. A voltic battery, so
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 3: called from volta its designer, is an apparatus consisting of
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 3: a series of metal plates arranged in pairs and subjected
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 3: to the action of saline solutions for producing currents of electricity.
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 3: End footnote. Our arms consisted of two rifles with two
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 3: revolving six shooters. Why these arms were provided, it was
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 3: impossible for me to say I had every reason to
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 3: believe that we had neither wild beasts nor savage natives
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 3: to fear. My uncle, on the other hand, was quite
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 3: devoted to his arsenal and to his collection of instruments,
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 3: and above all, was very careful with his provision of
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 3: fulminating or gun cotton warranted to keep in any climate,
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 3: and of which the expanse of four horse was known
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 3: to be greater than that of ordinary gunpowder. Our tools
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 3: consisted of two pickaxes, two crowbars, a silken ladder, three
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 3: iron shod alpine poles, a hatchet, a hammer, a dozen wedges,
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 3: some pointed pieces of iron, and a quantity of strong rope.
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 3: You may conceive that the hole made a tolerable parcel,
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 3: especially when I mentioned that the latter itself was three
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 3: hundred feet long. Then there came the important question of provisions.
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 3: The hamper was not very large, but tolerably satisfactory, for
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 3: I knew that in concentrated essence of meat and biscuit
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 3: there was enough to last six months. The only liquid
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 3: provided by my uncle was shyam of water, not a drop.
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 3: We had, however, an ample supply of gourds, and my
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 3: uncle counted on finding water and enough to fill them
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 3: as soon as we commenced our downward journey. My remarks
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 3: as to the temperature, the quality, and even the possibility
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 3: of none being found, remained wholly without effect. To make
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 3: up the exact list of our traveling gear for the
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 3: guidance of future travelers, add that we carried a medicine
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 3: and surgical chest with all apparatus necessary for wounds, fractures
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 3: and blows, lint, scissors, lancets, in fact, a perfect collection
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 3: of horrible looking instruments, a number of vials containing ammonia, alcohol, ether, gallard, water,
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 3: aromatic vinegar, in fact every possible and impossible drug. Finally,
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 3: all materials for work in the Ruhmkorff coil. My uncle
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 3: had also been careful to lay in a goodly supply
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 3: of tobacco, several flasks of very fine gunpowder, boxes of tinder,
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 3: besides a large belt crammed full of notes and gold.
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 3: Good boots rendered watertight, were to be found to the
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 3: number of six in the tool box. My boy, with
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 3: such clothing, with such boots, and such general equipment, said
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 3: my uncle, in a state of rapturous delight, we may
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 3: hope to travel far. It took a whole day to
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 3: put these matters in order. In the evening we dine
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 3: with Baron Tramp in company with the Mayor of Recuvic
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 3: and doctor Chalteln, a great medical man of Iceland. Mister
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 3: Friedrichs's was not present, and I was afterwards sorry to
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 3: hear that he and the Governor did not agree on
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 3: some matters connected with the administration of the island. Unfortunately,
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 3: the consequence was that I did not understand a word
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 3: that was said at dinner, a kind of semi official reception.
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 3: One thing I can say, my uncle never left off speaking.
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 3: The next day our labor came to an end. Our
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 3: worthy host delighted my uncle, Professor Hardwig by giving him
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 3: a good map of Iceland, a most important and precious
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 3: document for a mineralogist. Our last evening was spent in
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 3: a long conversation with mister Friedrichson, whom I liked very much,
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 3: the more that I never expected to see him or
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 3: anyone else again. After this agreeable way of spending an
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 3: hour or so, I tried to sleep in vain. With
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 3: the exception of a few dozes. My night was miserable.
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 3: At five o'clock in the morning, I was awakened from
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 3: the only real half hour's sleep of the night by
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 3: the loud nahing of horses under my window. I hastily
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 3: dressed myself and went down into the street. Hans was
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 3: engaged in putting the finishing stroke to our baggage, which
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 3: he did in a silent, quiet way that won my admiration.
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 3: And yet he did it admirably well. My uncle wasted
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 3: a great deal of breath in giving him directions, but
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 3: worthy Hans took not the slightest notice of his words.
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 3: At six o'clock, all our preparations were completed, and mister
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 3: Friedrichson shook hands heartily with us. My uncle thanked him
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 3: warmly in Icelandic language for his hospitality, speaking truly from
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 3: the heart. As for myself, I put together a few
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 3: of my best Latin phrases and paid him the highest
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 3: compliments I could. This fraternal and friendly duty performed, we
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 3: sallied forth and mounted our horses. As soon as we
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 3: were quite ready. Mister Friedericson advanced and by way of farewell,
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 3: called after me the words of Virgil, words which appeared
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 3: to have been made for US travelers starting for an
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 3: uncertain destination at kakunke vum diderit fortuna sequomar, and whichsoever
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 3: way thou goest, may fortune follow. End of chapter eight,
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 3: Chapter nine, our start we meet with adventures. By the way,
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 3: the weather was overcast but settled. When we commenced our
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 3: adventurous and perilous journey. We had neither to fear fatiguing
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 3: heat nor drenching rain. It was in fact real tourist weather.
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 3: As there was nothing I liked better than horse exercise,
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 3: the pleasure of riding through an unknown country caused the
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 3: early part of our enterprise to be particularly agreeable to me.
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 3: I began to enjoy the exhilarating delight of traveling a
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 3: life of desire, gratification, and liberty. The truth is that
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 3: my spirits rose so rapidly that I began to be
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 3: indifferent to what had once appeared to be a terrible journey.
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 3: After all, I said to myself, simply to take a
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 3: journey through a curious country, to climb a remarkable mountain,
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 3: and if the worst comes to the worst, to descend
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 3: into a crater of an extinct volcano. There could be
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 3: no doubt that This was all this terrible sock Newsom
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 3: had done. As to the existence of a gallery or
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 3: of subterraneous passages leading to the interior of the earth,
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 3: the idea was simply absurd, the hallucinations of a distempered imagination.
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 3: All then that may be required of me, I will
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 3: do cheerfully and will create no difficulty. It was just
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 3: before we left Rekievic that I came to this decision. Hans,
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 3: our extraordinary guide, went first, walking with a steady, rapid,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 3: unvarying step. Our two horses with the luggage followed of
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 3: their own accord, without requiring whip or spur. My uncle
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 3: and I came behind, cutting a very tolerable figure upon
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 3: our small but vigorous animals. Iceland is one of the
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 3: largest islands in Europe. It contains thirty thousand square miles
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 3: of surface and has about seventy thousand inhabitants. Geographers have
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 3: divided it into four parts, and we had to cross
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 3: the southwest quarter, which in the vernacular is called sudvest Fchurdinger. Hans,
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 3: on taking his departure from Rekievic, had followed the line
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 3: of the sea. We took our way through poor and
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 3: sparse meadows, which made a desperate effort every year to
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 3: show little green. They very rarely succeeded in a good
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 3: show of yellow. The rugged summits of the rocky hills
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 3: were dimly visible on the edge of the horizon through
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 3: the misty fogs. Every now and then, some heavy flakes
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 3: of snow showed conspicuous in the morning light, while certain
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 3: lofty and pointed rocks were first lost in the gray
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 3: low clouds, their summits clearly visible above, like jagged reefs
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 3: rising from a troublous sea. Every now and then a
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 3: spur of rock came down through the arid ground, leaving
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 3: us scarcely room to pass. Our horses, however, appeared not
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 3: only well acquainted with the country, but by a kind
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 3: of instinct, knew which was the best road. My uncle
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 3: had not even the satisfaction of urging forward his steed
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 3: by whip, spur or voice. It was utterly useless to
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 3: show any signs of impatience. I could not help smiling
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 3: to see him look so big on his little horse.
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 3: His long legs now and then touching the ground made
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 3: him look like a six footed centaur. Good beast, Good beast.
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 3: He would cry. I assure you that I begin to
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 3: think no animals more intelligent than an Icelandic horse. Snow,
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 3: oh tempest, impracticable roads, rocks, icebergs, nothing stops him. He
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 3: is brave, he is sober, he is safe. He never
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 3: makes a false step, never glides or slips from his path.
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 3: I dare say that if any river, any fjord has
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 3: to be crossed, and I have no doubt there will
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 3: be many, you will see him enter the water without hesitation,
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 3: like an amphibious animal, and reach the opposite side in safety.
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 3: We must, not, however, attempt to hurry him. We must
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 3: allow him to have his own way. And I will
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 3: undertake to say that between us we shall do our
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 3: ten leagues a day. We may do so, was my reply.
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 3: But what about our worthy guide? I have not the
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 3: slightest anxiety about him. That sort of people go ahead
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 3: without even knowing what they are about. Look at Hans.
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 3: He moves so little that it is impossible for him
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 3: to become fatigued. Besides, if he were to complain of weariness,
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 3: he could have the loan of my horse. I should
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 3: have a violent attack of the cramp if I were
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 3: not to have some sort of exercise. My arms are right,
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 3: but my legs are getting a little stiff. All this
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 3: while we were advancing at a rapid pace. The country
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 3: we had reached was already nearly a desert. Here and
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 3: there could be seen an isolated farm, some solitary burr
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 3: or iceland of cows, built of wood, earth fragments of lava,
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 3: looking like beggars on the highway of life. These wretched
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 3: and miserable huts excited in us such pity that we
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 3: felt half disposed to leave alms at every door. In
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 3: this country there are no roads, paths are nearly unknown,
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 3: and vegetation poor. As it was, slowly as it reached perfection,
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 3: soon obliterated all trace of the few travelers who passed
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 3: from place to place. Nevertheless, this division of the province,
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 3: situated only a few miles from the capital, is considered
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 3: one of the best cultivated and most thickly populated in
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 3: all Iceland. What then, must be the state of the
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 3: less known and more distant parts of the island. After
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 3: traveling fully a half Danish mile, we had met neither
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 3: a farmer at the door of his hut, nor even
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 3: a wandering shepherd with his wild and savage flock. A
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 3: few stray cows and sheep were only seen occasionally. What
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 3: then must be expect when we come to the upheaved regions,
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 3: to the districts broken and roughened from volcanic eruptions and
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 3: subterraneous commotions. We were to learn this all in good time.
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 3: I say, however, on consulting the map, that we avoided
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 3: a good deal of this rough country by following the
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 3: winding and desolate shores of the sea. In reality, the
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 3: great volcanic movement of the island and all its attendant
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 3: phenomena are concentrated in the interior of the island. There,
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 3: horizontal layers or strata of rocks piled one upon the other.
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 3: Eruptions of basaltic origin and streams of lava have given
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 3: this country a kind of supernatural reputation. Little did I expect, however,
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 3: the spectacle which awaited us when we reached the peninsula
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 3: of Snefels, where agglomerations of nature's ruins form a kind
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 3: of terrible chaos. Some two hours or more after we
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 3: had left the city of Rekievik, we reached the little
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 3: town called Aolkirkia, or the principal church it consists simply
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 3: of a few houses, not what in England or Germany
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 3: we should call a hamlet. Hans stopped here one half hour.
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 3: He shared our frugal breakfast, answered yes and no to
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 3: my uncle's questions as to the nature of the road,
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 3: and at last, when asked where we were to pass
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 3: the night, was as laconic as usual. Gardar was his
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 3: one warded reply. I took occasion to consult the map
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 3: to see where Garter was to be found. After looking keenly,
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 3: I found a small town of that name on the
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 3: borders of the Shalford, about four miles from Rekyevich. I
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 3: pointed this out to my uncle, who made a very
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 3: energetic grimace only four miles out of twenty two Why
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 3: it is only a little walk. He was about to
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 3: make some energetic observation to the guide, but Hans, without
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 3: taking the slightest notice of him, went in front of
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 3: the horses and walked ahead with the same imperturbable phlegm
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 3: he had always exhibited. Three hours later, still traveling over
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 3: those apparently interminable and sandy prairies, we were compelled to
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 3: go around the Califiord, an easier and shorter cut than
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 3: crossing the gulfs. Shortly after we entered a place of
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 3: communal jurisdiction called Ayoberg, and the clock of which would
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 3: then have struck twelve if any Icelandic church had been
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 3: rich enough to posses so valuable and useful an article.
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 3: These sacred edifices are, however, very much like these people
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 3: who do without watches and never miss them. Here the
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 3: horses were allowed to take some rest and refreshment. Then,
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 3: following a narrow strip of shore between high rocks and
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 3: the sea, they took us without further halt to the
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 3: Aeolkirka of Brontar, and after another mile to sarbor Anexia,
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 3: a chapel of ease situated on the southern bank of
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 3: the Hialfjord. It was about four o'clock in the evening,
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 3: and we had traveled four Danish miles about equal to
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 3: twenty English. The fiord was in this place about half
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 3: a mile in width. The sweeping and broken waves came
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 3: rolling in upon the pointed rocks. The gulf was surrounded
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 3: by rocky walls. A mighty cliff three thousand feet in height,
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 3: remarkable for its brown strata, separated here and there by
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 3: beds of tufa of a reddish shoe. Now, whatever may
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 3: have been the intelligence of our horses, I had not
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 3: the slightest reliance upon them. As a means of crossing
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 3: a stormy arm of the sea. To ride over salt
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 3: water upon the back of a little horse seemed to me.
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 3: Of if they are really intelligent, I said to myself,
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 3: they will certainly not make the attempt. In any case,
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 3: I shall trust rather to my own intelligence than theirs.
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 3: But my uncle was in no humor to wait. He
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 3: dug his heels into the sides of his steed and
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 3: made for the shore. His horse went to the very
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 3: edge of the water, sniffed at the approaching wave, and retreated.
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 3: My uncle, who was sooth to say, quite as obstinate
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 3: as the beast he bestrode, insisted on making the desired advance.
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 3: This attempt was followed by a new refusal on the
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 3: part of the horse, which quietly shook its head. This
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 3: demonstration of rebellion was followed by a volley of words
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 3: and stout applications of whipcord, also followed by kicks on
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 3: the part of the horse, which threw its head and
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 3: heels upward and tried to throw his rider at length.
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 3: The sturdy little pony, spreading out his legs in a
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 3: stiff and ludicrous attitude, got from under the professor's legs
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 3: and left him standing with both feet on a separate
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 3: stone like the Colossus of Rhodes. Wretched animal, cried, My
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 3: uncle suddenly transformed into a foot passenger, and as angry
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 3: and ash shamed as a dismounted cavalry officer on the
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 3: field of Battlefariya, said the guide, tapping him familiarly on
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 3: the shoulder. What a ferry boat, durr, answered Hans, pointing
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 3: to where laid the boat in question. There, well, I cried,
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 3: delighted with the information, so it is. Why did you
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 3: not say so before, cried my uncle. Why not start
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 3: at once? Tidvaughten, said the guide. What does he say?
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 3: I asked, considerably puzzled by the delay and the dialog.
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 3: He says tide, replied my uncle, translating the Danish word
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 3: for my information. Of course, I understand. We must wait
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 3: till the tide serves Forbida, asked my uncle, Yah, replied Hans.
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 3: My uncle frowned, stamped his feet, and then followed the
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 3: horses to where the boat lay. I thoroughly understood and
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 3: appreciated the necessity for waiting before crossing the Fiord, for
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 3: that moment when the sea at its highest point is
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 3: in a state of slack water, as then neither eb
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 3: nor flow can then be felt. The ferry boat was
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 3: in no danger of being carried out the sea or
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 3: dashed up on the rocky coast. The favorable moment did
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 3: not come until six o'clock in the evening. Then my uncle,
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 3: myself and guide, two boatmen and the four horses got
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 3: into a very awkward, flat bottomed boat. Accustomed as I
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 3: had been to the steam ferryboats of the Elbe, I
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 3: found the long oars of the boatmen, but sorry means
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 3: of locomotion. We were more than an hour in crossing
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 3: the Fiord, but at length the passage was concluded without accident.
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 3: Half an hour later we reached Gardar end of Chapter nine.
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 3: Chapter ten. Traveling in Iceland, it ought one would have
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 3: thought to have been night, even in the sixty fifth
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 3: parallel of latitude, But still the nocturnal illumination did not
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 3: surprise me. For in Iceland during the months of June
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 3: and July, the sun never sets. The temperature, however, was
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 3: very much lower than I expected. I was cold, but
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 3: even that did not affect me so much as rat
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 3: and his hunger. Welcome, indeed, therefore, was the hut which
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 3: hospitably opened its doors to us. It was merely the
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 3: house of a peasant, but in the matter of hospitality,
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 3: it was worthy of being the palace of a king.
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 3: As we alighted at the door, the master of the
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 3: house came forward, held out his hand, and without any
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 3: further ceremony, signaled us to follow him. We followed him,
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 3: for to accompany him was impossible. A long, narrow, gloomy
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 3: passage led to the interior of this habitation, made from
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 3: beams roughly squared by the axe. This passage gave ingress
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 3: to every room. The chambers were four in number, the kitchen,
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 3: the workshop where the weaving was carried on, the general
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 3: sleeping chamber of the family, and the best room, to
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 3: which strangers were especially invited. My uncle, whose lofty stature
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 3: had not been taken into consideration when the house was built,
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 3: contrived to knock his head against the beams of the roof.
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 3: We were introduced into our chamber. A kind of large
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 3: room with a hard earthen floor and lighted by a window,
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 3: the panes of which were made of a sort of
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 3: parchment from the intestines of sheep, very far from transparent.
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 3: The bedding was composed of dry hay thrown into two
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 3: long red wooden boxes ornamented with sentences painted in icelandic
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 3: I really had no idea that we should be made
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 3: so comfortable. There was one objection to the house, and
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 3: that was the very powerful odor of dried fish, of
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 3: macerated meat, and of sour milk, which three fragrances combined
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 3: did not at all suit my olfactory nerves. As soon
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 3: as we had freed ourselves from our heavy traveling costume,
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 3: the voice of our host was heard calling to us
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 3: to come into the kitchen, the only room in which
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 3: the Icelanders ever make any fire, no matter how cold
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 3: it may be. My uncle, nothing loath hastened to obey
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 3: this hospitable and friendly invitation. I followed. The kitchen chimney
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 3: was made on an antique model. A large stone standing
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 3: in the middle of the room was the fireplace above,
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 3: and the roof was a hole for the smoke to
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 3: pass through. This apartment was kitchen parlor and dining room,
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 3: all in one. On our entrance, our worthy host, as
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 3: if he had not seen us before, advanced, ceremoniously uttered
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 3: a word which means be happy, and then kissed both
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 3: of us on the cheek. His wife followed pronounced the
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 3: same word with the same ceremonial. Then the husband and wife,
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 3: placing their right hands upon their hearts, bowed profoundly. This
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 3: excellent Icelandic woman was the mother of nineteen children, who
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 3: little and big, rolled, crawled, and walked about in the
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 3: midst of volumes of smoke arising from the angular fireplace
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 3: in the middle of the room. Every now and then
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 3: I could see a fresh white head and a slightly
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 3: melancholy expression of countenance peering at me through the vapor.
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 3: Both my uncle and myself, however, were very friendly with
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 3: the whole party, and before we were aware of it,
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 3: there were three or four of the little ones on
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 3: our shoulders, as many on our boxes, and the rest
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 3: hanging about our legs. Those who could speak kept crying
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 3: out silver too, in every possible and impossible key. Those
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 3: who did not speak only made all the more noise.
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 3: This concert was interrupted by the announcement of supper, At
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 3: this moment our worthy guide, the eider duck hunter, came
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 3: in after seeing to the feeding and stabling of the horses,
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 3: which consisted in letting them loose to browse in the
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 3: stunted green of the Icelandic prairies. There was little for
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 3: them to eat but moss and some very dry and
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 3: innutrious grass. Next day they were ready before the door
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 3: some time before. We were welcome, said Hans. Then, tranquility,
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 3: with the air of an automaton, without any more expression
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 3: in one kiss than another, he embraced the host and
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 3: hostess and their nineteen children. This ceremony concluded, to the
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 3: satisfaction of all parties. We all sat down to table,
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 3: that is, twenty four of us, somewhat crowded. Those who
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 3: were best off had only two juveniles on their knees.
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 3: As soon, however, as the inevitable soup was placed on
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 3: the table, the natural taciturnity, common even to lantic babies,
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 3: prevailed over all. Else. Our hosts filled our plates with
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 3: a portion of lichened soup of Iceland moss, and, by
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 3: no means of disagreeable flavor, an enormous lump of fish
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 3: floating in sour butter. After that there came some skare,
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 3: a kind of curds and whey, served with biscuits and
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 3: juniper berry juice. To drink, we had blond dust skimmed
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 3: milk with water. I was hungry, so hungry that by
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 3: way of dessert I finished up with a basin of
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 3: thick oaaten porridge. As soon as the meal was over,
• 1:51:29
  Speaker 3: the children disappeared, whilst the grown up people sat around
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 3: the fireplace, on which was placed turf, heather, cow dung
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 3: and dried fish bones. As soon as everybody was sufficiently warm,
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 3: a general dispersion took place, all retiring to their respective couches.
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 3: Our hostess offered to pull off our stockings and trousers,
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 3: according to the custom of the country, but as we
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 3: graciously declined to be so honored, she left us to
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 3: our bed of dry fodder. Next day, at five in
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 3: the morning, we took our leave of these hospitable peasants.
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 3: My uncle had great difficulty in making them accept a
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 3: sufficient and proper remuneration. Hans then gave the signal to start.
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 3: We had scarcely got a hundred yards from Gardar when
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 3: the character of the country changed. The soil began to
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 3: be marshy and boggy, and less favorable to progress.
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 4: To the right.
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 3: The range of mountains was prolonged indefinitely, like a great
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 3: system of natural fortifications, of which we skirted. The glasses
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 3: we met with numerous streams and rivulets, which it was
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 3: necessary to ford, and that without wetting our baggage. As
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 3: we advanced, the deserted appearance increased, and yet now and
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 3: then we could see human shadows flitting in the distance.
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 3: When a turn of the track brought us with an
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 3: easy reach of one of these specters, I felt a
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 3: sudden impulse of disgust at the sight of a swollen head,
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 3: with shining skin, utterly without hair, and whose repulsive and
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 3: revolting wounds could be seen through his rags. The unhappy
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 3: wretches never came forward to beg On the contrary, they
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 3: ran away not so quick, however, but that Hans was
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 3: able to salute them with the universal salve. Are too spedosk,
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 3: he said a leper, explained, my uncle. The very sound
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 3: of such a word caused a feeling of repulsion. The
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 3: horrible affliction known as leprosy, which has almost vanished before
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 3: the effects of modern science, is common in Iceland. It
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 3: is not contagious, but hereditary, so that marriage is strictly
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 3: prohibited to these unfortunate creatures. These poor lepers did not
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 3: tend to enliven our journey, the scene of which was
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 3: inexpressibly sad and lonely. The very last tufts of grassy
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 3: vegetation appeared to die at our feet. Not a tree
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 3: was to be seen except a few stunted willows about
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 3: as big as BlackBerry bushes. Now and then we watched
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 3: a falcon soaring in the gray and misty air, taking
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 3: his flight toward warmer and sunnier regions. I could not
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 3: help feeling a sense of melancholy come over me. I
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 3: sighed for my own native land and wished to be
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 3: back with Gretchen. We were compelled to cross several little
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 3: fiords and at last came to a real gulf. The
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 3: tide was at its height, and we were able to
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 3: get over at once, and reached the hamlet of Ofteness,
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 3: about a mile farther that evening. After fording the Alpha
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 3: and the Hetta, two rivers rich in trout and pike,
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 3: we were compelled to pass the night in a deserted
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 3: house worthy of being haunted by all the phase of
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 3: Scandinavian mythology. The king of Cold had taken up his
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 3: residence there and made us feel his presence all night.
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 3: The following day was remarkable by its lack of any
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 3: particular incidents, Always the same damp and swampy soil, the
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 3: same dreary uniformity, the same sad, monotonous aspect of scenery.
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 3: In the evening, having accomplished the half of our projected journey,
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 3: we slept at the annexia of the Crossol. For a
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 3: whole mile we had under our feet nothing but lava.
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 3: This disposition of the soil is called horn. The crumbled
• 1:54:45
  Speaker 3: lava on the surface was in some instances like ship cables,
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 3: stretched out horizontally, and others coiled up in heaps. An
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 3: immense field of lava came from the neighboring mountains, all
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 3: extinct volcanoes, but whose remains showed what they had once
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 3: been here, and there could be made the steam from
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 3: hot water springs. There was no time, however, for us
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 3: to take more than a cursory view of these phenomena.
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 3: We had to go forward with what speed we might.
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 3: Soon the soft and swampy soil again appeared under the
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 3: feet of our horses, while at every hundred yards we
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 3: came upon one or more small lakes. Our journey was
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 3: now in a westerly direction, and we had in fact
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 3: swept round the great bay of Foxha, and the twin
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 3: white summits of Sneffels rose to the clouds at a
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 3: distance of less than five miles. The horses now advanced rapidly,
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 3: the accidents and difficulties of the soil no longer checked them.
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 3: I confessed that fatigue began to tell severely upon me,
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 3: but my uncle was as firm and as hard as
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 3: he had been on the first day. I could not
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 3: help admiring both the excellent professor and the worthy guide,
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 3: for they both appeared to regard this rugged expedition as
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 3: a mere walk. On Saturday, the twentieth June, at six
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 3: o'clock in the evening, we reached Bootier, a small town
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 3: picturesquely situated on the shore of the ocean, and here
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 3: the guide asked for his money. His uncle settled with
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 3: him immediately. It was now the family of Hans himself,
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 3: that is to say, his uncle's his cousins German, who
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 3: offered us hospitality. We were exceedingly well received, and without
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 3: taking too much advantage of the goodness of these worthy people,
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 3: I should have liked very much to have rested with
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 3: them after the fatigues of the journey. But my uncle,
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 3: who did not require rest, had no idea of anything
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 3: of the kind. And despite the fact that the next
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 3: day was Sunday, I was compelled once more to mount
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 3: my steed. The soil was again affected by the neighborhood
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 3: of the mountains, whose granite peered out of the ground
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 3: like tops of an old oak. We were skirting the
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 3: enormous base of the mighty volcano. My uncle never took
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 3: his eyes from off it. He could not keep from
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 3: gesticulating and looking at it with a kind of solemn defiance,
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 3: as much to say, that is the giant I have
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 3: made up my mind to conquer. After four hours steady traveling,
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 3: the horses stopped of themselves before the door of the
• 1:56:52
  Speaker 3: presbytery of Stoppe end of chapter ten, Chapter eleven.
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 5: Stappi is a town consisting of thirty huts built on
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 5: a large plain of lava exposed to the rays of
• 1:57:11
  Speaker 5: the sun reflected from the volcano. It stretches its humble
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 5: tenements along the end of the Little Fiord, surrounded by
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 5: a basaltic wall of the most singular character. Basalt is
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 5: a brown rock of igneous origin. It assumes regular forms,
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 5: which astonish by their singular appearance. Here we found nature
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 5: proceeding geometrically and working quite after a human fashion, as
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 5: if she had employed the plummet line, the compass, and
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 5: the rule. If elsewhere she produces grand artistic effects by
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 5: piling up huge masses without order or connection. If elsewhere
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 5: we see truncated cones, imperfect pyramids with an odd succession
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 5: of lines. Here, as if wishing to give a lesson
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 5: in regularity, and preceding the architects of the early Ages,
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 5: she has erected a severe order of architecture, which neither
• 1:58:11
  Speaker 5: the splendors of Babylon nor the marbles of Greece ever surpassed.
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 5: I had often heard of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland,
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 5: and of Fingal's Cave in one of the Hebrides, but
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 5: the grand spectacle of a real basaltic formation had never
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 5: yet come before my eyes. This is Stappy gave us
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 5: an idea of one, in all its wonderful beauty and grace.
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 5: The wall of the Fiord, like nearly the whole of
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 5: the peninsula, consisted of a series of vertical columns in
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 5: height about thirty feet. These upright pillars of stone of
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 5: the finest proportions supported an archivault of horizontal columns, which
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 5: formed a kind of half vaulted roof above the sea.
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 5: At certain and below this natural basin, the eye was
• 1:59:03
  Speaker 5: pleased and surprised by the sight of oval openings through
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 5: which the outward waves came thundering in volleys of foam.
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 5: Some banks of vesselt torn from their fastenings by the
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 5: fury of the waves, lay scattered on the ground like
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 5: the ruins of an ancient temple, ruins eternally young, over
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 5: which the storms of ages swept without producing any perceptible effect.
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 5: This was the last stage of our journey. Hans had
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 5: brought us along with fidelity and intelligence, and I began
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 5: to feel somewhat more comfortable when I reflected that he
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 5: was to accompany us still further on our way. When
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 5: we halted before the house of the Rector, a small
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 5: and incommodious cabin, neither handsome nor more comfortable than those
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 5: of his neighbors, I saw a man in the act
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 5: of shoeing a horse, a hammer in his hand, and
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 5: a leathern apron tied round his waist. Be happy, said
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 5: the eider down hunter, using his national salutation in his
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 5: own language, gadag good day, replied the former in excellent Danish.
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 5: Kayr Koherd cried Hans, turning round and introducing him to
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 5: my uncle, the Rector, repeated the worthy professor. It appears,
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 5: my dear Harry, that this worthy man is the rector
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 5: and is not above doing his own work. During the
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 5: speaking of these words, the guide intimated to the Kayakerherd
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 5: what was the true state of the case. The good man,
• 2:00:39
  Speaker 5: ceasing from his occupation, gave a kind of halloo, upon
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 5: which a tall woman, almost a giantess, came out of
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 5: the hut. She was at least six feet high, which
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 5: in that region is something considerable. My first impression was
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 5: one of horror. I thought she had come to give
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 5: us the icelandic k I had, however, nothing to fear,
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 5: for she did not even show much inclination to receive
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 5: us into her house. The room devoted to strangers appeared
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 5: to me to be by far the worst in the presbytery.
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 5: It was narrow, dirty and offensive. There was, however, no
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 5: choice about the matter. The rector had no notion of
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 5: practicing the usual cordial and antique hospitality. Far from it.
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 5: Before the day was over, I found we had to
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 5: deal with a blacksmith, a fisherman, a hunter, a carpenter,
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 5: anything but a clergyman. It must be said in his
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 5: favor that we had caught him on a weekday. Probably
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 5: he appeared to greater advantage on the sunday. These poor
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 5: priests received from the Danish government a most ridiculously inadequate
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 5: salary and collect one quarter of the tithe of their parish,
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 5: not more than sixty marks current or about L three
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 5: ten s sterling. Hence the necessity of working to live
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 5: in truth. We soon found that our host did not
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 5: count civility among the cardinal virtues. My uncle soon became
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 5: aware of the kind of man he had to deal with.
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 5: Instead of a worthy and learned scholar, he found a dull,
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 5: ill mannered peasant. He therefore resolved to start on his
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 5: great expedition as soon as possible. He did not care
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 5: about fatigue, and resolved to spend a few days in
• 2:02:32
  Speaker 5: the mountains The preparations for our departure were made The
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 5: very next day after our arrival at Stapi, Hans now
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 5: hired three Icelanders to take the place of the horses,
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 5: which could no longer carry our luggage. When, however, these
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 5: worthy Islanders had reached the bottom of the crater, they
• 2:02:52
  Speaker 5: were to go back and leave us to ourselves. This
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 5: point was settled before they would agree to start. On
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 5: this occasion, my uncle partly confided in Hans the eider
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 5: duck hunter, and gave him to understand that it was
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 5: his intention to continue his exploration of the volcano to
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 5: the last possible limits. Hans listened calmly and then nodded
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 5: his head. To go there or elsewhere, To bury himself
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 5: in the bowels of the earth, or to travel over
• 2:03:22
  Speaker 5: its summits, was all the same to him as for me,
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 5: amused and occupied by the incidents of travel, I had
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 5: begun to forget the inevitable future. But now I was
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 5: once more destined to realize the actual state of affairs.
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 5: What was to be done? Run away? But if I
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 5: really had intended to leave Professor Hardwig to his fate,
• 2:03:46
  Speaker 5: it should have been at Hamburg, and not at the
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 5: foot of Sneffel's. One idea above all others began to
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 5: trouble me, a very terrible idea, and one calculated to
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 5: shake the nerves of a man even less sensitive than myself.
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 5: Let us consider the matter, I said to myself. We
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 5: are going to ascend the Sneffels Mountain. Well and good,
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 5: we are about to pay a visit to the very
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 5: bottom of the crater.
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 1: Good.
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 5: Still, others have done it and did not perish from
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 5: that course. That, however, is not the whole matter to
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 5: be considered. If a road does really present itself by
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 5: which to descend into the dark and subterraneous bowels of
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 5: Mother Earth, if this thrice unhappy Sacnussom was really told
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 5: the truth, we shall be most certainly lost in the
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 5: midst of the labyrinth of subterraneous galleries of the volcano.
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 5: Now we have no evidence to prove that Sneffels is
• 2:04:47
  Speaker 5: really extinct. What proof have we that an eruption is
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 5: not shortly about to take place? Because the monster has
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 5: slept soundly since twelve nineteen, does it follow that he
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 5: is never to wait? If he does wake, what is
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 5: to become of us? These were questions worth thinking about
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 5: and upon them. I reflected long and deeply. I could
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 5: not lie down in search of sleep without dreaming of eruptions.
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 5: The more I thought, the more I objected to be
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 5: reduced to the state of dross and ashes. I could
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 5: stand it no longer. So I determined at last to
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 5: submit the whole case to my uncle in the most
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 5: adroit manner possible, and under the form of some totally
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 5: irreconcilable hypothesis. I sought him, I laid before him my fears,
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 5: and then drew back in order to let him get
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 5: his passion over at his ease. I have been thinking
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 5: about the matter, he said, in the quietest tone in
• 2:05:48
  Speaker 5: the world. What did he mean? Was he at last
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 5: about to listen to the voice of reason? Did he
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 5: think of suspending his projects? It was almost too much
• 2:05:59
  Speaker 5: happiness to be true. I, however, made no remark. In fact,
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 5: I was only too anxious not to interrupt him, and
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 5: allowed him to reflect at his leisure. After some moments,
• 2:06:12
  Speaker 5: he spoke out, I have been thinking about the matter,
• 2:06:16
  Speaker 5: he resumed. Ever since we have been at Stappy, my
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 5: mind has been almost solely occupied with the grave question
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 5: which has been submitted to me by yourself, for nothing
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 5: would be unwiser and more inconsistent than to act with imprudence.
• 2:06:34
  Speaker 5: I heartily agree with you, my dear uncle, was my
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 5: somewhat hopeful rejoinder. It is now six hundred years since
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 5: Sneffels has spoken, but though now reduced to a state
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 5: of utter silence, he may speak again. New volcanic eruptions
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 5: are always preceded by perfectly well known phenomena. I have
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 5: closely examined the inhabitants of this region, I have carefully
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 5: studied the soil, and I beg to tell you emphatically,
• 2:07:05
  Speaker 5: my dear Harry, there will be no eruption at present.
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 5: As I listened to his positive affirmations, I was stupefied
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 5: and could say nothing. I see you doubt my word,
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 5: said my uncle. Follow me. I obeyed mechanically. Leaving the presbytery,
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 5: the professor took a road through an opening in the
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 5: basaltic rock, which led far away from the sea. We
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 5: were soon in open country. If we could give such
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 5: a name to a place all covered with volcanic deposits.
• 2:07:40
  Speaker 5: The whole land seemed crushed under the weight of enormous stones,
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 5: of trap, of balsic, of granite, of lava, and of
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 5: all other volcanic substances. I could see many spouts of
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 5: steam rising in the air. These white vapors, called in
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 5: the Icelandic language rightier, come from hot water fountains and
• 2:08:05
  Speaker 5: indicate by their violence of the volcanic activity of the soil. Now,
• 2:08:10
  Speaker 5: the sight of these appeared to justify my apprehension. I
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 5: was therefore all the more surprised and mortified when my
• 2:08:19
  Speaker 5: uncle thus addressed me, You see all this smoke carry
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 5: my boy, Yes, sir, well, as long as you see them,
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 5: thus you have nothing to fear from the volcano.
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 6: How can that be?
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 5: Be careful to remember this, continued the professor. At the
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 5: approach of an eruption, these spouts of vapor redoubled their
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 5: activity to disappear altogether during the period of volcanic eruption.
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 5: For the elastic fluids, no longer having the necessary tension,
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 5: seek refuge in the interior of the crater instead of
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 5: escaping through the fissures of the earth. If then the
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 5: steam remains in its normal and habitual state, if their
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 5: energy does not increase, and if you add to this
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 5: the remark that the wind is not replaced by heavy
• 2:09:11
  Speaker 5: atmospheric pressure and dead Calm, you may be quite sure
• 2:09:15
  Speaker 5: that there is no fear of any immediate eruption. Enough,
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 5: my boy, when science and sent forth her fit, it
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 5: is only to hear and obey. I came back to
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 5: the house quite downcast and disappointed. My uncle had completely
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 5: defeated me with his scientific arguments. Nevertheless, I had still
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 5: one hope, and that was when once we were at
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 5: the bottom of the crater, that it would be impossible,
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 5: in default of a gallery or tunnel, to descend any deeper.
• 2:09:49
  Speaker 5: And this despite all the learned sacness ends in the world.
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 5: I passed the whole of the following night with a
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 5: nightmare on my chest. After unheard of miseries and tortures,
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 5: found myself in the very depths of the Earth from
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 5: which I was suddenly launched into planetary space under the
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 5: form of an eruptive rock. Next day, June thirtieth, Hans
• 2:10:17
  Speaker 5: calmly awaited us outside the presbytery with his three companions,
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 5: loaded with provisions, tools and instruments. Two iron shod poles,
• 2:10:29
  Speaker 5: two guns, and two large game bags were reserved for
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 5: my uncle and myself. Hans, who was a man who
• 2:10:37
  Speaker 5: never forgot even the minutest precautions had added to our
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 5: baggage a large skin full of water as an addition
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 5: to our boards. This assured us water for eight days.
• 2:10:50
  Speaker 5: It was nine o'clock in the morning, when we were
• 2:10:52
  Speaker 5: quite ready the rector and his huge wife or servant
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 5: I never knew which stood at the door to CSI.
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 5: They appeared to be about to inflict on us the
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 5: usual final kiss of the Icelanders. To our supreme astonishment,
• 2:11:08
  Speaker 5: there adiew took the shape of a formidable bill in
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 5: which they even counted the use of the pastoral house,
• 2:11:16
  Speaker 5: really and truly the most abominable and dirty place I
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 5: ever was in. The worthy couple cheated and robbed us
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 5: like a Swiss innkeeper, and made us feel by the
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 5: sum we had to pay the splendors of their hospitality.
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 5: My uncle, however, paid without bargaining. A man who had
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 5: made up his mind to undertake a voyage into the
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 5: interior of the earth is not the man to haggle
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 5: over a few miserable ricks dollars. This important matter settled,
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 5: Hans gave the signal for departure, and some few moments
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 5: later we had left Stappy. End of Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve.
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 5: The huge volcano, which was the first stage for our
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 5: daring experiment, is above five thousand feet high. Sneffels is
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 5: the termination of a long range of volcanic mountains of
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 5: a different character to the system of the island itself.
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 5: One of its peculiarities is its two huge pointed summits.
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 5: From whence we started, it was impossible to make out
• 2:12:27
  Speaker 5: the real outlines of the peak against the gray field
• 2:12:30
  Speaker 5: of sky. All we could distinguish was a vast dome
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 5: of white which fell downwards from the head of the giant.
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 5: The commencement of the great undertaking filled me with awe.
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 5: Now that we had actually started, I began to believe
• 2:12:45
  Speaker 5: in the reality of the undertaking. Our party formed quite
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 5: a procession. We walked in single file, preceded by hands
• 2:12:54
  Speaker 5: the imperturbable Eider duck Hunter. He calmly led us by
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 5: an arrow path where two persons could by no possibility
• 2:13:03
  Speaker 5: walk abreast. Conversation was wholly impossible. We had all the
• 2:13:10
  Speaker 5: more opportunity to reflect and admire the awful grandeur of
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 5: the scene around. Beyond the extraordinary basaltic wall of the
• 2:13:19
  Speaker 5: Fiord of Stappi, we found ourselves making our way through
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 5: fibrous turf, over which grew a scanty vegetation of grass,
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 5: the residum of the ancient vegetation of the swampy peninsula.
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 5: The vast mass of this combustible, the field of which,
• 2:13:38
  Speaker 5: as yet as utterly unexplored, would suffice to warm Iceland
• 2:13:43
  Speaker 5: for a whole century. This mighty turf pit, measured from
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 5: the bottom of certain ravines, is often not less than
• 2:13:51
  Speaker 5: seventy feet deep, and presents to the eye the view
• 2:13:54
  Speaker 5: of successive layers of black, burned up rocky detritus, separated
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 5: by thin streaks of porous sandstone. The grandeur of the
• 2:14:05
  Speaker 5: spectacle was undoubted, as well as its arid and deserted air.
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 5: As a true nephew of the great Professor hardwigg And,
• 2:14:15
  Speaker 5: despite my preoccupation and doleful fears of what was to come,
• 2:14:21
  Speaker 5: I observed with great interest the vast collection of mineralogical
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 5: curiosities spread out before me in this vast museum of
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 5: natural history. Looking back to my recent studies, I went
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 5: over and thought the whole geological history of Iceland, this
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 5: extraordinary and curious island, must have made its appearance from
• 2:14:43
  Speaker 5: out of the great world of waters at a comparatively
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 5: recent date, Like the Coral islands of the Pacific, it may,
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 5: for aught, we know, be still rising by slow and
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 5: imperceptible degrees. If this be the case, its origin can
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 5: be attributed to only one cause, that of the continued
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 5: action of subterranean fires.
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 1: This was a happy thought.
• 2:15:13
  Speaker 5: If so, if this were true, away with theories of
• 2:15:17
  Speaker 5: Sir Humphrey Davy, Away with the authority of the parchment
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 5: of arn sacmicin the wonderful pretenses to discover on the
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 5: part of my uncle, and to our journey all must
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 5: end in smoke. Charmed with the idea, I began more
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 5: carefully to look about me. A serious study of the
• 2:15:39
  Speaker 5: soil was necessary to negative or confirm my hypothesis. I
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 5: took in every item of what I saw, and I
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 5: began to comprehend the succession of phenomena which had preceded
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 5: its formation. Iceland, being absolutely without sedimentary soil, is composed
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 5: exclusively of a panic tufa, that is to say, of
• 2:16:02
  Speaker 5: an agglomeration of stones and of rocks of a porous texture.
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 5: Long before the existence of volcanoes, it was composed of
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 5: a solid body of massive trap rock lifted bodily and
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 5: slowly out of the sea by the action of the
• 2:16:19
  Speaker 5: centrifugal force at work in the earth. The internal fires, however,
• 2:16:25
  Speaker 5: had not as yet burst their bounds and flooded the
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 5: exterior cake of Mother Earth with hot and raging lava.
• 2:16:33
  Speaker 5: My readers must excuse this brief and somewhat pedantic geological lecture,
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 5: but it is necessary to the complete understanding of what follows.
• 2:16:44
  Speaker 5: At a later period in the world's history, a huge
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 5: and mighty fissure must, reasoning by analogy, have been dug
• 2:16:52
  Speaker 5: diagonally from the southwest to the northeast of the island,
• 2:16:57
  Speaker 5: through which by degrees flowed the volcanic crust. The great
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 5: and wondrous phenomenon then went on without violence. The outpouring
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 5: was enormous, and the seething fused matter ejected from the
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 5: bowels of the earth spread slowly and peacefully in the
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 5: form of vast level plains or what are called mamlons
• 2:17:20
  Speaker 5: or mounds. It was at this epoch that the rocks
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 5: called deldspars, cyanides, and porphyries appeared. But as a natural
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 5: consequence of this overflow, the depth of the island increased.
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 5: It can readily be believed what an enormous quantity of
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 5: elastic fluids were piled up within its center, when at
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 5: last it afforded no other openings. After the process of
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 5: cooling the crust had taken place at length, a time
• 2:17:54
  Speaker 5: came when, despite the enormous thickness and weight of the
• 2:17:57
  Speaker 5: upper crust, the mechanical forces of the combustible gases below
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 5: became so great that they actually upheaved the weighty back
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 5: and made for themselves huge and gigantic shafts. Hence the
• 2:18:11
  Speaker 5: volcanoes which suddenly arose through the upper crust, and next
• 2:18:15
  Speaker 5: the craters which burst forth at the summit of these
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 5: new creations. It will be seen that the first phenomena
• 2:18:23
  Speaker 5: in connection with the formation of the island were simply eruptive.
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 5: To these, however, shortly succeeded the volcanic phenomena. Through the
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 5: newly formed openings escaped the marvelous mass of basaltic stones
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 5: with which the plain we were now crossing was covered.
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 5: We were trampling our way over heavy rocks of dark
• 2:18:46
  Speaker 5: gray color, which, while cooling, had been molded into six
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 5: sided prisms. In the back distance, we could see a
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 5: number of flattened cones, which formerly were so many fire
• 2:18:59
  Speaker 5: bombs mouths. After the basaltic eruption was appeased and set
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 5: at rest, the volcano, the force of which increased with
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 5: that of the extinct craters, gave free passage to the
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 5: fiery overflow of lava and to the mass of cinders
• 2:19:17
  Speaker 5: and pomus rural stone, now scattered over the sides of
• 2:19:21
  Speaker 5: the mountain like disheveled hair on the shoulders of a bauschante.
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 5: Here in a nutshell, I had the whole history of
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 5: the phenomena from which Iceland arose, all take their rise
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 5: in the fierce action of interior fires. And to believe
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 5: that the central mass did not remain in a state
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 5: of liquid fire white hot, was simply and purely madness.
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 5: This being satisfactorily proved qed what incense its folly to
• 2:19:54
  Speaker 5: pretend to penetrate into the interior the mighty earth. This
• 2:19:58
  Speaker 5: mental lecture, to delivered to myself while proceeding on a journey,
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 5: did me good. I was quite reassured as to the
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 5: fate of our enterprise, and therefore went, like a brave
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 5: soldier mounting a bristling battery to the assault of old sneffels.
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 5: As we advanced, the road became every moment more difficult.
• 2:20:21
  Speaker 5: The soil was broken and dangerous, The rocks broke and
• 2:20:25
  Speaker 5: gave way under our feet, and we had to be
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 5: scrupulously careful in order to avoid dangerous and constant falls.
• 2:20:34
  Speaker 5: Hans advanced as calmly as if he had been walking
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 5: over Salisbury Plain. Sometimes he would disappear behind huge blocks
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 5: of stone, and we momentarily lost sight of him. There
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 5: was a little period of anxiety, and then there was
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 5: a shrill whistle, just to tell us where to look
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 5: for him. Occasionally he would take it into his head
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 5: to stop, to pick up lumps of rock and silently
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 5: pile them up into small heaps, in order that we
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 5: might not lose our way on our return. He had
• 2:21:07
  Speaker 5: no idea of the journey we were about to undertake.
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 5: At all events. The precaution was a good one, though
• 2:21:15
  Speaker 5: how utterly useless and unnecessary. But I must not anticipate
• 2:21:21
  Speaker 5: three hours of terrible fatigue. Walking incessantly had only brought
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 5: us to the foot of the great mountain. This will
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 5: give some notion of what we had still to undergo. Suddenly, however,
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 5: Hans cried a halt. That is, he made signs to
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 5: that effect, and a summary kind of breakfast was laid
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 5: out on the lava before us. My uncle, who now
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 5: was simply Professor Hardwig, was so eager to advance that
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 5: he bolted his food like a greedy clown. This halt
• 2:21:55
  Speaker 5: for refreshment was also a halt for repose. The Professor
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 5: was therefore or compelled to wait the good pleasure of
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 5: his imperturbable guide, who did not give the signal for
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 5: departure for a good hour. The three Icelanders, who were
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 5: as taciturn as their comrade, did not say a word,
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 5: but went on eating and drinking, very quietly and soberly.
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 5: From this our first real stage, we began to ascend
• 2:22:24
  Speaker 5: the slopes of the Sniffel's Volcano. Its magnificent snowy nightcap,
• 2:22:30
  Speaker 5: as we began to call it, by an optical delusion
• 2:22:34
  Speaker 5: very common in mountains, appeared to me to be close
• 2:22:37
  Speaker 5: at hand. And yet how many long, weary hours must
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 5: elapse before he reached the summit? What unheard of fatigue
• 2:22:46
  Speaker 5: must we endure? The stones on the mountain side, held
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 5: together by no cement of soil, bound together by no
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 5: roots or creeping herbs gave way continually under our feet
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 5: and went rights below into the plains like a series
• 2:23:02
  Speaker 5: of small avalanches. In certain places, the sides of this
• 2:23:07
  Speaker 5: stupendous mountain were at an angle so steep that it
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 5: was impossible to climb upwards, and we were compelled to
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 5: get around these obstacles as best we might. Those who
• 2:23:20
  Speaker 5: understand alpine climbing will comprehend our difficulties. Often we were
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 5: obliged to help each other along by means of our
• 2:23:28
  Speaker 5: climbing poles. I must say this for my uncle, that
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 5: he stuck as close to me as possible. He never
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 5: lost sight of me, and on many occasions his arm
• 2:23:39
  Speaker 5: supplied me with firm and solid support. He was strong, wiry,
• 2:23:44
  Speaker 5: and apparently insensible to fatigue. Another great advantage with him
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 5: was that he had the innate sentiment of equilibrium, for
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 5: he never slipped or failed in his steps. The Icelanders,
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 5: though heavily loaded with the agility of mountaineers, looking up
• 2:24:04
  Speaker 5: every now and then at the height of the great
• 2:24:06
  Speaker 5: volcano Sneffels, it appeared to me wholly impossible to reach
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 5: to the summit on that side at all events. If
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 5: the angle of the inclination did not speedily change. Fortunately,
• 2:24:19
  Speaker 5: after an hour of unheard of fatigues and of gymnastic
• 2:24:23
  Speaker 5: exercises that would have been trying to an acrobat, we
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 5: came to a vast field of ice which wholly surrounded
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 5: the bottom of the cone of the volcano. The natives
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 5: called it the table cloth, probably from some such reason
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 5: as the dwellers in the Cape of Good Hope called
• 2:24:42
  Speaker 5: their mountain table mountain, and their roads table bay. Here,
• 2:24:47
  Speaker 5: to our mutual surprise, we found an actual flight of
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 5: stone steps, which wonderfully assisted our ascent. This singular flight
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 5: of steps was like everything else volcanic. It had been
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 5: formed by one of those torrents of stones cast up
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 5: by the irruptions of which the Icelandic name is Stina.
• 2:25:10
  Speaker 5: If this singular torrent had not been checked in its
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 5: descent by the peculiar shape of the flanks of the mountain,
• 2:25:17
  Speaker 5: it would have swept into the sea and would have
• 2:25:20
  Speaker 5: formed new islands. Such as it was, it served us admirably.
• 2:25:26
  Speaker 5: The abrupt character of the slopes momentarily increased with these
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 5: remarkable stone steps, a little less difficult than those of
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 5: the Egyptian pyramids, were the one simple natural means by
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 5: which we were enabled to proceed. About seven in the
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 5: morning of that day, after having clambered up two thousand
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 5: of these rough steps, we found ourselves overlooking a kind
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 5: of spur of projection of the mountain, a sort of
• 2:25:53
  Speaker 5: buttress upon which the cone like crater properly so called,
• 2:25:59
  Speaker 5: leaned for support. The ocean lay beneath us at a
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 5: depth of more than three thousand, two hundred feet, a
• 2:26:07
  Speaker 5: grand and mighty spectacle. We had reached the region of
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 5: eternal snows. The cold was keen, searching and intense. The
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 5: wind blew with extraordinary violence. I was utterly exhausted. My
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 5: worthy uncle, the professor, saw clearly that my legs refused
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 5: further service, and that, in fact I was utterly exhausted.
• 2:26:33
  Speaker 5: Despite his hot and feverish impatience, he decided with a
• 2:26:38
  Speaker 5: sigh upon a halt. He called the eider duck hunter
• 2:26:41
  Speaker 5: to his side. That Worthy, however, shook his head often
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 5: for was his sole spoken reply. It appears, says my uncle,
• 2:26:53
  Speaker 5: with a woe begone look, that we must go higher.
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 5: He then turned to Hans and asked him to give
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 5: him some reason for this decisive response. Mistour replied, the guide.
• 2:27:08
  Speaker 5: Jia mistour, Yes, the mistour, cried one of the Icelandic
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 5: guides in a terrified tone. It was the first time
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 5: he had spoken. What does this mysterious words signify? I
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 5: anxiously inquired, look, said my uncle. I looked down upon
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 5: the plain below, and I saw a vast, prodigious volume
• 2:27:32
  Speaker 5: of pulverized pumice, stone, of sand, of dust rising to
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 5: the heavens in the form of a mighty water spout.
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 5: It resembled the fearful phenomenon of a similar character known
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 5: to the travelers in the desert of the Great Sahara.
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 5: The wind was driving it directly upwards that side of
• 2:27:51
  Speaker 5: Sneffels of which we were perched. This opaque veil, standing
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 5: out between us and the sun, projected a deep shadow
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 5: on the flanks of the mountain. If this sand spout
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 5: broke over us, we must all be infallibly destroyed, crushed
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 5: in its fearful embraces. This extraordinary phenomenon, very common when
• 2:28:13
  Speaker 5: the wind shakes the glaciers and sweeps over the arid plains,
• 2:28:18
  Speaker 5: is in the Icelandic tongue called mistour. Hostigt Hastigt, cried
• 2:28:25
  Speaker 5: our guide, now I certainly knew nothing of Danish, but
• 2:28:28
  Speaker 5: I thoroughly understood that his gestures were meant to quicken us.
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 5: The guide turned rapidly in a direction which would take
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 5: us to the back of the crater, all the while
• 2:28:40
  Speaker 5: ascending slightly. We followed rapidly, despite our excessive fatigue. A
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 5: quarter of an hour later, Hans paused to enable us
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 5: to look back. The mighty whirlwind of sand was spreading
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 5: up the slope of the mountain to the very spot
• 2:28:56
  Speaker 5: where we had proposed to halt. Huge stones were caught up,
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 5: cast into the air, and thrown about as during an eruption.
• 2:29:06
  Speaker 5: We were happily a little out of the direction of
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 5: the wind and therefore out of reach of danger. But
• 2:29:12
  Speaker 5: for the precaution and knowledge of our guide, our dislocated
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 5: bodies are crushed and broken limbs would have been cast
• 2:29:20
  Speaker 5: to the wind like dust from some unknown meteor. Hans, however,
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 5: did not think it prudent to pass the night on
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 5: the bare side of the cone. We therefore continued our
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 5: journey in a zigzag direction. The fifteen hundred feet which
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 5: remained to be accompanied took us at least five hours.
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 5: The turnings and windings the no thoroughfares. The marches and
• 2:29:46
  Speaker 5: marches turned that insignificant distance into at least three leagues.
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 5: I never felt such misery, fatigue, and exhaustion in my life.
• 2:29:57
  Speaker 5: I was ready to faint from hunger and cold. The
• 2:30:01
  Speaker 5: rarefied air, at the same time painfully acted upon my lungs.
• 2:30:08
  Speaker 5: At last, when I thought myself at my last gasp,
• 2:30:13
  Speaker 5: about eleven at night, it being in that region quite dark,
• 2:30:18
  Speaker 5: we reached the summit of Mount Sneifels. It was in
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 5: an awful mood of mind that, despite my fatigue, before
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 5: I descended into the crater which was to shelter us
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 5: for the night, I paused to behold the sun rise
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 5: at midnight, on the very day of its lowest declination,
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 5: and enjoyed the spectacle of its ghastly pale rays cast
• 2:30:39
  Speaker 5: upon the aisle which lay sleeping at our feet. I
• 2:30:43
  Speaker 5: no longer wondered at people traveling all the way from
• 2:30:46
  Speaker 5: England to Norway to behold this magical and wondrous spectacle.
• 2:30:52
  Speaker 5: End of Chapter twelve.
• 2:30:54
  Speaker 6: Chapter thirteen, The Shadow of Scataries, I suppose eaton ease
• 2:31:00
  Speaker 6: and rapidity, after which everybody did the best he could
• 2:31:03
  Speaker 6: for himself. Within the hollow of the crater. The bed
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 6: was hard, the shelter on satisfactory, the situation painful, lying
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 6: in the open air five thousand feet above the level
• 2:31:12
  Speaker 6: of the sea. Nevertheless, it has seldom happened to me
• 2:31:16
  Speaker 6: to sleep so well as I did on that particular night.
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 6: I did not even dream so much for the effects
• 2:31:22
  Speaker 6: of what my uncle called wholesome fatigue. Next day, when
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 6: we awoke under the rays of a bright and glorious sun,
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 6: we were nearly frozen by the keen air. I left
• 2:31:33
  Speaker 6: my granite couch and made one of the party to
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 6: enjoy a view of the magnificent spectacle, which developed itself
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 6: panorama like at our feet. I stood upon the lofty
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 6: summit of Mount Sneffel's southern peak. Thence I was able
• 2:31:47
  Speaker 6: to obtain a view of the greater part of the island.
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 6: The optical delusion, common to all lofty heights, raised the
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 6: shores of the island, while the central portions appeared depressed.
• 2:31:58
  Speaker 6: It was by no means too great a flight of
• 2:32:00
  Speaker 6: fancies to believe that a giant picture was stretched out
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 6: before me. I could see the deep valleys that crossed
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 6: each other in every direction. I could see precipices looking
• 2:32:09
  Speaker 6: like the sides of wells, lakes that seemed to be
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 6: changed into ponds, ponds that looked like puddles, and rivers
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 6: that were transformed into petty brooks. To my right were
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 6: glaciers upon glaciers, and multiplied peaks topped with light clouds
• 2:32:24
  Speaker 6: of smoke. The undulation of these infinite numbers of mountains,
• 2:32:28
  Speaker 6: whose snowy summits make them look as if covered by foam,
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 6: recalled to my remembrance the surface of a storm beat
• 2:32:34
  Speaker 6: and ocean. If I looked towards the west, the ocean
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 6: lay before me in all its majestic grandeur, a continuation,
• 2:32:42
  Speaker 6: as it were, of these fleecy hilltops where the earth
• 2:32:46
  Speaker 6: ended and the sea began. It was impossible for the
• 2:32:48
  Speaker 6: eye to distinguish. I soon felt that strange and mysterious
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 6: sensation which is awakened in the mind when looking down
• 2:32:55
  Speaker 6: from lofty hilltops, and now I was able to do
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 6: so without any feeling of nervousness. Having fortunately hardened myself
• 2:33:03
  Speaker 6: to that kind of sublime contemplation, I wholly forgot who
• 2:33:08
  Speaker 6: I was and where I was. I became intoxicated with
• 2:33:12
  Speaker 6: a sense of lofty sublimity, without thought of the abysses
• 2:33:16
  Speaker 6: into which my daring was soon about to plunge me.
• 2:33:19
  Speaker 6: I was, presently, however, brought back to the realities of
• 2:33:22
  Speaker 6: life by the arrival of the Professor and Hans, who
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 6: joined me upon the lofty summit of the peak. My uncle,
• 2:33:29
  Speaker 6: turning in a westerly direction, pointed out to me a
• 2:33:32
  Speaker 6: light cloud of vapor, a kind of haze, with a
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 6: faint outline of land rising out of the waters. Greenland,
• 2:33:39
  Speaker 6: said he Greenland, I cried in reply. Yes, continued my uncle,
• 2:33:45
  Speaker 6: who always, when explaining anything, spoke as if he were
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 6: in a professor's chair. We are not more than thirty
• 2:33:50
  Speaker 6: five leagues distant from that wonderful land. When the great
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 6: annual break up of the ice takes place, white bears
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 6: come over to Iceland, carried by the fl voting masses
• 2:34:00
  Speaker 6: of ice from the north. This, however, is a matter
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 6: of little consequence. We are now on the summit of
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 6: the great, the transcendent Sneffels, and here are its two
• 2:34:10
  Speaker 6: peaks north and south. Hands will tell you the name
• 2:34:14
  Speaker 6: by which the people of Iceland call that on which
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 6: we stand. My uncle turned to the imperturbable guide who
• 2:34:20
  Speaker 6: nodded and spoke as usual one word Scottaris. My uncle
• 2:34:26
  Speaker 6: looked at me with a proud and triumphant glance. A crater,
• 2:34:30
  Speaker 6: he said, you hear, I did hear, but I was
• 2:34:33
  Speaker 6: totally unable to make reply. The crater of Mount Sneffels
• 2:34:37
  Speaker 6: represented an inverted cone, the gaping orifice apparently half a
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 6: mile across the depth indefinite feet. Conceive what this hole
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 6: must have been like when full of flame and thunder
• 2:34:49
  Speaker 6: and lightning. The bottom of the funnel shaped hollow was
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 6: about five hundred feet in circumference, by which it will
• 2:34:56
  Speaker 6: be seen that the slope from the summit to the
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 6: bottom was very gradual, and we were there therefore clearly
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 6: able to get there without much fatigue or difficulty. Involuntarily
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 6: I compared this crater to an enormous loaded cannon, and
• 2:35:08
  Speaker 6: the comparison completely terrified me. To descend into the interior
• 2:35:12
  Speaker 6: of a cannon, I thought to myself, when perhaps it
• 2:35:15
  Speaker 6: is loaded and will go off at the least shock
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 6: is the act of a madman. But there was no
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 6: longer any opportunity for me to hesitate. Hans, with a
• 2:35:24
  Speaker 6: perfectly calm and indifferent air, took his usual post at
• 2:35:28
  Speaker 6: the head of the adventurous little band. I followed without
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 6: uttering a syllable. I felt like the lamb led to
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 6: the slaughter. In order to render the descent less difficult,
• 2:35:39
  Speaker 6: Hans took his way down the interior of the cone
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 6: in rather a zigzag fashion, making, as the sailors say,
• 2:35:45
  Speaker 6: long tracks to the eastward followed by equally long ones
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 6: to the west. It was necessary to walk through the
• 2:35:52
  Speaker 6: midst of eruptive rocks, some of which, shaken in their balance,
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 6: went rolling down with thundering clamor to the bottom of
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 6: the abyss. These continual falls awoke echoes of singular power
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 6: and effect. Many portions of the cone consisted of inferior
• 2:36:08
  Speaker 6: glaciers hands. Whenever he met one of these obstacles, advanced
• 2:36:12
  Speaker 6: with a great show of precaution, sounding the soil with
• 2:36:15
  Speaker 6: his long iron pole, in order to discover fissures and
• 2:36:18
  Speaker 6: layers of deep soft snow. In many doubtful or dangerous places.
• 2:36:23
  Speaker 6: It became necessary for us to be tied together by
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 6: a long rope, in order that should any one of
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 6: us be unfortunate enough to slip, he would be supported
• 2:36:31
  Speaker 6: by his companions. This connecting link was doubtless a prudent precaution,
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 6: but not by any means unattended with danger. Nevertheless, and
• 2:36:40
  Speaker 6: despite all the manifold difficulties of the descent along slopes
• 2:36:44
  Speaker 6: with which our guide was wholly unacquainted, we made considerable progress.
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 6: Without accident, one of our great parcels of ropes slipped
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 6: from one of the Iceland porters and rushed by a
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 6: short cut to the bottom of the Abyss. By midday
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 6: we were at the end of our journey. I looked
• 2:37:00
  Speaker 6: upwards and saw only the upper orifice of the cone,
• 2:37:03
  Speaker 6: which served as a circular frame to a very small
• 2:37:06
  Speaker 6: portion of the sky, a portion which seemed to me
• 2:37:09
  Speaker 6: singularly beautiful should I ever again gaze on that lovely
• 2:37:13
  Speaker 6: sunlit sky. The only exception to this extraordinary landscape was
• 2:37:18
  Speaker 6: the peak of Scutaris, which seemed lost in the great
• 2:37:21
  Speaker 6: void of the heavens. The bottom of the crater was
• 2:37:25
  Speaker 6: composed of three separate shafts, through which, during periods of eruption,
• 2:37:29
  Speaker 6: when Snepfels was in action, the great central furnace sent
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 6: forth its burning lava and poisonous vapors. Each of these
• 2:37:36
  Speaker 6: chimneys or shafts gaped open mouthed in our path. I
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 6: kept as far away from them as possible, not even
• 2:37:43
  Speaker 6: venturing to take the faintest peep downwards. As for the Professor,
• 2:37:47
  Speaker 6: after a rapid examination of their disposition and characteristics, he
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 6: became breathless and panting. He ran from one to the
• 2:37:53
  Speaker 6: other like a delighted schoolboy, gesticulating wildly and uttering incomprehensible
• 2:37:58
  Speaker 6: and disjointed phrases in all sorts of languages. Hands the
• 2:38:02
  Speaker 6: Guide and his humbler companions seated themselves on some piles
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 6: of lava and looked silently on. They clearly took my
• 2:38:10
  Speaker 6: uncle for a lunatic, and waited for the result. Suddenly,
• 2:38:15
  Speaker 6: the Professor uttered a wild, unearthly cry. At first I
• 2:38:18
  Speaker 6: imagined he had lost his footing and was falling headlong
• 2:38:21
  Speaker 6: into one of the yawning gulfs. Nothing of the kind
• 2:38:24
  Speaker 6: I saw him. His arms spread out to their widest extent,
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 6: his legs stretched apart, standing upright before an enormous pedestal,
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 6: high enough and black enough to bear a gigantic stature
• 2:38:34
  Speaker 6: of pluto. His attitude and mien were that of a
• 2:38:37
  Speaker 6: man utterly stupefied. But his stupefaction was speedily changed to
• 2:38:42
  Speaker 6: the wildest joy. Harry, Harry, come here, he cried, make haste, wonderful, wonderful.
• 2:38:51
  Speaker 6: Unable to understand what he meant, I turned to obey
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 6: his commands. Neither hands nor the Icelanders moved a step. Look,
• 2:38:58
  Speaker 6: said the professor, in something of them manner of the
• 2:39:00
  Speaker 6: French general, pointing out the pyramids to his army, and
• 2:39:04
  Speaker 6: fully partaking his stupefaction, if not his joy. I read
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 6: on the eastern side of the huge block of stone,
• 2:39:10
  Speaker 6: the same characters, half eaten away by the corrosive action
• 2:39:13
  Speaker 6: of time. The name to me a thousand times accursed.
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 6: Ah Sacnussum, cried my uncle. Now, unbeliever, that you begin
• 2:39:22
  Speaker 6: to have faith. It was totally impossible for me to
• 2:39:26
  Speaker 6: answer a single word. I went back to my pile
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 6: of lava in a state of silent awe. The evidence
• 2:39:33
  Speaker 6: was unanswerable, overwhelming. In a few moments, however, my thoughts
• 2:39:37
  Speaker 6: were far away, back in my German home with Gretchen
• 2:39:40
  Speaker 6: and the old cook.
• 2:39:42
  Speaker 5: What would I have.
• 2:39:43
  Speaker 6: Given for one of my cousin's smiles, for one of
• 2:39:45
  Speaker 6: the ancient domestic's omelets, and for my own feather bed?
• 2:39:49
  Speaker 6: How long I remained in this state I know not.
• 2:39:52
  Speaker 6: All I can say is that, when at last I
• 2:39:55
  Speaker 6: raised my head from between my hands, there remained at
• 2:39:57
  Speaker 6: the bottom of the crater only myself, my uncle, and Hans.
• 2:40:01
  Speaker 6: The Icelandic porters had been dismissed and were now descending
• 2:40:04
  Speaker 6: the exterior slopes of Mount Sneffels on their way to Stapi.
• 2:40:08
  Speaker 6: How heartily did I wish myself with them. Hans slept
• 2:40:12
  Speaker 6: tranquility at the foot of a rock, in a kind
• 2:40:14
  Speaker 6: of rill of lava, where he had made himself a
• 2:40:17
  Speaker 6: rough and ready bed. My uncle was walking about the
• 2:40:20
  Speaker 6: bottom of the crater like a wild beast in a cage.
• 2:40:24
  Speaker 6: I had no desire, neither had either strength to move
• 2:40:26
  Speaker 6: from my recumbent position. Taking example by the guide, I
• 2:40:30
  Speaker 6: gave way to a kind of painful somnolency, during which
• 2:40:33
  Speaker 6: I seemed both to hear and feel continued heavings and
• 2:40:37
  Speaker 6: shudderings in the mountain. In this way we passed our
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 6: first night in the interior of the crater. Next morning,
• 2:40:45
  Speaker 6: a gray, cloudy, heavy sky hung like a funereal pall
• 2:40:49
  Speaker 6: over the summit of the volcanic cone. I did not
• 2:40:52
  Speaker 6: notice it so much from the obscurity that rained about us,
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 6: as from the rage from which my uncle was devoured.
• 2:40:59
  Speaker 6: I fully understood the reason, and again a glimpse of
• 2:41:02
  Speaker 6: hope made my heart leap with joy. I will briefly
• 2:41:05
  Speaker 6: explain the cause of the three openings which yawned beneath
• 2:41:09
  Speaker 6: our steps. Only one could have been followed by the
• 2:41:12
  Speaker 6: adventurous Sagnusum. According to the words of the learned Icelander,
• 2:41:17
  Speaker 6: it was only to be known by that one particular
• 2:41:19
  Speaker 6: mentioned in the cryptograph, that the shadow of Scataris fell
• 2:41:23
  Speaker 6: upon it, just touching its mouth. In the last days
• 2:41:26
  Speaker 6: of the month of June. We were, in fact to
• 2:41:29
  Speaker 6: consider the pointed peak as the stylus of an immense sun, dial,
• 2:41:33
  Speaker 6: the shadow of which pointed on one given day, like
• 2:41:36
  Speaker 6: the inexorable finger of fate to the yawning chasm which
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 6: led into the interior of the earth. Now, as often
• 2:41:43
  Speaker 6: happens in these regions, should the sun fail to burst
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 6: through the clouds, no shadow, consequently no chance of discovering
• 2:41:51
  Speaker 6: the right aperture. We had already reached the twenty fifth
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 6: of June. If the kindly heavens would only remain densely
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 6: clouded for six more days, he should have to put
• 2:42:00
  Speaker 6: off our voyage of discovery for another year, when certainly
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 6: there would be one person fewer in the party. I
• 2:42:06
  Speaker 6: already had sufficient of the mad and monstrous enterprise. It
• 2:42:11
  Speaker 6: would be utterly impossible to depict the impotent rage of
• 2:42:14
  Speaker 6: Professor Hardwig. The day passed away, and not the faintest
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 6: outline of a shadow could be seen at the bottom
• 2:42:20
  Speaker 6: of the crater. Hans the Guide never moved from his place.
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 6: He must have been curious to know what we were about,
• 2:42:26
  Speaker 6: if indeed he could believe we were about anything. As
• 2:42:30
  Speaker 6: for my uncle, he never addressed a word to me.
• 2:42:32
  Speaker 6: He was nursing his wrath to keep it warm, his
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 6: eyes fixed on the black and foggy atmosphere, his complexion
• 2:42:38
  Speaker 6: hideous with suppressed passion. Never had his eyes appeared so fierce,
• 2:42:44
  Speaker 6: his nose so aquiline, his mouth so hard and firm.
• 2:42:48
  Speaker 6: On the twenty sixth, no change for the better. A
• 2:42:51
  Speaker 6: mixture of rain and snow fell during the whole day.
• 2:42:55
  Speaker 6: Hans very quietly built himself a hut of lava, into
• 2:42:58
  Speaker 6: which he retired, like Diogenes, into his tub. I took
• 2:43:02
  Speaker 6: malicious delight in watching the thousand little cascades that flowed
• 2:43:05
  Speaker 6: down the side of the cone, carrying with them at
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 6: times a stream of stones into the vastly deep below.
• 2:43:13
  Speaker 6: My uncle was almost frantic, to be sure. It was
• 2:43:16
  Speaker 6: enough to make even a patient man angry. He had
• 2:43:19
  Speaker 6: reached to a certain extent the goal of his desires,
• 2:43:21
  Speaker 6: and yet he was likely to be wrecked in port.
• 2:43:25
  Speaker 6: But if the heavens and the elements are capable of
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 6: causing as much pain and sorrow, there are two sides
• 2:43:29
  Speaker 6: to a medal, and there was reserved for Professor Hardwig
• 2:43:33
  Speaker 6: a brilliant and sudden surprise, which was to compensate him
• 2:43:36
  Speaker 6: for all his sufferings. Next day the sky was still overcast.
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 6: But on Sunday, the twenty eighth, the last day but
• 2:43:44
  Speaker 6: two of the month, with a sudden change of wind
• 2:43:46
  Speaker 6: and a new moon, there came a change of weather.
• 2:43:50
  Speaker 6: The sun poured its beaming rays to the very bottom
• 2:43:52
  Speaker 6: of the crater. Each hillock, every rock, every stone, every
• 2:43:56
  Speaker 6: asperity of the soil had its share of the luminous affulled,
• 2:44:00
  Speaker 6: and its shadow fell heavily on the soil among others.
• 2:44:04
  Speaker 6: To his insane delight, the shadow of Scutarist was marked
• 2:44:07
  Speaker 6: and clear, and moved slowly with the radiant start of day.
• 2:44:12
  Speaker 6: My uncle moved with it, in a state of mental ecstasy.
• 2:44:15
  Speaker 6: At twelve o'clock, exactly when the sun had attained its
• 2:44:18
  Speaker 6: highest altitude for the day, the shadow fell upon the
• 2:44:21
  Speaker 6: edge of the central pit. Here it is, gasped the Professor,
• 2:44:26
  Speaker 6: in an agony of joy. Here it is we have
• 2:44:28
  Speaker 6: found it. Forward, my friends, into the interior of the earth.
• 2:44:34
  Speaker 6: I look curiously at Hans to see what reply he
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 6: would make to this terrific announcement. For it said the
• 2:44:40
  Speaker 6: guide tranquility. Forward, it is, answered my uncle, who was
• 2:44:45
  Speaker 6: now in the seventh Heaven of Delight. When we were
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 6: quite ready, our watches indicated thirteen minutes past one, end
• 2:44:53
  Speaker 6: of chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen, the real journey commences. Our
• 2:45:05
  Speaker 6: real journey had now commenced hitherto our courage and determination
• 2:45:08
  Speaker 6: had overcome all difficulties. We were fatigued at times, and
• 2:45:12
  Speaker 6: that was all. Now we were about to encounter unknown
• 2:45:15
  Speaker 6: and fearful dangers. I had not as yet ventured to
• 2:45:19
  Speaker 6: take a glimpse down the horrible abyss into which in
• 2:45:21
  Speaker 6: a few minutes more I was about to plunge. The
• 2:45:24
  Speaker 6: fatal moment had However, at last arrived I had still
• 2:45:28
  Speaker 6: the option of refusing or accepting a share in this
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 6: foolish and audacious enterprise. But I was ashamed to show
• 2:45:34
  Speaker 6: more fear than the ida duck hunter. Hans seemed to
• 2:45:38
  Speaker 6: accept the difficulties of the journey so tranquility, with such
• 2:45:41
  Speaker 6: calm indifference, with such perfect recklessness of all danger, that
• 2:45:44
  Speaker 6: I actually blushed, to appear less of a man than he.
• 2:45:48
  Speaker 6: Had I been alone with my uncle, I should certainly
• 2:45:51
  Speaker 6: have sat down and argued the point fully, But in
• 2:45:53
  Speaker 6: the presence of the guide, I held my tongue. I
• 2:45:56
  Speaker 6: gave one moment to the thought of my charming cousin,
• 2:45:59
  Speaker 6: and then I advanced into the mouth of the central shaft.
• 2:46:04
  Speaker 6: It measured about a hundred feet in diameter, which made
• 2:46:07
  Speaker 6: about three hundred in circumference. I leaned over a rock
• 2:46:10
  Speaker 6: which stood on its edge, and looked down. My hair
• 2:46:13
  Speaker 6: stood on end, my teeth chattered, my limbs trembled. I
• 2:46:17
  Speaker 6: seemed utterly to lose my center of gravity, while my
• 2:46:19
  Speaker 6: head was in a sort of whirl like that of
• 2:46:21
  Speaker 6: a drunken man. There is nothing more powerful than this
• 2:46:25
  Speaker 6: attraction towards an abyss. I was about to fall headlong
• 2:46:28
  Speaker 6: into the gaping well, when I was drawn back by
• 2:46:30
  Speaker 6: a firm and powerful hand. It was that of hands
• 2:46:34
  Speaker 6: I had not taken lessons enough at frelsa Kerk's of
• 2:46:37
  Speaker 6: Copenhagen in the art of looking down from lofty eminences
• 2:46:40
  Speaker 6: without blinking. However, few as the minutes were during which
• 2:46:44
  Speaker 6: I gazed down this tremendous and even wondrous shaft, I
• 2:46:48
  Speaker 6: had a sufficient glimpse of it to give me some
• 2:46:50
  Speaker 6: idea of its physical conformation. Its sides, which were almost
• 2:46:54
  Speaker 6: as perpendicular as those of a well, presented numerous projections
• 2:46:58
  Speaker 6: which doubtless woul assist our descent. It was a sort
• 2:47:02
  Speaker 6: of wild and savage staircase without banister or fence. A
• 2:47:06
  Speaker 6: rope fastened above near the surface would certainly support our
• 2:47:09
  Speaker 6: weight and enable us to reach the bottom. But how
• 2:47:13
  Speaker 6: when we had arrived at its utmost depth, were we
• 2:47:15
  Speaker 6: to loosen it above? This was, I thought a question
• 2:47:19
  Speaker 6: of some importance. My uncle, however, was one of those
• 2:47:23
  Speaker 6: men who are nearly always prepared with expedients. He hit
• 2:47:26
  Speaker 6: upon a very simple method of obviating this difficulty. He
• 2:47:30
  Speaker 6: unrolled a cord about as thick as my thumb and
• 2:47:32
  Speaker 6: at least four hundred feet in length. He allowed about
• 2:47:35
  Speaker 6: half of it to go down the pit and catch
• 2:47:37
  Speaker 6: in a hitch over a great block of lava which
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 6: stood on the edge of the precipice. This done, he
• 2:47:43
  Speaker 6: threw the second half after the first. Each of us
• 2:47:46
  Speaker 6: could now descend by catching the two cords in one hand.
• 2:47:50
  Speaker 6: When about two hundred feet below, All the explorer had
• 2:47:52
  Speaker 6: to do was to let go one end and pull
• 2:47:55
  Speaker 6: away at the other when the cord would come falling
• 2:47:57
  Speaker 6: at his feet in order to go down. For all
• 2:48:00
  Speaker 6: that was necessary was to continue the same operation. This
• 2:48:04
  Speaker 6: was a very excellent proposition, and no doubt a correct one.
• 2:48:08
  Speaker 6: Going down appeared to me easy enough. It was the
• 2:48:10
  Speaker 6: coming up again that now occupied my thoughts. Now, said
• 2:48:15
  Speaker 6: my uncle, as soon as he had completed this important preparation,
• 2:48:18
  Speaker 6: let us see about the baggage. It must be divided
• 2:48:21
  Speaker 6: into three separate parcels, and each of us must carry
• 2:48:24
  Speaker 6: one on his back. I allude to the more important
• 2:48:26
  Speaker 6: and fragile articles. My worthy and ingenious uncle did not
• 2:48:31
  Speaker 6: appear to consider that we came under the denomination Hans.
• 2:48:35
  Speaker 6: He continued, You will take charge of the tools and
• 2:48:37
  Speaker 6: some provisions. Harry, you must take possession of another third
• 2:48:41
  Speaker 6: of the provisions and of the arms. I will load
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 6: myself with the rest of the eatables and with the
• 2:48:47
  Speaker 6: more delicate instruments. But I exclaimed our clothes, this mass
• 2:48:51
  Speaker 6: of cord and ladders, Who will undertake to carry them down?
• 2:48:55
  Speaker 6: They will go down of themselves. And how so I
• 2:48:58
  Speaker 6: asked you shall see my uncle was not fond of
• 2:49:02
  Speaker 6: half measures, nor did he like anything in the way
• 2:49:04
  Speaker 6: of hesitation. Giving his orders to Hans, he had the
• 2:49:08
  Speaker 6: whole of the non fragile articles made up into one bundle,
• 2:49:11
  Speaker 6: and the packet, firmly and solidly fastened, was simply pitched
• 2:49:14
  Speaker 6: over the edge of the gulf. I heard the moaning
• 2:49:17
  Speaker 6: of the suddenly displaced air and the noise of falling stones.
• 2:49:21
  Speaker 6: My uncle, leaning over the abyss, followed the descent of
• 2:49:24
  Speaker 6: his luggage with a perfectly self satisfied air, and did
• 2:49:27
  Speaker 6: not rise until it had completely disappeared from sight. Now,
• 2:49:30
  Speaker 6: then he cried, it is our turn. I put it
• 2:49:34
  Speaker 6: in good faith to any man of common sense? Was
• 2:49:37
  Speaker 6: it possible to hear this energetic cry without a shudder?
• 2:49:41
  Speaker 6: The professor fastened his case of instruments on his back.
• 2:49:44
  Speaker 6: Hans took charge of the tools, I of the arms.
• 2:49:48
  Speaker 6: The descent then commenced in the following order. Hans went first,
• 2:49:51
  Speaker 6: my uncle followed, and I went last. My progress was
• 2:49:55
  Speaker 6: made in profound silence, a silence only troubled by the
• 2:49:58
  Speaker 6: fall of pieces of rock, which brake from the jagged sides,
• 2:50:01
  Speaker 6: fell with a roar into the depths below. I allowed
• 2:50:05
  Speaker 6: myself to slide, so to speak, holding frantically on the
• 2:50:09
  Speaker 6: double cord with one hand, and with the other, keeping
• 2:50:11
  Speaker 6: myself off the rocks by the assistance of my iron
• 2:50:14
  Speaker 6: shod pole. One idea was all the time impressed upon
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 6: my brain. I feared that the upper support would fail me.
• 2:50:21
  Speaker 6: The cord appeared to me far too fragile to bear
• 2:50:24
  Speaker 6: the weight of three such persons as we were with
• 2:50:26
  Speaker 6: our luggage. I made as little use of it as possible,
• 2:50:30
  Speaker 6: trusting to my own agility, and doing miracles in the
• 2:50:33
  Speaker 6: way of feats of dexterity and strength upon the projecting
• 2:50:36
  Speaker 6: shelves and spurs of lava, which my feet seemed to
• 2:50:38
  Speaker 6: clutch as strongly as my hands. The guide went first,
• 2:50:42
  Speaker 6: I have said, And when one of the slippery and
• 2:50:44
  Speaker 6: frail supports broke from under his feet. He had recourse
• 2:50:47
  Speaker 6: to his usual monosyllabic way of speaking. Gift act attention,
• 2:50:53
  Speaker 6: look out, repeated my uncle. In about half an hour
• 2:50:57
  Speaker 6: we reached a kind of small terrace formed by a
• 2:50:59
  Speaker 6: fragment of rock, projecting some distance from the sides of
• 2:51:02
  Speaker 6: the shaft. Hans now began to haul upon the cord
• 2:51:06
  Speaker 6: on one side, only the other, Going as quietly upwards
• 2:51:09
  Speaker 6: as the other came down. It fell at last, bringing
• 2:51:13
  Speaker 6: with it a shower of small stones, lava, and dust,
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 6: a disagreeable kind of rain or hail. While we were
• 2:51:20
  Speaker 6: seated on this extraordinary bench, I ventured once more to
• 2:51:24
  Speaker 6: look downwards. With a sigh, I discovered that the bottom
• 2:51:27
  Speaker 6: was still wholly invisible. Were we then going direct to
• 2:51:31
  Speaker 6: the interior of the earth. The performance with the cord recommenced,
• 2:51:36
  Speaker 6: and a quarter of an hour later we had reached
• 2:51:38
  Speaker 6: to the depth of another two hundred feet. I have
• 2:51:41
  Speaker 6: very strong doubts if the most determined geologist would, during
• 2:51:45
  Speaker 6: that descent have studied the nature of the different layers
• 2:51:47
  Speaker 6: of the earth around him. I did not trouble my
• 2:51:50
  Speaker 6: head much about the matter whether we were among the
• 2:51:53
  Speaker 6: combustible carbons, salurions, or primitive soil. I neither knew nor
• 2:51:58
  Speaker 6: cared to know. Not so the inveterate professor. He must
• 2:52:02
  Speaker 6: have taken notes all the way down, for at one
• 2:52:04
  Speaker 6: of our halts he began a brief lecture. The farther
• 2:52:07
  Speaker 6: we advance, said he, The greater is my confidence of
• 2:52:10
  Speaker 6: the results. The disposition of these volcanic strata absolutely confirms
• 2:52:15
  Speaker 6: the theories of Sir Humphry Davy. We are still within
• 2:52:18
  Speaker 6: the region of the primordial soil, the soil in which
• 2:52:21
  Speaker 6: took place the chemical operation of metals becoming inflamed by
• 2:52:25
  Speaker 6: coming in contact with the air and water. I at
• 2:52:29
  Speaker 6: once regret the old and now forever exploded theory of
• 2:52:32
  Speaker 6: a central fire. At all events, we shall soon know
• 2:52:35
  Speaker 6: the truth. Such was the everlasting conclusion to which he came. I, however,
• 2:52:41
  Speaker 6: was very far from being in humor to discuss the matter.
• 2:52:44
  Speaker 6: I had something else to think of. My silence was
• 2:52:46
  Speaker 6: taken for consent, and still we continued to go down.
• 2:52:51
  Speaker 6: At the expiration of three hours, we were to all
• 2:52:54
  Speaker 6: appearance as far off as ever from the bottom of
• 2:52:57
  Speaker 6: the well. When I looked upwards, however, I could see
• 2:53:00
  Speaker 6: that the upper orifice was every minute decreasing in size.
• 2:53:04
  Speaker 6: The sides of the shaft were getting closer and closer together.
• 2:53:07
  Speaker 6: We were approaching the regions of eternal night, and still
• 2:53:10
  Speaker 6: we continued to descend.
• 2:53:13
  Speaker 2: At length.
• 2:53:14
  Speaker 6: I noticed when pieces of stone were detached from the
• 2:53:16
  Speaker 6: sides of this stupendous precipice, they were swallowed up with
• 2:53:19
  Speaker 6: less noise than before. The final sound was soon heard.
• 2:53:23
  Speaker 6: We were approaching the bottom of the abyss. As I
• 2:53:26
  Speaker 6: had been very careful to keep account of all the
• 2:53:29
  Speaker 6: changes of cord which took place, I was able to
• 2:53:31
  Speaker 6: tell exactly what was the depth we had reached, as
• 2:53:34
  Speaker 6: well as the time it had taken. We had shifted
• 2:53:37
  Speaker 6: the rope twenty eight times, each operation taking a quarter
• 2:53:41
  Speaker 6: of an hour, which in all made seven hours. To
• 2:53:44
  Speaker 6: this had to be added twenty eight pauses in all
• 2:53:47
  Speaker 6: ten hours and a half. We started at one. It
• 2:53:50
  Speaker 6: was now therefore about eleven o'clock at night. It does
• 2:53:54
  Speaker 6: not require great knowledge of arithmetic to know that twenty
• 2:53:56
  Speaker 6: eight times two hundred feet makes five thousand, six hundred
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 6: feet in all more than an English mile. While I
• 2:54:03
  Speaker 6: was making this mental calculation, a voice broke the silence.
• 2:54:06
  Speaker 6: It was the voice of hands. Halt, he cried. I
• 2:54:10
  Speaker 6: checked myself very suddenly, just at the moment when I
• 2:54:12
  Speaker 6: was about to kick my uncle on the head. We
• 2:54:15
  Speaker 6: have reached the end of our journey, said the worthy professor,
• 2:54:18
  Speaker 6: in a satisfied tone. What the interior of the earth?
• 2:54:21
  Speaker 6: I said, slipping down to his side. No, you stupid fellow.
• 2:54:24
  Speaker 6: But we have reached the bottom of the well, and
• 2:54:27
  Speaker 6: I suppose there is no farther progress to be made,
• 2:54:30
  Speaker 6: I hopefully exclaimed. Oh yes, I can dimly see a
• 2:54:34
  Speaker 6: sort of tunnel which turns off obliquely to the right.
• 2:54:37
  Speaker 6: At all events, we must see about that to morrow.
• 2:54:40
  Speaker 6: Let us sup now and seek slumber as best we may.
• 2:54:44
  Speaker 6: I thought it time, but made no observations on that point.
• 2:54:48
  Speaker 6: I was fairly launched on a desperate course, and all
• 2:54:50
  Speaker 6: I had to do was to go forward, hopefully and trustingly.
• 2:54:55
  Speaker 6: It was not even now quite dark, the light filtering
• 2:54:58
  Speaker 6: down in a most extraordinary manner. We opened the provision
• 2:55:02
  Speaker 6: bag ate a frugal supper, and each did his best
• 2:55:04
  Speaker 6: to find a bed amid the pile of stones, dirt,
• 2:55:07
  Speaker 6: and lava which had accumulated for ages at the bottom
• 2:55:10
  Speaker 6: of the shaft. I happened to grope out the pile
• 2:55:13
  Speaker 6: of ropes, ladders, and clothes which we had thrown down,
• 2:55:16
  Speaker 6: and upon them I stretched myself. After such a day's labor,
• 2:55:19
  Speaker 6: my rough bed seemed as soft as down. For a
• 2:55:23
  Speaker 6: while I lay in a sort of pleasant trance. Presently,
• 2:55:27
  Speaker 6: after lying quietly for some minutes, I opened my eyes
• 2:55:30
  Speaker 6: and looked upwards. As I did so, I made out
• 2:55:33
  Speaker 6: a brilliant little dot at the extremity of this long,
• 2:55:36
  Speaker 6: gigantic telescope. It was a star without scintillating rays. According
• 2:55:41
  Speaker 6: to my calculation, it must be Beata in the constellation
• 2:55:44
  Speaker 6: of the Little Bear. After this little bit of astronomical recreation,
• 2:55:49
  Speaker 6: I dropped into a sound sleep. End of chapter fourteen.
• 2:56:00
  Speaker 6: Up to fifteen we continue our descent. At eight o'clock
• 2:56:05
  Speaker 6: the next morning, a faint kind of dawn of day
• 2:56:07
  Speaker 6: awoke us. The thousand and one prisms of the lava
• 2:56:10
  Speaker 6: collected the light as it passed, and brought it to
• 2:56:12
  Speaker 6: us like a shower of sparks. We were able with
• 2:56:16
  Speaker 6: ease to see objects around us.
• 2:56:18
  Speaker 4: Well.
• 2:56:18
  Speaker 6: Harry, my boy, cried the delighted professor, rubbing his hands together.
• 2:56:22
  Speaker 6: What say you now, did you ever pass a more
• 2:56:24
  Speaker 6: tranquil night in our house in the Kernigstrasa. No deafening
• 2:56:29
  Speaker 6: sounds of cart wheels, no cries of hawkers, no bad
• 2:56:32
  Speaker 6: language from boatmen or watermen. Well, uncle, we are quite
• 2:56:36
  Speaker 6: at the bottom of this well. But to me there
• 2:56:38
  Speaker 6: is something terrible in this calm. Why, said the professor hotly,
• 2:56:43
  Speaker 6: one would say, you were already beginning to be afraid.
• 2:56:46
  Speaker 6: How will you get on presently? Do you know that
• 2:56:49
  Speaker 6: as yet we have not penetrated one inch into the
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 6: bowels of the earth. What can you mean, sir, was
• 2:56:55
  Speaker 6: my bewildered and astonished reply. I mean to say that
• 2:56:59
  Speaker 6: we have only just to reach the soil of the
• 2:57:01
  Speaker 6: island itself. This long vertical tube, which ends at the
• 2:57:04
  Speaker 6: bottom of the crater of Sneffels, ceases here just about
• 2:57:08
  Speaker 6: on a level with the sea. Are you sure, sir?
• 2:57:11
  Speaker 6: Quite sure? Consult the barometer. It was quite true that
• 2:57:16
  Speaker 6: the mercury, after rising gradually in the instrument, as long
• 2:57:18
  Speaker 6: as our descent was taking place, had stopped precisely at
• 2:57:22
  Speaker 6: twenty nine degrees. You'll perceive, said the professor, we have
• 2:57:26
  Speaker 6: as yet only to endure the pressure of air. I
• 2:57:29
  Speaker 6: am curious to replace the barometer by the manometer. The barometer,
• 2:57:34
  Speaker 6: in fact, was about to become useless as soon as
• 2:57:37
  Speaker 6: the weight of the air was greater than ro was
• 2:57:38
  Speaker 6: calculated as above the level of the ocean. But said I,
• 2:57:43
  Speaker 6: is it not very much to be feared that this
• 2:57:45
  Speaker 6: ever increasing pressure may not, in the end turn out
• 2:57:48
  Speaker 6: very painful and inconvenient. No, said he. We shall descend
• 2:57:54
  Speaker 6: very slowly, and our lungs will be gradually accustomed to
• 2:57:57
  Speaker 6: breathe compressed air. It is well known that aeronaught have
• 2:58:00
  Speaker 6: gone so high as to be nearly without air at all.
• 2:58:03
  Speaker 6: Why then, should we not accustom ourselves to breathe when
• 2:58:06
  Speaker 6: we have, say a little too much of it? For myself,
• 2:58:10
  Speaker 6: I am certain I shall prefer it. Let us not
• 2:58:13
  Speaker 6: lose a moment. Where is the packet which preceded us
• 2:58:16
  Speaker 6: in our descent? I smilingly pointed it out to my uncle.
• 2:58:20
  Speaker 6: Hans had not seen it, and believed it caught somewhere
• 2:58:22
  Speaker 6: above us up as he phrased it. Now, said my uncle,
• 2:58:27
  Speaker 6: let us breakfast, and break fast like people who have
• 2:58:30
  Speaker 6: a long day's work before them. Biscuit and dried meat,
• 2:58:34
  Speaker 6: washed down by some mouthfuls of water flavored with sheedam
• 2:58:38
  Speaker 6: was the material of our luxurious meal. As soon as
• 2:58:41
  Speaker 6: it was finished, my uncle took from his pocket a
• 2:58:44
  Speaker 6: note book destined to be filled by memoranda of our travels.
• 2:58:48
  Speaker 6: He had already placed his instruments in order, and this
• 2:58:50
  Speaker 6: is what he wrote Monday, June twenty ninth. Chronometer eight
• 2:58:56
  Speaker 6: hours seventeen minutes, morning barometer twenty two nine point six inches,
• 2:59:01
  Speaker 6: thermometer six degrees, brackets forty three degrees fahrenheit, direction east southeast.
• 2:59:10
  Speaker 6: This last observation referred to the obscure gallery and was
• 2:59:14
  Speaker 6: indicated to us by the compass. Now, Harry, cried the professor,
• 2:59:18
  Speaker 6: in an enthusiastic tone of voice. We are truly about
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 6: to take our first step into the interior of the earth,
• 2:59:24
  Speaker 6: never before visited by man since the first creation of
• 2:59:27
  Speaker 6: the world. You may consider, therefore, that at this precise
• 2:59:30
  Speaker 6: moment our travels really commence. As my uncle made this remark,
• 2:59:36
  Speaker 6: he took in one hand the Ruhmkorff coil apparatus, which
• 2:59:39
  Speaker 6: hung around his neck, and with the other he put
• 2:59:42
  Speaker 6: the electric current into communication with the worm of the lantern,
• 2:59:46
  Speaker 6: and a bright light at once illomed that dark and
• 2:59:49
  Speaker 6: gloomy tunnel. The effect was magical. Hans who carried the
• 2:59:53
  Speaker 6: second apparatus, had it also put into operation. This ingenious
• 2:59:57
  Speaker 6: application of electricity to practical per enabled us to move
• 3:00:01
  Speaker 6: along by the light of an artificial day, amid even
• 3:00:04
  Speaker 6: the flow of the most inflammable and combustible gases. Forward,
• 3:00:08
  Speaker 6: cried my uncle. Each took up his burden. Hands went first,
• 3:00:13
  Speaker 6: My uncle followed, an I going third. We entered the
• 3:00:16
  Speaker 6: somber gallery. Just as we were about to engulf ourselves
• 3:00:20
  Speaker 6: in this dismal passage, I lifted up my head and
• 3:00:22
  Speaker 6: through the tube like shaft, saw that Iceland sky I
• 3:00:26
  Speaker 6: was never to see again? Was it the last I
• 3:00:29
  Speaker 6: should ever see of any sky? The stream of lava
• 3:00:33
  Speaker 6: flowing from the bowels of the earth in twelve nineteen
• 3:00:35
  Speaker 6: had forced itself a passage through the tunnel. It lined
• 3:00:39
  Speaker 6: the whole of the inside with its thick and brilliant coating.
• 3:00:42
  Speaker 6: The electric light added very greatly to the brilliancy of
• 3:00:45
  Speaker 6: the effect. The great difficulty of our journey now began.
• 3:00:50
  Speaker 6: How were we to prevent ourselves from slipping down the
• 3:00:52
  Speaker 6: steeply inclined plane. Happily, some cracks, abrasures of the soil
• 3:00:57
  Speaker 6: and other irregularities served the place of steps, and we
• 3:01:01
  Speaker 6: descended slowly, allowing our heavy luggage to slip on before
• 3:01:04
  Speaker 6: at the end of a long cord. But that which
• 3:01:07
  Speaker 6: served us steps under our feet became in other places stalactites.
• 3:01:12
  Speaker 6: The lava, very poorous in certain places took the form
• 3:01:16
  Speaker 6: of little round blisters, crystals of a paqu quartz, adorned
• 3:01:19
  Speaker 6: with limpid drops of natural glass suspended to the roof
• 3:01:22
  Speaker 6: like lusters, seemed to take fire as we passed beneath them.
• 3:01:26
  Speaker 6: One would have fancied that the Genii of Romance were
• 3:01:29
  Speaker 6: illuminating their underground palaces to receive the sons of men magnificent, glorious,
• 3:01:36
  Speaker 6: I cried, in a moment of involuntary enthusiasm. What a spectacle, Uncle,
• 3:01:41
  Speaker 6: do you not admire these variegated shades of lava, which
• 3:01:44
  Speaker 6: run through a whole series of colors, from reddish brown
• 3:01:46
  Speaker 6: to pale yellow by the most insensible degrees, and these crystals,
• 3:01:51
  Speaker 6: they appear like luminous globes. You are beginning to see
• 3:01:55
  Speaker 6: the charms of travel master, Harry, cried, my uncle, wait
• 3:01:58
  Speaker 6: a bit until we advance farther. What we have as
• 3:02:01
  Speaker 6: yet discovered is nothing onwards, my boy onwards. It would
• 3:02:06
  Speaker 6: have been a far more correct and appropriate expression had
• 3:02:09
  Speaker 6: he said, let us slide, For we were going down
• 3:02:12
  Speaker 6: an inclined plane with perfect ease. The compass indicated that
• 3:02:16
  Speaker 6: we were moving in a southeasterly direction. The flow of
• 3:02:19
  Speaker 6: lava had never turned to the right or to the left.
• 3:02:22
  Speaker 6: It had the inflexibility of a straight line. Nevertheless, to
• 3:02:26
  Speaker 6: my surprise, we found no perceptible increase in heat. This
• 3:02:30
  Speaker 6: proved the theories of Humphrey David to be founded on truth.
• 3:02:33
  Speaker 6: And more than once, I found myself examining the thermometer
• 3:02:36
  Speaker 6: in silent astonishment. Two hours after our departure. It only
• 3:02:40
  Speaker 6: marked fifty four degrees fahrenheit. I had every reason to
• 3:02:44
  Speaker 6: believe from this that our descent was far more horizontal
• 3:02:47
  Speaker 6: than vertical. As for discovering the exact depth to which
• 3:02:50
  Speaker 6: we had attained, nothing could be easier. The professor, as
• 3:02:54
  Speaker 6: he advanced, measured the angles of deviation and inclination, but
• 3:02:58
  Speaker 6: he kept the result of his observation to himself. About
• 3:03:02
  Speaker 6: eight o'clock in the evening, my uncle gave the signal
• 3:03:05
  Speaker 6: for halting. Hans seated himself on the ground. The lamps
• 3:03:09
  Speaker 6: were hung to fishes in the lava rock. We were
• 3:03:11
  Speaker 6: now in a large cavern where air was not wanting.
• 3:03:14
  Speaker 6: On the contrary, it abounded what could be the cause
• 3:03:18
  Speaker 6: of this? To what atmospheric agitation could be ascribed this draft?
• 3:03:22
  Speaker 6: But this was a question which I did not care
• 3:03:24
  Speaker 6: to discuss. Just then, fatigue and hunger made me incapable
• 3:03:28
  Speaker 6: of reasoning. An unceasing march of seven hours had not
• 3:03:32
  Speaker 6: been kept up without great exhaustion. I was really and
• 3:03:36
  Speaker 6: truly worn out and delighted enough I was to hear
• 3:03:38
  Speaker 6: the word halt. Hans laid out some provisions on a
• 3:03:42
  Speaker 6: lump of lava, and we each supped with keen relish.
• 3:03:45
  Speaker 6: One thing, however, caused us great uneasiness. Our water reserve
• 3:03:49
  Speaker 6: was already half exhausted. My uncle had full confidence in
• 3:03:53
  Speaker 6: finding subterranean resources, but hitherto we had completely failed in
• 3:03:57
  Speaker 6: so doing. I could not help calling my uncle's attention
• 3:04:00
  Speaker 6: to the circumstance. And you are surprised at this total
• 3:04:04
  Speaker 6: absence of springs, he said, doubtless, I am very uneasy
• 3:04:08
  Speaker 6: on the point. We have certainly not enough water to
• 3:04:11
  Speaker 6: last us five days. Be quite easy on that matter,
• 3:04:15
  Speaker 6: continued my uncle, I answer for it. We shall find
• 3:04:18
  Speaker 6: plenty of water, in fact, far more than we shall want.
• 3:04:21
  Speaker 6: But when when we once get through this crust of lava,
• 3:04:26
  Speaker 6: how can you expect springs to force their way through
• 3:04:28
  Speaker 6: these solid stone walls? But what is there to prove
• 3:04:32
  Speaker 6: that this concrete mass of lava does not extend to
• 3:04:35
  Speaker 6: the center of the earth. I don't think we have
• 3:04:37
  Speaker 6: as yet done much in a vertical way. What puts
• 3:04:40
  Speaker 6: that into your head, my boy, asked my uncle mildly. Well,
• 3:04:44
  Speaker 6: it appears to me that if we had descended very
• 3:04:46
  Speaker 6: far below the level of the sea, we should find
• 3:04:48
  Speaker 6: it rather hotter than we have according to your system,
• 3:04:52
  Speaker 6: said my uncle. But what does the thermometer say scarcely
• 3:04:56
  Speaker 6: fifteen degrees by raema, which is only an increase of
• 3:04:59
  Speaker 6: nice since our departure. Well, and what conclusion does that
• 3:05:03
  Speaker 6: bring you to, inquired the professor. That the Dutch I
• 3:05:07
  Speaker 6: draw from this is very simple. According to the most
• 3:05:10
  Speaker 6: exact observations, the augmentation of the temperature of the interior
• 3:05:14
  Speaker 6: of the earth is one degree for every hundred feet,
• 3:05:17
  Speaker 6: But certain local causes may considerably modify this figure. Thus,
• 3:05:22
  Speaker 6: at Yakust in Siberia, it has been remarked that the
• 3:05:25
  Speaker 6: heat increases a degree every thirty six feet. The difference
• 3:05:29
  Speaker 6: evidently depends on the conductibility of certain rocks in the
• 3:05:33
  Speaker 6: neighborhood of an extinct volcano. It has been remarked that
• 3:05:36
  Speaker 6: the elevation of temperature was only one degree in every
• 3:05:39
  Speaker 6: five and twenty feet. Let us then go upon this calculation,
• 3:05:44
  Speaker 6: which is the most favorable, and calculate. Calculate away, my boy,
• 3:05:49
  Speaker 6: nothing easier, said I, pulling out my notebook and pencil.
• 3:05:52
  Speaker 6: Nine times one hundred and twenty five feet makes a
• 3:05:54
  Speaker 6: depth of eleven hundred and twenty five feet. Archimedes could
• 3:05:58
  Speaker 6: not have spoken more geometric. Well, well, according to my observations,
• 3:06:04
  Speaker 6: we are at least ten thousand feet below the level
• 3:06:07
  Speaker 6: of the sea. Can it be possible either my calculation
• 3:06:11
  Speaker 6: is correct or there is no truth in figures? The
• 3:06:15
  Speaker 6: calculations of the professor were perfectly correct. We were already
• 3:06:18
  Speaker 6: six thousand feet deeper down in the bowels of the
• 3:06:20
  Speaker 6: Earth than any one had ever been before. The lowest
• 3:06:24
  Speaker 6: known depth to which man had hitherto penetrated was in
• 3:06:27
  Speaker 6: the minds of Kittspool in the tyrrel and those of Wurttemberg.
• 3:06:31
  Speaker 6: The temperature, which should have been eighty one, was in
• 3:06:34
  Speaker 6: this place only fifteen. This was a matter for serious consideration.
• 3:06:39
  Speaker 6: End of Chapter fifteen.
• 3:06:46
  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen, The Eastern Tunnel. The next day was Tuesday,
• 3:06:53
  Speaker 1: the thirtieth of June, and at six o'clock in the
• 3:06:56
  Speaker 1: morning we resumed our journey. Continued to follow the gallery
• 3:07:01
  Speaker 1: of Lava, a perfect natural pathway, as easy of descent
• 3:07:05
  Speaker 1: as some of those inclined plains which in very old
• 3:07:09
  Speaker 1: German houses serve the purpose of staircases. This went on
• 3:07:13
  Speaker 1: until seventeen minutes past twelve, the precise instant at which
• 3:07:18
  Speaker 1: we rejoined Hans, who having been somewhat in advance, had
• 3:07:22
  Speaker 1: suddenly stopped. At last cried, my uncle, we have reached
• 3:07:27
  Speaker 1: the end of the shaft. I looked wonderingly about me.
• 3:07:32
  Speaker 1: We were in the center of Forecroft, past somber and
• 3:07:36
  Speaker 1: narrow tunnels. The question now arose as to which it
• 3:07:40
  Speaker 1: was wise to take, and this of itself was no
• 3:07:43
  Speaker 1: small difficulty. My uncle, who did not wish to appear
• 3:07:47
  Speaker 1: to have any hesitation about the matter before myself or
• 3:07:51
  Speaker 1: the guide, at once made up his mind. He pointed
• 3:07:56
  Speaker 1: quietly to the Eastern tunnel, and without delay we entered
• 3:07:59
  Speaker 1: within its gloomy recesses. Besides, had he entertained any feeling
• 3:08:05
  Speaker 1: of hesitation, it might have been prolonged indefinitely, For there
• 3:08:09
  Speaker 1: was no indication by which to determine on a choice.
• 3:08:14
  Speaker 1: It was absolutely necessary to trust to chance and good fortune.
• 3:08:19
  Speaker 1: The descent of this obscure and narrow gallery was very
• 3:08:23
  Speaker 1: gradual and winding. Sometimes we gazed through a succession of arches,
• 3:08:29
  Speaker 1: its course very like the hills of a Gothic cathedral.
• 3:08:33
  Speaker 1: The great artistic sculptors and builders of the Middle Ages
• 3:08:37
  Speaker 1: might have here completed their studies with advantage. Many most
• 3:08:42
  Speaker 1: beautiful and suggestive ideas of architectural beauty would have been
• 3:08:46
  Speaker 1: discovered by them. After passing through this phase of the
• 3:08:50
  Speaker 1: cavernous way, we suddenly came about a mile farther on
• 3:08:54
  Speaker 1: upon a square system of arch adopted by the early Romans,
• 3:08:59
  Speaker 1: projected from the solid rock and keeping up the weight
• 3:09:03
  Speaker 1: of the roof. Suddenly we would come upon a series
• 3:09:06
  Speaker 1: of low subterranean tunnels which looked like beaver holes or
• 3:09:10
  Speaker 1: the work of foxes, through whose narrow and winding ways
• 3:09:14
  Speaker 1: we had literally to crawl. The heat still remained at
• 3:09:19
  Speaker 1: quite a supportable degree. With an involuntarily shudder, I reflected
• 3:09:24
  Speaker 1: on what the heat must have been when the volcano
• 3:09:27
  Speaker 1: of Sneffels was pouring its smoke, flames, and streams of
• 3:09:31
  Speaker 1: boiling lava, all of which must have come up by
• 3:09:34
  Speaker 1: the road we were now following. I could imagine the
• 3:09:38
  Speaker 1: torrents of hot seeding stone darting on, bubbling up with
• 3:09:42
  Speaker 1: accompaniments of smoke, steam, and sulfurous stench. Only to think
• 3:09:49
  Speaker 1: of the consequences, I mused, if the old volcano were
• 3:09:53
  Speaker 1: once more to set to work. I did not communicate
• 3:09:57
  Speaker 1: these rather unpleasant reflections to my uncle. He not only
• 3:10:01
  Speaker 1: would not have understood them, but would have been intensely disgusted.
• 3:10:06
  Speaker 1: His only idea was to go ahead. He walked his slid,
• 3:10:10
  Speaker 1: He clambered over piles of fragments, He rolled down heaps
• 3:10:14
  Speaker 1: of broken lava with an earnestness and conviction. It was
• 3:10:18
  Speaker 1: impossible not to admire. At six o'clock in the evening,
• 3:10:23
  Speaker 1: after a very wearisome journey, but one not so fatiguing
• 3:10:27
  Speaker 1: as before, we had made six miles towards the southward,
• 3:10:31
  Speaker 1: but had not gone more than a mile downwards. My uncle,
• 3:10:35
  Speaker 1: as usual, gave the signal to halt. We ate our
• 3:10:39
  Speaker 1: meal in thoughtful silence, and then retired to sleep. Our
• 3:10:44
  Speaker 1: arrangements for the night were very primitive and simple. A
• 3:10:48
  Speaker 1: traveling rug in which each rolled himself was all our bedding.
• 3:10:53
  Speaker 1: We had no necessity to fear cold or any unpleasant visit.
• 3:10:57
  Speaker 1: Travelers who bury themselves in the wilds and depths of
• 3:11:01
  Speaker 1: the African desert, who seek profit and pleasures in the
• 3:11:04
  Speaker 1: forests of the New World, are compelled to take it
• 3:11:08
  Speaker 1: in turn to watch during the hours of sleep. But
• 3:11:11
  Speaker 1: in this reading of the earth, absolute solitude and complete
• 3:11:15
  Speaker 1: security reigned supreme. We had nothing to fear, either from
• 3:11:20
  Speaker 1: savages or from wild beasts. After a night's sweet repose,
• 3:11:25
  Speaker 1: we woke fresh and ready for action. There being nothing
• 3:11:29
  Speaker 1: to detain us, we started on our journey. We continued
• 3:11:34
  Speaker 1: to burrow through the lava tunnel. As before, it was
• 3:11:39
  Speaker 1: impossible to make out through what soil we were making way.
• 3:11:43
  Speaker 1: The tunnel. Moreover, instead of going down into the bowels
• 3:11:47
  Speaker 1: of the earth, became absolutely horizontal. I even thought, after
• 3:11:52
  Speaker 1: some examination, that we were actually tending upwards. About ten
• 3:11:57
  Speaker 1: o'clock in the day, this state of things became so
• 3:12:00
  Speaker 1: clear that, finding the change very fatiguing, I was obliged
• 3:12:04
  Speaker 1: to slacken my pace and finally come to a halt. Well,
• 3:12:10
  Speaker 1: said the professor quickly, What is the matter? The fact
• 3:12:14
  Speaker 1: is I am dreadfully tired? Was my earnest reply. What,
• 3:12:21
  Speaker 1: cried my uncle? Tired after a three hours walk, and
• 3:12:24
  Speaker 1: by so easy a road? Easy enough, I dare say,
• 3:12:28
  Speaker 1: but very fatiguing. But how can that be when all
• 3:12:32
  Speaker 1: we have to do is to go downwards? I beg
• 3:12:35
  Speaker 1: your pardon, sir, For some time I have noticed that
• 3:12:38
  Speaker 1: we are going upwards. Upwards, cried my uncle, shrugging his shoulders.
• 3:12:43
  Speaker 1: How can that be? There can be no doubt about it.
• 3:12:47
  Speaker 1: For the last half hour the slopes have been upward,
• 3:12:50
  Speaker 1: and if we go on in this way much longer,
• 3:12:53
  Speaker 1: we shall find ourselves back in Iceland. My uncle shook
• 3:12:57
  Speaker 1: his head with the air of a man who does
• 3:12:59
  Speaker 1: not want to be convinced. I tried to continue the conversation.
• 3:13:04
  Speaker 1: He would not answer me, but once more gave the
• 3:13:07
  Speaker 1: signal for departure. His silence, I thought, was only caused
• 3:13:12
  Speaker 1: by concentrated ill temper. However this might be, I once
• 3:13:18
  Speaker 1: more took up my load, and boldly and resolutely followed Hans,
• 3:13:22
  Speaker 1: who was now in advance of my uncle. I did
• 3:13:25
  Speaker 1: not like to be beaten or even distanced. I was
• 3:13:29
  Speaker 1: naturally anxious not to lose sight of my companions. The
• 3:13:33
  Speaker 1: very idea of being left behind, lost in that terrible
• 3:13:37
  Speaker 1: labyrinth made me shiver, as with the ache. Besides, if
• 3:13:41
  Speaker 1: the ascending path was more arduous and painful to Clamber,
• 3:13:45
  Speaker 1: I had one source of secret, consolation and delight. It
• 3:13:50
  Speaker 1: was to all appearance, taking us back to the surface
• 3:13:53
  Speaker 1: of the earth, that of itself was hopeful. Every step
• 3:13:58
  Speaker 1: I took confirmed me in my belief, and I began
• 3:14:01
  Speaker 1: already to build castles in the air in relation to
• 3:14:04
  Speaker 1: my marriage with my pretty little cousin. About twelve o'clock
• 3:14:09
  Speaker 1: there was a great and sudden change in the aspect
• 3:14:12
  Speaker 1: of the rocky sides of the gallery. I first noticed
• 3:14:16
  Speaker 1: it from the diminution of the rays of light, which
• 3:14:19
  Speaker 1: cast back the reflection of the lamp. From being coated
• 3:14:23
  Speaker 1: with shining and replendant lava, it became living rock. The
• 3:14:27
  Speaker 1: sites were sloping walls, which sometimes became quite vertical. We
• 3:14:33
  Speaker 1: were now in what the geological professors call a state
• 3:14:36
  Speaker 1: of transition. In the period of Silurian stones, so called
• 3:14:41
  Speaker 1: because this specimen of early formation is very common in England,
• 3:14:46
  Speaker 1: in the countries formerly inhabited by the Celtic nation known
• 3:14:50
  Speaker 1: as Silures. I can see clearly now, I cried, the
• 3:14:55
  Speaker 1: sediment from the waters which once covered the whole earth
• 3:14:59
  Speaker 1: formed you during the second period of its existence. These
• 3:15:03
  Speaker 1: schists and these caulcerous rocks. We are turning our backs
• 3:15:07
  Speaker 1: on the granite rocks, and are like people from Hamburg
• 3:15:11
  Speaker 1: who would go to Liebeck by way of an offer.
• 3:15:15
  Speaker 1: I might just as well have kept my observations to myself.
• 3:15:18
  Speaker 1: My geological enthusiasts got the better however, of my cooler judgment,
• 3:15:23
  Speaker 1: and Professor Hartwick heard my observations. What is the matter now?
• 3:15:29
  Speaker 1: He said, in a tone of great gravity, Well, cried I,
• 3:15:33
  Speaker 1: do you not see these different layers of calcerous rocks
• 3:15:37
  Speaker 1: and the first indication of slate strata?
• 3:15:40
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 3:15:41
  Speaker 1: What then, we have arrived at that period of the
• 3:15:45
  Speaker 1: world's existence when the first plants and the first animals
• 3:15:49
  Speaker 1: made their appearance. You think so, yes, Look examine and
• 3:15:54
  Speaker 1: judge for yourself. I induced the professor, with some difficulty
• 3:15:59
  Speaker 1: to cast the light of his lamp on the sides
• 3:16:01
  Speaker 1: of the long winding gallery. I expected some exclamation to
• 3:16:06
  Speaker 1: burst from his lips. I was very much mistaken. The
• 3:16:10
  Speaker 1: worthy Professor never spoke a word. It was impossible to
• 3:16:15
  Speaker 1: say whether he understood me or not. Perhaps it was
• 3:16:19
  Speaker 1: possible that, in his pride my uncle and a learned professor,
• 3:16:24
  Speaker 1: he did not like to own that he was wrong
• 3:16:27
  Speaker 1: in having chosen the Eastern tunnel, or was he determined
• 3:16:31
  Speaker 1: at any price to go to the end of it.
• 3:16:35
  Speaker 1: It was quite evident we had left the region of Lava,
• 3:16:38
  Speaker 1: and that the road by which we were going could
• 3:16:41
  Speaker 1: not take us back to the great crater of Mountsleeffeld's.
• 3:16:46
  Speaker 1: As we went along, I could not help ruminating on
• 3:16:49
  Speaker 1: the whole question, and asked myself if I did not
• 3:16:52
  Speaker 1: lay too great a stress on these sudden and peculiar
• 3:16:56
  Speaker 1: modifications of the Earth's crust. After all, I was very
• 3:17:01
  Speaker 1: likely to be mistaken, and it was within the range
• 3:17:04
  Speaker 1: of probability and possibility that we were not making our
• 3:17:08
  Speaker 1: way through the strata rocks which I believed I recognized
• 3:17:12
  Speaker 1: piled on the lower layer of granitic formation. At all events,
• 3:17:17
  Speaker 1: if I am right, I thought to myself, I must
• 3:17:20
  Speaker 1: certainly find some remains of primitive plants, and it will
• 3:17:24
  Speaker 1: be absolutely necessary to give way to such indubitable evidence.
• 3:17:30
  Speaker 1: Let us have a good search. I accordingly lost no
• 3:17:34
  Speaker 1: opportunity of searching, and had not gone more than about
• 3:17:37
  Speaker 1: a hundred yards when the evidence I sought for cropped
• 3:17:41
  Speaker 1: up in the most incontestable manner before my eyes. It
• 3:17:46
  Speaker 1: was quite natural that I should expect to find these signs,
• 3:17:50
  Speaker 1: for during the Silurian period the seas contained a fewer
• 3:17:54
  Speaker 1: than fifteen hundred different animal and vegetable species. My feet,
• 3:17:59
  Speaker 1: so long accustomed to the hard and arid lava soil,
• 3:18:03
  Speaker 1: suddenly found themselves treading on a kind of soft dust.
• 3:18:07
  Speaker 1: The remains of plants and shells upon the walls themselves.
• 3:18:11
  Speaker 1: I could clearly make out the outline as plain as
• 3:18:15
  Speaker 1: the sun picture of the fucus and the liquepods. The
• 3:18:20
  Speaker 1: worthy and excellent Professor Hartwick could not, of course, make
• 3:18:23
  Speaker 1: any mistake about the matter. But I believe he deliberately
• 3:18:27
  Speaker 1: closed his eyes and continued on his way with a
• 3:18:31
  Speaker 1: firm and unalterable step. I began to think that he
• 3:18:35
  Speaker 1: was carrying his obstinacy a great deal too far. I
• 3:18:39
  Speaker 1: could no longer act with prudence or composure. I stooped
• 3:18:44
  Speaker 1: on a sudden and picked up an almost perfect shell,
• 3:18:47
  Speaker 1: which had undoubtedly belonged to some animal very much resembling
• 3:18:52
  Speaker 1: some of the present day. Having secured the price, I
• 3:18:56
  Speaker 1: followed in the wake of my uncle. Do you see
• 3:18:59
  Speaker 1: the I said, well, said the professor, with the most
• 3:19:04
  Speaker 1: imperturbable tranquility. It is the shell of a crustaceus, animal
• 3:19:08
  Speaker 1: of the distinct order of the trilobites. Nothing more, I
• 3:19:12
  Speaker 1: assure you, But cried I, much troubled at his coolness.
• 3:19:17
  Speaker 1: Do you not draw any conclusion from it? Well? If
• 3:19:21
  Speaker 1: I may ask, what conclusion do you draw from it yourself? Well,
• 3:19:26
  Speaker 1: I thought, I know, my boy, what you would say.
• 3:19:30
  Speaker 1: And you are right, perfectly and incontestably right. We have
• 3:19:34
  Speaker 1: finally abandoned the crust of lava and the road by
• 3:19:37
  Speaker 1: which the lava ascended. It is quite possible that I
• 3:19:40
  Speaker 1: may have been mistaken, but I shall be unable to
• 3:19:42
  Speaker 1: discover my error until I get to the end of
• 3:19:45
  Speaker 1: this gallery. You are quite right as far as that
• 3:19:49
  Speaker 1: is concerned, I replied, And I should highly prove of
• 3:19:53
  Speaker 1: your decision. If we had not to fear the greatest
• 3:19:56
  Speaker 1: of all dangers. And what is that want of water? Well,
• 3:20:02
  Speaker 1: my dear Henry, it can't be helped. We must put
• 3:20:06
  Speaker 1: ourselves on rations. And on he went, end of chapter sixteen,
• 3:20:14
  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, deeper and deeper the coal mine. In truth,
• 3:20:22
  Speaker 1: we were compelled to put ourselves upon rations. Our supply
• 3:20:26
  Speaker 1: would certainly last no more than three days. I found
• 3:20:30
  Speaker 1: this out about supper time. The worst part of the
• 3:20:33
  Speaker 1: matter was that in what is called the transition rocks,
• 3:20:37
  Speaker 1: it was hardly to be expected we should meet with water.
• 3:20:41
  Speaker 1: I had read of the horrors of thirst, and I
• 3:20:43
  Speaker 1: knew that where we were, a brief trial of its
• 3:20:46
  Speaker 1: sufferings would put an end to our adventures and our lives.
• 3:20:51
  Speaker 1: But it was utterly useless to discuss the matter with
• 3:20:54
  Speaker 1: my uncle. He would have answered by some maxiom from Plato.
• 3:21:00
  Speaker 1: During the whole of next day we proceeded on our
• 3:21:02
  Speaker 1: journey through this interminable gallery, arch after arch tunnel of
• 3:21:08
  Speaker 1: the tunnel, we journeyed without exchanging a word. We had
• 3:21:12
  Speaker 1: become as mute and reticent as Hans, our guide. The
• 3:21:17
  Speaker 1: road had no longer an upward tendency at all events.
• 3:21:21
  Speaker 1: If it had, it was not to be made out
• 3:21:23
  Speaker 1: very clearly. Sometimes there could be no doubt that we
• 3:21:27
  Speaker 1: were going downwards. But this inclination was scarcely to be distinguished,
• 3:21:33
  Speaker 1: and was by no means reassuring to the professor, because
• 3:21:37
  Speaker 1: the character of the strata was in no wise modified,
• 3:21:41
  Speaker 1: and the transition character of the rocks became more and
• 3:21:45
  Speaker 1: more marked. It was a glorious sight to see how
• 3:21:48
  Speaker 1: the electric light brought out the sparkles in the walls
• 3:21:52
  Speaker 1: of the calcerous rocks and the old red sandstone. One
• 3:21:56
  Speaker 1: might have fancied oneself in one of those steep cuttings
• 3:21:59
  Speaker 1: in heavans shear which have given their name to this
• 3:22:03
  Speaker 1: kind of soil. Some magnificent specimens of marble protected from
• 3:22:08
  Speaker 1: the sides of the gallery, some of an agate gray
• 3:22:12
  Speaker 1: with white veins of variegated character, others of a yellow
• 3:22:16
  Speaker 1: spotted color with red veins. Farther off might be seen
• 3:22:20
  Speaker 1: samples of color in which chary hinted seams were to
• 3:22:24
  Speaker 1: be found in all their brightest shades. The greater number
• 3:22:29
  Speaker 1: of these marbles were stamped with the marks of primitive animals.
• 3:22:34
  Speaker 1: Since the previous evening, nature and creation had made considerable progress.
• 3:22:40
  Speaker 1: Instead of the rudimentary trilobites. I perceived the remains of
• 3:22:44
  Speaker 1: a more perfect order, among others, the fish in which
• 3:22:48
  Speaker 1: the eye of a geologist has been able to discover
• 3:22:52
  Speaker 1: the first form of the reptile. The Devonian seas were
• 3:22:56
  Speaker 1: inhabited by a vast number of animals of this species,
• 3:23:01
  Speaker 1: which were deposited in tens of thousands in the rocks
• 3:23:05
  Speaker 1: of New Formation. It was quite evident to me that
• 3:23:09
  Speaker 1: we were ascending the scale of animal life of which
• 3:23:12
  Speaker 1: man forms the summit. My excellent uncle, the Professor, appeared
• 3:23:17
  Speaker 1: not to take notice of these warnings. He was determined
• 3:23:21
  Speaker 1: at any risk to proceed. He must have been in
• 3:23:26
  Speaker 1: expectation of one of two things, either that a vertical
• 3:23:30
  Speaker 1: well was about to open under his feet and thus
• 3:23:33
  Speaker 1: allow him to continue his descent, or that some insurmountable
• 3:23:38
  Speaker 1: obstacle would compel us to stop and go back by
• 3:23:41
  Speaker 1: the road we had so long traveled. But evening came again,
• 3:23:47
  Speaker 1: and to my horror, neither hope was doomed to be realized.
• 3:23:53
  Speaker 1: On Friday after night, when I began to feel the
• 3:23:56
  Speaker 1: gnawing agony of thirst, and when in concert Quen's appetite decreased,
• 3:24:02
  Speaker 1: our little band rose, and once more followed the turnings
• 3:24:06
  Speaker 1: and windings, the ascents and descents of this interminable gallery
• 3:24:12
  Speaker 1: all were silent and gloomy. I could see that even
• 3:24:15
  Speaker 1: my uncle had ventured too far. After about ten hours
• 3:24:20
  Speaker 1: of further progress, a progress dull and monotonous to the
• 3:24:25
  Speaker 1: last degree, I remarked that the reverberation and reflection of
• 3:24:29
  Speaker 1: our lamps upon the sides of the tunnel had singularly diminished.
• 3:24:35
  Speaker 1: The marble, the skissed, the caulcerous rocks, the red sandstone
• 3:24:39
  Speaker 1: had disappeared, leaving in their places a dark and gloomy wall,
• 3:24:44
  Speaker 1: somber and with uprightness. When we reached a remarkably narrow
• 3:24:50
  Speaker 1: part of the tunnel, I leaned my left hand against
• 3:24:53
  Speaker 1: the rock. When I took my hand away and happened
• 3:24:57
  Speaker 1: to glance at it, it was quite black. We had
• 3:25:00
  Speaker 1: reached the coal strata of the central earth. A coal mine,
• 3:25:06
  Speaker 1: I cried, A coal mine without miners, responded my uncle
• 3:25:11
  Speaker 1: a little severely. How can we tell? I can tell,
• 3:25:16
  Speaker 1: replied my uncle, in a sharp and doctoral tone. I
• 3:25:19
  Speaker 1: am perfectly certain that this gallery, through successive layers of coal,
• 3:25:24
  Speaker 1: was not cut by the hand of man. But whether
• 3:25:27
  Speaker 1: it is the work of nature or not is of
• 3:25:29
  Speaker 1: little concern to us. The hour for our evening meal
• 3:25:33
  Speaker 1: has come, let us up. Hence the guide occupied himself
• 3:25:38
  Speaker 1: in preparing food. I had come to that point when
• 3:25:42
  Speaker 1: I could no longer eat. All I cared about were
• 3:25:46
  Speaker 1: the few drops of water which fell to my share.
• 3:25:50
  Speaker 1: What I suffered, it is useless to record. The guide
• 3:25:54
  Speaker 1: scored not quite half full. Was all that was left
• 3:25:58
  Speaker 1: for us three. Having finished the repast, my two companions
• 3:26:04
  Speaker 1: laid themselves down upon their rugs and found in sleep
• 3:26:08
  Speaker 1: a remedy for their fatigue and sufferings. As for me,
• 3:26:12
  Speaker 1: I could not sleep. I lay counting the hours until morning.
• 3:26:17
  Speaker 1: The next morning, Saturday, at six o'clock we started again.
• 3:26:21
  Speaker 1: Twenty minutes later we suddenly came upon a vast excavation.
• 3:26:26
  Speaker 1: From its mighty extent, I saw at once that the
• 3:26:29
  Speaker 1: hand of man could have had nothing to do with
• 3:26:32
  Speaker 1: his coal mine. The vault above would have fallen in
• 3:26:36
  Speaker 1: as it was, It was only held together by some
• 3:26:39
  Speaker 1: miracle of nature. This mighty natural cabin was about a
• 3:26:45
  Speaker 1: hundred feet wide by about a hundred and fifty high.
• 3:26:49
  Speaker 1: The earth had evidently been cast apart by some violent
• 3:26:53
  Speaker 1: subterranean commotion, the mass, giving way to some prodigious upheaving
• 3:26:57
  Speaker 1: of nature had split in two, leaving the vast gap
• 3:27:02
  Speaker 1: into which we inhabitants of the Earth had penetrated for
• 3:27:05
  Speaker 1: the first time. The whole singular history of the Coal
• 3:27:10
  Speaker 1: period was written on those dark and gloomy walls. A
• 3:27:15
  Speaker 1: geologist would have been able easily to follow the different
• 3:27:18
  Speaker 1: phases of its formation. The seams of coal were separated
• 3:27:23
  Speaker 1: by strata of sandstone, a compact clay which appeared to
• 3:27:27
  Speaker 1: be crushed down by the weight from above. At that
• 3:27:31
  Speaker 1: period of the world, which preceded the Secondary Epoch, the
• 3:27:36
  Speaker 1: Earth was covered by a coating of enormous and rich vegetation.
• 3:27:40
  Speaker 1: Due to the double action of tropical heat and perpetual humidity,
• 3:27:46
  Speaker 1: A vast atmospheric cloud of vapor surrounded the Earth on
• 3:27:50
  Speaker 1: all sides, preventing the rays of the Sun from ever
• 3:27:54
  Speaker 1: reaching it. Hence the conclusion that these intense heats did
• 3:27:58
  Speaker 1: not arise from this new new source of calorie. Perhaps
• 3:28:02
  Speaker 1: even the Star of Day was not quite ready for
• 3:28:05
  Speaker 1: its brilliant work to illumine a universe. Climates did not
• 3:28:10
  Speaker 1: as yet exist, and a level heat pervaded the whole
• 3:28:13
  Speaker 1: surface of the globe, the same heat existing at the
• 3:28:17
  Speaker 1: north pole as at the equator. Whence did it come
• 3:28:23
  Speaker 1: from the interior of the earth. In spite of all
• 3:28:27
  Speaker 1: the learned theories of Professor Hartwig, a fierce and vehement
• 3:28:31
  Speaker 1: fire certainly burned within the entrails of the great spheroid.
• 3:28:37
  Speaker 1: Its action was felt even to the very topmost crust
• 3:28:40
  Speaker 1: of the earth. The plants then in existence, being deprived
• 3:28:44
  Speaker 1: of the vivifying grays of the sun, had neither buds,
• 3:28:48
  Speaker 1: nor flowers, nor odor. But the roots drew a strong
• 3:28:53
  Speaker 1: and vigorous life from the burning earth. Of early days,
• 3:28:58
  Speaker 1: there were but few of what may be cold trees,
• 3:29:01
  Speaker 1: only herbaceous plants, immense turfs, brears, mosses, rare families, which, however,
• 3:29:09
  Speaker 1: in those days, were counted by tens and tens of thousands.
• 3:29:14
  Speaker 1: It is entirely to this exurberant vegetation that coal owes
• 3:29:18
  Speaker 1: its origin. The crust of the vast globe still yielded
• 3:29:23
  Speaker 1: under the influence of the seething, boiling mass, which was
• 3:29:27
  Speaker 1: forever at work beneath. Hence arose numerous fistures and continual
• 3:29:33
  Speaker 1: falling in of the upper earth. The dense morth of
• 3:29:37
  Speaker 1: plants being beneath the waters, soon formed themselves into vast agglomerations.
• 3:29:43
  Speaker 1: Then came about the action of natural chemistry in the
• 3:29:47
  Speaker 1: depths of the ocean. The vegetable mass at first became turf. Then,
• 3:29:53
  Speaker 1: thanks to the influence of gases and subterranean fermentation, they
• 3:29:57
  Speaker 1: underwent the complete process of minner realization. In this manner,
• 3:30:03
  Speaker 1: in early days were formed those vast and prodigious layers
• 3:30:06
  Speaker 1: of coal, which an ever increasing consumption must utterly use
• 3:30:11
  Speaker 1: up in about three centuries more if people do not
• 3:30:15
  Speaker 1: find some more economic light than gas and some cheaper
• 3:30:18
  Speaker 1: multi power than steam. All these reflections the memories of
• 3:30:24
  Speaker 1: my school studies came to my mind while I gazed
• 3:30:28
  Speaker 1: upon these mighty accumulations of coal, whose riches, however, are
• 3:30:32
  Speaker 1: scarcely likely to be ever utilized. The working of these
• 3:30:37
  Speaker 1: mines could only be carried out at an expense that
• 3:30:40
  Speaker 1: would never yield a profit. The matter, however, is scarcely
• 3:30:45
  Speaker 1: worthy consideration when coal is scattered over the whole surface
• 3:30:50
  Speaker 1: of the globe, within a few yards of the upper crust.
• 3:30:55
  Speaker 1: As I looked at this untouched strata, therefore, I knew
• 3:30:59
  Speaker 1: they would remain as long as the world lasts. While
• 3:31:04
  Speaker 1: we still continued our journey, I alone forgot the length
• 3:31:08
  Speaker 1: of the road by giving myself up folly to these
• 3:31:11
  Speaker 1: geological considerations. The temperature continued to be very much the
• 3:31:17
  Speaker 1: same as while we were traveling amid the lava.
• 3:31:20
  Speaker 2: And the skists.
• 3:31:22
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, my sense of smell was much
• 3:31:25
  Speaker 1: affected by a very powerful odor. I immediately knew that
• 3:31:30
  Speaker 1: the gallery was filled to overflowing with that dangerous gas
• 3:31:34
  Speaker 1: the miners call fire damp, the explosion of which has
• 3:31:38
  Speaker 1: caused such fearful and terrible accidents, making a hundred widows
• 3:31:43
  Speaker 1: and hundreds of orphans in a single hour. Happily, we
• 3:31:48
  Speaker 1: were able to illumine our progress by means of the
• 3:31:51
  Speaker 1: Ruhmkorff apparatus. If we had been so rush and imprudent
• 3:31:56
  Speaker 1: as to explore this gallery torch in hand at terrible
• 3:32:00
  Speaker 1: explosion would have put an end to our travels, simply
• 3:32:04
  Speaker 1: because no travelers would be left. Our excursion through this
• 3:32:10
  Speaker 1: wondrous coal mine in the very bowels of the earth
• 3:32:14
  Speaker 1: lasted until evening. My uncle was scarcely able to conceal
• 3:32:19
  Speaker 1: his impatience and dissatisfaction at the road, continuing still to
• 3:32:24
  Speaker 1: advance in a horizontal direction. The darkness dense, and a
• 3:32:28
  Speaker 1: park a few yards in advance and in the rear
• 3:32:32
  Speaker 1: rendered it impossible to make out what was the length
• 3:32:36
  Speaker 1: of the gallery. For myself, I began to believe that
• 3:32:40
  Speaker 1: it was simply interminable, and would go on in the
• 3:32:43
  Speaker 1: same manner for months. Suddenly, at six o'clock we stood
• 3:32:48
  Speaker 1: in front of a wall to the right, to the left,
• 3:32:52
  Speaker 1: above below. Nowhere was there any passage. We had reached
• 3:32:57
  Speaker 1: a spot where the rocks said, in unmistakable accents, no thoroughfare.
• 3:33:03
  Speaker 1: I stood stupefied. The guide simply folded his arms. My
• 3:33:08
  Speaker 1: uncle was silent. Well, well, so much the better, cried
• 3:33:15
  Speaker 1: my uncle. At last, I now know what we are about.
• 3:33:19
  Speaker 1: We are decidedly not upon the road followed by sagnusm.
• 3:33:23
  Speaker 1: All we have to do is to go back. Let
• 3:33:26
  Speaker 1: us take one night's good rest, and before three days
• 3:33:29
  Speaker 1: are over, I promise you we shall have regained the
• 3:33:32
  Speaker 1: point where the galleries divided. Yes we may, if our
• 3:33:37
  Speaker 1: strength lasts as long, I cried in a lamentable voice.
• 3:33:42
  Speaker 1: And why not to morrow among us three there will
• 3:33:47
  Speaker 1: not be a drop of water. It is just gone,
• 3:33:52
  Speaker 1: and your courage with it, said my uncle, speaking in
• 3:33:55
  Speaker 1: a severe tone. What could I say? I turned round
• 3:34:00
  Speaker 1: on my side, and from sheer exhaustion, fell into a
• 3:34:03
  Speaker 1: heavy sleep, disturbed by dreams of water, and I awoke unrefreshed.
• 3:34:10
  Speaker 1: I would have bartered the diamond mine for a glass
• 3:34:14
  Speaker 1: of pure spring water. End of Chapter seventeen, Chapter eighteen,
• 3:34:23
  Speaker 1: The wrong road. Next day, our departure took place at
• 3:34:29
  Speaker 1: a very early hour. There was no time for the
• 3:34:33
  Speaker 1: least delay. According to my account, we had five days
• 3:34:37
  Speaker 1: hard work to get back to the place where the
• 3:34:39
  Speaker 1: gallery is divided. I can never tell all the sufferings
• 3:34:43
  Speaker 1: we endured upon our return. My uncle bore them like
• 3:34:47
  Speaker 1: a man who has been in the wrong, that is,
• 3:34:50
  Speaker 1: with concentrated and suppressed anger, Hans with all the resignation
• 3:34:55
  Speaker 1: of his pacific character. And I I con fess that
• 3:35:00
  Speaker 1: I did nothing but complain and despair. I had no
• 3:35:05
  Speaker 1: heart for this bad fortune. But there was one consolation.
• 3:35:09
  Speaker 1: Defeat at the outset would probably upset the whole journey.
• 3:35:14
  Speaker 1: As I had expected from the first, our supply of
• 3:35:16
  Speaker 1: water gave completely out on our first day's march. Our
• 3:35:21
  Speaker 1: provision of liquids was reduced to our supply of sheedom.
• 3:35:25
  Speaker 1: But this horrible nay, I will say, this infernal liquor
• 3:35:31
  Speaker 1: burnt the throat, and I could not even bear the
• 3:35:34
  Speaker 1: sight of it. I found the temperature to be stifling.
• 3:35:38
  Speaker 1: I was paralyzed with fatigue more than once. I was
• 3:35:42
  Speaker 1: about to fall insensible to the ground. The whole party
• 3:35:47
  Speaker 1: then halted, and the worthy Icelander and my excellent uncle
• 3:35:51
  Speaker 1: did their best to console and comfort me. I could, however,
• 3:35:56
  Speaker 1: plainly see that my uncle was contending painfully again the
• 3:36:00
  Speaker 1: extreme fatigues of our journey and the awful torture generated
• 3:36:05
  Speaker 1: by the absence of water. At length, the time came
• 3:36:10
  Speaker 1: when I ceased to recollect anything, when all was one awful, hideous,
• 3:36:15
  Speaker 1: fantastic dream. At last, on Tuesday, the seventh of the
• 3:36:20
  Speaker 1: month of July, after crawling on our hands and knees
• 3:36:24
  Speaker 1: for many hours, more dead than alive, we reached the
• 3:36:28
  Speaker 1: point of junction between the galleries. I lay like a
• 3:36:32
  Speaker 1: log an inert mass of human flesh on the arid
• 3:36:36
  Speaker 1: lava soil. It was then ten in the morning. Hans
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 1: and my uncle, leaning against the wall, tried to nibble
• 3:36:45
  Speaker 1: away at some pieces of biscuit, while deep groans and
• 3:36:49
  Speaker 1: sighs escaped from my scorched and swollen lips. Then I
• 3:36:54
  Speaker 1: fell off into a kind of deep lethargy. Presently I
• 3:36:59
  Speaker 1: felt my uncle approach and lift me up tenderly in
• 3:37:02
  Speaker 1: his arms. Poor boy, I heard him say, in a
• 3:37:06
  Speaker 1: tone of deep commiseration. I was profoundly touched by these words,
• 3:37:12
  Speaker 1: being by no means accustomed to signs of womanly weakness
• 3:37:16
  Speaker 1: in the professor. I caught his trembling hands in mine
• 3:37:20
  Speaker 1: and gave them a gentle pressure. He allowed me to
• 3:37:24
  Speaker 1: do so without resistance, looking at me kindly all the time.
• 3:37:29
  Speaker 1: His eyes were wet with tears. I then saw him
• 3:37:33
  Speaker 1: take the gourd which he wore at his side. To
• 3:37:36
  Speaker 1: my surprise, or rather to my stupefaction, he placed it
• 3:37:41
  Speaker 1: to my lips. Drink, my boy, he said, Was it
• 3:37:47
  Speaker 1: possible my ears had not deceived me? Was my uncle mad?
• 3:37:52
  Speaker 1: I looked at him with I AM sure, quite an
• 3:37:56
  Speaker 1: idiotic expression. I could not believe him. I too much
• 3:38:01
  Speaker 1: feared the counteraction of disappointment. Drink he said again? Had
• 3:38:07
  Speaker 1: I heard aright before? However, I could ask myself the
• 3:38:11
  Speaker 1: question a second time A mouthful of water cooled my
• 3:38:14
  Speaker 1: parched lips and throat. One mouthful, but I do believe
• 3:38:19
  Speaker 1: it brought me back to life. I thanked my uncle
• 3:38:24
  Speaker 1: by clasping my hands.
• 3:38:26
  Speaker 4: My heart was too.
• 3:38:27
  Speaker 1: Full to speak. Yes, said he one mouthful of water,
• 3:38:33
  Speaker 1: the very last, do you hear, my boy, the very last.
• 3:38:38
  Speaker 1: I have taken care of it at the bottom of
• 3:38:40
  Speaker 1: my bottle as the apple of my eyes. Twenty times,
• 3:38:45
  Speaker 1: a hundred times I have resisted the fearful desire to
• 3:38:49
  Speaker 1: drink it. But no, no hurry, I saved it for you,
• 3:38:54
  Speaker 1: my dear uncle, I exclaimed, and the big tears rolled
• 3:38:58
  Speaker 1: down my hot and feverish chin. Yes, my poor boy,
• 3:39:02
  Speaker 1: I knew that when you reached this place, this cross
• 3:39:06
  Speaker 1: road in the earth, you would fall down half dead.
• 3:39:09
  Speaker 1: And I saved my last drop of water in order
• 3:39:12
  Speaker 1: to restore you. Thanks, I cried, thanks from my heart.
• 3:39:18
  Speaker 1: As little as my thirst was really quenched, I had
• 3:39:21
  Speaker 1: nevertheless partially recovered my strength. The contracted muscles of my
• 3:39:26
  Speaker 1: throat relaxed, and the inflammation of my lips in some
• 3:39:30
  Speaker 1: measure subsided. At all events, I was able to speak well,
• 3:39:37
  Speaker 1: I said. There can be no doubt as to what
• 3:39:40
  Speaker 1: we have to do. Water has utterly failed us our
• 3:39:44
  Speaker 1: journey's therefore at an end, let us return. While I spoke, thus,
• 3:39:50
  Speaker 1: my uncle evidently avoided my face. He held down his head,
• 3:39:54
  Speaker 1: his eyes were turned in every possible direction but the
• 3:39:57
  Speaker 1: right one. Yes, I continued, getting excited by my own words.
• 3:40:03
  Speaker 1: We must go back to Sneffles. May Heaven give us
• 3:40:08
  Speaker 1: strength to enable us once more to revisit the light
• 3:40:11
  Speaker 1: of day. Would that we now stood on the summit
• 3:40:14
  Speaker 1: of the crater? Go back, said my uncle, speaking to himself.
• 3:40:20
  Speaker 1: And must it be so? Go back? Yes, And without
• 3:40:24
  Speaker 1: losing a single moment, I vehemently cried. For some moment
• 3:40:30
  Speaker 1: there was silence under that dark and gloomy vault. So,
• 3:40:34
  Speaker 1: my dear hurry, said the professor in a very singular
• 3:40:38
  Speaker 1: tone of voice. Those few drops of water have not
• 3:40:41
  Speaker 1: sufficed to restore your energy and courage. Courage, I cried.
• 3:40:49
  Speaker 1: I see that you are quite as downcast as before,
• 3:40:53
  Speaker 1: and still give way to discouragement and despair. What then
• 3:40:58
  Speaker 1: was the man made of and what other projects were
• 3:41:02
  Speaker 1: entering his fertile and odacious prain? You are not discouraged, sir?
• 3:41:08
  Speaker 1: What give up? Just as we are on the verge
• 3:41:11
  Speaker 1: of success, he cried. Never, never shall it be said
• 3:41:16
  Speaker 1: that Professor Hartwick retreated. Then we must make up our
• 3:41:20
  Speaker 1: minds to perish. I cried, with a helpless sigh. No, hurry,
• 3:41:25
  Speaker 1: my voice, certainly not go leave me. I am very
• 3:41:30
  Speaker 1: far from desiring your death. Take hands with you. I
• 3:41:34
  Speaker 1: will go on alone. You ask us to leave, you,
• 3:41:39
  Speaker 1: leave me, I say, I have undertaken this dangerous and
• 3:41:42
  Speaker 1: perilous adventure. I will carry it to the end, or
• 3:41:46
  Speaker 1: I will never return to the surface of mother Earth.
• 3:41:49
  Speaker 1: Go hurry once more, I say to you.
• 3:41:51
  Speaker 4: Go.
• 3:41:52
  Speaker 1: My uncle, as he spoke, was terribly excited. His voice,
• 3:41:57
  Speaker 1: which before had been tender, almost womanly, became harsh and menacing.
• 3:42:03
  Speaker 1: He appeared to be struggling with desperate energy against the impossible.
• 3:42:08
  Speaker 1: I did not wish to abandon him at the bottom
• 3:42:10
  Speaker 1: of that abyss, while on the other hand, the instinct
• 3:42:14
  Speaker 1: of preservation told me to fly. Meanwhile, our guide was
• 3:42:19
  Speaker 1: looking on with profound calmness and indifference. He appeared to
• 3:42:23
  Speaker 1: be an unconcerned party, and yet he perfectly well knew
• 3:42:27
  Speaker 1: what was going on between us. Our gestures sufficiently indicated
• 3:42:32
  Speaker 1: the different roads each wished to follow, and which each
• 3:42:36
  Speaker 1: tried to influence the other to undertake. But Hans appeared
• 3:42:40
  Speaker 1: not to take the slightest interest in what was really
• 3:42:43
  Speaker 1: a question of life and death for us all, but waited,
• 3:42:47
  Speaker 1: quite ready to pay the signal which should say go aloft,
• 3:42:51
  Speaker 1: or to resume his desperate journey into the interior of
• 3:42:55
  Speaker 1: the earth. How then, I wished with all my heart
• 3:42:59
  Speaker 1: and soul that I could make him understand my words,
• 3:43:04
  Speaker 1: my representations, my sighs and groans, the earnest accents in
• 3:43:08
  Speaker 1: which I should have spoken would have convinced that cold,
• 3:43:12
  Speaker 1: hard nature, those fearful dangers and perils of which the
• 3:43:18
  Speaker 1: stolid guide had no idea. I would have pointed them
• 3:43:22
  Speaker 1: out to him. I would have, as it were, made
• 3:43:25
  Speaker 1: him see and feel. Between us. We might have convinced
• 3:43:29
  Speaker 1: the obstinate professor, if the worst had come to the worst,
• 3:43:34
  Speaker 1: we could have compelled him to return to the summit
• 3:43:37
  Speaker 1: of Sneffelds. I quietly approached Hans. I caught his hand
• 3:43:42
  Speaker 1: in mine. He never moved a muscle. I indicated to
• 3:43:46
  Speaker 1: him the road to the top of the crater. He
• 3:43:48
  Speaker 1: remained motionless. My pounting form, my haggard countenance must have
• 3:43:54
  Speaker 1: indicated the extent of my sufferings. The Icelander gently shook
• 3:43:58
  Speaker 1: his head and pointed to my uncle Master. He said,
• 3:44:04
  Speaker 1: the word is Icelandic as well as English. The Master,
• 3:44:10
  Speaker 1: I cried, beside myself with fury, madman, no, I tell
• 3:44:14
  Speaker 1: you is not the master of our lives. We must fly,
• 3:44:18
  Speaker 1: We must drag him with us. Do you hear me?
• 3:44:21
  Speaker 1: Do you understand me? I say, I have already explained
• 3:44:24
  Speaker 1: that I held hands by the arm. I tried to
• 3:44:27
  Speaker 1: make him rise from his seat. I struggled with him
• 3:44:30
  Speaker 1: and tried to force him away. My uncle now interposed,
• 3:44:35
  Speaker 1: my good Henry b calm. He said, you will obtain
• 3:44:39
  Speaker 1: nothing from my devoted follower. Therefore listen to.
• 3:44:42
  Speaker 4: What I have to say.
• 3:44:44
  Speaker 1: I folded my arms as well as I could, and
• 3:44:46
  Speaker 1: looked at my uncle full in the face. This wretched
• 3:44:51
  Speaker 1: want of water, he said, is the sole obstacle to
• 3:44:55
  Speaker 1: the success of my project. In the entire gallery made
• 3:44:59
  Speaker 1: of love, asking eastern coal, it is true we found
• 3:45:02
  Speaker 1: not one liquid molecule. It is quite possible that we
• 3:45:07
  Speaker 1: may be more fortunate in the Western tunnel. My sole
• 3:45:11
  Speaker 1: reply was to shake my head with an air of
• 3:45:14
  Speaker 1: deep incredulity. Listen to me to the end, said the
• 3:45:18
  Speaker 1: Professory's well known lecturing voice, while you lay yonder without
• 3:45:23
  Speaker 1: life or motion. I undertook a conottering journey into the
• 3:45:27
  Speaker 1: conformation of this other gallery. I have discovered that it
• 3:45:31
  Speaker 1: goes directly downwards into the bowels of the earth, and
• 3:45:35
  Speaker 1: in a few hours will take us to the old
• 3:45:37
  Speaker 1: granityk formation. In this we shall undoubtedly find innumerable springs.
• 3:45:43
  Speaker 1: The nature of the rock makes this a mathematical certainty,
• 3:45:47
  Speaker 1: and instinct agrees with logic to say that it is so.
• 3:45:51
  Speaker 1: Now this is the serious proposition which I have to
• 3:45:54
  Speaker 1: make to you. When Christopher Columbus asked of his men
• 3:45:58
  Speaker 1: three days to discover the Land of Promise, his men, ill,
• 3:46:03
  Speaker 1: terrified and hopeless, yet gave him three days, and the
• 3:46:06
  Speaker 1: new world was discovered.
• 3:46:09
  Speaker 4: Now, I, the.
• 3:46:10
  Speaker 1: Christopher Columbus of this subterranean region, only ask of you
• 3:46:14
  Speaker 1: one more day. If when that time is expired, I
• 3:46:18
  Speaker 1: have not found the water of which we are in search,
• 3:46:22
  Speaker 1: I swear to you I will give up my mighty
• 3:46:25
  Speaker 1: enterprise and return to the Earth's surface. Despite my irritation
• 3:46:31
  Speaker 1: and despair. I knew how much it cost my uncle.
• 3:46:34
  Speaker 1: To make this proposition and to hold such conciliatory language
• 3:46:39
  Speaker 1: under the circumstances, What could I do but yield well,
• 3:46:45
  Speaker 1: I cried, Let it be as you wish, and may
• 3:46:49
  Speaker 1: Heaven reward your superhuman energy. But as unless we discover water,
• 3:46:55
  Speaker 1: our hours are numbered. Let us lose no time but
• 3:46:59
  Speaker 1: go head. End of chapter eighteen. Chapter nineteen, the western
• 3:47:08
  Speaker 1: gallery a new route. Our descent was now resumed by
• 3:47:14
  Speaker 1: means of the second gallery. Hans took up his post
• 3:47:18
  Speaker 1: in front as usual. We had not gone more than
• 3:47:21
  Speaker 1: a hundred yards when the professor carefully examined the walls.
• 3:47:26
  Speaker 1: This is the primitive formation. We are on the right road.
• 3:47:31
  Speaker 1: Onwards is our hope. When the whole earth got cool
• 3:47:36
  Speaker 1: in the first hours of the world's morning, the diminution
• 3:47:39
  Speaker 1: of the volume of the earth produced a state of
• 3:47:42
  Speaker 1: dislocation in its upper crust, followed by ruptures, crevises, and fissures.
• 3:47:49
  Speaker 1: The passage was a fissure of this kind through which
• 3:47:53
  Speaker 1: ages ago had flowed the eruptive granite. The thousand windings
• 3:47:58
  Speaker 1: and turnings formed an inextricable labyrinth through the ancient soil.
• 3:48:04
  Speaker 1: As we descended, successions of layers composing the primitive soil
• 3:48:09
  Speaker 1: appeared with the utmost fidelity of detail. Geological science considers
• 3:48:15
  Speaker 1: this primitive soil as the base of the mineral crust,
• 3:48:20
  Speaker 1: and it has recognizes that it is composed of three
• 3:48:23
  Speaker 1: different strata or layers, or resting on the immovable rock
• 3:48:27
  Speaker 1: known as granite. No mineralogists had even found themselves placed
• 3:48:35
  Speaker 1: in such a marvelous position to study nature in all
• 3:48:39
  Speaker 1: a real and naked beauty. The sounding rod, a mere machine,
• 3:48:44
  Speaker 1: could not bring to the surface of the Earth the
• 3:48:47
  Speaker 1: objects of value for the study of its internal structure,
• 3:48:52
  Speaker 1: which we were about to see with our own eyes,
• 3:48:56
  Speaker 1: to touch with our own hands. Remember that I am
• 3:49:01
  Speaker 1: writing this after the journey across the streak of the rocks,
• 3:49:06
  Speaker 1: colored by beautiful green tins wound metallic threads of copper,
• 3:49:12
  Speaker 1: of manganese, with traces of platinum and gold. I could
• 3:49:17
  Speaker 1: not help gazing at these riches buried in the entrails
• 3:49:21
  Speaker 1: of Mother Earth, and of which no man would have
• 3:49:24
  Speaker 1: the enjoyment to the end of time. These treasures, mighty
• 3:49:29
  Speaker 1: and inexhaustible, were buried in the morning of the Earth's history,
• 3:49:34
  Speaker 1: at such awful depths that no crowbar or pickaxe will
• 3:49:38
  Speaker 1: ever drag them from their tomb. The light of our
• 3:49:43
  Speaker 1: Ruhmkorff's coil increased tenfold by the myriad of prismatic masses
• 3:49:48
  Speaker 1: of rock sent its yets of fire in every direction,
• 3:49:53
  Speaker 1: and I could fancy myself traveling through a huge hollow diamond,
• 3:49:58
  Speaker 1: the rays of which produced me periods of extraordinary effects.
• 3:50:04
  Speaker 1: Towards six o'clock, this festival of light began sensibly and
• 3:50:08
  Speaker 1: visibly to decrease, and soon almost ceased. The sides of
• 3:50:13
  Speaker 1: the gallery assumed a crystallized tint with a somber yew.
• 3:50:18
  Speaker 1: White mica began to commingle more freely with feldspar and
• 3:50:23
  Speaker 1: quartz to form what may be called the true rock,
• 3:50:27
  Speaker 1: the stone which is hard above all, that supports without
• 3:50:30
  Speaker 1: being crushed, the four stories of the earth's soil. We
• 3:50:35
  Speaker 1: were walled by an immense prison of granite. It was
• 3:50:40
  Speaker 1: now eight o'clock, and still there was no sign of water.
• 3:50:44
  Speaker 1: The sufferings I endured were horrible. My uncle now kept
• 3:50:49
  Speaker 1: at the head of our little column. Nothing could induce
• 3:50:52
  Speaker 1: him to stop. I meanwhile had but one real thought.
• 3:50:57
  Speaker 1: My air was keenly on the watch to catch the
• 3:51:00
  Speaker 1: sound of a spring, but no pleasant sound of falling
• 3:51:05
  Speaker 1: water fell upon my listening air. But at last the
• 3:51:10
  Speaker 1: time came when my limbs refused to carry me longer.
• 3:51:14
  Speaker 1: I contended heroically against the terrible tortures I endured because
• 3:51:19
  Speaker 1: I did not wish to compel my uncle to hold
• 3:51:23
  Speaker 1: to him. I knew this would be the last fatal stroke.
• 3:51:27
  Speaker 1: Suddenly I felt a deadly faintness come over me. My
• 3:51:31
  Speaker 1: eyes could no longer see. My knees shook. I gave
• 3:51:35
  Speaker 1: one despairing cry and fell Hell, Help I am dying.
• 3:51:47
  Speaker 1: My uncle turned and slowly retraced his steps. He looked
• 3:51:51
  Speaker 1: at me with folded arms, and then allowed one sentence
• 3:51:55
  Speaker 1: to escape in hollow accents from his lips.
• 3:51:59
  Speaker 6: All is over.
• 3:52:02
  Speaker 1: The last thing I saw was a face fearfully distorted
• 3:52:07
  Speaker 1: with pain and sorrow. And then my eyes closed. When
• 3:52:14
  Speaker 1: I again opened them, I saw my companions lying near me, motionless,
• 3:52:20
  Speaker 1: wrapped in their huge traveling rugs. Were they asleep or dead?
• 3:52:26
  Speaker 1: For myself, sleep was fully out of the question. My
• 3:52:30
  Speaker 1: fainting feet over, I was wakeful as the lark. I
• 3:52:35
  Speaker 1: suffered too much for sleep to visit my eyelids. The
• 3:52:38
  Speaker 1: more that I thought myself sick unto death, dying. The
• 3:52:43
  Speaker 1: last words spoken by my uncle seemed to be buzzing
• 3:52:47
  Speaker 1: in my ears. All is over, and it was probable
• 3:52:52
  Speaker 1: that he was right. In the state of prostration to
• 3:52:56
  Speaker 1: which I was reduced, it was madness to think of
• 3:53:00
  Speaker 1: ever again seeing the light of day. Above were miles
• 3:53:06
  Speaker 1: upon miles of the Earth's crust. As I thought of it,
• 3:53:11
  Speaker 1: I could fancy the whole weight resting on my shoulders.
• 3:53:15
  Speaker 1: I was crushed, annihilated, and exhausted myself in vain attempts
• 3:53:21
  Speaker 1: to turn in my granite bed. Hours upon hours passed away.
• 3:53:27
  Speaker 1: A profound and terrible silence reigned around us, a silence
• 3:53:32
  Speaker 1: of the tomb. Nothing could make itself heard through these
• 3:53:36
  Speaker 1: gigantic walls of granite. The very thought was stupendous. Presently,
• 3:53:43
  Speaker 1: despite my apathy, despite the kind of deadly calm into
• 3:53:47
  Speaker 1: which I was cast, something aroused me. It was a
• 3:53:51
  Speaker 1: slight but peculiar noise. While I was watching intently, I
• 3:53:57
  Speaker 1: observed that the tunnel was becoming dark. Then, gazing through
• 3:54:01
  Speaker 1: the dim light that remained, I thought I saw the
• 3:54:05
  Speaker 1: eye slender, taking his departure lamp in hand. Why had
• 3:54:10
  Speaker 1: he acted thus? Did Hans, the guide mean to abandon us.
• 3:54:15
  Speaker 1: My uncle lay fast, asleep or dead. I tried to
• 3:54:20
  Speaker 1: cry out and arouse him. My voice, feebly assumed from
• 3:54:24
  Speaker 1: my parched and fevered lips, found no echo in that
• 3:54:29
  Speaker 1: fearful place. My throat was dry, my tongue stuck to
• 3:54:33
  Speaker 1: the root of my mouth. The obscurity had by this
• 3:54:37
  Speaker 1: time become intense, and at last even the faint sound
• 3:54:42
  Speaker 1: of the guide's footsteps was lost in the blank distance.
• 3:54:46
  Speaker 1: My soul seemed filled with anguish, and death appeared. Well
• 3:54:51
  Speaker 1: come only let it come quickly. Hans is leaving us,
• 3:54:59
  Speaker 1: I cried, Hans, has, if you are a man, come back.
• 3:55:08
  Speaker 1: These words were spoken to myself. They could not be
• 3:55:12
  Speaker 1: heard aloud. Nevertheless, after the first moments of terror were over,
• 3:55:18
  Speaker 1: I was ashamed of my suspicions against a man who
• 3:55:22
  Speaker 1: hitherto had behaved so admirably. Nothing in his conduct or
• 3:55:28
  Speaker 1: character justified suspicion. Moreover, a moment's reflection reassured me his
• 3:55:36
  Speaker 1: departure could not be a flight. Instead of ascending the gallery,
• 3:55:41
  Speaker 1: he was going deeper down into the gulf. Had he
• 3:55:45
  Speaker 1: had any bad design, his way would have been upwards.
• 3:55:50
  Speaker 1: This reasoning calmed me a little, and I began to
• 3:55:53
  Speaker 1: hope the good and peaceful and imperturbable hands would certainly
• 3:55:59
  Speaker 1: not have had risen from his sleep without some serious
• 3:56:03
  Speaker 1: and grave motive. Was he bent on the voyage of discovery?
• 3:56:09
  Speaker 1: During the deep still silence of the night. Had he
• 3:56:13
  Speaker 1: at last heard that sweet murmur about which we were
• 3:56:17
  Speaker 1: all so anxious?
• 3:56:22
  Speaker 2: End of Chapter nineteen, Chapter twenty water Where is it?
• 3:56:30
  Speaker 2: A bitter disappointment? During a long, long, weary hour, there
• 3:56:37
  Speaker 2: crossed my wildly delirious brain all sorts of reasons as
• 3:56:42
  Speaker 2: to what could have aroused our quiet and faithful guide.
• 3:56:46
  Speaker 2: The most absurd and ridiculous ideas passed through my head,
• 3:56:50
  Speaker 2: each more impossible than the other. I believe I was
• 3:56:54
  Speaker 2: either half or wholly mad. Suddenly, however, there arose, as
• 3:56:59
  Speaker 2: it were, from the depths of the earth, a voice
• 3:57:02
  Speaker 2: of comfort. It was the sound of footsteps. Hans was returning. Presently,
• 3:57:10
  Speaker 2: the uncertain light began to shine upon the walls of
• 3:57:13
  Speaker 2: the passage, and then it came in view far down
• 3:57:17
  Speaker 2: the sloping tunnel. At length Hans himself appeared. He approached
• 3:57:23
  Speaker 2: my uncle, placed his hand upon his shoulder, and gently
• 3:57:27
  Speaker 2: awakened him. My uncle. As soon as he saw who
• 3:57:30
  Speaker 2: it was, instantly arose well, exclaimed the professor. Vatten said
• 3:57:39
  Speaker 2: the hunter. I did not know a single word of
• 3:57:43
  Speaker 2: the Danish language, and yet by a sort of mysterious instinct,
• 3:57:48
  Speaker 2: I understood what the guide had said. Water Water, I
• 3:57:54
  Speaker 2: cried in a wild and frantic tone, clapping my hands
• 3:57:58
  Speaker 2: and gesticulating like a man. Water. Murmured my uncle in
• 3:58:04
  Speaker 2: a voice of deep emotion and gratitude. Clar where ned
• 3:58:11
  Speaker 2: it below? Where? Below? I understood every word. I had
• 3:58:18
  Speaker 2: caught the hunter by the hands, and I shook them heartily,
• 3:58:22
  Speaker 2: while he looked on with perfect calmness. The preparations for
• 3:58:27
  Speaker 2: our departure did not take long, and we were soon
• 3:58:30
  Speaker 2: making a rapid descent into the tunnel. An hour later
• 3:58:34
  Speaker 2: we had advanced a thousand yards and descended two thousand feet.
• 3:58:40
  Speaker 2: At this moment I heard an accustomed and well known
• 3:58:43
  Speaker 2: sound running along the floors of the granite rock, a
• 3:58:48
  Speaker 2: kind of dull and sullen roar, like that of a
• 3:58:51
  Speaker 2: distant waterfall. During the first half hour of our advance,
• 3:58:57
  Speaker 2: not finding the discovered spring, my feelings of intense suffering
• 3:59:01
  Speaker 2: appeared to return once more. I began to lose all hope.
• 3:59:07
  Speaker 2: My uncle, however, observing how downhearted I was again becoming,
• 3:59:12
  Speaker 2: took up the conversation. Hans was right, he exclaimed, enthusiastically.
• 3:59:18
  Speaker 2: That is the dull roaring of a torrent. A torrent.
• 3:59:22
  Speaker 2: I cried, delighted at even hearing the welcome words. There
• 3:59:27
  Speaker 2: is not the slightest doubt about it, he replied, A
• 3:59:30
  Speaker 2: subterranean river is flowing beside us. I made no reply,
• 3:59:36
  Speaker 2: but hastened on. Once more, animated by hope, I began
• 3:59:41
  Speaker 2: not even to feel the deep fatigue which hitherto had
• 3:59:44
  Speaker 2: overpowered me. The very sound of this glorious murmuring water
• 3:59:48
  Speaker 2: already refreshed me. We could hear it increasing in volume
• 3:59:53
  Speaker 2: every moment. The torrent, which for a long time could
• 3:59:57
  Speaker 2: be heard flowing over our heads, now ran distinctly along
• 4:00:02
  Speaker 2: the left wall, roaring, rushing, spluttering, and still falling. Several
• 4:00:09
  Speaker 2: times I passed my hand across the rock, hoping to
• 4:00:12
  Speaker 2: find some trace of humidity of the slightest percolation alas
• 4:00:19
  Speaker 2: in Vain. Again, a half hour passed in the same
• 4:00:23
  Speaker 2: weary toil. Again we advanced. It now became evident that
• 4:00:29
  Speaker 2: the hunter, during his absence, had not been able to
• 4:00:33
  Speaker 2: carry his researches any farther. Guided by an instinct peculiar
• 4:00:38
  Speaker 2: to the dwellers in mountain regions and water finders, he
• 4:00:42
  Speaker 2: smelt the living spring through the rock. Still he had
• 4:00:47
  Speaker 2: not seen the precious liquid. He had neither quenched his
• 4:00:51
  Speaker 2: own thirst nor brought us one drop in his gourd. Moreover,
• 4:00:57
  Speaker 2: we soon made the disastrous discovery that, if our progress continued,
• 4:01:03
  Speaker 2: we should soon be moving away from the torrent, the
• 4:01:06
  Speaker 2: sound of which gradually diminished. We turned back. Hans halted
• 4:01:12
  Speaker 2: at the precise spot where the sound of the torrent
• 4:01:15
  Speaker 2: appeared nearest. I could bear the suspense and suffering no longer,
• 4:01:20
  Speaker 2: and I seated myself against the wall, behind which I
• 4:01:24
  Speaker 2: could hear the water seething and effervescing, not two feet away,
• 4:01:29
  Speaker 2: but a solid wall of granite still separated us from it.
• 4:01:34
  Speaker 2: Hans looked keenly at me, and strange enough, for once
• 4:01:39
  Speaker 2: I thought I saw a smile on his imperturbable face.
• 4:01:44
  Speaker 2: He rose from a stone on which he had been
• 4:01:46
  Speaker 2: seated and took up the lamp. I could not help
• 4:01:51
  Speaker 2: rising and following. He moved slowly along the firm and
• 4:01:56
  Speaker 2: solid granite wall. I watched him with mingled curioiosity and eagerness.
• 4:02:02
  Speaker 2: Presently he halted and placed his ear against the dry stone,
• 4:02:07
  Speaker 2: moving slowly along and listening with the most extreme care
• 4:02:12
  Speaker 2: and attention. I understood at once that he was searching
• 4:02:17
  Speaker 2: for the exact spot where the torrent's roar was most
• 4:02:21
  Speaker 2: plainly heard. This point he soon found in the lateral
• 4:02:26
  Speaker 2: wall on the left side, about three feet above the
• 4:02:29
  Speaker 2: level of the tunnel floor. I was in a state
• 4:02:33
  Speaker 2: of intense excitement. I scarcely dared believe what the eider
• 4:02:38
  Speaker 2: duck hunter was about to do. It was, however, impossible,
• 4:02:43
  Speaker 2: in a moment more not to both understand and applaud
• 4:02:47
  Speaker 2: and even smother him in my embraces. When I saw
• 4:02:50
  Speaker 2: him raise the heavy crowbar and commence an attack upon
• 4:02:53
  Speaker 2: the rock itself saved, I cried, yes, cried my uncle,
• 4:03:00
  Speaker 2: even more excited and delighted than myself. Hans is quite right, oh,
• 4:03:05
  Speaker 2: the worthy, excellent man. We should never have thought of
• 4:03:09
  Speaker 2: such an idea, and nobody else, I think, would have
• 4:03:14
  Speaker 2: done so. Such a process, simple as it seemed, would
• 4:03:19
  Speaker 2: most certainly not have entered our heads. Nothing could be
• 4:03:23
  Speaker 2: more dangerous than to begin to work with pickaxes in
• 4:03:27
  Speaker 2: that particular part of the globe. Supposing while he was
• 4:03:32
  Speaker 2: at work a breakup were to take place, and supposing
• 4:03:35
  Speaker 2: the torrent, once having gained an inch, were to take
• 4:03:38
  Speaker 2: an l and come pouring bodily through the broken rock.
• 4:03:43
  Speaker 2: Not one of these dangers was chimerical. They were only
• 4:03:48
  Speaker 2: too real. But at that moment, no fear of falling
• 4:03:52
  Speaker 2: in of the roof, or even of inundation, was capable
• 4:03:56
  Speaker 2: of stopping us. Our thirst was so intense that to
• 4:04:00
  Speaker 2: quench it we would have dug below the bed of
• 4:04:03
  Speaker 2: the old ocean itself. Hans went quietly to work, a
• 4:04:09
  Speaker 2: work which neither my uncle nor I would have undertaken
• 4:04:13
  Speaker 2: at any price. Our impatience was so great that if
• 4:04:17
  Speaker 2: we had once begun with pickaxe and crowbar, the rock
• 4:04:21
  Speaker 2: would have soon split into a hundred fragments. The guide,
• 4:04:25
  Speaker 2: on the contrary, calm ready moderate, wore away at the
• 4:04:31
  Speaker 2: hard rock by little, steady blows of his instrument, making
• 4:04:35
  Speaker 2: no attempt at a larger hole than about six inches.
• 4:04:41
  Speaker 2: As I stood, I heard, or I thought I heard,
• 4:04:45
  Speaker 2: the roar of the torrent, momentarily increasing in loudness, and
• 4:04:49
  Speaker 2: at times I almost felt the pleasant sensation of water
• 4:04:54
  Speaker 2: upon my parched lips. At the end of what appeared
• 4:04:58
  Speaker 2: an age, Hans had made a hole which enabled his
• 4:05:01
  Speaker 2: crowbar to enter two feet into the solid rock. He
• 4:05:06
  Speaker 2: had been at work exactly an hour, it appeared a dozen.
• 4:05:12
  Speaker 2: I was getting wild with impatience. My uncle began to
• 4:05:15
  Speaker 2: think of using more violent measures. I had the greatest
• 4:05:20
  Speaker 2: difficulty in checking him. He had indeed just got hold
• 4:05:24
  Speaker 2: of his crowbar when a loud and welcome hiss was heard.
• 4:05:29
  Speaker 2: Then a stream, or rather jet of water burst through
• 4:05:32
  Speaker 2: the wall and came out with such force as to
• 4:05:35
  Speaker 2: hit the opposite side. Hans, the guide, who was half
• 4:05:41
  Speaker 2: upset by the shock, was scarcely able to keep down
• 4:05:44
  Speaker 2: a cry of pain and grief. I understood his meaning.
• 4:05:48
  Speaker 2: When plunging my hands into the sparkling jet, I myself
• 4:05:53
  Speaker 2: gave a wild and frantic cry. The water was scalding, hot, boiling,
• 4:06:00
  Speaker 2: I cried in bitter disappointment. Well, never mind, said my uncle,
• 4:06:06
  Speaker 2: It will soon get cool. The tunnel began to be
• 4:06:11
  Speaker 2: filled by clouds of vapor, while a small stream ran
• 4:06:14
  Speaker 2: away into the interior of the earth. In a short
• 4:06:18
  Speaker 2: time we had some sufficiently cool to drink. We swallowed
• 4:06:23
  Speaker 2: it in huge mouthfuls. Oh, what exalted delight, what rich
• 4:06:29
  Speaker 2: and incomparable luxury? What was this water? Whence did it
• 4:06:35
  Speaker 2: come to us? What was that? The simple fact was
• 4:06:41
  Speaker 2: it was water, And though still with a tingle of
• 4:06:44
  Speaker 2: warmth about it, it brought back to the heart that life, which,
• 4:06:49
  Speaker 2: but for it, must surely have faded away. I drank greedily,
• 4:06:55
  Speaker 2: almost without tasting it, when, however, I had it almost
• 4:07:00
  Speaker 2: quenched my ravenous thirst. I made a discovery. Why it
• 4:07:05
  Speaker 2: is chalybeate water a most excellent stomachic, replied my uncle,
• 4:07:12
  Speaker 2: and highly mineralized. Here is a journey worth twenty to spa.
• 4:07:19
  Speaker 2: It's very good, I replied, I should think so. Water
• 4:07:24
  Speaker 2: found six miles underground. There is a peculiarly inky flavor
• 4:07:29
  Speaker 2: about it, which is by no means disagreeable. Hans may
• 4:07:34
  Speaker 2: congratulate himself on having made a rare discovery. What do
• 4:07:39
  Speaker 2: you say, nephew, According to the usual custom of travelers
• 4:07:43
  Speaker 2: to name the stream after him, good, said I, And
• 4:07:49
  Speaker 2: the name of hans Bach, that is hans Brook, was
• 4:07:54
  Speaker 2: at once agreed upon. Hans was not a bit more
• 4:07:58
  Speaker 2: proud after during our determination than he was before. After
• 4:08:03
  Speaker 2: having taken a very small modicum of the welcome refreshment,
• 4:08:08
  Speaker 2: he had seated himself in a corner with his usual
• 4:08:11
  Speaker 2: imperturbable gravity. Now said I it is not worth while
• 4:08:18
  Speaker 2: letting this water run to waste. What is the use,
• 4:08:23
  Speaker 2: replied my uncle. The source from which this river rises
• 4:08:27
  Speaker 2: is inexhaustible. Never mind, I continued, let us fill our goat,
• 4:08:33
  Speaker 2: skin and gourds, and then try to stop the opening
• 4:08:36
  Speaker 2: up my advice. After some hesitation was followed, or attempted
• 4:08:42
  Speaker 2: to be followed, Hans picked up all the broken pieces
• 4:08:46
  Speaker 2: of granite he had knocked out, and, using some tow
• 4:08:49
  Speaker 2: he happened to have about him, tried to shut up
• 4:08:52
  Speaker 2: the fissure he had made in the wall. All he
• 4:08:56
  Speaker 2: did was to scald his hands. The pressure was too great,
• 4:09:00
  Speaker 2: and all our attempts were utter failures. It is evident,
• 4:09:05
  Speaker 2: I remarked that the upper surface of these springs is
• 4:09:08
  Speaker 2: situated at a very great height above as we may
• 4:09:12
  Speaker 2: fairly infer from the great pressure of the jet. That
• 4:09:17
  Speaker 2: is by no means doubtful, replied my uncle. If this
• 4:09:20
  Speaker 2: column of water is about thirty two thousand feet high,
• 4:09:24
  Speaker 2: the atmospheric pressure must be something enormous. But a new
• 4:09:29
  Speaker 2: idea has just struck me. And what is that? Why
• 4:09:34
  Speaker 2: be it so much trouble to close this aperture, because
• 4:09:40
  Speaker 2: I hesitated and stammered, having no real reason. When our
• 4:09:45
  Speaker 2: water bottles are empty, we are not at all sure
• 4:09:49
  Speaker 2: that we shall be able to fill them, observed my uncle,
• 4:09:53
  Speaker 2: I think that is very probable. Well, then let this
• 4:09:58
  Speaker 2: water run. It will of course naturally follow in our track,
• 4:10:03
  Speaker 2: and will serve to guide and refresh us. I think
• 4:10:08
  Speaker 2: the idea a good one, I cried in reply. And
• 4:10:11
  Speaker 2: with this rivulet as a companion, there is no further
• 4:10:15
  Speaker 2: reason why we should not succeed in our marvelous project. Ah,
• 4:10:20
  Speaker 2: my boy, said the professor, laughing, after all, you are
• 4:10:25
  Speaker 2: coming around more than that. I am now confident of
• 4:10:30
  Speaker 2: ultimate success. One moment, nephew mine, let us begin by
• 4:10:37
  Speaker 2: taking some hours of repose. I had utterly forgotten that
• 4:10:42
  Speaker 2: it was night. The chronometer, however, informed me of the fact.
• 4:10:48
  Speaker 2: Soon we were sufficiently restored and refreshed, and had all
• 4:10:52
  Speaker 2: fallen into a profound sleep end of Chapter twenty Chapter
• 4:11:01
  Speaker 2: twenty one under the Ocean. By the next day we
• 4:11:05
  Speaker 2: had nearly forgotten all our past sufferings. The first sensation
• 4:11:10
  Speaker 2: I had experienced was surprise at not being thirsty, and
• 4:11:14
  Speaker 2: I actually asked myself the reason. The running stream, which
• 4:11:19
  Speaker 2: flowed in rippling wavelets at my feet was the satisfactory reply.
• 4:11:25
  Speaker 2: We breakfasted with a good appetite, and then drank our
• 4:11:28
  Speaker 2: fill of the excellent water. I felt myself quite a
• 4:11:32
  Speaker 2: new man, ready to go anywhere my uncle chose to lead.
• 4:11:38
  Speaker 2: I began to think, why should not a man as
• 4:11:42
  Speaker 2: seriously convinced as my uncle succeed with so excellent a
• 4:11:46
  Speaker 2: guide as worthy Hans, and so devoted a nephew as myself.
• 4:11:52
  Speaker 2: These were the brilliant ideas which now invaded my brain.
• 4:11:56
  Speaker 2: Had the proposition now been made to go back to
• 4:11:59
  Speaker 2: the summit of Mount Sneffels, I should have declined the
• 4:12:02
  Speaker 2: offer in a most indignant manner. But fortunately there was
• 4:12:07
  Speaker 2: no question of going up. We are about to distand
• 4:12:11
  Speaker 2: farther into the interior of the earth. Let us be moving,
• 4:12:16
  Speaker 2: I cried, awakening the echoes of the old world. We
• 4:12:21
  Speaker 2: resumed our march on Thursday at eight o'clock in the morning.
• 4:12:25
  Speaker 2: The Great Granite Tunnel, as it went round by sinuous
• 4:12:29
  Speaker 2: and winding ways presented every now and then sharp turns,
• 4:12:35
  Speaker 2: and in fact all the appearance of a labyrinth. Its direction, however,
• 4:12:41
  Speaker 2: was in general toward the southwest. My uncle made several
• 4:12:45
  Speaker 2: pauses in order to consult his compass. The gallery now
• 4:12:50
  Speaker 2: began to trend downwards in a horizontal direction, with about
• 4:12:55
  Speaker 2: two inches of fall in every furlong. The murmuring stream
• 4:12:59
  Speaker 2: flowed quietly at our feet. I could not but compare
• 4:13:03
  Speaker 2: it to some familiar spirit guiding us through the earth,
• 4:13:08
  Speaker 2: and I dabbled my fingers in its tepid water, which
• 4:13:11
  Speaker 2: sang like a naiad. As we progressed, my good humor
• 4:13:16
  Speaker 2: began to assume a mythological character. As for my uncle,
• 4:13:21
  Speaker 2: he began to complain of the horizontal character of the road.
• 4:13:26
  Speaker 2: His route, he found, began to be indefinitely prolonged instead
• 4:13:31
  Speaker 2: of sliding down the celestial ray, according to his expression.
• 4:13:37
  Speaker 2: But we had no choice, And as long as our
• 4:13:39
  Speaker 2: road led toward the center, however little progress we made,
• 4:13:44
  Speaker 2: there was no reason to complain. Moreover, from time to
• 4:13:48
  Speaker 2: time the slopes were much greater, the naiad sang more loudly,
• 4:13:53
  Speaker 2: and we began to dip downward. In earnest as. Yet, however,
• 4:13:58
  Speaker 2: I felt no painful sense. I had not got over
• 4:14:02
  Speaker 2: the excitement of the discovery of water. That day and
• 4:14:07
  Speaker 2: the next we did a considerable amount of horizontal and
• 4:14:11
  Speaker 2: relatively little vertical traveling. On Friday evening, the tenth of July,
• 4:14:17
  Speaker 2: according to our estimation, we ought to have been thirty
• 4:14:21
  Speaker 2: leagues to the southeast of Rekivik, and about two leagues
• 4:14:25
  Speaker 2: and a half deep. We now received a rather startling surprise.
• 4:14:31
  Speaker 2: Under our feet there opened a horrible well. My uncle
• 4:14:35
  Speaker 2: was so delighted that he actually clapped his hands as
• 4:14:38
  Speaker 2: he saw how steep and sharp was the descent. Ah Ah,
• 4:14:43
  Speaker 2: he cried, in rapturous delight. This takes us a long way.
• 4:14:48
  Speaker 2: Look at the projections of the rock. Ha, he claimed,
• 4:14:52
  Speaker 2: It's a fearful staircase. Hans, however, who in all our
• 4:14:57
  Speaker 2: troubles had never given up the ropes, took care so
• 4:15:01
  Speaker 2: to dispose of them as to prevent any accidents. Our
• 4:15:05
  Speaker 2: descent then began. I dare not call it a perilous descent,
• 4:15:10
  Speaker 2: for I was already too familiar with that sort of
• 4:15:13
  Speaker 2: work to look upon it as anything but a very
• 4:15:15
  Speaker 2: ordinary affair. This well was a kind of narrow opening
• 4:15:21
  Speaker 2: in the massive granite, of the kind known as a fissure.
• 4:15:25
  Speaker 2: The contraction of the terrestrial scaffolding when it suddenly cooled,
• 4:15:30
  Speaker 2: had been evidently the cause. If it had ever served
• 4:15:34
  Speaker 2: in former times as a kind of funnel through which
• 4:15:37
  Speaker 2: passed the eruptive masses vomited by snefels, I was at
• 4:15:41
  Speaker 2: a loss to explain how it had left no mark.
• 4:15:45
  Speaker 2: We were, in fact descending in a spiral, something like
• 4:15:50
  Speaker 2: those winding staircases in use in modern homes. We were
• 4:15:55
  Speaker 2: compelled every quarter of an hour or thereabouts to sit
• 4:15:59
  Speaker 2: down in order to rest our legs our calves ached.
• 4:16:04
  Speaker 2: We then seated ourselves on some projecting rock, with our
• 4:16:07
  Speaker 2: legs hanging over, and gossiped while we ate a mouthful,
• 4:16:12
  Speaker 2: drinking still from the pleasantly warm running stream, which had
• 4:16:16
  Speaker 2: not deserted us. It is scarcely necessary to say that
• 4:16:21
  Speaker 2: in this curiously shaped fissure the Hansbach had become a cascade.
• 4:16:26
  Speaker 2: To the detriment of its size, It was still, however,
• 4:16:30
  Speaker 2: sufficient and more for our wants. Besides, we knew that
• 4:16:36
  Speaker 2: as soon as the declivity ceased to be so abrupt,
• 4:16:39
  Speaker 2: the stream must resume its peaceful course. At this moment
• 4:16:43
  Speaker 2: it reminded me of my uncle his impatience and rage,
• 4:16:48
  Speaker 2: while when it flowed more peacefully, I pictured to myself
• 4:16:51
  Speaker 2: the placidity of the Icelandic guide. During the whole of
• 4:16:57
  Speaker 2: two days, the sixth and seventh of July followed the
• 4:17:00
  Speaker 2: extraordinary spiral staircase of the fissure, penetrating two leagues farther
• 4:17:06
  Speaker 2: into the crust of the earth, which put us five
• 4:17:09
  Speaker 2: leagues below the level of the sea. On the eighth, however,
• 4:17:14
  Speaker 2: at twelve o'clock in the day, the fissure suddenly assumed
• 4:17:18
  Speaker 2: a much more gentle slope, still trending in a southeast direction.
• 4:17:24
  Speaker 2: The road now became comparatively easy and at the same
• 4:17:28
  Speaker 2: time dreadfully monotonous. It would have been difficult for matters
• 4:17:33
  Speaker 2: to have turned out otherwise. Our peculiar journey had no
• 4:17:37
  Speaker 2: chance of being diversified by landscape and scenery at all events,
• 4:17:43
  Speaker 2: such was my idea at length. On Wednesday the fifteenth,
• 4:17:47
  Speaker 2: we were actually seven leagues twenty one miles below the
• 4:17:52
  Speaker 2: surface of the earth, and fifty leagues distant from the
• 4:17:55
  Speaker 2: mountain of Snaefels. Though if the truth be told we
• 4:18:00
  Speaker 2: were very tired, our health had resisted all suffering and
• 4:18:05
  Speaker 2: was in a most satisfactory state. Our traveler's box of
• 4:18:10
  Speaker 2: medicaments had not even been opened. My uncle was careful
• 4:18:15
  Speaker 2: to note every hour the indications of the compass, of
• 4:18:19
  Speaker 2: the manometer, and of the thermometer, all of which he
• 4:18:23
  Speaker 2: afterwards published in his elaborate philosophical and scientific account of
• 4:18:28
  Speaker 2: our remarkable voyage. He was therefore able to give an
• 4:18:33
  Speaker 2: exact relation of the situation. When therefore he informed me
• 4:18:39
  Speaker 2: that we were fifty leagues in a horizontal direction, distant
• 4:18:43
  Speaker 2: from our starting point, I could not suppress a loud exclamation.
• 4:18:48
  Speaker 2: What is the matter now, cried my uncle. Nothing very important.
• 4:18:53
  Speaker 2: Only an idea has entered my head, was my reply.
• 4:18:57
  Speaker 2: Well out with it, my boy. It is my opinion
• 4:19:02
  Speaker 2: that if your calculations are correct, we are no longer
• 4:19:06
  Speaker 2: under Iceland. Do you think so? We can very easily
• 4:19:11
  Speaker 2: find out, I replied, pulling out a map and compasses.
• 4:19:16
  Speaker 2: You see, I said, after careful measurement, that I am
• 4:19:19
  Speaker 2: not mistaken. We are far beyond Cape Portland, and those
• 4:19:24
  Speaker 2: fifty leagues to the southeast will take us into the
• 4:19:28
  Speaker 2: open sea. Under the open sea cried my uncle, rubbing
• 4:19:34
  Speaker 2: his hands with a delighted air. Yes, I cried, no doubt,
• 4:19:39
  Speaker 2: old ocean flows over our heads. Well, my dear boy,
• 4:19:43
  Speaker 2: what can be more natural? Do you not know that
• 4:19:47
  Speaker 2: in the neighborhood of Newcastle there are coal mines which
• 4:19:50
  Speaker 2: have been worked far out under the sea. Now, my
• 4:19:55
  Speaker 2: worthy uncle, the Professor, no doubt, regarded this discovery as
• 4:19:58
  Speaker 2: a very simple fact. But to me the idea was
• 4:20:03
  Speaker 2: by no means a pleasant one. And Yet, when one
• 4:20:07
  Speaker 2: came to think the matter over seriously, what mattered it
• 4:20:11
  Speaker 2: whether the plains and mountains of Iceland were suspended over
• 4:20:14
  Speaker 2: our devoted heads or the mighty billows of the Atlantic Ocean.
• 4:20:19
  Speaker 2: The whole question rested on the solidity of the granite
• 4:20:22
  Speaker 2: roof above us. However, I soon got used to the ideal,
• 4:20:27
  Speaker 2: for the passage, now level, now running down, and still
• 4:20:31
  Speaker 2: always to the southeast, kept going deeper and deeper into
• 4:20:35
  Speaker 2: the profound abysses of Mother Earth. Three days later, on
• 4:20:41
  Speaker 2: the eighteenth of July, on a Saturday, we reached a
• 4:20:45
  Speaker 2: kind of vast grotto. My uncle here paid Hans his
• 4:20:49
  Speaker 2: usual ricks dollars, and it was decided that the next
• 4:20:53
  Speaker 2: day should be a day of rest end of chapter.
• 4:21:03
  Speaker 4: Chapter twenty two, Sunday below ground. I awoke on Sunday
• 4:21:10
  Speaker 4: morning without any sense of hurry and bustle, attendant on
• 4:21:15
  Speaker 4: an immediate departure. Though the day to be devoted to
• 4:21:19
  Speaker 4: repose and reflection was spent under such strange circumstances and
• 4:21:26
  Speaker 4: in so wonderful a place, the idea was a pleasant one. Besides,
• 4:21:32
  Speaker 4: we all began to get used to this kind of existence.
• 4:21:37
  Speaker 4: I had almost ceased to think of the sun, of
• 4:21:41
  Speaker 4: the moon, of the stars, of the trees, houses and towns,
• 4:21:46
  Speaker 4: in fact, about any terrestrial necessities. In our peculiar position,
• 4:21:53
  Speaker 4: we were far above such reflections. The grotto was a
• 4:22:00
  Speaker 4: vast and magnificent hall. Along its granitic soil, the stream
• 4:22:07
  Speaker 4: flowed placidly and pleasantly. So great a distance was it
• 4:22:13
  Speaker 4: now from its fiery source, that its water was scarcely
• 4:22:17
  Speaker 4: loop warm, and could be drunk without delay or difficulty.
• 4:22:23
  Speaker 4: After a frugal breakfast, the professor made up his mind
• 4:22:27
  Speaker 4: to devote some hours to putting his notes and calculations
• 4:22:31
  Speaker 4: in order. In the first place, he said, I have
• 4:22:36
  Speaker 4: a good many to verify and prove, in order that
• 4:22:40
  Speaker 4: we may know our exact position. I wish to be able,
• 4:22:45
  Speaker 4: on our return to the upper regions, to make a
• 4:22:49
  Speaker 4: map of our journey, a kind of vertical section of
• 4:22:54
  Speaker 4: the globe, which will be, as it were, the profile
• 4:22:59
  Speaker 4: of the ex pedition. That would indeed be a curious work, Uncle,
• 4:23:04
  Speaker 4: But can you make your observations with anything like certainty
• 4:23:09
  Speaker 4: and precision? I can. I have never, on any occasion
• 4:23:14
  Speaker 4: failed to note with great care the angles and slopes.
• 4:23:19
  Speaker 4: I am certain as to have made no mistake. Take
• 4:23:24
  Speaker 4: the compass and examine how she points. I looked at
• 4:23:29
  Speaker 4: the instrument with care east one quarter southeast. Very good,
• 4:23:35
  Speaker 4: resumed the professor, noting the observation, and going through some
• 4:23:41
  Speaker 4: rapid calculations, I make out that we have journeyed two
• 4:23:47
  Speaker 4: hundred and fifty miles from the point of our departure.
• 4:23:52
  Speaker 4: Then the mighty waves of the Atlantic are rolling over
• 4:23:56
  Speaker 4: our heads. Certainly, and at this very moment, it is
• 4:24:01
  Speaker 4: possible that fierce tempests are raging above, and that men
• 4:24:06
  Speaker 4: and ships are battling against the angry blast just over
• 4:24:11
  Speaker 4: our heads. It is quite within the range of possibility,
• 4:24:18
  Speaker 4: rejoined my uncle, smiling, and that whales are playing in
• 4:24:24
  Speaker 4: shoals thrashing the bottom of the sea. The roof of
• 4:24:29
  Speaker 4: our adamantine prison be quite at rest. At that point
• 4:24:35
  Speaker 4: there is no danger of their breaking through. But to
• 4:24:40
  Speaker 4: return to our calculations, we are to the southeast two
• 4:24:45
  Speaker 4: hundred and fifty miles from the base of Sneffels, and
• 4:24:49
  Speaker 4: according to my preceding notes, I think we have gone
• 4:24:54
  Speaker 4: sixteen leagues in a downward direction. Leagues fifty miles, I cried,
• 4:25:03
  Speaker 4: I am sure of it. But that is the extreme
• 4:25:07
  Speaker 4: limit allowed by science for the thickness of the Earth's crust,
• 4:25:13
  Speaker 4: I have replied, referring to my geological studies, I do
• 4:25:19
  Speaker 4: not contravene that assertion, was his quiet answer. And at
• 4:25:26
  Speaker 4: this stage of our journey, according to all known laws
• 4:25:30
  Speaker 4: on the increase of heat, there should be here a
• 4:25:34
  Speaker 4: temperature of fifteen hundred degrees of raheumor there should be,
• 4:25:42
  Speaker 4: you say, my boy, in which case this granite would
• 4:25:47
  Speaker 4: not exist, but in a state of fusion. But you perceive,
• 4:25:54
  Speaker 4: my boy, that it is not so, and that facts,
• 4:25:59
  Speaker 4: as usual, are very stubborn things, overruling all theories. I
• 4:26:05
  Speaker 4: am forced to yield to the evidence of my senses.
• 4:26:09
  Speaker 4: But I am nevertheless very much surprised, what heat does
• 4:26:15
  Speaker 4: the thermometer really indicate? Continued the philosopher twenty seven six tenths,
• 4:26:25
  Speaker 4: So that science is wrong by fourteen hundred and seventy
• 4:26:31
  Speaker 4: four degrees in four tenths, according to which it is
• 4:26:35
  Speaker 4: demonstrated that the proportional increase in temperature is an exploded error.
• 4:26:42
  Speaker 4: Humphrey Davy here shines forth in all his glory. He
• 4:26:47
  Speaker 4: is right, and I have acted wisely to believe him.
• 4:26:53
  Speaker 4: Have you any answer to make to this statement? Had
• 4:26:57
  Speaker 4: I chosen to have spoken, I might have said, had
• 4:27:00
  Speaker 4: a great deal, I in no way admitted the theory
• 4:27:04
  Speaker 4: of Humphrey Davy. I still held out for the theory
• 4:27:08
  Speaker 4: of proportional increase of heat, though I did not feel it.
• 4:27:14
  Speaker 4: I was far more willing to allow that this chimney
• 4:27:18
  Speaker 4: of an extinct volcano was covered by lava of a
• 4:27:24
  Speaker 4: kind refractatory to heat, in fact, a bad conductor, which
• 4:27:30
  Speaker 4: did not allow the great increase of temperature to percolate
• 4:27:35
  Speaker 4: through its sides. The hot water jet supported my view
• 4:27:41
  Speaker 4: of the matter. But without entering on a long and
• 4:27:45
  Speaker 4: useless discussion or seeking for new arguments to contravert my uncle,
• 4:27:51
  Speaker 4: I contented myself with taking up facts as they were. Well, sir,
• 4:27:58
  Speaker 4: I take for granted that all your calculations are correct,
• 4:28:03
  Speaker 4: but allow me to draw from them a rigorous and
• 4:28:07
  Speaker 4: definite conclusion. Gone, my boy, have you say, cried my
• 4:28:13
  Speaker 4: uncle good humoredly. At the place where we now are,
• 4:28:18
  Speaker 4: under the latitude of Iceland, the terrestrial depth is about
• 4:28:24
  Speaker 4: fifteen hundred and eighty three leagues. Fifteen hundred eighty three
• 4:28:30
  Speaker 4: and a quarter. Well, suppose we say sixteen hundred in
• 4:28:37
  Speaker 4: round numbers. Now, out of a voyage of sixteen hundred leagues,
• 4:28:43
  Speaker 4: we have completed sixteen. As you say, what then, at
• 4:28:49
  Speaker 4: the expense of a diagonal journey of no less than
• 4:28:54
  Speaker 4: eighty five leagues exactly? We have been twenty days about it,
• 4:29:00
  Speaker 4: exactly twenty Now sixteen is the hundredth part of our
• 4:29:07
  Speaker 4: contemplated expedition. If we go on in this way, we
• 4:29:12
  Speaker 4: shall be two thousand days, that is about five years
• 4:29:19
  Speaker 4: and a half going down. The professor folded his arms, listened,
• 4:29:25
  Speaker 4: but did not speak, without counting that if a vertical
• 4:29:30
  Speaker 4: descent of sixteen leagues cost us a horizontal of eighty five,
• 4:29:37
  Speaker 4: we shall have to go about eight thousand leagues to
• 4:29:41
  Speaker 4: the southeast, and we must therefore come out somewhere in
• 4:29:46
  Speaker 4: the circumference, long before we can hope to reach the center. Bother,
• 4:29:54
  Speaker 4: your calculations, cried my uncle and one of his old
• 4:29:59
  Speaker 4: RAI on what basis do they rest? How do you
• 4:30:05
  Speaker 4: know that this passage does not take us direct to
• 4:30:09
  Speaker 4: the end we require? Moreover, I have in my favor,
• 4:30:15
  Speaker 4: fortunately a precedent. What I have undertaken to do, another
• 4:30:21
  Speaker 4: has done, and he having succeeded. Why should I not
• 4:30:26
  Speaker 4: be equally successful? I hope indeed you will be still.
• 4:30:32
  Speaker 4: I suppose I may be allowed to You are allowed
• 4:30:37
  Speaker 4: to hold your tongue, cried Professor Hardwick, when you talk
• 4:30:42
  Speaker 4: so unreasonably as this, I saw at once that the
• 4:30:47
  Speaker 4: old doctoral professor was still alive in my uncle, and
• 4:30:53
  Speaker 4: fearful to rouse his angry passions. I drop the unpleasant
• 4:30:57
  Speaker 4: subject now, then, he explained, consult the manometer. What does
• 4:31:04
  Speaker 4: that indicate? A considerable amount of pressure? Very good? You
• 4:31:10
  Speaker 4: see then, that by descending slowly, and by gradually accustoming
• 4:31:15
  Speaker 4: ourselves to the density of this lower atmosphere, we shall
• 4:31:20
  Speaker 4: not suffer well, I suppose not, except it may be
• 4:31:27
  Speaker 4: a certain amount of pain in the ears, was my
• 4:31:32
  Speaker 4: rather grim reply, that, my dear boy, is nothing, and
• 4:31:37
  Speaker 4: you will easily get rid of that source of discomfort
• 4:31:41
  Speaker 4: by bringing the exterior air to communication with the air
• 4:31:47
  Speaker 4: contained in your lungs. Perfectly said I, for I had
• 4:31:53
  Speaker 4: quite made up my mind in no wise to contradict
• 4:31:56
  Speaker 4: my uncle. I should fancy almost that I should experience
• 4:32:01
  Speaker 4: a certain amount of satisfaction in making a plunge into
• 4:32:06
  Speaker 4: this dense atmosphere. Have you taken note of how wonderfully
• 4:32:12
  Speaker 4: sound is propagated? Of course I have. There can be
• 4:32:17
  Speaker 4: no doubt that a journey into the interior of the
• 4:32:20
  Speaker 4: earth would be an excellent cure for deftness. But then, uncle,
• 4:32:26
  Speaker 4: I ventured mildly to observe, this density will continue to increase. Yes,
• 4:32:34
  Speaker 4: according to a law, which however, is scarcely defined, it
• 4:32:38
  Speaker 4: is true that the intensity of weight will diminish just
• 4:32:43
  Speaker 4: in proportion to the depth to which we go. You
• 4:32:47
  Speaker 4: know very well that it is on the surface of
• 4:32:51
  Speaker 4: the earth that its action is most powerfully felt, while
• 4:32:56
  Speaker 4: on the contrary, in the very center of the earth,
• 4:32:59
  Speaker 4: bodies cease to have any weight at all. I know
• 4:33:05
  Speaker 4: that is the case. But as we progress, will not
• 4:33:09
  Speaker 4: the atmosphere. Finally, assume the density of water. I know
• 4:33:14
  Speaker 4: it when placed under the pressure of seven hundred and
• 4:33:19
  Speaker 4: ten atmospheres, cried my uncle, with imperturbable gravity. And when
• 4:33:28
  Speaker 4: we are still lowered down, I ask, with natural anxiety. Well,
• 4:33:35
  Speaker 4: lower down the density will become even greater. Then how
• 4:33:41
  Speaker 4: shall we be able to make our way through this
• 4:33:45
  Speaker 4: atmospheric FuG Well, my worthy nephew, we must balance ourselves
• 4:33:52
  Speaker 4: by filling our pockets with stones, said Professor Hardwick. Faith uncle,
• 4:33:58
  Speaker 4: you have an answer for everything, was my only reply.
• 4:34:05
  Speaker 4: I began to feel that it was unwise of me
• 4:34:10
  Speaker 4: to go any farther into the wide field of hypotheses,
• 4:34:16
  Speaker 4: for I should certainly have reviewed some difficulty, or rather
• 4:34:20
  Speaker 4: impossibility that would have enraged the professor. It was evident, nevertheless,
• 4:34:28
  Speaker 4: that the air under a pressure which might be multiplied
• 4:34:33
  Speaker 4: by thousands of atmospheres, would end by becoming perfectly solid,
• 4:34:39
  Speaker 4: And that, then, admitting our bodies resisted the pressure, we
• 4:34:45
  Speaker 4: should have to stop. In spite of all the reasonings
• 4:34:50
  Speaker 4: in the world. Facts overcome all arguments. But I thought
• 4:34:56
  Speaker 4: it best not to urge this argument. My uncle would
• 4:35:01
  Speaker 4: simply have quoted the example of Sack Neussom. Supposing the
• 4:35:08
  Speaker 4: learned Icelander's journey ever really to have taken place, there
• 4:35:14
  Speaker 4: was one simple answer to be made. In the sixteenth century,
• 4:35:19
  Speaker 4: neither the barometer nor the manometer had been invented. How
• 4:35:25
  Speaker 4: then could Sacknussom have been able to discover when he
• 4:35:30
  Speaker 4: did reach the center of the earth. This unanswerable and
• 4:35:35
  Speaker 4: learned objection, I, however, kept to myself, embracing up my courage,
• 4:35:41
  Speaker 4: awaited the course of events, little aware of how adventurous
• 4:35:46
  Speaker 4: yet were to be the incidents of our remarkable journey.
• 4:35:52
  Speaker 4: The rest of this day of leisure and repose was
• 4:35:56
  Speaker 4: spent in calculation and conversation. I made it a point
• 4:36:01
  Speaker 4: to agree with the professor in everything, But I envied
• 4:36:07
  Speaker 4: the perfect indifference of Hans, who, without taking any such
• 4:36:13
  Speaker 4: trouble about the cause and effect, went blindly onwards wherever
• 4:36:18
  Speaker 4: Destiny chose to lead him. End of Chapter twenty two
• 4:36:26
  Speaker 4: Chapter twenty three alone, it must, in all truth be
• 4:36:33
  Speaker 4: confessed things as yet had gone well, and I should
• 4:36:39
  Speaker 4: have acted in bad tastes to have complained if the
• 4:36:44
  Speaker 4: true medium of our difficulties did not increase. It was
• 4:36:49
  Speaker 4: within the range of possibility that we might ultimately reach
• 4:36:54
  Speaker 4: the end of our journey, then what glory would be ours?
• 4:37:01
  Speaker 4: I began, in the newly aroused our door of my
• 4:37:05
  Speaker 4: soul to speak enthusiastically to the Professor. Well, was I serious?
• 4:37:14
  Speaker 4: The whole state in which we existed was a mystery,
• 4:37:18
  Speaker 4: and it was impossible to know whether or not I
• 4:37:22
  Speaker 4: was earnest. For several days after our memorial halt, the
• 4:37:27
  Speaker 4: slopes became more rapid, Some were even of a most
• 4:37:31
  Speaker 4: frightful character, almost vertical, so that we were forever going
• 4:37:37
  Speaker 4: down into the solid interior mass. During some days we
• 4:37:42
  Speaker 4: actually descended a league and a half, even two leagues
• 4:37:46
  Speaker 4: towards the center of the earth. The descents were sufficiently perilous,
• 4:37:52
  Speaker 4: and while we were engaged in them, we learned fully
• 4:37:57
  Speaker 4: to appreciate the marvelous coolness of our guide hands. Without
• 4:38:03
  Speaker 4: him we should have been wholly lost. The grave and
• 4:38:09
  Speaker 4: impassable Icelander devoted himself to us with the most incomprehensible
• 4:38:17
  Speaker 4: sang fraud and ease, and thanks to him many a
• 4:38:22
  Speaker 4: dangerous pass was got over where but for him we
• 4:38:27
  Speaker 4: should inevitably have stuck fast. His silence increased every day.
• 4:38:35
  Speaker 4: I think that we began to be influenced by this
• 4:38:39
  Speaker 4: peculiar trait in his character. It is certain that the
• 4:38:43
  Speaker 4: inanimate objects by which you are surrounded have a direct
• 4:38:49
  Speaker 4: action on the brain. It must be that a man
• 4:38:53
  Speaker 4: who shuts himself up between four walls must lose the
• 4:38:58
  Speaker 4: faculty of as social, eating, ideas and words. How many
• 4:39:03
  Speaker 4: persons condemned to the horrors of solitary confinement have gone
• 4:39:09
  Speaker 4: mad simply because the thinking faculties have lain dormant. During
• 4:39:16
  Speaker 4: the two weeks that followed our last interesting conversation, there
• 4:39:20
  Speaker 4: occurred nothing worthy of being especially recorded. I have, while
• 4:39:27
  Speaker 4: writing these memoirs taxed my memory in vain for one
• 4:39:33
  Speaker 4: incident of travel during this peculiar period. But the next
• 4:39:39
  Speaker 4: event to be related is terrible. Indeed, its very memory
• 4:39:45
  Speaker 4: even now makes my soul shudder and my blood run cold.
• 4:39:51
  Speaker 4: It was on the seventh of August. Our constant and
• 4:39:55
  Speaker 4: successive descents had taken us quite thirty the leagues into
• 4:40:01
  Speaker 4: the interior of the earth. That is to say that
• 4:40:06
  Speaker 4: there were above us thirty leagues, nearly one hundred miles
• 4:40:12
  Speaker 4: of rocks and oceans, and continents and towns, to say
• 4:40:18
  Speaker 4: nothing of living inhabitants. We were in a southeasterly direction,
• 4:40:25
  Speaker 4: about two hundred leagues from Iceland. Now the Memorial day,
• 4:40:31
  Speaker 4: the tunnel had begun to assume an almost horizontal course.
• 4:40:37
  Speaker 4: I was, on this occasion walking in front. My uncle
• 4:40:42
  Speaker 4: had charge of one of Rumakoff's coils. I had possession
• 4:40:50
  Speaker 4: of the other by means of its light. I was
• 4:40:55
  Speaker 4: busy examining the different layers of granite. I was completely
• 4:41:00
  Speaker 4: absorbed in my work. Suddenly halting and turning round, I
• 4:41:06
  Speaker 4: found that I was alone. Well thought I to myself,
• 4:41:12
  Speaker 4: I have certainly been walking too fast, or else Hans
• 4:41:16
  Speaker 4: and my uncle have stopped to rest. The best thing
• 4:41:20
  Speaker 4: I can do is to go back and find them. Luckily,
• 4:41:24
  Speaker 4: there is very little ascent to tire me. I accordingly
• 4:41:30
  Speaker 4: retraced my steps, and while doing so, walked for at
• 4:41:35
  Speaker 4: least a quarter of an hour. Rather uneasy, I paused
• 4:41:39
  Speaker 4: and looked eagerly around. Not a living soul. I called aloud.
• 4:41:46
  Speaker 4: No reply, My voice was lost amid the myriad cavernous
• 4:41:52
  Speaker 4: echoes it aroused. I began for the first time to
• 4:41:57
  Speaker 4: feel seriously uneasy. A cold shiver shook my whole body,
• 4:42:04
  Speaker 4: and perspiration, chill and terrible burst upon my skin. I
• 4:42:11
  Speaker 4: must be calm, I said, speaking aloud, as boys whistled
• 4:42:16
  Speaker 4: to drive away fear. There can be no doubt that
• 4:42:20
  Speaker 4: I shall find my companions. There cannot be two roads.
• 4:42:25
  Speaker 4: It is certain that I was considerably ahead. All I
• 4:42:29
  Speaker 4: have to do is to go back. Having come to
• 4:42:33
  Speaker 4: this determination, I ascended the tunnel for at least half
• 4:42:37
  Speaker 4: an hour, unable to decide if I had ever seen
• 4:42:41
  Speaker 4: certain landmarks before. Every now and then I paused to
• 4:42:47
  Speaker 4: discover if any loud appeal was made to me, well,
• 4:42:52
  Speaker 4: knowing that in that dense and intensified atmosphere I should
• 4:42:57
  Speaker 4: hear it a long way off. But no, The most
• 4:43:01
  Speaker 4: extraordinary silence reigned in this immense gallery. Only the echoes
• 4:43:08
  Speaker 4: of my own footsteps could be heard. At last I stopped.
• 4:43:12
  Speaker 4: I could scarcely realize the fact of my isolation. I
• 4:43:17
  Speaker 4: was quite willing to think that I had made a mistake,
• 4:43:22
  Speaker 4: but not that I was lost. If I had made
• 4:43:25
  Speaker 4: a mistake, I might find my way. If lost, I
• 4:43:29
  Speaker 4: shuddered to think of it. Come, come, said I to myself.
• 4:43:34
  Speaker 4: Since there is only one road, and they must come
• 4:43:39
  Speaker 4: by it, we shall at last meet. All I have
• 4:43:44
  Speaker 4: to do is still go upwards. Perhaps, However, not seeing
• 4:43:49
  Speaker 4: me and forgetting I was ahead, they may have gone
• 4:43:53
  Speaker 4: back in search of me. Still, even in this case,
• 4:43:58
  Speaker 4: if I make haste, I shall get up to them.
• 4:44:02
  Speaker 4: There can be no doubt about the matter. But as
• 4:44:07
  Speaker 4: I spoke these last words aloud, it would have been
• 4:44:12
  Speaker 4: quite clear to any listener had there been one, that
• 4:44:17
  Speaker 4: I was, by no means convinced of the fact. Moreover,
• 4:44:22
  Speaker 4: in order to associate together these simple ideas, and to
• 4:44:27
  Speaker 4: reunite them under the form of reasoning, required some time.
• 4:44:33
  Speaker 4: I could not at all once bring my brain to think.
• 4:44:38
  Speaker 4: Then another dread doubt fell upon my soul. After all
• 4:44:44
  Speaker 4: was I had? Of course I was Hans was no doubt.
• 4:44:48
  Speaker 4: Following behind, preceded by my uncle, I perfectly recollected his,
• 4:44:55
  Speaker 4: having stopped for a moment to strap his baggage to
• 4:44:58
  Speaker 4: his shoulder. I now remembered this trifling detail. It was,
• 4:45:04
  Speaker 4: I believe, just at that very moment, that I had
• 4:45:08
  Speaker 4: determined to continue my route. Again, thought I, reasoning as
• 4:45:14
  Speaker 4: calmly as possible. There is another sure means of not
• 4:45:19
  Speaker 4: losing my way, a thread to guide me through the
• 4:45:23
  Speaker 4: labyrinth subterraneous retreat, one which I had forgotten my faithful river.
• 4:45:32
  Speaker 4: This course of reasoning roused my drooping spirits, and I
• 4:45:36
  Speaker 4: resolved to resume my journey without further delay. No time
• 4:45:41
  Speaker 4: was to be lost. It was at this moment that
• 4:45:45
  Speaker 4: I had reason to bless the thoughtfulness of my uncle
• 4:45:50
  Speaker 4: when he refused to allow the ider hunter to close
• 4:45:55
  Speaker 4: the orifices of the hot spring. That small fissure in
• 4:46:00
  Speaker 4: the great mass of granite. This beneficent spring, after having
• 4:46:06
  Speaker 4: saved us from thirst during so many days, would now
• 4:46:11
  Speaker 4: enable me to regain the right road. Having come to
• 4:46:16
  Speaker 4: this mental decision, I made up my mind before I
• 4:46:20
  Speaker 4: started upwards that abolution would certainly do me a great
• 4:46:27
  Speaker 4: deal of good. I stopped to plunge my hands and
• 4:46:30
  Speaker 4: forehead in the pleasant water of the hans Box Stream,
• 4:46:36
  Speaker 4: blessing its presence as a certain consolation. Conceive my horror
• 4:46:43
  Speaker 4: and stupefication. I was treading a hard, dusty, shingly road
• 4:46:49
  Speaker 4: of granite. The stream on which I reckoned had wholly disappeared.
• 4:46:57
  Speaker 4: End of Chapter twenty three, Chapter twenty four lost. No
• 4:47:04
  Speaker 4: words in any human language can depict my utter despair.
• 4:47:10
  Speaker 4: I was literally buried alive, with no other expectation before
• 4:47:16
  Speaker 4: me but to live in all the slow, horrible torture
• 4:47:21
  Speaker 4: of hunger and thirst. Mechanically, I crawled about feeling the dry,
• 4:47:27
  Speaker 4: arid rock. Never, to my fancy had I ever felt
• 4:47:33
  Speaker 4: anything so dry. But I frantically asked myself, how had
• 4:47:39
  Speaker 4: I lost the course of the flowing stream? There could
• 4:47:43
  Speaker 4: be no doubt it had ceased to flow in the
• 4:47:48
  Speaker 4: gallery in which I now was. Now I began to
• 4:47:53
  Speaker 4: understand the cause of the strange silence which prevailed when
• 4:47:59
  Speaker 4: last I tried if any appeal from my companions might
• 4:48:04
  Speaker 4: perchance reach my ear. It so happened that when I
• 4:48:10
  Speaker 4: first took an imprudent step in the wrong direction, I
• 4:48:15
  Speaker 4: did not perceive the absence of the all important stream.
• 4:48:21
  Speaker 4: It was now quite evident that when we halted, another
• 4:48:25
  Speaker 4: tunnel must have received the waters of the little Torrent,
• 4:48:31
  Speaker 4: and that I had unconsciously entered a different gallery. To
• 4:48:37
  Speaker 4: what unknown depths had my companions gone? Where was I
• 4:48:45
  Speaker 4: how to get back clue or landmark? There was absolutely none.
• 4:48:52
  Speaker 4: My feet left no signs on the granite and shingle.
• 4:48:56
  Speaker 4: My brain throbbed with agony as I tried to discover
• 4:49:01
  Speaker 4: the solution of this terrible problem. My situation, after all
• 4:49:08
  Speaker 4: sophistry and reflection had finally to be summed up in
• 4:49:15
  Speaker 4: three awful words. Lost, lost, lost, lost. At a depth which,
• 4:49:25
  Speaker 4: to my finite understanding appeared to be immeasurable, these thirty
• 4:49:32
  Speaker 4: leagues of the crust of the earth weighed upon my
• 4:49:36
  Speaker 4: shoulders like the globe of the shoulders of Atlas. I
• 4:49:41
  Speaker 4: felt myself crushed by the awful weight. It was indeed
• 4:49:46
  Speaker 4: a position to drive the sanest man to madness. I
• 4:49:52
  Speaker 4: tried to bring my thoughts back to the things of
• 4:49:55
  Speaker 4: the world so long forgotten. It was with the great
• 4:50:00
  Speaker 4: difficulty that I succeeded in doing so. Hamburg, the house
• 4:50:06
  Speaker 4: on the cornerstrasse, my dear cousin Gretchen, All that world
• 4:50:12
  Speaker 4: which had before vanished like a shadow, floated before my
• 4:50:18
  Speaker 4: now vivid imagination. There they were before me, but how unreal.
• 4:50:25
  Speaker 4: Under the influence of a terrible hallucination, I saw all
• 4:50:31
  Speaker 4: the incidents of our journey passed before me like the
• 4:50:36
  Speaker 4: scenes of a panorama, the ship and its inmates, Iceland,
• 4:50:43
  Speaker 4: m Friedrichson, and the great summit of Mount Sneffels. I
• 4:50:50
  Speaker 4: said to myself that if in my position I retain
• 4:50:56
  Speaker 4: the most faint and shadowy outline of a hope. It
• 4:50:59
  Speaker 4: would be a sure sign of approaching delirium. It were
• 4:51:05
  Speaker 4: better to give way wholly to despair. In fact, did
• 4:51:11
  Speaker 4: I but reason with calmness and philosophy. What human power
• 4:51:17
  Speaker 4: was there in existence able to take me back to
• 4:51:22
  Speaker 4: the surface of the earth, and ready to to split asunder,
• 4:51:27
  Speaker 4: to rend in twain those huge and mighty vaults which
• 4:51:31
  Speaker 4: stand above my head? Who could enable me to find
• 4:51:36
  Speaker 4: my road and regain my companions, and sensate folly and
• 4:51:42
  Speaker 4: madness to entertain even a shadow of hope? Oh Uncle,
• 4:51:50
  Speaker 4: was my despairing cry. This was the only word of
• 4:51:54
  Speaker 4: reproach which came to my lips. For I thoroughly understood
• 4:51:59
  Speaker 4: how how deeply and sorrowfully the worthy Professor would regret
• 4:52:05
  Speaker 4: my loss, and how in his turn he would patiently
• 4:52:10
  Speaker 4: seek for me. When I at last began to resign
• 4:52:17
  Speaker 4: myself to the fact that no further aid was to
• 4:52:21
  Speaker 4: be expected from man, and knowing that I was utterly
• 4:52:26
  Speaker 4: powerless to do anything for my own salvation, I kneeled
• 4:52:31
  Speaker 4: with earnest fervor and asked assistance from heaven. The remembrance
• 4:52:38
  Speaker 4: of my innocent childhood the memory of my mother, known
• 4:52:43
  Speaker 4: only in my infancy, came welling forth from my heart.
• 4:52:49
  Speaker 4: I had no recourse to prayer, and little as I
• 4:52:54
  Speaker 4: had a right to be remembered by him whom I
• 4:52:58
  Speaker 4: had forgotten in the hour of prosperity, and whom I
• 4:53:02
  Speaker 4: so tardily invoked, I prayed earnestly and sincerely. This renewal
• 4:53:09
  Speaker 4: of my youthful faith brought about a much greater amount
• 4:53:14
  Speaker 4: of calm, and I was enabled to concentrate all my
• 4:53:20
  Speaker 4: strength and intelligence on the terrible realities of my unprecedented situation.
• 4:53:30
  Speaker 4: I had about me that which I had at first
• 4:53:34
  Speaker 4: wholly forgotten three days provisions. Moreover, my water bottle was
• 4:53:40
  Speaker 4: quite full. Nevertheless, the one thing which it was impossible
• 4:53:46
  Speaker 4: to do was to remain alone. Try to find my companions.
• 4:53:52
  Speaker 4: I must, at any price. But which course should I take?
• 4:53:57
  Speaker 4: Should I go upwards or again descend? Doubtless it was
• 4:54:04
  Speaker 4: right to retrace my steps in an upward direction. By
• 4:54:09
  Speaker 4: doing this with care and coolness, I must reach the
• 4:54:13
  Speaker 4: point where I had turned away from the rippling stream.
• 4:54:19
  Speaker 4: I must find the fatal bifurcation or fork. Once at
• 4:54:24
  Speaker 4: this spot, once the river at my feet, I could,
• 4:54:29
  Speaker 4: at all events regain the awful crater of Mount Sneffels.
• 4:54:35
  Speaker 4: Why had I not thought of this before? This, at
• 4:54:41
  Speaker 4: last was a reasonable hope of safety. The most important
• 4:54:47
  Speaker 4: thing then to be done was to discover the bed
• 4:54:51
  Speaker 4: of the Hansbach. After a slight meal and a draft
• 4:54:57
  Speaker 4: of water, I rose like a refreshed Leaning heavily on
• 4:55:02
  Speaker 4: my pole, I began the ascent of the gallery. The
• 4:55:08
  Speaker 4: slope was very rapid and rather difficult, but I advanced
• 4:55:13
  Speaker 4: hopefully and carefully, like a man who at last is
• 4:55:18
  Speaker 4: making his way out of a forest and knows there
• 4:55:22
  Speaker 4: is only one road to follow. During one whole hour,
• 4:55:29
  Speaker 4: nothing happened to check my progress. As I advanced, I
• 4:55:34
  Speaker 4: tried to recollect the shape of the tunnel, to recall
• 4:55:38
  Speaker 4: to my memory certain projections of rocks, to persuade myself
• 4:55:44
  Speaker 4: that I had followed certain winding routes before. But no
• 4:55:51
  Speaker 4: one particular sign could I bring to mind, and I
• 4:55:56
  Speaker 4: was soon forced to allow that this gallery would never
• 4:56:00
  Speaker 4: take me back to the point at which I had
• 4:56:04
  Speaker 4: separated myself from my companions. It was absolutely, without issue,
• 4:56:11
  Speaker 4: a mere blind alley in the earth. The moment at
• 4:56:16
  Speaker 4: length came when facing the solid rock. I knew my fate,
• 4:56:22
  Speaker 4: and fell inanimate on the arid floor. To describe the
• 4:56:27
  Speaker 4: horrible state of despair and fear into which I then
• 4:56:32
  Speaker 4: fell would now be vain and impossible. My last hope.
• 4:56:38
  Speaker 4: The courage which had sustained me, drooped before the sight
• 4:56:44
  Speaker 4: of this pitiless granite rock, lost in a vast labyrinth,
• 4:56:50
  Speaker 4: the sinuosities of which spread in every direction without guide, clewe,
• 4:56:57
  Speaker 4: or compass. I knew it of vain and useless task
• 4:57:03
  Speaker 4: to attempt flight. All that remained to me was to
• 4:57:08
  Speaker 4: lie down and die. To lie down and die, the
• 4:57:15
  Speaker 4: most cruel and horrible of deaths. In my state of mind,
• 4:57:22
  Speaker 4: the idea came into my head that one day, perhaps
• 4:57:26
  Speaker 4: when my fossil bones were found, their discovery so far
• 4:57:32
  Speaker 4: below the level of the earth, might give rise to
• 4:57:36
  Speaker 4: solemn and interesting scientific discussions. I tried to cry aloud,
• 4:57:44
  Speaker 4: but hoarse, hollow, and inarticulate sounds alone could make themselves
• 4:57:51
  Speaker 4: heard Through my parched lips. I literally panted for breath.
• 4:57:57
  Speaker 4: In the midst of all these horrible sources of anguish
• 4:58:01
  Speaker 4: and despair, A new horror took possession of my soul.
• 4:58:07
  Speaker 4: My lamp by falling down, had got out of order.
• 4:58:13
  Speaker 4: I had no means of repairing it. Its light was
• 4:58:18
  Speaker 4: already becoming paler and paler, and soon would expire. With
• 4:58:26
  Speaker 4: a strange sense of resignation and despair, I watched the
• 4:58:30
  Speaker 4: luminous current in the coil getting less and less. A
• 4:58:36
  Speaker 4: procession of shadows moved, flashing along the granite wall. I
• 4:58:41
  Speaker 4: scarcely dared to lower my eyelids, fearing to lose the
• 4:58:47
  Speaker 4: last spark of this fugitive light. Every instant it seemed
• 4:58:53
  Speaker 4: to me that it was about to vanish and to
• 4:58:58
  Speaker 4: leave me forever in utter darkness. At last, one final
• 4:59:04
  Speaker 4: trembling flame remained in the lamp. I followed it with
• 4:59:10
  Speaker 4: all my power of vision. I gasped for breath. I
• 4:59:14
  Speaker 4: concentrated upon it all the power of my soul. As
• 4:59:18
  Speaker 4: upon the last scintillation of light I was ever destined
• 4:59:25
  Speaker 4: to see, and then I was to be lost forever
• 4:59:30
  Speaker 4: in Sumerian and tenebrous shadows. A wild and plaintive cry
• 4:59:37
  Speaker 4: escaped my lips on Earth during the most profound and
• 4:59:42
  Speaker 4: comparatively complete darkness. Light never allows a complete destruction and
• 4:59:49
  Speaker 4: extinction of its power. Light is so diffuse, so subtle
• 4:59:56
  Speaker 4: that it permeates everywhere, and whatever little may remain the
• 5:00:02
  Speaker 4: retina of the eye will succeed in finding it. In
• 5:00:07
  Speaker 4: this place nothing. The absolute obscurity made me blind in
• 5:00:15
  Speaker 4: every sense. My head was now wholly lost. I raised
• 5:00:21
  Speaker 4: my arms, trying the effects of the feeling in getting
• 5:00:27
  Speaker 4: against the cold stone wall. It was painful. In the extreme.
• 5:00:34
  Speaker 4: Madness must have taken possession of me. I knew not
• 5:00:40
  Speaker 4: what I did. I began to run, to fly, rushing
• 5:00:45
  Speaker 4: at haphazard in this inextricable labyrinth, always going downwards, running
• 5:00:53
  Speaker 4: wildly underneath the terrestrial crust, like an inhabitant of the
• 5:00:59
  Speaker 4: subterranean furnaces, screaming, roaring, howling, until bruised by the pointed rocks,
• 5:01:06
  Speaker 4: falling and picking myself up, all covered with blood, seeking
• 5:01:11
  Speaker 4: madly to drink the blood which dripped from my torn features,
• 5:01:17
  Speaker 4: mad because this blood only trickled over my face, and
• 5:01:22
  Speaker 4: watching always for this horrid wall which were presented to me,
• 5:01:28
  Speaker 4: the fearful obstacle against which I could not dash my head.
• 5:01:35
  Speaker 4: Where was I going? It was impossible to say. I
• 5:01:40
  Speaker 4: was perfectly ignorant of the matter. Several hours passed in
• 5:01:45
  Speaker 4: this way. After a long time. Having utterly exhausted my strength,
• 5:01:50
  Speaker 4: I fell a heavy inert mass along the side of
• 5:01:57
  Speaker 4: the tunnel and lost consciousness. End of Chapter twenty four,
• 5:02:05
  Speaker 4: Chapter twenty five, The Whispering Gallery. When at last I
• 5:02:12
  Speaker 4: came back to a sense of life and being. My
• 5:02:16
  Speaker 4: face was wet, but wet as I soon knew with tears,
• 5:02:22
  Speaker 4: how long this state of insensibility lasted. It is quite
• 5:02:27
  Speaker 4: impossible for me now to say I had no means
• 5:02:33
  Speaker 4: left to me of taking any account of time. Never
• 5:02:37
  Speaker 4: since the creation of the world had such a solitude
• 5:02:42
  Speaker 4: as mine existed. I was completely abandoned. After my fall,
• 5:02:49
  Speaker 4: I lost much blood. I felt myself flooded with the
• 5:02:55
  Speaker 4: life giving fluid. My first sensation was perhaps a natural one,
• 5:03:02
  Speaker 4: Why was I not dead? Because I was alive? There
• 5:03:07
  Speaker 4: was something left to do. I tried to make up
• 5:03:12
  Speaker 4: my mind to think no longer. As far as I
• 5:03:16
  Speaker 4: was able, I drove away all ideas, and utterly, overcome
• 5:03:24
  Speaker 4: by pain and grief, I crouched against the granite wall.
• 5:03:28
  Speaker 4: I just commenced to feel the fainting coming on again,
• 5:03:33
  Speaker 4: and the sensation that this was the last struggle before
• 5:03:38
  Speaker 4: complete annihilation. When on a sudden a violent uproar reached
• 5:03:45
  Speaker 4: my ears. It had some resemblance to the prolonged rumbling
• 5:03:51
  Speaker 4: voice of thunder, and I clearly distinguished sonorous voices lost
• 5:03:58
  Speaker 4: one after the other in the distant depths of the gulf.
• 5:04:05
  Speaker 4: Whence came this noise. Naturally, it was to be supposed
• 5:04:11
  Speaker 4: from new phenomena which were taking place in the bosom
• 5:04:16
  Speaker 4: of the solid mass of Mother Earth, the explosion of
• 5:04:21
  Speaker 4: some gas's vapors, or the fall of some solid of
• 5:04:25
  Speaker 4: the granite or of the rock. Again, I listened with
• 5:04:30
  Speaker 4: deep attention. I was extremely anxious to hear if this
• 5:04:35
  Speaker 4: strange and inexplicable sound was likely to be renewed. A
• 5:04:41
  Speaker 4: whole quarter of an hour elapsed in painful expectation. Deep
• 5:04:48
  Speaker 4: and solemn silence reigned in the tunnel, so still that
• 5:04:54
  Speaker 4: I could hear the beatings of my own heart. I waited,
• 5:05:00
  Speaker 4: waited with a strange kind of hopefulness. Suddenly my ear,
• 5:05:05
  Speaker 4: which leaned accidentally against the wall, appeared to catch, as
• 5:05:10
  Speaker 4: it were, the faintest echo of a sound. I thought
• 5:05:15
  Speaker 4: that I heard, vague, incoherent and distant voices. I quivered
• 5:05:22
  Speaker 4: all over with excitement and hope. It must be hallucination,
• 5:05:28
  Speaker 4: I cried, it cannot be, it is not true. But no,
• 5:05:34
  Speaker 4: by listening more attentively, I really did convince myself that
• 5:05:39
  Speaker 4: what I heard was truly the sound of human voices.
• 5:05:45
  Speaker 4: To make any meaning out of the sound, however, was
• 5:05:48
  Speaker 4: beyond my power. I was too weak even to hear distinctly. Still,
• 5:05:55
  Speaker 4: it was a positive fact that someone was speaking of that,
• 5:06:01
  Speaker 4: I was quite certain. There was a moment of fear.
• 5:06:06
  Speaker 4: A dread fell upon my soul that it might be
• 5:06:11
  Speaker 4: my own words brought back to me by a distant echo.
• 5:06:16
  Speaker 4: Perhaps without knowing it, I might have been crying aloud.
• 5:06:22
  Speaker 4: I resolutely closed my lips and once more placed my
• 5:06:27
  Speaker 4: ear to the huge granite wall. Yes, for certain, it was,
• 5:06:32
  Speaker 4: in truth the sound of human voices. I now, by
• 5:06:38
  Speaker 4: the exercise of great determination, dragged myself along the sides
• 5:06:43
  Speaker 4: of the cavern until I reached a point where I
• 5:06:47
  Speaker 4: could hear more distinctly. But though I could detect the sound,
• 5:06:52
  Speaker 4: I could only make out uncertain, strange and incomprehensible words.
• 5:06:59
  Speaker 4: They've reached my ear, as if they had been spoken
• 5:07:03
  Speaker 4: in a low tone, murmured as if it were afar off.
• 5:07:10
  Speaker 4: At last, I made out the word for Laurad, repeated
• 5:07:16
  Speaker 4: several times, in a tone betokening great mental anguish and sorrow.
• 5:07:22
  Speaker 4: What could this word mean? And who was speaking it?
• 5:07:27
  Speaker 4: It must be either my uncle or the guide Hans.
• 5:07:31
  Speaker 4: If therefore I could hear them, they